FFXIV Write: 05 – Cut Corners

Do something in the easiest or least expensive way; also, act illegally

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Bright La Noscean sunlight cascaded over the ramshackle cottage, the stark contrast casting deep shadows over the building’s interior. The carpenter sighed as he ran a hand over the blackened support beam overhead, mouth crimping with disapproval at how it was ill-fitted to the rest of the timbers of the house. Whomever had done the work on this house previous had taken no pride in it, put no great effort into it. Truth be told, it was an affront to carpenters and architects everywhere, that’s simply how bad the workmanship was. This place was fortunate to have stood the test of time for this long, any longer and it would fall down around its owner’s ears. Speaking of which, the man turned to said owner, shaking his head with a sigh.

“I hate to tell you this, lass, but whoever did the work here cut a lot of corners. So many, in fact, I’m surprised this place isn’t built in a circle.” It was a poor jest, but the best the man could offer in light of the young miqo’te’s situation.

Katja sighed. Her eyes went to the run-down little cottage, quietly assessing. “Would it be better to just demolish the whole place and start new?” She asked of the carpenter. “Or is there anything salvageable here?” She didn’t even go into the subject of cost yet; she knew that if they were going to rebuild from the ground up, that would likely be a far more costly endeavor than she was prepared to invest in right now. But if they could use some of what was already there… that might reduce the cost a bit to something more manageable.

For several long minutes, the carpenter looked over the building. There had clearly been a fire here, so there was no telling just how much structural damage there was until they cleared out all of the debris and refuse from years of neglect. Rubbing at the back of his neck, he grumbled, he groaned, but then he finally gave the girl the answers she sought. “There’s some good here, the framework and the foundation are both good, whoever laid those did fine work. The kind that will withstand the test of time. A lot of the stonework is good too. It’s just a lot of this later woodwork that we’d need to tear down and redo.” He pointed out the charred ceiling support beams. “It looks like the roof had to be redone at some point and someone tried to do it themselves rather than pay a professional.” He said, sounding slightly disgruntled.

Katja had no doubt that her father would have opted to skip the middle man, so that the money could be funneled off for more booze or more somnus. His addictions had ever taken priority over taking care of his family and their needs. However, the man had said the framework was still in good order, perhaps there was hope yet to resurrect this place. The real question was — did she want to?

No matter how many bad memories her father had imprinted upon her in this place, she had so many more of good ones with her mother. Baking in the kitchen, tending to the gardens in the yard, stories in the tree swing or songs by the fireplace. Tears threatened to well in her eyes as the memories assaulted her, but she refused to cry in front of a complete stranger. He might take her sentimentality for weakness and try to jack up the prices of his work.

Still, much like she’d discussed with T’Shira, she wanted to renovate this place to honor her mother and the memories they’d shared here. Happy memories, memories of the scant few years she’d had a carefree childhood. Until the magic came…

Shaking her head, Katja looked to the carpenter. Already she could feel the pang of gil flying out of her coinpurse, but the question had to be asked. “All right, what kind of cost are we looking at here?”

The man grunted a bit, resting his hands on his waist as he took in the dilapidated cottage. “Probably a million or two, if you’re just looking to get her ship-shape again. There were a lot of cut corners here, so having to undo and redo all that will take both time and materials.”

Katja tried not to physically wince at the estimate. Her experience with the various crafters’ Guilds around Eorzea gave her enough knowledge to know that his estimate was fair. She glanced between the man and the house, debating if she’d be able to do it. Two million gil was a lot for one person to come up with. It might not be today, or tomorrow, or anytime soon, but she had no doubt she could pull it off. Eventually.

“All right, what needs to be prioritized first? We’ll have to do this piecemeal, I’m not exactly made of gil, but I can pay what you ask over time.” She said to the man, who looked back at her with a slight shrug.

“I’d start with gutting the place, honestly, get it down to barebones so we can build on the good that’s there without having to worry about all the bad.”

Katja reached to her belt, tugging away her coinpurse. Another pang as she handed it over to him. “That’s probably five-hundred thousand gil right there, I want you to get started. If you need more, I can get it. I just need time.”

The man smiled. He was used to working with adventurers and their ‘come hither and yon’ ways, so he nodded in agreement. “Aye, this’ll be enough to get started. I’ll have my men over here first thing in the morning and we’ll start clearing it out.”

Katja returned his smile. “Good. I look forward to seeing the work you do, Master Carpenter. This is going to be the cover upon the entirely new book of my life.”

The man barked a laugh. “We’ll see that it’s a good’un then, lass. That you can be sure of.”