The Killing Grounds (Peregrine x PavellumPendulum)

It took Ray far longer than Shiori to realize that something was wrong. She'd never been hyper-vigilant, and wasn't easily startled. To her, the rustle of the detritus on the forest floor had blended in almost perfectly with the snap-crackle of the fire, the babbling of the creek, and the rustle of the wind through the branches of the trees.

However, for all her lack of observation, Lareina couldn't miss Shiori's suddenly alarm. "What's wr-" she began to ask, before her words were interrupted by the clatter of the metal pot falling to the little platform she'd made for them to sit on. Her eyes went wide, looking at the frozen... icicle that was now sticking out of the tree.

For several seconds, it felt like Ray's mind froze. She stared at the chunk of ice, trying to figure out where it could possibly have come from. After all, the air was warm, even without the heat that was currently radiating from the fire. There was no way ice could come flying at them, especially not sideways like that. What could be...

The sound of something whistling through the air caught her attention, and Lareina's eyes widened as she slowly turned. As though the entire world was moving in slow motion, she could see another piece of ice flying out of the shadow of the woods at her. It wasn't aimed anywhere vital on her, instead flying towards her shoulder, as though whatever had launched the chunk of ice was simply playing with them. All she could think about was how much something that sharp was going to hurt when it hit her.

Ray flinched.

Had she still been a normal girl, there was nothing Ray could have done to keep that arrow from hitting her. She'd stalled for too long, staring instead of moving as the attack flew in her direction. Despite everything she'd seen, Ray was far too used to peace to truly fit in with the deadly new world they'd found themselves in. But, no matter how much she might still act like one, Ray wasn't a normal girl anymore.

As she flinched, something trembled inside her. The metal in her blood surged, and every scrap of control she had over her ability faded from her grasp. The metal she was sitting on surged up towards her skin, rising like a tidal wave as it seemed to fight with itself in its hurry to return to the young woman. As the metallic wave touched the pot, it too dissolved, joining the cascade of dark metal that was surging towards Ray.

The piece of ice collided with the metal that had risen up around her, and with a sharp popping noise, it shattered, sending fragments of ice ricocheting away from her. Ray yelped as the metal continued to sink into her skin, filling her with a familiar, heavy feeling that, for one moment, made all seem right with the world.

All, but the fact that they were now in a world with fucking superpowers and there was something shooting ice at them from within the forest.

"Fuck!" Ray yelped, finally jumping to her feet as she unconsciously skittered away from the forest. "What the hell?"

From within the woods, there came an odd, distorted noise, which sounded almost like a whoop of excitement, followed almost immediately by a high pitched, whining shriek. Briefly, a patch of white fur flashed between two trunks.

Air was whistling in and out from between Ray's lips as she panted, but with a thought the woman extended her hands, urging the metal out from within her skin. It formed into a swirling shield in front of her, blocking the forest from view. If it could block the arrows, maybe...

"Shiori!" she called. "Get over here. I'll block...?"
 
The adrenaline was pumping through her again. Though it wasn't exactly helpful, the memories of the fear during their first encounter filled Shiori once more, making her muscles buzz with tension, her head spinning. Okay, so this new enemy could hurl projectile ice. At speeds that allowed the ice to not only refuse to shatter on impact, but enough to pierce solid objects. She wasn't sure if it was much worse than projectile acid vomiting, but really, now was not the time to figure out whether they were in a worse situation or not. Now, was time to survive.

A shriek escaped her lips as she condensed her body in fear at the spatter of ice reflecting off of Ray. It was great that the other girl had defended herself, but the ringing in her ears from the impact was not doing her any favours. The high pitched whining only signaled that the enemy was coming closer, ready to fight. The moments of peace they'd had with the water were sorely missed now. Shiori heaved, trying to calm her breathing, following behind Ray in order to get behind cover.

"Y-Yeah, yeah, I'm here, hold on." she panted, body screaming with her fight or flight response. She needed... Something. Insistent on being more of use this time around, she opened her mouth, feeling the fullness solidify in her stomach, taking what she had drunk and transforming it into something colder, something stronger... The coolness of the metal slid out of her mouth as she took hold of the pipe with her two hands, pulling it out as quick as she could. It was about as long as one of her arms, fairly hefty but not unwieldy. She stood behind Ray, holding it carefully, "I'll try to help."

A burst of light whisked past them, making her see stars, blinking her eyes rapidly to recover. What on earth...? "Was... Was that not ice?" she murmured, bewildered, "Can it throw flash bangs, whatever it is?"
 
Ray flinched to look behind her almost reflexively at the sound of retching that came behind her. Her mouth parted, heart rate skyrocketing, it took Lareina a couple of seconds to realize that the noise was coming from Shiori, as a steel pipe impossibly slid out from between her lips. It was only then that Ray remembered she'd taken back Shiori's sword after making the pot and the fire stand.

Destroying a weapon, she thought. Stupid. Stupid!

Swearing to never make that particular mistake again, Ray concentrated, trying to force out the metal in her veins. It began to swirl around her body, inconsistent and disorganized, but there was no way she had enough metal to block everything that might come flying their way.

However, before she could even figure out what she was trying to make to block the incoming attacks, another blast approached them, a wave of light and heat that glanced off a piece of metal before veering wildly to their side. "Shit!" Ray cursed, as a burst of dirt from the attack stung as it struck against her exposed arm.

There was a burst of frustrated hooting from the forest, before Ray suddenly caught sight of another burst of light from within the forest. Reacting almost on instinct, metal surged forward to block between her and the light, seconds before the sound of something hitting metal echoed through the clearing.

Another hoot.

"I… I can't even see it!" Ray shouted. "What's attacking us? Where is it coming from?"
 
It was bad that they'd tried to make things easier earlier by having Ray reabsorb the sword, but Shiori supposed now wasn't the time to worry about that. She'd have to deal with the current situation before berating herself for thinking that the next time they'd be in a fight wouldn't be soon. With her heart in her throat, Shiori glanced up into the trees, but the overhanging foliage was too thick for her to see whatever was coming for them. Whatever it was, it was hurling attacks at them at a rapid pace, while moving, since the direction of the source seemed to change every few seconds.

She flinched at Ray's cursing, but a quick glance showed that the woman wasn't hurt yet, so that was good. Still, even on high alert, it was proving to be hard to find whatever was attacking them. Sticking close to Ray, the shorter woman forced out her words, holding the pipe awkwardly, "I don't know, uh-" Her words were cut short by a shard of ice zipping right over her ear, nearly grazing her, "Fuck, it's fast!"

Though she'd been trained in taekwondo, she'd never done any weapons training, making her feel especially unprepared to attempt to hit anything with her last-minute weapon. The hooting was coming closer, reverberating off the trees in every direction, growing louder and louder.

And then she saw it. A mound of fur darting past a tree, just long enough for her to get a glimpse.

"There!" she pointed quickly, though her arm was shaking. A... Monkey holding something? She didn't have much time to say anything else, tumbling off to the left when a flash of light nearly hit her.
 
The more strange things that came flying in her direction, the better Ray found herself getting at blocking them. There'd always be some sort of tell on where they were coming from. A flash of light, the hissing sound of something coming from the air. With a net of metal spinning around Ray and Shiori like countless satellites, it was just possible for Ray to redirect a clump of metal into the correct spot to block or deflect most of the dangerous shots.

But defense wasn't going to get them far. Who knew how long this thing would be able to keep attacking, and it would only really take one slip up on Lareina's part for her or Shiori to get seriously injured. And this place wasn't earth. There were no hospitals, no antibiotics. Hell, they barely even had bandages. Just like back in the dark ages, if they got badly injured it would probably mean their death.

"There!"

Shiori's shout caused Ray to jerk her head to the side, barely catching a glimpse of grey fur darting through the trees. But before she could get a good enough look, it was already gone, vanishing among the trunks once more.

"We've... got to find a way to get it in closer," Ray mumbled, a scrap of ice flying wide of her little circle of protective metal. Shiori wasn't a long range fighter, and Ray had no confidence to try and fling metal scraps at this thing. Especially not when it moved so fast, and she'd be left defenseless when it ran out. But why would something so skilled at long-range attacks ever come close?

Breathing heavily, Ray began to draw the metal closer around her and Shiori. "Should we... try and hide? It can't seem to get through the metal. We could curl up under a shield, and see if it leaves."
 
At the very least, Ray could defend them. Fighting against something this quick that had pretty strong long range capabilities (and thankfully, sub-par aim) would most likely prove to be difficult, since all Shiori had was her pipe. Maybe throwing knives would've been a better idea, but really, Shiori had never thrown a knife before, and Ray would've had to shape them, which would most likely take up valuable time. Though Shiori could supply materials, there wasn't much she could do about the form aside from crude, simple shapes, like her pipe. She could feel the sweat building on her hands, clinging to the makeshift cloth bandages on her hands.

Man, if only her brother could see her now. Even as twins, Sho and Shiori had never had much in common. He had always been far more athletic and rowdy than she was. If only he could see how goddamn grimy she was, holding a pipe with her dress torn... She knew he would've laughed.

The crash of ice shattering against Ray's metal shoved her right out of her thoughts. ... God, she missed her brother.

"I don't think it will leave, but it's worth a shot." Shiori nodded quickly in response to Ray's suggestion, pressing closer to the other woman, carefully wielding her pipe, "Let's try it."
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peregrine
Something inside Ray squirmed briefly as Shiori agreed to her suggestion. It was far from a good idea. Nothing she'd seen so far had been able to get through her metal, but there was no telling whether or not this arrow-wielding moneky-thing had some other tricks up its sleeve that would make it impossible for Ray to defend.

Then again, it wasn't really as though they had any other options right now. With the thing so far away, there was nothing either Lareina or Shiori could do to it. And if she happened to mess up a block and either of them got hit by one of those arrows...

Trying and failing to stop her panicked breathing, Ray grabbed on to Shiori, pulling the smaller woman in close before hunkering down slightly. The metal fluidly gathered around them, forming a geodesic dome over them. Already, Ray could feel dizziness beginning to swim through her head, causing the edges of her vision to darken, but she forced the dome in closer to their bodies, causing it to contort slightly.

Close enough that she wasted as little metal as possible. Far enough away that the impact from the arrows wouldn't reach them.

Contained in the perfectly dark space, Ray's ragged breathing become even louder. But it didn't take long before the noise was covered up by a sound like a massive piece of hail falling on a car's roof. A second of silence, and then another loud clang echoed through the interior of the dome, causing Lareina's ears to momentarily start ringing.

The continued patter of noises echoed through the space, but the noise became more and more familiar to Ray the more she heard it. It was almost comforting.

It can't get through, she thought. It really can't get through!

And then, suddenly, there was silence.
 
  • Nice Execution!
Reactions: PavellumPendulum
What else was there to do but hold onto each other and hope with all their hearts that they would survive? Fighting, or at least... Attempting to fight something that they could barely track with their eyes was proving to be futile. The range the thing had far outmatched their own and hoping it would bore of toying with them was perhaps one of the only solutions Shiori could think of, though it wasn't very sound. She would've joked, she would've laughed and made a quip about enjoying being manhandled by such a pretty woman, when Ray grabbed onto her so rashly, but... Instead, she felt her chest tighten.

It wasn't the time to make banter. Though she desperately wanted to pretend that they could afford to be calm, they really couldn't. Not when the projectiles being launched at them were so obviously lethal. A dome of metal began to form around them and even in her crouched over position, Shiori could not help but watch in slight awe.

Ray was so fucking cool. If this were an action movie, she'd absolutely love it.

The sound of their breathing reverberated in the dome, even louder than before. Shiori's fingers pressed into Ray's arm without her even noticing it as she tried to regulate her breath, eyes focused on the darkness under them. She shuffled as close as possible to the other, tensing up and gripping her harder when a bang set off within the dome due to a projectile most likely striking it.

Her ears rung.

The strikes continued on and on...

Until they didn't. Somehow, not knowing what was going on outside of the dome was even more terrifying than hearing exactly how the projectiles smashed against the barrier. "Is... Is it gone?" she whispered quietly, unable to see Ray but only being able to confirm that she was there through the grip on her arm and their proximity.

The silence lasted an eternity. Perhaps it had only been a minute in reality, but hunched over with no other senses to aid them, time staggered on at the slowest pace imaginable. And then she heard it. A faint sizzling sound and bubbling noises...Before she could even say another word, a tiny stream of light erupted from a hole at the top of their dome.

"Holy... Shit." was all she could say, moving her body to the side to avoid the light as much as possible, while something... Something dripped.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peregrine
With the sudden silence in the dome, Ray's breathing sounded abnormally loud to her. It was only then, as her attention turned away from her power holding the metal dome steady, that she noticed a faint pain coming from her arm, where Shiori's fingers had dug into her skin through her sleeves. Lareina didn't try to shake the other woman loose. She understood Shiori's nervousness perfectly.

"I... I don't know," Ray responded to Shiori's question, straining her ears to pick up any trace of sound. But she couldn't make out anything past the metal dome, not with the sound of the two women's panicked breath and her own heartbeat still pounding in her ears. "We should wait. A bit longer. In case it's just trying to… lure us out."

Although she said that, Ray truthfully wanted nothing more than to drop the dome around them then and there, to see what was going on. As much as hiding had seemed like the correct decision when they were bombarded with arrows, as much as Ray couldn't think of anything else they could possibly do, she regretted her choice now. They were blind. Ignorant. The monster could be doing something to them right now, and she would have absolutely no way of knowing what it was. They were sitting ducks, trapped in a cage, and Ray had put them there.

Maybe it had left. Maybe it had realized that it couldn't get through their little turtle shell, and had gone to find easier prey. There were plenty of things in nature that worked just like that, wasn't there?

It was as though the universe was laughing at her thoughts. After all, the moment the thought passed through her mind, she felt a faint vibration impacting against the metal. It wasn't the same, sharp impact that came from the arrows. The hit didn't even cause a noise. At least, not at first. However, suddenly there came a noise that sounded like a blowtorch going through metal, and a brilliantly bright beam of sunlight suddenly burst into their little, self-made prison.

And something dripped, landing on Lareina's back. For a second she thought it was water, even though she had no idea where it could have come from. But then the drip ate right through her shirt, and hit against her back. Pain instantly shot across Lareina's back, and all she could do was scream.

Ray had earned her fair share of injuries. She'd always been a bit of a daredevil, and being a mechanic had earned her more than a few good burns and scars. If anyone had asked her, Ray would have said she had a pretty high pain tolerance. But right now, all Ray knew was that it felt like something was clawing its way into her body, and it hurt more than anything she'd felt in her entire life. Her entire body spasmed as she unconsciously flailed, desperate to shake off whatever it was that was hurting her.

The motion caused the entire dome around them to wobble, and another drop of metal from the hole over their head fell, this time landing on her shoulder. She would have thought she couldn't scream any louder, but she proved herself wrong at that moment, her scream raising an octave in pitch. Outside, she could hear the whooping hoots of a gleeful animal.

Ray didn't know what was going on anymore. All she knew was that it hurt, and that it was her own metal that was hurting her. And she needed it gone.

As though reacting to that thought, the dome around them trembled for half a second, before it abruptly exploded away from the two of them. Unbeknownst to Ray, that same, instinctual shove sent the two liquid beads of metal that had begun to burrow into her body flying away as well. All around them, shrapnel exploded outwards, and the sound of it hitting against the ground and impacting against the trees echoed all around them. And among those noises, came the sound of something wet. There was another scream, a weird, howling shriek that could never come from the vocal cords of a human being.

Two bodies hit the ground almost at the same time. Lareina curled up on the ground, one hand cradling her shoulder, the other reaching around, trying to cover the spot on her lower back that still felt like it was on fire. At that point, she'd forgotten about Shiori, or the fact that they were under attack. All she wanted was for the pain to stop. But she wasn't so lucky. In the distance, a burst of light rose from the body of the monkey, a mixed ball in shades of green, blue, and yellow. It flew towards the two women, before impacting against Lareina's head.

And the young woman finally, blissfully, fell unconscious as a strange tingle raced through every nerve of her body.
 
Shiori wasn't particularly experienced when it came to fighting. She'd trained before, with private masters, since her parents believed in the balance of both the physical and the mental, but she'd let go of those habits when she'd moved out on her own. Fighting didn't interest her, research and learning did. Perhaps she should've continued. Not knowing how to act properly when faced with violence wasn't helping her now and though she knew that there would be no classes that would teach one how to deal with monkeys armed with supernatural bows, a bit of experience with humans might've at least done her some good.

The time that had passed within the dome had been excruciating. Though it was nice to have some shelter, their sense of sight was cut off and there was no way to know what their opponent was doing. However, it seemed that the universe was answering their questions... Although in a way that would've make Shiori laugh had it not been so fucking terrifying.

Faint hissing and bubbling, then light. It had gotten through the metal. But how? Had it somehow made a burst of light so powerful that it could penetrate metal? Had the velocity of the ice somehow made it able to pierce even metal? Even those questions were soon answered as Ray began to wail. If Shiori had ever thought that she'd heard a scream before, she'd most definitely been mistaken. This was a scream. Her hand immediately let go of Ray's arm, covering her ears out of instinct as her head spun, the sudden light and noise overloading her. The dome exploded around them, the sound intermingling with Ray's howling.

The moment Shiori got her senses back, she immediately rushed to Ray's side. The woman was on the ground now, clutching both her shoulder and her back. "Ray, Ray, I'm so- I'm so sorry-" she gasped out, apologizing for reasons she did not understand, her brows strung together, "It's going to be okay, please, be okay--"

She was rambling at this point. When the ball of light entered her peripherals, she'd immediately moved to shield the other woman, but it seemed to float straight through her, disappearing directly into Ray's head. The other had passed out at that point, leaving Shiori in the silence of the forest. Shrapnel covered the trees around them, littering the ground in crude draggers. With Ray's body now limp, Shiori sat beside her, chest heaving as she gently tried to take a look at her injuries.

The skin was blackening where the woman had been impacted, surrounded by irritated skin. Acid? The burns had to be caustic since whatever got through the metal had seemed to melt right through it. The tears pricked at her eyes. What could she do? She'd been trained in first aid since she'd done some chemistry at the university in the past, but she didn't have access to that equipment right now. They needed to rinse off the chemicals from Ray's skin to avoid further damage, but she didn't have access to a faucet, nor did she know what type of acid had impacted her skin.The best she could do was run the pot back and forth and hope for the best...

So she did what she could. Wiping away her tears, the woman spent the next couple hours wetting another torn section of her dress to gently wipe at Ray's injuries, having no other options.
 
  • Sympathy & Compassion
Reactions: Peregrine
When Ray awoke, she woke abruptly, and with a groan of pain.

The sharp, vicious biting that had felt like lightning racing through her body had faded into a dull ache now, an ache that was definitely within Lareina's level of pain tolerance. The very first thing she did was unconsciously reach for the wound on her shoulder, only to find a small hand and damp cloth suddenly within her grip.

Letting out a faint grunt of surprise, Ray's eyes finally flew fully open, only to be greeted by a worried expression on a familiar, rounded, petite face. "Shiori," she muttered, only to groan in pain as another bolt of lightning suddenly arced through her. But this one, rather than aiming for her body or back, flashed through her head. All the same, gritting her teeth, Lareina began to force herself to sit up.

"What ha... That thing. The monkey. With the bow. Where did it go? Are we...?" Lareina's ramblings were finally cut off as she saw a limp white mound of fur heaped on the ground less than ten feet away from where she lay. Ray's eyes promptly drifted back to Shiori. "Are you alright?"
 
It'd taken hours for Ray to wake up.

It made sense. With all the exhaustion from traveling and the horrific injuries she'd suffered, Shiori was both pleased and horrified that the other woman was awake. While she was glad to see her moving again, getting more rest would probably be in her best interests. She hadn't figured out what type of acid had burned her but she'd spent the past while wracking her brain for her chemistry and biology courses trying to figure it out. Unfortunately, she did not have the research lab at her disposal and being an astrophysics major wasn't exactly the most helpful...

Adjusting herself on the ground beside Ray, she smiled weakly, placing a hand gently on the girl's arm, "Don't move too much." Her words were soft but her expression soon hardened when the other forced herself to sit up with a grunt. Ray was too mentally resilient for her own good. Moving didn't seem like the best idea right now.

She tilted her head in the vague direction of the corpse when Ray asked, though it didn't take very long for her to find it on her own. The heap of fur on the ground hadn't moved since (thank God) but Shiori hadn't really bothered to inspect it. She could care less about some monkey while Ray had still been unconscious. "I'm alright. Are you okay?" her eyes were still puffy from sitting and crying for the past while and though her tears had dried, her eyes still told the tale, "You killed the... that thing. I didn't have anything to treat your burns with though. I don't know what it hit you with, but it didn't look too good..."
 
  • Sweet
Reactions: Peregrine
Once she'd confirmed that the creature was dead and that Shiori was alright, Ray lowered herself slowly back down to the ground, laying on her left side to keep her shoulder and back from coming into contact with the ground. She took slow, careful breaths, doing her best to keep the movements of her chest steady so as not to strain her back.

"I'll... be fine, I'm sure," Ray said back, her tone a bit heavy. She was a strong, stubborn woman, but even she knew that getting injured in a place like this wasn't a good thing. "Whatever it used, it melted my dome. It was the metal dripping on me that hurt. Fortunately, I got it all out."

Unconsciously, Ray looked around the clearing, at the metal bits that had scattered all around them. Without them touching her skin, she couldn't even feel them anymore. Who knew how much metal her little shrapnel stunt had cost her, with the fragments flying deep into the forest or embedding themselves far enough into the trees that she couldn't even see them anymore. Thank god Shiori was here, or Ray likely would have been stuck with nothing but her one little wrench from now into who-knew-how-long.

At least there was still some metal left in Ray's body. She hadn't used all of it constructing the thin dome around the two women, and that had remained in her body even during her unconscious freak out. However, as Ray felt the metal inside her body, she suddenly realized that something felt... odd. Different. Not unnatural, but certainly unusual. Alongside the metal, there was... something else.

"What the hell?" Lareina mumbled, before sitting upright again. Far too distracted by the sensations inside her, she didn't even notice her wounds letting out another groan of protest. Ray stretched out her hand, causing a metallic spire to rise on her hand. However, a second later, and the tip of the metal began to glow red hot. Even as Lareina stared at it in bewilderment, she unconsciously tugged on that sensation inside her, and the tip instantly cooled, before a thin layer of frost began to gather on the point. Unconsciously, Ray knew that if she touched it, it would be so cold it would burn like fire.

Cautiously, Ray nudged that other sensation inside her, and the spire turned the faintest shade of green. A hissing, bubbling noise came from within it, before tiny bubbles began to form on the surface of the metal. Under Ray's control, not a single drop was able to escape, but it twisted and writhed just like... Just like how the monkey's attack had eaten right through her metallic dome.

"Shit!" Ray swore, shaking her hand. The metal instantly turned back to normal, before it vanished back inside her palm.
 
  • OMG
Reactions: PavellumPendulum
Thankfully, she'd laid back down as soon as she'd confirmed that things were okay now. Shiori scooted closer to the girl, not caring how much dirt her torn up dress was picking up from the ground. She already looked like she'd rolled around in the hills, a little more dirt wouldn't hurt. "I'm glad you're awake." she admitted, eyes flitting up to the sky, though it didn't help her get her thoughts back together, "I was scared that something else would come while you were asleep but it's been pretty peaceful." Her words were quieter, before she forced herself to perk up, gently squeezing the girl's arm with her hand. "Anyway, just rest a little longer. I don't think rushing while you're injured will do us any good."

Of course, not much more than a minute later, Ray was up again. Shiori opened her mouth to protest, but the worry surfaced on her expression when she saw Ray's face. Something was wrong. "Did you hear something?" she asked, suddenly fearful once more, her gaze darting around the forestscape before settling back on Ray. However, it didn't seem to be something around them, but... Something in Ray.

The metal she was controlling now was turning red, emanating heat before quickly cooling and gathering frost. Shiori's mouth curved into a slight 'o' of surprise as she watched in silence, her hand clutching the torn end of her dress instinctively, "Woah..." Her shock was barely audible as Ray continued, the metal now shifting it's colour to green, that same hissing emanating from it from before. The sudden cursing made Shiori jolt backwards, away from Ray in fear that she was perhaps losing control of it, but the metal soon disappeared back into the other woman's hand.

She could feel her heart racing. "Wh... What was that?" she questioned, choking on her words for a moment and coughing before continuing, "Is that new?"
 
  • Love
Reactions: Peregrine
"...D-definitely new," Ray replied, stuttering slightly in spite of herself. She truly couldn't help it. Just a little bit ago she'd suddenly found herself with the ability to manipulate metal, and she had only barely gotten used to that. Now there was suddenly something else?

All the same, she couldn't help but find it undeniably useful. At the very least, she wouldn't have to worry about lighting a fire ever again. Hell, like this she could probably boil water even without a fire.

With those inane thoughts running through her head, Lareina turned to stare at Shiori. "It just... kind of appeared. I could feel it inside me, like I do with the metal." She licked her lips unconsciously, staring at the other woman. "How about you? Did you get... anything?"
 
She supposed it didn't make sense to be surprised. Just a day (Days? Hours? She couldn't keep track of time anymore) ago, they'd awoken in this strange place with powers they didn't understand and now, having... Killed something, Ray could suddenly do something new. None of it had made sense, so it was clear that things would only continue to be inexplicable. Suddenly, her mind raced back to the light that had hit Ray straight in the face without seeming to do any damage before she'd passed out. "... When you killed the monkey thing, some light came out of it," she started, when Ray mentioned that it was new, "Uh... Maybe you got it when you won. Like, um... A video game?"

To be fair, Shiori wasn't exactly an expert with video games. She'd played them more as a child, but admittedly, after she'd finished high school, she hadn't really picked up a console since. However, a reward system regarding combat could easily be tied to video game mechanics. Though realistically, implementing such a thing through disembodied glowing orbs didn't make sense, it's not like she had any other explanations.

Scratching her cheek briefly, she made a face in order to focus when Ray had asked if there was anything new with her. Shiori didn't exactly know how to check... But she could try, she supposed? Really, she felt about the same.

"I don't think so. Everything's the same with me, I think." she murmured, her gaze flitting back to Ray, "I guess you got an upgrade?"
 
"Light?" Ray repeated unconsciously, frowning slightly at Shiori's words. However, despite the expression on her face, she couldn't help but think Shiori was right. Lareina had never been one for video games. Even if her family had the money to afford a setup like that, most of her free time had been taken up with caring for her brothers. However, some of her friends in high school had been nerds, which meant Ray at least understood the notion. You get something for your kill.

But, frankly, what really persuaded her of the accuracy of Shiori's assessment was the unnerving similarity between the changes she could now make to her metal, and the attacks from the monkey-like creature. Ice. Something blindingly fast. And whatever it was that had melted through her metal.

"I think you might be right," Ray finally agreed, once again turning to stare at the dead monkey. Shiori hadn't gotten any new powers, but Ray had. "Fucking winner takes all." That, at least, was a concept Lareina was more than familiar with. She'd seen it far too many times.

"Do you think that's why it tried to kill us? It wanted to take our powers?" Ray gulped, her thoughts suddenly flashing back to the arena where she and Shiori had nearly been forced to fight to the death. "And those fucking monsters that were going to make us fight to the goddamn death? They wanted to... what? Consolidate all our powers into one person and then murder that one?"

A shiver unconsciously ran up her back at the speculation, causing her to wince slightly as the movement once again pulled at her injuries.
 
The concept that Ray was suggesting was truly horrifying. If what they'd just learnt was true... That would explain why those enormous bug creatures had been rounding up humans. Easy prey; easy power consolidation. The mounting horror in Shiori's expression became clear as her lower lip trembled, her body remembering the fear that had taken over her when Ray had been ready to fight her. She didn't blame her, nor did she resent her for what had happened (after all, they'd been strangers and honestly, the whole ordeal felt like a lifetime ago considering what they'd been through so far) but remembering the whole ordeal certainly did things to her mind that she did not quite like.

The girl was silent for a moment, before nodding weakly, chewing on her lower lip. "... I think so." she whispered softly, meeting Ray's eyes, feeling particularly helpless in that moment, "We must seem like easy targets compared to whatever else is in this forest."

If there was anything she knew about humanity, it was that people hated feeling like their lives meant nothing. The concept that they were lower life forms, that they were inconsequential drops in the bucket plagued the human race and this was no different. There were stronger, sentient beings here and they seemed to understand more than Shiori and Ray combined about the mess that they were in. Shaking her head finally, she sighed deeply, massaging her temples with her bandaged hands, "Once you rest up, we should keep moving. Hopefully we can find some food."

There was no point in thinking too hard about all the terrors that awaited them. Small steps for now, bigger problems later.
 
It was impossible for Ray to miss the creeping look of horror that spread across Shiori's face at her suggestion. And, more than her own words, it was that expression that caused Ray to suddenly feel as though someone had sucked all the air out of her chest, leaving her cold and slightly trembling. Before that very moment, her suggestion had felt like nothing more than one of the horror stories she'd tell her brothers to scare them when they were misbehaving. How twisted and creepy could she make it?

But this? This wasn't a story. It was real. And people were dying. Worse than that, they were being treated no better than livestock, being rounded up and slaughtered for powers. Who knew if everything in this place was the same? Maybe the entire place was nothing but a breeding ground for supernatural monsters, with humans being brought in to serve as food and sport. Maybe everything here was no better than toys, being treated like pet insects or roosters that were sent to battle to the death for their master's entertainment and profit. Maybe they'd all be killed in the end, when whatever cosmic force that had created this sick game decided to reap its reward. Maybe...

Shaking her head, Ray desperately tried to bring her spinning mind to a halt. This wasn't a story she was trying to tell. She didn't need to try and think up the most twisted possibilities she could. She needed to get her mind off the matter.

Shiori's follow-up words were very effective at that, the mention of food causing a pang of tightness to race through her stomach. She was hungry. She hadn't had time for a lunch break before she'd been spirited off to wherever the fuck they now were, and all the running and fighting and fear had done absolutely nothing to help the matter.

However, her mind, caught in the terrible darkness of horror stories and worst possibilities, suddenly latched onto an idea. Her eyes flickered to the dead monster monkey.

"Shiori..." she said, somewhat hesitantly. Lareina swallowed unconsciously, wondering if this was going to be okay for her to say. Wondering how Shiori would look at her if she actually suggested what she was thinking. "I mean... technically... we did just hunt something." Against her will, her hands clasped nervously together, rubbing palm against palm. "And... well... meat is meat...?" Her eyes turned away, unwilling or unable to actually look at Shiori and see what the other woman thought of her suggestion in her eyes. What she thought of Ray.
 
She'd read a lot of fiction on dystopias. As a younger child, closeted and struggling to perform under the circumstances her parents had put her under, she'd gone through quite the edgy phase. Angry thoughts, fiction about oppression, anything that felt like a semblance of rebellion, she'd swallowed up without a second thought. But this... This was different. There was no rebellion. There were monsters, there were powers, there was everything needed to create a thrilling story, but nothing that was going to save them. No happy ending that she could imagine, no easy way out. The lives they were living now felt like a fever dream, in this seemingly never-ending forest and frankly, she still wished she could wake up.

Ray's fear was as clear on her face as ever. The realization that they only had each other, that whatever was out there didn't care for the lives of humans, but more for the distribution of power... Now that, that was terrifying.

The other woman's hesitance made Shiori tilt her head slightly in confusion, hearing the mention of a hunt. They hadn't found any prey animals, so the idea had her wracking her brain, but as soon as the cogs had turned enough for her to understand, her expression became one of disgust within a split second. The idea was horrific, eating this random creature that had tried to kill them (even looking at it earlier had made Shiori want to retch; the smell rivaled even the worst that she'd ever experienced) but... The circumstances were different. She couldn't afford to be picky.

Swallowing audibly, Shiori forced a smile, looking quite identical to a child that hated vegetables attempting to suck it up for their parents. She hated that she was being a baby, since after all, food was food, no matter how horrible it'd been to come upon it. She stood now, face a mixture of both hesitance and determination.

"... Right. Um... Yes." she mumbled, scratching her cheek awkwardly, "You're right. I, uh... I guess I should try to butcher it while you're resting?" Truth be told, she had no idea how that would even work, but perhaps fate would have mercy on her while she tried to figure it out.
 
  • Sweet
Reactions: Peregrine
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back