maskormenacelogs | (no subject)

WHO: Ravens and Pevensies!!
WHERE: De Chima, The Meadows
WHEN: Mid-October-ish
WHAT: A visit!
WARNINGS: I'm really drawing a blank here.

[ The Meadows has seen some better days. In the last month, the Porter has greatly reduced the farm's population, from a healthy seven teenagers to a rather meager three. Well. Two teenagers and one absent bird. Noah and Matthew have done their best to keep up the place, but some things have had to be let go. There's a patch of ground in the yard that used to be a vegetable garden but right now looks rather neglected and overgrown, for example, and it's clear inside the house that nobody's been exactly dusting the furniture or scrubbing the floors.

But they've been doing their best, and the Meadows still has its charms. Warm sunlight streams through the living room window throughout the day, no matter the actual position of the sun. The rooms, of which there are too many, are scattered with magical dreamed up oddities, but there's no shortage of mundane daily objects as well, collected by the people who live and used to live here. This is a home.

Max, the pitbull puppy, is particularly thrilled to have visitors, jumping around at the heels of anyone who offers him attention. There are two cats who can be spotted around the house as well, but they're much quicker to disappear around a corner or underneath the couch. Two swallows and a goldfish round out the indoor animal population.

Outside, the weather is cool but not enough to be unpleasant. In the front yard are parked entirely too many cars for the few people who currently live here. Other notable features of the property are a small duck pond (ducks included), a chicken coop (chickens and one tempermental rooster included), and, at the end of a dirt road heading towards the edge of the property, an old barn. The building is unremarkable except for the bright, sprawling grafitti painted across one of the sides, clearly a collaboration between multiple artists--some more talented than others.

All in all, there's lots to see, lots to do, and nice people to hang out with! ]

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[ Lucy and Edmund are perfectly free to wander about on their own--any rooms that would be off limits are magically locked anyway, and both of them are trusted not to do harm to anything that looks important, like the detailed cereal box model of De Chima that Gansey left behind--but if they want the grand tour, Matthew is their man. In fact he's all too eager to show them around, especially Lucy, who's been his friend for so long and never seen where he lives. ]

So, what do you wanna see first? Outside? Inside? We've got snacks in the kitchen, too, if you're hungry.

[ "Snacks" as opposed to "a meal". Sorry if anyone was expecting formality here. Matthew doesn't even have shoes on right now. He's also really, really happy to have more people in this house again. ]

[She's reaching for his hand - it's an easy enough thing to do, and she likes Matthew anyway. It's all very beautiful here, if a bit empty. It seems as though the house were built for many, but only contains one or two souls.]

Oh, you do not have to be so formal! Show me what you like the most.

[She is, generally, even more formal than this, but she's charmed by the casualness of this affair.]

[ He's delighted to be holding her hand, and after a few moments of ponderous thought--how can he decide what he likes most? this is home--he pulls her back towards the door, eager as a child. ]

You've gotta see the barn.

[ He shoves his feet into a pair of shoes that were kicked off near the door before he takes her outside. The barn is a little walk away, so they'll get to see other stuff on the way. ]

Oh-- Henrietta lives in there, but she's not around this morning. I checked.

[ He knows Lucy probably doesn't want to see her. Henrietta, like her dreamer, hasn't been around as much since Adam left. ]

The barn?

[She's letting him drag her, in a polite sort of way. It's not really dragging. It's more like careful pulling.]

I do not mind your beast, even if she were, Matthew!

[ Careful, affectionate pulling. Matthew isn't the most self-aware person but he knows he's a lot bigger than she is. ]

Oh-- I thought she kind of freaked you out, [ he admits, sounding a bit sorry for misunderstanding. Lucy's reaction when he first talked to her about Henrietta was less than enthusiastic. ]

But really, she's just not around today. She's been wandering a lot. Since Adam got ported out.

[ He slows down just a little bit. None of this has been very easy. ]

It would be not very kindly of me to say if she did, you realize.

[Because maybe she does but Lucy's not saying that much out loud. And now she's a bit embarrassed.]

[ Lucy is the kindest person Matthew knows, and if she said Henrietta freaked her out that wouldn't change. ]

Well, I mean--

[ He shrugs with one shoulder and spins just a bit, so he's walking sideways, almost backwards. This is so he can look at her while he talks, and lead her at the same time. ]

I wouldn't blame you, [ he promises. ] I never knew her before she was nice, but Dorian Gray said she-- [ Wait, who cares what Dorian Gray said. ]

He said some stuff about her.

[ They're walking past the duck pond now. ]

You should not listen to him. He is a damaged soul, Matthew.

[They do not get along at all.]

Yeah, I know, [ Matthew says in a low voice, because it's not a very kind thing to say either.

Dorian's a nosy jerk, but he also wasn't lying about Henrietta. ]

Anyway-- [ Back to more cheerful things. ]

The chicken coop's over there. Our rooster's real cranky though, so you might not want to get too close. And the barn's not much further this way.

Ah-

Yes, show me!

[She's beaming, now.]

[ He beams right back and leads her a safe distance past the chicken coop, chattering happily away as they go.

"Chanticleer's got overdeveloped spurs, that's why you gotta watch out for him." "That's the tree me and Noah like to climb. Adam's cat got stuck up there once." "There's the slip-n-slide Ronan made for my birthday."

And etc, until they make it to the barn. He drops her hand and trots over to it eagerly, showing her the outside first. ]

Everybody painted this. It's pretty cool, right?

[ The mural is a giant, colorful mashup, including everything from simple swirls of color to one (impolite) joke written in Latin, to a few very competently painted ravens. Noah still works on it from time to time.

Matthew places his palm on the rough wood fondly, his thumb touching an oddly drawn triangle. ]

'tis quite pretty.

[She is reaching up to touch the swirls of color, and light chases them, swirling too.]

Is that your favorite piece?

[ Edmund is rather enamored with Max, scratching behind its ear with quiet affection, that it takes him a second to remember that there's a question being asked to him. ]

I saw that you have an old barn outside. Do you take care of it?

[ Edmund's love of Max puts him in good company, no worries. Matthew smiles brightly, pleased to see the king and the puppy getting along so well. ]

Sure! But we don't have horses or anything like you guys. Henrietta sleeps out there. She's... [ He trails off, tilting his head to the side as he considers how to describe her. Henrietta is a perfectly gentle, seven foot tall nightmare bird monster. But he's not going to say that. ]

She's kinda startling when you first see her, but she's real sweet.

We can go see the barn if you want. She's not out there today but the barn is cool.

Now you've made me curious.

[ Edmund smiles, patting Max's head one last time before straightening up. ]

I would love to see more of your home, Matthew. It's quite homey. Do you live with your friends? Family?

[ Matthew laughs. ]

If she comes back, I'll let you know, [ he promises, and he means it. In response to the question, he somehow brightens even further. Matthew can't create light the way that Lucy can, but there's something about him that almost glows when he gets to talk about home, about family. ]

When I first showed up, my brother and his friends all lived here. [ As he explains, he leads Edmund towards the door, intending to make good on the offer to show him the barn. ]

And I got to move in, too. [ He pushes the door open with one hand and fishes his phone out of his pocket with the other. ] It's been great, mostly, real great, but-- [ more subdued ] --the Porter sends people home sometimes. Right now it's just Noah and me.

I mean, Ronan-- He's my brother. Ronan's still here but he's staying somewhere else.

[ Which worries Matthew a lot but they don't have to talk about that. ]

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i didn't know where to put this?? so i made a new thread i guess

This is perfect! <3 <3

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