(2024-06-06) Ain't Really A Farm Boy

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Author:	Disknight
Summary:	Rozalin checks in with Berdie about how the investigation is going.
Rating:	T for Teen

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mild flirting (which ends when Roz realizes he's taken), discussions of poverty and a murder investigation

It's late afternoon and the Saldean farm is as crowded as ever, because there are quite a lot of people being sheltered here. Birdie is seated on a bench in the dining area, braiding a young girl's hair.

Rozalin comes in through the door. She's looking a bit more put together than usual. Her armor is clean and freshly polished, her hair is tied back neatly for a change, and she even smells faintly of lilac. She spots Birdie with the girl and smiles, "Hey there kiddo. Got a new friend?"

The girl, Emily, one of the orphans the Saldeans have taken in, looks up at Rozalin with a gap-toothed smile. "This is the soup man."

Birdie chuckles to himself. "Hey, Rozalin."

"Hey there." Roz winks at Birdie before addressing Emily again, "The soup man, huh? His soup ain't better than mine, though I bet." She says with a playful grin.

Emily giggles. "Are you done? I wanna go play."

"Hang on, hang on…" Birdie finishes the braid and ties a ribbon around the end. "There you go."

Roz smiles at Berdie, "You go on and play then. I'm gonna talk with the soup man about boring grownup stuff, kay?"

"I saw a frog that was bigger than my HAND yesterday," Emily announces. "If I can find it again I'll show you!" And she takes off.

Birdie laughs and gestures to the bench.

Rozalin chuckles, "These kids sure are a handful sometimes. Place just wouldn't be the same without em, though." She saunters up and takes a seat next to Berdie, brushing his shoulder with her own.

Birdie nods. "They're adorable. Glad these ones've got a roof over their heads."

"You can say that again. But anyway I'm glad I found ya out here. Was hopin to hear how things been goin for the new team. That and I seem to remember promisin you a drink if you do a good job." Rozalin ends with a wink.

Birdie gestures around with both hands. "Well, good and bad. I didn't know how many hungry folks there would be out here."

"Yeah… it's tough to see… I try and go out to the city to buy food to bring back to cook for folk, but it ain't never enough. I just don't got the money to pull it off myself. Or the time for that matter." Roz frowns a little.

Bertrand nods. "So a lot of what I've been doin' out here when I'm not working with the team is hunting for these folks. Team's been working on solving a murder, and that's been… slower than I'd like."

"Shit that's right… someone got the Furlbrows. Damn shame, they were good people."

"Yeah." Birdie grimaces a little. "We saw 'em before they were buried. And then someone killed one of the informants helping us with the case…"

"Someone killed one of the informants? What the… Who went and did that? You guys got any leads yet?" Roz questions him.

"There were witnesses," Birdie says, "and all of them insisted they saw nothing. Investigator on the case thinks Mr. Saldean might have somethin', but he wasn't so happy about talking to strangers. Heh. I don't think he remembers me. I don't really blame 'em. They don't want to be next. Two-Shoed Lou went out of his way to give us a hand, he didn't deserve it."

"Damn… so nothin? That's hard to believe though. Why wouldn't anyone stick up for them. They were always happy to help, and they weren't exactly up on their luck neither." Rozalin scratches the back of her head.

"Oh, sorry, guess I wasn't clear. Yeah, a few folks did speak up about the Furlbrows. But there were people not five feet away from our informant when he got shot, and those folks… not a word."

Rozalin grumbles a little under her breath, "I mean… Two-Shoed Lou was a bit of an oddball, but I didn't know he had enemies that'd just off 'im like that… What's this place comin to?"

"Your folks still doin' okay?" Birdie checks.

"Yeah, they're doin fine." Rozalin brightens up at his concern, "Thanks for askin. The farm is still goin on ok, but it ain't easy. Pa's gettin on a bit and needs some more help."

Birdie nods. "Plenty of people to hire around here… guess it's just a matter of knowing which ones will work hard and which ones will steal from you and run off."

"Yeah…" She sighs, "That's probably part of it. That and he needs to admit he ain't as young as he used to be. But even then I'm not sure we could afford it. I think he's just savin up so he knows he'll have hands for the harvest in the fall when it really counts."

"That's fair…" Birdie cracks a smile. "Always a balance, letting older folks keep their pride and making sure they get the help they need."

Rozalin smiles back and leans over to bump him in the shoulder, "You can say that again. Has a couple working harvest watchers and thinks he's on top of the world."

Bertrand nudges her shoulder back. "Don't think I've ever seen those things functional. The Varleys didn't have 'em when I was growing up, and then I enlisted."

"I think they're kinda new. Maybe some goblin shit or somethin. Didn't really have em when I was little." Rozalin looks Berdie in the face for a while, "Where you from anyhow? Sounds like you used to be army, but I ain't know about any Varley. You grew up on a farm too?"

"Yeah. The Varleys are out in Elwynn. My family stayed with 'em during the First War." Birdie looks at her thoughtfully. "You might know my brother and sister, they're Cobalt. The twins. Cress and Cole."

"Yeah I've heard of em before. Don't think I ever met em real proper, but…" The gears start turning in her head, "You… ain't really a farm boy are ya." She asks rhetorically. Her good natured smile becomes colored with some more complicated feelings.

Birdie shrugs. "I was. As a kid. We weren't just tenants, I did work on that farm. And then I was a soldier. But if you're asking if I came from money, yeah. Bertrand Aspenwood." He holds out a hand for a handshake.

Rozalin takes his hand and shakes it firmly, "Rozalin Graufowl." Her expression shifts from a smile to a disappointed frown, but she does her best to shake it off, "Well at least you know what yer talkin about then."

Birdie nods and braces his hands on the bench on either side of him. "Yeah. Colin Varley and I did deliveries here sometimes, to the Saldeans."

"I see." Rozalin places her hands in her lap and wrestles her thumbs restlessly, "Lotta shipments going in and out I suppose. Not so much recently, but ya know…"

Birdie nods. "Mmm… What made you become a mercenary?"

Roz takes a deep breath and stretches her arms up, "That's a bit of a long story. The short answer is that I've had a run in or two with some unsavory characters and found out I wasn't half bad at it." The movement accentuates her large chest. Whether this was intentional or not would honestly make sense for her either way.

Birdie nods, his attention on her face like the polite young man he is. "I joined up because Ference wanted me specifically for this team, and I get to go home at the end of the day. That was something I didn't get in the army. Scilla seems to think it's a better deal."

Roz catches him out of the corner of her eye, "Got a girl then?"

"Yeah." Birdie's entire expression gets brighter and happier just talking about her. "Scilla, she's an artist. Priscilla Moore. She's the one who came up with 'Birdie' for me, some fourteen years ago. We're getting married this month, barring another catastrophe."

"Well congratulations then." She lightens up seeing how happy Berdie is, but there's a bit of a sting that lingers in her eyes, "Known her for fourteen years, huh? Sound like a lucky guy."

"Thanks. I am. Kept her waiting a long while, because of the army." Bertrand shakes his head. "But she waited. Not a lot of girls like that."

"Yeah…" Rozalin has to think for a moment of what to say next, "If someone made me wait that long I'd be pissed." She chuckles, "I'd probably give up after a few months and just join em out there."

Birdie grins approvingly. "I can see it."

"Yeah?" Rozalin smirks.

"Well, you're already a mercenary, aren't you? And you strike me as the active type."

She nods, "Don't much like stayin cooped up inside. Been nice travelin around for jobs and seein new places."

Birdie nods. "Same. I get restless." He stands up and stretches. "You wanna go somewhere?"

Roz hops up onto her feet, "Sure. Where to?"

"Or maybe I should be the one showin you around huh."

"Shore, maybe? We can see what the murlocs have caught." Birdie grins.

"Deal." Roz grins back.