Carja trotted over to the trees and clawed at them, sharpening her talons before she got to work. She backed up and bunched herself up, pupils growing wide before she launched herself forward, aiming to completely topple the trees over. She'd shave down the stumps later.

Her claws met the first tree and she tore it down with some effort, her hind claws scrabbling at the dirt before she jumped away, the whole tree coming down. She wagged her tail gently and turned to face Attikias, shaking herself off like she were a dog and not a dragon.

”I was thinking a deer because not only would it be fresh, but you'd still have food left for you once I was done with it,” she said sheepishly, ”I have a big appetite.”

Not to mention deer was her favorite.

She got to work dragging the tree out of the way, half gnawing on it and half actually doing work, easily distracted by the concept of 'play'. She was 6 cycles old and childhood was holding on tooth and nail and refused to let go easily.

”OH DO YOU WANT TO SEE SOMETHING COOL?!”, she suddenly exclaimed, and lolled out her tongue, showing a chunk taken out of the side, ”A wedfan' go' 'e!”

Translation: A redfang got me!

Suddenly she realized something. ”Didn't you say your children were half deer? Does it make it weird if we eat deer then?!”

Carja suddenly felt very bad.

@Attikias

Well, he was ready to help, but instead he was left blinking dumbfoundedly, staring as Carja utterly decimated the tree like a chew toy. ”Uhh, okay,” was all he said to that, taken aback. Well, she was big, he guessed.

Attikias cleared his throat, shook his head, and walked forward. ”Do you eat the whole deer, though? I mean, I can still hunt for everyone-- You’re still a guest, and I’m not gonna make you do everything around here.”

After all, he wasn’t the one literally dragging trees across the camp. ”Set it over- uh, there, I think,” he thought out loud, pointing towards an emptier spot and walking towards it. ”I could probably use this for a new hut…” His hand idly came up to scratch at his jaw, thoughts rolling in his head as he lowered his axe.

Well, he might not need to use the weapon, anyways.

He perked when Carja spoke again, blinking. It was a clearly unspoken ‘what’s up’ look, head cocked and hair falling to the side.

Oh. ”That looks like it hurt,” Attikias rumbled out loud with a faintly humorous tone. Part of it was laced with concern, but- well, he was genuinely kind of impressed. ”How’d that happen? I’ve never even seen one up close.” She probably tried to hunt it or something, or decided it might taste good- does she like fish? He glanced down to the tree. Maybe he could get some fish for her.

His eyes trailed back up at the mention of his children. ”Well, one’s a quarter deer. But it’s not really that weird.” Right? He blanked for a millisecond before tuning back in. ”I mean, I’m friends with Thalia’s dad, who’s a full on deer. And a Master’s a deer now. I think if I tried to hunt them they’d kill me before I even had a second chance about it.”

He tried to laugh, but it trailed out, realizing the severity of just how small he was. No- it was fine, and he shook his head and returned to smiling.

”How about we try and clear a sort of area like, as a whole? Push back the treeline evenly, in case we wanna use the space for some more things, too. It’ll give you more room to take off too, I think.” He hefted up the axe to point as he said all this, gesturing to the line of trees with nothing in front of them.

@Carja

Carja lifted a finger to answer and paused, a bit embarrassed, ”... I eat about three? Every few days. Right now I could probably eat a whole one though. But I want to help! I really do.”

She dragged the tree to the empty area and dropped it, shaking her head out and picking splinters from between her teeth before trotting back over. She took down a smaller sapling and dragged it over too, eyes trained on Attikias.

”It did,” she said proudly, ”I was hunting Redfangs until a sea monster dragged me under the water. I nearly drowned, but it was okay because something saved me.”

Carja felt a bit better at her explanation of his friends and family, walking up to a tree and pushing at it to gauge it's structure and how much strength it would take to take it down, ”So... in a sort of crescent shape?”

She stepped back again and aimed for the bigger trees, since they'd need the most energy to take down. She shot forward and slammed into one, the tree groaning and cracking, slowly falling over. Carja shook herself out and clawed at the base where it was still connected before dragging it away with more effort, her shoulder smarting just a bit.

”Can you use your axe on the big ones?”, she asked, ”It'll make them easier to push over I think.”

@Attikias

Attikias blinked a bit faster at the answer. Three? For him, a deer could last for- well, a while before it spoiled, but- well, maybe he'd have an excuse to get more leather now, then. Still. Three. Wow, yeah, that did make sense for something big like her, but he still shook his head as it set in. "No, it's fine- i mean, we can both do our parts? I still wanna make you that saddle, and the spiced food, too. It wouldn't be enough to fill you up all the way- maybe you don't have to eat three at a time if you ate kind of our portions?"

He rumbled, digging the point of the axe into the ground. "Maybe not. Deers, uh- we don't eat a lot at a time. Maybe double our portions- I'll show you when I do cook next." He gave a wave of his hand, and returned to business.

Right. Attikias took part of the tree that she dropped to nudge it closer to some vases, careful not to nudge them as he rolled it. Yeah, that might be good wood to use. He nodded to it, leaning on the axe as he was already gauging uses for it in his head.

He turned to Carja when she spoke again. "Really? You don't know what saved you?" That could be possible- after all, it was dark in the water, sometimes, and he didn't want to imagine the panic that had raced through her at the time.

As she returned to the area, he trailed behind her, dodging her tail and carrying the axe. "Yeah." As if he needed to, he pointed from the awkward statue to the pile they were making now. "I don't think it needs to be that big into the trees if we make it long. Maybe? I don't know how much space you'll need, really." She landed fine in his camp, but what about taking off..?

With his hand out on the axe, he stood leaning once more, watching. A wince came when she slammed into a tree. "Here- yeah, maybe do the dragging and I'll get them started for you." Now that looked painful.

Clearing his throat, Attikias stepped up to the plate as she dragged the fallen tree away, readying himself. He hesitated amoment, glancing about the tree to get it just right, before slamming down the weapon into it with a solid 'kaTHUNK'. What he didn't account for, though, was the feedback his arms got at the shock, and he shut his eyes tight to it. Right. Okay, that hurt. But, it probably felt a lot better than literally slamming yourself into it.

And so he went to work, cutting into the thick tree with his new weapon-made-tool.

@Carja

”Good idea,” she said, ”I've never really eaten consistently. I eat a lot when I get really hungry and then travel, then I eat again.”

Carja helped dragged the logs into place, piling them up carefully with stones placed to keep them from rolling. She looked over at Attikias and sat down, tail flopping on the ground.

”Well whatever grabbed me was big and had lots of tentacles. The thing that ate it was huge!”, she exclaimed, lifting her arms to try and stretch them out as far as they would go, ”Bigger than me by a lot.”

She peered at the trees and looked up, blinking, ”I can climb trees and take off from those just fine, and if I need to, I can probably take the walk to the river and take off there.”

Carja thought about it for a moment before continuing to pile up and organize the logs, dragging over fallen branches and saplings, taking down the smaller trees and pulling them over.

”I've never had spiced anything,” she said, ”What does it do?”

@Attikias

Attikias had nodded as she spoke, listening while he kept on working. He wasn't certain if adjusting to their food schedule would be easy, but it'd be worth the try anyways, right? One axe hit another tree, and he felled this smaller one, stepping about and working in tandem with Carja.

Big and tentacled? "Huh," was what he said to that, pausing briefly. He hadn't seen anything like that, but he couldn't go deep into the water anyways. He'd never even seen much of Redfangs, either. "I haven't seen much bigger than you." He let himself rest on the nearest tree, rubbing at his jaw in thought.

He paused as she looked up. "Those trees? Even if they are big, I don't want them to break under you or something. 'Sides, you'll need a place to land, or keep your stuff if you want to, or something." He shoved at the one closest to him, testing its cut. It should be good for Carja to shove, and he moved on to the next, wearing away the plants in notches.

"Spices? It uh-" he thunked the axe into a tree- "makes your food taste different. More flavor. It kinda hurts if you eat too much, but if you powder it up it's real good." He reared back again, aiming to swing once more. "Do you uh- you know how some things are hot when you eat them? Not temperature, but like as a flavor? A lot of them do that." He glanced up to Carja, thinking. If she hadn't had them before, might be good to start small. Then again, he didn't know how much he'd need to spice a whole bite for her. It'd be a lot larger right? His tail flicked in thought before he turned his attention back to his tree, shoving at it. "I think this one's good."

And he continued on to the next.

@Carja

Carja looked up at the trees and nodded, ”You're right, the branches falling could damage things.”

And she could get hurt too.

She dragged logs back to the pile and knocked over smaller trees and ones that Attikias had axed through, the hard work making her muscles burn. She liked it. Sweat started to gather but she didn't mind, being a creature of water and ice anyway.

”I can come in at a hover,” she said, ”And I don't need much take off room. If I jump and flap, I can clear the trees easily and fly up.”

She nodded slowly and sat down to catch her breath, blinking, ”Whew! This is hard work!”

They were practically making a whole new clearing and in a day, no less.

@Attikias

Attikias's breath had grown labored over the course of this, but they certainly were making progress. Stopping for a moment, from his axing and prep for Carja, Attikias leaned back against a tree and wiped sweat from his velvety brow.

"That'd work," he rumbled, sliding down just a bit and fanning himself with his shirt.

It took him a moment of cooling off before he shot up, his muscles complaining at the movement. "You wanna take a break? I can show you to the river," he spoke as he shoved a thumb to the wide path.

It'd certainly need to get cleared if Carja wanted to fit through, but hopefully it wouldn't be that bad.

(fade out next post for long thread? or now is fine) @Carja

Carja shook herself out and snorted, tired but not hot. She stretched out like a cat, tail curling as she yawned, before dragging her claws down the trunk of a tree to sharpen them.

”Sure! Don't want to strain myself too much,” she said, ”Let's go!”

She hopped forward, light on her feet despite her size, nosing past trees and managing to squeeze through the smaller gaps, her tail waving behind her. She curled around a smaller sapling to wait for Attikias, her fin-like tail waving around idly.

”You have kids, right? What are they like?”, she asked, wanting to meet them all some day.

@Attikias
Next post!! Gotta get that magicka >:)

Attikias nodded and let his tool rest on the tree he was just leaning against, stretching out as well as he stepped forward. "Right, then! I could use a drink myself," he spoke as he stretched out his arms on either side.

Once he was done, he followed behind Carja, his hands clasped behind his back. "Ah, yeah- a lot don't stay around here anymore, but they show up every so often. Hopefully you'll get to see 'em all eventually."

On their way to the river, he'd tell her of Thalia and Vivilene, Hunter and Angela, all of his children- adopted or not- their little quirks and what it was like to raise someone. Love poured through his every word, as he filled up a small canteen for himself, as they worked off and on for Carja's nest.

It was obvious the man had love for his family. And, it was obvious, too, he'd accepted Carja into it.

;fade exit!
@Carja