Welcome to Gaia! ::

At some point, America needed to just get a modded ipod, but the rigged up speaker set of her phone, SOLO cups, and pvc pipe had stood well by her since she'd come to the island, and it would do for awhile more. Knowing she'd be spending more and more time doing house repairs, she'd asked Dwight to make her a fun summertime playlist for her phone. What he'd given to her wasn't exactly what was expected, but in a lot of ways it was better than just her favourite pop and country songs. It was the music of childhood summers, before the hurt and anger settled about her like a crown she bore with bitter pride.

In more than a few ways it was the better suited for the world she was trying to build.

Little Bitty Pretty One

As often as they took actual resting breaks while working, it was just as likely that some infectious toe-tapper would come on and America would be demanding a dance.

This is the story of a house.

It's also the story of how Konstantin Bashmet learned to Jitterbug.

Day-O

With a forlorn sigh and a stare out towards what was presumably the sea, Kostya began painting over what she'd splattered.

"Going to give the vall strange texture," he said, not actually alarmed or offended. It was her spare bedroom, after all.

Eventually, he'd take a cloth out of one of his many pockets, and began trying to scrub some spots of paint off of her face, a fond little smile on his face.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Kostya laughed, soft and earned, shaking his head as he tried to grill this last hot dog on this teeny tiny grill made out of a spare can and welded just so with a bit of Syntax's help. When the food approached maximum crunchy-outside to juicy-inside levels, he set it on the prepped and pre-heated bun, plating it for America.

"I love you too, America Jones," he replied, setting the food on the upturned crate that served as her table, and promptly pinched the flesh just above her hipbone to tease her.

"Sit before you fall, is not dignified for president to be klutz, da?"

Technologic

"You know," he said, pleased as punch at his own spark of cleverness, "make vun vall empty space, and can turn vall into projector for tv. Is family room big enough to host movie night, you are thinking? Need to plan for more ottoman?"

All These Roads

Sometimes, he cloud-watched, face turned up to the sun, planning out the fences and the walkways and the gardens of their future together.

"You know," he said, "for so long, island vas cloudy. Alvays. Full of many creature, all made from fear. These area had many creature valking through streets. Still dangerous now, da, but, not anything like used to be."

Little Bitty Pretty One

While his temperament and ultra efficient movements weren't particularly suited for the wild hand gestures and kicks of a good Jitterbug, Konstantin was unsurprisingly excellent at enabling her to go wild with lifts and spins and flips. Technical movements that meant trust and timing and support seemed to come naturally enough to him that America soon began to consider using a few leave days to take swing lessons with him.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

She pinched him right back, mourning ever so slightly that there was less thank the weeks before thanks to him being off his fancy french food diet. Twirling impressively, she pooh-pooh'd his talk of falling and proceeded to do cartwheels and handstands to show him who exactly was a klutz around here (hint: not her!)

When she did fall, it was into a bush.

She'd have it removed later that week for the attempted presidential assassination.