Scout's Honour!

“You haven’t, by chance, seen a girl who looks just like me but with less fashion sense, have you? Probably on the arm of her hot lady cop of a girlfriend?” Moving to place her sunglasses atop her head, Thea strode up to the nearest individual, figuring they probably knew her sister. After all, it wasn’t like Carroll was that big of a town. Everybody probably knew everybody. What a weird concept, especially to her born and bred city-loving self. “Seriously. Who knew little miss thrift shop and save the world could land such a proper catch.” She added, that last bit mostly to herself.

“Uh, y’mean Rory?” Scout hazarded a guess after looking the woman up and down. “I know her but I haven’t actually seen her in a while, didn’t even know she had a sister-- hold up, did you know she was in hospital? Where were you then? Didn’t ever hear about you visiting and I went to see her damn near every day.”

“Well shit, they got crews and shit over there trying to dig it out, so I doubt there’s much you can do.” Rolling her eyes at the lack of help, Grace sighed and waved it off. “Fuck, no, I fucking get it. But once you finish water proofing your shit you should come back and party with us. You are on the payroll now. Don’t worry about your make up and shit, I’ll replace what gets ruined. Can’t have my fucking make up artist not having any fucking make up.”

“And I really trust government employed crews to give enough of a shit about the low income zone of town to actually get this done. Even if they did care you’ve seen how much shitting snow they’re is, we’re fucked.” Scout raises an eyebrow, “I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say you’ve got no idea how much a professional makeup kit costs to build, do you? Because I’ve been building this thing for fucking years, and it’s still got gaps. Don’t make that promise.”

Ambrose settled his icy hued eyes on the other and spent a still, quiet moment considering them. His amusement expertly masked until he snorted and with a small sort of smile on his face, dug the shovel into the snow. “Be that as it may, you ought to take comfort in my pro-activity.” He said as he focused on the task at hand. “Now, I’m not about to name names but there are certain former mayors that would be more inclined to sit back and blame this ice melt on anything but something they themselves could have helped.” The Mayor shrugged and lifted an eyebrow at them. “Besides, it’s a good opportunity to get to know you all.” 

Scout had never really been in the habit of biting their tongue. It probably had a lot to do with aunt Molly, who had always been more amused than aghast at the scathing commentary they would make. They met his cold stare with their own indifferent one, waiting to see if the mayor was honest enough to admit it. “I do take comfort in it.” They conceded with a shrug, taking another drag from their cigarette before digging back into the snow, “being here for your image is better than not being here at all.” In most scenarios motivation really mattered, but right now they weren’t going to split hairs about that. “Getting to know us, hm. Bet you’re glad you started with me then.” They snorted out a laugh, “name’s Scout, if you didn’t know. I’m non-binary and a makeup artist. And also very critical of government institutions, but I’m sure you picked up on that already.”

“Well… If you need a place to stay if the park floods, I have an extra room I’ve actually been thinking about renting out in exchange for some help around this place. There’s a lot I can’t do and a lot of the time there’s stuff I don’t even realize needs to be done until someone mentions it to me.”

“Yeah?” Scout nods, “I’ll keep that in mind. Be warned I work free lance- and part time at Grace’s club now, I guess- so the hours I keep tend to be a bit weird, but I’m tidy enough.”

Laughter bubbled easily from Ember’s lips as she nodded her head, tossing another shovel full of snow out of the way. “He just thinks this is the coolest thing. I know as soon as he gets home he’s gunna need a bath. If not’ta warm him up, it’ll be’ta clean him up. I can’t imagine the mud he’s gunna be trackin’ through the house the next few days.”

It was nice to hear her laugh. That school had gotten so miserable. They were glad Ember was rocking about with her pet pig and can do attitude to brighten the place up a bit. “Oh man, a bath.” Scout sighed dreamily, “I wish my trailer had a bath. I could kill for one right now. Maybe I’ll just sit down in the shower and make do.”

”Look, I may be an Englishman but I’ll admit-“ Ambrose began with one hand on the shovel he’d procured, the other gestured out to his side. “I’ve never quite had to shovel snow. I mightn’t be much good but now how many citizens can say their Mayor has shovelled their driveway for them, eh?”

Scout shrugged, leaning back against their own shovel- propped up enough in a snowbank to hold their weight- and taking out a cigarette. “I’m from a bigger city so it doesn’t become much of a problem. Too many cars and what have you, never sticks. Though at the risk of putting myself on your watch list, I’d bet your here more because there’s a massive concern this whole trailer park is gonna become a flood zone when all this shit melts. Can’t be seen having done shit all.” 

“Fuck, I cannot wait to get back to the club. There’s a full fucking bar there calling my name, but I’m definitely going to need volunteers to help me dig it out. How about I trade all you can drink booze for some hands on the shovel. I’m sure as fuck not going to dig that shit out myself.” Her biggest worry was melting, though she didn’t want to show it on her face.

The club was in the lowest part of town with the trailer park and she didn’t need anything get fucked once this town became one big river rafting ride. “I don’t even know how I’m gunna fucking flood proof the place.”

“As enticing as all you can drink sounds- and you know me, I’m keeping a flask in my back pocket just to get through all this fucking cold- I’m afraid I gotta pass.” Scout shrugs, taking a drag from their cigarette, “my digs are in the trailer park so if I don’t get to work un-earthing and flood proofing the place all I’m gonna have to live in is a big old bathtub full of water ruined makeup.” 

“Considerin’ I ain’t thought I’d ever have’ta get booties for this dang piglet, I think i did a right good job makin’em.” Looking fondly down at the piglet that was now the size of a medium-small dog, the corner of her lips were turned up in amusement at the sight of him with little pieces of fabric tied around his hooves with string. “Ain’t sure how long they gon’ last but for now he’s lovin’ it. I know he’s got hooves but some’a that snow gets real deep.”

Y’know, before Scout had moved into the small town of Carroll, they had never met anyone with a pet pig. Between this and the freak snow storm the place was giving them a whole host of experiences they hadn’t bet on having. “Yeah, the little dude looks ready to rock n roll.” They evaluated with a little smirk, looking down at their own yellow wellington boots. “He’s got cooler kicks than me.”

“Does it ever feel so good to feel the sun again.” Evolet did everything her power to avoid cold weather, so a week freezing among basically everyone she’d ever known in her life was basically her idea of a nightmare. “I may never go back inside.”

Scout nodded, tilting their head up to the sky. “Mmm, well if what they’re predicting holds true and the trailer park turns into a swimming pool I won’t be able to go back inside, so let’s hope the sun sticks around long enough for me to at least enjoy a boozy picnic or something.”

“well, shit, I was never artsy. I mean unless you mean rearranging some faces, I was always good at that. But then again the art value of that was subjective. I personally felt like a sculptor with fists as a tool.” Grinning at them, Grace watched with her wolf like eyes as they mulled over her offer, anticipating the answer to come. “Works for me, as long as you got a big ticket night available. I’ll also make sure to approach for big events with time that you can fucking like… schedule your shit, too. It also comes with a bar tab and all the weed you can smoke well on premises, so, enjoy that.” Besides, Grace prided herself on having the hottest dancers this side of California. “I also might need you for one Ladies night rehearsal to show the guys how to contour their abs and shit. Just a quick lesson. You put the colours here and here and done sorta shit you know?”

“Artsy is all I’ve ever been.” Scout shrugs- they’re indifferent to Grace’s violent admission. A lot of the time the artsy reject crowds contained a violent rioter or two, and admittedly they’d taken a fist or two to the face in their time for their strangeness. They nod, “yeah I can teach your guys how to give themselves abs- I’ll try and chuck in a little skincare advice too, nothing worse than a hot guy with a gross dry face.” They shudder dramatically, “though I should warn you if you let me smoke while I’m working on the girls a few looks might end up a little weirder and wilder than your standard ‘look at me I’m a sexy dancer’ shtick.” 

“Well shit, I was never into any of that extra-carricular bullshit. At least, the legal bullshit.” Smirking as she took another long drag, her eyes studied them as they mulled over her offer, and then turned to study the cherry on her cigarette as she took her own time to mull. “Well considering you’d just be relief for Ari now that her hands are so full, I think we could work that. I’ll even let you make your own schedule. Pick three days a week and those will be your day, but one needs to be a solid intake night, like a Friday or Saturday. We’ll even make it worth your time, let’s say… twenty-five an hour to start, eight hour shifts?” Grace had always been one of the more generous employers in town, as even her non-dancers received at least a third more than the average pay for their position.

“To be fair it wasn’t so much an extra curricular as it was me cutting gym and math classes to spend more time on art projects.” They take another drag of their cigarette as they consider the offer- it’s generous, and sure Scout earns a decent amount with some of the more high profile free lance work they do, but building enough of a rep to live off the more edgy and avante garde looks they prefer to do is harder. This could be a good way to bridge the gap so they don’t have to do as much of the ‘barely there’ model bullshit they don’t really like. “Does it have to be the same days every week or would it be alright for me to shift them around depending on what else I have scheduled? I’d always keep a Friday or Saturday night free for you.” 

“I dunno. With the power out and how cold it’s gettin’, I think people are gunna start gettin’ even more worried now.” The lack of sun with the constant snow didn’t help, for even during the day it felt like the night just never ended. Topping cup her coffee she lifted the pot in offer to Scout before realizing their cup was still full and setting it back down. “It ain’t all been bad. I met most’a the town now, and Wilbur is havin’ the time’a his life. I don’t think he knew these levels of attention were possible. ‘Sides that, Harry proposed.”

Honestly in their six months in town so far this was probably the most exciting thing that had happened, so maybe once the rush of all that wore off Scout would be more worried, but they weren’t the most practical of grown ups to begin with, so maybe not. “Authorities know we’re here, and it’s just snow at the end of the day. Bad weather passes, ice melts.” Molly might worry a bit, but probably not enough to drive out to Carroll. They snorted out a little laugh. “He did, huh? Hell of a romantic setting for a proposal. Congratulations though, you know who to call when you’re thinking about bridal makeup.”

“I don’t know. You could have anything in there. Maybe I’ve been hanging out with Grace too long. Now that’s one bag I’d be afraid to stick my hand in,” she laughed, looking from the lipstick to the woman. Shrugging, she handed the lipstick over. “I doubt it is considering how pale I am but I’m bored as hell so let’s give this a try. After this I have some eye liner in my bag. We could do what I did in high school and leave messages on the bathroom mirrors.”

“Usually I have people that handle things like this for me and I’d just sit back. But! I have been doing this whole, doing things myself thing and I can’t even lie and say that I’m not getting just the teeny tiniest little bit of anxiety because, speaking to charities, I’ve been trying to start one. Or like a fundraiser to start one, and I hate being so cut off.” In fact the lack of access to the internet was more or less giving the heiress something akin to withdrawal and her nerves were on edge. “I’m pretty sure August is just waiting for me to lose my mind.”

Scout was surprised to hear what Autumn had been up to lately, but tried not to let it show on their face too much- she’d never been mean or uncharitable, but they were caught off guard by this new streak of determination to strike it out alone. “That’s an impressive undertaking.” They complimented, “you know who to call when you need your makeup doing for this fundraiser, of course. What kind of charity will it be?”

“It’d rather take a decepit barn than this fucking place after a football game. I once stuck in here to sell some weed to one of the players and the fucking smell like sunk into my pores for days, I swear to god.” Giving a dramatic gag, Grace shook her head and leaned forward to ash into the empty beer can she’d been using as an ashtray. “So what about you, Scout? I know you’re all freelance and all that shit, but like… what would you say if a free position ever popped up? With Ari running the social media full time, we need a new girl for the stage makeup.” 

They shrugged, “might’ve smelled better than this place usually does but it was always cold as shit. Teacher used to let us bring in blankets and I swear I spent like sixty percent of my allowance on hand warmers- hard to paint with numb fingers.” They tipped their head to the side as they considered the offer- the idea of a steady paycheck was appealing, but Grace said it herself. They were all freelance. “It’d depend on the hours.” They decided, “I like being able to work on lots of different projects, I’d never want to be just your makeup artist. I need time to keep the freelance stuff going.”