Busy—
Busy hands, busy mind, busy soul, busy heart—
He could do things, like .. listen: to his blood, to the song of a few winter birds chirping in the trees outside, to the sound of ponies and goats browsing in the snow. He could do a lot of things, but what he found himself doing was two things: tooling a leather bracelet for a customer's daughter, and thinking.
The former was easy. It was just a flower-like pattern, one he had done a thousand times, and probably could do in his sleep. The latter, well.. it was what he didn't want to be doing, but what he found himself doing all the damn time anyway. It wasn't like he had any revelations either, it was just the same old, same old.
He was lonely.
Things were changing.
And for the first time in his life, he felt like he was running out of time.
Tap-tap-tap, tap, tap-tap, was the most immediate sound as he worked the leather pattern, gently knocking a small hammer against the beveling tool. He tried to put the thoughts out of his mind, to focus wholly on his task—the last thing he wanted to do was ruin all the work he'd done by not paying attention to what he was doing just because he was busy moping.
And for a time, it worked. Rory was engrossed by his task, until his little visitors caused a ruckus they had perhaps not expected.
All of a sudden there was barking, a sound of alarm that nearly had him running the bevel tool right across the damn bracelet. Then the sound of the herd being rounded up, Esaia's indignant whinny as Ella probably tried to nip her haunches—
Rory was out the door of his workshop before he even realized what he was doing, his pulse racing, his thoughts screaming a confused but at least there shouldn't be monsters?! but a wolf pack would be just as devastating—
But it wasn't, it was, uhh, it was the white fox, and the dogs had caught its scent, and Vaya—he loved her for her bullheaded instincts but right now, hated her for her aggression—was a black-and-tan streak coming through the pen, straight towards the fox(es), jumping through the fencing as Rory, sort of breathless and imagining either the fox or the dog horribly killing the other, yelled "Vaya! Down!".
To her credit, she did stop: all teeth bared and hackles raised, a growl rumbling in her chest. Somewhere behind her, Ella was pinning goats and ponies in the furthest corner of the pen. Rory jogged over the snow, firmly grabbing the angry bitch by her collar and hauling her off a little ways. This.. was something he'd worried about when the fox had come onto his farm the last time: what would happen when the dogs noticed it?
And how would he deal with it?
He couldn't teach them to accept foxes, but...
Surely there was some way to make a goddamn exception
Would Vaya just go for it again if he sent her back into the pen?
She squirmed a little in his grasp, confused and upset, and there was no way he could tell her what was up, that this particular fox was okay, that it meant no harm, but that she should still scare and chase off other foxes—
He'd have to make it up to her later, but without any form of leash he had a feeling she'd just take off after the white intruder again, there was just too much fight in her. Swearing softly he shoved her into the nearest outbuilding and shut her in there. She began barking and scrabbling at the door, and Ella was still pinning the goats, and Rory felt like telling them both to go to hell. "Ella. Ella!" He had to shout her name a couple of times before making it through the neurotic haze that was her brain. She looked at him questioningly. "Knock it off," he told her tiredly while striding back towards the snow-fox, wondering if his friend would even still be there after all the fuss the dogs had made.
[ Jigano: PRESENTS!!! Rory's dogs: *destroys the mood entirely* ;_; ]
Busy hands, busy mind, busy soul, busy heart—
He could do things, like .. listen: to his blood, to the song of a few winter birds chirping in the trees outside, to the sound of ponies and goats browsing in the snow. He could do a lot of things, but what he found himself doing was two things: tooling a leather bracelet for a customer's daughter, and thinking.
The former was easy. It was just a flower-like pattern, one he had done a thousand times, and probably could do in his sleep. The latter, well.. it was what he didn't want to be doing, but what he found himself doing all the damn time anyway. It wasn't like he had any revelations either, it was just the same old, same old.
He was lonely.
Things were changing.
And for the first time in his life, he felt like he was running out of time.
Tap-tap-tap, tap, tap-tap, was the most immediate sound as he worked the leather pattern, gently knocking a small hammer against the beveling tool. He tried to put the thoughts out of his mind, to focus wholly on his task—the last thing he wanted to do was ruin all the work he'd done by not paying attention to what he was doing just because he was busy moping.
And for a time, it worked. Rory was engrossed by his task, until his little visitors caused a ruckus they had perhaps not expected.
All of a sudden there was barking, a sound of alarm that nearly had him running the bevel tool right across the damn bracelet. Then the sound of the herd being rounded up, Esaia's indignant whinny as Ella probably tried to nip her haunches—
Rory was out the door of his workshop before he even realized what he was doing, his pulse racing, his thoughts screaming a confused but at least there shouldn't be monsters?! but a wolf pack would be just as devastating—
But it wasn't, it was, uhh, it was the white fox, and the dogs had caught its scent, and Vaya—he loved her for her bullheaded instincts but right now, hated her for her aggression—was a black-and-tan streak coming through the pen, straight towards the fox(es), jumping through the fencing as Rory, sort of breathless and imagining either the fox or the dog horribly killing the other, yelled "Vaya! Down!".
To her credit, she did stop: all teeth bared and hackles raised, a growl rumbling in her chest. Somewhere behind her, Ella was pinning goats and ponies in the furthest corner of the pen. Rory jogged over the snow, firmly grabbing the angry bitch by her collar and hauling her off a little ways. This.. was something he'd worried about when the fox had come onto his farm the last time: what would happen when the dogs noticed it?
And how would he deal with it?
He couldn't teach them to accept foxes, but...
Surely there was some way to make a goddamn exception
Would Vaya just go for it again if he sent her back into the pen?
She squirmed a little in his grasp, confused and upset, and there was no way he could tell her what was up, that this particular fox was okay, that it meant no harm, but that she should still scare and chase off other foxes—
He'd have to make it up to her later, but without any form of leash he had a feeling she'd just take off after the white intruder again, there was just too much fight in her. Swearing softly he shoved her into the nearest outbuilding and shut her in there. She began barking and scrabbling at the door, and Ella was still pinning the goats, and Rory felt like telling them both to go to hell. "Ella. Ella!" He had to shout her name a couple of times before making it through the neurotic haze that was her brain. She looked at him questioningly. "Knock it off," he told her tiredly while striding back towards the snow-fox, wondering if his friend would even still be there after all the fuss the dogs had made.
[ Jigano: PRESENTS!!! Rory's dogs: *destroys the mood entirely* ;_; ]
