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The Gig, Friday afternoon

The only problem with having forged new bars for the gate was getting the gates up off their hinges and into the forge, so the bars could be added.

It wasn't that they were too heavy, though they were very heavy, Rosie just couldn't quite get the leverage to lift them off.

Exasperated, she dragged an empty barrel over, perched on top, and hauled straight up. The gate creaked and groaned and protested, but started to come free.

Her job wasn't made any easier by the crowd of sparrows, who'd decided that this was the best entertainment they'd had in months, and were chattering happily amongst themselves as they watched, occasionally calling out tidbits of entirely unhelpful advice.

[ooc: open, yup!]

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If anyone had asked, Minsc would tell them that he was simply out on a stroll. Boo was feeling quite cooped up in the house, despite the fact that the two of them had it all to themselves, and Minsc figured a walk would do the hamster good. He was, after all, used to space! But, in truth, Minsc was mostly just patrolling the island for bad-doers. No, it wasn't his job; he was in retirement, after all, but old habits were hard to break.

As he passed by the Gig, he couldn't help notice Rosie and her very heavy task at hand. He didn't want to interrupt her, but he also felt that maybe he could offer his help. "Hallo, Rosie!" he called out to her. "Verah hard at work, I see?"

Rosie shoved her hair off her forehead with the back of her hand, balanced the gate on the edge of its hinges, and beamed at him. "Minsc, you're just the person I need," she said. "Fancy helping me with a pair of gates?"

Hearing that he was needed to help someone was one of the most beautiful sounds in the world to Minsc. He beamed right back, taking a moment to let Boo out of his pouch so that the poor little guy didn't get accidentally crushed in the effort, and he gave his knuckles a good, resonating crack.

It was also rather nice that Rosie asked; he would have offered anyway, but this was so much easier. Minsc had known far too many self-minded lasses who didn't take kindly to offered assistance from a man, no matter how sincere the intention.

"It," he answered, "would be my honour, Rosie. Say the words and I will be right upon it like a dragon upon someone trying to steal his treasure!"

"I doubt it will be quite as exciting as a dragon stealing treasure," she said, wiping her forehead again. Minsc was quite the oddest person she'd ever met, but his enthusiasm was infectious. "I've lifted the gate off its hinges. If you take the bottom, I'll take the top, and we can carry it into the forge."

"Not a problem!" Minsc said, jerking back his shoulders to give his back a good crack while he was at it and then he moved over to dutifully assist Rosie as instructed, with a bit of a chuckle. "And here I thought you were going to ask me to do something hard!"

She had to laugh at that. "I'll save hard for next time," she promised, manoeuvring to step off the barrel while not dropping the gate. Once she was down, she jerked her head at the path nest to the barn. "That's where we're going," she added, taking a step backwards down the path.

The sparrows took flight and circled overhead, calling advice to both of them though only Rosie could understand.

"You sure you wouldn't like me to go backwards instead, Rosie?" Minsc offered as he followed her easily with the gate. "I am far less likely to suffer bumps and bruises should I back into something or drop the gate upon my toe than you, it would seem."

"Although," he added, thoughtfully, a moment after, "I am much more likely to cause bumps and bruises to your building should I bump into it! So perhaps this is better after all!"

"I know the way, and they'll," she nodded up at the circling birds, "will warn me if I'm going to run into something. Besides," she added, a definite note of teasing in her voice, "I don't want my next job to be repairing the barn."

"It is a nice barn!" Minsc agreed, taking a moment or two to admire the structure with a little wistful, appreciative sigh for well-built constructions that were far less likely to be blown up by a passing dragon or have its foundation eaten away by carrion crawlers. Ah, the simple pleasure of retired life! And then he shook his head to focus more dutifully on the task at hand.

"So, tell me, Rosie. Are we bringing the gate inside to the forge to make it all shiny and newer?"

"Sort of," she replied, craning her neck to look over her shoulder to check her direction. "This place hasn't been looked after very well, including the gates. They've got missing bars, and loose ones. I crafted replacements, but I need the gates in the forge to put them on." She grinned at him. "Which means I'll be calling on your good nature to take them back out again before too long."

[hi, hitting post would help *facepalm*]

Minsc chuckled at the grin. "I would be more than happy to help then, as well! I've found retirement to be too boring, anyway, so any bit of good-doing that I may offer is an opportunity I will seize," he tightened his grip on the bars for emphasis, "with gusto! It may not be butt-kicking, but it is still good!"

"I'm beginning to think I should offer you a job," Rosie told him as they approached the forge. The big doors that filled almost the entire front of the building were thrown open, and Rosie carefully stepped backwards up the single step.

"It's going there," she added, nodding at the the anvil and the sawhorse she'd set up next to it.

Minsc gave a nod back, tracking out the path before heading that way. "I certainly would not be opposed," he mused, "to helping out around the place should you need it. In fact, I would consider it quite an honour and a good way to keep myself occupied in the lulls between teaching my classes!"

Rosie followed, angling her end to rest on the anvil. "In return I could teach you to mend your own armour," she suggested, and gave the anvil a proprietary pat. It was important to her that anything offered was returned in kind.

Minsc, almost sad to have the hard (okay not that hard) work over, followed suit in setting down his end on the horse. The wood one, that is. Not the other ones. That would just be silly. He brushed his hands together as the sign of work well done accomplished and straightened with them moved to his hips; he looked upon the moved gate with the utmost pride, as a deep inhalation of breath further indicated.

"That would be quite interesting, Rosie!" he decided. "It would probably save quite a bit of cash! And then my pockets would not also be heavy with savings, but also with tools and knowledge!"

She leaned against the cold forge and laughed. "Then we'd best do that," she decided. And it would be nice to have someone else in the smithy. "What do you teach?"

"Care for Magical Creatures!" Minsc informed Rosie, boisterously proud as he preened happily. "I was trained as a ranger, I'll have you know, so I have quite a proficiency with animals, both taking care of them when they are friendly and taking care of them when they are not!" Especially that second part. "It is a fun class, and I can tell the students are learning a lot that might help them in the future! We even have a unicorn as an assistant!"

She stared, everything else, as interesting as it was, mere background to the last. "A unicorn?" she asked, bemused. "A horse with a horn?" In case it meant something different here.

"Uh, yes," Minsc nodded and leaned in a little, hand to his mouth as he whispered, "but I don't think they take too kindly to that way of putting it. It is essentially true, of course, but it's a bit like calling an elf a person with pointed ears or a gnome a midget with a big nose. Or a dwarven lass just a drarven lad with a shinier beard."

"I'll remember that if I ever see it." She blinked, still bemused. "I never expected to have to take unicorn sensibilities into account. They're only legends where I come from, and I've never heard of those others."

"The unicorns," Minsc said, "they are verah rare where I am from; I have not ever even seen one, and I have traveled all through the Sword Coast and Rashamen! Elves and dwarves and gnomes are all quite common, though, as well as many of the other creatures I discuss in class. Faerûn is a land ripe with magic and diversity, and if it were not for the very eclectic and enjoyable assortment of personalities on this island, I would miss it quite a lot! What sort of place is it that you hail from, Rosie?"

She turned away to straighten tools that didn't need straightening. "Different from here. The Gig is named for it, it's where Foggy Bottom, our village, was, at the very edge of The Gig." She shrugged one shoulder, as if it was a matter of no importance, not her entire life being flipped inside out and her having to flee and hide for her life. "I had to leave."

Minsc's boisterous demeanor faded into a bit of a frown, wrinkling in his forehead as he wondered if Rosie's definition of having to leave matched his, in the way that you had to because it was the only choice you had left. Faerûn was greatly missed, but there were memories there. They'd followed him here, of course, but they weren't as strong however many dimensions away.

"May I ask," he said, his voice quiet and gentle, especially for a man of his size, and, hopefully, it lacked any sort of pressure, "why, Rosie? Or is that something that you'd much rather not discuss? I can certainly understand if that is the case and do not mean to pry."

Edited 2008-10-04 04:40 (UTC)

"You shouldn't ask," she replied, not turning around, and she had to dig her fingernails into her palm to keep her voice even, "because I'll either have to not answer or lie, and I'm not a good liar. I was there, I'm here now. Let that be enough."

[sleep sweetly and soundly; sp is super. :D]

That was certainly an answer that Minsc could respect; he nodded his head slightly. "I should apologize, then," he said, "for the shift in mood, when we were having so much fun carrying the gate!"

Well, he had had a lot of fun, but he had always been fairly easily entertained.

Rosie smiled. Not a great smile, but still a smile. "There's nothing to apologise for," she aid, turning to face him. "And we still have another gate, so the fun isn't over. Shall we go and fetch it?"

"Another gate? What have we been doing, wasting time talking? Let's have at it, lass!"

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The Gig, Friday afternoon

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