[OPEN] Who put me in your way to find?

[hadnoright]

Who: Daisy Tonner (hadnoright) & you!
What: Catch-All for Daisy
When: August
Where: The forest, the hot springs, downtown, etc.
Warnings: Violence, animal death/hunting, intrusive thoughts, nudity, others added as needed



1. What right had you not to let me die? [the forest]

Those who travel out into the forest during the day may find themselves running into a short, relatively petite human-looking woman bodily slamming into a deer or boar that's almost as big as she is. The creature hits the ground with surprising force and when the woman rises, it's whilst wiping the blood from her mouth and rolling her shoulders.

Most of the time, she already knows someone's there before they say a word. So, the animal-like energy to her posture melts away like it was never there at all and she turns toward her audience and says something like, "Don't mind me. Working."

Unless, that is, you've managed to actually sneak up on her. It's not an easy thing to do, but when she's in the heat of a Hunt tunnel vision can take its hold and it's in those moments where a sudden noise might make the Hunter's gaze snap towards it like a beast startled. And it's in those moments where Daisy is most distinctly inhuman, the odd yellow eyes and the teeth and the animal way she holds herself.

And it's in those moments that it takes all of Daisy's restraint not to give into the sound of blood pounding in her ears, telling her to attack. With a growl, she shakes her head and takes a step back. "Jesus fucking christ. Don't sneak around!"

2. Ooh but did I even know what I was asking for? [hot springs]

She doesn't get aches and pains like most people in her profession would after a while, but that doesn't mean the hot springs aren't relaxing in their own right. So, occasionally Daisy makes the trip up to the springs, strips down and slips into the water with zero modesty nor shame about the nudity.

There are scars all over her body, many in places that should've killed her if she hadn't already been long on the way to inhumanity by the time she took the damage that caused them. The biggest, a starburst-like scar marring the back of her shoulder, is only visible if you're looking when she sits up.

3. If I had my way, I'd have missed you more [downtown]

There is a large blonde wolf lying in the yard of Daisy and Erin's house. The wolf may appear at first glance to be asleep, but in reality if you look closer she's a little too visibly tuned into her surroundings for that. Still, she is relaxing. Sunbathing, even.

Occasionally, a Mawhile appears from another part of the garden to try and bite her tail. She seems completely unfazed by this.

Wildcard

Hit me up to plot something or just throw something at me.

Comments

The Forest

[apocryphalarchivist]

Of all the things he expects to wander into during his "regularly scheduled mental health walk", it certainly isn't a Hunter on the move.

He isn't trying to sneak up on her, but he isn't paying all too much attention to the world around him, either. Even if he had, she's set so low, so calculated, so quiet herself, he may not have spotted her unless he was looking for her.

A snapping twig beneath his boot and the sharp crunch of someone turning to face him stops him dead in his tracks, though, and he freezes in place. There's a cold terror that runs down his spine... but, at the very least, it eases, if only a degree, once he's gotten a second to get a good look at the face that whirled around to face him.

It doesn't help that there's some part of him that's keenly aware of that rushing blood surging through her, that vicious instinct. (There's a tightness in his chest, the feeling of his heart briefly dropping into his stomach; what an uncomfortable familiarity there is, to being out in the woods with her, like this. He shoves it aside with some force.)

"I-I--- um. Sorry?" He manages, barely above a whisper. The quiet in the forest seems all so much heavier now, after accidentally breaking it. "I didn't expect anyone else to be out and about here."

[hadnoright]

It's a stronger hit of fear than she got off him even with her hand in his chest, back on that horrible hive masquerading as a ship. The taste is familiar in ways she wishes it wasn't and she has to take another step back, dragging her hands over her face and up through her hair. The tight Dutch braids she puts it in to work loosen.

"This. Is my day job, Jon! Of course I'm out here. Jesus—" Keep it together, Tonner. Listen to the quiet, not his stupid racing heartbeat. She breathes deep breaths, in and out, inhale, exhale. "Just— stay there. For a second. Gimme— gimme a second."

[apocryphalarchivist]

"Alright! Alright, just--- take whatever time you need," Jon raises his hands defensively, but stays exactly where he stopped. It'd be just his luck if turning and stepping away invoked some sort of Hunter prey-drive.

He has no intentions to interfere with whatever she's got to do to right herself, but he does, at least, offer one more tentative, awkward "sorry" across the clearing, just for good measure.

[hadnoright]

At least he's got the sense to listen to her. It's too easy to forget that he's never actually seen her like this, that for all he Knows and Sees he's never born witness to the struggle of actually fighting her instincts.

She drops down to sit on the forest floor and closes her eyes. Jon may even be able to hear the quiet repetition of, "Don't listen to— to the blood, listen to the quiet. Listen to the..." that comes and goes with the steady, rhythmic pattern of her breathing as bit by bit she calms herself down.

Only after a long minute does let out an isolated sigh and open her eyes. "...alright. You can move. Just, you know. Mind the carcass."

[apocryphalarchivist]

"Mind the---? Oh. Oh. The... carcass."

Side-stepping the aforementioned carcass, while choosing not to look especially hard at it. Instead of standing awkwardly by, he eases down to the forest floor more slowly. It's as good of a place to sit and chat as any.

"Closest part of the woods from my house, and outside of the farmers, I've never seen anyone out this way. I didn't know anyone hunted out further than the woods behind town directly, but, well... suppose if there's not much competition, it would make for good hunting."

[hadnoright]

"That, and the less people to run into, the better. Only takes one screw up for me to end up being treated like the next Pine Devil."

Bump into some townsperson who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and no one comes out of that encounter happy. It's a reputation she'd like to avoid.

"Mostly got control of myself but I'm still a Hunter. Can't turn it off."

[apocryphalarchivist]

"If only life could be so simple, and have these things on a light-switch," Jon gripes. "I'm not making a great reputation for myself, either, quite frankly - I get it."

He nods, back to Daisy's fresh catch.

"Almost wish I could take a page out of your day-job and get it out of my system this way. Bet that one's got quite a story to tell."

forest.

[abhorrently]

"Working, or 'working,' Daisy?"

The voice that comes is familiar, appearing out of the shadows - she doesn't think she'll ever be able to sneak up on Daisy, not with her nose and their familiarity with each other's presence. But it's reassuring in its own way, that there's not a thing either of them have to do to justify their own behaviors. And it hasn't been that long, anyway, since Fever herself was hunting, trying to find that edge of satisfaction in a kill.

[hadnoright]

Daisy sighs, dropping the more civilised-member-of-society posture and tone once she knows it's just Fever. "If I was 'working', I'd be enjoying it more."

As it is, it's... not hitting right. Daisy has blood on her teeth and on her hands but it's not satisfying the pounding in her head.

[abhorrently]

"It's not enough."

The tone says she understands perfectly. They can talk about trying to ignore it for hours, but when it's a built in need, it's saying a picture of food is enough to feed you. And it's not like they can tie Daisy up, sit with her through a fit.

"How bad is it?"

[hadnoright]

"Not unbearable. But not. Good."

She groans, kicking the dead meat beside her with a beat of what feels like unearned frustration. "It's stupid. I'm fed. Not starving. But it's still not right."

[abhorrently]

"Tasteless. You know the shape of it, but it doesn't feel right."

Fever nods, folding her arms.

"You know I'm the last person to call that stupid. I've been carving up deer trying to get it, but...I can't drink water and pretend it's wine."

A pause, a careful one, before she knows that admitting this may or may not make Daisy feel better.

"It's been too quiet, hasn't it."

[hadnoright]

At first, Daisy visibly doesn't get the point being made. Connects a dot too fast, takes quiet a little too literally, before it bleeds into her more thoroughly and she begins to understand.

"...maybe."

2. Ooh but did I even know what I was asking for?

[crushed_pearls]

Today Erin has chosen to come with Daisy. Unlike her sovereign, Erin does get aches and pains, and while it's been months since Serena Eterna she still has a tendency to hoard her Glamour rather than expend it to heal herself or soothe her own aches; the memory of scraping for every single speck is deep on her, and that hunger has an edge to it that bleeds into the Hunt.

Now, though, right now, she's just as naked as Daisy is, and she's feeling the heat of the water soothe her aching muscles. She rests her head back against the side, her blindfold away where it will stay dry, and makes a wordless Noise.

[hadnoright]

Daisy laughs, softly. Without her blindfold Erin can't see the fond, amused look on her face, but it's there regardless. "Enjoying yourself?"

[crushed_pearls]

"Listen, if getting the girls out in semi-public was more permissible I'd be doing this shit every day. I'd be in here so much I'd turn Finnish. You'd find me stalking Russians through the woods and drinking vodka for breakfast before inventing new words for seasonal depression. My pagan religion would never have been quite stamped out by Christendom."

[hadnoright]

The next laugh is more of a bark of it. "That how that works? You spend enough time in the steam and you develop Finnishness. Chronic condition, incurable."

[crushed_pearls]

"I'm a fuckin' fairy love, we have Lamarckian evolution but somehow even dumber." She flashes a grin 'at' Daisy, Erin has missed to the left by like two feet. "You sound like you're having a good time yourself, y'know. Is it the view? Tell me it's the view."

[hadnoright]

Unashamedly teasing, "Mmm. It is a pretty lush view. Hard not to appreciate that."

Wildcard

[not_the_last]

Cassandra is aware that Daisy's here, and has made a mental note to look her up soon. But her days are crowded, more so than she expects them to be, so it hasn't happened yet.

And she isn't expecting to turn a corner and find herself face to face with Daisy walking back into town, with a startlingly large carcass of some kind slung across her narrow shoulders.

Under the circumstances, she feels, her momentary blank reaction (the kind perhaps best expressed as "...") is understandable.

[hadnoright]

Daisy stops short, when she catches motion up ahead. It's only the second after that she sees its Cassandra, specifically, at which point she blinks and nods.

She'd raise a hand but, you know. Occupied.

"Cassandra."

[not_the_last]

"Daisy." Almost the same tone. "I'm. Pleased to see you."

It isn't a lie, and knowing that feels strange.

[hadnoright]

Definitely not the greeting Daisy expected, but she huffs a bit of a laugh. "Good to see you made it." Not survived, obviously. "Wasn't sure about the folks who didn't wash up with the rest of us."

[not_the_last]

"I think anyone may yet show up. Dedue only arrived last month."

She's still holding out hope for a few people, if quietly.

[hadnoright]

"Christ. We're really trickling in." There's only a couple of people left that Daisy could be said to miss, but... there's also only a few people she could be said to dislike enough to wish the void on them.

"How've you been keeping busy?"

Daisy's own answer to this is, well, rather obvious.