Rose Hathaway :: Vampire Academy (lildampeer) wrote in the100, @ 2016-03-29 12:02:00 |
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FEBRUARY 26, 2016 Rose arrives at Mount Weather characters. Rose Hathaway & Adrian Ivashkov time. Afternoonish location. Their shared room rating. Low status. Complete, I think. |
Rose didn't like being underground. It had been almost two years since that day at the caves when she'd watched Dimitri fall, watched him be killed, and she still felt that old surge of fear around them. No matter how many expeditions they made into cave structures since, she always had to remind herself that he would be okay. He could handle himself. He was ready. History wouldn't repeat itself. And now here she was, living in the base of a mountain. Making her home in a series of tunnels carved into rock. It didn't bear much resemblance to the set of caves near St. Vladimir’s or the ones they'd seen in Russia when they'd gone after the Blood King, but it was enough to unsettle her. The weight of the silver stake in her hand comforted her. It was one of the few possessions she'd been found with and she was grateful for it now. Her welcoming committee of one had told her this was a different world, one where she wasn't likely to find the creatures that so often haunted her nightmares, but she still felt better with a weapon in her hand. If something came at her, she'd be prepared. Rose made her way from medical to the apartment she'd been assigned. The map was tucked into the waistband of her pajama pants - she'd have to see about real clothes tomorrow - but she'd studied it long enough to easily find her way. Rose hadn't paid much attention to her room assignment beyond the number, so her face betrayed a little surprise as she walked into her room to find a familiar person standing there. She'd known he was here, of course, from their conversation on the tablet, but she hadn't expected to see him quite so soon. “Adrian?” she questioned stupidly. “What are you doing in my room?” Adrian hadn't expected Rose to walk into his room. They'd talked over the network, but there'd been a sense of distance there. One that wasn't quite so easily maintained when Rose was standing, silver stake in her hand, referring to his room as hers. "Rose," he said, slightly uncomfortable. "Were you planning on staking your roommate? I thought…" His eyes moved from the stake to the giant rock on her hand. "I thought you and Belikov would have waited at least another decade before going down that aisle." His words were disbelieving. Adrian was over Rose in any romantic sense. He couldn't think of anyone he wanted to be with more than Sydney. But being over Rose and having Rose standing in his room, very obviously engaged to her Russian comrade, was… bizarre. “Maybe. Depending on who it was.” That was a joke and she cracked a smile, though it faded at Adrian’s comment. “What are you talking about?” she asked, confused again. “You and Sydney were way ahead of us there. Besides, he just asked a month ago. We haven’t even set a date, yet. I was thinking maybe when I’m 30.” She shrugged. It seemed like they’d just had this conversation. Or, you know, she’d teased Dimitri about taking their time, but Adrian had been there at the table with them, along with Sydney and Eddie and Jill. He’d been the one to notice the ring first, then, too, but he hadn’t been nearly so surprised by it, so why was she weirded out now. Rose glanced around the room, as much for something to do as anything else. She found a nearby table to set her stake down on, deciding that was close enough for now if something did attack. Her eyes found the artwork and art supplies scattered around and realization dawned that this must be Adrian’s room, too. Shit. Talk about awkward. Now, Adrian was confused. He had only just told Sydney that he loved her, and while Sydney was definitely from further on than he was, he didn't think that she was from any point where they had been… Engaged? Married? The very thought made him nervous because there was no way that everyone in the Moroi world had simply agreed to a human-Moroi marriage. Those weren't exactly commonplace these days. "What are you talk about? We're not... I'm not… I just convinced Sydney that I'm not evil." He'd heard rumors that time could be different here, but Rose didn't look that much different than when he'd last seen her. Well, apart from the giant rock on her hand, and belief that he was somehow something with Sydney. "You don't know what years of Alchemist brainwashing can do to a person." “Yeah, I do. I met her first, remember? She couldn’t even sleep in the same room as me.” This was still really confusing, though, because as far as Rose was concerned, they’d obviously gotten over that stuff a while ago, long before she’d even known it was more than just friendship with those two. Dimitri had noticed they seemed weirdly protective of one another during his time in Palm Springs, but they bother just sort of assumed they’d become friends. The idea of a human-Moroi coupling was too bizarre for even Rose to contemplate before she’d seen them standing there in their wedding clothes. “But, Adrian, you guys have been married for over a year now. You showed up at Court in your wedding clothes. Sydney had those kick ass shoes. You seriously don’t remember that?” She knew Sydney had said something about different times, but this was just weird, feeling like she was half a lifetime ahead of her friends. “It was pretty unforgettable,” she added, making a joke, “I thought your dads were going to turn purple or something.” "Rose, I think I'd remember if Sydney and I had decided to get married. We're not exactly going to win couple of the year at Court. The last thing I remember we were back in Palm Springs… Which sounds like it was a long time ago for you?" Adrian didn't believe that he was saying this. Even if he was a little hung up on the idea of Sydney, and wedding clothes, and kick ass shoes… Stop, he told himself. He didn't need to get hung up on the little details of the future, a future he might not get to live out if he was stuck here. "I don't believe this. First, there were the weird cross-dimensional conversations with Jill. And then Eddie's gone. And now you're here, but not from any time that I remember…" Adrian picked up one of his paint brushes, examining it idly. "AND we're living together. It's as though this place is purposefully trying to mess with my head." Rose nodded. “You left for Palm Springs over two years ago. It’s been about a year and a half since Jill came back to Court and you and Sydney... well, I guess you haven’t done that, yet.” This was weird. Waking up in the far future where there’d been a nuclear war and basically the world had almost ended was weird, too, but when the only two people she knew here was two years behind her, somehow? That was just another level of weird. He made the comment about them living together, which at this point didn’t even feel like a big deal to her, and she looked over at him in surprise. “Is that, um, a problem for you?” she asked, feeling oddly flustered. Adrian looked at Rose, seemingly more aware than ever that they were going to be living together. It was one thing when he'd had to kick out a roommate he didn't know to spend more time with Sydney. But Rose? He didn't know if that was a problem or if it was just weird. "No," he said, with a sigh, "I didn't mean...it's just…" For once, Adrian was at a loss for words. No snarky comment could remedy the strange situation before them. He couldn't help but feel a little bit bitter that the world, which had taken one of his good friends, had brought one back to him… but different. It seemed to be a pattern in his life that nothing ever worked out how he intended, a pattern that the Pod God seemed very much intent on playing into. "It's usually when I finally think I'm getting everything back together that it falls apart all over again. Take this place…Eddie's here maybe a couple of weeks. We're practicing together, and then… poof! he's gone. Back to Palm Springs, or wherever it is we are in your version of events…" Rose didn’t know if she should be happy for Eddie that he was sent home or sorry he wasn’t here. It was honestly a little of both. Eddie was one of her best friends. The prospect of having him here was a nice one, but even having only been here a few moments, Rose knew she couldn’t wish this place on Eddie or anyone else she cared about. “Maine, actually,” she corrected him. That’s where you went after Palm Springs. She went to college, you starting teaching art classes. Eddie lived with you, he was your guardian. You guys are good. You’re really happy. I know that stuff hasn’t happened for you yet, but you’ll get it all together eventually.” She was trying to be comforting, but she didn’t know how she was doing. She was always a lot better at kicking ass than comforting words and, honestly, she was still a little freaked out by the whole situation, herself. "Wow." Adrian was so surprised that he had to sit down. "So, you're saying this all works out…" Apart from, he thought, the brief detour to the apocalyptic future. He could handle this place, if it meant that somewhere his future self had everything together: that he and Sydney were together, that he was able to use his art in a way that was actually useful, and that they had somehow managed to escape the reach of the Alchemists. "You know, I never really thought of you as the bearer of good news, but this… It kind of makes me wish Eddie were still here so he could hear how amazing we all turn out." Rose smiled at that. “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. We just had Christmas at your place.” She wondered if she should tell him about Dimitri’s father being his uncle, but she decided against it. What she’d already said was probably too much, considering he was way behind her. Rose’s self-control might be a lot better than it used to be, but she still tended to speak without thinking sometimes. At least talking about everything distracted her from the fact that they were underground. She laughed and then affected a mock offended look. “Hey, I have good news lots of times,” she objected. Things hadn’t always been awesome between them, especially right before and after he’d left for Palm Springs and relief washed over her as it seems like he was pretty okay with her. She’d been worried for a moment there. If he was from earlier, he could have still been pissed at her for the way she’d handled things between them. If she was going to be stuck here, she was grateful she seemed to be here with an Adrian who could stand to be in the same room with her, not the one who wanted nothing to do with her. That was something she had no desire to go back to. “What’s the last thing you remember from home?” she asked him, trying to get some idea of how much he didn’t know yet. “I mean, aside from just being in Palm Springs.” "Sonya and Dmitri just left for court," said Adrian. "I think they were happy to get out of Palm Springs after...everything." The Warriors of Light had added a new dimension of weird to his life in Palm Springs. That and his growing relationship with Sydney… "Hey, maybe we can compare notes while I show you around? You can't live out the apocalypse in your pajamas." |