Tigra
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Chapter 206: Snow day
🕑 Added 2025-01-06 19:10:04 +0000 UTCThings had been progressing well, pipes getting done, engine parts machined, everything being kept nice and warm inside for the time being. The freezer helped pad out the otherwise rather dull preserved foods they had in stock, along with all the oddball luxuries people had bought. Yesterday Jacky had treated him to the delightful invention that was smoked goat's cheese wrapped up in thinly sliced salt pork served with some sort of pickled root. It almost reminded him a bit of ginger crossed with licorice.
It was certainly an interesting flavor profile, but it was perhaps not one he would seek to replicate. The cheese wasn’t half bad by itself, so maybe something could be done with that. He could invent the cheeseburger; what he wouldn’t give for some nice pickles. Oh and french fries. They had the oil now, and the freezer to do it properly.
Much as the thoughts could make his mouth water, food wasn’t actually at the forefront of his mind today. Raulf had warned them that bad weather was coming again, and considering it was more than cold enough for Tom to see his own breath down in the storage rooms below, he was hoping they might actually get a bit of snow.
Getting a snowball to wherever Jacky would be hiding did pose a logistical challenge, but one well worth it to see her face post-impact, especially if he could get it down her back. So as he worked away with pencil and ruler in silence, he had the shutters of the window moved just slightly ajar so he could see outside, letting in a little light too which certainly helped see within the otherwise dim room.
Sure it let the cold in a bit, but he wanted to know if he was about to have his first-ever draconic snow day.
‘I wonder if Jarix might wanna come play too. Last chance he’ll get before going under for the winter, probably. He’s only still up ’cause we need him on that press, that and Linkosta needed him for her studies too.’
As the hours whiled away, he copied over from the laptop as best he could. Valves, eccentric shafts, slide valves, and distribution manifolds. So many parts needed for such a simple idea to become reality. The pressure gauge would be an interesting one to calibrate, but once he got a spring with a proper linear rate it shouldn’t be impossible with a bit of basic maths.
Steam gauge sounded quite fancy for an open unprotected dial, but it would do the trick.
With the failure of the light he soon had to turn to the screen of the laptop as well as the tableside oil lamp to see what he was doing.
“Gonna need to think about artificial lights too at some point. All hail the lightbulb,” he chuckled to himself as there was a knock at the door. He knew who it was; he recognized the knock easily by now.
“Come in.”
“You bet your ass I’m coming in,” the familiar voice of Jacky called back as the door was unceremoniously kicked open. “Brought dinner.”
“Right then, I guess this can wait,” Tom replied, pushing the paper sheets away and turning on the chair to face her.
Jacky was holding a large tray with a pair of well-laden wooden plates, a fur of some kind draped over her shoulder as she looked skeptically at the small table. “On the bed, I’ll clean up afterward, don’t worry about it.”
“Talk about room service,” Tom chuckled as he got up, Jacky sitting down at the head of the bed and leaning on the wall. Tom soon joined her, receiving the tray as soon as he had sat down.
“Hold it up.”
Tom did so and the fur was slid underneath, creating a rather stout yet soft little table for them to eat at. Tom set down the tray again as they both made themselves comfortable. “You know, back home a fur like that would be worth more than a decent table.”
“You know you have burned more oil for those lamps this winter than I have for the last ten?” Jacky retorted with a huff as she dug in. The food was nothing new, consisting mostly of plain salted meats with some sort of gravy to help wash it down, though there was an extra helping of bread and a baked potato with salt, butter, and some strange herbs for Tom.
He did quite like them. They tasted almost like nettles. It reminded him of going to the Viking center as a kid. Though he was quite happy he wouldn’t have to spend all day smashing barley with a pair of rocks by hand to make half a flatbread. Come to think of it, it really was a rather miserable premise for a school trip, yet he had enjoyed it.
‘Maybe I really am kinda retarded… oh well.’
“Still thinking about the steam and stuff?” Jacky questioned as she tucked in.
Tom, having gotten lost in the thoughts again, answered, “Oh no, just thinking of home a little, that’s all.”
“Ahr, I see… Must kinda suck sometimes, doesn’t it? No fancy lights everywhere, can’t just go and buy whatever you want.”
“I had dinner brought to my room and am eating on the bed, don’t even need to clean up afterwards. I think I’m doing pretty good,” Tom joked in reply as he ripped off a bit of bread. “You know, bread like this, muppets back home tend to pay three times as much for this as they would for white bread.”
“Oh shut up, why would you do that? Not that I’ve really had that white stuff, but I’ve heard of it.”
“No clue either, it just tastes like fluff… then again maybe that’s the point. You’ve never had it?”
“Okay maybe like once or twice, not really my thing, you know? Gonna spend the money on something else.”
“I do think we got some rather nice white bread flour, didn’t we?”
“Yeah you asked for it, remember? Don’t think anyone has touched it.”
“I did?... Ooooh, the pasta. Right, yes, damn gonna need to try that too at some point. So much to do.”
“So little time,” Jacky finished for him. “Why do you think I got you dinner in bed?”
“Cause you are cold and it’s getting warmer under this fur as we speak?”
“Darn, I have been found out.” Jacky pushed a wing behind him, Tom leaning forward just long enough for her to get it in place before leaning back again, feeling the leathery embrace about his right side as she held him.
“Once this is done, you’re never gonna wanna get out of bed again, I can promise you that. Not as long as winter lasts at least.”
“Don’t let Nunuk or Dakota hear that, they might not let you finish,” Jacky joked, Tom chuckling along with her.
“Well that is hardly my problem. Any day now we should be getting started on installing the piping work. At least the first part, the conduits between the floors.”
“What’s a conduit?”
“Uhm, a pipe.”
“Then why not just say the pipes between the floors?”
“My bad,” Tom yielded, not wishing to get into the technicalities. He wasn’t even right anyway, but he was hardly a plumber.
“Anyway, I hope it works. It sounds so nice. Been working on anything else?”
“No, not really. I really should have drawn up what we need to make the new stamping tool for Jarix, but, well, that will have to wait until after he wakes up.”
“You sure? You said you wanted us to at least get started on making those new bullets?”
“Well the bullets we can manage, it’s the casings that are the problem.”
“You know what I mean, the brass thingies.”
“Right, yes. Yeah we should have, but we can’t have it all. To be honest I am astonished we have made it as far as we have already. Being behind on one thing isn’t much of a concern really. And we won’t need anywhere near as many as we need of the big ones for Jarix’s gun.”
“Ahr I see, I guess I’m not getting a mini version of what he has just yet then?”
“Why do you need a smaller one? I thought you were strong or something,” Tom joked, reaching over and squeezing her arm a bit.
Jacky flexed in reply, the arm growing firm as rock. Chuckling, she relaxed once more. “I mean, it’s not too heavy to carry if that’s what you mean.”
“Yeah, just gotta get you a nice big handle and you’ll be firing that thing from the hip, haha. Oh that would be something. But no, maybe one day we will have to look at doing something smaller for a dragonette to run around with. Still gonna be a big heavy beast.”
“Not recommended for the likes of Unkai then?” Jacky chuckled, both of them enjoying themselves rather immensely right now.
“No, no, probably not. You’ve already seen what the idea is to start with, though. Something a little more everyone-friendly.”
“Yeah the rifle you showed me, is it ready?”
“No not yet sadly. We just don’t have the time, and this heating project is more important right now I think. Tink’s made a few parts here and there when he had the time, but in general, we’ve not even really gotten started.”
“Shame, sounds like it would be great at hunting.”
“You have your fancy new bows, that will have to do for a bit at least.”
“As if. Besides, it’s good training. You should let Jarix train with the 50 when we are out hunting. Use ducks or geese or something.”
“We don’t have the ammo to waste, and well, not like the thing wants to keep running long enough for that anyway.”
“I’m sure you’ll have it worked out by spring. Smartest guy here, after all.”
“Gee such a compliment.”
“Oh come now, Rachuck isn’t dumb… as for the rest of them though.”
“Unkai isn’t so bad either,” Tom objected, though a little half-heartedly. They didn’t mean any of it of course, but Unkai did actually seem rather bright. Which was probably a good thing since he was trying to become a healer.
“No, he’s just a pansy.”
“Doesn’t make you stupid,” Tom countered, Jacky grumbling dissatisfied in reply.
“I suppose not, but what’s the point in working out where to hit if you are too scared to hold the steel?”
“Doesn’t take much of a spine to put pencil to paper… Did you have a bath already?” Tom questioned, remembering that she was supposed to have been in the forge all day.
“Sure did, as always you are the stinky one.”
“Oh come on, I’ve done nothing all day and it’s cold. How could I be stinky?”
“Call it a human talent. Also no wonder it’s cold, you moved the shutters out the way.”
“I wanted a bit more light.”
Jacky just sighed, long and deep before nestling in a bit closer. “Oh well, I suppose I’ll just have to keep you here then, since you let all the heat escape.”
“Damn, what a tragedy.”
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“Oh for the love of… It’s snowing,” Sapphire complained as she opened the shutter leading to the kitchen, sticking her head outside. The sun was only just starting to come up and she had the great misfortune to be on kitchen duty together with Esmeralda.
“Oh no. Quick, do we have the firewood we need? It might get really cold later.”
Catching what Essy was onto, she pulled back from the frigid window, quickly sidling over to check under the tables running along the wall. “We got plenty, at least a day’s worth.”
“Ahr very good. It can be someone else's problem then.”
“Good thinking.”
“Now shutter that thing again so we can keep it warm in here,” Essy ordered as she carried on getting out the pots and pans. At least they didn’t need to get the fires going, unlike during summer. Kokashi had kindly been keeping them all going as part of his rounds, so they were already spluttering merrily.
They could perhaps do with a bit more fuel, so Sapphire chucked a few more pieces into the large stone stove. It was a shame that it stifled so much of the light coming from the flames. Everything was so darn dark and dingy, but if they wanted more light they needed to either light more oil lamps or torches, or remove a shutter or two.
Saph and Essy knew each other well enough to know that they would both rather work by candlelight than face the draft of the year’s first snow.
The day's dish was going to be a smoked veal pie. Esmeralda had always had a way with pies, so Sapphire would let her go about that job. She would instead focus on baking some plain old bread which they were gonna serve with salted jackalope chopped up with lard so you didn’t have to rip the bread apart in an attempt to get the tough strips of meat to budge. And as a little sweet treat, she was gonna put some of the jam up on the tables too, call it a dessert.
They both needed to start by preparing the dough as the oven slowly got up to temperature. Flour, butter, salt, the flask of yeast sitting next to the stove were all shared by both recipes. So they worked alongside each other, lending a hand when one had sticky hands and dough under their claws.
“So, what are you spending your time on for the moment?” Essy questioned, only a slight hint of strain in her voice from the heavy mixing work.
“Oh, you know, bit of reading, helping out Jarix and Fengi every now and again.”
“Is it all leisure time for you this winter then?”
“No, I’m trying to read a bit of English. Tom is too busy to really help much so it’s mostly just me. It’s not exactly easy.”
“Could have fooled me, Sapphire,” Esmeralda said sarcastically. “Well if you find the time, we are making good progress on the new dresses. I think they are gonna turn out great.”
“I am sure they are. You aren’t going to be sewing furs and such into them, right?”
“Oh no, fine fabrics only. If we want people to know we are from the frontier, we will wear armor.”
“Very nice, I can’t wait. Maybe one day I’ll be able to read some of Tom’s stuff on clothing. Assuming he brought anything.”
“There must be something in there, surely?”
“Who knows, he doesn’t strike me as overly fashion-conscious.”
“He had plenty of ideas as to what not to wear when we tried to make him presentable back in the day,” Essy offered, Sapphire halting her kneading to think about it for a moment.
“I guess you are right. Yeah… oh well. Maybe humans are just weird like that.”
“Maybe it is a men thing for them. I remember a few of the girls in his movies that were dressed quite nicely.”
“Oh yeah, the one with the yellow silky dress, that was very pretty. Yet so simple.”
“Surprising, yes. I would have thought they would show off just how intricate a dress they can make with all their machines and… stuff,” Essy replied with a shrug.
“Maybe it just doesn’t mean much to them at all?”
“What do you mean, Sapphire? She had clearly gone to the trouble of finding a very fine dress and wearing it about. It is not the most practical thing after all.”
“No no, the detailing, all the lacework and embroidery. If it’s cheap and easy to make, doesn’t that kinda defeat the point? It is usually for showing off, right?”
“I would only say that is a part of it. Like wearing gold over silver, yes it is more expensive, but I do think it is prettier.”
“I actually prefer silver,” Sapphire replied with a shrug. “Or if you really wanna show off, platinum.”
“Have you even seen platinum jewelry before?”
“Yeah, a few times. Never touched it, though.” She did speak the truth. She had seen a few nobles back in the capital who wore such finery. And of course, there was some of the finery worn by the royals on various public occasions. It was quite telling that even to the royals, the platinum was something you left in your dressing drawer unless it was a special occasion.
Their little chat was interrupted by the sound of rapid footsteps coming down from the grand hall. They both looked up from their work, ears following the sound. A one of a kind gait they could recognize anywhere when he bothered to make noise in the first place.
“Morning… Tom,” Sapphire greeted the human as he jogged on past, giving them a quick wave.
“Morning.”
Essy didn’t even say anything, only raising a hand in greeting as she looked away from the spice cupboard, confusion just as evident on her face as it was on Sapphire’s.
“He seemed mighty excited,” Essy finally spoke as the human made his way on past and further downwards.
“Yeah… Why was he wearing his boots but not any pants?”
“Well he did have his underpants on at least.”
“Yes but… like he had a jacket on too?”
“Maybe he just needed to go get something he forgot? You know he likes to work in the early morning too.”
“I know, I know but… Oh well,” Sapphire replied, shaking the thought. Essy was probably right, he just seemed far too excited for someone who’d had to get out of bed to fetch gods knew what.
They went back to the preparation, Essy humming a jaunty tune as she chopped up ingredients for the pies.
The two of them were rather enjoying their calm morning when they heard the boots hammering away down below, Tom coming back up even faster than last time. They both turned to look, curious as to just what the human had been after this early in the morning.
They got their answer soon enough, as the human came jogging up the stairs, arms full of white powdery snow and with the biggest dumb grin on his face Sapphire could remember.
“Oh no,” was all Essy had to say as they stared at Tom coming past. And just as quickly as before he was gone again, making his way up the stairs in a hurry.
“What is he… Oh poor Jacky,” Sapphire concluded as she looked to Esmeralda. It took the older woman a moment longer to realize what Sapphire was suspecting, her face turning to one of dread for but a moment, before she grew a mischievous grin.
“Someone is about to pay a hotwater debt after all those comfortable nights.”
“Whatever you do, don’t let her know we saw this coming,” Sapphire pleaded in a mock hushed tone.
“On my life and honor.”
They both stopped their work, ears and heads turned to the ceiling above as they waited. They could hear the boots getting fainter before the sound entirely vanished. Tension hung in the air before… A very high pitched screech rang out.
It didn’t last for quite as long as Sapphire had expected it to, though both she and Essy recoiled involuntarily at the noise. It did not sound like Jacky had approved of that maneuver.
“A silver says he is going to be seeing Nunuk after this,” Sapphire offered as they both tried to listen for any further developments.
“I will take that bet, she loves him too dearly.”
“I’m sure she will be sorry afterwards, but come on. I think he just threw snow on her in her sleep. I would smack him so hard.”
“Yes, it does seem a little cruel. Hopefully it was only a little snow.”
“Oh here he comes,” Sapphire said as the frantic sound of boots in a sprint emanated from above, soon enough they heard claws on the floor as well. “She’s chasing.”
“He won’t have long then.”
“I bet you it took her a moment to come to her senses.”
“Possibly needed to don some clothes first, too.”
“Yeah probably.”
They waited for a few moments more, the steps coming closer. And soon enough, Tom came storming down the stairs, though Jacky was not on his tail just yet.
“Heads up!” he shouted out, Sapphire tilting her head in confusion as the human seemed to throw something. She realized in the nick of time what it was, raising a hand and bending the small orb of snow away, letting it splatter against the wall behind her.
“Aww come on!” Tom broke out, readying another ball. “Cheater!” He then proceeded to hurl the other ball he was holding at Essy, who was by now ready to duck. Saph reached a hand out and as the ball went flying over her friend’s head, she strained and back around it came.
“Oh that’s not-” Tom was cut short as the ball smacked him square in the face. She staggered for a moment at the effort, Esmeralda breaking out laughing.
“Good attempt Tom, but poor choice of target.”
The failure to hit either of them and receiving one a hit in reply seemed to leave the human stumped for a moment before he too started laughing, seeming utterly unbothered by the icy snow sliding down his face. One could see it melting on his skin in real-time. Quite the reminder just how warm the human was in these chilly times.
“Oh you’re mine now!” It came from the top of the stairs, Jacky seemingly having caught up as they stood there laughing. She wasn’t wearing anything aside from a skirt as far as Sapphire could see, so she had most likely been assaulted in bed just like they theorized.
There was still a smile on her face though, so perhaps it hadn’t been too bad.
“Shit!” Tom broke out before setting off towards the stairs leading down once more. Though with his lead gone they all knew where this was going.
Essy and Sapphire just laughed, Saph bracing herself against one of the tables as Jacky thundered past at a dead sprint.
She and Essy hadn’t even gotten over their laughing fit before Jacky emerged once more, a recently pacified Tom hanging over her shoulder, dejectedly leaning his chin on one arm braced against her back.
“Someone is going in the naughty corner,” Sapphire jested, giving Tom a jovial wave. He did not return it, but instead stuck his tongue out at her.
“No, someone is repaying for all that lovely warmth which went missing. And here I thought you were being nice staying in bed all morning.”
“In my defense, I did not know until I got up this morning that there was snow outside,” Tom countered. “Can I go play in it?”
“No, you already have,” Jacky responded resolutely, Tom going limp in protest like some toddler. He was evidently just taking the piss, but it was still funny.
“Maybe later you can go fetch wood while playing in the snow, Tom. We promise we won’t lock you out,” Sapphire called out after the two of them as Jacky made her way back up the stairs step by step.
‘Fucking lunatic, what’s next? Crawling around in the snow half nude?’
_________________________________________________________________________________
“Tooom Toom! What’s going on?” Kiran complained, snout barely poking out from inside the the warm comfy human’s jacket. Tom the hotrock was providing all the heat in the world.
“I’m making a snow angel, of course,” Tom replied as he slid his arms through the soft powdery snow. He had feared it wouldn’t actually be cold enough to keep him from getting wet, but the cold leading up to the first snowfall had apparently been enough to freeze at least the topsoil.
“What a snow angel?”
“Well it’s a bit like Jacky, very nice, white, has wings,” Tom joked, Kiran shifting around underneath the jacket until he could stick his head out a bit more to see what was going on. Essemralda had been quick to wrap a scarf around his head and neck before she allowed him to come join Tom to play in the snow.
Tom had been planning on pranking a few people with icy snow today, but he hadn’t really been banking on ending up rolling around in it himself. But Kiran wanted to go play in the snow just like Tom had said kids did back home. So here they were.
“She is going to be very mad if you make someone like Jacky. More mad than she was already.”
“Oh, she wasn’t that mad, only a little miffed. She got to skip hours worth of work for a little snow, pretty good deal if you ask me.”
“Yes, I skip work too. But don’t worry Tom. I will always skip work to be with you,” little Kiran said sincerely.
“Awww thank you, Kiran. So what next?”
“There is no one to throw snow at.”
“No, they're all being scaredypants and staying indoors.” Kiran looked up at the keep towering above them, Tom following his gaze as he finally stopped making the snow angel.
“They are watching. They think you are crazy. You don’t have to go get wood, or go see if the animals are having fun too.”
“Right you are. Out in the snow for the fun of it. It’s a shame though. You would all be so good at hide and seek out here.”
“Oh yes! We could hide in the snow. Just like you hide in bushes. And then we jump out and scare people.”
“See, that’s the spirit. Maybe one day we can lure Rachuck down here.”
“What about when I am too big to fit inside your jacket? Can I still come?”
“You have winter gear, don’t you? If not we’ll get some, I promise… now. Let’s see about a snowman for them all to stare at.” Tom slowly moved to get up, giving the little guy plenty of time to get a grip inside the jacket so he didn’t just slip and fall out the bottom.
“Oh is it going to be daddy but snow?”
“Maybe Unkai, don’t wanna be out here all day. And can’t make a woman cause Jacky would be mad.”
“Good idea, dad is fat. Also do not worry,” Kiran declared as he stuck his head out further trying to look behind them, Tom turning a little to let him see the snow angel. “She won’t be jealous of that one.”
Tom had to stifle a laugh as they both looked at the snow angel, frozen dirt peaking through and the child stuffed jacket and weights making Tom’s imprint look rather overweight. “Yeaaaaah, not much of a beauty standard that one.”
“Yeah… oh maybe that is dad, he is fat too.”
“No Kiran, Anchor isn’t fat, he is wide and heavy set. I am fat,” Tom joked, giving the little guy’s head a ruffle.
“You do eat a lot of bread and vegetables.”
“If only that was the reason,” Tom chuckled as he shifted the weights he had dangling under the Jacket as well. “If only… So snowman?”
“Yes, with wings and all of it!”
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And welcome to the new year, back on the ball once more I do apologize you all didn't get a Christmas gift but the Norovirus fairy decided Christmas needed a fun new twist for my sorry ass. On the news front things have been quiet over the winter but I shall be returning to the usual schedule so expect more slow and steady progress from yours truly
I hope you enjoyed today's chapter if not you know what to do... at least it ain't AI lol
Comments
Brian Bugg
Can't hardly wait for the furnace to be working. Oh and some glass for a window or two. Just something to add light to the main hall and Tom's room.
Michael Halpern
im guessing the plan for the new stamping tool involves more metal in the parts that have been failing and a system to advance the casings to the next step?
Michael Halpern
Tom is probably going to have to learn how to make new shoes soon
Michael Halpern
kinda want to see art of Jackie hip firing an M1919 cal 30
Michael Halpern
Jackie doesn't realize it but she almost described an M1919.
