asher_talos | For Ray

Entry tags:

ray vecchio

For Ray

Asher had managed to completely miss the birth of his own kids, but, as luck would have it, he'd caught the last half of this one. The gross half. The half that made sense out of just why the fathers weren't around when babies were being delivered way back when.

He'd gotten to the barn early in the morning to feed Beau and Belle, just the same as he had every other morning before. Except there were two and a half horses when he got there that time, and three whole ones just a while later.

Beau had been fed at some point during the wait, and Asher finally fed Belle once it was all over, but she was more interested in cleaning the foal up than eating. After watching that, Asher didn't have much of an appetite himself, either.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

(deleted comment)

When Asher was done saving his face, Ray found himself a lot closer still. Witnessing the birth of a baby horse might have disgusted him at first but he couldn't deny there was something almost nice about it.

A residual smile from his snowball attack was still on his face when he shrugged a shoulder. "I can save the moment," Ray told him, leaning in without thinking. When he realized what he was about to do, he rocked back an inch, and then another, and another. "We should check on the uh, puledro."

"I hope that means disinfectant." Because any moments Ray was planning on would be effectually ruined, no matter what, if thorough decontamination wasn't on the agenda.

"The horse," Ray corrected, only rolling his eyes once he was sure Asher couldn't see. "Its mom was licking so hard I wouldn't be surprised if she's eaten the entire thing." Not that he'd heard much about horses having a cannibalistic side but then he knew very little about animals, period.

"Got a name?" He asked, clearing his throat and heading back to mother and baby, grateful to have the distraction. "Bellini's cute."

"Great. Keep that one for your first born then." Asher insisted as he followed. The baby was still wobbly on her new legs, but standing up on all fours and steady enough to balance while suckling. "Her name's Bijou. It's not a cocktail, but I like it."

"I gotta name the one I got now before I start thinking about kids," Ray pointed out. He was fairly certain that after the stunt she'd just pulled, she'd always be known from this day forward as 'she who will not be named' anyway. "I pictured you as more of a whiskey kind of guy."

"...and you've had her for how long now?" Asher asked. There was being indecisive and then there was just being lazy. He was going to assume that the horse was nameless because its owner was the latter. "Good call. You offering?

"Too long," Ray answered, tucking his hands under his arms and crunching the snow under his boots. He glanced over at Asher, thinking about it. "Yeah, I'm offering. Long as you're okay with drinking around me now."

"Keep your knees and that hand to yourself and things should be fine." In theory. Right now, Asher was more worried about the hand than anything else. Although, wearing a cup didn't really seem like too bad an idea. Just in case.

"Alright, but this hand gets to roam freely," Ray warned, holding up the clean one and wiggling his fingers. "Tonight, 8 o'clock? Catscratch." He tried not to think of it as date number two but the rate they were going, Ray figured dinner and dancing wasn't too far off. Though he wasn't sure how much persuasion Asher would need for the latter. "Somewhere away from the naked people."

"Above the belt." And not just because they'd be in public. More for just self-preservation reasons. "Pretty sure clothes are mostly mandatory in the Willows Room," Asher assured him. "So you're safe."

"PG-13 all the way," Ray promised, tucking the hand into his pocket. Except for the alcohol anyway. "Just a normal, friendly drink. No strings attached." And hopefully no manic highs and lows since Asher was so pernickety about those. "Y'know, this'll be nice. Give us a chance to uh, get to know each other better."

"What else is there to know? You're bipolar, immature and you like monkeys. You're telling me there's more?" Asher did his best to sound genuinely shocked by that, with every intention of hanging on to his skepticism until he was proven wrong.

"Now that you mention it, I think that might be all," Ray drawled, tempted to argue the immature remark but he didn't want to risk proving Asher right. "Let me get to know you better then. I mean, come on, all I know is that you're old, used to be picky about your diet and your hair grew back when you cut it."

"Two out of three," Asher replied. Ray was lucky that the alcohol was free on the island, because it was going to take a good few drinks to loosen his lips. Although, now that he knew that was his goal, Asher probably wouldn't do much drinking at all. "Did you try the last one on yourself only to find that it didn't grow back?"

"Your sense of humor is definitely your most attractive feature," Ray retorted with a smirk. It would be a sad day when he actually thought that was true, considering Asher usually substituted jokes for insults.

As entertaining as conversations with him could be, Ray was kind of hoping he was making some progress with the whole bipolar thing, but Asher seemed to be keeping that to himself. "How's the motion sickness?" he asked, curiosity tilting his head. It was pretty much akin to asking are we there yet?

"Better." They hadn't argued nearly as often and it had been a while since either of them felt it necessary to take a swing at the other. That had to be progress. "But that might just be because I make sure to chew ginger before being around you now."

"It's a good thing we're surrounded by all this snow because you are on fire." If they had made progress already, then that boded well for Christmas, Ray hoped. He was a patient guy when he wanted to be but there was a part of him that just wanted to go for it, all guns blazing again, even if he did risk getting punched and/or rejected. He wasn't really sure how much longer he could keep it in.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea that they went back to the Catscratch club...

That didn't stop Ray from insinuating the exact opposite though. "Make sure to carry breath freshener with you. I'm not a fan of ginger."

"...I'm not sure I know many people who'd try coming on to anyone after a person has seen them in a hat like yours and after that thing with the horse shit." Actually, Asher wasn't sure he knew many people who'd try coming on to him, period. Except maybe Del, but she was nuts; he was pretty sure he'd seen her make a pass at a tree once.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"How many people d'you know like me?" Ray asked, flashing Asher a grin a moment later. He looked away and dragged a fingernail down the side of his neck, scratching slowly. "Y'know, a woman once told me I'm different but good. I'd like to think she was right." And she'd definitely had fun that night. Who knew sweat lodges could be so thrilling?

"Just you." Which was plenty. More than enough, really. Any more and one of them would have been dead by now, Asher was sure of it. "Did this woman see you in a monkey hat? Probably not." he was willing to bet money on it, or he would have if money were worth anything.

"No, but she saw me in a birthday suit," Ray answered under his breath, eyebrow quirking a little. "So, what happens to Bijou now? Christmas present for the twins?"

"Thanks for sharing..." And for immediately changing the subject. "Maybe. That, or the glue factory."

"Pony rides it is then." Ray guessed it was better to be a present for the twins than a present for Onyx. "I'm gonna go shout at my horse," he said, chucking a thumb in her direction, "and then get coerced into feeding it. If you feel like you wanna help shovel muck, then please feel free to follow." He wasn't going to hold his breath though.

"I haven't lost any bets lately." And he wasn't planning to. After the example Ray set, he'd also never wager doing anyone elses grunt work for a week. "Have fun."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

For Ray

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject