InsaneJournal

Who: Jack Twist and Trindle Thropp
What: A meeting
Where: Jack 'n' Ennis' Kitchen
Warnings: Jack also finds a realization for himself



As she had promised Ennis, Trindle was in what passed for the kitchen, scrounging up things to cook. There was at least enough for pancakes and there'd been some sort of meat in the fridge with some eggs, so she was making an impromptu breakfast-for-dinner. It had gotten just warm enough in the house that she'd shrugged out of most of her layers: thus, there was a small woman in the kitchen wearing heavy boots, a flowing black skirt, and a tank-top. She wasn't sure when Ennis was going to be back inside, but the pancakes could wait in the oven until he was ready.

She wasn't expecting anyone else.

And yet, there was someone else in the house, who started a little at the sight of a green woman in what he'd come to consider 'his' kitchen. He took a second to compose himself, before clearing his throat a little.

"Uh, pardon me, ma'am, are you lost?" His tone was hard, but he was surprisingly neutral, for someone with an intruder in his house; intruder or not, green or not, she was still a lady.

Trindle blinked, turning on her heel the moment she heard someone else in the house. She glanced over to him and arched her brow. "I'm not lost. I told Ennis that I'd make him something to eat," she offered by way of explanation. A moment later, she ventured a guess, "Are you Jack?"

His posture relaxed at the explanation, his look going from accusatory to idle curiousity. "That'd be me, miss. Sorry for the awful manners, Ennis didn't tell me he was expectin' no guests. Can I get you something- help, or what?" He stepped a little more fully into the room, offering out his hand as a gesture of peace, after his outburst.

"No, I imagine he wouldn't have. I came by to fix his problem with the wolves and thought it would only be polite." And she'd thought he might need something to eat when he finally ventured inside. "I'm Trindle Thropp. I'd offer you my hand back, but..." She nodded down. Pancake batter.

Jack hadn't been looking at her hands- once he took a moment to realize she wasn't trying to steal, the color of her skin seemed past his recognition- and just let his own drop with a nod. "Right. Pleasure, though, Trindle. Sure there ain't somethin' I can do?"

"You can keep me company," she offered with a smirk. "And you can ask questions if you want." She knew most folks didn't see green little girls wandering around on a regular basis. She poured a little oil onto the griddle and then added a ladle of batter.

"Er. How'd you find your way up on our mountain?" Even if it bothered him, Jack had learned- especially if the person had talked to Ennis first- to be a bit diplomatic in his approach to sensitive things.

She shrugged. "Portkeyed to somewhere close an' then walked myself up. In fact, I ended up talking to one of the wolves on the way up here and then again when I got in." Not weird at all, Jack. Really.

He blinked, head cocking to the side slightly as he decided which part of that to tackle first. "'Scuse, miss, but what's 'portkeyed', if I might?"

"As far as I know, it's a system of travel that the Wizards have set up to make travelling between towns and countries a little easier...it's a bit strange at first, but you get used to it. "

"Wizards," Right. He decided to file that away, instead moving on to the second part of her original stateme- Okay, Jack needed a beer. Standing, he made his way to the fridge, pulling a bottle off the shelf, popping the top on his way to sit back down. "An' y'talk t'wolves."

"Yes." She smiled slightly. "I don't think they'll be bothering you anymore - I told them to bother someone else's sheep. They're terribly accomodating." Trindle wasn't usually verbose, but when explanation was concerned she could make an exception.

Jack nodded a little as he took another long pull off his beer, trying to decide exactly what to say to the woman cooking in his kitchen, that claimed to have solved his wolf problem.

"Erm, thank you, miss. An'... tell 'em thanks, f'ya see 'em?" The question in his tone was unintentional, but he couldn't hide it.

Trindle pursed her lips and glanced over her shoulder at him. "You are making fun of me." More of a statement, and she didn't sound particularly insulted by it. "I learned from some of the men that I grew up with. You can believe me ... or not."

"Not meanin' any harm, miss, I jus'... y'really talk t'animals?" After falling from the sky into a life he'd only hoped for, he was willing to give people the benefit of the doubt; at least about something as seemingly-harmless as conversing with animals.

"Only to wolves. I haven't learned other languages - like I told Ennis, my nose doesn't wiggle enough for Rabbit or rabbit." She flipped the pancakes with one hand and cracked an egg into another pan with the other - she'd had practice at this much as far as 'food preparation', at least.

To his credit, Jack actually seemed to accept that, leaning back in his chair slightly. "Huh. An' here I can barely manage a little Spanish. Take it's a good talent t'have, where y'from?"

"The King and several of the people I lived with spoke Wolf. It was something useful to learn." And it had come in handy here a few times as well; talking to Remus had been nice. She glanced over her shoulder again. "How long does he usually stay out?"

Jack glanced to the window, only able to assume 'he' meant Ennis. "Till he feels th'need t'remember t'eat. Y'prolly got 'bout five minutes, give or take."

"Good. I don't want him to get too cold," she put the pancakes and cooked eggs into a nearby loaf pan and set it into the oven. Hopefully he'd be better when he came in.

"Don' worry 'bout him, we've handled worse," Jack mumbled with a half-smile, taking another sip of his beer.

Trindle nodded. "I'm not surprised. How long have you two been..." she waved a hand and hoped she hadn't stepped over a line. She was curious.

The curious look was back, as Jack tried to figure out what exactly she was getting at. "H'long we had the ranch? 'Just got here, 'bout a week ago. Y'been here long?"

She mirrored his curious look as she walked over to the table, standing with her hands clasped in front of her. "That's ... ah, not what I meant."

He really couldn't think of what else she would be getting at, and merely bowed his head to her slightly, a non-verbal request for her to keep going.

"Together? Are you practically married, are you married?" She bit her lip gently.

The beer actually slipped from his hand in shock, falling to the table with a bubbly thump, as he gaped at her. That was audacious, for a woman standing in his house, and while he could let certain things go, he couldn't have her saying things like that around Ennis. "You don't know what you're talking about, miss." He was firm on this, giving her another suspicious look.

"I'm sorry, I misunderstood." She hadn't misunderstood, of course, but let him think that she had. "My father and my papa have been together so long, I forget that some people don't get formally bound." All right, so she was still being audacious. Sue her - Ozians had fluid sexuality and she didn't see a thing wrong with their relationship if it was reasonably functional.

"Your... father and papa?" He could see now, where this was going, and actually scoffed a small, sad sort of laugh. "No, really miss. It ain't like that. Ennis ain't no queer," He made no statement about himself; really, he couldn't be so sure. Not with how he reacted to the other man. He just wasn't sure what to do about that.

She frowned faintly. "I'm only vaguely familiar with the term, Jack. But I know what I heard. Are you hungry?" She could do the 'avoidance' thing if that was what Jack wanted or what Ennis needed right now.

"An' here I'm supposa be the..." He sighed, rubbing his forehead with a hand. "I don't mean nothin' by it, ma'am, but Ennis, he's... he'll... ornery sonuvabitch can't even look at me when we're close without gettin' riled up. Ain't nobody gonna be able t'get'im thinkin' it's okay. We're okay," He blinked at how the words just fell from his mouth; even if he was more verbal than Ennis, he still wasn't open about this sort of thing.

"He'll come around," She insisted quietly with a shake of her head. "You'll see." Trindle was confident that Ennis cared about Jack, and from this conversation Jack cared too. They'd figure out a way to make it work past more than 'okay'. Trindle grabbed a few pancakes, eggs and bacon for Jack and placed it in front of him. "It's ... strange. He looks liked my Father, but he acts like Papa." Sort of.

Jack was in the process of wiping up his spilled beer, when he stopped to look at her again. "Ennis looks like y'dad? Er, one of 'em?"

Trindle nodded. "Just like him. When he was younger, of course. Apparently it happens here quite a bit."

Jack nodded, "S'another guy here, s'got his face. Spooked me, first I saw him. Got a different way 'bout him, though," He mumbled on Ennis' behalf, glancing back out the window.

"The personalities don't match," she confirmed, smiling slightly. "Do you think I should leave before Ennis comes in again?" She didn't want to upset him.

Her question got a shrug, and a quick sigh. "F'ya made it this far, ain't no reason y'gotta leave before y'feel like it,"

"I should get back home for a little while, at least. Jamie's laid up after the huff with Apocalypse...but tell Ennis I'll come and visit soon, please?"

Jack nodded a little, and stood as soon as it became apparent Trindle intended to leave, moving to walk her to the door. "Will do, miss. Thank you, for the meal. S'better than anythin' I could do."

Trindle shrugged. "Making meals for the King now and again help improve one's skill. Be well, Jack." Once she was at the door, she stepped out to start the trek back down the mountain.

Watching her walk off with a sigh, Jack ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head a little at the oddity of it all. Still, he couldn't help the small smile as he walked back into the house, preparing the plates for breakfast.