#debukefarmhold

DeBukes don't always like Change, and it Mrs. Novak doesn't like OWING People ,so she's gonna help these furking sotheads anyway! It's what they get for being so disgustingly nice! She knows shit about farms, but she knows Solar punk tech like most folks only dream of, and after Clem nearly lost her daughter (Okay, the kid flew off... literally but still) and then chased her as a HAWK ... well, the Chief felt so guilty that she let Lumenesa (Not her mortal name) get to work on one building. Solar Panels on top of a spare barn as a test run.

Roofs are fun! Amity is perched near the ridge, ready to hand over tools.

"Good girl, you got your shades on?" Her mom states. She doesn't have the rapport with her daughter she does with Les, but she loves her little Naar kid anyway.

The woman takes the tool, meant for delicate prescise work, then uses the handle as a hammer and bangs a panel into place.

Around the farm, the banging of the construction causes mild looks of alarm in very tall people.

"I'm so cool I gotta wear shades."

"...How come sunglasses are shades but dark windows are tints?"

"Because morons and marketeers , but I repeat myself, too often direct the furking nomenclature," Her mom answers bluntly, "Words have systems, but they're so loosely applied and evolving that it's a pain. That's why I prefer the sure fire and sensible solutions of SCIENCE. Now pass your mom the sunflower seed oil and the eyes of newt, okay?" Hand out.

A little coo of agreement, bird sounds are sometimes easier than figuring out if yes or no is better. She passes the supplies.

She takes it, and there is a some kind of mixer over there that is put to use, too loud for a conversation for a moment, but it passes, and her mom begins applying the admixture, "Okay, featherhead, how was your friend at the park the other day?"

Her wings ruffle, feathers puffing out. "I don't know. I wanted..." A frown.

"It was the same."

Lumenesa wishes she had her husband's sense of... what's the term again where you actually give a shit? Oh yeah, Empathy. She's not heartless, she just... reading people can be hard, but for your kids you GOTTA try, so she does, "Some say change is good, some say it is bad, your court will be yours to decide, but I can tell ya that 'Change is'. We don't have to like it, but we all gotta live with it." A pause, " Tell me more about what you wanted? Your mom doesn't always speak featherhead right, but I'll try okay?"

"There aren't any streetlights here."

"Or streets," Her mom says, working another panel into place, "Or OTHER things and people we might miss." A nod "We won't be here forever honey, but I can't promise we'll go back to Des Moines. I won't furking lie to you about that. " A beat "The troll kids boring you to tears?"

"They're too tall, I can't talk up that high."

"Why can't we go home?"

The louder whamming is sign Lumenesa can take out her own frustration on inanimate objects because it's the safest spot. She's not mad at her daughter, she's frustrated she can't fix this the way the kid wants. But her voice remains gentle, by Nocker standards, "Because it's gone, kiddo. Destroyed. I ... there's banal stuff in the world, like insurance policies and greedy businessmen ready to snatch up any land they can in case of calamity. But, that house, was over all just a building. Home is wherever we end up calling our own. We'll get a nicer place, and... We'll get you something closer to a city."

Below, the youngest shoots by at top speed! The young centaur not missing the urban area nearly as much.

"But can't you just fix it? Like my Switch?"

"You could make The Face!" She screws up her eyebrows and juts out her jaw in an imitation NockerGlare.

For a moment, her mom's features shift, patterns of on her face turning a touch gray blue, but then her daughter does the 'The Face' and Lumenesa LAUGHS, "Frick kid, i knew there was a reason I kept you around. Is THAT what i look like?"

"Nope. My hair is prettier."

"One day I'm gonna read you snow white, that'll make you more cautious... " But the smile stays before she remembers the question, "There was a time before time was measured I could have made the face and restored everything, back when we were full fae, Nockers could craft shingles out of sunlight, and solid walls out of willfulness. But... that building we stayed in is not just toast, kid, it's CRUMBLED and blown away toast. I can't repair from nothing, especially not these days," Her mother installs another panel and nother then looks back, "Is it really about the building?"

The words get stuck in her throat, and she shakes her head.

Her mom nods, "I didn't think so. 'Change is'," She repeats, but then says "But there's power in building up again with buildings, and maybe there's some in new homes in other ways too. Friends old are gold, but silver in the new ones aren't bad. That's a phrase from some old song..." Below them , Amity's dad has a wheelbarrow . Piskies maybe be sticky fingered but they are not afraid of hard work.

Oh, Amity knows that song. She hums a few notes.

"That's the one," Her mom nods, "My point is, BOTH are treasured, and you can't get so worried about losing the gold you don't bother to touch the silver. Now, your dad and I... you know your dad, the knobhead I fell in love with?" She waves a gloved hand down to him. He looks up, and blows her a kiss! Her mom rolls her eyes and but her patterns shift to a tone of fondness anyway, and she continues talking to her daughter, "Your dad and I are talking about where to set up a new place, looking for new jobs. That kind of thing. Turns out this supposedly isolated little farm knows people in different areas of Concordia too. Ones where we might be able to thrive. But while we make that choice, maybe you and your sibs could work together on what you're hoping for ?"

"The Big Blue Orange is okay."

"Big Blue Orange?" her mom gets that look non pooka get when they don't get it but wish they did.

"Well, she's not nearly the size she SHOULD be, based on her name. Maybe she's secretly a pooka."

More hammering to buy herself time to figure this one out. She thinks of the various people with 'big sounding names' , and in a troll area big is easy to imagine. Someone is not a pooka but should be. Mmm Hammer hammer muse.

A light bulb comes on, "Oh! Chief Clem? Right short for Clementine. I never bothered to ask."

"Honestly, I'm surprised more of them aren't named after produce. At least one's gotta be Cornstalk, right?"

"Knee-High Ju-Ly DeBuke."

"AND none of them are GREEN, even when they're GIANTS!"

A snort of humor, " Would not be surprised," She agrees, "Wait, are you staying you want to stick around HERE? " A pause and she looks around at the incredibly rural area, "It's awfully... folksy..."

A disgruntled chirrup.

"The baby'd like that." A touch sullen.

"Oh, oh," A realization and the hammering stops for a moment. Her mom takes a breath, and moves over to Amity to give her a side hug, "Yeah. I noticed that too. But, you know, while I am very proud of you wanting what is best for others, you are ALLOWED to have preferences and ALLOWED to to consider what you like as well. We need something less tight and crowded than last time, sure, but it's not an extreme of 'skyscrapers OR cornstalks', there's a few urban areas with a bit of room, townhouses, n then suburbs with small but independent houses with tiny yards, then deeper out with bigger houses and bigger yards. The world is actually kind of varied, and so are living areas. So.. we don't have to be banished to the Cornfield while some creepy Oppie looking kid scares everyone."

Amity latches on to her Mom, squirming deep into the hug she didn't ask for and very much wanted.

Again, Lumenesa wishes she got those damn Schematics, but instinct and experience do help. She takes the deeper hug and holds her daughter for a moment, "We gotcha, featherhead. We gotcha. Your mom isn't always good at this shi... stuff, but I'll never give up on ya. You know this right? I mean, you LOOK smart... so I figured you did know, but just in case.."

"Smarter than Les. I mean, he's Les-Smart by definition..."

A snort, then faux chide "Don't pick on your brother... " In a lower voice "At least not within lunge reach." Then she smiles needles glistening, "Okay okay, hug is continuing for A BIT longer but then I should get back to work. So... opinions on HOW 'streety' we need a place to be? "

"Streetlights. And two stoplights, minimum. And a McDonald's AND a Wendy's."

"The french fries are very different and that's a priority."

She ponders this, "Actually, I think I understood that and your dad would agree. You know how he is about Wendy Fries when it's a McDonald's fries day... " Of course, the bastard steals his wife's fries regardless of type but she loves him anyway.

She huffs and rolls her eyes. "McDonald's fries would NEVER hold up to Frosty-dipping."

"Good point, structural integrity matters, glad you got a LITTLE Of your mom in you," She approves.

"I have studied a great deal of architecture, thank you very much. I'm an expert at windows."