Page 397: Lookin' for a House
Lookin' for a House
Summary: Log Summary
Date: 22/08/2012
Related Logs: Guess What, Guess What?!
Players:
Justin Catryn 
An Old Goat Herder's Cottage on the Coastline, Terrick's Roost
It's forgotten, unused and on the cliffs.
Aug 22, 289

Justin starts his horse down the old goat herder's trail and pauses to look to see if Catryn is coming. If she is, he continues down the decline until the stones and thatched roof of the small house become visible. It is litterally tucked into a fold of the earth with earthen walls on three sides like a dug out, and a stone front to face the sea. The grass here is very green but the soil very thin, rocky. A wooden door is left standing ajar, the roof having been repaired in the recent past. It looks very, very small and cramped from out here. The remains of a pen with low stone walls makes for a paddock lower down and what looks to have been a small vegetable garden in the lee of the wall closest to the house for a few herbs, long since abandoned.

"It looks…perfect." And earthen walls mean they can dig extensions that no one needs to see. Set grooves into the cliff too, overtime, to make a path there that can be climbed rather than seeking elsewhere to get to the shores. Oh yes. Her smile proved one of pleased calculation. "Looks…perfect," the chit whispered; loud enough to be heard over the sound of waves crashing below.

Justin dismounts and drops the reins of the grey, unconcerned that the horse might wander. He shoulders the door open further, stuck a bit with humidity and swollen wood. The interior is dirty with a few things left behind but it's larger inside than it looks at first glance. The Terrick steps on in to have a look, Justin having to duck his head for the door isn't high enough for him.

Inside the single window on either side of the door let in light, though they are both smallish. The sides and back have been dug out already to form a decent sized chamber, curtained off for pirvacy to the back where there's a root cellar on one side and two bunks opposite. It's very quaint and simple and though there's a lot of rock and little earth, it is possible that more could be dug out. Or more house could easily be added on with a lower wall and roof before the main portion to make it multileveled. It smells like whoever used it last didn't bathe, a faint, dank and stale odor, "It needs cleaning out. There's enough room for one, maybe two if you can stand to be cramped. There are larger places I can show you, slightly better situated as well, but this one is the most whole. The others need far more repairs." Justin turns back to see if she has come in, "The low wall can be fixed easily enough but you'll need it higher to keep in goats. They climb."

Cat, who's smelled worse than this cramped little niche ever will, doesn't seem to notice. "Cleanin's easy te do. Aint much mind cramped either, juss need somer's te stay when we's here. Might poke at a garden cause it aint require lotsa handlin' all tha time, but..won't be keepin' no goats. We aint farmers, Justin," the girl says gently. "We'll pay tithe fer its use, aye, an square wit tha game but…we still travel. We're merchants, remember?" For all that she can't quite shake the way he's tryin' to sell her on this little fit for one person place makes her feel like he's askin, without words, for her to stay and plant the sort of roots that last.

She had ducked in though, followin' about in his wake and lookin' around with an eye to consider. A dreamers quality in the look; in the gaze. "But this'd be perfect an more than te come home too."

He turns to watch her looking around, leans a shoulder against the stone wall by the door and folds his arms over his chest, "Lots of families keep a milk cow or goats, even if they do other things. Up to you." It's none of his concern. "If you don't need the rock for wall pen, other folk could use the stone to fix up their places. Still a lot of rebuilding going on for a while yet." Justin idly chews on his lower lip and lets Catryn putter around as she likes. There's a hearth with a thin chimney that looks adequate to heat the place as it's small and snugly nestlted into the earth. Both of the small windows can be shuttered though the shutters need to be replaced, rotted or broken off. The door could be replaced as well but it'll due and likely the roof will leak in a bad storm. The Terrick Sheriff turns his head to look out the door that stands open perhaps about to step back out. For the moment, Justin simply watches the sea - the view is outstanding, the small house angled so most of the wind strikes the shoulder of the bluff and the face of the house is slightly north east, in the lee of that shoulder. Further to the east, one of the towers is barely visible.

"Yer talkin' like there's somethin' else on yer mind that ye aint sayin'," the girl presses gently, even as she pokes at a shutter to watch bites and pieces of rotten wood crumble away beneath the gentle press of her fingers before dusting her hand off on her thigh and fluttering on to something else. Like the hearth, which her slight head goes inside to look up. Blocked for all that she can't see the turn of clouds above it and enough twigs to show where somethin's taken up nestin'. "Dunno how te do nothin' with no goat. Ner a cow either. Mebe later, when we aint gotta stretch an skin an save what we got te pay someone te watch it when we head down te Seagard te restock." The stone, as what others dont need, more than plenty to cut in a path to make sure a man drunk in his cups dont go stumblin' off the edge there in the distance. "But it's nice," she murmurs again, softer this time, as she moves to slip up behind him.

Justin's attention is looking outside. He's not comfortable in this cavelike confined space. He steps out into the doorway, blocking it with his head just outside of it to feel the breath of the wind on his face. He glances back, resting his hands on the lintel stone over his shoulders, "What? I say what I mean. Or, well, with you. Milk cows are too expensive but a couple of goats you could easily leave to roam over the buff while you were away for a few days at a time. Especially if you had a dog to keep'm in check not to wander too far. Folk are liable to steel them otherwise." Perhaps less so if there's a dog to make strangers unwelcome. But in time goats will be commonplace enough once more. Justin is aware that Catryn's stepping up behind him and he half shifts, about to step out of the doorway to clear it for her if she wishes to go and inspect the low wall.

"Perhaps," the girl agrees, though when he moves to shift, those slender arms reach out with intention to wrap in around his waist, so that she can press in close from behind and rest her head in against the curve of his upper arm, since she's not so tall as to be able to reach her chin to his shoulder. "Dog could be nice though. Kinda makes me wish I hadn't given away Stupid te that lord but…we was pinchin' pennies in truth then an I's afraid we couldn't feed 'im. Tha lord could. An tha page seemed happy enough te make him a pet. He'll live in a good home now," she mused. "Could keep a goat er two, mebe, iffen…say…ye wouldna care te teach me."

Ah, that is much better. Justin lowers his arms and drops his hands to her own when they come around his sides. He tips his head over to listen to her, giving a faint shrug, "I don't know much about goats myself. Far as I know, you let'm eat, give them water, and they pretty much take care of themselves. You can milk the nannies. Probably I can send Mistress Dania to show you. Have you met her, Catryn? She's a good woman. Ser Keelin's sister. They came down with the Mallisters to help us with the rebuilding."

He stands quietly for a few more minutes, half in and half out of the doorway before he turns part way. Justin would slip an arm around Catryn herself as well, content with her nearness. It could be he's growing rather fond of her, lifting a hand to lightly stroke the side of her face and push back some of her hair the wind is trying to blow around.

"Well tha' sounds like somethin' I can manage. Though, iffen ye dun know more, I can…oh. I've met ye Dania. Think I'll ask Oliva. Horse Mistress, mayhaps, should I find meself wit a goat." Offered back with a little shrug, as she drank in the warmth that rolled off his body even despite the breeze. When he turns though, she shifts; tucking herself in properly against his chest as she looks up at him. A soft smile on her lips for the brush of his fingers, where her head tips then, so that she can press her lips in against the center of his palm in a soft little kiss.

"Sometimes, you aggrivate and frustrate me, Catryn. And other times … you put me more at my ease than anything else in the world." She may do what she likes with his palm, assuming she has stripped off his riding glove. Justin's hand is likely sweaty and smells both of himself and leather. His other arm tightens a little around her very slender waist thinking of the pleasures they have shared. Justin turns the last bit to tug off his other glove and after tucking them into his belt, runs his hands over Catryn's shapely back, "I should get back to my duties." He might however be reluctant to depart from her. A parting kiss seems worth trying, reaching a hand up to tangle into her windblown hair that he might tip her head back and try for her mouth with his own.

"S'okay," the girl smiles, the soft gesture half genuine smile, half grin threatening to shine through with her tease, "Because ye do tha same fer me, too. But whatchin' ye frown an pull away, only makes the moments when ye melt an it feels like fer a lil bit yer mine, all that sweeter." Given then, with sincerety in her eyes. The sweat of his palm, the twang of leather with it, not minded in the least and then even less, for the feel of his hands at her back. The faintest of frowns too, at mention of his loss; the tremble of a pout there at her bottom lip. "Yer a hard man te steal moments wit," she murmured, before that sigh came for the sink of his hand into her hair; her head tipping up to meet his own without question as she returned his kiss. Poured all the affection she didn't have words for into it, too, as her skinny arms wrapped 'round his neck.

He'd like to dally with her, he would. But not here. It's … too closed in, and the place makes him want back out of it, clausterphobic. Justin lingers long enough in kissing her to become aware of her arousing him, but gently and firmly he sets Catryn back. A sigh, then a smile, "You have work to do as well, if you wish to claim this place for your own. The pen might even due for your mules, with some work." Justin steps on out into the daylight, reaching a hand for his horse's reins to turn the grey in preparation for mounting, "Tell your father that his temporary permit is in order. He can come to me for the paper, then he may seek to meet with Huntmaster Kain."

"Endless are the moments that I can ply my hands here with work," Cat replies, the kiss broken too soon for the way she pouts; her hands stroking slowly down the front of his chest, reluctant to stop touching him completely. "But rare are those to which I may steal with you," it finished, neatly spun as she watched him move away. It wasn't easy now, it wouldn't be easy later. "Ye could find him at tha inn now, if you look. Or I could juss take it to him." For all that she fights to close the door in her wake, enough so that the wind cant blow in more mess for her to clear away. "Or ye could take us both to the inn." She suggests, attemping to buy more time with him.

"If you'll ride behind me, and if you don't think it'll arouse suspicion. For your sake more than my own. I do not wish for your father to strike you, Catryn. It would anger me." Justin steps up into the saddle and if she wishes to ride with him, he'll take her. The stirrup and the arm are offered as they were before. The saddle isn't really made for riding double, both the cantle and the pommel too high to keep a man seated in rough work.

"I've caught rides with your knights before," the girl replies, "Aint no one say nothin' fer it." And this time, because it's people they're headed towards, when hand and stirrup both are taken, the girl swings on behind; fitting her body in close to his, her arms hugged round his middle so her hands can stroke lazy on his thighs, her breasts crushed in against his back. Close as she can wiggle, when fitted on behind the high back of the cantle. But Cat's small and doesn't take up much room anyway and might be luck to weigh ten stones soaking wet.

She needs to be careful what she does with those agile hands of hers, lest she seriously distract him. Justin is all too keenly aware of her close in against his back. He turns the grey and starts up the slope, wistful of going down to the surf instead and finding a sandy place amid the rocks. But no, there's work he should tend to first, then the evening to do as he pleases.