Originally posted on Ao3 at 23.08.2023
Prompt: Copper
In the afternoon, after school Ruby Langerak was in the backyard playing fetch with the small family dog Maro. The Shiba Inu-hybrid ran above the grass beside the stone-plastered floor beside the outdoor pool of the backyard, where at the moment her father Parker Langerak lied on an air mattress relaxing.
The dog reached the end of the grass to grab her basketball-inspired toy ball and returned it to the girl, who got down to receive the ball from the dog.
"Good girl!" Acknowledged the girl caressing the dog on her head upon receiving the ball. "Are you ready?" Asked Ruby showing the dog the toy making the dog pant excited and bark at the girl. "Fetch!"
Ruby threw the ball across the grass, watching the dog follow the ball, which landed on the grass in front of the fence. Maro returned to take the ball with her and took it back to the young girl, which took the ball again.
"That's right! Are you ready?" Questioned Ruby, followed by throwing the ball against the fence watching it bounce on the wall to roll past the dog, who missed the ball watching it land in the pool. Maro ran towards the pool, then hopped into the water to swim after the ball, which swam over the surface towards the mattress next to Parker. Ruby chuckled from seeing the dog swim towards the man, who wrinkled his eyebrows upon hearing the splash and looked at the pet swimming to him. Parker moved his sunglasses up to glimpse at the mixed breed approach his mattress and noticed beside him the ball. Parker smiled, then shoved the ball away gently towards the dog, which snapped the ball and returned back to the ground. Parker looked up at his daughter, who observed the dog and had eye contact with her dad.
"Did we wake you up?" Asked Ruby watching her father shake her head.
"I was just relaxing," Responded the man making the girl nod, which observed the dog retrieve the ball and barked at the girl.
"Good girl!" Complimented Ruby, followed by Maro shaking off her fur shrieking the girl. "Hey!" Complained Ruby making her father chuckle, who moved aside to observe the girl with the dog.
Ruby threw the ball towards the fence watching it bounce back, passing beside the dog, which stopped to return back to follow the ball. Ruby watched Maro take the ball and bring it back to her the few centimeters, that remained between the two. Ruby had an idea, then threw the ball hard against the fence watching it bounce back to distract the running dog, who had to return to follow the ball back to Ruby's hands.
"This is actually funny," Commented Ruby throwing the ball again, while the father observed the girl outsmarting the dog, which made him shake his head amused, then he lied back facing the sun again, sighing amused.
Maro returned with the ball to Ruby, who took it and caressed the dog over the head. Ruby shook the ball in front of Maro's nose, making her wag her tail and bark playfully at the kid. Ruby swung her arm back to launch her ball across the yard watching it hit the fence on the top and fall into the other side.
"Oh oh," Said Ruby watching Maro race against the fence and place her front paws on the fence to look up questioningly about the ball's disappearance. "We have to go to the other side," Mentioned Ruby watching the dog follow the fence and place her paws on there again to look up. "Daddy, the ball flew over the fence. Can I go and get it back?"
"Yes, just be careful when passing by the road," Warned Parker making Ruby nod and run towards the entrance to the house.
"Maro, come let's go find the ball," Called the girl, making the dog bark and follow her into the house.
The duo reached the backside of the yard together, thereafter Ruby began to look along the fence for Maro's ball, while the dog began to sniff down the grass. Ruby looked at the front of the fence to spot the ball lying a few centimeters away from the fence. Ruby smiled, then ran to pick up the ball and look at it glad.
"I've got it," Said Ruby, then observed the dog follow the ground with her nose, making Ruby chuckle and observe her walk along the grass. "What did you find?" Questioned Ruby seeing the dog make her way towards a tree, where she sniffed around it making Ruby understand, that she was planning to relieve herself. Ruby waited for the dog to return, but ended up noticing, that the female wasn't doing anything from what the girl had been thinking. Ruby moved closer to the tree to spot the dog digging with her paws by the roots of the tree making a hole. "What are you doing there, Maro?" Questioned Ruby watching the dog digging a hole. Ruby heard the whistle of somebody, then looked back at the fence to see hands suddenly appear in the air to grab by the edge of the fence. "I'm okay, Daddy," Warned Ruby returning to the fence, then watched the hands slip away from the fence and Ruby knocked on the wood. "Maro is digging a hole there by the tree. Why is she doing that?"
"I don't know. Could she have found food?" Questioned Parker making Ruby shrug her shoulders.
"I don't know,"
I will get to you. Make sure she's not eating bones before she might get herself hurt," Warned the father making Ruby nod, which went to look for the family dog and looked above her seeing her dig deeper into the roots. Ruby leaned closer to the tree trying to take a glimpse at what her dog was looking for, afterward she heard a yelp of a man's voice and she looked back at the fence to spot her father hopping with one leg to stop by the corner. Ruby got bewildered upon seeing her father with one leg in the air, then he looked down to see he had stepped on a pointy twig
"What happened?" Questioned Ruby watching her father remove the little piece of wood off his foot and place the foot down normally, so he could make his way towards the raven-haired kid.
"I stepped on a pointy piece of a branch," Informed Parker making Ruby nod, then Parker gazed above their dog and went down on his knees to grab the dog gently by the collar making it bark. "Maro, what did you find there?" Maro barked at her owner, then returned to the hole to keep digging. Parker shook his head at the dog's deed, then Ruby got down next to her father to look at the dog.
"I didn't see anything bad yet," Commented Ruby, then observed the dog growl and bite on something earning Parker's attention, which looked from above the dog's head to see her try to pull out a large stone, making Ruby frown at the dog's waste of time. "A stone?"
"What did you find there?" Questioned Parker the dog, which lied the stone on the ground, and looked up at the owner curious. Maro looked at the stone, afterward she glimpsed back at the man while wagging her tail. Parker grabbed the stone to take a look at it, along with Ruby, who knelt beside him.
"Is that part of a meteorite?" Questioned Ruby while her father analyzed the rock with his eyes, then passed his finger above the surface.
"This might be copper," Commented Parker. "Or Iron maybe…..no, I'm sure it's copper. Kind of smells like a Simoleon coin,"
"Really?" Asked Ruby watching her father reach the stone at the girl to smell it. "It kind of does," Confessed the girl making her dad smile.
"What do you think? Should we get it melted?" Questioned the father earning Ruby's curiosity.
"Why melt it?"
"You know, we can send this to a said address, which will take out the copper. I don't know, how the process works exactly. All I know is I can pay 30§ and in a week or so we will receive it back,"
"You would do that?" Questioned Ruby interested making Parker nod.
"It's a win-win situation. They'll get the money and we receive the content of it. If you'd like, you can keep it as a sort of trophy in your room. What do you say?"
"Thank you, dad," Responded Ruby embracing her father making him chuckle and wrap his one arm around the daughter to reciprocate it.
A week later, Ruby sat inside the school bus heading home and stopped two houses before hers, then got up to follow two boys, that were about to leave. Ruby watched the boys step down from the bus, then hopped out as well and looked at the one raven-haired boy move to the first house in front of the bus.
"Bye Cody!" Said Ruby watching the boy approach the door, thereafter she followed the sidewalk to the third house, which was the one, where she lived. By the house, she spotted her mother River opening the mailbox to find in there something making her furrow her eyebrows curious. "Mom!" Shouted Ruby racing in the brunette's direction, who looked aside and smiled at seeing her daughter come along.
"Welcome back home, Ruby," Greeted the mother holding her arms wide open for the daughter to bump into her and be embraced tightly by the woman. "What a long day, wasn't it?" Questioned the brunette moving her hands up at the girl's head to hold her gently, so she could give the daughter a peck on the forehead.
"Is that in the mailbox the order of dad?" Questioned Ruby sensing her mother caress her one side of the cheek, before looking up at the mailbox again.
"Your father ordered something?" Questioned River looking at the open mailbox earning a nod from her daughter.
"Maro found last week behind a tree a piece of stone and dad said it could have copper in there. To get it out of there he had to send it somewhere," Explained the raven-haired girl, then got up together with her mother and the adult shove her hand into the mailbox to take out a box with their home address and Parker's full name listed on the etiquette. "This here?" Questioned River showing her daughter the package watching the daughter look at it and shrug her shoulders.
"I think so. I don't know, how it's supposed to look like," Ruby confessed.
"We can ask your father. He entered into the house a couple of minutes ago," Suggested the brunette making Ruby nod, then got accompanied by her mother into the house to spot by the entrance the mixed breed sit there wagging her tail to greet the women.
"Hi Maro!" Greeted Ruby getting down on her knees to greet the dog, which placed her paws on the girl's shoulder to be patted on the head. River walked to the desk beneath the stairs to place the box down and turned around to look at her daughter pet Maro on her back, watching the dog hold her back up similar to a cat making the woman chuckle.
River heard from upstairs the laughter of a toddler, then looked above the railing up at the second floor to see her husband come carrying their youngest son on his shoulders. The mother smiled enamored at seeing the two come down entertained, mostly because Parker was acting clownish for the boy's entertainment.
"Oh look, mama is there. Let's tell your mother, that Grandpa gave you a brand-new toy today," Commented the raven-haired man earning a playful slap on top of the head. "Hey…..No slapping, while going downstairs,"
River shook her head amused, then met with her husband by the end of the stairs and moved her hands up at her son with a smile.
"Will Robert give mommy a hug?" Asked the brunette watching the boy stretch his arms, afterward Parker picked the toddler up to hand it over to his wife, which grabbed the infant by the side, pulling him closer to her for an embrace. "Hello, my little boy," Greeted the mother giving the boy a peck on the forehead.
"Dad, I think our package arrived," Warned Ruby joining her parents from the side.
"Really?" Questioned Parker, then River moved her arm to show the box standing on the desk and observed Robert mirror her making her smile, then lean her forehead on his.
"Good baby," Complimented River happy with the boy's deed.
Parker accompanied the girl to the table to take a look at the box, where he analyzed the address and looked at her daughter, which waited curious for his confirmation.
"That's the address we sent our rock. It's here," Mentioned Parker making Ruby smile. "Shall we open it?"
"I'm actually curious to see, what you two found," Commented River approaching the duo with the toddler. Ruby looked down at Maro, which was analyzing the ankle of the mother.
"Actually Maro found it, right?" Questioned Ruby looking down at the dog sniffing the pants of the brunette, then looked up at the child and wagged the tail. Ruby got down to pick the dog up, so she could put the animal on the table. "Do you want to see, what you found?" Asked the child, thereafter Parker ripped off the adhesive tape off the box to open it to see it was filled with lots of styrofoam.
"Did they really need to put that in there?" Questioned River looking at her husband.
"I didn't know, they would reuse my box again…."
"I was actually referring to the styrofoam," Mentioned River watching Ruby shove her hands into the box to pull out slowly a heavy, ingot with a folded sheet sticked to it.
"Ruby, be careful that might be heavy," Warned the father putting his head from the other side to pull the whole ingot out, making both women wide their eyes surprised.
"Maro found that?" Questioned River curious making Parker nod and take a look at the available sheet.
"Yes, well that's only 10 kg. I don't know, how much it weighed before. It sure wasn't that much. It almost the same," Explained Parker putting the ingot down on the table.
"999 Fine Copper…...what does it mean?" Questioned the daughter looking up at her father, which shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm not sure. It might have something to do with how it was melted. I don't know the right answer, honey,"
"It's okay," Replied Ruby back, then Parker patted the girl on the shoulder. "Mom, can I have it displayed in my bedroom?" Questioned the daughter looking up at the brunette, which nodded.
"Of course, sweetie," Responded River looking at Parker, which nodded.
"I promised you, don't worry," Noticed the raven-haired man watching Maro look down at the ground, then the man helped the dog get down on the floor and observed her walk towards the couch.
"Thank you!" Said Ruby grabbing Parker on his arm to peck him on his cheek. "I will put it on my commode," Stated the daughter grabbing the ingot carefully and made her way to go upstairs leaving her parents back.
"She liked it," Commented Parker making River nod, then Parker made his way towards the stairs, making River smirk and whistle after him.
"Did you forget something?" Questioned the wife watching her husband look back, then roll his eyes down at the box, making him realize immediately, what he had forgotten.
"I had that in mind," Parker said passing by his wife, who shook her head with a smirk, knowing well her husband didn't think about putting the box away. "I'll be right back," Mentioned Parker taking the box to make his way out of the house.