build a home in the sand -- open

[notmyhome]

Gaheris has found a conveniently abandoned thatch house out in one of the pseudo-countryside areas in which he can set up an alcove with his drawing materials. He brings most of his things from his apartment--that is, the table and the mattress--and arranges them halfway decently, then orders his pencils and paints and papers into various shelves.

Comments

[never_king]

Even with all there is to see in the Nexus, someone thatching a roof is still enough to attract attention. Bran and Will have walked far this afternoon, and are on their way back home, comfortably tired from their explorations, full of stories to tell Melou and Rhianna. They both pause a moment to watch Gaheris at work and Bran nudges Will. "See, Will? He knows how to do it properly."

He doesn't mean that to be so loud, but the afternoon is quiet.

[notmyhome]

Gaheris turns, wiping sweat off his forehead. Work, as it turns out, is kind of exhausting when you haven't had anything but a sandwich in the last two weeks. He reaches for the Saranac on the ground beside him (as far as Gaheris is concerned, Saranac is the only true beer plz do not argue).

"You want him to get some experience?"

[w0tcha]

"Why not?" Will is considering the house with interest. "Do you need the help?"

[notmyhome]

"Don't mind letting someone else do some of the work," easily enough.

[w0tcha]

Will grins at Bran. The Welsh teen snorts, shaking his head. Will waits.

"I suppose it's not like we've got plans," Bran concedes. "Nowhere that we need to be."

Will's grin is pure satisfaction as they join Gaheris. "What's there to do?" he asks.

[notmyhome]

He rests his hands on his hips as he scrutinises the roof. "Got half of it done. Got to tear the rest off, and get more thatch to replace it. What is it you haven't learned?" The weird, Scots-like accent is getting a little stronger--being out of the world, in a place more like his second home, is affecting him.

[never_king]

"Think we could handle tearing the rest off," Bran says, trying to place the other's accent. "But I'm pretty sure we've neither of us done this before."

Will doesn't contradict this.

[notmyhome]

"All right. If you help get the old stuff off and you're still up for more, I'll show you how to thatch a roof. Do you need a leg up?"

[w0tcha]

"Thanks," Will scrambles up, followed by Bran. "I'm Will by the way -- this is Bran," he says. "Do you live here?"

[notmyhome]

"'M Matthew. Yeah, it's my house now. It looked abandoned to me. Anyway, I'm fixing it up." He pauses, looking up at them. "D'you mind if I sketch you while you're doing that? It's fairly picturesque."

[w0tcha]

"I suppose," Will says doubtfully after a moments pause.

Bran snorts and elbows him. "You're not sketch-shy on top of camera-shy, surely. Of course it's fine. Who's going to see it?"

"Shut up," Will says affably, elbowing back. "You being a nuisance is hardly picturesque. Do you want us to throw the old stuff anywhere in particular or is it all right if we make a mess?"

[notmyhome]

"Throw it wherever you like, as long as it's in a pile." He ducks back into the house after his sketchbook.

[w0tcha]

By the time he returns, there are reeds in Will's hair, sticking to the back of Bran's shirt, and a decent amount of them in a pile on the ground. Bran is bickering at Will in Welsh, and Will is concentrating on the roof.

"I like fishing," he is saying. "I don't see why I can't take her fishing if I want."

"She's a girl, boyo. YOu can't expect her to like the same things we do."

"Rhianna said she's go fishing with me, and she's a girl too."

"Well, she's not been yet, has she? Seriously, just ask Melou. Sure he'd like it.

[notmyhome]

Gaheris' head snaps up, the soft charcoal between his fingers forgotten. "Melou? You've got a friend called Melou?"

[never_king]

Bran's obviously disconcerted to be understood. "You don't have an accent."

Will elbows him. "We do," he says. "You know a Melou?"

[notmyhome]

"I knew a man who had a son named Melou. --'Course I don't, I'm not Welsh."