#ghastlybeast

Starter for @ghastlybeast 

Hanging above the haunted phantom city was a dark red moon. This malformed collection of buildings held no true value to the beasts that wandered aimlessly cursed into a state of mindless torment. The Hunters Nightmare was not sanctuary to those who entered it with a conscious state of mind. Instead it threatened to destroy even the most diligent hunters composure. The fog that hung low in the streets captured the moon’s glow, leaving a silhouette of a lone woman stand out among the trash.  Xhella was not lost, nay she was right where she wanted to be. She had walked from a lantern into the depths of the Nightmare once again hoping to find hunters of sensible mind to glean information and to sell her wares too. The woman may have long since passed from the realm of the living but here within the nightmare it was no different than a day in the true city that she left. Her head held high she picked up her skirts and confidently walked through the fog - her hand trailing gently on the stone wall beside her. 

The woman was blind not not incompetent. She did not know how to fight, but she would not back down if a beast approached her. She had died a thousand deaths a the hands of random monsters and insane hunters, but she persisted. This was her afterlife, and her spirit would not be broken by such trivial matters.

Nay, Xhella walked with the swagger of a woman that was determined.

Determined to find her brother.

Determine to help those who wanted to protect Yharnam.

@ghastlybeast continued from here!

Adrian seemed to be dead on his feet as of late. He wore his mask up high, green eyes dull in the darkness, but there was blood underneath the mask that was not there before he wandered off the path, only to return seemingly months later. He wasn't the same hunter he once was. The bloodlust was becoming harder and harder to ignore.

This was the first encounter he'd had the chance to indulge in with Mishka, and he walked with his cane loosely held in hand, ever quiet as usual. He did, however, seem to perk up at the strange sounds further along. His shoulders slouched and he heaved a sigh, tightening his grip on his weapon as he forced himself to stand a little straighter.

For a moment, his eyes seemed much brighter, and he wrapped his left hand around his worn pistol when the two canines set their sights on the pair. The Keeper was further behind her hunting dogs but would make her way there in due time. Adrian shrugged at Mishka, lately, he hadn't even been writing his notes. He seemed different, more capable, yet less aware.

“You do realise you have to actually parent, right?” The child squirmed in her claws as she struggled to settle her on her back. The arachnid beast shot Mishka a glare.

Closed starter for @ghastlybeast

Some people made better Deals then others, some should never have made one in the first place. A faint grimace was on the Fae's face, almost a look of vaguely annoyed resignation as she stood in the basement of yet another Human whose life long dream was to be a demon summoner. If it wasn't for his books that he had offered up in return for a “real” summoning spell, Ms. Gold would never have been there in the first place. Luckily for her, not so much for him, they were written in a language she could understand but was beyond his knowledge.

The ritual she had given him would work, would indeed summon something but without the accompanying safety measures which the human had of course said he did not need so did not have to pay for... No control, no safety, likely a rather bloody death. Still it was not the Fae's fault that the ultimate Price the Human would end up paying was their life, unless something odd happened of course.

Seeing the candles flickering in the “magic circle” the Human had insisted on, a faint almost sinister grin came to her face as she called out. “The thing that comes, that you summoned? It is likely going to gut you boy, and then lucky I... I get all your books. Not just the ones you offered. Should have asked how to keep yourself safe fool.” Hearing her the man looked over with a panicked look. “Shut up! What...what do I do!?”

Home had once been the scent of candle smoke, medical alcohol, sweet moon-touched soil and the faintest whiff of hot metal. Now they found it in sea salt, rotting wood and pine needles. And further on, sandlewood, incense, warm fur and feathers.

He wasn’t prepared for the solid blow as the fist slammed into him, knocking him several feet away and flat on his back. Luckily Mishka was … some sort of undead thing and nothing was actually too damaged. The bitter taste of ash filled his mouth, a poor and displeasing substitute for the blood he craved, and was summarily spat out. Anticipating another blow Mishka was quick to get up, Manikin Claws – yet another poor and displeasing substitute to his own Beast Claw – at the ready. “What the fuck are you doing, asshole? Defending the sad and pathetic?”

A brief gesture at the cowering woman clothed in white, who had only asked to be touched. Mishka had planned on doing much more than just touching her, points of his weapons ready to pierce tender flesh.

                THE look he gives the unkindled is flat and cold, a grave-still glare perfected over the span of an age. going to waste somewhat, invisible under the helmet, but the sentiment is razor-sharp. the iudex flexes his fingers, feels old knuckles crack under metal. no real damage to either of them. but oh, by the still-burning flame, it was satisfying.