something just like this

[god_of_the_arena]

Gannicus pushed his hair back and worked it into a braid. He'd forgotten anything to tie it back with but he wasn't inclined to go back to the house just to find something. The braid would hold a while, and when it gave out he would braid it again. Maybe he would find a long lost piece of baling twine if he was lucky.

Aster and Bran were out and about with him; they had spent the day roaming the property and working on the barn. It was his day off; he knew to expect Krem home before Hild based on the notes left on the counter. Aster was sniffing at rodent holes but Bran was laying in a puddle of sun.

By now he'd patched all of the gaps in the wall of the barn; the sun was coming in through the open windows. They could be pulled closed and latched at will, but airing the building out still seemed a good idea, at least until the weather turned.

Most of his work today had been making sure the loft was sturdy, repairing gaps and structural issues up there so that they might store hay when they had livestock. Gannicus had never imagined a settled life like this for himself, not after the Romans took him. But this was what he might have had if not for that. Perhaps not a house as large or land like this, but a quiet home and a herd of to keep.

Aster rushed by him. Gannicus turned and he smiled when he saw Krem standing in the doorway of the barn.

Comments

[krempuff]

The days were getting shorter and the evenings were coming sooner, and it was getting to that time of the year that, Krem supposed, he tended to remember his first fall in Darrow. Maybe that was the reason for his restlessness recently. Even with the comfort in their little happy home, his sleep had been going increasingly disturbed lately, troubled dreams waking him up in the middle of the night. He was working through it. It would pass, eventually.

For now, he wasn't bothered by it. Aster met him as he strode toward the barn, and he ruffled the dog's ears, smiling at Gannicus leaned in the entrance to the barn. He leaned up to kiss him in greeting.

"Aren't you a good sight," he murmured softly against his lover's mouth. He passed him a glass of water he was carrying, brought out from the house as he'd passed through.