Tannim and Majorra - Doing Something Different
by tannim
May 25, 2012
"Well, it's different. I kind of like it." Majorra shrugged. "I expected something different."
The dragon waved dismissively. "I didn't want us to do something boring and normal, so we're going to go metal detecting and while we're at it, we'll pick up trash. I do have something thought up for when we get back, but that'll be a surprise." Tannim held up a bag and a light but still fairly large metal detector. "Which would you like to carry?"
"You could carry both..." The wolf narrowed her eyes. That usually worked on males. Tannim just stared back and lifted one, then the other. "Alright, I'll take the bag."
"Ah, you like things heavy! Good. Makes things easier for me." He laughed and handed her the bag before they headed out.
It was a lightly wooded area without too many people anywhere around them. A road ran nearby it though, and Majorra bent to pick up another bottle. She had been rather surprised at the idea of cleaning up the random trash, but it was actually more fun than she'd expected, so long as she ignored the weight of all the garbage bags that were stuffed into the bag she'd chosen to carry.
They were doing more garbage pick-up than metal detecting, but occasionally there was a bit of road without too much crap strewn about it's sides and she followed Tannim near the trees. He waved the metal detector around, she crouched down where he scratched with a foot, and dug up the dirt. Her friend set the device down to scoop dirt out into a plastic bag he'd picked up, then waved it over the detector.
It didn't beep. She dug deeper, more dirt, didn't beep again. Majorra tapped her booted foot thoughtfully, then tried widening the hole instead. Again the dragon dumped the dirt nearby and refilled the bag, the metal detector beeped.
"Oh, good, another nail. We needed one of those to go with the last twenty."
"Hey, you never know what you'll get. That's part of the fun!" Tannim waved the bag's remaining dirt over the disc at the end of the device again. "Hey, there's still more. Wanna bet nail or going to change it to screw or bottle cap?"
"I guess screw this time." Majorra dug out a cigarette pack, then sighed and put it away when her friend turned and narrowed his eyes. "Fine, I'll keep waiting. Smoking isn't THAT bad."
"If you want to do that around me, you use the electric one I got you. Hey, it's a... er... toy car. One of those old cast iron ones, too. Wonder if it's worth anything cleaned up."
"Scrap some of that crap off and give it a polish I guess."
"Nah, no polishing, that just damages these things and reduces their value. Rather heavy too." He slipped it into the tiny bag of 'good' finds in his pocket. That it was the only item in that bag didn't say much for their luck so far. "Want to keep going? We still have a few bags we can fill up yet."
The wolf bitch looked back at the six thirty gallon bags already filled, then back at her dirty hands and his dirty hands. "Yeah... may as well. What are we going to do with this crap anyway?"
"Take it back with us."
The next few hours went relatively enjoyably. They found two pennies and a half dollar with the metal detector, along with another thirty or so bits of random junk metal. The toaster filled with silverware was the most interesting find while a red glass bottle that had once held a large amount of wine was one of the prettiest. It had intricate shapes blown into it when it had been made. Majorra found a wad of four dollars laying on the ground. All in all, enjoyably different.
Back at Tannim's home, the unloaded the many bags from the bus, making the two other riders quite happy, and she was surprised to see her friend simply opening the bags. "What are you doing?"
Tannim held up a roll of duck tape. "Well, the day isn't over YET. We have plenty of time so I thought why not. We have all this stuff, we could make something out of it."
"Heh... you're a weird guy, Tan." She cracked a rare smile, it was quite pretty. Majorra opened another bag and peered in. "Anything in mind?"
"Nope. How about you? Or we could just wing it and see what happens by randomly taping things together." He dug around inside and pulled out the toaster. "Could make a couple large nostrils with this thing."
Maj shook her head, then pulled out a pizza box. "I guess I found a face or something. Here, cut a hole in this and stick that toaster in it."
It was rather bland looking when he did, but it DID sort of look like a muzzle with the toaster sticking into the folding middle section of the pizza box. A very BROAD and flat muzzle, definitely in need of more detail, but still sort of like one, if they looked at it right, maybe with one eye closed and the other squinting. A bit abstract, but there. It was a start.
Bottles were laid out by shape and damage, capped or cap-less. There were a lot more flattened plastic bottles than unflattened, which Majorra decided was a good thing. They looked a lot like scales when laid out and overlapping. Tannim agreed. Something scaly it would be.
Plastic bags filled with random tossed out cups and papers and floppy bits of plastic were plentiful, they were tied off and piled up, then taped together. Bottles were tapped along them, forming a series of scales down the back, though it was clear they wouldn't have enough. That wasn't a problem. They just worked on arms made of cut and taped together pizza boxes and plates, wearing gloves for the dirtier items.
Bit by bit, the form took shape. It looked a bit like a feral dragon with a beaver tail of cast away aluminum siding. They laughed at it, bigger than either of them, and were amazed when they ran out of trash to use.
"Wow, eleven bags of shit are stuck in that thing and it's still not done." Tannim stretched. "And we worked through dinner. Lets get something to eat and then waste the night playing video games. We can find more crap on the road again tomorrow if you'd like to finish it."
Majorra leaned against him. "Yeah... I do kind of want to finish it. That was a weird idea you had, but it was a lot better than I thought we'd do. But no video games, at least if I can't be player 1."
"You'll be player 2 and like it. Well, may not like it, but hey, we can always take turns."
