[PRP] Marina x Imminent

[ShadowsCursed]

Marina ducked beneath a tree branch quietly, her eyes focused on the small stream up ahead. She never made a habit to wander far into the wilderness but on this occasion she felt that the space was needed. She actually hated the wilderness quite a bit, she hated to get filthy. Her sanity had been called into question by her family and she needed to escape before they took drastic steps.

Her amethyst eyes finally dipped down to the water near her feet. She stepped lightly into the water, letting the ice cold water circle around her feet.

 

[Anguis Lingua]

ShadowsCursed

Imminent had been napping by the stream, back against an ancient tree trunk. Normally he wouldn't be caught dead napping during the day, but he'd exhausted most his energy terrorizing a nearby town, so he decided he deserved a break.

His ear flicked at an alien noise, and he was awake in an instant, hand gripping the hilt of his sword. Moving quietly, he stood up and looked around the tree, surprised to see the rather colorful meanki stepping into the stream. Odd, he thought as he moved around to lean against the tree, never making a sound. He stood there, watching and waiting to see how long it would take before she noticed him standing there... if she did at all.  

[ShadowsCursed]

Anguis Lingua

Marina was far from observant and didn't notice the Felicorn at all. She was so occupied in her thoughts and her conflicting inner thoughts that she just stood, frozen in time. She closed her eyes and lifted her head towards the sky. It was very much possible that it was indeed a disorder that caused her to slip in and out of different personalities, but she had embraced it as a gift. Her family would never see it as a gift. Marina had since chosen to pursue her acting where she could effortlessly fit in without standing out as a freak.  

[Anguis Lingua]

ShadowsCursed

Imminent tapped his finger against the hilt of his sword, the faint clicking noise barely carrying even a few inches. He could have killed this meanki, easy. A dozen different brutal ways without even drawing his blade... so why wasn't she dead with her heart shuddering it's last beats on his sword?

The felicorn watched as the female lifted her head to the sky. Was she meditating? Perhaps calling down some sort of elemental magic? His eyes flicked upwards. No clouds in the sky that he could see.

Deciding this might warrant further investigation before a possible killing, the felicorn leaped the four feet down to the sandy bank, the loud thud and clatter of armor and weapon carrying over the rush of the water. He stood tall, confident the noise alone would get her attention.  

[ShadowsCursed]

Anguis Lingua

Marina jumped back from the stream hearing the felicorn nearby. Her amethyst eyes revealing the brief terror of being snuck up on. Her face distorting with distaste. The felicorn so easily blended with the shadows of the forest. Even still could only see him because he had drawn the attention to himself. He seemed fairly large in comparison to her and judging by the armor and sword she was very much out matched. The meanki's mind began to click along almost mechanically trying to choose her words carefully.

She held out her hands to her sides to show that she was unarmed and meaning no harm. She dipped her head forward a bit, letting the long wave of pink hair to sway down from her shoulders. Her voice beginning to weave through the air.

"You startled me."

The voice was pleasant and followed by some light laughter. This stream was her stage and she was about to put on her best show to save her own skin. Self preservation, she was the master.

"I'm Marina. I hope I haven't disturbed you."

She bowed down further, turning her gaze upwards to the felicorn.  

[Anguis Lingua]

ShadowsCursed

Imminent stood there silently, arms crossed as his own mind processed what he was watching. Something seemed... off, about this meanki, though he couldn't quite put a sword-tip on it just yet. An eyebrow arched up as she started to... perform?

At her words, he smirked, though he never so much as twitched any other muscle. "A disturbance to a nap is of no consequence, little one. Being unarmed, on the other hand, can get you robbed, injured, or dead." He tilted his head, ponytail shifting behind him. "I am Imminent, felicorn of Death. Mercenary and murderer, when the coin is right."  

[ShadowsCursed]

Anguis Lingua

Marina stood up straight and gave a quick shake of her head. Her eyes absorbing every inch of him. There was something quizzical and alarming about him. She wasn't quite sure if she should be turning and taking flight. With the weight of his armor she was sure she'd be faster, but she wasn't known for her endurance. He'd surely catch up if she chose to run. Instead she chose to play the cards she'd be dealt.

"Oh well, I'm seeking no one's death...yet. I have my enemies, but they're more fun alive."

The character she had been playing had begun to slip away. Naturally, Marina was a cruel and manipulative little creature, but only to those who called her out on her disabilities or rather..inability to grasp onto her realities. She was quite aware that she felt more comfortable in these other personalities, she felt completely open to be judged when she was herself. If she was rejected and hated while "in character" the insults would roll off her thin shoulders with no problem at all. The felicorn had her so intimidated that she found it hard to draw on a character. She nipped at her lower lip.

"I believe I can handle myself though, Imminent. I'll admit to being a little thrown back by saying that I could be robbed, injured or killed. I would hope that no harm would occur to someone just being absent minded and seeking their own peace."  

[Anguis Lingua]

ShadowsCursed

Imminent chuckled as he watched her change. He wasn't sure who she'd been trying to fool just then, but he recognized that look in her eyes. Cruelty. Sweet, delicious cruelty. And where there was cruelty, more often than not there was manipulation and lies.

"I would think one of your race wouldn't be so... naive," he said, taking a step into the river. He savored the biting cold that eddied around his foot, then took another step. "Chewawae's will gang-beat anyone who looks at them wrong, draekats will steal a traveler's goods." His smile didn't reach his eyes. "Then again, you have pesky little holykats buzzing around in their self-righteousness, druids preaching their idiot doctrines of nature, and bards fouling the air with their... 'music'."

Before she could move, he was upon her, looking down at the meanki. "So tell me," he said with a cruel smile of his own, "are you so naive? Or perhaps you keep a blade hidden, ready to be slid inbetween a few ribs if the need be?" He chuckled, a deep, rumbling avalanche of sound.  

[ShadowsCursed]

Anguis Lingua

Marina smirked and tapped a thin finger to the side of her head.

"All I have on me is a wit sharper than any blade. I can normally weasel my way out of trouble. You can see right through me, can't you?"

Her eyes lit up looking at him, with a slight craze. She found everything about him terrifying and attractive. She normally could find a way out of these encounters with a bow and acting like a fool, but he had her figured out. She wasn't annoyed, just a little frustrated that he wasn't playing along with her game.

"A girl like me usually has no need to fight. I like to keep clean.

She considered taking a step back, but she was frozen. Any move could be taken the wrong way by this creature. She had an arsenal of wit about her, but she wasn't quite prepared for a felicorn who could already read all her cards.

"...and what about you, Imminent? Do you mean harm to me?"  

[Anguis Lingua]

ShadowsCursed

Imminent chuckled in amusement. "Sometimes wit is all one needs to win a battle, little one." His smirk widened. So, there is something 'different' about this one, he thought with an internal grin, perhaps I've found one who will finally hold her own.

He started to answer when he heard a faint rustling on the bank behind him. With a speed that seemed at odds with his size and armor, he spun around, hand whipping in a wide arc. There was a flash of sunlight, then a gurgling scream of pain. There, pinned against a tree by his hidden throwing knife, a rabbit kicked it's death throes out.

The felicorn smiled as he turned back to the meanki. "Perhaps if you had disturbed more than a simple nap, I might be inclined to simply drown you in the river just to watch you thrash and claw for help." It wasn't quite clear if that was his idea of a 'joke' or not. "However, something about you intrigues me." He waved his hand in the general direction of the pinned rabbit. "Perhaps you will join me for lunch. I hear roast rabbit and dried vegetables are on the menu today." That probably was a joke... probably.  

[ShadowsCursed]

Anguis Lingua

His movement had been quick, very quick. Marina still stood watching the rabit writhe in pain as the life drained out of it. An awkward smile forming on her face, suddenly imagining herself there instead of the rabbit. She calculated cooly how to respond next. She almost felt as if she were hostage to some sort of sick hospitality. Not quite sure what to do, she played along to humor him.

"Something about me intrigues you, and the same can be said about you. You're most certainly unique, and I am feeling a bit ravenous for lunch."

Marina had taken a step back, however. She wasn't quite sure what to make of his threat to drown her. She wasn't a fool. He was far more powerful than her.

"I can most certainly provide a worthy dinner conversation."

Yes, she knew he could easily decide to kill her. He was toying with her, and she would play along for as long as he'd find her entertaining. When the chance arose, she would sneak out. She was light on foot enough to hope to easily get lost in the woods away from him.

Save your hide, Marina.  

[Anguis Lingua]

ShadowsCursed

Roughly a hour later...

Imminent reached over and tore a leg off the carcass that had been roasting over the fire. It'd taken no time to skin and gut the rabbit he'd killed earlier, and though it was lacking in spices, at least it was better than just dried vegetables. The felicorn savored the cooked meat as he watched the meanki on the other side of the fire. Despite her earlier promise of worthy dinner conversation, little had been said since he'd started the fire.

"So," he wiped the grease and blood from his lips, "tell me, Marina. What brings you wandering the woods? It is either the foolish, the brave, or the perhaps the insane who travel such dark woods alone." He smiled at her from behind the leg of rabbit. "You don't strike me as foolish, so I'm guessing it's one of the other two."  

[ShadowsCursed]

Anguis Lingua

Marina ate delicately at the food before her. She ate what she needed and observed him while he ate. She had tried at her usual witty quips, but they all were answered with silence. She had given up and let him eat. Now that he broke the silence, she turned her eyes over to him.

"I needed some peace from my family. They were getting a little over bearing. If you asked them they'd say that I'm crazy. I suppose that I can't disagree. There are people that come and take over... take me over."

Her usual bright eyes were dark as she discussed this. The inner struggle beginning to make her tremble. The menace of a "character" beginning to seep through the meanki. Her usual upright posture had become hunched forward, a menacing smile seizing her face. Her eyes were skittering around, glancing at anything except his eyes. One final look of desperation on her face as the meanki relinquished control of her body.

She stood up and stretched up and stood on her toes, staring down her nose at the felicorn. It was obvious that the menace intended on fleeing, not the usual carefulness of Marina's. It was a long moment before Marina lurched forward to make eye contact with the felicorn. No words needed to be exchanged to understand that the person inside her had issued a challenge to the felicorn.

The meanki spun on her heels to take off and up into the trees.  

[Anguis Lingua]

ShadowsCursed

Anger flared at the brazen challenge from the meanki, then Imminent quickly tamped it down to a simmer. "Fascinating," he said as he stood up lazily, moving as if he didn't care. Rooting through his war-pack, he pulled a bearded axe out. "Perhaps this will work." He ran his thumb along the edge, feeling the delicious bite of pain.

He looked up, watching where she was in the trees. Estimating her next move, he waited until she was in the middle of a jump. With a grunt, he sent the axe whistling through the air in a circular arc. The axe buried itself into the tree a hair's breadth where the meanki had just landed. "Hmm, a half inch closer to your nose than I wanted. I need to work on my aim."  

[ShadowsCursed]

Anguis Lingua

She stood up straight on her perch, her long figure shaded in the trees. She hadn't flinched as the axe zipped past her and buried into the tree beside her. She grabbed a hold of the axe and tore it out from the tree. It was heavy, even in her possessed state she had trouble handling it, pressed her body up against the tree, watching the felicorn carefully.

"What are you going to do Immine..."

Her voice trailed off, her eyes going black as she toppled from the tree and hit the ground, the axe landing right beside her face, barely missing. She had lost consciousness prior to falling. The brutality of her mental disorder or curse quite evident. The reason she had escaped into the forest was now obvious. She stuck out like a sore thumb in more civilized society. She had become reckless, violent and crazed. Chased out of her home by her own half brother and finding no place to escape to be herself. Whatever self she found herself to be at that moment.