deercountry | Some nights, I stay up cashing in my bad luck

Ariadne was pretty convinced that Trench had a sense of humor. Not a very nice one, but a sense of humor nevertheless. It certainly explained the fact that, as soon as she was feeling well enough to start visiting again, the sunlight disappeared.

Fortunately, she wasn't the type who was afraid of shadows.

Anyway, she was long overdue to visit Raleigh's farm. And eager to see the work he'd been putting into it. She was no farmer, but maybe a bit of a fan. It took a lot of hard work and devotion to take up the art.

Plus Raleigh was just so completely nice.

They could talk for hours and Ariadne never got bored. And if Raleigh did, he certainly didn't say anything.

No, he hasn't, because he has never been bored. Which is honestly so nice. Raleigh doesn't have many friends and he's found one in Ariadne out of nowhere, almost. Kind, open, insanely smart, interesting, funny (and not just when she doesn't mean to be). He likes her. He likes her vision. He likes how she does things.

Maybe sooner or later she'll figure out what a washed up old has-been he is and that will be that, but for now he's enjoying the friendship.

The farm is all the way out in Feed, but easily accessible by lantern. It's grounds, about four acres by Raleigh's estimate, are ringed with a razor fence three layers deep and covered in powerful wards and antlers. The farmhouse and close grounds, where the lantern alights, is of mid century Australian design which looks completely out of place in a world like this but very much a part of Deerington.

Previous to it's existence there, it was located in the great fuck off nothing of Aussie bushland where Chuck's grandparent's lived and he spent his summers as a very, very young child. A home of happy memories. Behind it, begins the gated courtyard with newly constructed stables for their recent adoptions Zelda (a whippet of a thoroughbred racer) and Aoife (and enormous shire), the path up to the great barn where the chickens and Raleigh's workshop tenuously share space, and a few other outbuildings on a quarter of an acre or so. This inner compound is where most of the action takes place and even though it's dark, their enormous flock of chickens are out and scratching around for moonlit treats. They're just normal chickens, in many breeds, but some of them are wearing little crochet hats. Raleigh made them. He thinks it's cute. Chuck knows better than to try to stop it from happening.

Further back, but only by a bit and looming high over the stables, is the enormous iron and glass greenhouse currently under construction. Until it can be completed, all Raleigh's seedling work is contained in a long row of hoop houses to the side. The entire place is thriving with lush gardens both floral and edible, helped along with Raleigh's power shift last month. He hasn't let that go to waste for a second.

They've only been here since October, but every single day has been devoted to the creation and maintenance of the farm. There's machinery dotted around the place, palettes of wooden egg boxes and straw, and a military ATV parked up behind the back of the house who's wraparound porch looks out over the busy hub behind.

Alerted to the arrival, Ariadne is met by a sharp, shrill wolf whistle from a fat raccoon laying on the roof of the front porch. Spaghetti pulls herself up and stretches before climbing down and over with a chitter of greeting and Raleigh himself won't be too far behind his omen.

"State your business," the raccoon calls as she comes down the path.

"We're closed, missey."

The farms back home were nothing like this. Which probably explained why Ariadne's jaw dropped more and more as her eyes swept back and forth, taking in the entire scene. It was just so, so big! And teeming with so much activity. Really, it was like an Elf farm times a thousand! All that was missing were the cows, but apparently, they had raccoons. Talking raccoons.

It took her a second to realize it was an Omen.

In her defense, it was dark and she was simply in awe.

But she whipped around quickly enough, giving the raccoon a proper curtsy. "I think my business might be to ask Raleigh about a million questions," she said.

Where a curtsy might make Raleigh very self aware and a little awkward, Spaghetti seems to appreciate the respect that she is so obviously due and hums low as she gives the visitor a once over.

"A million is a lot."

The girl doesn't seem to have brought any snacks as tribute (rude) but she seems nice enough. And just as Spaghetti is about to lament on that fact, Raleigh appears in the door and waves. Light from inside spills out into the darkness, illuminating his from the side - his big smile and waving arm before he comes jogging down the path to scoop Spaghetti up like a naughty child.

"Ariadne, hey. You make it okay?"

Spaghetti struggles and squirms to get up on his shoulder before bounding off into the night with a huff.

"She wasn't giving you a hard time, was she?"

"No more than any Omen," she said, smiling slightly. "Although, you should meet Doctor Wesker's weasel sometime." Talk about a troublemaker!

Feeling giddy over the fact that she could touch people again, Ariadne decided to give Raleigh a hug. She was a petite thing--just barely five foot two--but she could pack a lot of power into a hug. She gave it everything inside of her. Which was so much more than her outsides could reveal.

It was so good to hug again!

"Your farm is incredible, Raleigh!"

Raleigh doesn't know Dr. Wesker and has a deep distrust of Doctor Anyone, but he nods along, then laughs softly at the compliment. Don't be fooled, though. He's very proud, and looks back over his shoulder towards the side gate to the action.

"Thank you. It's really taken off this last month. Now all I have to do is try to sustain it. The sun didn't rise.. but I guess we like a challenge, huh?"

He does not, in this instance, like the challenge. He has had enough of them, already.

Ariadne glanced up at the pale, colorless sky. "Yes, that could be a problem. Fortunately, I know a few people who are trying to figure out a way to keep the plant-life going until..."

The sun will come back. It will. No question of if. Just when.

And Ariadne isn't going to allow herself to believe anything else.

"I've had a few offer to create lights that will somehow mimic the sun."

"Oh? That's great news. Who's offering?" Asked as he gestures two ways. She's never been here before so do you want to go into the house or the farm yard? He's easy.

And it's nice to show people what he and Chuck have been working on all this time.

She nodded to the farm yard, just hoping there weren't any horses there. She couldn't smell them, but sometimes, their scents were buried.

They were devious that way.

"Well, Varian offered," she said. "I don't know if you know him or not. He's an alchemist. A good friend." With a vested interest in keeping plant life alive. Beyond the need to eat, of course. "And the other person was a man named Maul."

A pause.

"If you know him, I think I should probably apologize."

Raleigh snorts and guides her around to the side.

There are stables. The stables do contain horses. Sorry.

"I know them both, but it doesn't surprise me yo'd say that about Maul. He's got a reputation but he isn't all bad."

Her eyes lit up a little, surprised and delighted. "You're right! He really isn't that bad. It's all just a matter of understanding that he comes from a very different culture, with very different values."

And if she didn't like those values? Well, she was working in her quiet way to start teaching the Nightbrothers some of her own.

Not imposing them, of course. No. That would be wrong.

...but maybe suggesting them a little bit.

"Anyway, he wants to help, so I suppose that's a good thing. Or at least a step toward a better reputation."

"It is," he agrees and closes the gate behind them, decorated with pieces of antler at regular intervals.

On entering, the chickens realize their 'mother' is in the yard and begin to gather around them, looking for food.

"It's difficult, because he's done some bad shit, but he also saved my life when he absolutely didn't have to. I can't excuse the harm he's done, but I don't think he's all bad."

Which is pretty rich when talking about a Sith but... who knows. People change.

"No one's all bad."

At least, no one in Trench. There were, perhaps, one or two people back home who Ariadne held absolutely no hope for. But they were far away. Part of the past. And she preferred to move forward into the future with hope.

She laughed, holding up her hands as the chickens started to flock around them.

"Looks like you're quite popular with these ladies."

"Well, you know. I try."

Playful as he reaches into the pocket of the barn coat he's wearing and pulls out a handful of seed.

"Here, give me your hand."

Ariadne knew it was silly. He was only going to give her some of the seeds. But he still hesitated, before slowly raising her arm and uncurling her fingers. It wasn't Raleigh's fault, of course. He didn't know how intimate a hand-to-hand touch was for Alastrians. It was an innocent request.

Still, she had to force herself to relax.

Humans were so careless about what they did with their hands.

She would be disgusted if she knew some of the places he's put his hands.

And having zero idea what he's asking of her, Raleigh cups her hand from beneath before pouring a pile of chicken feed into her palm.

"Go on," a grin. He takes his hand back and tosses some feed of his own. The chickens flock immediately.

Those chickens did love to run.

Although the Elves of Valeria were vegetarian, they ate eggs. Which meant that every farm had chickens. And Valerian chickens were notorious for escaping their coops, being intensely loyal, and for pecking to death anyone who tried to harm one of them. Very early in her life in Valeria, Ariadne had been taught proper chicken etiquette.

Rule number one: Don't let the chickens eat out of your hand.

Smiling slightly, she bent over, scattering some feed in a half-moon around her feet. The chickens who hadn't taken off after Raleigh's offering flocked to her. And she giggled with delight. "I love their feathers," she said. "They're so beautiful."

"They are, aren't they."

Mean little ladies, but Raleigh is so soft for them. He's collected a few different breeds for laying and for meat, and a few fancy ones just because he likes them. Several of the chickens are wearing little handmade hats.

"We've got about two hundred any given week."

Edited 2022-04-17 19:48 (UTC)

"Two hundred. That's a lot of chickens!"

And, if she understood how eggs worked, upwards of well over a thousand of them a week. Given how scarce food was in Trench, that was kind of a little miracle. Raleigh and his partner were bound to be incredibly popular.

"Managing them must take a lot of time!"

Only half the hens are for laying, but they do generate an enormous amount of eggs. One way to make a living.

All the boxes by the back gate are stamped with a little logo reading The Happy Hen Company at Trenchwood Farm. He's a big believer in practicing what he preaches.

"All of it. We have some local help but it's a full time job and a half out here. Now with the gardens.. I dunno how we're going to manage."

Which explains why Raleigh is mostly quiet on the network and not seen around town too much unless it's work related or he's visiting specific people for specific reasons.

"Well, I can certainly help with the gardens," she pointed out. One of the advantages of having magical trees was that they didn't need nearly as much of her as regular trees would.

Of course, she would have made the offer anyway, even if all of her trees were normal.

She liked Raleigh. She liked trees. She liked helping. It was kind of an obvious sort of thing.

"Yeah? I'd appreciate that. You know a lot more than I do. Last month was easy, just... make something grow. Now I have to learn how to actually make things grow. C'mon," he tosses the rest of his feed.

"I'll show you around."

And it would be a nice tour if they weren't interrupted by a falling star. A bright, bright light that comes very literally to the ground before unfurling into.. a.. portal?

It was so beautiful, Ariadne forgot to be afraid at first. She'd seen falling stars before, but never anything quite like this. So big and bright and, well, close. But her instincts kicked in quickly enough and she grabbed Raleigh, using every bit of strength she could muster to knock him to the ground and try to throw herself on top of him, putting herself between him and...

And...?

And...what?

She picked up the scent of ozone and something else. Something familiar. A scent that somehow...reminded her of home.

The absolute last thing Raleigh is expecting to happen is for Ariadne to body shield him.

Her weight, however slight, is unexpected and takes him to the ground with a hard flomp and a low groan.

Seconds pass and no beast comes pouring out of the portal. No raining hellfire. No screeching death.

Raleigh gives a wheeze.

“Are you good?”

"I really don't know how to answer that question," she replied.

But she rolled off of him, landing hard on the ground, pushing herself up to look back at the portal. Like Raleigh, she wondered at first why nothing was charging through it. That was, in her experience, how these things worked in Trench and Deerington before that. And yet, this portal just sort of shimmered.

Beyond the event horizon, there was a pale yellow mountain path. The stone was studded with little red stars. Rubies. Around the highest peak was a cloud, shaped like a perfect circle. A halo crowning it.

Ariadne's eyes widened. "I...I know this place..." She knew it, but she couldn't believe it. "That...that's the Temple of Flame..."

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