#shukuchiisms

“Damn it Luna how the hell did you get so ripped?!”

Ah. She couldn't count how many wounds she had taken back then. How was she supposed to tell how many more she had received from rushing into the burning atmosphere? How was she alive again? Oh right. Anger. Sadness. Hatred. Well, no, not hatred. Selfhatred sounded more accurate, didn't it? It did, she decided. It really, absolutely did. A deep breath filled her intact lung. She was certain the other had been pierced by a star on the way down. Funny, a star, how irony had to kick her down when she was already on the ground. Her free hand clutched together. Claws ran through the ground, skin piercing from the shrapnells of rock and stone, blood mixing with the rain dropplets dripping down her fingers and falling to the ground. Yeah, those emotions were ... adrenaline, right? That stuff kept her alive this long? Honestly, it was frankly scary that she hadn't collapsed yet. Maybe she felt like living would be a decent punishment. Like surviving was her step for attonement and suffering she so much deserved.

The sound of rain got louder. Splish. Splash. Splish. Like rocks thrown into a pond. Loud and yet indiszonguishable from everything else surrounding her. Her eard twitched. Was that really true? Was she ... imagining things? The drumming of the rain didn't get any quieter, yes. But it did suddenly mix with something else. Something very loud and very much unnatural. She didn't feel like she had the strength to fight anymore. Was she going to do so anyways? With a useless piece of metal in her hand, so heavy she would probably not be able to swing it? With so many wounds no mortal would survive them? How was she going to-

The rain got cut off. Shocked and wide-eyed, Luna stared up ahead into the rain which now stood a foot in front of her like a curtain. She still felt it on her tails. She felt the cold water dripping from her body. Yet no new rain fell onto her. Slowly, she looked up, her ears perking up in curiosity, as her eyes stared up towards the black, clouded nightsky; and the umbrella spanning below it. The rain was still drumming, rushing down on the roof which was spread above her, the random, constant noise keeping her heartbeat company in her ears, while the Kumiho slowly turned to face the new arrival.

Deep scars and furrows ran across greyish skin. Slightly-lid, old yet clearly awake eyes stared down at her, golden and deep, filled with experience and sorrow, yet burning with a fire deeply amiss in Luna right now. The silver hair was bound to a knot, steadied with two long needlees in the woman's hair, whose long, thick mantle probably kept her from the cold. Instead of heels – Luna admittedly had expected some – heavy looking boots were giving way to long, colorful socks, who disappeared under a long, straight skirt. The woman was tall. Way tlaler than Luna was, though that was admittedly not an achievement for anyone to brag about. And still, the vulpine woman felt as if this woman would have demanded – and gotten – thr respect of even the most strongwilled and tallest person there was.

"Do you want to keep laying there, or would you like to get up, guardian?" Despite the stern and serious look in her eyes, the woman's voice was gentle and filled with an uncanny understanding. A deep, open wound was wrapping around the stranger's heart. Luna blinked, her jaw slack, as she stared at the silverhaired stranger with an open mouth. Whoever this one was ... somehow Luna didn't feel like she was in the presence of a human. These eyes looked young, although they looked down to her from the body of an eldery person, one hand holding an umbrella, the other holding a walking stick, slick and black with a silver knob grasped by old, veiny fingers. Slowly, Luna looked down at her fingers again. The pain of the newfound wounds was getting to her now. Everything hurt. "Let me be.", she finally decided on saying.

"So you can die here? Great idea. That will get them back alive for sure." Luna's anger flared up, as she turned around to face the other in a swift spin, her tails, soaked and heavy pulling around and.wrapping around her body, out of the rain, as she prepared to give a remark about that statement. But her words got stuck in her throat, as she came face to face with the leaned forward woman, both hands on her walking stick; and the umbrella floating next to her in the air. The woman's eyes narrowed, as a smile.played on those thin lips. "This much energy. Good. Here I was, thinking, you'd be close to dead. But you seem to have at least some spark left in your young body, girl."

She straightened her body, her eyes closing, as a deep breath filled her through her nose. "I won't give you a lecture. Your kind is way too stubborn for those. Even though I'd like to give you a way out of your hopelessness, there's none. It sucks, but so is our lot. Tinged with pain, loss and sadness. You want to work towards something, seek revenge. You want to feel better? Fight so other's don't share the same fate you did.", she said, leaning a bit backwards on her walking stick.

Her eyes narrowed, as she clenched her teeth. "Who are you?", came a hiss, eyes welling with tears of anger and overwhelming sadness. Who was this one to just say these things to her? To her surprise, the woman closed her eyes and narrowed her head, slowly nodding. "Yeah, I supposed I deserve you an apology and a name, don't I? I am Aira. The only of my kind in this realm and the one who understands you better than anyone else. And the one who hates to see a young one like you suffer alone. I want to help you, girl.", she said, her voice sincere and gentle. She had spoken with a bit of sarcasm before, though Luna felt like the grief of her words had wieghted heavier than that. Sighing, the old woman, grasped her stick a bit harder, before she reached her hand out towards Luna. "I will say it one more time, girl: Do you want to keep laying there? Or-", she added, her head tilting a bit, before an understanding smile played around her lips. "Do you want to get up, guardian?"

“Show off...”

{🗡} — A sincere & amused smile blooms upon her nightshade lips without a single hint of remorse. She’s just too gleeful beneath the peaceful demeanor: despite the conditions in which death had already waltzed gracefully among al. It doesn’t matter to her! as the foliage & plants eventually open the right way, her former partner is alive among some other strangers; & even if inherently careful, there’s solely a certain sentiment of comfort at the thought of how -in this particular dream at least-, he is still alive instead of immediately gone right after the Bloodbath. His previous sin? too kind & too truthful to the meek-looking tributes... – if only he would keep such details exclusively in the Freljord & for their his people…

🙶 A pleasure to encounter you once more, Tryndamere, I see this time you had followed my advice? — Let’s avoid uncareful steps across those forest, shall we~?🙷 Emilia commented in a hushed tone as joining the little group to hunt for other Tributes. Frankly speaking, a part of her was still acknowledging how they were all in separated sides of this fights, yet it didn’t mean she wasn’t willing to enjoy a few more of the stolen minutes next to the Barbarian & assure his safety for a longer period than the Nightmare had permitted before...

Was she being too sentimental?  — perhaps, but when hasn’t the Matron been when around those she cared for?

Her golden gaze however focuses in the three companions ahead, disregarding the probable dangers of the two ladies for now & simply focusing in Leng Yun – something isn’t just to her liking about the ionian gentleman, unnerving her... & perhaps it will be required certain measures later.