scorpionglaive

[scorpionglaive]

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ I know. It's only something I have to think about constantly. ❞

Is he a little smug at her admitting he was right? Maybe, just a touch, enough that it shows in the little smirk on his lips. It doesn't linger long, replaced with a softer gaze- one usually not befitting his normal resting scowl... but Alma was one of the few who could see it, considering how long they'd worked together.

Which was another reason he was willing to offer to carry her, instead of keep bumping her around as if playing hocky.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ I've dealt with slippery. I've been bubbleblighted more times than I can count ever since mizutsune returned to the forest. I think I can handle it. ❞

Again he offers out his hand, waiting for her to take it.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ Either I carry you, or I keep bumping you around with my glaive until we get back or this wears off. Up to you. ❞

"...you make a fair point."

Alma, to her credit, let Yavuz tease her for a bit, if only because she knew he was ultimately just messing around. She could argue, if only to be facetious, but she just didn't have the energy for it after this whole embarrassing debacle.

She glanced up at him in mild surprise at his offer, looking a bit flustered at the idea. Nervously, she tucked an errant lock of damp hair behind her ear.

"Ah... are you sure? I might, uh... be too slippery..."

That wasn't a no.

[scorpionglaive]

say thank you bugs

[scorpionglaive]

today's invertebrate........MY ARMY OF ISOPODS!

HAHAHAHAHA GET 'EM GIRLS

I have 150 of these pictures but tumblr only let's me send 30 so that sucks (pics from isopod.site)

[scorpionglaive]

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This is Armor Core 6 all over again.

But, to be fair. . .

[scorpionglaive]

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ A Hunter- ❞

He starts, with a grin, tiptoeing along a log that was on the side of the path. He was enjoying this little walk all things considered, maybe a bit too much,

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ -Has a very limited number of pockets. I especially have to fly through the air when I fight, I can't be weight down with... let's see. ❞

The Pseudocath on his arm scuttles up to rest on his hand and he holds up his free hand to count,

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ Antidotes, adamant seeds, herbal medicines, mega potions, regular potions, nulberries, rations, might seeds, various slinger ammo, mantles, binoculars, capture nets, traps, tranq bombs, all the equipment used to make barrel bombs, and cleansers? I have to limit what I bring otherwise it's supplies all over the place and some very very unhappy endemic life and a guild knight up my-- Well, you know. ❞

He chuckles then, stepping quickly so he's right next to her, offering a hand out to try to help her up,

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ Besides, I'm prepared for any eventuality regarding monsters, not regarding handlers getting into bubble trouble. .... How about I carry you the rest of the way? It's not far, and it's better than sliding. ❞

It's a good thing no one else in Avis Unit was around to see this--she'd be so embarrassed. Come on, Alma, you're a professional! Can't even avoid a few bubbles...

Alma huffed through her nose as she was unceremoniously pushed along. "A Hunter should always be prepared for any eventuality, you know that." It was, at best, a hollow retort, but still.

"Ugh, here's hoping... my clothes are soaked..."

[scorpionglaive]

He's doing his best to not laugh at his poor handler's predicament as she slowly slides along the forest path. Not trying to add insult to injury, but also trying to keep her safe, he's using the blunt almost paintbrush-like end of his insect glaive to gently bump her left and right to avoid wandering off the path near some endemic life, or sliding right into some poison cups.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ I didn't think you'd get so close to that Mizutsune. We were here for a oddly small Rathian, am I wrong? I have plenty of antidotes on hand though. ❞

He bumps her again with his glaive, just so she slides out of the way of bumping into a paratoad.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ I'm sure it'll wear off before we get back to camp. ❞

@scorpionglaive

Well, this was embarrassing. Poor Alma had gotten a little too close to a Mizutsune when it got into a sudden turf war with a wandering Doshaguma, and had been soaked in Bubblefoam for her troubles. Now, she was currently sliding, slowly, down the forest path on her backside, arms crossed in a huff and clothes soaked in bubbly liquid.

"...I cannot believe you forgot to bring Cleansers," she mumbled up at her Hunter.

[scorpionglaive]

the other night me @bleedinghearth and @scorpionglaive were dishing out the tunes. then disaster struck.

bonus: our blorbos being cute

[scorpionglaive]

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ Tch, please. ❞

He starts, crossing his arms and eyes rolling in his skull.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ It's a pole dance, not a strip tease. I'd have to take off my armor for that, and even you have to admit it was pretty damn effective at knocking that Rey Dau out of the sky that one time- ❞

Violet trudges up, and he nearly leaps out of his own skin. Thankfully keeping enough of his cool to not grab the glaive off his back. Fucking hell, right, Teddy also had his own monster.... That doesn't stop him from holding his hands up as she sniffs at him though. Lips pressed into a thin line until she's done.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ ... Now that I've seen you in action a few times. I can imagine so... ❞

A deep breath in, before he clears his throat,

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ I don't think I've asked yet but... ❞

He points up at the Rathian,

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ What's the story here? ❞

"Listen, love, if you en't figured out by now that merit and madness go hand-in-hand, you're in the wrong line of work. And you, Mister Fancy Pants, can hardly talk, when you're all but doin' a bloody strip-tease on the back of a giant, angry bear-dog."

It's about then that Violet comes trundling up, in all her battle-worn, jade-green glory, bucking her head up as she sniffs at Grimbright, and then nibbling debris out from between her wing-spines. Not a care in the world, especially as Teddy reaches up to scratch up under her jaw and throat, summoning a pleased warble out of her.

"You'd have to try pretty bloody hard to set me on fire. Not to say it en't been done before, but it's a feat, hey?"

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He listens well to Nata's explanation, what he'd observed in his time with the guild and watching him on his hunts and investigations alike. A feeling stirring in his chest, in his heart... pride? Yes, pride, of how far this child come, how much he'd grown. Recalling before, not that long ago in the grande scheme of things, how he'd been asked by Nata why he had a weapon and yet did nothing. How he'd asked for him to hand it over so he could do something about the monster that tore apart his home.

Had this been the same Nata, he wouldn't have hesitated to say no. The child back then wasn't ready to walk into the territory of these creatures without a deep seeded hatred for them.

Yet it wasn't. Now he showed incredible understanding of how hunters truly worked; that Grimbright wasn't just out here mindlessly killing monsters, that wasn't the point of all this.

A hand finds purchase on Nata's shoulder, a gentle smile as he nods at the boy.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ You'll still have to watch, for a time. Don't expect to have a weapon in hand too soon. That takes a lot of training, and physical strength... ❞

He holds up a finger,

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ Before that though, there's more of that understanding outside of the monsters. There's learning your surroundings, what can be used, and what is best to leave be. You have to develop a keep eye, and quick reflexes, and a vast amount of knowledge of the natural world. ❞

His hand lowers, and he crouches down slightly to make sure they were making eye contact- even if for just a moment,

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ If you know you can do that, then I will teach you. ❞

"I . . . I KNOW." He was probably the first of his people in a thousand years to have asked such a question. Zoh Shia has fallen, but most of The Keepers chose to tend to their roots—if not out of habit, then complacency. Nata wouldn't judge them for doing so; the people of Sild had the freedom to choose now, as they always should have. To even attempt to break out of his clan's mold was a courageous thing . . . well, somehow he's been told many times how courageous he was, even if he didn't exactly believe so.

"I've seen how you fight . . . but I've also seen how you understand. Hunting isn't just about fighting or felling monsters. It's about learning about them. It's understanding why they do the things they do! And not just about protecting people . . . but even other monsters!"

"Arkveld learned how to be free, even if it was just for a short time. I know that now. It broke away from everything it'd been taught after all this time. And I wanna do the same!"

"I want to do more than just watch . . . I want to learn! I want to help people, and monsters! So please . . . if you could teach me . . ."

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|| 🦂 ||: ❝ I guess. ❞

He suddenly looks much older, or looks his own age, though Teddy clearly has him beat by a good twenty or so years.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ I can whinge all I want. Especially when a hunter who I've been advised is "one of the best" seems to have very little regard for his own physical well-being. ❞

As if he was any better though, flying his happy ass between two large monsters on the regular and bouncing back and fourth between their backs well over 50ft off the ground at times.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ Being your squadmate, it's become part of my job to worry. But, yes, I figured you were made of tougher stuff with the barrel incident when you came out the other side with all your limbs and shockingly not on fire. ❞

"It's a bloody well effective one, innit? It's so quick the poor blighters en't even know what happened before they're on ice, so can ye really whinge overmuch, laddie?"

He smiles, the corners of his eyes creasing with a mirthful twinkle, unconcerned with Grimbright's cardiac health. He's younger, he can handle a little more excitement. "Besides, I'm made of tough stuff. Don't worry about me."

[scorpionglaive]

Seikret sillies b/c yes

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When the sleep toad knocks out EVERYONE, not just the monster

[scorpionglaive]

He holds a scrap of eerily familiar cloth in his hand, the Xu Wu carcass splayed out in the corner of it's nest.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ ... Damn it all. ❞

He should've been faster, he should've fought harder... but would that have really changed anything?

[scorpionglaive]

More often than not most who approached this particular hunter ended up being on the receiving end of a particularly menacing scowl. Intentional or not, it usually did it's job of giving Grimbright his space. Yet when it came to the kid his expression softens, especially so when Nata actually uses his name to gain his attention.

Brows raised, he changes his stance so he's no longer cross-armed and broody.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ Yes, Nata? ❞

He hasn't heard the kid sound this awkward since the day they met and boarded the ship to these lands. So that alone has him worried. At least until the actual subject of conversation is brought to light.

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ A hunter, hm? Being a hunter isn't easy, you know. ❞

But then again neither was crossing the desert alone on foot, yet here Nata was.

"UHM, HUNTER . . . GRIM?" It was the first time he had ever referred to Grim by his name. It sounded awkward, almost afraid, as if he wasn't worthy of speaking it. But, he knows now that he sees the Hunter in a much different light than when they first met. This wasn't a stranger to be intimidated by, nor someone he was forced to understand. This was a friend . . .and perhaps, someone he found himself aspiring to be like. "What if . . . say, uhm . . . I've been thinking . . . What if I wanted to become a hunter, like you?"

@scorpionglaive liked!

[scorpionglaive]

I'm thinking about it more and honestly Jin Dahaad would be the monster that Grim is most in tune with tbh Both b/c the theme is very Grimbright (the pipe organ and general vibe) and just the general appearance and temperament of the monster just kind of vibes with Grimbright

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|| 🦂 ||: ❝ And that's what you call a zero margin of error? ❞

He runs a hand through his hair, sighing heavily. Fuck's sake what did he get into with this new hunter squad?

|| 🦂 ||: ❝ At least is effective, and not boring. I have to say you could've given me a little more warning the first time. Watching you rocket yourself into those barrels and then fly back twenty feet practically unscathed nearly ended my career with a heart attack right then and there. ❞

"...I can afford no margin for error." He can't even defend himself. He knows he's nuts by most of his younger colleagues' standards, but with old age in a line of work where most die young comes at least a little madness.