[MINGLE] Wendi-go-go to the inn

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: 6I Village and Inn
WHEN: 27-31 July
OPEN TO: ALL - Mingle
NOTES: The Wendigo threatening the village will be killed mid 28 July, with a Blue Lily, per these threads. Plot details here. Note: The final fight is close enough to be seen from the upstairs inn windows.
WARNINGS: Wendigo attack mingle, please warn in comment headers if discussing violence, gore, or related trauma. Possible mentions of character death.

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The urgent warnings come from villagers returning south from the lake: a creature twice the size of a man, antlered and voracious. Larger than any they've seen on the plains, stalking its way to the main village. Some might have their own names for this hunger in a skin of shadow; others might remember that it was the first to claim a life, in their village's short history.

Whatever context one has for it, best to secure all pets and loved ones before it arrives. With weapons and food stores at the inn, the call goes out to gather — And to bring back any tools, because there's no telling what doors and windows can do to stop such a creature.

Comments

[underpinnings]

Because if there were anyone else else to do this, they would be. If there had ever been anyone else to do this, he suspects, she wouldn't be out here digging a hole for a boy she'd met the once, tearing herself apart over it. Because they need to take care of each other just enough, to be worth handing a weapon to if another one moves in on this one's territory.

Those lilies only seem to bloom in the storms, and he doesn't know how many patches are left, this many days without them.

"People irritate me," he says instead, shifting gear in pockets and hands until he can wet the corner of a towel in the reeking contents of the jar. They didn't always--confounded, frustrated him. But tonight everything chafes, enough to know he isn't as unaffected as he'd like to be. If he hadn't already lost two fingers to this kind of stupidity, he'd be helping her dig the hole. "So I decided to come irritate you." He knows she doesn't want him here, but he isn't shy to stand there, not giving a shit. Curling his fingers outward around the towel, he holds them up where she can see the two nubs, fingers shorn off at the middle knuckle.

"And I know if you don't take care of your hands, in places like this, you start losing them."

[littledhampir]

She’d never had that, though. Not even when she should have, when she’d had people around who would have, in theory, done this for her. She never had because she was the one who always took care of everyone else. Her whole life had been about doing exactly that, her own wants and needs coming second to those of another. Even her life was unimportant in comparison. To the person who was raised from birth, to die for another, it was hard to comprehend why anyone would ever care enough to go out of their way to try and look out for her. It’s not the way things worked, not for Rose.

"People irritate me.”

It was so unexpected that the hardness in her features actually slipped away, Rose blinking at him stupidly and giving an infinitesimal shake of her head, as if somehow his words would rearrange into something that made a lick of sense. It was so the kind of thing that she’d say, that she didn’t know how to respond to hearing it pass somebody else’s lips, her digging at least for now, stalled as she waited for where he was going with this.

The end of that sentence earned a huff of irritation of her own, eyes rolling but any sarcastic retort was cut off at the wave of his missing fingers. The sobering sight forced her to look at her own hands. At the blisters that had already begun to form and as much as she wanted to tell him to fuck off and leave her alone, there was just enough sense in his words for Rose to think twice on that.

“Fair enough.” It wasn’t much, not at all what his actions deserved, but Rose wasn’t exactly good with… people. “As long as you’re not going to try and stop me again.” Like… at all.

[underpinnings]

Bit of attitude, bit of blunting--it's better than thanks. Gratitude always chafes, always feels like ego--he doesn't have enough to expect it, and he doesn't want to know if anyone thinks themselves that important, that he'd do anything for them.

The people who thank you, shake your hand, they're the ones who give you shit when you don't show up.

Better she just give him shit for showing up now. "This hole's getting dug tonight, I get it." How well it's getting dug, and who contributes, remains to be seen. If he can take a turn at it long enough for her to eat, he probably won't make too bad a hypocrite of himself. At least his hands are already washed and wrapped.

"Gimme the first one," he says, good hand out, half-fingers disappeared in the folds of the towel. "This is going to sting." There's alcohol enough to seep into every broken bit of skin, and he won't be surprised if the towel winds up a little pink.

There's less gauze in the clinic than shredded linens, so he pads her palms before he wraps them, then holds out the gloves. "I'll take over when you need a break, so don't put your stupid ass in the clinic."

[littledhampir]

She hadn’t hit him. That was about as close to a thanks as Rose generally got with anyone she didn’t trust with the life of her best friend, so he had no real danger of that one… though she might still take that swing.

“Good.” Rose offering a curt not in response. She could deal with a certain amount of fussing, provided nobody tried to stop her but once she made up her mind about something, trying to meddle was bad for your health.

She hesitated at first, not for fear of pain or having somebody care for her in general, but because of the last time somebody had done this for her. The only time anybody had taken the time to notice the state of her hands. A shadow passed over her features, a memory she’d all but buried pushing its way to the surface long enough to make her swallow hard and by the time she thrust out her hand for him, she welcomed the expected sting.

Rose tensed, breathing in a hiss of air through her teeth, the pain providing her with the distraction she needed as he dabbed them with foul-smelling liquid, Rose allowing the hurt to calm her mind and ease the emotion that had swelled in her chest as he set about cleaning her up.

“No you won’t.” The hardness back in her voice, but the reason for it being there was far different than before.

“When I need a break I’ll take one.” Refusing to elaborate more than that. She’d already allowed one person who wasn’t physically able to go into a fight. She wasn’t about to risk him losing more fingers because she wasn’t willing to say no again.