Emmy had barely managed to wipe the blood from her eyes, before she was being lifted and hauled from the factory building. It took her brain a moment to catch up, a complaint halfway on her lips before she silenced herself. Considering the fire, maybe this was best.
She removed the gloves as they made it outside, using her hoodie sleeve to try and remove the blood from her face. It did more smearing than anything.
"Better close than dead, you know." Emilia pointed out to them, looking up. They had lifted her with no effort at all, which seemed strange to her. They had seemed strong, though, so maybe it wasn't too far out of the question. "Thanks for the bloodbath, though. My poor clothes aren't going to recover from this."
Adam huffed, a little displeased with the woman’s demeanor. “Better covered in filth than dead. You should wash off, my house isn’t that far away and I think I have a change of clothes that could come close to fitting you.” they said, sheathing their sword and starting to walk away. The gravel crunched beneath their feet for the few steps it took, and then, “Are you coming?”
Emilia rolled her eyes, following after them and still attempting to clean herself. "Yeah, yeah. I'll pay you back soon as I get home and get the cash. Cash is okay, right? I can pay for the whole saving me thing too, cause that was more than just a little helpful." Rambling slightly, she removed her hoodie, for just a moment forgetting why she even wore it in the first place.
The tank top she had underneath made it incredibly obvious how often she skipped meals, looking just a little too thin. An unhealthy thin, considering her height and body type. Beyond that, though, were the scars covering her body. Now visible due to the lack of hoodie–which had taken the brunt of the blood wave–they seemed concentrated to the backs of her arms, her shoulders, and her chest. They varied, some looking like the result of angry cats, and others coming from knives, or sporting the look of burns. All generally unexpected on a normal human.
With a sad sigh, she tore off the sleeve of her hoodie, wrapping the fabric around the wound she had made on her arm. It had been a pointless one to make. But still, at least she knew she could have tried something. Could have gone down fighting, instead of giving up. That was always important.
“Why pay me? I already have money, and you probably need some help,” it said.
This was quite confusing. Even if Adam didn’t have money, why pay for a simple gesture of familiarity and compassion?
“I can fix that wound. I have certain healing salves from friends of mine, at home. I didn’t expect to need them here.” they said. Damn, their body was beginning to fail them. If it kept on like this it would pass out, so it grabbed a nearby metal pole and leaned all eight feet of themself onto the pole, using it as a crude walking stick.
"Because you showed up on time, and sorta probably saved my life, and therefore are probably entitled to financial compensation." Emilia said, glancing up at them. "And don't worry about this, I'll he-" Cut off by surprise, she watched them pluck up a metal pole. Her theory of their strength was solidified by that, and she snorted. "I'll heal. It doesn't hurt, and some clean bandages when I get home will have me good as new. Honestly, I'll probably end up with some scrape or scratch right after anyway. I'm somewhat injury-prone."
“It was a… oh, what did the man on the television say… happy accident? Don’t pay me. I’ve invested well in my time.” they said. Over the last two hundred years, it was to be expected.
Adam made its way back to its house, and opened the door for Emilia to step inside. “I never did get your name,” they said, voice as soft as ever.
In the context of the house, Adam was huge. It was a small cottage with bottles and boxes crammed in corners, and all sorts of strange plants around the place.
Emilia blinked, pausing in the doorway. She flashed a smile over her shoulder as she continued inside, speaking. "It's Emilia. Friends and family call me Emmy, if you're interested in utilizing a nickname." She said, stopping just inside and looking around. Comparatively to anyone, she was small, but compared to Adam, she was more like a kitten next to a Great Dane. Almost a comical size difference, she had to admit.
The plants caught her interest, and she slipped her shoes off to go peer at the closest one to her, fingers itching to touch it but knowing she shouldn't. They weren't her plants, and some of them could be toxic to touch. They were sort of strange looking, and she had a friend who had gone through a phase of growing poison plants for fun.
“Take care around those. They can sting.” Adam said, taking it’s gigantic boots off and going into the small kitchen, beginning to prepare something to eat as it turned on the stove. “Shower’s in the back, I’ll get you some clothes from a friend’s house. She won’t mind, I steal things from her all the time,” they said, once the stove had heated up nicely it placed a pot of water onto the burner and went to stack wood in the fireplace.
There was a somewhat larger, yet still relatively humble cottage nearby, just past the tree line and into a sunny clearing. Adam walked the gravel-paved pathway and knocked on the door. It swung open, which was never a good sign, but Adam did really need to get a spare change of clothes for their new… friend? Acquaintance?
They wandered through the equally cluttered house, this time she had magazines with the eyes cut out of the models’ faces and an overwhelming supply of rubber clown noses that probably honked if you squeezed them. Adam did not squeeze.
“Oracles, honestly.” it shrugged. Adam made its way through the house and to the empty bedroom, decorated with nothing more than a dresser and a bare bed. They quickly found a soft grey t-shirt, blue jeans, and belt, aand bolted.
Emilia nodded, taking that as a sign to definitely not touch any plants. Instead, she moved about, studying each plant with interest, humming softly to herself once Adam had left. The tune was soft and sweet, something she would have sung along with had she been baking. She couldn't remember the name of the song, though. Just that she had heard it on some playlist.
She was still looking at the plants when Adam returned, and glanced up to smile at them in greeting. "You really don't have to go out of your way. I'm sure it's not the weirdest thing the bus drivers have seen, so I could have just headed home. But either way, thank you. Seriously."
"It was the least I could do. Feel free to shower, change clothes, explore the place. Well, except the basement. Never the basement. Anything you want, you can have. Well, anything within reason." Adam said, moving around the house, busying themself with taking care of their plants and so on.
It didn't really care what Emilia chose to do, but it was nice to have company that wasn't, well, the Oracle. A Oracle, at least, but it always thought of her as a The. They watered a large, brilliantly coloured plant and fed it-yes, fed it, it had a mouth-some strange purple sludge.
"No basement, no robbing you of everything you own. Seems easy enough." Emilia said with a nod, looking around. "Which way to the bathroom?" She asked, after stepping off and realizing she had no clue where to go. At this point, her brain was catching up with the events, the primary thought in her head being 'I need to text Caleb'. Followed quickly by the gnawing hunger in her stomach she was doing her best to ignore. All she needed was a glass of water. Water would be fine. Water would be enough to push back the hunger until she absolutely needed to eat. She couldn't eat here.
Adam smiled at their plants, and turned to face Emilia. “Go down the hall, past the greenhouse, and through the yellow door.” they said, not really paying attention. It was nice to have some friendly company for once, or at least company that wouldn’t attack it on sight. Adam blinked, turning to face Emilia. “Plug your ears passing the greenhouse, the Siren Sunflowers are especially active this season and I don’t want you getting torn to shreds.”
"Good to know." Emilia said, words accompanied by a snort as she tucked the clothes under her arm. "I'll see you in a bit, then." With that, she left to follow the directions to the bathroom, already looking forward to getting out of her dirty clothing. She followed the instructions to cover her ears, making it past the greenhouse in one piece.
Once she reached the bathroom, she set the clothes on the counter, locking the door out of habit. When she finally made it into the warm water, she let out a long sigh. The screaming in her muscles eased in the water. Though she kept her injured arm out of the direct water, she still made sure to wash the blood from the wound, gaze slightly unfocused as she blocked out the pain and instead focused on the water.
Emilia didn't take too long, stepping out and grabbing the nearest towel after turning the water off. Leaving her hair to air dry while braided, she dried off, pulling on the clean clothes. The pants were a bit long. By the time she was dressed, she had rolled them up over five times, and ended up having to loosely tie up the shirt. Not high enough to show skin–skin meant showing her figure–but just high enough that it didn't fall in the way.
She did eventually make it back out, her dirty clothes wrapped up neatly in a ball inside of the turned inside out pants. "Uh….do you have like, a plastic bag or something? Like a left over grocery bag? I don't want to set these anywhere."
“I don’t keep plastic here. Sorry. There are some paper bags in the kitchen, feel free to take anything you need from there. Again, within reason.” they said, setting out a dish on the doorstep for it’s Oracle friend’s cat. She rarely remembered to feed the cat, let alone herself (if she ever did, if she ever needed to), so Adam took the liberty of taking care of the cat themself. Besides, cats were good auspices, and they were usually quite sweet, good companions over all. And Cat, the cat, was a very good cat.
"Paper works just fine." Emmy said, relief sparking in her smile. It didn't matter what she used, as long as there was something. She slipped into the kitchen, grabbing a paper bag and shoving the wad of clothing into it. All of her belongings had already been transferred into the pockets of the pants she was wearing now, her phone and blade included. With that, she headed back to the living room.
"Guess it's your turn now." Referring to showering, she eyed the mess covering Adam's form. She took a seat on the closest surface she could, looking slightly uncomfortable. She had never done well relaxing in other peoples' homes. "I like the plants. I'd grow some of my own, but I don't know if I have the time to take care of them."
“You can always visit here and I can show you how to take care of these ones.” Adam said in a flight of fancy, or whatever was the proper phrase for it. The basis of it was, Adam was far too monstrous and horrible for anyone to stay around long, let alone too dangerous. But… maybe this human was kind. Maybe she would…. no, she wouldn’t. Nobody ever stayed, except the Oracle. But Oracles were special cases, too inhuman to count.
“They are uncommon plants, but they are good ones to know your way around, in case of an emergency. You’ve defeated a monster now, you should at least know how to cultivate some Angelic Lavender to keep yourself safe,” it said.
At the invitation, Emmy's eyes lit up. "That would be perfect! Then I wouldn't have to worry about them dying in my home, and I can learn about them." Bouncing slightly, her eyes flickered around all of the plants, visibly excited. "Is Angelic Lavender like normal lavenders? Just stronger? Lavender 2.0." Where Adam saw themself as monstrous, Emmy simply saw someone slightly different looking. She had seen so many honestly horrid looking creatures, had even sat down for coffee with some of them, that Adam's appearance couldn't really scare her that much. Actions, maybe, but that would depend. Life hadn't been too sweet to her, and surprising her might take a bit of effort.
"And technically you defeated the monster. All I did was yell at it. Speaking of, are you alright? You were kinda nastily knocked out of commission there for a bit."
“I’ll be fine,” they said, quite clearly lying. The wound had mostly stopped bleeding, but it was still surprising Adam hadn’t collapsed yet. “And I’d be glad to teach you about my plants. These beings, they hate lavender normally, but the Angelic variety is actively harmful to them. Corrodes and all that, peels away and shows the skin underneath.”
Emilia studied them for a moment, before placing her hands on her hips. "Why don't you tell me all about the coolest plants you know, while I deal with that injury. I want to hear about why it's called Angelic. But not until I have a first aid kit in my hand and you sitting down. I'm really damn sick of watching people die in front of me, so I'd like to not watch you do so tonight."
“I’m not going to die, I’ve endured far worse than this. I remember the time one bastard of a human shot me, I was fine then and I’ll be fine now.” Adam said, shrugging it’s shoulders. It didn’t really care, the Oracle would probably treat the wound either way as payment for taking care of her cat. They didn’t need help from someone who didn’t understand how sounds from monsters healed, even, these things took time and wouldn’t heal normally. The marks from the monster’s claws would burn away any bandage place on it, and any ointments to cure it would simply melt off. No, it was better to leave this alone.
“Let me see,” Adam said, deciding to humor the woman, “plants, you want to know about? Well, I named Angelic lavender myself, it’s a division I’ve cultivated myself over the last few hundred years. It took a while to get exactly right, but I managed. I call it Angelic for the properties it contains, it seems to hold more Spirit energy than most plants and combined with the lavender, it works very well against the beasts.”
"Fine, if you're going to be like that, at least sit down. You look like you can barely manage to stand." Emmy said, in a break between Adam's words. Still, she listened attentively, the idea of self bred plants interesting. It took her a moment to actually compute the mention of the last few centuries, and she blinked. "You're…centuries old? As in, old old? Damn." Slightly nonchalant, as it wasn't the weirdest part of this night, or the weirdest thing ever. Still, a tidbit to file away for questions.
“Only by about two hundred years. There are older immortals. I’m not even sure if I count as immortal or undead, come to think of it.” Adam said, seeming completely stumped for the first time in, well… a while, to be honest. They sat down, however, not wanting this human to worry.
“I don’t think I ever got your name. If you don’t mind telling me, of course, I’m sure it’s lovely.” they said softly.
((she did give her name just a bit ago!))
"Maybe it doesn't even matter." Emmy said, shrugging a shoulder. "They're both similar enough, right? Seems like if you weren't specifically told which, either works. Speaking of, how does all that work?" When Adam sat down, she smiled at them, looking slightly proud and grateful. "As for my name, call me Emmy. Short for Emilia, if you're fancy."
(Whoops lmao-)
“Well, some people are regular immortals, generally tasked with the maintenance or destruction of the world. Then there are immortals like me, who get to choose. I’ve dabbled in both, never liked the latter.” they said calmly. “And then the undead, which I might very well be if not for the mindlessness factor.”
“Emilia. A lovely name for a lovely person,” it smiled, looking a little grotesque as if their face was splitting in two.
Emilia huffed a laugh, shaking her head. Though the smile was a bit strange, it was still sweet, especially paired with the compliment. "My dad chose it, so he's really to thank there. Was, I guess. Does that mean the undead are all mindless? Like, zombie mindless?" She asked, interlacing her fingers and cracking them. The cut on her arm was bandaged with what had been the other sleeve of her hoodie, though washed and rung out in the sink to get rid of the creature's blood on it.
