The Wells Farm

[sunnydalealum]

Jordie's learned a lot of things since the woman from the Watchers' Council first found her and told her what she was. Not all of them were learned at the Slayer Academy; and of those that were, not all of them were part of anyone's lesson plan.

This week, she's learning how to muck out goats.

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[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon leans up against the wall and watches. "Don't have to get all the straw, but you need to get all the wet and soiled stuff." he says in a very matter of fact tone. The comfort of his food is important to him.

[sunnydalealum]

Jordie uses her wrist to shove back a wisp of hair that's escaped the blue bandanna tied around her head, and grimly drives the pitchfork back into the muck.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon wants her to do it right, but he's not giving her any more grief than the other girls have gotten when it was their turn to muck out the stalls.

He's also not going to lecture or guilt-trip her because she's already done that bit.

[sunnydalealum]

He's guilt-tripping her just by standing there.

"There." Flat, as she steps back from the stall. "How's that."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Good." he says quietly, "Now we put fresh straw in. Enough to cover the stall but not super deeply."

[sunnydalealum]

Without a word she turns to the bin with the fresh straw in it -- it's called something else, not a bin, but she can't remember the word -- and starts pitching straw into the stall.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Going to silent-treatment me the whole time?" He asks after a bit, "Wasn't my idea to have you girls here."

[sunnydalealum]

Jordie's movements slow for a moment, and she glances up at him uncertainly.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

He blinks back at her with placid green eyes, "Up to you, I suppose, but it'd be bloody awkward to have one of me favourite people not talking to me."

[sunnydalealum]

"Am I st--"

She reddens a little, and looks back down at the straw and the pitchfork.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon tilts his head at her and waits for her to decide what she wants to say.

[sunnydalealum]

Very low: "Am I still?"

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

He sighs and pushes off the wall, then pulls her into a hug, "If doing something stupid was a reason for people to stop loving other people, Jordie, I'd be the least loved person on the world. Yes. You still are."

[sunnydalealum]

It's a very awkward hug, as Jordie is still holding the pitchfork and doesn't let it drop.

But she does bury her face briefly in his shoulder, before drawing a shaky breath and pulling away.

"Then," she says unsteadily, "then we probably shouldn't talk about it. I'm supposed to be here for punishment."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"...Y' ankle deep in goat poop." Spoon points out, "Don't think y' going to be enjoying the time much. Tomorrow we're going to spread the manure into the compost heap and y' will be learning how to turn compost so that it rots evenly before it gets spread on the garden."

Lots and lots of farming is about poop. And rot.

[sunnydalealum]

"Yeah," and that's a bit grim, and maybe a bit bitter. "I know."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"It's unpleasant." Spoon says, shrugging, "But it doesn't have to be hell. This is what I do every single day, rain or shine. Nobody told me I had to make you suffer. An' Cora will be out here in the morning to milk while someone mucks, an' Penny will be out to supervise work in the garden."

[sunnydalealum]

Still bitter: "The point isn't suffering. The point is that we're in disgrace."

She kicks a clump of matted straw.

"Ankle-deep in goat poop."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon is quiet for a moment, then shrugs, "What do you want?"

[sunnydalealum]

Again an uncertain glance.

"Like right now? Or ... at all?"

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Either or both." Spoon says quietly, "Whichever comes to mind."

[sunnydalealum]

There's a long silence.

"I don't know." Low. "Get out of here and do something that matters. Fight evil."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Why do you fight evil?" he asks after a long moment, "For what?"

[sunnydalealum]

She looks up at him blankly.

"What do you mean, for what?"

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Why do you want to fight evil? What are you fighting for?" Spoon says, simply, "Easy for me. I fight the dangerous things so that me girls grow up without knowing what I really am, what I can be at me worst. I take it away from here.

"I fight, an' I kill, so that I can do exactly what you're doing every single day and know that me family is safe enough to never see past the man in with the goats."

The adults know. Wells, Annie, Ace, even the man in grey. They know what Spoon really is. Penny and Cora? They don't, and Spoon keeps his Hunting as close as religion so that they never, ever will.