Arc 718, 6th of Ashan
The two of them stood in front of the wreckage heaped on the street corner. It must have been a building, or part of a building, or some fences. It was hard to tell through all the material haphazardly toppled onto each other. Rynata gazed at the mess and chewed thoughtfully on a sandwich she had grabbed from one of the trays set out during lunch break. Some people had been generous enough to put together refreshments for the hardworking volunteers. Looking at the rather daunting task set before her though, she might have preferred to join the kitchen crew in their endeavors.
"Hm," she commented lightly, polishing off the rest of her meal and brushing the crumbs from her hands.
As if reminded of her presence, the dock worker looking fellow who had joined her at the site turned around. He looked Rynata up and down, looked at the wreckage, and back to Rynata again, finally shrugging. Rynata shrugged back. With the relief effort dwindling as workers went back to their normal lives, not many people were available for this sort of task. As it was, only two of them had shown up to clear this mess. Hopefully more helpers would be sent their way before the day was done.
"Suppose we should get to it, then," the broad shouldered workman said, clapping his hands together. "What do you reckon? Get all the heavy lifting out of the way first?"
Among the jumble there certainly were larger pieces. However, some of them might be hard to get to with all that smaller debris in the way. Walking over to the site, Rynata nudged a piece of brickwork out of the way with the toe of her boot.
"We can try, but we'll have to dig out the rest. How about for now, you handle the planks over there. They still look usable, so I suppose we'll have to have separate piles for all this. Light recyclable material will go over there, anything heavier we'll drag here, and the rest of the junk we'll just dispose of. I'll go fetch us a cart."
"Sounds good," the man nodded, before marching off and beginning the process of separating the destroyed structure in to manageable pieces.
Rynata strode away towards the docks where she hoped she would find more volunteer work in full swing. A short stroll away from the site she was responsible for, she located an organized area where people were going back and forth, unloading debris from wheelbarrows and hurrying back with empty ones. It seemed that from this centralized location, much of the trash would be carried away in larger carts or simply used as kindling. Snagging an empty wheelbarrow for herself, Rynata rolled it back to where her partner was still working.
Taking up the first broken pieces of brickwork, she steadily added them into the wheelbarrow. The broken material was rough on the fingers but each fragment made satisfying clunks as they were sorted and dropped into place. Still, the work felt like chipping away at a mountain. Even when a small area in front of her had been cleared, Rynata looked up to be faced with similar debris several times the amount she had managed to remove. This would be a long afternoon indeed.
Once she had successfully filled up the small cart, Rynata gripped the wheelbarrow's handles and heaved upwards, careful not to tip over her hard work. All she had to do now was roll this to the collection point, drop off the material, come back, and repeat. It quickly became apparent that carting the debris would involve the most heavy lifting out of all the other steps. No doubt the wheels helped, but it was still rather difficult to maintain balance on the thing. Next time, if she wished to have an easier trip, she would have to plan out the weight distribution better. Trudging to the pile in the collection point, she tilted up her arms and shook out the small pieces of building, allowing them to tumble out like a small landslide to join the evidence of other people's labors. Thankfully, the drop off made the wheelbarrow on the return trip much lighter so that it no longer felt so unsteady.
Arriving back on site and taking in the entire scene, she was pleased to see that her fellow laborer had made some good progress. Neat piles lined the edges of the street, waiting for transportation. To be honest, Rynata had thought the man would be much more careless, judging by the way he seemingly tossed things willy-nilly. However, that apparently only meant that he was a fast worker, as shown in the quickly growing meticulous piles. The fact that he was helping with the relief effort probably should have been a good indicator as to his work ethic to begin with. Not to be outdone, she pitched in at full speed, raking away any obstructive debris for her partner.
Next time she came trundling back from another round of carting, however, things seemed to have stopped going so smoothly. The dock worker was struggling with a large piece of rubble that must have toppled over during the disaster. In fact, its fall must have taken down the rest of the structure with it. Even though he seemed to be doing his best, the beam refused to budge, resting stubbornly among the wreckage.
"Could use a hand!" he called out, throwing his weight behind the beam.
Scrambling up to him, Rynata cast her eyes over their current predicament. The beam certainly was solid and evidently too heavy for lifting. To top it off, the awkward position it was lodged in meant that it would be challenging to try and drag it anywhere. She wedged her fingers underneath the beam and tried to push forward, but to no avail. She wasn't the strongest between the two of them but still, she had expected some progress. Stumped, the two of them straightened up.
"We could grab some help," he offered, shaking out his hands.
It was true that they could briefly borrow some neighboring volunteers for the task, but before she ran off bothering others, Rynata scanned the array sprawled out around her. Eyes darting from one object to the next, she mulled over what would help them in this situation. Eventually setting her sights on something a little ways away, she smiled hopefully.
"Or..." She drawled out in a scheming tone, "we could try this."
Jumping down, she grabbed two suitable wooden posts and tossed them up. She also heaved up a few stone pieces to the source of their headache. Positioning the blocks and giving her best estimate as to their appropriate height, Rynata took up one of the poles and motioned for her partner to do the same.
"We're going wedge under the beam with this and see if it budges. You take that side and I'll manage here."
Rynata slid the lever into place and looked over at the other to confirm the timing.
"Alright, on three. One, two, three!"
The two of them pushed downwards. At least, the dockworker did, while for Rynata, it was more accurate to say she simply threw her weight down onto the makeshift fulcrum. They guided the beam away from where it had been stuck, and soon, it wavered upwards before finally tumbling down away from the main pile of debris.
"Well, that's done." The other volunteer looked highly pleased as he peered down at their handiwork. Now they would be able to get to the rest of the wreckage below.
Returning to her own part of the cleanup, Rynata made several more trips with the wheelbarrow. Around the dock she could see the work effort winding down as people finished up in preparation for the end of the day. By now, the sun had started to take on a dusky sheen as it dropped lower and lower in the sky. Work was now a race against what little time they had left before darkness crept in. However, the size of the wreckage had also decreased considerably, nothing like when they had first started hammering away at it. Soon enough, the last few pieces of rubble had been tossed into their respective piles. The area had been completely cleared away, more or less. The ground around them could use a good sweeping, and of course the sorted materials would have to be carted away, but that would have to be done by someone else. Rynata was wiped. She was dusty, sweaty, and sore from all the heavy lifting. She barely had the will not to flop down and clock out right there let alone think of finishing up with a dust pan. Her partner only looked slightly less tired.
"Think we can head home?" she asked, dreading a non affirmative answer.
"Yeah. 'S gonna get dark soon anyway. Thanks for the help, by the way."
Managing a salute despite her arms having turned to jelly, Rynata turned and began dragging her feet toward her ship and a good night's rest.
"Hm," she commented lightly, polishing off the rest of her meal and brushing the crumbs from her hands.
As if reminded of her presence, the dock worker looking fellow who had joined her at the site turned around. He looked Rynata up and down, looked at the wreckage, and back to Rynata again, finally shrugging. Rynata shrugged back. With the relief effort dwindling as workers went back to their normal lives, not many people were available for this sort of task. As it was, only two of them had shown up to clear this mess. Hopefully more helpers would be sent their way before the day was done.
"Suppose we should get to it, then," the broad shouldered workman said, clapping his hands together. "What do you reckon? Get all the heavy lifting out of the way first?"
Among the jumble there certainly were larger pieces. However, some of them might be hard to get to with all that smaller debris in the way. Walking over to the site, Rynata nudged a piece of brickwork out of the way with the toe of her boot.
"We can try, but we'll have to dig out the rest. How about for now, you handle the planks over there. They still look usable, so I suppose we'll have to have separate piles for all this. Light recyclable material will go over there, anything heavier we'll drag here, and the rest of the junk we'll just dispose of. I'll go fetch us a cart."
"Sounds good," the man nodded, before marching off and beginning the process of separating the destroyed structure in to manageable pieces.
Rynata strode away towards the docks where she hoped she would find more volunteer work in full swing. A short stroll away from the site she was responsible for, she located an organized area where people were going back and forth, unloading debris from wheelbarrows and hurrying back with empty ones. It seemed that from this centralized location, much of the trash would be carried away in larger carts or simply used as kindling. Snagging an empty wheelbarrow for herself, Rynata rolled it back to where her partner was still working.
Taking up the first broken pieces of brickwork, she steadily added them into the wheelbarrow. The broken material was rough on the fingers but each fragment made satisfying clunks as they were sorted and dropped into place. Still, the work felt like chipping away at a mountain. Even when a small area in front of her had been cleared, Rynata looked up to be faced with similar debris several times the amount she had managed to remove. This would be a long afternoon indeed.
Once she had successfully filled up the small cart, Rynata gripped the wheelbarrow's handles and heaved upwards, careful not to tip over her hard work. All she had to do now was roll this to the collection point, drop off the material, come back, and repeat. It quickly became apparent that carting the debris would involve the most heavy lifting out of all the other steps. No doubt the wheels helped, but it was still rather difficult to maintain balance on the thing. Next time, if she wished to have an easier trip, she would have to plan out the weight distribution better. Trudging to the pile in the collection point, she tilted up her arms and shook out the small pieces of building, allowing them to tumble out like a small landslide to join the evidence of other people's labors. Thankfully, the drop off made the wheelbarrow on the return trip much lighter so that it no longer felt so unsteady.
Arriving back on site and taking in the entire scene, she was pleased to see that her fellow laborer had made some good progress. Neat piles lined the edges of the street, waiting for transportation. To be honest, Rynata had thought the man would be much more careless, judging by the way he seemingly tossed things willy-nilly. However, that apparently only meant that he was a fast worker, as shown in the quickly growing meticulous piles. The fact that he was helping with the relief effort probably should have been a good indicator as to his work ethic to begin with. Not to be outdone, she pitched in at full speed, raking away any obstructive debris for her partner.
Next time she came trundling back from another round of carting, however, things seemed to have stopped going so smoothly. The dock worker was struggling with a large piece of rubble that must have toppled over during the disaster. In fact, its fall must have taken down the rest of the structure with it. Even though he seemed to be doing his best, the beam refused to budge, resting stubbornly among the wreckage.
"Could use a hand!" he called out, throwing his weight behind the beam.
Scrambling up to him, Rynata cast her eyes over their current predicament. The beam certainly was solid and evidently too heavy for lifting. To top it off, the awkward position it was lodged in meant that it would be challenging to try and drag it anywhere. She wedged her fingers underneath the beam and tried to push forward, but to no avail. She wasn't the strongest between the two of them but still, she had expected some progress. Stumped, the two of them straightened up.
"We could grab some help," he offered, shaking out his hands.
It was true that they could briefly borrow some neighboring volunteers for the task, but before she ran off bothering others, Rynata scanned the array sprawled out around her. Eyes darting from one object to the next, she mulled over what would help them in this situation. Eventually setting her sights on something a little ways away, she smiled hopefully.
"Or..." She drawled out in a scheming tone, "we could try this."
Jumping down, she grabbed two suitable wooden posts and tossed them up. She also heaved up a few stone pieces to the source of their headache. Positioning the blocks and giving her best estimate as to their appropriate height, Rynata took up one of the poles and motioned for her partner to do the same.
"We're going wedge under the beam with this and see if it budges. You take that side and I'll manage here."
Rynata slid the lever into place and looked over at the other to confirm the timing.
"Alright, on three. One, two, three!"
The two of them pushed downwards. At least, the dockworker did, while for Rynata, it was more accurate to say she simply threw her weight down onto the makeshift fulcrum. They guided the beam away from where it had been stuck, and soon, it wavered upwards before finally tumbling down away from the main pile of debris.
"Well, that's done." The other volunteer looked highly pleased as he peered down at their handiwork. Now they would be able to get to the rest of the wreckage below.
Returning to her own part of the cleanup, Rynata made several more trips with the wheelbarrow. Around the dock she could see the work effort winding down as people finished up in preparation for the end of the day. By now, the sun had started to take on a dusky sheen as it dropped lower and lower in the sky. Work was now a race against what little time they had left before darkness crept in. However, the size of the wreckage had also decreased considerably, nothing like when they had first started hammering away at it. Soon enough, the last few pieces of rubble had been tossed into their respective piles. The area had been completely cleared away, more or less. The ground around them could use a good sweeping, and of course the sorted materials would have to be carted away, but that would have to be done by someone else. Rynata was wiped. She was dusty, sweaty, and sore from all the heavy lifting. She barely had the will not to flop down and clock out right there let alone think of finishing up with a dust pan. Her partner only looked slightly less tired.
"Think we can head home?" she asked, dreading a non affirmative answer.
"Yeah. 'S gonna get dark soon anyway. Thanks for the help, by the way."
Managing a salute despite her arms having turned to jelly, Rynata turned and began dragging her feet toward her ship and a good night's rest.
1519 words
