ℝ𝕌𝕊𝕋𝕐 / 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙. *

The silence between them made Zinaida wonder if her presence had something to do with it. As a social worker, she picked up cues from the youths she dealt with when they didn’t feeling talking. This was the kind of vibe she was getting from the other. Therefore, just as she was just about to bid her thanks and depart, the other decided to proceed to answer her question. “A literal helping hand.” she pointed out at first. “That’s good to those who are in need. You’d be of great help to them.” Arching a brow, she then asked. “So what do you do for a living?” 

The silence was indeed a bit deafening. Meredy knew it and yet didn’t fight it, at least, not until the words slipped from her lips. She gave a light, almost crooked, smile at such words. It was soon to fade though with the memory of the fact she was a vampire ( not all were bad, she reminded herself ) and the women seemed kind. “Yeah, a literal helping hand.” She agreed. Then, she grew sheepish. “You make me sound far nobler then I am.” She just moved if she saw someone in need, didn’t seek it or anything. “Oh, I work in the General store. Clerk, cashier, etc.” She admitted a bit awkwardly. “And yourself?”

@glitterngcld

After dropping Eden off at school, he walked to the community college in town. Leaving his car at the school was good because it gave him his steps for the day. He was pulling his cigarettes from his pocket–careful to not smoke around Eden or inside the house, and now he wondered if he had to worry about the damn horses and feral cats on his shared property with his brother–but when he looked up saw someone staring agape at him. It was a young girl. She was beautiful, but something about her reminded him of someone. He couldn’t describe the feeling. “What, do I have something in my teeth? In my beard? I don’t know… hi there. Can I help you, miss?

He was a lot more scruffy then he’d been in the pictures. That was one thing for sure. Meredy hadn’t meant to wonder upon him, not at all. Yet here she was. Those same blue eyes that reminded her so much of mom. The same--- she didn’t even know what to call it, but it reminded her of dad too. He was, without a doubt, Nolyn. The eldest. The one she didn’t have a memory of but who had known her as a baby. Would he even recognize--- could he? No, no way. “I...” She struggled, only for a moment, because how did one say this? “You’re Nolyn.” Yes. “I.... “ Here we go. “My names Meredy.” Would that be enough? Would it even be close? 

Rod had just gotten back from the main part of town, with a whole bunch of hay bales and soil in the trunk. Lethe was going to be good for their family. And the animals were going to be good for Eden and any other kid that he would be able to help. So now he was standing in the bed of his truck, tossing bales of hay onto the dirt so that he could put them in the shed. As he threw one of them down, his eyes caught on someone on the property and paused. “Hey. Can I help you with anything?” He wasn’t sure why they were here if they were interested in the program or even just wanted to know what was going on over here or whatever else. It was a small town, and he figured word, and maybe even rumors about new people, might travel fast.

Fae’s stopped aging at certain points. Meredy happened to have a long while to go before she stopped, her parents had always looked fairly young too, and she had--- she had brothers. She only knew them from pictures, they were out traveling about the world as she grew up. Still, her parents had spoken about them all too often. During those years, those horrible years, sometimes Meredy dreamed they could come and rescue their parents and their little sister. Then, their parents died. She stopped dreaming and took action. Still, ever running into them wasn’t something the girl ever planned for. “You’re him.” She spoke, not taking a moment to even be discreet. She glued their faces to her memory when she was young. Her parents ( their parents ) had said, You never know where you may find those boys. “You’re Rod.” She doubted he would even recognize her, had they even met before? Maybe when she was small... “I’m...” She struggled because should she have even opened her mouth to begin with? But--- “My name is Meredy.” She spoke. 

“Ah shit.” 

Zinaida could have easily avoided it. A simple trip and fall. Her heel got caught on a pothole and she could have used her vampiric abilities to avoid any injury. Yet here she was going in for the fall and landing on her knees causing them to scrape against the concrete. Anything to feel. It wasn’t graceful, but how she attempted to rose onto her feet did. She remained composed until a young woman who saw the whole thing approached to assist. “No thank you.” she politely declined. “Vampire, it’ll heal on its own.” Looking around she stood there in silence, before realizing that she should say something. “That’s uh nice of you to assist and heal others. Do you normally do that for a living?” 

Ah. Vampire... The women seemed kind enough, but Meredy couldn’t help but kick herself for being unable to tell. As kind as one looked, until proven to be that kind, she had to be wary. Vampire’s were dangerous.  She knew that as a fact all too well. She wondered if the women could tell, how she still just a bit when she spoke of being a vampire. It was hard for Meredy to remind herself not all vampires were her own experience with them. Vampires were all different sorts, just like Fae too. “I see.” She spoke softly, a nod soon following ( it was an awkward sort of one ). “Not for a living,” she spoke, and berated herself for not saying first- “I uh, thank you.” For saying it’s nice. “I just... sometimes I see it and try to help. I don’t think about it I just... do.”  Sometimes she wished she hadn’t, she needed to work on thinking things through. 

“It’s not an injury it’s me, my cells, my body. Tearing up from the inside…” he sighed but was grateful for the little help she had offered. “Its like I’m my own worst enemy. My body is eating itself alive, most hybrids don’t live long. Hell, most miscarry.” He sighed again and bent over, placing his hands on his knees. “No, just… no.” He couldn’t ask her to watch him, he only remembered her name because it was unique. If it had been Allison or Kelsey or something, it would’ve been impossible to memorize. 

He looked at the pavement beneath their feet, then back up at the girl. He slowly sat down criss-cross and looked up at the girl. “Actually, yeah. Keep me company while my body… comes to terms with the trauma, I guess. What little you did was good, thank you. I just… its like helping the symptoms, its not a cure, you know? I mean fae in general. It can help in the short-term, but they’re not the solution. That’s why…” He was talkative today, and looked away from the girl. “Thank you. My mom was actually a fae,” he said, surprising himself. He didn’t talk about her, let alone to near-strangers. “But I could only control the water nymph side of me for a few years as an adolescent.” My dad still thinks I’m lying about my health, and that my mom was human, he wanted to say, but didn’t dare to.  

“What?” Her voice staggered at such reveal of information. She felt a chill run throughout her whole being, feeling unquenched sorrow for the fact the man had to live with what was a presumed death due date. Sympathy was clear in her gaze, sadness for his ordeal. It wasn’t often Meredy gave herself the chance to care, caring lead to pain that couldn’t be controlled. This time, it’d been an accident. She hadn’t meant for this, but now she was here. Too late to take it back. She bit onto her lower lip, fighting the fact that it was trembling. She wanted to say the words I’m sorry.  but it was something she would bet he’d heard so many many times. 

It was still new to her, other supernatural beings knowing she was fae without her being forthcoming. She was able to keep her surprise in check though and instead give a light nod. “I could do that-- we could even get ice cream. If you want, I mean.” She was ready to do anything he would want to do, her sympathy for him stretching clear over her whole very heart. “She was?” Her gaze softened at the info. Sadness bit her heart for the women whose child was in such peril... “Fae and water nypmh.” She understood, at least moreso then she previously had. “I see.”

He’d fallen as he’d (literally) run his errands, and was surprised to hear the voice of another. People knew him around town, but most of the time they avoided eye contact when his nose bled or his eyes clouded. “You can’t,” he huffed. He was anemic, weak, a hybrid. He said as much. As he pushed himself off the ground, cheek still hovering from her following hand, he looked into her eyes and nodded once his eyes closed, a frown appearing on his face. As he felt the pain dissipate, he opened his eyes slowly. He’d used fae a couple of times but had learned not to rely on them. “I’m a hybrid,” he said quietly. “You can’t help me.”

“I can’t.” She repeated the words, a frown furrowing on her lips and a quirk of curiosity to her gaze. “Why not?” she was curious, truly. Would he simply prefer the injury or was it something about her? Something else maybe? “A hybrid.” Meredy repeated, she knew the meaning of the word but hadn’t been aware there was actually such thing. It made sense of course, in the supernatural world species could mix easily. Couldn’t they? Still, she hadn’t an idea of what hybrid he was of, nor the exact meaning behind it. Did Hybrid mean something particular beyond the name of a species? “Is there anything I can do?” Maybe not as big as healing him, but maybe something small. 

Peter grimaced up at her, shaking his head quickly. “I heal, I’m okay,” he sputtered, though he didn’t flinch away. The pain was shooting through his face and on the way to meet Ivy and Faolan and in the reality of it, he hardly wanted to admit that he was that much of an idiot. One of them would be bad, both would be humiliating. “Thanks,” he said with a small grimace. He was so glad that he had his healing factor all in all because he hardly wanted to meet Ivy that night with a torn-up face. Hopscotch came bounding over, sniffing at him worriedly. “I’m fine,” he told the dog gently, holding out his hand to scratch him behind the ears. The truth was, he had been looking at texts from Ivy and… had walked into a pole. He looked up at the girl. “I’m Peter, by the way. This happens a lot. Really, thanks. This is… Embarrassing.” His nose was probably broken. 

All types of supernatural healed, it only made sense. Still, some were slow and some were fast. Some felt nothing, some felt it all. If she could give any help, any ease, it was something Meredy wanted to do. “You’re welcome.” She spoke, a bit sheepish (as always). Then there was a dog and MEredy almost jumped. She wasn’t all too used to dogs. They were cute, of course they were cute. But they were also large and scary, or small and breakable, and sure they were soft but they were also--- they licked you (it was gross) and they were just... complex. The dog seemed nice enough, but Meredy kept her distance. “Hi Peter.” She said, taking only a moment to realize this was her queue for an introduction. “I’m Meredy.” She gave him a light wave in place of a proper handshake. “Don’t be embarrassed. People are clumsy or stup--” She caught herself. “-or stubborn.” Sure. “You’re hardly the only person to get injured a ton.” She pointed out with a small shrug. 

Time: Saturday, 11:15 AM Location: Irving Plaza Status: Open

His back leaned against the tree as he stared down at the notebook leaning against his thighs with a frown. The worst part of his job, he had decided a long time ago, was trying to figure out crafts. It was the after-school crafts that were hard, of course; preschoolers only needed paper and crayons and they were pretty happy. That might be understating it (in fact, he knew it was), but their crafts were still much simpler than the older kids required. 

Emmett groaned and tilted his head back against the bark, his eyes catching on somebody nearby. “Any suggestions for crafts? For bigger kids. Under 12 or so, but older than 5. I am all out of ideas.”

            she was in a hurry. in all fairness meredy was ALWAYS in a hurry. thats something that came with the fact she preferred to remain separate from, ya know, PEOPLE. people were complicated heaches just waiting in the wings to happen. okay, maybe that was harsh. alright YES that was incredibly harsh. maybe that was who she was now. someone who was harsh. one of the biggest struggles was, well, KNOWING. so yes she was in a hurry, and yes she was a bit MORTIFIED when he talked to her. in a instant her eyes roamed around looking for alternative people he could of spoken to (HOPING there had been someone else) but NOPE she was stuck being rude, polite, or hauling ass. “i used to like the food kind of art.” she said, unsureness clear in her tone. “macaroni stuff or marshmellow stuff. it was... fun.” 

Date: Late July, 2020 Time: between 10PM and 2AM, on a sidewalk somewhere in town Status: open

Shiloh would think that a month with his best friend back in town, alive, would make him sleep easier at night after knowing he was safe. But no, anxiety continued to spike and he was unsure if it was due to outside stimuli–like Adam or even the heat–or was just another hybrid mannerism that he’d have to learn to live with for however many more years. He was deteriorating, and it was obvious. Would he live to see 40? 38? 35?

Smoking a joint while overlooking the lights in town, the shops, the scenery, anything that his eyes could see in the minimal light from the twilight glare, Shiloh was startled by a shadow walking towards him. He turned to look at the person and smiled a bit stiffly. “I think I should take the dogs at the shelter for a walk, but they’re all undoubtedly asleep and a-snoring. Now the cats might not be, but we don’t have enough harnesses. Besides, who ever tried walking six-plus cats at once? Not even to mention the two litter of kittens which we undoubtedly can’t fit into a harness yet. Jesus, talk about hell on wheels.” He sighed, looked shyly at the other person, and took another drag. 

                she’d never been fond of the heat. it made her groggy, and in the past, it incited horribleness from the vampires who weren’t overtly fond too. it resonated bad memories and she would always wonder, could the slate ever be wiped clean? she’d been walking home after a day dealing of customers, being the curt person she was and getting the job done as fast as she could. it was a bit dark, almost scary. almost. the world had been too unkind for the dark to be one of her ailing fears nowadays. in the darkness she hadn’t taken note of approaching someone so close. it’d been a mistake. a sorry was quick on her lips and her feet would be ready to take a run for it except then he spoke and HUH guess she had to say something too. oh, dogs and cats. “do cats really go on walks? i don’t think i’ve heard of that before.” a pause. “the dogs tough, it could be good for them. it’s still hot but uh, the night makes it less so. so it’s better then taking them when its all bright and even hotter.”

“Whoops!” Aalis exclaimed as she jumped back, wrinkling her nose at the dust cloud that and blew into the air. The object she had knocked into was now on the ground and Aalis was turning sheepishly around to see if anyone had seen her clumsy moment, locking eyes with someone not too far away. “You didn’t see that did you?” she asked them with a tiny smile.