GOD'S WILL

Peachy was never one to run out of witty insults, but she couldn’t do much more than drop her mouth open in shock for a moment at the comment. Furrowed eyebrows pointed in his direction as she took a brave step up toward the man. “Now, I know you’re not actually thinkin’ about takin’ this damn chicken home to cook it for dinner,” The young girl’s voice could have been mistaken for the blade of a knife, but it was her eyes that betrayed her in that moment. A chaotic mix of concern and innocence glaring between him and the chicken in your arms. “Because if that’s what the hell you’re gonna do, then - then,” Peachy paused. “Then I won’t freakin’ allow it, Gideon Aster! You don’t take a damn chicken to the store that you’re plannin’ on turnin’ into soup once that sun goes down!”

Interacting with Peach, at any time of the day, was usually not what Gideon wanted. It wasn’t that he disliked her... but her confidence to take jabs in public failed to mesh well with his desire to be left alone at all costs. He could do nothing more than raise his eyebrows at her as she glared at him, having really nothing to say. So what if he took this chicken home and returned with soup? It was his damn chicken. He was ready to leave it at that until Peach’s voice rose which instantly triggered a migraine. “You want her then?” Gideon asked and held the hen out towards Peach. The sudden movement causing the chicken to begin squawking and flailing around. He rolled his eyes and brought the bird back towards him. “No, not after the sun goes down,” he argued quickly, “Everyone knows it’s best to get started when the rooster crows. Gotta let ‘em cook down real nice before you go putting ‘em in the soup for dinner.”

Ro couldn’t help but laugh at what she was seeing. “I don’t think you threatenin’ her is going to help,” she laughed again before shaking her head. “Be a little nice to her, maybe she’ll come around,” she tilted her head to the side. She was enjoying this. “I feel like there is always something going on. You have this hen pecking ya. And ya get bit by a donkey before, you’re just having bad luck, huh? ”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Gideon said and waved his free hand at Ro, “The donkey incident was a long time ago.” A long time ago meaning a handful of months ago, but to Gideon, it was history and never to be brought up again. Of course, Ro probably had several videos of the many incidents that occurred on his property. Most of which were him fighting with the animals that lived there. “I don’t know how I keep endin’ up with these damn animals,” he complained as the details surrounding his sudden obtaining of a goat and donkey pair remained rather cloudy. “You know anyone who wants a hen? I’m about to put this one on Craigslist.” 

“They do breed faster than humans do,” Javi said, squinting. How had they gotten here? “You have other animals right?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Gideon replied, still not 100% clear on how he ended up with the animals he had. “Ducks... a goat, and a donkey.”

she could help but chuckle at the whole interaction, and how he was almost consulting with the bird. “i can see that,” she mentions and looks toward the hen who had just nipped at him. “ah yes, leaving a beloved pet in the car is rather frowned upon,” she nods in agreement. “i can see your hesitation.”

“I just wasn’t sure I wanted to be on display on tonight’s special return episode of Animal Cops: Frostford Edition,” Gideon said with a shrug. He wouldn’t have put it past someone in town to have made it quite the ordeal if he had indeed left the stupid chicken in the car. However, that was never really an option for him regardless of how he felt now standing in the store. “She’s lucky she’s good at keepin’ the bug population around the house down.”

“I guess? Haven’t been in town long enough to comment on the trends these days, but when I was in high school, the drive-in was a top tier choice.” Calvin had made many memories at the place, the backseat of his mother’s car that he borrowed for a weekend out. He could only assume most people in Frostford had, which was enough to leave the business going for years to come. “You make a good point though – a date goes bad, girl takes a break from the boring guy who dragged her to the movies, and that’s my opportunity to strike up some conversation, then ask her to a horror movie myself.” He chuckled. “Even if I get different grown up job, maybe I should still work there on weekends, ya know, reap the benefits.”

“Oh, who needs a grown-up job?” Gideon asked, amused by the concept. When Gideon had been Calvin’s age the mere idea of ever working one of those so-called “grown-up” jobs was elusive and would be his next step into being a real adult of some sort. While he had maintained a grown-up job now for over twenty years the idea of it being considered anything more specific outside of just a job was kind of funny. “I think the drive-in seems like it’d be more, uh, fun than workin’ as a waiter or a busboy.” 

“Mm.. I’d probably need a chicken first before I could actually threaten them with anything,” Maia answered with a smile. She nodded toward the chicken in the man’s arms, and continued. “Does “potential dinner entree” have a name?”

“If you ask me, she’s got plenty of names,” Gideon said. Names such as... Head Bitch, Miss Attitude, and Deviant Little Shit were all included. However, that was probably not what she was really asking for. “Her name, for when she is being less rude, is Hera.”

Florence’s attention was so focused on the item in front of her, eyes scanning the label as she cocked her head to the side. She’d told her mother she’d pick up stuff for the her goats, but she’d be damned if she didn’t know what exactly she was looking for. At the threat of something becoming dinner, she broke away from the bag in front of her and turned, eying Gid with a raised eyebrow as she realized what he was holding. “I think your hen is angry and threatening her with the dinner table might not bring about peace and harmony… Just a thought.” She watched the hen for a moment, a grin spreading across her features. 

Gideon mused a small laugh at Flo’s commentary on the reasoning behind why the hen was so agitated. Though, it really did make sense. She was a chicken... who was being paraded through the store instead of going home and sprinting around his property making all kinds of noise. “Peace and harmony? I’m not sure about any of that,” Gideon replied. “We prefer to live in this nightmare, y’know, with the biting and being a very rude chicken.”

“Hate to tell ya but I think it might have to be you, given the vocal chords and all,” Ty said as solemn as she could when she was visibly trying not to grin. “The nice one usually is the one that gives, unfortunately. S’really gettin’ hard to root for ya.”

“I guess that’s fair,” he replied monotonously. “I mean, I’d probably pick the hen over the person holdin’ it.” 

“Right, I’ll do exactly that,” Lucy said, closing her eyes tightly for tightly for a moment before letting out another laugh. “I must say, I didn’t exactly expect to see a chicken in here today. Although, I shouldn’t be surprised.” Coming from London, Frostford was still an adjustment for her. “I love it. I think the name Hera suits her very well based off what I’ve seen so far.”

Frostford would always be odd to those who moved in from out of town or were at least used to the larger city life. So when Lucy admitted she hadn’t expected to see a chicken in the store he couldn’t quite blame her. “Yeah, I wasn’t expecting it either,” Gideon said with a shrug. Sure, he could’ve probably left her in the car and rolled the windows down... but knowing how she was he would’ve fully expected to return to an empty vehicle and a chicken who would’ve found a new home elsewhere. “It seemed fitting,” Gideon explained, “I really didn’t have names for any of them but was informed that I should be better about that.” 

Growing up, Sahar’s family had always had their little chicken coop because it was easier on her baba’s pocket as well as the fact that they were more halal then the ones sold at Bushel’s. She lived in her own home now and she didn’t adhere to such a strict diet as she once did so Sahar didn’t have a need for her own chickens but she still felt an attachment to the creatures. “Maybe if ya weren’t callin’ her a bitch in the middle of the store she wouldn’t be havin’ a reason to bite you,” she commented, head tilting slightly, “The pretty girl has feelin’s too, yanno. Bitin’ you is just her way to say i wanna go home. Or anythin’ else. Could be usin’ it t’say i hate you for all we know!”

“You sure ‘bout that?” Gideon asked, lifting a brow as he looked down at the hen he was holding onto. She turned her head to look at him with those dead, beady chicken eyes and he looked away. “I mean, she can go home but it might not be in the car with me,” Gideon joked with a shrug. “Sometimes she’s gotta do chores, too.”

HELLO. I’ve had practically no peace over the past two days and I guess I don’t want any......because this is a formal invite to plot w me right away. If you like this I’ll send you a spicy message. If you’d like to assert your spiciness to me tho you can hit me on here or Discord at whiskey#6583

Also for anyone who doesn’t know I have Gideon (Ulrich FC) and Dakota (Thieriot FC)!

open.

“it was funny, and kind of cute honestly — he was genuinely confused on why i wasn’t at school,” leo says, recounting the story of him bumping into one of the older students of his school.   /  @frostfordstart​.

“I remember thinkin’ my teachers just lived there when I was in elementary school,” Gideon supplied with a laugh. “It was always weird seeing ‘em outside of school. Really got you thinkin’ -- like, how could my teacher be at the same grocery store that I’m at?” 

“You’d do well in getting some band-aids.” Jo said, grimacing a little as she watche dhow the hen pecked on the man’s hand. She nodded in understanding and found it actually nice of him to do such a thing. "Well, it’s a good thing it’s not the weirdest thing this town will ever see.” She shrugged with an amused smile. 

The pecking was getting old and Gideon could only close his eyes and pretend that it wasn’t continuing to happen. He rarely held any of the birds for any reason other than to move them for a split second. There was a singular duck he had that liked him and that was about it. But even still, he’d usually walk around with it sitting on his shoulder rather than actually hold it. “Probably a pretty good idea,” he nodded, pulling his hand away from the hen before she could continue her assault. “I would be pretty upset if this was the weirdest thing you’ve seen in this town,” Gideon added with a laugh. “The bar is pretty high around here for that. “ 

Nadia laughed softly with his joke, “Aren’t you quite the man,” she teased in response. “Oh bless your heart,” Nadia grinned at him, “I think I ought to stick with the berries or tomatoes though. Maybe some blueberries. Logan certainly loves to dig into those on a warm summer day. Make for some toppers for a nice adult drink at the end of the day.” The possibilities were endless. “I bet I can get Ricky to stop on his way home from work to pick me up some bushes to get plantin’. Now that was much easier than I thought it would be.” 

“From the ground up they’ll take a few years,” Gideon began to explain. Blueberry bushes tended to take about two or three years before they actually produced any fruit, but there were many options to purchase a bush that was already a few years old and producing. “But, Ricky could definitely pick up an already producin’ plant for y’all,” he agreed with a nod. “Tomatoes are easier to do because they don’t take that much time to start actually givin’ you anything.” 

Growing up surrounded by nothing but expensive items, Luna absolutely nothing when it came to animals. Let alone farm animals. She’d never even stepped a single toe on a farm until roughly a year ago. So, as she watched Gideon with the chicken, the younger woman only found herself laughing at the behavior. “Are you sure that she’s simply not trying to get away from you because she wants to be a free lady?” She teased, eyeing the chicken with amusement, “Chickens have rights too.”

“She can be a free lady in about forty minutes,” Gideon said with a sigh before focusing his attention back onto the hen. “Can you behave, please?” He said with great emphasis on the please. “I mean, I guess they do,” he mused with a shrug. “But right now she’s gotta just relax for a second and then we won’t see her in the cold case at the store tomorrow.”

“Not gonna lie. I’m having a hard time believing you’ve seen everything on Netflix five times. You just need a new show!”

“Okay, fine. Maybe not everything. Give me some recommendations, I need something new.”

Mariah couldn’t help but laugh when the hen continued to peck at Gideon. Moving her hand up to cover her mouth, attempting to slyly cover the chuckled. “Oh, yeah. Of course she’s grumpy. Vets are scary. My dogs hate me every time I take them there. Even if it’s just for a check up and there’s nothing scary about it. She’s not being rude, she’s reacting to trauma. Have some empathy, my friend.” She was teasing, for the most part. “Need a hand? Grabbing the thing you need, that is. I’m not holding her.” 

“Hey, hey,” he said with a laugh, “It wasn’t my fault that someone decided to spar with the local wandering cat that’s near my house.” It was his fault for actually taking a chicken to the vet, though. It wasn’t like the automatic answer was to Old Yeller the damn thing, but it would’ve been easier than this, probably. “Oh, c’mon, she’s a real peach,” Gideon joked while the hen went back to chattering quietly. “Yeah, could you just grab the, uh, styptic pen? I’ll even step back so you’re not within striking range.”