Rose Hathaway :: Vampire Academy (lildampeer) wrote in paradisolog, @ 2017-01-26 18:25:00 |
|
|||
January 6th
Rose Hathaway • Christian Ozera • Mason Ashford On the beach - Mason's Arrival Warnings for character death, language • Complete |
“God, Christian, you are such a jackass.” Rose was laughing as she gave the vampire a playful shove before she used her fingers to comb the sand out of her hair. Sand he had just rudely dumped on her. It was possible she'd done something to deserve it, but that was entirely beside the point. Of course, it was also possible he wanted an excuse to get her under the nearby waterfall. It was the kind of devious thing she'd try, anyway, but she wasn't going to admit it was a good plan if that was what he'd been after. Rose didn't, as a rule, let Christian know she approved of anything he did if she could help it. “I’m going to-” the threat died on her lips as she spotted something - or rather someone - she'd never expected to see again. Mason. Panic gripped her for a moment as she thought she was seeing his ghost again. She couldn't. He'd found peace. “No,” she whispered to herself, her easy laugh from moments before gone. She focused her thoughts on strengthening the walls that separated her from the world of the dead and kept the ghosts out of sight, but it wasn't working. “No,” she repeated a little louder. “This isn't happening. You're not real.” Christian laughed. “I am not a jackass. You know you like me,” he said. He wasn’t sure exactly where things stood between him and Rose but he was happy. Not that he would ever let her know that of course but it was true. Thanks to a conversation with Arva, he could now keep a daytime schedule without worrying about getting too much sun but he hadn’t shared that with Rose either. He was still Moroi, he still needed feedings but he could tolerate the sun without worries. When Rose stopped, he turned to see what she was looking at. He was surprised to see Mason standing there and immediately guessed why Rose was upset. “Rose,” he said and took her hand. “It’s okay. I see him too. That’s Mason. Looks like he’s found his way to Sex Island.” And Christian wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Mason laughed as he said goodbye to Rose one last time. Knowing that she'd miss him, but it was time for him to finally move on. And, he was at peace with that. He knew, that he had done what he could to help his friends, and he was actually feeling a bit more at peace about his own death. Not that he'd ever felt anything but regret about what had happened. He ultimately blamed himself. He started to fade, and he could feel the promise of whatever came next ahead of him. And then he felt the sun shining down on him. Looking around, he realised that he was nowhere he’d seen before. Maybe it was heaven. But, he had a feeling it wasn’t. It felt, like real life. And, then he remembered the goddess, and the agreement he’d made. He’d been so sure that it was never going to happen now. Not with the whole dying thing. But, here he was, hearing familiar laughter coming from further up the beach. And, eager to be sure that he wasn’t dead, he headed towards the sounds of his best friend. Stopping in his tracks as his dhampir hearing caught her words. His face falling slightly at both her reaction, and how close she seemed to be to Christian. Now, that one was new. It wasn’t long before he schooled his face into a wry grin, however. “Wow, I must have been gone a while, if you two can actually stand each other.” “You're delusional.” Rose rolled her eyes when Christian said she liked him. Obviously, she did, but like hell if she was going to admit that. Of course, that didn't keep her from letting him hold her hand a moment later as they stood there staring at Mason in shock. “You can see him, too?” She asked unnecessarily. Christian was a lot of things. A lot of generally really annoying things. But he wasn't shadow kissed or crazy, so if he could see Mason standing there, he had to be real. “Mase?” she said, taking a tentative step toward him before her feet started to move quicker. A moment later, she was standing close enough to reach out and touch his arm. He was solid, warm.... real. Without even bothering to wipe the tears from her face, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. “Of course I can see him, he’s standing right….” and then Rose was gone, her arms wrapped around Mason. Christian felt a little twinge of jealousy but he pushed it aside. After all, he was one of Rose’s closest friends and truth be told, Christian didn’t have any problems with him either. He was glad to see him, his death had been tough for him although not as tough as it had been for Rose. “It’s good to see you again, Mason. I mean that.” Christian smiled at him or really kind of half smiled since he wasn’t the smiliest person around but he wanted Mason to know that he was serious. “Welcome to the island. When Rose lets go of you, we’ll tell you about it. That might be awhile though.” Mason’s arms wrapped around Rose, holding her tightly into his chest. It was good to feel. To see. To be alive. To be seen by more than just Rose. And, he knew how heart broken Rose had been by his death. He’d seen her reaction. He’d stayed by her. Tried to keep her safe. And, he was willing for her to cling to him as long as she needed to. “It’s good to see you too, man.” Mason looked up, grinning at Christian. Spokane kinda gave them all a connection, even if he was the only one who’d died there. And, well he was glad he was the only one. “Not sure she’ll be letting go, anytime soon. So, what’s the story?” Rose pulled back and punched him in the arm for that comment. “Shut up, jerk,” she muttered as she blinked back the tears that had formed in her eyes. She shot Christian a glare for his comment, too. “Arva probably told you most of it,” she offered in explanation and then she shrugged. “We’re building a new society, so there’s putting together some dorms and we kind of have to forage for our own food a lot, but it’s a pretty cool place.” Christian noticed that she left off the part about having sex and making babies which was probably smart. He was pretty sure that Mason wouldn’t be too pleased about the way things were going between him and Rose although there had been not talk of babies. That was the last thing Christian wanted to think about. “Yeah it’s a nice place. There are quite a few people here but we’re the only three from our world. Eddie was here but he left. I think there was somebody else before I got here.” he shrugged. “But it’s not a bad place.” Mason’s stomach grumbled almost as soon as Rose mentioned food. It was like it had remembered that he hadn’t eaten in a month. And, although, he wasn’t sure how he felt about foraging. He figured it was worth it to be alive. “Talking about food…..I’m starving.” And, he really hoped there was food somewhere, and the didn’t have to forage for it right now. Because he had literally never been this hungry in his life. Rose laughed and threw an arm around her friend. “Come on, doofus, we’ll give you the tour and start with the kitchen. I’m pretty sure there’s some good stuff in there.” She looked at Christian to make sure he was on board with that plan, but she was pretty sure he would be. Mason needed food and they would have to show him around the place, so they might as well kill two birds at once. “Yeah, there’s always some stuff in there,” Christian said.. “I’m sure we can put something together.” He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about Mason being here but there was nothing he could do about. Christian liked Mason even if he didn’t completely trust him. Then again, Christian didn’t trust a lot of people anyway. “We can at least put you a sandwich together. I know there’s cheese. It’s goat cheese so if you don’t like that you’re screwed but it’s not that bad.” He’d been a little skeptical at first but it was indeed not bad as far as cheese went. “Come on, let’s head that way and you can tell us al about being a ghost.” |