firstofitskind | A Farm Somewhere in Maryland, Monday Afternoon

A Farm Somewhere in Maryland, Monday Afternoon

Liam's days tended to have a certain rhythm to them, especially Mondays, with that weekly therapy appointment off-island, and his and Verity's tradition of doing something sweaty and physical (no, not like that) afterward.

Usually though that just meant going for a run around the island or hitting up a mainland gym for a sparring session. All that flew out the proverbial window when Liam stepped back into the lobby of the therapist's office to find Verity waiting for him (as usual) with a tense expression on her face (not so usual).

Turns out there had been a string of mysterious livestock deaths at a farm in the Maryland countryside, and from the descriptions it sounded a lot like werewolves. So a quick pit stop back to the island to top up the weapons they had on-hand with those that would be most useful against lycanthropes, and then a portal dropping them just outside the farm in question.

"So, if not werewolves, what else could it be?" Liam asked, as they approached the barn, weapons ready.

[ooc: nfb for distance, and for the wife.]

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Honestly, Liam kind of missed it too- at least until that sense-memory kicked in and he was right back to noping the fuck out.

"But restaurants should be okay, I think?" there was enough other stimuli that he figured the scent wouldn't be overwhelming. Or at least, he hoped. "Maybe we could work our way up to takeout?" Not that he'd be eating anything meat-based anytime soon himself, of course.

"We'll worry about it when we need to worry about it," Verity said firmly. "There are enough restaurants on the island and in Baltimore that if I'm really craving a burger, i can just go get one."

"Well, sure, I guess," Liam said. Still, there was a reason he'd gone with 'warn me first' and not 'don't do it at all'. "But it's your house too."

Edited 2020-04-05 01:06 (UTC)

"Sure," Verity said. "But I also get to weigh how much a small inconvenience to me stacks up against something that majorly bothers you."

"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds all reasonable," Liam grumbled.

"Fancy that," Verity said, waggling her eyebrows at him before shooting the head off - literally - of a sheep that had sunk its rapidly descending fangs into another member of the flock. "I'm the reasonable one in this relationship."

"Somewhere in New York, Dominic just burst out laughing, and he's not quite sure why," Liam said dryly, cocking his head and readying his weapon as he listened for the now all-too-familiar telltale signs of an emerging werewolf now that the latest one was down. There was nothing but panicked bleating for a few seconds, just long enough to let Liam think maybe they had a handle on this, finally, and then-

Nope. There it was. Liam swung around, cutting off the creature's enraged howl with a couple shots to the head.

Getting the creatures before they finished transforming seemed to be the key.

"We should probably figure out cleanup," Verity said. "Leaving a whole herd of sheep out here seems like a bad idea on all counts."

Liam nodded, sparing a glance back at the already exploded barn. If they could've waited, herding them all in there would've been the most expedient... oh well. No sense dwelling on that.

"Ordinarily I'd say knives would do the trick," Liam mused. "But I'm not sure we want to risk getting that close."

"I've got some regular bullets and my crossbow," Verity said. "But I meant after that. This is...a pretty sizable flock."

That many dead creatures, left to rot in the sun...

And this was just a family-run farm. If it had been a large-scale industrial operation...

“The virus is only transmissible between mammals, right?” Liam mused.

"Yeah, which rules out the ghouls," Verity said with a sigh. "It's possible the dragon princesses might want some, since it's meat they won't have to pay for?"

As well as the harpies and maybe even the gorgons?

“And it’d give us an excuse to visit with William that even Candy couldn’t complain about too much,” Liam pointed out with a grin. “The harpies who tipped you off would probably appreciate some as a thank-you, too,” he added, thoughts going along the same line as Verity’s.

"...I did not come prepared to lug several hundred pounds of mutton into the city," Verity admitted, rubbing her face.

“No,” Liam acknowledged. “So that’s either renting a truck, or asking people to come here.”

Just by nature of being a farm, it was fairly secluded from any neighbors, but a sudden uptick in traffic could potentially raise some flags. “Or...” he said slowly, “if we’ve got time to go back to the apartment first- how do you feel about Portals?” The capital-P kind, not the kind Fandom Island had access to.

Edited 2020-04-07 17:00 (UTC)

"A temporary one," Verity said, with a nod. "I'm not keen on having a permanent side door to our apartment." She cracked a smile. "No explosions, either."

"I was thinking setting up one here, and one closer to the Nest, or at least somewhere where folks could come and go and not make the neighbors suspicious." Because yeah no, while he might be able to argue the usefulness of a side-door to the apartment that only they had access to, he didn't want thousands of pounds of mutton transiting through there, thank you.

"I'd just need to go back to the apartment to get them." Portal darts, shockingly, were not part of his standard arsenal. Mostly because they were kind of bulky.

"And I'll call the Nest, because setting up a portal near them, even if it's to give them free stuff, is going to require some delicate negotiations with Candy."

Verity was going to sprain her eyes, rolling them that hard.

...She was also going to take that time killing the rest of the sheep so Liam didn't need to, la la la.

Best wife. Though for the record, Liam would've done what needed to be done without complaint.

(... And then probably thrown up in a bush afterwards but, details.)

He eyed the rest of the flock critically. So far none of the remaining sheep were showing signs of infection, but still... "I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised.

Sure he would have. But she could without stress - or vomiting - so she was more than willing to pick up the slack.

She kissed him, hard and fast. "If you can't see me when you get back, we didn't get them all and I'm up a tree."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Liam said as he pulled away, tucking an errant lock of Verity's hair behind her ear as he did so. And then he was turning to jog back to where they'd parked the rental car.

Did the drive back to the causeway maybe involve a little bit of speeding? There was no 'maybe' about it, actually. At least the apartment building was pretty close to the causeway? He didn't waste any time, running inside, grabbing the two Portal darts he'd need, and then peeling back out to the causeway.

Whereas Verity had the much harder job. No, not killing the sheep - not even killing the sheep while keeping an eye out for any remaining werewolves. No, it was calling the Nest and dealing with Candy.

Why couldn't Sprint make dragon-sized phones.

"...For the last time, Candy, it is a temporary portal so we can bring you free meat. No we're not going to pay you for the privilege of putting the other end of the portal there! You're lucky we're not charging you for the mutton or the services of the witch that's making this happen!"

It was easier to say routewitches were doing this than trying to actually explain portals.

"Why don't you ask William what he thinks-- Yes I always bring him up! Because he's less likely to be stubborn just for the sake of being stubborn!"

You know, they could probably rig something up with a computer and an oversized keyboard for video calls?

“We good to go?” Liam inquired, walking back up to Verity with a Portal dart tucked under one arm.

Verity held up a finger to Liam, silently asking him to hold on for a second.

"Hello William, yes, good to chat with you, too. Has Candy-- Yes and did she mention it was a temporary portal? Ah. Yes, see, we're trying to bring you several hundred pounds of mutton and wool - oh? You haven't had mutton in centuries? Well, we'd love to--sure sure. Have Candy call me back."

She hung up and gave Liam a frustrated look. "They're 'discussing' it."

“Of course they are,” Liam said, rolling his eyes just a little. “Hopefully he’ll give her those sad dragon eyes and she’ll cave.”

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