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I Am No Hercules [P, Flame]

Postby Mousen » 11/01/2015 6:25 AM

(Sorry for the dramatic title! I couldn't think of anything else. ;u;;; )

ImageImage

They'd been tracking this creature for awhile now, although neither of them could say what it was with absolute certainty. Whatever it was, it had left a large enough trail of destruction to be easily followed. They walked through the forest, the battered old range rover in which they often traveled had been consigned to a car park now some miles away. Ezra doubted if they'd get back to it tonight. It was more likely that they'd be camping again.

Prague yawned, stretching her arms upward as they walked beside Ezra. Their white hair was shaggy, and hung down their back in messy curls. There was something inhuman about them, perhaps in the shape of their face of limbs. They looked more like an impression of a human. Prague was short, but thin and spindly, their teeth looked sharp and their nose was slightly upturned.

And next to this dangerous-looking creature was Ezra. Short dark hair, well-dressed and blandly handsome. Where Prague was barefoot, he was wearing heavy boots. Where they had a tatty tartan cloak wrapped around them he wore a tailored black coat. "Tired?" Ezra asked, his accent mild and clipped.

Prague shrugged, odd-coloured eyes looking towards him. "Mostly bored," they whined. "I just want to get this over with. Maybe once this is over we can have some time off."

"Don't get too carried away. We don't know what we're dealing with, yet." Some time off would be nice, admittedly. They'd been working for far too long without a break. A few days somewhere quiet, a nice book and a quiet pub. Prague could go to one of their faerie court meet-ups (or whatever it was Prague did), and come back tipsy, giggly and covered in flowers.

Prague huffed, folding their arms. "Don't lie to me, Ezzie. You want a break too."

Ezra winced at the use of his least favourite nick-name, but said nothing in reply.


We’re all hysterical & going nowhere together.

C’mon rapture. Let’s go bedazzling.

Nothing gets futured without its own spitshine
& I’m already not not not not not not miraculous.


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Re: I Am No Hercules [P, Flame]

Postby Flame » 11/03/2015 5:58 PM

Image

All things considered, it wasn’t a terrible day for a casual stroll in the woods. For an early fall afternoon, the temperature was surprisingly far from sweltering, as it had been mere weeks beforehand. The midafternoon sun filtered through the trees, throwing dapples of light that danced across the still-green undergrowth, casting shadows about like living creatures. Birds harkening the nearing winter migration twittered in the trees, a light breeze rustling the turning leaves in the canopy. The fall colors had begun to change already, a myriad of red, yellow, and brown hues. For the moment, the world yet escaped the frigid grasp of winter, and as such, seemed to take the opportunity to revel in what remained of the summer warmth.

So, you’ve developed a sentimental streak, have you? I can’t say I ever pegged you for the sightseeing type.

Corvina blinked, her blank expression remaining unchanged, but her gaze seemed to focus ahead once again. She gave no indication of having heard anything, and indeed, there had been no audible sound to be heard aside from the ambient background which still continued uninterrupted. Even as such though, she’d definitely heard every word the voice had to say, despite her apparent lack of reaction to it. At that moment, she seemed to arbitrarily decide to move forward, her footfalls slow and soft on the forest floor. Sure, the bulk of the autumn leaves still remained on the crowns of the trees above, but that didn’t mean there weren’t plenty of other footfalls and objects to give away her presence.

The quarry she followed remained blissfully unaware of her existence, as far as she could tell, and she’d made an effort to keep it that way. Her form-fitting brown khakis and green camisole kept her from catching on outstretched branches as she slipped through the undergrowth, stalking her prey. There was a predatory air to her deliberate grace, her movements keeping her to the shadows when she could.

Why waste time with foreplay when you could just jump right into the down and dirty? Honestly, you’d be wasting less of both of our lives that way.

Corvina's only response was to continue her silent slink, and now having caught up to her quarry, she kept her path parallel to theirs while staying deep enough in shadow to avoid detection. Leurre had a valid point though - she could very easily have caught her prey by this point, and there was really no need for stealth either. Of course, his preferred course of action would have been to charge in guns a-blazin' - figuratively, of course - but unlike her bloodthirsty companion, Corvina liked to think that she at least could still conduct herself with some semblance of humanity. It was the only thing that separated her from the demon that already dwelt inside her head.


(Hey, nothing wrong with dramatics, if you ask me, especially in this line of work ;3)
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Re: I Am No Hercules [P, Flame]

Postby Mousen » 11/07/2015 4:52 PM

The trail of destruction was small, but fresh. A few snapped twigs, a little bit of blood on the leaves, nothing too obvious. The creature, whatever it was, seemed to be following the trail. Prague stopped suddenly, it took Ezra a moment to notice, but he turned to face them. They had their finger dipped in a small droplet of blood which had been resting on a fern frond. They rubbed it between their fingers, the red liquid smearing slightly. "It's still wet. We're getting closer."

Ezra nodded. "Let's talk strategy then. Can you tell what it is?"

Prague shrugged. "Who knows. This could be their blood or the blood of whatever they killed." Their one eye witness had been incredibly unspecific. She'd been incredibly panicked, she hadn't scene anything except the impression of something dark as it ran off with her sheep. It was too big to be a wolf or a bear. Ezra had honestly thought she'd been lying until he picked up the slight tang of magic in the air. Over the years he'd been travelling he'd become sensitive to these things.

The dark-haired man sighed. "We could go in with tranquilizers. If it's a were-"

"Moon is in it's last quarter. Not lycan."

He didn't begrudge the interruption. He'd been travelling with them to get used to their manner. It never changed. "In that case, perhaps a binding? That should trap anything demonic or fae. If it breaks through it's probably material and we can go for tranquilizers."

Prague nodded. "My best guess is demonic or cryptozoological. If not then vampiric or eldritch."

Ezra gave them a skeptical look. "That really narrows it down."

They pretended not to hear him.


We’re all hysterical & going nowhere together.

C’mon rapture. Let’s go bedazzling.

Nothing gets futured without its own spitshine
& I’m already not not not not not not miraculous.


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Re: I Am No Hercules [P, Flame]

Postby Flame » 11/09/2015 3:51 PM

Corvina had to admit that this particular situation was a somewhat new one to her. It wasn’t often that her targets traveled with a companion, nor did they usually tend to be this chatty. In fact, her usual quarry tended to be of the taciturn sort, now that she thought about it – not terribly unlike herself. Perhaps that was some form of commentary on her particular line of work, and if she’d been another person, she might have dwelt on the psychological ramifications of that revelation. Luckily for her, however, she wasn’t huge on self-reflection, and it just so happened that Leurre was of the same opinion; at least they had that in common. If there was one thing that was true, it was the fact that it was much easier to house two people in one skull if their opinions happened to coincide. Domestic affairs of the brain tended to get…messy.

Nevertheless, after having shadowed their prey for the better part of an hour, Corvina had to admit that she was beginning to see Leurre’s perspective on this particular matter. There really didn’t seem to be any more that they could gain from observation alone – nothing that this odd pair was about to willingly give away, at least. Between the two of them, they seemed to have some familiarity with the supernatural, or at least the ability to hunt and track those beings. Corvina filed that away to keep in mind, although she doubted that they’d ever come across anything quite like herself in their travels. Plus, she’d been careful to keep the element of surprise on her side.

Deciding that there was nothing left to be gained from lurking in the shadows but wasted time, Corvina made her move, ignoring the crow of satisfaction from Leurre as she finally sprang into action. The fact that there were two of them against one of her (physically, at least) presented its own challenge, and she calculated her play as such. Between the two, the white-haired creature – for lack of a more accurate word – seemed the considerably less threatening one, despite its sharp, almost angular features. Taking one out first to even the odds would likely be her best bet in this situation.

Corvina had always found herself partial to knives – they were a swift and silent weapon choice, and much more elegant than the more popular weapons of the ‘modern day’. Considering the very particular work which she did and the nature of her combat style, knives served their function perfectly for almost every aspect of her job. It didn’t mean that she was rash enough not to come with a plan b prepared though, but she preferred to do things in her own way. She came from downwind of the pair while both of their backs were turned, a silent shadow parting from the cover of the trees behind her. Corvina leapt for the more diminutive of the two hunters, aiming to wrap herself around her target and carry them farther from their male companion – hopefully far enough to buy herself enough time to take care of the first and regain her feet to face the second. Her current goal was to incapacitate, not kill – there wasn’t enough time for that, and her main target was the man, preferably alive over dead.
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Re: I Am No Hercules [P, Flame]

Postby Mousen » 11/16/2015 5:29 PM

Prague was a mess of a creature, in truth. For the most part, they were faerie, and their best guess was that the main bulk of their ancestors were made up of changelings, with some imps or pixie blood. As for the rest? Sometimes they grew horns in the spring, and they could feel the cycles of the moon in their blood. They were a mongrel, the result of many generations of mingling between the various magical communities. Now, Prague had inherited the weaknesses of their ancestors as well as the strengths, and everything was diluted down, but, one of the strengths they'd inherited was a good sense of self-preservation.

They turned, just as someone, something (a woman?), leapt at them. Prague's claws (and by now they were claws, before the attack they'd only just been clinging onto the definition of fingernails) were reaching for the woman's face, their own features elongating, distorting. Their pupils turned into slits, and their teeth, already slightly large for their mouth, seemed to be growing. They'd been forced backwards a good distance, but not quite enough for them to lose their balance, although their footing was less than ideal. They hissed, in both anger and surprise.

Ezra was left behind, for a few moments lost as to what had just happened. It was clear that Corvina had misjudged her target. The weaker one was evidently Ezra, human enough to be left floundering by what had just occurred. It didn't take him long to recover, and he ran after the two of them, pointing a small revolver at the back of Prague's attacker. "I will shoot you, if I have to." He spoke loudly, but calmly. "What reason do you have for attacking us?" They looked like a perfectly ordinary woman from the back, although that didn't really mean anything in Ezra's line of business. Whether she was simply a talented human or something else entirely, he was perfectly prepared to cause her injury, if it meant that Prague would come to no harm.


We’re all hysterical & going nowhere together.

C’mon rapture. Let’s go bedazzling.

Nothing gets futured without its own spitshine
& I’m already not not not not not not miraculous.


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Re: I Am No Hercules [P, Flame]

Postby Flame » 11/30/2015 4:33 PM

In her attack, Corvina had expected her hands to make contact with her target at the very least, if not wrap themselves around her throat or torso – whichever she could readily reach to restrain the creature – but she was met with surprise when her onslaught was met with empty air. As if able to sense her presence, the white-haired humanoid (although growing less so by the second) had danced quickly out of her reach as she’d made her move, staying just ahead of her grasp. It was all she could do not to lose her balance when the expected counterweight wasn’t there to mitigate her momentum, and she had to skid lightly in the mulch of the forest floor to avoid planting her face in the litter underfoot.

A growl of displeasure seemed to bubble from her throat, clearly frustrated by her thwarted attempt as she eyed the feral-looking creature which now hissed back at her, mirroring her irritation. A voice from behind drew her attention momentarily back to the man, who’d closed the distance between them once again, to Corvina’s frustration. On top of that, he seemed to have procured a pistol as well, which only served to further complicate the situation. Now, not only had she not succeeded in evening the numbers in this fight, but both of her adversaries seemed to have sprouted new weapons since she last checked. One could say that she was effectively stuck between a rock and a hard place.

A glance at her surroundings told her that there was a considerable distance between herself and the tree line, and she quickly dismissed any ideas of escape. She was fast, but not fast enough to outrun a speeding bullet in time to make it to cover. Now that the white-haired creature was on the defensive, there would be no getting through them either – not with that gun pointed at her back. Corvina bit back the urge to snarl at the pair (she told herself that she was letting Leurre rub off on her too much), and instead, straightened into a standing position, hands raised in a placating motion at shoulder-level, the knife in clear view and the blade held non-threateningly flush against the palm of her hand. After all, she wasn’t going to get any closer to capturing this man if she ended up dead first. Sure, she wasn’t certain of what she was going to do next to get herself out of this sticky situation, or to give herself the upper hand once again, but the best she could do now was to play it by ear and hope for the best.

“I mean you no harm,” she finally said, her tone surprisingly calm considering her current predicament (and for someone who effectively had a gun to their head). “Like you, I’m currently out here…hunting. There’s a creature loose in these woods that needs to be brought to heel, and I intend to find it.” She glanced over at the white-haired faerie once again, as if still half-convinced that they were the ‘creature’ she was looking for. “However, if you will vouch for the soundness of your…companion here, then I will gladly admit to my error and allow you to be on your way. No harm done.” She figured that sounded like a convincing enough story, especially considering the fact that the creature in question had since sprouted claws and fangs.
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Re: I Am No Hercules [P, Flame]

Postby Mousen » 01/15/2016 5:40 PM

(Woah, I thought I'd replied to this!)

Ezra had a chance to focus on whatever had attacked them. It was a woman, humanoid, and smart enough to know that she had little chance of escape now that she was caught between Prague and himself. He watched her consider her consider, before her posture changed into something more passive, holding her knife against the palm of her hand. He exhaled slowly, still keeping the gun aimed at the woman's back.

"Perhaps it would be better to ensure you have the correct target before trying to kill it. You make less mistakes that way." Ezra said, his tone softer than his words. He didn't wish to offend a fellow hunter, but he couldn't let an attack like that slide, even if it had been an accident. He could tell without looking at his companion that Prague didn't believe her. Prague rarely trusted anyone, in fact, it had been years before they'd begun to trust Ezra at all. It had been many more years since they'd begun to respect him. They still made plenty of jokes at his expense. "Nevertheless, Prague is not the creature you're hunting. They're a faerie."

The white-haired creature's features shrunk, becoming more or less human-looking. They were still too sharp, their eyes too wide and nose too pointed. "I'm mostly faerie, but I'm a lot of other things. Bit of a mixture, hence," they gestured vaguely, indicating their earlier transformation. "I won't harm anything sentient that didn't harm me or something else first. " That was mostly true.

"Is that good enough for you, Ma'am?" Ezra asked, the gun still pointing at her back. "If you can refrain from slitting the throat of my companion here, you're free to move. I'm not going to shoot." He lowered the weapon slightly, hoping that the tense exchange would be over. No harm done.


We’re all hysterical & going nowhere together.

C’mon rapture. Let’s go bedazzling.

Nothing gets futured without its own spitshine
& I’m already not not not not not not miraculous.


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Re: I Am No Hercules [P, Flame]

Postby Flame » 02/04/2016 1:23 PM

Clearly the man wasn't about to let his guard down without a very convincing reason to, judging by the fact that the gun still remained leveled at her back. Smart of him, she couldn't begrudge him that - in the same position, she wouldn't have done any differently. In fact, she would probably have been considerably less understanding than he was currently being. Nevertheless, she retained her air of calm, doing her best to appear non-threatening. After all, it sounded as if she'd had the man - if not his odd companion - mostly convinced that this was indeed an unintentional blunder on her part, and that she meant them no harm.

"Well, considering the supposed nature of the creature currently haunting these woods, one couldn't be blamed for having a 'shoot first, ask questions later' mentality, given the situation." Although her words could have been construed as being slightly defensive, her tone remained even and unwavering. If she was going to convince them that her bluff was true, she couldn't give them any reason to doubt any of what she was saying. "To be truthful, I'm not entirely sure what the nature of this creature is, or even what species it might be, so everything is a bit of a crapshot at the moment. Guilty until proven innocent and whatnot." Corvina shrugged diffidently. "Plus, I can't say I've ever met a faerie before myself."

That part was true - this was the first time she'd ever encountered anything quite like the white-haired creature, and as such, she observed her with a detached sort of interest. It would be helpful to have a better understanding of the creature's abilities, so that she could better counter them if necessary later on down the line. Nevertheless, she casually let her gaze wander away from Prague so as not to see unusually intrigued, and instead eyed the man standing off to her other side. She quirked her head in assent to his question, and fluidly tucked the knives back into their hidden sheaths, leaving her hands bare and empty once again. Another sign of goodwill that would hopefully help her gain some ground with these two. "So, what brings the two of you out to this neck of the woods? I take it you're out here looking for something...or someone as well."
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Re: I Am No Hercules [P, Flame]

Postby Mousen » 03/28/2016 4:45 PM

"That depends entirely on what you end up shooting, Ma'am. But, we're not here to discuss ethics." He gave her a small smile that had no humor in it. It made him look more like a banker or a lawyer than someone who roamed around forests attempting to kill monstrosities. "I imagine that we're looking for the same creature. The thing that's been ripping apart deer. I assume your interest was peaked at the same time as us, when you heard that it had gotten hold of a bear." It was easy enough to put the deer down to one of the natural predators that wandered through the woods, but when the predators were being ripped apart and strewn through the undergrowth it tended to mean there was something strange going on.

Prague looked skeptical. "Well, you've met half of one now. We're normally smaller." They gestured with their hands. "With wings." More gestures. "But not always." The gestures stop. "Most faeries are tricksy and dangerous, but not always."

Ezra raised a brow. "I don't think I've ever met a faerie that wasn't both tricksy and dangerous."

The creature gave him a withering look. "It's rude to universalize. There must be at least one. Who are you to indicate that my people only have one nature?"

Despite the seriousness of their situation as a whole, Ezra was amused, and his features softened. "No, you're right, Prague. There may in fact be an honest faerie lurking around somewhere in the world."


"Anyway, we'd better get moving--"

"--Actually, Prague, I was thinking sine we've all ended up together and none of us have even the slightest idea of what we're looking for, it might be wiser to team up for now. That way, at least, we shouldn't have any well-intentioned hunters mistaking us for monsters." He turned to the woman. "How does that sound to you?" Ezra wasn't being blindly trusting, he admitted it was a bit of a risk, but he was confident that he and Prague could keep an eye on her. Certainly that was better than having her wander through the forest, where, if her intentions were really malicious, she could pick them off from a distance. If they were both tracking the creature they'd end up crossing paths eventually anyway. Next to him, Prague looked far from happy with the development, but she'd followed his train of thought.


We’re all hysterical & going nowhere together.

C’mon rapture. Let’s go bedazzling.

Nothing gets futured without its own spitshine
& I’m already not not not not not not miraculous.


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