For a Better Tomorrow [Closed]

[Kyrie Blaze]

. o O ( Invite only. )

With the dawn, Kyrie was drawn from her sleep as she surfaced from her unconscious oblivion. Just yesterday she had received punishment from both the Earth and Storm Dragons. Before she passed out, she knew there was more for her to do to make amends. Not just to them. There were others she had wronged. And an idea was sown, and sprouted before she lost conscious thought.

Her eyes snapped open, though her head was foggy and throbbing. It still didn't compare to the fire in her leg. She was stiff, sore, and in no small amount of pain. But she strained her ears and caught the whispers of movement. Stifling a groan by biting down on her tongue, the blonde pushed herself as quickly as she dared out of her bed. Her palm was stuffed against her mouth and she limped from the room, trying to intercept him before he left.

"Please, wait. I have something I would like to ask of you."

Oh, much to how she loathed admitting it, she was going to need some of the ibuprofen that was stashed in the medical kit. Though groggy, she was managing well enough. And Kyrie knew that if she didn't have something to do to exhaust herself and keep her mind busy, she would drive herself insane with guilt and shame.

'I will not be useless.'

[Mathew Amtrum]

He planned to spend the next couple of days in his house inside Dragon Territory as he prepared things for his return to active duty. Though some of his past duties would need to be shifted over to some of the more capable in the Dragon Corps. Either because he had faith in them, or as a test to force them to grow. He had a few tasks in mind.

As was normal for him now that he had kids he was up very early. And already about his business when Kiyr woke up, asking him to wait. The elder Dragon turned, his emerald eyes still danced with a judgemental light. One that did not quite fit his cheerful smile, a physical contradiction that may or may not be intentional with him.

"Hmmm?"

Was all he said on the matter. But it was an opening to speak.

[Kyrie Blaze]

How did she want to ask? How could she ask? She would ask, because she was absolutely certain there was nobody else that was better suited for this.

"...because I will be severely hampered with combat and running patrols, I will be picking up extra reconstruction duties, among other things. But..." Oh how much did she need? Her head throbbed and she put her fingers against her temple, head bowed and her weight leaning more upon her good leg. It was difficult to approximate without actual measurements, and her brain just didn't want to cooperate for a few moments. That times this times by one-decimal-five? "But I would like to know if you would be able to gather and draw up about twenty-eight hundred cubic feet of rich soil from below ground without it having a largely noticeable effect upon the city and land? Including mineral content and any earth worms..?"

[Mathew Amtrum]

He quirked an eyebrow at what seemed to be a very strange and out of the blue request. He had an idea of what she was up to when she mentioned the worms. But he still wanted to see where she was going with this.

"Go on."

He said, meaning that yes he could do it, and she needed to elaborate what she wanted with that much dirt.

[Kyrie Blaze]

The idea had, perhaps, come from a remnant of a memory from her impromptu tour through Crow Territory within David's shadow he day she had tailed him. Remembrance brought a squeezing palpitation in her chest, but she took a moment, nodding at the 'encouragement' to explain. Her eyes lifted with an owlish blink.

"...we need to think of self-sustainable food sources and having them easily defensible and accessible, close to where they are needed the most. Rations are not going to last forever. I do not wish to use the topsoil as it will be contaminated and likely to be years before it would be safe to use for growing food." A pause. She did not ask Delilah if they had given thought to that within the Crow Territory. She just hoped they had. "You and the Storm Dragon are not the only ones I have wronged and have to make amends with. More than that, I need you for this particular task as I believe you will properly respect the Earth as you take what we need. Seeing you interact with the Earth...I believe you are an artisan and perfectionist, traits that, with an eye for detail, are exactly what is required. As well, if I went about this task with others, there would be an apparent and visible mark for years, never minding the time and people it would take to accomplish this, and I do not wish to alert others to what, where, how, and why. For our future."

Farthest from her mind was also that, if he wanted to see the type of Dragon she would make...this was a prime example. Not only had she accepted and dealt with her punishment, sought out the same from David, but realized a fundamental idea: it was all for them. If a rift had been generated between the leaders of the Dragons...they would suffer. There was also the Sky Force she had to reach out to.

And she chose love--exactly as she said she would. This was a way to remain. A project she could accomplish (with help), giving only the best to them when she had been less than stellar. A silent apology, but one from the heart.

[Mathew Amtrum]

Well at least she knew that compliments would get her far. Even if he kind of saw that coming, he appreciated it. And it wasn't like she was making up crap. He was careful and dedicated with his stone work. It was a point of pride to do what he did well. Otherwise what was the point of doing it?

"Yeah sure, when and where?"

Not today though. He had shit to do still. But he was open to doing it. It was a good idea, and they could always use more food. Not only for their own sake, but it put them in a better position overall. It kind of made him wonder if he could get a convoy out of town to scour the farmlands further North. Maybe see about finding some cows or chickens. Fresh eggs would be awesome.

[Kyrie Blaze]

"Not today. I will need a few days to pepare, and you were on your way out. Four days, perhaps, including today..? I need to go ensure the location I have in mind is stable."

Among other things.

Her lips twitched into a tiny, thoughtful smile, and then disappeared as she shifted her weight.

Yes. Four days including today was good. On the fifth day would be the beginning of the real work.

"We can begin from here at that time."

[Mathew Amtrum]

"Sounds good pumpkin."

He said after a moment, running his schedule for the next few days. He could definitely make that work. His hand would reach out to give her head a quick pet and ruffle before he continued on his way out.

"Take notes on what you will need to get it done. It will make things easier."

He would say before he was gone.

[Kyrie Blaze]

Kiyr blinked owlishly at the nickname and stood, wide-eyed, as he ruffled her hair on his way out.

'...je juste... What just happened..? Je ne lusbnahta byc...'

+1 Mathew. Making Kyrie speak Dragon-French.



The first day was mostly prep work while she kept her hands busy after cleaning the burn and her cut feet (and compiling notes as Mathew suggested). Armed with water, the least amount of ibuprofen she could get away with, Kyrie did more for rebuilding Dragon Territory buildings than she actually did for her project. But she knew that there was a bit of knowledge and some supplies she needed. And so to get them, she bartered her services for them with one of the more neutral-faced workers on site. She needed wood and nails and knowledge. He needed extra help.

She was, also, hiding without actually 'hiding'. By keeping busy, moreso than normal and with more mundane tasks, she had a reason to not venture to speak with her rather small circle of...friends. Were they, still? Until proven otherwise they were, in her mind. Either way she knew she would drive herself up the wall in thought alone, so the idea was to exhaust herself in the day so that she would not trouble herself to remain awake at night.

For the first few days, the task wasn't hard. She tired just as easily - it seemed - as she had when Mathew first brought her back all those months ago.



The second day she devoted to travel around the Dragon Territory to reaffirm her location and the structure's overall soundness. As she had several in mind - but really, only one that she would need at this point - it took quite a while before she disguised her hobble to venture back into Neutral Territory. Back to a place she hadn't been to since her "Christmas" escapade to present gifts to others.

The "base" of sorts she had kept in the ruins of a church, of all places. Unfortunately, she had also made it a point to scale high and squirrel away her belongings and food. To which, on day two of living with her burn was not a pleasant nor pretty task. It was a good thing she set aside the majority of the day for it, because she'd been hard-pressed to make it back after a partial fall.



Day three found her carefully chipping and chiseling away at both tiers of the rooftop "terrace" of the building she had chosen. She used no tools aside from her qi. The nails and wood were set up and braced near the doors as the building's interior made it easy to traverse to the upper levels. Enough space had to be left for the doors to swing open without impediment. Six floors total, with one large terrace upon the third level and the remaining one upon the sixth.

By the time it was early night, she was finally done with drilling tiny holes no more in diameter than the width of her nail through the base of the walls that were about two feet high. Two and a half at most, about a foot wide. On both levels. What looked like a map of slanted parallel lines with lines bisecting them traversed the roof.

She left them in the moonlight, off to recruit the people she would need in advance for help with the manual labour that would come after Mathew began to work the rich soil to the surface. To them she charged gathering compost able materials for their early-evening endeavour for the next night--and that she would be there to help them.



The fourth day saw the blonde painstakingly moving loads of small pebbles by shadow-wheelbarrow and lifting them up with an equally inventive use of her qi. This was nowhere near the amount of soil that Mathew would dredge up from the earth itself...but it still took her all day. By the time she left - evening this time - the two terraces had one layer of loosely distributed and packed pebbles.

She returned to help the five people she had recruited - all of them either neutral or even disdainful of her, for the specific reason that she didn't want to deal with sympathy or pity. She retained their aid to move the bags so they could be easily accessed in the morning, and requested they meet both her and the Earth Dragon with a few coils of rope and a small metallic wheel or two.



The fifth day saw both her and Mathew at a reasonably close location to the building. If she looked, she could see the top of a structure on top of the highest tier of the building. She still wore shorts, and had her shoes on, as well as her gloves. Her hair was bound back in a braid, and despite the thoughts that plagued her when she wasn't focusing on a task or in the use of her qi, she was in...decent spirits. The five Dragons - some grudgingly - had turned up.

The compost bags were to hand, waiting to be opened and mixed with the dirt straight off. There were also five other wheelbarrows to the side. Kiyr, as she had so far on the journey, would only use her qi until she had need of the rope and wheels that would support it.

[Mathew Amtrum]

Mathew was there, but not in his usual combat attire. He was wearing Jeans and a black T shirt. No shoes, that part was normal. His toes flexed in to the stone of the street which moved like sand under his foot. Clicking his tongue he looked up at the building that the project was going to be on.

"I didn't expect you to be doing this on the roof of the buildings."

[Kyrie Blaze]

"Good light, good exposure for rainwater but with a few tweaks to allow for drainage. Flat. Easily accessible. More readily defensible over a patch of land. With a few tricks, the young plants and fact that we have gardens on rooftops will be hidden until the plants are larger."

Kyrie kept her eyes on the building and gave a soft sigh.

"And I chose one with a container that can act as a water tower of sorts in case we do not get much for rain. The drainage system falls from the top tier down to the tier three stories below, so gravity does most of the work. The bottom tier also has a similar set up in regards to draining off extra water."

Almost completely self-sufficient in that regards. Almost. Clear blue eyes blinked and slowly swerved to the street of sand beneath his feet.

[Mathew Amtrum]

"Oh no, I get it. And it's clever. It's just not what I expected when you first brought it all up is all."

He shrugged. He wasn't moving the dirt all of the way up there. That wasn't what was asked of him. So he wasn't worried about it.

"You don't have to stick around for this. I plan to take the greater part of the day for this. I need to avoid damaging the sewer system and the water system. Not to mention work carefully so I don't knock out a building or something."

[Kyrie Blaze]

Not that Kiyr had asked that of him, either. Nor would she. Everything after Mathew's help was a long stream of manual labour. And love. She inclined her head forwards.

"Let us know the soonest we can start transporting the soil. Thank you."

Hand clasped to her chest, she bowed and withheld a wince...then turned to move off to discuss what they would do in the mean time. More work, of course.

[Mathew Amtrum]

And thus Mathew would begin the long and careful process of delving down to retrieve good soil, moving poor soil, and piling it all up. All without damaging buildings, sewers, or water pipelines. Work that took a lot of concentration, and a surprising amount of energy out of him. He wasn't used to feeling tired! But everything would be done, and repaired with two hours to spare before sunset.

[Kyrie Blaze]

When Mathew hailed them, the five people and Kyrie herself descended upon his work - the latter giving him a very grateful bow - and began mixing compost in and turning it into their wheelbarrows to take away. The blonde gingerly lowered herself and plunged her hands into the loam...and closed her eyes in a moment of respectful bliss.

She glanced at Mathew, offered a tiny smile, and moved with the others. They were like a compact army of ants and wound up working for quite a bit until they had the dirt settled on the pavement next to the building. Tomorrow would be the hard part for the Earth Dragon's apprentice and her group.



The sixth day saw Kiyr and her five back at the building and hard at work. When she asked anything of her group, she put double the effort in. She had to, as the only tools she would allow them to lift the dirt with were the rope and one of the wheels so it wouldn't fray. The rest was simply her qi. To which, she had fashioned a brace against the wall, one bare foot upon the leg while her hands gently encased the rope, which was covered in shadow. The dirt was held in a "box" of shadow, attached to the rope in that fashion as well.

Though it had only broken mid day, there was a visible sheen of sweat on her brow. The dirt lifted, slowly, pulled up by her team while she ensured everything stayed stable. The rope would not break, and her concentration was completely focused on her task.

It left no room for thinking.

The blonde was still having a hard time eating, however. In nearly a week, she had never completely finished any meal, but nibbled furtively throughout the day out of necessity to ensure she had enough strength to complete her tasks. Perhaps a part of it might have been a continuation of her own self-punishment - in a way this was as well - but for the most part, she just didn't have an appetite.

By the end of the day, she was completely exhausted. And tomorrow was the final day. With bone-deep weariness, Kiyr left to go home and sleep for a time after standing upon the dirt on the roof. The entire quantity had been raised to the first level. Not even a quarter had been raised to the top.

'...so tired. But worth it...in the end...'

So she could hope. Forgiveness she didn't expect--that wasn't the point of this.



The seventh day, bright and early, had Kiyr in much the same position as yesterday. Bullets of sweat tracked down her forehead and temples--so much sooner than before. Her leg felt like it was both numb and on fire at the same time. She ignored the stares and the grumbling and focused on breathing deeply, eyes wide open and staring down at the final, large box of dirt being hauled up. She would have chanted to herself to hold on, just a little longer, a little more, almost there. She could have sobbed. But she didn't.

What she did was notice the rope. Encased in shadow, she noted the increasing tremours and tiny little snaps. It was giving. Despite being on her last reserves for qi usage, she curled her gloved hands around the rope and gave one word of warning, quick and yet...calm.

Like she was far away.

"Rope!"

As she spoke she poured her qi down to reinforce, tendrils lashing in and around as the length of it snapped. Her anchor fell back, cursing - at nothing, at her, she didn't know, didn't care - and the rest sprang forward as she cried out, legs braced against the side with the rig dissipating. The metal wheel fell to the roof with a soft clatter. One foot bare. The other encased in a shoe. The shock of instant pain slammed into her and she nearly lost the grip on her qi. As it was it wavered dangerously. Four sets of arms, then what may have been a grudging five, banded around her and essentially hauled her backwards.

They had reacted fast enough that she wasn't pulled over, because she wasn't letting go. They had already had this happen once yesterday and had to redo the load. There was no way she was going to let this last load fall. By the time the case of dirt was braced and had spilled its contents, it immediately dissipated and Kyrie just...lay there where they had set her down on her side. Breathing hard, but giving them a soft murmur of thanks.

They broke for lunch after that, considering all of them needed the break. The blonde nibbled gingerly at her food, perched upon the ledge. But, despite the near-miss, she was looking forward to the afternoon's work. Water, a couple more ibuprofen that she would regret in just a little while...and she tried not to think. She listened to the chatter without actually hearing it. She may have earned some respect, but, again: that wasn't the point.

Not so long after had all six of them spread out upon the highest tier. The dirt had been moved and shifted - theirs with actual shovels, her own being made up of qi - and now she was barefoot. Still in shorts, a tank top, with her hair braided. Kyrie plunged her hands into the loam and closed her eyes with a soft sigh. It was so rich with the organic matter and years of being far below ground that Kyrie had never felt soil this good. It was a simple joy and kept her more or less focused on the ground in her hands.

A little slice of peace. Not much. But a little. She was tired enough that she was in a state of drifting awareness. But everyone had their seed packets. The blonde allowed herself a soft, slow smile, brushing her damp forehead across the back of her arm. Obviously, gardening and playing around in the dirt was no stranger to her. It had been years. This wasn't something she thought she would be able to experience, but she had kept many seed packets hoping that one day, she could grow something without attracting attention.

Her fingers found their way back into the soil a moment before she tore open the seed packet with one hand and her teeth. The taller plants would be situated upon the lower tier, so what she had up here were carrots. Onions. Cucumbers. Beets. Some hardy squash. Lettuce. Broccoli. Cauliflower. Beans. Celery. Turnips. Parsnips. Herbs. More of the taller and more visible vegetables would be worked on later.

Kyrie felt a sense of pride--not in herself, but in her work, in the five who helped. And pride in this project. It didn't set her mind completely at ease, but she could lose herself in planting these seeds. She looked forwards to seeing the little green sprouts of life that would pop up so she could help tend to them. And that, for the moment, gave her hope.