MARKED.

    ♫ “I have a little experience with swimming, though I’ve never done it for leisure. I’m surprised by the clothing designed for wear at the beach side however. It’s so revealing… What do you think might suit me?”

melancholy.

In longing, you are melancholy. You feel deeply and quietly, the feeling of yearning constant, like your own personal raincloud over your head that rains cold and collects in your heart, sometimes filling to overflow. The feeling follows you around and you push it away, but its always just a step behind; when it catches up to you, it turns your expression from a bright smile to a brief look down and your lips pulled into a kind of grimace. You bite your lip to break the look and hope no one notices. But secretly you hope someone did. You know this feeling is a creation of your own mind but you just can't shake it, and in some ways, you don't even want to. You know in your head what you desire is doubtful, but in your heart you don't want to give it up. The feeling is close to sadness but it's deeper, more meaningful than that. It pulls at your gut in a way that could bring you close to tears with a mere thought of that which you seek. Be strong my love, your time will come.

WOUND

          purple eyes observe momentarily, taking in how the other presents himself. not an immediate threat, though people were always brimming with surprise, she has come to learn.

          ❝ ... have you come to investigate, too? Or did you come here to take in the view? ❞ some simply wished to look on, to leave things as they are without question and know it exists, than uncover the mysteries hidden deep beneath the surface of what actually is. ❝ I’d planned to go below myself. But going together, we might be stronger for it. ❞

✦✧ A big grin. “If the enemy’s in front of you, ya cut ‘em down right!? Don’t think that’s much different depending on the world you come from or anything. But yeah, it’s kinda like this. Impossible enemies! Strikin’ down the gods themselves! Guess that’s not really different from what’s going on, so I can’t say I’m too bothered.”

“But if it does bother ya, nothing wrong with that either! Or well, that’s how I think these days.” Once upon a time they would probably have said something along the lines of ‘you’re weak if can’t deal with this’. “Just do what you do best… or whatever.”

          A GRIN. WITH A TOPIC like this, it almost takes her by surprise, though it isn’t unwelcome. if anything, it’s a reminder of why she does what she does. ❝ You don’t pray and sacrifice to Them for mercy? Many people think it will save them. Where I’m from, hesitation means death. ❞ even if she sometimes wonders if it would have been better that way. ❝ Survival is what motivates people. And survival means never stopping; our enemies know it, too, ❞ she replies, understanding the sentiment the other has to offer.

✦✧ “I don’t really give a shit about the politics behind this, but if these NULL assholes wanna throw this many enemies to kabob I’m not about to complain.”

       he paints the battlefield in light and fire, swathed in its foreboding glow, commanding flames left and right and sweeping the vicinity of his enemies with ease. though perhaps he had been careless due to the rather simplistic and predictable nature of their assault, as from the corner of his peripheral, a shadow lunged at him. peering aside, lancer shifted his stance to ready his weapon in defense, raising it to parry the incoming strike— only to watch as his opponent is swiftly felled by will of another’s attack.

       watching as it crumbled to nothing, lost in the wind, he then shifted his steeled gaze toward whence the barrage came. his eyes fell upon a stranger, their helm peeling back to reveal that of a ferocity he recognised. he knew her not, only the determination burning in her regard. it felt like an old friend… or perhaps, an old adversary. either way, he considered her words a moment.

       ‘ startled ’? no— he saw no reason to be. for a warrior such as he, there was no longer room for fear; a paltry emotion, with it wrought nothing but inconveniences, and thus he cast it out. all he was concerned with was the defeat of their opposition, and an answer or two gleaned along the way. if she was willing to fight with rather than against him, he would not dispute it. in fact, he was in agreement with her sentiment, and after searching her expression for a moment, he answered calmly.

             ❝  … very well.  ❞ he inclined his head, turning to her and reaffirming a grip upon his spear as he held it low by his side, ❝  my lance is yours.  ❞

                                                                  an alliance was certainly not unwelcome.

          NO FEAR, ONLY SIMPLE AGREEMENT. how long has it been since she came in contact with one like this? brief memories of a little girl come to mind, how she leaned in so eager to hearken her words, seeing the girl beneath the skin. much like him, how he does not see some monstrous creature, rather an ally to fight alongside, that their weapons may fell the foes that swarm about and threaten this very island, the very people upon it. something she feels like a smile nearly tugs upon lips, a thing she has not felt in what seems ages, at how willing he is to be strong united. even better, that he is more than capable of doing so, a warrior of his own self renown.

          ❝ Then let us make a difference here--- ❞ her voice shifts, strangely so, as the mask converges around her features, from the sound of a normal girl to something that might lurk within the shadows of the darkest night.

          one hand lifts, the void carapace upon her body recoils in response, emitting what seems an unmistakable sense of unmaking the beauty of this world. deep purple pulsates briefly, an almost warning to the foes she aims at, before an array of icathian plasma launches from her hand, splattering upon the first enemy it collides with. and without word does she disappear, invisibility embracing her as if it were an old friend---were it merely that.

          no trace is left of her, not until her reappearance at a short distance atop the unfortunate creature that had succumbed to her void seeker. plasma swaths around her briefly, allowing the briefest respite as the hordes attempt to sink their teeth into her, reeling in pain from the toxins that now taints their mouths. fingers curl soon after, blades of glowing light forming, before plunging deep into two of the onlooking monstrosities, seering them from their innards until falling into naught but ash, unrecognizable in the snow which streams so elegantly beyond them. another wave... no, there are three, she notes, instantly bracing herself, converging the wave of energy as it ripples through her skin. once more do scorching lights stream from the bulbs upon her shoulder, like flickering stars shooting through an artificial night. what exists of the first wave laps upon her suit, the creature supping upon it with delight, as she holds her ground.

          ❝ Are you their hunter? ❞ depending on the answer received, she would determine how she wished to approach the presumed threat.