Bies Bitch || Jared and Winston
When: Early May 2020 Who: @themidnightfarmer & @danetobelieve Where: Jared’s farm. Summary: Flashback to when Jared was first back and Winston and he did the spider-man meme Warnings: None
Winston had to admit they’d always found the fences weird. Not that they’d ever really spent that long at Jared’s farm. They’d known each other since high school, thanks to introductions via Nell. When their old friend had gotten back in contact after being out of town for a while, Winston had been pleased to hear that they were back. As their wheels turned at a slow pace and Winston heard their car struggle along the dirt road, they once again cursed it for being such an old piece of shit. Although they loved their car dearly, it really sucked. It was far too prone to break down and this was perhaps testing the limits. Some generic, incredibly non descript animals grazed in wide open fields which was also weird. Winston was sure that farms were generally set up in some semblance of order but it was just fields. Pulling up outside of the farmhouse, Winston turned the keys in the ignition and the car fell silent. Slipping out of the car they headed to the front door, texting Jared to let him know they’d arrived.
Jared had shot the text off to Winston and then set in about his chores now that he was home. He had no illusions that they wouldn’t head over to say hello, they were good like that. He’d always be glad that Nell had introduced them to Jared. He’d gotten some good friends out of sticking up for Nell at that party all those years ago. The phone in his pocket vibrated and he made his way around the house from the greenhouse around the back, wiping off his hands on his pants of the soil from where he’d been repotting some of the few crops that had grown over the winter unsupervised. “Hey!” He called out as he bounded up the step onto the porch and made his way over around the boxes stacked up there. “Good winter? How are you Winston?” Jared beamed.
Their fist had been raised to knock on the door and they heard him, Winston turned and beamed in his direction before raising a hand to wave their friend over. Giving him a quick, if not slightly awkward hug (as was Winston’s way) they stepped back and nodded. “Yeah, the winter was fine, it has been a bit of a weird time, we had fish raining from the sky and then some weird crab things but hopefully things will calm down now.” Winston smiled and shrugged. “Honestly though it’s really good to see you, how are you doing?” Winston asked curiously. “Where did you go in the end?”
The nymph gave them a good few gentle thumps on the back during the hug and then crossed his arms leaning back to prop himself up on the porch fence. “I heard about that, complete madness, but what else do you get in this town right?” he laughed. It was all he could do really, as far as he knew Winston didn’t know about anything like that, so to act like it wasn’t a big deal was the best route. It was the same with the next question as well, Jared loathed to lie, so he always stuck to half truths where they were concerned. “I’m doing pretty great, it’s nice to be home you know?” Jared started before subtly looking away to start fabricating a little. “Went across the border, hiking you know. It’s like the wind just took me all the way.” He glanced back and grinned at them, “Sounds pretty solidly hippy vibes right? You can laugh. I won’t hold it against you.”
Raising an eyebrow gently, Winston wondered if it was safe to say something about the cursed chest on the beach or the fact that they could do magic. Things you’d normally share with friends. But they’d learned that there were things which were better left unsaid. It wasn’t always the right move to include someone in the supernatural world if they weren’t completely ready for it. Winston didn’t want to risk that with Jared. “Yeah, I guess this town has always had all kinds of weird in it, just wasn’t sure that I was ready for that kind of weird, y’know?” Shrugging gently, Winston did their best not to chuckle. “I was actually pretty impressed that you just went hiking without a plan before you started saying you sounded like a hippy and now I can’t help but agree with you. You’re your own worst. Enemy.”
Jared made a noise of disgruntled dismay, head rolling back to look at the ceiling. “I played myself, I played myself and led you right into it.” He snorted a short laugh and turned pleading puppy dog eyes on them. “Winston… can you forget I said that and go back to thinking I’m cool? I’m cool right? I’m really cool.” he whinged lightly, clasping his hands together and jutting his bottom lip out at his friend. “Tell me I’m still cool, pleeeeease?” He was hamming it up, putting it on as dramatically as he could in hopes of collecting at least a laugh for his efforts if not an admission that he was cool. That was how it alway was.
Snorting with laughter, Winston grinned at Jared and nodded. “You definitely played yourself and I’m about to play myself by agreeing that we forget about this, because if out of the two of us I am actually the one who is cool then we’re both in trouble.” Winston had never been cool. Not that they needed to be. They’d learned long ago that popularity was a farce. “You’re very very cool, the coolest person that I know really.” It was true. Jared had always just done it a little easier. The athletic build, blonde hair and good looks definitely would’ve helped with that. But generally Winston and Jared had always clicked well together because Jared was a good guy and Winston appreciated that. “I hope this isn’t a bad time or anything, you’re not too busy with chores or something?”
Jared gave an easy smile when they agreed to let his slip up slide on by with no further acknowledgment. “Oh come on, you’re cool! I think you’re cool and I make the rules on this farm. And don’t let Nell hear you say that, she’ll insist she’s far cooler,” The nymph insisted himself, waving a hand and then giving a guilty shrug of one shoulder. “There’s always chores to be done around here. Farm and all, the work is never done.” He stood back up properly then, waving a hand and willing Winston to follow him. “Especially since I was gone all winter, but I’m back now. You don’t mind telling me what you’ve been up to while I change some fastenings on the barn doors do you? I can talk and work, or rather listen and work. I want to hear what you’ve been doing while I was gone, fish rain and all.”
Raising an eyebrow, Winston flashed a quick smile before nodding. “You’re a very convincing speaker Jared, maybe you should consider going into some form of politics. But yes, let’s avoid inflating Nell’s ego anymore then we absolutely have to. None of us need to have to deal with that.” Of course they were joking. There was quite literally no one in the world that they felt deserved the confidence they exuded. “Everytime I hear about everything that you have to do on the farm, the more convinced I am that I never ever want to live the farm life.” Winston wasn’t cut out for outdoor living. “Of course not,” Winston said with an easy shrug, “I can even try and help, not really sure how you change fastenings on barn doors but if there’s something I can do. I’m not as incompetent as I look I promise.” Winston was joking of course. They were aware of their level of competence. But self deprecating humour was better then having a personality sometimes.
“The most convincing speaker. Since I’m the coolest person you know I have to be the best most convincing speaker as well right?” Jared was mostly just playing around, well aware he was not the most eloquent. “You take that back, living on this farm is a delight!” He gasped, placing a hand over his heart dramatically. “MY farm is a place of joy and wonder Winston, I won’t hear this kind of talk!” But hearing the offer to help Jared changed his tune rapidly. “But if you’re willing to lend a hand, I could hold the door and you could take out the screws? Easy as pie, I could do it myself but then I’d run the risk of the door taking me down.” He spoke with a little too much experience behind the comment for there to be any misconceptions about how he’d know that for sure. Jared was certain it was safe for Wiston to come with him to the closest barn to the house, a few straggling bies from the herd were in view nearby, but not close enough to be a worry. In any case they’d be hopefully distracted helping with the hardware, and not have time to notice.
“That is definitely how it works,” Winston grinned, “you’ve got a plus five charisma modifier which makes you both a great public speaker but also the coolest guy in the room. I understand. Tell me, when do you plan to run for president?” They winked and laughed. Jared was one of the easiest people to be around and in so many ways he set Winston at ease. “I’m sure that you love it, but look at yourself and then look at me and tell me that the farm is the kind of environment that I am going to excel in.” Following them over to the barn, Winston nodded. “As long as you’re the one that is doing all of the heavy lifting then I can definitely handle a few screws, besides no one wants you to hurt yourself trying to repair a barn door, that would be kind of tragic and I don’t think Nell would ever forgive me.” They winked gently as they glanced at the livestock in the field. Were they a little … weird? Winston blinked a few times before Jared caught their attention again.
“My campaign will begin as soon as I can find a babysitter for my kids, then I’ll be a shoe in.” Jared grinned, winking right back. The nymph fully and comically looked down at himself, and then glanced over Winston with an exaggerated head nod. “The farm is the kind of environment you would excel in.” He tells them with a matter of fact tone and another firm nod before he chuckled to himself and shrugged. “To each their own I guess, but no more rudeness about the farm, my farm is beautiful you hear me?” he warned playfully pointing a finger over his shoulder while they moved. Jared missed the way Winston's eyes flickered to the nearby bies, one of the creatures raising it’s massive head as they passed but otherwise doing nothing, it’s third eye closed for the moment against the sun. They reached the first barn and Jared wrenched one of the doors open with a bit of difficulty. “See the hinges on this door need changed, they’ve been bent wrong and now it’s a nightmare. If I hold it with the door half open you can try and unscrew it?”
“I am sure that as a presidential candidate they can provide you with some highly qualified farmers to look after all of your fur babies.” Winston laughed outloud. It was really good to see their friend again. Raising an eyebrow at Jared’s frankly bold claim, Winston laughed. “I guess I’ll have to keep coming to visit you and we’ll find out if I warm to the farmer’s life. You’ll have me in denim overalls with a straw hanging out of the corner of my mouth in no time I’m sure. The moose-cow things seemed to be getting large each time Winston glanced at them. They’d gone from being baby cow sized, to donkey sized, to horse sized and was that a third eye. No. Winston was clearly stressed or something. They pulled their glasses off and polished them nervously. “I agree, your farm is beautiful.” Grinning again, Winston spotted a tool box and grabbed a screw driver. “Yeah, if you can lift it so there’s less tension on the hinges then I think that’s fine, it doesn’t look like the actual screws are bent out of shape or anything.”
Jared gave Winston a quick laugh and a grin, oh if only they knew just how ‘qualified’ any babysitters would have to be. “I’ll put you to work, you can help me with all sorts of things around here, mark my words, we'll have time to make you outdoorsy!” He paused then and added “of course if not I suppose we’ll just start meeting at your place. But the overalls are a must, if you’re not in overalls next time we meet there’s going to be a confrontation.” With that Jared set to work lifting the door, he made a small show of it being ‘heavy’ and huffing and puffing for Winston's amusement, when in actuality he had quite a bit of built up strength from similar jobs like this around the place. “Need to take the whole door off, and then put new fittings on.” he told them as he held the door ajar. The nymph had no idea that behind him the illusion was failing on the nearby bies. The mass of them getting bigger before Winstons eyes as the glamour was only made to fool those who had no connection to/ or no thoughts of harm for his animals. And just as Winston was becoming more aware, so was the nearest bies, it’s third eye opening and it’s head turning towards the barn
“I don’t know if I want to become outdoorsy,” Winston replied with a bright smirk. “But you’re welcome to try and convert me to the darkside.” Winston couldn’t imagine themselves in overalls, but now they were determined to use it as a joke around Jared. “Overalls, that is something I can manage, absolutely,” Winston grinned, “I won’t you let you down my dude.” As Winston crouched down and began unscrewing the door, they couldn’t help but notice the large supernatural creature that was appearing before their very eyes. It seemed to get larger in front of their very eyes and did it have a third eye? The colour slowly drained from their face and Winston’s jaw got slack. “Jared, dude, I don’t want to freak you out, but there’s something behind you.” The bies seemed to not like Winston, as it locked eyes with them, all three eyes. Winston dropped the screw driver and stepped in front of Jared and drew into their well of energy. “Stay behind me.”
“Oh I’ll convert you Winston, don’t you worry. It might not have happened yet but one day I’ll have you driving the tractor, or guiding the horses.” Jared might have been getting a little carried away, imagining his friend integrated into the little bits of farm life that wasn’t too dangerous for them. The smile on his face reflected that as Winston agreed that overalls were potentially in their future. He was so lost in thought that when Winston spoke he was too distracted to really understand what they were saying. “The cattle? Don’t worry about them, they won’t give us hassle.” He answered idly. The mood changed however when he finally focused in on what was actually occurring behind him. Winston was shielding him with their body, he dropped the door and turned as well. He noticed then that one of his charges had locked onto Winston, all three eyes and Jared felt a cold sweat start to form. The beast raised it’s spine as if an imitation of an angry cat, teeth baring at Winston and the strange aura they were giving off all of a sudden. It was squaring up to the human as these beasts’ tended to do when they sensed a threat, and that’s what was continuing to distract Jared as the threat level rose “You can see her?” he whispered, likely too low to be heard.
Sparks flew from Winston’s palms as they did their best to remember how they had previously accessed their magic. They knew that they were meant to be new to this and because of this it might not be as easy as they hoped, but it didn’t really matter now it seemed like Jared was in danger and if Winston could do something to help their friend then they were going to. “Cattle?” Winston asked incredulously, “That’s not cattle dude it is huge and has three ey-” then it all clicked into place and the sparks that Winston had tried to form into something more powerful then just sparks sputtered out of existence. “Wait, you - what do you mean i can see her?” Winston frowned gently at Jared. Was it possible that this was someone else who had known about this all along? Probably. Was it possible that this was someone else who had known before them. Apparently. “You know don’t you?”
The sparks shocked Jared, his eyes followed their movement for a moment completely transfixed. He was spurred into action when it was very clear that Winston was well aware of what they were looking at. Jared moved his body between the beast and Winston this time. He raised his own hands in surrender in the hopes that whatever Winston was planning would be halted by the action. “Well uh….usually people just see what I provide for them.” Jared admitted looking at Winston with a newfound curiosity. “You have for a long time, definitely did before I left for my trip.” He was having all sorts of mixed feelings, a sense of elation filled him, but it was marred with the knowledge that their initial reaction had been to fight. “I uh...yeah I know...and you do too?”
Looking at Jared, Winston whipped off their glasses and rubbed their eyes exhaustedly. This was almost too much. “Uh, yeah, I guess I used to just see … glamorous right?” They asked curiously. They had read about that in the library with Orion. “I, right after New Year I was attacked by this dog thing, it breathed fire and had spikes on it and I …” Winston swallowed trying to think of the very best way to explain it, “I uh, you know I managed to fight it off because I accidentally used magic and then, yeah, I know…. How did you find out?” It was starting to occur to Winston as Jared stood between them and the beast, which didn’t seem upset by that at all that Jared had probably known for a long time.
His head nodded at Winstons assumption about the masking that had been placed on the beast behind him. Jared made a worried sort of noise hearing that they had been attacked by something, cringing a second later at the thought of an untamed magical outburst being let loose on the creature. “Guess cat’s out of the bag now huh?” Jared laughed awkwardly for a moment, an uncomfortable expression crossing his features. “Found out I wasn’t human when I was ten.” He lowered his arms and crossed them instead while looking at Winston for a reaction. He couldn’t imagine his friend having a severe negative reaction, but things changed, they might fundamentally disagree with his existence, or in more simply frown on what he was doing. It was all up in the air at that moment, so Jared laid the rest out for full consideration, to be accepted and then lose Winston anyway further down the line would be crushing. Best get it over with now. “Nymph. Vicious creatures.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the bies who had now lost interest now that Jared was in the way and had gone back to wandering looking for scraps. “I...the whole farm is full of them...I protect them…”
“Wow, wait,” Winston hadn’t considered that maybe Jared wasn’t human. They just thought that he had known about all of this. “Fuck, that’s so fucking cool, you’re like a nymph? Like from mythology and fantasy and shit. Goddamn dude that is the coolest.” Winston couldn’t help the grin. It wasn’t that they were over excited (they were) it was more that their good friend was a nymph. A fucking nymph. Their heart raced with the excitement and Winston couldn’t help but smile gently. “You’ve got a whole farm full of monsters that you protect ….” Winston grinned, “Dude that’s the coolest shit that anyone has ever told me, get me some overalls because I am suddenly ready for farm life….” Winston was amazed, “... if you protect these things that must mean you could like introduce me to them, like literally and also as to what the hell that actually is, do you know a lot about that stuff?”
Their reaction was so overwhelmingly positive that Jared actually felt a bit emotional. Masking it poorly he beamed back at Winston with very slightly glassy eyes. “Told you I was cool.” He joked weakly “and you humoured me, who’s laughing now.” he added playfully punching Winston on the arm. “I’ll get you steel toe capped boots, a tractor licence and a hat in celebration.” The barn door was completely forgotten as Jared allowed himself to turn and face the same direction as Winston, bumping shoulders with them. The rest of the protective glamour would melt away for Winston. They knew now, there was no need for it. “I’ve learned a lot since I found out I was tied to them. They’re still not ‘safe’ for humans to be around alone, I raise them wild so that if they migrate they can without worrying about them...I didn’t actually go hiking, I was following a herd over the border for winter migration.” he admitted. There would be an awful lot they could share with each other now. It was freeing. “I’d love to tell you about my kids, and you can tell me all about what you’ve been actually doing since new years.” Jared grinned as his pack of hedgehounds emerged from the trees. “There’s a lot to talk about huh?”
“I never really thought that you weren’t cool, you were always like my coolest friend at school.” Winston wasn’t lying either. They had a lot of time for Jared. Raising an eyebrow gently, Winston smiled. “Oh god, a tractor license? Are those actually a thing … I don’t know why I would think that they weren’t a thing but they don’t sound like they should be a thing.” Winston grinned. This was so cool. As the Bies became more and more clear to them, Winston realised that they had been missing all of this information for years. The supernatural world was amazing. Denial was amazing too. There was no other way Winston could explain it. “You migrated with a bunch of monsters?” Winston asked incredulous, “That is just super badass, I guess we also don’t call them monsters, do we prefer furry friends or?” Winston grinned, excited by this new discovery. “I would really love for you to tell me about all of your friends, and maybe help me learn more about them?” Winston had seen a hedgehound before, when they were with Blanche, but these seemed a bit more chill. “I do know what those are though, how do you stop them from trying to kill you?” `
“I was kidding about the license, you can take the tractor any time.” Winston's enthusiasm was catching as they started to ask questions. Questions that Jared was more than happy to answer, you would never catch him unwilling to gush about his animals after all. “I migrated with a herd of Sianach this winter, last winter I followed a Kerashag that was passing through. You know….when I told you I was skiing.” There would be a lot of lies to untangle Jared then realized with a wince. He was glad Winston was so accepting otherwise all the lies might start stacking up. “We prefer ’the kids’, at least I do, Nell followed my lead I think.” He gave Winston a shifty look. “Nell knows about the place and all the bits. She found out just after I left school when you two were still there… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. It was just sort of a case of that I didn’t want to drag you into things you didn’t need to worry about you know?” Jared threw a tentative arm over Winstons shoulders. “But hey, a healthy respect and an even healthier distance is a human's best friend.” He joked.
“I don’t know if I want to take the tractor without a license now,” Winston replied with a smirk, it was fascinating that so many of their friends from high school were so intricately wrapped up in the supernatural. “Woah, dude that’s crazy, if you ever go on one of those that won’t kill me and is also not going to take a few months, that sounds really fascinating. I never knew that people kept these creatures as cattle or livestock or whatever reason you keep them.” Winston felt like they had suddenly been introduced to a brand new world and they were really starting to learn so much about their old friend. “Cool, the kids it is, wow, so obviously Nell knows too, but please don’t apologise, I would never hold it against you not outting yourself and what you do and who you are to a human who you don’t know if they’ll freak out. I’ll be honest with you, when I did find out, about the magic, about everything. There was some serious denial. I pretended it wasn’t happening for like two whole weeks.”
“If I go on a migration? Come on Win-win you just assured me you weren’t an outdoorsy person. I don’t take a tent with me, It’s all sleeping on the ground and eating beans. Think that’s your speed?” Jared teased them. “Oh I don't think a lot of people keep them. But they’re good for saliva and other exretions, when they die they leave behind a few very expensive pieces. I mostly just keep them around to keep them safe though. They’re either rescues, or wanderers around here.” Jared looked at Winston in amusement. “Full on denial huh? Can’t blame you, you know my family still think I’m human.” He gave out a booming laugh. “I was a weird kid but that means nothing around here I guess.” Jared looked back at the door and waved a hand dismissively. “Let’s get lunch? I want to hear about what you’ve really been up to.”
“I think that if you’re given the opportunity to watch supernatural creatures migrate like wildebeest across the savannah then I can deal with eating beans and sleeping on the floor, besides just because you don’t do it properly doesn’t mean I have to copy exactly what you’re doing.” Winston wasn’t going to go down without a fight. “Wow, so you just had to be extra and keep creatures that aren’t normally kept. I hope you’re proud of yourself because I am very proud. This is fucking amazing.” Winston grinned, this was a whole new side of Jared that Winston had never seen but they approved of. “Do you plan to tell them?” Winston asked curiously, perhaps a bit too nosey, “Sorry, ignore that, you can do whatever it’s none of my business.” Grinning they shrugged. “Let’s get lunch,” Winston agreed enthusiastically, “apparently we really need to catch up.”
