Carter was exhausted, but in a good way. The sort of satisfied exhaustion that follows a day of honest work. He was sitting on of the many stumps scattered around the edge of the clearing, just, admiring his work for the day. He joined the constructing team that morning because Jason seemed nice, and he assumed the smaller man would need help processing the logs. He couldn't have been more wrong, that guy's stats must be absolutely jacked, because he was a hell of a lot stronger than he looked. They spent the whole day hacking the bark and branches off of the already cleared logs, and stacking them up inside of a huge circle Rowan made that morning. The circle was just scribbled into the dirt around the finished log pile, so they couldn't drag anything in. They had to pick them up whole and set them down in there, without stepping on anything either. He didn't mind it much now, but stepping into one of those circles really weirded him out at first. He saw them melt metal and freeze people and explode and all sorts of other things. When he heard this one was designed to dry things out, well, he let Andrew go first. Now though? He spent longer than he probably should in there, making sure the logs settled right so they didn't roll off and break the circle again. It happened five or six times, and each time it did they had to go grab Tyler or Rowan from across the river to fix it. Sure, it tended to dry out his eyes and crack his lips a little, but they had plenty of water around, it didn't bother him much and it was a hello of a lot better than breaking rocks all day for the hobgoblins. Plus, he was doing something important. Helping people. It was nice.

Jason was sitting on a stump nearby, laughing about something with Sam. He didn't seem much like the other survivors from that new camp. He had originally been excited at the prospect of new people, but a lot of them were giving him weird vibes. A couple of the younger ones had come over to help out today. It was nice of them, but he felt like they were here more to eavesdrop on whatever Jason was telling them than to actually help out with the work. Jason talked a lot, but it was all fishing stories and football statistics, nothing worth listening in on. Carter spent most of his time trying to tune them out honestly. Not that the man wasn't knowledgeable. He was, but the work they were doing was repetitive. They couldn't get started on the real stuff until all the logs were dried out properly. At least they weren't mentioning god in every other sentence like they guys they borrowed the axes from the day before. Those ones straight up creeped him out. They were acting like this George guy was some kinda hero, you crack one joke about his hair and they look at you like you just kicked a puppy or something. Would he react that way if someone made a joke about Andrew? Tyler might, if he was having one of his bad days.

He closed his eyes and just relaxed. Listening to Jason tell his kayak flipping story to Sam and some of the other night watch members who were gathering up to assign duties for the evening. It was the third time he had heard it today, and it was getting more elaborate with each retelling. By this time tomorrow he expected it would involve rapids and two broken paddles, rather than a submerged log and lost shoe. He heard a branch snap and cracked one eye, tilting his head slightly to look in that direction. One of the guys helping them out today was standing there, his name was Mark or Matt or something. He was standing just out of the clearing, staring at Jason. He hadn't seen anyone look that disappointed since seventh grade band practice. Ah well, not his business. He closed his eyes again and sighed. Today was a good day.

Sam was worried about Kent. They were both on the night patrol team, but the man had become uncharacteristically quiet recently. He had gotten a new catalyst apperently, but was having trouble figuring it out. Sam had offered to help, but Kent was being weirdly cagey about it. He said it was supposed to level up really fast from killing things, but even so Sam expected him to be happy there hadn't been any fighting in the three days since they settled down in their new camp. Instead Kent had been lethargic and downright depressed. It seemed like he wasn't eating as much either. Maybe that goblin ambush took more out of him than Sam had thought, Kent had been in the thick of it right from the start.

The two of them were walking a loop around the clearing. Their path was getting longer and longer each day as the cutting team cleared more and more trees. They were nearly at his favorite part, that grove of weird trees that Tyler and Rowan kept heading back to. It was some project of Andrew's, they were supposed to be harvested later for mana rifle materials or something, but they were just so interesting. It seemed like a shame to cut them off. The way the branches all shifted differently with the wind, slowly morphing and changing colors depending on what kind of circle was around them. The little forest of lights was a delight to walk through, and it took him some conscious effort to keep his attention on the dark forest beyond. Kent was looking at the branches too, but it was a different kind of look, like he hadn't eaten in a week or something. He'd have to sneak him some jerky or something next time they looped through the camp, he must've had a half-dinner or something again.

Leah was in trouble. She had four wolf cubs to look after. Four. It was her own fault sure, but she couldn't just, release them out into the wild. They were babies, and they would probably end up in some goblin's cook pot by the end of the week. Besides, she wasn't sure if they would leave even if she asked them to. They followed her around day and night now, constantly chirping at her for more food. She gave them plenty, and they were still badgering her for more food. Well they would just have to wait until the hunting team got back like the rest of them. Her Wolf Tamer profession was improving steadily, and she was halfway to her third skill. Her first skill, Beast Speech, was what let her understand what they were asking for, though it wasn't advanced enough for her to properly explain why they had to wait. That or they were just willfully ignoring her. It could go either way. Her second skill, Beast Sense, let her keep track of them so long as they didn't go too far, and confirmed that they were perfectly healthy and getting plenty of food, despite their constant insistence otherwise. She was beginning to think it was a mistake to reveal she could understand them, they hadn't shut up since. It reminded her of the time her ex got a cold and suddenly expected her to be his live-in chef for the week, but somehow more childish.

"Excuse me, miss? Could I have a moment of your time?"

Ugh, this fucking guy. Every day since we got here. Third times the charm they say, but here he was on day four.

"What?"

"Well, it looks like you need some help with those dogs of yours. You know, I had a cousin who used to breed dogs. I could teach you a thing or two, you see- its all about establishing dominance. They respond better if you speak in a clear, deep voice. It's why men are better at this sort of thing, here, watch." Steven said, he was a five six douchebro wannabe with a thin mustache and receding hairline. He also stunk, like pretty much everyone else, to be fair, but she chose to take it personally with this guy.

He circled around her, standing closer than strictly necessary as his eyes slid from her boobs to the curious crowd of adolescent wolves. He held a hand up, palm out, flashed her a condescending smile, then brought it down in a smooth motion and called out in a deeper than usual voice.

"Sit!"

Fucking bite him. Bite this annoying little- Oh shit.

The little wolf popped up on his hind legs and chomped right down on the guy's fingers. Hard. He screamed and blood flew everywhere as he wrenched his hand from side to side in an attempt to pull it from the wolf's mouth. It held on. He started fumbling at his waist for the gun there and Leah jumped into action, activating her Beast Speech skill as she jumped to grab the guys hand and keep it away from the pistol.

"Stop, Stop! Let him go!"

The wolf released him immediately, dropping down to sit on it's haunches and look up at the both of them, head tilted slightly to the side as blood dripped from it's mouth. She was still fighting to keep the gun out of Steven's hand and- and she was winning. How low level is this guy? She had him by both wrists and was easily keeping them up and away from the gun.

"Let me go you ugly fucking bitch. I'm going to put that fucking thing down! Fuck! You whore, let me go!" He shouted, struggling to pull his hands free from her grip.

Kalan and a bunch of the guys from the clearing crew were rushing over to them now, calling out at them to settle down. Of course Mark, Jason and the other helper from 'New Eden' were close behind. This was going to be such a fucking mess. She had hoped she wouldn't have to deal with this shit in the new world. Oh well, some things never change.