RP Home Is - A Foreign Land



“Hm,” is all The Hound says, not quite a harrumph but certainly not a full agreement either. They watch the sword fold into a pocketknife with some interest, and though they are admittedly curious as to how exactly that even works they don’t ask - they worry she might actually answer, if they do.

“Sure,” they agree instead, offering her another easy smile. It’s an expression too practiced to be fully true, though something of the person beneath shines through when they jerk their head towards the hole in the roof and allow it to tilt a little more crooked. “Right after you patch the hole you made in the roof.”

Their eyes squint just slightly behind their shades, amusement radiating off them in waves as they settle back against their door with their arms crossed, well out of the radius of the rain dripping through the hole in the roof. “Honestly, some people just don’t have any respect for their vehicles. Poking holes in ‘em all willy-nilly. I would never.”



The patching doesn’t amount to much more than some duct tape slapped over the fissure, but if that isn’t the story of The Hound’s whole life they’ll eat their robot hand. They do not lift a single finger to help, and the rage on the woman’ face is practically incandescent by the time she’s through.

It’s glorious. They’ll drive her away in no time, at this rate.



The woman’s name is Freyja. The Hound takes note of it this time, locking the shape of it into their memory. They’d tossed it aside when she’d first given it, but it’s worth keeping around for as long as she insists on following them, at least.

They let themself fade into the background while she books the room, casing the lobby through nearly-closed eyes and taking note of possible escape routes. The inn isn’t terribly large, but it also isn’t exactly impenetrable. If - no, make that when - their handlers come to collect, this isn’t exactly their first choice for the kind of place they’d want to hole up in, but it’ll do for now.

They follow her back to the room without complaint, finally allowing their eyes to open more than a sliver only once they’re safely inside with the door shut and locked behind them. Freyja has stopped cold just at the end of the short hallway leading further into the room, and they wander over to see what’s got her all worked up, peering past her to give the bedroom a once-over.

It seems normal enough. There’s a bed, chair, dresser, and nightstand, so all the essentials are accounted for. They don’t see the- ah. Right. There are two of them.

They consider the conundrum in contemplative quiet for a moment, then shrug, turning and strolling into the en-suite restroom while they shuck their rain-splattered leather jacket. “That’s fine. I’ll take the chair.”

Closer to the window. Easier to cut and run if they need to. They lay the jacket carefully over the counter by the sink, then peel their gloves off and add them to the pile along with their shades. Glancing at their reflection, they frown, ruffle a hand through their hair, and then start digging through the drawers under the sink in search of some scissors.

It’s way past time for a haircut. They don’t even recognize themself right now.

 


Freyja shot a confused glance at Kerry as they gave up the bed without a fight. She half-expected it to be a slugfest, hours spent fighting over who slept where until one one of them either graciously accepted defeat or, more likely, cheated and tried for the bed anyways.

Instead they relented almost immediately. That wasn’t the only odd thing. Freyja had noticed how Kerry had taken a step back, both figuratively and literally, while she had gotten them the room. They’d been quiet the whole time, a leather-bound statue glaring at the world through empty metal eyes. It was very interesting, and the shift from their usual brashness had Freyja itching to dig deeper and ask questions. But they didn’t give her that opportunity, instead retreating to the bathroom after giving their surrender.

Freyja shrugged, not one to look a gift bed in the sheets. Veljara growled at her, a warning about turning her back on a potential enemy, especially in an unknown location when previous contact had only been in an enclosed space. Freyja shook her off, shooting back a reminder that the quickest way to turn potential into a guarantee was undue hostility. She grumbled in response but didn’t argue further. Freyja felt an internal shift, Veljara’s presence withdrawing deeper. Sleeping or sulking, both were equally possible.

Sleep sounded great, actually. But as much as Freyja wanted to fall face-first onto the bed and let the pillow guide her into a now-dreamless sleep, the shower was also calling her name. Its call was also a bit more pressing, as she felt just a little gross. Crash-landing onto a muddy road and being soaked with ice water, only for the tepid-by-comparison Irish rain to drench her once she’d finally reached some semblance of dryness had left her clothes feeling awkward on her body as they dried, and made her skin feel weirdly tight.

After quickly removing her jeans and jacket, hanging both of them up to dry further, Freyja made her way towards the bathroom. She paused in the doorway, shifting to lean against the frame as she let her eyes linger on the sight in front of her. She’d only seen Kerry fully covered before, and was seizing the opportunity to satisfy her curiosity now that they had doffed their armor, however temporarily.

What she had originally thought was a mechanical hand was actually the entire forearm, trailing bits of metal digging into the flesh above the robotic elbow. The flesh of both arms was a museum of scars, a tapestry of pale lines crisscrossing their skin and covering the sizable quantity of muscle that lay underneath. Their hair had been pushed back out of their face, dripping down their back and wetting their shirt further. It wasn’t quite soaked through thanks to the jacket, but it certainly clung enough to garner Freyja’s interest.

She let out a low whistle after a few moments perched on the doorframe. “Might’ve missed dinner, but arrived just in time for the show.” She chuckled before pushing off the frame, letting her gaze trail as Kerry straightened. Freyja grimaced slightly as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Gods she looked rough.

“I’m going to shower.” She said, letting any perceived implications on Kerry’s part fill the quiet that followed. Freyja had started to realize that her interest in them was no longer purely academic, their snark and combative nature drawing her further in rather than pushing her away. It certainly helped that they were attractive in a natural way, like a storm-battered seaside cliff that stood defiantly against the salt and wind and time that attempted to drag it down. It added to their story, which just made her want to turn the next page.

And while there may have been only one bed, that didn’t mean they couldn’t share.

Code by Reyn
 


It seems that there aren’t any scissors to be found, but they aren’t going to let a tiny hurdle like that stop them. They’ve got a knife, a shitty plastic comb, and a vision. They’re making this happen.

The hair at the back of their neck prickles, and The Hound pauses with their head tilted to the side, the handle of a knife held delicately between their teeth, and their hair only half-gathered into a ponytail, glancing at the doorway. Seeing that it’s only Freyja, they relax minutely, letting their gaze trail over her as they return to their task.

“I could say th’ same,” they mutter around the knife, shifting to keep her reflection in sight when she crosses behind them. A second after her announcement, they glance fully at her, then make a vaguely affirmative sound, turning back to the mirror and making no effort to leave the room or to conceal the sharp interest that now accompanies their previously idle monitoring.

Still, they can’t let themself be fully distracted just yet. They have a vision. They focus on their own reflection for a moment, catching the last few straggling yellow strands and tucking them into place.

It takes a bit of finagling, but they shift their hands around so that only the metal one is holding the gathered hair, leaving the other free to take the blade and chop through the whole bundle. The cut hair is discarded without a single ounce of sentiment, tossed directly in the trash without a second glance. They clatter the knife onto the counter and pick up the comb, then, humming a nameless tune while they run it through their much shorter hair.

It still isn’t right, but it’s certainly better. Fighting the tangles is still a losing battle, as they discover after only a few moments, but they think that a shower might change that.

Their gaze drifts to the appliance in question, pausing on the woman currently fiddling with the controls on it. She’s been standing there for at least a minute, seemingly locked in a tense stalemate with the temperature knobs. They catch her eye in the mirror and don’t bother trying to hide their amusement when she almost immediately breaks away, clearly flustered.

The Hound, ever the opportunist, turns fully around, leaning both palms against the counter behind them and crossing one booted foot casually over the other. Tilting their head just slightly to the side, they consider her carefully, their scrutiny at odds with the tiny smirk that quirks their lips. “Need help there, sweetheart?”

They don’t wait for her to answer before starting forward, though they do at least have the courtesy not to step into the tub with their boots still on. They drift to a stop just outside, angling around the curtain to peer at the dials themself.

“Ah, I see.” Very confidently, they turn the left dial counter-clockwise in one sharp jerk, then give the center one a firm pull. The shower shudders to life almost immediately, spitting a stream of ice cold water that they’re quick to duck out of the way of. Huffing in a way that would imply laughter from anyone else, they attempt to backpedal, calling out a quick, “You’re welcome!” as they execute a textbook pivot and begin to make their escape.

 


Freyja hadn’t expected them to leave the room or avert their gaze when she announced her intentions to shower. If the past day she’d spent in Kerry’s company was any indication, modesty wasn’t a concept they had much care for. She was, however, pleasantly surprised to find their gaze focused on her, pointedly looking at her as opposed to the quick glance to confirm her presence. She could feel their crimson gaze lightly burning into her as she shed the last of her previously-drenched clothes and stepped into the shower.

As much as the hot water called her name, Freyja took this opportunity to watch Kerry, stealing glances in their direction while pretending to contemplate the mechanism in front of her. Their hair was bundled up, shifting between hands as they messed with it. The mechanical hand appeared to have a similar level of dexterity as Kerry’s flesh one, but she wasn’t sure if that was by design or simply from the years of practice Freyja assumed they had with it.

Speculation on their knife expertise was unnecessary, though. Freyja could tell from the way they handled it that it was practically an extension of themself. It was apparent in how comfortable they were with the blade, clutching it between their teeth, snatching it out and twisting it into the right position without hesitation. A single, smooth cut was all it took to scythe the unwanted hair from their head, dumping it into the nearby trash can without a second thought. What remained was still a bit tangled, and as Kerry ran a comb through their now-shortened hair, Freyja took the opportunity to discretely inspect what back musculature she could see.

Well, ‘discretely’ may have been too generous, as when her gaze shifted back to the mirror, Freyja found Kerry’s gaze locked onto hers, emotions hidden behind a mask of gunmetal gray, save for the smirk that formed just as she looked away, feeling a flush creep across her cheeks. She saw them reposition out of the corner of her eye, felt their piercing gaze drag over her and linger in more than a few spots. She felt the flush spread across her whole body, and managed to avoid jumping when they spoke again, their chosen nickname eliciting twin feelings of excitement and disappointment.

Freyja turned to meet them as they approached the shower, poking their head around the curtain. Their eyes were actually on the faucet, not on her, which added a dash of frustration to the flush that continued to run through her. Of course Kerry would be a little shi-

Freezing cold water sprayed out of the shower head, Kerry’s betrayal evident in their quick withdrawal. Freyja let out a snarl as the frigid water splashed against her, a mixture of shock and annoyance, and lashed out. Drops of water clung to her arm, forming into tiny crystals as she managed to grab a fistful of Kerry’s collar just before they managed to abscond. With another growl she heaved, yanking them backward and sending them tumbling into the tub at her feet with a thud.

“Nice move. Prick.” She shook her arm, the bits of frost dissolving as Freyja reached out to adjust the dials to correct their temperature before glaring down at the figure now resting on the tub floor below her steadily soaking up water.

“Oh no.” She said, mock concern dripping from her voice to join the water filtering down the drain. “Kerry, you’re all wet.”

Code by Reyn
 


A frigid claw seizes the back of their shirt, and The Hound has five metal digits wrapped around the attached wrist in an instant, their grip perfectly poised to break the collection of tiny bones into an even larger collection of even tinier ones.

Unfortunately, they don’t get the chance to start snapping before they’re yanked off their feet, tumbling ass over teakettle into the cold and banging their everything on the way down. They’re able to tuck their chin against their chest and get their arm up between their head and the wall, so they don’t crack their skull open, at least, but they land hard on their ass and bang an elbow and both their calves against the sides of the tub.

They just sort of lay there for a moment, afterwards, head still ducked so they’re staring squint-eyed at the laces of their boots as water drips down their face and plasters their shirt and pants against their skin for the hundredth time today.

A long moment passes before they turn their baleful red glare on the woman who got them into this mess. She doesn’t look even a little bit sorry, and after she finishes fiddling with the controls for the shower even her lingering aggravation turns to smug superiority; she grins down at them, all batting eyelashes and straight white teeth, preening and primping and reveling in her tiny win.

It’s ridiculous, because she’s wearing a smile and the glow of victory and not a stitch else, and The Hound can’t help but roll their eyes, their temper cooling from murderous rage to a more moderate kind of annoyance as they laugh, quiet and low and with an edge that skirts the line between anger and good-natured admittance, and push their hair back out of their face. “Yeah, yeah. Wonder how that happened.”

They sigh, and their smile is soft, golden lashes casting long shadows over their half-lidded eyes as they hold their hand up towards her. “Will you at least help me up, angel?”

 


It was only belatedly, after Freyja had ripped Kerry back into the tub, that she realized how poorly that could have gone. The ghost of metal digits, somehow colder still against her frosted fingers, remained even after the water had heated back up. The pressure that had been behind them, as though with a single decisive movement her wrist could’ve been shattered just as easily as snapping their fingers, lingered in the back of her mind.

Not for the first time, Freyja wondered who the fuck Kerry truly was. Their comfort with a blade, the apparent ease with which they could apparently break bone, their metal hand, all of it painted a sparse picture, one whose image was more defined by the blank spaces left over than the ones covered in paint. Whoever they were, they were dangerous. The better question was probably why they were letting her tag along.

Any thoughts of Kerry’s true identity were banished from Freyja’s mind as a new sound trickled into her ears. It was laughter, rough and low, and it took her a moment to realize that it was Kerry’s. They were looking up at her, gaze softened and chuckling softly as they slicked their now wet hair back out of their eyes.

"It's a mystery." Freyja chuckled back, something inside her heating up once more at their nickname for her. She reached down and grabbed the offered hand, the flesh one, and was surprised at how warm it was. Or perhaps hers was still cold. Regardless, she leaned back and pulled on their arm to help them to their feet.

Kerry pulled harder.

Freyja barely had time to think of a single insult before she was falling, yanked off her feet in what had to be the world record for turnabout before crashing onto them, a tangle of limbs, skin, and wet clothing. Several Nordic swears were caught in her throat by the impact, and suddenly she was very aware of Kerry, and in particular of the many, many points of contact between them.

Code by Reyn
 
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