𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐀 - TMR, Gally ¹

𝟢𝟢𝟩，𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫

CH. SEVEN
┗━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━┛

Slightly nervous, Joan waits for someone, anyone, to walk out of the Gathering Hut and share what job she's getting. The Keepers have been discussing since dinner.

Camil better keeps his promise, so she can create helpful tools all day, and can be around anyone she wants as long as she does what she has to do.

If she ends up being a Builder, she might as well immediately slam a hammer against her own head because spending the rest of her time here with Gally sounds like hell. Bricknicks, too. Building and repairing seems kind of fun but the people... nope.

Med-Jacks seem fine. She spent about two hours with them after the Bricknicks. Clint and Jeff are nice. Yet she hates how hot it is the Med-Hut, how messy, and how many boys are being dramatic about little cuts.

And how they can't keep their eyes off her while she plucks a simple splinter out. Gosh. If it weren't for Jeff sending some away, she really would've punched them.

But perhaps she should stop punching people and contain her anger once it starts growing.

"Ben!" She yells at the boy. He's the only boy here she also has some kind of relationship with, who isn't a Keeper. Those boys have been in in the Gathering Hut for what feels like hours, so she's glad to meet a friend she can finally talk to.

He jogs over to her, his forehead shining from sweat. "Hey, Greenie. It's takin' 'em long again, isn't it?"

"I've been sitting here since dinner." She sighs.

"Damn, that's more than an hour." Ben turns around to slam on the Gathering Hut's door. "YOU SHANKS ALMOST DONE?!"

Embarrassed but somehow thankful, Joan manages a laugh. Then the door opens, to both their surprises, and Alby says, "Just come inside."

She doesn't hesitate to walk in there. It's a big, round hut. A pole in the middle holds the roof they made, and she can't deny this building looks good. She wouldn't have believed it's handmade in the way the boys here normally do it, at least.

Then Gally looks as if he's about to explode from anger, Clint looks excited, Newt's frowning, the Bricknick, Eric, seems bored, Zart and Winston keep sharing glares, Minho and Camil are beaming, and the keeper of the Baggers, some kind of guard, also looks bored.

Alby clears his throat, attracting everyone's attention to him. "Joan," he starts, looking at the girl. "We've been talking a lot about our options, and we've got a conclusion, except not everyone agrees."

She raises her eyebrows, nodding. Gives Gally a glare, then breaks eye contact because his gaze is so cold.

"Camil told us about your creativity, acknowledge of plants, and he showed us the hammer you made. It obviously needs some more work, but it can turn into a real masterpiece," Alby continues. "So we thought it would be nice for you to create even more. Anything you know you can create."

A satisfied feeling rises in her stomach. She nods, a smile forming on her lips, and then listens to his following words.

"We've had feedback from every Keeper. Got great compliments about the cooking and Eric mentioned you could use your skills to repair, too. Maybe even build. Meaning that besides creating things, you'd be free to sometimes help others out where you can. As long as you haven't got any other projects to work on."

It's getting better and better.

"So," Alby finishes. He looks around the room for a while. "By this, we'll create a new job. The Tool-Makers."