Who: Alex and Lorna Summers Where: Dakota territories What: getting made, flouncing When: 1890's Warnings/Rating: PG for momentary threats of violence Status complete
It all started out really well. Alex and Lorna had managed, with their combined powers, to be mighty hunters that first winter, and by true Spring time thaw, they had managed to put aside more meat than they could use, and tan more hide than they needed. So putting together a sledge, Alex came up with the idea to sell the excess for seed and other items to make them even more self-sufficient. Which meant he would have to go to town. And that was a fearful prospect. He wasn’t sure how ready he was to interact with people in the past.
“So… now I’m wondering if I had a good idea or not. I mean… socialization is good, but… what if people are not friendly and they are weird about your hair and us being… socially quiet?”
"There’s not much we can do about it." Lorna asked with a slight frown. This trip was not a lot of fun. Even in containers the hides and meat were attracting predators and she had to keep pushing them away. It didn't help that her bonnet was uncomfortable and she was feeling generally terrible. After three months of pretty frequent sex they hadn't succeeded in getting pregnant. She was beginning to suspect that something was wrong. Maybe Wanda's curse was still affecting her body.
“True enough.” He smiled wryly as he drove with her, and scared off a predator, now and then. “Hopefully, we can get supplies and back out again without any problems.”
“Yeah, good luck with that.” Lorna noted. “Let’s face it, lamb-y toes, we’re screwed. We just have to hope we’re not screwed too hard.”
He grinned. The makeshift carrying setup was working well. A wagon with wheels had been found in the barn. Putting nails in the right places meant that now it could be Lorna propelled. And she was a good driver.
“At least we can try to canvas the place ahead of time, thanks to the glasses we have.” Binoculars, stored all winter, now were in his side pack, ready to be used to spy on the town from the hills, if there were any.
Lorna nodded. “Yeah. We’ll see what there is to see.” They were pretending to pull the cart, so it was still slow going. Plenty of time to spy on the town as they made their way in.
Alex smiled though as they walked. “Love you. We’ve really done pretty well for ourselves.”
She nodded. “We’re just nervous, it could be okay in the end.” She turned to him and smiled. “I love you too. We’ll get through this craziness for sure!”
He nodded to her and kissed her, grinning. “We will. No matter what.” A little bit later they were coming to the overlook and he parked the cart, then crawled up the hill with her. “Lets see what there is to see.”
The town was small, but pretty active. Lorna nodded as they approached it. “Well, it’s about what I expected.” Which wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Nobody looked up when they pulled the cart into town, and Lorna moved on until she found a good spot and parked the cart. “Alright we’ve got salted meat and hides! Best meat and hides in town!”
The calling brought some attention and slowly they got some business, and people came to buy things. And another cart pulled up, and another, and soon there was a lively discussion and selling going on. Alex grinned as they sold food all day.
Lorna stopped being uncomfortable with the whole process once she got going, and they got a pretty fair amount of goods. She finally found a way to adjust her bonnet that was comfortable, and talking to people to learn more about them (and this time period),was fascinating.
At least until she bent down at an inopportune moment and a passing hand smacked the brim of her bonnet back, exposing her hair. Lorna reached up immediately to fix it but three people saw before that and took big steps back.
“Her hair’s green!” One of them yelled, and it started a chain reaction. All the business around them stopped, and everyone turned to stare. A gawker approached her from the side and tried to drag her into the crowd.
“Hey!” Alex lunged and used a long loaf of bread to club the man over the head, his other hand catching Lorna and pulling her back up, and stepping in front of her..
“Stop that! She’s a woman, and a human, and back off!” He rose up, a rake he had gotten in trade in his arms, hands sliding to hold it like a quarterstaff, and the look on his fade made people fall back, for a moment.
Lorna was glad Alex stepped in, because she was about a second from pushing everyone away and running. She climbed up onto the relative safety of the cart. “We should go, Alex.”
A man in the back of the crowd yelled and then began shoving his way through. He was wearing a star on his vest and smoking a cigarette. “Alright everyone break it up.” He moved closer to Alex, eying the two newcomers warily.
“Are you okay?” He looked Lorna over, then nodded to the man with the star on as he came up. “We mean no trouble, sir, and we’ll move along. Not meaning to cause.any problems at all.” He hopped down in the space at the front of the carty, and then helped Lorna down, his glare making sure no one came close. He took the leads of the cart then and made to start to pull it away. Which would have worked, really, except for the man hurling the bottle of beats at him, which arced through the air toward his face.
Alex didn’t even think about it, he dropped the cart traces, spun and kicked the bottle back where it came with a spinning roundhouse kick. And it smashed against the man who had thrown it. “Don’t attack me and mine, or I will react.” And he growled the words, hands balled up.
“Just go. You won’t be welcome here again.” The sheriff said grimly.
Lorna huffed and turned to face him. “You have no idea who you’re kicking out, asshole. We could bring this town so much prosperity,”
Alex sighed. “Figures. Small town, small minds. “Come on Lorna. Lets go find civilization.” He grabbed the traces again and showing off, he lifted the wagon leads and began to haul it, entirely without magnetic aid. He had always been strong, but a season of hard work had yielded an even stronger, more muscled Alex. And now he was angry, to boot.
He led the way, hauling away until they were far out of town. “Damn assholes.”
Lorna huffed and crossed her arms. “We still have, like, five pounds of deer meat to take care of too.” And nothing to preserve it with. “At least we got a bunch of food and some blankets in all that.” When they were away from the town she flew out to join Alex in pulling the wagon.
“Yep! I know. We’d better get back to the house,pack as much as we can in metal containers and get out of here.” As soon as they were out of sight, he hugged and kissed her. “Lets get back to the house, fast.” He had read about the wild west, and people would not be in a good mood after this. IN order to not have this turn even worse, they’d need to be gone before anyone had a chance to do anything. Ugh.
Lorna nodded. “I’m going to fly ahead and get stuff going. If they try to shoot me they’ll be pretty disappointed.”
“Okay. Be careful. I don’t trust anyone now but you.” He started pulling the cart again annoyed that their chance at peace was ruined. He had gotten money, and even a gun and bullets and such, but he was annoyed.
“I will.” She promised, kissing him again before she lifted herself up in to the sky and darted to their house. Over the months she’d worked metal into most of the things they used regularly. She didn’t bother taking many clothes, they’d need as much food and as many blankets as they could get. She cleaned out all the stored food and made double sure to grab both their backpacks.
Alex kept trudging along, and worked his way back to the farm at a quick pace, when he arrived, he smiled and put the cart down, arranged things as well as he could, then headed in to see what she had ready. “Hey you, wow! You are a fast worker!” And he started grabbing things to take out to the cart. “I’m going to miss this place a little.”
“Me too. I like our little farm.” She sighed a little. “We put so much work into it.” She loaded things up with her powers, and sealed the meats in metal wrappers. “This sucks.”
Alex nodded. “We did.” He sighed as he packed things carefully in the boxes he had made and into the cart. “But we’ll make a new life somewhere else, somehow. As long as we’re together.”
“We’ll be fine.” Lorna said with a nod, stopping to hug him. “Love you, Alex.”
"and I love you. we will do great. have you ever wanted to live in New York City?" Alex grinned at her and hoped that this trip would be a fun one. From the Dakotas to New York City by air. Their trip was going to be fun, and crazy, and their adventure was just beginning.
Lorna smiled. "Sounds like an adventure to me." She finished loading the cart and floated onto the back. "Ready when you are, sexy. "