We few shall carry hope within our bloodied hands

"I assume if I did that, you would be more furious with me." HUNK replies. "A shelter... at that rate, I could snap them in half myself."

"This is a large city. Thousands of little things being born within it. And there is no facility that can hold them all." Despite the words, HUNK is holding his gloved hand out to the mother cat, she is breathing fast, he assumes, still in pain, and nervous, but helpless to do much but rest her head and just trust these giants to have no ill will.

It's true, she supposes. None of the shelters here are no-kill, they aren't funded well enough to maintain strays indefinitely and more like than not are near capacity at all times.

Still, it is one thing to have an awareness, and a different thing entirely to give a shit about it.

"Undesirables..." She echoes. The kittens are tiny, helpless little things, and the mother is clearly exhausted from what it took to bring them into the world. Many things that are small and vulnerable fall victim to life's cruelties. Neither size nor ability makes you an exception. In most cases, it just makes you prey for something bigger and nastier.

"And so you're leaving them in my care?" Bethany has none of the necessities required for a pet at hand. The kittens will be fine, the mother will be their sole source of sustenance and comfort for several weeks, but she herself will have needs.

The sound of tiny, fluttering heartbeats drumming in her ears alerts her to the box's contents before she even approaches. And sure enough, it's a cat with what seems to be a freshly spawned litter. Bethany grabs an old towel then returns to the box, crouching and offering her hand to the mother cat to sniff. "See, girl? I'm not going to hurt your babies." She murmurs, working around them to place the towel on the bottom of the box, ensuring to not touch or handle the kittens lest it result in them being rejected.

it doesn't matter, because bethany approaches on her own—rose must have been easy enough to spot. she offers bethany an awkward grin, then hesitates before wiping her hand (wet with condensation, rather than white sweat, thank god) on her jeans and reaching out to take bethany's in a handshake. finally. like this is something bethany has been waiting for. rose supposes that shouldn't be a surprise, considering what they both are. "likewise, you can call me rosemary. or just rose."

Rose seems a little tense still, understandably, and Bethany waits with patience as the girl works through her thoughts, taking in the questions asked of her. At the mention of Chris' desire to recruit the girl Bethany's mouth twitches into a hard line very briefly, though she remains silent. Children are made to decide their futures so young. A sad thing even outside of additional exceptional circumstances like these.

Her condition.

Bethany sees no harm in indulging the query, having a general sense of where it is coming from. She is likely the first superhuman Rose has met; or at least had the opportunity to have a chat with like this. And she is so painfully aware of the isolation that comes with being 'different'. How damaging it can be.

"Well, unlike yourself, I wasn't born like this - though truthfully I've been this way now for longer than I was... before." A strange truth to reconcile with. Bethany remembers there being a huge adjustment period for her new strength and altered senses, and even how it made her thinking change, new instincts and cognitive patterns forming. But, she doesn't remember now what it had been like. "I'm well used to being... careful around people. The control it takes. Is there anything specific you want to know about me, or TerraSave? There's info pamphlets I can send you on the org; they're mostly promotional materials but still accurate about the kind of work we do. I know about Chris wanting you for the squad. And I know it probably came from a place of seeing your potential and strength." That disapproving not-frown briefly manifests again. "The work he does, and what I do, are sort of two necessary halves of the same whole. Threats have to be eliminated, but all the same there is inevitable destruction left behind and someone has to help rebuild. The latter is where TerraSave comes in. I won't lie to you, the work is hard, the things you see are difficult to process, but it's worth it. It makes a difference."

Bethany pauses to take a drink of her latte, gazing at Rose's face to evaluate her reaction to the information.

"Technically we have Ahti's bathhouse somewhere around here. I don't know if that'll work-"

send a symbol for my muse to react to yours… (or add +reverse for my muse to touch yours)

VIOLENT 🔪 – stabbing them 👊 – punching them ✋ – slapping them in the face 👞 – kicking them 🎀 – pulling their hair

FLUFFY/FRIENDLY 🍭 – stroking their hair 🖐 – high fiving them 🤝 – holding their hand 👄– kissing them on their [place of choice] 👐 – hugging them 💅 – painting their [finger/toe] nails  🤧 – comforting them when crying 🤒 – caring for them when sick/injured 💃 – dancing with them 👗 – adjusting their clothes 👒 – brushing their hair

1. borrowing misery from future

2. carrying grief of the past

Bethany herself is a kind and empathetic person, and unfortunately the fandom tends to flatten her into that being her only trait. When in actuality she's vengeful, bitter, no less capable of violence than anyone else around her (and even revels in it a little sometimes). I see her as self loathing and traumatized, with CPTSD and hypervigilance, and although she has no desire to actively cause harm, sometimes it happens anyway. When your internal world is a mess, it will inevitably manifest in some external form.

Bethany Hawke