farmboy hell [open]

[konman]

Who: Kon and You!
What: Kon tooling around camp
Where: Melai Temple and the surrounds
When: All throughout their time there.
Warnings/Notes: cw: For slight gore in the threads where Kon's butchering stuff

A.

Ew ew ew ew ew ew ewww ew.

[Kon's lived on the Kent farm for a while now and with Pa gone (rest his soul), there's a lot that needs to be managed. Fortunately, Ma Kent is tough as nails in her own quiet way. It's not hard to imagine her as one of those Dust Bowl Depression farmer's wives that made their kids' clothes out of flour sacks and scrimped and saved and -- with incredible grace under fire -- somehow got by. So the farm has been managed by a competent hand, but there's still been a lot of work to do, and it's not easy for a small farm to get by anymore. She can only afford to hire farmhands sometimes.]

Ew.

[That means that Kon's taken on as much work as he can, in between school and homework and superheroing. Superspeed makes it all a little easier. All he has to do is wake up a little earlier for school and he can do things like plow the fields before breakfast. It's also led to him picking up a lot of new skills. He's been a little surprised at how much...well, skill they take.]

Ewwww.

[Alongside milking cows, gathering eggs, and plowing fields, he's learned slightly more difficult (and grosser) stuff. For instance, like how to help deliver calves (which was a mix of being absolutely disgusting and yet filled with the magical wonder of life.) And the baby cows were cute at least.]

Ew. Ew ew ew.

[Another thing he's learned: how to butcher animals. Naturally, he's been too much of a wimp to actually kill them himself but there was no way he's going to leave Ma to do all that work by herself. As long as the animal comes to him pre-dead he can stomach things enough to make something out of it.]

[So that's what he's doing with a knife from the kitchen, outside the temple and some distance away (so no scavengers will come too close to the temple). He's helping a dead animal undergo the magical transformation into dinner.]

Ewwwwww.

[All the ew's are because it's still gross. Super gross. So gross that he took his shirt off and put it waaay off to the side because he's being prissy about potentially getting blood on it. Right now he's wearing just his jeans and boots. The animal's carcass is spread on a ratty old sheet he found in one of the quarters. (It's better than setting the chunks of meat in the dirt.)]

Aw, what? It got on my boots.

[So nasty.]


B.

[Kon's been trying to stay out of the temple for as long as he can each day. It gets too cold at night to sleep outside, so he's had to cave and go inside then, but going inside then is a little easier. Everyone's usually settling down for the night and he can just quietly settle in near his friends without anyone really paying much attention to the whole black-eyed-demon-boy thing.]

[During the day? It's a lot more noticeable to the people you're talking to when you look like an extra from Wendy the Werewolf stalker. Also, inside the temple, he gets a squirmy feeling in his stomach like something inside him wants to claw its way out. Très creepy. ]

[So Kon's been spending a lot of time outside where his baby blues are normal and he can pretend he's only one tall building leap away from being his usual super self.]

[Right now he's working on making a basket out of reeds and grasses, using only knowledge from world history class and vague impressions of how baskets are put together from reruns of "How's It Made." (Yes, that's right, Ma got cable recently.)

[His first few attempts lay scattered around him, looking like tumbleweeds that possibly took a left turn at Albuquerque. This attempt, at least, is looking surprisingly basket-like. So of course he's going to show it off.]

Behold! A thing that can hold stuff!

C.

[Kon hates going in the temple. Hates it. His stomach squirms and he gets the unmistakable feeling that he doesn't belong there. Whatever's inside him isn't bad enough for him to set on fire or something while walking in the door, but it's bad enough that the holiness of the temple makes the dark shit inside him sit up and snarl.]

[Every time he walks in, his stomach clenches and feels cold, and his face flushes hot, like there's some kind of infection in his skin. His eyes cloud over and turn black and something dark spiders through the veins of his face around them.]

[That means he's a different person inside the temple. Whether he's rummaging through the kitchen for something useful, digging around in the rooms for blankets, or standing around looking at the weird singing statues, he's more self-conscious. Furtive. Anytime he runs into someone he seems to shrink in on himself, like he's trying to give the impression he's smaller and less threatening.]

Uh. Hey.

D. Toss me a surprise!

Comments

A

[followingdawn]

[ Sothe may be a city kid, but some of his skills translate well enough out here. Moving quietly. Situational awareness.

Stabbing things, of course. Or in this case, throwing knives at things and stabbing them from a distance.

Stalking an animal is a little different than following a person, he's discovered, but he's a quick study - as you have to be, in a place like Nevassa. You learned fast, or you starved (or worse). After a couple of missteps and bad starts, he's started to find his rhythm, and thus he's making his way back with a rabbit.

(It may not be a big hunk of meat, but it's not like Sothe's a big kid.)

The next part, though, is something he never really picked up during the march with the Crimeans to retake their kingdom, and certainly not something he had much need for in the slums. Nobody makes a thing out of butchering a rat when they can't swipe anything better from the market.

So it's with some relief that he takes note of what Kon's doing outside, so he makes a beeline over and drops the rabbit. ]

Oh, good. You know how to do this stuff.

[ Because he sure doesn't! ]

[konman]

[Kon looks over the dead rabbit with its beady little dead eyes and sighs.]

Farmboy hell. That's where I am. I'm in farmboy hell.

Soon, alongside this, the sky will open up with Jimmy Barnes dressed as a cowboy, rising instead of the sun, and he'll just scream all day, every day.

Either that or "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" will play 24/7.

[None of these things are things Sothe will understand, but Kon rambles them anyway, as continues his messy work.]

[followingdawn]

You're not...cracking, are you?

[ None of that made any sense whatsoever. He just wants to know if now would be an important time to get the knife out of Kon's hand. ]

B

[suckitblue]

[ Simmons examines the basket, turning it in his hands. ]

Are you sure?

[ Yes, this is the most helpful thing to blurt out when inspecting someone else's sincere, effortful handiwork. Good job, buddy. ]

[konman]

[Kon narrows his eyes at Simmons and his totally pointless criticism.]

Listen, poindexter [yes, he gets a nerd nickname, that quickly] I've spent like eight hours playing arts and crafts here. It can hold stuff.

[It's at least sturdy enough to hold all the fucks he doesn't give about what you think about his basket, Simmons.]

[suckitblue]

I didn't say it was bad!

[ Okay, so maybe he kinda did, but he didn't mean it! ]

A

[dirtyredneck]

Stop complaining and get that bird broken down already. We're wasting daylight and yer making enough noise ta draw the whole forest down on us.

[Daryl complains as he drops another dead bird, scrawny as the first few, down next to the kid. If nothing else, the boy knowing how to do the butchering meant he could spend more time hunting and getting as much food stored for whatever trip they were gonna have to make. The birds weren't going to get smoked, though. Those were for eating as soon as they could.]

And be nice with the long feathers when yer pullin'em out. Don't break any. Gonna need them.

[konman]

[Kon narrows his eyes slightly.]

It's gross. I know how to do it but I reserve the right to complain about how gross it is until the cows come home.

[He stops narrowing his eyes and briefly glances up at Daryl, frowning, before looking back at what he's doing.]

Trust me, I'm not the kind of person that should get be trying to get used to this anyway.

[Breaking bones and destroying flesh. No bueno. It needs to stay gross and difficult. Always. Forever.]

[dirtyredneck]

Yer complainin' could bring predators and we don't got the means to beat back more'n'one or two. So shut up or complain a lot quieter.

[Daryl dropped down to the ground across from Kon and started looking over what had already been butchered to figure out what he could wrap up for smoking and what would be going into the stew pot for dinner.]

And every last one of you is the kind of person that needs ta get used to this. Ain't no room for nobody that can't pitch in when needed.

D

[loadme]

Hi!

[Run into any more handcuffs lately.]

How are you today?

this okay for a setup?

[konman]

Uh. Hey.

[They've run into each other in the hall of singing statues. She's acting incredibly perky for someone staring at a black-eyed weirdo.]

I'm good. Just, you know, checking out the Enya statues.

[He overheard Robbie calling them that. It's kind of stuck.]

that's fine.

[loadme]

[If she could, she'd introduce you to the other black-eyed weirdo she knows.

Well, they're only occasionally a black-eyed weirdo.]

Enya statues?

B

[wherenoonegoes]

[As Kon looks up to show off the basket, he sees Toothless. The dragon had apparently managed to sneak up on him while he was making it. Thankfully, Toothless is just sitting up on his hind legs, not interested in making any threat displays. Just a a cross-eyed look and a repeating noise that sounds a little like a cat trying to cough up a hairball.]

[Actually, a lot like a cat trying cough up a hairball, because it's at that moment that Toothless hocks up half of a partly digested fish right into the displayed basket.]

[konman]

Aw, what? Why?

Why would you do that?

[Kon dumps the fish out of the basket.]

I spent like an hour on this! I know you hate me but we need supplies and ways to carry stuff. Bad dragon!

[wherenoonegoes]

[Toothless picks up the fish...and drops it right back into the basket. He points at it with his nose, points at Kon, the fish, then once more at Kon.]

Wait, what? What did he do?

[Hiccup finally makes an appearance and, spotting the fish, rubs at his face exasperatedly.]

Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Good news, he's not doing that because he hates you.

C

[somnioergosum]

[It had been some time since Ronan went to church. The temple he stood in now wasn't dedicated to that god, but he could tell it was special in a way St. Agnes never felt. For one thing, that statues didn't sing.

He listened for some time to the music, recalling another time. When he turned and saw Kon, he started.]

Here for the Hallelujah Chorus?

Re: C

[konman]

[He sees that start and it makes him feel anxious as hell, but then Ronan follows up with something that isn't "what the hell is up with your eyes?" or "begone, demon!" and Kon relaxes a little.]

Mostly wondering where they hid the speakers.

[He briefly brushes his fingers against one of the statues and is relieved when the skin doesn't burn or something.]

Ah, who am I kidding? I know it's magic. I just wonder if it's a charm kinda thing or something else. It feels...

[It feels like there's... something inside the statues that he can almost touch.]

[One of his spells lets him yank out people's souls, but he doesn't make the connection.]

More like something else.

[somnioergosum]

[If Ronan hadn't noticed Kon's problem a while back, he might have lead with asking what his deal was, but so far he'd kept a low profile. He mostly just seemed-- he didn't know-- scared? Ronan Lynch was many things but he didn't kick a man when he was down, not unless he'd earned it. Or just pissed him off.]

Maybe it was born that way.

[Ronan had dreamed things that sang but they usually needed a trigger. You had to press a button or touch it a certain way. This was something else.]

Seriously, it's magic or religion. You can't explain either one of those.

A

[acrocanthosaurus]

[Patience has been wandering the land around the temple, trying to find the amber key or her sense of connection to the others who got sent on an involuntary Cretaceous adventure. No luck on either front. She can't help noticing the smell of butchery and comes to check it, out quieter than people might expect from something the size of an elephant. Patience does have enough sense to not get too close unannounced, and calls out when close enough to hear Kon's complaints.]

Try having to eat it raw.

[konman]

[A talking dinosaur. He's done this one already, on Island X, so this is not the weirdest type of person he's ever met.]

[Except that dinosaur had been more of a lizard guy, but whatever.]

You're a dinosaur. Isn't raw meat your thing?

[acrocanthosaurus]

Wasn't always. Weird things happen when you get kicked back in time.

[Patience is inclined to honesty when she doesn't have an immediate reason to lie but she's also not inclined to chatter, so... statements like that.]

The smell's gonna attract flies and maybe those wolves. You should give me whatever you aren't going to use.

A

[astrarche]

Then wipe it off.

[Says the monkey, before she deposits a brace of strangled rabbits on top of his butchering. Boots are cleanable. She's not sure why he's so squeamish about fresh food.]

I'll be back with more tomorrow.

[konman]

Farmboy hell. I'm in farmboy hell.

Why is everyone treating me like I'm the only person that can do this?

[Whinewhinewhine.]

A

[mark_in_the_sands]

Okay, tell me how I can help. Because I don't know how to do any of that, but listening to you complain makes me sad.

[Cassie's maintaining firm eye contact. Just because they're broken up now doesn't mean that she doesn't appreciate the sight of Kon without a shirt. At the same time, seeing him all bloody makes her stomach churn. Nothing like the traumatic memory of the boy you love dying in your arms, no sirree.]

I'm not taking my shirt off, though. No way am I getting deer blood on this bra.

[konman]

[Kon is not the ridiculously hormonal teenager he used to be but sometimes he just can't let an opportunity for a flirty joke escape him.]

[Also, it's just...hard. He still loves her. And not only is she just as hot as ever, she gets hotter and hotter all the time.]

[He tries to keep it impersonal, though, like his flirty comments of old, the ones he threw around freely. A fairly standard attempt to get a good ogle on, so that it's just funny and makes her want to throw something at him, rather than opening any old wounds.]

I don't know, Cass, it's your shirt but I'd at least consider it if I were you. Look at us, we're probably ten million miles away from the nearest bottle of spray n' wash. Are you really gonna tempt fate?