milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Finn's sitting at a table (pick a table, any table) with his sketchbook laying forgotten to the side, sleeves of his collared shirt still rolled up from working outside. Why, you would ask, is his ever-present sketchbook forgotten?

Well, that'd probably be why he's leaning forward (occasionally readjusting his sword as it catches in the chair legs) and biting his lip, too. Jenga is harder to play by yourself than it looks.

Feel free to pitch in--he has a sheet of instructions next to him.

[tinytag: Anastasia Krupnik]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh," Finn says, and shrugs carefully. He has seen many-headed animals before.

He grins. "She is. Lovely, I mean--Henry says boats are female and must be referred to by 'she'.

If the last sounds like officious quoting that's because...well, it isn't quite. But that's what Henry sounds like in Finn's head, when he is mocking him! "Do--you want to see her? It's dark out, but you can get torches from Bar."

"Really?"

She beams in a manner that is probably, at the very least, about seventeen different flavors of really ridiculously excited. She hasn't relly seen boats before - unless you could the Ferry, and it certainly doesn't do anything even vaguely resembling flying.

"I mean - oh, that would be lovely. If you do not mind, of course."

"Of course I don't!" Finn says, cheerfully, disassembling his tower and putting it back in the box. "It's not like I can show her off properly--I don't know all the words for everything," that's self-deprecating, "but I can tell you which parts are supposed to do what."

He glances over, grinning. "I-- don't want to knock you off when I get up."

"I do not know the words for anything," she points out helpfully. "So it is more than fine, honest promise."

Knowing names for everything is vastly overrated anyhow. Pointing works just as well, really.

"Oh!"

She laughs, hops down and smooths out her skirts, smiling up at him this time around.

"There we go."

"Good," he laughs--it's infectious--as he gets up, gathering the box and sketchpad and heading over to Bar.

"Could you keep these for me, miss? Thanks," he says, ducking his head politely as they disappear. "Um, Lether and I need two torches--thank you."

He hands one of the flashlights to her, and grins. "You--hit the button, and it shines light out of the big end."

She flicks the button experimentally, startling just the slightest bit when the lightbulb brightens up.

"Huh," she blinks, leaning closer and tapping a fingernail against the clear plastic, nose crinkling. "That is clever."

He grins. "Yeah. You fiddle with the edge to make it more together or spread apart--where the light goes, I mean," he explains over his shoulder as he opens the door and expands the beam of his flashlight.

She follows suit, holding the light forward and speeding up just the slightest bit to match her steps to his and wind a set of fingers around his arm.

"Where do you keep -" she pauses briefly to get the pronoun correct, smiles. "Her, yes?"

"Back this way," Finn points away from the lake, slowing down with a bit of a sheepish smile.

Most people walk faster than her. She doesn't really mind. (Or notice too much.) She just snags limbs and allows herself to be tugged along to wherever it is she's supposed to be going.

The beam of her flashlight bounces along cheerfully in front of them, "An inside sort of thing, or is it outside?"

"--Both? There aren't any walls," he explains, "but we have posts around the sides to set up a tarp overtop. Um, for when it was snowing."

They round the corner and Finn sets his flashlight on it, lighting up a shed and a neat work area. In the middle there's a rather small ship--more the size of a medium fishing boat--with interesting modifications.

Finn grins, speeding up for a moment before he catches himself and slows back down. "There she is!"

Lethe immediately leans forward, tugging his arm along with her, and lets out a fascinated little noise - bouncing on her toes and grinning widely.

She's a water-thing, boats are (generally) water-things, so they're kind of inherently pretty.

"Oh," she murmurs appreciatively. "She is lovely."

"Yes," Finn agrees, cheerfully letting himself be tugged.

They wind their way through the framework cradles for the hull. Finn pushes at his flashlight for a moment so the top part separates, turning it into a lantern which he sets up on the floor of the boat before climbing the steps set up for that purpose. "There," he says, triumphantly, glancing down to give her any help up that steps that she needs. We'll be dying the sails a bright yellow-orange, soon."

There totally isn't a pause where she peers fascinatedly at the flashlight. Really there isn't.

There are plenty of other ones scattered around though at various points, punctuated by very careful skittering of her free fingers over the lines of the wood.

"Sounds pretty," she nods in approval. (Girls are allowed to be pretty.) "All daytime colors."

She's a very appreciative audience.

Finn laughs. "Yeah. Um, the rudders over there we're going to use for up and down directions--"

He explains things to the best of his ability, skittering from place to place. He's keeping the descriptions pretty simplistic because, let's face it, he's definitely not the brains of the Henry-and-Finn operation.

Simplistic works just fine. Better than fine, really, as she has no clue about anything at all.

(Lethe's not really paid to be the brains of any operations either - she's just around to look cute and make sure the dead people don't get off the Line.)

She follows him closely, peering around his shoulder and occasionally pointing at something that catches her eye.

"Is it much lighter? Since it is meant to be going up rather than just, um -" she coasts a hand out in front of her vaguely. "Along?"

Technical would really be lost on her.

Finn blinks at her for a long moment, and back at the boat. And then he laughs slightly--not derisively! Just, genuinely amused.

"No--we're going to use magic? To make it go up. A boat would never be light enough to--float in the air--by itself."

"I do not even understand how they float in water half the time, if I am going to be completely honest," she crinkles her nose. "I mean, you put people in them. And people can sink - but you put the people into a boat and then they all float again. And numerous people all at one time."

She lets out a bright laugh and rolls her eyes, fluttering a hand dismissively at herself.

"But magic sort of makes everything work, so it does not really need to apply."

"I think it's--because of the wood. Like--if you lie on your back in the water, you don't sink? And the boats do--sink a bit, because you only see the top...parts."

Finn's lost himself. He grins at her. "Yeah--magic's really useful, um, as an explanation. People keep asking me what makes Bar work, and--well, if you go 'magic!' they stop asking."

"Something about hollowness, perhaps, or -" she shakes her head briefly and then nods firmly. "Magic. Much simpler."

Easily the best explanation for just about anything.

"And you hardly have to explain it," she grins. "Either people have it so they do not have to ask - or the do not, so they just look at you like you are odd and do bother not ask."

"Exactly," he agrees cheerfully. "Mostly people look at me weird, but, um," he shrugs. "I'm okay with that! ...That's everything on deck. We have a cabin? But there's only really a little place to store food and a table and things in there."

Finn shrugs, and grins over at her. "Do you like her?"

"Oh, of course," she nods earnestly, curls tumbling in front of her eyes. "She is lovely! I said - I mean, I generally do not lie - I am utterly awful at it and you would be able to tell right away."

It's true. Her poker face is sadly lacking.

"And I would hardly have to. Completely lovely, I promise."

He grins at her. "I'm not very good at it, either. I mean--straight out lying. Or the sort of lying for jokes? I always start laughing."

"Exactly."

She smiles crookedly, blowing the hair away from her forehead.

"Keeping a straight face is much more difficult than it seems - what with people looking at you all funny the whole time."

"Right," he agrees, scooping up his lantern and turning it back into a flashlight. "I think I'm going to need some hot chocolate. It gets cold out her at night. If, um, you've seen enough? You can always come exploring during the day, Henry and I are usually out here."

(no subject)

lethe-forgets.livejournal.com - 2008-08-14 05:04 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

takiena_called - 2008-08-14 05:18 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only