[PQ+] Branching out

Maea

I feel it in the wind, my dear
The sun is gonna reappear

The last stacks of shingles wound their way up the length of the tree. Patting Niki on the shoulder for a job well done, Maea scooped up one stack at a time and passed them up to Liam, who  hammered away until suddenly, there was nothing more to add. After helping him climb back down into the room, Maea stood quietly in the midst of the floor, wide eyed at the miracle they had wrought today. By no means a large room, it would still fit everything she needed. Warmth would be provided by the fireplace, space for bookshelves and herbs would be built into the walls, and right before the second window she would install a desk.

"We did it," she murmured, dazed as though she'd had her doubts about finishing the work on the same day. But looking between Nikandr and Liam, she realized that she would never underestimate either of them again.
Hurrying over to the doorway leading into the rest of the house, the ancient returned with a piece of wood - a split log found by the river - that would eventually become a threshold.
"Would you... consider signing this?" Setting the piece on the floor, she found a pen and held it out. "So that everyone who come in here knows who built it... I'll be carving it in later, when I've gotten better at it." Just like the rest of door posts, stairway railings and beams were carved, by other hands, Maea wanted to keep the tradition going.

---

Last round!

Please sign the log Maea has brought, to preserve and honor those who built the extention. (That would be you, loves <3)

Good days are gonna come along
Hold on, hold on!

NIKI

Niki is just as surprised as Maea to find that, quite suddenly, there's a completed roof over their heads. Smiling and stepping back, he busies himself in securing the pulley and closing the two halves of the doorway, latching it tight whilst she goes up to fetch Liam. "This looks very good," he says quietly as he turns to admire the work they've put in.

He's exhausted and covered in sawdust with a few splinters to his name after the day, but there's no doubt that he feels a sense of pride in what they've achieved as well. Raising his eyebrows as the Ancient disappears, when she returns with the split log and the pen, understanding dawns on his face. "Of course," he says, stepping forward to accept the pen and to carefully etch his name into the log: Nikandr Volkov.

"There," he announces, stepping back and offering the pen out to Liam. "I think you have plenty to be proud of here."

my body's on the line now, I can't fight this time now
I can feel the light shine on my face

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

I thought you said forever over and over

Finishing the roof took some time, but it passed quickly enough, as time does when one enjoys the work they do. And when it was finally done, and Liam descended carefully once more into the room that they’d built together, he looked around with a smile. They’d all worked hard today, and it showed in what they’d been able to accomplish.

Then Maea was bringing over a split log and asking them all to sign, and Liam’s gaze flicked to hers briefly with a mixture of delight and surprise. It was somehow strangely intimate, the prospect of his name being forever etched into her home. But he didn’t shy away from it, nodding with agreement as Niki signed the split log first. Then Liam’s name was scrawled carefully alongside, and that was that.

Fin

A sleepless night becomes bitter oblivion

Liam