ArchivedLogs:Rebuilding

Rebuilding
Dramatis Personae Ash, Flicker
In Absentia	2015-11-26 "{Reminds me of home.}"
Location <NYC> Harbor Commons - Courtyard - Lower East Side
This courtyard is the lush central hub of the surrounding Harbor Commons, bound in on three sides by rows of duplexes and triplexes, cutting upward at the sky with the sharp thrift of a minimalist's style, neat lines and bountiful windows, boldened with accents in wood towards the upper stories, stone towards the base, the whole of the compound sealed in by a low stoneworked wall that opens entrance gates to the streets beyond at its two far corners, smaller gates at building back doors. The fourth side of the courtyard is open to the East River, the ground forming a slight decline, controlled on one side by micro-retaining walls to form wide steps where picnic tables sit beneath the nominative shelter of a trio of dogwood trees, accessible by ramp. The other side is allowed to slope at its natural angle, a wide open yard space, until its cut off at the river's edge, where a massive pair of oak trees stand, a staircase leading away up one of their thick trunks. The yard itself is carpeted in an organic flow of emerald grass swirled through with wending channels of smooth-paved cement walkways, flowing naturally away from the building's front entrances, where some are arced by trellis, some flanked by hosta plants, fern and lilies, a few laid in gentle switch-backing ramps for wheelchair access, before forking off at matching angles to sites of small garden installments. Bird feeders and baths suspended from the necks of small lamp posts, a rock-lined koi pond, a sleek gazebo tucked to one side in simplistic varnished wood, its southern side overgrown with a mass of thriving grapevine and a caged-in barbecue pit under its sheltering roof. A play area and proper garden are within sight off another branch, until finally all paths spiral in like wheel spokes to a shared common house at the center of all traffic flow. The Commons does not look quite like a /total/ warzone, anymore. There aren't bodies strewn around, at least. Though the walkways will probably need some replacing where they've been broken in, much of the blood has washed from them. The yard is still torn up and trampled into mud, the buildings somewhat battered at in many places. In one of those places, Flicker is busy working on prying up the remnants of a window sash from one of the broken and ruined windows of a house -- probably damaged more by the mutant combatants than the zombies, really. But who's counting. The replacement frame, newly constructed in the workshop, rests against the wall nearby. Ash whistles while he brings around another load of lumber, setting it down near the workshop. He looks up when he sees movement and focuses on Flicker. His brows shoot up as he trots over. It's a nice is day, certainly a little warm for fall, but he still wears a couple layers, a plaid flannel in black and red over a waffle textured long sleeved under shirt. His jeans are more of a brown color from all the mud on the ground, the worst of it caked on his heavy work boots. "Hey!" The greeting is pleasant and cheerful, an arm waving as he comes to a stop. "{Need a hand?}" his Spanish is warm and easy. Flicker looks up with a warm smile. Dusts his hands against his jeans as he straightens. "{Definitely would appreciate it. I've finagled these into place solo before but that was a pain even /with/ two good arms. And I still have to pry out the jamb liners after this is --}" He jerks his thumb at the upper sash. "{How's it looking at the wall?}" "{A teensy bit less like a nightmare. I'm going to redo a couple sections when I have better supplies, but for now, the holes are gone. Stone walls are like jig saw puzzles. Sometimes you gotta really stare at them until it starts to fit together good.}" Ash moves closer to the building to get a look at the upper sash and scratches the back of his head. "{Oh, yeah, sure. I can probably lift you up when you're ready, if you need some more height. Otherwise, I can grab a ladder and some tools.}" "{A /ladder/, man, now we're really starting to get above ourselves.}" Flicker's expression is very serious on this. "{Better supplies. /That's/ going to be a nice day. We should make some kind of excursion to -- well. All the hardware stores have been raided good. Scrapyard?}" Ash stares at Flicker for a moment, then grins, brightly. "{Above ourselves... HA!}" He reaches out a hand and lightly slaps the other man's shoulder. Work? He's not working right now. He's planning. "{Excellent word choice aside, no. I'm planning to scrounge up a boat and head out on the East River. There're places on the banks where the rock bed is only about twenty to forty feet down. I should be able to yank out some good supplies there. You any good with a boat? I'll need someone to drive. Oh man, if only we could get some schist. That stuff's pretty as hell. Can you imagine the walls sparklin' like Jax?}" "{Define -- good.}" Flicker pokes the tip of his tongue into the side of his cheek. Briefly looks to the river in contemplation. "{I /have/ steered a boat. On a -- lake. I probably,}" he tells Ash cheerfully, "{won't crash.}" Though he's still considering the river a moment. Then returning to his work. "{And if we start to crash, well. I have /really/ good reflexes. -- When we rebuild our house can we use the sparkle-rock?}" His brows lift hopefully. "{I think Jax would like that.}" "{Excellent. Now, I don't know exactly what I'll pull up, but there's a fifty fifty chance it'll be shiny schist, so that'll be good odds.}" Ash pulls his hand away from Flicker as he very seriously strokes his chin, thinking. "{Yeah, when we rebuild, we'll aim for some very sparkly rock. Though for Hive's part, we might need some deep dark onyx. What kind of rock do you like?}" Flicker dips his head. Smile hooking upward as he climbs up into the window frame, gesturing with a raise of eyebrows for Ash to give him a boost while he reaches to free the top sash. "{Hive likes jade. I -- I don't know. Lapis. Rhodonite. You can give our houses so much more personality than most stone. -- Did you put anything special in yours? I never really thought about it much before now.}" "{Ohh, well. Jade is nice and strong. It would make good building material if it wasn't costly. Hmmm.}" Ash considers this then stretches his arms over his head, locks his fingers, then stretches backwards. "{That's the biggest problem, finding cost effective minerals that do well for construction. Schist is pretty, but it's not the strongest. Limestone'll do okay, temporarily, but I'm probably going to try to work it more like cement. Schist'll is much more fun to talk about.}" He pauses and studies Flicker for a moment. "{Oh, yeah, well, I don't usually have people over. My basement's kind of like a hole in the ground. When Jim's around, we have good mosses and excellent lichen, but mostly native rock. I... did splurge a bit and get some granite. Pink feldspar granite. Reminds me of home.}" "{Nice. Makes a house less -- cold.}" Flicker grunts quietly as he pries the rest of the window sash out of place, briefly fluttering into a blur as he flits back down to the ground. "{When this is all over we could make a /trip/ of it. Once Joshua is --}" His expression darkens, but only for a second. "{Better. Go rock hunting. Brighten the place up. Not sure how far we'd have to search but if we cast a wide enough net. Can probably rustle you up something fun to work with.}" "{Okay, I'm holding you and Joshua to that. Now he has to get better fast, right?}" Ash grins and moves over to take hold of the new window frame, getting ready to hold it in place. "{We are going to get the best rocks. Just you wait.}"