adam parrish (_themagician) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-08-30 21:54:00 |
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Entry tags: | !network post, adam parrish, katniss everdeen (au) |
WHO: Adam Parrish and Katniss Everdeen
WHAT: Adam welcomes Katniss to the Barns
WHEN: Last week
WHERE: The Barns
WARNINGS: None
Katniss had been to the Barns before, but it was different now that she lived here. She had always just come by to visit Baelfire, and even if she briefly interacted with his friends -- the boys who owned the farm -- she had never really gotten to know them, mostly because she wasn’t good with getting to know people. There was no reason why she shouldn’t feel comfortable here; they’d always been perfectly friendly and she had been reassured multiple times that it was okay for her to live here. The sharp-edged, brutal looking tattooed boy had even helped her set up her furniture in her room, as well as the garden box she’d built on the cruise that had come with her back to Tumbleweed. She’d even caught him brushing his fingers lightly over her plants before realizing she was there, at which point he’d turned around, glared at her, and left the room.
It shouldn’t have surprised her, given he owned a farm, which was very obviously well cared for. But it had made her realize she didn’t really know or understand any of these people that Baelfire had befriended, at all. And now she lived with them, or at least very close to them, and she felt awkward about it.
She didn’t know what to do about that, though. They had their own lives and patterns. She considered following Baelfire to the orchards and offering to help, to make herself a useful member of the farm. But part of her felt that the picking time was a special routine to all those involved, and she might just be invading that and making it more awkward.
Instead, while they were in the orchard, she wandered around the rest farm, not purposefully avoiding them but not joining them either. It really was beautiful here, and there was definitely some kind of magic that kept the air cool and moist, the grass lush and green. Not to mention the creatures, which were like nothing she’d ever seen.
She was sitting on a low rise, a grassy roll in the earth, and staring around at the peaceful, lazy beauty of it, when suddenly the grass beside her moved and a strange, fuzzy but friendly looking creature came out, snuffling at her feet.
“Um,” she said awkwardly, “Hi.”
She half-expected her voice to scare the creature away, but it seemed to have no fear of her. She got so distracted by watching it, trying to figure out what kind of animal it was, that it took her longer than it should have to hear footsteps approaching. She looked up quickly, startled.
--
Adam very much liked that Ronan used the Barns as a way to help and connect with people across Tumbleweed. Adam had always been more unsure on how to do that. Even after years of studying Gansey, he didn’t have that sort of natural ease with people.
And while he knew that Ronan would let him do near anything he could think of to help someone else when it came to the Barns, Adam still didn’t think that way -- that he was in the position to help anybody else.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Adam said by way of greeting when he ran into Katniss, inclining his head. “I just wanted to make sure you were settled in, and to see if you need anything else?”
…
Katniss relaxed, and shifted, but she stayed seated cross-legged in the grass. The creature had ducked back into the grass and disappeared -- no, not disappeared, she realized. It was just more interested in the boy than her. She tried to remember which one he was.
“It’s okay,” she said. “Adam, right?” It wasn’t his fault that she was easily startled, or that she’d been distracted. “And I’m alright, thanks. I don’t really need a lot.”
That was a true answer, and yet, not entirely. “I’m just getting used to this place, and all of you. I’m sorry I’m not -- great with people.”
--
Adam nodded, confirming his name as she spoke.
“No worries,” Adam said. “I’m not either.” He wasn’t particularly surprised at her assessment of herself, although Adam hadn’t really known what to expect. Ronan collected a strange assortment of people, and they often surprised Adam. It usually made him love Ronan more.
“I can leave you to your thoughts, if you’d like,” he said.
…
Katniss shrugged. “I don’t mind if you stay.”
She hadn’t been thinking about anything important, and she did want to get to know him better. She knew a little about Ronan, less about the others. But she also wasn’t sure if he was just being polite or not. Maybe he didn’t really want to talk to her, but had felt like he should.
Still, in an effort to at least say more than two words to him, she added, “What kind of animal was that? The little one that was here.” Maybe he hadn’t seen it, but she was at a loss for how to describe it. Somewhat like a rabbit or a large rodent, but somehow not at all like either one.
--
Adam hesitated for a moment, because he didn’t want to intrude if she didn’t want him near, but he also didn’t mind the opportunity to get to know her better. He figured it was easy enough to leave her be if he needed to, so he settled on the grass nearby.
“I didn’t clearly see,” Adam answered, which wasn’t entirely a lie. “There’s a lot of animals that run around here, some with a good bit of magic mixed in.” He figured that was safe enough to say. It wasn’t hard to believe, given the general population of Tumbleweed, and especially with all the Pokemon that were still about.
...
Katniss supposed that made sense. She had seen magical and other types of creatures, and she had already known that Ronan had magic. She did wonder how he could make a creature magical, but she’d noticed his hesitation and didn’t want to pry. She probably wouldn’t have understood the answer, anyway.
“That’s cool,” she said, instead. “None of them are dangerous, right?”
--
“It is,” Adam affirmed, with a light smile. He suspected that he had always been the most practical when it came to Cabeswater, but being closer to it, and, eventually, Ronan, had really opened his eyes up to the wonder and odd sort of beauty that came with being tapped into this magic.
He liked being surrounded by it now. Over the months, the Barns had become more of a home to him than the trailer had, and there was a comfort in that.
“No,” Adam answered. “Ronan would let us know.”
…
“Okay,” Katniss responded. She would always still half-expect danger to be lurking everywhere, with every sudden movement, but the animal that had approached her had genuinely seemed friendly. Which was unusual for something that seemed wild, but she supposed that some of the magic might have caused the difference. She looked around herself. “This place is really pretty.”
And then, searching for something that would help move the conversation along, “Have you lived here for a while?”
--