Cherry Is Really Pluckin' Angry |
Summary: | Cherry and Jesse discuss Roderick Boyd's recent needling of the Walker clan, and the former isn't very keen on the latter's idea of a solution to it all. |
Date: | 1944-03-19 |
Related: | Various. |
Walker Place, Higsi
Tue Mar 19, 1944
The homestead is a humble place. A chicken coop sits patched up and likely in need of more love. There's a few goats, too thin to eat really but handy in a simple pen of their own. A well on the property provides their water.
Going inside, the furniture is mismatched and repaired a few times. The space is one large space. Along one wall is a simple pump sink and wood burning stove. A worn counter and cabinet sit along the wall with mismatched and damaged kitchenware. On the table is a mason jar with the collection by which they get by.
Mismatched lanterns and candles light the space with a battered radio and a bare bulb over the kitchen table for special occasions. The furniture in the living area is easily moved aside or together to accommodate their meager bedding. A few slim bookshelves hold the only real entertainment they can afford in the form of second hand and often well used books with a heavy lean to poetry.
Over head, there's a small loft, enough space to store bedding during the day or for a few people to sleep when emptied out. A ladder gives access up and down and the loft is warmed by the stove below one end.
Weather:
It is winter. The weather is cool and fair.
===
<Hunt> Cherry hunts and bags:
1 Turkey
1 Deer
<Hunt> Jesse hunts and bags:
1 Goose
<FS3> Jesse rolls Enhanced Senses: Success.
—
It was another late night of work for Charity Walker last night — as most of the shifts are — and typically that didn't really bother her. But when she came into the homestead there was something rattled about her.. angry. Anyone who would have asked, even Jesse, will have fielded a response along the lines of 'a shitty customer' or the like. Cherry didn't want to bother her kin at so late an hour and eventually she went to bed.
… and woke up early. She traipsed out into the cool morning just before the sun rose properly.. usually on her day off from town she gifts herself with a sleep-in til' 6:30am or 7am. Seems she still had a demon that she wanted to exercise out on her own and eventually, once the position of the sun signifies close to 9-ish in the morning, Cherry comes trudging back onto Walker land. She's not alone. Whatever has been eating at her has proved successful in her early morning hunting efforts.
She's clad in a pair of work pants and a blouse, hair pulled back into a harried frenzy of sandy curls. She looks a little scuffed up, as if she took a tumble somewhere along the way, but there was a damned good reason. The female wolf had straight-up bodily tackled a deer. She has a turkey with it's neck wrenched stuffed under an arm like a duffel; the deer (not a buck) is quite literally up and across her shoulders (werewolf strength ftw). Her producers in Hollywood would shit bricks if they saw her now. The gamey scent of her kills and her footsteps will announce Cherry's approach.
—
Jesse was up once Pancake started moving about and he grabbed a quick and very cold dip in a nearby body of water before heading towards the homestead. On the way, he checked one of the traps and pulled out a goose…even with all the newcomers, the Walkers don't seem to be starving. Coffee and breakfast were no-doubt already made so he partook before moving to sit outside with the bag of feathers to begin plucking the bird.
The sound and scent of his sister approaching catches his attention and there's a slight frown when he catches the scent of the game. "We may be needin' some sort of roastin' pit tonight, I'm thinkin'." Or something's going to get made into jerky. "You're up early…"
—
"Venison jerky." Cherry snorts, but there is an edge to her humor. She's still put off by her shift from the night prior. She gives a light sniff, catching the scent of coffee as it wafts out of the old homestead. Mmmmm. What a trooper! Hunting before caffeination! Cherry studies her little brother for a few minutes as he deftly plucks the goose. "I'm going to set this deer down, we'll bleed it within the hour. Then I will sit with you a spell and pluck this turkey." She's trying to sound chipper, but failing. One who knows Cherry well would pick up on the notes to her voice which point toward further unrest. "How are you holding up today?"
Jesse remarks on her early rise and Cherry frowns gently, "I didn't sleep well. Last night with a bit rough."
—
"Maybe…but harder to dry and smoke so much meat…" maybe some of it. Maybe some Turkey as well. Tilting his head at the tone in her voice, Jesse's hands pause on the bird even as she explains that she didn't sleep well. "I know. I heard you stompin' in when you got home." All the way out in the barn, even. "You want me to punch someone for you? You just tell me who and I'll go find 'em. Maybe you could get a job with Ethel at the Woolworth's? Probably less handsy folks there than in the diner."
—
"Clifton's been on about sharing some meat with a pregnant chippie that he knows in town." Cherry admits, "If we have an excess he can probably bring it to her. I know Clyde gave the green on it, so it won't really go to waste." She shrugs gently, causing the girth of the deer to roll sickly on her shoulders. Better go put Bambi down for a bit. First the turkey lands with a muffled whump onto the porch. "Sit tight, I'll be back in just a couple of minutes." She trudges off, Jesse's observations rattling around in her head. She'd better fess up. As promised Cherry walks back to drop her lean frame into a chair alongside her brother, and she can be heard grabbing up the turkey. "Sorry if I worried you, Jes. Nobody touched me.. I think he knew better. He remembers us as kids. He got mouthy at me, even followed me til' I made for the mouth of the trail. Said some trashy things that I shouldn't let get to me." Her smooth brow furrows. "Do you remember that Roddy Boyd cretin? Used to parade his daddy's money around when he was a pup?"
—
Jesse's head follows as Cherry moves back into the house but he starts plucking the goose again, adding the feathers to their collection bag. No doubt the turkey feathers will soon join them. When she starts talking again, his frown deepens a little, "Boyd? Yeah…I thought we scared him off a while back. Heard he left town. So he's back? I wouldn't mind punchin' him again, just for good measure, to be honest. But he's crazier than a mad dog…even shot Clyde in the face once."
—
"Reeked of rotten booze." Cherry says quietly, "We ourselves have had some rowdy ones in our family, moon mother rest them; but none had the smell of crazy. Sometimes a man gets a smell about him when the sauce gets into his brain." She observes, then her voice falters. She's plucking too, and the ruddy colors of the turkey begin fluttering into the sack. "He had that. He looked bad too.. eyes all dark and mean. I'm not sensitive, Jes; I made it in Hollywood, even for that little while. Los Angeles is a meat grinder for people cutting one another down. But he just knew what to say to get to me."
Pluck, pluck. Her voice now gets smaller, sadder. "Went on about how mountain women are good for nothing more than inbreeding.. called me down on how I carried on as a little one. Made me feel like that pining ten-year-old again who got passed up by the moneyed girls. Something in his voice just pushed it home. He kept following me and I couldn't trust myself to confront him-" Blink.
Good thing she didn't. "… in the face…?! Clyde?" Ok so she recalls Clyde TELLING her that Roddy shot him… but the 'IN THE FACE' bit is a piece Cherry was missing!
—
"He's probably just puttin' into words what folks still think about us. They just got better ideas than to say them to our face," It's not really the best response, but it's honest. "You should probably let Clyde and Clifton know that he's back in town and harassin' you…he might not stop. Maybe if you can show that he ain't gettin' to you, but…he obviously ain't afraid to try and shoot someone dead." Because yes, "Clyde. In the face."
There's another frown of thought before he offers, "Maybe…maybe you should be delicate in how you tell them. We can't have Clyde goin' off and killin' Roddy. That would wreck us up here."
—
"I think what got to me most was that he followed me. Had the balls to follow me." Cherry says quietly, plucking away. "It was the same as when he was a little shit. Gun or no gun if he were even half-cut last night. I could have gotten to him quickly enough. Ripped his throat out. Otherwise hurt him… sometimes my temper, Jes, it…. ugh." She looks down at the bird in her lap, the breeze causing a curl to twitch. "If he keeps at me, I just might get at him. He hurt me but I'm not going to sulk about it.. I just get so angry. It's one thing for the town to think we're shit, but a drunk who has a gun? Shooting our own in the face? Good God."
Cherry doesn't feel good about this. "So your earlier offer to punch someone… I don't reckon you should bother, here. I don't want him to shoot you. But we have to get the pack in on how to handle this." Little does she know, Clyde is already hot-to-trot.
—
"Maybe I wasn't that clear," Jesse offers after a moment. "I'll happily punch him. I'll beat him within an inch of his life or more if that's what needs to happen. And I will happily sit in that jail cell knowin' that my family is safe." Because, of course, a Walker would be punished and Boyd, as a 'fine, upstanding member of the town' wouldn't be charged. "Clyde already got put in jail once…had a fancy lawyer from back East get him out. But that was when there was only a few of is. With Dot and Jackson needin' him…and the pack growin'…it shouldn't be his fight. He won't hear it from me though."
—
"You're clear enough. The intention is noble Jesse, but I'll be right in the cell with you. You're not going to rot away in a jail cell on account of some fatcat getting soft in the head and throwing his weight around." A sharpness to her tone; Cherry Does Not Like. She softens then. "There has to be a way to deal with him that will… shut him up. Clyde dealt with him once before in the worst way. He isn't going have to do it again on his own. If he's hounding Walker women what if he's after Ethel or Dot too. We need to have a meeting." Cherry observes, brow furrowing.
She's clearly at a loss, and it can be heard in her tone. Unsaid: there's plenty of places to hide a body, but they are better than that. "Clyde spoke of breaking the fool's arm… the arm is still all lame at his side. So there's a vendetta he's trying to act out." Pluck pluck.
—
Jesse gives a heavy sigh as he isn't even allowed to try and be noble to help the Pack! He plucks the bird for a bit in silence, as if he's trying to think of something to say that might be at all useful. "Yeah, Clyde broke his arm. He'll probably try and shoot him again if he sees him. Or one of us. And you know that if he actually attacks you or Ethel or Dot, y'all can take care of yourselves. He wouldn't know what hit him…and no one would believe him if he went sayin' things in town."
—
Sisterly stubbornness! It's her job. She reads into that heavy sigh and her expression grows thunderous, "This goes beyond pack. You're my brother, my last brother. I'm not going to go through life after just finding you, knowing you're in a cell being harassed and needled by screws… who also have in it in their heads to treat Walkers terribly. I know you're wanting to be brave and self-sacrificing for the Pack but we don't want you to be saddled with such a life on account of tosspot Roddy Boyd." Silence, too, as Jesse contemplates and both wolves pluck their kills. Cherry catches herself being rough and she squints at a couple of blood-tipped feathers, slows herself down some. "I don't want to see anyone hurt bad. I don't want to see anyone jailed. The son of a bitch should have just stayed gone, when he was shipped out. But…" A huff.
"I'm not going out of my way to encounter him. I'm off a couple of days and not leaving the mountain. There's enough to do up here. I don't want to proceed until we talk to Clyde."
—
"You mean -you- don't want that. I don't think anyone else cares," Jesse clarifies. "Fact is, they might think it to be a good thing. I'd be outta their hair and still alive…they just don't need to be botherin' with me bein' in their way. And we'd be rid of Roddy for good." Of course, it could be made to look like self-defense…how else could a blind man fatally hurt a seeing one?
"You're right, he shoulda just stayed gone. But he probably won't stop unless he's gone…or he gets what he wants and who knows what that is now."
—
The female Walker works real hard at holding her tongue. Last time they skirted this topic, Cherry had a little hissy fit. Jesse being so set on family deeming him as disposable causes that familiar flicker of upset to flare in her guts, right alongside the bad mojo that Roddy instilled. The sound of her ripping at the feathers grows a little more harried as her nostrils flare. "G'ddamn nonsense, Jesse Walker. I would sooner see Roddy killed and the body hidden … and the sick sad truth is we could do it too and the town would be none-the-wiser… than see you put away. I don't want to see it come to either of those scenarios but if push comes to shove…." A deep breath.
"Whatever it is he's getting at, he's not going to get it." She sounds rattled and angry.
—
"And I'd rather be put away than see some drunk, entitled townie break what little this family has apart. And that's what he's aimin' to do, whether or purpose or just as a residual to everythin' else. And if anyone in this Pack kills him and they bring them in and it ain't me…it'll do just that. This pack'll go on without me around and you know that. You're bein' kind by sayin' that it won't, but you know full well that if I walked away today, it'd take 'em a month to notice."
He also continues plucking but his movements aren't sharp with anger. "I appreciate you bein' kind. But even if I can't see their faces, I feel it and I hear it in their voices. If anythin' happens to Roddy, I'm the one who should get blamed for it. And I'll be the one to confess to it too…"
—
It probably doesn't help that Cherry is hormonal and due for a good run. What a dumpster-fire in a pretty package! But she refuses to believe her brother on this one thing, she refuses! And both will probably either stubbornly contest the fact or drop into silence. Cherry recognizes that she is about to decapitate the poor dead bush fowl and her hands stop their restless skittering along it's hastily-plucked body. Now the feathers that she has pulled forth are not fit for re-use as little beads of blood bloom along the carcass. Her lips purse. "I'm not going to let myself believe a word of that. I believe in most anything you tell me, Jes, but I'm not.. I can't, and—"
Pause. "I just went and ruined these feathers." Cherry grates out, frustrated. "I'm not saying yay or nay on any of this until we're all up to the dinner table in there talking this out. May the moon come down in pieces around me, I'm so set on that." She sounds stubborn. Poor Jesse.
—
Jesse just shrugs as he's sort of resigned himself to the fact…at least until he gets angry enough again to say anything to someone other to Cherry again. "You don't have to believe it, but that don't mean it's not true. And I'm serious. If Clyde or any of them does somethin' to Roddy that might tear this Pack apart, I will march myself into that Sheriff's office and confess to doin' it." There's a pause when she mentions not being able to use the feathers, "Stick 'em in a pile and we can use 'em for kindlin' or somethin'."
He'll say as much to the others when they have that meeting…if and when…and if he's even been made aware of it.
—
The bloody feathers are indeed shoved aside, where they gather up dust and other debris as they're rolled — damp — across the earth. The turkey has been plucked but now it looks savaged… Cherry eyes it dismally; such a sad-looking thing. May share a resemblance to Roddy Boyd if he keeps this garbage up. "Maybe he'll run afoul of someone else in town and the problem will be solved for us." Mouth off law enforcement, or one of those rough-hewn hillbillies who live on the outskirts. Little does Cherry know that Roddy is in good with those sorts… money can buy a lot of things. Goons included. But she's just grasping at straws.
Jesse's actions, even she can see their nobility… surely she can. Cherry is a big fat hypocrite.. she's just too mad to even think much more on it. "I need to go wash up this mess that I made and give this to Ethel." Cherry says quietly, sounding tired now. "… and get some coffee."
Definitely.
—
"Doubtful. He's the darlin' of the town for some reason. Although if he's goin' about drunk all the time, he might fall and break his neck or step out in front of a car or somethin'." But he nods as she says she needs to go inside and get coffee. "I'll be out here finishin' this goose up. Let me know if you want some help stabbin' open that deer you brought in."
—
"I would like that," Cherry calls back, earnestly. "I don't quite know the best way to gut deer.. let me get the dregs of what's inside and we can get going on that in a short bit." Good thing about this she-wolf, though.. her moods wane quickly. Stubborn and cranky one moment, and immediately on a new tact? Already a bit better. She's one of those strange females who can compartmentalize well, even as unrest over Roddy and this talk with Jesse continue to flicker at the back of her mind like a ghostlight. At least there's straight-up duty, and that's getting a deer ready for gutting before it starts to lock up and swell.
"See you in the shed, Jes." Cherry bids, and enters the house. Pray to the Gods above that there's coffee left.