(no subject)

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

Toby slept most of the way from wherever it was Mr Venom picked him up until they reached the farm, and even then, he was still pretty groggy. The washroom was pointed out to him (and what a wonder that is, all shining and clean and good clean hot water right there without having to pump it or heat it on the fire or anything), and Toby did manage to scrub the mud off his face and shuck the outermost, muddiest layers of his clothes.

The kitchen seems like the best place for him, but when he finds it, he decides that it, like the washroom, is too posh for him to use much unless he has to or he's told to. Besides, there's not a proper fire going anywhere in the kitchen, and if there's one thing Toby really wants to find, it's someplace warm. A lot has happened lately-- too much to really, really take in, even-- and if he could just find somewhere warm and easy to sit for a while, to think things through... well, it can't hurt and might help.

He figures, though, that nobody's going to miss just one apple from the bowl, not if what Mr Venom told him about how many people live here is true.

If someone should wander in to tell the lad otherwise, he'll be most appropriately shamefaced-- especially since he's already taken a great big bite out of it.

((The usual note about spoilers applies-- let me know whether you want them or not or don't care.))

Comments

[slayer_fray]

Mel certainly isn't going to tell him otherwise, and neither is Hana.

Well, Hana's actually saying 'No', a lot, but only because she wants to be carried, and Mel wants her to walk with her hands in Mom's.

Hana wins as they come into the kitchen from outside, and Mel scoops her up to carry her against her.

An orange is required, and Mom, daughter and stuffed dinosaur (which is now getting rather dirty), all come to sit at the table.

"Hey," Mel says.

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

"hloh," Toby says, then swallows. "Hello, mum."

All right, hair probably shouldn't be that many colors or those colors at all, but on the whole? A woman with a baby is considerably less strange than Mr Venom and considerably less wondrous than the washroom and kitchen.

So that's all right, then. There's even a bit of a smile offered to the pair.

[slayer_fray]

There is indeed very little strange about Hana until she gets the hiccups.

Mel uses a knife from her own belt to peel the orange, with Hana set into a baby chair next to her.

"I'm Mel by the way. You just arrived?"

She'd remember another kid, she's sure.

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

For now she just looks like a healthy baby to Toby, and that's usually a good thing to see.

"Yes'm. Just a little bit ago-- Mr Venom found me on the road and it seemed like the best idea to come along back with him." ... Oh dear, manners, that's right. "I'm called Toby. Are you the lady of the house?"

[slayer_fray]

Mel snorts a little in laughter as she pulls out a slcie of orange and offers it to Hana - who pushes it out of the way indifferently to grin at Mel.

"I'm not the lady of anything," she says easily. "The place belongs to Lucy - I'm just staying in the back with my family. Say Hi to Toby, Hana. Hiiii!"

"Hhhhiii!" says Hana dutifully.

The rejected orange slice is offered to Toby instead.

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

Toby's expression flickers-- Lucy? He's just going to have to remember it's a common name-- but he settles on a smile for the little one. "Hello, Miss Hana, don't you want your orange? If your mum gives it to me, I'll just eat it up."

[slayer_fray]

"She doesn't like the squirty juice," Mel explains. "And she only had lunch an hour ago. Her sister loves them, though. You have it."

Mel's got a whole fruit to herself after all.

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

"I like the squirty juice," Toby admits, and takes the slice, none too proud. "Lucky they won't fight over 'em, then. How old's her sister?"

He has no idea how old Hana is, but it's the sort of thing you say to people, really. Oh, you've another one at home, then? How old? Isn't that a nice age. You could learn a lot about small talk, really, serving up... food.

[slayer_fray]

"Same age," Mel says. "Don't ask me to give that in months, though. Year and a half, maybe?"

It's been a long time since she's had access to a calendar. But she'smore than happy to talk about her children.

[jonadarkhair.livejournal.com]

A skinny girl in a prison shift (that at least has been washed since she arrived, as many times as she's been able to wrangle it, though it's not yet been supplemented with shoes) comes in and makes a beeline for the fridge.

GRILLED CHEESE TIME FOR JONA!

Toby gets a cheery: "Morning!"

She's even in a good enough mood not to sulk if he stares at her feet.

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

Feet? He's staring at the fridge. "Morning... What all's in there, then?" He hadn't gone poking around the kitchen, just looked enough to realize there was fruit on the counter and nowhere for a nice comfortable pallet.

[jonadarkhair.livejournal.com]

Jona throws the door open so that he can see. And, well, feel. Because what comes out is a wall of chill, and it's heading in his direction.

"Cold things! But really cold, not just... cellar-cold. It's made of ela-tricity," she adds knowledgeably, because she learned it from one of the Sokkas and has a questionable grasp on the concept.

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

"Cor." Behold the wide-eyed boy. "That's a lot nicer than havin' to keep a cellar or something. What's elat... city?"

It's not like Toby has a firm grounding in the natural sciences, really.

[jonadarkhair.livejournal.com]

Wide-eyed is precisely the correct reaction! Jona beams.

And... makes up some stuff, because she's really not sure what electricity, in fact, is.

"Sort of like magic, 'cept it's not magic: makes stuff hotter or colder, and you can trap it inside things and tell it what to do with buttons and things." ENTHUSIASM! "And it's so special they only have it in this world, like."

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

"And you don't need fire or an ice-box or anything, just buttons?" This is very impressive! ... Hey wait. "... This world?"

[jonadarkhair.livejournal.com]

It is, isn't it? Feel the glee!

(Incidentally, because she came here for the wonder that is a grilled cheese sandwich, she's gotten out the bread and the cheese and is in the process of adding one to the other. Hey, nothing like a practical demonstration, right?)

...ah.

Jona looks contrite.

"...You not gotten the talk yet?"

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

"Mr Venom just found me on the road... um, a while ago. Yesterday afternoon, I think? I think I slept most of the way back, and I'm not all awake yet, so I don't even know what talk.

"... What talk, miss?"

[littlestcooper]

Kitchen!

Apples!

Lucy.

Hand.
Bowl.
Snatch!

Mmmmm.

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

"Hullo, miss," says a boy who is totally new to the farm. Well, it's polite to say hello, you see, although he doesn't mean to interrupt her if she's hungry.

Although saying hello to Mel let him play with a baby and saying hello to Jona got him a sandwich, so clearly saying hello is some kind of good luck, right?

[littlestcooper]

Saying hello to Lucy gets the faintest of smiles from the other side of the table.

And, once she's finished her first bite of apple: "Hello."

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

"I'm called Toby." Toby smells of spoilers.

[littlestcooper]

"Lucy."

Most people would finish that off with a 'nice to meet you', or possibly just a smile.

Lucy is too busy eating her apple and staying at a safe distance.

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

It's not like he's got a straight razor on him.

They're over in the rucksack, with his muddy (well, muddier, some sort of soaked through his shirt) clothes.

"You must be the lady of the house, then. Mr Venom said I should look for you."

It's totally possible Lucy hasn't met Venom.

[littlestcooper]

She hasn't.

But there's a slight nod nonetheless.

An inquiring glance, too, for good measure.

[bakers-boy.livejournal.com]

Mr Todd didn't talk much, either, unless he was trying to get you to go away. One way or another. So it's a little troubling, true, but not as strange as it should be.

"Said you was the one to speak to if I wanted to stay. I haven't anywhere else to go-- don't rightly know where I am-- and I'm willin' to work to earn my keep."