Building the Beast Barracks

[Andrea Marsilia]

The recruits went to where Drill Sergeant Atkins pointed, only to find a pile of wood and a set of other scattered tools and equipment. Another noncom dressed in utilities was leaning against the pile of wood with a humorous smile on his face.

“Well, hello there. It seems you’ve taken your time. Welcome to the Beast Barracks. This where you’ll be staying. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been built yet. It’ll be entirely up to you how to determine how comfortable your stay will be. So, the sooner you can get this barrack block built, the sooner you’ll find yourselves under a roof instead of under the suns.

The construction plans are all there, along with all the tools you’ll need. As you can see, it’s very simple, even a schola graduate can accomplish it. You should be able to have the bare structure of walls and roof up by darkening. If you work fast, who knows? You might even be able to get a floor set up.” He shrugged.

He stepped away from the equipment pile and continued to stare at them, hands on his hips. “You’d best get going, time’s a wastin’”

The noncom in utilities noted their activities with nothing more than a grim smile.

[Sais Olmat]

This was quite unexpected. Sais was here as a soldier, not a carpenter. If the Pantheri hadn't been quite so set on making a good impression, he would have been more than a little reluctant. But as the situation presented itself, Sais was forced to do his best.

Sighing mentally, Sais took a quick look around. It seemed that all sign of leadership had abandoned the new recruits. It was no comfort that he had no experience in building anything, but they did have the plans, the tools, and the manpower. Perhaps it was all a test to see who the natural leaders in the group were. If Sais wanted to make a good impression, this was definitely the best chance he would get.

Heading over to the construction plans, Sais waved some of the other recruits over. "Oy, you guys! Yeah you! Come 'elp me out 'ere. If'n we want somewhere to sleep tonight we'd better get movin' right now!" He scanned the plans and decided to start with the basic wall structure that could support a roof.

"A'right men, we gotta work together 'ere. Lets get some walls up first, an' then maybe we can get a roof over our heads. We'll worry 'bout a floor later if'n we got th' time" Sais laid out the construction plans so everyone could see and pointed out what it looked like they needed to do first, then headed over to the tools and grabbed a hammer and some nails. "Lets get th' walls built on th' ground first an' then raise 'em up."

[Andrea Marsilia]

The other recruits were about to assist when another recruit, a middle-aged, broad-chested human, apparently the son of a woodcutter, by the stride of his gait and the manner of his speech, observed in a loud voice, “Why should I follow the orders of a cat? I tell you, I am going to do things my way…and besides, who said that cats need to sleep indoors? My father always kept the cat outside anyway.” He said with a sneer as he stood there with both arms crossed.

The rest of the section stood still, not knowing what to do, or who to follow, while the uniformed fellow just stood there silently, observing the outcome. A dwarven recruit headed for the woodpile to pick up a hammer, but before doing so, looked at Sais, waiting for his reaction. Do we proceed with you, or without you? seemed to be the question in everyone’s mind.

[Sais Olmat]

Sais turned to face the human and dropped the hammer in his hand, his hackles already rising. He was a big one, for sure, but if there was one thing Sais learned from his previous master, it was that size didn't count for much against speed, experience, and skill. Sais had the speed, certainly. The Katta's experience was less than he liked at the moment, but it would have to do, and as for skill.... well, Horven had taught him everything he knew first hand. Sais knew what he could do and what it would feel like when he did it to the human.

Slowly Sais approached the man. He took his time in reaching him and stopped a few paces back, just out of reach. The Pantheri felt a low growl bulding in his chest and could feel his claws insistently urging him to unsheath them, the shine of his feral golden eyes starkly contrasting with his jet black fur. In this moment, he was his most dangerous because he kept his head.

Insults only stung but claws could wound, and this human seemed to have plenty of the former but not any of the latter. Sais, on the other hand, had more than enough claws to deal with this situation, though he wasn't quite sure if he wanted to be punished for assaulting another member of the regiment. In any case he decided to avoid bloodshed. If he was going to handle this one it would have to be done cleanly, and he couldn't use lethal force.

Sais grinned, showing rows of wickedly sharp teeth. "Ah...." Sais sighed. "Y'see, ya shouldn't follow the orders of a cat, but cats an' Kattas is two real diff'rent things, eh? Y' cross a cat an it'll jus' hiss an scratch yer eyes out. Then ya cross a Katta, a Pantherrrri, say," Sais let his 'R's roll as he slipped into a more natural speech pattern for a moment. He flexed his paws and watched the human, watching for any twitch or tensing of muscles that would imply an attack. "Well, when ye cross a Pantherrri, at least one like me, ye better 'ope 'e's dead, 'cus if'n 'e ain't.... 'e's gonna hunt ye down, an' then kill ye. But before 'e does, 'e's gonna make ye watch while 'e kills yer ma... yer pa... yer brothers... sisters... everyone ye know an' love. An' then yer gonna die slooow." By the time he finished, Sais was almost whispering, his voice a menacing hiss, but he was sure the man could hear every word.

He cracked his neck from side to side and rolled his shoulders, loosening up in case things got physical before he wanted them to. "I kinda 'oped tha' there was gonna be someone who'd cause some trouble. See, it's been a li'l while since I got a good workout, but I ain't sure ye'd even make me break a sweat."

Before he finished the sentence, Sais went into action. The human's arms were crossed over his chest, giving Sais a good advantage from the start. With his right foot, Sais drove a low kick at the side of the man's knee, sure to drop him down a few inches at least, if not to the ground if he connected. The kick was immediately followed by a pressure point attack Sais had learned from his last master. Using his thumb and his next finger, Sais grabbed for the tendons on the sides of the human's adam's apple. If he got ahold of them, he would pinch hard and pull towards him for a few seconds, just long enough to force the man into submission if not unconsciousness. This technique had been demonstrated directly on the Pantheri, so he knew exactly what it would feel like, and it was one thing he hoped he never had to endure again.

[Riconus Xind'ell]

OOC: Alright Sais, we're finally going to continue with your training
---

Before Sais could even put his attacks into motion with his lightning quick arms, another arm could be felt grabbing his neck from around the back, slowly clamping down on the katta's wind pipe. The arm, covered in a bearskin glove, was likely the main reason why the rugged carpenter did not flinch, for he had already seen the man creep up on Sais.

Unfortunately, there was nothing Sais could do, and the attacking man from behind quickly tripped him with his foot, planting him to the floor. When he could finally look up, he would find that in actuality, the attacker was a full soldier of the regiment, dressed in his battle garb. The soldier, an elf, starred down at the katta through the creveses of his helm, and spoke out for his reasoning.

"Listen up katta, if you want to be in the Imperial Army, you better learn to follow orders- even if that means swallowing pride. Now, are you going to get up and obey instructions or do I have to take you to the brig?"

The soldier offered the same hand that executed the attack to help Sais up from the ground. It was clear that, unlike the carpenter, he had no vendetta against katta; merely, he was just doing his job by keeping order. As for the carpenter, his once cocky smirk had washed off his face, and he quickly began to round up the recruits, getting each of them a hammer. Casually, he threw a hammer on the ground towards Sais, indirectly suggesting that he join the team and help build the barracks.

Sais had learned quite the lesson about controlling his anger when necessary, but the hand of the skilled elven soldier was still extended, offering to help the katta up. It was up to him whether he wanted to take the help and continue working with his squadron.

[Sais Olmat]

Cursing silently in his own mind, Sais grabbed the soldier's hand and heaved himself up on his feet once more. Gods! 'Ow could I be so damn careless? Let a bloody elf in full armor sneak up on ye? Yer father'd be knockin ye senseless over this! An invisible voice sounded in his head, reminding him of bitter days gone past.

"Not less'n tha' big bastard starts in on somethin' else. He shook his head again, ashamed of himself for being so stupid. "Ah'll leave 'im be," he sighed.

Shaking his head, the Pantheri headed over to where the construction was taking place, picking up the hammer off the ground where the 'big bastard' had thrown it. If he couldn't kill the man, or at least beat some sense into him, Sais figured he'd try the diplomatic way, and try to make some kind of peace.

Before joining in the construction, Sais walked over to where the big man was. "List'n," he said, his voice just loud enough for the man to hear over the pounding of hammers. "I know we got some bad feelin's between us, but lets try t' ferget tha' I'm a Katta, an' yer a Katta hatin' furless, but it don't matter, does it?" Sais was having a hard time here, making convincing speeches being his least talented of areas. "We gotta call us a truce or somethin', 'cus I jus' wanna get thin's done right here, an' I don' really care who's leadin'. Im sure ye know far more than I about puttin' up a buildin' in any case." The Pantheri extended a paw for the man to shake if he wanted.

"So are we at peace, man?"

[Riconus Xind'ell]

After helping Sais up, the soldier went back on his patrol, walking along the side of the path that lead out of the barracks. As he made his way onto the barracks construction site, many soldiers took notice of his compliance, but quickly went back to work with the orders given by the carpenter. As for the carpenter, he stood by a table on the room's floor, issueing out directions to each man within the squadon and occaisionally glancing at his blueprint to see what needed to be done.

As Sais approached, the carpenter looked up with a far more serious expression on his face, listening to the katta's words. He wasn't quite fond of anyone with fur on their skin, but he supposed that if Sais was willing to help him build, then the carpenter wouldn't cause trouble.

"Listen, I still don't like you furskins. But, if you're gonna help out, then I won't speak out against ya."

It wasn't a truce or an apology, but it at least calmed things down from what it once was. Carefully, the carpenter laid out his blueprint on the table, displaying the several measurements he had made on it. After locating something that Sais could do, he gave him the instructions.

"Alright, since you kattas are agile, I'll get you nailing the roof trusses together. Someone from below will toss you pieces of lumber, and you can just nail them on to each truss from both sides. That way, all the roof trusses are connected by those pieces of wood. You won't have anything to stand on below, so you'll have to nail while standing on the trusses themselves. Even if you fall, it'll only be a couple of feet anyways."

He didn't anticipate that Sais would fall, but if he were to injure himself, the carpenter wouldn't be too heartbroken about it. Nevertheless, a group of soldiers could be seen lifting the roof trusses onto the exterior walls, while a human stood by with several small pieces of lumber in his arms, awaiting Sais. The carpenter handed him a pouch that he could carry over his arm, carrying crude nails within it. Now, it was up to the katta to climb up on the top of the wall, using the wooden ladder next to his feet, and call for the human to give him the wood blocks.

OOC: If this is a little confusing, let me know. I used to work construction, so I'm a little technical and assuming about different things

[Sais Olmat]

OOC: A little confusing, but I think I get the gist of it.

IC: Sais nodded and eyed the carpenter over once more before moving. Things were not yet settled between them. He had made a blundering fool out of the Pantheri, something not easily forgiven, and Sais wanted to make amends, only he wanted to do it his way. This time he wouldn't be caught off his guard by some damned Barbari soldier looking to make an example of someone.

Nodding again, he slung the bag of nails over his shoulder and flew up the wooden ladder to the yet-to-be-built roof and shouted down at the human to start sending up lumber. He moved between trusses lightly and quickly, nailing boards down between trusses and calling down for more wood.

It took more time than he had anticipated, but in time he finished nailing the last of the trusses together with the pieces of lumber and scrambled back down the ladder. Approaching the carpenter, Sais swallowed his pride once more. It was all he could do not to let his claws reach out and rake the man's throat, but Sais silenced the urges, telling himself that there was a time and place for killing, and this was not it.

"What's left?"