Private - Strolling red

_____Nyx loved the smell of BLOOD in the morning. Hands dyed crimson as she happily hummed and sat over her prey watching in amusement as it tried to escape with the primal instinct to run. Red eyes followed the half alive deer, a twisted smile across the fearin's face as it dragged it's back legs across the grass leaving a trail of glorious BLOOD behind it. The poor creature ended up crossing the wrong part of the forest at the wrong time.

_____Her amusement however was only short lived as the deer slowly stopped moving and soon after the light faded from it's eyes. Nyx clicking her tongue as she reached into the grass at her feet to retrieve her scythe and calmly strolled over to the deer once more, her weapon swinging at her side and carefully hooking the blade under the neck. One quick motion as the dead deer lost it's head and Nyx allowed a faint smirk to cross her face as she kept moving.

_____She wanted to watch more BLOOD spill. She wanted to make more BLEED, She wanted to watch them struggle and cling to life. Eyes locking on another deer as Nyx crouched down and got ready to once more strike down something simply for her own amusement. A trail of dead animals and BLOOD left in her wake should any dare to follow it to the still growing end.
@Rivers Asteire

 

Rivers had ventured out into the forest to find some more mobs to kill. He needed to work on his moves if he wanted to achieve the "Hero" status he so desperately desired. Currently, he was nowhere near the level he needed to be. He couldn't even handle wolves. A brief memory of his earlier encounter with his allies made him shudder. That type of noob-level shit wasn't going to cut it. His mind filled with determination as he wandered in the forest. Suddenly he heard a quiet *squish* noise.

He looked down and saw that he'd stepped in blood and...bits. It's not real. It's not real...don't freak out. Back home, Theo knew people hunted deer and other game, but he'd never taken part in it. Even if he had...this was a new level. The damn thing was beheaded. A rifle didn't do that. This had to be a hunter. Or maybe it was a monster.

Now that was an interesting idea. If it was a monster, that meant there was maybe an event or some interesting enemy to fight. Rivers grinned, perhaps fighting this monster would give him the experience he needed to put him on the right track. Yeah! Rivers walked alongside the blood trail, not wanting to step in it further. He avoided his eyes when he saw what might be bits of deer.

Eventually, he found the end of the trail and standing before him was another player. The avatar was actually that of a little girl. Maybe she was chasing after that monster as well. That was excellent! The two of them together could accomplish a lot more! She probably already had leads on where to go. "Hello there. Are you after the monster too? I wonder what kind of event creature would kill this many deer..." He trailed off. Rivers wondered where the monster could've gone if the trail went cold. There were few possibilities. Maybe the player before him had already killed the monster, there was blood on her scythe. Or maybe...

"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Riverse Asteire. Nice to meet you!"

 

_____Nyx was just about ready to bounce her target before the voice caught both hunter and hunted's attention. Nyx fumbled forward, the deer rushing away as Nyx growled and slammed her fist against the earth before turning her crimson gaze on the intruder as they spoke again. Frame rising up as she looked at the male, fingers tightly wrapping her scythe as the blood dripped from the upturned blade.

_____Nyx did not say a word, she did not give a hint to how angry she truely was because the male scared away easier pray. Frame moved forward, weapon swung outward before arching upward near @Rivers Asteire without warning. It was not aimed to cleave him in to, but not trying to avoid might give him a rather unwanted voldamort nose job. With her swing finished Nyx swung the weapon behind her back, and kept it at the ready.

"...Fucking Annoyance, ...Damn... Pray escaped, your fault..."

_____Slowly moving her weapon once more as she pointed the shaft at the male. He clearly annoyed the girl, but how to calm her down was something he would have to think quick about as Nyx spun her weapon into position once again and got ready to strike at him again. He would have to pay. BLOOD FOR BLOOD!

 

She didn't react as Rivers had expected her to. He was hoping it would be along the lines of "Yes I am! Let's work together to kill the boss!" Instead, she straightened up slowly. OH! She was probably surprised. He'd broken her concentration. Gosh that was rude of him. "OH! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to break your concentration." Suddenly she was walking towards him. Oh. She was coming to tell him it was alright. She could tell him from there though? Maybe she was just shy?

Suddenly her weapon swung outward, much too close to him. He went to take a step back, but figured he should just trust her. After all, why would she just hurt another player? Who did that? Quickly, the scythe swung up quickly.

Mastery Activated: Parry

With a jerk of his knee, Rivers hit the head of the scythe as it swung up so that instead of taking off his nose, it cut him lightly across the chest. Blood spilled out under his shirt. Why had she done that? Who just swung their weapons at people? Suddenly, she pointed her weapon at him again. Oh no, oh no. Rivers took a step back before she would strike him again. He didn't know why she wanted to...it was probably a good reason. But that didn't mean he was just gonna let himself continue to get cut.

"Hey, I'm not like possessed or anything. If you could put the dicking scythe down, please."

For some reason, Rivers didn't think that was going to go over well. He turned and ran to his right, into the bushes. As he entered the bushes, Rivers heard the scattering of animals from the bush. What were they, rabbits? More wolves?! Please not more wolves.
@Nyx

 

_____Nyx would not listen to the male, nor did she have reason to. Weapon slashing just after he moved, her gaze locked onto him as she growled lightly and took a moment to balance the weight again before trying to pursuit. Weapon slashing across the top of the bushes as best she could with her height. Branches and leaves falling at the improvised trim. Moving her frame as the weight dragged her around for a moment.

_____Then she regained and used the sway to build momentum. Scythe moving around as she spun before jumping and swinging her weapon downward towards @Rivers Asteire without worry might he would say as a reply. It would likely go un-noticed due to her attacks but her focus and strikes seemed to now be focused for where he was BLEEDING. The slow trail was not enough to calm her down, more had to be paid for his actions.

_____But without a word she re adjusted her weapon and weight and swung for his left side if she was not stopped. The sad truth exposed in her attack. Her hands still had blood, and against the metal handle keeping a steady or firm grip was not easy. If he had the guts there might be the chance to disarm her, but that would require him to pass the effective range of her weapon first.

 

Rivers's words didn't seem to be getting through to her. She continued to strike at him, hitting right where he was just a moment ago. Okay, this wasn't getting him anywhere. He continued to move away from her while he thought of a plan. She wasn't letting up anytime soon. Could he outlast her? She was pretty small compared to her weapon. It had to take a lot of energy to swing that around. She couldn't do that forever.

But the slashing of bushes behind him told Rivers he shouldn't count on that. That had to be some method to her madness. She wasn't just lobbing that scythe around at random. Surely not. Rivers turned to her to gauge the swing. Was it random? He backed away from a couple of swings. It was weird. The first swing had tried to cut off his nose, but it didn't seem like she was aiming for his head anymore. Was she swinging at...his chest? An odd target for a weapon designed for lobbing things off.

So, telling her that he wasn't a demon wasn't the way to go it seemed. He needed to ask her what she wanted. Everybody wanted something, and if he could find out what she wanted then he could stop inconveniencing her with the guesswork. He'd have to get close to do that. That wouldn't be too difficult...scythes had the same weakness spears did. After one of her swings, Rivers walked forward towards the shaft of the weapon. He gripped the weapon.

"What do you want? Please stop swinging this at me without telling me what the fuck you want?" Rivers looked at her hands and noticed the blood on them.

Vocation Activated - Investigation

"Your grip's loose."

Mastery Activated - Heroic Strength

He pulled hard on her weapon.

 

_____Nyx was not happy he got closer, or when he took her scythe from her hands. The moment she saw her own hands though she moved back almost terrified by them. Arms moving to cover her hands up again under the long sleeves before glaring at the male who still held her weapon. Sleeves moving quickly before knives poked out of the sleeves as she kept her arms down.

"Return it! Give back! Not yours!"

_____Nyx's voice was faint, even her speech suffered from the continued descent into her own darkness. Unsure what words she should have used and causing her to repeat the same thing a number of times in different ways. Flicking her wrist to recoil the blades back into her sleeve and slowly moving her arms up to point at the scythe without showing her hands to herself.

@Rivers Asteire

 

Rivers tore the scythe from her hands. It was surprisingly easy given the difference in her strength. Why had she chosen such a large weapon if it was so easily torn from her? She caught a glimpse of her hands before recoiling. Had she not noticed the blood on them? What did she think was going to happen when she killed all those animals? Finally, she spoke to him. She asked for her scythe back. Well, perhaps asked was a bit too polite of a word. She demanded her scythe back. She pointed up at the blade with her fingers, expecting him to return the weapon to her.

"Not until you tell me what you want."

He held the scythe above his head. It felt pretty immature to "keep away" her weapon from her, but it was pretty easy to hold it out of her reach. He had to have two feet on her, easily. Rivers needed her to talk to him before he trusted her with her weapon again. Rivers usually trusted people, but this was a bit ridiculous. Even he wasn't that trusting. Letting out a loud sigh, he looked at her once again. She looked young, maybe the player was also young, and not used to dealing with people. He should try to help her.

"Let's start with something easy," he spoke in a soft voice. "What's your name?"

@Nyx

 

_____It was one thing to keep Nyx’s scythe from her, but to have the gull to hold it over her head to point out the fact she was short was simply enough to truly piss the girl off. She restrained herself from turning him into Swiss cheese and he did THIS as a reply? Crimson eyes flickered with pure rage for all of one moment, then without the slightest warning she pulled her leg back and kicked forward right for his fire-hose with everything she had. One swift kick and very loud growl was her reply to his actions thus far.

_____Should her weapon be dropped Nyx would quickly rush to retrieve it, should he still be stubborn to keep it away from her she would growl more. If he tried to lift it over her head again, she would once more aim for his crouch clearly showing she greatly disliked being shown she was shorter than someone else. But after some time if he kept the weapon away, and not over her head she would grumble to herself for a bit before mumbling.

”N...Y...X… Nyx…”

_____Compared to last time she spoke her voice was far more timid, very faint, and almost nothing in terms of hints as to how old she was or her emotional level. What could tell such however was still the clear anger in her eyes, and how she was still reaching out to have her weapon returned to her. Should he still refuse to return it she would puff her cheeks, and still keep the death glare on him as she pulled her leg back hinting she would kick him again if it was not give back soon.
@Rivers Asteire

 

Rivers saw her eyes flicker but didn't piece together what was going on until it was too late. Her foot quickly met with his groin. He doubled over but didn't drop the weapon. Even in this world...a kick in the nads was a kick in the nads. Maybe he'd deserved it? But, it wasn't like there were many good solutions here. She wasn't giving a lot of choice in the matter. His options were to disarm her or continue to get attacked. That...wasn't a hard choice by any standards. But now she simply growled at him.

"Okay...I guess you don't like that." He held the scythe normally. He didn't want to see how she would top her most recent assault if he held the scythe out of her reach again. He sighed. This was...taxing. Rivers was beginning to feel his limits of dealing with someone so uncooperative. It was like...working at an ice cream store and someone comes in asking for a hot dog. At first, you try to be nice, but as they yell and foam at the mouth it gets harder to be nice. And that sucked! Rivers liked being nice.

Finally, she spoke her name. Rivers breathed a sigh of relief. So she was understanding him and could communicate normally...she just didn't. That was equal parts relieving and frustrating. If she couldn't understand him that was one thing, but if she understood and didn't listen that was another entirely. But, perhaps he'd held her weapon long enough.

Rivers took a step forward and held out the scythe. "I won't hold this from you, but I won't have you attack me either. So, compromise, we'll both hold onto it until you tell me why you attacked me." Rivers wasn't stupid. He knew she probably wouldn't react well to this. But...he wanted to give her the chance to explain now that she'd calmed down enough to give her name. He did, however, keep his legs together. Just in case.
@Nyx

 

_____Nyx growled so more at how this male just kept changing things to make her talk more. Hand moving to her weapon as her grumbled turned into mumbled words, and slowly she had to repeat them over and over until she found the actually words she was trying to say in a tone that could be understood. To Nyx it seemed like hours, but it was likely only a few seconds so it seemed she got annoyed very easily as she grumbled before trying to speak up again.

”Was hunting… Ruined… by you… Not happy… then saw blood… lost focus…”

_____Nyx looked down at the ground the entire time, clearly avoiding his gaze and the sight of her own hand that was showing while holding the weapon. With the blood mostly drying there was scar marks all around it and seemed to steam up into her sleeve. With another grumble Nyx tried to tug on her weapon to have it returned now that he had what he asked from her, mostly feeling herself used and toyed with up until now.

_____Should he return it Nyx would jump back a bit, take a couple moments to spin it around, having to slide her hand along the handle to avoid getting it caught in the ground ro worse, causing it to stop and her to flip over on her own butt. Soon pointing it at rivers once more before opening her UI and letting it vainish. Eyes still held a bit of anger, and if the male listened she still had metal in her sleeves as a weapon. Her head turning as Nyx spun around and growled lightly.

”Not yours!”

_____Her words seemed so off, however to someone with hunting to boost their senses, and training to listen more then speak Nyx could tell someone, or rather something was touching her past prey. Frame moving as Nyx rushed back along the trail of dripping blood, and should she be followed would lead @Rivers Asteire close enough to see a pack of wolves that she herself would rush right into the middle of unless stopped or held back. Her focus on the fact they tried to eat the body of the creature, and no blood was left to pour out.

 

Rivers watched and waited as she tried to formulate her sentence. She was uhhhh...slow about it. When Nyx finally did find the words, they came out in two-word bursts. Talking wasn't her strong suit it seemed. Well, that was okay. Not everybody was a big talker but that was okay. What wasn't okay was her attacking him, but it didn't look like she was going to do it again. He sighed as he relinquished her weapon.

"Okay just...don't attack me again. Okay?"

This was a bit of a pain in the ass. He'd been hoping to find some rare beast to hunt and cooperate with other players and make friends. But here he was, talking to Nyx. Well, talking was a bit of a stretch. He was talking at her more or less. Maybe he should just leave her be? Rivers could head back to town and find something else to do. Nyx hopped back and told him, again, that the scythe was not his.

"Yeah yeah, I know. But you didn't leave me much of a choice."

Nyx flashed open her UI before darting back the way the pair had came. What fresh hell was this? Rivers followed after her slowly. After following her back to the spot where she'd killed the deer, he would likely head back to town. Rivers had to admit, he was a bit curious to see her next move. When he reached the spot where they'd met, Rivers saw Nyx staring down a pack of wolves. Wolves. It was always fucking wolves.

"Hey, don't do anything stupid!"

And of course, what did she do? Something stupid. Nyx dove into the middle of the wolfpack before Rivers could stop her. This was bad. She had a weapon sure, but it was slow and wouldn't be able to handle all the wolves. Rivers could leave. He could run right now and not get involved. After all, Nyx had attack him, kicked him in the groin, and been pretty rude. Or he could get involved. He could risk life and limb to help her out against a handful of enemies, the likes of which had already almost done him in once before.

Was there really a choice.

Mastery Activated - Heroic Strength

Rivers felt the strength well up in his legs as he jumped up as high as he could. With the full force of his weight, he landed on one of the wolves. He put himself just as close to the wolves as @Nyx had.

"Guess we're both stupid."

 

_____Nyx had no need for river’s help, nor did she approve of him fighting her battle as she growled and flicked her wrist. Knives quickly moving to view as she quickly waved her arm widely as two knives cut across the air into the side of the first wolf as it howled in pain. Nyx smiling as she saw blood and seemed to focus solely on such. Sleeves rustling as she moved more knives to standby and started to spin slowly.

_____Her spin staying slow before she gave up and simply chose to quickly bend while moving her arms to throw daggers and needles alike at the creatures that tried to approach her. While each did not sink far into the wolves but they sure did have numbers to them to make numerous wounds. But as the pack seem less deterred the more accustomed to the sudden sting of her attacks the closer they got.

_____Grumbling to herself as she pulled her Scythe from her UI and growled loudly at the pack. The same hostile intent glowing in her eyes as she adjusted for the offset in weight and rushed towards the first wolf. Weapon dragging along the ground before she jumped and swung the weapon higher to send the tip into the wolf’s head and cut it down the middle as she landed. A twisted smile as she moved the blade to her lips and licked the blade happily chuckling. Her small regain of sanity once more lost in the void, that only wanted BLOOD.
@Rivers Asteire

 

Rivers could tell he'd crushed the wolf beneath him. That just left...a lot of wolves. Shit. Nyx threw a lot of throwing knives and needles at the wolves that surrounded her. Had she been hiding them in her sleeves? Noted. He should mess with Nyx again, never knew where she might be hiding weapons. He turned his attention to the remaining wolves. God there were a lot of them.

As Nyx antagonized the lot of them, Rivers knew he should be a bit smarter about this. Sure he wanted to help, but that didn't mean he had to be an idiot about it. Plus, if he got in her way, she'd probably not hesitate to cut him down. So, he hung around the back and waited for the chance to pounce on a wolf that had its attention on Nyx. He hadn't taken Incognito as a mastery, so this wasn't easy. But with Nyx emanating so much bloodlust, it was easy to go unnoticed.

He jumped on the back of a wolf and wrestled it off its feet. It snapped its jaws repeatedly, but couldn't get a hold of him. As Rivers tried to choke it, he felt something metallic in its belly. Oh, Nyx must've hit it with one of her needles or knives. With some finesse and a lot of finagling, Rivers pulled a needle of its belly.

Mastery Activated - Pierce
Rivers dug the needle into the beast's neck before it went limp in his arms. He pulled the needle out. It was a shitty weapon to use as a melee weapon, but it was probably better than his fists. He had some money; he really needed to buy a weapon soon. But, he didn't want to waste his gold on a basic or common weapon that he'd just throw away later. So, for now, this discard needle would have to do. He stood and found himself covered in wolf's blood. Well, at least he hadn't paid for these clothes.

Without further delay, he attacked another wolf that had circled behind Nyx. She wouldn't thank him, and he wouldn't expect her to, but Rivers would make sure she didn't die to some lamedick wolves.

 

_____Nyx’s frame fumbled back slowly, Scythe arcing over her as she pulled it upward to get it free and happily started chuckling as it fell to the ground with a loud ‘thunk’. So many things to kill, so much BLOOD to let leak out to admire. She still did not know why it called to her so much, before the mere sight of BLOOD reminded her of her brother, but now BLOOD was the only peace in the storm of her mind. Tipping her head to the left Nyx happily spoke in a slight humming tone.

”More… BLOOD~”

_____Nyx moved slowly at first, dragging her weapon along the ground slowly before she started to run, spinning the weapon as the blade cut into the dirt before she swung upward cutting another wolf. This tiem clean in two as she happily fumbled backwards with the weight of the weapon again. Slowly starting to spin as the weapon lifted to keep the wolves away as they seemed to consider jumping back at her.

_____Despite the weight of her weapon, the size, and what seemed like a unstable mindset she seemed to have a plan to fight against so many foes. Watching as a wolf got past and took a bite of her leg before scurrying away as she tried to cleave the head off it. Looking at her own blood as she just chuckled and tipped her head to the right with a smile twisting and bloodlust almost leaking off her.

”That hurt, that really hurt… Try it again!~ Come on! TRY ME!!!”
@Rivers Asteire