trans_9 | Working for a living

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Working for a living

Which is what Xander was trying to do in his shop at the moment. Recent shore leaves helped him shore up even more supplies. Which was a great thing since it seemed like he was getting orders all the time from people for furniture or help in their homes in the city. Some of the rides on the last one weren't bad. But he had to admit the western themed world was even better. He even got some spurs.

Uh not that he had special plans with those or anything. It's just part of the outfit. Right.

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Atom poked his head in, curious. He'd never seen this shop before, and there was even someone inside this one! Someone... with an eyepatch?

"Hi," he said, giving Xander a smile. "What're you making?"

The door to the shop crashed dramatically open, and in stalked a loyal minion. This was not the relevant part; the relevant part was the book said minion was carrying.

"Hey! I hear there's furniture here!"

"A chest of drawers. Still gotta finish the dovetail hinges for most of the drawers," Xander commented as he finished working on his current piece. He then glanced up, and gave a smile.

"Oh hey, you're one of the newest out of the pod patch, right?"

Xander scowled at the arrival's entrance, and made note to check the hinges of the door later."

"Congratulations, you saw the sign," he remarked snarkily.

"I need a throne!" the book said. "The most badass freaking throne on the ship!"

That... probably was not a very high bar to reach for, Zetta.

"I can make you a chair, but it probably won't help your next election run, you know."

"What?" Oh yeah, he WAS on the Council, wasn't he? "No, that has nothing to do with anything. I need an awesome throne, one befitting the most badass freakin' Overlord in the cosmos. My current one just doesn't live up to my expectations."

Because he'd stolen a chair out of an abandoned building. It wasn't much of a throne at all.

"Well do you want your current one fixed up? Be easier to spruce it up rather than starting from scratch."

Sam had gotten into a routine. After his security shift, he went by the carpentry shop. Just for a little while, see what Xander was working on.

Mostly to see Xander, admittedly.

He stopped in the doorway, grinning as he watched Xander work. Left him to it for a few moments, until he stepped back, then Sam cleared his throat. Didn't want to surprise Xander and end up with him hurt, after all.

Amazing how time slips away while busy on a project, Xander didn't realize, and he glanced up. His eye crinkled up as he smiled back.

"Hey, how was patrol? Let me guess, its usual boring quiet version of patrol?"

"Pretty much." Sam stepped closer, brushing his arm against Xander's as he moved past to find a place to sit. Or at least lean while watching Xander work. "Pretty much like it always is. I'd complain, but when things go wrong, we all get thrown in over our heads, so I'll take the quiet."

"It's kind of crappy," Zetta grumbled. "It's beneath me. But I'll take what I can get if the proper throne wood isn't in supply... which it probably isn't."

Xander tried to stay focused even as the contact was nice. Very nice.

"Been a few of them back to back lately. But the shore leaves really got me stocked up."

Sam nodded. "I have to admit, it's been nice to have a few shore leaves to be able to actually get supplies. If we manage something like this every couple of months, we should be okay, I think." Though who knew how things would go?

He looked toward Xander's project. "So. What are you working on?" Safe topic.

He waved a hand toward a shelf with sample boards of wood before turning back to the cabinet he was focusing on.

"Welcome to see my current stock. Last couple of shore leaves upped my inventory."

"Yeah got this firm wood with a nice even grain. Probably get a good grip when I put the sections together."

Xander then cleared his throat, "A cabinet at the moment. Just a simple three drawer with dovetail joins."

It took a moment before Sam snorted, trying to keep his grin to himself. It was just the way that Xander had said it.

He shook himself, clearing his throat. "Just for sale?"

Hence the throat clearing. Hey he can't help it if carpentry terms were so fraught with double meanings.

"Yeah, I just got an order on a throne for Zetta. Yeah I don't get it either. But I want to get some more models out to sell."

Sam paused a moment, considering that. "He's a book."

And he wanted a throne.

"Yeah, no. I don't get it."

"Yeah, a badass throne at that. Think I can convince him a mildly threatening bookshelf is just as good?"

"I need a hardwood. Something elegant but durable," the book mused as he looked over the samples. "Preferably something that can be treated to resist fire."

"Knowing Zetta? Probably not." It was hard for Sam to really even think of Zetta as much of a threat. He was a BOOK. Books had threatening information in them, but...demon lords as books were hard for even him to get his mind around.

"Figured as much," Xander grimaced.

"Just my luck the demon book wanting something. Said I'm a magnet."

Xander walked over, "Well, this one resembles a mahogany. Resist fire though. You might want to chat with the Mystical Dept about that."

Sam snorted and raised an eyebrow. "You realize you haven't actually done that much better with me, right?" Had he explained all of this to Xander yet? Well, the guy deserved to know what he could be getting into, at least.

"Mahogany! Hyaaa ha ha ha ha! That's quality wood right there!" Even if it wasn't exactly mahogany. Close enough is close enough. "That would be perfect!"

"Uh what do you mean?" Xander studied him a moment.

"Can't be worse than a former vengeance demon, right?"

"Great, good, you got it." Even that meant it was going to be a b...bitca to saw and sand it.

"Hope you're not in a hurry on it. Got ideas on the design of it?"

"Tall and relatively thin," Zetta said. "Makes it a lot more imposing, especially when viewed from lower down. My preferred motifs are flames, but just normal arms. I can't stand when a chair has eighty sculptures on the armrests and you can't actually put your arms on them because something will chip off or it's just stupidly uncomfortable."

Sam grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's...kind of involved. I mean, there was the whole demon blood thing." He was pretty sure he'd mentioned that one before. "It turns out that, since before Dean and I were born, both sides of the whole good/evil dichotomy had their eyes on us. Because they got tired of waiting for the Apocalypse to happen, so the angels started helping the demons to bring it about."

He let out a breath. "Demons and angels are very, very different in my world. Most demons used to be human, so they can possess a human without any trouble. Angels are...well, powerful. So they need specialized vessels that can handle it. And the vessel has to agree.

"Not long before we came here, Dean and I found out that we're angelic vessels. The perfect vessels for Michael and Lucifer, meant to allow them to fight things out. Killing about half the people in the world." He pointed to himself. "I'm Lucifer's. Dean's Michael's. Or we're supposed to be."

Xander nodded since yeah, he heard a little about the demon blood. Not much though. He then listened to more, and his eye widened. Based on Anya, he knew some humans could become demons like in her case. Plus, demonic possession was nothing new on his world either. Angels? Angels were a whole other story.

Based on what Buff said after her resurrection, he knew there had to be something like heaven, but it seemed hard to believe everything else. Though sure, sometimes he'd prayed, but nothing specific.

The last part? He blinked a few times, and finally said.

"...So, this means I'm dating the devil? Or no, you just said you were his vessel and there's been no saying, 'Hi Lucifer, welcome aboard?'"

"No, I haven't said yes to Lucifer." Sam shook his head. "I mean...according to Castiel--the one who was here before this one. He said that I would say yes so that I could get Lucifer back in his cage."

"Right, right... sooo you go back, and doesn't that mean Hell? That's where he's from right?" It explained some of his brother's attitude on things.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, exactly. So...we're actually going to try not to return, if we can."

"Yeah, yeah, don't blame you there. So that mean no more Apocalypse? Lived through a few of them myself."

"That's the idea." Though...Lucifer was already loose in their world. There wasn't a way to take that back without saying yes to Lucifer and going into the cage.

Which would break Dean and Dean had been broken enough.

Xander nodded and then asked, "Well surprisingly, not going anywhere if you want to go somewhere on the ship again. Not sure if we can find anything that private."

Sam blinked, sitting up slightly and chuckled. "I thought you were working."

Privacy on the ship was just...not going to happen.

Xander set down his tools, and dusted his hands on, "My store, so I get to set my hours. And it just happens to be break time. Want to split some slop?"

He paused and added, "Or hopefully something not slop?"

"I think we probably have something at the house that I can make up." Dean was at security headquarters. "I'll make sure there's enough for Dean, Tom and Cas to have something later."

Well. If Cas ate. Angels generally didn't, but it was polite.

Xander nodded at that, "Sounds good."

"Uh about that one guy, or angel. Does that mean he's in somebody else? We're not talking yeerk time again are we?"

Sam frowned, rubbing the back of his head. "That one's...more difficult. Angels can't take a body unless they've been given permission. We met Jimmy, the name of the guy whose body Cas is in. Nice guy and he did actually ask for it." The second time was a little more difficult, because it was a terrible situation all around. "Though there's some question in my mind whether Jimmy's still in there. If he isn't, he'll have gone straight to Heaven. Since, you know, that's sort of what happens to angelic hosts."

Unless the angel you hosted was Lucifer. But that was a different story.

Xander grimaced, "Hoping that's the case. Beats being stuck." He knew Sam could appreciate that sentiment. He finished setting aside his tools, and changed the sign to closed for lunch.

"So, back to your place?"

"It's a heavy dense wood so you don't want it too thin. I could adjust the foundation with some flames so you can get away with it thinning more to the top?"

Sam nodded. "For as much privacy as we can manage." Which...wasn't always a lot. Too many people lived in the house. Sam wouldn't have it any other way, though. "And, if nothing else, lunch."

"I'm saying 'relatively' thin. Looking at it should give the impression of being tall and thin... no matter how thick or wide the wood actually is, you know? But I like what you're proposing." Appearances were, after all, everything.

"Yep, that's me." Atom peered at the chest. "So you make furniture for a living? Did you make all the furniture around here?"

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