FRANK DAMASCA
Banshee
Posts: 127
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 17:04:31 GMT
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Post by FRANK DAMASCA on Jan 10, 2023 19:17:05 GMT
Frank hit the ground and lay there for a moment, sprawled in the grass. His chest heaved, sweat already starting to dampen the cotton of his t-shirt. Considering how much time the women in his life were spending knocking him on his ass lately he might as well start putting some pillows down out here, although that just … nope.
Groaning faintly Frank rolled himself to his hands and knees and started pushing his way up again. It was just a patch of grass, big enough for family gatherings and to bitch about having to mow it when he couldn’t whinge his way into getting Kit to do it (hey, only one of them had super healing here, the other was still nursing scars), but over the years it had been overlaid by memories like every other inch of the house. Some that left him blushing as he remembered that feeling of being cut off at the knees again (Hazel hadn’t just inherited her mom’s looks after all, Freyja was fierce and seemingly lost her mental filter when there was a baby on the way), some that left blood pooling and heat rising under his skin for other reasons. Arguments, those long meandering talks that meant nothing and everything all at once, the rehabilitation of a body that had never been exactly like it was- it had all happened right here.
Maybe Hazel had her own memories stamped on the place that was now a training ground for a kid who’d likely (and unfortunately) need to protect herself. Crawling through the summer grass with the fierce determination of a kid looking to chow down on whatever had been flowering up against the fence instead of whatever goop her dad had been heating up for her (honestly, he might’ve done too, it’d looked and smelt pretty awful), playing in the plastic house they’d gotten her one year, her uncles sporting tiaras as they poured fake tea. The house had been grown out of in the end, passed on to a neighbour’s kid years before Bo had made his appearance. If the kid was lucky, and his uncles were skilled enough to make something safe, he’d end up with a tree house, up there in the oak he’d just been staring up at. That was definitely more his speed than playing princess.
The girl standing in front of him now was a little less princess, and a little more bruiser if the last swing was anything to go by. Theo had told him that was another thing she inherited from her mom, but it had to take some real inner strength to do what his brother had managed to. Still, when it came to teaching Hazel how to fight, Theo had suggested she go to her uncles. Frank offered up a wry grin as he picked up the pad again, maybe it should’ve been Aunt Katja instead, she’d had no trouble knocking both him and Kit on their asses, and leaving him a stunned, wrung out wreck who hadn’t had the strength to tug the towel back round his hips – like bashfulness had any point after what had happened – let alone get back on his feet and ready for a second round of anything.
As a soldier he felt like he could’ve dealt with anything – and had, almost – but as an uncle who knew what it was like to be dragged somewhere without you being able to stop it, to be faced with death and the things that could cause it, he was definitely feeling out of his depth. How much worse was it when you were a parent yourself (something Freyja had reminded him wasn’t ever gonna be on the cards for him)? The fear had to start eating you alive, spreading until you could barely breathe.
There was a hint of it in his chest as he slipped his forearm back through the grips of the Thai pad. This was on him now, a responsibility to make sure that Hazel was safe. It had started with making sure she warmed up properly, something she’d probably done with more ease than him given that she was on the baseball team (taking after him in one way that he could claim), then taking her through using the heels of her hands to break a guy’s nose, and drop him on his ass on the grass when he whipped his head back.
Frank thumped his other hand against the front of the bag as he braced himself, one leg forward, one back, his protection held right there between so Hazel could feel the hit without leaving him rolling around the grass, crying this time. He dipped his head, offering Hazel a reassuring smile. ”Looks like you can use your hands. You’re gonna have longer reach with your legs though, and believe me, Haze, you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of a kick like this if you’re a guy.” As all men could probably attest to. Maybe he was being sexist in assuming it was gonna be a guy coming for her, but honestly, anatomy wasn’t that different, a boot between the lesg was gonna fell anybody like a tree. ”Brace yourself, bring your knee up and swing through your hips OK? Imagine you’re playing soccer and you’re gonna score a goal. Right here...” He patted the bag again, angling it down to protect himself from the kick that was coming.
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HAZEL DAMASCA
Banshee
Posts: 98
Age:
18
Occupation:
Student
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
Girls just want to have funds
Last seen Nov 4, 2024 21:23:17 GMT
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Post by HAZEL DAMASCA on Feb 16, 2023 19:47:55 GMT
Hazel wasn’t a fighter. She was waaaaay better at using her words than her fists, but that wasn’t going to be enough for the bad guys that could hurt her. She wasn’t keen when her parents suggested she have some kind of self defence classes but they insisted it was a precaution. Just in case anything was to happen whilst they weren’t around and she had to fight off something big and scary on her own. The thought of that happening made her stomach twist into a very tight knot because how was she supposed to even do that? Her instinct would be to run though. Even if she didn’t use anything her Uncle Frank was about to teach her, at least she could learn how to karate chop the cheerleading girls next time they gave her the side eye in the canteen. They shipped her off to Uncle Frank’s for the lessons given her mom was busy nursing Bo and as for her dad he didn’t seem like the type of guy who threw punches. Hazel gave her baby brother one last kiss on the cheek before disappearing out of the house that morning. Sometimes she wanted to pick him up and squeeze him because he was soooo cute. Those little chubby cheeks and his toothless smile made her heart melt. But as she closed the door behind her, anxiety started to stir that one day it could be Bo being sent off to Uncle Frank’s house to throw some punches because he wasn’t one hundred percent safe in the world. All the more reason she had to learn how to fight, so she could protect her baby brother. Uncle Frank insisted Hazel wasn’t to hold back when it came to punching and kicking, which she did at the start of their little session, scared of hurting her uncle even though he was twice her size and had literally fought for their country. Hazel had more chances of fighting off a fly than a man. So, she was surprised when Uncle Frank hit the floor when she swung at him. She let out a quiet gasp, “Sorry!” She went to offer her hand out to him but he was already getting to his feet, dusting himself off, completely unfazed. So far it had been less karate chopping and more showing her how to use her weight as an advantage, but she knew if someone went for her out there in the wild she would forget everything Uncle Frank had shown her. Hopefully there would be some kind of fighting instinct buried deep down inside. The same instinct which took over when Abi totalled her car and Hazel’s mind flipped into survival mode. Swinging with her arms wasn’t that tough, given she was holding a baseball bat most weeknights and swinging for a ball, but now he wanted her to use her legs. She let out a low huff, “Can’t I just carry some pepper spray or something? Or like a taser?” Despite her defiance, she did as she was told, swinging her leg into the bag but stumbling slightly as her foot smashed into the side of the bag. It was like kicking a brick wall. At least a football would have soared through the sky at that point. “Uncle Frank… what kind of things am I gonna need to protect myself from?” She knew something of the things out there weren’t even human, but her parents hadn’t exactly sat her down and told her everything. She suspected this was only the tip of the iceberg. FRANK DAMASCA |
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FRANK DAMASCA
Banshee
Posts: 127
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 17:04:31 GMT
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Post by FRANK DAMASCA on Mar 4, 2023 17:44:48 GMT
If he sent Hazel home with bruises, Freyja was gonna knock him on his ass. Hazel could bruise him up all day, add a couple of scars to his collection as a bonus, but the opposite was completely out of the question, so for the most part he’d been keeping the attacks coming one way – at him. He’d take the hits, spend half his time scrambling around on the grass, all that mattered was that Hazel was gonna remained untouched – physically – by the things that were out there in the dark. Mentally, Frank wasn’t sure he could do a damn thing about it. Her dad was the one with the permanent line to death in this town, a burden he couldn’t even imagine, the one who really should’ve been teaching Hazel about that side of things. His own had been spotty, like his ability to stay on his feet now, coming along when he least expected it to lay him out, breathless and stunned from the scream that tore its way out of him.
The feeling clung – albeit without that static in his ears – as he pushed back to his feet. These days asking Katja for help with conditioning felt like an invitation to open a giant can of worms. He’d spent years handling it himself after Theo had convinced him that retraining at Whitmore was an option, maybe he’d slacking a little, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t step up his game and do something to feel like he had a handle on his situation again. Him and Haze taking those same steps here now.
Most of the time he looked at her – as he did now, steadying himself on his feet, just a little hitch in his breathing still – and saw mostly her mom (she’d definitely gotten Freyja’s looks), but in the apology she let out for sending him sprawling was all Theo. Frank chuckled at it, wheezing just a little. ”Haven’t gotta apologise for that, Haze. You can’t wince away when you land a hit. That’s when you turn and run.” You took your opportunities, something else he’d grown sluggish on. There’d been plenty of times when he’d just sat there, open mouthed and struck dumb, while it all just happened to him. It was time to shut his mouth and get a move on.
Frank slipped the bag into place, feeling the familiar weight of it settle against him. No falling on his ass this time, no matter how hard Hazel was gonna boot him. His mouth pursed for a moment, his brow furrowing as she tried to bargain her way out of learning to kick the bad guys in the balls to being able to get them in the face with pepper spray or have them falling on the ground like he just did, thrashing around and peeing their pants. ”You honestly think your mom’s gonna go for that? She’s gonna be picturing you accidentally getting yourself in the face, or Bo teething on the taser.” And then he’d get worse than either of those when Freyja came at him for giving them to her in the first place. Weapons were for people trained to use them, grown men and women who’d slogged through months of this and worse with people who’d cut their teeth in the field for decades.
He winced, trying not to picture how much worse the bruises would be then, coming up miles short of the final mental image as Hazel waited for that hollow moment that came immediately after the thud of her foot into the bag to drop the real big question. It was like a bubble had popped, taking his air supply with it. They’d told the kid about what she might be, had supported her through it when the universe chose the shittier option of the two to burden Hazel with. Theo had warned him that Hazel didn’t know about what had happened to him before she’d been born, and now the memory of it left Frank’s throat going dry. Nightmares, Haze. The worst things you can imagine.
Blood on his hands, eyes that were a mirror of his own staring back at him. That scream tearing its way free before he’d tried to will life back into his brother’s body. Failing. Falling into that pit of black until Kit’s hand had reached into it for a second time to pull him free.
Sweat built cold on his skin, trickled down the hollow of his spine to leave him shivering. He sniffed a breath in, readjusting the bag for a second hit, trying for a smile the entire time. ”Honey, I wish I could tell you. There are some scary things out there, worse than your uncle Kit. Some of them come here for some reason and all we can do is make sure we’re ready for them if they do. Has your dad told you some of the things he’s dealt with?” Come on, Theo, give some parameters here. He’d half wished for Katja and her old supernatural ninja master ways before, but now Frank found himself looking at the house, hoping she’d come hustling out to give him a hand as he patted the bag again, encouraging another kick.
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HAZEL DAMASCA
Banshee
Posts: 98
Age:
18
Occupation:
Student
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
Girls just want to have funds
Last seen Nov 4, 2024 21:23:17 GMT
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Post by HAZEL DAMASCA on Apr 6, 2023 12:20:53 GMT
All these techniques Uncle Frank was showing her would be out the window as soon as someone went for her. She wasn’t going to remember to position her feet correctly so she didn’t tumble when she was struck. She would probably look for the nearest weapon and start swinging erratically whilst yelling loudly. If she swung enough times she’d be sure to land a hit. Abi was blessed with super duper strength, whereas Hazel could scream into the abyss, but from what her best friend told her there was no way she’d want to swap with Abi. It broke her heart, even more, knowing her Uncle Kit had to go through the same thing every month. There was no way she was going to apologise for hitting someone who was a threat to her, but this was her Uncle Frank, so she felt awful when she sent him flying onto the floor even though she knew he was a tough cookie. She was a fast runner, but no doubt the thing out there could outrun her without even breaking into a sweat. It felt like she had been thrown into level twenty of a game but she was still on level one without the appropriate equipment. She wasn’t surprised when he dismissed her request for a taser or pepper spray. There was a tiny tiny chance she could win her mom round by telling her it was safer for her to carry something than just relying on her fists and feet. “It would be a good backup option especially if I came face to face with some huge man who could blow me over.” Her lips pursed together as she blew softly before sending her foot swinging into the solid bag. It kinda hurt and she knew she would be sporting some kind of bruise later on her foot. Nonetheless, she carried on swinging her foot into the bag with a loud thud each time. She relied on Uncle Frank and Uncle Kit to tell her the truth about things. They weren’t there to sugarcoat the truth like her parents sometimes did, but it felt like everyone around her was sugarcoating the situation for her. If she was old enough to develop her abilities, then she was old enough to hear the truth about what her future held. She broke into a small smile at his reference to Uncle Kit. “So, some of these things might come after me?” That’s what it sounded like, but why? She wasn’t even a threat to anyone. “Not really.” She sighed again, her focus on the bag as she started to send her left foot into the side of it. “It feels like everyone around me is holding things back… like I can’t handle it, but I can.” Maybe. That bit she wasn’t one hundred percent sure about. FRANK DAMASCA |
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FRANK DAMASCA
Banshee
Posts: 127
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 17:04:31 GMT
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Post by FRANK DAMASCA on Apr 18, 2023 19:03:54 GMT
The military gave them the tools to end a fight fast, but if a gun or a grenade was all that it took, the months of endless training just to get everybody up to what they considered the basic level would’ve been unnecessary. Forget the years of training after that, the fitness regiment, the constant recertifying. None of it was easy, but when the gun in your hand jammed or the unexpected blew up right beneath your feet, it was that training that you fell back on. Frank still felt the instincts twitch in the back of his mind on a daily basis, often too hard, but he’d rather that than finding the world twisting around him again without the knowhow to claw his way out of it … or a friend there to pull him out.
Kit had been there for Hazel when that first scream had torn out of her, the same way he’d been there for him. She’d only had Abi when it had happened again though, two girls who weren’t prepared for what was happening out on that road, with the … body, alone. They’d been alright, but what about the next time? What about the thing Hazel stumbled over when she was pulled by those invisible puppet strings to another nightmare? The thought left him feeling as queasy as the thought of Freyja returning each mark, each bruise on Hazel back on him. He hadn’t been prepared when Theo had … when they’d lost him, none of them had been, but fear wasn’t going to stop that natural parenting instinct (the one he was sure Freyja would say he didn’t have), from kicking in. No, backup option or not, a taser wasn’t going in Hazel’s hand. Yet.
That ‘maybe when you’re older’ line wasn’t gonna stretch much further. Frank didn’t push it out past that constriction in his throat now, just shot his niece a wry grin as he had to brace against the next kick. ”Like me, or your uncle Kit?” It was just as easy for accidents to happen when you were startled, and they made sure each recruit knew exactly what that felt like. You weren’t going to forget your first taste of pepper spray or falling on the floor, on the brink of peeing your pants while you body jerked and writhed. ”You think that man might manage to disarm you? What he might do if he got to turn that backup option on you?” What about the things you didn’t see coming? An innocuous flash of metal in the road, a split second’s distraction that meant you weren’t steering wide of it? The bullets that flashed out from what seemed like thin air?
The thud of Hazel’s foot into the bag was a little too reminiscent of mortar fire, the dull thud, the tremor that ran through the ground before the air was filled with dirt and shrapnel. Frank shrugged against the suddenly cloying feel of his damp t-shirt on his skin. Maybe handing all of this over to Katja would’ve been the best idea – she could at least play the ‘I’m sorry, English isn’t my first language’ card when Freyja called her on whatever she told Hazel. She played guru before too. In a corner of the camp, when none of them had a clue what was out there, what she was, she’d guided Kit through the nightmare that’d come calling for him.
Frank dipped his head slightly, returning Hazel’s smile. It was easier to paint Kit as the ugliest thing they were gonna have to deal with than it was to admit that he’d only seen a tiny portion of what could happen and that had terrified him. ”Maybe,” he admitted hoarsely, adjusting his footing as Hazel started putting effort into her kicks again. ”They could come for any of us and it’s a lot harder when you haven’t dealt with anything like that before. We’re just trying to make sure that you can handle what comes, if it does.” Because losing Hazel the way they had Theo would break all of them.
He sighed softly as she pegged the truth as squarely as she did the bag. If the kid only had to worry about kicking some jagoff in the balls she was gonna be a natural. ”I get you, Haze, I really do. I didn’t know that your dad was a banshee. He was handling it by himself for more than a decade before I found out about any of this … before I screamed like he did. Sometimes I wish I could go back to not knowing. I think your parents are trying to make sure that you’re not spending every day worrying about what might come. They want you to be able to enjoy being a teenager while you’re still one. Is there any one thing you’re worried about not knowing?” He lifted her chin with the question, like he was asking her to just pitch another kick at him. This could be the hard hit though, the one that was gonna leave him feeling like she’d knocked him out. If it didn’t come from Hazel then her going home and saying ‘uncle Frank scared me’ would probably mean it would come from her mom instead.
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HAZEL DAMASCA
Banshee
Posts: 98
Age:
18
Occupation:
Student
Status:
Single
Played by:
Jodi
Girls just want to have funds
Last seen Nov 4, 2024 21:23:17 GMT
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Post by HAZEL DAMASCA on May 17, 2023 19:34:27 GMT
“Well…” Yeah obviously some huge guy could disarm her easily and use the pepper spray against her but that wasn’t her point. Her point was that she needed something other than herself to fend against these people. “Maybe.” She muttered quietly, shrugging her shoulders as she did so. She couldn’t even argue the point, because her uncle Frank was right, but you would never catch her admitting that. If her Uncle Frank was saying no then it was unlikely her dad would agree. She would just have to swing mindlessly at whoever came for her. At least one punch would land but probably wouldn’t make a dent in the person. It still didn’t make sense in her head why someone would choose to attack a defenseless seventeen year old who runs in the opposite direction of big spiders and would never hurt a fly. She was only a threat to her dads bank balance when she spotted a pair of shoes online that she needed because they’d go perfectly with a dress she’d just bought Hazel knew if she showed them to her mom she’d march Hazel upstairs and pull out every single pair of shoes her daughter owns, saying she had enough before making a comment that three pairs of shoes were enough for a person. Absurd comment in Hazel's mind. Hazel whether she’d inherited her dads flight mode or her moms fight mode. She’d never been thrown into a situation where she was forced to fight for her life and whilst she never shied away from confrontation at school out there in the wild was different. These weren’t silly school girls who’d cry if Hazel snapped their false nails off, these were people whose intentions were bad. She didn’t like the uncertainty that these things might come after her but they also might not. “I hope they don’t.” Just another thing to worry about on top of everything else, like exams and what she was going to do after high school. Even though she prayed nothing would keep after her it didn’t mean the truth could be hidden from her. It was a little bit deeper than telling her Santa Clasue isn't real, which she’d suspected from long before her parents told her unless it was a huge coincident Santa clause and her mom had the same handwriting. Hazel held back from swinging her leg into the bag, as she started to think. “Not really… but tell me one good thing about being a banshee.” It felt like it was all doom and gloom. FRANK DAMASCA - wanna wrap up with yours? |
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FRANK DAMASCA
Banshee
Posts: 127
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 18, 2024 17:04:31 GMT
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Post by FRANK DAMASCA on May 29, 2023 15:10:59 GMT
Hazel could’ve gone through Basic training, the months on end of specialist selection and training afterwards and still been unprepared for the things that could come for her. Just as he’d been. He’d trained to fight in war, had taken lives in battle, to protect the men and women standing beside him and those who were back home, but when he’d stumbled into the clearing in the woods to find Theo every ounce of training he’d ever had abandoned him. If the hunter had come out of the woods again then, he’d have ben a sitting target. God, none of them wanted that for Hazel, but Frank wasn’t sure what he could say or do now to change how things would be for her. He offered her a wan smile as she shrugged, wishing it could be different. Maybe she was right, maybe the added pepper spray wouldn’t be a bad idea, even if Freyja would use it on him if she found out he’d done more than teach Haze how to drop a guy to his knees by kicking him in the nuts.
Frank adjusted the bag, making sure that he wasn’t gonna get taken down again by his niece. He was not gonna be sitting there with an ice pack there when one of her parents swung by to pick her up. There might not have been much of it left after the last couple of decades (Jesus, he really was getting old), but there was enough that he’d avoid that humiliation if it could be helped. Like he’d been trying to tell his niece, there were bigger and badder things out there – although there were plenty who’d feel just a little tremor of worry over dealing with teenagers – and he’d been taken down by too many of them to not want to be able to fight back now. He squared his shoulders at the thought, leaning back into the kicks until he could feel the effort of it down the backs of his thighs and in the more protesting muscles of his back.
The curve of his lips was barely there, but he managed something approaching a smile for Hazel. He knew that if the fight tried to come, she’d take the wiser course of action first and would try and immediately back out of it. ”That makes two of us. We’ll all be trying to make sure you stay safe, Haze, and that we all do too. Have you ever known your family not to be able to do something they put their mind to?” That message stuck in his throat, leaving him swallowing harshly. There were things, but they were the ones they were keeping from the kid, not wanting to darken her childhood with the truth about what had happened to her dad before she’d even been born.
If he could’ve, he would’ve given anything to lift the curse of what they were off of Theo and Hazel, even if it meant taking all of that burden on himself. He’d signed up fight for his country, had known there was a good chance of not making it back every time they went OCONUS. This was far worse, but for them, he’d do it. Frank drew in a breath, straightening up slowly as Hazel stopped kicking the bag. Was there really anything good about all of this? Not wanting to smother Hazel in the negative, he nodded. ”The chance that I might be able to save a life.” Those chances were tiny if the stories Theo had told him were anything to go by, but they were there. ”And that I might get to knock your dad on his ass the same way you did me.” The training wasn’t only going one way, although so far the only time he’d been able to muster up a scream was when he was actually around a body. ”How about we take a break, grab a cold drink … give these old bones a rest.” As though he were ninety instead of … just thinking about how old he actually was had him wincing and dropping the bag. He settled his hand on Hazel’s shoulder and led her towards the kitchen.
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hope to see you in the discord! 
