[PRP] Family Fortifications (See Inside)

[JetAlmeara]

Agave snorted slightly in amusement at his daughters comment. It was interesting to see the way they had interacted to one another as they grew. Having never had the opportunity to interact with a sibling like they did Agave had initially concerned over their little teasing and spats but Aquitaine had assured him that such things were normal and expected..taking her word on it the stallion had then found himself rather amused by a great deal of their hi-jinks and this had not changed even though both of his children were now adults in their own right.

"That sounds like a god plan to me." He agreed after Eadric had responded to his sisters good natured ribbing. "If we are lucky we might even get a good bit done before it grows dark."

Ipswich heaved a long suffering sigh at her brothers retort. "Sadly true." She agreed. "I only have myself to blame, if only I hadn't set such a high intellectual bar as foals..you wouldn't have felt so pressured to keep up." She told him, fake sadness creeping into her tone. Despite her words however Ipswich wasn't entirely sure which of them was the smarter one, heck maybe it wasn't either of them, maybe it was their brother.

In any case, despite their teasing it sounded like a good plan had been worked out and Ipswich bobbed her head slightly in agreement. "Mom and I saw some vines in the grove that should work, we were discussing them earlier and it will be good practice for Ebony as we'll need him to help us get them out of the higher trees." She stated, a gleam of excitement glimmering in her eyes at the thought of working with Ebony, she loved to teach her snake things, he might not be as reactive and interactive as her fathers spiders but she thought he might be smarter.  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Eadric smiled broadly at his sister. "I will agree with you on that...it totally is your fault." He then lightly nipped at her shoulder and then laughed. Ah he loved his love, the tight knit family that he was a part of...even if Casimir rarely showed himself, the rest of his family was very close. He hoped that once once they got this initial bit of planning and prep done that he could talk Casimir into helping, since he wanted this project to involve the whole family anyways. But he would not force his brother into it, if Casimir wanted to help then that was great, if not then Eadric would leave him be.

Turning to his father Eadric nodded. "That's my hope as well. If we work on this each day, regardless of how much we get done, then we will have this completed before we knew it." Of course even Eadric knew that to put barriers around all of their sleeping groves would be a lot of work, and it might not all get done before the weather turns bad, but he was keeping positive because that would lead to their success in the end. "We'll leave you two to it then." He said with a nod to his mother and sister. "Let's go look at those logs." Eadric turned and began to walk off, knowing his father would come along, especially since he needed his input on what logs would work best and which were best left on the beach.

Aquitaine couldn't help but shake her head slightly at her children's antics. This is what her own parents must had heard all the time between her and her brothers. But there was nothing to worry about, all of their teasing was done in a loving manner and so she just let them do it. After all, that's what siblings did - or at least in her experience they did. Others might think the teasing was wrong, but as long as they didn't truly mean the words then Aquitaine saw no harm in it. It kept the two very close. With that thought she was reminded again of how Casimir kept to himself, and that made her sad. She really needed to talk to him soon, see if there was anything she could do for him.

"Yes, I believe those vines will work perfectly." She told Ipswich with a nod. "As long as you think he is up to the task then he can certainly help him." Aquitaine did not want to see her daughters snake hurt because he was told to do something. "We will pick them carefully to make sure it doesn't put a strain on him." Aquitaine nodded to her son. "We will try to get the harnesses done by the time you get back." But of course there was no guarantee. It would depend on how long it took them to gather the necessary vines and then of course craft them into a harness. Considering than she nor Ipswich had ever made such a thing, it might take them quite some time to get them made properly. Turning her attention back to Ipswich she smiled. "Looks like we have some vines to collect."  

[JetAlmeara]

Agave gave a slight snort of amusement at his children's mock bickering, they were definitely unusual the pair of them but he often worried over their third, Casimir was so withdrawn that Agave found himself worried over his well being - what if Casimir was the son who had inherited his mothers issues? Aquitaine assured him this wasn't the case, that Casimir was simply quieter then the other two but Agave worried none the less.

In any case this was hardly something to worry about for the moment and the stallion turned his attention back to his family and the idea at hand. "Yes, lets start with the nearest pile and work our way out." He suggested as he followed his son. "By the time we have marked enough to bring back your mother and sister should have a good start on those harnesses."


Ipswich snorted at her brother and danced away from his n** with a laugh of her own. It was nice to have a brother like Eadric, there hadn't been many other foals on the beach - just the odd one wandering by with his family but Ipswich had never felt lonely with her brother to play with.

Settling down once more and focusing in the plan for the day Ipswich bobbed her head slightly in agreement, it seemed like the most logical way to go about things and she was sure that they would get a pretty good start on the project today if nothing else. "Take care!" She called after her brother and father as they started off before turning back to her mother. "Ebony will be fine, he climbs trees on his own all the time." She stated confidently "all he has to do now is push some vines off so we can drag them out. It'll be easy!" She declared.  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

"That is my hope." He said as they traveled along the beach towards the first pile of logs. They weren't all that far away, but even at this distance it would be a chore to move them. "If we can bring one or two back with us once the harnesses are made, we can see how much effort and time it will take. That will then allow us to calculate how long it will take to gather the needed logs for a section of the barrier." That was the main thing he wasn't sure on, how long it would take to move everything in place before they could even start building.

They walked for a while before the first pile came into view. "This pile might be a bit less stable than the others. These were the ones grandfather and I piled up on a day or so ago." He told his father as he came to a stop. This pile only had about 10 logs, but they might find a few that were suitable for the task.

Aquitaine watched the pair go before leading the way back to where she and Ipswich had been looking at vines earlier. "I know he climbs all of the time." She told her daughter as they neared the trees from which the vines hung. "But some of those vines are tangled together or around branches. He will have to take it slow because of that. I know he will be able to do it, but like with everything, we must be smart and safe about this." She knew it would affect Ipswich greatly if they snake got injured in some manner performing this task.

Stopping at the bottom of the trees she glanced up. While there were plenty of vines they needed ones that were plenty thick and long for the harnesses. After looking at a few of them she spotted one that would be good, although they would need a few before they were done. "This one looks good." She said and pointed to it with her nose. "We'll see how he does with this one before selecting the others." Now it was all up to her daughters snake.  

[JetAlmeara]

Agave turned his attention towards the pile of logs that Eadric pointed out, listening with one flicked ear as his son worried and fretted over the numbers. His son was a planner that was for sure, wanting to plot and finalize every detail before starting anything. It was a good talent to have though if he were training him as a warrior Agave would have thrown him into several situations where planning wouldn't help just to make sure the young stallion was capable of thinking on his hooves as well.

But your not. Agave reminded himself, he was not training a warrior and if he was lucky he would never have to do so again. It was fine of Eadric wanted to plan it all out, let him plan. Taking a hoof agave kicked on the nearest logs to see how sound it was, the wood seemed sturdy enough, not rotting or flaky and when Eadric finished speaking he nodded "Several of these should do as the base, the larger ones.and some of those others over there are thinner but will work for the higher layers where we won't want as much weight."

Ipswich let her mother lecture her on safety as they made their way back towards the grove and the vines they would need to collect. It was best just to let her finish speaking and really Ipswich knew that she was right in the long run...it was always important to be safe.

Reaching the trees Ipswich turned her attention towards the vines, the one that her mother eventually pointed out was fairly free of obstacles, it was a good one to test Ebony out on although Ipswich was sure that the snake would handle it just fine. Turning she nosed the snake to get his attention and then sidled up closer to the tree so that he could climb off onto it. "Alright Ebony, up the tree!" She encouraged the snake, once he was in the tree she would direct him to the vine she wanted.  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

Eadric watched as his father inspected the logs. In the future he wanted to be able to inspect them himself, in case his father wasn't around to do so at that time. That way, he would be able to scout out new logs whenever he was traveling around the beach. They would need a whole lot of logs to see this project to an end, and it would take a long time to gather and build the barriers. Hr listened to the sounds the logs made, just like his father was doing, and he could hear the difference between the ones that were good and the ones that were not. He nodded as his father pointed out the good ones. At least there were a few here that they could use already. It was a good start to his project.

"They will make a decent start." He said, but they would need more, many more before they could truly begin to build the barrier. Eadric saw many trips in his future, scouting for and then hauling back suitable logs for his creation. But it would be well worth it in the end. "There is another pile not far from here, we can check that one and then see how mother and Ipswich are coming along with the harnesses." He turned and began to lead the way to the next pile. This one was fairly large, compared to the ones they just looked at, but with luck that meant that they would be able to use more from it. The more they could find useable from these closer piles, the less time it would take to travel back and fourth while collecting, but he knew they wouldn't be enough to do the whole area he had planned out, and so eventually they would have to travel quite a distance to gather logs.

Aquitaine watched as Ipswich sent her snake up the tree. It was interesting to watch the beast slither up the trunk as he set about his task. Aquitaine had to admit, she initially questioned the bond between Ipswich and the snake, but then again Agave had his spiders, and this was similar to that. It was not quite the bond that she had with Gaul, but she could see how special the snake was to her daughter. "He's quite the climber.." She said as she watched the snake continue to ascend.

She had her doubts about the snake being capable of retrieving those vines for them, but he seemed to be doing well so far. It would all come down to how well he could dislodge the vine and not get caught up in them as they tumbled to the ground. "Once you have him on the correct vine we should step back a ways. These vines can be fairly unpredictable when they fall." And though they didn't weight a lot, then could cause injuries if they landed on someone standing below them.  

[JetAlmeara]

Agave nodded in agreement "yes, if we can find enough to lay out the base idea then we will have a better idea of how many we will end up needing." He commented. It was all well and good for them to have an idea about it but until they actually laid it out where they could see it and envision it then it was too hard to picture and really estimate the number of logs they would need.

"If Your mother and sister get the harnesses' done in time then perhaps we can drag back enough logs to lay out a basic plan with them." It would depend on how many suitable logs they found in the next pile of course, if there weren't enough larger logs nearby then they would just have to wait until they could locate them elsewhere but the first pile had been promising and if this next one turned out to be as good then there was a real possibility. Turning he followed his son towards the next pile.

Ipswich watched Ebony carefully, her head tilted up as she regarded the snakes progress up the tree. "He sure is!" She agreed with her mother, how nice it must be to climb like that..or fly...or swim the way the seathi and mers could. Sometimes Ipswich wished she had wings or fins and could experience those other worlds.

Shaking her head slightly the mare turned her attention back to the task at hand. When Ebony reached the right branch she chirped at him to let him know that the was one he needed to go to, as he slithered down the limb she chirped at him again when he reached the right vine. It might be easier to communicate with her mothers goat but she and Ebony had worked out their own communication and the snake readily began to work on pushing the vine off the end of the limb. As the vine got closer to the end Ipswich decided to heed her mothers warning and stepped back out of the way just as the snake pushed the vine off and it landed on the ground with a thump. Ipswich crowed in jubilation "You see! I told you he could do it!" She told her mother Triumphantly as she pranced about the tree chirping endearments to the snake.  

[She-Ra of Etheria]

"Even if we have to build a single section and then wait until we have more good logs available, it will be a step in the right direction." He told his father as they moved towards the next pile. To do all the groves at once would be a huge undertaking, but Eadric would be happy to chip away at the job until it was complete. It might take a good year or more to full enclose all the groves to protect them from the storms, but it would be a worthwhile investment or time and effort in the end.

Coming up to the large pile Eadric swung his gaze back to his father. "I'm sure they will have them done soon enough. But the sooner they get that done the sooner we can start hauling logs." He wouldn't be upset if his mother and sister didn't get the harnesses done by the time they got back, after all they had never made such things and it would take time for them to get the materials and build them. Eadric moved to the left side of the pile and kicked one of the logs like he had seen his father do earlier. It sounded solid enough but he tried a few other spots along it's length before looking up to his father. "This one sounds good and solid."

It was interesting to watch her daughter interact with Ebony. She had seen the two work together before, but nothing to this extent. It took a lot of trust and training to get a creature to perform a task such as this. Seeing that Ebony had reached his task, Aquitaine stepped back and waited for her daughter to do as well. A moment later the vine came crashing down. Thank goodness they had moved. "He did a wonderful job." She said, praising both her daughter and the snake.

Moving forward Aquitaine grabbed hold of the end of the vine and began to pull it free from the trees. It was a long vine and would be good for their needs. "Well it all goes well I think this one can be used to make a full harness on it's own. A single long vine will be much more stronger than trying to braid together several small ones." She said as she set the vine down, stretching out across the beach. "We will need at least one more like this, as your father and brother will both each need a harness." But with Ebony successfully getting this one vine, she had full confidence that the snake could do it again.  

[JetAlmeara]

"I am sure that we will find enough to start at least one section." The stallion told his son, inwardly he was warring with his old teachings, while his son was happy to take his time and do this task at a leisurely pace Agave had only ever built such defensive walls under a strict and swift deadline - and as he looked the second pile over he had to remind himself that there was no real need to hurry this project at the moment.

Snorting softly to try and drive away the lingering thoughts of his childhood Agave focused intently on the logs, an effort to both distract himself and hide the fact that his mind had been wandering towards unpleasant thoughts from his son. He had never spoken to any of his children about his past and he didn't particularly want to start now. Deciding to let Eadric make the decisions about this pile he stepped back and motioned with his muzzle for his son to test the logs himself.

"How about that one up there?" She asked her mother, eyeing a vine that was of similar thickness and length a bit higher in the tree "That looks about the same as that last one and it will be easier to get now while he's already in the tree." she remarked although she sent a questioning look towards her mother to make sure she was on the right track. She didn't want to assume that getting the vine now was better even if it would be easier. easier was not always better she had learned as a foal.

"Have you ever made one of these before?" She asked her mother after a few moments. To be honest Ipswich was having a hard time envisioning how they would work - but perhaps her mother knew, she knew her mother could make and use travois to help move wounded Soquili who were too injured to walk and perhaps this was much the same.