[Sanctuary] The Most Important Part of Laboratory is Labor

[Kavala]

Timestamp: Summer, 25th day, Early Morning

Kavala kept telling herself there was just a little more of the Within to finish, but she knew in fact it wasn't true. There was a lot more to finish and for that matter it would probably never be done. But certain things couldn't wait, and the philtering lab and workrooms were certainly one of those things. Kavala had been at it for hours, having cleared out the hallway as per the blueprints down to the point where the second brace of private quarters could be added in. Workers were helping her, day hires from the city that wheeled debris down cooridors and away after she'd changed the stone to sand forming the structures she wanted formed.

The Laboratory and storage were carved out as well, emptied, and the laborers were sent on their way. Now, there was nothing left but stonework, adding in tables, benches, cupboards, and designing the empty space which could all be made with stone. She'd need someone to cart in the crate after crate of glassware they'd scrounged from the ruins above and the new things they'd had delivered and stowed until such a time as they'd got the workroom cleaned out.

Kavala wielded a piece of chalk, began walking around the room, and decided that all the walls needed countertops much like a kitchen with below and above cupboards punctuated by open spaces that formed 'desk' like places where people working could sit with stools and get projects done.

Once she was done marking things out, plus adding a chalk square to the center of the room for a large set of islands, she turned to Serrif.

"What do you think, Serrif? Counters and Cupboards in here, floor to ceiling storage in the other room where we store things? I'd like to keep the glassware in here and any chemicals and components in the other room. Or can you think of a better plan?" She asked, hopeful that she was on the right track. Serrif had a Mura background. And while Kavala had studied there briefly, she'd been involved in medicine at the Opal Temple not necessarily the labs there.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

Serrif had been one of those day laborers; wielding a shovel he had cleared away plenty of fine sand into the laborers wheelbarrows as they took the sand and dumped it on the beach. There it would likely blend in with the rest of the sand eventually. He also helped clear away any other debris that Kavala found pesky and out of place. It was warm and hot work and as such he wore boots black cotton pants and gloves. He had forgone a shirt for now so he could let his skin breathe. He had worked up a decent sweat as he had been doing most of the shoveling for the workers earlier in the day. He had found the perfect pace between loads and timed the workers out appropriately so that he didn’t have workers standing around waiting on him to finish shoveling sand.

It helped that Kavala was particular about things as well; she was measured in every one of her movements and how she wanted things laid out. Which was good for the time being it meant he could keep slightly ahead of her. But it was hard because when Kavala was driven to do something she was unstoppable. There were times that he could hardly keep ahead of her sand creation and a few times that he had gotten little behind. In all though he had kept his mind about him and labored on shoveling away the sand. It was interesting to see how Kavala turned unyielding stone into sand which could easily be carried away. He knew she could do far more though, which interested him even more.

Kavala dismissed the day labor and Serrif grabbed a broom to gather the remnants of the sand on the groun. He knew he had shoveled up most of it but he didn’t want to leave a large amount of sand on the ground if he could help it. Meanwhile Kavala was walking about the room with chalk marking things she was going to add. Serrif was a quick study and swept up the sand quickly putting it into a dustpan and emptying it into a wheelbarrow that he would dump on the beach at a later time. But right now he was busy making some of the final touches before they finally ended up crafting out this area for good. There was much to think about and as Kavala marked things the room began to take shape in his mind.

He knew that next on the list was likely getting the glassware and such that they had in storage. They had salvaged some of the glassware after the storms had shaken everything down. But they had also purchased some to replenish anything that was destroyed; because the glassware was essential to the operation here. But Serrif needed a little bit of a rest, his arms burned as did his lower back from bending over and scooping up the sand. Burning was a welcome feeling though, because there wasn’t anything worth having that you didn’t have to invest blood or sweat in. And he knew that by investing his labor here that it would pay dividends later. He just wasn’t sure how much yet.

Kavala grabbed his attention and Serrif set aside the broom as he looked around. It was a little more than he thought he would get. But at the same time it allowed for expansion which was very important to him. Who knew what direction the Sanctuary would take for sure? Maybe one day they would have a healing academy of their own where they would take in students and pupils and teach them the art of healing. He believed Kavala had laid plans for such a thing, but again he couldn’t be sure himself.

“Yes…Hmmmmmmmmm” He said as he walked around the room and then looked around, there was a blank canvas here…four hundred feet of blank canvas for him to do whatever with. This would be the lab where he would work; where he would spend his time…He started to picture the layout in his mind little by little.

He stood near one of the tables and looked around, what was near him? What was far away? All this was important because there were certain things that he would want near himself and other things he wouldn’t need immediately or in any timely fashion that he could have be out of reach. He could imagine several people all working at once, what was important to have? What would a good layout be for the room?

What she was proposing would be good. Ad he looked at the chalkmarks laid out on the floor he nodded some. Pacing through the room step by step. He walked over to where the counter space and cupboards would be. He and others could use this counter space for projects and then store the pieces they needed in the countertops below and above them. That worked but where would all of the glassware itself be stored before being gathered up for projects and the like.

“The lab I was used to was much simpler than this one. There were only a few large tables for projects and a few cupboards for storage of what few pants she kept on hand not in the garden and then all her glassware.” He stretched his sore muscles some and continued to look around…he would have to envision what was to be for this space and do so carefully.

He walked around for a few minutes forming the space in his head. It wasn’t that hard for him to form the space but he needed a little time. He had to think of everything in his head so that the space could be well planned and not need any adjustments in the near future. They may need to expand eventually, but right now he needed a small setup that could hold him for some time. In his mind the islands rose up off the floor and the desks and cupboards formed against the walls. Now how would he use all this? He would get glassware…but from where? Would he store glassware all around the room in the cupboards? What if someone was working on something? He didn’t want to have to bother them if he could avoid it.

His eyes fell to the eastern wall, which could easily be turned into storage doing away with a few of these intricately created desks. But they didn’t need those desks right now. He didn’t want to jam too many people into this room. Philtering and medicine creation were sometimes delicate undertakings and having too many people around could make things extremely chaotic. Something he wanted to avoid if he could.

There was space for plenty of desks laid out on the walls but really with the islands and such there wasn’t need for as many desks. “What about having all the storage over here on this wall? That way all the glassware can be in a central location easily accessible and everyone will know what is in use or already used. I don’t want people stashing glassware away in cupboards at their desk and forgetting about it. This way the storage at the desks can be open with no door meant for people to lay down glassware and the likes for the project they are working on and everything else can go here.”

He walked to the east wall and tapped it indicating this was where he wanted glassware storage to go. “A wall of shelves and the like about six inches deep or so to store glassware in.” He continued to think some more as he envisioned the shelves. What would the issues here be? Glassware was expensive and sometimes very fragile. He had never broken any of Lym’s but he was always very careful…and her shelves were setup a little differently.

He pictured them…he remembered they were slightly slanted toward the back and there was a small raised lip at the end. Those would be good. “Lyms shelves were setup a little different than normal. They were slanted, just slightly toward the back to prevent things from rolling forward onto the ground. There was also a leading raised lip that helped even more with this.” He put his hand on the eastern wall and nodded. This was going to go well…

“What do you think?” He said turning around facing Kavala, he was interested in her opinion of the matter as well. This was her Sanctuary at the end of the day. She could do whatever she wanted to.