fandomhighdorms | Stables

Entry tags:

Stables - Around noon

The cold clung to Faramir as he returned with Baru to the warm dormitory stables. Despite the chill, he had spent most of his morning out, needing the air and chill to numb thoughts of Gondor. He knew there was nothing to be ashamed of, being homesick was normal but it was rather pointless as were any further thoughts along that line. Boromir would have laughed and hit him over the head before dragging him off for a ride over the Pelennor fields.

So Faramir had done the nearest thing he could accomplish here and his heart did feel lighter as he set to grooming Baru, singing of Númenor as he set to the task.

[Open, sure sure.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Despite the cold weather, Percy felt a visit to Mrs. O'Leary was in order. He bundled himself up in his coat and had bag of treats for his tank of a hellhound.

When he wandered into the stables, he glanced over at Faramir and gave the other boy a nod. Mrs. O'Leary immediately perked up at seeing him and Percy had to reach up to rub the big hellhound's nose.

"Hey girl," he said, smiling. "Doing okay?" Mrs. O'Leary nuzzled into his hand and Percy smiled. After a moment of that, he glanced at Faramir again. "Hey, man."

"Good day, Percy," Faramir smiled and he stopped his brooming, leaning against Baru's flank as he glanced at the visitor.

"I did not know she is your hound," he commented. Not that he knew what kind of hound it was, he had never seen the breed before. Little did he know.

"Yeah, I kind of inherited her from her last owner," Percy said, digging into his bag and giving Mrs. O'Leary the biggest bone he had in there. She took it and started chewing happily on it. "Me and my cousin Nico kinda both take care of her, though. She loves him."

"I would say she loves you as well," Faramir noted with amusement. "What breed is she? I have not seen the likes of her before."

"She's, uh, well it's kind of hard to explain," Percy said, reaching up to rub Mrs. O'Leary's massive nose. "She looks pretty normal to you, doesn't she?"

A bit fluffier than he would expect a hound to look, but it seemed close enough.

"Yes," he said slowly, wondering if there was a trick to this. "She looks like a dog."

"Looks can be deceiving," Percy said, satisfied that the Mist was obscuring Faramir's actual view of Mrs. O'Leary. "Would you believe me if I said she's actually about five hundred pounds and the size of a tank?"

Faramir blinked and he moved away from Baru to regard the hound. "I would have trouble believing it, even if I have been taught that looks can be deceiving," he said, returning his attention towards Percy.

"Mrs. O'Leary's actually something called a hellhound, if you can believe it," Percy said, patting the end of the hellhound's nose as he said it. "She actually weighs about five hundred pounds and just barely fits in here. There's something called the Mist that obscures her true view from mortals so they don't freak out."

It was rather hard to believe and Faramir was staring at the benign looking hellhound as if he would be able to see through that Mist and catch a glimpse of her true form.

"I find it hard to imagine," he admitted, "but I do not think you are lying to me. Even if that would mean that you are not mortal as I am."

"Yeah, guess that means I'm not, doesn't it?" Percy asked, chuckling a bit. He gave Mrs. O'Leary one last stroke before letting her chew happily on her bone. "I'm not. I'm half human, half god, actually."

That got an eyebrow raise at least. "No, not mortal at all then," Faramir agreed after an instant, digesting it slowly. "Forgive me if for a moment I do not quite know how to respond to that. I find it suddenly much easier to believe that your hound is a hellhound."

"Don't worry, man, I only found out three years ago and it's still weird to me," Percy said, waving off his apology. "It's a lot to take in and I don't blame people for not believing it. She's a tame hellhound though. She only attacks bad guys and stuff."

"A very well trained hellhound then," Faramir agreed with a grin, for a moment hanging on to the easier part of the conversation.

"I imagine it would be hard to find out something that would almost change how you would look upon the world. Yet, I do believe you. You strike me as someone who holds true to their word."

"Yeah, it's been about three years since I found out and it still throws me for a loop sometimes," Percy said, shrugging. "Kinda prepared me for this place though. I've had my share of monsters and other things so dealing with it here's a little easier."

"Though even that seems not to prepare you for everything," Faramir agreed with a shake of his head.

Behind him, Baru stomped at the floor, obviously thinking he needed attention as well and Faramir returned to his grooming. "I spent much of the previous month shaped as an owl. I do not think anything could have made that easier."

"An owl?" Percy repeated, raising an eyebrow. "That's...yeah, that'd b disorienting for anyone, I think. I mean, at least you could fly for awhile?"

"That was the best side of it," Faramir agreed, deciding that being taken care of by Maladicta was perhaps not something he should let count in this conversation. "At least when I stopped flying into things. It is not as easy as it might look!"

"I've flown before but never because I had wings," he shared, laughing some himself. "How long did it take you to readjust to being your normal self? I mean, I'd hope you didn't have the urge to fly when you just had arms and legs."

Faramir laughed at the question and shook his head in amusement. "It is surprising how easy one gets used to being oneself again. I must admit that I would be glad to never have need of wings again! I like having my two feet on the ground, it is where they belong."

"Did you miss a lot while you were an owl?" Percy wondered. "Anything super important or just the random bites of weirdness this place tends to have?"

"There was the strange labyrinth," Faramir remarked, "and other strange things but that one seemed to most important. And the last few classes of the year. Which is a shame, I enjoyed both of them. Was the final test interesting in Lady Aly's class?"

"It was challenging so yeah, it was interesting," Percy said, nodding. "I mean, I think our group did okay but really, okay in a scenario like that seems to be staying alive and all. I stayed away from the labyrinth. Had my fill of those."

"Staying alive is usually the most important part," Faramir agreed, though he could think of situations where it would be worthy dying to protect them.

Still, those were too dark a thoughts for a Sunday. Even a cold one such as this. "It was not your first labyrinth you were faced with? Was it similar to this one?"

"Not my first, no," he said and shook his head slowly. "And no, not very similar either. The one I was familiar with couldn't be seen above ground, for the most part. Everything was underground and hidden. It was sprawling and...just not something I wanted to repeat."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject