Closed Pouring out

[Cleon]

53rd of Spring

Of course it was pouring rain, the sound of which had been steadily drilling across the shop’s roof since early that morning. Cleon was about done with it. This rain, this season, these curses. While the shop was empty he did his best to keep occupied with a spare scrap of wood left over from one of the surf boards they had been working on yesterday. On it he wasn’t trying to carve anything in particular, just was chipping away at a roughly round shape that had been flattened on either side. When he had a roughly circular shape, he started roughly cutting it into the shape of a face. First he started by making the bottom more triangular, and the rest of it roughly oval when the door to the shop opened. Cleon looked up to see Nora holding onto the edges of her cloak as she breezed in, promptly shaking of the rain before stripping out of the cloak. Underneath she was dressed rather simply in a loose fitting top, and a skirt that trailed down do her knees. Inside the shop it had gotten rather warm so Cleon had stripped down to his trousers but moved to grab his shirt when he saw Nora.

“Don’t bother, its got to be stifling for you cooped up in here all day.” Nora said with a genial smile, and Cleon shrugged.

“Its not so bad. We keep the windows open so when a breeze gets through I’m sure to feel it.” Cleon said, trying to return her smile but not particularly feeling it in that moment. He did leave the shirt where it was though as he walked around the counter before he continued to address her.

“Are you thirsty? I’ve got half of bottle of some potent rum that Stu ran over yesterday.” He offered as he bent over to retrieve the bottle from behind the counter and set it across the top of the counter along with a small wooden cup. It was part of a set Randal had carved with a rounded bottom that had been flattened slightly towards the part that met the table to keep it from rocking. Nora was already shaking her head before he got the sentence completely out of his mouth so he set them off to the side so that they could continue their conversation.

“No, I was just wanted to look around a bit, and check things out. I’d like to try surfing when the water gets a little calmer, or paddleboarding.” Nora said, walking past the counter to look around the shop. Turning to watch her, Cleon then stepped out from behind the counter following her along for a ways, but doing his best not to follow too closely.

“Any particular design catch your eye? I can bring one down off the wall if you would like a closer look.” Cleon offered after she had taken several moments to look at the displays, and she turned towards him slightly when he had spoke up.

WC- 505

[Cleon]

“Well, I like the bright colors. Do you have anything with purples and greens?” Nora asked, and Cleon took a quick look around the shop to confirm before slowly shaking his head.

“No, what you see on the wall is what we’ve got finished, but we can get one painted for a small additional fee.” Cleon suggested, and on a hunch took one of the boards off of the wall before carefully turning towards her to hand it off. “Here why don’t you get the feel of holding one.”

Nora smiled, hesitantly taking hold of the board when her eyes slightly widened in surprise. “Its lighter than I expected!”

“I thoughts so too when I first held one.” Cleon admitted as he watched her explore the weight and balance of the board.

“What’s it like surfing on one of these?” She asked with a grin.

“Well, I don’t have much experience yet as I only just got here, but I’ve been practicing the basics at the community swimming pool. You could come learn with me sometime if you want.” Cleon said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he returned her grin.

Biting her lip thoughtfully, Nora nodded as she extended the board back to him, and he grabbed it to place it back on the wall.

“Okay, yeah I’ll take you up on that offer sometime. Are you still staying at the Inn?” Nora asked, then explained quietly. “Word spreads quick in a place like this.”

Cleon slowly nodded. She was right of course, but it was still difficult to get used to. Compared the chaotic sprawl of Sunberth, this community was very small in comparison, but at least he had a good idea of where everything was in the settlement.

“Yeah, at least for now. I know Faye rather likes it there so we will probably be staying there for a while.” Cleon said, brushing off the board briefly before turning around to regard Nora. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Nora shook her head slightly. “No, I just wanted to give this place a look around and to get out of the rain for a bit. It was really coming down wasn’t it?”

“That it was, although it sounds like it might be letting up now.” Cleon said with a grin, tilting his head slightly. It had been almost too subtle to notice, but the rain was coming down significantly slower now, and some sunlight was breaking through the clouds to come through their open windows.

Cleon walked with her over to the front of the shop, holding the door ajar slightly as she slipped back into her cloak.

“Well thank you for giving me a tour. I’ll try to catch you sometime by the pool and if I like it, I’ll come back and purchase a surf board.” Nora said with a slight smile.

“Come by anytime, I’ll see you then.” Cleon added politely as he watched her walk down the stairs before closing the door.

WC - 504

[Cleon]

While he was waiting for the next person to walk in through that door, he decided to go about cleaning the shop, starting with sweeping up the wood shavings that littered the floor around where he had been working. Then while he was at it he went ahead and started sweeping up the rest of the shop before going around with a rag and some polish to tidy up the displays. Once that was finished, he went back to the counter where he had set out the rum and poured himself a finger, downing it quickly before cleaning out the cup and putting the bottle away.

That finger was enough to take the edge off somewhat, and he felt reasonably focused enough now to go down to try his hand at putting a new board together. It wasn’t like there was much of anything else to do at the shop with no body around as he had taken care of much of the busy work that morning. Besides he’d hear it if someone came into the shop as he’d hear them come up the stairs outside.

Down below there were several boards in varying stages of completeness but Cleon went all the way to the back to start on a new board. He started with a flat board that he laid against the table before using a cutout to trace the outline of a surf board with a charcoal stick. Then with a pole saw he gingerly followed the line along, being careful not to cut into the interior but veering out into the exterior of the line several times as he tried to keep his trembling hand steady. It took him a lot longer than he should have to get half of the board cut out, and the line was sloppy, with a significantly rough edge all the way down.

With a heavy sigh, Cleon tried again to keep his hand steady as he did the other side, using his weight to try and glide through the wood, although this time there were slopes to his line where there shouldn’t have been. An this wasn’t even something he could entirely blame on his curse either. He just wasn’t that good at shaping wood like this, and it showed in the results.

Instead of continuing to gripe about it though, he grabbed a thick handled sanding brush that he used to smooth out the curves of the board before he laid it out across the table. Looking around, he tried to remember what he was supposed to do next when he slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand. He should have gotten the tar on its way to getting warmed up, but foolishly he had neglected to do that.

Fortunately for him, Randal liked to be prepared and had already had the fire place set up with a pot of tar beside it. Before he tried to get the fire started though, he took a good look at how Randal had set it up so he could remember how to replace it before he returned. Randal had stacked the bigger pieces of firewood around in a roughly chimney shape while he stuffed the gaps between the wood with dried palm fronds.

WC - 543

[Cleon]

Taking a lantern over, he broke off a piece of one of these fronds and caught it alight in the lantern before tossing it back into the fire pit, then he sat back to make sure it all caught on nicely before hooking the pot of tar across bar Randal had installed above the pit. With that cooking so to speak, Cleon pulled out anther set of cut outs to start making the ribs of the board, and had just begun tracing them when he heard people coming up the outer staircase. Looking up from his work, he listened for a moment before he started to rush up the stairs, getting just to the top of them when the door opened.

In through it walked Lexi and Brea. Little Brea was holding Lexi’s hand with two of her right ones, something that Cleon still hadn’t got around to understanding. It was like seeing a mirage watching that girl move with her six arms, but he did his best to try not to judge as he had come to the understanding that everyone in that pavilion had come from rough circumstances not too unlike his own.

“Hey, did we uh, catch you at a bad time?” Lexi asked with a confused look, and a hint of a smile playing across her lips. Cleon shook his head hastily as he walked over to them, and tried to quickly catch his breath before speaking.

“No- I was- just downstairs and- I heard you coming- oh-”

“There, take a breath-” Lexi said clearly amused as she looked him over before her eyes ventured to the rest of the shop. There was a sudden warmth on his cheeks at the look, and Cleon took a moment to look away, embarrassed as he went around the counter, putting it between him and the girls before he looked back.

Fortunately, the walked around for a bit before coming up to the counter because for several ticks Cleon was at a loss for what to say as he ducked behind the counter and took a quick swig from the rum bottle. As he stood up to see where they went in the shop, he wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand and ended up catching another look from Lexi as she arched an eyebrow at him but continued to say nothing as they did a quick tour of the shop before coming to a stop by the staircase that lead down into the workshop.

“What’s down here?” Lexi asked.

“Oh, you can’t go down there. That’s where we work on the surf boards and paddle boards. Would want you to mess anything up accidentally.” Cleon said as he came around from behind the counter and then leaned against it as he looked across at the two girls.

“Riigghht. Well it smells like something is burning down there so you might want to go check it out.” Lexi said, her tone laden with sarcasm. His eyes went wide as he realized, and hurried down the stairs with the girls trailing down behind him. Towards the back of the workshop bit of a smoky haze had started to form and Cleon could clearly see that the pot of tar had started to bubble over. Cursing under his breath, he grabbed a water skin off of a nearby table before Lexi stopped him.


WC - 565

[Cleon]

“Wait, just take the pot off. I’ll be right back.” Lexi said, running out quickly before Cleon had a chance to argue. Still he did as she requested, handing off the water skin to Brea before hastily looking around the shop till he found an iron rod that he could use to get the pot. Leveraging it under the hook, he gingerly pulled it out as Lexi ran over with a bucket of sand to toss onto the fire. It extinguished the fire quicker than he could have thought possible, though he almost lost control of the pot in the thick plume of smoke that hit him afterward and caused him to go into a fit of coughing as he struggled with Lexi’s help to get the pot hooked back over the fire.

When it was done, both of them let the rod clang onto the ground before taking a step back and catching their breath. Little Brea had backed up towards the staircase were the air was significantly fresher. Lexi quickly hurried over, followed by Cleon, and he walked them up the stairs when Lexi turned to him at the top.

“You should keep a bucket of sand down there from now on just in case. Especially if you plan on cooking that stuff over the fire.” Lexi said, grabbing Brea by the hand and pulling her close.

Cleon begrudgingly nodded. “How did you know to do that?”

“I learned a thing or two out on the Cyphrus before coming here. Plus, Hess showed us about the tar pits the other day and James gave a few demonstrations.” Lexi said looking at him evenly for a moment before she backed away to give him some room to step out from the staircase. Cleon immediately took the space towards the counter before turning again to the two girls, and making a half hearted shrug.

“Well, thank you. You really helped me down there. An I’m sorry about Miss Hess.” He said, looking down at his feet.

“Why? You didn’t make her do that to herself?” Lexi asked.

Cleon looked at her shocked, glancing at Brea out of the corner of his eye briefly but thankfully the girl seemed to be content playing with a straw doll she had brought along with her.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Cleon said accusingly.

Lexi studied him for a moment with a serious look before she burst out giggling in a way that made Cleon decidedly uncomfortable.

“Don’t sweat it, I was joking.” Lexi said, rolling her eyes as she started to walk around the shop with Brea again, this time with Cleon following slightly behind. Curious, Cleon reached out mentally to the charm on his wrist, the one with of the head with a spiral crown, and then directed that sensation towards Lexi. An then it was like hearing her talk inside of his head only he could clearly see her lips were not moving.

These boards are pretty. I wonder if he gives free lessons. I should have worn less, then he probably would have just given me a board. Everyone in Syka knows how much of a hound this curse has made him. Maybe if I ask nicely he’ll share some of that liquor I smell on his breath, but Brea. Aggh.-

Cleon shook his head, and covered his mouth self consciously as he narrowed his eyes towards Lexi. Was it really that obvious? He was suddenly regretting trying out the charm on Lexi and mentally hurried to break the connection before he heard anymore.

Why is he staring at me so funny. Does he think I’m not watching him. This must be something to do with his curse, poor boy. Maybe I should come by later without Brea and-

It was more difficult that he would have imagined, but he finally managed it by picturing the connection as a tangible thing before he imagined grabbing and breaking it apart. The thoughts abruptly cut off as he breathed out a sigh of relief, drawing a strange look from Lexi that she hid behind a slight smile.

“Well we won’t take up too much of your time. You seem pretty busy burning things so I’ll let you get to it. Thanks for the tour.” Lexi said with a little grin, and waved with Brea before leaving the shop. With them gone, he leaned against the counter, pinching the bridge of his nose briefly as he shook his head. He needed to remember just how intense that was before he tried it again.

After taking a moment to collect himself, he set about tidying up the workshop a bit before he decided to call it a day.

WC - 785

[Cleon]

Grade Award!

Cleon:

Skills:

Carpentry: 1
Logic: 1
Investigation: 1
Observation: 5
Rhetoric: 1
Socialization: 4
Surfboard Making: 1
WS: 1

Lores:

Nora: Appearance & Mannerisms
Nora: Interested in Surfing
Rhetoric: Trying to sell a surfboard
Carpentry: Following an outline
Carpentry: Fixing a sloppy cut
Lexi: Appearance & Mannerisms
Brea: Appearance & Mannerisms
Lexi: Sharp wit
WS: Using sand to extinguish a fire
Lexi: Lived on the Cyphrus
Lexi: Clever and manipulative

Feel free to pm me with questions or concerns about your grade, and don’t forget to edit your grade request!