Open Claiming Territory

[Ereck Darkshade]

Spring, 28th, Year 514 Collapsed house, outer Sunset Quarters On one of those rare days which Ereck actual saw some sunlight, the house had been devoid of anything remotely edible, he had moved out of the Sunset Quarters via an alternate route and had crossed into the marketplace from the outskirts of the city. The trip had been quiet and on the way back Ereck had taken a wrong turn, ending up in a dead end street with several broken down and collapsed houses, all empty. Without anyone to occupy the space, Ereck had taken the liberty to look around the place, intrigued by this show of destruction. With the bag of groceries in one hand, Ereck had carefully stepped his way over a pile of bricks and stones that had collapsed from the roof and a side of the wall. He had memorized the location and had made his way back home with his groceries. For several days he had done nothing but sleep and work his way through the night. The location had remained on his mind and, after having tried to discard it several times, Ereck had woken up in the middle of the day and had put on an old shirt and pants and had hooked his sickle onto his belt. With the sun touching his face, a somewhat unfamiliar feeling, Ereck stood in the same dead end street, looking at the three houses that made up the dead end. In front of him the house seemed quite well kept, the front door was there and the windows were only slightly cracked. The walls were standing up and the flat roof was hidden from his sight. But when he opened the door, which wasn't locked, the sight became something else entirely. The back of the house had collapsed outwards, leaving nothing behind. The roof had fallen inwards and had created several piles of broken roof tiles on the floor. The left and right wall both hand been cut diagonally, leaving half of each wall standing to support the seemingly Sunberth-perfect front of the house. The sun continued to shine on Ereck's face as he walked over the rubble, picking through it. After a few chimes he walked back out the door and into the dead end street. Turning his face back to the door, Ereck looked left and towards the house there. This one was the most intact out of the three creating the dead end corner. Except for the one corner of the house that had completely collapsed, leaving three fourth of the house standing. From the roof down to the ground someone had seemingly cut out a quarter of the house, nearly perfectly. The rubble had been cleaned away by some unknown previous owner and the inside was relatively clean, apart from the dust and some torn old rags. There was nothing else inside. Time had claimed its toll however and the roof was sagging now, dangerously so. Ereck decided not to try his luck against the forces of gravity and turned around. The last house, the one opposite the three-fourth one, had collapsed in what seemed like a circular fashion. The front was completely gone but the wall away from the first house went up and up, more of the wall standing still near the back of the house. From there it ran towards the first house again, higher and higher until the wall touched the roof of the house. A section of the roof, or the first floor Ereck wasn't sure, hung from the front wall of the first house. All in all, Ereck had found himself quite a treasure and the best part was that nobody in Sunberth had any interest in his treasure. He walked slowly inside the third house, even though almost the entire 'inside' of the house was now outside. He walked towards the back wall and placed his hands against it. Bracing his feet, Ereck pushed against the wall. Drawing on all his strength, the only thing Ereck managed to move were his feet as they slid in the dust on the ground, away from the wall. Turning to the wall, Ereck leaned his back against the wall and pushed against it with his whole back, his feet slipping in the dust again. Panting, breathing a little labored, Ereck smiled and patted the wall. This would do just fine. Ereck walked to the side wall, which stopped somewhere near the front and placed his foot on the first brick that made up the wall. Carefully he put his other foot down on the next brick. With his arms outstretched, Ereck walked a few more steps, carefully testing each brick with his foot before placing his full weight on it. The potential danger of the wall crumbling down underneath him had his heart racing and he could feel every beat in his head and throat. The sense of danger brought the tiniest smile to Ereck's lips as he focused on his next step. The brick felt solid as he nudged it with his foot from the side. He stepped forward and put some weight on it, carefully angling his foot left and right to see if the brick moved under him. When it didn't, Ereck stepped forward, lifting his other foot and bringing it to the next brick. The brick that supported his weight suddenly cracked and broke off from the wall. Ereck's entire body shifted to the left and his arms waved in an attempt to keep his balance but gravity already had its grip on him. The hard stepped dirt floor he landed on knocked the air out of him and he tried to gasp for air. The lung fulls of air he managed to inhale were full of dust, thrown up by Ereck's impact with the ground. His entire side throbbed from the impact and his hip, which had landed on the chain and the scythe hanging there, felt particularly bruised. Coughing from the dust, Ereck rolled over from his painful side and reached down to his hip, grunting as he removed the scythe and chain. Angry at himself for having left the weapon there he threw the sickle and the chain into a nearby pile of rubble. Blood welled up on his hip, seeping through the cloth of his pants. As Ereck sat up and saw the red stain, he reached one hand for it and touched the fabric. As he did, the fabric parted where the sickle had cut it and showed a shallow cut in Ereck's hip. With another grumble Ereck turned his leg so he could see the wound better and inspected it. It was shallow enough for the bleeding to have already stopped but the cut was long and moved in a curve down his leg stopping near his hip. Finding himself double stupid, Ereck smashed his fist onto the solid ground and hurt himself again. He ignored the pain in his hand as he ran his fingers along the cut. It seemed the wound was shallow all over and had already stopped bleeding. As he ignored the pain in his hand and the light sting along the entirety of his upper leg, Ereck pushed himself up from the ground. Testing his cut leg, Ereck found he could stand on it and move it easily. While the cut was there it seemed like it was nothing but annoying. Ereck grimaced at himself and moved over to his weapon, giving his cut leg some slack and leaning on the other one. As he hobbled back into the street, Ereck found his mind wandering and creating something solid, something it rarely ever did. He followed the train of thought as he started to hobble home and liked where it ended up.

[Ereck Darkshade]

Later in the same day, Ereck found himself back in the same dead-end street, this time with a full stomach. The wound on his leg had been bound with a simple piece of ripped up cloth he had gotten from his home. His pants had been quickly stitched, resulting in a somewhat airy feeling on his cut leg. The cut still stung lightly as Ereck leaned on the leg and he shifted his weight to his other leg. He looked at the right house, which was mostly intact, then at the left one, which his idea needed the most work done for. Then he faced forward and walked towards the middle house. He limped somewhat as he could feel the healing wound pull with every step. The bandages kept everything well in place, however, and he reached the door without problem. Behind it he found the open space of the edge of the Sunset Quarters. The house had nothing left but the front wall and the two side wall to support it, although both were already half gone from when the house had collapsed. Ereck wondered what had happened to each house as he looked over the rubble in the place. Perhaps here he could create simply open space, nothing else. Space to move, space to practice, space away from the prying eyes of passerbys in the street on the other side of the wall. At least away from their eyes once he blocked off the cracked window next to the door. Behind the house, or behind where the house had once ended, was open space, with rubble stretched out over it. Perhaps it had once been a garden of some kind or it had been cleared to expand the house. Maybe an even older house had been there that had been scavenged to build the newer one. Who knew what the space had been used for before. Ereck turned back to the door and walked to one of the bigger rubble piles near it. Starting on top he pulled a piece of wood, rotten to the core, from the top and swung it behind him, towards the open space, where it cracked and splintered upon crashing into the ground. No, this was the wrong approach. Ereck stood up from the rubble pile and looked to the side of the house. There, more rubbled lined the two half walls and he moved over to them. From there he would get a good start. Sifting through the rubble, Ereck piled all the larger stones or bricks together from the rubble, creating a secondary pile next to it, purely made up of stones. Sparing his cut leg, Ereck knelt down and leaned on his good leg next to the second pile of rubble. With the stones he started to build where the wall ended, piling up the stones on top of each, forming a makeshift wall, barely a hand in height. He pulled stones from the pile and placed them on top of each other, trying to fit them as stable as possible. Some of the rubble was tossed back to the first pile for its unsuitability for the task. The rest was used up as he formed the low wall. From where he had started, Ereck piled up stone next to stone. He lined what he thought had been the wall of the house and then worked his way into the open space behind it. Reaching the limit of his reach, Ereck stood up and moved over to the pile. He grabbed two stones and tossed them into the open space, near the middle of it. He continued to toss stones, watching them bounce from the ground as they landed. Some cracked and splintered as they hit the ground at the right angle or as they collided with other stones. Both his arms were starting to struggle at the work, not used to the hard labor. It was getting difficult to swing his arms in order to launch the stones towards their intended target. Once the pile had been sufficiently launched towards the middle, Ereck moved after his stones and started to pile them up in the middle, creating a second pile of stones to be used in creating his little wall of stones. While not a single Sunberthian soul would respect the wall it did cordon of a certain space to be used as a ring or area to practice in. Ereck continued where his wall had stopped and picked up more stones to pile up along the line he had designated in his mind. He fitted the stones together, often switching out stones a few paces back for ones he thought with make it even more stable. As the sun moved lower to the horizon, the sky turned a shade darker and Ereck finished his little wall. From where he had started near the left wall, Ereck had cordoned off an area about twice the size of what he thought had been the house, based on the size of the intact house outside and had connected the wall to the right one. He had stopped near where the wild grass and weeds were getting too bad to really use the space. Perhaps in time he would cut them down and use the space as well. For now, it would do. Standing and stretching, Ereck let out a satisfied groan. Having been bent over the wall for a while now, Ereck's back popped back into place as he stretched. His arms had managed to recover somewhat from his throwing practice earlier. With a satisfied look on his face Ereck looked around his work.

[Buras]

Buras was out for a walk, but not for just the pleasure of walking. He was out trying to decide if it was worth moving his stuff into a house, or just staying in his tent. Turning a nondescript corner, Buras realizes he is in a dead end. The houses had an abandoned feel to them, and one wasn't suitable to live in. But one looked to be in relatively good shape. Waste not want not, or something like that. Buras thought as he approached the house that was in better shape. When he entered the house, he was met by two things. One was that the back wall was gone and was in the process of being fixed. The second was that someone was in there. Backing out of the door and getting out of site, Buras wonders who that stranger might be. Does he live here, don't think so. Does he own this, probably. Has he been here long? Judging by the size of the wall, probably not. Would he let me come in? If he does, could we work out a deal? Well only one way to find out. Feigning ignorance, Buras says, "Hello. Anyone here?" Shortly after saying that, he steps out from around the door, again feigning ignorance to anyone inside. Acting surprised, Buras says, "Oh, hello. Thought I heard something." Then he sees the weapon at the man's side. He didn't have to act to be uneasy. "Well, you were certainly busy." Deciding to come right out with what he wanted, Buras says, "I was looking for a place to stay, and this place looked pretty good. And I doubt I will find another as good with no one already in it. How about, I help you, and we can split the place, fifty-fifty. How does that sound to you?"

[Ereck Darkshade]

Ereck spun about on his feet as he heard the voice behind him. The weapon was in his hand before he finished his 180 turn. All thoughts of fatigue were gone from his mind as he stared at the man by the door. Intruder? Curious passerby? Killer? Ereck regarded the man until he spoke again. The more he talked the more Ereck realized it was the second one. Just a simple person looking for a place to stay that did not involve paying money or getting your throat cut by some friendly Sunberthians. Ereck put the sickle back on his belt as he regarded the man in front of him. He didn't seem very interesting and Ereck found himself looking into the man's eyes. Nothing said he couldn't be at least a touch friendly. "You can stay on the house on the left." Ereck spoke with his dark voice as he pointed to a point behind the wall, where the three-quarter house was located. "After we close it up." With a casual wave of his hand, Ereck motioned for the man to walk back out the door and in to the dead end street. There was no reason to not be nice but there was also no reason to show his back to anyone. Ereck decided to let the other man walk out first and would then follow him into the street. There was enough distance between them for the man to feel relatively safe in turning his back on Ereck for the few ticks it took him to walk back outside. Or rather, back to the other side of the wall, as both areas where outside. On their right, after walking out of the door, stood the house Ereck had motioned towards. While it was indeed open in one corner of the house it was the only place, out of the three, that had any part of the roof remaining. "If we block this off you can stay here, no problem." Ereck regarded the big hole in the house with a ponderous look on his face. Without his night leather outfit Ereck looked like just another young Sunberthian adult with a sickle and chain at his belt. Having the man stay here would serve many purposes. One: Ereck wouldn't have to stay here. Two: Someone would be occupying the space, deterring other from doing the same. Three: There were no valuables inside any of the three houses, all of them long gone, so there was no danger of finding anything stolen. Four: It would probably require not more than a single slash should the man prove to become a nuisance. Ereck turned his mind back to the gap in the house. "If we use some wood planks, we can set up a temporary patch for this. We also need a support for the roof and then you can stay inside no problem." He turned to the man to see what he thought of it all. "Oh. I'm Ereck, by the way. You?" The young man regarded the other man as he waited for his response.

[Buras]

"People call me Buras." Buras says in response to the man. Looking at the hole in the corner, he can see that Ereck is making sense. "All that makes sense. But where are we going to get some wood that isn't all rotten, let alone big enough, to hold up the ceiling? It can stay the way it is for now. But when we do get to it, it would probably be easier to stack smaller pieces of wood or stone." Turning to Ereck, Buras goes on. "And what about the winters? This one was bad enough, but what about the next one? Or the one after that? It could be worse, and a patch job won't keep out the cold. We could do what you are doing in that other house. When we put some mortar in the cracks, it should keep the chill out nicely." Buras had an idea for some cheap mortar, some melted scraps were the main ingredient. If Ereck helped him with fixing up his share, he would help him with his. A fair trade if you ask me.

[Ereck Darkshade]

Ereck regarded the man as he made some valid points. And some not so valid ones. Winter? Really? It would take three whole seasons before they got to cold winter again. That gave them ninety days per seasons for a total of... Ereck's head started to hurt around 160 as he tried to add all those days together. "Winter is far off. We'll have time to come up with something permanent by then. Besides, the wood is only temporary. Wouldn't want you to die under a collapsed roof tonight." Ereck turned to look at the middle house where he had been stacking stones simply to cordon off the area he had in mind as training space. It had never even occurred to him to make the training ground inside. Too much of the house was missing for the young night guard to contemplate fixing it. "That was just to set off an area. I wasn't intending on building anything there. It's an open training space. Or it will be, once I finish." Ereck turned his attention back to the house in front of them. "We could indeed try and restore the wall here if you know how to make mortar. It'll be an easier job. And we can use some simple wood for now to close up the roof bit." Ereck regarded the middle of the roof, where it was at its lowest point, slowly sagging down more as time passed. They would need to support that first, somehow, and then focus on the wall with Buras' mortar thing. For the roof, they could break down some old shack, what they called a house in Sunberth, somewhere and scavenge it for wood parts. Ereck pointed to the low hanging roof section. "We should start with a support there, a wood beam or something. Then we can focus on the wall. There's not much time left for today so I don't know if we'll be able to finish before I have to start work, though." Ereck looked back at Buras and wondered how things would turn out in the future. If there was any kind of future for this place.

[Buras]

Buras looked where Ereck was pointing, nodding as if he understood what he was talking about. "We should start with a support there, a wood beam or something. Then we can focus on the wall. There's not much time left for today so I don't know if we'll be able to finish before I have to start work, though." "Well, job comes first. Might need all the copper we can get to fix this place up. How about we meet back here tomorrow, or whenever you can get back here." Turning to look at Ereck, he thought of what this encounter might bring. At the least, a room mate of some sort. At best, he may become a friend or someone I can trust. Walking out the door, Buras waves good bye for the day. Finding his way back to the tent city, Buras wonders where he can put teddy if he does decide to actually move there. OOCExit Buras, unless this will keep going on this thread. Then I will be back