OPEN | prompt one | RAIN

[wrens]

prompt one | R A I N I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain - and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light. I have looked down the saddest city lane.

 

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[reactive]

[ Harvick has moved on from dinner by the time Fetch comes running up. There's the suggestion that he was making an attempt to read at some point not long ago (a book resting open on his chest; one of the advantages of taking over an old resedential neighbourhood was the ability to amass a large and varied library with very little effort). He's lying on his back on the bench now, though, just listening to the rain.

When Fetch's footsteps come stomping up the stairs, Harvick levers himself up onto his elbows, catching the book with one hand before it slips off his chest to the ground. ]

And what, particularly, did you tell me? [ he asks, raising an eyebrow. ]

[ex_fetches_494]

[ Fetch goes about unbundling what's tucked beneath his arm, peeling away the layers of sodden cloth to reveal what appears to be an old baking tin — the kind that once upon a time held cookies, though Fetch doesn't really recall what a cookie is. Harvick will recognize it as his water testing it, the one that he helped put together himself (with Harvick's mindful supervision, of course). Despite whatever mindful warnings Harvick's given him in the past, Fetch gives the tin a little shake, making its contents rattle inside. ]

Back before ten, [ he says proudly. ]

[reactive]

[ It would be an outright lie to say that Fetch reminds Harvick of how he was when he was younger. His father's household was not really one for encouraging running around in the mud or scientific exploration or much of anything, really, beyond business acumen. So perhaps it makes more sense to say that Fetch reminds him of what he might have preferred his childhood to be like and isn't that a thing to think given how the world is.

Harvick's slight smile is derailed by a wince when Fetch goes shaking his tin about. ]

You were surprisingly fast. Did you make sure to get them all?

[ex_fetches_494]

Course I'm fast. [ This comes out even more proudly than his last assertion. Among Harvick's men (and Harvick's children) there isn't anyone faster, save Baby Jane — and Baby Jane is in a league of her own. ] An' course I did. Fifteen around the edge, five south, three west.

[ Fetch recites this carefully, the tripping pace of his speech slowing carefully, like a child whose dutifully memorized the name of all the city-states and their respective despots for class. Being just a boy, he might not understand the significance of each test spot and why even one missing figure might throw off his survey, but what he does understand is that they each mean something to Harvick.

Which is good enough for him. ] Even did 'em in order, jus' like you said. No short cuts or anythin'.

[reactive]

[ Harvick narrows his eyes, watching Fetch's face for any sign that he may be exagerrating or lying, but the boy is as painfully honest as usual. It's a quality Harvick can admire and appreciate as long as he keeps his mouth closed around customers. ]

Well, come on, then, [ he says, closing his book with one hand with little regard for the page he was on (he was barely paying attention and will probably have to restart from the beginning anyway) and pushing himself off the bench with his others. He gets up and goes to the porch door, holding it open so that Fetch can proceed him inside. ] We'll write it down before you forget. [ He smiles a little now to show he's teasing. ]