[Rose had been sure that no amount of hair braiding, chest binding or smudging of dirt to disguise her features would hide the fact that she was a woman and she was probably right. Upon emerging from the tent however, she was quick to realize that it didn’t much matter. Nobody was going to be looking too hard at her, not in this godforsaken place.
She could feel the press of death all around her, the mental guard that kept the lingering spirits of those who had died at bay, strained in a place that had seen as much bloodshed as this one. It was like feeling a migraine coming on, threatening to explode inside her head and she had to grit her teeth and focus hard to keep the guard up. A battlefield such as this one, was clearly no place for somebody who was ‘Kissed by Shadows’, but there was no backing out now.
The mud she’d smeared across the back of her neck, barely conceals the cluster of tattoos inked there and with the constant touching brought on by irritation, it was doubtful they’d stay hidden long. While all of this should have marked her as out of place, it was the eyes that were truly telling. She saw the ghosts of war in the faces of every man and woman she passed and while she’d seen enough in her life to recognize it? The stench of blood and death that permeated the very air that she breathed was a reminder that the war she’d been waging back home, hardly deserved to be called one. She wasn’t hardened or haunted enough to look like she belonged here but she wasn’t scared or shocked enough to look like she didn’t.]
a ][ Lone Pine [Medical Tent]
[Trying to sleep with the overwhelming stench of death in the air was about as easy for Rose as trying to stomach the rations that were supposed to pass as food, her bully beef and hard tack left untouched until hunger could fully take hold. Desperation had a way of making a person less fussy, but Rose wasn’t quite there yet.
She was therefore awake when the bloodcurdling scream pierced the air, any weariness stripped away in an instant as she got to her feet with alarming quickness. The sight of a woman who looked more like a nun than a murderer gives her a moments pause, the arcs of arterial spray that paints her pinafore, burning into her brain before she can make her feet move.
It never occurs to her that the danger was making her escape into the fog, Rose rushing past the Matron and into the tent where the metallic scent of blood slammed into her. Death, while never easy went hand in hand with war, she understood that reality better than the average person but like this; Men who against all odds, survived this long just to be slaughtered where they lay?
Off to her right, there's a gurgle, a wet, bubbling cough and the anger that had started to rise inside of her, is overpowered by a surge of hope. She moves without thought, the point of the weapon she conceals in her boot stabbing into her foot as she drops to the side of the soldier still clinging to life.
Warm blood slips between her fingers as she struggles to cover the wound, the pulse of it growing weaker as he continues to bleed out in front of her. Streaks of crimson smear across her forehead as she wipes the sweat that’s formed on her brow, Rose frantically looking for anything she can use stem the flow.]
A little help here! [Her accent too American. Her voice too feminine but under the circumstances, she doesn’t have time to care.]
b ][ The Beaches [David VS Goliath]
Incoming!
[The cry that rings out across the beach is followed by a crash of limbs, Rose hurling herself directly at a Regency Soldier as he goes to launch a bomb at the retreating backs of the ANZACs. There’s no time to see if her warning is enough to be of any help, if the collision managed to knock the bomb off course. Her hand is already reaching for the silver stake concealed in her boot because while she was never one for guns? Hand to hand combat against an enemy who is bigger, stronger and faster than she is, is very much her forte.
Don’t hesitate. Those two words as much a mantra as a silent taunt as Rose strikes out with the blade, looking to damage the dominant arm of her opponent, to at least make it harder for him to launch any more of those attacks. The uniform restricts her ease of movement, the dancer-like grace that would normally accompany her fights, hindered by the shifting sand beneath her feet.
White hot pain shoots through her shoulder as she manages to connect, Rose, slow to notice the knife that has been buried in her body. She drops down to allow it to slip free before it can do any serious damage to sinew and muscle, her fingers closing around a fistful of sand that she sprays in the face of her opponent.
The split second of blindness allows her to aim a shot at his knee, the crunch of gristle and bone quickly bringing the man crashing down but she can’t pull her stake free fast enough to roll clear of his hulking form, the weight of his body momentarily pinning her as they both scramble to be the first to land another blow.]
c ][ Anchors Aweigh
[In the wake of the fight against the Regency soldiers, Rose’s attempt to pass as male is failing now more than ever. The slouch hat she’d been using to hide her hair had been knocked off in battle, while long, blood matted pieces of it, create a ghoulish frame around her face. The binding, now too loose to hide her bustline has begun to unravel and pool around her waist, Rose’s only real hope of going unnoticed left in trying to tuck herself away once they board the ship
The blood that spreads across the shoulder of her uniform, looks almost black against the khaki material, the only hint that it belongs to her, the dull ache that slowly intensifies. Shock and adrenaline would work as a pain reliever until they could get back to B.A.S.E and the wind that bites at every inch of exposed skin, distracts her as much as it leaves her numb.
She doesn’t recognize any of the faces cramped into the boat headed to the ship, but as one of the last to leave she’s at least sure that most, if not all are COST.]
I’ve never wanted a hamburger with the works, more than I do right now.
d ][ Wildcard
[I’ll roll with any scenario you want to throw my way! Action or Prose is fine. I only went with an action format cause it disguises how ridiculously TLDR this post is.]
Rose Hathaway || VA/Bloodlines || New Recruit - OTA
She could feel the press of death all around her, the mental guard that kept the lingering spirits of those who had died at bay, strained in a place that had seen as much bloodshed as this one. It was like feeling a migraine coming on, threatening to explode inside her head and she had to grit her teeth and focus hard to keep the guard up. A battlefield such as this one, was clearly no place for somebody who was ‘Kissed by Shadows’, but there was no backing out now.
The mud she’d smeared across the back of her neck, barely conceals the cluster of tattoos inked there and with the constant touching brought on by irritation, it was doubtful they’d stay hidden long. While all of this should have marked her as out of place, it was the eyes that were truly telling. She saw the ghosts of war in the faces of every man and woman she passed and while she’d seen enough in her life to recognize it? The stench of blood and death that permeated the very air that she breathed was a reminder that the war she’d been waging back home, hardly deserved to be called one. She wasn’t hardened or haunted enough to look like she belonged here but she wasn’t scared or shocked enough to look like she didn’t.]
a ][ Lone Pine [Medical Tent]
[Trying to sleep with the overwhelming stench of death in the air was about as easy for Rose as trying to stomach the rations that were supposed to pass as food, her bully beef and hard tack left untouched until hunger could fully take hold. Desperation had a way of making a person less fussy, but Rose wasn’t quite there yet.
She was therefore awake when the bloodcurdling scream pierced the air, any weariness stripped away in an instant as she got to her feet with alarming quickness. The sight of a woman who looked more like a nun than a murderer gives her a moments pause, the arcs of arterial spray that paints her pinafore, burning into her brain before she can make her feet move.
It never occurs to her that the danger was making her escape into the fog, Rose rushing past the Matron and into the tent where the metallic scent of blood slammed into her. Death, while never easy went hand in hand with war, she understood that reality better than the average person but like this; Men who against all odds, survived this long just to be slaughtered where they lay?
Off to her right, there's a gurgle, a wet, bubbling cough and the anger that had started to rise inside of her, is overpowered by a surge of hope. She moves without thought, the point of the weapon she conceals in her boot stabbing into her foot as she drops to the side of the soldier still clinging to life.
Warm blood slips between her fingers as she struggles to cover the wound, the pulse of it growing weaker as he continues to bleed out in front of her. Streaks of crimson smear across her forehead as she wipes the sweat that’s formed on her brow, Rose frantically looking for anything she can use stem the flow.]
A little help here! [Her accent too American. Her voice too feminine but under the circumstances, she doesn’t have time to care.]
b ][ The Beaches [David VS Goliath]
Incoming!
[The cry that rings out across the beach is followed by a crash of limbs, Rose hurling herself directly at a Regency Soldier as he goes to launch a bomb at the retreating backs of the ANZACs. There’s no time to see if her warning is enough to be of any help, if the collision managed to knock the bomb off course. Her hand is already reaching for the silver stake concealed in her boot because while she was never one for guns? Hand to hand combat against an enemy who is bigger, stronger and faster than she is, is very much her forte.
Don’t hesitate. Those two words as much a mantra as a silent taunt as Rose strikes out with the blade, looking to damage the dominant arm of her opponent, to at least make it harder for him to launch any more of those attacks. The uniform restricts her ease of movement, the dancer-like grace that would normally accompany her fights, hindered by the shifting sand beneath her feet.
White hot pain shoots through her shoulder as she manages to connect, Rose, slow to notice the knife that has been buried in her body. She drops down to allow it to slip free before it can do any serious damage to sinew and muscle, her fingers closing around a fistful of sand that she sprays in the face of her opponent.
The split second of blindness allows her to aim a shot at his knee, the crunch of gristle and bone quickly bringing the man crashing down but she can’t pull her stake free fast enough to roll clear of his hulking form, the weight of his body momentarily pinning her as they both scramble to be the first to land another blow.]
c ][ Anchors Aweigh
[In the wake of the fight against the Regency soldiers, Rose’s attempt to pass as male is failing now more than ever. The slouch hat she’d been using to hide her hair had been knocked off in battle, while long, blood matted pieces of it, create a ghoulish frame around her face. The binding, now too loose to hide her bustline has begun to unravel and pool around her waist, Rose’s only real hope of going unnoticed left in trying to tuck herself away once they board the ship
The blood that spreads across the shoulder of her uniform, looks almost black against the khaki material, the only hint that it belongs to her, the dull ache that slowly intensifies. Shock and adrenaline would work as a pain reliever until they could get back to B.A.S.E and the wind that bites at every inch of exposed skin, distracts her as much as it leaves her numb.
She doesn’t recognize any of the faces cramped into the boat headed to the ship, but as one of the last to leave she’s at least sure that most, if not all are COST.]
I’ve never wanted a hamburger with the works, more than I do right now.
d ][ Wildcard
[I’ll roll with any scenario you want to throw my way! Action or Prose is fine. I only went with an action format cause it disguises how ridiculously TLDR this post is.]