Solo A Watch and a Listen

[Crylon Stonecraft]

40 Summer 520 Crylon spent more time than he had expected at the Outpost. He considered himself a caretaker of the Meraki, at least in regards to its buildings and things. But in the Demesne, their need for the former was limited. The main structure was the Gem, or what Crylon still affectionately called as that with whatever it had been renamed as, but due to its nature it did not really need much in the way of maintenance. Not as long as Kelski was around to provide for and take care of the structure. Which meant he had nothing to do but maintain the outlying structures, buildings, random broken fences, and the like. Some other things still needed his attention. Broken or bent nails, rusty metal needing buffing or replacing, or the handle on someones chest of drawers broken off. Nothing serious. Here though, in the Outpost, the building was not by any means magical. It was... Normal. Which meant normal wear and tear. Normal maintenance. Normal work to keep things in order, to maintain structures and things and to make sure the buildings did not fall apart. Without a controlling intelligence, without being alive, much more work was needed. And so he seemed to spend as much time if not more in the Outpost on repairs as he did at the Demesne. However after all that time, Crylon had realized he had not had a chance to look around and check in on Kelski's jewelry shop. It was right off the main Riad, but it was its own structure. He knew people worked there besides Kelski, but he did not know them too well. He assumed they knew him, as he was often around the Riad doing work, maintenance, general repair, and the like. Small things but needed. Starting off he entered the place, leaving from the Riad and heading to the new structure by the back entrance. Knocking he headed inside, being greeted by... One of the men who ran the place in Kelski's absence, and assisted her when she was there. Crylon however could honestly not tell them apart. He had enough trouble telling apart humans, what with them looking so alike, but with this group of them being so similar Crylon really could not tell them apart at all. He half believed they were the same person, if he had not seen them at the same time in a group of more than one. Family at least? Crylon could not tell, and was not willing to stress over it. He could see some semblance of recognition in the mans eyes at seeing Crylon, which seemed positive if nothing else. "Ah, hello, I am Crylon. I am a member of the Meraki. You may have seen me around the Riad. I work as a sort of... General contractor. I do maintenance, repairs, build things when needed, like that. I was going to look around today, if that's alright?" "Sure, Crylon. Just make sure to be unobtrusive. Stay out of the display cases. And don't move anything in Kelski's workshop. " Crylon nodded, satisfied with those conditions, and heading around the side of the shop to begin his search. WC: 528

[Crylon Stonecraft]

First things first, Crylon began by walking twice around the building. Once just to get a feel for it, finding he could only go so far on either side before running into the wall the shop was built into. The second time to count out the distance, getting a good rough measure of the building in terms of size and scale. Then he took the next step, actually going inside. Going in as if he was a customer, Crylon worked his way in through the first entrance. This opened into a nice waiting area, coming in directly from a nicer part of the Bazaar with more upscale and expensive items. The floor was tile, clearly well laid as Crylon could not so much as see a crack between two. They had been laid with much more skill than Crylon had in such things. There he found thick cushioned furniture, along with display cases and statues. Ones unlike any Crylon had seen before, more a show of jewelry and jewels than any other function. Not that most statues truly had a function to Crylon's mind. Of that was another room, this one for bathing and such, and other needed ablutions, large enough to hold more than one person at a time but fine enough to be used by the clientele common to such a place. Heading further in Crylon saw Kelski's workshop, filled with items and tools he did not understand how to use. Then again he was not a jewelcrafter, it not being a skill he knew much of, and so he did not truly expect to get much of the items and tools use. It seemed to all be in working order, and as asked he did not touch anything inside. After that was simply the back exit Crylon had entered through to get the works attention, leading back out to the Riad. His goal had been to familiarize himself with the place, along with seeing to any needed maintenance. But the place seemed so well maintained there was not much to really do. Done with the main bit of the structure, Crylon turned back to one of the workers who was not busy. As he did he realize he could not tell if it was the same as the one he had talked to earlier, or another one. He wasn't sure which was worse, if it was another person, or if it was the same and he still did not know the mans name. "The inside looks good. Though perhaps I should check the roof, make sure there are no problems with it." The man, whatever his name was, looked at Crylon like he was somewhat odd or crazy perhaps. "Uh, Crylon... You know it doesn't rain here. Or have snow. Or anything else like that. So honestly, roofs are more ornamental here than anything else. So, yeah, not much need for that." Crylon, somewhat sheepishly, nodded at the man. "Ah, had not thought of that... well then, I guess I am done. I'll head back to the Riad, see if it needs anything doing." The man, Crylon still unsure on his name, nodded, as Crylon headed out. WC: 530

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Heading back to the Riad, Crylon took a moment to rest and get a drink before continuing his work. In hindsight he realized it made sense there would not be much work needed at the Jewelry shop. The original work had been done with more skill, and so needed less work and maintenance. It also had a team of people watching each inch of it, making sure it was immaculate. Unlike the Riad, which had just a few people looking for such things, mainly Crylon. While he was familiar with the structure of the Riad, it was always good in his estimate of things to brush up, and so he did what he often did while at the Riad. Stroll through checking for damage or things in need of repair, and if he could not find anything that fit that bill did some general maintenance. Generally this consisted of Crylon replacing the stucco on the wall, or fixing it, sine its somewhat rough substance degraded over time and from exposure and encounters, and so needed repair. He took each wall in a rotation, skipping only if he found some specific damage. In this way all of the walls were fixed relatively regularly, but in a rotation that took him through the building one wall at a time. This meant the work could be done in bite sized bits, rather than the large undertaking of doing all of them at once, but also meant each wall regularly got fixed within the rotation and so none were left ignored. Such planning and practice was normal for Crylon, who tended for methodical when working on such things. No need to come up with some crazy or complex plan, when slow and methodical and regular work could be done over time instead. Heading through the structure Crylon started at the more purpose built rooms, ones that saw more activity than the others. There was the living room, which saw many people reclining and doing things inside of them. Rest, some eating, and other manner of things. That seemed in working order, without many issues, and so Crylon moved on from that. There was also the kitchen and dining room, jointly used room for making food and then consuming it after. Crylon spent a few chimes picking up some pots and pans and things, checking the ground, an the cupboards to see if there were any problems. Sadly for Crylon, though good for most anyone else, the building did not seem to have any major issues. Nothing beyond some minor stucco damage, some re-flattening of the walls and cleaning up. WC: 435

[Crylon Stonecraft]

With those major rooms done, the only place Crylon really had left to look over was the bathrooms. Those were consistently used, unlike many of the others, and so could use a good check over. There were several bathing rooms, each needing checking. Crylon went through each of these, checking for issues. One had some stucco damage, where some kind of spill had gotten on the wall. They had dried it up, but not before the water or whatever had soaked in. From the slight smell wafting off of it, more so than the other two bathrooms once he checked them, he thought it might have been something other than water. With a smile at the work, Crylon realized simply covering over the crack would not do like in other rooms. No here, he needed to0 replace. Which meant scraping off bits, and replacing. Collecting his tools and making sure he had everything he needed once he removed the stucco to replace it, Crylon went over things. He had lime and sand. He could draw water. Just like with masonry, he knew the ratio was important. He had things to mix with. He had things to scoop with. He had smaller containers to measure with. And he had a big mixing stick. Having used them enough times for this, once or twice in truth, he knew what he needed. He felt he had enough to do the work, but would likely need to pick up more for next time. And with that Ctylon commenced, setting up in a free space the needed equipment. But before he began to get things wet and mix them, he needed to clear a space to put the new stucco. This meant removing the old in a chunk around the damaged area as well as the area having sustained damage. Being an Isur Crylon had the perfect multi tool ever created, one forged by Izurdin himself. Of course Crylon doubted Izurdin planned for the limb to be used as such, but as with any tool many could be used in an endless variety of ways if one was imaginative enough. Beginning with a light stroke of his fingers, Crylon worked to peel off some of the stucco. When that did not work he pressed a bit harder, being a bit rougher. Then he found the direction that worked best, side to side, and kept at that motion and pressure. After a short while bits of the stucco, whetted and then dried but stained, began to flake off. This encouraged Crylon, and gave him a new purchase for the spots around it. Once he had cleared a good patch, he pushed further, scraping off the next layer. And then he repeated the process, forming a beachhead so to speak, working his way out from there, and clearing the spot. After the third time of doing this, Crylon hit wood. The wood seemed in good order, and so he was careful to leave it alone, only taking out the damaged stucco. With that removed Crylon was left with a bare patch of wall which would need several layers of stucco to make it even with the surrounding walls. WC: 531

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Done clearing a spot, Crylon moved to the next step, mixing and preparing the stucco. Basically, as he had learned before, stucco was the same as mortar, or at least similar enough that for all extents and purposes it was the same thing. And so making and preparing it used very similar skills to making mortar for use in masonry. The only difference was the end result. But still he felt he was learning, learning more about general construction and repair of buildings, and more about how to properly make mortar which was a vital step in the masonry process. Taking out his smaller measuring container, Crylon measured out the ratio of sand and lime. For this time he was using one unit of lime to three units of sand, a good mix for what he had in mind, or so Crylon felt. Dumping in the scoops of each in turn into the main bucket, Crylon then mixed the material up. This was more muscle work than anything else, requiring strength, effort, and time, but little else. Once he felt the two were as mixed as he could get it, Crylon set aside a sample of the mixed pair while still dry, and began by adding in a bit of water to the main bucket. Then he mixed some more, and some more, adding more of the muscle work that made his normal arm burn. Effort though was paramount, and Crylon was not one to shy from effort. Once that felt as mixed as it was going to get Crylon added some more water, and repeated the process. The more water he added the more gloopy and messy the mix became. This, Crylon knew, was the critical stage of the process. If he added too much water he could ruin the mix. That had been why he set aside some of the dry mix before beginning, so that if needed and he over water the mix he could add some ore dry in to even it out. After that was decreasing amounts of water, and increasing amounts of mixing. This repeated for what felt like bells, before Crylon felt he had a good enough mix. It was something he was slowly growing an eye for, the more he did the task of making the mix. With that done, Crylon grabbed a wooden spreading tool, took up a gob of mortar mix, and stuck it to the wall. It was then Crylon wondered it that had anything to do with the name stucco. Adding it on Crylon spread it out, reminding him of the work he had done before spreading mortar on bricks. Crylon kept at this till it was relatively even, and then proceeded to pat it down. He kept on patting till all of the bubbles and uneven bits were gone. Then he waited a short while, before adding another layer. This was a careful game of too much or too little. If he added too much at once, the stucco would not dry properly. But if he did not add enough, the thickness would be off. Either way, he realized, he would need more than one session to get the wall fixed. Two he hoped was few enough to still dry, but not too many to not. Cylon kept at things for a bit, patting and working to get it all even, before going to rest while he waited for the wall to dry before he could do the next layer. Which would likely mean remaking the mortar mix, since it would likely have dried out since then. Something Crylon would need to take into account for next time. WC: 611

[Alric Lysane]

Your Grades

Crylon Stonecraft

Skills

Architecture – 1
Masonry – 3
Socialization – 2


Lores

Masonry: Stucco Replacement
The Outpost: Crossroad’s Jewellery
The Outpost: No Rain, Sleet or Snow
The Riad: Not So Many Maintainers
Kelski’s Shop: A Perfectly Fine Building