❰ and so they walk, following the road at first before veering off to trek across a field at what likely seems a completely random point along the way. emil’s silence in speaks volumes, more than any words could. this has worn on him as well. some part of lalli had known it would, but he’s boxed that worry up with a dozen others and buried it in the back of his mind. it would’ve been too much. anything more than the absolute necessary level of thought would’ve been too much.
but that’s not to say he hasn’t been thinking. he has. thinking and planning, working at a painstakingly slow but steady pace toward a day-to-day life that no longer revolves around drawing lines between knives and then pouring his life out into them just to keep the people he cares about alive. and honestly, it’s a wonder it took him this long to hijack emil off into the countryside. he’s wanted to for days now, ever since his plan first took form, but he had to wait. he’s not even positive why - maybe some part of him worried that for all his effort, emil would think it’s stupid.
so he waited... but when he and honir parted ways just after dawn this morning, he turned back to once again survey their work and all at once decided he couldn’t shut emil out any longer.
the field they cross is largely empty, save for the occasional tree. one such tree hides their destination from view until they’re nearly upon it, cresting what barely passes for a hill to come rather suddenly upon the foundation and wooden skeleton of a medium-sized house.
here he slows to a stop.. ❱
I lied, ❰ he says, quiet but more than loud enough for emil to catch it. ❱ When I told you I’d rest. I didn’t. ❰ which is a really sideways way of taking responsibility for what emil is seeing, the same kind of sideway he’s peering at him now. there’s something oddly vulnerable about it, dulled only slightly by his prevailing fatigue. ❱
( Some people might be more concerned that they're being led into what feels like the open wilderness with no idea why. Emil is fine with this. He trusts that Lalli has some important reason for their journey, despite keeping quiet.
The likelihood of his ability to guess what the whole point of their trip grows smaller and smaller, especially once they truly turn into an open field. He's obviously going to be shown something, but his mind can't even make up what it's supposed to be. Perhaps something he'd found while scouting? It has to be especially impressive or useful in that case. Otherwise he either a) wouldn't be told at all, or b) would just be quickly told or shown.
At first Emil thinks they've absconded to come look at this big tree, but again, they pass it. Just out of view, however, is...something. Hard to make out, but there's something there. It's only a few moments until they approach it to the point he's close enough to see what it is.
It's actually quite obvious upon walking upon it what it is. Emil looks at it, though, like it's a complete mystery at first. Lalli says something too him, he lied, something. Even if he doesn't absorb what has been actually told to him, he gets the idea. He steps across one of the beams on the ground and walks through it, looking at the others on the ground and the patterns they make. Once inside, it's so much more real and easy to visualize. He's been in houses with similar layouts; he's standing in a living room, there's a hall connecting it to another set of rooms.
That's when he really internalizes what he's been brought to see: this is the beginning work on a house, and it's a house that Lalli is apparently building. )
What is this...? ( That's an obvious question on its face, but the meat of it is contextual. Sure, Lalli mentioned something about structures and Honir telling him about related rules for magical...toxicity? Something like that. But why is Lalli building some house in the middle of the country? What is it for? Why is he telling him now instead of when he was pulling the trigger in the first place? )
❰ lalli doesn't object as emil picks his way into the middle of the structure. instead he's trailing a few feet behind him, seeming to examine the structure as well but stealing not-infrequent side glances to watch emil's face. the swede understands, and yet he doesn't. which is fine. lalli's more than self-aware enough to know that his trains of thought can be hard to follow, even supremely practical ones like this. ❱
Every night, you go back to Tyr because Honir's magic burns away at you. ❰ not like fire, but like acid. acid in your mind, so incredibly not right that it repels you back to 'safety'. ❱ It won't do that, here. This one is mine, not his.
❰ a moment later, it occurs to him how much it sounds like he built this for emil. which doesn't feel wrong entirely but he's clearing his throat a little regardless, stepping over to examine the most recent section of structural work to make sure it's holding properly as he says: ❱ It solves everything. If Klaus is here, he doesn't need protected.
( It's basically as suspected. This is indeed the framework for a house, a house that Lalli has started to create with his own two hands. Potentially on his own -- which he'll have feelings about, but after the sense of wonderment fades away.
He can try to hide it...well, not so much hide, as blanket it with other reasons and sensibilities. But nestled inside that list of potential uses for this home is the fact that Emil himself is welcome there, into something that is Lalli's and Lalli's alone to do with as he wishes. He could make a small fortress for himself, or even just another safehouse that's more neutral. But this structure, just based on the number of beams and how they're placed, is a home. A home that he has been invited into. With purpose.
There's a certain swelling that's taking up the middle of his chest, overwhelmed at all of the implications this information brings. It's hard to think Lalli doesn't care for him -- even during their pricklier moments a while back, he knew that wasn't the case. This, however, is such a monumental showing of care. For Klaus as well, of course, but also for him. Proof, even if unnecessary, that Lalli doesn't want to be entirely separated, even though there's nothing keeping them together here. That he's willing to commit to such an undertaking in order to make this and so many other things happen.
Emil can't accurately describe exactly what it feels like inside himself right now. Hope, relief, excitement and contentment have combined with something else, something that has settled much deeper inside of him that he'd rather not deal with presently.
And so he turns, expression one that's akin to shocked bemusement. )
So you've been doing this all on your own? ( He feels like he knows the answer to that question, considering Lalli is such a solitary worker -- if he hasn't shown Emil, it's unlikely he's shown others, right? )
❰ for a long few seconds, emil surveys the house. identifies the rooms. maybe even pictures what it will look like built, since it's simple enough to do - it's not as if lalli has the materials for anything much more elaborate than plain wooden interiors, and he's loath to ask honir for any more than the god has already generously provided.
then comes the question. it earns a vague shrug, hand sliding down the beam he was examining to hang at his side. ❱
Honir helps. ❰ as solitary as lalli tends to be, the god's help has been invaluable. it's the only reason this has gotten even a fraction this far. it's not as if lalli can lift these heavier beams on his own. ❱ Helped. Not anymore. I don't want his magic in here too.
( Ah, so someone else was here. A God -- the idea of not being the first person outside of Lalli to see all this doesn't offend him at all, but he does look at Lalli very carefully. He offers, )
I can help you. ( He wants to. If this is for him, even at a fraction, then he wants to be a part of it. To help his friend in general, especially with something so arduous. Previously, the idea of such physical labor and devotion to a project would only be on Emil's radar if it was via a selfish and obsessive impulse. Now it requires no question that this be something he take on as a shared endeavor. ) You don't have to do things like this on your own...uh, Honir not included.
( Why Lalli decided to leave him out of this plan from the beginning is beyond Emil, but he's learned that the mage acting on his own with his ideas is just how he operates. He jumps to action, and it's not a bad thing, even if he may at times desperately want to be included in things. There's no need to get bogged down on the questions involved with that, though. This is an optimistic moment. He's been told now, and that's the important thing to focus on. )
❰ he's not entirely sure what he hoped to accomplish by showing emil. reassuring him, maybe, that this mess isn't going to last forever. or possibly just to get it out of the way so that he doesn't have to wonder how it'll be received.
what he didn't expect was an offer to help.
maybe he should have. maybe what it takes to insist on following him down a dangerous dragon hole isn't so far off from what it takes to help build somewhere safe and untainted to live. but it catches him uncharacteristically off guard, and he barely has time to turn away (to eye a bit more of the framework, of course) before a quiet smile takes hold. ❱
If you want, ❰ he says, offhanded as anything. his lips may have betrayed him but his tone certainly didn't. ❱
( Part of Emil thought that he might get rejected; a verbal version of “EMIL DO NOT.” He’s pleasantly informed that he is invited to help. Well, if he wants. He does.
It’s not that Emil is trying to mask any of his own emotions, but the smile he has is much bigger than he typically wears when happy. He follows his friend’s eyeline, definitely more animated than before. This is even more possible now, and with the permission granted to help, his brain is already churning. )
So I guess we’re standing in the living room, there’s a hall, obviously a kitchen. ( He points in the directions as he talks; kitchen obvious in his own mind, at least. ) You seem to have the rooms figured out. Who gets which one?
( It might be assumed Emil’s suddenly excited that he can choose and fantasize about his own room. That is there, but the jittery energy he’s feeling is more than house planning. The information he’s taking in is all overwhelming, but not in any anxious or worrisome way. Right now, he needs to know everything about what is going on here, to help ground himself, but also to really revel in the warm feelings of this moment. )
❰ and again emil takes him by surprise, leaping into this now with no further time to adjust to the notion. lalli thought he'd need to think about it. in retrospect, he's not sure what there is to think about. maybe lalli was the one who needed to adjust. instead, he watches emil take this in stride, listens to the excitement in his voice, all the while feeling something light but urgent swelling in his chest. it hardly leaves any room to breathe, and he closes his eyes to get even the smallest bit of distance from it, forcing himself to draw in and let out a slow breath.
by the time emil turns back his way, though, he's opened his eyes again. there's a question, he should probably answer it - who gets which room? lalli glances off to the bedrooms, a shoulder lifting slightly (though not quite enough to rupture the pressure in his chest - he's fairly certain it might vent as some form of laughter and he's deeply disconcerted by that possibility). ❱
I get whichever one you, Klaus, and Tuuri don't want. ❰ he didn't actually choose who gets which room - he just made enough to make sure everyone had one.
but that's not the answer emil's looking for. emil wants input. so with a bracing sigh, lalli steps through a door frame into one of the bedrooms. ❱ This one's yours. Biggest, I think. ❰ how's that? ❱
( Emil follows behind him, taking in the information presented. Once inside the frame of what is potentially his own room, he actually finds it more difficult to picture than he thought it might be. There are a lot of ideas he can think of, all smashing together. It's a blank canvas, so he can essentially do whatever he pleases with it. Nothing is off limits.
There's also the fact that it's the biggest -- the smug in him is certainly happy about that.
However, there is something he isn't pleased about. )
Lalli, you're building this place -- well, we are now. ( There's a pause after that sentence suddenly. Saying it out loud, modifying it as a shared project, makes it feel all the more possible, and also all the more together. He wonders if the more he says it, if it will eventually lose the sparkle of excitement or just solidify it more. Anyway, he was making a point. ) You can at least pick out which room you want as yours. You have a right to it.
( "Not pleased" may be too strong a description, but he does feel for his friend. To Emil, Lalli deserves to put himself first for once, especially after doing so much for him, for Klaus, for Tuuri. Even picking his room second seems like such a small thing compared to the lengths he's gone to for the people around him. )
❰ all at once he's being- not scolded but lectured a little, and his shoulders lift toward his ears a little as he resists the urge to pull up his hood in self-defense. he knows he has a right to it. he just doesn't care. that's not what's important to him and he's way too tired to pretend it is.
he exhales a huff, stalking off out of the room - but only to march into the next room over. ❱ Fine. This one, then. ❰ but as prickly as he may be about it, it's actually a bit of a relief. somewhere in this process, the pressure in his chest deflated and now he can breathe more normally. ❱
( The obvious irritation Lalli exhibits makes Emil's still-present grin fall slightly. As he watches Lalli walk away, he worries he's gone too far with what he said, somehow. Then he simply makes a turn, standing in the framework right next to his. Even if it's done just to appease him, Emil's still pleased by this choice. Look, they're neighbours!
Emil walks over the beam of the wall they'd share, the short distance between them illustrated by just how few steps he has to take. A lot of ideas roll into his head about Lalli's room, and he'll surely share them at some point and see what sticks. It's very tempting to just start rambling about every aesthetic decision he'd like to make or run by his friend, but he's sure most of it would be nonsense right now. There's too much going on up there.
He inhales deeply, looking around at all the land that's visible through the skeleton of the house. ) You picked a nice place. ( A nice clearing in the country, away from others. Very comfortable, very homey. It's easy to picture himself here, whether in his room with a large bay windows or on a nice porch outside.
-- Actually for all his ideas, it occurs to Emil to put more focus on the "endeavor" aspect of "joint endeavor." ) How long do you think it'll take to finish it?
( Because, as he's looking to the sky and trying to imagine a roof above him, it dawns on Emil he has no idea how to build a house. )
❰ lalli doesn't know, either. not really. the library had a few helpful books that lalli only really bothered to skim, and honir seemed to naturally know where to put each beam and how to secure it, so lalli partially followed the god's lead for the first bit. to be honest, he wasn't really thinking all that far ahead.
but soon he'll be able to. soon he can stop pouring out his day's energy keeping klaus alive, and then he can put more into this house thing. not to mention scouting again - he'd barely gotten a start on that before ivar made his threats.
the question earns a vague little shrug. ❱ Months, ❰ he says, because why sugarcoat it? with a definite note of resignation: ❱ Thinking about asking Tuuri to help. She's... organized. She could keep track of things. ❰ the last thing lalli wants is to be overseen but he can't deny that it might get this done a little quicker.
speaking of things that would get this done quicker... ❱ Klaus, too. If he's here, I don't have to protect him.
( That's fine. Emil has no impression that this will be a weekend project, so the answer is about what he expected. If you told him it would take a year, he'd groan, but also understand the need to take so long, as disappointing as it might be.
A tiny part of him deflates at the idea it won't be a project just for them to share, but at the end of the day that's fine. Group work is faster, and it makes the goal much more in sight, especially if they're people he's friendly and familiar with. There's a continued mixed feeling around all of this knowing Tuuri is involved, just because he's still not comfortable holding his tongue around her in personal settings. Maybe if they're all busy it can be avoided. She would be an asset.
Klaus, however, is a more overall exciting prospect. Despite his quirks and strange, maladjusted nuances, he's taken a shine to having him around. Emil's not sure how invested he'll be in actually helping, but he should. He's going to have a room here, so he should share his burden in the work. Klaus has a majority stake in this, too.
...The logistics of it are a little confusing to Emil, though. It makes sense that a house built by Lalli works as a territory he owns and not a God's, so the whole curfew doesn't apply to it -- that's how he's interpreting it, anyway -- but at what point does it count? When they put the final board into the wall, or...? )
When can Klaus be here and under protection? When the house is totally finished? ( Otherwise they've still got a long time to wait in the safehouse while they work on this outside of it. )
❰ lalli, for his part, has no idea that emil would've wanted any part of this to be a project for the two of them. he doesn't realize it has sentimental value at all. it's going to be so much work, and lalli assumed he was doing them both a favor by bringing as many hands as possible into the project.
(emil doesn't really need to worry - there will be plenty of smaller projects for the two of them down the line.)
the question earns an almost-headshake, the movement abandoned almost before it starts because he can't actually deny it for certain. the amended answer? ❱
You can help me figure that out. ❰ it still sounds passably optimistic, for lalli at least. ❱ Stay here tonight. See if it makes you go.
( Well, he's certainly not adverse to being helpful. Or camping, since that's what this will require. There's a lot of framework that's been done so far, but there's only beams and some simple boards down for the floor. No walls, no amenities -- most importantly, no roof.
But that's all fine. They've spent the night in worse conditions, under more stress and less surety. This is basically the opposite of both of those things: hopeful and much more absolute. )
Okay. I'll bring some things. ( Just because he can sleep on the ground and with few provisions doesn't mean he wants to. He'll bring a few blankets, a bag of...whatever else to occupy the time. Food. Make a little event out of it. It's big news, so it can be like a mini party. The first technical night in his new house.
That's all about him, though. Not Klaus, still in the safehouse. ) So will it still be the same routine tonight for Klaus and you, then? The runes, taking you back to the hill house?
( He's curious about the schedule for the evening, but Emil's also subtly asking if he's spending the night in the new abode alone. Whether or not "helping" implies Lalli will be there too is something he isn't totally sure of. )
Not the hill house. Bring me here. ❰ which, in a way, answers most of the rest of it too. as an afterthought, he adds, ❱ Wake me up before dark. ❰ before emil has to go back to tyr, if this doesn't work like lalli thinks it does. he wants to be awake to know one way or another, and he knows emil wouldn't want to leave him out here regardless.
waking up before dark after refreshing the runes is tougher than sleeping it off, absolutely, but it's hardly impossible. ❱
If you can stay, we'll bring him tomorrow. ❰ and with a flicker of dry humor: ❱ He can drag the couch.
( Again, this is all fine with Emil. Lalli will likely be exhausted, hard to stir in order to prove or disprove the theory they have going on. It'll be just one more night of it all if everything goes as planned, so it'll be well worth it to disturb his sleep one last time if the news is good. )
Alright, I can do that. ( There is one thing he isn't sure of though: ) So...can I tell him what's happening? I won't be coming back, so I have to say something.
( Whether or not Lalli wants to keep the plan as a surprise for when they're sure it will work, Klaus will know something is up if the routine breaks. He's an...invasive sort, and Emil isn't the best liar by a long shot. )
❰ lalli grimaces at the question, exhaling a weary sigh. ❱ Not if you can avoid it. Too many questions. ❰ klaus has his merits, but the ability to know when not to ask questions is not necessarily one of them, and lalli is not going to have the energy to address those questions until the day he can take down the runes. ❱
( It's a response that he'll respect, but simultaneously feels disappointment in. He's excited enough to want to tell Klaus right that instant, and waiting while he has to actually interact with him later...having to keep his mouth closed is going to be so difficult.
-- And it was. Like he's expected to, Emil eventually goes to pick Lalli up from his mission to protect Klaus, hopefully for the last time. No piggybacking this time, and the initial journey was likely more rough due to the fact that Emil burst into the safehouse, grabbed Lalli like he was hefting a sack of flour and exclaimed to Klaus abruptly that he wouldn't be returning. Everything is fine! Don't worry!
It's also a longer trip, past the house in the hill to the skeletal structure he'd been shown that morning. It's easy to find now. He'd gotten over the learning curve of how to find the place when he was on trips bringing back his supplies that afternoon.
Which, if this isn't going to work, he's got quite a few things he's going to have to take back to Tyr, or else leave it with Lalli sleeping in the wilderness. Emil brought out a few lanterns, dragged his mattress (and all blankets adjacent to it) out into the large frame of the living room, packed a bag of food and flasks of water. Physically he's tired, but mentally he's the opposite when he removes Lalli from his shoulder and places him on the bed. There should only be an hour or so left, now. It'll be a long wait.
It ticks by slowly. Emil preoccupies himself with staring at the sky, sketching rough doodles into a blank-paged book he'd found. After an hour he decides that that isn't good enough. It's good news that the familiar pull isn't there, but the real rest of success is the absence of the full-body sensation of foreign existence; he'd only experienced it a couple of times in the beginning, but it's a hard state of being to simply forget. Just a little longer.
He lets another hour slide by before he throws away the exercise in patience. It's dark outside. If he's not feeling anything now, he likely won't feel anything else related to being away from Tyr all night. )
Lalli. Lalli. ( He slides to the side of his friend's resting spot, pulling down the light blanket he'd placed over him to shake at his shoulder. It's vigorous, but the relief that he feels that this project can now officially be considered worthy to take up is hard to contain. ) Wake up!
❰ though he went to the safehouse a bit early in anticipation of emil waking him at dusk, his post-rune hibernation is still cut miserably short, and waking from it is like clawing his way through a pond filled with tree sap. but finally, only a bit belated, he makes his way to the surface. a hand darts up to clumsily wrap around emil's wrist in a silent 'stop shaking, i'm working on it', and he holds on for good measure while he takes the couple more breaths and seconds that he needs to drag open his eyelids.
it's dark. it's dark and emil's still here.
letting go of his wrist, lalli pushes himself upright to look up at the sky, then back at emil - as if he's having a little trouble believing (or maybe just processing) that this actually worked. ❱
Does it feel-...? ❰ wrong, at all? pardon him and his barely-enunciated words, the dregs of sleep are clinging to him a bit harder than usual at the moment. it'll be better in a minute or two, since he has no intention of just going back to sleep when something this important is actually successfully happening. ❱
( The shaking does indeed stop once his hand is grasped, and instead Emil will wait still, eager for the recognition that his friend will eventually reach. He's exhibited quite a bit of patience today, and he'll continue the pattern while Lalli gets his bearing.
Once he's up and asking, Emil shakes his head. ) Not at all. It's way past the time where it would be basically unbearable. ( You get some extra sleep and some extra surety, Lalli. He leans against the mattress, excited to finally share this with someone else, but especially him. )
That means we can get Klaus here tomorrow and you don't have to wear yourself out every day. ( At least until the home-building goes into full swing, but that's a more manageable kind of tired; fulfilling physical fatigue versus an all-over, body and mind submission. The giddy hopefulness is returning to him in spades, so even the prospect of hard labor isn't bringing him down right now. )
❰ the answer, whether or not he already kind of assumed it, earns a pleased sort of hum as he makes to lay back down. an afterthought seems to catch him before he finishes the motion, and he's scooting away a bit to curl up at one end of the mattress, a hand snaking out from his pile of bedding to catch emil's shoulder and tug vaguely up toward the two-thirds of the bed that now sit thoroughly unoccupied. ❱
Can't picture him camping. ❰ there's something good-humored in his tone regardless of fatigue, like either the thought amuses him a little or he's still just plain pleased that this is all working out in the first place. ❱
( He really did state the obvious, but it felt like it needed to be reassured to his friend. Maybe it was just to solidify his own excitement. When he's pulled at, Emil takes only a moment to recognize what he's being invited to. Crawling up onto the mattress, he examines his friend before sitting in a more cross-legged position. He's not tired enough to lay down yet, but he'll get there. )
Me neither. He'll have to get used to roughing it if he wants to avoid Ivar. ( The image of Klaus in the wilderness is somewhat amusing to Emil; he could potentially start a campfire but anything past that is quite impossible to take seriously. ) I also can't picture him building the house. At least his height might be useful.
( Maybe he'll surprise them and somehow be capable in this area. Emil doesn't necessarily feel like he has to be, though. That may change when he's frustrated and over-worked, but the general idea that Klaus can just exist there without contributing is certainly present. He's come to like that guy quite a lot, so it's okay if this is something that they do for him and not necessarily with him.
The feeling of comfort is convincing him to stretch out and lay down, swiveling to fall back with his top half closer to Lalli. He can barely see the curve of his friend outside of his peripheral, but that's fine. Emil doesn't need to see him to be assured that he's there. )
I can't believe that in a few months this is going to be an actual house. ( More than anything he's capable of seeing the beams above him. It's pretty remarkable that after a while, a roof will be covered up the sky between all of them. )
❰ to be honest, lalli didn't much envision klaus helping either. he'd just... be here. not getting killed. maybe healing any injuries if they come, since lalli also can't envision emil being terribly adept with basic carpentry tools. but that's fine. emil will learn, and klaus will continue to not get killed.
emil's sprawling now in the space that lalli left for him, wondering aloud about the house they're going to build. and while the finn had expected the timeframe to be a bit harder to come to terms with, emil seems to have embraced it wholeheartedly. it's oddly pleasing, to have emil as gung-ho as lalli himself is. he'd expected complaint. maybe he shouldn't have. maybe next time he won't. ❱
I can't picture it yet, ❰ he admits, voice barely more than a murmur in their new proximity. he can picture the layout and structure, maybe even the walls and the floor, but he can't picture it as a home yet.
his eyes search the side of emil's face, the way the swede's own eyes wonder at the beams overhead. if you blink you might miss the sliver of warmth in his tone as he tacks on, ❱ Bet you can, though.
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but that’s not to say he hasn’t been thinking. he has. thinking and planning, working at a painstakingly slow but steady pace toward a day-to-day life that no longer revolves around drawing lines between knives and then pouring his life out into them just to keep the people he cares about alive. and honestly, it’s a wonder it took him this long to hijack emil off into the countryside. he’s wanted to for days now, ever since his plan first took form, but he had to wait. he’s not even positive why - maybe some part of him worried that for all his effort, emil would think it’s stupid.
so he waited... but when he and honir parted ways just after dawn this morning, he turned back to once again survey their work and all at once decided he couldn’t shut emil out any longer.
the field they cross is largely empty, save for the occasional tree. one such tree hides their destination from view until they’re nearly upon it, cresting what barely passes for a hill to come rather suddenly upon the foundation and wooden skeleton of a medium-sized house.
here he slows to a stop.. ❱
I lied, ❰ he says, quiet but more than loud enough for emil to catch it. ❱ When I told you I’d rest. I didn’t. ❰ which is a really sideways way of taking responsibility for what emil is seeing, the same kind of sideway he’s peering at him now. there’s something oddly vulnerable about it, dulled only slightly by his prevailing fatigue. ❱
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The likelihood of his ability to guess what the whole point of their trip grows smaller and smaller, especially once they truly turn into an open field. He's obviously going to be shown something, but his mind can't even make up what it's supposed to be. Perhaps something he'd found while scouting? It has to be especially impressive or useful in that case. Otherwise he either a) wouldn't be told at all, or b) would just be quickly told or shown.
At first Emil thinks they've absconded to come look at this big tree, but again, they pass it. Just out of view, however, is...something. Hard to make out, but there's something there. It's only a few moments until they approach it to the point he's close enough to see what it is.
It's actually quite obvious upon walking upon it what it is. Emil looks at it, though, like it's a complete mystery at first. Lalli says something too him, he lied, something. Even if he doesn't absorb what has been actually told to him, he gets the idea. He steps across one of the beams on the ground and walks through it, looking at the others on the ground and the patterns they make. Once inside, it's so much more real and easy to visualize. He's been in houses with similar layouts; he's standing in a living room, there's a hall connecting it to another set of rooms.
That's when he really internalizes what he's been brought to see: this is the beginning work on a house, and it's a house that Lalli is apparently building. )
What is this...? ( That's an obvious question on its face, but the meat of it is contextual. Sure, Lalli mentioned something about structures and Honir telling him about related rules for magical...toxicity? Something like that. But why is Lalli building some house in the middle of the country? What is it for? Why is he telling him now instead of when he was pulling the trigger in the first place? )
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Every night, you go back to Tyr because Honir's magic burns away at you. ❰ not like fire, but like acid. acid in your mind, so incredibly not right that it repels you back to 'safety'. ❱ It won't do that, here. This one is mine, not his.
❰ a moment later, it occurs to him how much it sounds like he built this for emil. which doesn't feel wrong entirely but he's clearing his throat a little regardless, stepping over to examine the most recent section of structural work to make sure it's holding properly as he says: ❱ It solves everything. If Klaus is here, he doesn't need protected.
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He can try to hide it...well, not so much hide, as blanket it with other reasons and sensibilities. But nestled inside that list of potential uses for this home is the fact that Emil himself is welcome there, into something that is Lalli's and Lalli's alone to do with as he wishes. He could make a small fortress for himself, or even just another safehouse that's more neutral. But this structure, just based on the number of beams and how they're placed, is a home. A home that he has been invited into. With purpose.
There's a certain swelling that's taking up the middle of his chest, overwhelmed at all of the implications this information brings. It's hard to think Lalli doesn't care for him -- even during their pricklier moments a while back, he knew that wasn't the case. This, however, is such a monumental showing of care. For Klaus as well, of course, but also for him. Proof, even if unnecessary, that Lalli doesn't want to be entirely separated, even though there's nothing keeping them together here. That he's willing to commit to such an undertaking in order to make this and so many other things happen.
Emil can't accurately describe exactly what it feels like inside himself right now. Hope, relief, excitement and contentment have combined with something else, something that has settled much deeper inside of him that he'd rather not deal with presently.
And so he turns, expression one that's akin to shocked bemusement. )
So you've been doing this all on your own? ( He feels like he knows the answer to that question, considering Lalli is such a solitary worker -- if he hasn't shown Emil, it's unlikely he's shown others, right? )
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then comes the question. it earns a vague shrug, hand sliding down the beam he was examining to hang at his side. ❱
Honir helps. ❰ as solitary as lalli tends to be, the god's help has been invaluable. it's the only reason this has gotten even a fraction this far. it's not as if lalli can lift these heavier beams on his own. ❱ Helped. Not anymore. I don't want his magic in here too.
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I can help you. ( He wants to. If this is for him, even at a fraction, then he wants to be a part of it. To help his friend in general, especially with something so arduous. Previously, the idea of such physical labor and devotion to a project would only be on Emil's radar if it was via a selfish and obsessive impulse. Now it requires no question that this be something he take on as a shared endeavor. ) You don't have to do things like this on your own...uh, Honir not included.
( Why Lalli decided to leave him out of this plan from the beginning is beyond Emil, but he's learned that the mage acting on his own with his ideas is just how he operates. He jumps to action, and it's not a bad thing, even if he may at times desperately want to be included in things. There's no need to get bogged down on the questions involved with that, though. This is an optimistic moment. He's been told now, and that's the important thing to focus on. )
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what he didn't expect was an offer to help.
maybe he should have. maybe what it takes to insist on following him down a dangerous dragon hole isn't so far off from what it takes to help build somewhere safe and untainted to live. but it catches him uncharacteristically off guard, and he barely has time to turn away (to eye a bit more of the framework, of course) before a quiet smile takes hold. ❱
If you want, ❰ he says, offhanded as anything. his lips may have betrayed him but his tone certainly didn't. ❱
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It’s not that Emil is trying to mask any of his own emotions, but the smile he has is much bigger than he typically wears when happy. He follows his friend’s eyeline, definitely more animated than before. This is even more possible now, and with the permission granted to help, his brain is already churning. )
So I guess we’re standing in the living room, there’s a hall, obviously a kitchen. ( He points in the directions as he talks; kitchen obvious in his own mind, at least. ) You seem to have the rooms figured out. Who gets which one?
( It might be assumed Emil’s suddenly excited that he can choose and fantasize about his own room. That is there, but the jittery energy he’s feeling is more than house planning. The information he’s taking in is all overwhelming, but not in any anxious or worrisome way. Right now, he needs to know everything about what is going on here, to help ground himself, but also to really revel in the warm feelings of this moment. )
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by the time emil turns back his way, though, he's opened his eyes again. there's a question, he should probably answer it - who gets which room? lalli glances off to the bedrooms, a shoulder lifting slightly (though not quite enough to rupture the pressure in his chest - he's fairly certain it might vent as some form of laughter and he's deeply disconcerted by that possibility). ❱
I get whichever one you, Klaus, and Tuuri don't want. ❰ he didn't actually choose who gets which room - he just made enough to make sure everyone had one.
but that's not the answer emil's looking for. emil wants input. so with a bracing sigh, lalli steps through a door frame into one of the bedrooms. ❱ This one's yours. Biggest, I think. ❰ how's that? ❱
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There's also the fact that it's the biggest -- the smug in him is certainly happy about that.
However, there is something he isn't pleased about. )
Lalli, you're building this place -- well, we are now. ( There's a pause after that sentence suddenly. Saying it out loud, modifying it as a shared project, makes it feel all the more possible, and also all the more together. He wonders if the more he says it, if it will eventually lose the sparkle of excitement or just solidify it more. Anyway, he was making a point. ) You can at least pick out which room you want as yours. You have a right to it.
( "Not pleased" may be too strong a description, but he does feel for his friend. To Emil, Lalli deserves to put himself first for once, especially after doing so much for him, for Klaus, for Tuuri. Even picking his room second seems like such a small thing compared to the lengths he's gone to for the people around him. )
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he exhales a huff, stalking off out of the room - but only to march into the next room over. ❱ Fine. This one, then. ❰ but as prickly as he may be about it, it's actually a bit of a relief. somewhere in this process, the pressure in his chest deflated and now he can breathe more normally. ❱
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Emil walks over the beam of the wall they'd share, the short distance between them illustrated by just how few steps he has to take. A lot of ideas roll into his head about Lalli's room, and he'll surely share them at some point and see what sticks. It's very tempting to just start rambling about every aesthetic decision he'd like to make or run by his friend, but he's sure most of it would be nonsense right now. There's too much going on up there.
He inhales deeply, looking around at all the land that's visible through the skeleton of the house. ) You picked a nice place. ( A nice clearing in the country, away from others. Very comfortable, very homey. It's easy to picture himself here, whether in his room with a large bay windows or on a nice porch outside.
-- Actually for all his ideas, it occurs to Emil to put more focus on the "endeavor" aspect of "joint endeavor." ) How long do you think it'll take to finish it?
( Because, as he's looking to the sky and trying to imagine a roof above him, it dawns on Emil he has no idea how to build a house. )
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but soon he'll be able to. soon he can stop pouring out his day's energy keeping klaus alive, and then he can put more into this house thing. not to mention scouting again - he'd barely gotten a start on that before ivar made his threats.
the question earns a vague little shrug. ❱ Months, ❰ he says, because why sugarcoat it? with a definite note of resignation: ❱ Thinking about asking Tuuri to help. She's... organized. She could keep track of things. ❰ the last thing lalli wants is to be overseen but he can't deny that it might get this done a little quicker.
speaking of things that would get this done quicker... ❱ Klaus, too. If he's here, I don't have to protect him.
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A tiny part of him deflates at the idea it won't be a project just for them to share, but at the end of the day that's fine. Group work is faster, and it makes the goal much more in sight, especially if they're people he's friendly and familiar with. There's a continued mixed feeling around all of this knowing Tuuri is involved, just because he's still not comfortable holding his tongue around her in personal settings. Maybe if they're all busy it can be avoided. She would be an asset.
Klaus, however, is a more overall exciting prospect. Despite his quirks and strange, maladjusted nuances, he's taken a shine to having him around. Emil's not sure how invested he'll be in actually helping, but he should. He's going to have a room here, so he should share his burden in the work. Klaus has a majority stake in this, too.
...The logistics of it are a little confusing to Emil, though. It makes sense that a house built by Lalli works as a territory he owns and not a God's, so the whole curfew doesn't apply to it -- that's how he's interpreting it, anyway -- but at what point does it count? When they put the final board into the wall, or...? )
When can Klaus be here and under protection? When the house is totally finished? ( Otherwise they've still got a long time to wait in the safehouse while they work on this outside of it. )
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(emil doesn't really need to worry - there will be plenty of smaller projects for the two of them down the line.)
the question earns an almost-headshake, the movement abandoned almost before it starts because he can't actually deny it for certain. the amended answer? ❱
You can help me figure that out. ❰ it still sounds passably optimistic, for lalli at least. ❱ Stay here tonight. See if it makes you go.
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But that's all fine. They've spent the night in worse conditions, under more stress and less surety. This is basically the opposite of both of those things: hopeful and much more absolute. )
Okay. I'll bring some things. ( Just because he can sleep on the ground and with few provisions doesn't mean he wants to. He'll bring a few blankets, a bag of...whatever else to occupy the time. Food. Make a little event out of it. It's big news, so it can be like a mini party. The first technical night in his new house.
That's all about him, though. Not Klaus, still in the safehouse. ) So will it still be the same routine tonight for Klaus and you, then? The runes, taking you back to the hill house?
( He's curious about the schedule for the evening, but Emil's also subtly asking if he's spending the night in the new abode alone. Whether or not "helping" implies Lalli will be there too is something he isn't totally sure of. )
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waking up before dark after refreshing the runes is tougher than sleeping it off, absolutely, but it's hardly impossible. ❱
If you can stay, we'll bring him tomorrow. ❰ and with a flicker of dry humor: ❱ He can drag the couch.
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Alright, I can do that. ( There is one thing he isn't sure of though: ) So...can I tell him what's happening? I won't be coming back, so I have to say something.
( Whether or not Lalli wants to keep the plan as a surprise for when they're sure it will work, Klaus will know something is up if the routine breaks. He's an...invasive sort, and Emil isn't the best liar by a long shot. )
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-- And it was. Like he's expected to, Emil eventually goes to pick Lalli up from his mission to protect Klaus, hopefully for the last time. No piggybacking this time, and the initial journey was likely more rough due to the fact that Emil burst into the safehouse, grabbed Lalli like he was hefting a sack of flour and exclaimed to Klaus abruptly that he wouldn't be returning. Everything is fine! Don't worry!
It's also a longer trip, past the house in the hill to the skeletal structure he'd been shown that morning. It's easy to find now. He'd gotten over the learning curve of how to find the place when he was on trips bringing back his supplies that afternoon.
Which, if this isn't going to work, he's got quite a few things he's going to have to take back to Tyr, or else leave it with Lalli sleeping in the wilderness. Emil brought out a few lanterns, dragged his mattress (and all blankets adjacent to it) out into the large frame of the living room, packed a bag of food and flasks of water. Physically he's tired, but mentally he's the opposite when he removes Lalli from his shoulder and places him on the bed. There should only be an hour or so left, now. It'll be a long wait.
It ticks by slowly. Emil preoccupies himself with staring at the sky, sketching rough doodles into a blank-paged book he'd found. After an hour he decides that that isn't good enough. It's good news that the familiar pull isn't there, but the real rest of success is the absence of the full-body sensation of foreign existence; he'd only experienced it a couple of times in the beginning, but it's a hard state of being to simply forget. Just a little longer.
He lets another hour slide by before he throws away the exercise in patience. It's dark outside. If he's not feeling anything now, he likely won't feel anything else related to being away from Tyr all night. )
Lalli. Lalli. ( He slides to the side of his friend's resting spot, pulling down the light blanket he'd placed over him to shake at his shoulder. It's vigorous, but the relief that he feels that this project can now officially be considered worthy to take up is hard to contain. ) Wake up!
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it's dark. it's dark and emil's still here.
letting go of his wrist, lalli pushes himself upright to look up at the sky, then back at emil - as if he's having a little trouble believing (or maybe just processing) that this actually worked. ❱
Does it feel-...? ❰ wrong, at all? pardon him and his barely-enunciated words, the dregs of sleep are clinging to him a bit harder than usual at the moment. it'll be better in a minute or two, since he has no intention of just going back to sleep when something this important is actually successfully happening. ❱
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Once he's up and asking, Emil shakes his head. ) Not at all. It's way past the time where it would be basically unbearable. ( You get some extra sleep and some extra surety, Lalli. He leans against the mattress, excited to finally share this with someone else, but especially him. )
That means we can get Klaus here tomorrow and you don't have to wear yourself out every day. ( At least until the home-building goes into full swing, but that's a more manageable kind of tired; fulfilling physical fatigue versus an all-over, body and mind submission. The giddy hopefulness is returning to him in spades, so even the prospect of hard labor isn't bringing him down right now. )
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Can't picture him camping. ❰ there's something good-humored in his tone regardless of fatigue, like either the thought amuses him a little or he's still just plain pleased that this is all working out in the first place. ❱
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Me neither. He'll have to get used to roughing it if he wants to avoid Ivar. ( The image of Klaus in the wilderness is somewhat amusing to Emil; he could potentially start a campfire but anything past that is quite impossible to take seriously. ) I also can't picture him building the house. At least his height might be useful.
( Maybe he'll surprise them and somehow be capable in this area. Emil doesn't necessarily feel like he has to be, though. That may change when he's frustrated and over-worked, but the general idea that Klaus can just exist there without contributing is certainly present. He's come to like that guy quite a lot, so it's okay if this is something that they do for him and not necessarily with him.
The feeling of comfort is convincing him to stretch out and lay down, swiveling to fall back with his top half closer to Lalli. He can barely see the curve of his friend outside of his peripheral, but that's fine. Emil doesn't need to see him to be assured that he's there. )
I can't believe that in a few months this is going to be an actual house. ( More than anything he's capable of seeing the beams above him. It's pretty remarkable that after a while, a roof will be covered up the sky between all of them. )
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emil's sprawling now in the space that lalli left for him, wondering aloud about the house they're going to build. and while the finn had expected the timeframe to be a bit harder to come to terms with, emil seems to have embraced it wholeheartedly. it's oddly pleasing, to have emil as gung-ho as lalli himself is. he'd expected complaint. maybe he shouldn't have. maybe next time he won't. ❱
I can't picture it yet, ❰ he admits, voice barely more than a murmur in their new proximity. he can picture the layout and structure, maybe even the walls and the floor, but he can't picture it as a home yet.
his eyes search the side of emil's face, the way the swede's own eyes wonder at the beams overhead. if you blink you might miss the sliver of warmth in his tone as he tacks on, ❱ Bet you can, though.
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