"Not Jack." Dwayne replies with a grin. "I can sell you rope if you have money, or you can check in that barrel over there, where the garbage goes. We have a lot of broken ropes, maybe you can make something of them."
The barrel is half full. With all the dragging wood out of the woods they go through a lot of rope. Some is still good, some is badly spliced, but none is longer than 30 foot.
Jewel looks at the damaged rope pieces. "Well, we can't make a rope slide with knotted rope, but a rope swing would still work. And we can make a narrow walk across it. Let's go chat with Dwayne's men. I wonder why he says 'Not Jack'?"
Jewel leads the group over to any of the lumberjacks that they can see. "Hi guys. Can you spare a moment? We're looking for some help. Dwayne said we could talk to you all, except Jack."
"We're thinking about building over at the pit, something for a little bit of fun. First we're thinking of building a narrow walk across the pit, from the big oak to the tree directly across from it. And of course some steps up the tree to make the climb up easier. It would be a balance walk across, or you could stop in the middle to dive. Remember that pit is really deep so the dive could be really good. And, we're trying to piece together some of the rope scraps to make a rope swing to swing out over the water and jump in."
"We know this can't interfere with your work, but we're looking for some after hours help? We're kids, but I think you guys could enjoy this too. What do you think?"
"Sounds better than getting stupidly drunk for another evening. But how should that work? We stop working for Dwayne when it gets to dark to c ut trees." one of the younger guys replies.
"Do you think this is long enough?" Tarjun takes one of the least damaged 3--feet long ropes out of the barrel, and shows it to the girls.
"For a ropeway we'd need ten times that length, or more."
"I have a sharp axe to shorten it. If I had a way to make them longer, I could earn more money from Dwayne and the barrel would be empty." the guy replies.
"I think we can just tie pieces together for a rope swing."
"But maybe we should work on the hard part first, the bridge-like thing. I don't know much about construction. How would that be built? I don't think we could just cut down a tree and attach that trunk to the trees on both ends. How do we mount it so it doesn't just bend down into the water in the middle?"
"You want to ask Dwayne again, if we can use his sawmill too? Because im sure bridges are not made of whole trees."
"What? NO! Dwayne calls out.
"Are you crazy? This is a dangerous and complex machine. Chances are, you'd destroy the saw, cut yourself in half or some other kind of catastrophe."
"And even in the best case, you'd cost me money, because the saw doesn't saw my trunks in the time you need."
"What about after hours, with a couple of your men supervising? We need proper lumber for this. We'll be really careful!"
"And you can see Tarjun wants to learn. Maybe in a couple years he might consider working for you as a lumberjack!?!"
Dwayne looks disdainfully at Tarjun's stiff leg. "The mill runs all hours with light. There are no afterhours." He turns and leaves.
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"Hey, I wouldn't consider working for this dumbhead." Tarjun stops and thinks a bit, then he returns to the group of lumberjacks.
"Boss says I can't use his precious saw 'cause I'm a kid. Do you guys mind doing an extra trunk after work?"
"Don't care if it's dark. Jewie can make magic light, so no problemo."
"First we go and look what you want to do. If that is doable and fun, we can always snatch a few boards." the guy replies. "I'm John, and these are Clark and Tony."
Jewel pauses and frowns when she hears Dwayne's words. But, she can't argue, especially when he leaves.
She ignores Tarjun's disrespect, and figures that if Dwayne even heard it he wouldn't care. He had been rude to Tarjun, judging him by his injured leg rather than what he was capable of!
"Thanks John, Clark and Tony. Clara is thinking of having a walkway similar to what the pirates used. But I think it would also be fun having something fairly high above the water to jump from and dive really deep. Did you see that hole before we filled it? It's pretty deep."
They go to the pit to look it over and discuss options. She casts Light and Dancing Lights to light up the area, taking direction from the guys where to move the dancing lights.
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"Clara's great at diving," Tarjun comments, surprisingly throwing a compliment at his friend's way. "So we'd need it to be, like, six feet high or somethin'? Maybe a bit higher. So she has proper time to do, like, a flip, or something like that."
"Of course it'd be better if she landed on her head," he adds, before anyone can suspect him of being nice.
"I'm thinking of having two boats to play pirates entering another ship. But anything that offers two platforms that are swaying some would do." Clara objects. "But whatever is fun to play with will do."
The guys confer shortly and then John suggests "How about we build a small pier first? With a ladder into the water. Then we have some fun and see where we take it from there."
Jewel listens to Tarjun and Clara, but then is more interested in the suggestion from the guys. "I like that idea John. But there is one possible issue. Wouldn't the end of the pier in the water need support under it? That would need a really long pole or something because of how deep the pit is. And possibly something on the bottom of the pole to keep it from pushing through the bottom into the caves of the dark elf spider woman that is below it...."
"I see you don't know how piers work. Go mark some trees and we'll show you how it's done." John tells, while checking how far the closest trees are.
Jewel stares at John for a moment. She decides that the next time Chirp tells her that she can learn a new hex she's going to learn something to hurt John....
Then she walks off in a huff to go mark some trees!
The lumberjacks take their tools and start working. Within short time trees are falling, branches are removed, trunks split and everything cut to the supposed length. You see that they have obviously fun. They tell you to fetch more, or best all of the broken rope.
A few hours later, the day gone and the work only saved by magical light the construction is done. It consists of several parts. A small platform, about six by eight feet elevated a foot above ground and bridging over the water for maybe three feet. Then a raft made of trunks that swims in the water, with a ladder down into the water. And between those two a three foot wide plank that connects the two with joints.
"See: Pier without posts in the water! The raft can rise and sink with the water and we have a proper way to get out after taking a swim." John proclaims proudly. And indeed it is impressive how those guys make that work with wooden connections and rope without any nails. Using only a large saw and some really sharp axes.
Clark takes off his shirt, throws it to the ground and jumps into the pond.
Jewel gets back after marking trees for the next few days. She notices that she hasn't made the headway that she should have with the plantings and takes a little more time working in the nursery area. She quietly prays to Erastil while she works, keeping her mind clear of any opinion she "might have" about John or the other men....
Jewel returns to the group after about an hour and a half. She is impressed by the work and stays back to watch. She doesn't know carpentry or construction like Tarjun, but the guys obviously do know what they are doing. She steps up when they complete it and nods. "Looks good! And I admit that I never thought of that."
She kicks off her shoes and runs across the platform and tries to cross the planks....
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Tarjun follows the construction of the pier very closely, taking a keen interest in watching the lumberjacks work, and occasionally asking questions about how they can assemble the parts together without nails.
"Right-o! Now time for fun!" he cries when it's over.
Carried away by his enthusiasm, he also takes off his shirt, and dives into the water. He doesn't quite manage a flip, but the spirit is halfway there, and he hits the surface with his face.
He then attempts to heave himself onto the raft. He slids right back off. "Damn!"
Clara watches the boys having fun. "You know, that's what the ladder is for." she points out to Tarjun.
"It's getting cold, isn't it?" she inquires. She starts snivelling and sneezes.
Jewel spots Clara's prank, but just sits down on the raft and grins to herself, waiting.
Clark suddenly shows the tell tale signs of an olympic swimmer. With unexpected speed he reaches the pier, climbs the ladder and grabs his axe. "Yeah, what is it?" he asks anxiously.
Jewel just stares at Clara, waiting....
The light slowly rises out of the water, just a simple orb of light and then fades. "You're both really fast when it comes to leaving the water." Clara states, trying to keep a straight face.
Jewel here's Tarjun's bewildered words and rolls off of the raft into the water. "Oh come on Tarjun. You had to recognize the spell. You know Clara and I can cast it. Heck, it was just a different shape than what I've been using to provide light here for the work. I just point and motion when I'm moving mine around, plus I make the lights look like floating torches. I think I could make mine look like that and move it without the gestures. I've just never practiced it...."
With that she flips herself around and dives down, swimming until she is in dark water where she relaxes and holds her breath for however many seconds that she can and just listens.
"What? You little brat!" Clark grabs Clara and throws her into the lake. "That's what you get for pranking us! Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!
Clark and Tony laugh a relieved laugh at the expense of Clark, Tarjun and Clara.
Hearing someone/something splashed in Jewel looks up.
Clara swims back to the platform and climbs out. "Hehe, totally worth it."
"Wanna throw me again?"
Jewel comes back to the surface just in time to hear Tarjun suggesting that the men be mean to Clara. She climbs out shaking her head to get some of the water out of her hair.
"Tarjun? What's the point of that? You know she can breath under water just fine. Let's keep it fun!"
"Guys? Sounds like Clara wants you to throw her back in. Can you swing her by her hands and feet and toss her high? Her magic will protect her from falling too so as high as possible might be fun. I'd like to try it too, but I don't have Clara's magic, so maybe a little bit careful with me please?"
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Clark looks at John and John looks back knowlingly. They both grab Jewel, but careful is not in their vocabulary. With one powerful swing they send her flying into the lake.
Tony takes Clara at her outstretched arms, does a few turns like a roundabout and releases her flying - almost too late. A little later and she'd have missed the water.
Jewel screams appropriately when the guys fling her out over the water. She tries to hit the water in something resembling a dive, but fails miserably, flopping and tumbling as she splashes into the water.
She comes back up sputtering and blowing water out of her mouth and nose, glaring at the men. She climbs out of the water onto the raft and whistles. Chirp comes down and lands on her shoulder. She whispers to the bird and Chirp launches back into the air. "Fun's fun guys. But remember that Clara's not the only magic caster. And when Chirp senses my anger...." She points and Chirp flies by, breathing a blast of fire above the group. The heat from the flames proves that it is real....
John is shortly startled by the noise. Then he runs towards Tarjun to simply shove him off the pier and into the water. But the swimming platforms sways and makes him stumble over Tarjun and falling into the water himself.
"Whoa! Careful little lady!" Clark calls out. "Let's move that fight into the water to make it harder for the firebug." But he too is very clumsy and only manages to throw himself into the lake.
Jewel calls out, "It's OK Chirp. Thanks!" and dives in after Clark. He hadn't told her to 'go mark trees' or anything like that. Maybe he wasn't being mean when he had helped john throw her in?
When she comes up she grins and responds to him, "It's OK. But Chirp gets worried sometimes if I get surprised like that. It felt like I was inhaling half of the pond!"