even though it hurts, even though it scars.

[nightmarist]

WHO: Residents of the Meadows & OPEN to visitors
WHERE: The Meadows outside De Chima
WHEN: Throughout February
WHAT: Day-to-day encounters at the magical farm commune.
WARNINGS: Look to the subject headers.
NOTES: This is a mingle/catch-all log. Start your own threads! Tag around!

[The Meadows, being a place largely created from magic, has a subtle strangeness to it. From the outside, it could be taken for any old Appalachian farm: scattered barns and stables, a lakeside castle, a roomy wooden farmhouse, a 19th century stone chapel that some hoodlum graffitied. There's evidence that the farm is occupied by unsupervised teenagers, too, in the donut tracks that mar the grass and the remains of regular bonfires. As long as the monsters are out of sight, everything seems ordinary.

Once inside the farmhouse, however, the odd discrepancies become more apparent. The layout of the rooms doesn't quite match how the house appeared from the outside. There are windows where windows shouldn't be, stairways like vertical mazes to secluded rooms, and views from rooms that look into other worlds entirely. Half of the appliances work without any source of electricity, fresh coffee's always waiting in the pot without anyone having to brew it, and the refrigerator never seems to run out of leftover pizza. Things are simply wrong about the place, for all the cozy warmth of its design.]

Comments

[aberrant_type]

[Hange doesn't intend any harm; she's coming to collect on a promise. If you could call it that. As such, the wards let her through without trouble.

From there she realizes that farm boy truly is a farm boy, and promptly gets distracted by setting off to wander. This is very familiar to her... there are lots of places in her home, especially further out from the capital city, that look somewhat like this. It's nostalgic. She misses her shitty world. She watches the pond for a while, listening for birds and animal movement - she's always loved marshes, swamps, and watery areas, rich with life, dense with subtle activity. She pokes around in the castle a bit. Then she makes her way to one of the stables and paces through it slowly. Scouts are horse people. She hadn't thought of how much she missed the smell and the bulk of horses... she's not about to feed a stranger's animal, but she does stand at the door and speak lowly to one horse, hoping to coax it closer.

Get distracted from her mission, and start wandering around a stranger's homestead? Why yes, she did. Unexpected detours are the best parts of life.]

[nightmarist]

[Ronan isn't particularly bothered by people wandering his farm, as long as they're not hit men or stalker ex-boyfriends (though he tolerates those, too). When he arrives at the barn to return a shovel and finds Hange speaking with one of his horses, he remains as nonchalant about it as he was when he invited her.]

Is she annoying you?

[He addresses the horse first, not Hange. The horse, being a horse, does not answer him.]

[aberrant_type]

Me, annoy a horse? Nonsense.

[Hange leans on the gate and watches the animal for a smiling moment. That's a good-looking animal, but not as wonderful as her horse Moppel from home... there's not many horses that can match scout's horses though.]

What a relaxing home you have. A pleasant amount of space.

post god-rave

[hondoyota]

[After the party, Gansey teleports them all back home, and the effects of the rave fade into a sense of exhausted contentment.

For everyone except Adam, who took real drugs while he was at the party. He lands on Gansey's lap again on the couch, overcome with a fit of giggles for no real reason.]

Re: post god-rave

[disentombs]

[He had just gotten back from putting Betty to bed and collapsed on the couch. He still hasn't retrieved a shirt after spilling alcohol on his top earlier. There's a happy buzz leftover from the alcohol but Gansey is definitely more with it than he was at the party.

A small oof, but he wraps his arms around Adam. The giggling is a bit odd. Betty seemed very much with it when they left the building as well. He's exhausted.]

Are you okay?

[hondoyota]

Of course I'm okay. [Adam kisses Gansey's cheek, then kisses it again, trailing kisses along Gansey's jaw and throat.] I feel great.

Now can I bite you?

Betty, next morning post-rave

[disentombs]

[Last night had been wild. Feelings unlike anything he's ever felt before. It took him talking to Adam afterwards to realize not only was that what it was like to feel high on harder drugs, but that Adam had taken something on top of all of that. It upset Gansey enough that he wasn't really able to sleep afterwards, but he was too distracted to do anything productive. And so it had been a long night staring at the ceiling until the sun came up.

That's why he's down here now at a socially appropriate breakfast hour. His eyes are bloodshot, hidden behind his glasses, and he's drinking orange juice in his pajamas at the breakfast bar, browsing the network.]

[perfectible]

[ How could you have a hangover from drugs you never took. Oh wait, she drank. More than she's ever drunk, which is not saying much. And needless to say, she wasn't really responsible about drinking water. Although, when Gansey had deposited her into the reading nook, he'd left her a water bottle to drink.

It helped a little.

Even then, she drags herself into the kitchen after showering and changing into comfortable clothes, intending to stay in all day and sleep. After she eats something greasy. She enters the kitchen and heads straight for the coffee machine, she offers him a rueful smile, acting like nothing is amiss.]

Good morning... I think.

[disentombs]

[Betty had been pretty drunk last night and had fallen asleep soon after they got in. She hadn't seen Adam after the rave, and how he was acting outside of the influence of that place.

He won't burden her with that information. He'll handle that himself.

She smiles at him and he offers a small one back. She doesn't seem upset by what happened last night.]

Did you sleep well?

Family Meeting Part II

[hondoyota]

[The morning after Adam and Ronan build Adam a new tower on the edge of a lake a mile from the Meadows, the two of them walk back hand-in-hand, newly determined about their resolution to talk honestly with their boyfriends about their feelings.

Adam texts Gansey along the way, asking him to meet them in the kitchen, and leaves it to Ronan to contact Noah however he sees best.

Letting go of Ronan as they enter the house, Adam heads for the kitchen, pouring two cups of coffee with a shot of whiskey and handing one over. He takes up a position sitting on the edge of the kitchen table, careful to keep space from Ronan because he doesn't want their friends to feel ambushed any more than is inevitable.]

Can you start? [he asks Ronan, voice a little hoarse with nerves.] I want it to be in your words first.

[So that no one thinks that Adam's making him do this.]

[nightmarist]

[Ronan would have rather gone to fetch Noah in person, but he suspected the noise in his head would put an end to the discussion before it even had a chance to begin. So he texts as well - a simple can we talk in the kitchen? - and stays with Adam. If Noah arrives and still decides to refuse the discussion, then at least the whole group will be present to handle it.

He accepts the coffee from Adam and adds a little extra whiskey, assuming one shot isn't going to cut it for him. Then he takes his seat, directly opposite of Adam, so they can meet each other's eyes despite the distance.]

Probably for the best.

[admemoriam]

[ Noah is sitting cross-legged in a kitchen chair, hands gripping his ankles. He watches Ronan, silent and owlish, trying to keep his face calm, trying not to read into their tension and upset himself before the discussion has even started. Something in the mood smacks of finality, but he knows showing any sadness will only exacerbate things. Adam already hates him enough; there's no need to turn him even further away. ]

3 days post break-up and after 24h port-out

[disentombs]

[Between one blink and the next, Gansey is at the Porter. He's being handed a folder like he had when he originally appeared here. How odd. Looking inside though, he sees he has a new power. He'll have to test it out at some point, but for now, he wanted to get back to the Meadows. Especially realizing the date on his phone shows he's missed an entire day.

He easily teleports back and enters through the front door as though nothing had happened. He was used to entering through the front door in case any of his partners were in the common area.]

[hondoyota]

[Adam's barely been in the house for the past few days. He's spent the majority of his time with Ronan in their tower, taking time off of work to do so. But Ronan has certain contractual obligations for his TV show, so when he returns to the Meadows, Adam goes with him, reading a book in the background as they film. He stays there even as Ronan and Murphy go outside on some antic, and ignores the attempts of one of the cameramen to get interview footage out of him.

Neither Adam nor Ronan mention anything in front of the cameras or Murphy, but there's an emptiness in the Meadows which is strange and a little sad, and Adam doesn't think that the cameras can fail to capture it.

He's still there in the main room, in his favorite windowseat, waiting for Ronan to come and collect him, when Gansey walks in, and it's the first time that Adam's been in a room with him since their breakup. His eyes lift from his book, lingering on Gansey, and he remains very still because he doesn't want to scare Gansey away.]

[disentombs]

[Gansey too freezes for a few seconds when he sees Adam there, natural as anything. He's come home to this scene quite a few times but it's not as homey as he remembers.

He internally scolds himself. Still having him as a friend should be enough.

Coming into the house, he shuts the front door behind him, tentatively coming in closer towards Adam, expression unreadable. He tucks the folder under his arm.]

Hey.

betty + jughead | open to all

[perfectible]

[ When Betty brings Jughead around the Meadows for the first time, she's a little nervous. Lately, things haven't been exactly peaceful and as of late, the property has been free of some of its original inhabitants. She doesn't know who they'll bump into but she does want the love of her young life to meet her friends here, her roommates.

So after showing him her room, she'll guide him out on a tour of the property. She'll take him around the main house and all its mysterious passageways and magical nooks and crannies. Then it's out to the barn but she will avoid the church beyond just pointing at it.

They'll be walking hand in hand in the fields, looking at the cows and enjoying the peace of the Meadows. So obviously, come bother them at any point.]

[disentombs]

[Gansey's been trying to bury himself in books and research into King Arthur finding anything more substantial than that he and Glendower were blood relatives. There's something more there and he knows it. Not to mention, this is the kind of thing he does when he's alone. Before moving to Henrietta, this is what he did when he wasn't physically travelling or exploring--books open before him taking notes.

Today, Gansey is sitting in a sunny little reading nook, the book on Arthurian Legend Psychology that Betty had given him against his knees, notebook open on one side of the book for Gansey to scrawl notes into.

He hears the footsteps, recognizing Betty's, but realizing there's another set with her. Straightening, he looks towards the entrance of this wing and sees the blonde with someone she doesn't recognize.]

Betty. Hey. Who's this you've brought?

[He smiles at the newcomer, sitting up properly with his feet on the floor and setting his book and notebook aside.

Gansey is a 5'10" strikingly handsome guy with brown hair that looked like he could get away without touching it in the morning. He has a toothy smile and he seems to radiate charisma--oh and he's wearing an aquamarine polo and chinos. The only reason he's not wearing topsiders is because he's indoors.]

[perfectible]

[ Betty suspected that at least Gansey would be at the house. And he was probably, maybe, the best or worst person for Jughead to meet first. He was a little like Archie, more preppy than jock though. He was kind and was quickly becoming one of her closest friends here. But he was also ridiculously good looking and put his foot in his mouth sometimes.

Betty was interested to see how they'd react to each other and now here was her chance. She smiles when she sees Gansey, warmly, happy to see him reading the book she got him and eager for him to meet Jughead.]

Gansey, this is Jughead. [ Her arm stays slipped through Jug's, her hand giving it a gentle squeeze. She can't help but look undeniably happy.] My boyfriend from back home.

[hondoyota]

[Adam isn't often to be found in the Meadows these days, but Gansey's asked for his help with research, and Adam doesn't want to refuse or disappoint. He's wandering through the main room with a stack of books under his arm when he sees Betty with some boy he's never seen before. Arm in arm.

Surprised and the tiniest bit jealous--not because he wants romance with Betty, but because he failed at something and this stranger succeeded--Adam stops. They've seen each other, so there's no polite escape to be made.]

Hey.

[perfectible]

Adam! [ This was, by far, the interaction she'd been most nervous about. After all, she'd been honest with Jughead about what she and Adam had been to one another. And she'd been honest about how they were now friends, how it hadn't worked out between the two of them for more reasons than they might have been able to find to stay together.

She smiles at her friend, a little relieved to see him, hoping he was well but not able to ask right about now. She stays close to Jug, uncertain of how this will go but she does smile at them both as she speaks:] This is Jughead.

[nightmarist]

[Of all the raven boys, Ronan seems the least likely to be lord of the castle. Particularly at the moment, as they've caught him in between calvings on their tour through the fields. With his ripped jeans tucked into his tall muddy boots and a smock over all of it to keep blood off his clothes (though they're already black as can be), Ronan looks like a simple farmhand. He has several heavy, rolled blankets resting on one shoulder, and the sturdy sort of build that makes carrying them appear very easy (though it isn't).

He pauses on his way to the barn when he sees Betty and the stranger approaching, cocking his head in a curious manner that lends some meaning to the raven in his epithet. A normal person would say hello. Ronan says nothing, but does a good deal of staring.]

[perfectible]

[ Fucking Ronan. Betty probably shouldn't have expected anything less from Ronan's first meeting with Jughead. And nothing more either. Of course, he's doing something bloody/messy that makes him look even more surly and intimidating, a facade that Betty's sort of picked away at.

He looks like he works here more than he looks like the founder/creator of it. And she has to laugh when she sees him, a little bark of a laugh before she speaks to Jughead, walking them towards him.] And this would be Ronan Lynch.

[ Her eyebrows lift as she looks at Ronan.] Ronan, this is Jughead. [ She has definitely mentioned him once or twice but that might not mean anything in the long run.]

Closed to Gansey

[versusseeker]

[It isn't at all uncommon for Red to go wandering about De Chima and its outskirts. In fact, based on just how often he does go hiking about in the Middle of Nowhere, Virginia, it's a wonder he hasn't managed to stumble upon the Meadows before now. As it is, he really thinks nothing of the rundown little farm as he passes by it. It's Venusaur that seems to find it interesting for some reason. A few yards ahead of its trainer, it goes curiously lumbering onto the property long before Red does, looking a bit uneasy as it sniffs the air around it.]

[disentombs]

[Gansey's been doing his best to get out of the house, out of the Meadows as much as possible. Being inside it too long reminds him of the chaos that's gone down over the past month. He's been wandering the property, going around and petting some of the dream cows, mainly walking aimlessly and thinking.

...until out of the corner of his eye, he sees something moving that he's never seen before. Turning towards it, he freezes. It must be a dream thing, from Ronan. He'd never seen it before. He's not even sure he could classify what kind of animal it might be related too. So fascinated by it in fact, Gansey lets it come uncomfortably close before he takes tentative steps backwards.]

[versusseeker]

[Venusaur is so distracted by the eery aura permeating the meadows that he hardly notices Gansey. When he does, he lets out a low but startled grumble, taking a step back himself while the plants on his back bristle a little. It might look a little threatening for a minute there, but a second later, he eases - just another human. Still, it doesn't look too sure...

[Maybe if it just...sticks it's tongue out a little...just a...just a little lick...]