[The Farm] Under Advisement, Part 2

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Straken
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Re: [The Farm] Under Advisement, Part 2

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“Peachy ken, Miss Smith. Just thought it looked familiar, got nothing that would give me a reason to use it. Same wi’h the horses. Never even touched one, ain’t no way I’m gonna mess with something five times my size an’ ten times my weight,” Willow confirmed as she held the pitchfork over her shoulder like a service rifle. It was spoken honestly. She had no need for bullets, and No Name almost kicked her block off the first time she saw him as a part of a lesson. No way was she going to give the horse a reason to do it for real.

“As for the barn, I uh, I promise to do my best.”

With a crane of her neck and a flick of her thumb across her nose, Willow got to work. At the very least she was confident she wouldn’t be breaking the barn with a pitchfork.
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Mr. Blackbird Lore
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Re: [The Farm] Under Advisement, Part 2

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"Good. See ye at eight." Then Jane was gone, off to do whatever a wandering American cowgirl did when she was alone on her farm in rural Japan on a Sunday morning.

At eight o'clock sharp, Jane appeared in the doorway of the barn with two glasses of lemonade-- or that was Willow's initial thought. On closer inspection, however, one was more amber than the other. It was from this darker glass that Jane drank, and the other which she proffered to Willow. "So... still think ye made a good choice?"
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Straken
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Re: [The Farm] Under Advisement, Part 2

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Jane found Willow on the tail end of cleaning stall number four. The Brit had popped in a pair of wireless headphones. While bobbing her head and quietly half-singing along, she was spreading out a new layer of straw when she saw Jane enter. Thanks to her headphone’s awareness mode and not needing the volume up that high she worked out what the woman had asked. Quickly plucking the small devices from her ears, Willow wiped her forehead and walked out of the stall.

“Good choice asking you to be my mentor? Yes, good choice. My choice to not burn Tin? Great choice. Getting rid of my Pewter? Now that one I’m kinda regretting,” Willow responded as she took the offered lemonade. Normally she’d had preferred some tea, but after breaking a sweat she found the cool and tart beverage to be just what the doctor ordered. Gulping down half of the glass Willow had to stop herself from downing it in one go, and instead held the glass in both hands. The feeling of the cold and slight condensation felt amazing on the palms of her hands, and she wondered if she’d end up getting any blisters.

“Regret agreeing to my request yet?” Willow looked back over her shoulder at the stalls. She could tell she was probably slow, and had been self conscious about whether the stalls had actually been worked properly.
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Re: [The Farm] Under Advisement, Part 2

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“I ain’t gonna regret free labor, but I’ll say thankee.” Jane strolled the barn and inspected the stalls as she went. Her glass was less than half full by the time she returned to Willow.

“Ye did good. I ain’t got any more work. Go on home.” Then Jane finished her drink.
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Straken
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Re: [The Farm] Under Advisement, Part 2

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“If you say so, Miss Smith, I’ll finish up here and then head out,” Willow said back as she planted the pitch by her side and a closed hand against her hip. On one hand she couldn’t wait to get home and wash up, but on the other she had been hoping for something a bit more hands-on with Jane. Resisting the urge to pout Willow returned to put the cap on her task at hand.

Shortly thereafter, Willow traded footwear back out for her runners, returned her headphones to her ears, picked a song, stretched her tired legs, and began to jog out of the barn. Making sure to wave goodbye to Miss Jane, Willow set off down the drive.

~~~

Three Weeks After Dust


Willow huffed in the shade on the side of the barn. It was a particularly roasty summer day, and despite it still being relatively early in the morning Willow had worked up a fine sheen of sweat. The Brit’s fair skin had begun to show a modest tan that seemed to deepen the flaxen gold of her hair. Following the return to Japan, she had decided to trim the long locks to something a bit more manageable. Cut to a few inches below her shoulder, she currently had it in a braided ponytail.

Easing down to squat on her heels as she balanced on her tiptoes and resting her back flat against the wood of the barn, Willow winced a bit in response to a phantom pain in her side. Willow had thankfully been one of the few of the students to get injured on the trip to Hawaii, but she couldn’t hide a pang of shame that her wound had been because of her own mistake. Now, she didn’t regret the injury, and in fact was proud of the reason for it. She just wished it hadn’t been because of literally throwing herself against a tree.

With conscious effort Willow noticed that she was grinding her teeth and made a point of stretching her jaw and clicking her tongue. Raising a bottle of water to her lips, she took a long pull of the lukewarm liquid that had long since lost its cool. Using the sleeve of her slim fit olive drab t-shirt she wiped some sweat from her forehead before rolling up the sleeves into a pseudo tank top. Her arms relaxed and came to a rest on her denim clad legs before her free hand swung down to adjust a cuff that had bunched up on her work boots.

Willow was feeling annoyed, but knew she had little reason to. Things were going her way, but in such a way that it didn’t feel quite right. Like with her boots; Mr. Flynn had insisted on buying her a pair of properly fit work boots after she’d shared the story about needing to borrow some, as he seemed adamant that working with a poor fit could cause a bad sprain or even a break. She had accepted the boots as the logic made sense, but she felt a little undercut by losing the chance to have bought them herself; at the very least she’d insisted she’d pay Mr. Flynn back. Her injury had been from an accident rather than from an attack; a stupid thing to be annoyed about, but her pride still felt sore.

Then there was her apprenticeship with Miss Smith. Willow had gotten what she’d wanted, but so far all she’d gained from it was a tan and some blisters. A part of her wondered if Miss Smith actually intended to train her in anything, or if the American was just capitalizing on a free ranch hand. Huffing once more, Willow lightly bounced her head against the barn; annoyed at feeling annoyed.
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Re: [The Farm] Under Advisement, Part 2

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The crunch of boots on gravel announced Jane before she rounded the corner of the barn and came into view. Like Willow, she was sweating profusely, and was uncharacteristically under dressed in ragged jeans, dirty boots, and a sweat stained, dirt smudged white v-neck.

She stopped when she saw the girl there and planted hands on her hips. “If yer done, I could use an extra pair o hands in the garden.” Then she noticed the tension in her apprentice. “Somethin on yer mind?”
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Straken
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Re: [The Farm] Under Advisement, Part 2

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Pivoting her head without losing contact with the barn, Willow looked over to her mentor as the older woman spoke. She pursed her lips and cast her eyes downward as her mother’s words whispered in the back of her mind. Don’t talk back to your superiors. Clenching her teeth once more she let out a quick puff of air from her nose before looking back to Jane.

“It’s just,” Willow began, her eyes flickering with doubt for a moment until it was buried by determination. “I’m having doubts about this training. I don’t mind the heat, I don’t mind dirt, and I like the animals plenty; it’s just that…”

Willow’s hand drifted to where she’d run afoul of a tree branch.

“I heard about how you fought back in Hawaii, and I’ve heard some of the stories about you from Mr. Flynn. Meanwhile, I almost killed myself against a tree. I admire you ma’am, but I don’t see how these chores can make me more like you.”
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Re: [The Farm] Under Advisement, Part 2

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Jane sighed. “You wanna be like me?” The American looked doubtful and irate. “This what I do. This is how I live. What is it ye really want? Wanna be fast? Tough?” She pointed to the house. “Ye want m cabin? M guns?”

She swiped the air with one hand. “Don’t answer that. It’s rhetorical. I shown ye what it takes. So say what ye mean, Mizz Fairburn.”
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Straken
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Re: [The Farm] Under Advisement, Part 2

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Willow shifted her center of balance and stood in one clean motion as she squared off with Miss Smith. Her entire body seemed to clench and the only residual movement was her eyes continuously trying to dart to the ground before being forced back up to make eye contact. God she felt like she was going to be sick, but there was a fiery pit forming in her stomach that demanded she speak her mind. Setting her jaw and her brow, Willow's eyes locked with Jane's and did not waver this time.

"I don't see how choring will help me keep my friends safe or myself alive, Miss Smith. I don't believe you got to the level you're at by mucking stalls. Despite being a normal woman you keep up with the curve of Mister Flynn and the others, and come out on the other side just fine! I can already tell I'm heading towards a plateau. My friends are improving, but I already have pretty much the entire playbook for my powers. I don't want your cabin! I don't want your guns! I want you to teach me how to not be bloody terrified when trying to keep my friends safe!"

There were tears forming at the edges of Willow's vision, but she could stop the words from coming out of her mouth.

"Maybe if I'm not scared I'd be able to think clearer, or react better and have better snap decision making! How can you go up against stuff like what we saw in Hawaii? I saw men melt and spawn Giger monsters, and while trying to deal with it all I impaled myself!"

Willow lifted the edge of her shirt to show the raw skin that was already shifting to a scar thanks to burning Pewter over the past couple weeks. Her eyes finally broke contact as tears began to actively leak.

"I haven't had a good night sleep since that day. I keep having nightmares; about the monsters, the black tentacles, dreaming of my friends or me dying."

Her legs seemed to buckle slightly, and Willow returned to her squat position as she hugged her knees.

"I'm still a month out from being sixteen. I should be worrying about dating, or driving, or passing tests. Instead I'm in a foreign country trying to learn how to protect what sense of normalcy I have, but all I'm doing is chores!"

A ragged sob made Willow sway.
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Re: [The Farm] Under Advisement, Part 2

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Jane remained stoic and silent through Willow’s implosion. When she finished, Jane gave the poor girl an extra minute to collect herself.

“C’mon, gal.” Jane extended one hand. “Ye got a long way t go, so we best get started.”
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