Damien
and every demon wants his pound of flesh
but i like to keep some things to myself
but i like to keep some things to myself
Damien followed the hand’s point, boots crunching through snow and slush until the arena opened ahead of him. It was a whole different noise than the dogs—lowing cattle, the rattle of panels, men on horseback calling across to one another. He slowed to take it in, leaning his weight a moment on the fence while his eyes worked the scene. Horses moving sharp and sure in the cold, cattle bunching and flowing like water through the chute, and Colt in the middle of it all, her voice cutting through the press like she’d been born to it.
The dogs met him before she did. They swarmed his boots and trousers, noses busy, teeth flashing now and again in half-hearted warning. Damien kept still until the worst of it passed, shoulders hitching in silent thanks when Colt’s shout pulled them off. All but one. That one stuck to his heel, throwing up the occasional huff like it had been put on personal duty. He glanced down at it, the corner of his mouth twitching. Better this than Aria tagging along—his cub would’ve turned the whole place into a circus, and Colt’s patience with him was thin enough without that.
He came up to the fence but didn’t climb it, resting his forearms across the top bar instead. The metal was cold through his sleeves, biting through the worn cloth, but he didn’t mind. It gave him the right vantage, a man looking in rather than barging through.
He tipped his head up in greeting when Colt's voice carried his name across. The cattle pushed through the chute beyond her, hooves thudding in rhythm, dogs darting to snap at stragglers. “Quite the operation you’ve got.” His breath puffed white over the words. His gaze flicked over the panels and the split herds, then back to her with a small, curious tilt of his brow. “What’s all this for?”
He didn’t ask it to fill the air—he wanted to know. Places like this weren’t common in Halo, and ever since his trip to the Celestine in Stormbreak, the thought of land full of animals kept creeping back into his head. He wasn’t fool enough to think he knew the first thing about running something like that, but still, watching the work in motion, he let himself wonder what it might be like.
The dogs met him before she did. They swarmed his boots and trousers, noses busy, teeth flashing now and again in half-hearted warning. Damien kept still until the worst of it passed, shoulders hitching in silent thanks when Colt’s shout pulled them off. All but one. That one stuck to his heel, throwing up the occasional huff like it had been put on personal duty. He glanced down at it, the corner of his mouth twitching. Better this than Aria tagging along—his cub would’ve turned the whole place into a circus, and Colt’s patience with him was thin enough without that.
He came up to the fence but didn’t climb it, resting his forearms across the top bar instead. The metal was cold through his sleeves, biting through the worn cloth, but he didn’t mind. It gave him the right vantage, a man looking in rather than barging through.
He tipped his head up in greeting when Colt's voice carried his name across. The cattle pushed through the chute beyond her, hooves thudding in rhythm, dogs darting to snap at stragglers. “Quite the operation you’ve got.” His breath puffed white over the words. His gaze flicked over the panels and the split herds, then back to her with a small, curious tilt of his brow. “What’s all this for?”
He didn’t ask it to fill the air—he wanted to know. Places like this weren’t common in Halo, and ever since his trip to the Celestine in Stormbreak, the thought of land full of animals kept creeping back into his head. He wasn’t fool enough to think he knew the first thing about running something like that, but still, watching the work in motion, he let himself wonder what it might be like.
