Chapter 53: Gang, Plumbing, and Indubitably

  It was Eight-day again, and way too early for me. This was supposed to be one of my sleep-in days.

  Yaaawn.

  “Knock it off…ahyaaa…Book. Yawning is contagious.” Tess proved it by yawning mid-sentence.

  We were all bleary-eyed, the early morning—and lack of coffee—hitting us hard. Even though I wasn't the biggest fan of the roasted bean juice, it had more oomph than any tea. An energy drink would hit the spot, for sure, Say, they were mostly chemicals, so does that mean an [Al-chemist] whip one up? Also, a few pints at the “Inkspot” last night weren’t helping any. But this was the only full day off Paytin was sure of fitting into her schedule. So we all gathered, me, my friends—and Maldyn—to work on the future home of “Book, inc.”

  Kidding.

  About the name, not the work.

  //Spare me//

  It didn’t take a genius to see why we were going to get the place rent-free as we worked on it. That first night we’d checked it out, after my [Level; 3] incident, the amount of work it needed floored us. And I say that because there were holes in the upper two floors. Yay. We could see the overhead roof from the ground.

  Today, we were all hands on deck. Magali was walking around like a medieval contractor, clutching a clipboard with multiple sheaves of paper that were, well, clipped on.

  //*slow clap*//

  ‘Make yourself useful and start a wire-frame rendering.’

  Magali also sported a sharpened pencil behind each ear, one red and the other blue. The one poised between his fingers was black. No one would ever accuse him of being underprepared. The top sheet held an itemized to-do list.

  “So…gang?”

  I nodded to the scribe, approving his use of the term I’d been throwing around, trying to insert a little color in his vocabulary for some time.

  “We need to se’ up som’ ‘orities.”

  Hey, he was fast-talking again! He only did that when he was enthusiastic about something. It had been some time, our business adventure must not have been grabbing him as much as it had me. 'Sorry, I didn’t notice before, buddy'.

  “We shoul’ deci…”

  “Magali,” Tak said his name, a long-suffering cadence filling it.

  “Sorry. We should decide on our needs, and divide them among the three levels.”

  “Quick question,” said Paytin. She was dressed in heavy overalls, protecting her slight frame in anticipation of hard work. I was in loose robes and sandals. Oops.

  The group turned to hear her soft-spoken words, also giving her the chance to supplement partial deafness with lip-reading.

  “First, Maldyn, did your uncle give you any parameters? Stuff that he wants to be done a certain way?”

  “Nah,” replied the reluctant—on our part—partner. “He just said to make it ‘useful’, but not how. I’d say that leaves it to us to decide what ‘useful means, eh?” He started to sneer, his lips shaping the habitual form, but I could see him visibly make an effort to stop it.

  Huh, the toad…elf, man, person…seemed to be trying. How about that? I guess I should relax my own sphincter, lighten up on him.

  //Gross! Couldn’t you phrase that better?//

  “More important,” Tak put in her two cents. “Will we get to keep it, or will he yank it out from under us after we do all the work?”

  Maldyn held back a quip, then responded thoughtfully. “Honestly? Maybe. But, we can always make sure our version of ‘useful’ differs from his.” The sneer won this time.

  “No, no,” Magali was having nothing of it. “We need it to be practical for our own use. Anything else is secondary.”

  “Then I guess we’ll have to chance it,” I said, then clapped my hands together. “First floor, I’m seeing a split communal and pseudo shop front.”

  “Explain, please.” Magali wore a frown, probably from ‘pseudo’. He had his pencil poised, ready to jot down what I meant.

  “Well, we can’t have an official shop as apprentices, correct? But if we had a semi-formal lounge area in front, were we could, ah, entertain, guests and maybe make a few trades, nobody could fault that.”

  Magali smiled and made notations. See Maldyn, you only have to phrase it the right way.

  “We could wall off a good-sized kitchen and dining room, for the lot of us,” I went on. I haven’t been planning this out in my head for days, nope. Not at all. “The living quarters on the second floor, and workshop on three.”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Not just a workshop, Book." Tess had some ideas of her own. “If I am going to be a part of this, then there has to be a training area.”

  “I agree,” said Tak, our other adventurer in training.

  “That’s what the backcourt is for. Why do you need more?” Ooh, Maldyn, not the right tone to approach Tess with.

  //This is going to be good//

  ‘Yup.’

  Before I could pro-actively defuse the coming beat down—not that I wanted to—Magali stepped in as the peacemaker.

  “Only when the weather is good, unlike a third of the year. No, it’s a good idea, and it is going on the list.” True to his word, he scribbled something down. Either that, or he was drawing rude pictures of Maldyn. I’ll have to check later, as he was literally holding it close to the vest. Yes, he was wearing a vest to a construction site. Dapper as he was, Magali only wore traditional robes when working at his father’s shop, otherwise dressing more progressive. At least it was a leather vest.

  “Yes,” I joined in to help smooth it over. “Especially since Tess is going to be an exercise instructor for all of us. Unless you want to work out in the rain and snow, Maldyn?”

  “W-what?” he sputtered, trying to suck in his gut. “I’m not doing any training.”

  “Really? I guess you don’t want to be part of the health plan, then.” I was making it up as I went, and maybe letting it get away from me. I looked to Tess, seeing if was going to follow me down this dark and twisty path.

  //Drama queen//

  ‘Says the Princess.’

  “Yeah, that’s too bad, dude.” Great, Tess was on board. “It was custom…in Boulder, you know…for groups like this to share health expenses. A portion of our pooled funds will go towards caring for injuries. Construction can be a dangerous game.”

  Nice follow-through!

  Scanning our little crowd, I could see dawning interest in the idea.

  “Uh, how does exercise fit in?” asked the chubby [Alchemist], not the least bit shy of her curves.

  //Good for her//

  “See, Gaelia,” I picked up the thread Tess had laid down. “The theory is, the better physical shape you are in—strength, flexibility, and such—the less likely you are going to get injured, or sick. You would be a big part of it, too. Some basic [health] tonics will go a long ways, as well. The fund will help pay for your time and materials. Internal use, a personal supply for us, not the ones you are looking to sell. I assume you are looking to sell, right? Pair with my scrolls, Magali’s base scribing, and maybe some of Paytin’s work—if she has any to spare.” I was rolling with it, inviting the others to do more than just supply me with materials.

  “What am I?” Oops, that didn’t sound good—I’d left Tak out. “Am I just rotted fish skins?”

  “I-I, wasn’t sure if you’d have the time for [Enchant]ing, Tak. After all ,you will be training hard with Tess, right?” Did I save my hide?

  “Sure.” Thank the Mother, she didn’t sound like I had a death sentence. “But I still will need equipment, and the best way for me to contribute is with my talents.”

  “No luck on your dad’s stuff?” It was a delicate subject, I know. “I’ll sit down with you if you want.”

  “The rest of us too,” Magali piped up. Not sure if the rest of the group was on board for that, but if Magali asked, I’m sure they’d follow.

  Come to think of it, I’m guessing Tak’s sign-up for the upcoming Guild Trials wasn’t finding any traction. No news meaning no luck.

  “Whatever. Maybe, later. Let’s move on.”

  “If we leave the top floor mostly open,” Magali talked as he wrote. “We could section out workspace for Book, Gaelia…Paytin? Tak?”

  “I don’t know,” Paytin said. “My work isn’t very conducive to living arrangements.”

  We were all quick to agree. Nobody wanted boiling vats of rotting flesh next to where they ate or laid their head at night. “How about a small room where I could put the finishing touches on some parchments? Specialized ones.”

  Wait, she could do special parchments?! Sweet.

  “I don’t need a lot of space. I could share with Paytin, no problem.”

  “Good, Tak. That helps simplify it. And Gaelia? Would our spaces mesh well?

  “Yes, Book. [Sciven]ing and [Alchemy] share a good number of ingredients. At least the basics.”

  “Good, good. So, Magali, two biggish areas, with a communal storage room between them. That work?”

  “To quote the illustrious Tak,” Magali said with a smile, Tak puffing up exaggeratedly. “No problem. Simple is good, ‘specially for amateur builders.”

  “Yeah well, simple is going out the window when you hear Book’s thoughts on the plumbing. I am not giving up hot showers.” Tess was standing her ground, with me alongside her.

  “Yes, he has told me about his invention. I have actually looked into some engineering sketches that came into the shop from the Artisan’s Guild that needed to be cleaned up and finalized. I want to give it a go.”

  “Sweet. Thanks for looking into my idea, Magali. The best time to do it would be from the get-go. I have other thoughts, too, but we’ll need to work it out.”

  “I don’t know about these other ideas, especially coming from you, Book.” Ouch, gotta love Tak’s acerbic wit. I guess.

  ‘*Sigh*, if I have to.’

  //No doubt//

  The redhead went on, “But I am with my girl, Tess. I’ll never go back to regular showers after spending time at your apartment.”

  ‘Am I the only one that can’t get away with phrases like ‘my girl’?’

  //Indubitably//

  “Would any of you like to explain?” Maldyn was a perfect mix of confusion and irritation.

  Magali’s answer of “Later” didn’t sit well with him. Magali being irritated was a testament to Maldyn’s special powers.

  “Seven, maybe eight bedrooms,” Tess moved the conversation along. “One for each of us, and an extra for growth.”

  I supposed when Kolin returned he’d share with Tess.

  //Aren’t you over that?//

  ‘I suppose.’ I doubled down, reinforcing the word.

  “A large communal bathroom, with multiple showers and stalls,” Magali raced on without consulting. I blanched and Tess grinned ear to pointed ear.

  “Um, about that.” Was I the only one bothered by this? (//Prude//) “Maybe make it two? The piping and shower heads could go on either side of a mutual wall. Efficient. The other stalls can be split between sides. ” That sounded reasonable, yeah.

  “Sure, why not?” If Magali was fazed by any of it, I couldn’t tell.

  Nudity wasn’t even on the list of elven taboos. It sounded great…in theory. It wasn’t that I was ashamed, not with my newly engineered body, but more worried about…certain involuntary reactions.

  //What’s the problem? You spent who knows how long locked up with Tess, with nary a stitch of clothing//

  ‘And scared to death the whole time. There was no time for…reactions. Besides, it wouldn’t just be Tess, you know.’

  //Easy solution; shower with Maldyn//

  ‘No, thank you.’

  //See? Prude//

  Let’s move on.

  “It see’s we hav’ a plan, then. Le’s get’ta work, gang.”