[P] I Will Make Your Heart my Home

[Notch]

Set present day in Portland, Maine. Spring Forth, Words: thatch

The move to Portland had been quite an adjustment. They ended up finding a building to fix up outside the town itself so that they weren't once again in the middle of the hustle and bustle. They also avoided Del Cenere's outpost. Dynia stayed inside their house for several weeks after the move. She had been excited about it, but nervous at the same time. Part of her worried that the rest of the de la Croix family members wouldn't accept her because she had been adopted and didn't look like them, with how much more doggish they looked while she looked mostly like a coyote. These were things Dynia had agonized over during their trip, and while he and Auger had done their best to reassure her, they both knew that the best way to prove that the family would be nice to her was for her to experience it herself.

Fixing the house had been an interesting adventure as well. Thankfully the house was near ones owned by other de la Croix family members, and they were willing to help. Notch got to make all sorts of decisions about how it would look and what materials they used, within reason. thatch had been an option for the roof, but he worried about how wet it would get and whether it would be a lot of work to repair or replace. He was also slowly collecting decorations for the house, a project he was still working on even though they had lived here for months already. He was enjoying it, though.

"How about here?" Notch asked, holding up a string that had shells on it. He had gotten it from a trading post called Old Ironsides. There were a lot of interesting canines over there. They seemed to like fish. A lot.

[Auger de la Croix]

Spring Forth, Words: nuptial

Auger didn't really understand the whole decorating thing. He liked when things were organized, which meant a shelf for his supplies, which were always placed just so. And now, he didn't have to worry about Dynia getting into things. He also liked that Notch had his sewing supplies organized, as did Dynia. Dynia seemed to like having things extremely organized, too, and had spent several days arranging and rearranging her things before being satisfied.

Auger tipped his head, looking at the string of shells, trying to decide if Notch was looking for a real opinion, which he would have to come up with, or just confirmation of his own suggestion. After a moment, Auger decided it was the latter. He could always backtrack later. Probably.

"I think that looks good?" Auger answered. It came out like a question and Notch looked over with a narrowed gaze. Auger smiled at him and Notch huffed a laugh before attaching looping the string over a bent nail sticking out of the wall. Then he went further down the wall and tied the other end on another bent, rusty nail. Auger watched him step back with his hands on his hips to look at his work.

He loved his mate. Sometimes he wished they would have had something more public when they decided to officially be mates. Auger knew that Notch would have liked some sort of nuptial ceremony. Maybe it was something they could do now that they were back with his family. Auger knew that several of his relatives would love to plan it, and he thought that Notch would, too.

[Notch]

Spring Forth, Words: obliterate

Notch knew Auger was just agreeing because he thought that's what he wanted to hear. He also knew, though, that if it really did look weird to him, Auger would say something about it, so he was fine with the agreement. After a few moments of looking at the placement, he decided that it did, indeed, look good. On to the next strand! He also wanted to get some fabric to cover the windows to help keep out the wind, but with all the work that went into fabric, he would have to accumulate quite a few things. Or maybe he and Dynia could patch together scraps from their other projects. That could be a fun couple of afternoons for them.

She was out with a group of the other de la Croix kids her age, which made him happy. She had not had many friends in Del Cenere Gang, and while a move was never going to simply obliterate her shyness. It had taken some time for  her to warm up to them, but they had just accepted her as one of their own even though they were all more doggish and she definitely wasn't. They also didn't care that she wasn't a blood relative. She was Auger's daughter to them and that was good enough.

"Do you think we should maybe use pelts to cover the windows?" Notch turned to face the nearest window. It was starting to warm up, so it wasn't such a big deal anymore. But it would also be nice to keep out some rain, and fabric dried more quickly. Maybe pelts until they could get curtains made, whether patched together or one piece of fabric.

[Auger de la Croix]

Wordtober Oct 7 - talisman

"Maybe for now," Auger said. "We would want to make sure we got something else before the end of summer, though. Auger definitely wanted to have the furs back to cuddle up with by the time winter came. He'd have to make sure they didn't get damaged by being in the sun for a long time, too. Notch would probably replace them quickly enough that it wouldn't be an issue, though. Fabric would look nicer than the pelts, and that was much more important to Notch than it was to Auger.

His gaze went past Notch, to the doorway into the room that Dynia had set up for herself. Sometimes she slept there and sometimes they all slept in one pile, but he liked that she felt comfortable enough to want her own space like that. He knew that eventually she may even want her own separate house, and he hoped that it wouldn't be anytime soon. As far as he was concerned, she could live with them for the rest of their lives. As much as he wouldn't want her to move out, he wouldn't stop her, either.

"I noticed Dynia looking at some of the bits for trade at Old Ironsides the other day," Auger said. His eyes followed as Notch continued his decorating. "They had some talisman things. Apparently they bring good luck." He wasn't sure if they were supposed to be specific, or, honestly, if he even believed that was true, but if Dynia wanted one, he was going to get her one.

[Notch]

Wordtober Oct 8 - petrified

Notch definitely wanted to have the windows covered by something different by the time winter came. The furs certainly weren't the 'look' he was going for with his decorating anyway. They would work for now, but no, he wanted décor that looked a little fancier. Maybe he would even add some beads or something so it would have a little shine.

"Oh, was she?" Notch asked, turning to look at Auger. He was so pleased to see her interacting with other residents of Portland, even if it was always with one of them. Soon, he thought, she would be willing to go visit the different traders with some of her new cousins, too. It was much better than being too petrified to even want to leave the house.

"We should get one of them for her," Notch said as he walked over to the pile of furs they used to sleep and started spreading them out. He wanted to make sure they could still sleep comfortably, so maybe he wouldn't cover all the windows. "Or I suppose we could give her something to trade for them and see if she wants to do that part." Neither of them ever pushed her too hard, but they also wanted to make sure that she knew that they had confidence in her. It was something they talked about with each other, and it was really nice to be able to talk to the other de la Croix parents to get their opinions.

[Auger de la Croix]

Wordtober Oct 14 - dagger

Auger watched Notch spread out the furs for a moment before setting his dagger aside from where he had been cleaning it while Notch was decorating. It was something he did sometimes just to have something to do with his hands. He liked the task, although he wasn't sure why. It took only enough concentration that he didn't cut himself, and otherwise it wasn't engaging really. It gave him time to think, though. Maybe it was like when other meditated.

“I like the idea of giving her something to trade for one,” he said as he knelt next to Notch. “I think I have a couple of things she could take.” A few bits and bobs anyway. He wasn’t sure what the trader was looking for in return, but he’d find something. In the meantime, Auger helped spread the furs flat and it took no time at all. He didn’t think that they would cover a window all that well. None of them were straight lines, so they would have to overlap or leave gaps even if they were somehow hung next to each other.

“I don’t think these will be useful at all,” Auger said, pushing a few rabbit pelts aside when Notch nodded. They were mostly part of the pile for added softness rather than anything else. It wasn’t like either of them could really cover up with them. “Maybe this one for the window right here?” Auger suggested, lifting an edge of a larger fur.

[Notch]

Wordtober Oct 22 - fiendish

Notch wasn’t used to Dynia wanting to be out of the house at all, and sometimes he wondered if they should keep closer tabs on her. It wasn’t that he was worried about her and her cousins had some sort of fiendish plans going that would get them in trouble, though. He didn’t like talking about it, but he was often nervous that she was just going to vanish again, and that they wouldn’t be able to find her this time if she did. There were still a lot of traders passing through here; they were simply more removed from it this time. He shook himself from those thoughts and refocused on what Auger was saying.

“That should work,” Notch agreed and considered the rest of them and which were all a bit smaller. "I guess I might need to sew a couple of these together." That might not be a bad idea anyway, so they'd be like larger blankets. The problem there is that they weren't squared off. For now, they needed to figure out how they were going to cover the window with it. “Huh, this is going to mean putting bigger holes in it at the corners I think,” Notch said, now hesitant to continue. He worried about them pulling through the pelt and damaging it. “Unless you have another idea on how we could hang it?” It was easy to string other decorations from nails sticking out of the walls, but this was different.

[Auger de la Croix]

Wordtober Oct 23 - ichor | WC:

Auger made a thoughtful sound as he looked at the window. The easiest way would be to nail it to the frame around the window opening, but he could understand why Notch didn’t want to do that. If the furs got a little ragged, it tended to get worse, at least in his experience. Maybe he should actively start tanning furs again. He was out of practice at this point, but he was sure one of his family members would help him out. It wasn’t a pleasant process; some of it smelled like ichor from a festering wound, but the results were nice.

“Maybe a frame...” Auger trailed off. “Well, I guess it would have to be attached to the frame somehow.” That would probably just make for even more holes in it. “Well, maybe if the frame is wider than the pelt. We nail the frame to the wall and it holds the fur in place?” It could work, he supposed, as long as the wall was flat enough so that there was contact with the fur all the way across. Sometimes the walls were warped, but this house had gotten fixed up a bit with the help of his family. He stood up to get a closer look at the wall around the window, leaning against the wall a bit so he could look along it to try to spot a curve. “Seems okay,” he said after a moment and looked back at Notch to see what he thought.

[Notch]

Wordtober Oct 27 - morass

Notch titled his head while listening to Auger’s suggestions. He had a hard time imagining it at first. As he explained it more, Notch supposed that it could work. Maybe. He would definitely want to get his hands on more fabric quickly because this was not at all the look he was going for in the house. Maybe it was what someone who lived in some morass somewhere would have, but not Notch.

“I don’t think we’d be able to open it at all, huh?” That could be an issue. He didn’t want to always block out all of the light, just dampen the wind a bit and keep out some rain. At that point, they may as well just board up the windows for now. “What if we used two furs for each one? We might be able to pull them apart a bit in the middle?” He could tie them open however much with some string or whatever, like holding curtains back from the window. It just wouldn’t let as much light in. “I’ll definitely be looking for fabric soon, though.” He wouldn’t be able to be all that picky on the color, though. But maybe he would just be lucky and find one he really liked right away. “Do we have the supplies to make the frame thing?” They had some leftover stuff from initially fixing up their house, and quite a few of Auger’s family members were happy to give them stuff.

[Auger de la Croix]

Wordtober Oct 29 - insipid

Auger would have been okay with just boarding over the windows and leaving them like that, but he wasn’t a decorator the way Notch was. He went for pure function but he knew that the last thing Notch wanted was an insipid home. So he would always humor his mate. Well, almost always. Thankfully Notch never took things too far, like trading more goods that needed for fabric that he really liked. He let Auger step in for the haggling.

“Tying them back would work,” Auger agreed. He looked at the window opening, trying to judge how wide it was compared to how much scrap supplies they had leftover. He thought he could probably make the frame, at least for the top. “If we don’t have enough, I can always ask around.” He would have felt bad asking for him from his family so much, but he also helped them out when they asked, so it was fine. “Let me check,” he said before heading out of their house to a wood pile around the back. Some pieces were meant for starting fires and some were waiting to be needed to build or patch something. There were also a few nails that needed to be straightened out so they could be used again. None of the pieces were the same widths, but Notch would just have to deal with it. Auger gathered them up and headed back inside.

“Alright, here’s what we have,” he said, laying them out next to the furs.

[Notch]

Wordtober Oct 30 - buried

While Auger was out seeing what supplies they had, Notch had spent time digging in his fabric stash, trying to see if anything useful had ended up buried, but no such luck. He liked all the fabric he had, but none of it would work for what he wanted. He wished they could have something solid over the windows but not always there. Like a door, except on the windows.

Come to think of it, he had seen something like that before. Maybe they could make something like that. What were they called again? Well, either way, that would open up the fabric he used because at that point it would be decorative rather than used to keep out rain and wind. They would have to find someone else who could attach them to the wall, though; neither of them had the skills for that sort of thing.

He watched Auger set stuff out, practically vibrating with his excitement of his new idea. Not that they wouldn’t end up doing the frame thing, too, probably. It would be a good stopgap if nothing else.

“I think those are long enough to stretch over the window,” Notch said with a nod. “But what if!” He could practically hear Auger’s exasperation without it being voiced at all. “We had those wood things that cover windows sometimes, but swing off?” Notch still couldn't think of what they were called, but he bet Auger knew. “Then I could just make pretty curtains!”

[Auger de la Croix]

Spring Forth: grant

Whoever had decided to grant Notch these skills had been very intelligent. Auger definitely wouldn’t want to be doing this all the time, but Notch would. He’d go around helping everyone decorate if he could. Hm, now that he thought about it, maybe that would be a good way to bring in supplies to use or trade. Exchange home design skills for goods. Something to mention later. Auger wished he had skills that could actually contribute to that, beyond carrying things around for Notch. But maybe that would be enough.

“Shutters,” Auger said, and Notch nodded. “I’m not sure how to make the swinging part, but I could probably make some sort of brackets that would hold up the panels when we needed to use them.” His brain was already trying to figure out how that could work, although he also wasn’t really a woodworker by any means. They’d need to find someone in his family to help with that, but that wouldn’t be a problem.

“Then we wouldn’t have to spend time replacing pelts when the rain ruined them.” He understood why others tended to use them for that, but he always worried about them drying out enough because if they were wet for a long time, they would start growing green stuff on them that smelled pretty bad. Notch would probably think that it looked pretty bad, too.

He could practically see Notch thinking of how that might work. Auger thought they’d want the shutters on the outside because then they could be a little bigger than the opening, which would be better at keeping rain out.

[Notch]

Spring forth: ambrosia

Shutters were already a foregone conclusion at this point and Notch was already thinking of curtains. He’d want them to be held back by something neat looking, although maybe not metal because that was too valuable a resource. Bone would be easier. Design drew him in like some sort of ambrosia and he just couldn’t resist. Once his mind got going, he couldn’t stop for a while unless he really needed to.

“I’m sure someone can help with the shutters,” Notch said, glancing at Auger, who looked like he was thinking. “I have some extra fabric I’ll try working with for the curtains. Oh! I could even change them out sometimes if I end up needing the fabric to make something out of.” Fabric was a valuable resource, too, and he wouldn’t just use it on something decorative. “Oh, maybe Dynia and I can make something from the scraps of other things we’ve made." It would be fun to get her involved in this, too. She would definitely have some opinions.

He headed over to his bag of scraps and started pulling things out. He hated wasting any fabric, so he always kept them. There was always a use for them, even if it was just for cleaning. There were a few different colors and some wouldn't go together, so he'd end up skipping those. And the ones where the textures were too different. There was a wide variety since he traded for it with luperci who passed through. It meant for a pretty wide range of options, but also a wide range of techniques quality.

[Auger de la Croix]

Spring Forth: hereditary | WC: 284

Auger watched Notch walk around thinking out loud and shook his head with a little laugh. This happened a lot when Notch got going while he was in a creative mood, and Auger loved it. Sometimes he wondered if it was hereditary. A whole family doing this? That somehow sounded equally entertaining and overwhelming. Hopefully they would be doing this in the same direction at least, or nothing would get done. Or... maybe everything would get done at the same time.

“I can find someone for the shutters,” Auger confirmed even though Notch had already moved on from that thought. Someone in his family would be willing to help with that. Then it would be a matter of gathering the materials for it. With the number of Luperci who lived and passed through Portland, there wasn’t really much in the way of scavenging, at least not that he had found, so it meant trading for things. Getting the windows covered would definitely be his priority while Notch went along with his decorating. Notch wasn’t really interested in building things, which was fine. Auger didn’t mind and Notch was always willing to lend a hand if it was needed.

“Maybe Dynia will--” Auger’s sentence was cut off by their daughter bounding back inside. She looked happy and Auger smiled at her.

“Dad! Papa! I traded for this!” Auger was surprised that she had gone trading on her own, but it was likely that she had someone with her anyway. She presented a small piece of fabric that looked pretty fancy to Auger. He had very little idea of how making fabric worked, but Notch turned and let out a delighted gasp.

[Notch]

Spring Forth: persnickety | WC: 287

Working on things with Dynia often helped Notch be less persnickety about how things were done. She saw the big picture better than he did and it pulled him back; it was honestly more fun to work with her on projects a lot of the time. There was less need for perfection and more focus on enjoyment. And, the things they made now usually looked nice now that they both had more practice with sewing.

Notch’s thoughts came to a halt when Dynia came in the doorway and he looked up at her, then the fabric she was showing off. He stood from where he was crouched looking through his fabric scraps and walked over to her.

“This is lovely,” Notch said, reaching out for it. She handed it over and he ran his thumb pad over it. It was clearly a difficult bit of fabric for a luperci to make, and he was really impressed. Maybe he would be able to find the trader later and see if they had anymore. “Did you have something in mind for it?” He thought about the couple of projects they already had going on, trying to see if it fit into any of them.

“I was thinking maybe for that dress we started?” Dynia said and Notch nodded.

“That’ll look good,” He agreed and Dynia’s eyes went to the small mess he had made while looking through the scraps.

“Are you starting something new?” She asked.

“I was thinking of trying to make some curtains,” Notch told her. “Maybe we can piece things together? We’re gonna have shutters on the windows.”

“Shutters?” Dynia’s snout crinkled a bit as she tried out the unfamiliar word.

[Auger de la Croix]

Spring Forth: antediluvian | WC: 261

There were enough sewing projects going that Auger couldn’t remember what all of them were anymore, but he was sure that the fabric would be put to good use. He had once tried to make suggestions about a dress they were making, but he found that his ideas were apparently too antediluvian. They had been nice about it, even if Dynia had giggled a little.

“A shutter is a piece of wood that can swing in front of the window and cover it,” Auger explained as he walked over and held his hand out for the fabric piece. He smiled and nodded at Dynia to show his approval and her tail wagged as she smiled at his approval. Of course, Auger wouldn’t have given her any other reaction really, unless there was something seriously wrong with it and even then, the reaction would have been gentle and not immediate.

“Ohh that makes sense, I think?” Dynia frowned and looked at the window like she was trying to decide how it would work.

“I’m going to find someone to help us, and I can let you know if you want to help?” Auger suggested. The frown melted from Dynia’s face and she nodded with a grin. While she didn’t usually do construction type projects since she liked things like sewing better, she did sometimes tag along if he was helping someone, or if another de la Croix was building something. "It'll hopefully be within the next couple of days so we can get the windows covered."

[Notch]

Spring Forth: wan | WC: 261

“I’ll help, too,” Notch said with a grin, which widened at Auger’s wan smile. Notch wasn’t great at building things; he was just as likely to hit his own thumb with a hammer as he was to hit the nail, but he liked to try anyway.

“I dunno...” Dynia said with a mischievous little smile. “Remember what happened when you were trying to patch the wall?” She gestured to a spot that had a couple of boards covering it. Notch gasped with a hand over his heart, as if he was highly offended.

“You promised never to speak of this!” He couldn't hold off his smile, though. He had bent several nails to the point that they had needed to be repaired, and had hit his thumb multiple times. It had a bandage over it for a week. Thankfully it was during the winter and he could go and stick his hand in the snow to stop the throbbing pain every now and then. Auger had been very concerned at first but then it was clear that Notch wasn’t seriously injured, so there was a lot of ribbing, and therefore pouting from Notch.

“I suppose,” he let out a dramatic sigh, “I’ll just watch because I’m sure it’ll be interesting.” It would be fun to see and hang out. Maybe he could hand over boards or nails or something so at least he wouldn’t be completely useless. The process that others used to build things was always interesting at the very least.

[Auger de la Croix]

Spring Forth: insolvent | WC: 257

Auger let out a not quite fake sigh of relief when Notch acquiesced and promised to just watch. They might not be insolvent now, but they just might be if too many supplies were wasted. Auger felt a little bad not wanting Notch’s active help with making the shutters, but it was for the best. He was just glad that Dynia had been willing to speak up because he hadn’t been able to come up with something that wasn’t mean. Auger never wanted to hurt Notch’s feelings even if he wasn’t going to let him do much no matter what.

“Watching is fine,” Auger agreed. “You can hold onto things for us, too,” Auger suggested. If Notch wasn’t swinging a hammer or using a saw, they would be fine. Probably. Hopefully. But Dynia would be there and Auger was sure that he would be hovering, worried about Dynia smashing her own thumb with the hammer. Maybe he would be too distracted to hurt himself then. That would be good.

“Do you think you have enough fabric scraps to make curtains, though?” Auger asked, getting the conversation back onto that, rather than on the shutter construction. That was a much safer topic; Notch didn’t often stick himself with the needle anymore. It had been nearly constant when he was first learning, and Auger was sure he wouldn’t have been any better. He was glad that Notch had improved, though; sewing had been both painful and frustrating for him at first.

[Notch]

Spring Forth: condign | WC: 259

Notch knew exactly what Auger was doing, but he let it happen. If he pushed too much and managed to convince Auger, he was willing to bet that he would end up hurting himself again, and wouldn’t that just be a condign punishment? It definitely would.

“I think so? Dynia, let’s have a look. We can also find a spot to store your new fabric so it’s safe.” She crossed the room with him, back to the bag of fabric scraps. She rolled up her new fabric and put it onto a shelf near the project she hoped to use it on and then knelt down with Notch.

“What colors do we want?” she asked while pulling out more scraps. Without saying anything, they both began sorting things into piles by color. They didn’t have an extremely wide variety because some colors were more difficult to make, which meant that they either traded for them in very small quantities or not at all. But they did have some nice blues, greens, and browns.

“Hmm, probably not red,” Notch decided. “I think they would stand out too much.” And it wasn’t his favorite color anyway. Dynia nodded and moved the pile off to the side so they could still toss a couple of other scraps onto it without it cluttering their mess.

“These browns look nice together,” Dynia said, arranging them from darkest to lightest. “Oh! Oh! What if we make it so they go like this, lightest to darkest. Maybe with some blue, too?”