one order mark | day 457 | video

[honouraryfitz]

[The video feed opens on a twelve-year-old girl with bright red hair, a rather gaunt face, and dark circles under her eyes. She's working on fixing that, really, but it's been a long couple of days.]

Hi. I know it's been kind of lousy here for a while, but it seems like it's letting up. I got some sleep, anyway. I hope you guys did, too.

Anyway, I figured we should celebrate, and since it's basically summer now, why not have a bonfire? We could make s'mores or roast weenies and sing camp songs and stuff like that. It'd be swell.

So let me know if you're interested, and I'll start chopping firewood. [She gives the camera a grin.] And if you need some odd jobs done, can you let me know that, too? I gotta start making some money around here, or I won't be able to afford the marshmallows and stuff. I'm pretty strong, and I'm a good artist, and I don't mind getting dirty. So if you need something done, call me up, O.K.?

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voice

[ka_sera_sera]

I'm told we could use some help with the garden. And maybe with the chickens.

[They still refuse to actually use the coop he built for them and he has no idea why.]

[honouraryfitz]

You have chickens? [Her expression brightens.] Beatie did, too. I can help with them. And with the garden, too.

[ka_sera_sera]

Gods, I hope so.

[Did that sound a little too heartfelt? Big bad man with all his big bad skills can't deal with a few farm animals, yes you heard true, let's hurry up and change the subject.]

The garden only needs a few more seeds and some stakes for the vines, but I'd welcome the help. I'm at Odin 107 whenever you'd like to come have a look.

[honouraryfitz]

O.K. I'll come over now.

[AND SO SHE DOES. It takes her a while to find the right house--the one time she helped Fiona move stuff there was a while ago--but she thinks she's getting the hang of Asgard's streets. Which is good, because there's a bunch of people she knows in other districts than hers. Once she's there, she takes a peek into the backyard, wondering if she should try outside or inside first.]

Hello?

[ka_sera_sera]

[Roland looks past the large, flat pieces of wood he'd been carrying, sets them down, and moves toward her.]

Hile, miss Rusty. It's been a while.

[He leaves off the typically polite 'you're looking well' because... well, she doesn't. Not that Roland's in any position to judge - less darkness under his eyes, but the mostly healed burn splotched across one cheek says he's looked better. Then, probably everyone in this city has.]

How are you?

[honouraryfitz]

Uh-huh. I got sent home for a while.

[And it was dumb. She steps further into the yard, looking with some interest at the boards he was carrying.]

I'm O.K. It was kinda weird coming back here, though. [And really inconvenient.] How're you?

[ka_sera_sera]

Well enough.

[He moves away from the boards, steps carefully over a chicken that's decided to run directly into his path, and stops near her.]

Do you know much about gardening, or working with wood and nails?

[It doesn't occur to him to ask about her time at her home - how long it lasted, what she did there. She's here now, apparently as well as any of them, so he moves straight into business. Even if it's business that, strictly speaking, he probably could have finished on his own.]

[honouraryfitz]

[A chicken! Look at it run. Oh, she misses Beatie--the empty place she left in Rusty's heart aches a moment before she answers.]

Uh-huh. I'm O.K. at gardening. And I know how to use a whole bunch of carpentry tools. [It's too bad she can't show him the Cabin in the Woods. He'd be able to see the table she sanded and the stools she put together out of broken chairs.]

[ka_sera_sera]

[He nods, waving a hand toward the patch of dirt behind him where, once things start to grow, the garden's going to be.]

You may be able to show me a thing or two about these, then. I think I'll need a couple things built to hold some of them up. The other thing Fiona mentioned was building a trap to catch foxes near the chicken coop - which shouldn't be too difficult, as I haven't seen a single fox in this city since I got here.

[His voice is dry, and a corner of his mouth curls up for a moment.]

[honouraryfitz]

[She grins. Fiona seemed really swell when they met, but Rusty hasn't seen any foxes around, either.]

I'll try. I don't know much about traps, but I'm good at hammering things together.

[ka_sera_sera]

About traps, at least, I know plenty, so between the two of us we should be alright. You can use some wood from there if you like. [He waves toward what he'd been holding when she arrived.] I'll probably need wire too, but I wasn't planning on doing this today and don't have much of that yet.

[honouraryfitz]

Well, we can wait, if you want. [She looks over the garden--he's right about needing wire. Without it, between rabbits and chickens and maybe deer, his vegetables aren't going to have a chance.] What'd you plant?

[ka_sera_sera]

Beans, potatoes, corn. I'm no farmer, but, ah...

[He looks toward the two separate patches of dirt, putting his hands on his hips and thinking back.]

My father'd sometimes take me with him on business to some of the nearby ranches and farms. When we got older, we'd go there ourselves. Between that and the library here, I think I can figure out how to make this work. If it does, and the city's shortages get worse, you can eat here any time you like.

[He's confident Fiona wouldn't take issue with the invite - not for a child.]

[honouraryfitz]

You gotta grow squash, too! [And then she looks a little sheepish for her outburst.] The Indians used to call corn and beans and squash the Three Sisters--we learned about it in school. They'd plant them all together because they thought they grew better that way.

[And then the pilgrims show up and the first Thanksgiving happens, and according to history teachers of the 1940s, everything is great.]

Oh--thanks! That'd be swell. And I mean, I can earn my keep. Wash dishes, pull weeds, build you stuff. Fair's fair, right?

[ka_sera_sera]

I've seen that done, too. I'll think on it. And if that ever does happen we can talk on payment. Until then, you've still got your bonfire to earn for, haven't you? How's that going so far?

[He's got to know how much she still needs, you see, so he knows how much to pay her.]

[honouraryfitz]

[I'll think on it is answer enough for her. She shrugs at his question--cheerfully enough--and goes over to take a look at the boards he'd brought out earlier.]

It's O.K. so far. Lots of people want to help with chopping wood. And a boy called Wally said he'd bring some stuff for s'mores. Ellie's gonna try and get us some graham crackers, too. I'm still gonna bring stuff, too, but it's nice how other people wanna help out.

[ka_sera_sera]

[He nods.]

I think people need it, after these past weeks. It's a good thing you're doing, Rusty. Help keep people's spirits up.

[He follows her, watching her inspect what wood is there.]

I think... For the time being, you can find me some squash seeds, if you like. Some wire and pieces of wood. Mostly the same size and quality of those. A few of these smaller ones. I'll give you the money to buy anything you think is high enough quality to last; it'll help if I don't have to spend the time trawling the city for them.

[honouraryfitz]

[She smiles up at him, happy to have the compliment.]

I can do that. I'm pretty good at errands.

[And in the meanwhile, they can get started with all this stuff.]

So what'd you want to do with this wood? Build up the henhouse, or start a fence, or...?

[ka_sera_sera]

I was planning to start a greenhouse with it. That much I can take care of myself. But we can use this wood for something else, since it's here now. I don't know if there's much use in making a fence; maybe a couple traps, or some stakes.

[He starts walking around the borders of one of the patches of soil he's cleared, looking down at it.]

How much do you know about those Three Sisters you mentioned? Know how they grow?

[honouraryfitz]

Won't you need glass and stuff if you wanna build a greenhouse?

[She has only the most passing familiarity with the concept. Their victory gardens were always out in the open.]

Uh-uh. We just learned about the legend and the Indians. But I bet I could look it up.

[ka_sera_sera]

Mm? Glass?

[He hunkers near the edge of the future-garden, tilting his head back to squint thoughtfully up at the sky.]

In my world people used thin wire, woven close together. But glass... It's fairly easy to make here, isn't it? And it'd give better sunlight. Long as the weather doesn't get too bad, it should work. Thankee-sai, Rusty. I wouldn't have thought of that myself.

As to the Three Sisters, we don't need to know that just yet. But if you'd like to see if the library has any information on it, I won't stop you.

So. Wood, wire, glass. Anything else? Nails, certainly, and tools, but I should be able to get those.

[honouraryfitz]

Uh-huh. I bet we could draw it if we needed to.

[She's running through her own mental list, too. Books about gardening. He probably has hoes and rakes and gloves and shears, but those, if he's forgotten about them. It'd be nice to grow flowers, too, but they probably oughta focus on things they can eat.]

I guess that's all for now. [She pauses.] So what's, uh, thankee-sai mean? Is it like thank you?

[ka_sera_sera]

[He nods.]

A little more formal. More a term used toward adults, but you did think of something I wouldn't have.

[It'd been an automatic attempt at some dry sort of joke. One that, Roland realizes, doesn't really translate well. Or at all. He shrugs.]

Nothing you need to remember, I guess. Anyway, we may not have to wait so long for things to start growing. Fiona's agreed to use her ability to speed things up a little. Now we've settled all we need, how do you feel about starting tomorrow? If I'm not here and you'd like to begin anyway, feel free to work on the garden over there. If not, leave anything you've gathered over by the wall.

[honouraryfitz]

[Actually, I'm known for my good ideas. Last time she said anything like that, she got a rebuke back. She bites her tongue.]

Well, thanks.

[She nods at his suggestion.]

Tomorrow's O.K. I'm not really doing anything except art, usually, so I can help out whenever you need me.

[ka_sera_sera]

I'll probably be here in the evening. Feel free to stay here now if you like, though I can't promise to do anything interesting.