[OPEN] OUTPOST HAVEN [player plot]

[distant_one]

Who: Anyone and Everyone
What: Open Post for Player Plot
When: Early August and Onward
Where: Staging Point in Crenshaw and Outpost

Content Warning: None in the main post

[Ooc: This is an open log place for the Outpost player plot, plotting post here and location post here. Feel free to post starters here and tag one another.]

Wall Complete

On one of the days after the wall is finished but before the gate is added D schedules a section of time when only a few people will be at the outpost so a hazardous construction project can take place, just a handful of guards.

When the all-clear is given for construction crews and day shift guards to return the outer wall is practically glowing with heat and the individual stone blocks have been fused together. The ground around it is scorched but there's no lingering fire anywhere despite the smoking and blackened trees and greenery.

Staging Point

On the main floor of the house D has chosen to use as the staging point is an area set up for collecting and preserving blood. Darkblood and coldblood keep easily enough but more care is needed when dealing with vileblood and there's an abundance of dried plants ready to be ground to a powder and added to collected vileblood in the first stage of making the special blood mortar.

In one of the rooms upstairs are scales and measuring devices and glass and metal jars ready to receive the mixture of all three blood types in specific parts along with another plant mixture, the last stage before it's mixed into mortar, which is better done in large batches at the outpost itself.

Tree Clearing

One of the tasks to start off the next step of construction is clearing trees for fifty yards in every direction outside the wall as well as any bushes that are large enough to obscure vision. Felled trees are moved inside the outer wall to be processed mostly into logs for use in construction.

Simple wooden watch towers will be erected at the corner of each wall and wooden stairs in a few other places to allow rapid access to the walls for defensive purposes.

Extra wood and other plant material will be processed for firewood and any other purpose it can serve.

Excavating

Digging and leveling start for both the eventual large basement as well as long trench corridors to run under what will be the kitchen and bath house and clean up area to provide places to run pipes or access the foundation from below. Both buildings share a wall with the already completed bunk house and form the basis of what will eventually be expanded to become a barracks.

Construction

The main focus in this phase is making the place livable for people full time. Getting clean is especially important with blood pollution and corruption still being large issues. There's a bath area to be constructed with six individual bathing areas and a pair of large fireplaces to heat water until more permanent systems can go in. Before plumbing and other things can be done the baths will drain into a set of underground paths and from there to a gravel-filled pit beneath what will be another rose garden.

A kitchen will also go up with a pair of fireplaces and room for people to cook and clean with room for plumbing and more advanced options to eventually be added but for now all food and water will come from storage barrels brought in from the staging point and taken back when they're empty.

Comments

Duty | The Locked Tomb | Open

[martyrofduty]

1. Staging Point

Somewhere bordering early in the morning or late at night, depending on one's schedule, Duty arrives with supplies of Darkblood and/or Coldblood—whichever is in critical demand. The times when both are plentiful, he's blood free. This month, blood powers are acting up, but Duty can be counted on predictably and reliably. It's easy enough to deduce it isn't all his, but he isn't chatty on the topic. Not that he's known for using ten words when two would do at the best of times.

Still, he's polite and provides the supplies where they are needed. At the end of the day, he returns to gather his containers and check on what's needed.

2. Tree Clearing

The team gets split into groups for clearing trees and processing them to lumber, assignments based off abilities, skills, and need. Away from the protection of the wall, Duty enlists some guards to serve as protection to the construction crew. Yes, they know how to fight, and some of them serve double duty. It's still harder to focus on a job well done when something might jump out.

Duty's face is impassive at the best of times. When clearing trees, it could be carved from the wood they're moving. There's still no rush, and his hand doesn't reach for any of the weapons he carries when kerfluffles arise.

3. Excavation

First thing Duty does every morning is check out the excavation work to see where it has reached and plan the day's work. It's a reliable way to find him if there's something on your mind. He's in the trench alongside the rest, evening out the walls, and securing them with planks. The only time he immediately hops up and out is when someone arrives via the lamp, a quick check whether someone new has shown up.

4. Construction

For stone work, Duty often works with the time sensitive mortar, one more way to ensure all the work gets done in a timely fashion without wasting the valuable and somewhat polluting mix. When conversations arise then, he continues to work with, rather than stepping away.

5. Wildcard

At the end of the day, it's where the team is that matters. Duty can be found at any step along the way, stepping in at the choke points. He doesn't use magic or any other ability beyond the upper bounds that could fit any person—strength, endurance, and years of experience. He takes breaks when the whole team does or when he needs to check in with someone. That he does, regularly enough, so everyone gets a chance to be heard, ask questions semi-privately, and the like.

He's usually one of the first to arrive in the morning and accompanies back anyone sleeping at the Outpost, after the daily trip to Sanctuary. Duty greets new people when they arrive, and can be found when the construction crew is there.

1. Staging Point

[hammerbearer]

Gaia can be considered a fixture at the staging point when it comes to dealing with the blood compound. While her blood type- and therefore abilities related to it- hasn't been reliable this month, the spell she casts is not reliant on them. Or more precisely speaking, she can cast the spell to manipulate the storage container's time without the benefits of Darkblood.

The problem is with consistency and therefore more regularly Duty will find the teen girl present when he's come to claim the containers as well as during the morning delivery. She seems surprised to see the man arrive.

"Oh are you early?" Spoiler alert: he probably isn't, given she squints at the sky and then grimaces. Though she Gaia looks a little preoccupied, Gaia offers a wry smile. "The containers are over there, as usual. I think I'll be here a bit longer."

[martyrofduty]

Duty raises an eyebrow and lingers a moment. On either end of their day, people are usually exhausted. Gaia fits many roles, but the mortar and it's critical steps aren't easy to substitute others for.

"When did you last sleep?" Duty asks. Implied–for how long? How well? He isn't judging. His schedule is busy, but they cannot burn themselves out needlessly.

[hammerbearer]

There is a soft huff out of the teen. Although she crosses her arms and adopts a no-nonsense expression, her response doesn't have a lot of bite behind it.

"I haven't any intention of being caught out here exhausted, I'll have you know." Gaia relents soon after. Her expression shifts and while there's a faint smile of reassurance, some qualities of frustration are heard in her tone.

"I generally have about six bells or thereabouts to rest. Though as you know we don't need that much." Sleeper physiology and all. And it's usually decent enough."

...That latter part doesn't sound reassuring. Definitely not with the way Gaia's gaze briefly slides to the side before focusing on Duty again. The truth of the matter is that things have been a lot worse when it comes to uninterrupted sleep and probably why she sets aside at least six hours to try and get it, Sleeper perks or no.

"Though frankly, if you have any suggestions on how to keep my spells stable, I'm open to them." Gaia looks down at her work table. There are a line of containers, with one set to the side. Earlier observations may have made Duty aware that is filled with normal ice and the teen uses it as a 'control' of sorts to gauge the condition of her strength.

[martyrofduty]

With respect to sleep, Duty keeps the eyebrow raised and continues to look at the teenager. There's no words, but he hears the evasion. If he were not concerned about her well being, such as exhaustion, he wouldn't have asked. Gaia is intelligent, independent, and capable, or so Duty hopes. His pause carries the weight of that trust and expectation. It's fine if Duty isn't the person she turns to when she needs help, but Duty says, "Please talk with someone." Whether or not that's him. Usually he wouldn't say anything at all and let his face convey the same judgment. Today, and not simply today, he's saying those words aloud. All four of them.

"Hmmm," Duty considers the ice frozen still in time. Blood types and powers have been chaotic this month, but Duty has been fine more or less. "Blood ability fluctuation." His pride isn't so large to believe his self-control is the or the only reason he's been generally fine in that regard. With stopping time, it's hard to tell in advance how long it will work. It is until it isn't.

"Can you make time return slowly?" Duty asks. So long as she can monitor the containers—not something conducive to getting rest, though someone else could wake her—she could have the time to perform the spell again. An alarm system.

"I have other ideas," Duty admits, "but you wouldn't know whether they work until they don't."

[hammerbearer]

At first Gaia crosses her arms and turns away. It's a very defensive type of protest, what you might expect from a teenager who is on the verge of saying 'you're not my dad (mom? dad?)'. But as if catching herself in the midst of doing that- to a very sensible and diplomatic (talk to someone) suggestion- Gaia nods shortly, without quite turning around. Some of the tension leaves and if body language is any indication, it seems she has taken the suggestion to heart. Though Duty won't be the one she confides in on that matter.

Taking a deep breath she turns back and focuses on business. "Yes, I think that's the problem. While I'm able to have a basic idea of when the spell will end, it's been a lot of trouble keeping it consistent." With the instability of her blood that is. This is followed by a nod of confidence and a thoughtful scrunch of her brow.

"Rather than having it abruptly return to the proper flow of time? Certainly, though there still remains the problem of when that would begin to happen." There's another pause. "...I think." It's clear she's trying to piece together the options in her mind.

[martyrofduty]

"A warning," Duty confirms. Anything is better not running from emergency to emergency. Five ten fifteen minutes can make a huge difference. He waits a moment longer, to give her time to think. It's a first step.

"What about shorter intervals?" he asks. If it's more predictable, again, Gaia can build her schedule around when they will need her attention, on whatever time scale is feasible. They may not be the solution she wants most—same duration she could do before these fluctuations—but they're only until things settle down. Likely the end of the month.

[hammerbearer]

Gaia nods when Duty speaks about the alarm. Working something like that into the spell is possible it appears.

"That's certainly a good idea." Then the teen frowns. "Shorter intervals. I guess that would work, but I'd be able to spend less time helping with other matters." Looking up again, Gaia crosses her arms.

"I know this is important, but I admit I already feel like I'm needing to spend too much time on it when I could be aiding with other matters." And not because it is any less important; because of her current failing ability to control the spellwork adequately enough.

Not that it's exactly her fault either.

"Urgh, this stupid place!" This last bit of exasperation gets directed at the sky, though honestly it's likely about the nature of the world Trench exists in than their specific location. The outburst is followed by a somewhat sheepish and apologetic smile.

"Sorry. I think your suggestions are worth trying to make work. Thank you, Duty."

[martyrofduty]

Everything comes at a cost. Given how much blood and its related pollution it takes to make the mortar, wasting it is doubly unfortunate. So long as Gaia is uniquely skilled toward handling the issue, it is the most important duty for her to focus on. Given the various difficulties people can have, there's worse costs than her time.

"I understand. It's frustrating," Duty acknowledges. Trench is like Mariana like the ocean. Chaotic and changing. Yes, they can get upset about it. The feelings are what they are. Gaia's not able to accomplish as much.

He pauses there a moment or two longer. Then Duty withdraws a small figurine of a squid, retrieved from the bottom of the ocean. "This may stabilize your abilities," Duty says. He presents it in his open palm, an invitation but not an order. The choice is hers; what matters most? Her abilities or what side effects—Duty has some sense of them—it may bring? Her abilities or turning to help from the one who affects them?

[hammerbearer]

The place is chaotic and Duty's understanding is appreciated. Gaia offers a faint smile to show her gratitude, but she's of a mind to continue past the matter now that she's voiced her frustration about it. At least she's pragmatic in the sense she keeps the fussing to a minimum. After all it's not going to do anyone any good.

Her reaction to the statue is not entirely negative.

"That's what those things do?" Gaia appears to recognize them and adds with a grimace. "I admit they weirded me out when I collected them so I couldn't get rid of them fast enough."

Well, 'fast enough' still netted her what she considered at the time to be much more practical needs but that's neither here nor there. The teen takes a moment to think on it before reaching out with the intent of taking the offered statue.

"If it'll help, I'll deal with it." Though Gaia's been here long enough that she knows to ask another question.

"What's the catch?" It's Trench. There's always a catch.

[martyrofduty]

Duty's smiles are understated. Slight broadening of his mouth, a sparkle in his eye, and the absence of overwhelming seriousness. An impression, often, rather than what passes for a smile with most people. Gaia gets this, not straight deadpan. He is, after all, expressing far more of his emotions.

"It's something they do," Duty states. Even what he knows is likely incomplete. They do not even know how much they know and how much remains undiscovered. Everything they learn in Trench has that * after it. It's worked for him, and it's worked for people here and there. The side effects help with identifying others.

"Increased emotional honesty and bluntness," he states simply. He watches her to see how she reflects on their conversation, if she can tell he said more than he would normally. Thankfully, he's an honest person. The bluntness has made it a bumpier month, but mostly that's with already bumpy issues and people.