"Ah," Madrigal nodded, chuckling. Kids. When they weren't incredibly handy, with their small stature that made it very easy for them to slip from one place to another unseen, they could be a menace. She put the bowls down and assessed the boy. After a moment of assessment, she nodded to herself, and then, with a small smile, she said, "Madrigal."

Sage nodded and thought about how kids would always tell it to you like it was. How sneaky they could be. When she told him her name he figured he should do the same back. He felt like he could trust her, so he gave her his own name, not a fake one he made up when anyone asked him. "Sage"

"It's nice to meet you, Sage," Madrigal said with a friendly smile. After a moment, she put her hands on her hips and assessed the damage. The room was in dire need of a good cleaning. Fortunately, that was one of her strengths. "So, do you want to clean this up now? Or if you want to get some rest, I don't mind doing it myself." She looked around again. "You could sit down and just tell me where everything goes," she added with a nonchalant shrug.

He shrugged. "well I don't really ever spend time in here so I'm just about as clueless as you are as to where stuff goes." He pointed to a small table with the bucket of water on it and a stool under it. "That's the kitchen and every thing else is just kinda whatever " he grinned. "If you need to use the bathroom do it in the woods."

Madrigal cackled. Well, at least there was a decent roof over their heads and the wind didn't blow right through the walls. It could always be worse, she reminded herself. "Okay, well, why don't we start by throwing all unusable, unnecessary, or broken items into into a pile by the door outside. We'll clear the floor, sweep, dust, and do a little organizing. Do you have any other rooms?"

He shook his head. "Nope. It's small. I had to use logs light enough to build it when I was thirteen." He looked around the room and sighed. "Unusable, broken, or unnecessary...that's probably pretty much everything." He picked up a half emptied bottle of drink laying on the floor and made a face. "And I don't even know whether to just drink all of this and forget life or throw it out "

Madrigal eyed Sage. "Trust me, life is worth too much to be forgotten." She could see that life had been tough on her new acquaintance. Madrigal had been through her own hell and back, and she was grateful, for it made her appreciate the good times a heck of a lot more. She started collecting old drink bottles. "Do you even want to stick around here?" She asked. He could just leave, she thought. He didn't have his father to tie him here anymore.

Sage sighed and shrugged. "No. Yes. I don't know. It's complicated." He lowered the jug of drink but didn't let go of it. "It's the only place I know, and while it hold bad memories, it's all I have of my mother or younger sister." That was the only reason he stayed before and it would be the reason he stayed now. His father was a jerk, but he was only one jerk out of a million. At least he hit him directly and didn't toy with his emotions or anything. He didn't attack from behind and run or attack when he could do nothing about it the the townspeople often did.

Madrigal nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry that you had such a shitty father." She thought back to her own father and felt the familiar ache in her chest; the pang of loss that would never quite go away. "But, I'm sure your mother and sister would want you to start a life where you could be happy..."

Sage chuckled and shrugged. "I don't know if that's even possible," he muttered and then shook his head and started helping Madrigal clean up. He was going to fall asleep on his feet if he didn't work. He pushed himself way too hard, he knew, but sleeping wasn't enjoyable, and hardly resting.