Tabula Rasa: Adventures In A New World

“Alright,” the barbarian idly shrugs, stepping through an empty doorway. “Guess that’s done.”

Thea’s gaze lifts up from the wooden board resting in front of her. “Is that it?” She skeptically asks, soft-blue eyes narrowed just a bit.

Krvavy’s lips curl into a faint smile as she watches Adeline stare at the pieces in front of her with an almost panicked uncertainty. After a few seconds, the Drakling shakes her head and meets Thea’s light glare. “What do you mean?”

“You have finally finished our ‘master bathroom’ and all you have to say is ‘Alright, guess that is done’?” The silver-blonde noble girl returns, her tone almost sounding derisive. “Do you not want to show off your work? Like you have done so for even the smallest thing you have built so far?”

“What, do you want me to give you a tour~?” Krvavy playfully asks, emerald eyes gleaming with a teasing joy.

“Hmph!” The bratty girl lifts her chin and crosses her arms, holding that pose for just a moment before glancing down at the wooden board in front of her. Adeline still hasn’t moved even a single piece. “Ugh, fine!” Thea groans and suddenly stands up, brushing off her toga-like dress to make herself look a bit more presentable.

The barbarian quirks her brow at that. “Going to just abandon your game?”

“No.” Thea scowls down at the bunny-mouse girl. “Her turns take forever.”

Adeline flinches at that comment, nervously turning her gaze upwards to meet the bratty girl’s beautiful blue eyes with her own big hazel pair. She slowly blinks, looking so adorably pitiful.

Thea continues to stare at the skittish girl for a few long seconds, before exasperatedly sighing out. “Come on, get up.” She grabs onto the tiny blonde’s shoulder and drags Adeline up onto her feet. “You need to think less about what move to make. So we are taking a break.”

Krvavy can’t help but openly smile at that little interaction. Sure, her brat was a bit rude and is pushing Adeline around, but at least Thea is trying. The noble girl could have just abandoned Adeline, leaving that bunny-mouse sitting out here all alone...

“Well? Show us what you have built.” Thea impatiently taps her foot on the ground.

“Alright, just don’t expect much. It isn’t exactly finished.” The barbarian comments as she turns back around towards the doorway right next to their oversized bed. “Inanna still needs to install the lights, and we don’t have any mirrors. But, other than that, everything works.”

“Of course...” The bratty blonde sighs and steps into the dimly lit room.

“Here, gimme a second...” Krvavy idly mumbles those words as she pulls a chunk of quartz from her loincloth’s pouch. With practiced ease she channels mana into that bit of polished crystal, which begins to softly glow as a result. But it isn’t quite enough to illuminate this room, so she directs a bit more energy into it and –

“Eep!” Adeline quietly squeaks and shields her eyes as the crystal’s light suddenly flares up and becomes almost blindingly bright.

An apologetic smile fills the barbarian’s face as she dims that light down just a little, bringing it to a much more comfortable level. “Ahem, well...” Krvavy clears her throat and brushes her embarrassment aside. “This is our master bathroom, or whatever you really want to call it. It will eventually have a door, so don’t worry. It’ll swing inwards, into this wall here, see? I’ve left the spot empty, and a little indented, just for that.”

Thea skeptically stares at that spot, before turning her gaze to the right. To the wall that this empty doorway is set into. “Quite a lot of shelves you have built.” She comments as neutrally as she can, though her voice still has a bit of a bite to it.

“Yeah, I didn’t know what else to do with that space.” Krvavy admits with a shrug. “Anyway,” she takes a single step forward and stands next to an open window set into the outer wall, to the left of that missing door. “This here is mostly for airflow, so that the room doesn’t get too steamy from the shower. I was tempted to make it floor-to-ceiling, just like the ones in our bedroom, but...”

The barbarian trails off, watching as Adeline cranes her neck and rises up onto the tips of her bunny paw feet, all just to peer over that wide windowsill.

“Sorry if it is a bit hard for you to see through,” Krvavy sheepishly rubs the back of her neck, “but there isn’t much to see down there anyway. It just looks out over the switchback path. And, don’t worry, nobody down there can see much of anything in here. Pretty much just the ceiling. So there is a fair bit of privacy in here.”

“Unlike our bedroom...”

“Anyway,” the barbarian chooses to ignore her brat, “moving on... Right here, just next to the window, is the first countertop area. It hugs this wall and juts about two thirds of the way into the room. It kind of looks a bit bare right now, but that’s because we don’t have any mirrors yet. So just imagine that they’re here covering this wall completely from the counter to the base of those arches.” Krvavy gestures up at the vaulted ceiling a fair bit above her own head.

“And there are just two sinks for this entire countertop?” The silver-blonde noble girl raises an eyebrow as she looks across the expanse of polished stone.

“Well, yeah. On this side.” Krvavy dryly answers, reaching over and tapping on the stone where a mirror should be. “If this wall wasn’t here then these sinks would be face-to-face with another two. And there is also one right at the end as well, not to mention that I’ve built another countertop like this just past it. So we have ten sinks in this entire bathroom. And if that isn’t enough, for whatever reason, there is still plenty of space to fit more in. I just didn’t want them to feel crammed together.”

Thea trails her hand over the smooth countertop as she slowly walks around it. “Interesting...” The bratty girl glances back at the barbarian. “This entire countertop seems to be at the same height. A height that is too tall for Inanna or Adeline, and which is much too short for yourself.”

“Are you just trying to find things to complain about?” Krvavy shakes her head and stifles a sigh. “Yeah, as I’ve said a few times, it’s not entirely done. I’d like to lower some parts down and raise others up. Maybe even stack the tall sections above the short ones, as there would probably be enough space between them to do that... But I was waiting to see what everyone else thought first. If I just made some spots shorter to begin with then it’d be like I was forcing Inanna and Adeline to use them. I’d rather that be something we all decide on together.”

The bratty girl simply rolls her eyes at that. “You are weird.”

“Yup. And yet you still love me~.” Warmth fills Krvavy’s voice as she steps towards... and then right past her brat. “Anyway,” she casually continues on, a faint smile playing at her lips. “The counters aren’t as important as this: the shower!”

The barbarian lifts up the glowing quartz crystal and shines its bright light ahead of her, showing off a decently sized space sectioned off from the rest of the bathroom by a very short ridge jutting up from the ground.

“So this is why you extended the room by so much...” Thea idly muses, her eyes critically trailing across the smooth polished stone that makes up the shower floor and walls, even glancing up at the tall arched ceiling above it all.

“Yup, I wanted to be able to fit all of us in there with plenty of room to spare.” Krvavy proudly states, briefly puffing up her bare chest. “I may have gone a little overboard, but it is pretty much intended for group showers. Or for those of us who don’t mind the lack of privacy. So... sorry Adeline, guess you’ll still be using the showers down near the hot springs?”

“Do all of those spouts rain down water at once?” Thea asks before the bunny-mouse girl can even think of answering the Drakling.

“Well, if you want them to, yes. But you’d have to turn each nob to have them all going at once.” The barbarian replies with a shrug. “And I’ll admit that figuring out which nob goes with which showerhead can be a bit confusing, at least for the ones in the middle of the shower, but I’m sure we’ll get used to it in time. Though I would love to at least have been able to colour code them, as everything is the same grey stone right now... And that’s kind of a problem our entire home faces as well... Maybe if I used some of the basalt from the switchback path...?”

“Having some decorations would do wonders in making this feel like an actual home and not just a fancy cave.” The silver-blonde brat dryly comments, snapping Krvavy out of her mumbled thoughts.

“Yeah... That’s definitely somewhere on the list of things I have to do...” Krvavy takes a long, deep breath before putting that thought aside. “But this is what we have now, so we’ll just have to deal with it for a while longer.”

“Hmph.” Thea crosses her arms, though she doesn’t seem too annoyed. “At least this shower seems... luxurious enough. It does work, right?”

“Sure.” Krvavy answers in a slightly noncommittal way, earning herself a bit of a glare. “It works as well as the other showers down near the hot springs. We still don’t have any cold water. Just hot and slightly less hot. But anyway, that’s the shower. The rest of the bathroom is over there.”

The silver-blonde noble girl rolls her eyes as the Drakling gestures to the side.

“Honestly, there’s nothing really special over there.” The barbarian admits with a shrug. “Just another countertop area, as I’ve said already, and the toilets. Which there are currently five of, by the way. I’d like to add another as well, but I think I’ll hold off on that until I dig out the floor beneath us. I don’t really want to make a toilet that’s hanging off over the edge of a cliff. I’d prefer it to have solid ground beneath it.”

An expectant look fills Thea’s face as she waits a few long seconds before speaking. “Is that it? Are you just going to wrap up this tour like that?”

“Yes...?” Krvavy hesitantly answers, sounding and looking quite confused. “Well, there are also two more windows over there, but... Really, what else is there to talk about? This is just a bathroom? Do you want me to physically show you each and every toilet?”

“Ugh, no. This simply feels... underwhelming.”

“It is just a bathroom.” The barbarian dryly repeats herself.

“Yeah, yeah...” The noble girl rolls her eyes. “When are you going to finally build my walk-in wardrobe? Or that balcony you promised?”

“Quite soon, actually. Your closet just needs one more wall, but if I built it now we’d be trapped inside our home, as it kind of blocks off the path down from here. So that’ll have to wait until I’ve dug out the floor below us and built a proper front door. And the balcony will have to wait as well, because I’d like it to have some actual supports and not just be a chunk of stone jutting over a massive drop.”

The bratty blonde critically stares at the barbarian, before sighing in defeat. “Fine. I can wait. It is not like I have much else to do...”

“Well, you can get back to your game with Adeline.”

The bunny-mouse girl, who has been standing around awkwardly this whole time, suddenly jumps in shock as the attention shifts towards her. Panicked embarrassment quickly flashes across Adeline’s face as she grabs at her soft bunny ears and hides behind them, making a faint squeaking sound as she does so.

That tiny blonde likely forgot about the game she was playing, and almost certainly hasn’t been thinking about the move she has to make.

“Ugh, great...” Thea quietly grumbles. With a shake of her head, she reaches over and grabs onto Adeline’s shoulder, reluctantly leading the Halfling out of the bathroom. “Come on, it is still your turn.”

Once again, Krvavy can’t help but smile at the sight of her brat trying to get along with Adeline. She’s sure that, in time, it won’t feel quite as forced.

“This had better not be my balcony.”

“Hm?” Krvavy melds a brick into the ground before looking up at the silver-blonde brat standing a few paces away. “Oh. It isn’t.”

“Good.” Thea states. “I specified that I wanted it to look out over the grotto, not into the darkness of the cave.”

“And you’ll get that. This is just the area above where the front door to our home will soon be. I don’t really have any plans for this spot, so I guess it could be a balcony as well. Though it is a little big, so maybe it is more of a patio? Terrace? Veranda? Whatever the term would be.” The barbarian simply shrugs. “But I just figured that I’d flatten the area out now. And, before you ask, I also built some temporary stairs so that we can still make it down to the hot springs.”

The noble girl trails her eyes across the freshly flattened area, before moving her gaze back to the barbarian. “How long will it take you to build the antechamber? The foyer. The entranceway into our home.” Thea dryly clarifies as she sees Krvavy raise an eyebrow.

“Probably tomorrow, or the day after that. Assuming you mean the little area between the stairs and the front door. If you’re talking about the bigger area beneath the bathroom, then probably another week or two after that. It takes a long time to dig out entire rooms.”

“Hmph. It would be faster if you had more mana.” Thea rather grumpily grumbles.

Krvavy perks up, a grin finding its way onto her face. “Is that an offer~?”

“Ugh, no!” A blush immediately blossoms across that beautiful brat’s cheeks. “I already help you enough with that as is!”

“Is it really enough if I still want more~?” The barbarian shamelessly teases, leaning in towards that noble girl and gazing at the kissable lips that she is so very tempted to claim...

Thea simply closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down and act completely unbothered. “You are an incorrigible pervert.”

“Yes I am.” Krvavy blithely replies, continuing to widely grin even as she pulls back from that bratty blonde. “But anyway, how do you like your walk-in closet?”

“Oh? Is that finally complete?” Skeptical disbelief tinges the noble girl’s tone as she raises an eyebrow and gazes at the Drakling.

“Of course, though it is just an empty room right now. It isn’t like you have anything to put in there.”

Thea narrows her eyes at that comment. “Must you always bring that up?”

“What? The fact that you are pretty much always naked~?” Krvavy’s lips curl into a playful smile as she places a hand on her chest and dramatically sighs. “Or at least you were until you figured out how to wear that damn sheet...”

“Oho~! Have I finally foiled your perversions?” The bratty blonde smugly smiles as she idly trails her hands down the fabric of her toga-like outfit. “And by doing something as simple as wearing clothes?”

“Hmm... No, I don’t think you have.” The barbarian returns in an exaggeratedly thoughtful tone. “I mean, I do like seeing you completely bare and naked, but this isn’t bad either. In fact, I quite like it~.”

“Ugh! Of course you do! You pervert!” Thea groans in annoyance, though the way her blush deepens and becomes a brighter shade of red betrays how she truly feels. “Now, where is this walk-in wardrobe of mine?! I saw that you made two shallow rooms that I can only assume are to be closets, so which is mine?”

“Do you really need to ask? The bigger one is yours.” Krvavy points out the obvious.

“The one that shares walls with the bathroom?” A slight bit of derision enters Thea’s voice.

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

“I do not want a pipe bursting and ruining all of my clothes.”

“Don’t worry, that won’t happen.” The barbarian reassures her brat, though Thea doesn’t seem to fully trust that. “I only put ‘pipes’ in the small part where it shares a wall with the shower, and there is a lot of stone between them and your closet. So even if they do burst, the bathroom will be the one getting flooded, which isn’t as much of a problem because of all the drains I built in there.”

“Hmph, fine! But the blame is entirely on your head if something bad does happen!”

“Alright.” Krvavy shrugs her shoulders, easily accepting that responsibility.

Thea crosses her arms and glares at the Drakling, not saying a single word as the seconds tick on by. “Who is the other closet for?” She abruptly asks.

“No idea.” The barbarian honestly answers. “I just built it because there was space for it there. Maybe we can use it to store pillows, blankets, and the like?”

“And where would the others store their clothing...?” The girl reluctantly asks, sounding as if she already knows the answer.

“Your closet, for the most part. Unless they are fine with only using the drawers that’ll eventually be built into our bed.”

“I expected as much.” The silver-blonde noble girl sighs, her shoulder slumping in resignation.

“Not upset at that?” Krvavy curiously asks, tilting her head a little.

“No. It would hardly be fair if I were the only one to have a full closet of my own.” Thea replies in a surprisingly mature manner. “Now, this is enough of that. Stop slacking off and get back to building our home!”

Krvavy’s lips curl into a smile as she watches her beautiful brat turn and walk away.

“Nearly done already?”

Krvavy lifts her head up from her work to see Inanna approaching along the path, pushing her empty handcart. “If you’re talking about the front door, then yeah, just about.”

“Mmm. I suppose I’ll need to install some more lights soon.” The Dwarf idly comments.

“That’d be appreciated. I can already hear Thea complaining about having to walk down those stairs in the dark...” The barbarian shakes her head and moves to the side, giving Inanna enough space to easily pass on by. “There are some bricks for you just inside.”

“Thank you.” Inanna wheels her handcart through the doorway with a nod. “You quite like arches, don’t you?”

“I... I guess...?” Krvavy shrugs and glances back at the Dwarf. “I just think that they look nice.”

“Mhm.” The grey-skinned woman hums in agreement and grabs a brick. “You have quite an interesting architectural style. Not what I would expect from someone of your race.”

The barbarian raises a single eyebrow. “Oh? What would you expect?”

“Nothing quite like this.” Inanna bluntly answers. “Perhaps a large tent made of animal skins stretched between bones? Or maybe a hollowed structure of ice and snow? Something crude and primitive. No offence.”

The Drakling narrows her eyes at her Dwarf, but can’t exactly argue with that. Both guesses are completely reasonable, as her race is supposed to be rather primitive and barbaric. The handle of her first axe was literally a giant bone, after all. And, if Krvavy is remembering correctly, her kind is also from a place called the Frozen Wastes. So it makes sense that Drakling’s might use bones instead of wood, or even live inside of igloos... “Sounds about right.”

Inanna calmly looks up at the barbarian, meeting Krvavy’s gaze with an inscrutable expression on her utterly neutral face. “It is rather curious, I must admit. If I did not know any better, I would claim that your work contains the influence of other architectural styles. Yet I cannot entirely place which styles may be present.”

“Well, I’d love to say that everything I’m making is entirely original, but I’m probably just mashing a bunch of different things I’ve seen together with whatever is in my mind.” Krvavy shrugs her shoulders as the Dwarf continues to stare at her. “I definitely couldn’t do any of this if it wasn’t for my magic.”

“Mmm. Yes, Sculpt Stone does save you the need to learn the techniques needed to replicate certain styles.” Inanna nods her head and returns to filling her handcart with bricks. “I see you changed the stairs.” She idly comments after a few moments of silence.

“Yeah, just a little bit.” Krvavy replies with a bit of surprise in her voice, as she didn’t expect Inanna to notice such a small change. Not from here, at least. “I wanted to make sure that the steps weren’t too tall for Adeline, so I brought her over to check them out and, well... The height is fine, but she made a few suggestions.”

“Oh?” The grey-skinned Dwarf inquisitively raises a thick eyebrow. “Are you finally getting her to open up?”

“No. Not at all.” The barbarian sighs back. “It took some effort trying to figure out what she wanted to say. But I got it in the end. That’s why I rounded the corners at the back of each step, as that’ll apparently make it easier to sweep. I also smoothed the edges, so that the stairs aren’t so ‘sharp’, but I was planning on doing that anyway.”

“And these steps aren’t too short for you?”

“They are, but I can still use them just fine. Better to make it so that the shortest among us, you and Adeline, can use them without having to exhaust yourselves climbing them.” Krvavy replies with a shrug. “Besides, I can easily take them two or three at a time, so it’s not really a problem for me.”

“Mmm. Alright.” The Dwarf nods her head right as she places a final brick in her handcart. “We can install the lights in the stairs later, after dinner.” She states, already wheeling her filled cart around. “Until then, I will leave you to your work.”

“And how’s your work going?” Krvavy asks while stepping aside to give Inanna more space to get through the doorway. “Need me to solidify the walls yet?”

Inanna pauses and briefly glances back over her shoulder. “Mmm... Not today. Tomorrow, perhaps.”