sixwordstories | (no subject)

Oh, nothing too exciting. Wake up, make breakfast, go for a walk. Maybe go hunting, if there's anything around to hunt. Do a little maintenance work, feed the chickens, dinner, bed.

I have some books to read, of course, but frontier life can get maddeningly boring.

Get Lynn to school, check my shop, go to one of my jobs, lunch with my boyfriend, then I go to my other job for a few hours, back to my shop, drop Lynn off with her Dads, spend some time with my best friend, go home and spend the rest of the evening with my boyfriend until Lynn gets back home. Unless she's staying with her Dads. Then I get the evening to myself. On weekends I clean.

[She gives him a look, skeptical but intrigued.] ...You're a frontiersman? Whereabouts are you from?

'Sounds like an awful lot. I didn't know y'had a shop, on top of everthin' else. How th'hell do you keep it all in order?

I've cut back some, I was doubling back for a while. The shop was my Mom's, I don't want it to just sit.

And your last question. I take a lot of notes.

You mean your shit used t'be even busier than that? Jesus. What kinda shop is it, if you don't mind my askin'?

See, I wouldn't have th'patience for that. [Or the attention span. This may be why Oni has never held down anything remotely resembling a job.]

The Sierra Nevada, of late, though I was born in Scotland.

Define normal.

It sells a little of everything. My mom would, um. Acquire stuff. And use the shop to sell it. I'm getting rid of her inventory and will just keep it as a secondhand store.

It's easier to stay busy, then I don't have to think of all the crap that's happened.

Sleep, drink, party. What's your day like?

I've been through those parts. It's beautiful country. What do y'hunt?

Y'know, I grew up in th'sticks too. It took some creativity t'keep from going 'round th'bend. A hobby helps.

Everyone's "normal" is different, that's why I asked. What's an average day like, for you?

Oh, all sorts of things. Deer, rabbits, irritating passersby . . .

I think I'm already around the bend, lass.

Five finger discount? Say no more. Wouldn't it be easier to just find someone t'fence th'whole lot of it and be done with it? Runnin' th'shop yourself, knowin' th'goods are hot, seems a bit risky t'me.

You might be onto somethin', there. Beats th'hell out of crawlin' into th'bottom of a bottle.

Sounds like somebody I know. My day? On average? Pretty effing boring. I check th'news, first thing in the morning. Touch base with my friends, see how they're doing. Then I go for a long run. Shower, check th'news again.

Unless somebody needs me t'be somewhere, I spend th'rest of my day training.

Um. This will sound strange, but she had a machine that let her travel in time, so she'd take stuff from the past or future and sell it here for a lot of money. She wasn't worried about getting caught because no one would believe her.

I did that too, but I don't have much time to get drunk anymore.

You sound to be quite social.

Lately?

Get up ... coffee... possibly pounced... go to work doing the accounts... possibly getting pounced... going home, getting pounced... reading or idling away with random things. Sometimes I go and visit friends off in a side reality. Sometimes into the past...

That's the past less than a year though.

Passersby? [An amused grin; She assumes, for now, that he's joking in the "oh, tourists," sort of way.]

If you were really 'round th'bend, would you even know it?

Right. [Excuse her face. Time travel is still a hard pill to swallow for her.] I can see how that might take a leap of faith. Hang on-- So you use a machine to time travel? For some reason I thought it was... Oh, I don't know... Some sorta innate ability you had.

Also a good thing.

...I do? Darlin', I can count my friends on one hand. And it's always "God, Oni." "I'm fine, Oni" "Stop using up my minutes, Oni."

No, my Mom and Dad needed machines. I was born with the ability.

They taste the best.

*He laughs.* If you're told you're mad enough times, it becomes your go-to reason for things when asked. People say I'm crazy, though I prefer to think of it as American culture taken to its logical conclusion.

Sounds like a happy existence, n'est-ce pas? Except for th'accounting business. I think I'd throw myself in front of a train.

...Time travel? [Come on, Oni. This is at least the second time you've met a wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey traveler. Get over it.] You expect me t'believe you just up and go into th'past, whenever you feel like it?

Sure they do.

'Fraid I wouldn't know much about that. I'm Canadian. And if somebody told me that about myself, I'd tell 'em t'kiss my black ass.