mylittlejamjar | City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks [Visual]

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City Sidewalks, Busy Sidewalks [Visual]

What ho, what ho, Equestrians all! [Here's a bright yellow pegasus doing his best to smile brightly with the season.] Bertram Wooster, here, for all who might not know me. I thought I might put a bee into the proverbial bonnet with all this festive whatsit carrying on. Now, I know we've all got to be frightfully busy around this time of year, but there has to be an hour or two for fun, eh? On the counsel of my dearly adopted sister, young Nephenee, I'd like to propose a day or two of sledding.

Now what we need, though, are actual sleds. Dashed difficult to have some sort of jolly down-hilling without the proper equipment. If anypony has a sled or two to spare... or might be able to build one, I'd love to hear from you. We'll be having hot cocoa and mulled cider for any sledders once it's all set up along with the standard sort of towels and blankets once you're ready to call the day.

Private to Surprise
Ms. Surprise? Sorry I've been a bit remiss chattering to you about your breakfast business, but I was wondering how you might be getting on with that? I'm sure you're setting your mind to it, but I did want to let you know that I asked Ms. Rainbow Dash if she might be able to do deliveries for it, and she was all for that.

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What in Equestria is 'duck' tape?

Tape that comes in fun colors that you can use to fix just about anything.

It's also cheap and resistant to moisture, so you can make yourself a big sled out of cardboard and cover it in duct tape and it holds up surprisingly well.

[Bertie frowns.] But... where do ducks come into it, Ms. Gwen? [A pause to think.] Oh! Like water off a- Right, well, that's perfectly sensible! I've never seen anything like that lurking about. Where do you usually buy it? I don't suppose the local waterfowl community might have a stash?

[That gets a bit of a laugh.]

Ducts, Bertie. [And she makes the "t" quite a bit clearer.] Sorry. It's used to seal off pipes and vents and things of that nature. And uh, the hardware store will do.

[What would a duck even do with tape, anyway, she just found out what a duck even was a few months ago.]

It's not gonna hold up if you drive the sled into a river or something--believe me, I'm speaking from experience here--but it should keep out your everyday snow just fine.

I'll see what I can find, Ms. Gwen. As for the cardboard to go with it, though... hmm. Do you think pizza boxes would do? Dante has plenty of those scattered about the cave. [The cave that they share. Bertie's found himself appreciating Vergil's neater tendencies just the tiniest bit after rooming with his brother for a time now. Donating the refuse for sleds might be a good way to get rid of it.]

Scrape the cheese off 'em, maybe pat some of the grease off and let them dry a little, and they should be good to go. The house my mom lived in before she married my stepdad had a lot because a few of her housemates either couldn't cook or just didn't have the time.

[Bertie frowns.] Your mother? What sorts of girls was she living with? [Girls are meant to be neat, aren't they?]

Four girls, one girl's boyfriend who was always off somewhere else and only really came into the house to sleep. I think two of them were college students, and college kids are kind of always slouchy, and another one was an artist type--the village I lived in when I was super little seemed to attract those in droves--so it's to be expected.

They had a girl's intended rooming with them? [Bertie's ears flatten, the impropriety of that sitch completely clouding out concerns over the mess.]

[Come on Bertie]

Those two had their own room so it's not like everyone was all holed up in one bedroom? Then two of the other girls got the other bedroom, my mom, my brother and I got the largest one, and the poor girl who was left over got the couch. That's actually not all that uncommon for couples or friends who need to save on living expenses.

A lot of people who are dating are each other's traveling companions, too? Sometimes you don't have family or friends who are able to travel safely and it's a lot less risky than going alone.

I think my dad was my mom's boyfriend and traveling companion, but she never really liked talking about him.

They slept in the same room?! [That's not better, Gwen. That's worse. At least if they'd been in separate rooms, some semblance of propriety might have been maintained.] Were they engaged, at least?

[He'll get back to Gwen's family history, but it seems important to try to find something that doesn't paint this girl Gwen was rooming with in the worst light possible for all to see on the scrolls.]

...People tend not to ask too many questions in my world?

[Sometimes she keeps forgetting you're from the 1920s.]

Besides, I can't remember. I was like, four.

Edited 2014-12-13 23:29 (UTC)

[And with impressionable young girls in the house? Suddenly, so much of Gwen makes sense. How bizarre she is. Corruption from the cradle is an awful thing to have to overcome. It's... it's that kind of thinking that he's trying to do away with, of course. Still, Bertie can't help his tone becoming very gentle, indeed.]

I'm sorry, Ms. Gwen. That's a bit strange. And terrible, you and your family having to stuff in with so many other people in a little house.

[Bertie

you're a weenie, and she'll always consider you to be such.]

It wasn't too bad.

[Seriously, this is getting weird. Again. With Bertie, weird is always kind of a factor.]

Between my mom's roommates and their Pokemon, I always had someone making sure I didn't get myself eaten or break something every other day. I was a pretty rambunctious kid.

[He's only worried for Gwen's tender soul and sensibilities. And his own. But mostly Gwen's.]

Ah. Well, um... good you managed to stick it out, old girl. Lesser fillies might have left off ever considering a future at all, that sort of carrying on... carrying on and what not.

...

[Okay that

can she

can she just sort of let out an undignified titter at that]

[There's laughing. Why is there laughing? Bertie's brow furrows in confusion. Has a card come loose from Gwen's deck at the terrible memories. He really hadn't meant to dredge up old traumas.] Are you all right, Ms. Gwen?

It's fine, I'm fine! Trust me, Bertie, that's not a bad childhood. I mean, I didn't grow up like a princess, but very few kids do.

I really don't want to think about people who actually had it bad.

It's a bit bad, you've got to admit. [Certainly by comparison to his youth.] I didn't grow up a prince, either, but I did have my own room, at least. [Princes would have had several rooms, of course.]

I really don't see how?

I mean, I've had my own space for a bit after I moved out, but it's a bit overrated in my book. Even after we moved to a new house I still shared a bedroom with my brother, but I only ever really used it when I was getting ready for bed.

Marla had her own room once she came along--that was a long ways after my mom married my stepdad; she's technically my half-sister--but then she'd probably appreciate hers better than I would. She's more of the reserved type.

And besides, she was born solo. Thing you have to understand about being a twin is that you end up sharing literally everything with your sibling that most other kids get to themselves. Which obviously starts with womb space, but then you get to bedrooms and personal belongings and such.

Isn't- but- but your brother's a boy. How could you share everything? [It's one thing for his twin Cousins Claude and Eustace, but he can't imagine having to share a room with his sister past 12. How dreadfully strange and awkward.]

...let me guess, you were an only child.

We didn't really share clothes past the age of six or so, if that's what you're thinking? He was always way taller than me after that.

Way taller.

Him being a guy doesn't really matter all that much compared to the fact that he's a guy who's also my brother. It's not all that weird to share things with family that you wouldn't think about sharing with other people.

I've got an older sister. [Bertie's not entirely sure what the implication is that Gwen's trying to make.] And she'd have run me out of her room before she let me share anything apart for the blame whenever she decided to go mad in the kitchens.

...how much older? Because that sounds like me and Marla when we were younger about there, and we've got about a ten year gap.

Only 6 years! [That's hardly a drop in the bucket. Well, it's hardly that now. She'd taken the death of their parents much harder at 12 than he had at 6, after all.] That hasn't got anything to do with it, anyway. We shared, of course, but we wouldn't share everything. We've got different interests for a start.

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