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Post by Will Scarlett on Jun 15, 2009 6:25:52 GMT 1
"We could meet at the edge of the forest near here at about ten"
Roe smiled back and nodded his head in affirmation. "Sounds like a plan to me. That will give me some time to get started before you get there." Roe started to exit out the front door. "Well .... I'll let you ladies get to your other important work. Just so you ladies know .... if you don't already .... I'm the carpenter and outlaw, Will Scarlett, formerly of Locksley village and currently of Sherwood Forest. If you are still interested in my help I will bre at the suggested place in the morning. Until then."
Without waiting for a reply, Will headed for the section in Sherwood that he had been thinking of as a good location to harvest Beech fronds of the right age and flexibility, and started the work of cutting and separating them before heading back to camp. After a good night's sleep he headed off to the place he had cut the beech fronds from, and dragged them to the edge of Sherwood where they had agreed to meet at about 8 in the morning.
He had decided to head off early in the off-chance, although unlikely one, that his new acquaintances would have alerted the Sheriff and set a trap for him. Although he had already cut the beech fronds and transported them part of the way, he still had to split them into manageable sections and trim off the parts he wouldn't need.
He already sensed it was going to be a warm day, so he removed his cloak, and unbuttoned the front of his shirt most of the way so that he wouldn't overheat and get too sweaty. It was hard and monotonous work, and he figured it would take most of the morning to get the beech fronds ready to haul the rest of the way, to Locksley, and then most of the rest of the afternoon to get them installed properly.
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Post by Amelia Alana Barrowcliffe on Jun 16, 2009 7:46:47 GMT 1
Amelia woke up early that morning making sure that she would not be late for meeting Will. She got dressed and headed into the kitchen. She grabbed some bread and water for the task at hand.
Alina was already awake and was sat in her usual chair watching her. Amelia walked over and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll be back soon" She said while heading to the door.
"Be safe" Alina said as Amelia opened the door to leave.
"I will" Amelia said as she left. She knew the walk would take a while but she wanted to help.
Twenty minutes later she reached the edge of the forest and saw Will busy at work.
"Hi" She said with a smile.
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Post by Will Scarlett on Jun 16, 2009 12:17:41 GMT 1
What Will had done the the afternoon and evening before had been pretty simple. Identify where the 'good' was, cut it down, and drag it to the place where he complete the next step. At the edge of the forest he was splitting the individual fronds from the tree and trimming them. It was a more laborious and time consuming process, and required a finer touch, using his smaller hatchet.
The sun was just getting to its mid-morning position, and the conditions were just beginning to produce a full sweat on Will, when he began to hear the rustle of leaves and the snapping of twigs as Amelia approached, and said "Hi".
He just looked up for a moment, with a quick smile, and said "Hello and how are you on the fine warm mornin'." He quickly stood up and wiped some sweat from his brow. The back of his shirt clung pretty closely to his back because of the swear that had accumulated there, enough so the individual muscles could be seen pretty clear. The light morning breeze was blowing through the unbuttoned front of his shirt, blowing the lower half away from his body, but at the same time keeping most of his front dry from any perspiration.
"If you are looking for something to do, I brought this sled from camp that we can pile the fronds on and drag them back to Locksley. It has 2 ropes on it. I'm about halfway through the beech branches I dragged over here, so we should be well ready to head back by the time the sun is in its noon position," he said as he leaned on his hatchet for support, as the wind blew through his shirt, his face felt the warmth of the sun, and he smiled at his new friend. "It doesn't bother you too much that I'm an outlaw does it?," he asked.
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Post by Amelia Alana Barrowcliffe on Jun 17, 2009 9:35:57 GMT 1
"It doesn't bother you too much that I'm an outlaw does it?,"
Amelia looked at Will and smiled. "Not at all" She said "If you think about it my family and i are outlaws back home because we ran from our master"
She pulled out the water bottle and took a drink.
"Water?" She asked and offered it to Will.
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Post by Will Scarlett on Jun 17, 2009 18:54:48 GMT 1
He had heard here coming from some distance, so her sudden appearance wasn't too much of a surprise. He thought for a moment if he should make himself a bit more presentable, but then thought to himself that the workthey were doing was more important than his appearance.
Will's throat was quite dry, so he took the offer of a drink most gladly. Besides, the day was becoming a bit warm, so he had already given up enough water to the air, and he knew it would have to be replaced.
She had responded to his question about his outlaw status without much of a delay. Either she had been expecting it or she had thought a similar answer to a similar question years before. "If you don't have any questions for me you can begin dragging some of those fronds over to the sled, and pile them up, so we can drag them to your place at the village .... ok?"
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Post by Amelia Alana Barrowcliffe on Jun 18, 2009 8:38:00 GMT 1
Amelia smiled as he took the water and she had to distract herself from his appearance. She found men that work very appealing and was a little hot under the collar.
"If you don't have any questions for me you can begin dragging some of those fronds over to the sled, and pile them up, so we can drag them to your place at the village .... ok?"
She looked over at the fronds "Ok" She said and started work.
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Post by Will Scarlett on Jun 18, 2009 10:19:50 GMT 1
Will saw what looked like an embarrassed smile slowly spread across her face. It seemed that Amelia had smiled as she had given him the water in his somewhat exposed condition. He did notice that she did not look at him directly and he wondered why. He could not fathom that she was affected in any great way. "If my shirt bothers you I will button it back up, it was just more comfortable this way. My apologies if I've offended you in any way."
With her help Will began to load up the beech. He took the fronds and stacked them in a very particular way, so that the result was a pyramid in which the number of beech fronds was maximized while the wood sled was not made too heavy too pull easily. "I think that we will be able to get the rest on one load," and Will tested theropes thhat were to be used to pull the sled along. Will did not appear, at first glance, to be that muscular. However, when he put some stress on them, they stood out quite easily, and at least in this case, the sled moved easily.
"Will looked up and said, "I think we're ready to go!"
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Post by Amelia Alana Barrowcliffe on Jun 18, 2009 15:45:59 GMT 1
"If my shirt bothers you I will button it back up, it was just more comfortable this way. My apologies if I've offended you in any way."
Amelia blushed slightly "No not at all".
Together they put the fronds on the sled.
"I think we're ready to go!"
"Ok" she said with a smile.
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Post by Will Scarlett on Jun 18, 2009 21:55:35 GMT 1
Will could tell by the way she blushed, though, that it was effecting her somewhat. So he proceeded to button up the bottom portion of it anyway. "I'm glad it doesn't bother you, but through this brush it would be a good idea to be covered up. I'll take the right-hand rope and you can take the left. If it proves to be too much for you just let me know and I'll pull bot for awhile. We'll be in Locksley before you know it."
True to his word they were quickly within sight of Locksley, and they made a beeline for her house. They stopped and Will started unloading pieces of beech from the sled so that Will could take them up to the roof and begin his work.
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Post by Amelia Alana Barrowcliffe on Jun 20, 2009 10:52:01 GMT 1
Amelia watched as Will started unloading the fronds and wood. She wondered if there was anything else she could do to help but she knew that he would probably not allow her on the roof so she didn't ask. Instead she walked into her house, her mother had fallen asleep to her sewing. Careful so not to wake her she walked into the house to make the three of them some lunch. After a few minutes she woke up her mother.
"Have some lunch, mother" She said as her mother looked at the plate she had set on the table.
"Thank you, dear" Adina said with a smile.
She called outside to Will "Will, are you hungry?".
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Post by Will Scarlett on Jun 20, 2009 15:43:55 GMT 1
Will thought that Amelia had been quite helpful so far, however, it was part of his nature to work by himself on carpentry projects, unless it became painfully obvious that he needed help to complete a masive project. This was not one of those cases. However, he was not against her coming up to watch if she wanted. He decided that that would be up to her. Within a few moments he saw her walk into the house, he shrugged and got to work.
First, it was necessary to re-create the framework that he would weave the new beech into the older parts of the thatch. Will had finished recreating that framework and had just weaved the first few fronds in when he heard Amelia's voice.
She called outside to Will "Will, are you hungry?"
"Always and forever, what do you have?," he asked as he slid down from the roof.
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Post by Amelia Alana Barrowcliffe on Jun 21, 2009 7:36:04 GMT 1
"Always and forever, what do you have?,"
Amelia smiled as this. "I have made a stew" She said as she offered him a bowl full. "I am not as good a cook as my mother, so I'm not sure if it is any good"
This was the truth her family had always eaten her cooking and claimed it was good but they were a really close family that hated hurting each other so she was unsure of if they were telling the truth.
"You can tell me if it is bad, i will not take offense to it" She said with a smile.
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Post by Will Scarlett on Jun 21, 2009 16:31:42 GMT 1
Will's feet gently padded on the ground, being the well-practiced climber, builder, and carpenter he was. His lanky, long-muscled frame was well-suited to it. The point of fact, though, was he was quite hungry.
"Actually, I have not eaten since noon-time on the yesterday, so I'm sure whatever you have I'll gobble right up. A stew ... that would be wickedly good I'm sure. I'm sure you underestimate yourself," he said sitting down at the table.
He quickly crossed himself before he hate, and carefully blowing on the spoon to cool it took a large bite and gulp. "It is outstanding," he said as he hungrily downed half of it before taking much of a breath. "The cook is to be congratulated .... I expect I should stop goofing off and get back to work, but the food is so good and scenery so lovely that it is difficult," he winked as headed back for the roof. Will wondered, as he climbed, what had gotten into him. It must be the good food he thought to himself. Tht last line was more like Allan or Robin .... they must be a bad influence on me he thought to himself.
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Post by Amelia Alana Barrowcliffe on Jun 22, 2009 8:59:40 GMT 1
"It is outstanding,"
Amelia couldn't help but smile as Will ate his stew. She was glad that he enjoyed it.
"The cook is to be congratulated .... I expect I should stop goofing off and get back to work, but the food is so good and scenery so lovely that it is difficult,"
Amelia couldn't help but blush as he winked before walking out. 'Get a hold of yourself girl' She thought to herself as she started clearing up.
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Post by Will Scarlett on Jun 22, 2009 12:02:39 GMT 1
As Will scrambled back up the side of the house on to the stable part of the roof he thought to himself that that was not an empty compliment he had given. The stew had been good and she was quite good company.
Will began weaving the beech into the roof and was making good progress, however, he found that in the final area that his sirt kept hetting snagged on some of the and frayed thatching. The afternnoon was getting quite warm anyway, so he took off his shirt as he began finihing up his work. He did get a few scratches as a result, but at least it kept his shirt from getting sweaty.
Within a short period of time he was finished. He grabbed his tools and scrambled down to the ground and got them organized for his trip back to the camp. He then realized that he'd left his shirt up on the roof, so he scrambled back up to retrieve it. Once he reached the bottom again he threw it on and began buttoning it backup. "Amelia .... I'm finished ..... before I go I'd like you to look and see if you're satisfied with the result."
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