#>> TRICKSTER. ( shuni )

[huntershowl]

@cordiibus​​ said:

❛ thanks for playing with me. ❜ ( shuni !! )

hit ‘em where it hurts. ( accepting )

TRICKSTER’S SURPRISINGLY LIGHT in hellhound’s arms as she ducks behind the side of a dumpster to avoid another burst of machine-gun fire. there’s no one left to cover – bodies litter the alley serving as her last garrison here – and there’s no time to set them down and wreak havoc as the hound was meant to do. anger falls away in the face of cold, desperate fear as she sets shuni gently down on the ground. their body is riddled with wounds. what color were their clothes before this? red? blue? whatever it was, they’re soaked through with blood now, black and clinging to their rapidly-paling skin. it’s a miracle they’ve survived this long, but seph will take any miracle she can get at this point. her hands make quick work of pressing handkerchiefs and washcloths to the bullet holes ravaging her friend’s body. but god, she can’t press against them all, and within seconds, her hands are soaked through too –– that’s when they speak. quiet and hoarse, their voice barely audible above the gunfire, they mutter their soft thanks to the panicked figure above them. ❝ shuni, ❞ seph says, their name leaving her mouth for the first time. ❝ shuni. look at me. i’m not gonna let you die. ❞  even as she says it, she knows it’s a promise she can’t keep. shuni is fading, clever, lovely shuni, and all persephone can do is hold her hands to their wounds and say their name.  ❝ look at me, shuni. ❞ ❝ please, shuni. ❞ ❝ don’t fucking leave me, shuni. ❞

[cordiibus]

hellhound / @huntershowl : calls shuni trickster for ""emOtiONAL diSTanCe""

shuni:

i'll accept this affection.

[huntershowl]

@cordiibus​ said:

😈 ( for shuni & hi i love u sknska )

starter meme. | accepting 😈 hellhound pins your muse during sparring.

hellhound’s knee grinds into shuni’s throat – not hard enough to cause damage, but hard enough that they’ll feel it. they’ve been at it for the better part of an hour. the hound is barely out of breath even so, cheeks flushed, adrenaline pumping, blood in her veins and on her lips from where shuni clipped her.  at this new victory, slow satisfaction rises in her chest. the knee presses a little further. ❝ you owe me fifty dollars. pay up. i’m not moving. ❞

[huntershowl]

@cordiibus​.

shuni: turns the light back on shuni: youre hot and pretty , i missed your face NSBSKSNSK THEY MISSED HER WOW SNBD

❝ hilarious, trickster. have you tried standup? ❞     a pause – then she sighs, shoulders dropping. shuni wins, again.

❝ FINE –  i missed you too. christ. i wasn’t gone that long. ❞

[huntershowl]

@cordiibus​​ said:

“I love the way you just sit in the corner and brood.” ( from shuni !! )

❝ . . . ❞ leave it to shuni to pick the one bar in the city hellhound happened to be hiding in. not an unseen-owned establishment, for once, which is risky – bounty hunters have been snapping at the bit as hellhound racks up more and more money on her head – but necessary, if she doesn’t want her boss knowing about these episodes. they’ve been getting worse. headaches and hallucinations. blood, pouring from the ears and mouths and noses of passersby. pain in her hands, as if they were still there, so much more acute than the phantoms ever were. as a result, she’s been isolating, pushing away the already-tenuous relationships she holds. and yet, here shuni is, standing at her table with that shit-eating grin on their face. ❝ what d’ you want? ❞ hellhound slurs through the pounding in her head. how many drinks has it been now? eight? nine? all that really matters is that it keeps the visions at bay. ❝ didn’t come here for conversation. ❞

[huntershowl]

@cordiibus​ said:

shuni can and will confirm with no one really asking them to: hellhound is hot

unprompted | always accepting

turns the light out so that shuni does NOT see her blush.

[huntershowl]

@cordiibus​​ said:

🤝 + 21 ( shuni !! )

fifty reasons to touch someone | accepting 21: ... in a rush of adrenaline.

FIGHTING A TRICKSTER, IT TURNS OUT, is an excellent way to let off steam. it started as most of their conversations do: a tease, a retort, the flash of a blade. normally, it de-escalates fairly quickly thanks to the fact that hellhound could not give less of a fuck about what they have to say.  at least, that’s what she tells herself.  this time, however, shuni poked a little too hard after a bad day –– a day full of phantom pain and disturbing hallucinations, a day during which hellhound let a target escape. so she lunged. they fought. all of the anger pent up inside of her, the frustration and the guilt, flowed through her movements: forceful and wild, a glimpse of the beast people believe her to be. eventually, the two ended up on the ground, hellhound straddling the trickster to keep them pinned to the roof, and here they are. shuni’s hand lifts. at first, she thinks they’re going to strike again, but instead their hand brushes over her cheek as if moving on its own, their eyes wide, pupils dilated with the rush from the fight; the hound has no doubt her own eyes look the same. 

it’s an odd feeling, a nonviolent touch. foreign. hellhound would almost prefer being stabbed. even shuni doesn’t seem to be doing it on purpose, but their hand stays, and there’s a beat of bullet-time stillness. any second now. any moment. but their fingertips don’t dig into her skin, or tangle in her hair and suplex her over their body, they just ... linger. to what end, if they aren’t going to use it to their advantage? how deep would one have to dig to find the ulterior motive? yeah, fuck this. she’d rather not stay long enough to get burned. a sharp gasp cuts through the silence as hellhound pulls away, scrambling to her feet so that she can put physical distance between them. well, at least her mood has relaxed a bit. who knew fighting the trickster would be such an acceptable outlet? it takes a moment to figure out how to speak again. eventually, she clears her throat, squares her shoulders, and lets her characteristic ‘none emotions, left irritation’ expression set in. 

❝ i need to get back to my boss. ❞

[huntershowl]

hcppiier replied to your photo: please… someone please take hellhound into a...

shuni: is a HUGE fan of sweets shuni: princess i know what we’re gonna do today

❝ ...if this doesn’t involve blood, trickster, i’ll be pissed. ❞ 

[huntershowl]

@hcppiier​ said:

“what every little gal needs.” [holds out a gift bag with a knife inside] ( lmaoo with love from shuni )

i don’t remember what prompt this is from but nice

❛ i’m not fucking little. ❜ annoyance tinges her voice at the comment. sure. shuni tends to take forms a few inches taller than hellhound, which makes her feel some type of way that she does not care to unpack ever. but that doesn’t mean she’s small. most of the people she interacts with day-to-day are shorter than her. is it pride that causes her to scowl at them and retort back in such a petty way? perhaps. she always had a lot of it.  the gift bag prompts a warier look. as it so often does, her mind flits through every worst-case scenario possible in case shuni truly was a spy all along and they’ve finally decided to take the fucking shot. but none of them are likely, nor is that paranoia-fueled idea. they’re not going to kill you. probably.  after a too-long hesitation, hellhound reaches out to take the bag into her hands. inside is a small knife, the blade acid-etched, its hilt an engraved wolf’s head. oh, no. it’s a genuine gift. probably something they saw and thought of her ––  ❛ i – ❜ genuine shock crosses her expression for a moment, before she averts her gaze from shuni, an embarrassed flush lightly washing over her cheeks. hellhound is not used to being in the spotlight in such a ... soft way. 

❛ thanks, trickster. i’ll be sure to tell the person who next dies by its blade that you send your regards. ❜

[huntershowl]

@hcppiier​ said:

‘ sometimes people have to get hurt for me to get what i want. ’ ( from shuni ! )

❛ indeed. ❜ the trickster’s presence is inevitable. they find hellhound even when she’s positive she’s well-hidden, but they have not attacked her – at least, not yet. it’s ... a bit odd to come into regular contact with someone who’s taller than her. it’s unsettling in a way that hellhound cannot very well understand ( nor will she unpack that anytime soon. )  they sit next to her on the edge of a roof, looking out over a foggy morning. the conversation lasted all night. one of those nights where demons chased hellhound from sleep’s embrace. having someone to distract from the howling and the hands and the smells and sounds threatening to push into her mind is admittedly ... she’d rather die than say it’s nice, but. it’s something.  ❛ long as you don’t hurt people in the way my targets do, trickster, i won’t have to hurt you. ❜

[huntershowl]

@hcppiier​ said:

★ (shuuuni)

send ★ and i’ll bold what my muse thinks about yours. | accepting

I like you // I love you // You’re one of my best friends // You’re like family // You are family // I dislike you // I hate you // I’d kill you if I got the chance // I want you to like me // I’m scared of you // I would adopt you // I’d date you // I’d sleep with you // I’d marry you // I’m worried about you // You confuse me // You’re annoying // I pity you // I respect you // I trust you // I feel protective of you // I’d invite you with me to parties // I’d lend you my money // I’d borrow your money // You’re good-looking // I’m suspicious of you // I’m hiding something from you // You’re fun // You’re boring // I’m upset with you // You’re nice // You’re mean // I’m envious of you // You’re smart // You’re stupid // I look up to you // I think you’re a better person than me // I think I’m a better person than you // I want to apologize to you // I wish I’d never met you // I never want to forget you // I want to get to know you better

[huntershowl]

@hcppiier​ said:

"Little things" ( for shuni :3c )

send “Little things” to know how your muse has subtly changed my muse’s life. ( selectively accepting )

they’ve known each other for about a year and a half now, so:

if hellhound is sitting in one of her safehouses and shuni doesn’t show up, that’s worrisome. she’d be concerned and start fretting. she’s used to them appearing out of the blue – and finds a strange amount of comfort in it.

before they came along, she spurned all things feminine because the last really bad stage of her life was when she had to wear very feminine clothing all the time. as a result, she started to hate how she looked in it, and had never been super into it in the first place. but shuni calls her princess – usually, it’s hellhound calling soft girls princess, as a joke. she’s not used to being on the receiving end of it. but they treat her as if she’s pretty, as if she’s softer and more elegant than she thinks she is, and i think it’s slowly starting to change her self-image a bit as well as her response to femininity.

hellhound is less inclined to spend time alone. she still prefers it to being with most people, but when shuni isn’t there, she almost misses having a shadow to bicker with and bitch at. probably unfair of her.

when she starts getting cursed with horrible hallucinations, her first thought is: fuck. is this going to affect how useful i am to sanya? but the second thought is fuck – how am i gonna hide this from shuni so they don’t get worried? 

sometimes, when seeing something in a store window that reminds her of shuni, she’ll steal it and leave it for them without a note.

[huntershowl]

@hcppiier​ said:

‘ you remind me of mint. fresh, sharp, kind of cold, but in a nice way. i always knew there was a reason mint was my favorite. ’ ( from shuni ! )

growling suggestion, i think ( accepting )

shuni’s words prompt something that persephone hellhound would normally attribute to fear. a strange sort of twisting in her chest, like someone took her ribs and constricted them until she couldn’t breathe. quickly, she turns her face away to hide the redness blooming across her cheeks, ignoring the way her heartbeat suddenly races – it’s fear. it’s fear, it’s always fear, isn’t it? isn’t it?  a few moments of silence stretch between them as hellhound struggles to find a response, keeping her face turned toward the window and away from their gaze. why is it so hard to think of something to say? words don’t normally provoke something like this. they haven’t, at least, in a very long time. it must be a fluke, she supposes.  

❛ you’re mistaken. ❜ finally – but they’ve caught her off-guard, and it shows in her voice. ❛ mint is harmless. ❜

[huntershowl]

@hcppiier​ said:

cat form activated. a basic black cat is what they've decided on for now. solely for what they were going to do next. shuni, with no hesitation, stepped their way onto hellhound's lap. immediately curling up on her legs, tail swaying back and forth as they settled and relaxed. ( it had to be done. )

unprompted ( always accepting )

❛ hey – trickster – ❜

that’s the trouble with shapeshifters. always fucking –– shapeshifting, and somehow, shuni has figured out which shapes to take that weaken hellhound’s resolve. animals, as a whole, do not like her. perhaps it’s that they sense something dangerous. perhaps they can tell that she’s got a short fuse. for whatever reason, they get aggressive and agitated whenever she is nearby, so she did her best to avoid them for most of her life.  so when shuni shifts into a cat and crawls onto her lap, despite the fact that she would have suplexed them for doing so as a person... hellhound stiffens, but does not make a move to push them off. oh, no.  ❛ that can’t be comfortable. ❜ one hand reaches down, but hesitates before it can give the cat a pet on the head. nope. that’s still shuni. it would be weird. probably for both of them. but ... the little cat’s weight on her lap feels warm nonetheless. warm and soft. for some time, she stares down at them unmoving, but eventually decides to give in with a soft sigh as she leans her head back against the wall. 

damn them. they’re too smart. she’ll have to get them back for this somehow.

[huntershowl]

@hcppiier​​ said:

[ lean ]  your muse inviting mine to lean into their side while they’re sitting or laying together . ( shuni is feeling cheeky loll )

non-sexual acts of dominance ( accepting )

the invitation, shuni lifting their arm as if hellhound would feel the desire to lean up next to them, does not go unnoticed. most of her quiet nights are spent with her shadow nearby these days. their boundaries with each other go un-breached, their lives go un-pried about; they still know little more about each other now than they did before. she’ll take it. oddly enough, the company feels ... nice. some dormant part of her, for a moment, wonders what would happen if she did take them up on their silent offer. hellhound’s first instincts say they’ll strangle you. but that’s surface fear. underneath, it’s less paranoia of what they could do by now. more that she knows she doesn’t deserve what they are offering – whatever it is. friendship? intimacy? it doesn’t matter. hellhound wasn’t cut out for that. a weapon should be treated as such.  besides. she is bony and awkward. why would shuni want that? unless it’s a joke, of course, which is fine. after a long, lingering look – no malice, just conflict and a slight furrowing of the brow – hellhound turns away from them with a characteristic scowl and a quiet scoff.  ❛ trust me, trickster. you don’t want that. you ever stuck your hand out towards a rattlesnake? it’s comparable. ❜

[huntershowl]

@hcppiier​ said:

“Let’s push all of these stuff away. I wanna dance here right now with you.” ( gimme the dancing !! shuni !! )

soft starters | selectively accepting

❝ i hope you know you’re using up your favor by doing this. ❞ hellhound’s voice is flat in tone as she kicks her bag and guns to the side – stopping, of course, to gingerly pick up her sniper rifle and set it by the window. never would she want abra cadaver to get scuffed or scratched. of course she knows how to dance. persephone was raised proper – not properly, Proper, with tutors and dancing and singing and etiquette lessons. up until the twins ran, then picked back up after recovering from losing her arms.  she promised that she would never dance again. fear, mostly. will it bring her back into distant and horrible memories? there is a strong likelihood that it would, and part of her is nervous even now to find out, but ... if shuni’s using up their favor to see her dance, she’ll make sure to hold her composure just this once. not that the hideout is much of a dance floor. it’s dingy, the wood rotting, the windows broken ... but it’s a floor, and all you need is a floor, right? ❝ fast or slow? ❞