[Sanctuary] It's For The Birds! [Open]

[Raiha]

Open to all Sanctuary PCs!

For the design of Sanctuary's Mews, Socialization, Whatever.

40th of Spring, 510 AV.

It was late morning, and the late morning air was cool and crisp and clean, though the clouds above promised rain at some point. The sun poked holes in a few of them, just enough to offer some hope that they wouldn't drown by nightfall. As it was, with a little luck, the rain would hold off a while longer. As it was, they needed to put a mews up - only so many birds could live in the rafters, and Raiha had personal doubts about her goshawk's ability to get along well with other birds. Uzima needed her own space. Kefi had - not that she had ever been able to trust that kestrel with other birds. Today, she wanted to sit down with Kavala and figure out just how big of one they wanted to put up and where they would put the mews. When they had that done, they could order the material, and start putting it up.

Raiha had a decent idea of how the mews could go, even if she wasn't much of a hand at construction. But building things could be learned, and she understood how to use a hammer, at least, so it was a start. Besides, there was a surplus of talent here... and what they were building was not massively difficult to do. They had strength, plenty of hands, and they would have all of the necessary materials. Nothing was impossible. They'd need to figure out, of course, just how much. But that was why Raiha had gotten her hands on a sheaf of papers and a box of charcoal sticks for writing - they could sketch and draw and plan to their heart's content to come up with the perfect mews.

As it was, Raiha knew Asim was lurking nearby, Diallo was making a right nuisance of himself, acting like a pup (who didn't have days like that?) with a stick of driftwood that had washed up on the beach. He would clench it in his jaws, shake his head viciously, then send the log flying and chase after it, only to start all over again, occasionally giving Raiha the 'aren't I darling' look that every dog mastered at birth. The Akontak headed over to one of the many tables, carrying some sackcloth just in case she needed to wipe the table down to dry it. Her paper, charcoal, and a thin plank to write on were under her other arm. She'd mentioned to Kavala that they could get a start on designing the mews today, and with a bit of time in the morning... they could get it started.

[Asim]

Asim was nearby, standing a couple yards from Raiha, stepping out of the shadows every now and then, to scare anyone unlucky enough to be walking past him at that time. The jumps and small screams made the Kelvic chuckled, before he slid back into the shadows. When he had grown bored with that, he yawned and moved into the area where Raiha was, to see what she was doing. Maybe he could scare her, and then go take a nap somewhere. Or find something to eat. With a sigh, the Kelvic moved up behind Raiha, peeking over her shoulder. "What ya' doing?" he asked, right into her ear. Maybe that would scare her good.

[Kavala]

She came forth bearing fresh baked scones (a little well done on the bottom) and fresh tea that was spiced up with cinnamon and sugar to give them all a bit of energy for the day. The pastry was loaded with fruit (blackberries this time) and the mugs were empty, just gathered around the large steaming pitcher on the tray like ducklings hovering around an elegantly necked mother duck. She set the tray down, raised an eyebrow at the massive man lurking near Raiha, and decided he was the kelvic she'd been hearing about.

Kavala concentrated, opening up her senses, letting them expand.. and felt only a little bit of his boredom and curiosity. Definitely kelvic. She couldn't feel a man's emotions. And though his sheer size made her incredibly nervous, she tried not to show it. As it was, a light sweat gathered on her brow, causing her scales to glisten, and without meaning too, she was unusually jumpy.

"Good morning you two. Asim, I assume? I've seen your tracks around but haven't had the privilage of meeting you." Her voice seemed overly loud even in her own ears as she set the tray down. "I hope you both like tea and scones. Its about all I could manage for breakfast." She added then looked curiously at the design Raiha had started working on.

[Raiha]

OOCSo sorry for the long wait!

Asim had picked his timing well. She had just finished wiping the table and chairs with the sackcloth to make sure they were dry, and folded her limbs to make herself comfortable in one of the chairs when he struck. When Asim spoke directly in her ear, Raiha whipped around fast enough she actually got a crick in her neck, only to make a face at him before shaking her head and chuckling at herself, amused. “That’s never going to get old for you, is it? You’re going to keep at that, and find new ways to do it until you see me very literally jump out of my skin.”

“Do you want to sit with me?” she hooked a foot through one of the chairs beside her and moved it back. “Kavala and I were going to work on designing the mews for the raptors… you know, where we would keep the hawks and owls and such that come our way,” she explained, making vague gestures in the air in front of her, like she was trying to draw a building in the air. "Figure out how we want it to look, where she wants to put it, and so on. Are you hungry? We could go fishing later, if you want.” She picked up one of the charcoal pencils, setting the pages down on the plank, beginning a rough sketch, just getting a feeling of how Sanctuary looked when you put it out on paper. Sometimes that helped with the planning perspective. At least, it did for Raiha.

She looked up at Kavala’s approach, then, her stomach loudly appreciative of the marvelous-smelling scones and the tea – not to mention the presentation. “That looks great,” Raiha beamed at her friend, pulling a chair out for her as well. “Thank you! I’ll try my hand at dinner,” she offered, grinning a little at that. If they caught some fish, well, that wasn’t so bad. Fish and bread and vegetables, maybe. Scale it, flame it, take it off the bone... If there was no luck at fish, well, she'd stop in and get her paws on some meat for dinner in Riverfall. She didn't blame Kavala for being nervous from Asim's sheer size. It took some getting used to.

The page was mostly blank - she had started making an outline of Sanctuary as it stood now... and from there, she would pick out all the places Kavala had mentioned putting it before, when they had first met. It wasn't the neatest set of blueprints ever produced, but by the time Raiha put the charcoal stick down and turned it towards Kavala, it was readable, at least, and the Konti could understand what the other was trying to get across. Marked with 'x's on the map were the potential places that had been suggested before: over one of the staff residences, outside of the courtyard, and opposite of the veranda. She wiped her hands on the sackcloth to get rid of the charcoal. "See anything that really grabs your attention?"

[Asim]

Asim grinned at Raiha, and leaned back, so he could star down at her. "Nah. I'll keep doing it until I get bored. Then I'll find something else to do. Maybe scare Kavala," he replied, adding a bow towards the Konti. "Yes. I am Asim. I've smelled you around, and wondered who you were. A pleasure to meet you," he replied, smiling as he lifted a scone from the tray and took a bite from it.

He sat down next to Raiha as he did, settling himself in a position that would allow him to shoot to his feet at any sign of trouble, but also allow him to relax. And it would allow the Konti, who was visibly shaking, to relax some. He knew his size intimidated some people, and he enjoyed it most of the time, but not when he was trying to relax. He took another bite of the scone and stared at it for a minute, before looking at Kavala. "What's in this?" he asked.

[Kavala]

Kavala smiled, setting down the scones and smiling as Asim took one. A bear with a full stomach was a bear that wasn't going to put fresh Konti meat in it as well. Kavala smiled, and started to relax a bit. She looked over Raiha's plans and looked thoughtful, liking the way she was designing mews and setting things up. One question though, that had plagued her over and over, was where to put it. In that regard, she had an idea.

"How about we take the quarters you're using now... and the storage stall next to it.. turn that into a stairway leading up, tear the roof off the Servants Quarters there, and add a second story? We could make the upper room an apartment for a Falconer and then combine it with a mews. If we replace the roof with a solid floor, we can reuse the roof for the upper stories, just add a few beams, and then redesign so we can make it all work. We'll already have the roof for the second story if we're careful taking it down, and it should be a nice lofty comfortable place for the birds. What do you think?" Raiha was using the room on the same side of the courtyard as the round pen, so that would be the obvious choice for the mews.

"Then, we can do the same to the other side after the Mews is done and have more places for people to stay. Sometimes I feel like its a little crowded here with not enough rooms." She added, knowing she was game to swing a hammer and get some of the woodwork done.

Kavala took a bite of the scone, sighed in pleasure, and then sipped her tea. They had a lot of work ahead of them, first of which she decided was actually building the stairway so they could take down the roof with ease. The storage shed would need to be cleaned out, its contents relocated to its twin on the other side of the facility, and they'd need to start constructing a stairway up. She'd probably have to run to town with her plans and get enough wood to do the work. It would mean selling another foal, but that was fine with her.

[Raiha]

Raiha put the charcoal down once she had gotten some rough sketches out, and helped herself to a scone, secretly thrilled at how big they were. One bite told her that they were thick and rich and flaky, and she could taste the butter. Quite frankly, Raiha loved food. Short of incinerating it, she wasn't picky - if it wasn't poisonous, she would eat absolutely anything. Maybe that was one of the reasons she got on with Asim. Most bears were omnivorous - they, too, would eat essentially everything. Fish, fruit, grasses, meat, whatever, even roots and vegetables. She wasn't certain she'd eat an insect, but, well, if desperate times called for desperate measures...

As she nibbled on the scone, determinedly demolishing the quickbread, she listened to Kavala, nodding slowly. She tilted her head a little bit, and looked at the roof in question. "That works. That works really well," she said thoughtfully, wiping her hand off on her pants before carefully pouring herself some tea, mindful not to spill, and watched the steam wafting off of it before clearly deciding to let it cool - Raiha had never been very good at waiting for tea, and had on more than one occasion burned her mouth without thinking - and picking up her charcoal stick and starting to sketch what Kavala had suggested on top of what was already there, nodding as she carefully noted lines. She had been concerned about how big she should offer some sketches - she didn't want to interrupt too much of Kavala's operation with space for birds. This way, that was less of a concern. "I like it. That gives us a lot of space, and with the roofs slanted and reinforced, that will protect against the snow..." the Akontak was beginning to look excited at the ideas. She loved the idea of being close to the mews - not only for the utility of it, but because she simply liked to be around them. And Asim had spent so much time in the wild... so hopefully the presence of the birds wouldn't bother him too much, either.

Beams, supports... well, Raiha figured Kavala knew what she was doing there. She had built the place from the ground up before, after all. "Where do you want to get started? Do we have to go into town to get any building plans approved? I don't know how they operate here," She admitted before testing her tea cautiously for the temperature, and, deciding it was cool enough, had a long sip of it. "I've got money put aside to help with the costs." There was no way, either, she could spend all of what Kavala was paying her on herself and Asim - this, at least, was an excellent way to reinvest it.

[Kavala]

Kavala shook her head. "No, we don't need any modifications approved. The Council keeps a close eye on the place as it is, so they'll just note the changes anyhow. What we need to do though is figure out how much wood we need for the stairway and put that in first. So, we need to clean out the shed, move it to the other storage on the other side, then measure for a good solid stairway. Once we calculate what we need, I can run to town - probably as the shed is being cleaned out so we can double up those duties - and bring back a wagon of wood. The lumber yard owner has been eying one of the Windrunner foals, so I'll take it along since they've all been weaned and see what I can trade straight across. I'll record the transaction as cash, so it will help the books look right, and bring back the wood. We'll need nails from the smithy too.. and probably a few extra crowbars. Once the stairway is cut and put in place, we can set Asim to tearing - carefully - the roof down." Kavala added, pulling out her measuring tape and getting started on the math she'd need to do to figure out what sort of wood they needed for the stairway.

It took her quite some time to do the calculations... but at the end, she had a good working sketch of the stairs (which were simple to make really), and an idea of what sort of support she needed for them.

In the end, she decided to make the stairway the full length of the storage shed so it was nice and wide. They'd block in underneath making a nice closet storage for the guest/servant quarters on the other side. She'd need two really long support beams for the roof, and four more to add to the square corners on the upper floors. Then, they'd need sheeting for the walls, material for the subfloors though the tresses and beams for the roof could be reused and wouldn't need to be replaced. Kavala took careful notes and decided in the end to take along some coin and an extra foal just in case, before she saddled Windsong and took the two foals off to the lumber supplier. She'd leave Raiha and Asim to clean out the shed so she could be gone and back - and hopefully have enough time to get an evening delivery of wood if what the women wanted was on hand.

When she returned, the announcement was "Wood tomorrow morning at first light, he had all of it but needed to cut a few more." They actually had time, if they could get the ladder up, to start tearing off the roof tiles even before the stairway was constructed. The stairway itself would take a day - probably the next one - to get started. Until then, they could remove the tile roof, gently pry off the sheeting of wood that had supported it, and begin to take down the trusses.

[Raiha]

Raiha nodded at Kavala's explanations. That made sense. She got down to work with her friend and employer, writing down measurements and helping where she could with that before getting to working on the storage shed. Soon she was busying herself with Kelvic. Raiha could give as good as she got in this regard - she couldn't carry as much as Asim could, no, but that didn't prevent her from making as many trips as she had to to make up for it. She was in a good mood, though - they were going to get this built, and then they could really fill the mews up. She looked forward to it. More space meant more birds, and the more birds they had, well... okay, so that was reaching and being greedy. Uzima was an excellent bird. But Raiha wouldn't mind getting her hands on a large owl for hunting at night. But all in good time.

Back and forth the pair of them went, carting things out of the storage shed to the opposite shed, and Raiha only stopped when Asim's stomach was rumbling at full bore every time she passed him. The scones had been finished, and the Akontak hurried to the veranda, and started on sandwiches and tea. As nice as it was, they had been out for a while, and for someone who was still getting used to the much colder temperatures of Riverfall, tea was very, very nice. Besides people would be going in and out, also wanting food and drink. She hacked away at loaves of bread with a bread knife, slapped on butter, before adding thick slices of yellow-orange cheese. More butter followed on the outsides of the bread, and she stuck them on large griddles over the fire as she added tea to the fine mesh steeping ball, locked it, and stuck it in the pot before adding boiling water.

With a stack of sandwiches cooked, Asim and the others fed, and more of the ingredients waiting for Kavala's return - cold grilled sandwiches were never good, if one asked Raiha - and the Akontak would make Kavala's for her then. They were finishing with the shed, having neatly stacked everything and swept out the old shed. As soon as she spotted Kavala coming up the road, Raiha hurried inside to get Kavala's sandwiches and fresh tea so that she would have them when she wanted them. "Sounds good to us. The shed is done, and we found a ladder," she grinned at Asim. If there was wood tomorrow, then they could start the preparation work for today and get a good portion of it done. "Did it take both foals?" the Akontak wanted to know as she pressed the plate of grilled cheese sandwiches to Kavala, still holding a large mug of tea for the Konti when she was ready for them.

[Kavala]

Kavala made it back after ordering the wood and was pleasantly surprised to find sandwiches waiting. She took a break (though she'd done no work!) and fed herself. All the while, her mind kept roaming to the storage, its closet, and how the stairway would be built. There was, however, very little they could do until the wood arrived. But Kavala did her best. With Asim's help she moved over sawhorses, her carpentry kit, and all the tools they'd need as soon as the wood was delivered. A small folding table was set up as 'headquarters' and Kavala took all the measurements for the stairs.

Then carefully, she began to lay out the sketch of the stairs, using blank parchment, pen & ink, and eventually a little color wash to overlay the stairs so the design was easy for everyone to see. They probably couldn't do the scroll work on the railing without a proper lathe, but square posts would be functional enough. She simply added in the scroll work for artistic flare as she worked. Soon enough, the drawing was done and she added the dimensions to it she wanted for both the length, width, and height of the steps.

Awsten came over as well, joining the bear as the two men spent what little light was left beginning to port down the roof tiles and stack them neatly off to the side for reuse later. And so, when the roof was totally deconstructed, lay on the floor waiting for the new wood, the workers called it a day and would begin again after chores in the morning.

~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, after horses were fed and the chores were all done, Kavala gathered with Raiha, Asim, and Awsten to go over the plans. Soon after, a wagon rattled up, loaded to the sprung seat, and began to unload wood. Kavala pitched in to help, along with the men, and together the five people got it stacked neatly in the arena so the work could begin. Kavala then took out her plans for the stairway that she'd drawn carefully the previous night. Counting the wood and the pieces they'd need, Kavala carefully separated out the parts for the stairs out of her delivery order and began cutting the wood. Each piece had to be measured twice, cut once, and frugally looked at so that each and every bit of wood was used to its fullest extent. Once they got the boards cut, it was definitely time to assemble the pieces. Kavala was glad, in that moment, they had a forge at Sanctuary and could indeed create their own nails and fasteners.

Once cut, Kavala gathered the group to start building the stairway which consisted of putting the runners and risers in first, then laying each step out from the top tot he bottom neatly then nailing them in place. Once she got to the bottom, she could then go back up and add in the railing, which she decided to attach to the wall having modified her plans slightly to make sure the stairs were as wide as possible, filling the whole closet space.