GBOS: Unusual Labours, Unusual Labourers
Apr. 22nd, 2010 11:53 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsMeggan and Megan help out raising more tents to shelter refugees, to the surprise of the normal volunteers.
"You know, I joined the Red Cross to travel to interesting place, meet exotic people. Instead, I'm doing the exact same job in construction that I left when I joined." One of the young men mock groused, as he worked on the framing for the larger tent barracks that were being set up to handle as many of the refugees as possible. The structures weren't more than wooden frames with some steel supports, then wired and covered with a waterproof tarp to provide some protection against the wind and rain. It didn't need technical ability as much as just the willingness to help, and both Meggan and Megan had been asked to help out.
Pixie hovered slightly above the ground, holding an extension cord that she was going to fly up to the ceiling of one the barracks. There would be electricity in the barracks, provided by the generators. The task might have been mundane, but her wings were buzzing with excitement. She was just glad to be part of something. And it was a chance to get to know more about Meggan, whom she hadn't spent a lot of time with outside of the common room of their suite.
"Can you hand me a couple of the nails?" she asked the other girl.
"Sure!" Meggan left the spot she was working on and gathered some from nearby. She held them up for Pixie to take as she worked. For her, being here was mostly a willingness to help out, since everyone needed all the help they could get here. The more hands that chipped in, the better. Maybe just a little bit of it had to do with wanting to do something good after the recent period of Selene using her as a puppet.
The two other men working on the framing stopped, watching them work, and one cuffed the other on the shoulder. "See Dave, wings exotic enough for you, mate?" He said with a thick Australian accent, before turning back to his own work. He grinned back and motioned to a stack of crates.
"Flying wiring people. Cool. Look, see those boxes? Inside are the fixtures and everything to wire the place up. It's simple. All you need to do is secure the lines and outlets, and make sure all the wires run to the box down at the base of the frame there." He pointed to a metal box. "The electrician will come around and hook everything up to the generators later. They're a bitch for us to hang, but if you two want to take charge..."
"Okay," said Pixie, nodding as she took the parts from Meggan and flew them up to the ceiling, where she cautiously fixed them in place. The work went smoothly. Fly down, take the part Meggan had ready, fly up, hang, repeat. She was a little wary of the construction workers, though, having caught the comment about her wings. Finally she just decided to ignore them for the most part and concentrate on the task at hand.
"It's my first time away from the school since I started at Professor Xavier's," she said to Meggan as she flew down to grab the end of another wire.
Meggan held up the wire for Pixie to take on her next trip down. She was also trying to ignore the construction workers, but looked up at her comment. "Oh?" She tried to decide if this was her third or fourth time out this time around--not counting field trips and trips home, the answer was probably still a big no. She shrugged sheepishly, with a slight smile. "I think I've actually lost count, between stuff going on."
"Well, I did go to Dori's farm during winter break. That was fun." She'd nearly forgotten about that. "But this is like my first school trip. When did you start going to school here?" She landed for a minute, instead to take a short break. Hovering steady in the air seemed to take a lot more energy than actually flying.
"Let's see. It'll be...two years in October, actually." If you didn't just count school, and counted other things like living there, then it was almost two years, plus around eight months or so years ago for her. First class trip for her certainly hadn't been dull.
"Cool," said Pixie. She wanted to ask all about the other girl, but she wasn't sure how. So she took a few sips of water from her water bottle, screwed the lid back on, and zipped back into the air to attach the other end of the wire.
Meggan wanted to make things slightly easier on the other girl--a pulley system probably wouldn't work, though, with what they had. When a better plan came to mind, she shook her head. And why hadn't she thought of this before? "Hey, maybe if I levitate a bit, you won't have to fly back and forth so far? Do you think that could help?" Pixie wouldn't get as tired out that way. Meggan could try to just sit in one spot in the air for a while, while working. And hope she didn't fall back down if she got distracted.
"Oh hey, you can levitate? That's awesome. Yeah, that would help a lot," said Pixie enthusiastically in her airy voice. "I'm not actually very good at hovering." She glanced back at the makeshift barracks, guessing that they still had a little more than half to go, but the next half should go a lot faster.
Meggan grinned as she replied, "Not extremely high up like the top of a tree or anything, but this should work." She hoped. It had been good for getting things from a shelf she couldn't reach, or just floating around so far--occasionally getting to a tree branch she couldn't hope to jump up to.
It should also be good for this sort of task. She quickly grabbed her tools and whatever else she needed, sitting it in her lap. She didn't want to get up there and have to go back down again, just because she'd forgotten something. Slowly but surely she managed to get up to around the level she was shooting for. "How's this? High enough?"
"Great!" said Pixie. Now she just had to move a few feet and back--she could almost stretch that far. If they kept inching along, there shouldn't be a lot of moving back and forth for either of the girls. After continuing in this manner for a while, Pixie noticed that they were getting a lot of stares. Maybe two flying people was too odd of a spectacle.
"Red-X. I told you, mate. Got friends worked with them other places. Build camps with their minds and that." The Australian volunteer grinned. "That's an hour's work in twenty minutes, ladies. When you get that finished off, come on down and we'll celebrate with the finest bottled water the UN can donate."
Levitating had definitely made things go even faster than Meggan had expected, and she had only wobbled once in the midst of things. She took another look at the progress. “Think it might just be a little bit more, actually.” She couldn’t help a small smile at the last comment, glad that the workers hadn’t been too uncomfortable with seeing them levitating and flying. Water definitely sounded like a good way to celebrate, too.
Pixie agreed, saying "Yeah, we maybe have half an hour left." She was also glad that the workers seemed used to mutants like her and Meggan. "And I am getting a bit thirsty. I wonder how the others are getting on?" she added, meaning the other kids they shared a suite with at the dorms.
Meggan nodded, commenting with a small chuckle, “It’s thirsty work. Just another half hour and then we can have some nice, cool water.” And a rest from levitating for a few minutes, along with a snack. She was also glad that periodically floating around the mansion to build up the height she could reach was actually paying off. She had also been thinking of the others, too. “Hopefully they’re making good progress.”
"You know, I joined the Red Cross to travel to interesting place, meet exotic people. Instead, I'm doing the exact same job in construction that I left when I joined." One of the young men mock groused, as he worked on the framing for the larger tent barracks that were being set up to handle as many of the refugees as possible. The structures weren't more than wooden frames with some steel supports, then wired and covered with a waterproof tarp to provide some protection against the wind and rain. It didn't need technical ability as much as just the willingness to help, and both Meggan and Megan had been asked to help out.
Pixie hovered slightly above the ground, holding an extension cord that she was going to fly up to the ceiling of one the barracks. There would be electricity in the barracks, provided by the generators. The task might have been mundane, but her wings were buzzing with excitement. She was just glad to be part of something. And it was a chance to get to know more about Meggan, whom she hadn't spent a lot of time with outside of the common room of their suite.
"Can you hand me a couple of the nails?" she asked the other girl.
"Sure!" Meggan left the spot she was working on and gathered some from nearby. She held them up for Pixie to take as she worked. For her, being here was mostly a willingness to help out, since everyone needed all the help they could get here. The more hands that chipped in, the better. Maybe just a little bit of it had to do with wanting to do something good after the recent period of Selene using her as a puppet.
The two other men working on the framing stopped, watching them work, and one cuffed the other on the shoulder. "See Dave, wings exotic enough for you, mate?" He said with a thick Australian accent, before turning back to his own work. He grinned back and motioned to a stack of crates.
"Flying wiring people. Cool. Look, see those boxes? Inside are the fixtures and everything to wire the place up. It's simple. All you need to do is secure the lines and outlets, and make sure all the wires run to the box down at the base of the frame there." He pointed to a metal box. "The electrician will come around and hook everything up to the generators later. They're a bitch for us to hang, but if you two want to take charge..."
"Okay," said Pixie, nodding as she took the parts from Meggan and flew them up to the ceiling, where she cautiously fixed them in place. The work went smoothly. Fly down, take the part Meggan had ready, fly up, hang, repeat. She was a little wary of the construction workers, though, having caught the comment about her wings. Finally she just decided to ignore them for the most part and concentrate on the task at hand.
"It's my first time away from the school since I started at Professor Xavier's," she said to Meggan as she flew down to grab the end of another wire.
Meggan held up the wire for Pixie to take on her next trip down. She was also trying to ignore the construction workers, but looked up at her comment. "Oh?" She tried to decide if this was her third or fourth time out this time around--not counting field trips and trips home, the answer was probably still a big no. She shrugged sheepishly, with a slight smile. "I think I've actually lost count, between stuff going on."
"Well, I did go to Dori's farm during winter break. That was fun." She'd nearly forgotten about that. "But this is like my first school trip. When did you start going to school here?" She landed for a minute, instead to take a short break. Hovering steady in the air seemed to take a lot more energy than actually flying.
"Let's see. It'll be...two years in October, actually." If you didn't just count school, and counted other things like living there, then it was almost two years, plus around eight months or so years ago for her. First class trip for her certainly hadn't been dull.
"Cool," said Pixie. She wanted to ask all about the other girl, but she wasn't sure how. So she took a few sips of water from her water bottle, screwed the lid back on, and zipped back into the air to attach the other end of the wire.
Meggan wanted to make things slightly easier on the other girl--a pulley system probably wouldn't work, though, with what they had. When a better plan came to mind, she shook her head. And why hadn't she thought of this before? "Hey, maybe if I levitate a bit, you won't have to fly back and forth so far? Do you think that could help?" Pixie wouldn't get as tired out that way. Meggan could try to just sit in one spot in the air for a while, while working. And hope she didn't fall back down if she got distracted.
"Oh hey, you can levitate? That's awesome. Yeah, that would help a lot," said Pixie enthusiastically in her airy voice. "I'm not actually very good at hovering." She glanced back at the makeshift barracks, guessing that they still had a little more than half to go, but the next half should go a lot faster.
Meggan grinned as she replied, "Not extremely high up like the top of a tree or anything, but this should work." She hoped. It had been good for getting things from a shelf she couldn't reach, or just floating around so far--occasionally getting to a tree branch she couldn't hope to jump up to.
It should also be good for this sort of task. She quickly grabbed her tools and whatever else she needed, sitting it in her lap. She didn't want to get up there and have to go back down again, just because she'd forgotten something. Slowly but surely she managed to get up to around the level she was shooting for. "How's this? High enough?"
"Great!" said Pixie. Now she just had to move a few feet and back--she could almost stretch that far. If they kept inching along, there shouldn't be a lot of moving back and forth for either of the girls. After continuing in this manner for a while, Pixie noticed that they were getting a lot of stares. Maybe two flying people was too odd of a spectacle.
"Red-X. I told you, mate. Got friends worked with them other places. Build camps with their minds and that." The Australian volunteer grinned. "That's an hour's work in twenty minutes, ladies. When you get that finished off, come on down and we'll celebrate with the finest bottled water the UN can donate."
Levitating had definitely made things go even faster than Meggan had expected, and she had only wobbled once in the midst of things. She took another look at the progress. “Think it might just be a little bit more, actually.” She couldn’t help a small smile at the last comment, glad that the workers hadn’t been too uncomfortable with seeing them levitating and flying. Water definitely sounded like a good way to celebrate, too.
Pixie agreed, saying "Yeah, we maybe have half an hour left." She was also glad that the workers seemed used to mutants like her and Meggan. "And I am getting a bit thirsty. I wonder how the others are getting on?" she added, meaning the other kids they shared a suite with at the dorms.
Meggan nodded, commenting with a small chuckle, “It’s thirsty work. Just another half hour and then we can have some nice, cool water.” And a rest from levitating for a few minutes, along with a snack. She was also glad that periodically floating around the mansion to build up the height she could reach was actually paying off. She had also been thinking of the others, too. “Hopefully they’re making good progress.”
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