hearrrtofgold | 15 ⚓ Video/Spam ⚓ Gather yourselves, with all your heart and strength

[Video]
Duke Crocker of the Cape Rouge calling Haven P.D. Anyone out there? [He’s got only small hope that anyone will answer, almost certain that Audrey and Nathan won’t. But still, he’d come through the last time the network glitched (before he showed up on the Barge), as had she. Maybe it could happen again with them, or anyone he was familiar with from back home.

He pauses for a long time, mulling over what he’s about to share, and suddenly blurts it out.] Oprah Winfrey.

[Gym Spam, evening]
[After the last of the messages had trickled in, Duke had shaken himself off and tried to calm himself walking Brownie, fixing himself a very heavy chicken salad for supper, and tried to do some yoga poses. None of the activities had provided him any peace, and he eventually decided to just embrace the discomfort and beat the crap out of something.

So here he is, standing in the gym with knuckles bound in tape and taking out his frustrations on a punching bag. He’s more than competent in street-fighting, not exceptional but still practiced and forceful. He doesn’t even remember his first fistfight, although he’s sure he lost it, and that drives him on.]

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From:

theresalwayshope

[Allison needs some time in the gym herself, but it's not empty when she quietly arrives that evening.

Today is a Bad Day, and she doesn't feel like running. So, she's going to work until she can't stand up, and pray she doesn't break something in the process.

When Duke is spotted, it helps, oddly enough. Seeing Duke is comforting, and makes her feel oddly safe in a world that feels turned on its side. It makes her smile, and want to cry, but instead of either one, she walks over and wordlessly catches the heavy bag he's beating up on, leaning over just enough that her head is visible as she holds the bag a little steadier to take his blows.]

My turn when you're done?

From:

hearrrtofgold

[Today hasn't been the best for Duke either, which is clearly visible as he beats the bag. He doesn't notice Allison until she grabs it, drawing back his fist and pausing once she does. Instead he wipes the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand, pausing to catch his breath.]

Only if you're hitting that and not me.

From:

theresalwayshope

Whatever I can get my hands on.

[She smiles a little and lets the bag go, allowing her gym bag to slide off her shoulder and drop onto the floor. Leaning down, she pulls a roll of tape out of the side pocket and starts taping up her hands...nothing heavy, but she's trying to make sure she works herself to death, not beats herself to death. She just wants to...push herself hard enough that she either can't feel, or feels something other than the weight of her own mortality.]

Still say you could spar with me. [She looks up from where she's winding the tape around one wrist with a small smile that might be a little sad...and a lot full of everything that comes with a day of feeling the crushing guilt of her own demise.]

Edited Date: 2014-08-21 12:39 am (UTC)

From:

hearrrtofgold

And you'll kick the ass of anything you pick.

[Duke chuckles, standing back to wipe his palms on his sweatpants. He's nothing extraordinary without a dose of Troubled blood, which makes him essentially Hulk out. But whether his Trouble is active or not, he doesn't want to fight Allison.]

I'm not going to spar with you. You could be my little sister.

[Duke catches the look on her face and offers her a small, reassuring smile.] Got a water bottle in there?

From:

theresalwayshope

[Allison pretends to be shocked at being compared to a little sister, but secretly she likes it. It makes her feel warm inside, and that sense of safety...yeah, Duke as a big brother sounds about right.

So, after an exaggerated gasp and a playful narrowing of her eyes, she finishes with one wrist, then starts the other, jerking her chin at the bag.] Fine, big bro, then you can hold the bag for me, and help me stretch. [Starting the tape on her wrist, she glances up again hopefully.] Then maybe you can help me practice? Hold the pads and stuff, let me kick the crap out 'em.

From:

hearrrtofgold

[He meant in terms of age, but there was a reason he inferred the relationship as well.]

Absolutely, but before you start we're making a rule. No hitting Duke. Fair?

From:

theresalwayshope

No hitting any part of Duke that's not covered by a punch pad. [With a small smile, she finishes with her wrist and raises her diminutive fists in mock threat.] I have a pretty mean right hook, you know. It could still sting.

From:

hearrrtofgold

That's a fair compromise. I concede. [He pretends to keep far back from her fists while offering his hand to shake in agreement.] I know, so don't sucker-punch me before we shake on it.

From:

theresalwayshope

Dork. [The word emerges on a giggle, and with open fondness as she gives his hand a playful little swat before she goes back to taping her hands. When she's done, she sticks the tape in her gym bag, then crosses the gym to find some punch pads, talking over her shoulder.]

So...communication glitch. Did you get to talk to anybody who wasn't my dad being...my dad?

From:

hearrrtofgold

Oh, don't be an ass. [He smiles back, withdrawing his hand. While she goes to get the punching pads he motions toward her bag.] Mind if I borrow some tape?

The glitch? Yeah. [He turns to punch the bag.] A couple strangers. [Another punch. Then he grabs the bag and evens it out for when she gets back.] A couple friends from home.

From:

theresalwayshope

Yeah, mental note: apologize to you forever for my father. [She smiles, nodding in silent permission for him to help himself to her tape as she wanders back over, punch pads in hand.] He's from before the point I got here...I promise, he's mellowed since then.

...at least as a hunter. As an overprotective father...

[She trails off, making a face and wrinkling her nose wit ha somewhat helpless shrug.]

So, the friends from home...anyone interesting?

From:

hearrrtofgold

Apologies are cheap. Black forest cake works much better to smooth things over. [When she nods he lifts the roll and wraps it around his left knuckle before ripping off the end.] Good. Obsessive hunters? Are not my favorite kind of people.

[Something they've both avoided so far, something Duke knows takes a lot of strength. Something he respects Allison for.]

There's Nathan. He used to be a warden here awhile back - cop, a jerk, kind of annoying, but overall a good guy. [Ignore the many times they've beaten each other senseless or pulled guns on each other.] And Audrey. [Slowly, he begins on his right hand.] When I left, we thought she was gone.

From:

theresalwayshope

Lucky for you, baking is the other thing my family's known for. [She grins, toying with the punch pads as Duke tapes up his hands. She wants to ask him more about what he knows, what he's seen...she's heard about other hunters back home, other families that followed the Code and all it represented, right down to the way they were ruled...]

Tell me more about Audrey. I know enough cops back home, but I wanna know more if you've got a girlfriend... [The last is singsong and teasing, her eyes sparkling playfully as she gives Duke her best Innocent Little Girl smile.]

From:

hearrrtofgold

Bartending and gambling are my family's claims to fame. That and murdering Troubled people. [Murdering, not hunting or killing. That's what it is in his opinion, even when he'd done it. Still, he gives her a half-smile.] Cooking's one of mine. We should combine our powers and take over the culinary world.

Audrey? She's... [He grins, shrugging at the same time.] She's a cop too, but she's the first cop I ever liked. If you know what I did back home, that's a big deal. But she's just special. Really tough, really sweet, really smart. Hot too, but don't tell her I said that. [He winks.] You don't meet people like Audrey Parker very often.

You'd like her, if you met her.

[Despite the fond honesty he reverts back to immature mode and smiles playfully as he raises a middle finger to her.] Not my girlfriend. We're just close.

Edited (ARGH) Date: 2014-08-29 04:33 am (UTC)

From:

theresalwayshope

[The more she learns about Duke, the more she likes him, ne'er-do-well tendencies and all. She doesn't doubt he's got a checkered past, but so did a lot of her father's men before they tried to get out.

And the way that Duke talks about the supernatural...Troubled people...it chills her a little with how accurate a description it is.]

I know good cops. My friend, Stiles? His dad's the sheriff back home. He's kind of the same: really cool, rolls with the punches...and he's kind of a silver fox, but you never heard me say that.

[With a grin, she hands Duke the punch pads.]

But I get it with the Audrey thing...my ex and I are still really close. But he's also my alpha, so...

From:

hearrrtofgold

[He does extremely well! He just does well illegally. Smuggling, shipping, and stealing are very lucrative businesses. Moreover they don't end with people dying.

Troubles do. And he doesn't like to be the one causing death.]

Okay, I grant there are some good cops out there. I've met two, so I believe you. [Duke smirks.] Nathan can roll with the punches like a champ.

[He slips his hands into the pads' gloves and holds them up, elbows bent and arms braced in front of him.] What does that mean, Alpha? It can't be just like it is for real wolves.

From:

theresalwayshope

It sort of is. [Raising her hands in a defensive stance, Allison rolls her shoulders a little and starts with a few swift combinations of stiff jabs to the pads.] They're the leaders, the superiors...they have all the power. They're stronger...faster...they can force a wolf to change with their roar...they can manipulate minds...and they're the only wolves with the power to make others. The bite of a Beta is harmless.

From:

hearrrtofgold

Stronger and faster, I figured. The bite makes sense. [When Allison begins striking he has to move, solidly blocking her jabs and anticipating her next moves.]

How many people in your town can manipulate minds?

From:

theresalwayshope

Technically? Just the one. [Her combinations get a little quicker, and her blows a little harder when she feels Duke's strength and gauges what he can take comfortably. She did, after all, promise to be good.]

There was one other time, but it was...kind of a special situation. Alpha bite gone wrong, the creature it produced...needed to be controlled, it sought out a master.

[Without meaning to, her next blow is especially stiff, most of her strength behind it.]

And that's just the supernatural element. [Gerard hadn't needed anything supernatural to get inside her head, after all...she'd just been that gullible.]

From:

hearrrtofgold

[Duke's fast too, always trying to stay one step ahead of her. In regards to the punches, at least - in terms of her world, he's still catching up.]

An Alpha bit someone not human, you mean?

[That can't have softened her blow at all and he takes a step back to brace himself when she throws the hard punch.]

Who else is there? Werewolves, hunters - do you have vampires too?

From:

theresalwayshope

The Alpha bit someone that should never have been bitten. They say the form you take after the bite is a reflection of who you truly are. This boy became a kanima, a creature with no identity. That's why it seeks a master, it's a tool of vengeance. But the guy...got better. Once his crisis was resolved...he became a normal werewolf.

[Suddenly she spins, throwing a kick at one of the punch pads.]

We don't have vampires...but we have Gerard Argent. Or we did, until Scott stopped him. And saved me.

From:

hearrrtofgold

Ah, that's a horse of a different color. [Kanima... Duke has traveled to South America before and picked up a few local legends. That one sounds familiar, and he frowns deeply.] Were-jaguar?

Dammit! [Instinctively he brings the punch-pads in place to block her kick, definitely uninterested in receiving a foot to the mouth or chest. He breathes in deep to recover and takes a small step back.]

I feel that. Haven has... weird problems.

From:

theresalwayshope

Lizard man, in our case, but way to know your South American mythology. Literally, giant lizard guy with paralytic venom.

[She forgets herself after another series of punches, then comes at Duke full-throttle with a side kick to his outstretched left, punch-pad covered hand.]

And my grandfather used him to try and kill me, after I nearly killed for him. [She's breathing hard now, a mixture of emotion and exertion as she steps back, realizing she's taking out her aggression on Duke now and rests her hands on her thighs as she bends over for a second, collecting herself.]

Can Haven beat that?

From:

hearrrtofgold

Please tell me you didn't fight a Gorn. [He grins momentarily while raising the pads.] You got him though, right?

[Duke has to press hard to block all her punches, and has to place one foot back behind the other to brace himself against her kick even behind the pads. Allison may be young and a human, but she's powerful.] Crap, [he says, eloquently.] I'm sorry.

Haven can... [He tilts his head.]

Tbere was a Trouble that brought people back as ghosts. I talked to my dad - he's been dead since I was eight. He tried to convince me to start killing in the family name. [Duke laughs briefly, humorlessly.] The man with the Trouble didn't want to deal with it.

From:

theresalwayshope

[Allison shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath, because she's letting her emotions get the better of her. She's not channeling them to work or hunt, she's losing herself in them, and she can't do that.

She has to thread the needle...hold onto the pain and the anger without letting them control her.

The people she loves, the things she cares about...when they can be used against her, she makes herself forget them, cuts them out of herself, but the bad things...what she hates, what she fears...she has to store them away, so she keeps Gerard and puts him back in that box within her head and heart reserved for him, until she needs that bitterness and hatred to fuel her, to take her to that place where she hunts and kills.

When she's steady again, she opens her eyes and offers up a small, apologetic smile before she returns to her punches...this time, not trying to see how hard or how angry she can hit, focusing instead on the center of each pad, making each strike as accurate as possible.]

Tell me more? [It's a question, a gentle one, not a prompt or a demand.] About your family, about these...Trouble things. Is that what people in Haven call the supernatural?