Hunters Anonymous (OPEN)

[righteously]

WHO: Dean & Open - Mingle it up!
WHEN: late May
WHERE: the Horizon - Roadhouse Edition
WHAT: Starting a Hunters Anonymous Support Group
WARNINGS: drinking and murder, mostly.

( It starts out with just a couple of people. Dean, obviously, because it's his bar. Eventually Geralt, followed by one of Geralt's other hunting buddies — and then another, and then before you know it there's a handful of hunters all swapping stories about the crap they've seen out in the wilds.

It's about the time Dean makes to take out a notebook and honest to god start writing some of this crap down that two things hit him — First, this is actually really freakin' useful. Second, it feels right. The Roadhouse here may be fake, but this is what the real one would've been like. This is what it was meant for. This is the most real this place has been since he got here.

So he runs it by Geralt, and puts out an APB.

Harvelle's Roadhouse is officially open for business — and not just of the drinking variety.

Mind the jukebox. )

NOTES: This is an open mingle, so feel free to top-level below! The idea here is to open up the Roadhouse for hunter-types to use as a central meeting place or base of operations for anyone who desires to, so feel free to use it as a backdrop for any threads whenever. Obviously non-hunter people are welcome to see the message and wander in whenever they want, too! Info on the Roadhouse can be found here. Hit me up at paingravy for anything you need any time.

Comments

[righteously]

No.

( He says immediately, accompanied by a small shake of his head, and while there isn't any uncertainty in his tone, there is an undercurrent of apology. Genuinely. It comes from a place of good intentions and bad history. From a place of knowing, and a place of loss. )

Doesn't matter if you'd be good, and it ain't that I doubt your skills, but... this isn't a life anyone should want to be a part of. If you have the option to never figure out why that is, you should take it. This isn't an ego thing. I'm not kidding. Trust me, it's the smart choice. I'd take it myself if I had the option.

( Not that he could ever really imagine it. What he'd be like, how different he'd be, what he'd even do with himself. Hunting is who he is, he'll die doing it, he has no other skills, it's the only thing he can do right.

But still. )

[itookashot]

( Jesper sighs, having reached yet another brick wall on this, he doesn't know why they're so reluctant. Killing is killing. At least he'd be killing things that weren't people, it really does seem like a step up, slightly less questionable. )

There's nothing equivalent to what I do back home here, and it's driving me insane. I'm a person of action, I'm not meant for a boring life.

( He's talked to Shepard about them going after bandits, getting a crew together, arming them to the teeth, and heading out, just to be able to do anything. He is very twitchy in a quiet life. He was supposed to settle into one back home, with the option to run out when he needed an adventure. Jesper doesn't have the same burn under his skin anymore though. It's not that he can't help it, like before. )

My gang and I would get into the most incredible capers, we always had something cooking, never a dull moment. How do normal people exist for decades like this?

[righteously]

( Dean's given the same answer as others, but while he might still be more brusque than the average civilian, he's also more empathetic than the average hunter. I'm not meant for a boring life resonates. He knows the feeling of being lost when he has nothing to fight. That understanding hovers around his eyes, broadcasted sympathy, and he settles down into his chair like a reflection of how he's settling into this conversation. )

I get it. I tried it once, for about a year. At the end of the day... ( He shakes his head slowly. Idly spins his tumbler sporting a couple fingers of whiskey. The second part of that sentiment, he just couldn't do it, goes unspoken. ) Anyway, for the record... if there was, I don't know, a war, a shoot-out, if I needed people with me to go toe-to-toe with a bunch of humans, I'd ask you. No question. But...

( How to articulate this? It takes him a beat, before he settles on: )

Monsters aren't people. They don't think like people. People are... most of 'em are predictable. They have some kind of rationality you can guess at. People hesitate. Ninety percent of them have even a scrap of empathy, they have limits, they have vulnerabilities you'll probably know by heart after whatever you've lived through. ( There's a short pause to let him digest that, but then he carries on because this here's a good old fashioned monologue. ) Monsters are different. Even the rare ones that can walk, talk, and pretend to be people. They're chaos. They're rabid. They're rage. They will kill you, and they will kill the people you care about if you're dumb enough to bring them. One wrong claw, one swipe, one bite too close to an artery or without some kind of anti-venom, and that's it. Lights out. One hundred to zero. Most of 'em you can't kill with a bullet, or two, or fifty, and then they're on you.

People see other people. Monsters see food, and honestly? If you're too slow, you're better off dead. Half of 'em keep their food alive for days so it stays fresh. ( To close this all up: ) This is just one of a dozen other reasons why nobody with any sense is gonna take you out there. Most of us have made that mistake already, and that blood doesn't wash off.

[itookashot]

( Jesper thinks now that he was never going to make it as the live-in boyfriend of a rich boy. Mostly in terms of not getting into trouble anymore, no real retirement for him. Maybe he would be satisfied with the occasional thrilling escapade because most of the time he had Wylan otherwise, or maybe it was inevitable that he'd get bored and run back to his old life. That's what he feels now, like he's so tired of staying still.

It mollifies him slightly that Dean said he'd take him with him if it was a shoot-out, rather than a monster hunt. Because that would be the correct assessment to make, Jesper's the best in a shoot-out. He listens to Dean's monologue without interruption, not because he's polite, he isn't really, because he likes the guy and he's willing to hear him out. )

I feel like everyone keeps treating me like I'm an amateur. I have superpowers, I've killed supernatural beings. I've been fighting for years, I'm better than any of you think.

( It's frustrating. He wonders if they'd all think the same if he was a decade older, if it's his youth that makes it harder. Jesper isn't mad, he understands they've all got their reasons, but it doesn't help the call in him to action. The need to do something. Sooner or later he's going to do something reckless. )

I guess I'll stick to bandits instead of monsters. I hear there's some in the Badlands, Shepard and I were talking about making a team, maybe getting info and going after them.

( So it'll be human targets! Not monsters like Dean's worried about. Everyone hates bandits, he assumes Free Cities would appreciate the effort. Sure the Badlands are extremely dangerous. )

[righteously]

( He shakes his head slowly, a small frown at his mouth. )

It ain't like that. Trust me.

( But that's all the soap boxing he'll do unless pressed, for now. This is a hard and complicated thing to convey, and he's not about to talk somebody into the ground about it if they've got their mind made up. Jesper's not likely to be convinced, and that's... he's used to that. Seen it before. Unfortunately, that's just how these things go sometimes — hunters don't find out why nobody should be a hunter until after they're already there.

He can at least try and push the redirect. )

City could always use a few less bandits around, that's for damn sure. Just don't let yourself get into too much trouble, alright? You ever need any backup, you know who to call.

( Which isn't an amateur thing. He doesn't care how experienced somebody is, it never hurts to have backup. Never hurts to have a list of people you can call when crap inevitably gets dicey. )

[itookashot]

( Jesper sighs dramatically. )

Sorry I'm being frustrated, it's an adjustment going from the top of the line to feeling grounded.

( He knows that it's not Dean's fault that he feels this way, and he's heard it from Geralt, from Ciri. They have their reasons, it's not a lack of respect on his part, but Jesper feels stagnant. He misses his gang and their adventures. The biggest adventure here so far was when the eclipse happened, and that wasn't super exciting. Maybe most people would say count your blessings about having a calm life, but the kids from the Barrel don't have that energy.

Then again, if he wanted to fight, he could join the army here. The fact he'd rather be bored than join any kind of military says one thing, that he's not so desperate he'd compromise his personal preferences. )

I'll keep it in mind, the plan is to get a team of Summoned mercenaries, maybe we're all restless and need something to do. I don't know yet. Despite evidence to the contrary, I really would prefer to keep breathing.

( Jesper values his life! He just values adrenaline about the same amount. That's when he feels the most alive. He keeps looking at the odd music videos. )

Do you miss your world?

[righteously]

( A sympathetic smile is all he can really offer up for that first bit. He can't exactly relate. So far everywhere he's been, there've been monsters. Everywhere's in need of someone to hunt them.

If he wants adrenaline, maybe Dean should introduce him to rollercoasters. Could he fit a Six Flags in the Horizon?

Mental note to try that out sometime. )

I do. ( He says with a serious nod. ) I was... stuck somewhere else for a year before I got here. Haven't been home in... hell, eighteen months? My brother probably thinks I'm six feet under by now.

[itookashot]

( Six Flags in the Horizon would be amazing. At the least a roller coaster. Jesper is amazed by televisions and playing music, so every new piece of technology he learns about remains incredible. He grimaces in sympathy when he brings up his brother, it's hard when it comes to family. He misses his dad, yes, although he misses his friends more. He's used to missing Colm. )

That's shite, about your brother, sorry.

( He's not going to say no Sam doesn't think that. He probably does. Dean's a hunter and he goes missing for a year? That would only mean one thing. )

I was about to have a better life. After not the best ten years or so, I met this lovely boy with a lovely mansion, and I was going to try and learn how to play nice and be his live-in boyfriend.

( Frankly, it seems all very ridiculous from where he stands now. Jesper wonders why he thought he could do that, if he thought it was possible. He's been here for five or six months and every moment he's wanted to get back to being a mercenary. Maybe it would be easier with Wylan, but he has less rose-colored glasses on at the moment. Eventually he might get tired of that life too. )

So you'd go back if you could? Wonder why none of us have tried to learn the spell and get back.