Adam Vasic (adam_vasic) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2018-01-05 20:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !completed gdoc, !log, ~2018 january, ~25 points, ~~rose hathaway (lil_dhampir), ~~~~adam vasic (adam_vasic) |
Who: Rose Hathaway & Adam Vasic
What: Chatting
Where: Hinkles
When: Friday afternoon
Warnings: Not really
Status: complete gdoc
Rose was trying to come to terms with the fact that Dimitri was gone and he wasn’t coming back. Each day that passed convinced her more of that, and each day that she woke up here convinced her that she wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.
Her network discussion with Thor had her thinking. She loved Dimitri - there was no doubt in her mind about that - but she wasn’t a saint. She didn’t want to pine over him for however many years she found herself stuck here. This wasn’t her life back home.
In so many ways she wished that she didn’t know he was alive back home. It would have made it so much easier to move on. But, of course, things could never be easy for Rose.
She wanted a drink, but she wasn’t old enough here and she didn’t have a fake ID.
So instead she was sitting in Hinkles with a ridiculously strong cup of coffee, looking angrily down into the inky blackness.
***
The new year was a fresh start for Adam. He was disappointed that things hadn’t worked out with Sue, but not devastated and that was probably a good sign that they hadn’t really been meant to be together. He still cared for her and considered her a friend though.
Without a girlfriend and his seasonal job still closed for the winter, he had plenty of free time on his hands when he wasn’t hanging out with Paige and the twins. It was amazing to watch them grow and change so quickly, but he knew he needed to give his friend time alone with her children, especially when her husband was around.
He wasn’t terribly surprised to see Rose sitting in Hinkles when he entered, though the expression on her face was concerning. “Hey,” he said, sliding into the seat across from her without waiting for an invitation. “You look angry at the world.”
***
“I am,” she said, her tone and expression holding nothing back. “I’m pissed at this place for bringing Dimitri here and then taking him away. I thought he was dead before. If I still thought he was dead I could just pine and get over him. But I can’t even do that now because I know he’s alive and...Dimitri back home.”
She scowled at her coffee cup for a moment before looking back up at Adam.
“So there’s more than you ever wanted to know about my life. How are you?”
***
“Bored, mostly,” Adam said. “My job is seasonal and I broke up with my girlfriend last month, so I haven’t had much to do.” The boredom was a yearly occurrence for him and every year he said he was going to do something different next year and then didn’t. Of course, this year at least he had the twins to occupy some of his time.
He signaled for the server to bring him a cup of coffee too. “This place can really suck sometimes,” he said. “When I first got here, my girlfriend was only fifteen. That was awkward as hell. Then she disappeared and came back at the right age, but she’s been gone for about a year and a half now.” He still missed Savannah, but he knew that he’d see her again when he eventually went home and that was good enough for him.
***
“Shit. Sorry about that,” she said. Seemed like everyone was losing someone these days. Which was entirely uncool and it pissed her off more than a little.
“Well, maybe a fresh start is what everyone needs. Just leave the past in the past and move on. Sometimes I wonder if maybe that’s what Madison Valley is all about. You know?”
***
Adam thought that was a pretty fair thing to wonder. It wasn’t like the thought had never crossed his mind before. “Seems like it might be,” he admitted. “I know some people who are here that are dead at home so it’s literally a second chance for them. And there are people here who have the opportunity for relationships that they wouldn’t otherwise have.” It really was a great thing for some of the people who were displaced here.
“How are things going now that Adrian is here?” he asked. He didn’t know all the specifics about their history, but he knew it was contentious and that the arrival of another Moroi probably was adding to Rose’s stress.
***
Rose couldn’t contain her groan when he mentioned Adrian. It was just...too much on top of everything else she was going through.
“Alright. Adrian. So there’s another Moroi to take care of. A particularly annoying one. Who happens to be in love with me. And who happens to be hitting on everything in a skirt while his wife watches broken-hearted.” She shook her head, looking like she was about ready to break something.
“I don’t think there’s a single thing about Adrian showing up here that isn’t absolutely horrible.”
***
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Adam offered. He knew that this Rose didn’t have the same history with him that the previous one did and really had no reason to trust him, but he wanted to help if he could. Especially now while he wasn’t working because his job was seasonal.
The server came over and Adam ordered a drink and some food before raising his eyebrows to ask if she wanted anything.
***
She almost said no. She almost turned him down flat because the truth was that he wasn’t a dhampir. But she and Sonja were the only dhampirs here, and that would hardly do, since Sonja wasn’t even trained as a Guardian. So she was going to take help.
“You want to Guard Adrian? He’s not terribly fond of me and it might be best if someone else took care of him.”
***
Guarding Adrian would be one hell of a challenge, but Adam figured he was up for the task. “Sure, I can do that,” he said. “I’ll get Lissa and Jill to put in a good word for me.” He was a little closer to Lissa since he’d guarded her before, but he knew Jill was good friends with Kate and that would give him an advantage there.
“I’m sure we can work out a rotation with a few of the other former volunteers,” he said.
***
“Yeah. I mean, I’ve pretty much been guarding Lissa my whole life, so I can handle that. It’s just that Adrian and I have…history.” She made the word itself sound significant. “And I think he’s going back between hating me and wanting to date me and to be honest, I don’t want to deal with either one.”
She ran a hand through her dark hair.
“I really do appreciate it.”
***
Adam nodded. He didn’t know the details nor did he want to, but he vaguely remembered something about there being history between them. He also knew how difficult things must be for Sydney right now with Adrian not remembering their relationship. It was something he’d gone through when he first arrived and Savannah was only fifteen. This situation wasn’t as potentially squicky, but that didn’t make it any less painful.
“I’m happy to help,” he said. “At one point, we had six or seven Moroi here and that was when you guys asked for extra help. Even though we’re not dhampirs, we have abilities that make us capable.”
Since they were inside, he figured he’d be discrete, but he held out his hand and conjured up a small flame.
***
Rose wasn’t shocked out of her mind or anything, after all, Moroi had elemental magic. But she was impressed. Being able to conjure fire definitely made the guy useful, especially against Strigoi. No wonder they’d drafted him.
“Okay, so you’re not Moroi,” she said. She knew that just by looking at him. “So how can you do that?”
Sydney could conjure some types of flame with her magic, but it wasn’t as easy as what Adam had just showed her.
***
“Half demon,” Adam replied. “Dear old dad is a demon lord and I inherited my abilities from him.” He figured that Rose was savvy enough to realize that demon didn’t automatically mean evil so he wasn’t too concerned about sharing his heritage with her.
He extinguished the flame and leaned back in his seat with a lazy smile. “My powers come in very handy against Strigoi.”
***
He obviously wasn’t Strigoi. Or even evil if he was helping them out. Rose herself was half vampire, and she was pretty sure that Abe was scarier than any demon that Adam could be related to.
“I bet they do. I heard we had Strigoi here once. Or twice. I’m guessing you helped fight those?”
Christian would have too, if he’d been here. But he’d been here and left so many times that Rose just wasn’t counting him in much of anything.
***
Yes, he’d fought Strigoi once. At her wedding to Dimitri. Adam wasn’t sure if he should mention that part though. “We did have them show up once,” he said. “So I fought them. You’ve met Johnny, right? He has similar powers. We were a pretty formidable team.”
He was assuming that since Johnny had taken over as primary Guardian for Jill, Rose had at least talked to him since her arrival in town.
***
“Yeah, I think I talked to him on the network. The really arrogant one, right?”
As if she had room to talk, but she didn’t care. That was how she remembered him.
“This firepower thing is useful,” she said. Dhampirs didn’t even have that, though she’d wished a hundred times that they did.
“Is there anyone else in town who can do that?”
***
Adam laughed. That was a great way to describe Johnny. “Yeah, that’s him. He’s a really good guy.” Even though Adam had recently broken his sister’s heart, they were still friends.
“I believe so,” he said. “I haven’t really kept close track of who all around here can do that at the moment though.”
***
“I should ask around. I mean, with fire, pretty much anyone could kill Strigoi.” It was why she’d allowed Christian to fight with them in the first place. It was a useful skill.
“Ugh, did the previous version of me ever tell you that this is more like a life than a choice? Seems I can’t even stop thinking about work when I have a few hours off.”
Most Guardians were that way, really. Rose was no exception.
***
“Yes, I’m familiar with the ‘they come first’ attitude,” Adam assured her. “You and Dimitri were both very clear on that and all of us who volunteered were completely on board.”
Adam nodded his thanks when the server delivered his food. “I’ll reach out to Lissa and Jill,” he said. “Let them know that you asked me to take point on Adrian’s protection and ask for their help to get his buy-in.”
Maybe it would be easier to manage if Rose wasn’t visibly involved.
***
It was a career choice that you dedicated every bit of your being to. And really, compared to the other options offered to dhampirs, it wasn’t that terribly bad. She didn’t want to just sit around and have kids all day, and, well, unless she tried to make it in the human world, that was just about the only other option she had.
“That sounds good. Keep me up to date on what happens?”
***
As if he would leave her out. “Of course,” he said. “And now I’ll leave you to your coffee.” He stood and grabbed his bag of food. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you, okay?”
He definitely respected Rose and what she did so if he could be of any use, he would be happy to do so.
***
She nodded.
“I will.” Of course, now, more than anything, she just needed to think this whole big mess through, and figure out what was going on for everyone, especially Adrian and Sydney.
“Thanks.”
***