Would I still be your pup? (Eve, Medwyn?) - Sunflower Beach

"Ya, I am. Don't tell no one, k? My sire... he was embraced by Anollia." Eve looked up for the first time Teddy actually saw a hint of fear in the ancient gangrel's eyes.

"So you could say my blood is real thick... real, real thick. The children, they rose up and they ate the old ones. I don't tell no one cause..." Eve shrugged. "Don' matter how old you are."

"I don't really know who Anollia was..." Teddy had to admit. "But it doesn't really matter to me who your Sire or your GrandSire is. You're you, regardless. And... I trust you. I don't trust many these nights..." she said softly. "So don't worry, I'm not gonna tell anyone"

"Oh... you don't know." Eve nodded. "It's not important. People make a big deal out of shit like that." Eve laughed it off.

"Ya, I'm good at fortitude, so you got the best teacher you can get!" Eve gestured for her to lit the candle, matches were hard for her clawed fingers.

"Let's see where you are at."

"People always make a big deal out of whose blood you're from" some more than others, but most still did make a big deal out of it.

She lit the candle, put the blacked match away and flexed her fingers once before reaching out to hold her hand not so much over the flame as actually touching it. The small flame licking at the girl's pale skin but seemingly doing nothing.*

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*still waiting for the xp spend to be processed, but her levels would be close to what her generation would allow

"Ya well... they care when it means if they eat you they get stronger. I'm lucky not a lot of people knew anything about me. That's why I wasn't eaten."

She watched Teddy's hand in the fire for a time then nodded satisfied.

"Good! Bigger fire now. Light a few more and group em close, make sure your cloths stay out of the way."

Eaten... now that was a scary thought.

She lit a few more candles and grouped them as Eve had said.
"I've never tried this" the blond had played it safe when training on her own, though, as she reached her hand out over the flames, it would seem the training had paid off. Because while concentrating, she wasn't catching on fire at least.

"Keep adding until you're pushing to your limit, then hold yourself there. It's like you're forging your skin!"

Eve watched carefully, ensuring at the first sign of a burn that the training stopped or at least paused.

The blond did as she was asked, careful to add once candle at the time.
Funny... she wasn't as scared about this sort of training as she had been before. Though, she wasn't all that worried about her hands anymore either. If they got hurt, then eh, what real damage was there? She wasn't dependent on them as she had been now that she no longer worked her trade. So, she felt better about pushing her limit when it came to the Fortitude training.

So she continued to steady add candles until it actually started to hurt when she tried to keep her hand there. The blond finally flinching when she'd reached her limit.

"Good, go one less candle and hold it there was as long as you can. Let your blood do its work. Our bodies adapt to the world. We are the ultimate survivors. The ultimate animal. A balance of man and beast."

A balance of man and beast....
Teddy's balance in that aspect had always been to keep the beastial side locked up as best she could.

She removed a candle, flexed her fingers and went back to holding her hand over the flame. Biting her lip lightly as she focused, concentrated in order to will her body into pushing her Fortitude further.

"When you get tough enough, we'll let you watch a bit of a sunrise. A little more each day. It'll still hurt like hell, but there's no better way to toughen up. Besides, it's beautiful."

The blond's eyes instantly shifted focus. Which meant she also lost her concentration and nearly knocked a candle over.
"The sunrise...? I-I'm not that strong..." dear God... she'd die in an instant, she was sure of it.

"Relax. The first bit, the lightening of the sky? That part is as easy as a candle. It gets harder and harder as the sun gets up and when it's too much? You meld into the earth. And I'll be right there with you. We won't let the rays touch you straight on the skin."

"But that's not 'till this is easy." She pointed at the candle.

"Sounds kinda dangerous" you know, with the risk of her freaking out and all. Even someone like the Caitiff could be dangerous if they gave into a Frenzy. Even little vampires could bite.

"Nah, I think you got a good handle on your beast. You put your will to your beast and it'll heel. You people on the road of humanity fear your beast too much. It's a part of you same as anything."

"But now I'm preachin' the road of harmony. You can smack me when I do that." She winked.

"You don't have to face the sunrise just yet anyway. We'll wait till you're ready."

"My Beast isn't pretty when allowed to come to the surface..." not pretty at all. Really, horribly bad things tended to happen when it got the upper hand. "I admire those who could find a balance between the two but... I wouldn't feel like myself if I let it have a bigger place in my life. I wouldn't be me anymore" it would mean changing so much about herself. And the girl who still clung to what it meat to be human couldn't picture not doing so.
"Different people need different things to cope with this existence I guess"

"Yup it's true. Everyone's gotta walk their own road. You keep walking yours as long as it works for you and don't let anyone tell ya different. Even me."

"Heh" she smiled. "There's only one thing that would make me change that" the blond said as she flexed her fingers above the flames.

"Oh ya? What's that?" Eve asked as she watched the dancing flames under Teddy's hand.

"Medwyn.." came the simple reply. "I promised him that he'd never be alone in anything. I would walk whatever path he does. I promised" she smiled softly. Because she kept her promises.

Eve looked alarmed, "I see him walking the road of harmony and I offered to teach him. He said he needed to ask someone if it was ok but it sounded like something he would like."

Eve frowned. "Walking the road of harmony is very very close to walking the road of Humanity. It is a path between the road of the beast and the road of humanity. He would not be alone even if you stayed like you are."

"You see, Casimir used to walk to Road of Honorable Accourd. Very inhuman road. He walked it as a ghoul. Then when I embraced him he decided to walk a differnt road, rediscovering his humanity after his embrace. This was important for us. So I understand wanting to walk the same road, but if the roads are close enough it can be fine."

Her eyes flashed wide open as she did, in fact, knock the candles over this time as her hand twitched. A sudden confused and frightened look across her features even as she quickly put the candles out, ignoring the fact that her hand was now covered in melted wax that really did sting like Hell.
"W-what..?" he hadn't said anything to her... "H-he's gonna... b-b-but Ethan was... I thought..." okay so she sounded and probably looked as if about to freak out.

Eve quickly righted all the candles and snuffed them out with her bare hand.

"When you got hurt, he and I were looking for clues to what happened to you and we were talking. He's only losing the fight with his beast because he does what he feels he hasta."

"His man mind and his beast mind want the same thing. I told him he could find peace on the road of harmony because of this. It is a gentle road most times, where being with nature and living in harmony with the world is important, but if your loved ones are threatened you and your beast can destroy the enemy together without destroying your soul."

But giving up on the Path of Humanity.... it meant giving up on being human didn't it? It was what she'd always heard. It changed people, and while she wasn't the type to judge anyone for picking a path that worked for them, it awoke a fear in her she didn't think she'd ever feel.

"B-but..." her lower lip quivered, her mouth opening and closing a few times as if lost for what to say. If she'd been human she probably would've been hyperventilating by then. "What about his feelings...?" what if they changed? What if he stopped loving her because he could no longer feel it...

"He's already losing himself. He's losing who he is. It's getting eatin' up from the inside by his own beast. He could probably continue on the Road of Humanity, but he's gotta change his ways. He can't allow himself to kill and to torture anymore."

"If he changes to this other road he can be saved and he'll be able to continue doing what he thinks is right. He won't have to change as much. He'll still have a human conscious. He'll still be him. Only healthier."