Cleaning the fort up was going to take a long while, but Dixie and Wayne were fully ready to take on that challenge. They weren’t sure yet if Rurik was going to stay and help as well, so the pair decided to get to work without him. While Wayne went to start with the main barn, saying he wanted to clear the space for all the horses just in case another storm hit, Dixie struggled to break open the front door of the court house. The large doors were locked, obviously, and there were huge vines climbing up the sides, holding them closed. After tugging and trying to rips the vines up, she growled and dropped herself into Secui form. Even in her halfling form she was small enough to look like a small lupus wolf, but her muscles were thicker and her nails and teeth were sharper.

Snarling in frustration, she leapt forward and lifted her paws to the vines, sinking her nails and teeth into the thick pieces of plant and slicing through like they were water. Finally! Stepping back a few paces, she gathered her strength again and rushed forward, slamming her little body into the doors. There was a low groan and then they slid apart slowly. Shifting back to two legs, she stood and pushed the doors open further, letting some sunlight stream in. The place was in ruin, things lying about, furniture overturned and broken, water damage in some spots. However, it wasn’t quite as bad as one might think it would be after years of no care.

Dixie walked in and stood in the main hall, looking around. There were doors off to the sides of the hall, and stairs at the very end going up and down. Walking further, she kept herself alert, wanting to be ready if there was anything living in the building that could possibly attack her. Being taken by surprise wasn’t something the little girl was fond of, so she wasn’t going to let it happen here. Pushing more doors open, she peeked into the rooms and saw much of the same as the hallway. Common disorder and destruction. As long as they could avoid tripping over things and getting themselves hurt, this building, just like any other, wouldn’t be very hard to clear out and begin repairs on.

Taking a deep breath, she got to work on the hallway, grabbing the smaller things scattered around on the ground first and tossing it outside on the cobblestone walk area. Things that she knew were called ‘telephones’ and some other machines, but didn’t know what they were used for. They were all broken, so she just threw them around, knowing that the canines would have no use for them. The desks, chairs and odd stool, on the other hand, were turned upright and pushed against a wall. Those were things that could and probably be used for something or other. The job was tedious and repetitive, but she was good at it and tuned everything else out…just worked and worked hard.

After a while of working by herself, Dixie had gotten the floor pretty much cleared in the main hall. It wasn’t until she had gone into one of the smaller rooms and saw the bigger things that needed to be moved did she think about going to get the males to help. Wayne was easier to find, so she ran out to the barn and asked him to assist in moving the large furniture and machines. Her goal was to get everything together and take an overall inventory of the things that they should keep and throw away. Wayne was larger and had a laughably easy time at lifting chairs, machines, moving desks and shelves. Within twenty minutes of him helping, they had two of the room cleared out.

Dixie had decided to just stay out in the hall to sort through the things that Wayne began bringing out. Her eyes caught onto any of those silly machines that they wouldn’t be using and tossed them out the front doors. They’d all have to be put somewhere or destroyed somehow. Not willing to dwell on it at the moment, she just continued to short and toss things out. Once all of the useless stuff was gone, she assessed the books sitting on the shelves, throwing out the ruined ones and piling the ones that were still intact in one of the clean corners. There was also a large stack of empty notebooks that had mostly fresh and undamaged paper, along with a small cup-like thing filled with some kind of writing utensils.

The voice from outside made both Wayne and Dixie’s heads snap up, turning to look at the male. Rurik, hi there…we could use some help, thank you. she smiled at him and gestured to the book stack to the left and the area where they were organizing the ‘keep’ things to the right. Books and writing things over there, undamaged furniture and useful items over there. We want to keep these things until Jazper or Anann can look them over and approve.

There was some cool stuff sitting around in the dark recesses of the old court house. After ransacking a few of the rooms upstairs, Wayne brought down five knives that looked to be in good shape. After wrapping them in a skin, he set them in the keep pile of books, knowing they’d be safe there. Dixie kept finding books of all different sizes, and the stack was constantly growing larger and changing shapes.

After a little while of working with Rurik there to help, it was obvious that just one more set of hands was doing wonders. Most of the main floor was cleared of unneeded items, and the rest were organized. It was time to start working on another floor, whether it be the top or bottom. Dixie’s head tilted to the side when the dark male asked his odd and out of place question. Well…yes. Mama taught me to read and write when I was a pup, and I’ve taught Wayne a bit through our travels. Her mouth parted in a slight smile as she watched him. Do ya wanna learn?

The grin only grew as she got back to work moving things, inspecting them and then deciding whether or not to keep or toss. However, her mind was already wandering into a bit of a teaching lesson for Rurik, if that is what he wanted. First she’d write the letters down and have him trace them…and then sound them out and get familiar with them. Then his name, of course! Books wouldn’t come until after he was comfortable sounding out his name and a few smaller words that could be useful for figuring out more complicated things.

Wayne just shook his head and eyed the dark male with amusement, his floppy ears perking up a bit as he worked. ”You ain’t got no idea what you just got yourself into, buddy…”