Lighthouse Cottage - Friday Evening

[the_best_sister]

Outside on the picket fence of the Lighthouse Cottage, a simple sign was tacked up:

Allen Wrench Party

Come inside and help with IKEA construction.
Free booze!
Free food!
Way too friendly dog!

Inside, the promise was kept. If your idea of food and booze was stacks of pizza boxes and mostly cheap beer and hard liquor.

Yelena had spent most of the week fixing up the place, but the IKEA shipment had only arrived yesterday, so the furniture was still a work in progress. The walls and ceilings were freshly painted white, but the carpet, drapes, and lighting in the two-bedroom cottage were a riot of mismatched colors. It was like someone had thrown a Jackson Pollock painting into a blender with that psychedelic boat trip from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

And right in the middle of this chaotic, colorful mess was Yelena, sitting cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by half-assembled IKEA furniture and discarded instructions. She’d been at it all day, and it showed. She’d given up on any hope of a put-together look, dressed only in a tank top and athletic shorts, her hair a tangled mess falling into her face.

The living room was mostly done, there was a dining room table standing on its own four legs, and one bed was finally put together in the bedroom. But there were still stacks of flat-pack boxes waiting to test her patience. At this point, it was just about survival.

And maybe, bribing people with enough booze to help finish the rest…

[Open to all. Up early because I might have a hectic morning. ]

Comments

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[witchoftheflesh]

Adrian, who had no idea who Tony was or what that might be a cause for concern, simply looked appreciative. "Good thinking!" he called over.

Boston, however, was giving Tony a flat glare. Not because of the tools but the dogs. Were two more really necessary, Tony? Really?

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[imafuturist]

Hey, he hadn't caused some kind of building related horror in ages! Mostly!

"Allen wrenches aren't exactly the best for sturdy furniture," Tony said as Patriot took that as he time to shine and be bigger than a single animal in the house with Boston. "Tony Stark."

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[witchoftheflesh]

"Not that I'd call any of this particularly sturdy," Adrian said, giving it all the disdainful eye of a skilled craftsman. "Adrian Blackwood, pleased to meet you."

Meanwhile, Boston had transferred his glare to Patriot before rising to his full Maine Coon size. "I wouldn't," he warned the dog with a disdainful sniff of his own before settling back down like he wasn't fussed at all.

Ignore the tail.

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[imafuturist]

Patriot just whined and looked from Tony, to the cat, to Tony, to the cat again. Then did the little paw stompies for attention.

"Likewise," Tony said. "New in town, I take it?"

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[witchoftheflesh]

"Very much so," Adrian said with another laugh. He did not give into the request for attention, as cute as he privately thought Patriot was being; he had his own domestic tranquility to think of. "I clearly need to get out more, I haven't met most of the folks here tonight. But slowly but surely, right?"

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[imafuturist]

Luckily the super soldier turned golden retriever trotted on over to first try nudging Patriot away before giving up and hauling him by his collar.

"Wait until something big happens, then you meet everyone," Tony replied. "Like a party or weird things showing up on island."

Equally big events!

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[witchoftheflesh]

"I heard something weird TVs?" Look at him, casually trying to fact check the fuck Raiden had been talking about.

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[imafuturist]

"Oh, the one with the Waffle House," Tony said, perking up. Because capitalism. "Yeah, a bunch of people with TVs for heads. I think people burned down a Walmart to stop them."

Anthony. Please think about how crazy that sounds.

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[witchoftheflesh]

It absolutely didn't make any more sense a second time and certainly not with the extra details.

But, either the town got together and agreed on stories to fool newbies with in advance, or he was going to have to apologize to Raiden for doubting him.

"None of those sentences made sense, not by themselves, and especially not when strung together in order," he told Tony. "What's a Waffle House?"

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[imafuturist]

"...wow, we need to get you to one stat," Tony said after a moment. "I'm a New Yorker and even I know all about the Waffle House. It's like... if a greasy spoon diner was more willing to deck you, but in a good way?"

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[witchoftheflesh]

Tony, seriously. Please listen to the words you were saying.

"Well, that certainly sounds like...an experience." And his Aunt Muriel said he'd never learn diplomacy. Ha! "I'm from Western Mass myself. But if there are Waffle Houses there, I've never been to one."

They didn't have any in the Blackwood and they didn't sound like anywhere the cabal would have even acknowledged and that was the extent of his worldly knowledge.

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[imafuturist]

Excuse you, it sounded perfect and amazing.

"They're a more southern thing," Tony assured him. "Sometimes it comes back here."

Those were the nice days.

Re: Mingle and Make Furniture

[witchoftheflesh]

"Ah," Adrian said. "This is the furthest south I've ever been."

And also just furthest in general but he didn't need to sound like a total rube.

Even if he was.