Closed to Raven Kids

[fictor]

Who: Raven kids
When: The entire month of July
Where: Mostly the Barns, but I'm okay with it being used for anywhere in town
Warnings: Let's just make it R for everyone's sake. It might have everything in it.



With the lights out, the month of July takes the shape of some sort of weird slumber party. During the day everyone goes about their business. Adam works, Gansey researches, Ronan bugs the ever living crap out of Adam. Noah and Blue do whatever Noah and Blue do. Ronan suspects they’re still adjusting to this place. He knows it’s got to be a big adjustment for Noah. It’s probably not an easy one for Blue either who’s more accustomed to being around the craziness of 300 Fox Way rather than the craziness of Monmouth.

He knows it’ll be awkward at first, but when the electricity fails Ronan suggests that everyone stay out at The Barns. There’s plenty of room and several things that don’t use electricity to work like toasters and one shower that never runs out of hot water. Ronan feels better having the people he cares about under one roof, particularly when they’re not sure what the hell else is going to happen. Gansey agrees readily enough, always happy to have all of his people close by.

While The Barns allow everyone the space they need so that no one is piled up on top of each other, it is lacking in bedrooms. There’s the bedroom that Niall and Aurora shared, Matthew’s bedroom, Ronan’s bedroom and Declan’s bedroom (they can draw straws for that one). Ronan didn’t give anyone (including Adam) a vote when he claimed his room for he and Adam. He told the others they could sleep wherever the hell they liked. The couch in the den was pretty damn comfortable.

The Barns are also cluttered with dream things. The house, for the most part, contains the bits and pieces that function properly. Aurora had seen to that. However, there’s an entire barn full of frustration dreams for everyone to explore. The animals still lie sleeping where they’d been when Niall had died. For the most part, Ronan doesn’t mind his friends picking through the things and exploring. Niall’s office in one of the barns is locked and it’ll stay that way. He’d prefer that no one touch the mask on the wall that he’d had that awful dream, but it’s really only off limits to Adam (who knows that by now).

Explore, settle in. Ronan really is happy to have everyone here, to be able to share this with everyone.

[You’ve all read the book. Feel free to make shit up about the Barns. If you’ve got questions, ask and I’ll do what I can to answer them. Treat this as a month long mingle. Play with it and have fun. Adam’s birthday thread down below]

Comments

Happy Birthday, Adam

[fictor]

Adam hasn't told anyone about his birthday. Ronan knows because he knows things. He finds out things, particularly about Adam. Ronan makes it a point to tell everyone else in their little circle that July 3rd is Adam's birthday. He spends several days arguing with Gansey and helping him plan the party. In the end, they end up on a party yacht that Gansey found docked with several other boats at the marina. The one thing Ronan can agree with: beaches are bullshit (not Gansey's words) because of the sand that gets everywhere.

On the morning of the 3rd, Ronan won't give Adam a choice but to go with him. There are swim trunks and swim wear on the yacht. Thanks to Gansey and Ronan, there's also a plethora of food as well as a birthday cake. There's a ridiculous banner that says Happy Birthday, Adam hung over the main deck. Ronan's awful music (you're welcome) is playing over the speakers. The yacht doesn't have a destination in mind when it leave the dock and it will idle to a stop in the middle of the ocean. There's snorkling gear, wave runners and various kinds of inflatable water toys for them to play with. Enjoy! Ronan is pretty sure it's Adam's first birthday party.

[ Again, treat this as a mingle, make threads etc and so on ]

ota

[adamparrish]

Adam has never actually celebrated his birthday. He was going to let this year slide on by like it always did. But somehow -- somehow -- Ronan had figured out when his birthday was. He had thought they were coming to the beach as he and Blue had discussed to just be together at the beach. The yacht is... ridiculous. But Adam plays along because as Ronan goes, so goeth his nation, apparently.

When they'd talked about the beach, Adam had thought there would be more sand and maybe some hot dogs. This is much, much different than what he had imagined.

If he looks out of place on a freakin' massive yacht, it's because he is. He has on black and blue swim trunks and a ratty tee, faded blue and worn almost threadbare in some places. The tee has some writing on it that is indecipherable at this point. His feet are slipped into some flip-flops. It should be noted that the swim trunks and flip flops magically appeared this morning. Whether Ronan bought or dreamed them for him or Itinere gifted them to him, he doesn't know.

So Adam Parrish is celebrating his birthday for the first time... on a yacht. Thanks, rich friends.

[fictor]

Ronan knows that Adam hasn't ever celebrated his birthday. He doesn't know it in the way that Adam has told him; he knows it because Adam Parrish's life sucked before he, Gansey and Noah brought him into their circle of friends. Sometimes Adam's life back home still sucks. As sappy as it is, Ronan has tried to make Adam life better here; he's tried to give him things that he doesn't have at home.

This yacht is sort of one of those things, not that Ronan has ever been on a yacht, but Gansey has (of course) and they might have gone overboard (pun intended) with this party. Ronan just wants Adam to have fun. He wants him to have a good birthday. As for the swim trunks and flip flops, those Ronan actually picked up at one of the shops in town. He waits until Adam is alone on one of the decks then approaches him, moving to stand beside him, forearms on the railing. He's shirtless, wearing a pair of black swim trunks and black flip flops. He'd had to put a ton of sunscreen on to keep from burning. He'll probably still end up with a sunburn. The sun isn't his thing.

"So yeah...might've fuckin' gone overboard." He looks sideways at Adam. "You hate it?"

[makeslouder]

"Adam?"

Blue smiles shyly at him as she approaches on the boat. Last summer, his birthday seemed to have come and gone without a word mentioned to the rest of them. She's glad that it's not like this summer. It doesn't matter to Blue that summer came a lot quicker than it ought to. Not everything in the universe makes sense.

In her hands, she holds a small packaged. The gift (clearly a book from its shape) wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with string.

"Can I borrow you for a moment?"

[makeslouder]

She's happy that Ronan had put them up to this. It's not just that Blue wanted to spend more time by the ocean (sea?) since she first realized how close to the shore they were. While she would have been perfectly okay with a party on the beach, this isn't her party. She might find the yacht to be a little outrageous but it isn't as if they have to pay for it. That argument had (mostly) convinced her.

Though she wears a bathing suit underneath, Blue spends most of her time on the yacht dressed in denim cutoffs and an oversized, button down shirt that she had tie-dyed shortly after purchasing it. The large circular lenses of her pink sunglasses perched on her nose take up most of her face but there's no mistaking the smile she wears today. Her legs dangle over the deck as she sips at her cola. Even Ronan's choice in music doesn't seem completely horrible today.

Right now, enjoying this time with her friends, it's easy to forget the last few weeks. That's definitely something worth smiling over.

[therealgansey]

Gansey had a hand in the planning (duh..yacht) and he'd been happy to do it. It didn't take a genius to suspect (at least) that Adam hadn't ever had a real birthday party before. They've the chance to celebrate properly here and Gansey is happy to do so. Sometimes, he tries to imagine the life that Adam had lived back in Henrietta, and he finds it impossible to do so. It's much easier to imagine Adam in his world--their world, inhabiting this sort of life. The yacht is entirely outrageous, but Gansey (and Ronan) had thought it would be fun as a birthday celebration. It's an experience that is new to at least two of them, and one that is easily given to the others.

Gansey spends most of his time trying not to ogle Blue's legs in the cut offs. There seem to be endless expanses of calf and knee, bits of thigh and though Gansey knows, logically, that Blue is not that tall and her legs aren't endless, they seem to be in those shorts. He's only distracted from her legs by her smile. The party is in full swing by the time Gansey (in cargo shorts and a cornflower polo; don't forget those boat shoes) sits down next to Blue, his own legs dangling off the end of the deck.

"We can dive off from here. Should we decide we'd like to that is."

ota

[deathbysk8board]

Noah wanders. He never wanders too far, but he wanders. Maybe it's part of still being a ghost, who knows. He wanders around the Barns, touching things, then wanders some more. He goes to the closed doors but he doesn't go in, he sits, he stands, he wanders. He doesn't want to get in anyone's way, after all.

It's probably not surprising that he's feeling at loose ends. He doesn't have a purpose here: he can't do what Adam does, what Ronan does, he's not smart like Gansey and ... well, he's not Blue.

So, he wanders.

[adamparrish]

If Noah thinks he's in anyone's way, he's wrong. Adam is glad to have Noah here because Noah is the one person who is entirely neutral to him. Adam has no reason to get pissed with him. He's not sleeping with him. He didn't ever want to date him at one point. So see? Neutral. It's a comfortable friendship, he thinks... as long as Noah wants him around, of course.

So it's while they're both wandering that Adam runs into Noah and hopes that he isn't getting in Noah's way. They haven't really spoken since the big reveal in which Noah had looked very strange during the immediate aftermath of it. So... Adam is slightly awkward when he greets him.

"Hey." He says. "What are you up to?"

[deathbysk8board]

"Um." Noah's hands flail then get stuffed into his pockets as if he's been caught doing something he shouldn't. "I'm just ... looking around, I guess." He shrugs, and his hands come out of his pockets.

Noah just is strange or awkward; it isn't Adam's fault or even AdamandRonan, anymore than its GanseyandBlue. Noah just is Noah. "What are you doing?"

[fictor]

Ronan actually wanders much the same way. He's checking to make certain that things are just as they're meant to be. He's also unaccustomed to being cooped up this way. His insomnia is full swing and that makes him more restless. He wanders with his earphones on, but pushes them off his head ot hang around his neck when he sees Noah wandering through the Barn that contains all of Niall's frustration dreams.

Noah may not have a purpose, but he's still Ronan's best friend whether he's a ghost or not. Gansey is like his brother, Adam is his boyfriend and he and Blue are on the way to becoming friends. Noah is his best friend. That's enough of a purpose for Ronan and he's glad he's here. He's glad that he can finally show Noah the Barns because he never could back home.

"Some crazy shit in here," Ronan says by way of greeting, reaching out to grab something that looks like it might have tried to be a teapot but with legs and no spout. It's cold to the touch, like a glass of iced tea. Thank god it doesn't actually walk.

[deathbysk8board]

Noah snickers a little, because, really, that's pretty much an understatement. There is a lot of crazy shit in here. But it's Ronan's dad's crazy shit, so it means something to him, Noah figures.

"Maybe I'm some of the crazy shit," he muses, one shoulder shrugging as he looks over at Ronan. Maybe he's been dreamed here. He thinks about that a lot.

[makeslouder]

Oh, Noah. To Blue, you're as important as the rest of them. She might be falling in love with Gansey in that romantic way that defies all sensibility but when it comes down to it, how can she possibly love any one of her raven boys more than the other? They all have a role, all hold such a purpose and connection to one another. The smudgy boy was her first kiss. Until Itinere, he had been the only boy she could ever possibly kiss safely. Now, seeing Noah alive and whole without needing to borrow any of her energy, she won't take that chance. It doesn't diminish his importance to Blue though. Nothing can.

So on some of these wanderings, whether he likes it or not, he gets a Blue. She keeps close to him as they wander along the sleeping animals. Neither of them have to say anything. Company is enough. When they come across as small calf standing next to its mother, Blue has to stop to kneel next to it. She smooths the fur on its head and looks up at Noah. "It's so little."

[deathbysk8board]

Oh, Blue. Noah knows that he's not your true love. And that's okay. If it means a few more of those kisses (once they had it figured out, anyway), he'd do it.

"Before coming here, I never saw one up close," he tells her, kneeling too. Aglionby boys didn't carouse with farm animals, not even to tip them, actually. "At least like this, they don't stink, huh."

ta-da! near the tail end of the month

[dontscryalone]

It's surprising, but not that surprising, that she's ended up in this place. Persephone can feel the magic of this place right to her very fingertips; she doesn't need a mirror or two to see that.

Persephone wanders the streets of this place, watching, her skirts floating around herself, her hair, too. Occasionally, she'll whisper something to herself, look around, and she'll either continue in the direction she was meant to be going, or right her course.

That's how she ends up in this place. "Of course," she says to herself. No Maura, no Calla. But ...

Ah. Well, this will be interesting, won't it. She starts toward the house, knocking on the front door.

[adamparrish]

The knock could be heard from the kitchen where Adam Parrish is pouring steaming water out of a kettle that has no plug, but somehow keeps itself piping hot and full of water. The water is never ending. It never has to be refilled. The Barns is full of things like this. Things that are things, but just a bit off. Magical. Adam fits in here fairly well, he guesses. He is now a magical thing as well.

At the knock, he hurries to the door and opens it, ready to tell whoever it is to go away or Ronan will be angry that someone he doesn't know is on his property. Who he finds there, however, is a surprise of all surprises.

"But... how?" Persephone is dead. But she's here. How is this possible?

[dontscryalone]

"And it's you." Persephone smiles, reaching up to touch Adam's cheek. "I should have known. This place, it's - it's very strong." Her hands fan out around her. "This whole place, but this place," she says, meaning the house and surrounding lands, "this place is very strong."

Perhaps some time after Adam has answered the door?

[fictor]

Ronan isn't surprised to see Persephone in his kitchen with a cup of tea simply because Adam had come to find him, to tell him that Persephone had shown up. He's not surprised because this place has a habit of bringing the people you don't expect here.

He walks in without a word, grabs a can of beer out of the fridge and sits down at the table across from Persephone. He pops the top, takes a sip and watches Persephone a moment.

"So what's the last thing you remember back home?"

[dontscryalone]

While she doesn't flinch away, she does wince. The Greywaren is so very loud. She watches him right back, eyes wide and black. "I was looking for Maura."

And granted, she could have done it differently, but extreme measures and all that. "I know I died," she tells him, voice calm and whispery. At least she's nearly sure she died.

Later?

[therealgansey]

The smell of pie cooling brings Gansey to the kitchen. He'd been in the library, searching through Niall's books for anything that might give them a little bit of information about the possibility of this place. It seems dream thing enough to have been dreamt, but he can't fathom the amount of power it would take to dream (and populate) an entire town.

In case, that matters little at this moment. He steps into the kitchen wearing a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a kiwi colored polo shirt. His hair is mussed and he's rubbing at the bridge of his nose.

"Persephone." Somehow, despite the fact that he wasn't aware she was here he's unsurprised to see her. Perhaps he heard someone say she'd arrived through the fug of sleep deprivation and research exhaustion, but it was the smell of pie that brought him here.

"It's good to see you."

[makeslouder]

No Maura, no Calla, but there is a Blue currently in residence at the Barns. She'd still rather be at Monmouth but as the days passed, she's made herself more comfortable in Ronan's childhood home. It's where she is when Persephone knocks on the door, snuggled in a deep armchair with a copy of Don Quixote on her lap. It's a lazy day for Blue. She's okay with that.

At the sound of the knock, her head pops up. She looks at the door, eyes wide and startled. Someone's knocking? Here?

"In a moment," she mutters just loud enough to be heard as she places a bookmark in the book and scrambles from her seat. She walks over quickly but with a degree of caution. Blue opens the door a crack, peering out. "Hel-" Caution gives way quickly and she swings the door all the way open. "Persephone?"

Gansey OTA

[therealgansey]

During the day Gansey spends a great deal of time at the bookstore in town and at Monmouth. He explores and talks to people, bemoans the lack of academic information here and works on his cereal box town. Occasionally he sleeps sprawled across the bed at Monmouth, sunlight thrown over him.

At night, he's at The Barns because he does think that it's better they stick together. He's comfortable at the Barns; he's one of the few that spent time there before Niall Lynch died. However, he's careful at the Barns, aware that everything here is a part of Ronan in some ways like Chainsaw is.

He wanders at night, glasses slipping down his nose. He picks through the barns, exploring them. He picks through the books in the library and wonders how Ronan would feel about him starting a cereal box town in one of the spare rooms. His insomnia is hitting him hard right now, concern and curiosity warring, lighting his brain on fire and making it impossible for him to sleep. Come distract him?

[adamparrish]

There are times when Adam can't sleep either. He's used to moving every hour of every day. Here he has one job and no Aglionby. It leaves him with a ton of energy to burn and time on his hands. He could always go back to the garage, but he knows people would worry about him in the nighttime if he weren't close at hand. This is what has him sitting on the porch of the Barns.

Adam is sitting there with a candle beside him, tinkering with a radio that was apparently dreamed and works without plug or batteries. He's asked Ronan's permission to play with it before, to try to figure out how it works. Yes, he knows it's magic. But the logical part of him has been itching to take it apart to see the insides of it.

When Gansey steps out to the porch, Adam is testing screwdrivers from a tiny box out of a larger toolbox. He looks up to Gansey, not at all surprised since they all know that Gansey is prone to insomnia, then back to the radio. "Hey."

[makeslouder]

She spends a lot of her free time with Gansey lately. With the lack of electricity in town, she effectively has no work for the month and much more time on her hands than she knows what to do with. It has nothing to do with unwanted crushes or anything of the like. He's her friend. More than that really, but it's that same more that applies to all the raven boys.

It's when she tries to fall asleep and finds herself smiling at the prospect of getting to spend the next day with him that the lie gets to her. Blue loves spending time with all her boys but there's something special about spending time with Gansey. Though she tries, she finds it more and more difficult to fall asleep.

She eyes her device on the bedside table. She's been careful with the phone's battery since the power went out on July 4th. Blue doesn't know how conservative Gansey's been but the other option would be knocking on his door. Not thinking twice, she dials him up and presses the phone to her ear. Hopefully, Gansey will pick up.

ota

[makeslouder]

Truth be told, Blue would much rather be in Monmouth at night than at the Barns. She feels safe in Monmouth, secure knowing that the old warehouse has been a sanctuary for the boys for so long. While the Barns might have been such for Ronan, it doesn't have the same feel. It's his home and not theirs. She almost feels as if she's intruding someplace she shouldn't be. Not to mention, there's something spooky about toasters that don't need plugging in or having showers always at the perfect temperature.

Still, she's grateful that Ronan's allowed them this. Despite the summer heat, it is a luxury not to have to take cold showers every night. There's still light when the sun sets and a fridge full of food safe to eat. At Monmouth, she wouldn't have any of this right now. None of them would. That doesn't meant that, when given the option, she'd much rather explore with one of the boys than on her own. But if none are available, she'll do just that. There's so much to see at the Barns and this time, none of them have to worry about breaking any rulings to do so.

[fictor]

Roaming through the barns at all hours is something that Ronan has done since he was a little boy. The place is so familiar that even with the dream animals lying about, Ronan doesn't need a light. He steps out of the shadows in one of the barns, rubbing his hand over his shaved head, Chainsaw perched on his shoulder. She caws at Blue and he reaches up to put a hand to her wing to silence her.

"Catching Gansey's insomnia, Maggot?" Yeah, he's noticed that she spends a great deal of time with Gansey, but he kind of approves of that. He knows that Gansey has been over the moon about Blue for a while. He may not understand why, but he knows it all the same.