Neither of them has a bullet wound so it’s all fine by her.
“I can do anything,” she replies. It won’t all be as easy as starting a fire, but she’ll learn fast. She leans back just enough to get a good look at his face, and she shifts to cup his cheek, ruffle the edges of his beard with her thumb. Teasing: “If I’d gotten here any later I might have mistaken you for a bear.”
“Maybe one then the other,” she replies, grinning in turn. She pulls back entirely, a hand trailing down his chest as she goes. “But I’d know you anywhere.”
He pulls her in once more and kisses the top of her head.
"Me too, lady. Damn, it's good to see you - but I gotta get the deer down,
get the horse put away. Put your things away and help me out, the sooner
we'll be inside with a cup of coffee."
Things take so much more time, here. No ambling up to the dining room for
some coffee, no turning up the heat in a common room.
Tess just smiles. Going back to putting in effort to get anything done comes with a particular relish —- you get whatever you’re willing to work for. Living that way comes easy.
“Go deal with the animals, then,” she says, waving him off, playful. “I’m here for good so you’ll get to see me all you want.”
"Come and help," he tells her, pulling on her elbow as he makes to
head back out. "You're staying here? Ain't you? We - I mean, Jake and I, we
put in a little room at the back for you. If you want it."
She won't have seen the door yet, but it's there. Barely as big as his tiny
room on the Barge, but it's hers if she wants it.
There's nothing else out there in the world for her, at least not yet. A tiny room is better than the wilderness, or her crumbling apartment back in Boston, or a guest bedroom in Joel's house, if he'd even have her. She's here.
She lets her second backpack slip down her free arm, and she sets it down on the floor as she moves after him. Fine. She can help.
"What, I can't just ride on the back of yours whenever?" she replies, following.
She is, at most, half joking. The reality of having to have and care for a horse feels inevitable, but she was hoping she could be on the ground for longer than an hour without having to face it down.
"I ain't teach you how to ride for nothin'," he points out to her. "But
you'll have to do for now, the town's a couple hours away from the cabin.
How'd you like it here?"
"More built up than I was expecting," she replies. She's glad it's that way, having imagined more than once a future where it was little more than a canvas tent over her head. "You've been working hard."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
“I can do anything,” she replies. It won’t all be as easy as starting a fire, but she’ll learn fast. She leans back just enough to get a good look at his face, and she shifts to cup his cheek, ruffle the edges of his beard with her thumb. Teasing: “If I’d gotten here any later I might have mistaken you for a bear.”
no subject
He grins at her and bats her hand away. "Yeah? Woulda shot me, or run away screamin'?"
no subject
no subject
He pulls her in once more and kisses the top of her head.
"Me too, lady. Damn, it's good to see you - but I gotta get the deer down, get the horse put away. Put your things away and help me out, the sooner we'll be inside with a cup of coffee."
Things take so much more time, here. No ambling up to the dining room for some coffee, no turning up the heat in a common room.
no subject
“Go deal with the animals, then,” she says, waving him off, playful. “I’m here for good so you’ll get to see me all you want.”
no subject
"Come and help," he tells her, pulling on her elbow as he makes to head back out. "You're staying here? Ain't you? We - I mean, Jake and I, we put in a little room at the back for you. If you want it."
She won't have seen the door yet, but it's there. Barely as big as his tiny room on the Barge, but it's hers if she wants it.
no subject
There's nothing else out there in the world for her, at least not yet. A tiny room is better than the wilderness, or her crumbling apartment back in Boston, or a guest bedroom in Joel's house, if he'd even have her. She's here.
She lets her second backpack slip down her free arm, and she sets it down on the floor as she moves after him. Fine. She can help.
"How big is this deer?"
She's not sure she knows how big a deer is.
no subject
"Just a regular deer," he says, spectacularly unhelpfully, as he steps back outside. Still no lock, Tess.
"Got me a good horse, too. A strong one. Hell, we're gonna have to get you a horse."
no subject
She is, at most, half joking. The reality of having to have and care for a horse feels inevitable, but she was hoping she could be on the ground for longer than an hour without having to face it down.
no subject
"I ain't teach you how to ride for nothin'," he points out to her. "But you'll have to do for now, the town's a couple hours away from the cabin. How'd you like it here?"
no subject