thebastion | day 210 ♪ closed

Who: Zia, Zahi, and Zayna
Open: Closed
When: 210
Where: Zayna and Zahi's house
What: What is an Ura den? We just don't know.
Format: whatever, man

[It's taken her long enough, but Zia's done it. There are just over five hundred shards in the jars placed along the top of her dresser, counted again and again just so that she could be absolutely sure she had enough.

There's only one thing in the way of her actually making the purchase, though: incomplete planning.

Late in the afternoon, she scuttles away from the tower with a few sheets of paper rolled up and bundled in her arms. It takes some masterful sneaking (i.e. very casual walking in directions away from their current residences) to avoid her usual companions; this is a very big secret, after all, and she can't risk compromising it early, which is exactly why she can't turn to Zulf for this.

Once she gets to Zahi and Zayna's front door, she shifts her papers into one arm so she can gently, carefully knock on it.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Zahi is the one to answer, as he had been closest to the door when Zia had knocked.]

Zia! What a surprise, what brings you here today?

[Whatever it is, he can't just leave her standing there with all those things in her arms. He'll step aside, so Zia can come in and put her things down on the table.]

Zayna! Help Zia, will you?

[How did you not drop all of that, Zia? Wow.

Zayna closes the book she was reading and gets up from her bed, moving in to the common area.]

What's all this?

Oh, thank you! [She takes a few careful steps into the house, but doesn't move to put her things down yet; she hasn't been invited to and would hate to be rude! Instead she shifts her bundle of papers again so she doesn't drop them everywhere.]

Um, I actually needed some help with something. Or, just a few questions to ask! But not if it's a bother, though, or if you're busy.

Oh no, we're not busy. Come in, come in!

[Since Zayna is helping Zia, Zahi will go ahead and move to make some tea. Tea for guests is always the polite thing.]

So, what's this 'something' you need help with, hmm?

[Just going to take some of those things before everything winds up on the floor now.

Don't expect her to talk much, though, she's likely going to let Zahi take the helm in this conversation.]

Oh, thank you, Zayna! [With that, she skitters over to the table, but doesn't put everything down yet.] Well, it's—first off, it's a big secret, all right? I mean, it isn't anything huge or important. It's supposed to be a surprise.

[She puts down the papers and unrolls them, one at a time, as she speaks, excited and antsy enough that babbles on, speaking much too quickly. Each sheet is a blueprint—there are all sorts of different versions of floor plans that she's drafted over the past month or so, all with messily-scrawled notes, sometimes marked with stars, next to boxes that are increasingly well-measured as the papers get more recent.]

Well, I've been going out on the Skyway for a little while, and I've been saving up my shards. I have enough for a house now—I've been making plans for a while! Something big enough for Rucks and Raile and Zulf and I, because I hate how spread out we are... Anyway, though, a medium-sized house like I planned for comes with a second floor. And so...I thought it would be nice if the house could have a proper den, too.

[She sighs, and pauses long enough to slow herself down.] But...I was born in Caelondia, so...I'm not sure what one that isn't just making due is like. So I don't know where to start.

[Zahi is not sure if he is surprised that Zia has the gumption to go out on the Skyway, or worried that she's going out there. He's not one to worry about most of the kids here, but Zia...isn't a fighter, to put it gently.

While the water heats up, Zahi comes over to look at her drawings.]

Aaah, I see. And since it's supposed to be a surprise, you don't want to ask Zulf, right?

[Zayna nodded to Zia's thanks, moving so she could look at the drawings as well while not being in the way too much.]

You already have a good start, if nothing else...

Exactly! [She shuffles through her drawings, picking out the most recent ones to bring on top alongside a few blank sheets. It takes a bit of fishing around through the pile, but she finally finds the pencil she'd wrapped up in all the sheets and takes that, too. Before she goes back to moving papers around, she beams brightly at Zayna in lieu of saying thank you for a third time in the past minute.] So I was hoping you two could help me.

We'llbe glad to help! Though truthfully, Zayna might be a better help than me. I never stayed home much, I was always busy with work, and she's closer to childhood than I am.

[Not that he won't help, though. It's more that he'll be useless when it comes to drapes and floor colors.]

[Wow way to fluster her, Dad.]

I-I wouldn't know anything about designing a house!

O-oh, if it's a bother, don't worry about it! [She doesn't want to be obnoxiously overeager, of course.] I mean, I'm sure I could take care of design specifics, though, if I just had a starting point...

Nah, it's not a bother. I'm sure between the three of us, we can come up with something.

[He's going back to looking over the designs.]

I suppose the firs thing is the exterior. Are you gonna put it underground? ...actually, can we even put a house underground here at the Bastion? Or are you gonna have to make a hill to put it in?

I think a hill would have to be made. The ground beneath us only goes so far.

[Welp, she's been roped in. Zia seems so eager and excited about this, Zayna can't actually say "no".]

Depends how the Bastion builds it, I guess. I mean, it grows and adds space and buildings as needed, doesn't it? I don't think I'd be surprised if the Bastion could add some space underground, too... [Still, she makes a little note at the edge of one of the blank sheets of paper, though, in messy Caelondian: Hill? Near edge; out of the way. It takes her another moment to realize she's forgotten a ruler, but the line she draws next is relatively straight anyway, and then she sketches a curved hill-shape over it.] I planned to give the monument the shards and the plans and see what happened from there, I suppose.

That sounds like the best idea. I think that's what Nate does, to get the Bastion to do what he wants it to do.

For the interior...

[Instead of trying to describe it, he'll take up one of the pencils and start to sketch out a living room-ish area, for Zia to see.]

Something like this, for a common area. Family's the important thing, so it should be big, so everyone can gather there.

You may want to make a point to include some sort of decoration as well, unless you have the means to make your own. Ura cloth are often used for draperies and table cloths and the like.

[Zia leans forward against the table to get a better look at Zahi's drawing. She takes notes on her sheet of paper, too—big common area; family space (the size of her old family room had felt like some kind of cruel joke because she was the only one who ever used it; she puts a big star next to her note, thrilled at the prospect of filling that room with life).]

Decorations... Striped fabrics are good, right? [Notes, notes, notes, each word less legible than the last.] How about furniture?

Well, if it was just Ura, I'd say you could get away with large cushions for furniture. But since you've got some Caels, it might be a good idea to have some of their things in there- wooden chairs, taller tables, that sort of thing.

Of course you can decorate your own room however you wish. Same for anyone else living with you.

day 210 ♪ closed

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject