haven’t you heard what becomes of curious minds?

She calmed somewhat under his touch, though he figured it was perhaps mostly his words doing the trick, and he remained with the ghost of a smile as she apologised. It had been some years, and while he had not aged a day, she had grown somewhat older. It had always been like that, watching those around him age, come into their youth and beauty, or grow old and whither, while he remained the same. Human life was fragile. Although Human she was not. 

“Hectic how?” he asked her, studying all the features of her face as carefully as he would study anything else that was of importance to him. His eyes narrowed somewhat when she said weird things had been going on, but it was just the smallest of changes to him, he had already been made aware of said weirdness. “I am here on a case,” he admitted. A personal case, but a case all the same. “I am not, would you need help with that?” he questioned.

Rosemary shrugged, hand reaching up to run through her hair as she answered Tristan, “Hectic like working full time and midterms for school being in full swing.”  She hesitated for a moment, before adding, her voice quieter than it had been, “And I’ve been trying to figure out if what’s going on in town is, well, related to me?” Answers to that were hard to come by, and she wasn’t sure if she’d recognize the truth if she found it.

“What kind of case? Can you tell me about it? Or is it top secret?” she asked, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet, a new surge of excitement coursing through her. “Not help, but company is always nice,” Ro said brightly, tugging on Tristan’s arm as she started walking towards her place. “We can catch up over dinner that way, too.”

No matter how often Thiebaut came to the small village in Iceland, Grindavik would never exactly feel like a place he could call home. Perhaps because he had been putting high expectations on the town for the past fifty years, to bring their sibling back to them. Perhaps because over the years, he had tried to stay as far away from the locals as possible. Though there were exceptions. 

One of those exceptions had called out his name, or at least the one he currently used, and wrapped her arms around him. He couldn’t help the smile, no matter how tiny it was. “Hello Rosemary,” he said kindly. Despite the years, the heartache, the loss, the grief, it was just too easy to connect to others. “Calm down, one question at the time,” he said, one hand resting on her shoulder. “I am good, how are you?” 

Rosemary didn’t bother to hide the sheepish smile their response pulled onto her lips, and she didn’t even consider trying to tamp down on the excitement buzzing under her skin. It had been a few years since she met Tristan on his last visit to town, and she had been hoping he’d be back soon.

“Sorry,” she apologized, grin still tugging at her lips. “I’m just glad to see you! And I’m good! Things have been a little hectic lately, but I’m doing well,” Ro paused, looking at them for a moment. “Wait, did you come because things have been weird lately?” she asked, lowering her voice and eyes darting around. “Because Tristan, something’s going on, I promise you!” Before she could further elaborate, her stomach let out a soft rumble, reminding her that lunch had been a few hours ago. “Are you busy right now?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “I was just heading home to make some dinner, if you wanted to join me,” she offered warmly.

Ro felt a little embarrassed, the way she always did when she wandered into Spellbound or ran into Aggie around town. She didn’t mean to go out of her way to spend time with the other girl, except that’s how it always seemed to end up. It wasn’t like they were particularly close-the childhood infatuation Ro had decidedly never acted upon had prevented her from really befriending Aggie-but Ro seemed to always find some excuse to have their paths cross. This time, it was school. Ro slipped a book she needed for class onto the counter, smiling brightly at Aggie as she offered a greeting. “Has it been busy today?” she asked, desperate to make some kind of small talk, have some excuse to linger, just a few minutes longer. 

It was maybe a little brisk outside in the autumn air to be offering up free samples of ice cream, but Ro couldn’t find it in herself to mind. She liked the increased interactions, liked the fun seasonal flavors they were offering, and liked the way the sun was warm on the back of her neck as she worked. Rosemary called out to a passerby, “Would you care for a free sample? We have apple cider cardamom or pecan pie out today!”

Rosemary couldn’t help the small skip in her step as she walked through the town square-she was tired, closer to exhausted after working a long shift and her night class the day before, but the weather was nice and she had plans she was excited for tomorrow, so she couldn’t help but be in high spirits. Humming to herself, she meandered through town on her way home, pausing only when she spotted a familiar figure in the distance. “Tristan?” she called out, unable to hide the excitement in her voice. She laughed, rushing forward when she confirmed it was him. Ro didn’t think anything of wrapping her arms around Tristan in greeting, squeezing him firmly before stepping back. “I didn’t know you were in town!” she said brightly, rocking back on her heels. “How are you? Are you here for long? What have you been up to?” Ro rambled off the series of questions without pausing, stopping only once she got them all out to breathe, looking at Tristan expectantly. 

[ nicole maines, 24, trans woman, she/her ] i think i just saw ROSEMARY “RO” DOUGLAS walking by, rumor has it they’re a FAE (SELKIE), but only time will tell.  when RO is not busy wrecking havoc around town, they’re working as an EMPLOYEE AT THE ICE CREAM SHOP. on their good days, i hear they can be WHIMSICAL AND WARM, but on their bad days, some say they have a tendency to be NAIVE AND SHORT SIGHTED, best to be careful.

tldr at the end of the bio as well as some wanted connections !