Open Pearl Repairs

[Eida]

The akalak gave the plans and told what everyone has to do. Expect for Eida. She certainly wished to give a comment to it, but she got used to it. She didn't even paid attention to it, but turned back to Caelum. It was strange to meet him like that. But the person who was her brother was there at least.

She smiled again."Thank the goddess, you are here. You brought joy to me!" Gathering with a Vantha. She looked around. She saw a black haired woman, it must be her, and Caelum also talked to her. She has never met with a Vantha before. Her eyes were unusual, but pretty and in her hair the highlights had also a color. She wanted to greet her when Caelum said be careful. She didn't understand it but it would be certanily about her condition.

"You too, my dear!" She said and greeted the Vantha."Hello! My name is Eida, Daughter of Leth? What's yours?" She smiled but tried to hide her fangs. Sometimes she forgot it, which could bring her hard times. She looked around and also added."A long work to do.... Shall we start now then?"

[Jorin Ertihan]

Jorin was happy to see so many people willing to help. There were enough volunteers that they might actually be able to get this done, even if only a few of them had the physical strength necessary to do the heavy lifting that undoubtedly would be needed. Greeting each of the people in turn, and giving a bright, "Hello Kirsi, Hi Dust!" to the two people he knew already, Jorin turned his attention back to the offending branch.

"Right then!" he cried, clapping his hands together. If there was anything he'd learned at the Amphitheater it was that getting actors to do something was rather like herding cats. He didn't know if it would be the same here, but unless somebody stepped up and made a decision nothing would ever get done. Deciding to put his acting skills to use, Jorin put on the most confident look he had and stepped forward.

"OK, well, I like your suggestion, Favchean," Jorin continued, remembering the Akalak's name from him telling the strangely horned man. He had no idea what race he was, but it was not one Jorin had ever seen. Under any other circumstances he'd be consumed with curiosity but this wasn't the time to be curious. Focus on the task at hand.

"So, if we can get a rope up there, we can probably lash it to the end, then use a counterweight lever to lift the whole thing," Jorin mused, squinting as he looked up at the leaning branch.

"If we sawed it in half now, I'm worried the other end might fall inside the building and make extraction more difficult." Though, the physics suggested that if they sawed the branch closer to the end that was facing them, both sections should fall outside the building. Something to consider if this did not work.

"OK, people," Jorin announced. "The sooner we get started, the sooner we finish. Dust, can you take the rope to the top of the branch?"

Turning to the other members of their little group, Jorin spoke up.

"Ok, well, we're going to need an actual lever. Let's follow Fav's suggestion since we don't have any viable alternatives right now. Everyone who's free, please go gather branches we can lash together to form a makeshift lever. Fav, you and I will look for a suitable rock to act as an anchor."

[Favchean Hronis]

Favchean nods as Caelum agreed with the line of action he had laid out, noting he had included the Symenestra but did not acknowledge her still. Another unknown man enters, Favchean watching him closely for a moment because there was something shifty about him, but his offer to help didn't seem underhanded so Favchean pointed in the general direction of Caelum. "The women are going to find branches, why don't you go see if you can secure some rope or twine to tie them?"

Turning to the human, Favchean listens carefully. Jorin seemed to know more about this then he did. He certainly didn't understand much about anchors or counterweights. He knew if he pushed on a lever, the other side came up and did what it was designed to do. The mechanics he understood, but not the physics behind it. "Your name was?" He asked, simply because he didn't want to keep thinking 'the human' in his head while working with the other. "Sounds like a plan to me. Any particular rock, or can we use some of the masonry that has crumbled?"

As he spoke, Favchean moved up what might have been a pathway once around The Pearl, stepping lightly over some smaller crumbled stone. Bending he picked up a squat log, far too short to be used in the lever, and tossed it easily over to the right of him, careful to check so he didn't hurt anyone. Beneath the thick wood laid a chunk of crumbled masonry, and the green Akalak hoisted it up. It was definitely large, even being held by the bulky muscled mass of Akalak the stone looked large. However it crumbled easily, any shift of Favchean's weight had mortar dust sifting down from his hands, that were now gray with it. Even as he turned toward Jorin, a crack in the weakened stone caused it to start to split. "Hmm possibly not a good one..."

[Kirsi Winterflame]

"Kirsi," she repiled to the hasty introduction; it didn't matter, the man's attention quickly refocused on the other woman. Shrugging lightly, the Vantha turned to face the her as well, starting mildly in surprise. Her grey skin and thin physique did not much inspire Kirsi. Was the woman sick? But still, she seemed friendly enough, even if the smile she offered was a bit... Off. Still, a smile was a smile, and Kirsi matched it with a wide one of her own.

"Hello, 'Eida, Daughter of Leth'," the gentle teasing was meant to lighten the mood; a businesslike seriousness was fast overtaking the group, and Kirsi couldn't help but work in opposition of it. "I'm Kirsi. Daughter of Morwen," she added as an afterthought. "Its nice to meet you - even under these circumstances."

Jorin called out a greeting, and she offered him a smile, but no more. He was in the middle of the tree-maneuvering discussion, and Kirsi didn't want to interrupt, knowing she had nothing of value to add to it. Instead she bent herself to her assigned task.

Gesturing at the ground near the base of the wall, she spotted several larger pieces of masonry; these heavier pieces would be too much for her alone, but certainly needed to be moved out of the way. People would be climbing and walking and working all over that area. Pointing at the largest of the chunks, a mottled grey bit irregularly shaped and bigger around than Kirsi's arms would circle, she suggested, "We should probably start with the bigger pieces first. Give me a hand with that one?"

It was a question, but one that assumed Eida's answer would be 'yes'. Without waiting for a verbal agreement, Kirsi took the few steps to the wall and looked at Eida expectantly.

[Alister Val'Tec]

Alister was surprised by how many people that had shown up to help with the repairs of the building. it was indeed a very interesting group of races. While Alister did not have much experience with wood work or carpentry he did work on a ship for many years of his youth. Most of the people working on the tree were just picking up and chopping off the smaller branches. The Akalak that was surely the strongest of everyone there gave him a look that showed he didn't trust Alister.He is a observant one he is. Alister thought to himself. He knew when he would be watch by some one too closely and Alister decided that trying to steal anything wouldn't work without serious issues. Decided Alister knew the best way to help the interesting group of races.

"Hey i know i might not know any of you all but i think we are going at this the wrong way. We are on the coast with lots of ships and with lots of ships comes a abundances of Pulleys and levers. If one or two of us go fetch some from the ship builders down at the harbor i think we could rig something up with a worker from the docks who know these things better than i do."

A few of the others looked at him with a questionable look and he just continued speaking. "We have the manpower to lift this whole thing up with the least amount of effort. All we would have to do is cut the top of the branch so it doesnt further damage the wall then we could lay it down on the street and then cut it up in smaller pieces. We could even use the tree that the branch fell from to rig the pulleys to."

Allister looked at everyone with a smile on his face even though he didn't really like being around people this might make his life and stay in riverfall a little easier for him in the future. He glanced and made eye contact with all in attendance and waited for the opinion of the group.

[Caelum]

Caelum hid a smile in the corner of his mouth, but humor might have been evident in the golden glint of his eyes as he listened to them all. It was not meant as mockery, but instead a rather old, dry humor from being overly familiar with scenes such as this. Opinions piled atop opinions. This was a scene far better than most, however, as everyone present actively wished to help rather than hinder. He nodded in response to Jorin’s directions and did not seem to particularly notice the man’s controlled curiosity. Caelum was accustomed to being looked at, to being the recipient of strange looks and not solely for the fact of his appearance. Favchean was offered another nod, one hand rising in absent, automatic Pavi to signal his acquiescence – he would handle locating and preparing bindings for the branches. His regard fell to Alister, thoughtful but still vaguely amused. There it lingered while the young man spoke and after a little while his eyebrows crawled up. His idea was not without merit. “It would be helpful if we could get our hands on some of that gear,” he agreed with Alister. “Why don’t you run down to the sea gate and see if you can’t acquire us any?” He paused. “If it takes too long, come back. We’ll make do it without it and could use an extra pair of hands.” He turned away toward his knapsack, momentarily catching Dust’s eyes. She received the flare of a grin.

[Dust]

Jorin seconded the idea of her taking a rope up, and everyone else seemed to be in line with the thought, if they noted it at all. Most of the group started applying themselves to clearing away debris; Dust moved herself deftly out of the way of that process and padded over towards Caelum, who grinned at her. Of course, she promptly grinned right back. "...You have rope in there, right?" she checked, as she paused by the knapsack to remove her sandals. He probably did... but the Kelvic clearly hadn't been paying close attention to Caelum's burden. Dust quickly shucked her clothes with neither ceremony nor self-consciousness, at the last balling up the overlarge shirt she wore and hefting it in her hands for a breath. She might carry it up... ...no, she had better focus on hauling the rope, when she did. This wasn't a time to cling to human trappings; they'd just get in the way. Tossing the shirt down with everything else, she shifted in a flicker of pale light, human form transmuting into that of a stocky, ivory-feathered raven. The bird cocked its head, one blue eye peering up at Caelum, then stepped out from the ring of human accoutrements. She chortled at him, a relatively mellow sound even in a raven's harsh timbre... and cast a wary eye at a pair of other feet which tromped past, not so close as to present an actual hazard but still near enough to remind her how much smaller this shape was, and how ill-suited to remaining on the ground. Dust scuttled quickly aside so their owner had a very wide margin to spare.

[Caelum]

“There’s rope,” Caelum confirmed for the kelvic. He dropped into a crouch beside the sack and lifted the requested item from amid the other sundry tools and equipment he had borrowed from the Sanctuary. He tightened up the loop of the rope, leaving it hanging across a strong wrist while Dust stripped off her clothes. He glanced up, golden eyes gleaming, but then back down again at the rope he was readying for her to carry. He was surprisingly unconcerned with the fact of an attractive woman taking her clothes off literally right in front of him. Maybe that sort of thing happened all the time. Or maybe he was just bloody well polite and this was neither the time or place to stare. Besides, he had watched kelvics transform a lot. When Dust was wearing her wings, scuttling instinctively away from the trod of boots, his expression gentled and he reached out a hand toward her from where he continued to crouch. “All ready then?” He asked her. Once she conveyed her assent, he held out the looped rope, one end tied about the rest in a simple slip knot so that it would not all go spilling when the white raven took off. It would be an easy thing to loose once Dust was settled in the tree, either by beak or with fingers, depending on what form ended up being the most useful for her to assume. When Dust seemed to have a steady hold on the rope, Caelum reached over and automatically lifted her clothing off the ground to fold it up neatly and pile on a corner of his sprawled open knapsack. He unraveled to his feet, intending to watch her launch before locating the twine they were going to need to bind the branches together.

[Eida]

Daughter of Morwen, daughter of Morwen. More or less it was familiar for her but the more she thought about it the more time she wasted. "And it's nice to meet you too!" She slightly bowed before her.

'Caelum's team' had already started to work. The big tree won't move it itself will it? She picked up little pieces first and take it from the way, but before she could continue Kirsi thought about something else. Bigger pieces. She looked at the one she was pointing. She was just staring at it.

After a little daydreaming she nodded and with a worry face she went to the other ending of that chunk. She didn't know how she will do it. She knew her bones and her muscles weren't that strong, but if she tries to do it carefully and quickly... She grabbed it somehow and started to pull it up from the ground with Kirsi. Her arms were trembling but with Kirsi it was a little easier even though it was still heavy enough. "Okay... let's take it away quickly!"

OOCOkay I don't know how heavy is that, hope I didn't write anything stupid, Kirsi! If I did, just tell me and I'll fix it

[Jorin Ertihan]

Yup. Definitely herding cats. It was a good thing Jorin was already skilled with keeping multiple things going on in his head at the same time, from his work as an actor one needed to keep the entire script memorized while watching exactly where the fellow actors were standing while also making sure that one's position and emoting was correct, not to mention keeping an eye on the actor's box in case the stage manager wanted to send any stage directions to the actors. Multitasking was a required skill for any successful actor.

"Well, I can't say that I'm an expert on rocks, but I figure... wait!" too late, as Favchean had already tried to pick up some of the crumbling masonry. Jorin was suspicious that the masonry would not be good for their needs, since his logic was, if it had fallen already that meant it was already weakened, or it wouldn't have fallen from the wall. His theory was proven true when the stone had already begun to split.

"If we can't find a solid rock to use as an anchor we might have to use ourselves," Jorin mused, "It'll be hard going but we may not have a choice. Also, for everyone who doesn't know me, I'm Jorin Ertihan. Sorry I didn't introduce myself; but thank you very much for taking direction from me."

Nodding to Alister, Jorin smiled at the suggestion. It was actually a very good one. "That's actually a good idea," he complimented the man. "Wish I had thought of that. If you could go down to the docks and see if you can requisition rigging for us that would be very helpful. In the meantime, we should probably clear as much of the debris in the time we have now as we can."

Squinting up at the rope that was being carried to the top of the wall by the Raven Kelvic Dust, Jorin pursed his lips. Alister was right that they had the manpower to just manually shift the log, but he didn't want to risk people getting injured on this job. That was the last thing they needed, even more problems for poor Nati. The woman had suffered more than enough.

"Be careful up there, Dust!" he called out to his Kelvic friend as she flew the rope to the top. Jorin looked around the area, but the truth was that besides the fallen masonry, there weren't very many stones suitable for what he wanted to do with the lever. Which meant someone, probably himself, would have to serve as a manual fulcrum. Oh joy.

Turning to the big Akalak, he replied in a low tone, "I did a quick look around, and I don't think we are going to find a rock that will suit our needs." Jorin sighed and shrugged. "When they get that rope around, I'll need your strength to lift the thing. Then I'll get under it and hold it up; we're only going to have a few ticks before the weight of the thing might send masonry crashing down on my head, so I hope you'll be ready to pull the log out."

Jorin knew that he could request some of the others to join him under the tree to hold it up with him, but this was by far the most dangerous part of the job and he didn't want to risk injuring anyone else. He trusted that Favchean would have the foresight not to just let go once the tree cleared the wall, or he'd have several tons of tree to hold up, and no large Akalak to help him do it, and that... could get pretty messy.