[pm] Exactly. Candy corn should be available year round.
Did you know they made Dr. Pepper Peeps candy? I don't think that is seasonal, but it is something.
Also I think that stuff like Apple Harvest Sour Patch Kids should also be around all year. Or the hearts. I think the world can use more hearts for sure.
@madisonnotmaddie replied to your post âIf only you could box with your teeth, huh? You'd...â:
Yes, I do not think that is something you are supposed to do? If anything, you bite stuff with teeth. Like cupcakes and fruit and macaroni and cheese. How could you even box?
âYeah, yeah, definitely for macaroni and cheese and those powdered donuts you desperation buy at the gas station. Definitely not for boxing or for people! Absolutely not people! That's a great question, maybe someone will found out one day for us.
I'm not gonna go to Canada. I have things I need to do here. Also it's probably expensive and I don't know anybody there. I just wanted to give you an idea. Where would you most want to go if you could go anywhere?
That all does sound very advanced, yes. Not much for the abstract of anything, myself, so. Good to know there's people on that. Unraveling the math mysteries.
Maybe places to go on and donate them to those in actual need. They're frozen!
[... ... ... ... ...] What do you mean it wasn't You got attacked by a werewolf. That is bad What are you fucking talking about
I don't know if you're trying to act like it ain't a big deal or what, but you can admit it was bad. It's terrifying to be chased down by a werewolf. I'll even admit that it's frightening to see a werewolf lunge at me with its mouth wide open because I know it wants to rip out my throat. I know what it feels like for those teeth to sink into
You're lucky it only bit you, when it could've ripped off your entire leg and had you bleeding out on the ground, before it tore through the rest of your limbs and ripped open your chest and throat. That's what those beasts do. They're goddamn dangerous predators. [user feels weird saying this because of his relationship with Talia and friendship with Wyatt, but he ignores it because he's trying to convince Madison that hunting isn't like a superhero movie.] I ain't sure you understand how dangerous they are. I've seen them pull apart hunters who are crying and begging for their lives in their final moments. It's bad, Madison.
[... ... ...] It's not just werewolves either. Other beasts are just as fucking brutal.
When I say think about your family, I mean think about what it'll be like for them to never receive your body because you were killed by a shifter and left for dead out in the woods and your body was never found. Or maybe your body was found, but now all they have left of you is your ripped apart flesh and some of your bones. Just whatever the shifter left of you and whatever the wildlife didn't pick apart until someone found your body. Or if you're lucky, you lose a limb or two, but you're still alive and now your family has to worry about you in a different way.
Is that what you want? Do you want your family to experience that? They ain't hunters. They ain't gonna know what happened to you. Keep them in mind while you're off wanting to be a hunter. Keep them in mind because they ain't gonna be able to handle what's gonna happen to you. Even if you ain't killed, you're still gonna be fucked in the head like the rest of us, and your family ain't gonna like that either.
[pm] [ user stares at this for a while. for too long, probably. she debates just not responding, but she likes Daniel and doesn't want to ignore him even if his words bite. (not literally, of course, though they hurt almost as much. which is weird. she's not supposed to take stuff like this too seriously. ]
Okay. I'm sorry.
I don't
That's
I don't want my family to experience that. I would never ever wish that on them or on anyone. But if it is a fact of life then [...] I guess that is what it is. [ user is having doubts ] Not every hunter I've met seems [...] messed up in the head. You don't, I don't think? Maybe there can be exceptions to the rules.
[pm, after solo] Marielle is here now! She is staying at my apartment. :)
[pm] I'm totes sure, like, I've got tons to say about my sisters but at the end of the day, I really appreciated having, you know... that older guidance. Not that I'd tell them that, obvi. Ruby already has enough of an ego. [user is worse] I guess making friends isn't super easy for some, or it's not like, a goal for them. But I'm hoping you find more along the way! Your twenties are for finding your people. And making weird hair choices.
Good! Yay! Super thrilled to have you on board. You're so brave for choosing this, you know? Even if you're aware of how tough it'll be to reach the point where you can go out to kill dangerous things to protect others. Don't be like me, you gotta take your training seriously! [user is purposefully not sugarcoating things] And ofc, if you ever wanna nope out, that's super fair. There are like, a buncha hunters who decided this wasn't the life they wanted.
[pm] Well, I won't tell them that either, you can consider your secret (if that is what it is) safe with me. I don't know if any of my siblings have a ton of an ego. Brooklyn, sometimes, but she's also the oldest of us so I think she's earned it. [...] What sort of weird hair choices?
Thank you! I
Mari
You didn't take things seriously? But you seem like a good hunter. I don't But if we're like, biologically supposed to do this then how do you nope out of that? Like, hypothetically, 'cause I really don't know if
TIMING: Today.
LOCATION: Wicked's Rest Train Station.
SUMMARY:Â Marielle arrives in town! Madison is very happy to see her friend!
CONTENT WARNINGS: None!
She felt itchy.
One of her favorite people in the world was coming to visit and all Madison could think about was how itchy she felt, like sheâd put a woolen sweater in direct contact with her skin.
Sheâd always been sensitive.
Unnaturally prone to breaking things and winning at any sort of sports related event, but always sensitive. Sheâd cried so much when sheâd gone to preschool that her parents had pulled her out and waited another year, until she was four going on five and technically in pre-kindergarten. Then theyâd had her siblings (other than Salem, who was doing just fine on her own in preschool) take turns dropping her off. Something about how that would help her to not freak out as much.
It hadnât really worked, but she had managed to convince Brooklyn to stay more than a few times â which had made her oldest sister late for school a fair few days, but neither of them ever said anything about it. At least not that she remembered.Â
So sheâd always been sensitive but that still didnât explain why she felt itchy about Marielle coming. It was everything that sheâd wanted, outside of finding other hunters and becoming a hunter herself, ever since she came to town. It must have been that her excitement spilled over into anxiety territory without meaning to. Because she was overjoyed, so much so that sheâd changed outfits nearly a dozen times before finally settling on leggings and a red sweater â something she hoped Marielle would approve of.
(Hoped quite nearly painfully so.)Â
Except it was too hot and so she pulled off the sweater, just left with a plain shirt below. She hoped that would be good enough.
(Still that painful sort of hope.)
Marielleâs text glowed at her from her phone screen.
Arriving at 1:35pm.
It wasnât as effusive as her friend usually was, but that didnât mean anything.
Marielle didnât have to be effusive, and it wasnât like she was the most of that way in the best of circumstances. Still, Madison thought that perhaps she would have been a bit more enthusiastic. Their earlier planned time together had been cancelled due to snow or something â something that Marielle had to go out into the world and fight and that meant that back in January she couldnât come up to see Madison. Which explained the reflex of trying to put on a sweater in a month usually too hot for sweaters anywhere except indoors.
She only had her bike to get to the train station and she figured the two of them could just walk back to her apartment afterwards. They were both strong women, and hunters on top of that, and so a walk with some luggage wouldnât be too much to handle.
Sheâd asked Marielle why she was taking a train and Marielle had said that she had some business to take care of in Boston and that it made more sense to fly there, deal with said business, and then take the train up.
That made sense.
Though, the more Madison thought about it, she wasnât sure if there was anything Marielle could do that wouldnât make sense.
Which was its own sort of utter delight.
She came to a skidded halt on her bike (and she thought it was sort of like the movies, where a cut scene would pan perfectly from her tire up to her face, grinning and determined. Proud to show Marielle everything sheâd done since moving here. Excited to show Marielle around town.Â
She held onto her bike handles, bouncing on the balls of her feet outside the station as she waited for Marielle to show up.Â
1:23pm.
Her hands hurt briefly and so Madison looked down, realizing that she was far more white knuckled than she should have been. It wasnât like anyone was going to steal her bike from right under her. That didnât happen! Everything today was good and everything today was even wonderful and she was going to take Marielle out for pizza and she wasnât going to even let her friend pay and they were going to get extra cheesy garlic bread! (Marielle loved garlic, especially because of the fact that it messed with vampires.)
1:32pm.
She was impatient. She willed the clock to move faster, willed the train to move faster (but not so fast that it would be unreasonable for the tracks to handle, of course!), and willed Marielle to just be here already. Sheâd already waited eight months more than theyâd originally planned, but it was worth it. She knew it would be. Things like this didnât just happen and not end up worth it. It was a bit more optimistic than Madison usually was, but the occasion called for it.
She had special Blackberry Dr Pepper cans back at her apartment and sheâd bought wine glasses and the little markers you put on wine glasses all special so that they could really be fancy. Madison had also bought twirly fries (frozen, of course, she didnât want them to just sit around, she wanted to make them fresh for Marielle), and sheâd done her best to recreate Bojanglesâ special sauce for the two of them to enjoy. They would have a feast in addition to the pizza and garlic bread they were already going to order.Â
1:35pm.
She jumped up at the sound of a train pulling into the station, practically feeling like she could float with joy. For a moment, she could have sworn she was, no matter how improbable that was.
Madison spotted Marielleâs blonde hair and waved frantically before running over to her friend and hugging her as tight as she could.
âGood to see you, Madison.â Marielle responded, ducking out of the hug. âYouâll help me carry my luggage, right?â
âOf course!â As if that should have ever even been a question! âIâm just so happy to see you!â
âAnd I am so thrilled to see you too.â A smile finally appeared on Marielleâs lips. Madison didnât even quite realize how it didnât entirely reach her eyes. She couldnât focus on anything other than the excitement of her friend actually being here. âLooking forward to everything.â
âMe too!â Madison chirped, unable to tamp down her excitement. âWeâve gotta walk back to my place, but Iâll help you with your luggage and then I have so many plans for us! Like, movies and food and maybe you can meet some of my friends too!â She bounced on the balls of her feet.
âSounds lovely, Madison. I have plenty of plans myself.â That time, Marielleâs smile did reach her eyes.
TIMING: recent-ish.
LOCATION: Gatlin Fields.
PARTIES: Daiyu ( @bladesbounties ) & Madison ( @madisonnotmaddie )
SUMMARY:Â Daiyu tries to teach Madison how to use a gun. It goes about as well as anyone might expect.
CONTENT WARNINGS:Â Gun use (nothing is shot except bottles and cans being shot at), domestic (child) abuse (past, hunter flavor).
Sheâd meant well by giving Daiyu those coupons, even though part of her (or most of her, really) had figured that Daiyu would use them as bedding for her dog or just ignore them entirely. So the fact that her coupons were being very much put to use and so immediately too did surprise Madison. But that also meant that the two of them were going to hang out and, in the end, that was what she wanted most of all.
She eagerly waited outside her apartment for Daiyu to pick her up. Sheâd worn some sort of âsuper cool training montage worthyâ clothes, and she hoped Daiyu would notice. Sheâd even pulled her hair up exactly like sheâd seen Daiyu do it one time, though maybe that was too much, and so Madison undid the hairstyle and pulled her hair back into a simple ponytail, much more like what she usually wore.
Bouncing on her feet, she spotted Daiyu coming down the street and didnât even think to run into the middle of the street (she did have common sense, thank you very much). She just waved enthusiastically until Daiyu pulled over. âHi!â She practically squeaked. âThanks for getting me! Do I need anything else? If I do, I can go back up to my apartment real quick, but otherwise, we can just get going. LikeâŚâ she wanted to say cool kids, so badly, but Daiyu might not like that. Still, Madison couldnât help herself. âLike cool kids.â
â
Being around Madison made Daiyu feel like her head was caving in. There was something so strange about a hunter her age, so enthusiastic and so naive about hunting. Something so horrible about the way she wanted this, but seemed hesitant to go through the training Daiyu had known. She reminded her of the soft kids at camp, except she was older and somehow even more naive.
Still, it was undeniable that this town was not one where she could simply close her eyes and avoid everything supernatural. And though Daiyu had caused plenty of death in her life, she did not want the girl to die. Sheâd feel something as stupid as responsibility, as if it was at all on her that this hunter had somehow been released into this town with the wild idea of becoming one when she was already past training age. So she drove towards her apartment, trying not to think about how endearing Madisonâs coupons had been and wondering what her intent was today. To try and scare the girl off (so far unsuccessful) or to teach her something proper. She had brought a gun she wouldnât mind separating with for her.
She turned down her music when Madison bounced up to the car, blinking at her as she rambled on. Daiyu respected yappers, but she was still impressed by the way Madison could make words just fall from her mouth. âNo, I got everything we need. As long as you got your wallet for the burgers afterwardsâŚâ She grinned a little. âI wouldnât know squat about cool kids. I never hung out with them.â Punched a few of them, though. âWeâre off to Gatlin Fields. Can drive up to the woods after too, if you want multi terrain stuff.â She put her car in gear and drove off. âFigured we could do some shooting. Got coke bottles and stuff. No ⌠practical stuff yet.â No bloodshed. She didnât want to deal with Madisonâs reaction to a dying beast again. âYou got any beasts you wanna know about? Now is question time. Later is doing time.â She had practiced this, the things she would say. She hoped she sounded like she knew what she was doing. Her stomach felt tight.
â
Daiyu was so set in her ways. Madison admired that. She wasnât sure if sheâd ever be as set in her beliefs as Daiyu seemed to be. But maybe, with time and with practice, she could figure something out. She had to. There wasnât really a choice in the matter, and Daiyuâs confidence and steadfastness in all that she was did give Madison some hope. She kept quiet about just how much hope it gave her, because she didnât want to annoy Daiyu with her hope and hard-won optimism. At least, not all at once.
âOkay, Iâm glad youâve got everything. Thatâs pretty much what I expected but it felt right to offer, and Iâd â yeah.â She could stop talking excessively at any point. Not that she thought she was talking too much in excess. Sheâd known plenty of people who talked more than she did. She just talked more when she was comfortable around somebody and even though Daiyu made her nervous, Madison also could tell that she very much was comfortable around the other woman and that took away nearly all of her ability to restrict herself. Hence, the cool kids comment. âOh yeah, me neither. I just think youâre cool.â Which was probably also not what she was supposed to say, for like, hunter rules or whatever, but sheâd said it and right now she didnât feel like she could take it back. That would feel far too much like being a liar, or some sort of cruel sneak, and even if she couldnât be a good hunter, she didnât want to be a cruel sneak of any sort.
âI do got my wallet for burgers after! I would not forget something as important as that!â She shook her head emphatically. Shooting. Well. That was something, and perhaps something that Madison should have expected to come across with Daiyu. âCoolio, yep! Weâll go up there and it wonât be practical but weâll practice stuff.â She sighed. âUm. Well, I mean, I want to know about everything I can, but I donât even know what to ask about, since I keep finding out that things are real â things I never even imagined could be. So⌠whatâs your favorite beast?â It was extraordinary how much Daiyu knew what she was doing. It put Madison in a simultaneous state of wonder and of feeling wholly incompetent, all in one. But it was a more comfortable and hopeful incompetence than it usually would have been.
â
Madison was rambling and Daiyu let the words go in one ear and out the other. It would be wise to just focus on what was ahead of them, to pay attention to the conversation that seemed actually important. She didnât want to run out of steam before they had come to the meat of their outing, after all. And for all the aforementioned reasons, Madison did have the capability to suck up all her socializing skills quite swiftly. It was a shitty thought, she knew that, but she had to let some things be water off a duckâs back, lest she started saying things about Madison having to leave town and forget about hunting forever in a non-productive way.
But then Madison called her cool and she looked up, bemused. âYou do, do ya?â She felt strange by that assessment. She had not been particularly nice to Madison, after all. She tried to see herself through the otherâs eyes and saw only a grumpy, short hunter with an even shorter fuse and crude ways of pointing out the horrors of hunting. Maybe the fact that Madison thought her cool and not an absolute bitch was a bit of proof that she might have some of what it took to do what a hunter did. But she wasnât sure. She just chalked the assessment up to the otherâs naivetĂŠ. âBurgers ⌠now those are cool.â
She knew that Madison was a little hesitant about firearms. Theyâd practiced with the bow and arrow before, and though those were very cool (without any doubt or overthinking), they were unpractical. A ranged weapon you could conceal easily was crucial, if you asked Daiyu. If Madison was going to protect herself from things like bugbears without control, she needed something small on hand. âJust good to know how to handle a gun, ya know? Most of the time you donât even have to use it.â That was something she had heard someone say in a TV show, once, and it had been about threatening humans. In the case of beasts and shifters it wasnât entirely true. At the question, she was quiet for a while, thinking it over. âOvinniks. These fiery â literally â big, black cats. Theyâre not that much of a threat when treated well.â They were cool.
â
She could tell that she was a bit too much for Daiyu, sometimes. Perhaps all of the time, if she really wanted to feel down about herself. But Daiyu hadnât been obligated to like, use the coupons Madison had given her, and yet she did, which meant that she couldnât always be too much for her. That bit of hope, she held onto, fast and steady. Like a life preserver, in a way, because she needed people who were like her to like her and there was something particular about Daiyu that made her want that all the more. Which wasnât necessarily healthy, but it was the truth and that was something that she had to acknowledge.
âI do, yes!â Overeager again, but Daiyu didnât seem overly frustrated about it. Though Madison very much believed that Daiyu was very good at putting on a mask and only showing what she wanted to show. Which meant that maybe she was frustrated, but the two of them were still out here going to shoot things which was not her idea of a cool way to spend an afternoon, but that didnât matter, not really. She was set on not actually having to shoot anything at all. Sheâd worm her way out of it. Hopefully. So she took in a steady breath and focused on the road in front of them.
âTwo things can be true.â She held her hands carefully in her lap, her knees only bouncing occasionally. âIâm glad to hear that!â She said, squeaking, more than perhaps a little bit louder than she had intended. âOh those sound cool!! Do you know where I could meet one? Or is it just â uh â like, by chance or stuff or maybe Iâm not ready yet?â Her words continued to spill out of her mouth in the most undignified fashion. âDo they live around here?â
â
The urge to grab Madison by her shoulders, shake her a little, look her in the eye and tell her to run from what she had decided was her duty still lived within her. Conflict ran rampant through her, the urge directly feeding into who she had been almost a decade ago, when she had tried to run from hunting. She had ran right back to it and now here she was, with a young hunter in the passenger seat who was too soft for it all, and yet wasnât running herself. Daiyu did not want to confront that part of herself any more, but it was right there in the car with them.
Besides, maybe there was no running for Madison any more. Maybe all she needed was to be taught some defense so she would be better prepared for the next time she faced a bugbear. Maybe there was no running from the hunt, but if Daiyu could make sure she would not be running towards it ⌠that would be enough. She turned up the volume of her music, twisting at the knob and letting the music drown out some of the conversation but mostly her thoughts.
âSome farmers have them. I know of at least one in the fields,â she said, âTheyâre ⌠kinda like pets. Not really domesticated but you know. Civil enough.â Daiyu took a sharp turn, Gatlin Fields showing up ahead. They had just a little bit of the drive left, the further away from town the better. Though loud bangs and other strange sounds were not uncommon in town, she figured that was for the best. She hit the gas, car rumbling beneath her. It calmed something she did not want to name within her.
â
She had half a mind to ask Daiyu if all hunters were technically basically sort of related. So if, somehow, Daiyu was sort of actually her older sister. But that might freak Daiyu out and the two of them werenât so similar, outside of the genes or whatever it was that made them hunters. Daiyu was much braver than she was, much more fierce and strong and ready to take on the world. Madison wanted to be that, but she wasnât sure exactly how that would figure itself out. She knew it would, but she didnât know exactly when or how.
She couldnât overwhelm Daiyu, and there was part of her (no matter how much she might have tried to hide or deny it, even to herself) that was aware of how much and how easily she could overwhelm the other woman. So she sat and focused on everything she could and soaked in the fact that she was hanging out with one of the coolest people sheâd ever known (though of course she wouldnât tell Marielle that â she didnât want Marielle to feel sad or like Madison didnât care about her, because she did â of course she did) and that even if she didnât love the idea of firing a gun, sheâd still take any time she had with Daiyu and soak up any lessons she could. Sheâd be a sponge â which was an analogy that sheâd taken some trouble with as a child because sponges did an excellent job soaking up things â but then people often squeezed them out, and Madison didnât want to be wrung out to dry, deprived of everything she had learned.
âLike pets?!â Madison exclaimed. âBut â you know what, I â we can talk about that another time.â It was something else new and something else unexpected â but in a way that made her whole body feel warm with excitement. Daiyu probably didnât want her thinking that way, so sheâd find a way to bring it up when they werenât trying to go and shoot things. The car rumbled on for a while and Madison stared out the window, hand pressed against the glass. Soon enough (though she didnât know exactly how long it had been) the car pulled to a stop and she looked over at the other woman. âAre â weâre here now, yeah?â She grinned. âLetâs do this, right?â She cleared her throat. âI mean â uh. Right! With an exclamation mark at the end for positive emphasis, even!â
â
âYes,â Daiyu confirmed, âLike pets. But more like a feral barn cat than a cozy tomcat, you know? There are some creatures that are more ⌠pet like, I guess. Still can be dangerous, but a ton of normal creatures can too.â There was a lot to talk to Madison about. Ovinniks was one of the easier subjects, even if they could be plenty lethal to livestock and light whole barns on fire. Better those than the worms that could swallow people whole or werewolves that tore apart a group of boy scouts as if they were a bag of chips.Â
Madison seemed to enjoy the drive in the way Daiyu used to as a child: staring at the road outside, letting the world pass one by. She wasnât often a passenger any more, but she recalled how she could get lost in introspection there. She didnât try to think of it too much, nor of the Madison of it all in general. It was too confusing, to really delve into the situation the other was in, or what her own role in it all was. Today it was simple enough. She was going to teach Madison how to shoot. It was something she could keep contained in her mind, something that could exist without all the other implications that came with trying to prepare a young adult for a hunterâs life when they had an opportunity to feign ignorance.
When they pulled up and Madison spoke in questions rather than determination, she felt something heavy sink in her stomach. Daiyu closed her eyes too long for it to be a normal blink. âLetâs do this,â she said, and she did not sound like she was adding positive emphasis onto that at all. She turned off her car, got out and swung open the back door. She pulled out a duffel bag that clinked with movement, as well as a holstered gun. It was as fitting a gift as she could think of for Madison, who had given her a rather thoughtful gift. As if there was any gratitude to be had here. âAlright, this field we can do whatever in. I helped out the farmer who owns it once. Figure we use the fence to put up some bottles?â She extended the holster with the glock to Madison. âThese are for you. Goes on your waist.â She opened the bag, staring down the bottles. âDonât do anything with it. Just ⌠hold it. Feel the weight, or whatever. Iâll go set up, yeah?â
â
âOkay. That makes sense.â It did, surprisingly enough. Perhaps only surprising because so much still didnât make sense to her, and so there was a certain intense sense of relief that came along with something making any sort of sense at all. Madison looked over to Daiyu for a moment, before she cast her gaze back over to the window.
Soon enough, theyâd arrived and Daiyu didnât seem terribly enthused, but Madison had to remind herself that Daiyu wasnât exactly an overly bubbly and enthusiastic person on any day. So it wasnât something she should take too much to heart. Daiyu was here with her and that was all that really mattered.
She didnât want to take the gun, worried somehow that it would go off if she even looked at it wrong. She hadnât thought that being a hunter had to come along with guns â even though, of course, other human hunters used them all the time. But it wasnât something she herself was comfortable with much at all. Still, she did take the gun and held it like it was made of glass, like it was something that could break if she didnât take good care of it. Daiyu gave it to her, which also meant that it felt especially fragile because of the intensity with which she admired the other woman.
Madison wrapped the holster around her waist, doing just as Daiyu had asked. Feel the weight, feel that it felt uncomfortably okay. Almost natural â and she didnât like that. Knives were one thing, but sheâd always been anti-gun, so to have a gun holster feel even a little bit okay felt stomach twisting terrible. She gulped and nodded. âThatâs cool - that you helped someone and then they let you use their space.â Another sigh, âyeah, we can do bottles â I â Iâll try. Just tell me when to go.â She could feel her hand shaking and used her opposite hand to grab onto the wrist whose hand held the gun, doing her best to make herself stop shaking.Â
â
Firearms had been one of the first Daiyu had been entrusted with. Weapons that could be shot from a distance were better in the hands of a kid than a knife, her father had figured â there was no brawling possible between a large beast and a preteen, but a preteen could shoot a bullet into that same beast without risking their life. Target practice had looked a bit like this too. Bottles and cans, and then half-dead creatures, flying disks, actual birds. She had been excited, the first time sheâd been entrusted with a pistol. She left Madison with the weight of the gun without any words, chewing on memories of childhood. Her dad had made her reload the pistol over and over again until her fingers felt like sticks that would break if she moved them. Not to no avail, though. She was a good fucking shot even today.
At the fence, she placed bottles down. Sheâd gotten most of them from Killian, who still seemed down to offer her favors even if she sometimes struggled to look at him. It was she who should owe him favors, after all, considering the way sheâd nearly died in his parking lot. Daiyu grit her teeth, trying to ground the nostalgia out of her system.
Once sheâd put plenty down, she returned to Madison. She looked the other over and found herself hit with those useless emotions once more. She was young, truly. Teetering on the edge of adulthood. When Daiyu was around that age, she had murdered Tabitha Shaw. Before she had turned twenty two, she had already attempted to turn her back on hunting. Madison looked like she had never handled a gun. She had been incapable of killing that werewolf. She should not be here.
âYou good?â She wasnât sure what to do with the answer to that question. âI can show you how to shoot it now. And yeah no, thereâs none of those glasses and earmuffs people wear â you donât have time for that in the real world either. Weâre far enough.â And she didnât expect Madison to hit any shots, anyway. Maybe on accident. âHowâs it feel?â
â
Back home, plenty of people owned guns. It was just a fact of life â her family didnât own any, but she wondered if the family she was supposed to (supposedly) go home with from the hospital had any, on account of being southern and also hunters. She wondered if sheâd ever get the answer to that. She hoped so, but she was also more than happy with the family who she had gone home with from the hospital, even if sheâd felt a bit like an intruder upon realizing that sheâd gotten into their family by accident. Though not maliciously so, she had to remind herself. It was an accident and they were her real family even if their biologies were significantly different. That didnât make them any less superhero-like though, she absolutely saw her parents and all her siblings as superheroes. They just werenât actually born to fight things that most people (them included) didnât believe in.
Madison watched as Daiyu set the bottles up, as she observed them, and as she made her way back over to where Madison was still standing. She watched Daiyu watch her and she couldnât tell if it was with disgust or something else. Part of her wanted to believe that she saw care and even a certain sense of protectiveness in the way that Daiyu looked at her. But she might have just been imagining things, putting her desires into what she saw.
âOh, yeah, Iâm chill.â Madison nodded, drawing out the words a bit more than anyone reasonably should have. âSorry â I â yes, Iâm good.â She said, half lying. She was good because Daiyu was here and that meant she was safe, but she was still more than a little bit of a nervous wreck about all of this. âYes, you can show me now.â She held up the gun, still holding it like it was hot, or like it could explode in her hands. âIt feels,â she tensed up, deciding to go with at least some version of the truth. âWeird. A bit scary.â She looked down at the ground, her cheeks growing hot with embarrassment. âBut you â if you want to, we can go for it.â
â
Being around Madison triggered an envy and anger all at once. She did not understand the girl, who was so enthusiastically driven to be a hunter but stood there drawing out words like she suddenly forgot how to talk as fast as she usually did when asked about the pistol in her hands. Daiyu wanted her to turn away from this or to at least show some spine. It was clear she was not comfortable with the gun, and though she was of the opinion that Madison needed to learn how to shoot one in order to defend herself, she didnât want to be like her father. Enforcing her opinion through someone elseâs discomfort.Â
She stood there for a moment, grappling with the word scary as she tried to find the right thing to say. This wasnât scary. This was shooting cans in a field â it was as close to leisure as hunting got, rather than the real scary stuff. She wasnât putting Madison in a room with a bugbear, making her literally fight through fear and cull a beast thrice her size. She was not with her in the woods, running for their lives. She was giving her a gun.
Daiyu did not want to be her father. She watched Madison handle the gun and shook her head. âThis shit is not about what I want. This is about what you want. You want to train to be a hunter, so you have to have something to defend yourself. A knife isnât enough. Some beasts have claws larger and sharper than five knives â you need to be able to defend from a distance. You want this, or not? Thatâs what you gotta decide. You didnât want to kill the wolf. You donât want to shoot the gun. But you want to be a hunter.â She took her hands, readjusting her fingers so she was holding the gun right. âDoesnât matter what I want.â
â
âIt does matter what you want.â Madison replied, frowning at the other hunter. âI mean, why wouldnât it? Your opinion matters just as much as anybody elseâs.â Even more than some othersâ opinions, at least to Madison. She wouldnât say that right now but it was true on what was frankly an exceptional level. Or perhaps it wasnât exceptional. Madison liked Daiyu, and Madison thought that people she liked deserved good things and that their thoughts mattered. It was how her parents had raised her and her siblings. Whatever they thought mattered, full stop, even if it wasnât the most popular opinion in the room.
Usually, of course, the Perez family tended to agree on the same things (best ice cream, where they should go hiking, which foot you put socks on first (left, obviously) â but even if they didnât, there was never a sense of shame that came along with disagreeing. So Madison extended that feeling to those who felt like family (not that she could easily say that to Daiyuâs face, mostly because she didnât know if that would make the other angry). Though, Madison had noticed, she was already doing something of a spectacular job of pushing Daiyu in the way of anger and frustration.
So Madison looked at Daiyu, looked at the way she held the gun, and took in a deep breath before attempting to imitate it. âLike this?â She looked back over to her companion, and then back down to the gun. She didnât like that it felt partially natural in her hands. âItâs⌠not as heavy as I expected it to be.â
â
âNot in this situation,â she muttered, âThis is about you, wanting to be a hunter. But sure, Madison, fuck â I want you to be able to defend yourself, yeah? Not pick fights, youâre too green for that, but have something that can put a distance between you and danger.â What she wanted, was for Madison to stop being so visibly weak. To not tremble at a gun and make Daiyu face the reality that for some people, these kinds of weapons were not extensions of their body that theyâd known since before they had gotten their first period.Â
She did not want Madison to extend some kind of sentiment that her wants and needs mattered. There was a part of Daiyu that agreed â that part that had turned her back on her family and tried to find a better life for herself. But right now, she wasnât going to push her wants and needs onto Madison too hard. She had no interest in training hunters, even if she was here now, getting pretty close to doing just that.
âSure, like that. Donât put your finger on the trigger just yet.â She took a step away from Madison, letting go of her hands. âSwitch off the safety now. Breathe out. Aim and then rest your finger on the trigger.â She barely even thought of shooting a gun like these. All these steps, all these small motions. It truly was an extension of who she was, more than a knife ever could be. She looked at Madison, then at how she was holding the gun. âThen shoot.â
â
Daiyu didnât seem like the person who outwardly cared â or visibly did so. Madison wondered if that was a byproduct of being a hunter. It wasnât a pleasant one to think about, but she was certain that there had to be hunters who did outwardly care. Marielle certainly seemed to. But Daiyu was here and Daiyu was the same sort of hunter that Madison was, and that was what mattered most. She knew that she shouldnât expect it from everyone. It wasnât like Daiyu had been shy about being a bit rougher around the edges. It was part of what had made Madison think she was as cool as she was, and she couldnât fault Daiyu for something that had practically entranced her, now could she? âYeah.â She responded. âItâs good for me to be able to put distance between things.â How often was that the case, she wondered? How often did people like her and Daiyu have to kill things from a distance? She was aware enough that she knew she couldnât ask that right now, but it clung to the back of her mind, stuck there, turning around and around.
She was also aware that Daiyu hadnât acknowledged her comment about it mattering what they wanted. She passed it off for now as just something the other didnât want to focus on, because they were training. Madison knew, however, that sheâd be over analyzing that particular way of thinking for hours when she got home later.
Daiyu let go of her and everything shot to the forefront of her mind, everything became suddenly (and somewhat aggressively) more real. She took a deep breath, finger on the trigger, nearly shaking. Another deep breath, because she had to steady herself. It would be worse for everyone involved if she kept shaking. âOkay.â She said, though she didnât know if Daiyu could even hear it. She pressed her finger on the trigger and heard a shot, tensing up until it seemed to hit something.
â
âDistance keeps you alive,â she said, and it was perhaps the truest lesson she could give Madison. Her mind traveled to Emilio, trying to face a bies head on and how enthralled heâd become, nearly impaling himself on those antlers. (Maybe he should have, she thought â then at least he wouldnât have found his way to her cabin with Talia.) She then thought of Madison facing a bugbear, of her sixteen year old self facing a werewolf. Daiyu knew there were situations where there was no option for distance, but she figured that Madison could run if that was the case.Â
She watched Madison, the gun in her hand looking all wrong. But she wanted this, didnât she? It wasnât like Daiyu was forcing her to do anything. The thing she wanted to force her to do was to throw herself in her stupid college studies and become a good soccer player who used her biological advantages to make it far. But here they were.
The shot rang through the air, as familiar as the music her dad had liked to play at home. Daiyu watched the bullet fly, hitting the fence. She looked at Madison then, âGo again. After the recoil, when it clicks, you can shoot again. Just keep going until thereâs no more ammo.â She had to get familiar with the shock of it in her hand, with the sound near her ears, with the way she had to keep her body steady through it all. âTry to aim for a can, but you know, just shoot.â For plenty of foes, warning shots were enough. And Madison seemed the type to just warn, and not kill.
â
âOkay.â She said. It was an easy response, almost instinctual in the way that she found herself replying. Even though it didnât make complete sense to her. Even though she still had more questions. But Daiyu was here, helping her, and so Madison wasnât about to look a good thing in⌠whatever the saying was. She was here to learn and there seemed almost nobody better to learn from than Daiyu. She wanted to ask about what if there was no way to keep distance, what if something popped up like some jack in the box and went at her right away? She could run, then, she figured. Sheâd beaten plenty of people in races back in elementary school, long before she knew what she was. So sheâd run, if need be. You could always run, but you probably couldnât always punch.
The gun didnât feel any lighter, the longer she held it. If anything, it almost felt heavier. Felt weird and misshapen even though it looked like it fit perfectly into her hand.
Back home, sheâd had a friend whose dad hunted. Hunted hunted, not save-the-world hunted like she was trying to do. She remembered being maybe ten and her friend showing her the guns that their father kept around. It had almost made Madison sick, and sheâd called Brooklyn to come pick her up after that, even though Brooklyn was in college. âIâll shoot.â She said, her voice increasingly unsteady despite her many attempts to steady it. Then, again. âIâll shoot.â This time, she managed to keep her voice steady for at least the duration of the phrase. So she pulled the trigger again and shot again, still closing her eyes after the shot rang out. âHow many rounds and stuff are in these?â She looked over to Daiyu. âIs there a standard?â
â
There had been times where she had been young, when her voice had trembled like this. Where she had not wanted to do any of the things she was asked to do. Daiyu had been glad to have been given a gun, but she had not been glad to wield it against a living creature. To cull something defenseless, because thatâs where the hunt started in her family. Something defenseless, so you can steel yourself against the cold bite of murder. She had argued and whined and cried, but she had always done it â there was no choice, under the gaze of her father.
Madison had a choice. Daiyu was not making her do anything, was she? She shot, because she said she would, and she closed her eyes. She did not keep shooting as Daiyu had instructed and she had half the mind to tell her to shut the fuck up. She didnât want to force her to do anything. She was not her father, glaring and cruel in his teachings. She wasnât even her uncle, who had had a softer hand, but had still made her do the things her childlike spirit hadnât wanted to.Â
âJesus, Madison,â she muttered, trying to get ahold of herself, âEither you shoot and count until the magazine is empty, or you call it quits. Iâm not the one making you do this.â Maybe if she said it out loud, it would feel true? The theory remained disproven thus far, though. âJust â stop talking and do it, or stop altogether.â Daiyu didnât want any children of her own, that decision had been made decades ago. She wanted Madison to be able to defend herself, but she did not want to wrestle with her rage every time the girl closed her eyes after shooting her gun. She did not want this responsibility, but she didnât want the one of Madisonâs corpse either. So when she spoke again, she sounded more strict: âJust shoot.â
â
She shouldnât have flinched at the harshness of Daiyuâs tone, but it was hard not to. She still needed training, she knew that, and Madison also knew just how jumpy of a person she was. She hadnât thought of herself as someone who was especially jumpy, and it wasn't even like she always jumped during horror movies either, but there was something about a harsher tone of voice coming from someone she admired that made her feel like she was going to lose her skin in some sort of horrible way that extended beyond just being jumpy. It would figure that in a place like this, a place with things and people Madison hadnât even been aware existed up until a couple years ago, would have ways of making her anxiety manifest in strange new ways.
âBut â I â I know.â She said, her voice feeling thick, like there was too much of her grandmotherâs pea soup. Sheâd enjoyed that plenty, but it wasnât something anyone could call delicate, it wasnât smooth and easygoing. Neither was she. She wasnât cool and chill, no matter how much she tried to be. It wasnât like Daiyu seemed especially chill, but the other hunter was without a doubt far more chill than Madison could ever hope to be.
Just shoot.
Her fingers curved around the trigger and she pulled it again, keeping her eyes open this time, watching as the bullet went just to the left of one of the cans. âI â I canât do this any more. Iâm â Iâm sorry.â Madison didnât let go of the gun, if anything she held onto it tighter than before, but her arm fell to the side of her body. âIâm â Iâm done for today.â She figured Daiyu would be annoyed with her, or disappointed, or some terrible mixture of both. âMaybe another time. We can try some other time.â Maybe if she said it enough, it would feel more probable. She knew all about probability, at least in theory.
â
Madison was like a nervous dog, following her command despite the fact that her body language was betraying her by revealing that she did not want to do this. Daiyu hated the effect the harshness of her voice had. She was used to people fighting her when she spoke like this, for meeting her halfway and barking right back at her, or pointing out she was out of line. But Madison had put herself in a position where she looked at Daiyu for guidance and mentorship, without checking if Daiyu was the right person. She fount she resented her for that.
But then, Madison hadnât made her drive out here and made Daiyu give her a gun. That was something she had decided to do all by herself, and here she was, reaping the consequences of her actions. Her jaw ticked. This was shooting cans and bottles, it wasnât supposed to be a big deal â but for a regular human who had never handled a firearm and never killed a thing in her life, maybe it was.Â
Madison gave up. As if the cans and bottles had feelings, or shooting the gun meant more than just shooting it. Daiyu was glad that there was a level of decisiveness at least. âOnly have yourself to apologize to,â she said, voice curt. The next time Madison was faced with a wild beast and was afraid to shoot the gun Daiyu had given her, that was on no one but herself. (But then why did it feel like it was on Daiyu, too, for not pushing her hard enough to be able to defend herself? Should she not be unrelenting, so Madison understood the weight of a weapon and the role of a hunter?) âTurn the safety back on. Put it in your holster. Iâll go get the cans and we can fuck on off out of here.â She started stomping away, frustrated with the existence of innocence, something she usually thought non-existent.
â
Daiyu wasnât usually harsh, at least not to her. But if that was what it took, then sheâd accept it. Madison had had soccer coaches who were more harsh than others and both of them got results. Her favorites had always been the softer types, but she couldnât pick who her mentor would be, and Marielle was plenty soft to cover for any lack of softness Daiyu held. Sheâd been drawn to Daiyu in part because of her personality. She might have been Madisonâs opposite in many ways, but theyâd seemed to click. Or so she had thought. Right now, she was doubting that with every fiber in her body.
âOkay.â She said, her voice smaller than even before. âI know.â She would spend the rest of the night apologizing to Daiyu though, even if not directly to the other hunter. Internally. Madison knew that sheâd be up late thinking about that, and that there really was nobody to blame other than herself. âIâll do all of that,â she said, doing just as she was told as Daiyu stomped away. The forest felt oppressively quiet, then, even despite the steady crunch of ground and leaves under Daiyuâs tread. She deserved this, she knew. She deserved every ounce of it, and Madison also knew that sheâd keep trying to please Daiyu, to do whatever it was that she could do to make sure she stayed on the hunterâs good side.
âIâm sorry.â She said, a whisper, only to the air around her, hoping Daiyu didnât or couldnât hear her. âIâm â Iâm trying.â Trying at this was different than anything sheâd had to try at before. Ironically, or in some sort of sick twist of fate, she felt least comfortable doing something that she was quite literally biologically wired to do. She shook the thought away and stood as tall as she could manage, waiting for Daiyu to lead them both back to the car.
TIMING: january 2026.
LOCATION: at ShatterSpace!
PARTIES: Clem ( @causefulmoon ) & Madison ( @madisonnotmaddie )
SUMMARY:Â Madison and Clem get assigned to the same room in ShatterSpace. They decide to share.
CONTENT WARNINGS:Â none!
Clem whistled through her teeth, looking over the different package deals laid out in front of her. The employee stared back at her, gum smacking between their teeth as they watched onward, clearly too interested for their own good. Clem avoided their gaze, nodding along, as if the papers were telling her something. âThis one seems great, that one, yeah.â She tapped her index finger against the package that gave her over thirty items to break. She even got to take one home at the end, if she really wanted. She looked up at the employee, retracting her hand from the âmenu,â as it was taken from her. The employee pointed towards a coverall suit in the corner of the room, to which Clem obliged in pulling on.
She was led down a narrow hallway, past a few rooms. She could hear loud thuds and soft yelps from behind the doors, and as she looked through the small windows into them, it seemed like she hadnât been the only one looking to let out some rage today. Clem turned her attention back towards the employee as they silently pulled a door open, nodding towards it. Clem offered an awkward smile behind the safety glass of her suitâs helmet, then stepped inside.Â
Only, she wasnât alone. Clem blinked at her new partner in rage, then back to the employee who shrugged, letting the door drop. Clem shifted uncomfortably on her feet, taking a small step back. âThey should definitely give us a major discount, if we have to share a room.âÂ
__
It wasnât like she was a violent person. Which, of course, was part of the criticism some people (not that she was naming names) had about her. That she wasnât violent enough and that therefore she wasnât going to fit in with what she was supposed to be. But Madison didnât understand why she had to be violent in order to be successful in her destiny. Except, of course, for the fact that she was supposed to keep bad things away and save good people and all that. But it still didnât make a great deal of sense to her. Which was probably why Daiyu didnât like her too much. Or didnât approve of her.
But she still thought a place where you went to go and break things was kind of cool, and it let her be her full self without having to worry about ruining something or seeming too⌠much.Â
What she hadnât expected was to run into someone familiar. Except until sheâd turned around Madison hadnât even realized that it was someone familiar, because the vibes they gave off now didnât match with what theyâd given off when the two of them had first met. It probably didnât really mean anything, though, and so instead she gave an awkward wave. âI â they must be busy, but Iâm down to share the space if you are. They should give a discount, but,â she shrugged, âweâll see. Maybe we can win, or something. I donât think this is something you win at but maybe it could be. And then maybe we can win together. âCause thereâs two of us.â
__
There was a new rage that came with the whole âwolf,â thing. It crawled beneath her skin, and the closer to the moon was to hanging swollen in the sky, the more it became harder to ignore. Sheâd always been an irritable person, but it became harder to peel back that skin and let herself be anything but after⌠it happened.Â
But she wasnât complaining. There was no fear in her heart over the anger that pricked at her skin. Clem did however, prefer her own space. Especially when it came to throwing things around an enclosed space.Â
âI donât think you really win at anything like thisâŚ?â Clem blinked, not recalling if this was a competition. If that were the case, then she and Madison were definitely going to win. She wasnât going to lose to some grimy kid and his mom who wanted him to stop punching holes into walls. âBut damn, if it is, weâre definitely going to win.â She flashed her a toothy smile before hoisting the sledgehammer over her shoulder, wincing at the weight of it. She would definitely need to switch hammers.
âWhy are you here? Got rage in the cage or whatever?âÂ
__
âWell, I just think we can work together and maybe thatâll let us win, or something.â She shrugged. She didnât like how uncertain she sounded, but she was also unfortunately far too aware and comfortable with sounding uncertain. It wasnât a great thing to be comfortable with, but she didnât know if there was much of anything that she could do to change any of that. So sheâd sit with it.
Madison grabbed a hammer of her own, one that should have been way too heavy for someone her size (especially because it wasnât like she did weight lifting or anything like that), but one that she held with ease. âI just â I want to be somewhere where if I break stuff itâs not a big deal.â Sheâd gotten much better at not breaking things, but there was still the worry that she would, and if she could take out any extra energy in places sanctioned for destruction, then maybe she wouldnât have to worry as much.
Her skin itched â just a bit, and she did her best to shrug it off.
âShould we get started?â She grinned. âEven if this isnât something we can win at, maybe weâll win in our hearts. That â thatâs gotta count for something, right?â
__
Clem nodded at Madisonâs comment, watching as she picked up her own hammer. It looked to be the size of hers, though it didnât look like she had much trouble with it. She still felt the weight of her own, and she knew that later, itâd probably produce a bruise or two.Â
She glanced towards a smaller hammer thatâd probably be more manageable, dropping the sledgehammer she had hung over her shoulder in favor of the new, smaller, and more efficient hammer. Clem looked at Madison as she began to speak, explaining that she wanted to be able to break things and it not be a big deal. At least, thatâs what she got out of it.Â
She could understand, truth be told. Clem shrugged, âyeah, I can totally get that.â She couldnât blame her. She felt sort of the same. Wasnât that why she was here?Â
âDo you get angry a lot or something? Want to break things? You work retail, donât you? I get it.â The Wormhole wasnât necessarily the worst place to work, mostly because Harvey made sure she was taken care of, but there were certain nights when she felt like putting a hole through a wall, admittedly. Especially now.Â
âYeah, in our hearts, our musclesâ sure.â She grinned at Madison before nodding towards a few of the glass items in the corner of the room. âWe can play baseball.â Clem walked over to it, picking it up. âIâll toss it towards you, you hit it, game won.âÂ
âÂ
âIâm glad you get that.â Which wasnât necessarily something that was good to say, but it had been said and even if Madison felt awkward about having said it, she had other things she needed to focus on for the moment. She liked the feeling of the hammer in her hands and focused on how grounded that made her feel.
Did she get angry a lot? Or anything else on those questions Clem tossed back over to her. âI like⌠having a place where I can do what I want and not worry about hurting people.â Which was the truth, at least in some manner. It wasnât exactly what she wanted to say, but confessing that she was a hunter to people who were not hunters was probably not the smartest idea sheâd ever have, and even though she liked and trusted Clem, she didnât want to overstep, especially since Clem thought she was here because she worked retail. âIn college right now, but I need a job, yeah. I worked as a cashier back home for a couple years, and it can be quite something. Makes you wonder if some people never even learned hospitality and kindness.â She made a face.
âThat sounds good.â She said, grinning back at Clem. âWeâll take turns, see who can get the most things smashed, yeah?â Madison would hold back a little bit, at least initially, just to see what Clemâs focus and skills were like. She might have loved winning, but that didnât mean that she was going to be entirely unfair to her friend. âIâm ready when you are.â
âÂ
To be honest, Clem hadnât expected the answer to be so deep. âI mean, fair enough.â What else was she supposed to say? Say something deep on her own accord? Match the vibe? She was good at that, but only sometimes, and not when she could sort of relate to whatever the hell the other person was talking about. âSee, itâs the pent up rage, you know?â That was easier to deal with, an actual why instead of something that sat just beneath the surface.Â
âWorking as a cashier totally sucks. I did it for like, a week. I quit.â She barely lasted a week, and the term cashier was being too generous, but she did in fact have to use one at The Wormhole, so maybe it wasnât entirely a lie. Clem chewed the inside of her cheek, rotating the hammer in her hands. It was a good thing she exchanged it for something lighter. âOh, totally. People suck like, everywhere.âÂ
She was grateful that Madison seemed to be game, though. âYup!â Clem approached a vase in the corner of the room, picking it up in one hand by the neck. She looked behind her, towards Madison, then chucked it forward. She wasnât athletic in the slightest, but it seemingly rotated through the air at a snailâs pace before shattering at Madisonâs feet, not even having gotten close to the bat. âOkay, so I might be like, bad at this.âÂ
â-Â
Maybe she had gone too deep too fast. She hadnât even meant for it to sound too deep. Madison didnât necessarily think of herself as an especially deep person (not in any sort of self-pity kind of way, just in simple fact). âThat makes sense.â It didnât, not completely, but she wanted it to make sense and so it could make sense, at least for the time being. She figured that could work.
âHonestly, valid of you.â She sighed. âI donât think I could do it again, like, ever.â Hopefully she wouldnât have to, though Madison wasnât exactly sure about what jobs hunters usually had â outside of being a hunter, of course. But that didnât pay, not really, she didnât think. But she had time to figure that out, and she could do plenty of other jobs that werenât being a cashier. Even if it had been fun to do some of the mathematics in her head when people paid with cash. âI think thereâs a lot of people who donât suck, but thereâs a lot of people who do, which I really donât like.â But they hadnât come here to talk about the nature of humankind. Theyâd come here to throw things and break stuff.
The vase shattered by her feet and she didnât flinch. âI mean, you smashed it! I think that counts, even if it wasnât your total goal or whatever.â Madison grabbed a plate and threw it up in the air, hitting it with a bat and watching it come crashing down. âMaybe I can toss to you and you hit that way? If we want to do team work?â
â-Â
Who would choose that, anyway? Probably somebody who enjoyed speaking to people, that was who. To be a bartender, didnât you need an ounce of that personality? Clem had begged Harvey for the job at The Wormhole, and only after proving she was worth something did he actually give it to her. It felt a little disingenuous now.Â
âYeah, I guess thatâs like, life or whatever, right?â Clem had gotten used to the frustrating parts of customer service pretty quickly, especially because she didnât have many other options. âThatâs what they say, anyway.â The rage room was a good way to blow off steam, and it was evident that both of them needed it. Even if Clem wasnât exactly great at it.Â
Madison didnât seem upset by her failure, and Clem shrugged, slightly embarrassed. âYeah, my hand-to-eye coordination is kind of ass, I think.â At her suggestion that she be the one to throw the item, she paused. âI think that would be way worse, but sure, we can try.â She hadnât thought anyone else would be inside of the room with her while doing this, so she had anticipated just swinging a hammer around in the hopes of shattering a few things. âIâll try to aim it not at you.âÂ
âÂ
âYeah, life or whatever.â Clem was fairly easy to talk to, and Madison didnât know why there had ever even been a consideration â perhaps only because she knew that she didnât always have every sort of success with making friends and so she didnât want to assume that anything would be too easy. Sometimes she wasnât sure if she deserved easy at all. Clem also didnât seem to be the sort of person to ask too many questions, and so Madison would, in turn, avoid asking too many questions herself.
âIâve done sports like, since I could walk, so Iâve been sort of forced to have decent hand-to-eye coordination.â There was sports since she could walk and then of course there was also the hunter of it all, but even if Clem made her itchy, Madison wasnât about to say anything about that right now. They were going to win at this together and so Madison having something of an advantage was good for the both of them.
She shrugged. âDonât worry, Iâve got good reflexes, and Iâm not worried about you hurting me.â Madison only hoped that this would make Clem feel a bit more at ease. âI can also throw stuff at you for you to hit, we can take turns, yeah?â
â-Â
âOh, see, youâve already got me beat.â The closest Clem had gotten to sports was dodgeball, and half the time, she was the one dodging while being pelted. It wasnât all bad, of course. Half the time she got to use excuse slips to sit out on P.E and didnât have to deal with half of the stuff her peers did. Though, the longer she looked at Madison, the more she realized that the sporty vibe definitely fit her.Â
Clem was a little surprised by Madisonâs words, though. What made her think that she wouldnât get hurt? Maybe because sheâd seen the way the vase totally crashed and burned. That had to be it, Clem thought to herself as she gave a small, but firm nod of her head. âUm, sure.â She still wasnât entirely positive this wasnât going to be totally embarrassing, but she could just ditch the idea altogether and never see Madison again if she really needed to.Â
She took up her hammer, readying it, as if it were a baseball bat. âIâm ready.âÂ
â-Â
âYou know, it would be at least somewhat improbable if weâd both done sports ever since we could walk, so I think this is some sort of balancing out or whatever.â Madison shook her head. âI mean, not totally improbable, but all Iâm saying is that itâs very much fine, obviously, that you donât have experience with sports ever since you could walk. I think my parents just really wanted me to find a way to get my energy out.â Her abnormal to normal humans energy, that was.
Besides, hopefully after all of this she and Clem could be some flavor of friends. She wanted that, and furthermore, she needed that, at least on some sort of level. Hopefully Clem thought the same way, but if not, then Madison could just hope to be invisible if they ever crossed paths again.
She readied herself, grabbing a small bowl while Clem positioned herself ready to hit. âIâm gonna throw, and just â just try and track the bowl best as you can and then give it a whack. Iâll be good.â
â-Â
Madison was oddly rational about things, saying them in a way that was so matter of fact that Clem felt like she couldnât keep up. Usually, Clem would experience some kind of inferiority complex regarding the comment, but that feeling was absent. It was because Madison was right, even if Clem, herself, couldnât really figure out the reasoning of the probability. âOh, right. Yeah, I guess parents usually want their kids to do cool things or whatever.â She couldnât remember if her dad had ever pressed her to do something she loved, or if he preferred it when she was quiet.Â
Clem internally raked the thoughts backwards, as if nails on a chalkboard. Now wasnât the time to get so lost in her own head, not when she had a hammer in her hands, and she was being tasked with not taking out Madison with whatever was thrown her way.Â
âHuh? Oh, right. Yeah.â Clem gripped the hammer tightly, and the urge to shut her eyes once the bowl was thrown was a strong one, but she kept them open. They watered, and through her mildly blurred vision, she swung the hammer. It connected with the corner of the bowl, and it splintered in half, on half being discarded towards her own feet, while the other went straight into the wall beside Madison. âShit! I did it!âÂ
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âAlso I have some siblings so having us not all in the house at once was probably part of that.â She remembered, fondly, how some of her siblings had come with her to practice, especially when one of their parents (or both) had to work, or needed to be somewhere else. It wasnât ever done out of malicious intent, nor out of not wanting to spend time with their children (in fact, sometimes Madison thought that maybe her family was far more into âfamily timeâ than most were) (not that she minded. She loved her family, and why would spending more time with them ever be something bad?). âYeah, or whatever.â She wanted to keep things light, and in case Clemâs family wasnât like hers (she knew that not everyoneâs was), âbut itâs fun to do this, and like weâve decided, we can win this together. Beat everyone else at this place. And then maybe go get ice cream or pancakes or something!â Hopefully that wasnât an overstep, but Clem seemed perfectly capable of telling Madison to go away if she felt that she needed to.
The bowl crashed into the wall behind her and she jumped up and down. âI knew you could! I knew it! Thatâs so awesome! Do you wanna go for another round now? Iâm down to throw more stuff in your direction, not at you, in order for you to smash it all up.â She bent down to pick up a small plate and passed it between her hands. âOr you can throw stuff in my direction and I can smash stuff.â She chewed on her lip for a moment. âAnd, um, maybe when weâre done and weâve won and stuff, we could go get pancakes or ice cream or something? Only if you want, though, of course.â
âÂ
Madison spoke of a life that was foreign to Clem, and all she could do was nod along. âOh, totally. Like, Iâm sure they just wanted some peace and quiet or something.â At the very least, it was easy to brush things off. It seemed like Madison understood her discomfort. Though, sheâd never been great at not showing all of her emotions on her face to begin with. Instead of apologizing, she offered the other girl an awkward smile.Â
At the very least, they had something to distract them.Â
Truth be told, Clem was starting to forget why she originally came here, given the proximity to Madison. For the other girl, it seemed like it was a way to get energy out, and while Clem would say the same went for her, sheâd had a lot of her own angry, pent up energy that needed expulsion. Now, she was having fun.Â
âPancakes? I like waffles better, if thatâs alright.â She wasnât sure why she was agreeing to plans after the fact. Had the girl played some kind of trick on her to get her to agree? That wasnât exactly possible, was it? Maybe Madison just had that kind of charm on others. Clem was a little embarrassed that it was working on her, too, especially since sheâd been annoyed that she had to share the room in the first place.Â
âUmâŚâ She weighed the hammer in her hands again, âletâs do another few? Then we can go?â She still felt her fingertips tingling, and her arms ached with the urge to destroy somethingâ the kind of feeling that was best put into this kind of thing than letting the wolf out to do as it pleased. Guilt blistered in her at the thought and she cleared her throat. âLetâs go, throw another.âÂ
âÂ
âYeah, probably. Which they deserved, so itâs nothing to think too much about.â It certainly wasnât the aspect of her family that Madison thought most about, not even remotely. There was too much to focus on with the question of how had her family not noticed she didnât technically belong to them? Though she looked enough like them and some of oneâs personality was through nurture rather than nature, so she acted like them too. She just had the glaringly obvious (at least, looking back, and at least, to her) physiological differences. She smiled back at Clem, shaking all of those thoughts out of her mind.
She giggled. âOf course itâs okay to like waffles better! Pancakes are in no way a binding deal, just a sort of general suggestion. Waffles are fantastic too, I like how you can fill the little divots with butter or syrup or jam or anything that you want.â It was as good as an agreement and she couldnât keep the smile off of her face. Yes, Clem made her itchy, but Clem was also now maybe a friend, and Madison craved more of those more than she could even begin to express. So this was a good thing. Undoubtedly.
âDeal.â She said, the itchiness she felt from being near Clem running itself along her back, begging her to keep going, to take some sort of action that would make the itching go away. But sheâd had enough bug bites in her life to know that the more you scratched, the worse it got. So focusing on a new friend and how good it felt to hear the ceramic breaking was more than good enough for now. âReady?â She threw a plate this time, waiting for the exact moment when Clemâs hammer hit it. Hopefully the could come back and do this another time again.
âÂ
Clem nodded, âeven cheap waffles are good for that.â Sheâd usually slather them in butter and syrup, but at least she didnât pull an Elf with the candy spaghetti. Though, sheâd gotten close as a kid. She couldnât quite picture herself and Madison sitting in a diner, talking over waffles, but Madison spoke like she could. Clem wanted to believe that she could, too.Â
It was strange, what kindness could do to a person. Clem would be lying if she said she werenât at least a little uncertain, but that didnât matter. She had a hammer in her hands and Madison was flinging objects towards her so that they could be blasted into nothingness. They were long past the typical friendly setting of a meal, werenât they? She didnât really know. Friendships were hard to come by, and she had a hard time maintaining them, even if they did make it out from beneath the dusty crevices of her mind.Â
If she could have done it once, surely she could do it again, couldnât she? Clem readied the hammer, aligning her gaze with the plate as Madison threw it. The hammer hit the edge, sending the plate spinning towards the ground. Gritting her teeth, she bent down to pick it up, tossing it in the air, then slung the hammer towards it. It shattered immediately, and Clem looked over to Madison. âYou can throw some this time, then letâs go get waffles. Maybe milkshakes, too.â Lactose intolerance be damned. Maybe showing up and having to share a room had been for the better.Â
[pm] Right. But your family you know ain't hunters. [...] You should think about them, whenever you're considering this whole life of hunting. You've got a family who wouldn't want something bad happening to you. [...] That run-in with a werewolf earlier this year? Consider yourself lucky that you got away and were immune to its bite. Many people can't say the same. Tends to go much worse for folks. [...] Just keep your family in mind, you know?
I The werewolf thing wasn't so bad, now that I can look back on it. I mean, I guess the werewolf wanted to eat me but I don't think it was personal. Do you think it was personal?
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