~Skyrunner~

[terminatefate]

Who:Arthas, Riddick, Sarah, Tirion, Hannibal, _______
Where: Skyrunner Ranch
When: All through Breach; new threads are new circumstances, all will be game canon, timelines are for wusses. :p
Warnings: (if necessary) Connor mouth, fighting, being dumb, and other stuff.

Comments

[with_my_teacup]

Dick had waited for the ranch's owner to come back all afternoon; a pretty forlorn hope, since nobody in town knew when she was due home except 'any day now'. But night was falling and he had to get back to his shitty motel room. He'd try somewhere else for work tomorrow.

He snugged down the strings on the hood of his coat-- a big puffy thing from Goodwill, stained and two sizes too big, and started to head back to town. He stamped as he walked, to get feeling back in his toes He was halfway .back to the main road when the figures loomed out of the white blur of snow-- a two horses, one mounted, a big draft horse walking beside, riderless. His brows furrowed.

"Hey, man, what the hell are you doing? That horse isn't geared for winter riding," he snapped, starting forward-- a few more steps and he could see the figure slumped over the smaller horse's back.

[terminatefate]

She half started at what she thought was a voice, and caught two words out of the entirety, as she tried to bury her hands in the mare's mane. The big black beast snorted and stamped, a nudge and an antsy step jogging Sarah a little more awake. It wasn't enough to actually make her move, though.

Huddled up against the mare for warmth was the best she had for warmth and the damned duster didn't do much against the snow or the wind. At least it was a drier snow, that meant she was only partially soaked.

Sarah managed to pry her eyes open enough to see a figure in the road. A massive figure if she was seeing straight. Too fucking cold to answer, too much energy to waste on one. The mare was patient and kept up her steady pace, each step sure.

[with_my_teacup]

What was he, some kind of good Samaritan? Dick had turned his back on the world when it turned his back on him. He wasn't about to risk his own skin for anyone else. But if he left the horses would freeze out here-- and he'd never let an animal get hurt because of human stupidity.

"Lady, wake up," he said gruffly, crunching over to pace the lanky mare. "You're going to catch hypothermia. What the hell were you thinking?"

[terminatefate]

Everything was pins and fucking needles, her nose was goddamn numb. But she forced herself to move, pushed herself upright, teeth grit. She made a soft sound of protest.

"Jeep," she hissed, fighting to get the words out, "broke down. Horses would have frozen." Me too, which would have been even more shit luck, she thought, and tried not to pitch out of her damned saddle.

[with_my_teacup]

"There's a ranch up that way about fifteen minutes," Dick said, moving to take the reins of the mare. "The hands wouldn't let me in, but they wouldn't let horses freeze."

Against his better judgment he unzipped his coat, pulling it off long enough to jerk off one of the faded, holed sweaters he'd layered up in for his long day. He pulled the coat tight back around him, shivering with the air that it had left in as he thrust the ratty old sweater at her. It looked like it had been a Christmas sweater at one point, but time and moths had ruined the cheerful snowflake patterns.

[terminatefate]

"Skyrunner," she said, offering an uncomfortable than-you smile at the sweater, which she probably needed more than she realized. It was way too big and thus, when she managed to get her damned fingers to stop slipping and fucking up, was a proper tent on her. But, the arms covered her fingers.

"My ranch."

She half closed her eyes again and shook herself out of it. Sarah had good ranch hands, good people. Not too friendly with strangers, though, but nosy enough to go digging for answer if there needed to be digging done.

"Hope they at least gave you coffee," she murmured.

[with_my_teacup]

"Hot cider," he said. It had kept his fingers warm, at least. "Didn't give me a job, though." He set his jaw angrily as he set one foot in front of the other, keeping upright in the snow, urging the horses on.

[terminatefate]

"Still want one?" They needed hands to replace the ones that left, especially with winter here. She tried to keep talking in order to keep herself focused and awake.

"My ranch, my call." And truthfully, they'd have waited to discuss it with her when she had arrived. She get him coffee at least, cider without the hard stuff was a pussy drink.

[with_my_teacup]

"I'm not doing this for a hand-out, lady," he said, shooting a proud, angry glance at her. "I like animals. I wouldn't leave a horse out in this weather if you gave me the job or not."

[terminatefate]

"Not offering a fucking handout, jackass," she grumbled. "I need someone who's good with animals, can ride, deal with sheep. The black hasn't tried to bite your ass off. Can see you're fine with them."

If her eyes hadn't been slitted by then, they would have been.

"Don't be such a dick. Job. Yes or no?"

[with_my_teacup]

"Yes," he said, finally, reluctantly. He didn't want it to look like he'd been so desperate that he'd risk his own life just for a job.

The ranch was starting to come into view. "I'll run ahead and get your hands out here. It's going to need all hands to get this big one settled in and warmed up."

[terminatefate]

"Good," she said with a soft grumble, then nodded. Sarah wanted to warn him to be careful of his footing, but didn't. He could take care of himself. "Ranch has a few spare rooms if you want to stick close. Fire places, too."

Sarah huddled back into the warmth of her infinitely patient mare who picked up the pace a little like she knew the ranch up ahead was home.

[with_my_teacup]

Not having to shell out too much for the roach trap he was currently staying at sounded almost too good to be true. "I have to leave in the morning. I'm looking at a woman's jeep. It will take about an hour to tell her if I can fix it. That's non-farm morning, though. I'll get my part of the morning chores done before that."

And with that bold outlining of his terms, he left the woman and the horses (with a glance back) to get help from the house.

[terminatefate]

She was fine with that, really. The board with the chores was up in the common room and she usually left that to her hands to handle. Everything that needed to be done was put on magnetic strips for easy divvying. Tomorrow, they'd need to run the sheep after seeing to the chickens and making sure the snow hadn't done any damage.

Sheep running, especially with their ram was involved and took the entire team of them to make sure none of the flock got lost. It was another reason why she'd gotten Max, the Belgian sheepdog she'd trained from a puppy. He was damned good considering her flock was ornery at best. In the distance, she heard his distinctive barking--like he knew she was coming home. He worked with her on Search and Rescue runs and had an uncanny nose for finding people as much as she did