If you build it... (IC)

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin gave a half-grin as Morgan proclaimed he was in the big leagues already.

"Mhm. Big leagues, sucker punching, gotcha."

Most of his attention was on the current frame piece he was working on; he'd placed the necessary screws already, and was instead working on the nails that attached secondary pieces. Instead of a hammer, he was slowly but firmly pushing the nails in. Using only his right thumb, with no visible damage or effort.

When he'd finished with that piece, he looked around with a slight frown. Gwen was right, there was a lot to do, and Morgan seemed to be doing alright with the frame.

"I'll help with the boardwalk."

He set down the piece he'd finished of the basic frame, and moved to where they'd started pulling out piece of the boardwalk. He calmly got to work in a similar fashion as he had before; nails were simply pushed in, and he manhandled items that weighed hundreds of pounds as if they were cardboard.

[Breella]

Gwen looked up and surveyed the work going on around her. She began to put the frame onto the second door's glass panel. "I was thinking of letting it be a community garden, someplace where anyone who wanted to could grow their own stuff." Gwen thought about that for a moment and looked up at Vicky. "Not that kind of stuff!" Gwen looked back at the glass and put a few screws into it. More Dirt! the vines piped up, and they were right. "Vicky, can you get some dirt back in around the base pieces to hold the foundation in place better?"Gwen made a mental checklist in her head. "Corbin, those pieces you're working on go in the first part of the foundation over there next to Vicky."

[Quinn]

"Hold on, here we go; another loose cannon, gone bi-polar, slipped down, couldn't get much lower, quicksand's got no sense of humor, I'm still laughin' like hell..."

Morgan let a few lyrics escape his mouth as he banged his head and hammer in tune with the music on his iPod, appearing and disappearing at different parts of the frame where others had finished their work, inspecting and hammering in the reinforcing nails. Manual labor was something he'd never had much problem with; heck, he'd earned his first paycheck with a summer job dockside in Boston, lifting/carrying heavy junk around. Even got his own hard hat, though he could never remember where he left that thing. The teen idly leaned back after nailing in another, well, nail, surprisingly not sweaty at all. Looking at the wood frame, he tilted his head, pondering, then turned to look at Gwen, asking curiously;

"Hey Gwen, the frame going to be reinforced at all? Rebar or metal pipes or anything like that? Can get a bit tough on buildings around here."

[Breella]

"Hmm?" Gwen looked at Morgan like he had asked the oddest of questions. "Reinforced? No, This is just a basic model, its from my godfather who designs greenhouses..." It suddenly it Gwen and she had the most peculiar thoughts about someone picking the whole greenhouse up with their mind. She looked at the plastic frame then looked at Corbin, pushing in nails bare handed and imagined someone punching through the glass and Jeena who was handling the giant glass plates like they were toys. Morgan had a point and Gwen shrugged. "I am open to suggestions."

[Heritage]

When the last of the panels was unpacked, Jeena wiped her massive hands on her pants and sighed with satisfaction; it was nice to do simple physical labor. She turned back to Gwen and was about to speak when she frowned; at this size, her voice was very loud, but she didn't feel she knew anyone well enough to start sending, so she opted to whisper. She wondered just how amusing the sight of a whispering giant might be to the others. Leaning forward, she cupped her massive hand slightly, more out of habit than to make her voice easier to hear.

"Okay, everything's unpacked; so what's next?"

[Azuth65]

Vicky watched Jeena unpack the giant sheets of glass and once the task was completed gather up the shipping containers and crumple them like used scrap paper before tossing the ball into the dumpster Mr. Summers had rented for the day.

Then her ears rang as, despite her obvious attempts to keep her voice down, Jeena's words rang like shotgun reports. "Well, I was about to ask but our floor's gentle giantess has beaten me to it Gwen," she said before guzzling half the Gatorade in one long pull. Her lips now stained red from the drink she gave a slight smile, "Point me somewhere and give a task, I want to see if we can finish this before the pizza gets here."

[Breella]

Gwen surveyed the progress they had made in a only an hour. She was floored and amazed, if only she had this kind of help when it came to the farms. This is wonderful! Gwen mused. Done soon? the vines inquired. Yes, actually done much sooner than I thought! Gwen was delighted that so many people had turned out and that they all had amazing abilities to contribute to the building process. "Vicky, if you could take the assembled pieces Jeena has made and set them into the base. Jeena if you could help Corbin with the boardwalk." Gwen could see everything coming together so well. They'd have this done before lunch for sure.

[Breella]

Gwen was ecstatic about the possibility of starting the interior decorating the next day. She practically swooned. Maybe Brian would help me with hang the really high hanging baskets tomorrow. She dazed for just a moment remembering how it felt to be held and floating above the cafeteria floor. Shaking her head she added "Morgan, when you're done over there could you give me a hand assembling the piping for the water lines?" Gwen began pulling out the plastic looking piping. It was actually recycled plastic like the frame. "I really think we could have this done and ready for planting in about a week!" Maybe less at the rate these guys work!

[Raveled]

Brian felt his spirits raise when Gwen smiled at him, and the glow around the parts intensified before he got it under control. As Corbin and Morgan attached the various pieces together, Brian 'let go' of them, and before long the structure was standing on its own. With that part done he hung around the edges of the group and watched everyone: Jeena growing to giant size and handling the pieces of glass like a jeweler assembling a ring; Morgan's suggestion of reinforced glass; and Gwen showing people different jobs that needed doing. He helped Vicky gather some of the trash into a nearby dumpster, then walked behind Gwen and slipped an arm around her shoulder. "So, this is gonna be like a student greenhouse? Anyone can come and plant stuff here?"

[Breella]

Gwen flushed pink when Brian put his arm around her. Putting down the section of pipe she was fitting together with putty she looked up and met Brian's beautiful unique eyes with her pale green ones. "Yes, I'm hoping it will become a great community garden. Flowers, vegetables, starters for trees and larger plants." The excitement was practically a feeling emanating from Gwen into a tangible force in the air. New friends! the excitement extended to the vines and they got very happy. I'm also hoping to maybe start some more exotic seeds, maybe help revive some near extinct plants."Gwen felt like she was boring everyone with plant talk."I guess I'll always be a mudpuppy." Gwen smiled.

[Heritage]

"Vicky, if you could take the assembled pieces Jeena has made and set them into the base. Jeena if you could help Corbin with the boardwalk."

The giantess nodded and scooted a bit closer to Corbin (being careful not to tear up any of the green coating of plant life); she held up large hand in greeting, and then started to lay down the boardwalk sections. She'd reverted to silence based on Vicky's somewhat pained expression when she last spoke; it would be so much easier once she felt comfortable enough to send to others. In time she hoped to develop her sending technique until she could speak with more than one person at the same time; it made communication much easier, and she'd seen it employed during raids back in the war.

Jeena also couldn't help but notice the easy contact between Gwen and this mysterious Brian fellow, who she really hadn't met yet. She sent a sly message her brother's way; he didn't always have time to respond, but for his sake she felt the message couldn't really wait.

If you really like Gwen, just thought you might want to know another student by the name of Brian who shares the same opinion. Remember, 'the booka that gets away is always the best eating.'

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin gave the giantess a smile as he continued to work on assembling the walkway. He considered things for a moment before nodding and pointing at one of the larger sections he'd assembled, one that was about a fifth of the total walkway.

"Could you move that over there? Then maybe start in on putting individual sections into larger bits, and I can fasten them and such? I think I'll try to put together sections about that large, then we take them over there, put them all together, and lay it all on the foundation. I'll support the whole thing from below, while you do the actual guiding into place. You're in a better position to see it fitting together than I could get."

With that, he got to work on assembling the rest of the walkway pieces, apparently assuming Jeena would follow his lead. He pulled some headphones out and cranked up a random mix on his iPod. The first song on his playlist made him smirk and bob his head a bit with the music.

[Quinn]

Tap tap tap miss....tap tap tap miss....tap tap tap thumb...tap tap tap miss...

The glove was greatly appreciated by Morgan as he sat on top of the wooden frame, tapping in the last few nails that would hold the upper A-frame together. He noted with some amusement that he was actually now at Jeena's eye level, and he gave her a friendly wave before leaning back and admiring his handiwork. At Gwen's request for the pipes, he grinned, hopped to his feet, then posed dramatically on top of the greenhouse frame;

"Behold; the frame! It is done! And now I fall to my doom!"

And with that, he abruptly tumbled himself off of the top of the frame, plunging towards the cold, cold concrete below...and then promptly reappeared behind the plastic piping, letting the velocity of his formerly vertical descent turned horizontal guide him into a smooth roll right to his feet.

"Or not. Piping goes up the wooden beams, right?"

[Breella]

Gwen watched Morgan fall and had a momentary panic. She managed a "What are you--" and the squeak was out before Gwen's mind realized that he would probably be fine. Yup. She watched him teleport just before hitting the floor. The whole vanish over there and appear over here thing was really going to take time to get used to. Gwen shook her head and looked at Morgan. "You nearly gave me a coronary!" Gwen made a mock sour face. Poof! Poof! the vines mocked Gwen in her head. Gwen rolled her eyes. "'It amuses the vines though." Gwen smiled. The plastic pipes need to be laid out in the ground, this will be the base of the water feeding. We'll have to fill in the dirt over this once we get it connected to that waterline over there." Gwen looked over at Vicky. "Can you fill in the area you dug out with some of the gravel from in the second dumpster here? We'll need to get the drainage pipes in too." Gwen pointed to some large pipes with small holes drilled in one side of them.

[Heritage]

"Could you move that over there? Then maybe start in on putting individual sections into larger bits, and I can fasten them and such? I think I'll try to put together sections about that large, then we take them over there, put them all together, and lay it all on the foundation. I'll support the whole thing from below, while you do the actual guiding into place. You're in a better position to see it fitting together than I could get."

Jeena nodded and happily complied; Corbin seemed like a nice boy, and she could always adapt to meet his height, though her scale would be a bit off... Her cheeks got a little pink as she refocused on her task. When Morgan waved at her, she smiled and sort of bobbed her head and unconsciously gave him a resistance salute; a closed fist, palm outward, with the first two fingers at her temple. After all the months and years spent living a desperate struggle, it was nice to have time to think about boys again, though that thought made her think of a certain boy her age back home, whom she never got a chance to talk to alone...

The giantess felt the tears well up in her eyes, and furtively wiped them away as she threw herself into helping Corbin.

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin was, typically, completely oblivious to Jeena's interest in him, or her brief moment of grief. His eyes were concentrated on the task in front of him, and his ears were occupied by a mix of 80's rock, classic metal, classical, and a whole host of other eclectic items on his playlist. He went about his work bobbing his head, humming, and occasionally softly singing a few lyrics.

Eventually, all 5 sub-sections were assembled, and he gave a satisfied nod as he pause his music and pulled the earphones out. He looked toward Gwen and waved to get her attention.

"Hey! Gwen! We ready to put this on the thing yet?"

[Breella]

Gwen was, well simply stunned. She squeezed Brian's hand that hung around her shoulder just before she slipped out of it and walked up to Corbin. She looked up at the seemingly giant man next to her then decided to take a few steps back as not to strain her neck. "That is just... amazing." she said, looking at the assembled boardwalk for the second story. "Before we can put that in I need the "L" brackets installed on the inner supports and the roof." Gwen pointed to a 1ft cube looking box. "Everything you need for that should be right in there." Gwen looked around and was just flabbergasted. "If someone could give me a hand moving this box of paving stones I think the pieces for the spiral staircase that goes to the boardwalk are in here." Gwen looked at her phone and the time. Noon already. Maybe I should order the pizzas now, and I think we'll need quite a few of them.

[Azuth65]

Gwen looked over at Vicky. "Can you fill in the area you dug out with some of the gravel from in the second dumpster here? We'll need to get the drainage pipes in too." Gwen pointed to some large pipes with small holes drilled in one side of them.

Installing the pipes hadn't taken long, a few minutes of double checking to make she'd done it right and they were set. She then glanced at the dumpster, sizing it up. Then, in an all to common plume of smoke of smoke, moved to the container. Rubbing her hands together she braced herself then began to lift the dumpster and pour roughly half the contents where Gwen had directed. When she was done she dropped the steel container with a massive thud. Looking around she blushed almost as crimson as her eyes, "Sorry."

She quickly set about evening the stone before returning to where she'd left her drink. "That too much stone or did we need it higher?" she asked before guzzling the remains of her Gatorade.

[Raveled]

Brian followed Gwen over to the box of paving stones. He touched each one and enveloped the boxes in the same red energy as before. After that they were effortless to move away; he parked them around the rear of the half-finished greenhouse, where they would be out of everyone's way. Opening up the next box down, he manhandled several of the pieces aside until he found a sheet of directions. The young man stepped back and opened the sheet. While he read and reread how to put everything together, the pieces of the kit zoomed out of the box and danced in the air, fitting together and falling apart as Brian worked his way through the instructions. Finally he had everything how -- he hoped -- it went together and he stood back, the catwalk hanging in the air in a film of red energy. "Is that right," he asked, cocking his head to one side. "It doesn't look big enough to go on the outside."

[Breella]

Gwen smiled at Brian."That is because it goes on the inside, that way there are two levels to the greenhouse. Smaller planters and hanging pots can go up here while larger plants get planted on the ground floor." Gwen looked over at what Vicky had achieved. The drain pipes were in place, at the perfect angles to keep everything from turning into a swamp. "Vicky, if you could lay a layer of dirt about six inches on top of the gravel we can start some of the pipes for the ground watering system." Super Super! Gwen looked around at everyone. "The vines also want you guys to know this is AMAZING. Now I'm going to order the pizza, what does everyone like?"

[Heritage]

Her brief emotional spell passed, Jeena found a good stopping point to take a break, making sure through hand gestures that Corbin and the others were clear she was taking a breather. Shrinking back down to normal size, she headed over to grab a drink; as a Tektani who'd spent her whole life living beneath the surface of a seismically-active planet, it took a great deal of heat to make her sweat, and at her giant size she wasn't really exerting herself too much, but eventually even she began to develop a thirst. She found a bottle of orange Gatorade, which turned out to be wonderful refreshing, and removed her cap and pulled back her hood to cool off a bit. Holding the cold bottle to the side of her neck, she approached Gwen.

"The vines also want you guys to know this is AMAZING. Now I'm going to order the pizza, what does everyone like?"

"Oh, ah, anything is fine with me; whatever everyone else is having." Sneaking a quick look over at Brian, she indicated with a nod of her head for florapath to follow her. Once they were out of earshot (she hoped), she indicated the red-eyed boy with an inclination of her head. "You like him, don't you? As in, really like him."

[Breella]

Gwen walked over with Jeena and listened as the girl whispered:

"You like him, don't you? As in, really like him."

Gwen looked a little shocked. "He's the boy I went to tutor last night" Gwen began and she could feel the color rising in her face. "We...we had a moment last night when we took a break from the biology tutoring, but-- I don't know I've never had a boyfriend before. I mean, I've seen people from some of the towns I've spent time in but it was always a passing fling." Touchy Touchy! the vines blurted out and started making kissing noises in Gwen's head. "Hey! Stop that!" Gwen said out loud and realized Jeena could hear her. "Sorry, the vines are being very immature right now."

[Heritage]

"He's the boy I went to tutor last night" Gwen began and she could feel the color rising in her face. "We...we had a moment last night when we took a break from the biology tutoring, but-- I don't know I've never had a boyfriend before. I mean, I've seen people from some of the towns I've spent time in but it was always a passing fling." Touchy Touchy! the vines blurted out and started making kissing noises in Gwen's head. "Hey! Stop that!" Gwen said out loud and realized Jeena could hear her. "Sorry, the vines are being very immature right now."

This information pretty much confirmed Jeena's suspicions: the easy contact between the two of them, as well as the little thrilled looks on Gwen's face when they were close, Brian's apparent need to impress her; all tell-tale signs of a budding (Seriously? Come on, now!) relationship. Part of the Tektani girl really wanted to use this information on her brother's behalf, to perhaps start to drive a subtle wedge between the new couple so that Zach could step in and be with the girl he liked and be happy. She almost unconsciously started to map out the tactics she would use in such a scenario, the mixture of hints, suggestions, flattery and misdirection she would employ; as Gwen's roommate, she would have ample time to work several possible angles.

But that would be wrong; it would be cruel to Gwen and Brian, it would lead to a potentially poisonous relationship with the sweet girl who's room she shared, and most importantly it would be a selfish abuse of the Shard's generous gifts. So even as all these plots and schemes raced through her amazing brain, Jeena politely squashed them into a ball and incinerated them. Instead she smiled a sincere smile and placed a hand on her roommate's shoulder.

"That's wonderful." She snuck a glance over her shoulder at Brian, and then gave Gwen a playful wink. "Just let me know if you ever need the room to yourself, alright?"

[Breella]

Again the vines were making kissing noises in Gwen's head. This is why I can't do anything serious with you around! she scowled. Sorry... they sounded genuinely sorry for a brief moment but like most children they soon found another thought to occupy themselves with. "I'm sorry, the vines are just... they make it hard to do almost anything romantic. It's like having a four year in my head all the time." Gwen looked back at the group. "I've got to get this pizza ordered before the ravenous hordes revolt on me." Gwen excused herself and took out her green iPhone, scrolling through an amazingly long list of contacts. "Gino, It's Gwen at Claremont. I need to alter the selection I gave you earlier... Yes... Two cheese, Two pepperoni, Two buffalo chicken, Two meatlovers, Two veggie... Oh, throw in some garlic knots and..."Gwen counted in her head as she paused. "Make it 8 chicken rolls with sauce on the side... Yes, you have my credit card info. Thank you."

[KnightDisciple]

Corbin had been working on getting the L brackets set up for the catwalk while the others went about their tasks. Between his strength and ability to fly, it had been a total snap. He'd just finished fastening the last one on when he heard Gwen ordering the pizza. He shrugged and flew over to where the drinks were, grabbing a bottle of water and popping it open. Taking a swig, he walked over to the one directing this little party.

"L brackets are on. What do we need to do next?"

He took another swig and swept a bit of sweat from his brow; while he wasn't pushing himself hard, it was a light workout if nothing else.

"Unless there's something else, I think it's ready for me and Jeena to put the catwalk on."