Tricked (t.m.r.)

1.29 - Builder

When my week of trial at the kitchen had ended, Frypan sent me off with the promise that he'll recruit me to be one of his cooks, much to my relief because the goal of not ending up as a slopper has been achieved. What's left for me to do is just to survive the rest of the trials. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Chuck, heard from Newt who heard from the keepers that the boy wasn't particularly good in anything and they're likely going to end up assigning him to become a slopper. I pity the kid, he's too young to be good at anything straight off the bat. 

Gally wasted no time in barking orders for me to complete at the builder's hut and thankfully, he was nice enough to let me pair up with either himself or Liam most of the time. I had begged Liam to help me build a bed for Newt and after some persuasion and a couple of empty threats, he gave in to my request and scavaged for any remaining wood that wasn't being used by the builders and began teaching me how to build one. By the end of my trials, we were finished with the product and Newt had thought he had wandered into Gally's room when he saw the bed placed at the corner of his room where his hammock used to be. I'm not sure whether he loves the bed, but Bark was the one who enjoys it the most. Apparently, the pup sleeps in Gally's bed most of the time, or whoever's bed that can offer him the most treats. 

I swear there are a few moments Archie tried to approach me, probably wanting to issue another fight, but he was always glared away by Gally to continue his own work, much to my amusement. I tried to use this opportunity to befriend Gally, who I honestly think isn't a bad lad at all, but he got tired of me talking his ear off on the third day of my trials. 

"Ok, let's make a deal." He points at me with the hammer he was holding with an ugly scowl. "Tell me what you want me to build, whatever the shuck it is, I'll build it. And in exchange for that, you be quiet for the rest of the trials." 

I stare at him in awe, "Really? You can build anything?"

"Of course, I'm the best builder in the glade." He points at himself proudly. 

"A cyr wheel!"

He blinks at me, "What the hell is a cyr wheel?"

"It's one of those big metal circle things for acrobats! Like a hula hoop but bigger." I tried to draw out the actual size of it with my hands. 

"How big is it supposed to be?" Gally frowns, already looking through his hut to dig out extra metal. 

"Slightly bigger than me. I need to grab hold of it when I play with it." I replied timidly, unsure whether he would continue building me one once he finds out how much metal he needs to use. To my surprise, he steps next to me as he takes out his measuring tape to see how tall I am. 

"163 centimeters." I heard him muttering to himself before trotting away and started drawing in the sand with a stick. I peeked over and saw he had drawn a stick figure standing in the middle of a circle. "Is this what it's supposed to look like?"

I nodded my head vigorously. 

"You have a deal if you can get me extra bacon from Frypan, starting today until I finish your wheel thing." He holds out his hand for me to shake. 

"But Frypan doesn't cook bacon every day." 

"Then extra of whatever you can get me."

"Deal!" I clasp my hand over his and shook it excitedly. "Thanks Captain Gally, you're the best!" 

And so that was the story of how Gally bought my silence and it took every ounce of control I have in myself not to rush over to give him a hug when he presented me the 'ridiculously large giant hula hoop that makes me look like some sort of weird hamster' a couple of weeks after my trial with him was over. His words, not mine. I've been getting sneak peeks of the cyr wheel he was building and tried to make up as many excuses as I could to pass by the builder's hut when I was supposed to be doing other jobs. Sometimes I'll sneak into the builder's hut when everyone's asleep just to be able to marvel over Gally's work for as long as I wanted to.