#catch me outside fixing fences and tanning hides and then I can come inside and bake casserole

[blackbackedjackal]

I'm stuck somewhere between lesbian farmhand and lesbian housewife.

[visander]

From the Dirt | Read on Ao3

When Meliorn dragged Jace back to the graveyard, Jace had no clue what he was getting himself into but in the end, he couldn't really complain.

A soft AU about Jace and Meliorn tending to a graveyard and loving each other.

Working in the Graveyard was hard work, harder work than most people assumed it was. When Jace came into town and was initially offered the job, even he’d underestimated it. He thought it would be easy but now, Jace knew it was anything but.

At the time, he’d been desperate for a place to stay. He had no money. He had no job. He had very few options available to him and he had no clue what he was going to do. That’s when Jace just happened to come across Meliorn, who’d gone into one of the shops to purchase some supplies and then come out and found Jace’s sorry form standing outside.

For some reason, Jace’s dirty tangled hair and exhausted face caught the man’s attention. Maybe, it had just been because the village they were in was fairly small and Jace was new but regardless of the reason why, Meliorn had paused and after a moment of staring at him, he asked where Jace had come from.

Jace had looked up, frowned for a moment and taken in the man’s long braided hair, the way his green and tan tunic was tied rather elegantly around his waist and even the delicate leaf, which had been painted onto the man’s cheek. He was beautiful and interesting - two things Jace didn’t believe he was at all and certainly not in the state he’d been in that day. Jace hadn’t understood why this man had found anything about him appealing enough to stop and speak to him.

“Away,” Jace murmured at last, his answer not particularly compelling or forthcoming.

Meliorn’s eyes had flickered up and then down Jace’s body before he’d hummed in response. “Well, do you have anywhere to stay, awayer?” Meliorn asked at last.

Jace shook his head no and without any other prompting, Meliorn shoved the bag he was carrying into Jace’s arms - a bag of heavy fertilizer that Jace struggled to shift in his grasp and hold tighter, so he wouldn’t drop it. “Come then,” Meliorn said before he was turning away to walk down the stone path, away from the shop he’d just left. “Maybe, you can be of assistance to me,” he called over his shoulder.

Jace didn’t know what else to do besides follow. It wasn’t as if he had anything better to be doing. “You didn’t introduce yourself,” Jace said, as he struggled to catch up to the man’s quick footsteps.

“Meliorn,” he’d replied without turning.

Meliorn- Jace repeated in his head. What an interesting and pretty name for such an interesting and pretty person. “I’m Jace,” Jace said, even though he hadn’t been asked.

Meliorn hummed softly, not even looking back and as Jace followed. For a moment, Jace wondered exactly what he was getting himself into and then, he wondered if there was anything he could be walking towards that would make him not follow someone as captivating as Meliorn.

Apparently, there wasn’t.

.

Meliorn led Jace to the edge of town, where there lay a big decrepit graveyard, with weeds overflowing onto the gravestones and a fence that looked as if it had been completely taken over by nature. Jace might think the graveyard was abandoned, if couldn’t see that some of the stones were new and some of the dirt from the plots was recently overturned.

Meliorn led Jace towards the back, where they came across a small stone building half buried in a hill. Meliorn pushed the door open and gestured for Jace to walk into the cold damp place. Jace had moved inside without thinking, even though the room deeply unsettled him. He felt as if he was about to be locked in the dark alone. He was thankful when Meliorn moved in behind him.

Meliorn closed the door and then in the complete darkness, he turned and lit a candle, lighting the room in a soft orange, flicking glow. Jace peered around, startled as hell when he found himself staring at dried blood that had been dripped across the floor and what was unmistakably a body laid out on a metal table, covered in a pale sheet that did nothing to hide the shape.

“That’s a body,” Jace said, shocked.

Meliorn didn’t even look over to him. “Yes,” he said simply, before he was pointing towards a corner, where Jace could see some other supplies. “Put the bag over there,” Meliorn commanded.

Jace finally ripped his eyes away from the body and moved to do as he was told, before turning back towards the strange man and frowning. “Why am I here?” He asked.

Meliorn had moved towards the body now and Jace paled when he saw the man unceremoniously pull the sheet down, revealing the body Jace had known was there but certainly hadn’t wanted to see. “You need a place to stay, right?” Meliorn called over his shoulder, as he poked at the body, checking for something Jace couldn’t guess at.

Jace nodded and then jolted to respond when he realized Meliorn wasn’t looking towards him. “Yes.”

Meliorn finally straightened out again, looking away from the body to glance back to Jace again. “Good, I need help and I have a spare bed. It all works out.” Meliorn tossed the sheet back over the body before he turned, wiping his hands on his pants as if to get rid of something. “Grab that,” Meliorn said, already moving towards the door.

Jace froze. “Grab what?” He asked after him, appalled and already knowing what Meliorn was talking about. He knew what Meliorn meant. He was just hoping he was wrong.

“You know,” Meliorn replied simply before he left the room, shining the bright light from outside in for a brief moment before the door was closing, leaving Jace alone with the body in the dark.

Jace jolted to grab the body, grimacing and trying desperately to keep the sheet covering it as he tossed it onto his shoulder and tried to pretend it was nothing but a bag of flour. Jace practically ran to the door, desperate to get outside into the light again.

Outside, Jace walked to Meliorn, who was now standing over an empty section of the graveyard. He froze a few steps away, still holding the body over his shoulder as he waited for some kind of instruction.

“Put that down,” Meliorn said simply, pointing to the ground. “Dig here, about five feet down or the animals will smell it. Tell me when you’re done. I have fruit trees to tend to.”

Meliorn turned without another word, starting to leave the cemetery and head up the road, towards a small cabin Jace could see in the distance. Outside, there were in fact blooming fruit trees, all surrounding a garden that seemed as if it was half crops and half flowers and weeds. It was over grown, out of control and much like the graveyard, it was untended and yet, everything there seemed to be thriving together.

Jace stood and watched him leave for a moment before he put the body down, flinching at the sound it made as it hit the ground. Jace reached for the shovel that was a few feet away and after a second of hesitation, he shoved the end into the dirt and started to dig.

That was the first day he ever worked in the graveyard and when he was done, hours later, he was dripping with sweat and covered in dirt but the body had been buried, just like Meliorn had asked. After, Jace made his way towards Meliorn’s cabin and hesitantly made his way inside, finding Meliorn standing in a small kitchen, washing the fruit he’d plucked in a bucket.

There was the smell of fresh baked bread and pie in the air, mixing with the smell of flowers that Jace could see blooming in every available space they could be. Meliorn turned to look at him, laughing softly when he saw how dirty Jace was.

“There’s a creek out back,” Meliorn said, already turning back towards his fruit. “Go clean up.”

Jace turned and walked back outside, making his way around the cabin and walking until he found the creek to wash himself in the cold water. After that, he just lived with Meliorn. He worked nearly everyday in the graveyard. Meliorn tended to their crops, made bread and pies, some for them to sell and some for them to eat, while Jace worked in the graveyard, burying bodies when they came, fixing the stones that needed it, carving out new grave markers and doing anything else that involve intense physical labor.

It wasn’t that Meliorn couldn’t do the physical labor. He’d done it all alone before Jace had come but now that Jace was there, Meliorn simply didn’t subject himself to it. He didn’t have to. He had Jace to do it and Jace couldn’t really complain. Meliorn gave him a place to sleep. He made delicious food and the man wasn’t bad company either.

Besides, Jace got over how freaked out he was by the bodies quickly and eventually, it became mundane to deal with them and lug them around like they were nothing. He’d lay bodies in their graves and then, he’d bug Meliorn to give him a bit of whatever he was cooking before he’d go clean up.

All and all, Jace could have found himself in a far worse situation, with people far less compelling than Meliorn was. It was only a bonus that Jace started to fall in love with Meliorn soon after and it was only a miracle that Meliorn returned the feeling, loving Jace like Jace didn’t think anyone ever had before.

Dealing with bodies all day was well worth it for that.

[hungergames-fanfic]

Grounded

Having to wake up before the sun is horrible. It’s cold but not really, my eyes are itchy and dry, daddy’s in a mood. I’m not having any fun. I guess that’s the point. I’m not supposed to have fun, this a punishment.

“First things first”, daddy says.

He makes me light an oil lantern on my own, at first the task makes me nervous. Last time he taught me I ain’t pay any attention, luckily all I had to really do was light it. “Easy, see”, daddy says when I smile at the flame.

In a way, he wasn’t kidding, that was the easiest task. For the entirety of the morning I’m put to collect chicken eggs. This takes me about an hour. Ari left so many behind that I fill up two buckets. Then, we have so many chickens it’s hard to walk in the coop without having to kick some. They flap around erratically and smack me with their wings. For a second there, I’m jumped by over twenty chickens.

Usually daddy only makes me do one thing and calls it a day, but not today. He’s still mad about yesterday. Ari and me getting lost, then finding out she ran away and we ain’t tell nobody. Has me shoveling up pig poop, carrying buckets of feed, tossing hay into the goat pen and spoils at the pigs. Has me working so hard I ain’t notice how hungry I am until my stomach starts to roar. Even then I ignore the noises and emptiness so daddy won’t have a reason to yell at me some more.

By the time the sun is high in the sky, hot with no light breezes, daddy calls me to the farm house. In a pen he has one of our bulls, he’s big and brown with the longest horns I’ve ever seen. The other one is just a calf. He hands me a brush and tells me “Billiard” needs to be brushed, then leaves me to this and goes out in the horse pen where I can hear him calling Spice, one of our three horses.

“Milk!”, I hear daddy a couple of minutes later, “Milk, down girl, down!”, followed by a loud distinct crash. It sounded like a wooden wall being torn down. “Goddamn it, Milk!”, daddy yells. Footsteps approach.

“Polomir!”, momma Bilmin yells at him, “now I know you ain’t talkin’ like that in front of Dora”, behind her are three men.

“Lookin’ like you need help”, Mr Oxoro says with a big smile. Usually his clothes look dirty like daddy’s after a long day but today he’s well dressed. Has cowboy hat on, in a bright red, long sleeve button up and navy blue jeans with the cleanest boots I’ve ever seen, he stunts with his attire. I say he can try all he want but he’s still funny looking. Short, with a big belly and the funniest waddled walk, he walks besides Eduardo and some other boy I’ve never seen before.

Eduardo looks nothing like his dad. Mr Oxoro is dark skinned. Eduardo looks like his momma. Tall, light skinned with pretty colored eyes. “Milk man’s kid”, Omarion said once. Whatever that means. The second I see Eddy my cheeks feel warm and I hide behind Billiard.

With them is another kid just as tall, he’s skinnier and tanned, his clothes are sun bleached and if there were a strong gust of wind it looks like he’d fly away with it. He looks amazed. His mouth open, looking all over the place like he ain’t ever seen so many animals before.

“This right here is Vano, one of my sister’s kids, they visitin’ for ah, y’know”, Mr Oxoro says tryna keep himself from saying “the reaping”. “Seen them a lil bored so I thought I’d bring’em down here to work”, he says holding on to his belt. Daddy swings his arm for a firm, friendly hand shake.

“Need help? Naw”, daddy says turning around to look at something. All the men chuckle.

“Since y’all here”, momma Bilmin says, “you ain’t gon need Dora no more. Dora!”, she calls for me.

I’ve been out here sweating all morning, I’m dirty and stink. I ain’t tryna have none of them see me, specially Eddy. My cheeks feel hot. “Dora?”, momma Bilmin calls for me just out the pen. Not having heard her creep up startles me into a shriek that makes me giggle out of sheer nervousness. Momma Bilmin laughs and pokes fun at me. “Girl look at you, almost feral, you been playin’ with the pigs?”, she chuckles.

Daddy puts Eddy and Vano work on the broken fence, who both stare at me walk out the barn. I wish momma Bilmin wasn’t holding my hand, they probably wanna laugh at me cause I’m dirty. This makes my cheeks warm again and I try my best not to look at them.

While daddy and Mr Oxoro go and catch Milk, who happens to be distracted by a patch of grass behind the pen where we keep our lactating cows, momma Bilmin talks about us spending the rest of the day together. She sounds excited and tells me about the book I read to her on Friday, how she wants to know more about corals. I’d be excited to read to her again but after working all morning, hungry and tired, all I want is a good nap.

Blessed with nice cold shower all I can do is laugh and play with momma Bilmin who despite finding all of them dead, won’t stop looking for live lice. Says she “ain’t stoppin’ until all those pests leave my baby’s head alone” and kisses my cheek. Afterwards, I’m made to wear a frilly dress and she ties my hair into half a braid, half a pony tail. It gives me the sense that we’re going out but she tells me we aren’t. Says momma is gonna love the way I look when she gets back from work.

For lunch she makes me a cheese sandwich with juice that has bits of fruit floating around. She sits with me at the table and talks about paying Efrain a visit tomorrow.

“You mean that, momma?”, I jump out of my seat so excited I almost fall off. Momma Bilmin smiles at me and nods. Says he’s better now and we can finally go visit. It’s been almost two whole months since I last seen him. I’m so excited to tell him about Ari being my new friend, I can’t wait to see his face. I also miss playing outside with him and the other kids. Wendy says they miss us too.

When we’re done eating, momma Bilmin and me go to her room and lay down on the bed. She has the ceiling fan at high velocity so it’s not as hot as it is in the kitchen. In no time, she’s fallen asleep and snores really low and quiet. It’s cute. I’m not sleepy though. Instead I quietly leave her room and go to mines. For a long second I stand in front of my bookshelf and stare at all the books that I have. Two shelves filled with them, none I wanna read.

Bored, I stare outside from the back kitchen door and watch Eddy and Vano still tryna fix the fence. Vano holds a plank, Eddy nails it in place making the whole fence wobble. Meanwhile daddy and Mr Oxoro walk around the open field pointing and talking amongst themselves. Looking around my eyes catch a glimpse of some of daddy’s mecate. Thin ropes he’s braided with horse hair. This gives me an idea. Daddy won’t teach me how to use a lasso cause I don’t have my own. What if I made one myself? I seen how he makes the ones he sells. It’s just four ropes braided into one that’s thick and slightly stiff. If he sees that I made one he won’t have any other choice but to teach me!

First rope over third rope, second rope over fourth rope, fourth rope over first rope. I go on and on and the ropes never seem to finish, but i am determined. Some duct tape where the braid is loose, a haircut where there are too many hairs poking out and lastly I put the lasso inside a water bucket to make it look wet and pretty. Daddy and Mr Oxoro joke and laugh while they inspect one of the cows. I’m not sure how long it takes for me to finish but by the time I do, daddy’s walking back to the barn, probably to check on Vano and Eddy.

It takes me maybe an hour to finish the world’s shortest lasso, still proud of myself, I go to them around with it in hand. “The roll of hay comes out to four-hundred, five-hundred, the O’doyles are flexible with the price”, daddy says to Mr Oxoro when I pull on the back of his shirt.

“Daddy look what I made!”, I interrupt with a big smile on my face.

“Girl you made a whip?”, Mr Oxoro asks. This makes daddy laugh but the second he sees it his smile fades away.

“That my mecate? Who gave you permission, Isadora?”, he sucks on his teeth, smacks me hard on the shoulder and takes it out of my hands. “Isadora”? Oh, he’s mad. “It took me a week to make these damn braids! I got Samsonite waitin’ and this girl..”, he pauses and pinches the brindge of his nose, “..when I open my eyes you best be on your way back inside”.

Stomping back to the house, holding in my angry tears, I notice Milk is out on the horse pen. She’s staring right at me and wags her nubby hairless tail. For some reason it feels like she’s calling me. Behind her, at the other side of the pen, Eddy climbs the new fence only to break it. Vano laughs and disappears behind the barn house. I crawl under the fence and make kissy noises to Milk. My dress is covered in dirt now. I don’t care, I making noises for her to come. After a few long seconds she finally starts walking over to me. This makes me happy. When she’s close enough I extend my arm and slowly try to touch her face. She lets me and even sniffs the palm of my hand. I remember daddy saying this is a good thing.

Eddy and Vano make me a little nervous cause I ain’t tryna embarrass myself in front of them but having broken the fence again they’re busy tryna look for more wood in the barn. With no possibility of judgment I get up close to Milk and give her a hug. Her letting me get this close for the first time makes me so happy I can’t stop giggling. Maybe this is why Ari is all giggles too. I feel Milk’s buzz cut mane and caress her face, when I stop she sniffs my hand and nibbles on my palm as if asking for more. With my yellow saddle already on, I dare myself to ride her. Part of me wants to, the other talks me out of it. I’ve only ridden her once and daddy was there to calm her down. “She already looks calm though”, I tell myself.

I stare back at daddy who’s not that far away. Him and Mr Oxoro stare and point a the hills past our land. I figure if anything happens, he’s right there. Picking up the courage, struggling to do so, I manage to climb the saddle and sit on her. All she does is huff and move a few feet. Nervous but thrilled I giggle. So happy to have climbed Milk all on my own I try to make her move forward so I can get the hang of riding a horse. Poking Milk’s neck I whisper for her to “go”, but all she does is huff and sniff the ground slowly walking towards the broken fence. I keep poking her and even dance back and forth tryna make her move to another direction but she doesn’t.

”This way”, I say wiggling my feet. She doesn’t budge. Disappointed, I give her a hug tryna hop off but suddenly Eddy speaks up. “Ain’t know you knew how to ride a horse”, he says popping out the barn. This spooks Milk. She neighs and stands up on her hind legs. Suddenly she leaps and takes off in a run, thrashing and kicking her hind legs tryna hit Eddy and fling me off. My scream is so loud that for a second I wonder who it is. My feet no longer on the stirrups, along with her trashing, makes me hit my face on the saddle horn. Unable to hold on, scared out of my mind, I let go.

Hard, dry mud rocks poke at my shoulder and my fall knocks the wind out of me. Having landed on top of my hand hurts so much I can’t move, I was screaming but not anymore, I can’t breathe and hot tears are rolling down my cheeks.

Milk thrashes and neighs running away. Eddy and Vano run up and help me sit up. Eddy takes one look at me and covers his eyes, rubbing his face and head. Vano sucks air through his teeth, he has a pained look on his face.

On their way back, daddy doesn’t run to me, he goes after Milk who kicks anything in her way. For a second I wish she was dead. Daddy should be here helping me, not her. She hurt 𝘮𝘦! Instead, Mr Oxoro comes to my aid. He helps me stand up but my knee hurts too much to stick out and the sight of my hand makes me scream only to go silent again. It feels hard to swallow. Nothing I could say or do can describe how much my hand hurts. The warm tears fall dawn my chin.

Behind me I hear momma Bilmin running up to us asking what happened. She approaches and takes a look at Mr Oxoro holding out my arm. My right thumb is bent backwards. There’s a bump where it used to be. This makes her scream too. Daddy is too busy tryna calm the stupid horse to come help.

“Why wasn’t you watchin’ her, Polomir!”, momma Bilmin screams at him. I’ve never seen her so mad before. She points at him and scolds him for having let me get on the horse. Daddy doesn’t say anything, he just walks back forcing Milk back to her pen.

“She was just with us, Miss Bilmin, she was just with us!”, Mr Oxoro says taking off his hat, scratching his sweaty balding head.

Daddy looks worried when he approaches. Momma Bilmin stands behind me, holding me so I won’t fall while I stand on one foot, she shushes and wipes my tears, caressing my face tryna stop me from crying. “You’re okay baby, you’re okay”, she says.

Without a word, daddy grabs my thumb and pulls on it fast and hard. It pops so loud Eddy flinches and looks away, Vano and Mr Oxoro wince, momma Bilmin whimpers and I scream so loud I feel lightheaded. I jump and kick tryna get daddy away from me but momma Bilmin ain’t strong enough to hold on. Back on the ground I cry so loud I feel like Sasha when was a baby.

Like a sack of potatoes, daddy puts me over his shoulders and walks off. Behind him momma Bilmin tells me “it’s alright, Dora” on the verge of tears while Mr Oxoro tells her “I swear to you on my youngest that little girl was just with us”. “Dad!”, Eddy snaps at him. All of them following us look like momma running after the mayor when he does something silly like leave out the wrong door. It makes me wanna laugh but it feels like I have my heart inside my hand and every time it beats, it hurts.

Inside the house, I sit and watch daddy wrap a white long bandage over my hand and thumb with what looks like a broken popsicle stick holding it straight. Says he’s fixed it already and I don’t need to see a doctor. For a second there, I begged him to take me to the hospital, I thought I was dying. This made momma Bilmin laugh but her hands shake and she rubs them together.

“What I tell you bout that horse, Dora”, daddy scolds me while tying my bandage, “always some with you, no but you don’t stop and think, you just go ahead”, “Polomir!”, momma Bilmin snaps at daddy. “Naw, aint nobody tell’er to go climb that dang horse”, he points out the door. He stares at me really mad and leaves. Already sobbing, I keep crying knowing daddy’s so mad he doesn’t wanna look at me no more.

Momma Bilmin touches her cheeks, her eyes are glassy and she shakes her head. “I’m sorry, momma”, I say.

“It’s okay, baby”, she assures me, “now come on, we need to figure out what we gon tell ya momma”. Oh, she’s gonna kill daddy. This makes me wail, mourning daddy’s eminent death.