"Yeah…" Darius shifted some, looking to Mara again.
"I didn't break anything of yours, did I?" The man asked. If he had, he'd be more than willing to help replace it. The couch was by the wall, so with him sitting on the side, it ended up with him closer a bit than he had been before when they were talking.
“Doesn’t look like it. At least nothing serious.” Mara said after a brief assessment of the main room. Her bedroom was still hidden, thankfully, and there was also a storage room with an actual door. “Definitely going to have to sweep up some of this white dust.”
"Okay, then. That's good at least." Darius still had a bit of the wall dust stuck in his hair, but he didn't seem to notice. He could see some of Mara's room from where he was, but he didn't want to snoop too much.
“Yeah.” she agreed as she ran her fingers through her hair, brushing some of the dust out. She hummed thoughtfully as she felt the white powder and started wondering if there was a possible use for it.
Darius fell quiet, turning his attention to the hole itself. He leaned forward a touch, hand going to his chin. He had no idea how to fix it, but he didn't think it would be a good idea for him to call someone in to fix it. No, it wouldn't be for sure, not with Mara's house right there.
"I'm not entirely sure how to fix this," the man finally admitted.
Mara looked back up at Darius when he spoke. “Ummm… Don't you just need a piece of wood and part of one of those wall sections?” she asked. Living and traveling in the walls, Mara could see how the wall was built from the inside; the part people like Darius never saw.
"A-Ah… what?" Darius had absolutely no idea what Mara was talking about. "I, uh, I've never really thought about how a wall works, never needed to, so… I'm clueless."
“Apparently.” Mara sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Ok, look. Your wall is made up of tall pieces of… whatever you call the stuff you broke through. They’re pretty wide too, and they're held together by long pieces of wood going both directions, up and down and side to side.” she explained as best she could. “You can probably get a piece of wall big enough to fill the hole and just need some wood to hold it in place.”
(wall puzzle 101: wood + wall piece = whole wall)
(come on Darius, it's easy)
(lol 😆 )
(Darius, basically a rich boy who's never known anything at all about construction or fixing things himself: R-Right…)
"O-kay, then…" Darius would do some research into what Mara was talking about and where to get the wall pieces later. "Yeah, I'll do this soon, then…"
(lmao i stg only rich people find tiny people in their homes)
(As a poor person, I can confirm- if there were tinies here, they'd be able to steal, so much, and no one notice)
Mara looked up at him with a brow raised at him. “You don't do much with your hands, do you? Stuff like this, I mean.” she said, gesturing to the wall.
"No, I really don't," the man admitted. He let out a sigh, leaning his head back on the couch.
"There's never really been a reason. I'd usually just call someone else in and have them fix it…"
“But because of me and where the hole is, you don't think that's a good idea this time.” Mara said, following his line of thought. “I knew I should have looked harder for a place under the floor.” she huffed a little.
"I'm sure I'll be able to figure something out," Darius assured. "Besides, if you had, we'd have never gotten a proper introduction to each other." The man did his best to find a silver lining to things, smiling a bit.
Mara nodded slightly, still a little unsure if them meeting was actually a good thing. True, he hadn't done anything besides talk to her and he was reluctant to expose her to anyone else. Both of which she was very grateful for but there was no way life was going to go back to normal after this.
"Well…" Darius thought a moment. "What do you think we should do until I figure out what I need to do to fix this?" The man asked. "It might not be the best idea to just leave the hole to your house uncovered."
“Umm… I don't know.” Mara admitted, blinking a little. “You’re probably right about leaving this open… Do you have a picture or something you could put over it for now?” she suggested.
"I think I should, or something similar," Darius said after a moment of thought. "And if not, I could always go get something. You think it would work well enough as a temporary solution?"
Mara nodded. “As long as it covers the hole, it should be fine.” she told him, as she was more concerned about staying out of sight than a wayward draft.
"Alright, then. I'll go look for something." Darius stood, walking into his room. He kept most of his overflow items there, since he didn't really let anyone in. He didn't find any paintings that were laying around, but he did pick one from his own wall to take out.
"Think this will do?"
Mara nodded watching him leave for a moment before turning back to cleaning up, though she managed sweep up most of the white powder into a pile. If there was a use for it for her, she’d figure it out. “Yeah, I think that’ll work.” she said looking up at Darius when she heard him come back.
"Okay, then." The man set the painting on the couch, going to grab a few velcro fasteners. He doubted it would be a good idea to hang the picture up with a nail, seeing as it was to cover up a hole in the first place. He carefully lined everything up, peeling off the plastic cover to stick each piece in place.