Summoning the fellahin stragglers in and around Red Sun was easy enough, they'd been given alarm talismans that could inform them it was time to move, but the process of them gathering outside the sect would still take a while and so Ares had about an hour of spare time. He was going to bring Sandy along anyway so he headed back towards the sect master's residence via Voidwalk while Yulo deployed his Brick By Brick and his away from the world. He was relishing finally, at long last, being able to set aside sect master duties. Rud might have dragged him away to do some more paperwork before he left if he was caught so Yulo was doing his best to play hide and seek until his departure. It seemed like he was interested in Ares' new additions to the sect so he would stick around until the various changes were implemented just to see the kind of direction Heaven's Path was headed in under new leadership.
As for Ares, he'd arrived at the house and had a gut feeling he knew where Sandy was. He moved towards the kitchen and, sure enough, he found Sandy rifling through the cupboards. Maybe she was searching for snacks? Ares had really underestimated just how much this woman ate when he first met her. Ever since her role as the fellahin juggernaut ended she was really cutting loose and enjoying her favourite past time. "Hey Sandy, lookie here!" Ares had made a sandwich on the way over, with toasted bread, meat, and leafy vegetables, and he was now dangling it on front of the starving rhino as bait. She'd not had lunch yet so this offer was too tempting to ignore. She followed Ares back into the living room and sat on his lap, after which he finally handed over the goods. She tucked in and Ares gave her shoulder rubs so she was basically in heaven right now. Enyo poked her head around the corner, seemingly having detected skinship from across the house, and threw an intense stare Sandy's way. She misinterpreted it completely, however, and held her sandwich to the side as if to safeguard it. "Mine."
Ares held back a laugh as he was more than aware what, or rather who, Enyo's stare was directed at. He mimicked Sandy's earlier territorial display by wrapping his arms around Sandy and shifting in his seat slightly to hold her to the side, away from Enyo. "Mine."
Seeing this, Enyo retreated for now. She understood that hunting worthwhile prey was a slow burn and it's not like Bellona wasn't around to satiate her cravings in the meantime. Blo Blo was setting up her DVD player currently so Enyo, with a plan in mind, was on her way to ask her sister if she wanted to create some homegrown triple 'x' rated movies together. It was both a hobby for Enyo and way of improving her own cultivation so it was time efficient, fun, and one of her specialties all in one. It was fine for a woman to be a pervert! When Tai did it, women everywhere gagged. When Enyo did it, men everywhere were jealous of Ares and, in this case, Bellona. Que sera sera.
"How about you?" Ares gave the back of Sandy's neck a small kiss. "I know you aren't bored so long as you're eating or sparring but is there anything else you want?"
Finishing up her sandwich, Sandy tilted her head and thought long and hard. "Hm..."
"What about your house?" Ares was talking about the Oasis residence Sandy had spent a great deal of time and effort on. "I brought it with me, and I'll be placing it in the desert later, so do you want to keep working on it? Or, actually, why not do some gardening here? I'm sure the others wouldn't mind."
"That could be fun. This place is really pretty as is but some colour would really spruce it up even further. The back garden is a bit barren and that's a shame given how much the house itself stands out. It would be a waste not to do anything with it... But I get really invested in gardening when I get into the swing of things... Is that ok? It'll be too late to stop me once I've started."
Imagining Sandy flying into a rage, becoming her gigantic elemental form, and bringing forth the tempestuous wrath of the desert's prided juggernaut because someone criticised her tulip placement was both funny and concerning. Ares made a mental note not to get in the way of the gardening rhino when she was hard at work. Still, if her Oasis house was any indication, she'd do a bang-up job and there was no real need to worry about the result. "There's a flower shop... Somewhere in Red Sun. I know most of the shops around here but admittedly I never had a reason to visit that one in particular. I recall hearing they sell gardening tools and seeds as well as premade flowering beds and whatnot. Of course they specialise in catering for venues and organising events but there's plenty of items for hobbyists too. Wanna go pay them a visit?"
"Mhm." Sandy nodded her head but her face betrayed a want for something else first.
Ares smiled wryly and asked "How about some lunch first?" He knew Sandy too well... Not that it was hard to have her characteristics pegged after a single meeting or two. "Do you want me to make something or do you want to eat out at one of the restaurants you haven't been to yet?"
"..."
"Ah. Both. Ok." Ares had underestimated Sandy... Without her juggernaut ensemble she looked like an ordinary woman, beauty aside that is, so he often forgot just how bottomless her stomach truly was. Ares whipped up a dish with some duck legs and peach, invited the whole family to join, took Sandy out for a second lunch, guided her to the flower shop, and watched a she deliberated over which seeds to buy. In the end, Ares stored plenty of tools like wheelbarrows, pressure water talismans, garden sacks, and so on. Sandy was well equipped to clear a forest, let alone the garden. Ares was about to ask if this was all completely necessary, more so out of a lack of knowledge rather than anything to do with the price, but Sandy's sixth sense perked up and she shot Ares a sharp glare that got his question stuck in his throat. It seemed Sandy was already in 'go' mode and couldn't be stopped any longer. Ares thought she might only reach this point once the gardening started but she was already at war with the weeds and there was no turning back. Not that Ares minded indulging his favourite greedy rhino, he'd indulged his other partners' hobbies as best he could so it was only fair to do the same for Sandy. Furthermore, though she was going to have fun, what she was doing would benefit the house and everyone who lived in it anyway. She was engaging in gardening for her own amusement but it would ne easily appreciable to come home to a cosy, blooming front garden too. Involved was an understatement, though, and Ares could tell Sandy was really going to give this her all. She'd likely even change the flower arrangements on a seasonal, no maybe even mood, basis. She wasn't jsut going to plant and maintain but actively uproot and adapt to fit her ever changing vision. This was a lifelong hobby and she was undoubtedly excited about it if her fervent gaze at the seeds on display in the shop was any indicator. She was also aware that the house would be expanded down the line so she was probably already planning best to make use of space that didn't even exist yet. It was quite like a game to her so Ares was happy to see her doing what she loved unrestrainedly. This time, she'd picked up some Agapanthus seeds and left it at that until she had a better lay of the land. Her first rummage through the greenery on the hill was mostly gong to be trimming, removal of weeds, and checking the soil. She'd plant some flowers here and there to see how things went and then come back here for a second purchasing spree. As for why she chose Agapanthus specifically, when asked, she told Ares the blue would match nicely with the house and that they were fairly easy to grow in most types of soil so it was a safe bet. What she failed to mention however was that, in the language of flowers, they symbolised love... That and they were aphrodisiacs, when mana seeped into them that is, so sister Enyo might like them too. Sandy was being a very homely and considerate rhino.
Once the two were done shopping, and more importantly Sandy's tummy was finally full, they made their way back to the sect and found the fellahin all waiting patiently at the entrance. There were still a few yet to arrive but Ares made sure the gatekeepers, and Slick who was watching from the shadows somewhere, knew to let them in. Ares, having rounded up the desert dwellers, brought them to the outer court location with the help of Tom Tom heads that conveniently spawned on the walls and gave directions. In fact, Ares saw multiple Tom Tom heads chatting with curious disciples as he walked around and it seemed like Tom Tom was getting used to life here while the disciples were getting used to his presence. They didn't always get along, some disciples were picking fights with the more arrogant Tom Tom heads, but it was pretty unimportant bickering. The Tom Tom heads could spawn infinitely and only the core, in the treasury, was real. Plus it's not like the heads couldn't fight back, nibbling aggressively or headbutting in self defence. Though it was somewhat hilarious watching a disciple catfight messily with two Tom Tom heads ganging up on him, Ares had more important places to be right now and didn't have the time to leisurely stand around and bet on the outcome... Though just because he wasn't doing it that didn't mean nobody else was. The wise disciple who was in the middle of setting up a betting stand would go on create a above-ground underground fighting ring of sorts, pitting worthy combatants up against multiple Tom Tom heads in magicless gladiator brawls. An unintentional side effect of bringing Tom Tom onto the premise but not one that Ares minded so long as nobody got pecked to death. Tom Tom would show restraint... Probably. Even if only because he wouldn't be able to gloat about his victory to a corpse. Plus the contestants would have to sign a waver anyway So, at that point, whatever happened was their own fault. Also also, it's not like they couldn't set up a Training Field for some of the higher end combatants or fights that looked like they might be dicey; specifically fights between Tom Tom heads and those he'd angered to the point of wanting a death match with.
Blood sports aside, Ares arrived at the area and nodded to himself in understanding. Tom Tom had really picked a great place. Though Ares would have to remove some buildings, and relocate them, there weren't actually that many and the job would take a matter of minutes. Turning this place into a desert biome would be relatively simply and it was in a prime location to because it wasn't that far from the marketplace. Anyone relaxing in the desert, sipping on cocktails on a deck chair near an oasis, could easily get up and take a quick trip to the stalls to buy some food for instance. Ares could envision a very successful resort popping up but he'd leave that to the more business savvy minds out there. Onno would probably be the first to capitalise on this budding opportunity as he was basically a sales-piranha. He could probably smell the blood in the water already. Even if Ares viewed this place as somewhere ideal, he still checked with the fellahin just in case they had reservations... Though it was mostly pointless. They didn't really know the sect that well so upon learning there was a market nearby they all thought it was convenient and enough to base their entire decision around. There really wasn't a better place for it and Ares promised the residential area for the fellahin would be separated from the publicly accessible oasis, to give them peace from the hubbub the disciples would raise, so all was well and now Ares just had to get down to work. It was a good thing he decided to do this first because, the more he looked around, the more he realised how long it would take. Again, it was a simple matter, but unloading everything would take a while. He had enough time to do most of it, go back home for dinner, and then finish the rest as night fell. That was fine. But if he'd tried to build the moat today it would have been a catastrophic mistake. Leaving the moat half finished meant having a giant, broken protective wall that monsters could openly walk through. There would have to be guards appointed overnight and not weak ones either. It wasn't a big deal, necessarily, but it would be a bad look if Ares made such a blunder on his first day as sect master, requiring Slick to cover for him which, in turn, meant the commonly used southern exit was more exposed than usual. Just because things were relatively peaceful in Heaven's Path that didn't exempt Ares from mistakes he might make that compromised security needlessly and it would reflect poorly in his evaluation in the eyes of the elders / sect HQ leadership. He had yet to meet the latter so he didn't want to give them any ammunition against him in case they held any resentment towards him for whatever reason.
While Ares contemplated such matters in his head, his body was working hard and dragging him around to the buildings blocking his biome renovations. The buildings were, thankfully, not disciple or elder housing, and were mostly small warehouses for the market stalls, so they were easier to move. Ares didn't need permission to forcefully move disciples but it would still have been a pain to talk to each of them individually. This way he could just put up a giant sign that explained where the warehouses were moved to and that was the end of it. Still a hassle but considerably less of one than what it could have been. Once all the warehouses were stored, and subsequently moved to their new location about a five minute walk away, Ares got to work removing the ground. This was a simple enough affair, he drew an outline with disintegration around the area he wanted to transform and then made the disintegration outline sink towards into the ground. The cut out land became a sort of island, one easily storable in his Blade, and suddenly the large chunk of ground vanished. The fellahin, and nearby disciples', reactions were like that of monkeys seeing magic tricks. Now you see it, now you don't. Ares' sleight of hand was impressive but, even more so, what came next was incredibly shocking. The ground chunk was gone and, in its place, sand as far as the eye can see appeared from thin air. Ares hadn't filled in the entire area yet, he would have to dump sand here in spurts, but the rapid change in scenery, and temperature, was a blow to the senses of everyone here. The desert was stored in the Blade, in the coldness of space, and so the temperature of the sand was quite low compared to the sunny surroundings. Some fellahin and disciples even took to lying on it to cool themselves off while Ares went around filling in holes and making artificial clumps in the shape of rolling hills. Before long, the area resembled Xasca to a tee and all that was missing were the local monsters, the occasional oasis, palm trees, the Riddlemyd, and the houses. Ares wasn't going to bring mafia cactus, copycats, or gatling geckos over just for the sake of ambience but the rest, in some capacity, was possible... Well not the Riddlemyd, per se, but Tom Tom heads were gravitating towards this location to bask in the sun overhead so that, to Ares at least, counted.
The desert took up about two miles of space which was considerable in a vacuum but not too egregious when looked at in comparison to the sect itself. Two miles was about the same as two normal outer court neighbourhoods so it was a bit wasteful but nothing that would be detrimental in the long run. Rather, trading this much space for some luxury, and fellahin might, was acceptable. It's not like Ares was never going to expand the sect either so this was a temporary minor loss for major gain down the line when everything was settled. Again, though, Ares hadn't forewarned people about this change so plenty disciples and elders thought they were losing their minds when they stumbled across a random desert in the sect. Doubly so for those that had yet to see Tom Tom either and were met with multiple sphinx heads lying face up in the sand. Understandably they assume they were going mad and someone had spiked their drinks or poisoned their food... Good natured disciples nearby, who knew what was going on, informed them so the havoc was relatively contained. Pretty much everyone would know of the desert and sphinx heads by the end of the day barring those who were currently out on missions. Most of the disciples were connected, even if only indirectly through a friend of a friend of a friend, so it wouldn't take long to spread word about any new changes and it would become something akin to a bird spotting competition. Everyone would keep an eye out for even the smallest change and race to be the first to report it like a sect-wide game of spot the difference.
Ares was taking a short break, sitting on the sand with Sandy on his lap and chatting away about her experiences since arriving in Red Sun. Unsurprisingly, most of her tales were about the various deals she managed to find on perishable goods... Aka food... But there was some chatter about the initial impression she had of Bellona and... Enyo, who really came on quite aggressively like a bloodhound. Ares had warned her but the real deal was so much more intense than the stories and she hadn't been done justice at all. Sandy needed to be reassured by Ares that Enyo had a serious, stoic, and prideful side to her because she hadn't really seen it yet. It had been nothing but horny degeneracy! Ares swore up and down she was a knight in shining armour sometimes but, honestly, he hadn't seen that side of her in a while either! There wasn't really much reason for it, though. Her crackdown on crime really did a number on her need to leap heroically into action. Maybe in Akarala Sandy would get to see Enyo in all her glory instead of in her birthday suit for once. That's not to say Sandy didn't respect her though, Enyo had a very impressive aura about her that proved her might. Plus she'd sparred with her and knew full well that Enyo was the strongest woman she'd ever met. If it weren't for Ares, she'd be the strongest person flat out. It didn't even really seem like Enyo was trying all that hard in their fight either so Sandy held her in high regard and had a better understanding of why Ares had explained Enyo to her in the fashion he did. As for Blo Blo, she'd made some bubble tea for Sandy as a kind gesture so Sandy could grasp what kind of person she was. They weren't peas in a pod but there was no unfriendliness whatsoever, Sandy was happy to think of her as a sister too. Or, to be more precise, Bellona felt like an actual sister, one she had a casual relationship with, so the term was more literal when she used it with her. When she used it with Enyo it was definitely in the harem sense as fellow lovers of the same man.
Once they were done chatting, Ares stood up again, stretched, and got to work installing the houses according the the individua preferences of the fellahin. It's not like they had to adhere to the same layout as previously so they could freely pick their neighbours and avoid people they weren't fond of... Though there wasn't exactly any valid reason for some people to try and escape their horrid mother-in-laws and they were sent pitying glances from the others who steered clear. The houses in question weren't actually 'houses' in the normal sense, Ares was mostly just carving out space under the desert using disintegration magic. Unless a fellahin had poor compatibility with their elemental form, most were familiar with sinking into the sand to reach their sand-submerged residence and they liked it that way. Of course there were a few normal houses, for those who couldn't live in such a fashion, but they were few and far between. And with that, Ares was mostly done. He was free to go back home, make some dinner, and he didn't even really have to come back after. He would, jsut to clean up and tidy the area. He wanted to make sure the border between it and the sect was neatly defined, the area was stable, and everyone was comfortable. He would give the place a once over and make sure mana was flowing properly into the ground. If the sand wasn't absorbing mana correctly it would make this area terrible for cultivating, and any rain would make the sand impossible to tread, so he had to keep an eye out for that. It should be fine, though, so it really was mostly just a bunch of double checking Ares would return for. He was proud of his work, though, and content with the changes. It was his first major choice as sect master and he had a feeling it was a net positive so he was looking forward to making the moat next now tha the had some practice with large scale terrain manipulation! That and he spent quality time with Sandy. Not as much as he would have liked but still enough to leave him and her satisfied for now. When he had more spare time he'd watch her work in the gardens... But definitely not try to give her advice, she'd bite his head off if he dared...