Fixer-Uppers, [Wednesday]

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

The past two nights of stakeout duty had been enough to make William briefly consider coffee this morning in place of the usual tea. Briefly. In the end, tea won out, as some habits are just hard to break. But at least it was enough to make sure he was alert and not bleary-eyed at work today.

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[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla bounced into the shop after cheerleading practice, which would explain why she had a tiny blue gremlin painted on her right cheek. "I brought you goodies from home!" she announced with a bright smile.

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

"Rilla!" William brightened considerably as she entered the shop. "You've returned!" Hooray for stating the obvious!

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"I have!" she said, still beaming at him. "Mother says to pass on her well-wishes to you. And I've brought you the traditional gifts of Canada: moosemeat and maple syrup. The igloo is outside, but you should hurry--the weather will melt it quickly."

It's possible that Constable Fraser's class had been a bad influence upon her sense of humour.

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

Really, it was only due to the fact that William spent a lot of his free time reading that he had any idea that those were supposed to be Canadian stereotypes.

So, after a moment spent trying to remember the connection between those items, he chuckled. "But then how will I take your gifts back to the dorms on my dogsled, if the weather's too warm?" he countered. "That is a puzzle."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"It is indeed," Rilla said. "Perhaps we should ask a beaver?" She rolled her eyes. "Honestly. Yankees."

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

"They're an odd sort," William had to agree. "Honestly, I don't think I've ever actually seen an Eskimo, let alone an igloo."

William, the correct term was 'Inuit' now.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"Some of the sailors down the shore claim to have, but I fear that they might be horrible liars sometimes," Rilla said, lowering her voice.

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

"Sailors," William said, a bit scathingly, "are on the whole somewhat known to be prone to exaggeration, embellishment, and plain old making things up in order to produce a good story."

His father was a fisherman. He had some personal experience with this.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"You've met some, then," Rilla replied with a tiny smile. She recognized the voice of experience when she heard it.

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

"Indeed. My father," and in this, he tried his best to keep his voice carefully neutral. "Was a fisherman."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Sympathy flashed in Rilla's eyes anyway. "Was he lost at sea?"

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

If only. "Not to the best of my knowledge, no," he admitted. "I haven't seen him since I was about six or so."

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

Rilla's lips pursed in disapproval. "He's not a very responsible sort, then, is he?" she asked gently.

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

"Not in the least," William shared. "After my mother passed, he was not really up to the task of raising a son on his own." Which was a polite way of saying 'he pretty much was constantly shitfaced'.

[rilla-myrilla.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry to hear that," Rilla said sincerely, reaching for his hand and rather appalled by her own boldness.