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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"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.”

"Apparently he hasn't had mutton since before he hibernated, so I suspect we'll win," Verity said. "Though not without strict rules from Candy how to make it happen. Speaking of which..."

She looked at the mass of dead sheep. "How are we going to transport them?"

“Check the outbuildings,” you know, one of the ones that he hadn’t blown up. “There’s probably a wheelbarrow or some sort of cart in there.” They’d still end up having to make multiple trips, sure, but it would be fewer trips.

"Oh god, so many trips," Verity moaned. "Maybe we can convince the dragons to send their own people just so we won't know where they put the portal or something."

They'd already done the hard work!

“I’m still going to have to go to the other end and set up the Portal,” Liam pointed out. “Though I suppose they could blindfold me or something.” He did not, for the record, sound at all thrilled about that idea.

"Would you rather be blindfolded for ten minutes or lug carcasses in a wheelbarrow for the better part of an hour?" Verity asked, because that was the real question.

“Ugh,” Liam grumbled, because ‘neither’ unfortunately wasn’t a viable option. “The former, I suppose.” To Verity’s great shock, surely.

"That's about what I figured," Verity said. "Let's start looking around for a cart or whatever while I wait to hear back from the dragons."

Which didn't take long at all, not really. Candy was in a snit when she called back, but that wasn't all that surprising. Verity graciously didn't even chalk it up to her being gravid. She also wasn't thrilled about the other dragons coming to fetch the mutton themselves, but couldn't deny it was the safest option if she didn't want Verity and Liam knowing where the Portal was.

"Can they destroy the Portal on their end?" Verity asked Liam. "Or do you have to go back there and do it yourself?"

“I can detonate it remotely,” Liam said, a little reluctantly because Portal darts weren’t cheap- at least, now that the original manufacturers were long dead. “But I can also just deactivate it and have someone leave it at a drop point.”

Verity continued to roll her eyes as she negotiated for some of the meat and the deactivated dart to be left with the harpy family that had given her the head's up about the werewolves in the first place. It cost money because of course it did, but not as much as replacing a dart would have.

"Anything I'm forgetting?" she asked Liam before hanging up the call.

Yeah that was... acceptable, Liam supposed. Even if he wasn’t going to point out that both he and Verity had been to the actual new Nest before.

“Think we’re good,” Liam admitted.

Sure, but did Liam want to argue with a pregnant Candy? Because Verity didn't. Not at all. She could be busy lugging around bloodied sheep instead, which, of the two, was absolutely a better use of her time.

Verity finished up the call. "Looks like you're off to Baltimore. They'll be sending you information about where to park and meet them in a minute. You wanna set up this end?"

You know? That was an extremely good point.

Liam just nodded, placing one of the darts in the ground and making sure it was firmly planted before using his Global to open it up. It split open into two, and then those two 'arms' split again, creating a sort of square with one end completely open. Another tap on his Global and the double-circles that indicated a viable connection to ID space before he shut it down again. No sense keeping it open when there wasn't an exit point yet.

"I'm gonna send a test object through first, once I get to the other end," he told her, picking up a good sized rock. "There's no reason it shouldn't work, especially with no interference from other Portals around, but," he shrugged. Better safe than sorry.

Edited 2020-04-10 16:37 (UTC)

"You know I'm never going to argue against extra precautions," Verity said, glancing up at the farmhouse. "You okay with loading the sheep?"

“I can deal with it,” Liam assured her. He wasn’t going to pretend he was totally fine, not when he’d just admitted how much the sight- and smell- bothered him right now, but there was a job that needed to be done.

And it was far better than going through the house and possibly running into the remains of the family that lived there after a werewolf had gotten to them. She'd looked around the grounds already and hadn't seen any, but that didn't mean they hadn't met a grisly end elsewhere.

"I'm gonna do a quick recon in the house," Verity said. "If all goes well, I'll be out soon enough to help."

A Farm Somewhere in Maryland, Monday Afternoon

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