Ronan Lynch (alteridem) wrote in valloic, @ 2020-04-11 12:52:00 |
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That was the reason why she didn’t hear it. Whsssssh, skrrrrrrt. The sound of a large tail sweeping along the wood floor of the barn, the rustling of something large turning and fluttering against the wood of the cowpens as it made its way around the corner.
It wasn’t until then that Syd even spotted the movement, her bucket dropped to the floor and she had her gun out from its hiding spot in her boot. When she saw the size and sheer monstrosity of it, she balked, and started backing up. It didn’t attack, or do anything other than chomp dull (dull?) teeth and move it’s weird head and weird body around enough that Syd kept going backwards.
She crashed into the barn doors, her ass pushing them wildly open as she lost her footing and fell down, gun still extended. “What the FUCK?”
Ronan hated to admit it, but he was good with a routine. He was sleeping a little better these days with the Barns running smoothly and being so full, and getting up at the same time every morning to do all his farm chores helped temper the frustration of still not knowing how to get home or get a message to Declan. With Noah here, finding a way home was tied into finding a way to bring Noah back with them. So Ronan did his farm work in the mornings and he dreamed all afternoon, and the routine of it all kept him from feeling too helpless.
That didn’t mean he was especially fucking chipper about it first thing in the morning. He was glowering as he stalked past the barn Syd came crashing out of and his glower only sharpened with the surprise.
“Jesus Christ, Clarke. What--”
Sledgehammer clomped over to the door, alligator head swaying, tongue lolling. His strangeness was even more obvious in the light of day but Ronan just gave a great big sigh. “I told you to stay in your paddock. How the fuck did you even get in here?”
Ronan coming up near her didn’t make her lower the gun, thanks for that paranoia, Victor. He was talking to it like it was just another pet, though, and that had her glancing between the two with a confused expression plastered on her face. When the horror show monster seemed to back down because of Ronan’s presence, she did relax her arms just a little and took the opportunity to scramble to her feet.
“What the fuck?” She knew she was repeating herself, but if anyone had earned a second what the fuck, it was her. She’d seen a lot of mythical creatures to animals in her life, but that thing took the cake. “Did you find that thing in a fucking horror movie, dude? It looks like Florida Man mutated.”
“Something like that.” Ronan turned his scowl away from his nightmare brought to life and squinted at her gun. “You can put that shit away. It won’t hurt you unless I want it to.” He wasn’t even sure about then. He’d altered it so far from its original purpose that it really was more cow than anything else it looked like. The dragon body lifted up and it sat back on its haunches, an eerie sound - part growl, part discordant moo - rumbled out of it. Ronan rolled its eyes.
He was really glad it wasn’t a market day.
“Syd...Sledgehammer. Sledge...Syd,” Ronan gestured between them like he was introducing two neighbors. Sledge panted behind a creepy ass smile.
His reassurance surprisingly didn’t do a whole lot for her skeptical brain, and Syd very slowly put her gun back into her boot holster. She was historically pretty good about just going with things, but even this monstrosity was a bit much.
“Hey…. Sledge.” She didn’t really take her look off of the creature even when she turned her words towards Ronan, her annoyance bubbling up into something more … hysterical. “Is Sledge related to Gasoline? Because--” She wasn’t stupid, she’d seen some odd things around the farm. Working equipment not plugged in, cows that slept way too much, the massive 6ft boar and everyone just taking it all as normal.
It wasn’t really her place to question it, not for a job she actually really liked and didn’t want to lose. But Syd had never been great at keeping her mouth shut. “There’s no way you found that thing in the woods, dude.”
“Have you seen some of the shit in these woods?” Ronan wasn’t being purposefully evasive for a change; he just wanted to give her a little shit now that the gun was put away. She’d only been at the farm a few weeks, but Ronan had already decided during the truth bullshit that he was probably going to tell her about dreaming. Now seemed like as good a time as any.
Only this kind of thing couldn’t be rushed.
He moved to Sledge and patted it’s big alligator head, stroking down it’s snout. Sledge made a noise that might have been pleased but Ronan was still figuring him out. Sighing, Ronan tilted his head to squint over at Sydney. “He’s only related to Gasoline in the same way Chainsaw is. And all the animals on this farm.”
“Yeah, but--!” Syd gestured to Sledge’s everything, which was pretty much how her brain felt at the moment. Chaotic. She might be able to bring the dead back to life, but her world was still relatively normal when it came to stuff like this, and Atlantis just had things like dragons. Somehow, this felt weirder than a talking dragon.
“Like- some weird farm breeding program?” She knew that wasn’t the answer, Syd was smart enough for that, but dry humor always just came out first. She stepped forward to the creature and held her hand out slowly, and it huffed against her before bumping it’s long snoot against her hand. “I knew your world had magic, but I didn’t think it had this level of crazy.”
If Ronan weren’t generally cranky at the prospect of talking about his abilities, he might’ve laughed. He did smirk and he watched her approach Sledgehammer with a guarded curiosity. His instincts said she was trustworthy. But how people treated animals was always a better judge of character than instinct and she’d never failed to be good in that regard.
“It doesn’t have this level of crazy. Not really. It has me.” He gave a sarcastic spread of his arms and then glanced around for eavesdroppers out of habit. “Well, me and a few others like me. I don’t actually know how many there are.” Chewing on his lip for a second, he exhaled loudly through his nose and rolled his eyes. “I can pull things from my dreams.”
Sydney made a little noise, and stood there squinting at Ronan. It shouldn’t have been that weird - she encountered weird everyday. She was weird. It wasn’t like everyone on the corner could bring the dead back to life.
Pulling things from dreams, though? That was …. Way cooler. She’d always been a little envious of people with magic, or abilities that were better than her own, but the idea of pulling things from dreams was a lot.
Her hand reached out a little further to Sledge, finally touching the top of his head for a gentle pat. “I … wow. I mean, I suppose I should be thankful that you don’t dream about spiders or something.” Sydney paused and squinted at him again. “Seriously?”
Ronan returned her squint with an apprehensive one of his own. He had to keep reminding himself that he knew her ability, that she’d put that out for all of them to see. And she hadn’t seemed able to control that. This was at least a fucking choice he was making.
“Seriously. I…” His mouth twisted and he turned his eyes up towards the sky for a second. “I’ve dreamt some scary shit into existence, but I’m in control now.” Sledge snuffed loudly. Ronan scowled, not turning to look at the creature. “I’m mostly in control. Stress can fuck things up.”
Syd grinned at Sledge, and ran her hand along his head in a more soothing manner. She felt a little kinship with that snort he made, as if he was sassing his creator. She reached out mentally, giving herself a second to feel around for threads she might someday have to repair, just to see.There was nothing unusual, maybe just a little overly complicated. But then, so were EO’s.
It took her out of the moment for a second, and she snapped back to him with an eyebrow raised. “So, spa days, heavy metal and Adam to keep you stress free, got it.” She backed off Sledge and went over to pick up her discarded cow bucket - they were getting riled up, knowing food had been close and not given. “I’ll give you some credit, cause you could be doing literally anything with this sort of ability, and you picked animals.” That felt familiar.
“Electronic dance music, get it right,” Ronan snorted. He wasn’t sure what he’d seen, in that split second of her being somewhere else, or if he’d even seen anything. There was definitely too much reading into everything she said going on, but special circumstances and shit. He reached into his pocket for an alfalfa pellet and fed it to Sledge, scratching under his chin as he chomped on it.
“Dreamt a whole forest once. And a car.” And a brother, he didn’t say out loud. “Animals are easier.” He shrugged and shoved both of his hands in his pockets. A part of him very much wanted to brag, because this was one thing about him he was genuinely proud of. “Haven’t figured out a way to get anybody home or communicate with people there, though.”
“A whole fucking forest?” It was a pretty rhetorical question, though she did shoot him a look over her shoulder as she started back on her cow chores. Syd wasn’t very good at idling, the cagey feeling set in as it always did. “Don’t feel too bad about not being able to get people home, chances are the magic of this world is just straight up incompatible with being fucked with.”
Sledge followed her, right back to the opening of the barn, and to the food she was gathering. “But I feel you,” she was still talking as she moved, which was probably annoying after a few steps. “Animals are easier for me too, I wonder if it’s just something about their terrifyingly cute faces.” Syd balanced the bucket on her shoulder as she reached down to pat the hideous beast begging for more alfalfa.
It was like a little lightbulb went off in her brain, and she looked back at Ronan with a creased brow, thinking too much. “I wonder if that’s why Dol gets along with your animals so well. Magically linked via parental powers.”
Ronan trailed after her, heading for the spare chicken feed he’d been going to the barn to pick up. He grunted noncommittally to her suggestion that he not feel bad. Ever since the tarot reading with Adam, he’d been doing better at easing back on dreaming up ways to get everyone home – Noah included – and letting go of the stress that came with that goal. But it was a work in progress.
“Or maybe animals are easier because they’re less weighed down by douchebaggery,” he shrugged. Sledge licked Syd’s boot. Ronan wasn’t sure if that was backing up his words or proving him wrong. “Wait,” he said, suddenly freezing as he lifted a bag of chicken feed. “Dol’s been brought back?”
“You’re not wrong,” Syd grumbled in return, shrugging. Even as she had a monstrous-looking creature licking her boot, she had a normal cow gently nudging her hand. It made her smile at them both, even if she still had the slight worry of Sledge suddenly chomping down. Hopefully those teeth were dull all the way through.
Ronan’s surprise made her smile turn into a wince, and she shrugged as if it was no big deal. “Thrice now, yep. He was one of my first, when I was twelve.” Not exactly something to be proud of considering how her abilities came into play, but she got Dol out of it, so that helped.
As if he could hear them talking about him, the big black dog came ambling into the open barn doorway, and stopped as soon as it saw the beast licking Syd’s boot. A low growl came from his throat, and Syd immediately jerked her head in his direction. “Hey, none of that. He’s-- a friend, I guess.”
“Three times. Damn.” Ronan’s eyebrows notched upwards in a huh gesture. He probably could’ve guessed Dol was resurrected if he’d thought about it, but he tried not to think about her ability more than necessary. His Catholic upbringing encouraged a certain kind of reaction to anyone who could raise the dead that wasn’t God himself and a few years ago, he’d have fallen right into that fear and judgment hole, even with his own abilities lurking. He wasn’t that dumb kid anymore though.
Ronan crossed back over to her, juggling the chicken feed bag in one arm and digging around in his pocket with the other. He gave Sledge a treat to distract him and then held a dog friendly one out to Dol. “You don’t have to consider him a friend just yet, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make him stampede his dumb ass back out through the doors.”
It was probably too many words but he waggled the dog treat out towards the dog anyway.
“Life sucks,” Syd had to be nonchalant when it came to that, cause she hated thinking about it, and hated having to bring Dol back as often as she had, but was thankful she had the ability to do just that.
Dol, to his credit, was smart and listened to the call of a treat beckoning him to stop growling. He snagged it gently from Ronan and went back to the open door so he could lay down, acting a guardian for the inhabitants of the barn. “Speaking of stampeding - anything else going to surprise me at work that I should know about? Anything dangerous?”
Biting back a relieved smile at Dol, Ronan readjusted the bag of feed in his arms and squinted at her. Matthew had the sundogs trapped in a bottle. They’d been working on training them to patrol the Barns, but until they were roaming free, they were nobody’s business. The weird murder chickens and the unicorn weren’t his dream creatures, but she knew about those, anyway.
“You’ve met Gasoline and his toxic farts, so not really.” Ronan shrugged and tugged on Sledge’s head, directing him towards the door. “I’ll let you know if I dream up anything weirder than that dumbass.” He led the cow creature towards the doors, aiming back for his enclosure. He’d have to get him some more friends out there so he didn’t feel lonely. He looked over his shoulder at her just as they reached the doors. “Are you good here? Not gonna pull that gun on any other farm animals today, right?”
That answer didn’t relieve Syd of any worry, and she crinkled a nose in Ronan’s direction. But she didn’t argue, because he was, in the end, her boss. And if she wasn’t working here, she’d have to get a job someplace less appealing than a farm, which frankly just didn’t suit. Thanks for that, Eli.
The cows were getting loud and annoying, having food tempted in front of them as Sledge was getting led out. She shrugged, and went to work as Ronan was on his way out. “Yeah, we’re good. I usually only actually shoot people pissing me off, anyway.”