Create with the heart, build with the mind, and don't hammer your thumb! [Video/Action]

[so_dark_a_road]

[ On the south shore of North Island, Ignis Scientia and Curufin Fëanorion stand in front of a stack of boards. The construction of the North Island pier has commenced. It will be a low, narrow, and simple structure, but solidly built. Shovels, picks, hand-crank drills, and sledgehammers are leaned against the embankment, where it is obvious that some earth-moving is already taking place in order to accommodate the structure as it goes up. The logs that will stand upright to uphold the walkway are already cut and shaped and are ready to be driven into the muck at the bottom of the water. Saws, hammers, pliers, and other tools are stacked neatly in their bins near the lumber, and cans of nails and fasteners. Gleams of sunlight break through the clouds occasionally, although a faint mist lies on the water, and the breeze is slight. It's a great day to work, not too hot and not too cold. ]

Welcome to our humble construction site! We intend to make life easier for anybody who uses a boat. Now you won't have to moor offshore and wade to get to the beach, just tie up at the pier and stroll along the walkway. When we're finished here, we'll move on to the other islands and do the same, so that everybody has a place to dock. We have some highly skilled people lined up to work with us already, but everybody who can dig or wield a hammer is welcome. We'll find you something meaningful to do!

[ They also won't mind if you show up just to cheer them on or serve the food. There are some tables with sandwiches and drinks, but the workers won't object if you bring more. ]

[ OOC: Ignis or Curufin or both will respond, and of course feel free to mingle! ]

[ And the post title is a quote that I mangled, from Criss Jami's Killosophy. ]

Comments

action

[so_dark_a_road]

[ In case Ignis needs to discuss anything, Curufin's always available! At the moment, he's drinking a cup of the terrible coffee and wolfing down a sandwich. ]

[claritatis]

Curufin, I hoped I might take a moment of your time.

[Ignis is straight in with the question, not even waiting for Curufin to swallow what he's eating before he speaks. He'll wait for the answer, at least, while he takes up position beside the elf and turns his attention towards the people working around them.]

Maglor tells me that you have ways of ensuring that our foundations sink as deeply as required. I wondered if you could explain that to me.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Munch, munch. ] You certainly might!

It's simple, though it does take some skill and muscle. We build a caisson, a sturdy wooden box-shaped framework, whose legs will be weighted with stones or cement blocks to hold it down once it's in the water. We float it out on a boat and drop it into the water at whatever distance from the shore we are currently setting the piles. The workers climb on top of it and maneuver the prepared log with its sharpened end downward, into the water and into the substrate at the bottom. Then they pound it with sledgehammers until it penetrates to the required depth. The caisson can be built with multiple platforms, one above the other, so that the workers can start high, beat the thing down to the level of the next lower platform, and repeat. This allows the pile to be sunk to the idea depth.

[ He chuckles. ] We can also dive down and shore up the base of each pile with rocks or the aforesaid cement blocks. I've done it, back in my own world. I wouldn't have a problem with doing it again.

[ He points to the group of workers who are constructing the first of the caissons. ] And as you can see, we've begun that process.

There's an alternative. Glacius was kind and said he would help, and when he arrives, we'll be able to greatly simplify the pile-setting part of the work. As you know, he can alter his form, and he could be our pile-driver. But I think he's been very busy lately and has had his own affairs to attend to. I hope he will be able to help us, but if he is not able, then we will simply do it the traditional way.

[claritatis]

[That is a great deal to take in, but Ignis follows along well enough with the explanations, glancing up when the workers are indicated by his companion. Everything seems to be coming along very nicely indeed.

But he makes a small, amused sound, shaking his head.]

Maglor gave the impression that the means would be somewhat more supernatural. I think I prefer your more practical approach.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin hopes it's all going along nicely! And it is. Everybody is working together and the construction is progressing along, step by step. He chuckles as well. ]

Maglor and I both have a few of what you might call supernatural skills. They aren't really outside of nature. It's just that Elves have a relationship with the physical world that allows us to manipulate it directly at times, without the intervention of tools, or as an augmentation of the action of those tools. We have our specialties in that regard. Maglor has an affinity for air and water, and I have an affinity for earth and fire.

But I'm a practical kind of person, and I love working directly with materials, with my own hands. I love using my mind to devise means of getting things built. Maglor and I might "cheat" a little -- as he calls it -- on particular tasks, but in the main, it's all done with technical skills.

Anything else, Ignis? Do you have anything we should confer on?

[claritatis]

I feel I should point out that he didn't use the word 'cheat'. At least, not to me. [That's all on you, Curufin. Ignis appears amused by it, regardless.

All in all, he's often impressed that the abilities of those magically inclined work so well in a world that isn't their own. Naturally, it depends on the abilities themselves, but one would think they would be at least a little affected.]

Mm, nothing comes to mind. Why, did you have an immediate need to be rid of my company?

[It's a light taunt to someone he has come to view as - if not quite a friend - a comrade.]

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin laughs, sharing Ignis' amusement. ] Maglor and I do use the word "cheat." It's an old joke between us, part of our long association as brothers and practitioners of our respective arts.

[ And it is true that Hadriel isn't as responsive to those magical abilities as was the world that Maglor and Curufin hail from. But it isn't completely unresponsive, and so it is always worth a try. ]

[ Ignis' friendly taunt evokes a smile from Curufin. ] Not unless you're wearied with mine!

[ Curufin views them in the same way. As comrades. They are not quite friends, but maybe someday they will be. ]