#slumberblues

Did someone ask for Guilt with a side of Regret?

“It wasn’t supposed to be this way, you know.”

Artemis looks up towards Myss’ current perch, squatting atop a rock adjacent to the overlook above the entrance to the Temple of Illyn. 

They had recently fought off an onslaught of Taken enemies, gradually strengthening, until they all retreated all at once. Myss had dealt with it with practiced expertise, while Artemis had helped as best she knew how. The pair had taken a deep breath simultaneously, and the taller Hunter had moved to the rock after stowing her bow. Her companion had seemed... confused about the predicament she and Ira were in ever since she first came to the City to visit, so Myss wanted to explain.

“You couldn’t have known it’d be like this.” Artemis tries to rationalize, sitting on the railing and dangling her legs over the hundred-foot drop. “You can’t see the future.”

“Killing Riven was supposed to be the end of it.” Myss laments, half-ranting as she stared off towards the blight-covered monastery. “The City, the Awoken, were scattered, slaughtered, after Riven influenced Uldren.” She sighs. “We thought she was the problem. Queen Mara and Petra thought she was the problem.”

Artemis is silent for a moment, expecting Myss to continue. When she doesn’t, she fills the silence. “Riven might not have been the problem, but that doesn’t make this your problem. You can leave.”

“You weren’t there, Artie.” Myss does her best not to snap or scowl at her, but evidence of her disdain for Artie’s ignorance may have slipped through. The smaller Hunter didn’t know. “I don’t think I’m bound to the curse, but… seeing the place, the home you thought you’d just saved be… plunged into darkness and chaos because…” Myss grimaces, forcing herself to finish the sentence. “…of something you did… instills a sense of guilt and responsibility.”

Artemis bites her lip.

“I can leave, sure.” Myss shrugs. “But that means that I’m turning my back on my people after I fucked up their most sacred and holy site.” Her lip worries, and she hopes Artemis doesn’t see. “I’m leaving them all to die for my mistake, over and over and over again. I’m leaving Petra to fight alone. I’m leaving Ira to fight alone.” She sighs. “I’m failing the woman who put her utmost trust in me to do what she could not in death.” 

Not again, she adds silently.

Artemis isn’t sure what to say without sounding like she’s brushing Myss’ feelings away, so silence persists for several minutes, considering what the other Hunter had said, before she fills it with a new topic. “Have you tried eating those… baroney bows?”

Myss lifts a confused brow.

“The damn, uh…” Artie snaps her fingers as she tries to remember. “The purple sparklies that aren’t engrams or butterflies.”

“Baryon boughs?” Myss corrects with a chuckle. “No, I haven’t. I’m pretty sure they’re highly toxic.”

Ko-fi commission for @slumberblues​ of her Hunter, Artemis! Poor girl.

what are you TALKIN ABOUT its the greatest way to start a friendship

just lookit us now

talking utter filth

30 - Using shoulder as a pillow

The two Hunters were currently perched on one of the highest boughs of a sycamore, overlooking a vast and long-abandoned field in the former American Northeast. Myss’ eyes were trained down the scope of her sniper, keeping an eye out for her target.

Artemis had been the one to suggest this area for her hunting, the small Awoken’s vast knowledge of wildlife coming in handy for this particular mission. Though, instead of just taking her words and leaving on her own, Myss decided to make a little trip of her expedition. Artemis was becoming a good friend of hers, after all, and this trip would be a good opportunity for them to bond.

Unfortunately, the pair arrive hours before her prey’s active time, so they end up aimlessly passing the time up in the boughs of the sycamore. Mostly small talk, the topics of Hunter fashion, purple, and life as a Nightstalker pass quickly, and then they’re left with silence.

A few hours in, while Myss’ focus is on the dusking field ahead of her, she barely registers a sudden weight falling on her left shoulder. She spares a look, and finds Artemis barely awake, leaning against her arm. Myss resists giggling, so as to not shake her.

She’ll let Artie sleep. It wasn’t quite hunting time just yet.