deercountry | (OPEN) APRIL CATCH-ALL

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(OPEN) APRIL CATCH-ALL

Who: Andromache of Scythia & you!
What: Spring cleaning, patrolling the woods, and getting half-eaten by monsters.
When: Throughout the month of April.
Where: Prufrock district, Trenchwood, anywhere in Trench.
Content Warnings: Profanity, violence, injury. Will update threads as needed!

A | HAZARDOUS SPRING CLEANING

[ In all honesty, Andy isn't exactly looking for a permanent arrangement. Sure, she'd found herself strangely open to the idea of making some kind of life here, but she'd also come from a nomadic bloodline — and might have spent the last several decades living between rat-infested safehouses besides. It's been a long time since she's had a real home. Centuries maybe. That had partially been out of necessity — harder for people to notice you're secretly immortal if you never stay in one place too long — and old habits die hard. Anyway, it isn't as if she's expecting guests. She's more or less kept to herself since washing up a few days ago.

But it wouldn't hurt to have a place to sleep. A little corner of the world to retreat to now and then.

The building she picks is a fixer-upper on the edge of Prufrock. Smells a bit like rot and mold. There's a hole in the rafters that's bound to let the weather in. Most of the furniture is a lost cause too. But it comes with second story balcony that doesn't look like too much of a hazard. Convenient for clearing the space too, seeing as Andy's taken to some rather dangerous spring cleaning, tossing an old table and a few broken chairs right off said balcony without much regard for anyone's safety.

Hopefully nobody's walking by down below. Or wearing a good helmet if they are. ]

B | PATROLLING THE TRENCHWOOD

[ It hadn't taken Andy long to find a job that suited her. Not because she's a particular industrious individual — but the days are long with idle hands, and she's done worse things than work to kill time. Being a hunter is a little less covert than what she was doing before she arrived in Trench, but the end goal isn't so different. Keep people safe. Do the dangerous work that might kill someone else. Get to indulge a little violence in doing both. It's a good fit for someone who possesses both keen martial skill and an utter lack of self-preservation.

She rides through the Trenchwood on her Omen, a large Friesian stallion with a dark mane almost as wild as her own. Strapped to her back is a hefty-looking axe, each of its two bits curved and cruel. For the things that go bump in the night, probably. Or anyone that doesn't think better of surprising her.

Maybe it's a rustle in the trees or a movement up ahead on the Staggering Road, but something has Andy suddenly pulling on the reigns of her mount, coming to an abrupt stop. She stares with narrowed eyes, barking out sharply: ]

Don't fuck around. Show yourself!

C | EVENT: WONDERKIND (ANYWHERE IN TRENCH)

[ It had been an immediate call to arms once word of the portals reached the Hunters. And in a twisted kind of way, Andy had been glad for the excuse. Better to have something to kill than too much time to think. When she's alone, centuries of regrets and pains always come to keep her company. She prefers the reassuring weight of her double-bitted axe in her hand — an old friend she's had by her side since the Bronze Age. The sharp end of her labrys is indiscriminate, and a reasonable tool against most flesh-and-bone things —

Though apparently not good enough to prevent her current predicament.

That predicament involves very sharp, very big teeth. Attached to some kind of giant serpent that slithered its way out of a Portal and now seems intent on making Andy its lunch. Her axe is buried in the creature's side, wedged between glimmering scales and well out of reach. The woman herself is squarely in the monster's gaping maw, holding its jaws apart just enough to keep from being crushed, her own teeth gritted with the effort of pressing up against the roof of that hungry mouth. If god or man doesn't intervene, she'll soon find out exactly how shitty it is to be digested alive while immortal. ]

D | WILDCARD

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[ Admittedly, she is proud of the axe. Very few things last when you're almost seven thousand years old, but Andy's managed to keep this one thing. The heirloom from her mother's tribe, a final remnant of that legacy. That simple compliment — the acknowledgement — does seem to warm her up, if only a little. ]

It was a gift.

[ That statement alone doesn't encompass the half of it, but it's more than Andy would usually offer, and she's quick enough to steer the conversation back towards her companion. The wryness in her voice is habitual when she asks: ]

Do you often volunteer to go hunt monsters with strange women?

Then it's all the more impressive.

[she smiles and shrugs a bit at the question]

Not generally, no. But I've been told that with my blood abilities, I should be a Hunter and not a Night Walker enough times. Maybe it would get them to settle down? [a pause] That, and you seem to be really good at it. I can only think of a couple of people who would have avoided either being eaten or snapped in two by a monster like that one.

[ Andy makes a noncommittal noise in return. Maybe she is good at this sort of work — but she's had thousands of years worth of killing to get her there. It's not talent, just repetition. You can get good at anything, given enough time. Helps that her curse keeps any mistake from being fatal too.

With an amicable sort of wryness: ]

I think we both know I didn't really avoid being eaten on my own. You can come along next time, if you want. It's no skin off my back.

[anything can be perfected through repetition. Tinya would know, but her mother's assignments weren't really to be discussed in polite society. no one liked to find out they were being spied on or flattered for secrets, but she'd left that behind. even before coming here.

and wryness. she has a similar sense of humor]

Then, I would like. And since I'll be watching your back, there's going to be no skin off of it at all. If I have anything to say about it, at least.

[ Inwardly, Andy wonders if she should practice a little more restraint next time. Centuries of immortality have given her the unfortunate habit of fighting recklessly, cutting the straightest, bloodiest path to victory — even if she has the skill to avoid such harm. Better not to be so overt with her power, if she's going to take on an occasional partner. Easier to avoid unnecessary questions that way, and it'll give her new acquaintance less cause for concern too. Not everyone wants to watch a teammate casually walk off dismemberment. ]

That's gracious of you. [ Again, wryly: ] Especially considering you don't even know my name yet.

[and she's still having trouble with the idea that her birthright powers, becoming intangible, take a Void of a lot more effort here than they did back home. she's used to being the back-up in a fight, not in taking the fight directly to others. but she's telling the truth about people saying someone with her powers has no business being a Night Walker.

and she shrugs lightly] I was raised to be a lady. Some of the lessons took. [wryly back] I assumed you wouldn't answer to "hey you," but hadn't the chance to ask yet.

[ A lady. That earns a little huff of a noise that almost sounds half-amused. Andy might argue that most manners and pleasantries are wasted on her. She's not exactly what someone might call a people person. Still, she seems willingly enough to indulge an introduction. That's more than she'd give to most — but this young woman did spare her the inconvenience of being digested alive by a giant snake.

She steps in closer, absently scrubbing a stray curl of hair from her blood-smeared forehead before offering rather unceremoniously: ]

It's Andy. [ Dryly then: ] But you're welcome to use "hey, you."

[she'd rather people be honest, after years of her mother's training. though, she is a people person. she likes being around people, talking to them, and hearing what it is they have to say. and she especially likes doing it with no hidden agenda. mother always wanted something from it.

the blood doesn't faze her one bit. she'd been a Legionnaire far too long for that]

I think I'll stick with Andy unless it's an emergency.

[ She's not so much of a people person herself — at least, she tries not to be. That always makes it harder, getting to know others. Getting attached to them. It's a cliché, and she knows it, but when you've lived as long as she has, you get used to doing what you have to do to make all that damn time just a little more bearable.

Admittedly though, she finds it harder to keep her distance when she feels a certain kinship. When there's someone strong, someone who's willing to fight. That always sparks something inside her, something that was passed on from her mother and her mother's mother — that warrior's spirit. ]

Hopefully we'll keep the emergencies to a minimum. My fucking wardrobe won't survive this on a daily basis. [ Her cigarette bobs up and down at the corner of her mouth as she talks, words shrouded in smoke. ] Do you have a name?

[after so long in another world besides her own galaxy and now her time in this one, she knows that companions and compatriots and friends are essential for keeping a person's equilibrium intact. so, she welcomes every opportunity which comes her way.

despite her usual role in these other worlds of being a counselor, someone to lean on (which isn't that different from home, really), she's still a fighter. she had to in the other world just to keep her head above water. here's shaping up to be no different, but no one ever accused her of being afraid to face whatever came her way]

Yeah, just because we can trade shiny rocks for clothes doesn't mean that there will always be a supply of shiny rocks. And I'm Tinya. I've been here for...two months?

[ Two months. A blink of an eye, on an immortal's timeline — but long enough that she would know how things work around here. That gives her a leg up on Andy, still fresh from the sea. ]

Tinya. [ Andy acknowledges the name with a little nod of her head. Normally, she's not one for names, but she'll make an exception for this one. It's a special occasion. Not everyday someone rescues her from a giant snake's maw. ] Suppose after all this time, you've settled down as much as anyone can, given the circumstances.

[she's very good at figuring out the way things work most places. part and parcel of being a diplomat's--now a President's--daughter. and honestly, if Tinya never thinks about the squid thing ever again, she'll be entirely grateful.

Tinya nods back. and it was her pleasure. in the other world, she'd gotten afraid her fighting skills would atrophy. in this one, she has entirely new powers to get used to. which is interesting at least?]

Yeah, I have a pretty nice house in Cellar Door. I'm typically a Night Walker, so that's where I spend a lot of my time. It's relatively safe there, for some reason beasts don't seem to like it much.

[ Andy, decidedly, does not have a nice house. Not that she minds that — the shitty little shack has some charm and it serves it's purpose, even with the roof half-caved in — but it's not exactly the kind of place for polite company. ]

The Night Walkers do seem to have a calming effect on most. The creatures probably know it, at least instinctively. [ With a twinge of wryness: ] Maybe I'll stop by Cellar Door sometime. If I'm looking for a change of pace.

[Tinya had to have a nice house. she loves here aspects of comfort and the fact that she could simply claim an unoccupied house was all the temptation she needed]

We try, at least. It's good to know our efforts are appreciated. [she hears the wryness, but she loves what she does] You should. It's nice.

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(OPEN) APRIL CATCH-ALL

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