Making Mount Olympus Out of a Mole Hill

    "You may not believe this, but I'm not sure it's supposed to look that way."

    A soft laugh rings out as Tae approaches the Baroness, who is hunched over a table loaded with drawings of some new building to mark the landscape of Eas. Whatever Wake has in her hand, it does seem likely to make far more sense held the other way around.

    "You may not believe it, but if I'm leading the construction, this is likely to work better than right side up, dear," replies the Baroness.

    It's a bright day, proceeding into that time that most people would start thinking of taking a break for an afternoon tea. Considering the season, the sun won't hold out all that much longer, anyway. Yet Wake shows no interest in stopping just yet.

    "I hope that you can finish it swiftly enough. The weather has taken on a rather unpleasant bite, and the winds are hardly going to improve anyone's mood," says Tae as she settles in at Wake's side to survey the plans, such as they are.

"She's got a point. It's more likly she's going to be showing it to the people working than looking over it herself."

By this point neither Wake or Tae should be surprised to find Kauchemar standing there looking over there shoulders even when she had not been mere moments ago. The Nightmare Were Fang just has that well developed nack for not being noticed until she wants to be noticed (and the powers of Dark) because otherwise how do you miss a 6-foot-plus biped horse-person?

Goldenblade is, as is often the case, here to assist with construction at the castle. She has just arrived on a ship from Westeland, though, and has only just ridden up. Still dusty from the ride, or as dusty as you get on one of the best roads in Yamato. She finds her way back to where Wake and Tae are discussing plans, and calls a greeting, "Hello," including Kauchemar as well as she approaches the group.

The hour is not early, but she's at full energy, it seems. But then again, Americans don't pause for tea. "How are things going. More construction, I'll warrant?"

    Yuuki comes running up the path from the direction of the secret entrance. Seeing the small group out here huddling around a table, she alters course and runs up.

    The Imp leans forward, panting a little as she says, "Phew... I thought I had that path all figured out. But it's still a little mazey! Thought I wasn't going to make it out for a second."

    Finally having caught her breath, Yuuki waves to those that are gathered and walks the rest of the way up to them, "Hey, guys!" To Wake in particular she grins, "Hey, Wake! You totally missed all the fun. There was giant wyverns and explosions and raining boulders and fire... Well, Prophy was involved so of course there was fire. And Thea was all like 'I'm going to wear you.' to one of the wyverns. It was great!"

    Reaching the table, Yuuki tilts her head at the plans laid out on it and asks, "Oh, building a new castle already?"

    Tae looks up, sees a group materialize, and slides naturally into hostess mode. Well, she does /after/ Kauchemar's abrupt appearance makes her jump and let out something that she would never call a shriek. Other people would, though.

    "Tae, dear, could you get us some drinks?" asks Wake.

    The request seems to center the woman. It also brings a warm smile to her face. She is doing what she does best, now. Well, one of the things she does best. Before she goes, though, everyone in the area is greeted with a warm hug.

    "I'll be right back, my friends. I'm so delighted that you are all here! Say.. did you plan this just for my benefit? You know how much I love guests. It's really the best part of having a castle, as far as I'm concerned!"

    In contrast to Tae's greetings, Wake slides into her usual, graceful curtsey, honed to such perfection that she could win an olympic event in courtesy. Sadly she didn't maintain her amateur status.

    "It is indeed so good to see all of you! And yes, I imagine I did miss quite a bit of excitement. It comes with the territory, I'm afraid. I'm not always free to rush out and meet our enemies. I am confident you all gave the invaders exactly what they deserved.. and now you are all here! Would you like to go inside? It's a rather chilly day, and it's better to eat and drink next to a fire."

Goldenblade smiles to Tae as she heads off for drinks. "It is good to see you also," she replies. But she of course didn't come just to be a guest. "Of course I heard there was more to build," she says with amusement. But.

Goldenblade is a Westelander, and almost never feels a chill. She brings Fire with her. In her heart and in her soul, for certain, and in her swords, for people on the wrong end of them. But she understands that not everyone is as impervious to cold as she is, and will follow the group inside. "So, tell me what's new?" she asks.

Kauchemar looks at the overly excited Yuuki for a moment. "Please tell me they were actually called wyverns and not trying to be passed off as some kind of lame lesser dragon. Wyverns may have some draconian traits but they are definitely not the same thing."

With that said she walks a half circle to look at the sketchs from the other side of the table, and thus looking at them 'right side up' instead of the manner Wake was sketching them. "Yeah, certainly make more sense this way," she murmurs to no one in particular. Then chuckles a bit. "I'm certain Tae would love to do her entertaining in more pleasant temperatures inside, yes." Being a maven of both cold tides and the cold touch of darkness and death she doesn't really feel a chill, but it's being polite.

    Yuuki is happy to return Tae-hug before crossing her arms and fake frowning at Wake, "You need to get out more! See the sights. Go questing. Kill things! I mean it's even in the name, Adventurers!"

    Yuuki's pointed ears perk up at the mention of food and drink though and she's smiling once again, "Wellllllll. I suppose we wouldn't want to disappoint Tae by declining... So yes, food and drink definitely sounds like an excellent idea. For her sake, of course." Of course.

    Yuuki tilts her head at Kauchemar, "There's a difference? I thought wyverns were a type of dragon... Anyway, yes! They were actually called wyverns. Big bois, too. They could probably use the Eas's tallest tower as a sword if they wanted to."

    Wake pauses to look at the area near the mines and secret entrance. "So if we build here, we'll have remarkably easy access to stone, wood, and the road. Well, sort of. It would be better if the mine was a bit easier to traverse, but that's a whole other matter."

    The Baroness tears her attention away and back to the discussion at hand. "Fun? This is fun! You know, yesterday we had snow. It was great! I mean, it didn't last very long, of course, but the village and the castle looked so lovely with a dusting of white flakes. You know, I wonder if we could find a way to make an ice skating rink here. Do landers know how to skate, you think?"

    The Baroness has a lot on her mind at all times, but is letting her guard down with her friends. "The only real new thing is the approval to build the Olympus Headquarters here. It wasn't terribly hard to manage. Yuuki was the hardest to convince."

    She's kidding.

Cue Kauchemar sliding past the group via hydroplaning on some water conjured beneath her hooves. "Who needs ice to skate?"

Goldenblade hrms at Yuuki as she talks about the wyverns. "Sounds like a menace," she agrees. "Glad you were able to deal with it. I'm working on something with the Westelanders, they're having troubles, if not so dramatic." As far as skating and snow, she guesses, "I imagine they know how. But I don't know what large bodies of water are around here, or if it freezes deep enough to skate on?" She considers, "I don't think we're far enough north for things to freeze that deep." Then Kauch goes hydroplaning by. "Or maybe we are?"

    "I wanted to make it a giant tree house. The other guild leaders shot down that idea." Yuuki is grinning, so she's probably joking. Probably.

    Yuuki nods quickly to Goldenblade, "I'm surprised that the Scalies have been able to keep their train going through that part of the tower. Given it's apparently inhabited by giant monsters like that. But we managed to defend the line! So their stuff didn't get ruined, thankfully." Yuuki frowns, a little more real this time, "It always sucks when stuff you've built gets destroyed."

    "Well, let's make sure nothing here gets ruined, anyway," says Wake. "And while there are no ponds of any size, we do have a huge source of fresh water in the mountain lake. With the waterfall churning it up, though, I'm not sure just what the prospects are for freezing there. It wouldn't seem safe to me, regardless. I was thinking a more controlled, shallow surface, perhaps supported by a bit of magic like that, Kauchemar. The children might like it."

    The mention of the tree house gets a smile from Wake. Yuuki is joking. Certainly she is.

    "So what do you think of having an actual Headquarters? I've always felt weird that other alliances had one. Granted, we're not huge, but we do some pretty amazing things and with the right tools, we can do even more."

    

    Yuuki hmmms quietly as she taps her chin, "To be honest, I'm not sure what it's really for. Given that most of us in Olympus are spread out over Yamato. I'm always going from one place to the next, myself, for quests and hunts and events and stuff."

    But then Yuuki shrugs, "Still, if the other guilds thinks it's a good idea to have one, it's not like I mind. And I'm happy to help!"

Kauchemar slides by on the other side of the group, backwards. "It's all a matter of time and perspective. The Guilds found their own niches, but the location for a full Alliance facility didn't arrise until now."

Goldenblade nods to Yuuki. "Indeed, it does suck. So you build as strongly as you can. But Japan is a land of earthquakes, so nothing is guaranteed. Except that there'll be more work tomorrow." She hrms as Wake suggests a headquarters building, and she wonders, "I thought we had a HQ building? The one with the McDonalds?" She means the Crescent Burger, of course. "Or, wait, I get Guild and Alliance mixed up." She nods agreement with Yuuki, about spending much of her time travelling across the land. "But it's good to have a place to come home to. And this place is a bit nicer than above the Crescent Burger. I'll bet we could build like a luxury hotel here..."

    "That is the idea," suggests Wake. "To have a place to stay, build, be safe. A place where we deal with threats like Tri-Edge as a single unit, instead of a disorganized jumble of guilds. There's a lot we have to plan for and we can do it much better here. Besides, it's nice to get together, isn't it? We don't do that very often."

    As she speaks, a much more heavily bundled-up Tae has returned. She's wearing a coat that looks very warm with a fuzzy-lined hood. She a basket in each of her hands, from which a steady streamer of steam rises.

    "I hope you don't mind if I brought some warm sweet buns and tea," calls out Tae. "I figured you would all prefer to talk shop out here."

Kauchemar stops her hydroskating next to Tae, accepting her portion of the buns and tea. "A gracious host as always, my dear. And yes, a place we can meet and keep ourselves unified against the threats that no one guild can face alone."

Goldenblade nods as Wake lists off the advantages of a HQ building, and she agrees, agreeing more with snacks and tea. "Thank you!" As far as what to build, she says, "I'm thinking of something entirely appropriate to this place. Almost palatial."

    "Now... And here me out here... A giant tree house!" Yuuki grins, before Tae makes her return. Yuuki raises her hand, "Sweet bun, please!" She takes her share of the food, saying, "Thank you, Tae." And bites into it, before regetting it and waving a hand at her mouth, "Ah-ah-ah-ow, hot."

    Yuuki blows on the sweet bun a bit more, before taking another bite. She then offers, more seriously, "Well if we're going to use it to fight threats, we need secret passageways! So we can sneak around without our enemies knowing."

    "I imagine we'll need rooms for a lot of people to stay, meeting rooms, a grand hall for the entire alliance to meet, eat, and celebrate," says Wake. "I think.. you know, secret passages are probably not a bad idea. To the castle, perhaps to the village. In case we ever need to evacuate people."

    Tae listens with some interest, though she's not terribly concerned. "And if you are going to celebrate, you need that hall to have amazing accoustics so we can jam there," Taeyeon suggests.

    "And yes, certainly fun is part of being together, too," Wake says quietly.

Goldenblade admits, "A tree house with secret passages would be quite a challenge." But to Wake, she agrees, "Those can certainly be done. Huge crystal chandeliers, broad windows with seats in them. An orchestra pit."

    "Nonono. The hall needs to have a giant firepit in the center. Probably with something yummy cooking on it. And long tables and benches. And trophies mounted on the walls. In fact yes, we need somewhere to put our spoils of victory!" Yuuki waves her hand in the air in front of her, before waving a finger a few times, no doubt looking through her inventory, "I probably have some rare drops I can contribute to the collection..."

Kauchemar takes a bite out of a sweet bun, then jabs a thumb over her shoulder towards the secret passage in the mountains. "We should probably also make sure that secret is well protected."

Goldenblade anyhows, "You had some drawings earlier, right? Let me see where you're starting from, and we'll figure out where to go from there." She will take the drawings, and find some light and a place to sit, and get to the planning.

    "A firepit might be rather smoky, but I could see a truly spectacular fireplace of some kind. And certainly, we need a hall for all the Sleeping Knight trophies, and whatever the other guilds might want to put in the alliance hall. I suppose for our guild, this will be home. We've never had a shingle to sleep under before. I imagine Yuuki won't be making her bed, though.."

    Tae asides to Yuuki, "She talks so big, but I always make the bed." Wake looks her way, but is answered with a completely innocent smile from Tae. "But you are quite neat and tidy, always getting things just so."

Kauchemar nods her head. "Certainly want that sort of thing to be ventilated." She gives Tae a light nudge with her elbow. "Think of all the things you could cook in a proper fireplace type oven though."

    "Well, we're usually running around, doing things. Plus we're not exactly a big guild! But I guess it will be nice to have a room of my own somewhere."

    At the jab about making her bed, Yuuki opens her mouth to deny everything. But pauses. Thinks back for a bit... Then nods, "That's fair."

    And then Kauchemar agrees regarding a good place to cook things, "I know, right!? I'm already drooling thinking about all the yummy, juicy, golden, shining meats that you could cook in something like that." The shine in Yuuki's eyes is bordering on blinding.

    "So true," says Tae. "But honestly, I want to perform again, even more. Hopefully you can help me get rid of the rust, Kauchemar. I haven't done anything bardic in far too long! It makes me wonder just how bad my voice would be in the old world at this point. All this sleeping must be horrible for the lungs and cords."

    The Baroness stares off towards the mines. Memories are replaying and she murmurs, "It's like our first time here, in a way. The first time I got to see Eas as it was here, before we cleared it, and then cleaned and rebuilt it. I hope we do have large celebrations here. The entire alliance has worked hard for this dream of mine. You all deserve some return on that investment."

    

Kauchemar has her mouth full of snacks again, so just gives a reconfirming nod to Tae on the matter of performances.

    "Well, we'll just have to make this place huge! Get all the people to come. All the merchants. All the nobles. We turn it into something important! I think that'll satisfy people. Yes?" Yuuki is confident that will be easy to do. I mean it's just talking, right? Wake is good at talking.

    "Huge it is," agrees Wake. "And all we have to do is commit to a monumental effort that will take months upon months! Just like that."

    She finally gets around to drinking some tea after this comment. And of course she's going to enjoy the baked goods.

    "So what have you been up to lately, other than fighting giant wyverns and such?" asks Tae. "Sometimes I almost miss the adventurer life! Then I realize how much I like baking."

Kauchemar nods. "Yuuki, but one step at a time. Try to do everything at once and that's when nothing gets done entirely.

    Yuuki laughs at Kauchemar, "Maybe. Not that I'd know what needs doing anyway. I'm not exactly the town building type!"

    Then as Tae asks about what she's been up to, Yuuki hmmms and starts ticking things off her fingers, "Peko races. Item farming. Quest running. The usual. I almost have a new piece of equipment ready to pick up! It's going to be great~"

    Wake sighs deeply. "Somehow your lives are so much more exciting than mine, now," she admits. "I shouldn't let myself get jealous, though. Somebody has to run the respectable part of our operation. Right?"

    The Baroness laughs at herself and abruptly perches on the table. "So, other than big and tree houses and tropheys, what should we be working on here? What do we need? There's more to do and I'd like to get my hands in it."

Kauchemar glances over her shoulder at the corner Goldenblade went off to study Wake's sketches in. "We've got our building type hard at work already." Then turns her attention back to the conversation with a tilt of her head. "What could the Champion possibly need for a new piece of equipment?"

    "Wellllllll. There's only soooo much that skill can make up for. At some point I need equipment with bigger numbers... Otherwise I'm going to fall behind! And I can't have that." Yuuki shakes her head at the thought.

    Yuuki rubs her chin as she thinks about the question, "I guess we need food... So like farms? Maybe paddocks. Also tools. A way to make tools? If we're going to mine, we need a refinery. And of course, walls to keep out people we don't like. And who don't like us."

    "Farms we already have, paddocks? For animals like pekos, I suppose. I will have to ask someone more aware of those kind of needs. Perhaps Rylen might be able to assist in that area."

    Wake leans back, staring up at the darkening sky. "I feel like we need a half dozen things, now. A college, some kind of academy, a concert hall.. a whole bunch else, too, I imagine."

    "All by midnight," teases Tae. "You will have to forgive her, dears, she's a touch gloomy as of late, I think."

    "That's why she needs to get out more! A good monster culling always cheers me up. Or a good boss fight. Or a good duel. Or a good quest. Or a good dungeon."

    Yuuki nudges Wake with an elbow, "So many choices!"

"Speaking of," Kauchemar chimes in "I still need to duel you some time myself Yuuki."

    "There are many, many choices, but.. I have something else that is on my mind, actually."

    The Baroness rises smoothly and turns to Tae. There's something about her glance that is intense enough to make Tae step back. She opens her mouth to speak, but Wake interupts.

    "It occurs to me that something of critical importance lies before me. I had seen to it somewhat in the past, but I'm quite sure I can do things properly this time. Since I have two witnesses, I had something to ask you about, Tae.."

    The Baroness slides gracefully down to a single knee in front of her bewildered lover and draws something from her pocket.

    "Taeyeon, you are the love of my life. I know we had an understanding already, but now I must ask it properly, here in Eas. Our Eas.. will you marry me?"

    For a time, Tae is simply shocked. She didn't expect that, and though she knew that castle plus Wake eventually meant a real marriage was likely, this proposal wasn't something she anticipated. She realizes after a time that Wake is holding up a ring decorated with roses and gems of blue and red clustered around a diamond. She manages to answer with a steady, clear voice as she extends her hand.

    "I will, Ellette."

    The ring is slid onto Tae's finger and Wake rises. After an extended kiss, Wake takes hold of Tae's hand and turns to face her friends. For once, she hasn't a thing to say. A smile will have to do.

    Yuuki goes super silent as the realization about what Wake's about to do sinks in. She watches with wide eyes, hands covering her mouth to keep in the squeaks of joy at the sight. Until the event is finally over and Yuuki jumps into the air, pumping a fist in excitement, "WOOOOO! FINALLY!"

    Yuuki then pauses, before looking at Wake and saying, "Add chapel to the list of things we need."