forbidden (illicitus) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-08-18 20:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 19, molly williams, thomas galloway, | molly and tom |
Week Nineteen - Wednesday
Characters: Molly Williams and Tom Galloway
Location: Farmhouse, Kitchen
Summary: Tom comes in to eat after Patrol, and Molly volunteers herself as a partner for next time.
Rating: G
Tom entered the farmhouse, with a tireless Rollo bounding through the door ahead of his human, after a long day being outside. He’d made a point to go out on foot patrol of the surrounding area that morning, something that he’d tried to do at least once a week since they arrived in Grant’s Pass just to get a feel for the place and be able to spot if anyone else was in the area. Sometimes he asked one or two of the others to come along, sometimes he went by himself. Today had been a solo mission with himself and Rollo only.
The sun was setting and he’d missed dinner, lunch being eaten on the go earlier in the day. Tom was hungry, a bit tired, and just glad to be back in friendly territory. The veteran stopped in his room long enough to take off his jacket and put his carbine and other weapons in their normal spots before making a beeline for the kitchen. Hopefully there would be something good in the dishes they kept warm for the later crowd.
There wasn’t much left to do in the house towards the evening, and Molly found herself in the kitchen, scrubbing down the counters and making sure all the dishes were done. As far as the chores went, Molly honestly didn’t mind kitchen duty. Having grown up in the back of a restaurant owned by her parents, cleaning dishes and wiping down counters was as natural as walking. She was sweeping the floor when she head someone else enter the kitchen.
“Hello,” She greeted Tom with a smile, “There’s still plenty of food left.” She told him, though he would already know that. She discarded the broom temporarily to lean down a bit and pet the scruffy dog that accompanied the older man.
“Good, because I’m starving.” Tom told the young woman with a smile as he moved into the kitchen proper. “We have any of that rabbit stew left? I thought I’d give some of that to Rollo before it went bad.” The veteran started taking out the dishes to see what they had, and put some on his plate. “How was your day?”
“Yeah, we do. Um... I think its in the kind of squarish bowl. And I’m sure he’ll love it. It was pretty tasty.” Molly smiled a little bit, and watched him for a minute as he began to examine the dishes. At his next question Molly just shrugged, “It’s been a pretty average day I guess, this is the last of my chores for the day. How about you? You and Rollo look super tired.”
Tom looked over at her from the dishes. “Patrol mostly, just making sure there aren’t any new neighbors out there we didn’t know about. It’s as empty as it ever was.” He shrugged and dished out a small plate of the stew for Rollo and put it down on the floor for the dog. Once Rollo was happily chowing down he finished loading up his own plate and sat down at the kitchen table to eat. “Made for a long day though.”
Molly just nodded. This place felt more empty than Vagas had, though she couldn’t really pin point why, and the emptiness made her sort of nervous. She picked up the broom again, a little less interested in actually sweeping. “I can go with you next time if you want? If you don’t want to do it alone.”
Tom looked up from his food in surprise. Molly had been a good scouting partner the few times she’d taken a turn helping while on the road, but he hadn’t realized she might want to continue helping out now that they were settled. Maybe he ought to be passing on some of his skills to her as well as to Jed and Searle, she’d probably put them to good use just as much as they would. “Sure Molly, if you’d like to come along you’re welcome to next week.”
He tried to keep the patrols variable, not going out at a predictable time or taking the exact same route twice in a row. Maybe it was paranoia, but a healthy sense of paranoia had kept him alive this long.
“What made you decide to offer, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I think I’d like that.” Molly said with a small smile, nodding at him as she spoke. Why did she want to go? She let the room lapse into a slight silence as she thought about his question, eventually shrugging her shoulders.
“It wouldn’t hurt to go out and get familiar with the area. Or learn some new, useful things.” Molly said, “If it comes down to it, I’m not going to save the day with my amazing cleaning skills.” She winked a little bit. Truth be told, she was a little restless, she wanted to explore the area, get to know what was out there, beyond the farm. This was a way to do that, and be helpful.
Tom smiled back. “You’d be surprised about what a good cleaning can do, but I do hear what you’re saying Molly.” He took another bite of food and swallowed before saying anything further. “Consider yourself on notice for the next patrol. I won’t do it again this week unless something comes up that makes me think it’s necessary, but I’ll be sure and take you along when I do.”
Molly smiled, she really did like this idea. “Well, I’ll continue to do a good job cleaning as well, just in case, right?” She chuckled just a little bit. She was actually pretty excited at the thought of going out and looking around, though she knew it was a serious job. “Alright. Let me know when it is you want to go next. I wont let you down, promise.” she told him with a nod.
“I know you won’t Molly.”