Spring 4. 11:30am. Lumina Ranch/The Inn
It had taken longer to set up the isolation fence than Shade had hoped, breakfast already felt a day away even though he had eaten only a few hours ago. "Hmm, Skye sure has been out and about all day. At least she's keeping busy." He thought to himself. Pulling a rag from his bag pocket he wiped the sweat from his brow. He had finished the majority of his morning-midday chores and lunch was just around the corner. With Skye being out, he decided there was no point in having another meal alone.
"I'll be I have time to head down to the old Sunset and see what Luca and Cherche are up to. I wonder how they're fairing with that writing living up in the attic. Interesting character that one. Still, she should be welcomed amoung the townspeople like all of us oddballs have been." He realized he was speaking to a pregnant cow and shook his head. "Yeah, I need to go socialize for a bit." Giving Moomoo a loving stroke, he made sure the gates were secured and took off down to the local inn.
As he pushed open the double doors he could hear his stomach grumbling. "Luca! Cherche! Anyone home? Josh?" He made his way to the bar and made himself at home.~
Breakfast had come and gone, leaving Luca without much to do. He didn't hold many responsibilities outside of being the cook and had always suspected that it had something to do with Cherche being afraid that overworking him would lead to a lapse in his health. So when business lulled, his favorite hobby was looking out the window and daydreaming, letting the sun's warm rays hit his face. He was so entertained with whatever he had been day dreaming about, that the teen almost failed to notice Shade come in. Cherche didn't notice at all, being far to consumed with sorting out the mail she had to deliver later that day.
"Oh, hey Shade," he said in his normal, distant voice as he turned to face him. Luca liked Shade well enough. There wasn't much to dislike about him. Actually, once he thought about it, there wasn't a lot to dislike about many of the villagers. He pushed the thought away. Was that really something to be worried about? It was more a blessing than anything else.
"Do you want something to eat? I mean, that's probably why you're here, right?"~
Shade felt his cheeks warm. It was true, he usually only left the farm when he needed to or could make an excuse to. There was always work to be done on the ranch. But he was a little embarrased that one of his oldest friends assumed he was only here for food. Another loud grumbling noise came up from his gut. Okay, maybe he was here for food this time, but he certainly enjoyed the company he was offered when he came here.
"Right as always old friend. I'm not too worried about what I eat though, anything that'll fill the void. Don't stress yourself with anything fancy." Shade promised himself, many years ago when he first called Luca a good friend, that he wouldn't let the man's health affect their friendship, He wouldn't let his illness push Shade to pamper him; Cherche had that bit by the horns. The last thing Luca needed was the rest of the town, let alone his friends, babying him everytime he coughed. But in the back of his mind, Shade couldn't help but worry and always found himself wishing to lessen Luca's workload, even when it came to making a sandwich it seemed.
"The ranch has been pretty empty this morning. Skye's been out and about with her horses since she got back from the Peck Ranch." He shook his head. "She's got to stop spending so much time with those animals or soon enough she'll forget how to speak and start neighing in secret..."~
"Okay, nothing fancy. I can do that," he said with a smile. He liked being able to make whatever was on his mind, call it a creative outlet if you will. Luca really did enjoy cooking, especially when it came to people smile after they ate his food. It was one of the most surefire ways to make others that existed. His hands went to work without his mind entirely following. It was half natural by this point. Grab a bun out of the lowermost left hand drawer, grab whatever he was putting in it out of the fridge. Simple dishes were easy to make without really thinking about it, and they fortunately rarely ever required sharp objects or heat, two things which did not mix well with Luca's absentmindedness.
As he worked on crafting Shade's sandwich, he listened to his friend talk about Skye. It kind of reminded him of Cherche and the way she tended to overwork herself. At least her job was one that involved talking to people, so he never had the worry of her becoming some kind of shut in. "It sounds like what you need is a Josh. He's pretty good at forcing people out of their comfort zone. I don't really know where you would get one though. Ours just kind of showed up. Maybe you'll get lucky and have one show up too." A large smile stretched across his face as he handed Shade the now finished sandwich. "I hope you like it."~
A scoff excaped Shade's lips as the idea of another person like Josh Rivers ever coming into existance. "Thankyou Luca, I don't doubt that I will." Taking a bite he smiled. "Yup," he said in a muffled voice, "you're still as great a cook as ever." Working his way through the delicious meal he continue to chat with his old friend.
"I doubt if there's anyone else like Josh, and even if there was, I don't think this town could handle two of him! Skye probably couldn't handle even the one... though you're right. He's pretty good at destroying any personal boundaries, especially when it comes to women." The thought of Josh hitting on his sister sent an odd chill down his spine. Maybe he was part of the problem; he wouldn't deny that he was overly protective of his twin sister. But then, who wouldnt be?
"We'll have to try and arrange something. Maybe get her spending more time with Cherche first, then move on to Josh. At least Cherche and Skye are already friends, and Cherche is a lot lower on the crazy scale than Josh." He paused, noticing movement from above the ceiling. "Speaking of crazy, how's that writer up in the attic? Strange that she didn't want a regular room no? Have you gotten to know her very well? I feel like I should at least formally introduce myself, I'm sure she's nice. But I've heard about the novels she writes, I can't say that's a common interest we'd share."~
Luca smiled at the compliments about his cooking. Despite having heard them countless times before, he still loved it when people said nice things about him. So he smiled that airy smile before it turned into a pout. Luca shook his head. "Don't think just because someone isn't a woman he won't take a chance. If you're pretty, he'll be all over you." There was an oddly menacing tone in Luca's voice, before cheering back up immediately to continue talking. "You're right. One Josh is enough. I don't think I could handle another one jumping on me in the morning to wake. Josh weighs more than you think he does."
"You'd have to get Cherche to stop working first. She's not very good at that. But you're right, Cherche isn't quite as crazy as Josh, but she can't sing nearly as well." Luca paused, looking up at the noise. He'd never really talked to Estelle, seeing as he was rarely ever in the lobby when she came down. "Hmm...maybe she didn't want a regular room because she's staying here for awhile? And no, I've only talked to her once, and that was once when Cherche made me go make sure she was still alive." Luca grinned at the mention of her novels, remembering a rather amusing situation involving them. "Josh tried to get her to let him read one of them once. He knocked on her door for like twenty minutes. I was his back up. Cherche yelled at us for annoying customers."
Shade broke out into laughter; the idea of Josh and Luca harrassing the shy writer in the attic to read one of her....heated novels was hilarious. "Oh I don't doubt Cherche had something to say about that. I can't say I'd be able to have a straight conversation with the woman after reading such thoughts that came from her!" He continued to eat, eventually clearing his plate of all morsels. Letting out a burp, he mumbled an excuse for himself before wiping his mouth. "What is it with the women in this town? They all seem to be either work crazy or just plain crazy. What's a man to do? I suppose it makes for constant excitement mind you." Getting up, Shade picked up his cleared plate and carried it to a bin of dirty dishes at the end of the bar. He'd have washed it too if Cherche would have ever allowed him into the kitchen, he wasn't fond of making other clean up after him, especially not his friends.
"Say, why don't we all have a get together tonight? After work at the ranch is done, instead of our usual drinks here, we can all go down to the bar and have a bit of a get together. It's Wilhelm's birthday today, we should have a bit of a party for him. Would you be interested? I could go gather anyone else who'd be willing to come? Maybe that way Skye and Cherche can have some girl time and with any luck we can get Estelle out of that attic for once. Though, if Josh is there she might be hesitant." He chuckled again at the mental image of Josh at the poor girl's door.~
"I think everyone is kind of weird, not just the women," Luca was half thinking outloud. He'd had a decent amount of time to ponder that kind of stuff when he was younger, since Cherche had severally limited what he'd been allowed to. The people that came to visit him were some of the only interactions he got, so he tended to think about them quite a bit. Josh wasn't around to do cleanup, like he was supposed to be doing, so the fact that Shade at least put his dishes in the bin was nice. Not many people thought to do something like that. The inn was understaffed by anyone's standards.They had one cook, one person in charge of cleanup, and one person working management. Any help they could get was definitely appreciated.
Luca couldn't actually drink, not that Cherche would let him if he even tried, but the thought of a get together did sound fun. "Sure, that sounds fun. I'll tell Josh when he gets back and Cherche. I'm sure the two of them will spread the word around enough." He considered saying something about getting Cherche to stop working was going to be a challenge, but thought better of it. She was only one room over. "I guess I'll see you tonight then."
Shade smiled, happy to know that Luca would get a night out of the inn, that he would be around people and noise and laughter. "Will do old friend. I'll look forward to hearing how you're going to convince Cherche to come!" Chuckling, Shade stood up and made his way to the door, waving a farewell before slipping out the front door.
