#elnric

The lime blood takes a bite out of the apple he's holding. He holds up a hand in a "one moment" sort of gesture, waiting to swallow his food before replying.

>{[ Not particularly, no. Kind of shitty decoration skills if I'm being honest, pal. ]}< The last line is laced with sarcasm. >{[ Looks like the time my drinker friend's lunch spilled in the fridge. ]}<

>{[ You're going on the list for digging up my suppressed memories. ]}<

>{[ For the record, time sight can be extremely complicated and hard to discern present from future sight if used repeatedly. In quick succession... ]}<

>{[ I don't know about MOST embarrassing, but I can give one. There was a day when I and PR0T0 were playing a game together and there was a particularly hard part that we were on for like an hour, so I used my future vision to get some extra hours of practice ahead of it and just... Forgot? That I was seeing forward in time? ]}<

>{[ Hm? Uh, no you aren't bothering at all. ]}<

(The limeblood known as Elnric is currently unable to hear the voice of the faceless. However, you may watch. If you'd like.)

The limeblood reeled back once more as wood met skull with a sickening crack and a shower of splinters.

In the lime's hands, a shattered wine bottle dripped with lime, cerulean and whatever hues between as the blood mingled in the splatters.

His left eye was swollen shut, the contact that kept his lime colored irises cloaked in grey had long since fallen out. He was bleeding pretty heavily from a gash in the side of his head, and was heavily bruised all over. His gifted clothes caked in dirt and blood.

His breathing was heavy and labored, but determined as he clutched the bottle tight.

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Twenty minutes prior, Elnric sat at the counter of a dimly lit bar on the edge of town. To his side, a brightly grinning Vrayan sat close. The two had just finished up a viewing of a cheesy action comedy that was about as bad as they'd both predicted it to be. They enjoyed it all the same; deciding to make a quick stop by the bar on the way home. The lime had been hesitant about the idea, but those pleading eyes, he simply couldn't say no to at all and relented.

The duo were both half a glass down and having the night of their lives when the lime's expression did a swift one eighty. From behind his grey contacts a soft pulse of green light was Vrayan's only tip off as his smile became a very serious frown, his entire body language tense.

Vrayan had seen his future sight kick in many times in the past. She knew it only did so under serious circumstances, and immediately an unsettled chill ran down her spine as she placed a hand against his shoulder. ''Eln... What is it?"

"Wait thirty seconds after I leave, then go home." His voice was barely above a whisper as his left hand scooted an unsupervised bottle of wine from the counter as the olive tender's back was turned.

"wha-"

"Run. Home." His voice was uncharacteristically harsh and stern. It wasn't a request, and it wasn't a suggestion. It was an order, that he expected her to follow. "Repeat it."

"Eln I'm no-"

"Repeat it." He insists again, cutting her off with a simple side glance that cut deeper than any blade could.

"... Run home." He seems to relax just a little as he hear the words leave her mouth. With his unoccupied hand, he squeezed a fist, nails digging deep into his palm, just enough to cause a trickle of lime to glint in the candlelight before he stood up and started for the front door, bottle in hand.

Vrayan watched him go with concern and panic. Her heart was beating a mile a minute as she eyed a group of large trolls from the corner raise from their booth and make a swift exit of their own. Cerulean. Indigo. Indigo... Purple. The last one managed to dig the pit in her stomach deeper than she thought possible. She closed her eyes as Elnric's voice rang in her head alongside her anxieties.

>{[Thirty seconds.]}< "Help him" >{[twenty five]}< "Please." >{[Twenty.]}< "You can't leave him." >{[Fifteen]}< "I can't." >{[Ten]}< "He needs you." >{[Five...]}<

The second the number one had passed through her mind she'd tore out of the building, right out the front door in a rush. To her right, the way home. To her left, specks of lime dripped in a purposeful pattern right around the side of the building and into an alleyway. Muffled voices and scuffling barely audible from here. A choice lay at her feet.

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Elnric was really regret having not brought his old revolver with him. Though he couldn't even say if it would still work after all these years without firing it. The limeblood stood at the end of the alleyway, bleeding from one hand as four figures blocked off the only exit from the dark and damp alleyway.

He takes a deep breath as he turns to face them. >{[Four of ya, huh? Well don't I feel special. To what do I owe the honor?]}<

The purple blood gives a disgusted snarl at the disrespectful use of sarcasm. She smelled no fear from this small, frail mistake. His bold demeanor was either bravery, or stupidity. They both pissed her off all the same. "Y°u'✓e g°t a l°t °f nerve sh°wing y°ur filthy mug r°und these parts. I must say, I'm alm°st glad th°ugh. Was starting t° believe y°ur r°t up°n °ur species was actually purged c°mpletely bef°re I g°t the chance t° spill that trash fr°m y°ur ✓eins myself. I-"

>{[Now hold on, hold on. I'm gonna let you finish in a moment. If it's all the same to you, I am parched.]}< The purple opens ger mouth to speak again, an attempt to reclaim control over the situation, but Eln just keeps speaking. >{[So, before you continue with your daily spew of purist bullshit-]}< The lime interrupts, holding up a finger to the purple's flustered outrage, clearly not used to being cut off.

Her three lackeys seemed just as unsure of the situation. Typically lowbloods and mutants skip straight to the pleading and begging with this lot, or try to barter. Elnric takes one looong swig from the wine bottle in hand, downing a good bit of it. Before wiping his mouth with his sleeve. >{[Ah. That's good shit. Aftertaste is a bitch though. Ahem. Right. Now. Where were we.]}< He asks, taking a casual stroll forward in-between the group. Eyeing them up from lowest to highest, before settling on the purple blood. >{[Ah. Right. Right. We were somewhere around here]}< The sound of glass shattering filled the alleyway as wine bottle met cheek, causing the purple to stumble backwards with a pissed growl.

"Tear his limbs from his b°dy!" She cries in rage, causing the cerulean, the quickest of the three, to spring into action, shoulder checking the lime into the alley wall. He gives a pained grunt, but retaliates quickly, digging the jagged teeth of the broken bottle into his shoulder blade.

He bites back a curse as he digs his clawed hands into Elnric's arm, pulling hard and swinging him towards the waiting fist of one of the indigos. That he narrowly ducks.

The purple having regained her composure, barked out orders as she fumbled for her concealed weapon at her side. An ornately crafted pistol, clearly made for the sake of decoration more than actual practically. It was encrusted with jewels, glistening gold, and painted with extremely tacky clown faces. A flash of lime eyes jolted Elnric back into the present, ducking just in time as a wild swing from an obsidian dagger flashed just above his head. He drives a hard elbow back into the indigo's ribs, causing him to drop his his weapon as the wind was knocked from him.

"Elnric!" A voice cut through the chaos that brought eyes to the front of the alleyway again. Elnric's heart sank to his stomach as he took in the sight of Vrayan held up by a wrist. She was kicking madly at the purple who was eyeing the third party. The familiar click of metal froze both the lowbloods in place as the barrel pressed firm against Vrayan's skull.

"l°°ks like the filth has a friend wh° just c°uldn't stay away." The purple sneers, eyes flicking to the indigo on Elnric's left, who swiftly grabbed the lime by his arm, pinning him to the blood speckled concrete below. "Such a shame t°. Such a pretty °ne. Tempted t° keep this °ne f°r myself." She mused, letting the gun barrel trace the tear stained cheek of the mutant, relishing in the rage filled glare the lime was giving her. This was much better. "Ah well. Dime a d°zen." She adds with a twist of Vray's arm that made such a loud cracking sound that the mutant almost passed out from the pain alone.

Elnric gave an enraged shout of >{[STOP]}< only to be met with a fist into the side of his face, plunging his eye into darkness. The struggle seemed to amuse the purple enough to lower Vrayan a bit as she took the time to give a hearty chuckle.

Through blurry vision, Vrayan's eyes managed to meet Eln's ine good one. He was holding direct eye contact with her. His eyes were determined and focused. It was then that she saw that lime pulse once more. The lime blood's gaze flicked aside to the gun in the purple's hand before meeting Vrayan's again. He gives a pained nod of his head and she understands exactly what he wanted.

Witha swift motion, she turns her head snd bites down hard on the armed hand. The purple yells out in pain, wrenching her hand away and bumping the trigger. The sound was deafening against Vrayan's ears, the blast knocking her hat free to let her hidden mutations show. The bullet went wild, ricocheting off the wall and finding a target with a splash of indigo as the troll holding Elnric down reeled from the pain of a newfound hold in his bicep, releasing Eln in the process.

The purple shouts a series of swears as she drops Vrayan and aims the gun at her once more, but Elnric was already in action. The lime rolls to the side, scooping up the dropped dagger from earlier and with a perfectly arced throw, edge met flesh as it pierced the purple's hand. Another misfire as she dropped the gun.

"||ellooo?"

There was a few moments of silence, to be expected from such a big hive. It took a little while to get to the door. Eventually the muffled click, click, click of locks turning was punctuated by the opening of the door. The troll on the other side was a decent hight, a little above 6ft. He'd known his visitor was coming, so he'd went through the trouble of putting in his grey contacts and donning his less colorful attire. He was mostly wearing greys, whites and blacks at the moment, including a hoodie that clipped around the horns.

>{[I say a lot that the only lime I ever met before that bonfire was already on death's door, but that's... Not entirely accurate.]}<

>{[I met him a few hours prior. Though, I didn't know he was a limeblood then. I was disguised as best I could with some old Olive blood clothes from the trash. He was a scavenger, like me. About half a sweep older than me. I was what, 4 sweeps at the time covered head to toe in cloth bandages to hide himself A hemoanon, he called himself. ]}<

>{[I'd never heard of such a thing before, and promptly called him out on it being stupid. He proceeded to call me stupid. We argued about the concept for a while, scavenging together. Talking. It was nice, just having someone there to talk to. I guess he felt the same, because neither of us noticed we'd drifted into a highblood neighborhood.]}<

>{[One thing led to another, and we ended up getting careless. We got accosted by a highblood towards the edge of the neighborhood. Just one, but the size difference nullified numbers. We knew their kind well. You didn't live long without knowing about the lime hunters. To them, tracking us down was a sport more entertaining than anything else. These were the particularly deplorable kind. Just the kill wasn't enough for people like them, no. What was left of us would be dragged back for their next meal no doubt. They loved the idea of the hunt so much so they let us get a headstart.]}<

>{[We ran as fast as our legs could carry us till our lungs burned and our hearts threatened to burst with panic and fear. I was struggling to keep up with him. I was shorter, barely more than bones at the time. He knew if it came down to it. I'd be on the chopping block... He stopped me. Reached into his bag and sat me down in a bush... He handed me his revolver, just one shot. He told me, to wait here, and he'd come back for me when he lost the hunter... I'd be safe if I stayed put. Only take that shot if necessary. And only if I knew I would hit. And then... He ran off.]}<

>{[I stayed there, curled up in the bush like that for an hour. Terrified to move, to breath. I listened for any sounds, any noise at all. I wish I could say that he came back fine and happy. That nothing went wrong but... I still hear the shrieks of pain as he was caught. They went on for who knows how long. Could have been minutes but it felt like hours as the sick fuck took to torturing him. Whether for my location, or just for fun I don't know. I just remember crying for it to stop...]}<

>{[When it finally did. I felt a sense of dread wash over me as the sound of footsteps came into earshot... Followed by the sounds of dragging. I watched the hunter pass right by my bush. Just within my small arm's reach. The barely breathing body dragged behind him. My hands shook, revolver clutched tight. I remember starting to raise it when my eyes locked with his through the undergrowth. The subtle shake of his head no. But I just.. couldn't let things happen. He was bleeding out quickly. We both knew he wouldn't make it. But I just... I couldn't let that be how he went. I raised it up and took aim. There's a moment where I went to pull the trigger and the world just... Flashed, for a moment. I remember seeing the flash of the gun's barrel, the highblood stopping unexpectedly, saved by luck as the bullet barely grazed his cheek. Him dropping my friend and tearing me out of the bushes. A large hand raised to strike me and then... Im back holding the gun again like none of it ever happened. I see the same shake of my friend's head, and I readjust my arm.]}<

>{[A trigger is pulled. A deafening sound. A body collapses to the forest floor. There's a moment of shock between the two of us. Before I knew what my own body was doing, I was knelt beside him, trying to lift him. A pained wince from him gives me pause. He shakes his head. But smiles at me. He's dying. We both know it and... He was smiling. I remember saying goodbye. Asking for a name just to get another head shake. A name wasn't important for someone like him, he says. There wasn't anyone who it'd matter too. But, he thanked me. For, letting his last moments be peaceful ones. I held him until he went. ]}<

>{[When he was gone, I remember crying. Weeping for a kid I barely knew anything about, but had done so much for me. I kept his revolver, something to remember him by. But I buried him nearby. The thought of the wolves and scavengers getting to him didn't sit right with me.]}<

>{[Oh fuck. How long has this one been in here?]}<

>{[I guess it's been a while since I've graced you all with my timeline knowledge, so I'll throw you a bone here.]}<

>{[I faintly remember mentioning something about the guy, but that was like, seven seconds ago for me, and that's practically an eternity for someone like me.]}<

>{[I'll do a little recap anyway.]}<