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It's a transformed hollow. There's a wall now, for one. It's fairly tall. Tall enough, anyway. But its utility is diminished by not having catwalks to walk on in their defense. While outside, there's a trench encircling the whole compount with ramparts besides, all bedecked with spiked stakes. As earthworks go, they're fairly primitive. Vikings used them. The Anglo-Saxons, too. But they'd be little more than speed bumps to a modern army. Still, they offer the freehold some protection, especially from hedge critters. The ones that don't fly, anyway.
Sigrun is back at it, having come straight from her fire academy training to start work here, wearing a pair of coveralls stripped down to her waist and a sports bra. It's too hot to muck about in much else. She's hauling planks of wood and positioning them against the walls for use when the support struts are installed into the wall for the catwalk. Prep now makes assembly later much easier. Six per section are laid out, enough space for a defender to man the wall and for another to slip behind them to maneuver to another position if the need arises.
Sigrun's basic understanding of trigonometry means the lines of fire drop straight from the top of the wall down along the angle of the ramparts and down into the trenches. A clear 360 degree field of fire, commanded from the freehold walls.
Spicy moves into the Hollow, dragging along the Ballista she and Lucia worked on during their trip to the hedge for the root samples. She's wearing a white tanktop, a pair of leather pants, her big bag of stuff is left near the board with the postings, her big Hedgespun sword on display along with her armor and such. Hair braided and she's obviously ready to go and fix things around the Hollow at this time.
Her arms are scratched up to shit, a bit like if she picked up an angry cat or some other critter but it doesn't seem to slow her down this time, she's just getting started. "Alright, so, what do we need to be working on? SHould we make more ballistas? Fair warning, I need a Wizened with Tatterdemallion to do it, if not, then just let me know what."
Jack is not known for the amount of time he spends in the Freehold Hollow. But he makes his way through the door from Ironside today, charcoal lines sliding lazily around his slightly damp hair and along his bare arms. Sweat already darkens the front of his faded ACDC tour shirt, the sleeves cut off long ago, and he swipes a hand across his forehead as he lopes toward Sigrun and Spicy, holding up a hand in greeting.
"Hot enough for you?" He says with a quiet chuckle, and takes a moment to look around the fortifications that have been constructed. "Figured I'd offer my help here, too...you looking to get some catwalk up there?"(edited)
"Spicy! Jack!" Sigrun is happy to see Spicy, of course. But she is genuinely surprised to see Jack. As noted, Jack almost never shows up in the hollow. Unless Jack resists, he's getting one heckuva hug from Sigrun. A sweaty hug, but a hug just the same. And a peck to the cheek. "I'm so glad you came. Yes. I'm prepping boards for decking them out, but we need the supports braced up beforehand. We put in the mounts when we were laying the brick, so honestly the hardest part is already done in that regard. Just gotta cut the tumber, get it in place, and hammer it in. And unfortunately, unless someone has a solution I'm unaware of, we're working with hand tools, here."
Sigrun claps her hands together and rubs them eagerly when the ballista appears, "There's our girl! Perfect! We can get her up on the gate house later, Spicy. We need to do some gate modifications, which will mean putting pulleys up there, anyway. We can lift her into place then. We've got no Wizened on site, though. So if you want to pitch in helping Jack get the support braces up, I can rig out the pulleys while y'all do that, then come by to help deck the catwalk?"
"Hey Jack." She offers a hearty handshake to the other changeling and smiles his way. "I can probably help or do the support braces, do we need to build a thing? Would a chainsaw work in the Hedge?" she asks aloud, curious, uncertan about that, she looks over the various spot where they need to brace the walls, scratching further at her arms.
Jack gives Sigrun a tight hug right back - not quite a sweaty as her, but it's a close thing, and when he steps back he's properly grinning. The kiss makes his mien dance, and he nods with a chuckle. "Hand tools'll take longer, but it'll get done. Brought one'a my drills just in case, but I doubt anything with an electric motor's gonna do much. Happy to help with the support braces..." He trails off as he eyes the scratches on Spicy's arms. "You all good?"
"I honestly don't know, Spicy. I've never tried it, myself. And my shop doesn't have one. I do all my carpentry by hand anyway. On account of being a recreationist." Sigrun rubs at the back of her head for a few moments then shrugs her shoulders and nods back to Jack, "Honestly, just getting into the groove with hand tools is probably for the best. Though we could set up some power tools on the other side and just walk in and out after we've made our cuts and such. Up to you guys." Sigrun points to the pallet of boards and notes, "I'm going to go grab come more." And she does just that, heading for the pile to grab an arm full of 12' long boards and carries them over to another section of wall, setting them down with a grunt.
Lo, for there appears -- literally just appears -- a Teagan. Combat boots laced securely in place, shorts made of cut-off jeans hanging at their hips, and no top. #TitsOutForShackamaxon. Their tattoos are on full display -- loopy black line work with hash marks between them down both arms, 'Teagan' in black calligraphy on the back of their right wrist, 'this machine kills rapists' on the back of their left wrist, and then up the inside of their left arm: a Skeleton Key, two different paw prints, an 8-bit heart in bi pride colors, a Viking shield, and a spray of autumn leaves around and through the lot of it. Lastly, there's a wire-wrapped chunk of stone worn as a bracelet which Teagan adjusts absently as they carry two large jugs of water back to the work area. They're cold, sweating condensation.
Appearing alongside Teagan -- again, just appearing out of nowhere -- is a large Hedgebeast who looks for all the world like an uncommonly intelligent and quite large Rottie/pibble mix. He's carrying water, too, in a sling fashioned for him to lug a big jug in. Oso's tongue lolls happily out of the side of his mouth -- he's a Dog With A Job, and dogs like that.
"Where you want these put, Adora?" Teagan queries.
"Yeah I'm all good, some beast wandered into my gardens recently and It did not really like the hugs I offered." A shrug and a bit of mischief in her eyes as she answers to Jack. She turns her attention toward the newly appeared Teagan and the accompanying doggo and waves their way. "Oh hey there, how're you Teagan? And who might that be ?" she rubs her hand together, nodding toward Oso.
She goes near the wall and examine the options there considering how to do it. "I think I could slam them in solidly with a proper hammer or just a really good swing, but that might just be the Ogre in me talking."
Jack twitches in surprise when Teagan appears, charcoal flickering and jumping around him. It settles down quickly when he sees who it is, though, and gives Teagan an upnod in greeting.
"Teagan, how're you now. Oh those are gonna be a lifesaver -" he says of the jugs of water, and then his entire attention is focused on DOG.
"Ohhh..." he coos, "this Oso?" a glance at Teagan for confirmation, before holding out a hand for Oso to sniff, if he so chooses.
"I like the ogre in you if it means these get up faster," Sigrun assures Spicy. "And when you need a break, go hit the Spring compound and get that looked after, okay? We'll need everyone tip top and frosty when things go down."
The jugs are gestures over to one of the emptier worktables in the shade of the wall. "There looks good, out of the sun. Should keep it cooler for longer. Thanks, babe." Sigrun offers them a quick peck on the cheek, and offers Oso a scritch between the ears. "Heya, buddy! Er. Hola, compadre!" Her spanish is still in a Minnesota accent.
She heads back for another load of wood.
An Dog Focused On Doing His Job becomes a happy dog wagging his tail enthusiastically as Jack approaches. "One sec, Jack," Teagan offers, and then whistles sharply, pulling Oso's attention back. There's instruction given in Spanish, and the dog whufs, trotting over to the shady spot that Sigrun indicated after receiving his scritches from her and leaning into her hand. The Mirrorskin leans in to smooch Sigrun's cheek, then heads over to offload the water, taking Oso's jug from him, too, and removing the sling, which is set down by the water jugs. Then they pat the big pup soundly on the ribcage and make a gesture with one hand along with a single word in Spanish that's clearly 'go on, then.'
All excitement, once released from his work, Oso runs back over to Jack, sniffs his hand, and then starts slobberily licking all over it. He doesn't wag his tail. He wags his whole body. There's an excited dance going on.
"That's Oso," Teagan explains to Spicy. "He's my dog." Obviously. They stretch their arms out, over their head and then shaking their mirror-skinned limbs loosely. Usually camouflaged by heavy clothing, they're actually, uh, pretty fucking muscular, though clearly built for endurance and power and not for show.
"Oso looks amazing!" She nods as she's responded to and gives a big ol' thumbs up toward Teagan and the display of affection by the dog toward Jack. She also flexes when they show off the guns and grins "Oh damn I see 'em."
Then Spicy grabs a piece of wood work and puts it into place with a rough shouldering motion. Setting one of the support beam with just a few rough pushes Another scratch to her arm. "Oh I will, I'm pretty good actually, Sigrun. It's just scratchy a little bit for the moment. I already disinfected it, but I'll ask whoever I find to help me out."
"Ah -" Jack nods and pulls his hand back, and Teagan gets a quick once-over from him as they instruct the dog where to go. Their muscles earn them a bit of an appreciative raised eyebrow from Jack too, but then Oso is bounding back over and Jack grins wide. He doesn't seem to mind the slobbering, using his other hand to give the Very Hard Working Dog some well deserved behind-the-ear scritches. "What a good dog," Jack murmurs. "Yes you are..."
"If you say so, Spicy. I just don't want you to get an infection or whatever. Take care of you. You're the only Spicy in my life, and I'm a white girl. We don't get much spicy to begin with." Sigrun lives with Teagan, so that's probably not actually true. But the joke is funny anyway. She sets her current load of board down and heads on back to the pile for yet more boards.
"Jack, honey?" Sigrun inquires of the dog-smitten fella, "Those catwalks aren't going to build themselves. Union labor, I tell you what." She sakes her head in faux dismay, given she's a card carrying IWW member. She apparently has the jokes this evening.(edited)
They hadn't really been flexing, though that was a side-effect of stretching their arms out after carrying the heavy jugs of water, but when Spicy flexes, Teagan curls up one corner of their mouth lazily and offers metaphorical tickets to a very brief gun show. "Damn right," they answer, laughing in that very Teagan way that's the aural equivalent of lights on broken glass.
Once Oso has had a love-getting break and has danced happily all around Jack and slobbered all over his hands with joy, Teagan whistles sharply again. "Oso, trabajo," they command, and the dog barks twice, gives Jack the biggest play bow, and then scampers over to where the trench is being dug. This is a task for which he is eminently suited! "Please, you eat the things I order, Sigrun. I make sure there's spice in your life in more ways than one." Beat. "Where to now?" Now that they're done with fetch-and-carry.
"I'll make sure to take care of the scratches as best I can." Spicy chuckles at Sigrun's words and shrug. "I think I might eat more spicy than the average myself." She plunk in another of the support beam and then grabs another, rolling her shoulder. "Alright, that might work a little better with a bit of assistance with a hammer or something."
A look toward Jack "Do you know where the Hammers are kept? I imagine next to the sickles but, that's just the same question." Silly replies from Spicy too.
Jack chuckles at Sigrun's joke about Spicy, and cackles when she turns her wit on him. One last set of scritches behind both ears, and a kiss on Oso's head, and Jack turns to unlatch and unzip his tool bag.
"Got a sledgehammer in here, not super heavy. Might need something with a longer handle, but...? I'll lend it to the pile, if it'll be helpful. Our tools, and all that," he says to Spicy with a grin and pulls a hand saw as well as the aforementioned hammer from the bag. Then he makes his way toward the pile of wood, hauling one up.
"I'm better off cutting shit to size than trying to put my weight behind getting anything in the ground, you got plans for me to follow, Sigrun?"
Sigrun beams when Jack takes the ribbing in stride. More than in stride, in fact. She seems genuinely tickles, actually. "Teagan, I eat what you order. And what you order is steak wiz wit." Sigrun amends, "I'm being unfair. They sometimes order wiz witout." Sigrun scampers along with her boards as quick as she can to avoid the thwacking her butt is going to receive when Teagan catches up with her.
"I've got my tool case on the table over there, Spicy. Help yourself. You should be able to swing my hammers pretty good, though they're a bit heavier than your usual hammer." Of course, that just means they'll drive nails all the better for those single whacks. "Uh. Yeah, Jack. They're not great plans, but I got 'em." Sigrun sets her logs down and heads over to the tool table, unrolling her ersatz blue prints. It's largely just some simple equations to discern height, widgth, distance from the walls for the trenches and ramparts, and the width and height of the catwalk. But the metal supports for the wooded catwalk have already been affixed to the wall, and footings poured. So it's just a matter of the horizontal brace and the diagonal support beams, really.
"CHEESE WHIZ IS DISGUSTING ON CHEESESTEAK!" Sigrun knows how to get Teagan's goat, even if part of the fun for Teagan is allowing their goat to be got. They chase after her and smack her ass with the flat of their hand. "Gotta get American," they grumble, adding, "And I order Thai and Indian and Ethiopian." It's all in play, the exchange between motleymates, and they absently dust off their chest.
Oso stops digging and sits on his butt at the yelling, warbling uncertainly, and then Teagan turns back to him, offering soothing words in Spanish. His tail wags slowly, and then Teagan goes to grab a hammer and eyeball the blueprints.
"Yeah my food skills are growing, I've been working at that Maddy joint for a few now. And learning how everything is made is really fun." A wide grin when various international food are brought up. She smiles and grabs at her Sigrun's hammers and other useful tools, jamming them behind her belt and then moving to help put more support for the wall, it goes much easier, one assumes, with the hammer and other tools.
"So, how do we want to be doing the catwalk?" She asks, aloud smiling at the display between Sigrun and Teagan.
Jack takes a look at the blueprints, and then diagonal support beams are a go! Jack pulls a pencil from his pocket, and grabs a speed square from his tool bag, and gets to work marking, then cutting boards to the right sizes.
Cheese whiz is foul on cheesesteak," he mutters with a nod of agreement, and grins at the exchange between the two. "You got a favorite place to order from?" Because of course he's gotta join in on the debate about which cheesesteak is the best cheesesteak.
"Eugh! Philadelphians!" Sigrun's faux exasperation is Teagan's reward for playing along. The present load of boards is dispensed with and Sigrun rubs at her posterior with both hands to soothe away the savage swatting. And to tease Teagan further. "Damn, Teagan. Slap me a little harder and I'll feel it!" She dances away again, this time hiding behind Spicy. Who is now involved in the shenanigans. But there is work to be done.
"So. If we set these out right yesterday? We should be able to take the cross beams, lay them in their footings against the wall up there, and set them onto the posts. Then take the 9" spikes and toe them into the support posts. Once Jack's finished with the supports, we can come back through and put those in. Then the planks can go up and it should go pretty quickly. I figure I'm tall enough to hold the cross beam if you want to try Ogreing the spikes into place?"
They shake their fist at the Valkyrie. "Maddy's is so good." Teagan peers at the blueprints, their forehead wrinkling up in deep thought as they slowly move one finger along the text. Their attention is wholly taken by the task, and the Mirrorskin moves their lips as they silently sound out the words one at a time. This means they miss Jack's question at first. "Hunh? Oh, uhm, there's a bodega near our house that does delivery. Hole-in-the-wall places are the best for that shit. Pat's and Geno's are both shit." They go back to carefully sounding out the words on the blueprints, absently biting their lower lip at one point as they go over a particularly long word a few times.
Spicy looks over over her shoulders her little burst of work, noticing the interaction between Jack and Teagan, but missing the word sounding from the Darkling while regarding the plans. Her attentions quickly rises toward Sigrun though when she realizes there is some kind of shenanigans happening around her. "I can try to Ogre things into place." she pops her knuckles and moves about. "Just points the things I need to ogre and where and I'll make it happen."
"When we were looking for places to buy, I was worried about moving too far away from where my place was - 'cause there's a bodega about a block away that's seriously the best. We're a couple blocks away now, I should see if they deliver..." Jack stops talking to focus on the boards in front of him. And then pauses to tug the hem of his shirt up to wipe the sweat from his face before tugging it off entirely. His tattoo sleeve, a mix of geometric patterns and softer florals, was already on display, and leaves and vines scatter across his collarbone. He's got something written across his upper ribs, too, just under one of the twin scars across his chest.
While he's probably not quite as built as any of the Changelings around him, he's still fit, a result of both heavy lifting at his work and some sort of time at the gym.
"Jesus Christ it's disgustingly hot..." He shakes his head and continues to saw away at the boards, setting the finished ones in a neat pile beside him.
Taking a cue from Jack, Sigrun unzips the boot legs of her coveralls and shoves them off her hips, kicking the grungy orange things aside. Workboots, boxer briefs, and a sports bra it is. "A fucking men to that, Jack. Fuck. I am going to tap out soon and learn the contract to make the weather a non-issue because fuck this heatwave, that's why." She scratches at her butt indelicately for a moment before stooping down to heft up the crossbeam, jostle it for balance, jerk it up to chest level on her hands, and then lifts it up with her legs in a start, shoving it upwards with a scream and a thrust of her arms. They wobble a bit as she slides it into its moorings on one side, and then eases it down atop the support post with the other. "Now, Spicy," she manages, now that the weight is off her frame.
"You were in a pretty good neighborhood for food from what I remember," answers the Mirrorskin, looking up from the blueprints just in time to get the show. The thing is, it's kind of hard to tell if Teagan is just staring, or if they're sounding out the words on his chest. It's impossible to really know exactly what Teagan is staring at, on account of that whole 'I have no actual eyeballs, just mirror mosaics across my eyepits which reflect back bits and pieces of whatever I'm generally looking toward.
Then they realize that they're staring, and turn away rapidly, tucking the hammer they were holding through one of their jeanshorts belt-loops. "Yeah, it's bone-meltingly hot." A brief pause when Sigrun screams -- and then the sudden tension of their form relaxes when they realize it's just a scream of exertion. They let out an approving puff of air, and go to start carrying lumber over to the work site as Sigrun had been doing previously. "Gonna need a good soak after this."
And Spicy does as Ogre do. "Alright!" She grabs a hammer and nails a few things into place with very few hits but very strong and precise ones. She adjust a few things before applying more nails on it.
Spicy seems to be doing okay with her current combination of clothes, even if she looks rather hot for a Snow skin. She wipes at her forehead. "I think my Mien my just be literally melting off of me." A little laugh, she looks back toward Jack and Teagan, gives off a whistle and then back to the task at hand.
"There's a whole hell of a lot of variety, yeah..." Jack nods distractedly as he finishes cutting a piece of wood and sets it aside. He glances at Sigrun as she begins to strip, letting out a huff of amusement and lifting his saw in a sort of toast. Fuck this heatwave, indeed. And then they realize that Teagan's staring, and a scribble drifts across his cheeks. He gives them a lopsided, slightly sheepish grin. 'self made man', is what's tattooed neatly across Jack's ribs, small and unassuming, in a sans serif font.
Sigrun's scream makes that scribble disappear, and his entire mien flickers for half a second as his head snaps toward the noise. The lines around him settle down quickly once he's processed what's actually going on, and he returns to focus on his work. "Lux finished tiling the master bathroom the other day, I might have to take the time to take a real bath there..." The whistle makes him chuckle, and Spicy gets a smirk, too.
"Yeah, it sucks being built for fucking valhalla and working in a fucking swamp. This weather BLOWS." Sigrun is grumpy, but much less so when the first crossbeam is in place. She gives Spicy an approving grin when she does the work of four men quick as a wink. "God damn, Spicy. Who needs a nail gun when we got your guns nailing?" She heads down to the next post, and repeats the process with this crossbeam. Now that she knows how heavy it's actually going to be, the scream becomes little more than a strained snarl as she heaves the thing overhead and eases it into its mount and atop the vertical. Once more she eases it down into place and cues Spicy, "Okay. Go for it."
"Jack, I'm a little lightheaded, and I'm trying to decide if it's you having taken off your shirt or me having just lifted a huge wooden post overhead in 90 degree heat."
It takes them a moment to sound out the words -- Teagan has been reading, at all, for less than a month, and it's obvious that they're reading the text, because they have to mouth the text still as they're sounding it out. They flash him a grin, appreciative and approving, and get back to hauling boards. When you have muscles but absolutely no skill in making things -- indeed, you live at the 'accidentally burn cereal' part of the Crafting world -- it's perfectly fine to be the fetch-and-carry Mirrorskin.
Carrying a load or two over, they head to be the water-carrier next; there's a bowl for Oso sitting by the water jugs, and they fill that first, whistling for the Hedgebeast to come over and drink his fill. Then they get to carrying the water -- literally -- to and for everyone. "Porque no los dos?" they ask Sigrun, broken mirror eyes glittering as they lug the jug of water over toward Jack, metal cup in their other hand.
Spicy hammers next piece just like the previous one, hard and fast again. "Want me to lift and hold the next one Sigrun?" She asks as she finishes the bonking the nails part with a hammer. "I think it'll be a little easier, I'll just need to grab a drink first."
She looks around for the nearest jug of water, once this particular set is done, uncertain where they've been set down and she immediately move to grab one to drink from it deep.
"That bit of Spanish I do know -" Jack gestures to Teagan to agree with them, his grin widening as he shrugs at Sigrun. Then he stands straight with a groan, setting the saw on the sawhorse in front of him, and twists to crack his back as Teagan comes over.
"Lifesaver. Not even kidding." He accepts the cup with a nod and chugs it, not seeming to care about the water that streams from the side of the cup and trickles down his neck and bare chest. His glance at Teagan once he'd drained the cup is just a little too innocent for anyone to believe that he hadn't done it on purpose.
"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind. I'm strong, don't get me wrong, but I don't lift. I'm no June Desrochers. For one thing, I'd be cuter." Sigrun steps away from the posts and swings her arms to and fro across her chest to loosen up the tension in her muscles, then stretches out her calves and hammies a bit. That done she trundles over for water of her own, in time to witness the waterworks that Jack puts on.
It is in the wake of this display that Sigrun mutters, "Good thing I'm already thirsty..." There's a wry grin as she goes for some water of her own. Three big gulps of the stuff, then pours some over her head and down her back. Ooh, that's the good stuff. She scrubs at her head and shakes out her battle braids like a wet dog, then flicks her braids back with a snap and plods off for the next post in line to wait on Spicy.
"I'd say that June isn't cuter than you, but no one would believe it. June is the worldwide Olympic gold medal holder in cute. When she shows up at the CuteOlympics, everyone else just goes home." A flare of their hand while it's free 'cause Jack's got the cup, and then Sigrun. There's a brief, bright flash of silver that washes across Teagan's back-of-the-mirror black-metallic skin, and their mouth twists up into a wry little moue. They've been around Sturm (and Glitch, and... ) far too long to buy the Very Innocent Look. "Right, though?" Teagan sighs at Sigrun, and then that silver returns, brilliantly illuminating the Mirrorskin -- and not just because Sigrun nearby means that their skin and eyes reflect the cast light from the Bright One, sending jaggedy flecks of prismatic rainbow light all over, dancing over Sigrun's alabaster skin and Jack's scribbles.
"Youse tryina kill a butch," they mutter, taking the cup back and pouring themself some, first to douse their ink-black hair (and send rivulets running down that black-quicksilver skin) and then to actually drink cold water.
"So, I kind of forgot I could do that, because I kind of just... learned it from Petra and got completely drawn into my gardening so..." Spicy stretches her arms out and, strangely, covers her mouth with her forearms and lets out what can only be described as something resembling a horrible rendition of an Elephant's trumpeting and suddenly, once she's done laughing at her own terrible Elephant noise? There's a fucking smiling Elephant where Spicy was and she uses it's trunk to lift what needs to be lifted and hold it into place for the others to perform their own tasks. (-2 glam)
Jack can't help but laugh, scribbles dancing across his cheeks and neck now, and he runs a hand through his wavy hair. "Happy to help," he calls to Sigrun with a wink, and the corner of his mouth quirks up at Teagan. "What?" Far too innocent, as he holds a hand out for the water cup, and he watches the water shimmer down their mirrored body.
"OHMIGAWD! SPICY'S A HUFFALUMP!" Sigrun claps her hands in glee, and her eyes get incredibly huge when she just fucking trunks a post into place. "OHMIGAWD! OHMIGAWD!" She almost forgets she has a job to do she's so excited, "CAN I RIDE YOU LATER?!" She's not even going to make that a sex joke despite literally every reason to do so what with Jack and Teagan and all. She plucks her hammer up, grabs some of the spikes, and gets to work whacking. She's not doing one and done, she's using precise and firm smacks to drive the spikes home. Once the toe nails are in, she heads over to just slam some 16# into the wall supports and calls it done, smacking the crossbeam with her fist a few times to confirm it's solid. "Alright! Now we're cooking with Elephant gas! Let's keep this goin', Spicyphant!"
"Yeah, okay," Teagan answers Jack, their eyebrows rising at him; they're about to say something else when Spicy ... trumpets? and then Oso answers with a warbling howl, delighted by the arrival of NEW BIG FRIEND!!! "Wow, holy shit. I didn't even think -- Laura's got a giant form, too. Shit. That would be baller."
But Sigrun's making very earnest comments about riding Spicy, and Teagan snorts through their nose, sticking their tongue out and visibly biting it before pouring themself another cup of water and actually drinking it. "All right, enough fun times. Back to carrying things around in a muscular and helpful fashion," they mutter, wrinkling their nose up at Jack before they lug the water back to where it belongs.
Spicy holds the planks of wood and the beams and such with her trunk and between two spots in particular, she offers a big nods to Sigrun's eager question about riding her later, because of course she'd be happy to do that. She moves exceptionally slowly, very slowly, to avoid accidentally bumping into anyone with her enlarged form, getting walked over by an elephant is definitely not a fun experience she figures. (I doubt i can talk in )
(Sigrun, with Mounted Combat, astride Spicyphant with a spear and a longbow, "TO BATTLE, NOBLE STEED!")
Unfortunately for Jack, he's just taken a sip of water when Sigrun makes what is very clearly not a sex joke, and he chokes a little, sputtering and coughing as he tries very hard not to laugh.
"Giant forms'd be - helpful for this shit - yeah," Jack heaves as he wipes his streaming eyes. "Fuck, Sigrun, warn a guy before you say that shit..." He shakes his head and rubs his face. "Who says being muscular and helpufl can't be fun?" He reaches out to clap Teagan on the shoulder before he returns to finishing up the support beams.(edited)
"I GET TO RIDE HER FIRST, I CALLED DIBS! And you get your mind out of the gutter, Jack Middle-Name Martingale, or so help me I'll come over there and pinch your ear!" Sigrun sticks her tongue out at Jack and pulls down her lower eyelid in the process. Then she's loading up a nail belt and tying it about her hips and heading down the line to the next post where Spicy is getting ready to do her thing. "Ready when you are, Spicyphant! This is going to fly with your help! Holy cow!"
They laugh aloud, more of that bright, broken-glass sound, reaching to pat Jack on the back when he chokes. The clap on the shoulder earns him an upnod and a flash of a grin before they're tromping away to get back to work. " ... I don't think that brains out the gutter are going to happen, Adora," Teagan calls from where they're putting the water back down, giving Oso some praise and pets -- there's a genuinely joyful expression that blossoms across their face when they crouch to ruffle the pup's ears and kiss the top of his head before sending him back to his work. And then they stand upright (Teagan will never 'straighten up'), going to start lugging more boards over to where Spicyphant and Sigrun are working.
Spicyphant, as she now known, does her best to lift and place each of the beams and boards where they belong, the effort is far less now and she sways left and right, a little bit like she's dancing about or something. She moves carefully, taking care not to step on Oso, though the doggo gets a trunk pat on the back when it gets closer to her side.
Spicyphant spins around a few times to makesure there's nothing behind, clearly getting used to the way the elephant senses work. She holds the next few boards and beams without much issues from that point on.
"Won't, not sorry Sigrun..." He flashes her a grin and lugs the last of the cut support beams over, and then takes a moment to stretch. Arms over his head, back arched, before he twists to crack his back again. The charcoal lines of his mien slide around with him, following his movements with a couple milliseconds' delay. Like an artist has tried to sketch someone's movements while they're moving.
"Want me to get the deck pieces cut now? Or help with putting all..." He gestures to the work that Sigrun and Spicyphant are doing.
"Actually, Jack, they're twelve foot boards and we've got six foot spacings on the posts. So they shouldn't need much cutting except at the corners of the walls. Just stagger 'em like you would if you were building stage risers, I figure? Place 'em, use nails for spaces between the boards so rain can get through, and we should be good. I tried to design it with quick and easy assembly in mind." Teagan can feed you up boards once you have a platform up there you can work from, and hold your ladder until then." Sigrun's bossiness has an air of mere suggestion, which is handy when you're a Get Shit Done style Fairest. Who knows. She may mean it as a suggestion, even!
Sigrun laughs at Spicy's antics, but keeps her focus on getting the job done. Shouldn't take them too much longer at this rate, really. "Spicy, once we get the crossbeams done, I bet we can use you to get the ballista up there, too. Just one good pulley and a harness, and we've got the elephant power to lift it up there. Same with the gate, too. I wanted to trench out into the ground and pour some concrete so the gate rests into the ground in a concrete bed. Should make it darn near impregnable to most hedge weapons."
Snicker. Teagan drops the lumber they were carrying onto the pile with a clatter, and takes a moment to likewise stretch, though they pull their arm in front of their chest first, stretching out their sore deltoids. Much carry, muscles stretchy and work hard. They shake their arms out, black-liquid skin catching the light strangely. "Point me in a direction," they agree amiably. "I'm absolutely shit at making things, but I can heft and carry with the best of them. Except for June. June's stronger than I am." Beat. "I mean Sturm is too, but June is like... " Gesture with one hand. So smol. So mighty.
A soft giggle follow and she nods to Sigrun's suggestions between setting up more beams and planks the wall, helping as best she can. She picks up a bit of speed as she gets used to the form and how to manipulate the trunk.
Speaking of which, it's certainly comical to watch her try to drink from one of the jug or bottle that Teagan brought earlier when she takes a short break. Logistics she'll figure out later, probably.
"Ah -" Jack nods as he finishes stretching, understanding Sigrun's explanation, and trots over to his bag to grab a hammer. Like his saw, and the sledgehammer he offered Spicy, they've got strips of blue and pink electrical tape around the handles, matching the ones around the strap of his bag, marking them as his. Hammer got, he hefts a ladder over, resting it against the wall.
"Any'a those's fine, Teagan, 'f you could hand me one -?" He climbs the ladder one handed, gesturing to the lumber they've just dropped. "Honestly, someone to heft and carry'll make all our jobs easier. 'S appreciated."
As the somber strains of the montage music rise in the background, the intrepid #TitsTrunksNips&HipsOutForShackamaxon crew fall into a definite groove. Spicy's got her trunk under control now, which makes Sigrun's work that much simpler. Four spikes into the vertical and six into the mounts. Ten in total, and on to the next one. Wheras for Jack, this is work he could probably do in his sleep (assuming it wasn't a nightmare of doing it two hours before curtain). The decking goes in, and suddenly there's a mobile catwalk at the walls to fight from and to aid in rapid defense as circumstances change on the perimeter.
Each wall has its own staircase precut and ready to assemble, another task Jack is fully able to handle as a two person project. The hard part is getting the frame in, the easy part is tacking down the flats and risers. Even Teagan can help with that part!
Once the heavy lifting is done, Sigrun climbs the exterior of the gatehouse wall and vaults over the top to get a rope and pulley set up, then creates a four point rope hold on the ballista, connecting it to the rope in the pulley system, and then tying a loop into one end which she carries over to Spicy, "Okay, Spicyphant! If you duck down a little, I'll get this around your neck, climb back up there, and then you lift. We'll maneuver her into place and then you just need to back up slowly on my signal. Okay?"
At a certain point, Teagan has to pause to stop Oso from digging more, and to make sure the pup drinks more water. They come back to help lift and hold things. They don't even try to build things, because they know they're way out of their league here. Way. Way. Way. Out of their league.
(There was mention of the burned cereal before. That's not a joke.)
When they come to a pause point, they step back, wipe a hand over their forehead, and go to fetch water again, staying out of the way until they're asked for.
Spicyphant ducks a little, as requested to get the the loop around her neck, using her trunk to manipulate the instrument around her neck with more ease, though it's still a struggle to get it past her large, flapping ear, but she manages it after a while and probably with some help from someone. She seems ready to pull now.
Jack takes short breaks for water, but doesn't really come down off the catwalk until the thing is complete. And then there's the stairs to build, and him being slightly out of breath doesn't stop him from offering Teagan some banter as he shows them where to hold things. Whether it's flirty banter or not is left entirely up to interpretation.
It's not until the stairs are all in place that Jack finally steps away from the build, stretching again and traipsing on over to where Teagan stands with the water. This time, he pours an entire cup over his sweat-drenched hair, shaking the water out of his eyes as it streams down his face, taking charcoal with it to smear his expression slightly.
"Gonna leave all that up to those two..." he gestures to the work on the ballista, and fills the cup again to gulp down.
Sigrun runs back to the ladder and hops up it like someone who has been doing speed runs on ladders for a month and a half. She's over the top in a jiffy, and holding onto the counter-lead pulley for when the haul actually gets up this high. "Alright, Spicyphant! Haul away, pull!"
Teagan will stop bantering flirtatiously when they stop breathing. That's just how that is. Not that they're not working -- they are -- it's just. How it is.
"... yeah," the Mirrorskin agrees, holding the water jug for Jack, propped on their hip, their hip cocked out slightly to one side so as to better balance the heavy item. "I think I'm gonna stay out of the way so I don't get accidentally flattened."
Spicy slowly moves forward to haul the load upward and to the top of the gaze, slowly, slowly trying to not cause the whole thing to swing too much, to make it a little easier for the others to maybe guide it and pull it up there. Slow and methodical, waiting for anyt further instruction on what to do, not wanting to break anything or pull too fast.
Sigrun beings to tug back against her own line on the ropes, working to counterbalance Spicy to some degree. Enough to keep the winch arm from swinging too much. By and by the rig rises, and once it's clear of the top edge by several inches she whistles shrilly and calls back down, "Okay! Okay! Hold it there for a jiff!" So Minnesotan.
She then loops her own rope, slips it around her waist, and begins pulling as hard as she can to draw the rope and arm back over the top of the tower. Once she's strained to get it roughly where she wants it, she shouts, "Lower it off, Spicy! Before I shit my pants, please!"
"The point of this is to prevent loss of life, yeah..." Jack huffs in amusement and runs his fingers through his wet hair, slicking it back. "Doubt you mind the view, either..." a beat. "Always nice to watch professionals at work." Sure Jack, that's totally what you actually mean.
They offer him a sidelong smile at that first bit, lopsided and wry, before taking the cup from him and pouring water into it, the better to douse themself with it. Rivulets run down their mirror-dark skin, casting prisms when it runs down over their broken-glass eyes. A second cup is for drinking. "I'll stop watching Sigrun's ass in boxer shorts when I die," they inform him drily, setting down the water jug near their feet. "The rest of the view's pretty fucking agreeable, gotta admit. Competence is always nice to watch."
Spicy slowly backs off and tries to lower whatever or whoever is hanging at the rope now a little faster, though still careful, looking backward is maybe not the most Elephant thing to do, but she tries her very best to keep everyone safe.
Once the ballista touches down, Sigrun fall slack to her knees to catch her breath, throw off the rope about her waist, and let out a little whoop of achievement, "WhooHoooo!" She pushes back up to her feet, clops her boots over to the ladders, and speed slides all the way down to the ground with a bounce at the bottom. She comes over to help Spicy out of her own harness before giving the big pachyderm what would be a hug if Spicy weren't an elephant. "That was amazing. Thank you so much, Spicy."
"That was fucking baller," Teagan offers to Sigrun when she slides down to the ground. Their grin gets real wide, watching her delight, and watching her show off. "Like, seriously, we could probably have gotten it done without you, Spicy, maybe, but it would have been a fuckton harder. Serious props. I'm sure there's a theatre joke there."
Spicy gives off a Trumpeting sounds at the hugs and appreciation from Teagan, she does keep it rather short though, if only because she doesn't want to scare off Oso or make nearby Hedge creature scared of this rather strange visitor in their lands. She uses her trunk to return Sigrun's hug and then offer the curled end of her trunk to both Teagan and Jack in turn, much like someone might expect a fist bump to be offered by an elephant, if such a thing is conceivable.
She grabs the same water bottle she drank from earlier and this times just tries to pour the whole thing over her head and down her mouth.
"Fuckin' impressive." Jack adds to Teagans compliments with a grin and a nod. "Gotta love that creative problemsolving, especially when it saves a hell of a lot of work. Dunno about any of you, but I'm hungry as fuck." He gets another cup of water and downs it.
"I could eat like. Two horses," Sigrun concurs with Jack, patting her bare tummy with a wet thwap of her hands. "I need to bathe, though. Unless you all wanna go to the summer hollow and eat. They aren't allowed to complain about work stink." Of course even her underthings that she stripped down to are soaking wet from sweat and spilled water. So shower and change of clothes is probably the best option, here.
They dap the trunk and then step to one side, letting Spicy take the water jug in her trunk. "I am fucking starved," Teagan agrees, patting their stomach. "But. Yeah. Unless we're going to go wash and change clothes and meet back up, we should probably go to the Summer Hollow for grub."
Spicy set down the water jug and stands still for a moment as she poofs back out of Elephant form "Woo." she looks really amused at this particular moment and she rubs her nose. "Wow, I feel like I worked out my nose and my face." she massage her cheek with a little chuckles that follows. "I need to grab a shower or something."
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