Contagious [Closed]

[Haley]

Haley loved the smell of blood. She had never quite understood the aversion to it that humans had seemed to develop. When she had cut herself in the mortal world, many of her so-called friends had either freaked out or demanded that she fix it right away. Haley had been content to let the bleeding run its course even back when she had thought she was mortal. The taste wasn’t so bad either, though Haley usually found it too metallic to delve into in any substantial matter.

It was a good thing she enjoyed blood so much, considering the fact that she was covered in both it and a thin layer of sweat at the moment. It wasn’t necessarily hot and Haley hadn’t exactly been fighting. Rather, the little faerie had gone hunting for Akuji’s breakfast and was currently in the process of gutting, skinning, and piecing the carcass of an adult Pudu. She had the creature dangling from a tree, a rope looped around its back legs and then pulled taut over a high branch, tied to a lower branch. While Haley began to carve the hide from its left side, using gravity to help guide the large knife she wielded, Akuji was nestled just off to the side, casually chowing down on the pile of entrails she had just moments ago pulled from the deer’s abdomen with her bare hands.

Her arms were slick with blood up to her elbow. Her clothing, a dark gray spaghetti top and black running shorts were also smeared with the quickly coagulating substance in distinct hand-patterned shapes. It was obvious she had been using her own attire as a towel to briefly clean her hands so that she could retain a firm grip on her knife. To a more skilled hunter Haley’s obvious inexperience in butchering animals would be readily apparent. She only boasted a few moments of skinning experience in her past, all of which came from the times she had gone hunting with her adopted father during deer season. Still, practice makes perfect, right?

Haley was taking a small breather when she heard the crunch of footsteps. She sighed and raised a bloody hand to brush some strands of hair from her face, at the same time managing to smear quite a bit of the claret substance across her forehead. The little Nimbus had lost track of time. It was early, yes, but she hadn’t finished her deed fast enough to avoid the morning traffic it seemed. Rolling her eyes, she tilted her head towards her visitor and offered a relatively feral smile and a chipper – but fake – ”Morning!”

[Rian]

Stone would have more emotion than Rian's face at the moment. Having caught the scent of blood on the wind his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he followed it, his pudu mantel dogging at his heels. After a little while the animal's struggling to keep up with him through the dense underbrush made him stoop and he slung Niko up under his arm. Even with his long legs his mantel could usually keep up with him, but the many obstacles in the pudu's way that Rian casually stepped over proved a little much in this instance.

The first thing to cross his vision was the girl, covered in blood. He stared at her, expression not changing a whit, until Niko's frantic struggling registered and he followed the pudu's gaze to the dead... pudu...

Automatically his hand clapped over Niko's eyes. And, though it would have seemed impossible, the line of his mouth flattened a bit more. Now that he wasn't so focused on the blood covered girl he noticed the dog chewing on the pudu entrails and it didn't take a genius to figure out what he had walked into.

"Good morning," he said by rote, still covering Niko's eyes. The pudu had ceased struggling though now it was trembling; low, distressed noises filled the air. Rian turned to look at his mantel. "Shut up, you silly beast," he muttered, and though his voice was harsh, his hand was curiously gentle as it turned Niko's head into the nook between arm and chest.

"I trust," now he sounded dry, "that one pudu would be enough, however small the deer may be?"

[Haley]

”Why? Do you need that one skinned too?” She gestured casually with her knife in the direction of the pudu Rian carried in his arms. She seemed completely serious, her eyebrows perked in inquiry as she looked to him. Before he could answer, Haley’s face broke out into a wide grin as she laughed, ”Just fuckin’ with you man. I know that’s your mantel.” She had taken notice of the gentle way he had shielded the creature’s eyes and tucked its head away. She probably would have done the same in his position.

A smirk still on her face, Haley turned back to her work of carving the hide from the hanging mammal. Though she didn’t look back towards him, as she worked, she spoke through periodic grunts of exertion, ”Sorry for the mess and all. Sabrina banned me from her tavern for the time being and the kitchen refuses to serve Akuji.” She offered no explanation to either of them, though they were particularly fascinating tales. One involved a broken beer mug and a nimbus’s face – she swore that he assaulted her mug but Sabrina hadn’t believed her – and the other involved Akuji viciously mauling and killing several of the kitchen’s chickens (which had probably only been entertaining to Haley).

”Dog’s gotta eat you know.” With that said Haley reached up and in one fluid move ripped the rest of the hide from the dead creature’s body. She tossed it to the side and stepped back to admire her work. Haley glanced towards Rian and pointed at the hanging animal with her knife, ”Want me to cut you a piece? Or would you consider that cannibalism?”

[Rian]

Rigidity, thy name is Rian.

"Please refrain from speaking such things in front of impressionable ears," he said finally, reluctant, and his hand half moved to his pudu's ears, like he could stop his mantel from hearing Haley's (and most especially his own) words. Niko seemed to hear his words anyway and nuzzled at his shoulder. Mortification flashed through Rian's face.

"You could have caught something else." The words were out before Rian could really think of them and he froze, again, before turning his face to the side and giving Akuji a stare, which was infinitely preferable than looking at Haley after that statement. "Though he does have to eat, yes," Rian said, words dry. "And no thank you," he said as she asked if he wanted a piece. "I try to not remind Niko of his status as emergency food supply, the terror would make his meat stringy."

Niko huffed in indignation, which was miles better than the little animal trembling in fear. Rian shifted his mantel to his other arm, which, coincidentally, was farther away from Akuji.

[Haley]

Haley noticed Rian moving the pudu further away from Akuji and rolled her eyes, ”Look. I’m not some psycho who just wanders around killing for fun. I really didn’t plan on killing this thing, alright?” Her voice seemed exasperated, pained, ”It was really fucking cute and I wanted to pet it, but Akuji snapped its neck before I could.” She shot the dog a glare and then glanced back to Rian, ”So instead of letting it rot there I decided to butcher it. So tell your little mantel to calm the fuck down ‘cause I’m not about to go and cut its head off. And neither is Akuji, for that matter.”

Officially done with her rant, in which Haley had finally expressed all of the pent up anger over the creature Akuji had killed, she turned back towards the task at hand. Haley began to slice chunks of meat off of the carcass, attempting to be more skilled at it than she actually was. After a few seconds of silence her chest heaved in a big sigh. She had tried to go about this whole ordeal without thinking about the fact that her dog had slaughtered a cute animal without her permission. Ultimately Akuji had been hungry and thus justified in his attack, as was the way of the wild, but Haley had really wanted to pet the damn thing first.

She tilted her eyes back towards Rian and suddenly broke out into a large smile. What couldn’t be helped, couldn’t be helped. The thing was dead, she was going to eat it for breakfast, and all was right with the world! Rotating on her heels, she walked purposely up towards Rian and held out a blood-covered hand, ”I’m Haley. You’re pretty cool, but…” She went to lean in towards him, her knife somewhat dangerously close, ”If you ever make a snide remark about your mantel’s expendable status around me again, I’ll cut you.” Despite the obvious threat, Haley's voice was unusually chipper.

[Rian]

So she said, Rian couldn't help but think uncharitably, though confronted with such a horrific sight would be enough to turn anyone's stomach and not only his. Never mind that if it was any other type of animal he probably would not have cared a whit, and perhaps it was all Niko's fault for worming his way into Rian's heart, but it's not like one could inure themselves to liquid dark, pleading eyes that. Well. Rian was not the stronger hearted between himself and his pudu, though he would never admit it.

Instead, he sniffed in the face of the rant, did his best impression of a granite cliff side, and then ruined the effect by tickling at Niko's nose (in a very subtle manner, however). The girl seemed to have some sort of mental condition by the way she switched off between snarling at him and then smiling at him, and he was rather determined not to get caught up in her pace. No, instead his expression was carefully bland and he leaned back on his heels, just waiting her out.

She offered him her hand and he took it, shaking it once and saying shortly, "Rian," before dropping it. He glanced at the knife and then looked away, like she wasn't threatening him at all. "If you hadn't noticed," Rian snapped, "Niko felt better after it had been said. Do not presume to tell me how to conduct my relationship with my mantel when you don't understand the particulars." Niko stretched out his neck and stared at the girl, like he registered her concern.

His tail beat against Rian's back.

"And you," Rian said, looking at Niko and suddenly exasperated. "Have more care, you silly creature." He might have brought up the fact that Haley had the blood of another pudu on her hands, but didn't. That would have only upset Niko and Niko didn't need to be frightened back into shivers.

[Haley]

Haley could have let it slip. She could have let her knife slide easily between his between his ribs to ease his moronic suffering. But she didn’t. Instead, Haley’s hand only twitched as she toyed with the idea in response to his somewhat angry retort. She quickly took to alleviating her brief spasm of anger by glancing towards his hand, which, by this point, was also covered in blood thanks to her. A small smile slipped onto her lips at this thought and Haley leaned back away from the male, directing her eyes up towards him.

”You’re one tall, boring-faced mother fucker, aren’t you?” Her tone was very matter-of-fact, no real malicious intent involved. Haley just had a very dirty mouth – a habit she had picked up in the military. The Air Forced liked to pretend they were the classier side of the military, but who the fuck were they kidding?

She placed her hands on her hips and stared up at him, not quite knowing what to think. At the beginning it seemed as if her butchering of the pudu had been an affront to him, yet here he was, still in her presence. If Haley had been in his position she either would have beat the shit out of the butcher or wandered off on her merry little way by now. Rian had done neither. Was he desperate for a conversation then? In that case, his little lack-of-a-personality bullshit needed to stop. No one could be this straight-faced and not be a total fake.

Haley narrowed her eyes then quickly realized she was being a bit inhospitable. She quickly softened her expression, ”So…are you new here? Or what?” It wasn’t the best question to ask, but then again, Haley sucked at that small-talk thing.

[Rian]

[OOC. ...Rian makes no sense. Even to me. ;O;]

Rian wasn't much of a fighter. Entirely too stiff, thought more during fights than was good for you, not to mention pain being something he generally avoided--well. Most threatening situations, including this one, he resorted to bluffing his way out, and he fully acknowledged that one day he was going to get the pointy end of a blade stuck in stomach and he'd be left to bleed out and die in the middle of nowhere. Or perhaps on some busy walkway where everyone else stepped over his broken body. Either way, his end would probably be messy, especially considering how long fae were supposed to live. Dying by old age wasn't even on the table.

A flicker of what could be said was a smile flashed across his lips at Haley's statement, and he inclined his head, not even bothering to deny her statement. "Yes," he said, a little dry, "I am tall and rather boring." Which, unfortunately for him, was true. Rian wasn't in the habit of lying to himself, however.

Though, that being said, why Haley even bothered to stick around him--well, maybe she wanted to stick around and have her mantel eat more of that pudu. If so, too bad, since Rian was rather quite content with the company. He liked people, which would have been a shock to many a person if they realized it, and once he got over the entire pudu thing (or rather, ignored the carcass now), he was more than willing to hang around and be leech-like.

"Relatively new, yes." He cast a glance around, looking more contemplative than anything else. "Haven't seen the queen yet, haven't done much of anything but explore." Rian shrugged. "Stumbled on you and, putting that aside," he gave a small wave at the carcass, "you seem hospitable enough." He was ignoring the knife too. Maybe that was just the way Haley greeted people. The fae around here seemed to have atypical personalities anyway.

He let a moment tick by before asking, "Any advice?"

[Haley]

Haley broke out into a broad, toothy grin when Rian confirmed her assessment. She liked this kid! Her hazel eyes sparkled as she listened to him. Rian had ensnared her full attention. He was a boring dude – bland in looks and in personality – but his brutal honesty and funny ways impressed her in a way she had yet to be impressed while in Alanor. That and his mantel was cute, a definite plus.

”Not really.” Haley responded to his question, her smile still in place. She took a few steps back and turned so that she was back next to her kill. Haley deftly began to carve chunks from it in a relatively hurried manner. It was beginning to grow warm and flies were starting to congregate around the corpse. She continued to toss the slabs of meet onto the tarp she had nearby, shooting Akuji a warning glance in the process as the wild dog began to creep closer to the slabs of flesh.

Just so he knew she wasn’t ignoring him, Haley spoke as she worked, ”The faerie around here have no sense of humor so you’ll probably fit in quite well.” She shot a smirk in his direction, ”The Queen is no exception. If you plan to interact with her, be on your best behavior or she’s likely to throw a fit.” Haley had a few more choice words in mind but she decided to keep them to herself. Who knew if the Queen was watching at this moment?

She finished and in one smooth move cut the rope with her knife so that she now held what little remained of the pudu in her right hand. Haley glanced around for a second, as if attempting to decide what to do with the corpse, before she ultimately just tossed it into some nearby bushes. The wild animals would get to it sooner or later. Haley wiped her knife on her shorts and then sheathed it in the holster adorning her waist. She stifled a yawn and turned back to Rian. Haley’s eyes momentarily cast upwards towards the eclipsed sun. The copper hue the earth had taken during this time was pleasant, but Haley couldn’t help but feel she was missing some critical point to it. The eclipse was an enigma and she desperately wanted to know the secret behind it.

Dropping her attention back towards Rian, Haley tilted her head, ”Soooo, you from Earth or what? Born here? On vacation?” Haley didn’t particularly care for any of these details, but Rian had impressed her and she was suddenly in the mood to be civil.

[Rian]

Rian wasn't quite sure what to make of Haley. The friendliness, the dead pudu and knife incident (which he was still firmly ignoring), the... he wasn't quite sure what to call it. She showed her emotions freely and did not seem to care all that much of what others thought of her, and Rian thought that to be a little admirable, though he would never say so out loud. Too bad for her that the fae generally weren't all that emotive--himself included.

"I suppose that's just as well," he murmured. "I am unlikely to mouth off to the queen." Truth. "I don't intend to find a sword protruding from my stomach." Another truth. "Hopefully she'll pay me no mind though and allow me to stay." That was all Rian was hoping for, that the queen would look over him, dismiss him the next instant, and allow him to stay because he was, well, fairly harmless.

At Haley's question Rian finally allowed a quiet smile. "Earth. High middle ages, I believe they called it." He looked reminiscent. "Though I suppose it's not all that different from here." Ha. Ha. "I guess I feel right at home," he said wryly.

Rian sighed and ruffled his hair with a hand. "I'd ask for you to show me this tavern, but you being banned and all..." He gave a tiny grin. "Though I think I'm surprised that you let that stop you."

[Haley]

Though Haley’s attention was secured on Rian it didn’t last long. Seconds after she had inquired about his origins, the female’s eyes darted elsewhere. It was a natural occurrence for her; though Haley was more than capable of devoting her attention to someone if they truly captured it, she was more likely to lapse into what appeared to be a slight case of ADD. The little Nimbus took to staring at a bola spider that had made its nest nearby, thoughts of little Verbyl wafting through her mind before something Rian said manage to capture her attention again.

Man, this kid was old. In less than a second a bout of inferiority slithered through Haley’s veins and was subsequently crushed by her own self assurance. Despite his age, Rian appeared to have absolutely no ambition. His remarks regarding his future stance was the Queen nearly soured Haley to his presence. Although the female wouldn’t advocate mouthing off to the bitch in charge, the nonchalant way in which Rian seemed to dismiss his status within the court was enough to make her lips twitch into a would-be sneer. Haley had little respect for those content with simply existing.

”Good for you.” Haley’s voice was laced with sarcasm, her mind’s natural reaction when it came to dealing with someone that presented a challenge to Haley’s superiority in any form. In this case, the male before her was not only older but also more at ease in this environment while Haley obviously struggled. Already his presence constituted a challenge to be overcome, and Haley was a fiercely competitive person. From that moment her mind began to assess him even more sharply than before, pinpointing any weakness in order to exploit it in an effort to appease her violent ego. For the moment she settled on the fact that her mantel could tear his to shreds in seconds. This thought was comforting enough that her visage visibly softened and she tilted her head slightly at his next comment.

”Kinda hard to get served when they refuse to serve you.” She pointed out matter-of-factly with a look on her face that suggested he might as well have the intelligence of a chicken. At the same time she took notice of his small grin and raised an eyebrow. So, he wasn’t a fucking robot after all. Turning sharply on her heels, a trait left over from her military years, Haley returned to her harvested meat. She wrapped the tarp up somewhat haphazardly and then hoisted it over her shoulder and turned back to Rian, ”Wanna go for a beer?” She tilted her head, her eyes somewhat wide and innocent looking – an interesting look for her.