It's a typical night on the swamp. It's a bit damp, and the tree leaves are changing as fall begins. Still it's warm enough to be pleasant, thankfully. Everything is normal, which considering how crazy everything has been, it's rather pleasant. Everything except...
What is that?
You approach what appears to be a flier drawn in crayon. It's taped up on the bark of a tree.
(Help Me Make A Cool CLUBHOUSE! * Byakko Approved (Bring Snacks) )
What in the world? To make things even weirder... This isn't the only flier. There's tons of them, on almost every tree. At least two dozen. Who in Alternia would spend so much time drafting a flier to make a clubhouse...? Well, if you follow the progression of papers you find the culprit.
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 6:01 pm
Maneki was bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored! All the teens and adults seemed to be tense. There were only a handful of kids. And the books... ugh. Don't even get him started. Maneki had read a good majority of them and if he had to hear one more thing about sopor slime, why, he'd lose it. Then there were the trashy romances, and you didn't hear this from him, but they weren't NEARLY trashy enough.
So on a particularly boring night in the boring swamp lying on the boring floor and staring at the boring ceiling, Maneki hatched a very unboring plan. He grabbed some paper (read: swiped it from Aprife), got out his finest crayons, and began to work on the fliers that would become legend. Surely, everyone would be down for this idea. Yeah, Maneki had like... No idea how construction worked, but a leader didn't need to know everything! He just needed to know how to motivate the masses.
And how better to motivate than the allure of a really cool clubhouse that everyone could hang out in and they could have dance parties and twelfth perigree plays in and all sortsa cool stuff? With those thoughts, Maneki finished the fliers in nothing flat (and perhaps he could have taken a little longer, seeing as his handwriting was nearly illegible). Looking at the fliers, he decided to scribble a picture of his lusus with the addition that it was Byakko approved. That wasn't a lie. He had tugged on her sleeve and begged and pleaded to make a club fort and she said yes! Well, she actually had shooed him off and grumbled something about "Sure, later Maneki". So... This was LIKE a club fort... And he was LIKE Byakko. And it WAS later... So this was... LIKE approval.
The scheme was too far hatched to be derailed by something so menial as permission. It had to happen. Maneki was going to throw himself heart and soul into this. After a little exploration, he found a book or two on construction, but it was filled with weird jargon and diagrams. Maneki figured they could use them as... Inspiration. Yeah, inspiration! As long as they believed in him, and he believed in them, there was nothing he couldn't do! Taking the snacks from that day (mmm, chewy grub candy) he sat right at the edge of the swamp houses, at the tail end of the fliers. Around him were the books, the wood he had managed to collected, a few rusty nails, a big rock that might be used as a hammer, and a few boxes of games Maneki was going to bequeath to the clubhouse as its first possessions.
Quote:
Shoots and Ladders, a grubhood game of culling. Beetleopoly, where you tried to amass land and beetles. The last person with all the beetles and land lost, as the queen took everything. Maneki had changed the rules, and the last part was scraped off and written over with "and then byakko gave everyone a little and we were all happy!". Slap Smack, where the person who put down the smack card had to wrestle the other person and try to slap them first. Rust Bucket, a card game where you tried to give away the rusty bucket to someone else (maneki didn't understand why a rust bucket was a bad thing and Byakko didn't like to talk about it. Lusi were weird.) Go Seek a Seadweller, where you tried to get rid of your cards the fastest by making pairs. If you couldn't, you'd ask the other person about a card, and if they didn't have it, you had to draw a new one from the seadweller, putting you further in debt. 一, where you had to call out "一 (ichi)" when you had one last card. If you didn't do it fast enough, others would say it and you had to draw a card. A copy of ROYALIST ROUNDUP (you can see that it was once REBEL, but that has been scratched out and written over in black marker). You set up an elaborate trap and try to be the first rebel to make it to the end to trab the royalist. Last, but not least, were the well read fiduspawn phamplet and a few extra cards.
Now... All he had to do was wait for them to come.
What in the world indeed. Luxara was in the thick of old people stress, herself, but she couldn't help but read the flier. Or one of many. Or many of many. It was impossible to ignore them, and on closer inspection, she made out the advertisement. An effort to build a clubhouse! How utterly adorable. She had to check it out.
She had even shown one of them to Anguis, who commented that he'd come later. With that in mind, as well as general curiosity, she strolled to the construction site with her hands in her pockets. A small, familiar figure was sitting on the fringes of the Outpost.
"Man?" Luxara chuckled. "You're behind this? Ah, yeah, of course. The crayon color. Hey, kid! I loved your handwriting! It's way better than mine." Her writing was utter chickenscratch. "So what's your plan? I have some experience in building stuff, so I think I can help." Both construction helping the Initiative create a town out of haggard ruins, and in OHC in her youth.
Magician Arcana
:3a
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 7:05 pm
What the hell.
Muerte wasn't sure. Was he ever sure? Probably about 90% of the time, he was absolutely sure. This was the remaining 10%. He adjusted the glasses on his face, eyepatch not really helping, squinting at the tree. Well, trees.
There were hundreds of them. Maybe not that much, but decidedly a lot. More than he'd ever seen. The greenblood reached up, barely tall enough, and swiped one of the flyers down from the bark. It was hard to make out the words, but he managed. A clubhouse? Byakko approved? Bring snacks? His eye narrowed. What the hell.
But at the same time, he was intrigued. Something about being holed up in your new hive because someone refuses to let you out of their sight was a getting a little stuffy. He was fine, absolutely fine. And he saw a moment for escape. And he took it. And here he was. He wasn't sure what to expect, but given the childish scrawl, it probably wasn't anything good. Really, he just wanted some fresh air.
Except that was ruined whenever he came upon the scene, seeing possibly the worst pair that could have already been there. He should have assumed it was Maneki. He should have, but he was tired and he honestly wasn't thinking straight. Luxara though?
"Oh ******** this." he huffed indignantly, though he still came forward anyway, stiff as a board. He looked around disdainfully. "This is already set up for absolute ruin."
"Lux!" Maneki perked up as his friend approached. Smiling, he bounced up onto the balls of his feet and listened to her compliment, "Thanks! I tried really hard. Writing is tough."
She asked about a plan, well... Wait. "You have building experience? LUXARA YOU'RE THE BEST!" Flinging himself at the greenblood, he latched on and hugged her tightly, "This is great! I don't know anything about construction, but if you do, then we can get this done."
Oh ******** this.
Huh? Maneki looked around Lux to see who had spoken. Not that he needed to. Teetty had a very unique voice after all. Maneki disengaged from Luxara and took a turn to cling to Muerte. This was amazing and insane and... and... Insanely amazing. Muerte had come to help? Muerte never wanted to do anything!
"Teetty! You're here! I didn't think you would want to help. This is great, you can help me understand the weird construction books."
Melancholies
Gl!tch~
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 7:41 pm
"Haha! Yeah, kid!" Luxara hugged him back with a big squeeze, then ruffled the cat-kiddo's hair a good deal in affection. He was the cutest thing on the planet, she swore. "I got a pin for it and everything! Hammers and planks see me, they know stuff's gonna get done!" She hadn't trained in it as much as she had intel, but she could do better than a total amateur. Every little bit helped! Her smile was broad and she was ready to make this thing happen!
Until Muerte showed up. Her eyebrow ticked up a fraction. Maneki knew this guy? Liked him? Lord, the kid was too cute and innocent to handle. Reminded her of herself at that age. She tensed a little, and crossed her arms. "With an attitude like that, I wonder how you get anything done. Do you have somewhere else to glower and stomp on kids' dreams? Maybe stomp on dying lives?"
She turned and picked up some planks, nails, and a hammer. "Hey, Man. How big do you want this to be so I have an idea of dimensions? Big as a hive or a respiteblock?"
It was inevitable, of course. Zeffer had been the first troll, besides Byakko, maybe, to see the posters, and he was eager to lend a hand in Maneki's ventures. He wasn't sure what Akko thought (if she even knew about it), but he had a couple hours before his scheduled patrol that evening, and could think of no better way than spending it with one of his favorite tiny friends. But, as he neared the rendezvous location, he found that others had seen the posters as well.
"Have some faith, Tete."
Zeffer clapped a hand on the greenblood's shoulder, giving him a little zap, before heaving the bag that was slung over his shoulder down onto the soggy swamp ground. He hadn't come empty handed.
"Hey, Little Man. Heard you were gonna start a club house. I have a little time to help out, if you need it." Zeffer grinned down at Maneki, and offered a friendly nod to Luxara, feeling a bit sheepish after a moment. Even now, there were still PI members he hadn't been formally introduced to. He hoped to rectify it as quickly as possible.
"Arrrr you gonna help out too, Tete?" He smirked over at the greenblood, to see if the doctor would get the tasteless pirate joke.
magician arcana
melancholies
Gl!tch~
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 8:04 pm
Muerte opened his mouth to speak when Maneki charged into him, and then attempted again when a hand clasped on his shoulder. What he wasn't expecting was the zap; his muscles tensed as his shoulders twitched up, almost in a comedic way. What bothered him the most was how Zeffer was in his new temporary blind spot.
A hand rather roughly patting Maneki on the head, though it was more a reflex from the shock. Meurte huffed indignantly. "I get plenty of things done." he was scoffing now, "And I have plenty of faith now that I'm here. Someone needs to oversee you nitwits."
He carefully removed himself from Maneki's grasp, not wanting to hurt the child unless, god forbid, he incur probably half of the rebellions wrath. A hand touched his shoulder were Zeffer had zapped him, wondering what the hell that even was. Part of him wanted to ask about it, part of him settled on asking later, part of him still didn't want to ask about it at all. He regarded Zeffer very... wearily. He didn't seem entirely bothered, pretty average, participating in general tomfoolery like usual. Interesting.
"Of course I am. Maneki, the books, if you would be so kind. They're actually quite simple, I assure you." he looked miffed, but he didn't want to return back to the hive just yet. Besides, he wasn't about to leave with these morons trying to make a fool out of him. Mostly Luxara; he was practically immune to it from Zeffer at this point. Didn't keep him from side eyeing him however, though that was due in part to a number of things.
Luxara didn't seem so thrilled to see Muerte, but Maneki couldn't say he was surprised. The doctor didn't act all that friendly, and save for Aprife and himself, had no friends. Then again, their friendship was more a one sided affair of Maneki forcing cuddles and play. Eh, he'd warm up eventually. It would be very unrebel like to make someone feel ostracized from the group!
"As big as it can be! No, that might not be good... Pretty big. Big enough that we can have a couple tables and a couch and maybe other stuff too!" Maneki nodded, his arms still locked around Muerte's torso.
Then it got better. Derd appeared. Zeffer clapped the doctor's shoulder, which caused the doctor to pat Maneki's head a little roughly. Each pat made him wince, but as soon as it ended, he was back to smiling up at the greenblood. No pain, no friendship gain, as the saying went. Well he kept smiling up until the doctor delicately untangled himself from Maneki's hold. Was he leaving? Maneki wanted to protest, but Muerte cut in and asked for the books. YES! "Right here. Hold on Derd!"
Stumbling away, he grabbed both books and practically flung them at Muerte, eyes sparkling joyously, "Here you go!" Turning to Zeffer, he gave the adult a thumbs up, "Yes! Right on! Thank you Derd. Lux knows how to build too so if you two can work together we can do this."
Kamileunaire
Maneki dies of delight
Gl!tch~
SO BIG WE CAN... WE CAN HOLD A MOOSE!
Melancholies
Deploying books, prepare for touch down.
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 8:30 pm
Of course Poe was aware of the fliers! He didn't really read them, exactly (not that it was well written), but he'd tripped onto one of the trees and found it, and when he examined it closely it said something about... cool snacks! But he could tell it must be the work of his friend, Maneki, especially with the cute drawings.The tealblood was always full of fun ideas and this had his handiwork written all over it!
Poe managed to follow the trail of papers to the place, not that he really needed it with the small gathering of rebels that accumulated. He could hear Neki's voice, and Tete's! And another adult voice he sort of recognized... He waved to them after he tried to get a good look, but moved on quickly, not wanting to seem weird.
"Maneki!" he called excitedly. "Can I help you out too? With the, um, thing!" he said, making his way over."I'm pretty good at... lending a hand,"he said, smiling and waving the robotic hand. He already used that joke but it was always a classic. But it was still true, he was pretty clever and crafty, and liked building stuff around his hive sometimes. If they were building something here with the snacks, he could help.
"Soooo about the size of a living block? Sounds good!" Luxara tried to get the wood at hand to match up. She looked up to see someone else had joined in. The greenblood noticeably snorted a small laugh at the 'Tete' nickname. So Maneki wasn't the only one who called the asswagon ridiculous things. "Muer, last time I was part of a construction project I'm pretty sure you weren't around and we did just fine so just, like, I dunno, cool it with the ego a little? I'm here to have fun, not get snapped." At least Muerte was going to look at the books; maybe it would shut him up for a half a minute.
But, before she knew it, Maneki was pairing her up with someone new. She gave Zeffer an amiable grin. "Derd, huh? That's an interesting name." She'd seen the blueblood with Maneki before, though, but had never talked to the guy. "I'm Luxara. You call the kid Man too, huh?" Guy also seemed to know Muerte. How did such a boring putz know so many people?
She caught a glance of another little kid, with horns over his eyes. He seemed...slightly familiar. Bloodfest? Oh. He was one of the many who waved around the shitty old guns at the booth. Riiiiight. Well, nice to know he was a rebel. Manekkers sure could use the company.
Melancholies
how does anyone tolerate you : D
Kamileunaire
hi there : D
Magician Arcana
how about holding two mooses : D
purplerosesbeauty
oh my god its the kid who made puns about being blind : D hi again
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 9:14 pm
Byakko approved.
What.
No.
What?
The rebel leader grasped one of Maneki's fliers in her hand tightly, not questioning who had written or posted them, but rather wondering when on Alternia she had been approached about a... clubhouse. The paper crinkled as she balled it into her fists. Maneki wouldn't have so blatantly disobeyed her, but...
When the ******** had she approved this?
The other night when Maneki had approached her, she had been preoccupied and elbow deep trying to sort through salvaged files with Aprife. The kid was going on about some fort- she had assumed the orangeblood had wanted to make a cave out of blankets and pillows, as they often had back at their hive in the mountains. Sure, later Maneki.
Akko had expected to wake the next night with their home filled with soft, squishable forts- instead, she found a trail of these... fliers. Pasted everywhere, on seemingly every tree at swamp level- what part of 'we need to take care to hide ourselves' escaped the other mutantblood? Ugh. Byakko kneaded at her temples.
She had contemplated tearing the advertisements down, but there was probably no real harm in allowing him the one lone night. And then she'd make Maneki take them all down by himself. There we go. A+ parenting.
Really, it was the perfect chance to analyze how they all got along without being under her watchful stare. Plus- she could see how Maneki interacted with the others in her absence. This was his own way of trying to assert himself and make his place in the rebellion, right? After the annoyance of the situation had worn off, it was almost warming. Almost.
And so, the Phoenix Initiative's fearless leader took to the highest treetops, hiding carefully among the thick foliage to avoid being seen by any of the trolls gathering around Maneki below. Byakko slung herself over a sturdy bough, pulled out a notepad and pencil, and waited.
everyone below with Maneki
you can't see me O' H 'O
Quote:
anyone else feel free to interact with her!
melona-pan Crew
Cute Cultist
Offline
kamileunaire
Floppy Member
Offline
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 1:57 am
Zeffer smirked at how many trolls were showing up. It was nice to know that there were so many people willing to help, even for something that was a bit more frivolous. He still couldn't help but wonder what Akko would think...but she was probably off doing her own thing. As long as he stuck to his own schedule, everything would be fine, right? Maneki was just trying to have a little bit of fun, and no one could fault a child for taking some initiative.
"No problem!" Zeffer snickered, and returned Maneki's thumbs up, before nodding to Luxara's greeting and starting to open the bag he'd brought. He had swiped some of his own tools, and a few extra supplies that he hoped wouldn't be missed.
"Luxara! Name's Zeffer. I sure do...guess he won't be so little for long." He snorted, glancing back at Maneki as he laid the tools out next to the rock. Muerte's snideness went more or less ignored, but he smiled all the same. It was interesting to see the greenblood interacting with Maneki in such a way...interesting to see that he'd come out at all, actually.
"That's a good thing, because to tell the truth, I'm not great at planning this kinda stuff out, but...if you tell me what goes where, I can handle the work!" Zeffer grinned sheepishly. His expertise laid more in the realm of demolition, but he was still handy enough, and could at least follow directions. Mostly.
"Oh yeah, I brought some snacks for the snack pile!" He pulled out a large, crinkly bag of colorfully wrapped candies, some type of fruit chew that boasted an array of different colors.
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 9:40 pm
Another familiar voice still entered from the woodworks, and Muerte turned to see Poe as he came on the scene, puns in tow, as expected. Before he could really say much, a book was being shoved into his hands. Ah, literature, old friend.
"Alright alright..." Muerte settled on ignoring Luxara for now. He would have ignored Zeffer too, but his contribution was absolutely crucial. "Maneki, procure some snacks, preferably those candies."
The greenblood looked around, finding a stump to sit on as not to subject his rump to the swampland murk. Cracking the book open, it was hard not to get lost in the verbiage, technical and mechanical and written in ways that Muerte definitely understood. It was like saying hello to an old friend, if well, Muerte actually had any friends. Well... he supposed maybe he did? He wasn't going to think about it right now, there were more pressing things.
"Now, Maneki. Poeias, you come over here too." His voice was sharp, not the warmest, but beckoning all the same. He produced the same flyer he tore down earlier, flipping it over to its blank side as he grabbed a pen out of his pocket. He wasn't supposed to have it, but he managed to swipe it from Aprife. Something he had in common with the tealblood, if he ever was made aware of it.
"This book is simply basics. Architecture is merely just an extension of mathematics, melded together with design. I assure you, the former is far more important." his fingers grazed over the pages as he set to sketching a grid on the flyer. Muerte was no artist, but he didn't need to be. Muerte was also no architect, but formulas were his forte. He could get the basic down, leave the gussing up to everyone else, he didn't care. "What do you envision?" he asked Maneki, tapping the messy grid with his pen, "A shape, how many windows? And an entrance, too. You have to take all of these into consideration when building a stable structure. Of course, I can figure out those details, hopefully before someone starts pounding nails and beams into the wrong place. Ah" he caught himself and stopped talking, looking at the children expectantly.
That voice! Turning towards it, he waved at Poe to come closer, a broad grin across his face, "Poe! It's nice to see you." Maybe the puns and jokes were starting to rub off on him too. Giggling, he grasped the non-metal hand and gave it a squeeze, "Sure! I think - Yup, looks like Tete wants to read to us."
Zeffers offer of candy was much appreciated. Towing Poe along, he grabbed the bag from his derd, "Thanks De... Zeff. This'll be perfect." Unsure of how to bestow affection, seeing as his hand was clasped with Poe's and his other hand held the bright, sugary candies. Gears visibly turned in Maneki's head until a solution burst forth. Leaning in, he nuzzled his head affectionately against the Adult trolls arm. There! Besides, he couldn't give more of a response, as Muerte was calling them.
Returning to the doctors side, Maneki was astounded to find that the greenblood had not only read and understood the books in nothing flat, but was preparing a... What was that called? A blueprint? "Teetty... You understood all that already?" Incredulously, Maneki peeked at the grid.
"Uhm..." Windows and doors and how many spaces and what it would look like. There was a million possibilities crammed into the cat's head. Giant rooms filled with pokla-dot walls, fountains, and large, spacious windows. One huge room with a few scattered windows, zany rugs, and a bunch of bean bags and folding tables. A two story contraption with a rope and pole to slide and climb on, leading to a lofty area where you could jump down into squishy balls. "I.. I'm not sure. We need an entrance, y-yeah... And windows, sure... And..."
Furrowing his brows, Maneki rubbed his bandaged nose, "I'm not sure, really, teetty... Why don't we..." Maneki drawled out the last syllable of we as he looked around, wishing for a solution. It was presented in the image of Luxara and Zeffer. DOI!
"Why don't we ask everyone! It's a group clubhouse, so everyone should have some of their ideas included! HEY! everyone! Come over here and tell me what you'd like to see in the clubhouse!" Quieter, to his poor towed about companion, he added, "You too Poepoe."
