Arceria, Kaeleer, Saturday (Fandom Time)

[glacial_queen]

The construction of the first of the refugee villages was continuing apace when the portal from Fandom arrived. In the time since school had begun again, the hired workers had managed to clear the land granted to them by Lasfaeran and also dig and fortify the foundations of the buildings. Arcerian cats prowled the site; they were not interested in helping, for the most part, but were getting used to having such a large and noisy number of humans nearby. The humans were also getting used to having such a large and silent number of Arcerians nearby, though they were perhaps adjusting with a little less grace than the kindred.

It was hard not to notice when you were outweighed and outmatched--and, in a number of cases, outranked as well.

Even with the impressive amount of progress that had been made in her absence, Karla could see there was still a lot to do. There was land cleared for crops, but it hadn't been readied for actual planting yet. Some few of the buildings had been framed, but nothing more than that. There were holes dug for posts, but none of the livestock pens had been put up yet. Wells had been dug, as well as sewage lines and irrigation ditches, but they still needed reinforcement and care.

Pushing up her sleeves, Karla grabbed a hammer and got to work. This was going to be a home for her people and, dammit, she wasn't going to stand around supervising all day. For the most part, she had no idea what she was doing, but she could follow instructions.

Eventually, the foreman got over the fact that he was hollering at a Queen and began ordering her about with the same caustic language as everyone else.

[Open to anyone Karla would have called, texted, emailed, or whatever to invite for a few days worth of Habitat for Humanity type work in Kaeleer. If you think you got a call, you did! NFB for off-island.]

Comments

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

Hercules was no stranger to construction work, having spent time with Damage Control in their rebuilding efforts in New York. Having managed to catch wind of Karla's efforts, he had come to help out. Thankfully dressed in proper clothes and not his heroing attire.

Though the fact he had a chihuahua in a baby Bjorn did stand out a bit.

And despite his little doggy-handicap, he was pitching in heartily and selflessly. He may have been a man of boasts and brags, but he was also a man who knew a proper day's labor. And for a good cause, he not only would not complain, but toil with a sense of thankfulness in his heart.

He did, however, take the chance to catch his student at a moment where they could talk.

"This is the land of your birth?" he asked, thinking it a good starter question.

[glacial_queen]

Karla had been surprised when a chance and handwavy meeting at the Perk had resulted in Hercules volunteering to come along--and also the chihuahua, not going to lie--but she wasn't about to turn down help, either. Especially not from someone who could give Lucivar a run for his money as far as builds went.

"The same Realm, yes," Karla said with a smile. "But a different Territory. This is Arceria, home to the great Arcerian cats." She pointed at Kaelas, a half-grown cat. A half-grown cat who was, in fact, floating several boards over to a group of males working on what would be another cottage. An Opal Jewel rested on his ruff. "I'm from Glacia, the Territory over the mountains to the west."

Not very far to the west, either. Deliberately so.

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

Hercules once wrestled with Lockjaw. Telekinetic cats were practically blase. He nodded as Karla spoke, listening carefully to her words.

"Glacia sounds like it should be covered in ice," Hercules said. "Is it a cold and blustery place?"

[glacial_queen]

"Only about six months out of the year," Karla said with a laugh. "Summer lasts maybe seven weeks total and even in the south, midwinter sees us snowed in for at least a few weeks."

The north was more mountains where the snow never melted and pine forests and deep lochs.

"It's cold and it's sometimes stark but..." she sighed, homesick. "It's home."

Or rather, it had been. Awhile ago.

[olympian-herc.livejournal.com]

"That is always the way of home. At least when you are young enough to still have one!" Hercules said, punctuated with a bit of a laugh. "So now is when I ask the most important question of all..."

"...what are your intentions with my young fellow Champion?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla almost asked 'who,' but there was only one person who someone would be asking about her intentions toward. "Warren?" she asked, voice almost a squeak.

She glanced over towards him and began to blush furiously, even as a small grin refused to stop hovering around her mouth.

"I--uhh--I love him." That, at least, was easy enough. "And while I don't want him to feel like I have any expectations of him, or make him feel like he has to join me here...any future I picture without him in it just feels wrong."

[trigons_child]

Raven also had little idea of what she was doing and she didn't have the physical strength for the heavy lifting tasks, but she helped out where she could as best as she was able, trying to make up for lack of skill with enthusiasm.

[glacial_queen]

"I've said thank you for this, right?" Karla asked, pausing to give her friend a hug. "Like a million times?"

[trigons_child]

"You have," Raven said with a smile, hugging her back. "And you are very welcome. I am glad there is something I can do here to help."

[glacial_queen]

"The more I look around and see this turning into an actual village, the better I feel," Karla said. "We're making progress. Soon, we'll have somewhere for the Black Widows to go."

[trigons_child]

"How much longer do you think it will be?" Raven said, glancing around. She could tell a lot of progress had been made, but she wasn't a good enough judge to know if it was enough.

[wwiii]

Heavy lifting? Manual labor? While Warren wasn't exactly experienced with things like this, he was certainly made for it, with upper body strength and stamina that meant that a lack of craft wasn't slowing him down in the least. Not when he could not only lift more than the average human, but could fly with it, too.

If that meant that he was more or less delegated to the "go get that" roles, he was fine with that. It still meant that he was out here, doing something.

[kindrednotkind.livejournal.com]

Kaelas...had a problem. And usually he would go to Lucivar with problems like these, but Lucivar wasn't here and the boyos who were were still sniffing around their respective females and doing the mating dance. Kaelas needed to talk to someone who knew what he was doing.

*Warren?* he sent, padding along as Warren prepared his next load. *You are Lady Karla's mate, right?*

[wwiii]

"Um." Well, hello, Kaelas. Warren blinked and set down his armload of lumber, turning to face the massive kitten. "I suppose that's a good word for it, sure."

They weren't exactly actively looking for, er, kittens yet. But it was probably about as accurate as the terms got, when talking to a kindred.

"What's up?"

[kindrednotkind.livejournal.com]

Kaelas sat down, his tail lashing out behind him. *That is good.*

Formalities out of the way, Kaelas unleashed a barrage of questions. *Is that why your wings are so bright now? Was your mating dance long? Or did she accept you right away?*

[wwiii]

Yep. Those were definitely questions. Ones that had Warren turning a few shades of pink already.

He probably should have taken into consideration what the kindred explanation for suddenly bright plumage might be. Maybe he would dye them brown or black or something, after this. Because trips to Kaeleer were just becoming increasingly more awkward because of them.

"The bright colors don't have anything to do with that," Warren clarified, right up front. "This is just what happens when I listen to the bright ideas of a couple of friends back in Fandom, while under the influence of entirely too much alcohol."

Entirely too much alcohol.

"And as for Karla and I..." He shrugged, wiping dusty hands on his pant legs. "It took a bit of time before she even realized that I was interested, I think. But then, I wasn't entirely straightforward about it, either."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Hi Warren..." Dinah almost wandered right on by before the wings registered. And then she turned around, eyes wide and mouth twitching. "...new look?"

[wwiii]

Bright ping Angel alert. Try to contain your shock!

"Kind of," he replied, trying to look cool and mostly just coming off as embarrassed and fidgety. "Bobby, Tony and I went out drinking a while back. Apparently, when we're very, very drunk, we at least have the presence of mind to use high-end dye that doesn't fade."

He hated drunk-them. A lot.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Forgive her for laughing, Warren. You're just so pretty that way.

"Wow. I think I'm a little frightened that you guys managed to find the good dyes while you were drunk. You're either really efficient, or more than a little crazy." Dinah grinned, then said sheepishly, "At least you don't want to ride on top of the Metro?"

[wwiii]

"Nope. Definitely no riding on top of the Metro. Not when we can take a few portals after being kicked out of a few bars, just to wake up in Madripoor."

How they were not dead yet was anybody's best guess!

"And I think we've got a little efficiency and a little crazy going for us. You wave a credit card at enough people, they'll make sure you're buying the best, because the best usually costs the most. I still haven't figured out how we got our hands on a goose, though."

And why the goose wasn't rainbow.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah was taking a break after her first week of classes, and back in the dorms, to at least help out as much as she could for the afternoon. Hauling lumber with her TK wasn't hard, but it required a lot of focus. And every once in a while yelling, "WHERE DO YOU WANT THESE NOW?" back at Foreman Guy.

[glacial_queen]

Karla caught up with Dinah outside of the soon-to-be livestock pens. No one cared if these slats were a little crooked, so long as the animals stayed where they were supposed to be.

"Kiss kiss," she said, slinging an arm around Dinah. "Welcome to Arceria. Land of giant kitties and snippy foremen."

THE WALL HAD ONLY BEEN A LITTLE CROOKED!

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Some people lived WITHOUT WALLS Mister Foreman. Why, in New Gotham, there were people without roofs! Think about it!... or not.

"I love the giant kitties and the Foreman guy needs to crack open a cold one soon, I think," Dinah said, slinging an arm back, and squeezing Karla's shoulders. "It's starting to look pretty awesome. Also, can I convince a kitty that they need to go to college in New Gotham?"

Forgive her. She was warped by Blind Seer.

[glacial_queen]

"Unless New Gotham offers a major in stalk-and-pounce, I don't think you're going to have a whole lot of luck," Karla decided. "Besides, even Kaelas has problems remembering not to just bite people who are annoying him. Do you really want a kitty who thinks of humans as 'easy prey'?"

Think of the dorms, Dinah. Think of the poor dorms.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Awwwwww." Dinah sighed. "Spoil my fun. Gabby so deserves to meet some of these guys, though." She snickered. "And Kyle would go back to staring and gaping." She shook her head, looking around, trying to imagine it all with all the buildings up. "Do you think it's going to work out? As a place for them to stay?" She was watching one of the younger tigers wrestle with another, and hoping the Black Widows would be cool about having them around. "It's a big adjustment for everybody. On both sides."