Finishing Some Jobs, Planning Some More

“Mm.” Inanna holds a finger up to her chin, its tip pressing into her bottom lip. “A little further.”

Krvavy shuffles ever so slightly to the side, putting a lot of trust into the sturdy but still makeshift wooden bridge beneath her feet. “Ngh...” She grunts, shifting the rather huge waterwheel just a little further along its shaft. “That good...?”

The sound of fast, flowing water fills the air.

“Mhm.” The Dwarf eventually nods, causing her voluminous mass of coal-black hair to bob up and down. “It looks to be in line with the first. Though perhaps a view from above, from the rooftop, would better confirm that...?”

“Ach,” Beryl clicks her tongue, “we don’t ‘ave time fer tha’.” The grippers on one of her vines give Krvavy’s shoulder a firm squeeze as the barbarian steps back onto solid stone. That single vine wouldn’t have done much to help had Krvavy fallen into the river, but... it is the thought that counts. “The little dam Ah built is floodin’ again.”

Inanna’s dense black brow furrows as she simply stands still, watching the river rise. A few small bits of twiggy debris get washed away past her slowly spinning waterwheels.

“At least we know that these things work.” Krvavy shrugs, sighing happily as another one of her Dryad’s vines finds her other shoulder, the mildly unnerving grippers on both of those things giving her a rather nice massage.

“Rrrrghm...”

“Oh!” Beryl gasps, her head snapping to the side. “Puppy, be careful!”

Khalia shimmies along the narrow stone riverbank, back pressed into the large bracing structure that wasn’t there a few days ago. She ducks under the thick, trunk of an axle and retakes her place by her Mate’s side. “We done...?”

“With this? Yes.” Inanna nods again, lifting a hand and giving the Were-Beast a pat... on the ass. She can’t exactly reach all the way up to Khalia’s head. “Thank you for your help.”

The Were-Beast’s shaggy tail happily thwips back and forth. “Hehheheh...!” Quiet, giggling laughter leaks past her plump lips as Krvavy rewards her with a hug and a quick kiss on the forehead. Her paw-like hand grabs onto the Drakling’s mostly soft dick as she... suddenly lets go and steps back. “Have fun with work...!”

The barbarian just blinks as her precious puppy pulls away and immediately begins walking off. “What? Don’t want to stick around?”

“Nah!” Khalia calls back, swinging a hand through the air in what was probably meant to be a dismissive wave but looked a bit too aggressive for that. “Girlie and little meat need cuddles~!”

It wouldn’t hurt if Khalia could come up with a better nickname for Adeline. But... still, a faint smile plays at Krvavy’s lips. The thought of that big and scary Were-Beast pulling those two blondes into a clingy hug, not letting either of them escape that wonderful embrace... It makes her heart flutter a bit.

“My Ushumgal,” a hint of curiosity underlines Inanna’s otherwise neutral tone, “did you get any favour for the waterwheels being installed?”

Just to make sure she didn’t accidentally miss anything, Krvavy checks her notifications. But just as expected... “Nope.”

“Mm.” The Dwarf looks a little disappointed by that, though not particularly surprised. “I suppose that would be my fault. Had I not mentioned what other plans I have for my workshop, then you would likely see this as a job done, not a job half done, and would thus receive Favour for completing it. Assuming that this is something that you would earn Favour from in the first place, of course.”

Krvavy can’t help but glance up at the large, blocky building looming above them. Despite being the workplace of a Dwarf, that currently single story structure isn’t short. Granted, a large part of that is because it is built on a ledge that, from where they are currently standing, is over twice the Drakling’s height...

“The two o’ ya still ‘ave plenty o’ work ta do, huh~?” Beryl playfully asks, sounding just a little wistful as her kneading vines reluctantly retreat from where they are massaging Krvavy’s shoulders. “So go on, get ta it~. Ah’ll clean up these bridges and our sad little dam, don’t worry about tha’.”

Inanna nods and turns to leave.

“Wait, actually, while I have you both here...” The Drakling stops her Dwarf, who glances back at her with a single, thick eyebrow raised. “I’ve been thinking of adding some lights along the paths. Between here and our home, mostly, but it also wouldn’t hurt to have some leading down to the grotto.”

The grey-skinned shortstack ever so slightly tilts her head. “Mhm. Yes,” she slowly nods, “that would be wise. It can get quite dark at night, and that will only become more true as winter approaches.”

Beryl steps up to the rivers edge, kneeling down by its rather abrupt and rocky bank. “Aye, this whole cave is our ‘ome, so it’s only natural ta try makin’ it more accessible and comfortable. But...” The Dryad’s four vines stretch out from her back, reaching towards the makeshift wooden bridge crossing over this rushing river, carefully grabbing at and disassembling the thing with just a bit of help from her magic. “The path is quite long and windin’, so ‘ow will we manage ta light it all up at once? Can yer runes even spread out tha’ far?”

Krvavy opens her mouth to speak, but gets cut off before she can get a word out.

“The sprawled distance would be a challenge.” Inanna admits, turning and walking a short distance away so that she can properly look out across the switchback path. “Less so if we had a good, conductive material to house the channels. But as is... Too much mana would be lost along the way were we to make it a singular and continuous circuit.”

“Ah ‘ear a bit o’ a thoughtful tone in yer voice~.” The former Wood Elf woman lightly teases, stacking bits of wood on the ground beside her. “So ya ‘ave some other ideas, Ah take it~?”

“Indeed. There are quite a few potential options, in fact.” The Dwarf’s intense copper-orange eyes trace along the path that meanders down into the grotto below. “The most feasible of which would be to simply make each lamp stand on their own, completely disconnected from each other. They could light up either via motion sensor, the more mana-efficient option that would see them inactive most of the time, or via sensing the level of ambient light so that they activate when it gets dark enough for them to be needed.”

With the first makeshift bridge completely disassembled, the Dryad pulls her vines back and rises onto her feet once more. But instead of heading straight towards the next one, nestled between the waterwheels, she instead turns her gaze towards the ledge that Inanna’s workshop rests on. Towards the rock garden that she has yet to step inside.

“There are some issues with both of those more simplistic options though.” Inanna continues talking, thinking aloud more than anything. “For the motion sensor, the lamps would only illuminate their immediate surroundings, not the path ahead. Which could lead to situations where we would need to step into darkness for the next one to turn on. That can be mitigated by overlapping the coverage of each lamp, but it is still something to be considered.”

Beryl’s brow furrows faintly as she stares quite pointedly at the very top of a skeletal stone tree that is just barely visible above the edge of that ledge. A few flaky crystalline leaves are just beginning to bud on those otherwise bare branches. The Geode-Tree has grown a fair bit in a rather short amount of time, at least compared to normal trees, yet it still isn’t mature.

“As for the light sensors, the main issue there is that they may deactivate themselves or other nearby lamps with their own light. For that, we would need to be more considerate of where we place the sensors, taking note of the angle and direction of the sunlight filtering into the grotto. And perhaps making the lamps more directional would also help to mitigate that...”

With a sigh, the Dryad softly shakes her head and pulls her attention away from that curious stone tree. Letting the Dwarf drone on and on without interruption, she ducks beneath the axle of the nearest waterwheel, moving to dismantle the makeshift bridge that stands between it and the other one.

“A more complicated option would be to partially link the lamps together, retaining their standalone functionality but ensuring that they work in tandem with each other. This could be done via connecting the lamps in overlapping segments, so that when one is activated by a motion sensor it sends out a secondary signal that activates its direct neighbours, just as an example. Alternatively, we could instead utilize light sensors and focused beams to create a relay system so that when one is activated it would cascade through the whole pathway to light them all up. Again there are issu–”

Inanna abruptly cuts herself off, having turned back around to where she expected both Drakling and Dryad to be standing. Only Krvavy is still there, looking questioningly at the Dwarf.

“Has Beryl –?”

“Ach, Ah’m still ‘ere...!” The tanned tomboy shouts over the rushing water, her voice squeezing out from between the waterwheels. “Ah’m just takin’ the bridges down...!”

“Mm. I see.” Inanna nods and, without wasting a second, immediately begins walking around the large bracing structure, preemptively heading to the third and final makeshift bridge.

And, of course, Krvavy follows. “It’s impressive that you already have some ideas as to how we’ll do this.”

The busty shortstack glances up at the barbarian who can’t help but loom above her. “But?” She correctly guesses what word will come next.

“But...” The barbarian nods back. “I’m not sure if we need to only use crystal lamps. Maybe we could also have some plants that glow in the dark? They wouldn’t be as bright, but they’d still make light.”

“Ahhh... Ah see.” Beryl bends her head down a bit, passing beneath the spinning shaft of a waterwheel as she nimble escapes from the narrow gap between river and bracing structure. “So tha’ is why ya wanted me around fer this talk.” Her vines stretch out as she kneels down on the rocky bank once more.

“Mm... That would be helpful in ensuring that the pathways always have at least a minimal amount of light, thus reducing if not outright removing one of the issues with using individual lamps...”

Krvavy waits until her Dwarf has trailed off and fallen into thought before bothering to speak. “So...” she slowly begins, watching as the last wooden bridge is expertly ripped apart. “Does that sound like something you could do?”

“My dearest love,” a playful smile finds its way onto this tanned tomboy’s face. “Did ya forget tha’ Ah am a Dryad~? O’ course Ah can do tha’~.” She pauses briefly, adding another long piece of wood to the growing pile beside her. “Any specific kind o’ plants ya’d like, or...?”

“I guess you can just use whatever you think would look nice...?” Krvavy simply shrugs. “And you can use this as a chance to spread your ‘influence’ a bit more. If you’d like.”

Beryl cocks her head as the last bits of the bridge are pulled away, her vines keeping all but the smallest pieces from falling into the river. “Ah’d ‘ave ta start growin’ it from my grove, if tha’ were the case.”

“Mm.” The Dwarf’s hum draws the Drakling’s attention back to her. “My Ushumgal, do you remember the propositions I made regarding the various lines of defences I would like you to build?”

“Uhh...” The barbarian blinks a couple times. “Oh.” Something clicks in her mind. “You wanted me to completely remake the switchback path, yeah? Turning it into... a loop?”

Inanna’s intense copper-orange eyes glimmer with pride. “Indeed.” She nods, using just enough **** to cause her absolutely titanic tits to jiggle and sway, bringing even more attention towards the vast valley of her cleavage that is almost always on full display. The very corners of her lips curl upwards ever so slightly, making it clear that that was no accident.

“My, ya’re never goin’ ta let our dearest love be free from work, are ya~?” Beryl stifles a laugh as she rises to her feet, already heading further upstream to where the overflowing dam is struggling to stand.

“It would be quite the undertaking,” Inanna agrees, crossing her arms beneath her immensely bountiful breasts, hefting those huge mountains up in an utterly unnecessary way. “But if you want to line the entire path with lights, then perhaps it would be best to reconfigure that section first? Otherwise any we add, be they lamps or plants, would need to be removed and then reinstalled – or replanted – when you eventually get around to that.”

Krvavy’s mostly soft cock twitches as she does her best to ignore that sexy shortstack’s less than subtle teasing. “Well... I –”

“Ach! Don’t ya be gettin’ distracted by yet another project when there’s one ya still aren’t done wit’!”

“Mm... Right.” The Dwarf lifts her gaze up, looking towards the blocky building looming above them. “We should finish my workshop first, and hopefully you will earn some favour for your work. So come now, my Ushumgal, let us not waste more time.” Her heavy tits are dropped back down, audibly slapping into her stomach.

A small and stout, but still fairly strong, hand grabs onto one of Krvavy’s own, fingers interlocking despite the rather large difference in their sizes. An insistent tug gets the giant dickgirl to follow her lead.

“For such a short woman, your workshop sure does have a lot of stairs.” The Drakling dryly comments, her clawed toes clicking against solid stone as she ascends a newly built set that hugs an only slightly older wall, turning right at the landing that is already so close to the top.

“Not really. It only feels like there are so many because you keep climbing up and down this single staircase.” Inanna simply states, stepping onto the smaller second tier of her workshop’s rooftop, only a few paces behind the significantly bigger barbarian.

“Alright, fine.” Krvavy softy shakes her head, carefully depositing the precariously balanced stack of bricks in her arms onto one of the growing piles up here. “For such a short woman, your workshop sure is tall.”

“Better.” The corners of Inanna’s lips just barely twitch upwards. “But I would still argue against that. A two story building is not particularly tall, even if its ceilings are as raised as this.”

Krvavy quirks a brow, staring blankly at the busty woman beside her. “With these flat roofs it is basically three stories tall.”

The grey-skinned shortstack adds her own bricks to that neatly stacked pile, taking a moment to straighten it out even further. “By that logic, soon it will be four. But even then... it is still shorter than our home.”

“Only if you include the bathroom down by the hot springs and the storage area further up. We only have two floors, and yeah I gave both of them pretty high ceilings, but not that high.” Krvavy pauses, her mind catching up to what Inanna just said. “Wait. Four? Isn’t this last bit supposed to one big exhaust shaft, or something?”

“Of a sort.” Inanna softly shrugs, turning towards the sizable square hole set into the very center of this mostly finished rooftop. Even with her short and deliciously thick legs, it only takes her a few steps to reach the edge of that rather steep drop, though she doesn’t get too close to it. “But it does not need to be open at the top, as it is now. The purpose of this shaft is to improve the airflow of my workshop, and the openings along its sides – four on the floor below us and soon two more up here – will do that well enough.”

A wry smile plays at Krvavy’s lips. “So we’ll need some more stairs, huh?”

“Mhm.” A nod accompanies that predictably neutral hum. “And I would like them to be built right here, aligned with the set we just climbed up. That way the mere act of stepping onto the very top of my workshop will afford us a perfect view of our home, all the way across the cave.”

The barbarian’s brow furrows just a bit as she glances over to the nearest pile of bricks. “Think these will be enough? Or will we need to bring some more up here?”

“This final rooftop will not be particularly large. So...” Inanna cocks her head, slowly looking between those neat stacks and the hole she is standing beside. “Perhaps.”

Krvavy meets her Dwarf’s gaze, doing her best to look thoroughly unimpressed. “Is that ‘perhaps’ to these bricks being enough, or to us needing to go get more?”

“Both.” A faint glimmer of amusement fills that shortstack’s copper-orange eyes. She steps away from the square pit, walking past her Draconic lover. As always, the way her titanic tits jiggle and sway as she moves is quite... distracting. “It is not as if we have a shortage of nearby locations where you can carve out some more if needed. So it is hardly an issue if these aren’t enough.”

“Yeah, but then we’d have to carry them all up here...” Krvavy exaggeratedly groans back, struggling to not stare at the wonderful sight so close to her side. She does want to get this job done at some point, which unfortunately means she needs to spend less time ogling Inanna and more time working...

“Mm. Considering that we are unlikely to finish this today, I can handle that myself.” The Dwarf rests a hand atop one of the piles of bricks. “So let us use these ones up. And if you still have mana left over, then we can excavate some more. Else, we will do that tomorrow.”

Krvavy rolls her shoulders and stretches her back. “Alright.” She reaches down and grabs a brick.

“Here you are, my Ushumgal.”

A bumpy and irregular chunk of rock, one of the many bits of scrap pulled out of the more uneven parts of the cave wall, is passed from a relatively small pair of hands to a single much bigger one.

“Thanks...” Krvavy idly mutters, lightly biting her bottom lip as she leans just a bit further forwards, fingers clamped around one of her crossed calves to keep herself steady. With just a bit of mana, that misshapen piece is merged into what is quickly becoming a thick and sturdy railing.

“Mm. You need to sit on the ground more often.”

The Drakling glances back at her Dwarf with an eyebrow questioningly raised. “Oh.” A smile tugs at the corners of her lips as she finds herself looking up at that shortstack. Just not by a whole lot. “Like feeling tall, do you~?”

“It is a nice change of pace.” Inanna plainly states, handing over another half-formed brick.

Krvavy lightly shakes her head, turning part of her attention back to her work. “Don’t act like you are the shortest one around here. You’re a whole head taller than Adeline.”

“Depends on whose head we use for that. Adeline’s or even my own? Yes. But not yours. Nor Khalia’s.” Another malformed brick is passed from pedantic Dwarf to bemused Drakling.

“You know...” Krvavy slowly straightens up her spine, staying seated on this bare stone rooftop. “I could just do this.” Craning her neck just a bit, her emerald eyes are slightly higher up than Inanna’s copper-orange pair.

The busty shortstack slowly looks her Draconic lover up and down. “Yes,” she idly agrees, “but let us be honest. You have horrible posture. It takes conscious effort for you to sit up straight like this. And even in a seat with a backrest, you still slouch a fair bit. So ‘this’ hardly counts.”

“Hey, you try having so much weight hanging off your ass.” The Drakling’s thick and meaty tail lifts up a bit, before loudly slapping back into the ground with no **** beyond what its considerable weight gives it.

Inanna simply hefts up her titanic tits.

“Touché.”

Those much more than bountiful breasts drop back down with heavy slaps of their own. “Not going to comment on my hair acting as a counterweight?” The Dwarf curiously asks, tilting her head ever so slightly to the side.

“Nah.” Krvavy reaches out and gently cups one of those gigantic globes, grinning widely as its plush but firm flesh squishes and spills out from between her fingers. “I know full well that these are heavier. Maybe not by too much, and not if your hair is wet, but –”

A wet warmth, just a little tingly and rather reminiscent of the hot spring waters, suddenly pounces onto the tip of the Drakling’s slightly wiggling tail. ⟨♪♪♪⟩ A soft, singsong tune rings out through her soul, each chiming note filled with an overwhelming happiness. ⟨♪♪♪⟩

“Mm.” Inanna hums, turning her copper-orange eyes towards the joyously jiggling slime that is steadily engulfing more and more of her lover’s meaty tail. “I presume that Lynn started ‘singing’ again?”

“Yeah,” Krvavy gives her sexy shortstack’s tit a nice squeeze before reluctantly letting go of it. A tinge of concern fills her face as she glances back towards the purple-blue blob invading her personal space. “You don’t mind that she’s here, do you?”

“No.” The Dwarf shakes her head and hands over yet another bit of scrap rock. “She hasn’t tried to eat me since you gave her that ‘lesson’. I am still a bit wary, of course, but not bothered by her presence.” A slight smile plays at her dark-grey lips. “Besides, someone needs to be on slimesitting duty, and it is not fair for us to keep forcing that onto Adeline.”

⟨♪♪♪⟩ The slime in question continues to ‘sing’ through the connection of Krvavy’s soul. Lynn’s smooth, pearly core brushes against the top of the tail she is slowly climbing up, almost nuzzling against the black scales lining it. ⟨♪♪♪⟩

The Drakling nods and melds that uneven chunk of stone with the rest, using a few extra points of mana to smooth it out. “Right.” She gives the solid and now entirely intact railing a rough pat. It doesn’t wobble or move even a bit. As expected. It would be pretty bad if it did. “This is done now. So... what’s next?”

Inanna’s intense copper-orange eyes pierce straight into Krvavy’s emerald pair. “My Ushumgal, that was the last bit that needed to be built. My workshop is now completely constructed.”

“Oh.”

+2 Divine Favour, for completing your Dwarf’s workshop. More can be added, the rooms outfitted and extensions carved from stone, but the foundation and main structure has been fully built.

“Did you earn Favour for it?” From the sound of it, Inanna already knows the answer to that. She saw Krvavy’s eyes focus on something in the air, after all, shifting side to side as that notification was read.

“Yeah,” the barbarian idly nods. “But only two points. Same as a single level up.”

“Mm. That is still not a bad amount.” The grey-skinned shortstack shrugs, bouncing her tits a bit. “Now, are you ready to begin planning how we will alter and reshape the switchback path?”

“Getting straight back to work, huh~?” Krvavy lightly teases her dutiful Dwarf.

“It is a very large project, and one that must be completed before we can fully line the pathway with lights, as you want. But...” Inanna’s thick brow furrows a fair bit. “It would not be a quick job by any means, so I suppose that we do not need to be particularly thorough at this stage of planning... Mm. I will be brief, my Ushumgal.”

Krvavy curiously tilts her head as, instead of speaking, Inanna grabs a relatively flat bit of a broken brick. The Dwarf’s other hand reaches into the pouch attached to the belt hanging off of her wide hips, pulling out a small chunk of charcoal.

Scritching sounds echo through the air as the shortstack quickly begins to sketch on that makeshift tablet. “Mm...” She places aside the piece of charcoal and instead grabs up two of the little rocky pebbles that have been serving as a sort of mortar, using one and then the other to scratch out more lines. “Here.” The vaguely square brick is pushed into Krvavy’s hands.

“The black lump at the ‘top’ is our home.” Inanna begins, turning back to the pile of stone scraps. “The black rectangular shapes near the ‘bottom left’ are the bracing structures we built for the waterwheels, as well as a sliver of my workshop. The thick black shape in the ‘bottom right’ is the cave wall. I did not bother filling it in further.” She idly adds, her words underlined by even more scratching and sketching sounds. “The smaller black ‘lumps’ are the columns that reach all the way to the cave ceiling, and the black lines represent the various ledges that separate the elevations of the switchback path.”

The barbarian blinks, almost shocked by how quickly Inanna whipped this up.

“The grey lines are the rivers, flowing downhill from the ‘left’ to ‘right’ from the hot springs to the grotto. The slightly lighter grey lines thus mark the pathways. And this,” the Dwarf pushes a second flat bit of brick into Krvavy’s hands, “is how I would like it to look once we are done reshaping it.”

“The additional thick black bits along the pathway are fortified structures.” Inanna explains, vaguely gesturing towards those specific spots. “The rivers cross over the lowest section of the path, in the very center, via aqueducts. The bottom one would drop as a waterfall due to the difference in elevation between those two sides. We can also construct gatehouses beneath each aqueduct, if needed.”

“That... that was quick.” Krvavy slowly comments, looking between the two sketches and her shortstack.

“I did promise to be brief, my Ushumgal.” Inanna’s copper-orange eyes glimmer with amusement. “You know me. Had I gone into detail, such as by describing the interiors of each fortified structure, or explained my thoughts behind each design choice, such as why I chose aqueducts over simply moving the water beneath the restructured path, then we may well have been here for hours.”

The Drakling can’t help but smirk slightly. “You do talk quite a bit. Especially when you’re excited about something~.”

A faint bit of colour tinges Inanna’s grey-skinned cheeks. “I... appreciate that you tolerate me when I drone on and on like that.”

“‘Tolerate’? Come on, I love that you’re passionate about these boring things~.”

The Dwarf suddenly steps forwards, reaching a hand out and cupping her Draconic lover’s cheek. A stout thumb brushes over a small patch of black scales. “I enjoy my work, but what I am most passionate about is you, my Ushumgal. My love~. My Krvavy~.”

⟨♥♥♥⟩ A wholesome warmth and affection oozes from Lynn as that happily wobbling slime bumps into the back of the barbarian’s head, rubbing her large pearl of a core against rich, blood-red hair.