#asknekyu

She didn't really think about how he got so injured-- honestly, it didn't surprise her very much. After all, one of her first times near him involved him being stabbed... A lot. She also couldn't really tell if he was being sarcastic or not with his comments-- playful, maybe?

"... Did you get into a fight again...?" Pausing for a moment, she made an attempt at humour, "I-I don't know, I think you look better than before..."

"I thought your kind were more ‘brains’ than ‘brawn’, yet there you are, mindlessly attacking this innocent host. Close range with a bow no less~! Ha!"

An unfamiliar voice diverted her attention, and she turned to the source of it, to see a short girl with cat(?) ears grinning at her as she waved a dreamcatcher.

"Show some basic manners, elf," the girl warned, giggling a little bit at the end of her sentence.

"What the fuck is wrong with this person," Umbra thought, as if she was in any position to think that.

With a scowl, she replied, "Not all elves have to be smart or anything, and I just happen to be one of those elves. Got a problem with that?"

She was ready to fight the girl, but decided not to, after her slight commotion with Nekyu.

A loud crash unlike the sound of shattering dishes drew Umbra's attention again, and she looked back at Nekyu, to see him hit his forehead against Breezy's.

"Breezy!" she cried out.

Nekyu's wings and tail were raised up, not unlike a bird of prey getting ready to capture its meal, but Umbra ignored him.

She watched as Breezy fell back into her chair and rub her neck.

"Why her neck? Doesn't her forehead hurt?" she wondered.

Suddenly, the mauve-haired girl fell back to the ground as she leaned on the back of her chair.

"Breezy, what are you doing?" Umbra asked.

[what the fuck umbra you usually say "are you okay?" not "what are you doing?"]

“U-Umbra….J-Judas…” Breezy croaked.

Umbra tried to help Breezy and the chair back up, and she looked at Breezy's face to see if the other girl was okay. Breezy's eyes seemed dazed and confused.

“Umbra, it’s okay!”

"Yeah, that's what I should be thinking right now. 'It's okay'."

Just when she thought she would not concern herself with the matter anymore, a tall and looming figure strode to the table the trio were seated at, a nasty sneer on his face.

"Is this Nekyu?", she thought to herself, remembering what everyone else had said about him. When he leaned over to them, Umbra contorted her face into a scowl, sharpening her gaze.

Her eyes widened slightly as she watched Nekyu shift his gaze over to her.

"If you’d prefer, I could take a bite of your actual flesh instead of your soul.”

She held her breath. The offer was tempting, and she had always wanted to forget what she had done, hadn't she?

Umbra parted her lips, almost ready to accept the offer, but she couldn't say anything. A part of her didn't want to let go of the memories she had.

"I thought I wanted to forget that he died. I thought I wanted to forget that they left. I thought I wanted to forget my old life."

In a quandary, she gritted her teeth, waiting for one of the other two to possibly request Nekyu for something before she made her decision.

"If I let go of these memories, I could become stronger, and I can go back to being a bounty hunter. I wouldn't have to rely on the people I know so much.

But if I forget them...

'But' ?

Why am I hesita--"

A loud crash of silverware and fine china interrupted her thoughts, and she jerked her head up, to see Judas stabbing at the food haphazardly.

"Are you crazy?" she shouted at him. Her eyes followed the sword, and when she glanced up at Judas' face, his eyes were widened in a state of panic. An expression she never thought she'd see on his smug face.

Having still not made a decision, Umbra was a bit glad that Judas and his spirit sword provided a bit of a distraction.

"We can run right now, can't we?" Umbra whispered to Breezy.

She hated running away from an enemy. But she felt like she had no choice, since she couldn't make a decision.

After packing what she deemed necessary, the milletian, against the wishes of her maid and butler, dropped the fabric given to her by the incubus onto the altar of Coill Dungeon. There, she entered a very fantastical looking world.

"Is this what an 'Abyss' dungeon looks like...?" She muttered to herself, walking through the forest. All she had to do was make sure not to disturb the wildlife and she'd be okay-- or so Nekyu said. There wasn't a reason for him to lie, was there?

Deciding to place her trust in the incubus' words, she carefully travelled through the dungeon, taking in the sights as she went. Aside from the possible hints of death and some frightening looking flora, it was relatively aesthetically pleasing-- as if it was out of a fairy tale.

Navigating through the forest of thorns and spikes, the girl found her way to an opening wherein an open pasture lay, flowers decorating it, and a house planted in its midst. She hadn't expected something like that of Nekyu's house, if it even was his. Then again, he himself seemed full of unexpected things. Considering the scenery, maybe he liked flowers? If that were the case, maybe they could get along just fine.

That'd be nice.

Both girls noticed a figure waving at them, to which Laima's face contorted into a grimace. 'Oh hell no,' the maid thought to herself. As Mistreil was about to wave back, her hand was grabbed by the older woman who began to leave the area.

"We don't have time for this-- Guede and Arcelle are probably waiting for us." A pretty decent attempt at reasoning, though she was unaware that the other half of their group had long ditched them.

Well then.

Seems like no one wants to take a friendly greeting today. No. He had something he needed to give her. He ran over to them quickly and cut them off. Reaching into his shirt he pulled out an envelope and held it out to Mistreil.

"Um... Hi Nekyu," the milletian smiled, picking the envelope up. Her eyes drifted from the letter to Nekyu's face as she spoke, "Should I read it here-- Y-you're injured...? Are you-- What happened?"

Meanwhile, Laima just glared at the incubus, disgusted and irritated. While she loved the part of the girl that would worry about others, was worrying about this piece of crap even necessary?

“You can read it whenever. Alil wanted me to give it to you.” Avoiding the question, he looked away, annoyed with the attitude the woman was giving him. He didn’t need to answer her needless questions. It was unnecessary to talk about his injuries. Things would be a lot nicer without the women, so hopefully soon he could speak to her alone.

... Nekyu and Laima definitely didn't seem to like each other. Understandable... But... This was awkward. Well, more awkward than conversations usually were, anyway. Leaving the two of them here would probably just make things a lot more difficult than they had to be.

"Laima? I'll catch up with you later, so... U-um..."

"... No matter what I do or say, it's not going to change anything, huh?" Pausing for a moment, the maid sighed, "Fine. But you better come back in one piece."

"O-Okay." Mistreil nodded and waved goodbye to the maid, opening up the letter, "B-By the way, was Alil okay? After the prom, I mean..."

A nice smile of satisfaction rose on Nekyu’s face as they moved away from Laima. As they walked he swung his arm around onto Mistreil’s shoulders. “Ah him, he’s fine now, but I really need to talk to whoever spent the night with them.” He looked away with an annoyed expression. Whatever fucking incubus touched his kid was in for it later.

... Come to think of it, who did Alil go to the promenade with? Did they do something?

"I-I'm glad he's okay now." She stared at the letter, reading it while walking. Alil suggested she spent time with Nekyu and himself, but... Laima and Guede definitely wouldn't be happy with that. Anyways, she hadn't the slightest idea where they lived.

“Can’t quite say the same for myself.” Pulling her closer to him he sighed a bit. I at least need my arm back. “What did he say in the letter anyways?”

"U-uh... That I should spend time with... you and Alil.. And that you 'enjoy my company and miss me a lot'." Summarizing the contents, she glanced at Nekyu. She considered helping him recover, but she already told Laima that she'd go back in one piece. If she helped him, he could always use his regenerated strength to hurt people. If she didn't he could try to eat people to heal.

... There was no winning, was there? So she kept quiet and kept walking, not really sure what to do.

“Ah.... hum..... Yes you should come spend more time with us~ I want to spend lots of time with you. It’s so lonely you know. No friends to spend the day with, while I mostly lay around trying to tend to my wounds. It’s hard to do things with just one arm! ...Like get food....”

Yes, please come to our home. Let me play, let me eat, your sweet sweet meat. Just keep going... walking...

She took what he said with a grain of doubt, as her friends so often told her to do. Was he being sarcastic, or was he lonely? If he was being honest, she didn't want to assume he was lying. That'd be bad. Still, one thing he said stuck out to her.

"... You can't fight with one arm?" Mistreil stared at him a bit. She always figured Nekyu was pretty strong, from what little she had seen. Maybe it was just the impression he gave, though.

'... Huh? Where are we even going?' She thought to herself. It didn't really make a difference whether she knew or not though, probably.

They were quite far now weren’t they? Looking back to see if anyone around he considered what he could do now. “Well.... it’s not that I can’t fight.” As soon as he finished his sentence he shoved her roughly onto the ground.

He knelt down to her level. “It’s just a bit harder, much more inconvenient. There’s always a good amount of pain from the wounds too.” There wasn’t a smile or frown on his face, he just stared her down. It wouldn’t be super great right now to hurt her much. He could feel that it wouldn’t be too long into the future that he would have his fun.

Startled, the girl stared for a while. '... Well that was a little uncalled for,' the sass that her friends apparently held resounded in her head, 'I... guess... that's a show of strength?'

"... Oh," she muttered simply, "um... S-so it's more difficult... for you to... uh... hunt...? ... Have... you been eating?"

... She'd probably regret asking. But... Maybe, just maybe, she could do something.

“I still eat, a lot. It’s just not enough. I need ~a lot~ more. It’s a bit difficult, but I have Alil to give me a hand.” He loomed over her. “Would you help me get food? Just come around a little, then I won’t have to get so much of the bad food...”

... Could... she really believe those words? She wanted to save people... To postpone their deaths... But the voice of her friends who had lectured her rang through her head, 'Even if you don't want to distrust people, you shouldn't blindly believe everything. Honestly, you're going to be lied to and manipulated and thing will just get worse and worse! Start thinking a little more before you act!'

She stared at the letter in her hands, fiddling with it a bit. "... Hey, Nekyu? Where do you live?"

He smiled as the girl asked the question. Perfect. My good good girl. Moving closer to her face, his hand went into his shirt to grab a small piece of fabric. With the tips of his fingers he separated her fingers and set the fabric in her hands. He grabbed her hands into his one hand, and set his forehead onto hers. “You know Coill yes..? Set this at the entrance, and as long as you don’t disturb the wildlife, they won’t disturb you. I’m sure you’ll be able to find your way to my home.”

Staring at the cloth, she nodded a bit. "... Okay."

Taking a deep breath, she patted Nekyu's head before slowly retracting her hand as her mind wandered. It was okay. She'd protect people like this, if even only for a little while. How long would a little while be, though? If she was going to go there, staying for just a day was out of the question. Nekyu would just kill more people after she left.

"... I-If... I... said... I would stay there for a while..." She mumbled quietly, not sure how to word things, "How long... would... I be allowed to...?"

... Maybe she shouldn't have asked. If he expected a short stay, then this would be weird. Still, it's not like he had much to lose from the offer, right?

Ohhh my Mistreil. You don’t fail my expectations at all. Sweet and naive, or well... at least too kind for her own good. His smile grew and his eyes locked onto her with an excited and almost delighted look. “Well.. you’re welcome to stay however long you want... a few days... a few weeks.. a few months.... years.... however long you want.” Fall smoothly into my arms. Or well, arm. You’re mine now.

Again, she simply replied with a nod. Her gaze drifted from the ground to the incubus, who seemed to look at her intently.

"... I'll... go home... and get stuff then. So..." Picking herself off the ground, she began walking back.