hadriel_logs | Event Log: The Hope of a Child

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Event Log: The Hope of a Child

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the The Hope of a Child event
Where: All over the city!
When: January 23rd-Feb 1st
Warnings: Youths

By now, the gods have probably done enough weird crap to you while you're asleep for you to be a little suspicious- but it's not like you can just not sleep, especially when there are a few supernatural forces making your eyes droopy and your body feel heavy.

And now, when you fall asleep, you'll wake up somewhere else and you'll likely have quite a different temperament- you'll be younger, maybe a little more naive and innocent, and you won't exactly remember all the wild stuff that's happened to your adult self. Maybe now you'll be a little more trusting and emotional, hm? The gods could definitely use a little boost in power, and what better way to do it than to harness the power of overemotional kiddos!

Or maybe you aren't affected at all and find yourself surrounded by youths. What are you going to do when your best friend doesn't know how to cook for themselves? Or your bitter rival is throwing a temper tantrum because they broke their favorite toy? Nobody asked for this kind of responsibility, but think about what would happen if nobody was around to take care of these babies...

► This log covers January 23rd-Feb 1st.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you trip over a kid and die, please let us know here.

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As an adult, Rose has seen the worst of both yokai and humanity. She still chose humanity as superior but Haven had jaded her. Hadriel, too. It must be a strange dichotomy between this optimistic, idealistic Rose and the one Rey knows. It's incredible how even the smaller things can shape people.

"Hhmm," she hums thoughtfully. "I guess that'd make sense! I don't know a lot about humans than what I've been told. I've never even really met one, just seen them walking through the mountains sometimes."

Hopefully none of the ones that get tripped and eaten, Rey presumes. But then, it's not like she is one to judge. Her kind is hardly better, even if she disassociates with the synthetics akin to her.

"Have you met the other humans in this city? Some of them aren't all that bad. Even the ones who aren't human."

If they were, it wasn't by Rose. The only thing she's sunk her teeth into has been sheep so far. Mutton stew was her favorite. That's actually true of adult Rose, too, but like Hell she's ever going to tell anyone that.

"I've met... some people," she admits. "They seem alright, but. It's still scary. Being so far away from home." There. She said it! She's scared! Gosh, she already wishes she hadn't.

Fucking precious.

"Guess it can be, when you end up someplace unfamiliar." Rey manages something of a rare, strained smile. "Fortunately, I've been here for a couple years now, so I'm pretty used to these roads."

Maybe that'll set Rose's little wolfy heart at ease.

"A couple years? Wow, that's... not a long time." Says the girl already a little over a century old, who's never been anywhere but home until now. Her sense of time might be just a little skewed.

"So we can't just go... somewhere else?" Ah. Rose. If only it were that simple.

No, it really isn't that long, in the grand scope of her own lifespan. She's lived several lives, and stability was never a feature in any of them.

"It is when you're used to packing up and moving every few months or so." There was that fact, at least. "Sorry. Our options are a little limited right now."

Thanks, Delight.

Rose's stability will some day end. But she won't look back on it fondly. In fact, she'll see all the ways it was stifling and confining and made her feel extremely small. She is actually small now though so that's less an issue.

"That's awful," she says. "What about people who need to go back home? What if their parents worry?" Rose knows her mother would be frantic if she was gone for too long. Mostly because she's not allowed to stray outside the village to begin with, but...

How important is telling her the truth going to be? Rey has been here long enough to know how this works. Whether Rose will remember this conversation or not, that she doesn't know.

"Their parents will be fine. You'll go back as if you never left at all, so no worries there."

It's truth enough.

Little white lies never hurt anyone. Her adult self will take that an unrealistic extreme but, hey, who's really judging? Not this little wolf, that's for sure. Ignorance is bliss in this case and she seems satisfied with that answer.

"Oh, that's... weird. But good, I guess! That means they don't have to worry. And I have time to figure out how to get back to them! Maybe I can get everyone back home, too!"

Fortunately, from what Rey can see, this little wolf is a bit more subdued than her older self. Good thing Rey wouldn't resort to white lies otherwise.

"Ah--" She stops herself before she can point out that not everyone would rather go home. Rose is no doubt aware of her own situation, but there's no point in freaking the kid out. It's better to just resign herself to the fact that it'd be a waste of time and focus on keeping Rose safe. "Sure. Good luck with that."

Rey pauses, then adds: "So, um. You like your family?"

It sure sounds like it, despite Rose being different from them.

That's a good call. This Rose is naive enough to believe that eveyone would rather go home. They have family and friends to return to, right? It just makes sense.

"Yeah!" she exclaims, almost excitedly. But then she takes a moment to think and, well. It's a little more tricky than that, even at so young of an age.

"I mean, it's... hard sometimes. I'm not like other wolves so I think my parents get picked on for it. I try, but- I'm just different."

That's a tune Rey knows all too well. She sighs at Rose's answer.

"People tend to do that over things they don't understand, or see as different. Those types are dumbasses, though. You don't need to worry about them."

Or maybe she does. But Rey would rather the Rose she knows not to worry her little head over being a different sort of wolf. Rey is different from the rest of her kind, too.

"It's not me I'm worried about," she admits. "It's... my parents. I think it's harder on them than me sometimes, maybe."

She's seen the way her mother cries sometimes when someone says she birthed a 'defective' child. She's seen the way her father's quiet anger rises up behind his eyes at her doing something else out of line. She knows she's different and it's hard on her too but she can't imagine what it must be like for them.

Okay, that's fair. Rey recalls her own mother, what had happened to her because she tried to protect a thing she created and called her child. She grimaces a moment, then glances back down to Rose.

"Well, guess I was different like you, too. Or, at least, I didn't 'work' like I was supposed to." She says that word with a bit of distaste. "So don't worry about it. Being different isn't so bad."

Considering that Rey isn't sure they would be friends (friends?) if Rose was the same as her kin.

No, it's very likely they wouldn't. It's very like no one would have known Rose the way she is now. Somtimes, however, she almost wishes they hadn't. Maybe then more of them would be alive. Maybe then she wouldn't wonder why it seems like everything she touches turns to ruin.

"I think so, too. It's hard sometimes but my people are really mean and... I don't wanna be."

It's strange, how she she feels so much safer saying it lightyears away from all she's ever known as home. It makes her feel almost a little guilty how easy it is to tell a kind stranger this than her own parents, than the rest of her pack.

For some reason, this isn't the Rose Rey would have expected. She isn't sure what to expect -- maybe something closer to the snarling, feral creature she first ran into. What few memories of a childhood she does have are many, and none are her own. She tries not to dwell on that for long, but this place has a way of ripping the past right open for many.

"You don't have to be." Rey gives the girl a somewhat sympathetic look, before placing a hand over her head, between those wolflike ears.

It's... cute? Damned if she doesn't have a soft spot for animals. (And maybe children, to an extent.)

"Well, as long as you're here, you can be whoever you want. So be nice or whatever to your heart's content."

She won't be that Rose for another century or so. For as much as demons and humans don't get along, they share some key similarities. While most human children aren't tearing this open with their teeth or living off the land, they are being taught by people older than them and brought up as best as they can be. Most of the time.

When the woman's hand goes to her head, her ears flatten back in response. Her tail starts to swish, kicking up dust behind her. She's still very much like a canine despite the human(oid) appearance and attitude. It's an interesting blend where animal ends and human(oid) begins.

"You really mean it? That'd be cool! I always wanted to just, like, I'unno. Talk to people. Like this!"

The fact that the little wolf girl doesn't seem to take offense to Rey's gesture is encouraging. She also can't help but wonder how much those canine instincts of hers go; she didn't know that Rose could be *this* much of a wolf. But now she does, and it's ~~fucking adorable~~ interesting.

"Really. I've found that people aren't always so bad, either. Most of them will even talk right back."

Like Rey, who's giving little Rosie a good hair ruffle.

Even for the Rose that Rey knows, her instincts run a lot deeper than she likes to let on. This girl though doesn't have the same desire to hide what she is. Not just yet. While she still feels a bit... displaced, it hasn't occured to her what she could do to mitigate that feeling.

"Yeah? I mean, you're talking to me so I guess that's true..."

She gives a little laugh and a quiet 'hey' in response to that hair ruffle. It isn't anything she actually seems to mind.

If the kid doesn't mind it, then Rey isn't going to apologize. She snorts at that glowing response.

"Glad to have made an impression." She pulls her hand back, smoothing out the little Rose's hair. "Hey. You eaten anything yet?"

Food is always one way to get on someone's good side. And Rey is pretty sure she doesn't have to worry about Rose's taste buds and diet this time.

She doesn't mind it, no. It's very unusual for a wolf to even allow themselves to be touched by a human(oid) but Rose isn't like most wolves. They've already established that.

"No," she says, a bit quicker than she intends to. "I was gonna' fish a little, maybe, since I saw all those pools..." This Rose also isn't afraid of water.

"How do you like steak?" Rey suggests. "The fish are fine, but there are other options as well."

Particularly options that Rey has caught on her own, rather than perused from one of the shops. You can never trust the canned meat here.

"I love steak!" Deer steak is some of the best, in her opinion, but just about any will do. Beef isn't a big thing in Japan yet so she hasn't had the chance to try it but she's heard that's pretty good too.

"Are you a good cook? I help my mom sometimes but I'm no good at it, really."

Gesturing that they move, Rey starts leading the way to her place. There won't be any deer steak, but she has an idea.

"Guess I'm all right." She shrugs. "Know enough about cooking not to starve."

What! No steak! This is going to be the worst. (It won't actually be the worst even if she might be a little disappointed.)

"That's more than me! Though I guess if I was really hungry I could just hunt something..."

(( ooc: heyo! i'm on hiatus until probably mid-april due to life stuff so i will still be painfully slow if you'd rather drop/handwave this and start something new when I get back lmk!!! ))

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circumitus - 2018-03-23 06:45 (UTC) - Expand

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