Intermedia

[ooeeooahah]

[ Ilsa is tired. ]

[ She's been working the horrendous secretarial job to keep from being droned, using the slack times to type up the history of her world, chipping in to the office petty cash funds to cover the costs of the materials she uses. ]

[ Then it's heading home to deal with the general household maintenance, and try to keep the facade

Comments

[velesdonnersen]

[He's come ready to do work. He's learned that in Mayfield, "jeans" are work clothes, and T-shirts are acceptable for men playing with tool-belts and associated Sparky Stuff. So he's conforming...and having a bit of fun with it. Tight jeans, wife-beater T, docksiders, hair tied back in a pony tail...and the still despised horn-rims.]

[Taps at door, leaning against the door-frame jauntily, looking smart-ass with his tool-belt hangin' low.....]

Hi, liebchen. Got any work you need done down below? [Yes, his eyes assure you he knows just what he's said...and will accept any of the possible answers.]

[ooeeooahah]

[ Normally, there might have been banter. But she's worn thin enough to just smile. ]

Give me a few moments and I'll be down to help.

[ Because, honestly? Not many people can be salacious with their hands full of raw chicken. It can be done, if you are at the top of your game. ]

[ Ilsa is nowhere near the top of her game at the moment. ]

Just have to get this done for tonight.

[ She gives him another smile as she trusses the chicken for roasting. ]

[velesdonnersen]

[Smart boy's smart...and he did grow up crafty. He saunters in, kisses the nape of her neck, and begins cleaning up things behind her, as he knows he can't easily guess what she might want him to do as sous-chef.]

Can I get you a cup of coffee, liebchen? Or a glass of wine?

[ooeeooahah]

[ She murmurs appreciatively ] Too late for coffee, and if we're going to be handling tools, I can wait on the wine.

[ Chicken ready, and washing her hands before putting it in the oven. ]

I'll be so ready to have this phase finished, and have a secure place to sleep again.

[ A quick glance down the hall, ] Besides having a secure place to work, I really do need a place to relax.

[velesdonnersen]

[Smiles]

We progress, my dearest Ilsa. And in the meantime -- I can take you for a ride, later, in the car? It is privacy, of a sort.

[ooeeooahah]

That might be a good idea.

[ Dinner in the oven, and she heads for the basement door. ]

With the days getting shorter, I really hope we can get by the time school starts, and I can move out of the guest room.

[velesdonnersen]

[Following her down stairs is less fun than following her up stairs, but he's still having a good time. He putters along behind her, contemplating work to be done.]

We finish the plumbing today, yes? And begin the sheathing on... the OTHER rooms?

[ooeeooahah]

On the entrances, at least. The wine cellar was a good idea, to explain the excavation. I got the piano hinge for the door the other day. The note you wrote did the trick at the hardware store.

[ Ilsa looks through the maze of the framing. ]

I really hope my theory holds about native materials and the way things work when things get funky.

[velesdonnersen]

Explain it again. Maybe we can find a way to cover, so that things work whether you'r right or wrong.

[ooeeooahah]

[ She rubs her forehead before going to the water shut-off valve for the house. ]

So, even though neither of us experienced it directly, there's been plenty of documented instances where talents or items regained have been pulled away when the powers that be wanted them gone for a while. But items made from local materials, without special abilities, like Hiccup's weapons, remained. Items made from local materials with special abilities disappeared...

[ She frowns slightly. ] ...and from what I've heard, things given to others, when regained or made from regained materials or made with special abilities also disappear when someone is permanently droned.