#and now they've gone from having less freedom and rights than their elders

[existential-dread-in-the-am]

God forbid anyone act like they have any value as a person in this country

[mx-von-rosewald]

Kanae bit her father in the hotel parking lot.

It was raining. It was late (and thankfully too late for any witnesses). Everyone was tired.

America doesn't have public transportation quite like Europe does. You need a car to get anywhere. Kanae has her license, but the group only rented two cars. Kanae loves her freedom. She didn't realize what she was signing up for when she agreed to spend a couple hours in the car with her parents.

Snappish things were said. Her father pointed his finger at her sternly. One snap decision later, Kanae's teeth were deep in his arm, bloodying the sleeve of an expensive, personally-tailored shirt.

Her mother shrieked. Her father's expression changed. Even Kanae looked surprised. No one moved.

Finally, her father said, calmly, "Would you like to challenge me as our head of household, my strange son?"

Her eyes widened. Usually, he insists on calling her Karen. He insists on calling her his daughter. To him, her gender identity is a new thing the kids these days are doing, and no compelling reason to boss him around and tell him he has to use new language or adjust his understanding of the world to talk to her. What could it mean, for him to suddenly address her on her terms here? She was sure she was still in trouble somehow, so she still didn't move. She didn't want to fight her father. She just wanted him to be somewhat less of a huge fucking asshole on a permanent power trip.

"Arnolt has begun his own household," Mr. von Rosewald continued, so calmly. He and Kanae both have dark eyes now, cold and black and feral. "I've expected that Nathanael will step up to manage my affairs when I am gone, and that you will find your own way somehow. I've observed that my path in life has not been interesting to you. But there is precedent in our family for one of the young ones to challenge his elders and take control by force. If you challenge me as patriarch and prevail in a fight against me, I will turn over my estate to you, here and now. If you choose to spare my life, I will even work for you and serve at your right hand, much as Nathanael does for me now. I will defend your right to lead if the others take issue with the arrangement. But first, my child, you must actually defeat me in a fight. Think very carefully about your next move. Keep in mind, I will fight for my authority like I would fight for my very life. And keep in mind, I might relate differently to a failed usurper than a daughter, if you lose."

For a moment, Kanae's grip on his arm tightened fiercely. You don't even know what I'm capable of letting myself do to you, you old animal. But he's scary, and the thought of fighting him scares her. She finally just let go and spat blood on the pavement.

"I don't want your business, or your house, or your money!" she snarled, loudly enough for her mother, Emma, to motion for her to watch her volume.

Was that a sign that her punishment for all of this was about to come swiftly? She waited, hesitated, but both of her parents were still watching her intently, listening to what she had to say. She took a deep breath and continued.

"I just want a normal dad, like the goose from Kung Fu Panda, you monster!"

She would have properly screamed it, if the setting had permitted the volume. She came as close to that scream as she dared. They've already agreed that Kanae and Nathanael will share a room. She stormed over to him, took his hand, and walked him towards the hotel lobby so they could get their key.

Mr. von Rosewald didn't stop them from going. After they were gone, he quietly rolled down his sleeve and took inventory of the deep bite marks. His expression was hard to read. Emma walked over to him quietly and put an arm around his waist.

------

The sun is out the next day.

The vacation site really is very lovely: Yellowstone National Park!

Kanae and her father have agreed to take a walk together.

It won't fix them. They've been at this for years and years, and nothing has. They're very different creatures. But it's an olive branch. And they have to get through this vacation without killing each other somehow. The vacation was supposed to be for Nate. For his 30th birthday. He's been a good sport about the fighting so far, but they can tell he'd rather they got along.

"I don't think I've seen... what was the movie you brought up last night?" Mr. von Rosewald says.

"Kung Fu Panda," Kanae says. "It's animated."

"An anime?"

"American. Disney and Pixar... no, the other one... I think they did Shrek... Shit."

"Ah."

An extended silence.

"It's about a fat panda who wants to do kung fu, but everyone thinks he's a big joke." Kanae.

"But not his father."

"...No. Never."

"...I see."

Every time the conversation threatens to take them somewhere meaningful, they manage to change the subject. But they are trying. And they got as far as this walk together. That has to count for something.

They're clumsily poking at another conversation topic when a terrified and wounded human woman suddenly runs onto the path. She looks at them with fear in her eyes and tries to escape.

Satisfied that this hiking trail is pretty remote, Kanae is after Thursday like a dog after a squirrel. Mr. von Rosewald's wound is healing well, but it will heal faster if he eats something. At 21, Kanae is nowhere near ready to take on her father's responsibilities. He's still a huge asshole, in her view, but she has no better option than to tolerate him as the leader of their little clan right now. He's made it clear that he'll take a challenge very seriously. This could be a fine opportunity to give him an olive branch in return, like his offer to walk with her.

Mr. von Rosewald cares less about a wound he can tolerate, and more about the risk to their family if a murder case, even a suspected ghoul attack, agitates the humans. This is part of the problem with Kanae! Why does she never think things through!

Kanae has just caught Thursday by the wrist when Mr. von Rosewald yells, "KAREN!" with a terrible voice that the very trees and the very sky might nearly be tempted to obey. He comes over to them and pulls Thursday away from Kanae, taking Thursday's other hand. Kanae wordlessly shrinks back, looking afraid. "I'm sorry for scaring you," he tells Thursday through a thick accent, not meaning it. She is an annoyance to him, and it shows. Part troublesome prey, part merciless hunter, human beings are enigmatic to Mr. von Rosewald, and some enigmas are just not worth solving. He will not lose a child to one. He looks over Thursday with distaste. "I don't know what happened, but you should probably go to the hospital. I will..."

He stops as it registers to him that there's a ghoul smell on her. A look at Kanae tells him she's smelling it too. Shit. If some American ghoul lives here in the park, they risk being seen as threats to that ghoul's territory, even posing as tourists and staying on the paths. This is not good. Arnolt's two children are too young to be pulled into a territory war. Mr. von Rosewald takes a closer look at the bite marks across Thursday's thigh, and he's reminded immediately of the mess Kanae made of his arm. Jagged half-circles of torn flesh.

He was going to let Thursday go. He doesn't.

"Who did that to you," he says. "Tell me about them."

( A starter for @mx-von-rosewald !)

Thursday doesn't know how she got here, but she knows she needs to get away.

There's a part of her that almost doesn't want to, which is strange when you consider the fact that she's someone else's daily sustenance. Every day they are there, consuming her - not metaphorically. Literally. By taking bites out of her. Eating her, because they need her flesh to live. And while of course it's terribly painful and painfully terrible to Thursday, there's also a part of her that can't help but feel sorry for whoever this is that feels the need to do this, hence the hesitation.

There's also the possessiveness they have displayed over her, the downright territorial aggression over her as if she's a piece of kill they're protecting. It makes sense. A predator would want to protect its food source, wouldn't it? And that's what she is, isn't she? A food source?

Regardless of all that, she doesn't want to be one anymore. It's difficult verging on impossible for her to understand, much less put into words, but she has a visceral urge to get away, hence why she is hesitating at the mouth of the little cave she and they have been sequestered away at for... who the hell knows how long. Thursday has no idea. She's always been here as far as she knows.

She takes a step out and the sound of her foot treading on the myriad dead leaves makes so much noise it startles her and she immediately falls back. This is a bad idea. What if they come back? What if they come back right at this instant and see her stand there? She'll be punished. They'll be angry. Angry that she tried to flee. And that'll probably make them chew on her some more. Not that they won't anyway, but maybe they'll be more aggressive about it. They can be surprisingly gentle at times, when they want to be, but if she's pissed them off...?

She's still hurting and sporting raw open wounds from being chomped on last night, even though they're already starting to heal. Soon the holes in her thigh will be closed up and gone like they never were, but that doesn't stop them from causing her pain now. She'll never make it like this. And just where does she think she'll run to anyway? What makes her think there's anyone else like her out there? It's just her and them. The rest are wild animals.

But... they didn't come back. They went out last night after dinner and didn't come back, and that's highly unusual. What if something happened to them? They could be hurt or dead, right? Surely now is her best time to run.

Fuck it.

Thursday runs.

She runs bolts as best as she can in her injured state, half-dressed, no shoes, long brown hair all scraggly and tangled, eyeglasses long since cracked and smudged but at least she can still somewhat see through them - for some reason she needs them to see, otherwise the world looks like a swirl of shit. She wants to call out for help, but why? To whom? What if they hear her? No, she should be quiet and just run. As far as she can from there. She'll sort out the rest later, just as long as she gets away.

And she does get away. She's very surprised when she does. She knows she has when she sees other people, although she doesn't run to them. No. She stops running, and just stares at them, as if she doesn't understand what she's seeing. She must be a sight to see, like she's some wild animal herself.

Once she realizes she's been seen, she starts running away again, because what if they're like them?