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Unforeseen Consequences; [P] Nomad
Topic Started: Wed Jul 25, 2012 6:35 pm (922 Views)
Vivianne
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Vivianne didn't visit Norwood Village often. So many people in one place made her extremely uncomfortable, even if the buildings and streets wove through the forested areas she knew so well. She wished she could bring her entire pack with her into the quaint town hidden in the woodlands, but she knew that the locals would probably frown on a group of large and dangerous animals walking through the streets. She had planned ahead for this trip, visiting a druid that lived in a hut almost as isolated and difficult to find as her own. The shaman had healed her injuries before, and for a reasonable price she had inked two magical tattoos onto the girl's back. The arcane markings allowed her pets to sink into her body, hiding them from sight and allowing her to keep them around even when she made her rare trips to civilization. Kratos and Hades were currently stored in the runes, and she could feel her skin prickle in a ticklish manner as they meandered around on her back.

She stopped near the outskirts of the town, turning to the rest of her pack-mates. They were an eclectic group of animals that would normally never be seen together. A cheetah, lion, dreadsnout, peregrine falcon, jackal, rose ivyn, and hyena stared back at her with obvious devotion and loyalty. Vivi's unique abilities allowed her to meld her mind with her animals, resulting in a lifelong bond that was rarely found in the animal kingdom. "You all need to stay here, like we planned." The gathered menagerie made various noises of agreement.

The giant, fire-breathing boar trundled forward, barely bothered by the two bundles on his back. The men had been stripped of all their weapons and supplies, although Vivi had allowed them to keep their clothes. Thick, rope-like vines were wrapped around their wrists, ankles, and jaws to keep them from moving or speaking. They were poachers that had been trying to avoid her attention as they did their grisly work in the forest. Clearly, they hadn't expected the 'Witch of Norwood' to show up and ruin their plans. She usually killed the cruel individuals that took advantage of nature's bounty in such a gruesome fashion, but a burst of compassion had led her to simply incapacitating them and transporting them to the village to be prosecuted and jailed.

Vivi nodded to the rest of her creatures and started walking again, followed closely by Hephaestus. She wore a cowled cloak that had been dyed in various shades of brown, green, and gray in order to blend in with the forested environment. The skinsharer walked with an easy confidence and silence that bespoke of her long years of coexisting with the animals in the woodlands. As the dirt trail was replaced with wooden planks she lost a degree of that nonchalance, her shoulders tensing and fingers curling into fists. She hurried through the streets, ignoring the stares she received from passersby. She knew that they were probably just curious about the slender figure that was accompanied by a looming, magical boar, but their eyes felt suspicious and angry to her.

She didn't slow her pace until she reached the sheriff's office. Along with the forge and inn, it was one of the only structures in the village built completely at ground level. Every other building perched on top of thick boughs in the canopy above, with rope bridges and wooden walkways stretching between them. She nervously walked up to the door, raising her hands to rap her knuckles on the surface. It was opened with a speed that suggested the law enforcement officer had been about to leave. Unlike most elves, he was a burly man, with a thick jaw and heavily muscled limbs. He wore a brown leather jerkin over a gleaming mythril chainmail shirt. His half-helm had been shaped into the visage of a pollen drake, a creature many of the residents of the forest believed to be sacred. A huge broadsword was sheathed across his back so that its hilt rose above his right shoulder. He eyed the hooded girl with an appraising look. "What do ya' need, lass?"

Vivi clasped her clammy hands together, quivering slightly. She didn't like interacting with anyone that wasn't an animal. Humans and elves and the rest of Imythess's sentient species were completely foreign to her. Her nervousness only made her speech impediment more prominent, each syllable twisted by an uncontrollable stutter. "T-these m-m-men were p-poaching in the f-f-forest. I stopped t-them. They n-n-need to be punished."

The sheriff frowned, looking up at the two men thrown across the dreadsnout's back. His expression was unreadable for a moment before it broke into a wide, amused grin. "You caught these two by yourself? Not bad, lass. Not bad." He walked over to the board, drawing a short, serrated knife from his hip and grabbing one of the poachers by the nape of his neck. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" He flicked the small blade, effortlessly cutting through the vine wrapped around the prisoner's mouth.

He spat out a chunk of vegetation, angry eyes glaring at Vivianne. "Don' listen to her! We ain't poachers! We're bounty hunters! Tha' girl is the Witch of Norwood! She's got a whole herd of animals jumpin' at her every command! Yer the one that offered a bounty on her head!"

Vivi blanched as the sheriff turned back to her, all of the warmth draining from his features. She took several hasty steps back, swallowing nervously. She knew her fame as the 'Witch' had spread, but she had no idea that the authorities had actually placed a reward for her capture. Like an idiot, she had assumed that these men were out in the woods to hunt animals, but what they had actually been hunting was here. Her eyes flickered from side to side as the sheriff took a step forward, desperately searching for a way to extricate herself from the trap she had blindly bumbled into.
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Emilie Joubert
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No one had ever told Nomad that following people in secret was socially unacceptable. She had to do it for work all the time, so it was just natural that she could apply her skills on those non-targets, usually people she had an interest in but didn't want to actually strike up a conversation with. For example, she would never stalk her boss Lumi, the owner of Kirsikka Enterprises arms dealers, because she would rather simply talk to her. On the other hand, this one was a girl she barely knew and hadn't spoken to much, and it had been a few months since that meeting in the middle of the night. Nomad had forgotten her name, so she internally called the girl 'the Forest Guardian.' Simple, self-explanatory and to the point. Probably better than her actual name. Creatures of the forest often had slightly convoluted names, Nomad knew.

Nomad had spotted the girl coming in while looking for something else. Her original quarry wasn't even guaranteed to be around here, so she thought it would ultimately be more interesting to see what the Forest Guardian was up to. The agent was dressed in loose, earthy clothing over skintight leather armor. A scarf covered the bottom half of her face while the raised hood of her blurry cloak obscured the top half in shadow. Any exposed skin was olive, yet crisscrossed with a network of constantly shifting black markings. Right now her hands, which gripped the branch of the tree she was perched on, had markings that gave their olive tone the texture of the bark it was touching. The visible outline of her face was also broken up by markings that printed staccato branches and leaves over it. Sitting as still as she was in the thick shade of her chosen viewpoint, she was virtually invisible.

Her fully black eyes roved over the scene unfolding below her. All the Forest Guardian wanted was to sell the bounty for some poachers. A good source of income if ever there was one; the monarchy frowned on poaching and the fees for getting caught were great. However, the tides turned when one of the accused pointed his finger at the Forest Guardian's vigilante ways herself. Apparently her deeds around here merited even greater punishment than poaching? How could killing a wicked human draw more attention than illegally mass-murdering animals? There was no time to wonder about it, though. Nomad slid her bow off of her shoulder and plucked an arrow from her quiver. As she fitted it to the string, the steel of the arrowhead became dyed pure black as wisps of darkness rose from it. Nomad flipped down, hanging from the branch upside-down, which gave her a better angle to strike. Further effects were added to the arrow when she drew back and aimed; energy spiraled around the tip, wind gathering. She centered her aim on the sheriff's heart without thinking about the consequences.

The arrow crashed through the office's side window and struck the back of the sheriff's torso dead-on -- but the projectile crumpled as it impacted some unseen, well-made chainmail beneath. That didn't stop the raw power of the shot. The wind at the tip hit him like a wall, sending him crashing to the ground and rolling several feet. Nomad slid her bow securely over her shoulder and slapped the branch she was hanging from. When her hand lifted from it, her fingers had pulled up stringy bits of the very shadows clinging to it, which were amorphous at first but soon condensed and took the shape of a small black bird. As it flew off, trailing wisps of darkness, Nomad gripped the branch and jumped down, falling a decent ways to the ground and landing softly on the forest floor. The office had erupted into an audible clamor as the entire Guard mobilized to take on a now much greater threat: an attempt on the sheriff's life. Nomad disappeared into the woods.

Meanwhile, the little birdlike shadow-creature flitted to Vivianne. It perched a ways ahead of her on low-hanging branches and roofs, always flying and landing a little bit ahead whenever she drew near. Nomad intended for it to lead her somewhere specific: a large, dead tree about a mile away from the village limits. The elemental would be sitting in the branches by then, waiting. She supposed it was finally time to talk to the Forest Guardian.
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Vivianne
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Vivianne hadn't been sure what to expect from this situation, but having an arrow fly out of nowhere and strike the sheriff in the middle of his back was not high on her list of possibilities. The projectile wasn't able to punch through the armor he wore underneath his jerkin, but it still had enough force to knock him to the floor like the fist of some invisible giant. The skinsharer reacted almost immediately and instinctively. She gracefully leapt over the downed law enforcement officer, ignoring the cries of his constables as they picked up weapons and surged out of the office in order to protect their leader. She drew a small knife from her belt, lashing out at the bounty hunters tied to Hephaestus's back. The honed blade sheared through the vines binding them to the boar. The dreadsnout snorted and reared back, throwing their restrained bodies off so that they painfully fell to the ground.

The girl was on the move again by then, thrusting the dagger back into its sheath and growling underneath her breath. As she sprinted forward her body twisted and changed shape. According to a friendly witch she knew, Vivi had what was known in the academic world as a fluctuating morphological field. In layman's terms, she was a nonmagical variant of a shapeshifter. Her face elongated into a snout, ears rotating so they were on the top of her skull instead the sides. Her hair grew shorter and lightened until it was a fiery shade of red that quickly spread over her entire body except for the white tip of the tail that grew from her backside. In moments a fox was darting away from the sheriff's office, a bright streak that zipped back and forth to throw off pursuit. Hephaestus snorted again and barreled off in the opposite direction, clearly meaning to draw off any constables that decided to pursue them.

She had almost reached the edge of the village before she noticed the shadow-creature perched in the branches above her. The fox froze, staring at the bird-shaped patch of darkness with green, suspicious eyes and growling in the back of her throat. It didn't seem bothered by her paranoia, simply flitting to its next perch int he canopy and waiting for her to follow. Vivi slowly trailed after the odd little creature, keeping all of her senses alert for any sign of impending danger. It led her out of the village and on a meandering path through the underbrush, eventually stopping at a dead tree nearly a mile away. It had been a truly massive plant before being struck by lightning; now the trunk abruptly ended in jagged splinters nearly thirty feet off of the ground and only a few stunted branches remained.

Vivi stared at the dark figure seated on one of the boughs, her lips pulling back from a row of needle-like teeth. It took her a few moments to realize she recognized the woman, whose figure seemed to blur and twist in the corner of her vision. She quickly switched back to her human form, although she stayed crouched in the grass, ready to launch herself in any direction if escape proved necessary. "... Nomad?" There was a bestial trace to her inflection, a bass growl that seemed incongruous compared to her slender figure.
Edited by Vivianne, Wed Aug 1, 2012 7:05 pm.
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Emilie Joubert
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Nomad started at the sudden voice; she was on the verge of nodding off and the sudden shout brought her back to reality quite effectively. She cocked her head at the girl, studying her strange stance. It looked like she was wary of the situation, which confused Nomad. She wasn't sure why the Forest Guardian didn't trust her when she would never do anything to harm her. Despite this, it was refreshing to speak to someone else who had a woodland creature's sense of logic. Nomad climbed down from the dead tree, then slowly pulled down her scarf and hood to reveal her face. A thick black stripe ran down the center of her face, but now that her head wasn't laying against the dead tree it dissolved away. The agent held up her hands as if saying she wasn't armed and didn't mean any harm. "Why do bounty hunters pursue you?" Nomad stepped closer, examining the girl for any signs of injury during her escape. "I don't understand. You haven't done anything wrong. They have done something wrong, it seems." Nomad suddenly perked up, going entirely stiff and focused intently for a few seconds. "Therefore, they will die. I will help clear your name. Large animals nearby... are they yours?"
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Vivianne
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The skinsharer watched as her savior descended from the dead tree, hopping from branch to branch nimbly. As she drew closer to the ground, the girl was able to see more and more details that suggested this woman was truly Nomad. She had met the shadowy individual only a few weeks earlier when trying to deal with some bandits that had left a swath of destruction and death through her woods, attacking travelers and animals alike. Her attempt at infiltrating their camp had failed, but she had been saved by a sniper that struck silently and mercilessly. Vivianne stood up as Nomad reached the forest floor and pulled down her scarf, smiling tentatively as she realized there was no reason to be afraid. No one else she had ever met had tattoos that writhed across their skin like living things, nor did their body seem to twist and sway around the edges in such a manner. It wouldn't make sense for someone else to impersonate the sniper to throw her off-guard, since no one but the two of them was aware of their first meeting.

"Sorry for o-overreacting... Rough m-morning." Of course, Nomad probably already knew that, seeing as how she had stepped in and kept the sheriff from trying to arrest her. The girl listened to the archer's abrupt greeting and short, choppy statements. Her eyes grew overcast, a troubled expression crossing her face. "I... I a-agree with you, of c-course... But..." She trailed off, biting her lower lip and glancing away. Ever since declaring war on the poachers, hunters, and furriers that worked in Norwood Forest she had slain multiple people. Usually it was by accident; they had run off of a cliff while fleeing from her pack or tripped on a protruding root and broken their neck. The only ones she had killed with her own hands were dangerous individuals who were a menace to not only the woodlands, but society in general. No one would miss them, nor would they ever find their shallow graves.

However, this was different. The bounty hunters had been sent after her because of recent events. The Green Road was one of the major pathways leading through the forest, a straight line that connected Taras to the Gold Road and Istan. It was by far the fastest route between the two major metropolises... and she had shut it down completely for a whole week. She had used her abilities to lure away horses and other pack animals while her beasts kept an eye on the path and stopped any travelers from continuing along it. Before that point, the residents of the Norwood villages had been willing to ignore her presence and pretend that the Witch of Norwood was a myth. Now that they knew she was a real person and a danger to their homeland, they had clearly decided to take matters into their own hands.

Was she willing to kill two men that were just trying to do their job?

Thankfully, the decision was delayed by the arrival of her pack. The animals surged out of the forest in a silent wave, clearly alert for any dangers to their master. Hephaestus was among their number, which meant that the boar had had time to circle around the entire village and inform the rest of her animals that Vivi was in danger. She turned to them and quickly filled them in on the situation in a series of growls, yips, and tongue clicks. They could understand the Common tongue perfectly well, but the animal language was much more succinct and concise. She glanced at Nomad. "These a-animals are bonded with m-me. They can h-help us." She met the sniper's eyes for only the barest moment before looking away. "They... they h-have to die. To k-k-keep us s-safe. R-right?"
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Emilie Joubert
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Nomad tilted her head as if changing the angle she viewed Vivianne would help her better understand why she was so distressed. The Forest Guardian treated the matter of her own bounty like some kind of moral dilemma. Before she could say anything on the subject, the large animals she sensed made themselves known. A true ally to all life still wild and free in Norwood, Vivianne had a partnership with a wide variety of dangerous, exotic, mostly predatory animals. Nomad studied them. They were all bigger and stronger than the average of their kind, and they possessed a spark in their eyes that suggested greater intelligence and problem-solving skills. She listened to the Forest Guardian communicate with them all in a complex animal-language. In this entire time, Nomad hadn't moved an inch.

She finally lowered her hands when Vivianne asked her to confirm whether killing the people pursuing her was a good idea. Nomad stared at her feet as she thought about how to best explain her beliefs. Without a good sense of conversational timing, it was common for the elemental to take long pauses between statements so she could gather up her words. Otherwise, she might stutter, which was stressful and embarrassing. "Nothing is above self-preservation," she agreed. "Cannot protect what you care about if dead." Nomad took some slow steps forward, keeping her coal-black eyes centered on Vivianne. Black mist rose from each step, twisting into a trail of abstract shapes.

"I notice your eyes. Fear. Fear of killing is as crippling as fear of death. Comes from a false thought. Thinking a death causes a great ripple. It doesn't, but cowardice does. Enemies released will kill you later." She stopped a comfortable ways away from Vivianne. The strange intensity in her face showed just how important she thought this was. "Everyone fights tooth and nail to earn every day of their lives. You want to survive, you must be willing to leave a trail of corpses behind you. No other way." Nomad paused, taking in a deep breath through her nose while trying to read the Forest Guardian's body language.
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Vivianne
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Vivianne kept from meeting Nomad's eyes as the sniper began to speak, staying silent throughout each of the silences from the tattooed woman. Everything she was saying made sense. She knew that the bounty hunters would come after her again if just to soothe their injured pride. Even if they chose to cut their losses and flee, the constables would simply hire more people to hunt her down, especially after the scene she had made at the sheriff's office. The best way to proceed would be to eliminate the threats before they could gather more resources and pursue her. It was what an animal would do, and it was what Nomad was urging her to do.

However, she knew that if she died, things would only get worse. Her presence had discouraged a number of hunters, poachers, and trappers from operating in Norwood and risking her wrath. She had no doubt they had simply moved their operations to a different area of Imythess, but it was better than nothing. The animals of the forest would be defenselss without her. Even if her packmates tried to continue her work, they would be much less effective without her guiding influence. Eventually they would completely revert to their formal intelligence and instincts.

She slowly nodded, looking back up and fully meeting the archer's stare. "Okay. Let's... let's do it." There was a undercurrent of conviction in those words that surprised her. Vivi knew that she had been teetering on the edge of this decision for months, trying to decide if she should completely abandon her nonviolent tactics and strike hard and fast against anyone who upset the balance of the woodlands. Clearly, she had already subconsciously reached a decision; it had simply taken Nomad's intervention to make her wrap her head around the concept. Most of the nausea fled, replaced with a steely determination. She drew the shortbow from her back, checking the string and pull of the weapon as Nomad had taught her. "I'm... r-rather new at this. How do we p-proceed?"
Edited by Vivianne, Sun Aug 5, 2012 5:30 pm.
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Emilie Joubert
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The Forest Guardian made the right decision and Nomad wanted to praise her somehow for that, so she smiled -- although it was an awkward, forced smile that showed the ends of her top and bottom teeth, which overall looked more unsettling than encouraging. Hopefully her soft eyes made up for the expression. The agent lightened up at the thought of teaching Vivianne how to expand her skills into the stalking and killing of human beings. "You hunt? Or are you vegetarian? If you hunt, it is the same but harder." She did a cursory glance over Vivianne's shortbow to make sure the girl had everything properly set up, and was pleased to see that she did. Nomad started walking off past the Forest Guardian, making her way through the brush at a leisurely pace. Someone with a good sense of the forest would notice that she wasn't necessarily moving back toward Norwood Village. Instead, she was on her way to a section of the Green Road heading north up towards Taras.

"Two types of hunting: stalk and ambush, applies here. Quarry is very smart. Has good eyes in light, good ears mostly, and can reason. So blend in and be quiet, always. And kill with one hit, always." Keeping her pace steady, Nomad stepped over moss-covered roots and around brambles with precision. Her footfalls made no sound and she didn't even leave tracks in the soil behind her. It was how she'd earned the nickname Phantom in a few select circles; she just never left any trail of her presence to the point that the perfect lack of presence became notable in itself. Even her scent -- which was much less important when hunting humans -- matched the environment so well that she virtually didn't have one. Nomad continued in a beeline toward the Green Road, and spoke again after a few minutes. "You can use man's reason against him, though. Mmmmmmisdirection." She shuddered and paused before continuing. "Trickery. And use their emotions. Fear. Curiosity. Lots to do, more interesting than hunting animals."

They reached the Green Road and Nomad stopped at a point near the edge of the treeline, but not directly on it. She looked around very carefully, walked around this area and looking over the different trees. After a little while the agent selected a tree that had a good angle on the road and would allow for sniping at two horizontal angles. She led Vivianne to the base of that tree and pointed up, cocking her head with a question on her face. "Climb? We'll try ambush today."
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Vivianne
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Vivi shook her head at the question about her diet. "I h-hunt for meat..." Even though the girl knew she could probably charm the animals out of hiding and slit their throat without any protest, she never used her abilities in such a manner. She always took the time to set up a trap or ambush or hunted them down. It just felt wrong to abuse her bond with the beasts in such a manner. She wasn't quite sure if hunting humans and other sentients was as similar as Nomad was suggesting. They usually had armor that made a killing shot difficult, and weapons to strike back if necessary. As they moved through the woods the sniper talked about the two different ways to take out intelligent threats, and Vivi was surprised to hear they were the same ways that she usually hunted deer and other game. Maybe it's not as different as I thought...

When the tattooed woman emphasized that she should always kill with a single arrow, Vivi pursed her lips slightly. "I d-don't know if I'm t-that good yet... But I can t-try." She usually managed to hit her target in a place that mortally wounded it, but the kill wasn't always clean. She had been forced to track injured deer for miles in the past. She followed after Nomad carefully, moving almost as silently as the assassin. Her animals made more noise as they spread out through the forest, but since they were natural sounds, it shouldn't betray their presence to anyone nearby.

She soon realized that they were heading for the Green Road, the primary trading route through the deepest sections of the woodlands. It didn't take long to reach the path, and Nomad quickly picked out a tree with thick, sturdy boughs that would support their weight. Vivianne turned to her animals and whispered a series of soft commands in growls and yips. Her pack-mates slipped away, staying close enough that they could hear her if she called for help but not so near that they would be visible from the road. After they vanished she scaled the tree effortlessly, setting down in a nook between two branches. She nervously drew an arrow from her quiver, setting the fletching against the bowstring and holding it how Nomad had shown her several weeks before.

"W-who... who are we g-going to ambush?" She spoke very softly, knowing that the sniper wouldn't approve of talking loudly enough to be overheard. "Just... a-anyone?" When she had agreed to this, she had assumed that Nomad would lead her after the men who had been hunting her. She wasn't sure how she felt about randomly ambushing a traveler on the Green Road. It could easily be an innocent musician or caravaner, someone who was no threat to her or the forest creatures.
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Emilie Joubert
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Nomad climbed after Vivianne as effortlessly as she had. She settled on a branch slightly higher than where her ally and 'student' was, a position that gave her a better view of the road but was worse for shooting. It would be useful for the Forest Guardian to have some extra eyes and ears while she was still a sort of initiate to this practice. Not long after they had settled into their spots, the green-clad girl posed the question of who it was exactly that they were going to ambush. "We are about two miles north of Norwood Village. We might have missed them but if we didn't then I predict they will start coming up this way." She didn't actually respond to the question by accident, but the implication was they were going to see if they couldn't pick off those bounty hunters that Rin originally tried to turn in as poachers.

The agent leaned back on her branch and started mumbling dissonantly, "...eleven minutes two minutes, fifteen minute recovery, twelve minutes twelve minutes walking pace... flat terrain with bends no addition..." She appeared to decide something and leaned back down from her branch to regard Vivianne. "We are either on-time or missed them by approximately five minutes, assuming they did not acquire horses. Now we will stay silent. If twenty minutes passes, we hunt unsavory types for practice." Nomad shuffled out from the base of her tree down the branch, stopping where she had a good view but didn't get into Vivianne's line of sight. She remained perched there, utterly motionless. Leaf patterns and crisscrossing branch designs appeared on the markings of her exposed skin, helping her blend in better.

Nomad put it on the Forest Guardian to select her target -- hopefully she remembered the faces of those bounty hunters -- and would also let her take the shots. If it wasn't a clean kill, Nomad would still allow the girl to take care of it herself unless they ran off somewhere she couldn't see or hit with her shortbow. Then Nomad would simply eliminate the target at range, having much more experience striking from significant distances and through large amounts of cover like this.
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Vivianne
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Vivianne frowned slightly, cocking her head at the sniper. She had no idea how Nomad had reached the conclusion that the bounty hunters would be traveling down this section of the road, but she supposed she should simply wait and see if the woman was right. When Nomad said that they might have missed them on horseback, the skinsharer shook her head slightly. "N-no horses have come this way f-for at least an hour. They s-should be coming..." She left off the obvious follow-up: If they're coming this way.

She sat in silence, watching the road closely and trying not to think about what was about to happen. It wasn't long before Nomad's guess was proven correct, two men coming around a bend in the path and walking in their direction. Even from here Vivianne could tell that they were the bounty hunters she had brought to the Sheriff's office. They had new weapons and were moving at a quick, hasty pace. She realized they were probably traveling to the area where she had first ambushed them, assuming that those were her normal hunting grounds.

Vivi waited until they were within thirty feet before drawing back the bowstring, lifting the weapon. The fletching brushed against her cheek, as she sighted along the shaft, taking in a deep breath and focusing. She released the air in a soft hiss as she let go of the string, sending the arrow soar through the air. It struck the first man in the upper thigh, punching all the way through the thick muscle and protruding from the back of his leg. He fell with a cry, blood pouring out of the wound as his companion recoiled in shock. She placed another arrow on the string with a calmness she did not feel, watching as he turned and ran for the underbrush, clearly hoping to find safety in the thick vegetation.

The accuracy of her next shot was probably due more to luck than any skill with the shortbow. The arrowhead struck the fleeing man in the spine, passing all the way through his neck and killing him instantly. He collapsed without a sound, red liquid gouting out of his jugular. Vivi drew another arrow mechanically, her brow furrowed as she drew back the string and targeted the already-downed man. He was moaning piteously, trying to crawl off the road and under cover. She licked her lips and her fingers twitched, but the skinsharer couldn't bring herself to release the missile. Her arm shook from the strain of holding the bowstring taut, glancing up at Nomad with a combination of shame and guilt.
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Emilie Joubert
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Nomad began to wonder if she had made the right decision. Many aspects of this line of work relied on gut instinct just as much as educated guessing, and in this case it was both. The Green Road was one of the biggest tradeways through the forest, since it ultimately led to Taras. It was also just generally a good way for people to travel through Norwood if they didn't have any bushwhacking experience. Additionally, Nomad had seen Vivianne come in from the direction of the Green Road, so she assumed it was that direction the girl normally lived. If the bounty hunters were going anywhere for revenge, it was probably, hopefully, going to be by taking the Green Road at first. After a few minutes of waiting in perfect silence and stillness, Nomad began to doubt her instincts. Maybe their prep time was longer than estimated, or maybe they bought horses and were already long gone.

But, when Vivianne lifted her shortbow and aimed with good form, Nomad knew that she wasn't far off after all. Those two familiar men came rushing down the road, new weapons at their hips and their eyes burning with bloodlust. They would stop at nothing to hunt down and kill the Forest Guardian, like rabid dogs that couldn't think of anything else. To avoid putting pressure on Vivianne by staring at her, Nomad turned to keep an eye on the two targets as they approached. Very slowly and deliberately she slid her own bow from her shoulder, just in case. Nomad watched her 'student' from the corner of her eye as she shot true. The arrow pierced his thigh, and he would surely bleed out in a short time. The second went running, but the Forest Guardian had it covered; she killed him with an arrow straight through the neck.

The darkness elemental waited for a third shot to come that would shut up the remaining man, who was screaming in pain and bleeding all over. It didn't come. Nomad looked to see what the matter was, and Vivianne, bow drawn back and everything, just couldn't shoot. The agent cocked her head in confusion, waiting for her to do it, wondering why the girl had choked up. When it was evident that she just couldn't do it, Nomad turned and, in a single fluid motion, plucked an arrow from her quiver, nocked, drew, aimed and shot the dying man in the skull to end it all. Putting her weapon away, the elemental checked her sides to make sure the coast was clear before leaping off her branch.

She landed hard in the middle of the road. Nomad wasted no time scooping up the corpse in her arms and carrying it off into the brush. The pool of blood on the ground would be easy to miss once it soaked into the dark soil of the road. She unceremoniously tossed the corpse into a bramble-filled ravine where the plants would reclaim it. "You will not be missed," Nomad murmured.
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Vivianne
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Nomad did not hesitate when she saw her student's hesitation. The woman simply raised her own weapon, drew back the string, and sent an arrow flying into the wounded bounty hunter's eye socket. his cries instantly stopped, and Vivi slowly relaxed her arm. When she returned the arrow to her quiver, she noticed that her hands were shaking slightly. She frowned and glared at her fingers until the nervous shivering stopped. Thankfully, the sniper didn't seem to notice, jumping out of the tree and moving over to the dead men to make sure they had expired. Vivi made sure she was composed and clam before dropping out of the tree and joining her, tearing a branch off of the tree as she walked forward. She wrapped its leaves around her fingers before yanking her arrow out of the body, using the vegetation to wipe the blood off of the projectile. She repeated this process with the second man, fastidiously avoiding touching their blood with her bare skin. Killing a deer or turkey was one thing; killing humans was a different matter. She felt unclean enough already without staining her hands with their blood.

"Ares. Kratos." The named members of her pack emerged from the underbrush immediately. They were the largest and strongest of her small family, and she quickly gave them instructions in a series of growls and yips. The bear and lion went over to the corpses and grabbed them in their mouths, quickly dragging the dead bounty hunters off the road and leaving a trail of blood in the grass. The animals would take the bodies deep into the woods and hide them somewhere where they were unlikely to be discovered for weeks or months. Vivi looked at the puddles of blood on the road and sighed, wringing her hands together. Even with no bodies, the next traveler to come this way would surely know that something had happened here. Hopefully they would assume that an animal had been killed instead of two men known the be hunting the Witch of Norwood.

"I... I'm s-sorry." Vivi glanced up at Nomad for only the barest instant before looking away, her cheeks flushed with shame. "He j-just... I-I couldn't... I-I-I..." She trailed off incoherently, her stutter so pronounced that it was impossible to decipher her words. She closed her eyes and took several long, deep breaths to calm herself, both hands clenched in fists at her sides. That soon proved to be a mistake, as the image of the corpses seemed to be burned on the back of her eyelids. Her stomach turned and for a moment she thought she would vomit, but the nausea thankfully passed quickly. She spoke very slowly and carefully without opening her eyes, although she couldn't completely suppress her speech impediment. "D-do we n-need to hide the e-evidence?"
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Emilie Joubert
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Nomad watched Vivianne with unabashed curiosity. She was using leaves to touch the corpses instead of her bare hands, like they were diseased, and her face looked ill. As the animals dragged the corpses deeper into the forest, the Forest Guardian must have noticed the agent staring at her because she glanced up and began to sputter something halfway unintelligible. Something about not being able to... oh, right, the hesitation in mercy-killing the other bounty hunter. She was still emotionally distressed about that? Nomad blinked, uncomprehending. Wanting more than anything to stop Vivianne from being distressed, yet having no experience whatsoever dealing with another person who was distressed, Nomad blurted out some words she thought would be comforting. "It's okay! You k-kk-k-killed one of them cleanly and- and the other was going to die in a couple mmminutes annnnyway... so you dd-did well. Don't feel bad."

While barely managing to get through those simple sentences thanks to the unfamiliarity of the situation, Nomad was walking up closer to Vivianne and thinking about what Lumi would do in this situation to make it better. Going off of personal experience, the elemental rigidly lifted her arm and patted Vivianne twice, deliberately, on the head. For some reason it didn't look as natural as the way Lumi would do it, although Nomad was too preoccupied by her 'student's' distress to think about the reasons and how to improve. Nervously rubbing her fingers together, Nomad stepped back and shot glances around the forest. "If you feel ill I think there mmm-mmight be some kkkhhh-... wild herbs around here, m-mmmaybe... I-I-I could go look..."
Edited by Emilie Joubert, Mon Aug 20, 2012 5:21 pm.
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Vivianne
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Vivianne flushed and shook her head quickly from side to side. "No no no... I'm f-fine. It's just..." She scowled as she searched for the proper words to describe her internal strife. It took her several moments to manage to summon the courage and proper phrases that would convey her current mindset. I expected t-there to b-be something... M-more. I've s-seen death, b-but it was usually an-animals..." She propped the shortbow against one shoulder so that she could wring her hands together, still unwilling to look Nomad in the face. "They j-just... died. N-nothing happened. Nothing s-special. Will it b-be like that for me?"

By this point she barely seemed aware of the fact that she was speaking out loud, simply rambling in a steam of consciousness manner. "Y-you always thank that your l-life is special and m-meaningful. That i-it matters. But if w-we die so easily, w-what's the purpose?" Vivi suddenly realized what she was saying and blushed even brighter, stumbling over her words in her haste to not offend the sniper. "I'm n-not saying that I d-don't appreciate your h-help. It's just... d-disillusioning, I g-guess." She knew that she had done a poor job of explaining herself, but trying to say anything else would probably just lead to more confusion and circular discussion.

"I'll b-be fine. I p-p-promise."
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