Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two — He’s a Real Fixer-Upper
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two — He’s a Real Fixer-Upper My spoonful of oatmeal-or something so close to oatmeal that it might as well have been the same thing-dropped out of my weakened hands and I found myself looking up and across the breakfast table with wide eyes. “Really?” I asked.Rosaline nodded. “Yup! Most of the problems it had were the kinds of things that normal maintenance would fix. The engine didn’t need replacing, and most of the mechanics inside it still work.”I nodded along. “I guess it didn’t have any problems caused by wear and tear if it was hardly ever used,” I said.“That’s pretty much it,” Rosaline agreed. “Most of the problems were straps rotting away and a few things going rusty or drying up, but we have people with skills that can fix that up with a wave of their talons. The sails needed replacing; they were rather moth-eaten. And the balloons were flat for too long. They needed replacing too. I hope you like blue.”“Blue?” Awen asked. She was sitting next to Rosaline and was poking her way through a breakfast of beans and bacon.Rosaline smiled just a bit sheepishly. “Yeah. We had some leftover balloons, the sort used by the national mountain patrol for their little patrol ships.”“Are they a military group?” I asked.“The guard? Nah, they patrol the passages between cities. The area can be a bit treacherous, especially in winter. Sometimes caravans get stuck in the mountains.”I nodded. Having military signs on my ship-My ship!-would send the wrong kind of signal. We wanted to befriend people, not conquer them. “So, where’s the Beaver now?” I asked.Rosaline huffed smugly. “In the backyard.”I blinked, then jumped to my feet and dashed over to the far end of the dining room where a bay window overlooked the gardens behind.It didn’t take much searching to find the Beaver Cleaver. The catamaran was hovering some hundred meters away, its keel almost hugging the ground. It was held there by a thicket of ropes all around it that were being tended by harpies in the Albatross Aeronautics uniform.“Oh, oh gosh this is great!” I said. “We’ll need to repaint him, and maybe buy some furniture and stuff, and... oh, this is going to be fun!”I turned to the table to see the others sharing in my excitement, or at least enjoying it.Amaryllis waved a croissant through the air. “I’m certain we have some furniture leftover that we can donate to the cause. Right Gen-Gen?”The ever-present butler bowed from his spot by the doorway. “Indeed, Miss. I will ask the staff to collect any spare furnishings. We can gather them for your perusal by the sheds near the vessel.”“Thank you!” I said.Clementine was the one to answer. “It’s nothing,” she said. And then the end of a scone bounced off her forehead.“Don’t be so blasé!” Rosaline said. “It’s my company that’s taking the loss you know.”“You were going to scrap it, it’s hardly a loss. And besides, it’s the clan’s company.”I left the two to their morning ritual and rushed over to Awen. “Are you done eating?” I asked. “We can start right away!”“Awa? I, guess?” she said.I couldn’t help but laugh and grab her hand as soon as she was standing to pull her after me. “Amaryllis, once you’re done bonding with your sisters by arguing, you should join us!” I called back.Awen and I left the room to the sound of three harpies squawking in protest.Racing through the mansion with Awen was a lot of fun, but we didn’t have very far to go. Once we burst out the back it was only a few twists and turns before we reached the ship proper.Seeing the Beaver Cleaver hovering above was way different than seeing it stuck in a mooring only lit by old magical lights. It was far more impressive in the full light of day. And also a lot more rundown.The flaking paint was already pretty rough, but I’d noticed that last time. Now in the better lighting, I could make out rotting ropes and a few bits that were very much still rusty. “We still have a lot of work to do before he’s ready,” I said.Awen nodded. “That’s okay. We’ll work on him together, and he’ll be the nicest ship to take to the skies in no time. Like Uncle’s Shady Lady but... ours.”I grinned down at Awen and placed an arm over her shoulder to pull her closer. “That’s exactly right,” I said. “With your mechanical expertise and my... um, Cleaning expertise, we’ll have the Beaver Cleaver looking like the most formidable ship in the sky! I’m thinking we paint it bright colours.”“Bright colours?” Awen repeated. “That doesn’t sound very, um, formidable.”“Shiny colourful things can be very formidable. Formidable yet friendly,” I said.“Ah, okay.”I nodded while Awen nestled herself deeper into the hug. I tilted my head down so that my cheek was on her head and my ears could bend down to tickle her. “So, Awen,” I asked carefully. “I’ve seen the way you look at Rose.”The girl stiffened.“I think you two would be very cute together,” I said. “Rose needs someone who can love her for who she is, and she’s the kind of girl that would do everything to help someone she loves, I think.”Awen looked up to me, bright blue eyes shining with uncertainty. “Awa. I... girls can’t-” she began.“Girls can do whatever they want.”Awen’s face went red, then white, then back to red in the time it took to blink twice. “I... I don’t know,” she said at last.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.I tightened my hug so that I could squeeze the sad out of her. “That’s okay too,” I said. “Take your time, okay? You’re one of the smartest girls I know.” I planted a big smooch on her forehead before letting go. “Alright! Let’s start by cleaning this ship up! And then we can paint him!”Bouncing off to the side, I waved to some of the workers. It only took a bit of asking around to find the one in charge of the whole lot and then it was only a bit of work to ask him for a lot of paint and some brushes and such to paint with.While the workers went off to gather stuff, I bunched my legs under me, then shot up into the air to land on the Beaver’s deck. There were a few things on-deck that looked new. Some of the hoops that had ropes through them, and some of the posts for tying the ship down had been replaced, but for the most part it was as I remembered.A look over the edge showed Awen still rooted on the spot as if she’d turned into some sort of statue. I figured it would take a bit for her to get back into motion. It was time that she deserved, though, so I left her to her thoughts. If she looked sad later then I’d do my best to cheer her up, but that was a later problem.I eyed the scuffed and weather-stained planks that made up the deck. That could be a nice place to start.A wave of Cleaning magic wiped away the grime and dirt and dust, then the flaky paint came off the deck like dust being blown off by the wind. It left me with a big round-ish patch a pace across that looked sparkly-clean next to the rest of the deck.“Well then,” I muttered. That made my life easy.I started to circle the deck while laying down a constant wave of Cleaning magic. Every step forward left a swatch of shiny deck behind me. Once the deck was done, I skipped to the second deck and repeated the process. Some magic applied to the rails left them looking fresh and new as well.The cabin at the back was a bit trickier, there were parts I couldn’t reach from the ground, but a few Cleanballs took care of them in a jiffy.I dipped into the cabins next. The starboard side cabin’s interior was super utilitarian. There was a big engine, with belts running off to the side, and rails all around to keep people from bumping into things.I pushed out a big wave of cleaning magic and was quite satisfied when it left the motor looking sparkly and new. It even cleared the dust out of the air. Next, I moved towards the front of the ship-the prow?-and into a series of smallish rooms. There was a pantry with an icebox covered in runes that was filled with lukewarm water, and plenty of shelves. Next to it was a little kitchen, and past that a cargo room with a mechanism built into the ceiling to push it open.That had to be the cargo access then. It was pretty much empty save for some broken boxes and bits of detritus left around. More cleaning magic cleared a lot of it out, but I would have to carry the boxes out myself.The next room over were the crew quarters. One small room, probably for the first mate or captain, a little office with a fold-out bed that I guessed belonged to the quartermaster, and then a room filled with hammocks that lead to a very uncomfortable looking washroom that had to be right under the figureheads at the front. The rooms were all very tight, with ceilings so low that my ears brushed them if I didn’t crouch a bit.Cleaning magic left the rooms clear and clean, but we’d still need to spruce it up a bunch.I left the port hull and climbed back on deck. Awen was gone by then, but I could hear bings and bangs from the workshops. I hoped she was having fun and not just burning off frustrations.Finding the middle ground with Awen was... hard. She was a friend, and I loved her that way. I wanted her to be as happy as she could be. But she was young. I was young too. My mom told me that you were supposed to try all sorts of things when you were young in order to find yourself, but I was pretty happy with the bun I was.I didn’t know if I should have gone to bother her or not, so I decided to be productive and hopped over to the next hull. The starboard cabin was a bit wider, with a balcony built onto the back and windows all over that let in sunlight.A bit of cleaning left the rooms much brighter as the grime on the windows faded away.A level down and I was touring a series of big rooms. There were six in all, each one with a double bed in dire need of fluffing, a little dresser, and a port window looking out the side. They weren’t big rooms, only about as big as the cheapest inn rooms I’d ever visited, but space was at a premium on an airship.The room near the prow was a teeny tiny ballroom, with wider windows than in the bedrooms and a floor that looked like it was meant to be danced on. I couldn’t think of a use for that kind of thing for our little crew, but it was a nice big area. We could turn it into a dining room, or a living area, or a training spot for non-Fireball magics.At the very very end was a little room with a stand-up shower and the other sorts of necessities needed to keep clean and such. All of it was much nicer than on the port side.The Beaver Cleaver was a strange little ship, but it was comfortable too. I was sure we could make it our own in time.A little home for a little family of friends. That sounded nice.
* * *
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Three — Wear Your Sunshine on Your Ship
Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Three — Wear Your Sunshine on Your Ship I swooshed the brush across and left a big drippy smear of paint across the wood. On the backstroke, I pressed all the little dribbles back down with a quick slash that turned the hull partially yellow, with only pinpricks of the wood beneath visible.The brush went into the can hanging by a rope next to me. I swirled it about within, then took it out all dribbly and wet with happy yellow, and back onto the hull it went to add another streak of colour to the Beaver’s side.I had never really spent all that much time painting, other than a few hazy memories of arts and crafts in elementary school and some scenery painting I’d done for fun. I remembered being really bad at it. More enthusiastic than talented. But painting a hull wasn’t painting people and homes and happy little trees, it was all one uniform colour, so even a dolt like me could do it, no problem.I wanted to paint it like a mural with rainbows and cute critters and a big smiley-faced sun. but Amaryllis said no. She said no very emphatically.So far, I’d done the entire stern of the port side, an entire can and a bit of yellow paint liberally applied on freshly cleaned wood. I was nearing the bottom of the ladder I was using to paint. In a bit, I’d have to move it over a step or two and start back from the top.I was stepping down to reach a lower section when something bright caught my eye and had me turning around.Awen stood next to the ladder, head down so that all I could see was her long blond hair. “Awen?” I asked.The girl nodded, then looked up. “Broccoli,” she said. Her eyes met mine for just a moment before twitching away. “Broccoli, are we friends?”I blinked. “Of course we’re friends!” I said. “You’re one of my two best, best friends. And you’ll be my friend forever and ever. Broccoli Bunch doesn’t abandon her friends.”Awen was still not meeting my eyes, but she did smile, small and shy, a bit like that first time when we’d met all of a couple of weeks ago. “Thank you,” she said.I hung onto the ladder and watched as Awen darted away, slipping under the prow so that I lost sight of her within a few steps. I didn’t know what that was about, exactly, but I was sure I’d figure it out eventually.I got back to painting, adding more brightness to the Beaver so that it would look like a happy little ship. I was really looking forward to taking him out for a spin through the skies. We could paint stripes on the prop at the back in different colours so that it would look pretty when spinning, and I was sure they sold sails in colours that weren’t the plain white of the newly installed sails. We could have one in every colour!Humming a happy tune to myself, I continued painting with big cheery strokes. The sun was shining bright overhead, and the air smelled like fresh paint and-when the wind came in just right-like freshly baked bread.It was going to be lunchtime in a bit, a good excuse to pause, but until then I’d do as much as I could.“It’s a bit clunky,” I heard Amaryllis say.“Awa, I can try to make it better. Um, but I think it might be better if I start from scratch.”“That’s fair. I think most of it comes from my own lack of skill. It will take some practice before I reach a level of competency that I’m comfortable with.”I leaned back on the ladder until I could see my friends coming around the front of the Beaver. They weren’t alone.At first I thought they were with someone else, but I had to discard that as the third person stepped out into the light. It was a puppet. A big, human-sized puppet, one with limbs made from wooden stakes and with a barrel-like torso. It bore more similarities to the dummies used as target practice than with a proper mannequin.It clunked along, its wrists and ankles and joints tied to little cords running up into the air, then around and towards Amaryllis who was holding a little cross-shaped thing. “Done gawking?” she asked.“Not yet,” I said. “Is that for your puppetry skill?” I asked.“It is,” Amaryllis said. “More for the sake of practice than anything. Awen here made it for me.”Awen clasped her hands together and shook her head. “It was nothing. Amaryllis needed something to practice on, and I didn’t know what to make. It’s very rough.”“It works,” Amaryllis said. “Broccoli, do you have more paint and brushes?”“You’re going to help?”“World no, I’m not going to dirty my feathers with that gunk. Have you seen yourself?” She gestured at me. A glanced down and took in all the yellow streaks and dots all across my battledress. “You look like someone who survived some tragic incident involving an entire jar of mustard.”“I can clean it off,” I said.“Yes, but you won’t have to clean it off me because I won’t be covered in it,” Amaryllis said.I watched her walk off, her puppet stumbling after her as she made her way to a little shed where the paint and painting equipment was stored.“Ah... I didn’t make you anything, Broccoli,” Awen said. “I’m sorry? I couldn’t think of anything you needed. But, uh, if you do have something you want, please tell me?”I grinned down at her, and got a smile back in return. “I will! I’m sure the Beaver needs a whole bunch of things! He’s going to be the coolest ship ever, which means he needs the coolest gadgets ever.”Awen nodded. “That, that makes sense. I think... I think we can add some weapons, just in case of pirates.”I scrunched my nose up. “I guess that’s not a bad idea. Maybe weapons that are hard to see? In case of non-pirates. We don’t want to scare people off.”This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.Awen looked at the ship for a moment, and I could tell she was thinking something up. “I’ll be at the workshops,” she said.“Okay! I’ll call you back for lunch in a bit?” I asked.“Oh, of course!” she said.I waved her off and went back to work until Amaryllis stepped out of the shed. Her puppet had a can of paint tied to one hand and a paintbrush jammed in the other. It had acquired a few drops of yellow across its front, but the real change was Amaryllis. Her entire outfit, once a nice brown shirt-pants combo, now had a wet, sticky front in eye-searing yellow.I greeted her with a snort. “Going full canary?” I asked.“Shut up. Now use that peasant cleaning magic on me. I don’t want to be seen this way.”I hummed and tapped my chin with the back tip of my brush. “I don’t know. Humility is important.”“I am perfectly humble as I am, now clean me.”I splashed her with a bit of Cleaning magic and watched her shudder as the paint just kind of melted off of her. “Thank you,” she said.“No problem. So you’re going to paint with your puppet?”“That’s the idea, yes,” she said. “I need the practice, and the ship desperately needs a coat of paint. Not... this disgusting shade and colour, but beggars and choosers and so on.”“I like the yellow,” I said.She glared up at me. “I’m aware,” she said. “It’s very much your kind of colour. Next you’ll want us changing the sails to match.”“I was thinking they could be other pretty colours, actually,” I said.Amaryllis made a disgusted sound and moved to the side, her puppet dutifully following along. It slowly moved its hand over the bucket of paint it was holding, carefully dipped the tip of the brush in, then lifted that arm up with janky motions until it was hovering by the side of the ship.The arm struck out, hitting the hull with a dull thump and leaving a roundish yellow splatter on the side of the ship.“Uh,” I said.“Shush you. It’s natural that I don’t have the fluidity of a more seasoned artist.” She glared at the puppet and had it swing its arm around in a nice, fluid arc... that completely missed the side of the ship.“You keep practicing,” I said as I got back to my work.We continued in companionable silence, only interrupted by my occasional happy humming of old songs from kids shows I liked and the thump of Amaryllis’ puppet hitting the side of our ship and leaving great big splotches of yellow on it.It was only some time later that I noticed Gen-Gen and a pair of maids coming into the courtyard with a table between them and some trays. The butler helped the maids set up while another pair came over with some folding chairs and set them up around the table.“Miss Bunch, Miss Albatross, your luncheon is ready,” Gen-Gen said. “I have sent word to Miss Bristlecone as well, she should be joining you soon.”“Ah, thank you, Gen-Gen,” Amaryllis said as she carefully had her puppet fold down onto the ground in a way that didn’t tip over its bucket of paint. “I was getting a bit hungry.”“Indeed,” the butler said. “I should inform you that Miss Rosaline will be arriving soon. She wishes to visit the shopping areas later in the evening.”“Shopping is fun!” I said as I bounced down the ladder. Setting my paint can and brush down next to Amaryllis’ puppet, I took a moment to clean myself off then skipped over to the table.There was a kettle filled with boiling water, a small selection of teas, and a plate covered in different sorts of sandwiches. The maids bustled about for a bit, pulling out chairs for us and placing fresh plates around the table, and then-just like that-they were off in a flurry of black and white robes.“The staff here are really nice,” I told Amaryllis.“They had better be,” she said. “You wouldn’t believe how well-paid they are. It’s ridiculous.”“Really?”She nodded and picked out a couple of sandwiches. “They have ears and mouths; they could spread clan secrets. And it’s not unheard of for a servant to poison someone for the right price. So they’re paid well enough that any bribe to get them to betray the clan would need to be astronomical.”I nodded along as I pulled the kettle closer and then brought the tea box closer. There were all sorts to pick from, so I went about sniffing them all for the one that smelled like it would taste the best.Awen arrived just as I was stirring the tea. “Have fun?” I asked her.She nodded, her hands tangled up in a bit of cloth in an attempt to get some grease off her hands. She obviously didn’t notice the cute little smudge right on the tip of her nose, and I elected not to tell her until I had finished with the tea.“Milk, sugar, cream?” I asked.The girls told me what they wanted and I prepared three cups with a bit of a flourish.Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Tea Making skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!Rank D is a free rank!“Oh! Tea Making has ranked up,” I said as I sat back down.“That’s handy,” Awen said.Amaryllis sipped her cup. “I suppose it is. You really ought to invest in some non-plebeian skills.”“I’m working on i-”Bing Bong! Congratulations, your Wonderlander class has reached level 2Mana +5Flexibility +5You have gained: One Class PointYou have unlocked: One Class Skill SlotI blinked, then shivered as the little pulse of level-up joy coursed through me. “Oh,” I said.
