.: tae hill :.

—

         “I think you’ll find that I’m very much a fly by the seat of my pants kind of guy,” he replied with a grim, lifting the strap a bit higher on his shoulder while they walked. It wasn’t his first transfer ( probably wouldn’t be his last either ) but there was a certain thrill about a new town and learning it the hard way rather than by using the internet. At least this way he could learn from those that lived there long before him, getting to know the ins and outs as well as some of the better places that weren’t so well known. 

He nodded. “I’m sure there’s plenty to figure out as we go along, and the places that I’ll learn never to check out again after trying it once.” And as long as Tae was willing to let him tag along, then he’d listen to their experience as much as he could.

---

“I can respect that. Nothing ever goes wrong with that sort of plan--I know from experience,” Tae responds with a short laugh. For all they tease, they are a fly by the seat of their pants sort of person too. Stopping in Skull was supposed to be a short one and now they were here for quite some time, much longer than they had ever anticipated.

Their own nod mirrored Javi’s as he continued. He was right in that aspect too. “As long as you try it once, that’s all you’ve gotta do,” Tae said, continuing to lead the way. they didn’t have a car, part of it was Skull felt small enough to them that they could get around on foot. That and whatever car they could afford wasn’t going to be worth driving around anywhere or last long enough to do what they might need it to. “We’ll get ourselves caffeinated and then make sure our waters are full and take a quick adventure. I hope you’re ready for your drink order to be judged.”

⊹     ⊹     ⊹    

Most days Micah would just find words trailing from his lips without so much a second thought to them. As if they were nothing more than a place holder to fill what otherwise might dare to be silence, an empty space- waiting. Uncertainty to what the other could possibly say. He never quite knew how to be at peace with that, the idea of patience. Never once had the man dreamt of being a God- of anything really, let alone mutant peach trees.

Perhaps it’s fitting though, if he gets to rule over anything it be here in some forgotten part of the world where it only knows how to destroy what otherwise could be good. No matter how much he tries to make it useful. Twisted and churning through the homes, he’s certain it would be nothing more than unwanted.

“I’m glad you noticed, I’m trying to beat my record actually in strangers drinks I can steal.” Another idle sentence he’d barley even thought over before it left his lips, one that held no sense of truth. “So far I’m not even close, but the night is still young.” Given it wasn’t even night, he might have been onto something. But it was these light hearted comments that would hide the realities, that the man was there getting information about some supernaturals a local neighbour had found themselves concerned with.

“What about you? Make a habit of sitting on your porch commenting on strangers days?”

--

Spending days off like this was a bit of a treat for Tae. It was nice to take a moment to slow down and look over everything. The Waterhole was were most people lived in this town, and certainly where the majority of the people that they felt comfortable with lived. It felt like home and for more reasons than just having been there for years now.

“Well, the later it gets the better chance you’ll have. That or if the kids think it’s hot enough outside to sell lemonade,” Tae said, offering up some advice that they were certain was simply banter. Regardless, there was always a bit of truth in banter.

“I like being social, what can I say?” Tae commented with a shrug. “That and how am I going to waste a nice day like today?”

⊹     ⊹     ⊹    

Metallic clink of the first aid box’s lid flicks against the counter top, followed by supplies slowly being set along side. Disinfectant, bandage wraps, bandaids, cotton swabs. Without so much looking at Tae and waiting for their protest, he hands them a cotton ball with some disinfectant soaked on it. “You can clean up your face with that. Pass me your other hand.” Indicating to the one with the swollen finger.

Despite the coarseness of the man, from the gravel in his voice that grates against even the empty night’s air. Or the sharpness lingering beneath his features, that have been scared and bruised and bloodied all too many times in his lifetime. There’s still a gentleness to the man that carries through in his movements. Calloused hands, holding the other’s as if they’re something that could be broken. Even as he wraps the bandage around their middle finger and ring. A violent man, with knuckles scared white from all the times they’ve been split open. Shattered- bone white. Afraid of hurting. Hands that only know cruelty. Trying to be tender as he secures their swollen finger against another. 

“The freezer’s broken so you don’t get ice for the swelling or drinks. And incase I wasn’t clear, call next time before you stumble in here.” 

--

It wasn’t the sort of situation to put Tae into a bad mood. They’d won after all. The worst part of this was maybe being a pain in Nolan’s ass, but that wasn’t something that was incredibly out of the ordinary. If anything, at this point it was to be expected. The main thing that Tae was concerned about was giving Nolan’s place a good reputation, and while that might not be that fights don’t start, it was at least going to be one that they don’t lose.

Tae took the cotton ball from Nolan, knowing well that it wasn’t soaked in water. The sting against their broken skin confirmed it. They used their good hand now as Nolan worked to tie up the other. Tae can tell that he’s being careful, though they don’t bother to say he doesn’t need to worry. They have a high pain tolerance. Nolan already knows that, so they’re not going to tell him to stop an act of kindness, not something often seen within these walls. At least not the quiet sort.

“If I call, you’d have time to close up and leave,” they tease, trading the cotton ball for the glass of liquor. They smile for a short moment before taking a drink.

—

Val shook his head in response. Time hadn’t done much to change his standing in those that had been locals for far longer than him, even with the established shop that distanced him somewhat from the rest of the reapers in town. With an eye on them, it gave him more time and freedom to do his job well enough without too many eyes staring back at him. “And when do you think that I could get comfortable here? Am I even close?” He joked well enough, keeping the conversation light as he worked on the design on the tablet in his hands while the other gave him ideas and changed them at the drop of a hat. 

         “Good thing there aren’t any more shops in town or else I might lose all my clients.” Another joke, even if he had another livelihood entirely that was hidden beneath the one that he worked at during the day — Val somewhat enjoyed his work here too, even if he didn’t share that bit with others. As if Tae knew that he was nearly done, they asked for another change that had him erasing some of what he had already drawn to incorporate a snake. “A snake, sage — anything else?”

---

“You’re not sunburnt, so that’s a step in the right direction,” Tae said, doing their best to not be the client that looks over the artist’s shoulder at what they were making. If they were going to be the client that changed things and added things as quick as they moved about making their first ideas, they could draw some lines.

Still, their mind ran, thinking of additions. “Let’s add in some spiders. Then we’ve got Tłʼiish, ts’ah, and now Na’ashjé’ll,” they counted the three on their fingers and then lowered them again as they continued with the corresponding significance, “the snake remained in the desert forever, the sage--my favorite catchall--, and the Spider Woman. I might not be creative, but I like to have her around.”

—

          “If you’re a serial killer, then I’m screwed no matter where you end up taking me ‘cause I for sure wouldn’t be able to make my own way back,” he joked, making sure that his locker was shut for the night before following up after the other. Tae was his partner, leaning on their expertise when he was able to where as most of the rest only saw him as the new kid on the block. It was a common position that he found himself in, not being able to settle down for long enough to establish himself and Skull might turn into another one of those stops. It also had the potential to be something more than that too as he fell into step alongside the other. “Not yet. I’m fast learning there’s a lot of places I haven’t been to yet.”

---

“Where’s your sense of survival, Javi? Move all the way out here and don’t do some googling?” It’s teasing, of course. Everyone ribbed on the new guy and Javi was at least a good sport about it. With the heat and sun, it could make anyone pissy.

“Yet, that’s the spirit,” Tae said, shifting in step to bump their shoulder against Javi. “It’s not a big place but there’s plenty of spots to go. Most of ‘em good. All of ‘em at least...meh.” While new faces were something common in Skull, it didn’t feel that new places were. Sometimes someone new brought something along with them, but for the most part, they just filled in the gaps.

⊹     ⊹     ⊹    

“I like to imagine I could become a God they would worship, you know after giving them life and all that. They can gift me with their fruits of labour.” Some days Micah thinks he would have enjoyed moving into the Waterhole, there was always an atmosphere about the place that gave him the smallest, most somber hints of a desolate city. The closest thing Skull had to one at least.

A small piece of the town where there always seemed to be life, wandering and welcoming. He wouldn’t go as far as to say it reminded him of California, but it was something.

Listening to their response, Micah gives an earnest nod, “To the twisted mutant roots that will grow here,” Pouring out a dash of his beer before he’d bring it up to his lip and take a mouthful. “Now, I knight you protecter of this tree, it’s your responsibility now.”

--

“Hmm,” Tae trilled with a quirk of their head. Becoming a god, what a thought. “Those are one of those things where I feel the need to tell you to be careful what you wish for.” The chuckled though, and nodded as Micah poured out some of his beer to the peach monstrosity.

They raised their own beer up in a sort of cheerings motion before pouring out some as well. “I suppose that responsibility might fall along the same lines,” they added with a smirk before taking a drink and stretching their legs out in front of them, watching as the dust the heels of their boots kicked up.

“So, aside from an increasingly interesting habit of taking drinks from strangers,” they tip their beer at Micah in slight as they speak this part, “what else are you doing out this way?”

⊹   ⊹   ⊹

“A mutant- or you could have the most sour peach tree out the front of your trailer. You can thank me the day The Waterhole is over run by them.” Amusement easily fills the man’s features at the stranger’s feigned disgust crinkling her features. 

He didn’t have to be encouraged to step forward and take the beer from their hand, anything would have been better than whatever it was he needed to wash from his mouth. “Thanks,” Easing himself to rest against a post on the porch, he gives a nod as thanks before pulling a lighter from his pocket and flicking off the lid. “Do you think this would encourage its growth or stunt it?”

--

“Thank you? I think people would be cursing you--or just continually gifting you with the fruits of their labor from trees,” Tae said, the look of disgust touching the beginning of their statement, shifting into a bit of a mischievous grin. “Peach cobblers, peach teas, peach pies, peach ointments, gummies, peach everything.”

While Tae knew they couldn’t cook for shit, they’d be certain to learn if the Waterhole ended up covered in sour peach trees. Tae shifted back once the beer is taken and watched as the young man flicks open a lighter. “Lighting it on fire or the beer? The fire would be more fun but the beer would probably help.”

x.

All the sounds around her made it feel like she was well and truly in the middle of the desert, the dust and sand beneath her boots, the crickets chirping away in the bushes and that general dry feeling; the waterhole always had that effect on her. But the people that lived here made it worth the trip 90% of the time. Stopping just shy of the porch she didn’t even squint as the light made her eyes almost glow an iridescent green. “Count yourself Lucky!” It was more a comment under her breath than a direct response to Tae. 

Sitting down on the porch she dropped her back at the base of the steps, “Not till tomorrow morning.” Fishing in her bag she pulled out two small bars of chocolate and offering one to them before hesitating, “Wait, this won’t kill you right?” Maggie didn’t think she’d given Tae chocolate before, usually it was an oat bar, or chips or something else that she just had thrown in her bag.

--

Tae bit their tongue to keep from making a smartass comment and instead shifted, making room for company instead, a small smile on their face. They waited as Maggie made her way through her purse, sorting out something until there was a couple chocolate bars shown. Tae goes to trade that for the second beer in hand, pausing for a moment and narrowing their eyes.

“I don’t know?” They say, only slightly confused now, “will it? Have you don’t something to it?” The last questions were mostly teasing as they awkwardly take one in a free finger and hold the body of the bottle out to Maggie. “I don’t have diabetes and even then, I don’t think I’d let it stop me.”

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“If you had to taste that woman’s sweet tea, you would agree that it might just spout somewhere new in this wasteland.” Pouring the lasts of the amber liquid to the ground, he can’t help but look back to the window a few trailers behind praying that he hadn’t been witnessed doing that from the woman who gave it to him. His father raised him to be polite enough to accept it with a smile. Even a few sips as he walked out. Despite being certain it might never settle in his stomach.

“I would offer you any but-” Raising the plastic cup to show the emptied contents, he gives a gentle shrug before crushing it in his hand and making his way closer to the stranger. “You might have a peach tree there before you even know it. Don’t worry you can thank me later.”

-

At the answer Tae got from the stranger, their nose screwed up in a sort of exaggerated disgust. “Don’t grow those mutants here then,” Tae said, taking a drink as if it was washing the taste out of their mouth instead of his. They eyed the spot where the tea landed on the ground, looking for a moment for pulp, or as the stranger continued, a seed.

“I don’t know that I would trust it,” Tae answered, looking back up to him. As he came closer, she wiggled the second beer in slight in his direction. “Here, have a chaser. It’s no sweet peach tea but it’s good enough.”

—

Javi had made it through another shift successfully, even if he was still in the probationary stage at being the new guy in the station. It might have gotten him where he was by the years spent in multiple stations over the states, but he was getting used to being the perpetual rookie in the eyes of those around him. So when Tae stopped him from heading out back to his place for the night, he grinned in response. “You want me to cDme with you into the middle of nowhere? In a town where I’m still trying to get my bearings? I’m honored.” Actually he was excited to think that they more than tolerated him on shift, inviting him to join them as he nodded with a laugh before grabbing his pack. “That was a long winded way to say yes, I’d love to tag along.”

-

Out of all the people that Tae could have ended up leading around as a rookie, Javi was not bad at all. Definitely most of the flack came from the others as usually a rookie meant being down a hand or two because you’re busy holding theirs. But Javi knew what he was doing. it reminded Tae a bit of when they came to town. The paramedic experience was there if not the community.

“See, and here I was worried you were going to think I was a serial killer,” they said bumping shoulders as they passed. Javi was taller--he’d catch up easily if they were a few steps ahead, Tae was certain. “You been to Dirty Bean yet?” They said over their shoulder.

open to: javi

Shift change was never the most chaotic space in the firehouse, but it certainly was the fullest. Tae gave a few quick and informal handshakes as they traded responsibilities with the next paramedics and saying quick hellos and just as fast goodbye before shuffling past the commotion to clap Javi on the shoulder.

“You busy?” They asked, hand dropping as they adjusted the pack on their back. “I’m thinking of grabbing coffee and then hiking out into nowhere for a bit.” Javi was a fresh face around town and a new partner for Tae at the firehouse. They’d been around for some time now, middle ground for the firehouse, but Tae had a been a fresh face themself in the past. “Wanna tag along?”