You have that look in your eye

[littledhampir]

WHO: Rose Hathaway littledhampir
WHERE: Various places around 6i
WHEN: 15th - 25th of August (Before the end of Sirens Call)
OPEN TO: OTA - Late tag-ins are always welcome.
WARNINGS: Minor references to blood & a pack of rabid Bambis. Character Death. Others may well come bc… Rose, so. Watch this space. FYI. So much TLDR under the cut.

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If you go out in the woods today...

THE WOODS + THE INN

She’d been getting a little too comfortable with the fact that the wildlife here didn’t seem to have a problem with her. Rose’s strictly human status here in the village was generally a point of contention for the Dhampir, but if she had to have picked one thing that didn’t suck - it was her recent ability to be able to pet an animal without fear of it trying to snack on her. Until today.

In her defense...Who the hell would think to be careful around something that looked like Bambi had been left in the dryer on high for too long?! Sure they lull you into a false sense of security by sending one out to try and get your attention, and the next thing you know there’s eight of the little suckers - and she does mean that word literally - all trying to sink their teeth into you while you flail around like a fish that had escaped from its bowl. (Or. ya know. The lead singer of a popular Australian 80s band.)

While it was true that Dhampir blood was considered to taste better than that of a Human, Rose had been hoping that her change in race, courtesy of this godforsaken place, might have meant that had changed it. If the last ten minutes of her life was anything to go by, she hadn’t gotten so lucky.

You would be forgiven for laughing, however, if you happen to spot Rose as she emerges from the edge of the woods. Her appearance mildly alarming due to the bite marks that adorn her arms and legs. The long dark hair that had been pulled back into a ponytail was now a tangled mess that half framed her face. The clothing she’d raided from the discarded items of the Inn, probably more useful as dishcloths than it would ever be for training now. You may even spot one of the little creatures in question as it’s brave enough to think about having another go. And if you do, you’ll also spot Rose as she turns around and sends it back towards the treeline with a kick that sails wide.

Don’t worry if you miss it, she’ll be dragging her sorry self back to the Inn, looking like the disaster that she is, in search of something she can use to clean herself up and bracing for the numerous questions she knows she’s going to regret.

People are strange when you're a stranger

BUILDINGS AROUND 6i

If her encounter with the pack of Rabid Bambis had taught Rose anything, it was that this place was in desperate need of somewhere she could use to train. Running every day might be a part of her routine, but if she weren’t so bored out of her skull from not being able to take to the mats of a gym, maybe she wouldn’t do stupid things like, oh… say… pet the cute yet utterly terrifying spawn of satan.

It’s why she’s been out scouting the various buildings around the village, something that seemed like a wise idea until she realized that half of them were occupied and Rose had no idea which half. The ones with lights on inside made for an easy avoidance, but seeing as most of the people around here didn’t actually have electricity, there was a 50/50 chance that one of the windows she peered through belonged to an inhabited residence. Surely this was going to be fine.

And can you shake it off?

HOT SPRINGS

Even before the Wendigo attack, the Hot Springs had been a regular haunt of Rose’s, dating back to the first time she’d found herself in the village with a busted ankle and a series of conspicuous bite marks that weren’t exactly easy for her to keep covered. From the very moment she’d found out about the spring water and it’s healing potential, she’d been coming here every day. In part because of the healing but also because it seemed to be one of the few places she could visit that wasn’t overrun with people like the Inn was.

Of course, coming here these days wasn’t half as relaxing as it used to be but that was a story that even Kira didn’t have enough alcohol on hand to pry it out of her. It’s usually around dusk that she can be found this way, though, when most are making use of the last hour of natural light the village is afforded.

They say life carries on

PEETA'S GRAVE

When a Dhampir - a Guardian, died in her world, their death wasn’t something that was marked in any significant way. There was no memorial for people to come together and grieve. No procession of mourners to see them onto whatever came next. They were simply buried in a grave with a headstone that read the words ‘Eternal Service’. Dhampir, who like her, had dedicated their lives to protecting others. Dhampir, who like her, had always known that they would one day die because of it.

It was a part of her culture that had never particularly sat well with Rose. The attitude that when a person died, it was acknowledged - albeit briefly - and moved on from. Peeta was by no means a Guardian and yet, he’d gone into the fight knowing he could well die protecting others and while perhaps her only real connection to him was that she’d been there with him at the end. The thought that his death could be just like the many Guardians who had fallen before him, sat uneasily with Rose.

Those who have visited Peeta’s grave might have noticed the appearance of the forget-me-nots that somebody had been leaving there regularly. A single, lavender flower that seemed to be replaced with a new one every day. She never stays long, only long enough to retrieve the wilting flower and replace it with a new one. For Rose, it wasn’t so much about mourning as it was about remembering. About making sure, that at least as long as she was here, the boy who had sacrificed everything to help keep the people here safe, wouldn’t be just another headstone in a row of forgotten heroes.

Wildcard

Pick your poison. Rose lives at the Inn so when she’s not outdoors, she does spend an awful lot of time there.

Comments

[littledhampir]

She holds up her hands in a ‘sorry I asked’ kind of gesture, and yet can’t help the little grin that plays at the corners of her mouth. What was she supposed to know? She practically lived under a rock for the last eighteen years, but she was sure that women everywhere would sleep a little easier tonight if they knew he wasn’t off limits… or maybe the no-go zone would have made him more attractive? She might know a thing or two about that…

Despite that train of thought? She really wasn’t all that interested in his sex life - or potential lack of one, the brunette happy to leap from one topic to the next and figuring Danny could catch up. “It probably wouldn’t be as hard as all that…” Not that she knew the first thing about building things with her hands. Rose’s specialty lied in destruction, not creation.

“I mean you gut that couch over there and you’ve got all the padding you might need to make training dummies…” And she imagined a house would possess all sorts of things that could be easily converted into a punching bag? “Maybe even talk to some of the hunters about using animal hides?” Though again, things she wouldn’t have the first clue about doing herself.

“That was the idea.” Lifting her shoulder in a shrug, feeling less like this was a hairbrained scheme now that somebody else had the same line of thinking. “You get much interest?” She’d seen the text he’d sent out, offering to teach people but hadn’t thought to respond. She was looking for somebody to fight, not somebody to show her how… but in light of recent events, she could see the sense in teaching at least basic self-defense. "From your little, messagey thing?"

She might not have spent her whole life in Kunlan? But the Academy wasn't much better. Rose could barely manage email.

[theimmortalweapon]

He was more than happy to switch topics.

Danny followed her train of thought and moved his eyes across the room. While she wasn't wrong, he had a specific type of equipment in mind. "Punching bags and training dummies will break if its not made out of the right materials. And the couch should stay in case someone hurts themselves." He wasn't going to teach through the pain like the monks had and Claire would probably kill him if he didn't have a place for injured students to rest until she got there.

He didn't want to make Claire mad. The woman wasn't strong in the physical sense but she was blunt, honest and fierce in ways that terrified him.

"I have at least five students and a handful of others who had showed interested in sparring." Rose was among the sparring group though Danny would be happy to show her any pointers if she was interested in learning. "I was thinking I'd find a place with two floors, train on the first and live on the second." That way people had the option to come by and grab him for a lesson during his down time, which was usually spent training and fighting anyway.

"I can teach weapons too but I plan to focus on hand-to-hand." He paused and looked over at her. "Do you want to do it together?"

[littledhampir]

She looked, well to be honest, almost confused by his train of thought. Sure the Academy had medical treatment available but generally speaking? When a Novice hurt themselves, they sucked it up and got on with it. It was something about toughening up the young to get them ready to face the real thing. They never said it like that, no, but Rose remembered it feeling that way. When she’d returned with Lissa after their ‘sabbatical’, Rose had been hammered until she could barely move and the response to that? Several hours of running to make sure she really felt it.

“Oh… right.” Though she was still quietly determined there would be a training dummy, even if she had to make one herself for her own purposes. Sparring was all well and good, but sometimes you just wanted to lose yourself to the fight and people… they were a little too breakable for Rose to do that with.

See now, if Elena had pitched this kind of idea as a way to get her to move out of the Inn, then Rose would have jumped at the chance. Home for her wasn’t a house, it was anywhere that she could train. It was the feel of the mats beneath her feet and the smell, that most would probably find repulsive, of sweat and heat rub and chalk for hands.

She rather envied Danny and his ability to make fighting something that could be considered useful around here and it’s clear from the obvious surprise in her expression and the words that followed, she hadn’t been expecting his offer.

“Me?” Eyebrows scooting up her forehead. It was the kind of thing that sounded too good to be true, like there was no way doing something she loved doing, the only thing she was good at doing, could be seen as enough to the rest of the village.

“I mean, yeah but… I don’t know if I’d be a very good teacher?” Which was ridiculous really, if she thought about it. “I have taught some people, a bit but… it was just the basics really. More about, helping them stay alive than winning a fight.”

[theimmortalweapon]

In Danny's experience, training dummies were far more breakable than people. But then, training dummies had often received the brunt of his anger and almost never survived the encounter. His current outlet was random oak trees though he'd likely have to find something else or risk breaking his hand. He didn't have his powers here and while he was sure that he might be able to channel his chi again, if given the time and practice, it currently wasn't an option.

"You aren't used to that." He had seen the confusion in her features. "Me neither but Claire will kill me if I don't have something." And Claire was terrifying. "I'll be making practice dummies and punching bags. If I can get skin like you said, I just need sand." Danny remembers there was a lake nearby. If not, he'd use loosely packed dirt though dirt wouldn't have the same give as sand and might contain small rocks if he's not careful.

He crossed his arms over his chest and nearly had the gull to smile. "Yes. You." Danny didn't make the offer lightly. He hadn't seen Rose fight but he'd noticed her expressions and her remarks. It made him think that they were trained using similar methods; she knew how to be disciplined and how to take fighting and learning seriously. It was a small comfort but something that he valued.

"I plan to find a place. You can think about it until then. If there is enough room upstairs, it'd be open to anyone who wanted to stay there and help out with the Dojo." He wouldn't be able to maintain it on his own. It was an annoying truth but Danny was just one man and he had already promised far too many people that he'd help them. Rose's enthusiasm and desire to have a place to train and fight would help and give them both what they wanted; a place to vent their anger.

[littledhampir]

She shook her head, a soft chuckle spilling over. It was almost a relief to see he understood it, that it turned out not everything she knew was completely abnormal. Not that she really expected the average person to be able to comprehend the life she’d led before she’d been spat out of the fountain, but it was something of a relief to encounter at least one person who could see things on her level, even if he had the sense to realize that level didn’t apply here.

“Somebody said there’s a beach… Not sure how close it is though.” And while it would be foolish to drag bags of sand that distance, she could admit that she liked the idea of it, if only because then she might get to see the ocean on a day when the sun was beating down on her. It was just another one of those things that people took for granted as normal, that Rose had never experienced. She’d seen a beach, just never in the light of day.

While he might not smile, she can't seem to help the one that dares to play along her mouth, Rose trying to disguise it by pressing her lips together, but it creases the corners of her eyes all the same and she can feel it, that almost foreign stirring in her chest that it takes her a moment to place. Hope. It cost him nothing to make her an offer like this, except a certain level of blind faith perhaps, but what it offered her in return was something she scarcely knew how to put into words.

There was a brief flash of guilt, Elena’s name dancing through her mind as Danny mentioned that she could live there as well, but it was hard to let her mind be clouded with such things when he offered her something that sounded so… normal - at least to her - that she could really picture it.

“Maybe… when you find a place that you think could work? You can show it to me?” It would buy her a little time to really think about things, and a chance to talk to Elena and see what she thought. The one thing Rose could always say for Elena, she would be honest with her. She also knew that if Elena thought this could be good for Rose, she would be the first to encourage it.

[theimmortalweapon]

"We'll figure it out." He wasn't too worried about it. It might be a difficult trip back from the beach but Danny was stubbornly determined. He'd get everything he needed and more if it was possible.

Danny nodded his head. "Yeah." He didn't really have a full plan yet. He had to find an unoccupied house with at least two floors and extra rooms if he was going to start inviting people to live with him and the town only had so many homes.

Light green eyes glanced over the house as he thoughtfully sorted through the information that he knew. "If I can't find anything here, I know there is another town. Someone told me about it." He didn't know where it was or if the houses there were any better but he knew it existed.

"Would that be too far for you?" Danny would also tell her to invite whoever she wanted to live there too. As long as there were rooms, Danny didn't really care.

[littledhampir]

“The other village? No… might even be nice to be a little further out.” Really what she means, is that it would be easier to defend against a possible danger hitting the south village, if they were living in the north. New arrivals so far had seemed nice enough, but if somebody arrived all hellbent on destruction? Safety of distance was a nice thing. “You’d have a better chance of getting somewhere big enough… could even check out some of the buildings that aren’t homes?”

If all else failed and they couldn’t find a house that was suitable, they could always live in one house and take over a barn or a bakery or, some other random building. Not like there were enough people living here to justify two of them.

“Plus - There’s a peach grove over that way. They help with healing.” There was a lot about this place she didn’t know but given certain things about Rose? If it was magical and had healing properties then she was all about it. She might not have Liss and her magic here, but she could make do with that at least.

“How would you feel about somebody else coming as well? If… we found a place that was big enough I mean?” There was no point worrying about how to tell Elena she was going to move in with Danny instead if there was an alternative. Elena might not even like the idea of living above a Dojo, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t move in with them for at least a little while.

[theimmortalweapon]

He smiled as she spoke of the possibilities and nodded. "I'll take a look at the other village then and see what I can find. I think it'd be easier if it was a house. I don't think we'll have time to clean up two spaces." Even prepping one space seemed like quite the ordeal.

"The spring also helps with healing." This meant that while the peaches were nice, it wasn’t required or necessary. He could always take trips to fetch as many peaches as possible for those who used the space but that felt like a lot of effort. Not saying he wouldn't make the journey for himself but Danny's thoughts were currently consumed by the large more immediate task of the Dojo itself.

"Most of the people who want to learn are in this village." Now he's just thinking out loud.

Rose's mention of another person as his head lift and his eyebrows rise in a curious arch, "Yeah. You can invite whoever you want." He had planned to grab the largest place he possibly could anyway, adding another person only meant that they might have another set of hands for cleaning up.

"Who is it?"