Welcome to Gaia! ::

Celine sighed. Living on her own was turning out to be a lot harder than she had thought... especially when it came to building a house. She had found a small abandoned shack, and her initial glee had left her as soon as the first rain hit and she found out that the roof leaked. A shift in wind and let her know that the walls were capable of leaking water as well.

She knelt down against the side of the house, ready to take a well deserved break from stuffing moss and mud into the chinks in the wall. The roof... well, she would deal with that later. She didn't know how to approach that, especially since she doubted it would support her weight. How the heck was she supposed to get up there, anyway?

At least it was a sunny day. She smiled to herself, half in and out of the shade, and admired her acquisitions. There was a rug, a mat and a blanket that went with the bed (which was in surprisingly good condition), and a worm eaten drawer. She had brought them all outside to dry - but not the bed, which was too big - and had tossed the rug, blanket, and mattress over tree branches and the bushes. She has also carefully placed her small collection of nick-knacks - bird feathers and bits of colored glass and pretty pebbles - on top of the dresser so that they could dry as well.

Celine smiled, strangely glad to see Cernunnos, her little baby brother that she had mistaken for some strange and wonderful new toy when she was little. "I already moved in," she said, "since it's better than sleeping out in the open. It just needs a bit more work before it's good as new." She smiled with pride and tapped her hand against the wall of the house. This made the whole place shake, and she winced.

Celine snorted, but wasn't about to let her brother best her on anything. Besides, he was right... the wood was rotten right on through. She stood up and bucked, smashing one of the planks. She turned to inspect her handiwork. "Hm, termites. And boy are they angry! You're right, Cernunnos, this dump was abandoned for a reason."

Celine gestured with an arm to show all of the things laid out in the sun to dry. "I already did, brother. The only thing left of any value is the bed frame... and it's too big to get through the front door. I'm not sure we can move it, to be honest. Maybe we'll even have to tear down this shack and build the new house around it." She laughed outloud at the thought.

"Right!" said Celine, and headed off decisively into the woods. She didn't go further than a few steps, however, before she turned back to look at Cernunnos. "Er... you wouldn't happen to have an axe on you or something like that, would you?"

Celine looked at the axe with a great deal of skepticism. She doubted it would hold past the first couple blows, but decided not to tell Cernunnos. It would be more fun this way. "Right," she said, "let's go find a nice big honking tree, then! Preferably one without any bugs in it... ick, termites!" And with that, she trotted off into the forest.

Celine looked at the fallen tree critically. "Hm. How are we going to get it back to the house? And should we cut it into planks now, or later?" She looked up at her brother. "As far as I know, you know nothing of house building. Maybe we should get a carpenter; it wouldn't do to go through all this work just to build another shack. No offense, Cernunnos."

Celine crossed her arms. "Do you know how to build a house? And I certainly don't! So no, I don't know any carpenters, but honestly... how hard can it be to find one? All it takes is some smart asking around. And if you don't know one, then maybe dad does." She wished she could back this last as soon as she said it because she treasured her independence above all else.