❰ 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.
( If there's one thing in this world Emil likes, it's comfort. To be secure and safe. While he's still a man of the military and has an attachment to his job, he's come to understand that the excitement of that life is actually grave danger wrapped in a palatable package from the outside. Maybe other people in other militaries are more in tune with this reality -- no, that's a guarantee. Through his adventure, though, Emil has gained a great appreciation for safety and comfort that goes beyond the selfish gluttony he was once plagued with.
And thus the opportunity to create the ideal space that is nothing but safety and close quarters to people he cares about...he can't help but fully idealize it, picturing ideal scenarios and setups. When Lalli asks, he's quick to oblige. )
Of course. ( As they're laying in the largest middle room, he quickly assumes that to be the living room. He lifts an arm to illustrate some of his descriptions, pointing and mapping what the space looks like in his mind. ) You can have a nice fireplace there, a couch -- oh, not the one you think is ugly if you don't want. There are certain limitations without animals, but a nice threaded rug. I don't know what kind of windows we can put in, but big ones would be nice.
Don't get me started on the rooms. ( Emil's arm rests back onto his chest. He's actually jotted down a few rectangular maps of how he'd like things arranged. It's putting the cart before the horse, but it fends off boredom and isn't totally without worth.
He's also sketched out a few ideas for other rooms, including the one his friend gave him permission to assist with. He could launch into a whole spiel about his opinions, but he leaves it at: ) Yours would look nice with a big, plush rug.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
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. ❱
no subject
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. )
no subject
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.
no subject
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. )
no subject
(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.
no subject
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. )
no subject
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.
no subject
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. )
no subject
no subject
-- 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!
no subject
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. ❱
no subject
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. )
no subject
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. ❱
no subject
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. )
no subject
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.
no subject
And thus the opportunity to create the ideal space that is nothing but safety and close quarters to people he cares about...he can't help but fully idealize it, picturing ideal scenarios and setups. When Lalli asks, he's quick to oblige. )
Of course. ( As they're laying in the largest middle room, he quickly assumes that to be the living room. He lifts an arm to illustrate some of his descriptions, pointing and mapping what the space looks like in his mind. ) You can have a nice fireplace there, a couch -- oh, not the one you think is ugly if you don't want. There are certain limitations without animals, but a nice threaded rug. I don't know what kind of windows we can put in, but big ones would be nice.
Don't get me started on the rooms. ( Emil's arm rests back onto his chest. He's actually jotted down a few rectangular maps of how he'd like things arranged. It's putting the cart before the horse, but it fends off boredom and isn't totally without worth.
He's also sketched out a few ideas for other rooms, including the one his friend gave him permission to assist with. He could launch into a whole spiel about his opinions, but he leaves it at: ) Yours would look nice with a big, plush rug.