11 . clockhouse rebuilding!

[clocktowers]

Who: Those who have offered to help rebuild the Clockhouse, and anyone else who'd like to pitch in!
What: An open mingle log to repair after fires and floods.
When: Throughout September, precise dates not specified.
Where: In Gaze, at the forest's edge.

[ When the weather and chaos dies down, work on the Clockhouse picks up. The building was once an old Deerington mansion, luridly green and eccentric; age faded it into half a ruin, and July's fire did the rest. August's flooding came fast and hard, and now there's very little left to salvage.

The first step has been a damage assessment, with volunteers picking through the structurally unstable ruins, finding singed fiction novels, crisped houseplants, and a weird number of melted grandfather clocks. Demolition goes quickly, while Ozpin stands by and does not even try to control the situation.

Volunteers are needed to design the new structure, carry in materials, and build... and then to decorate and enchant what they've created. The few Sleepers with genuine construction experience provide direction, Ozpin sometimes among them, but things are largely chaotic. A few Sleepers provide snacks and cheerleading.

This is a mingle log. Please feel free to make a toplevel, and comment with your character's contributions below! ]

Comments

[possessum]

That's... an incredibly good point, actually. Peter's so used to being afraid of the demon wigging out, but truthfully.. "wigging out" seems to be a staple, around here. Corruption is an ever-present threat, and there's all the blood effects every month....

"Yeah, he uh... has kind of a little workshop at home? For all the stuff he's collected. He uses a hot glue gun..." It's still so weird to talk conversationally about Paimon like this, but he's clearly made a favourable impression with Luca.

"....I'm glad you're not scared of him or anything. I guess a demon inside of someone could freak most people out, but... I don't ever want to scare anybody."

[payingfordeliverance]

[As usual, Break's mood, which was already pretty good, is improved by the prospect of a fancy little hat. He gives a pleased little fidget.]

Oh, yes, I quite think so. Then, we can carry on with our usual bit wherein he's the rogue and I am the gentleman, and we can go about swindling people out of snacks together.

[Okay but Break does not mind the constant threat of curses from other witches because he regards this as superior to the constant threat of crossing paths with Vincent Nightray in the hallway and having to remember he exists.]

[possessum]

Once, it was something the demon did struggle to consider, but over time there have actually been others to help in the process. This isn't something new, and he gazes down at his hands for a moment.

"Others have.... helped. Helped to push." There was Maul requesting to speak to him and Peter together; it had lasted mere moments before the boy fizzled out. Lysithea holding what felt like a mini-séance in the back room of her bakery to attempt to help them speak to one another; they'd ended up... arguing.... Usagi has offered to help them communicate via a dream, something Paimon has yet to actually try. Inbetween, there have been times they've interacted in Luna's presence, snippets of conversation (usually argumentative....) It never lasts long. Mostly, they share space and time without ever acknowledging each other directly.

"But nothing has... worked. I believe he is comfortable with not having a..... relation with me." He means relationship. Peter has no desire to bridge the distance between them; it's only Paimon who wishes it.

"Were you... close? With yours?" The one Duty shared himself with.

[martyrofduty]

Though Duty doesn't know the details, Paimon clearly does and ponders them. Each failure is frustrating, a piece that can build a narrative of pessimism instead of hope. They aren't a book but people. The end isn't written, preordained, just as their choices aren't either.

"Something this big, starting this bad," Duty says, "Focus on steps. When 'worked' is 'we have the relationship I want,' nothing is ever going to work. No step is that big. Set smaller goals, signposts for progress."

"All you can do is the work," he says.

He doesn't smile exactly, but his eyes warm, matching his brown skin and red hair shaven clean. "Yes," he answers, "That made it hard. We had to give up our relationship." The opposite trajectory.

[tempredmental]

[Keith made sure to stay in Kosmo's sightline, having given Ruby a small wave to let her know he was okay. Then, using a few gestures, he was able to direct the wolf to move in certain ways so the chickens headed towards that coop.

He didn't have to do much. Wolves were pretty intimidating to chickens, after all, just by the nature of their being. So just having Kosmo there was enough to get the chickens to rethink heading in certain directions.]

Almost got it...

[threelayers]

She rested her head there, crying for a second. It wasn't loud, but it was obvious. The truth was that Neopolitan was painfully aware of how many bridges she'd burned in her life, mostly because she'd finally become aware of the fact that being alone with nothing but vengeance in her heart was just awful, when she'd finally been shown the alternative to the life she'd known. So, this situation? She both couldn't fault Penny, and at the same time it reminded her how badly she'd screwed up in life.

It took her a moment, finally calming enough to type again, sighing and nodding a little glumly in the process. There's no lies there. She just doesn't know we used to be close is all. I don't know if I could ever tell her.

[bolstafir]

Not having anyone coming after you or yours tends to do a man good.

[He shrugs. To him, that last part goes without saying at this point.]

Helps that this dumpster fire isn't in imminent danger of being obliterated from existence, too.

[A beat.] Well, assuming certain idiots get over not being the big god in town anymore, anyway.

[He'll be SO pissed if this lowkey retirement gets fucked up by another god honestly. Gonna fistfight 'em behind a Trench Denny's.]

[bolstafir]

[He didn't expect the thanks, and it has him rub at the back of his neck with that slightly itchy feeling he gets whenever people give him Sincere Compliments.]

I didn't do much aside from be there and listen. Hard not to, when you don't have vocal chords.

[He says, as though he didn't remain as a bird explicitly to be considerate of her privacy. Don't worry about it.]

[bolstafir]

Don't mention it, she answers. It hangs a bit, before she adds, cheekily: Seriously, don't.

What's your name?

[bolstafir]

[She tries, at first, to be dignified about the invitation to play, she really does -- but who is she kidding, honestly -- she is Qrow's omen after all.]

My name is Cassandra, [she answers], but you may call me what you like.

[Qrow seems to love his nicknaming. It could be fun and new to have one of her own! Though she would be equally happy with just her own name. She bounds on over to him, acceptance of that play invitation, but then she hesitates.]

Oh, but is he busy? It wouldn't do if he were to meet me first, I think.

[Coming out to help is one thing, but Qrow is the one with whom she shares a soul -- she would like him to be ready to acknowledge her before she reveals herself to the other man now connected to that soul.]

[eudaimonikos]

Alright. I'll keep you up to date - it's going to be a while before we're ready to start building, anyway.

[Granted, normally the process would involve a lot more bureaucracy, so it won't be THAT long...but you at least need finalized plans!]

[entreats]

[ She nods. ]

That's a pretty good description.

[ Sure, what they are is a little more specific, but.. Ange hardly thinks that matters. It's not the most important thing to know about them when you're stuck here, after all. She always finds refering to them as gods - or really, like the witches from their world - works just as fine. ]

It seems that each of them more or less 'rules' over each of the months here, since most of the time only one of them seems to be prominently present here in the city during any given month. [ Ange crosses her arms as she explains. ] During some month you'll find yourself suddenly getting some weird gift, and that means the Pthumerian that's around that month has chosen to be your patron.

[ Which she assumes hasn't happened to Battler yet, considering his reaction now. ]

For some people it happens on their birthday, but for me it was a totally different day, so anything is possible.

[entreats]

Ange is - initially - so caught up in her own little mental huffy world that she doesn't quite notice what kind of reaction her words are causing in the man.

It takes a moment or two, and then Ange properly looking back at Shiro, for her to realise what's actually going on. It seems to make the huffiness about her fade, replacing the emotion with something more akin to surprise.

"W-Wait, are you crying?"

This is some sort of ironic mirror of when she asked about him laughing a few moments ago, huh. Even the emotion behind it is entirely different. Not judging him like for the laughing, but instead--

"Shiro, you can't cry..!" P-Please! Not over her, at least?!

[possessum]

( There's still that bit of distance between them, something Peter intentionally maintains out of some necessity, knowing that Vileblood is the most dangerous in its ways, but... he can't. Not anymore. Not after hearing those little hics, those soft sounds of upset, and he's moving closer even seconds before Falco responds.

Closer, towards his body, gently reaching out an arm to find Falco and coax him forwards, scooping him closer. There was a time once that Falco reached out for him, gently sought permission to be held. Now Peter finds him instead, pulling the smaller body (and not as small as it was the last time he embraced him, a little bigger, a little taller now) closer. )

Come here— It's all right.

( He says, gossamer-soft. Through the rippling waves of his own dissociation and the shock of what Falco Grice has just said to him. It slips in like a poison (ironic), down his throat and into his guts and it sits painful, but numb too. Somehow both. Nothing's been explicitly said but it doesn't take much to piece together the implications: I'm sick; I have until I'm twenty-five; didn't want to tell anyone—

Peter's touch is still careful, not pressing Falco firmly to his body, just... having him closer. He has to. And he can't crumble into whatever this really is, can't lose himself to his own throes of upset. Peter swallows, and steadies himself. He feels faraway when he asks, like someone else is talking instead. )

How long have you known about it? ( Is this something he's just been... carrying? )

[possessum]

( Paimon tilts his head as he listens, completely attuned to Ange's words, absorbing them in that intense way he has. This is important, so very important. To learn about the other versions of demons and Lucifer, to find more shapes to comprehend. Maybe it will help unlock something in himself as well, but in general he's just so eager to learn anything he can.

So all of them are sisters... That's certainly different from the things he's read about his own realm. )

Did she punish them? For.... bullying her.

( He has read how his own master can be vengeful, but he isn't something Paimon fears. Because like Ange says, how her Lucifer tried to look out for her... he believes his own would do the same. He has felt it in little snippets of memory here and there; he among the other kings has an especially strong connection to the master. But... admittedly, there is a small part of him who isn't entirely sure. There's so much he can't remember, and he has wondered about it. About his loyalty to a being he cannot remember much of. About whether Lucifer would... welcome those people Paimon has forged connection with. )

There was a... Lucifer here, once. Not mine. Not yours. Another. ( He was within Sam Winchester, and he was warm towards Paimon, but he could also be... cruel. )

My witch feared him. I did not like that.

[payingfordeliverance]

Ah, you've caught me. I'm no master at this "cooking" business, having only been at it for a year, but -- what I have learned, I've learned as best I can.

[Break's true advantage in the kitchen is simply that he really likes food, and thus has an idea of what he ought to be aiming for. There are a great many things he still doesn't understand, and a great many mistakes he makes with frequency. But damned if the man doesn't know his way around a spice rack, and the intentional nature of foods with several steps, such as the little pies, suits him very well.]

That it's turned out that I enjoy it has been a really pleasant surprise, you know?

8D

[azurestar]

[Panic makes things feel a lot more dire than they probably are. And when that horror movie demon possessed guy starts slithering across the ceiling like that, he screams harder and fires nails faster and wilder.

And then the googly eyes get dropped on his head and he screeches at a pitch he didn't realize he could reach. Which is impressive because he's a high tenor as it is. He flails, losing his grip on the gun, and tries to swipe at the eyes to get them off of himself, thinking they're something horrible and evil.

And he starts glowing blue-gold with star energy, his powers activating in response to his emotions. Some of those googly eyes get melted as they touch or get too close to him… sorry Paimon.]

AHHH GET EM OFF GET EM OFF!

[hauntedsavior]

Anna said nothing while NP cried. It was the least she felt like she could do, just being there for her, offering a shoulder, a body. A friend, when NP perhaps felt like she had few who remained. Anna knew, or thought she knew, exactly what this sort of thing felt like.

"Ah... so it's one of those parallel universe things. I think I get it." She kept stroking NP's hair while she talked. "Different versions of Penny, right? And even if you try to rebuild things with her, it's such an uphill battle it might not even be worth it." She said it like she'd been there, emotionally if not physically. "You're starting over, and that shit sucks, and you know that shit sucks. So I don't know if it matters if you tell her or not, right? 'Cause it's a different Penny. The outside is the same, but the inside is different."

She didn't know how that worked. She wasn't sure she ever would. But that was basically her understanding of things, blunt as it was.

[martyrofduty]

You have my word. Never lightly given. None of his words are.

Duty.

[manyone]

Sometimes that's all one needs. And despite your trickery--

[ A smirk, a knowing smile. ]

--the Endless and Golden Witch is in your debt. Don't hesitate to call on me, if you ever need something that I can provide. Even if it's just a cup of tea.

[chessboardturn]

I don't think I've gotten anything yet. I guess I have that to look forward to, huh?

[ He laughs softly. He can take a bit of a breather just to chat, right? Ange will yell at him if she thinks he's being too lazy. ]

How did, uh, yours help you out? What'd you get? How useful is it?

[shiro2hero]

"Just a bit - Maybe."

He's wiping his eyes. He's totally trying not to cry. And, honestly, only doing a marginally better job at hiding the tears than the laughter.

When he manages to throttle some of it down, scrubbing his face on the back of his hand (his real hand), there's a grin on his face instead. He's teary-eyed and beaming at her.

"I'm so proud of you guys."

[bolstafir]

Cassandra.

Looking around, she sees no further pressing trouble, so she pads back over to Qrow's side.

We'll meet again, Duty, she says in his mind, before she fades back into Qrow's chest in a wisp of black smoke.

[explosion]

I think the best things usually surprise you.

[ whether it be people, activities, places… wanda's been surprised many times over. her history's predominantly made up of people doing that.

she smiles and gestures vaguely to the kitchen. ]

Like… I never thought I'd ever want to build a house. I've never had any interest in buildings. I always thought they were kind of boring.

[schoolingfish]

"I'd love to see the stuff he's made!"

Luca likes making stuff, after all, so it's kind of neat that Paimon does too.

"Yeah, I understand. Back home a lot of people were afraid of my other form, too, but it got a lot better once they got to know me."

Once Massimo convinced them not to harpoon him and Alberto.