Annie Pratt (cursa) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2009-07-09 23:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | alana kellings, annie pratt, callisto |
Who: Alana and Annie
What: Making friends
Where: Volunteer Building Site
When: June 28th
Warnings: None, really
The house was coming along pretty well, and pretty quickly with all the people helping out. Parts for it stood to the side, ready for use, along with coolers of water and small donations of food that someone had brought. Earlier Alana had raided the coffee pretty heavily, and now was feeling the effects as she teased all of the guys endlessly. Most of it was good natured. Some of it less so. But as she lined up one of the panels for the wall, she had to snicker at the comment she wasn't meant to hear about how the women about could at least have worn something that was better scenery. Oh, Jack was going to owe her big time for taking his place on the volunteer roster today. "If there were more women about, this job would have been done," she mentioned off hand. "They don't stand around and twitter like a bunch of gossips..."
"Amen to that," Annie replied, her ears perking as she passed the woman by on the way to get a drill. "These guys giving you a hard time?" She arched her eyebrow, flashing a charming smile combined with a dangerous look for the men. Being a woman in a typically male profession, Annie was always ready for a battle of the sexes.
"Hard time?" Alana's eyebrows went up at the question, and she glanced at the men. The temptation was too strong not to make a bad innuendo at the men's expense. "I doubt they know much about how ta give any woman a 'hard'... time..." She smirked, then grinned. "If they worked as much as they talked we'd all be headin' home for lunch."
Annie had to laugh out loud at that, shoulder shaking. She stooped to pick up her tool, checking to see that the battery worked. "That's a good one. I'll have to use that..."
"Always glad ta help out another. Here," Bending down, Alana grabbed a set of drill bits that had been hidden under some of the debris of the site. "Ya might need these."
Annie happily took the drill bits. "Geez thanks. We're seriously lacking supplies in the other half of the house." She smiled, waving the plastic case in the air briefly. "This'll be a big help..." She paused, mouth open. "I'm sorry I didn't catch your name from that brief meet and greet before."
Alana chuckled. "Alana. Here by subbing for Jack, of Jack's Hacks." She finished nailing the board she was holding into place, and set the hammer into her own tool belt that showed all the marks of one well used, and offered a hand. "And you are...?"
Annie placed the drill bit pack under her arm, wiping her dirty hand on her jeans before shaking Alana's. "Annie Pratt. I'm with the group from the fire station."
"Here ta make sure that everythin' goes up within fire code?" she asked, joking some as she shook her hand. "Or tryin' ta be one with the locals?"
"You know us humble public servants..." Annie smiled, shifting everything in her hands again. "We can't get enough of being helpful. Heck, Robby came here off a 14 hour shift, and we had to all but kick him out on his ass."
Alana snickered. "Surprised ya didn't just drug 'im and let him sleep in the back of someone's truck or somethin'." She nodded her head in the direction of the part of the house that Annie had come from. "They any more civil over on your half?"
Annie shrugged. "Boys will be boys," she rolled her eyes with a lobsided grin. "Thank god their hearts are in the right place. Their attention spans aren't always."
"Just means ya gotta watch 'em more. Maybe I should come back with ya and help you keeep 'em all in line," she offered with a grin. Not like Annie needed the aid any, but it she was done with the wall she was working on.
"I wouldn't mind the company," Annie replied. Gosh she's cute... The firefighter had to give herself a mental slap on the wrist for that one. She needed to learn from her mistakes and not make every potential cool woman into a sex object.
"I could use for a change of scenery, and change ta some intelligent conversation," Alana answered back, then smiled as she gestured. "Lead the way. I'll cover your back." She glanced at the men who were watching without watching, and smirked a bit.
Annie led the way through the almost built house back to the kitchen where she and other firefighters had been working on cabinetry. "Yo Jaime," she handed the hispanic man who turned the drill and bits. She spun around then, offering Alana a wide smile. "So what do you feel like doing? We've got a bunch going on..."
Behind her the men cast glances from one woman to the next.
Following Annie into the kitchen, she glanced about at the other works, then to space itself. It seemed best to know who's toes she might end up stepping on if she wasn't careful. "What needs to be done that no one's called dibs on? Any of the plumbing in?" She knew from experience just looking didn't always call what had and hadn't been done.
"We could use some help with that actually," Annie replied, picking up some tools and going over where to the main counter piece would eventually be.
"Well, let's see what's already in place." Going to the sink area, Alana knelt down and started to poke around, looking for the proper pipes, seeing what was already laid and what would be needed. "Have you already got the sink and everything ready?"
"It's still all packaged up, but yeah it's all in here. Just tell me whatcha need and I'll fetch it," Annie replied cheerfully, rocking on her feet a bit.
For a few moments, Alana considered what she had in front of her, and what order she wanted to do the rest. "Looks like we've already got a lot of the piping in place, so let's bring the sink in, start workin' on connectin' everything up." She stood back up and grinned. "Shall we?"
"Sounds good," Annie grinned, moving over to a pile of boxes and finding the one with the sink. She pulled out her pocket knife, cutting open the tape that sealed the box up. "So...do you do this kind of thing often?"
"Used to. Waitress and handyman tended ta be two jobs always in demand, no matter where I landed. Helpful when you're bummin' couch space off a friend and need ta be able ta chip in with rent." She watched as the box was opened up, curious what color sink they'd wind up with. "What 'bout you?"
"Well," Annie shrugged, tugging up a stainless steel sink from a mess of styrofoam. "We do charity stuff every now and then, but nothing like this yet. We did sports stuff and charity drives and soup kitchens and stuff, but Joey suggested this, and it was like 'well yeah we're pretty much made for heavy lifting' so it just made sense."
Alana was just about to ask if the firefighter had it as she pulled it free, when she made the statement about heavy lifting. Made sense. They did have to be pretty fit. So instead she watched, being ready to help lift if the weight proved too awkward. "Any of you have experience building stuff though?"
"The guys moreso than me...I have more experience with demolition frankly," Annie admitted, balancing the weight of the sink in her hands.
"Let me know if ya need help with that," the former handyman mentioned. "Blowing shit up? Sounds like somethin' that I wouldn't mind learning..."
"Hurricanes usually do the work. We just take sledgehammers to what's left," Annie shrugged, carrying the sink back to the other side of the room.
"Sounds more interesting if make it sound like you do it yourself, though. Generally people don't let me wield the items of destruction. I think I scare 'em." She smirked, then moved to the hole for the sink and helped to guide it into place.
"Aww you look harmless to me," Annie giggled, carefully sliding the sink into place. She focused especially on not getting her fingers caught on the edges.
"And that's how I lure them all in..." She grinned, trying to look seductive and slightly evil, before laughing and breaking the image as the sink was set down. She helped to shift it perfectly into place, before bending under it to see that everything fit right.
Annie blushed uncomfortably, which caused a couple of the guys to tease and catcall in her direction. "Oh haha very funny," she barked, giving them death glares until they went back to what they were doing.
Wait, what? Glancing around, Alana's looked up at Annie and arched her eyebrows. "I get the feelin' I missed somethin'..." she commented, trying to keep her voice low incase she started up another round of teasing. Blushing? Now she was more then confused.
"It's just, err," Annie stammered, running her fingers through her hair. "They're just being morons. Don't mind them. They just like to tease..."
"Most men generally are," Alana responded, feeling she wasn't getting the whole story. Eh, maybe she'd get it later. Crawling under the sink, she called for the piping that she would need. "We can always grab the hose later and give 'em a good spray down to get 'em back in line."
Annie handed Alana the requested item, grinning mischievously at the woman's suggestion. "You're a woman after my own heart. Hear that boys? We're gonna train you to behave later~" She laughed, before turning her attention back to the task at hand.
"Say it that way and they might start expectin' the whips ta come out too," she snickered, taking the pieces and starting to fit everything into place. Plumbing was not her favorite part. It was why she'd casually been somewhere else while they were looking for some help with the bathroom earlier.
Annie crouched down, pulling out her flashlight and inspecting everything. She handily avoided blinding Alana. "Do you need any help down there?"
"Naw, there's barely enough space for me. But hold the light there. I need ta make sure I get the p-trap in tightly." Deftly, her hands started to twist the bits together, tightening them into place. This was one time having a small body was to her advantage.
Annie dutifully held the light there, watching as Alana worked on the plumbing. "I bet your house is in amazing shape, huh?"
"As far as this stuff goes?" Alana shrugged as best she could. "No reason not to fix it. But most of my stuff is second hand, so it's more 'bout not gettin' hurt than actual quality."
"Yeah, I get that...I don't really see the point in buying a ton of fancy stuff anyway. My house is like...an exercise in practicality. Except me bed," Annie grinned brightly then. "That's all tempur-pedic tricked out. Comfy and fancy."
Somehow, Alana couldn't help but snicker at that. The way Annie had phrased it just brought to mind the thought of 'pimp my bed', or something of that nature. "Is it heart shaped with mirrors above it as well?" she asked, unable to stop herself.
"Oh yes," Annie laughed, happy to play along even if it seemed to be indulging the boys' overactive imaginations. "With fuzzy leopard print handcuffs hanging from the bedpost. And satin sheets." She paused then, face turning serious. "Satin sheets are actually really uncomfortable. Especially in the humidity. They just...stick."
"Don't have to tell me. Though in the winter, colder places, the flannel is almost priceless," the former handyman agreed, just as serious. In truth, she knew about satin more from pajamas than from sheets, but it was close enough. "Makes ya wonder 'bout people who swear about havin' silk sheets though..."
"I am an Egyptian Cotton girl. High thread count. Luxury without all the sticky stick. Ick." Annie shook her head, dispelling back memories from her brain. "How's the sink coming?"
"Well, it prob'bly wouldn't hold up ta a pull from someone in fuzzy handcuffs if they were determined enough, but it won't leak and should drain fine." Pushing the unneeded pieces out of the way, along with the tools, she scooted a bit then held out a hand to get some help standing once more.
Annie took Alana's hand, easily pulling her up. She placed another hand on the small of the woman's back to steady her once she got to standing. "Thanks for the help with that. I think we were all too chicken to take it on. I owe you a drink later, on me."
"Thanks," she mentioned, straightening and twisting a bit to get the kink out of her back. Ugh. But she cast a grin to Annie at the offer of the drink. "No sweat. Especially if the drink is somethin' of the coffee variety."
The idea of coffee with a new friend inspired Annie to glance briefly at her watch. "You going to be much longer? I was going to leave soon. We could hit up this really great coffee place I know..."
Alana glanced at her own watch, then looked about before shrugging. "Nothin' keepin' me here besides the work. I think we've worked enough ta be able ta ditch for a break."
"Sweet!" Annie laughed, wrapping a friendly arm around Alana. "Nothing like a little coffee and girl talk!"
Alana laughed as well, shifting her tool belt some to sit more comfortably before wrapping an arm around Annie's waist in return. Huh. New friend. It'd be good to add another one to the list. One who didn't know or even guess at the insanity that was her life. "Might end up being more than a little... Lead me away."
Summary: Annie and Alana do some charity and make buddy buddy like.