2025-01-22 - Roommates Horsing Around

Considering all the horse-drawn carriages, parades, petting zoos, pony rides, and a whole medieval jousting tournament, there are a lot of horses on the islands. Enough that they require a full-time farrier to care for their feet, at least. Enter Knox. He's tall and well-built - pretty much everything you might expect a blacksmith to be. However, upon first encountering him, people inevitably notice two things, those being the large, bull-like horns that curve upward out of the sides of his head, adding almost another eight inches to his already considerable height. It's only upon a second glance that one might notice that, where they might normally expect a sturdy pair of boots, Knox has a pair of large, well-maintained hooves of his own poking through the bottoms of his blue jeans.

Today, Knox is working at the forge, and the whole stableyard rings with the rhythmic pounding of hammer against anvil as Knox shapes a set of horseshoes out of red hot iron. The forge is tucked away at the back of the stable yard. It's a place guests can sometimes peer into but not enter, given the potential danger of what goes on inside. Staff, of course, can pretty much come and go as they wish. Knox is wearing a pair of well-fitted blue jeans and a plain white tank top, slightly grubby with soot from the forge, covered over with a heavy leather apron as he works.

It is pretty rare for Josh to leave Crescent Island. He has certain...emotional limitations that lead to his strong preference to spend his time there. But it is those same limitations that led to him being on Fable Island today. He came to see the horses and to find out what his options are to interact with them. He starts off by walking up to a wooden fence that marks the start of one of the horse pastures. DEFINITELY staying outside of the pasture, Josh leans up against wooden fencing, resting his forearms on a plank and putting one foot up on a lower plank. He's dressed simply this morning: a plain white T-shirt, well-worn blue jeans, Columbia hiking boots, and an unbuttoned fleece-lined denim jacket. The sun shines on his face causing him to squint a little bit.

Eventually a horse wanders up to him, either to destroy him with mighty horse magic or maybe to see if he's offering any carrots or apples. Sadly, Josh has no food on him. "Hey, um, Mr. Horse," Josh says gently. Clearly he is not used to these animals. He takes a small step back from the fence. The horse puts its head over the fencing to investigate the carrot/apple situation. With incredible gentleness, Josh slowly reaches out one hand to touch the horse snout. Once the animal realizes Josh has no treats, and probably sensing his nervousness and anxiety, the horse turns and trots off. "Nice...nice to meet you," Josh murmurs to himself as the horse goes.

The sounds of the rhythmic pounding catches Josh's attention next. He isn't sure if he needs permission to be here so just in case he tugs his employee ID badge, which is attached to a lanyard, out of his pocket and puts it around his neck. It dangles down between the edges of the unbuttoned jacket he's wearing. He makes his way to the forge area, hands in his blue jean pockets, moving slowly and casually. When he arrives, he does that sort of half-my-body-is-outside-hidden-by-the-doorway thing that nervous people do. And he stands there watching Knox work. His lips parts a little bit as he stands there staring.

clang clang clang goes the anvil as Knox hammers away to form a horseshoe out of red-hot metal. Eventually though, he seems satisfied with his work, and douses the completed piece in a water bath, sending a gout of steam hissing upwards. with that out of the way, Knox sets his hammer aside and takes a step or two back from the forge, wiping his hands on his apron before lifting one to push sweaty hair back out of his face.

He does eventually seem to become conscious of eyes upon him and, glancing back over his shoulder, he looks a little surprised to see Josh standing in the doorway, watching him. "Hey there," he greets, heading on over with a steady clatter of his hooves against the concrete floor. He pulls his apron off over his head and hangs it on a conveniently placed nail as he passes, so that by the time he arrives at Josh, he is moderately less grimy, though his tank top definitely still needs an encounter with a hot wash after today. "How's it going?" Knox asks with a strong Montana, country-boy kind of accent and an easy smile, extending a hand toward Josh in greeting as he does.

What does one do when a tall, handsome, muscular man with horns and hooves walks up to you and greets you? Well, duh, obviously you stammer like an idiot.

"I...the..." Josh looks over his shoulder toward one of the paddocks. "The horses." Yes, very good, Josh. You can identify horses!

If he wants to shake Knox's hand, he's going to have to separate himself from the doorway, which he is still using as a shield. He does so, standing up straight and reaching out to shake Knox's hand. His grip is not very strong, rather it's soft and quite warm. He has the hands of a writer. Josh seems to have an athletic build and probably capable of a tight hand squeeze, so it's probably something emotional.

Josh gestures with one hand up toward his head to where Knox's horns are on his own head. "Do you...do you know Huck? Are you...is your name Knox?" he asks curiously. It would be very easy to intuit that Josh did not come here expecting to find Knox. He must be here on some other mission.

Knox's brows draw together slightly when Josh simply alludes vaguely to 'The Horses' and Knox looks past - well, more over - Josh towards the nearby stables and paddocks, as though there might be something wrong with them. A quick scan shows that there's nothing the matter, however, and so after a moment, Knox is looking back to Josh, just in time for him to reach out for his offered hand, grabbing Josh's hand in a confident bro-shake before releasing. Knox is quite a bit stronger than Josh, and it's easy to feel that in his grip, though Knox is pretty aware of his own strength and doesn't try and squeeze particularly hard or anything.

Eventually, Josh forms something akin to a sentence, and Knox's face breaks with an easy smile. "That easy to recognise, huh?" Knox jokes easily before adding, "Must have been my eyes, gave me away..." he laughs - Knox's eyes are brown. Quite pretty but fairly unremarkable. "Yeah man, I'm Knox. Good to meet you." he greets amiably before asking, "and you are?" with a curious flicker of an eyebrow.

Josh looks down at this enormous hand enveloping his and swallows heavily. He manages to find the emotional fortitude to look up at Knox with something at least resembling eye contact. "Me?" he asks. Yeah, who the hell else is he asking, Josh? "My name is Josh. Josh Logan." He quickly looks down at the ground, causing his unruly hair to slide over his face. "It's...it's short for Joshua." You know, in case Knox has been in a coma for the last four hundred years.

"I didn't know you worked...um, worked here," Josh finally announces. "I...I came to see the horses and stuff. Somebody I met...maybe you know him? He said he hangs out here. Danny? I don't...don't really know his last name though. Anyway, he said that spending time with, um, horses would help me because I deal with really bad anxiety. But then the other day Huck was talking to me about maybe being his roommate and I was like hell yeah, fire! Because I'm getting tired of living by myself and Huck is awesomesauce. And then he said he already had a roommate and I should meet you to see if you were also cool with me moving in."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the most Josh has spoken all day today combined.

What the hell is Huck doing at the stables? It so happens there was a well-connected family that had secured a behind the scenes tour of the park and they had a teenage daughter that was Deaf. Huck was with them for the tour, helping to guide them through the area and also translating some of the other employees' words into ASL. The tour has wrapped up, so he thought he'd stop in and see his roommate for a minute.

Huck's still dressed for work, which means black dress slacks (from which swings a rather happy, long tail) and a tucked in white button-up shirt, the underarms of which are slit and stitched to accommodate the wingflaps running from his waist to his elbows. He has a black skinny tie on and his namebadge is stuck to his chest.

"There they are!" he calls as he sees Knox and Josh hanging out, smiling widely. "Look at you guys, meeting and stuff! Everyone good?"

"Hey Josh" Knox greets with a pleasant smile, shaking Josh's hand firmly before letting go. After that Knox just kinds of shuts up and listens as Josh talks about what brought him out to the stables and meeting Huck. "Oh yeah," Knox nods. "He mentioned something about that, I think. The place has a spare bedroom still, so there's definitely space, it just takes a bit of getting used to the flashing lights and stuff..." Knox explains, twirling a finger up near the top of his head to represent the lights flashing.

He looks like he might be about to go on, but before he can the man of the hour coincidentally arrives on the scene! Knox smiles and lifts a hand when he sots Huck heading ther way, offering an amiable "Hey, Huck!" in his direction, before gesturing towards Josh. "Apparently he was just here to meet the horses, so it wasn't an intentional thing," Knox explains with a lazy roll of his shoulder. Dressed in a rather soot-stained and grimy pair of blue jeans and a similarly scruffy looking white tank top, Knox could not be more at odds with Huck's smartly turned out appearance. "How's it going, man?" Knox asks, extending a hand for a second round of bro shakes once he's close enough for it.

Tipping his head curiously to one side as he pulls his hair back behind his ear to keep it from shifting over his face, Josh inquires, "Flash...flashing lights?" He gets one of those polite, confused, non-confrontational smiles on his face. "What does that mean?" He opens his mouth to perhaps say more about it but he's completely stumped so he closes his mouth again.

And then here comes Huck. Seeing a familiar face while out somewhere unfamiliar is incredibly helpful to Josh. The relief on his face is obvious as a smile bubbles up. "Hey, Huck!" he exclaims. "Didn't know you'd be here. I came out because this dude Danny...do you know...do you know Danny? I don't know his last name though. I guess he turns into all kinds of animals. Anyway, I was talkin' to him at the Vine and he was saying I should check out horses over here because it, you know, could help with my anxiety." He peers downward when he says the word 'anxiety,' like he's ashamed of it. "And then I heard this like metal clanging so I figured I'd check it out and I saw Knox working. Well I didn't know it was Knox but, you know, how many people are walking around with horns." He exhales and runs his hand back through his hair. "Anyway, yeah."

Huck laughs, "Yeah, I know Danny." He glances at Knox, giving his hand the shake. "Shit, you even look good dirty. What the hell? Anyway, it's going good. Glad to see you two getting along." He smiles at Joshua, "Weird. Horses are so giant. They intimidate me. Can't say that it would ease my anxiety at all." He gives Josh a playful little shoulder shove with his claw when he notices that Josh was a little ashamed of it. "It's okay. We all have things we wish we could change about ourselves. As long as you're working toward your goal, I'll do what I can to support you. I'm here to help, eh."

He laughs about how many people are walking around with horns, "Yeah. Suddenly it's way more than you'd expect. But, I did tell you it was the handsome one with the horns." He smirks at Knox. "We're like the CHA gang, here!" He gestures at Josh, then Knox, then himself, "Cute, Hansome, and Awesome."

"The doorbell," Knox explains. "It makes the lights all flash, so Huck knows theres someone there," he repeats the gesture, explaining about the flashing lights. "You'll get used to it anyway, it's not a big deal," he states with a firm nod of his head. When Josh turns and starts to talk to Huck, Knox wanders off a few paces and retrieves a rag from a nearby workbench, which he uses to try and clean up his hands a little. It's not super effective.

Knox looks back up when Huck points out he even looks good dirty and flashes him an exaggerated wink, quipping back, "You know it, baby. Dirty and sweaty," he laughs, holding his arms out to either side and indicating himself. It's a pretty physically demanding job, after all. "Horses are calming," Knox agrees. "They're solid, and steady. At least the good news are," he points out, finishing up with the rag and then tossing it back towards the workbench.

Knox wanders back to where Josh and Huck are chatting and leans one shoulder up against the doorframe, dark eyes switching from one to the other. He rolls his eyes about the horn thing, though with a smile that betrays him being vaguely amused by the whole thing. "Are you objectifying me?" he smirks a little, giving his head a tiny shake,

Josh glances over and ohs when Knox explains that the flashing is from the doorbell. "Right, right, makes total sense." He looks to Huck. "The doorbell makes every light in the house flash? That's kinda fire actually. What about if all the lights are off and you're sleeping?"

At the objectification of Knox, Josh can't help but laugh while he peers downward. Must be something interesting on the floor. He glances to Huck with a mischievous grin and, hoping that Knox doesn't know sign language, he signs in ASL: <<He's really fucking hot.>>

The arrival of a known face is doing a lot to relax Josh. He even leans back against a doorframe looking all casual and stuff. "So what is your thing?" he says to Huck, making sure he is look at him so he can read Josh's lips. "That you would change about yourself?"

“Not all the lights,” explains Huck. There is a small light up near the ceiling in the living room, bathroom, and my bedroom. They flash for the doorbell, the land line, and the fire alarm. I imagine the doorbell makes a ring too,” he glances at Knox, “yeah?”

He signs to Josh, <<You have to share. I saw him first.>> and says to Knox with a charismatic grin of confidence, “Yes I did.”

“Me?” Huck asks a little surprised by the statement. “Doodles, Josh. Ummm..,” He thinks a moment, “I’d maybe make myself not need people so much.”

"Yeah, it does make a sound too. It's just that the lights take a little getting used to..." Knox explains primarily to Josh, though Huck gets a smile as well. His eyes dart between Josh and Huck as they sign at each other, but as they had both hoped and expected, he draws a blank, and it shows right across his features. Still, it doesn't bother him long, and he shrugs it off. Knox seems to have precisely the kind of easy self-confidence that poor Josh is bemoaning his lack of. When Huck finally speaks to him, verbally, it produces an easy laugh, Knox reaching over to punch Huck playfully in the upper arm. He listens quietly to the self-critical talk from the other two, though he doesn't seem too invested in it himself.

After clearing his throat, Josh slides his offending ASL hands into his front pants pockets.

He chin-nods toward Huck. "Not need people so much?" he says with a light chuckle. "That's like a plus. I think you just complimented yourself."

"Do you have any questions about me, Knox?" Josh asks, peering down at his shoes. "You know, like am I a serial killer, what kind of Pop-Tarts do I like, do I fart a lot, stuff like that?" He lifts one shoulder in a small half-shrug. "But, like, honestly, anything you wanna know?"

Huck nods with a smile when he’s affirmed the bell makes a sound.

To Josh he just rolls his eyes. “No it’s definitely not a compliment,” he assures the younger man.

“Just don’t leave your dirty clothes in the middle of the bathroom floor and I’m good,” he says when the roommate questions are offered for Knox.

Knox looks at Josh critically for a moment, lips pursing thoughtfully as he sizes him up. He lifts a hand and scratches thoughtfully at the base of his horn before eventually shaking his head. "Nah, I'm good if huck says you're cool," Knox agrees after a moment. "It can't be any more risky than finding a roommate on Craigslist or whatever. At least this way I have a decent chance you're not a serial killer, right?" Knox smiles playfully and laughs a little. Knox nods in agreement when Huck mentions no dirty clothes on the bathroom floor. adding "Sounds about right to me," with a nod of his head. "Well then, welcome aboard, I guess," he offers to Josh, taking a step forward and offering his hand once again.

When Huck indicates that it was not meant as a self-compliment, Josh uses his elbow to give Huck's shoulder a gentle nudge and offers his soon-to-roommate a small, reassuring smile.

"Bros, for real, I'm like so neat," Josh urges. "Growing up sometimes I'd have to ground my parents for not picking up after themselves." A small little mischievous grin forms on Josh's lips. He's warming to this company and relaxing.

He snaps his fingers and blurts, "Oh speaking of my parents, dudes when I moved in they bought me an entire apartment full of furniture, like really expensive shit. If you guys want me to move it in I will. Otherwise I can check to see if they have storage units here I can put it in." As an afterthought he adds, "Of course I'll take my bedroom stuff either way."

Huck shrugs, “I don’t care,” about the furniture. “Come look at what I have and if yours is nicer move it in. I just have IKEA. It’s good but isn’t rich parents good.”

Knox laughs at Josh's insistence that he's super neat and nods along in agreement when they all seem to settle on the idea. He's thoughtful for a moment when Josh suggests the idea of buying the furniture his parents bought him, pursing his lips together thoughtfully before finally speaking. "Sounds good to me, man. As long as you're not going to freak out every time someone has a drink or eats a sandwich near the stuff, right? If you bring it into the living room, it's going to get lived on," he affirms, though he doesn't say anything more on the matter.

Josh shakes his head and spreads his arms wide. "Bro, I didn't buy the stuff. I don't have any money. So live on it all you want. And my parents aren't ever going to want it back. What are they going to pay to have used furniture shipped from Michigan to Los Angeles?"

He settles back down, leaning against the doorframe again. An easy smile settles on his face as he reaches up with both hands to pull his hair back over both of his ears. He seems so different from the Josh that came here all nervous and worked up. "This is cool. It's gonna be nice to have friends to come home to. Living by myself was no bueno, honestly. I don't know how anyone even does it."

"Oh, are you guys 420 friendly?" he inquires. "Sometimes I smoke a lil when my anxiety gets bad but I can go on the roof or something if it's gonna bother you. Or use gummies or something."

"That sounds fine, Josh," Huck answers about the furniture. As for the pot? "I don't mind, but my preference would be you smoke it either in your room with the door closed or on the balcony and not in the living room? That smell kind of lingers, you know? Be high in the apartment all you like, it's just the smoke... But you do you, for sure." He smiles, "No need to go to the roof, for sure."