Living on the island had given Jordan opportunities to pick up a lot of skills that he might never otherwise have learned. He wasn't a complete novice at construction anymore, among other things, so while the repairs to his room did require some research and reference material, he wasn't at all hesitant to tackle the job himself. It wasn't quick, between duties and other things to do, but the warm weather meant that having a section of wall covered by a tarp when he wasn't working on it wasn't a huge problem.
First the damaged support structure had to come out, and he discovered that while Hunter strength meant that he could lift and carry things that normal humans would need help with, it didn't make removing the damaged beams any easier. Bricks could be just pulled out, but beams had to be sawed, and trying to hurry or force that job resulted in more damage. It was a job that required a careful eye and enough patience to allow the tool to do the work it was designed for. Harrison could probably have told him that, but Harrison was elsewhere most of the day, for the time being.
Once the damaged area was cleared out, it had to be rebuilt. The inner structure of the wall came first. Careful examination of what was still solid showed him that the supports for the beams inside the wall extended into the outer layer of brick. However, he'd been relatively lucky. While the damage had taken down a portion of the wall and cracked the window, it hadn't destroyed any load-bearing supports. He'd just have to replace beams, help with the reconstruction of the outside facade, and put in new drywall on the inside. While all those tasks required some skill, none of the tasks were complicated, as such.
The beams were nailed in in one afternoon. He managed to screw up the first one, but after pulling it back out, the rest went easily enough. After that, repair of the outer wall could be squeezed between duty shifts, missions, and any of the other reasons he had to be busy. The drywall was another job that took up a full afternoon, but was done in one burst of effort; the painting only took an hour or so, while a certain distracting and unhelpful person was on duty. The window required dismantling the frame, replacing the glass, and rehanging it, but having the frame to put back together made that job easier than it could have been.
Putting the new desk together took another hour, with assistance that was mostly helpful. Jordan wasn't really sure why people complained about Ikea instructions; the series of pictorial instructions in the pamphlet seemed very clear and self-explanatory to him. There was a small hitch in the procedure when Rep put one end of the half-finished desk down before Jordan was done with putting the other legs on, but nothing got broken, and it only took a short exchange of yelling to get things back on track. The finished product seemed fairly sturdy and looked decent, and would certainly be adequate for what he needed it for. He'd already paid Otto for the desk, but he made a note to himself to thank the guy again, both for saving him a trip and for having picked out something that worked well.
The plumbing was another matter, one that required expert help. The ever-present danger of summoning eldritch horrors out of the depths of the ancient and rather terrifying sewer system had convinced Jordan that this wasn't a task he should try to perform on his own. Still, the price quoted for having it fixed for him made him wince, and so he'd asked for and gotten help and supervision for the task. Dawson's assistance had prevented him from making at least one major mistake, and he was thoroughly grateful, both for the help and for the fact that it had been paid in beer, snacks, and conversation rather than in a large dent in his bank account.
There was a certain satisfaction in having performed all the repairs himself, or at least having had a hand in them. Once everything was done, Jordan found himself thinking more seriously about finding a house in town. More privacy, more independence, and the work of fixing the house would make it really his own. A house would give him more room, more leeway to have people around, and while his primary objection to the idea had been how often the town houses got damaged, this incident had been proof enough that the dorms weren't immune -- although, maybe, the time they'd all spent in the underground barracks could have been evidence, if he'd stopped to consider it that way. It was something to think about, anyway.
THIS IS HALLOWEEN: Deus Ex Machina
Welcome to Deus Ex Machina, a humble training facility located on a remote island.
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