Onward, Into Darkness

[cyan_maid]

[Around dinnertime, when everyone has gone to their rooms and had their time to think about the day, a note is slipped underneath your door. It reads:

I've made soup for everyone tonight.
It would be a kindness if you were to come to the cafeteria and partake.
- Jane

And, true to the letter, when you enter the cafeteria, you're hit with the distinct smell of pumpkin. There's a large covered pot on one of the tables filled to the brim with a sweet pumpkin soup full of carrots and sweet potatoes, a ladle beside the pot, and a stack of bowls and spoons. There's even enough cutlery for Bolton and Jamie to come, if they want to show up - Jane is, if anything, an excellent host. Please help yourself! There's plenty more! is on a folded bit of paper beside the pot, but where is Jane?

Well, the kitchen door is propped open, and she's very diligently working on scraping out the remains of a huge, tasty pumpkin and setting the seeds aside. She sniffs every once in a while, and her face is a blotchy mess, but she's still going. Having something to do seems to keep her from diving too deeply into despair.

Just...don't let her, or yourselves, be distracted forever.]

Comments

[curdle]

[ She smiles very, very weakly. ]

It sounds nice. 'Tis a thing we have need of, now more than ever.

[cyan_maid]

Yeah. I...I can definitely trace it out from memory.

[curdle]

I should like to see it.

[ She walks over to the sink, looking at whatever dirty bowls or whatever might be present! ]

You've been a-working for hours. Is there nothing I might do here?

[cyan_maid]

...I really don't want to trouble anyone. Miss Natsuhi...did make me take a little break.

[Thomasin no please let her work]

[curdle]

[ She can't not think back to Father splitting cord after cord of wood, trying to convince himself he could provide for them -- but that had been born of pride, or so she thought. This is different. Jane is distracting herself from something worse. ]

... They do say the Devil shall make work for those that idle. But thou shouldst rest too.

[cyan_maid]

I...I know.

[She seems to deflate a bit, rubbing her wrist. Yeah, it's aching again.]

I guess part of me thinks...I can always rest later. Or wear myself out until I fall asleep in bed and don't dream of a single thing.

[curdle]

Well... Sunday can do for that. Even if thou art not of the faith.

[ It's also the day when they'll all inevitably remember something that's probably awful! She's not going to say that in as many words. ]

When Sam disappeared, and Father and Caleb were a-searching the wood, we worked the farm harder than ever. [ And Mother yoked her with even more tasks than the rest, but she can't talk about Mother now. Jane has surely worked to distract herself before; even though the reality of a Puritan farmer's workday is extra grueling, it's not as though this is news. Thomasin's not sure if she's sharing this to nail in that it happens to everyone, in every time and place, or if she's just being selfish. ] There was always something needed doing. Fain would I tell thee it was as you think.

I still dreamed of it near every night, and Mother... she could scarce sleep at all. I wish it weren't so.

[cyan_maid]

[It is very likely Jane has never worked as hard as anyone on a Puritan farm, but she's had her days. She nods, after a moment.]

I'm glad to know it's not just a weird thing that I'm stuck on, then.