unhinged-beast-blog

[unhinged-beast-blog]

|| Everyone I love leaves this hellsite omg

[unhinged-beast-blog]

“They’ve been, y’know, cut off a few times already.”

Her arms, that was. Helen thought herself funny for the remark, the smile that could apparently one day put the sun to shame already creeping on. It faltered only a little when the warrior’s eyes dropped down to her comrade’s neck, assessing the symbol. If Helen was being honest, she really did not care, but that solid burst of yoki has ensnared her curiosity. Sometimes her handler was especially brief with her. If she could gauge the other’s rank, it would give more insight to the challenge ahead. But there was time for that still.

Helen threw a glance over her shoulder down the long, empty dirt path before she walked on up to the other. She stopped at what she was sure was the minimum of Galatea’s personal space at three feet away, and tilted her head until her neck popped.

“All aside, goin’ great. Actually been hoping for a challenge for a while now.”

When her eyes went down again, something seemed to click in the warrior’s head. The symbol could be recognized as the third — but as for a name? That was definitley asking too much to memorize.

“Name’s Helen, by the way. That’s nice to know if we’ll be working together.”

@solaetis

Helen arrived a day earlier than she had meant to.

It came as a surprise to her, thinking she was behind schedule with the amount of detours she had ended up taking. The harvest season had been good at the edge of the territory that year, and if Helen had difficulty passing up anything, it was free wheat ale; something the previous settlement had deemed an appropriate bonus for dealing with their problem so quickly. Helen thought it was a good bonus, too. It wasn’t something her handler had been interested in confiscating.

This town was larger, standing just outside her own border and into the next. A large river coursed through it, cutting it almost in half and giving way to a more canal-based community. Helen’s current territory had flatlands, more flatlands, and maybe a couple of mountains if she wanted to exaggerate the hills. The community was initially intriguing; something she would notice by default, even while on a hunt. The silver warrior could appreciate the aesthetics of it, and how more people seemed to be busy doing things than standing and gawking openly at her. Someone even waved while standing in the reeds.

No other presence of yoki was able to be sensed, even on her second patrol around the border of the location. She supposed they would show themselves sooner or later, one way or another. On the third go-around to get her bearings better, a presence hit her like a hot flame at her back, snuffed away just as quickly. The suddenness of it almost made her jump.

Early, too, maybe?

She turned heel for the westmost entrance, opposite of where she had come in from and walked towards it, her eyes scanning for whoever she was supposed to be meeting.

[unhinged-beast-blog]

Helen briefly danced with the idea. It would put more weight on her journey, give her something else to focus on, and having a consistent furry companion didn’t seem like a bad idea at all to her, especially if she could talk with no filter. Additionally, their noses were very soft, and Helen thought that was an important detail to include.

“Currently? Thinkin’ about that horse. These days? I tried vacationing for a bit. Turns out I can only handle it a little at a time.”

It was fun, while Deneve was there, but duty called them all at one point or another. Helen sometimes wished she preferred being alone, not needing to feed off of socializing. Humans seemed to only accept her in very specific situations, and Helen was growing tired of drinking contests and tales at taverns that no one would understand.

She suddenly realized just how much she appreciated Clare’s company as well. The night seemed to be dwindling her into a lonely rut.

“But that doesn’t matter. Might as well put myself to use, right? I’d be shocked if you haven’t done the same. You’ve always had that drive.”

unhinged-beast·:

“Sure doesn’t make it any shorter,” Helen mumbled under her breath with a mock sigh. She never got tired surely, but with the whopping attention span of an entire goldfish, she was taken with the idea of pretending it was a bit more arduous than it actually was. The quiet countrysides were just that sometimes; quiet.

The terrain was not new to her, and it became boring, as she had so often complained to her handler. Often she wished they would extend her territory a bit farther. Not for the extra work, but for something more to do.

“Never thought about a horse actually.” In detail, at least. Animal companions or livestock were so frequently overlooked. She glanced down at the other, then followed her gaze to the night sky.

“Have you ridden a horse?”

Eyes a gaze and slowly shifting back to the fellow warrior she had thought for a moment. “Never huh? Surely that would make things a bit more fun for you.” She teased though her tone didn’t really show it as it was flat sounding as it always was. “No I haven’t either, I almost did when I was really trying to blend in with the humans.”

That was during the time she was searching for Raki and she was in a complete disguise. She had wondered if it would be better to get a horse to travel from town to town just to make it seem like she was more human but she never went through with it. And only ended up disguising herself the moment before she entered a town. It was all a pain she was just glad she doesn’t have to go through that anymore and can just travel freely as she pleases.

“So what are you doing, these days, Helen? Still slaying yoma or are you vacationing?”

[unhinged-beast-blog]

@solaetis

Helen arrived a day earlier than she had meant to.

It came as a surprise to her, thinking she was behind schedule with the amount of detours she had ended up taking. The harvest season had been good at the edge of the territory that year, and if Helen had difficulty passing up anything, it was free wheat ale; something the previous settlement had deemed an appropriate bonus for dealing with their problem so quickly. Helen thought it was a good bonus, too. It wasn’t something her handler had been interested in confiscating.

This town was larger, standing just outside her own border and into the next. A large river coursed through it, cutting it almost in half and giving way to a more canal-based community. Helen’s current territory had flatlands, more flatlands, and maybe a couple of mountains if she wanted to exaggerate the hills. The community was initially intriguing; something she would notice by default, even while on a hunt. The silver warrior could appreciate the aesthetics of it, and how more people seemed to be busy doing things than standing and gawking openly at her. Someone even waved while standing in the reeds.

No other presence of yoki was able to be sensed, even on her second patrol around the border of the location. She supposed they would show themselves sooner or later, one way or another. On the third go-around to get her bearings better, a presence hit her like a hot flame at her back, snuffed away just as quickly. The suddenness of it almost made her jump.

Early, too, maybe?

She turned heel for the westmost entrance, opposite of where she had come in from and walked towards it, her eyes scanning for whoever she was supposed to be meeting.

[unhinged-beast-blog]

“Sure doesn’t make it any shorter,” Helen mumbled under her breath with a mock sigh. She never got tired surely, but with the whopping attention span of an entire goldfish, she was taken with the idea of pretending it was a bit more arduous than it actually was. The quiet countrysides were just that sometimes; quiet.

The terrain was not new to her, and it became boring, as she had so often complained to her handler. Often she wished they would extend her territory a bit farther. Not for the extra work, but for something more to do.

“Never thought about a horse actually.” In detail, at least. Animal companions or livestock were so frequently overlooked. She glanced down at the other, then followed her gaze to the night sky.

“Have you ridden a horse?”

unhinged-beast·:

“‘Course not,” Helen murmured, a little more softly than intended. When it became obvious that Clare was alone, the warrior seemed to relax her shoulders, resuming her self-assigned post against a tree.

“Got something on your mind, or are you just excited for another long day of walking?”

The comment was made in teasing, but the offer to be an open ear for the other was always sincere.

The words brought a very faint smile to Clare’s lips as she came to sit beside her. She could sense her yoki but yet she was still surprised to see her it really has been too long since they last ran into each other and it was good to see an old friend.

“Maybe a bit of both?” Clearly she wasn’t being all to serious either as by the slight smirk on her lips. “I’m glad we don’t get tired from walking like humans do… our journeys would be so much longer…”

She paused as she laid back to look up at the night sky. “There’s always the option of riding a horse… have you ever rode one yet?”

[unhinged-beast-blog]

' ye got a bit o' red on ye. '

“Bit ‘o red?”

Helen scrunched her face for a second, then looked down at herself.

“Uh, where?”

[unhinged-beast-blog]

“I understand that,” she said, and meant it. Helen had lost count of the months she had been alone, surely years by now. Temporary companionship was all she hoped for, but fortunately there seemed to be plenty of it when she never stayed in one place too long. She had met all sorts of beings from most corners of the continent, but it never did seem to put out the flame that urged her to seek more tangible companionships. It was something she had so far been successful in ignoring. There was too much of a benefit to solitude, for the time being.

The storm didn’t seem to want to let up any time soon, that much was clear, and Helen had come to feel safe enough. Those were more than agreeable terms.

Her curiosity had been piqued however. She sat up a bit after finally finding it in herself to settle into a spot and keep still. Quinn’s miss-spill of words was enough to keep her attention rapt.

“What do you do for a living? Clearly not just a hunter.”

unhinged-beast:

A lesson, a piece of this epiphany had been far from expected. The company of another who she was none too familiar with urged the beast within to seek its own company — to leave after a short time, for a deep underlying fear of saying too much, or perhaps far too little. Sitting still had never been a strong suit of hers, nor had entertaining a meaningful conversation in what seemed to be months.

There was always something to do, somewhere to be, a life in its final hours.

Helen took a deep and measured breath to ease her anxious chest. Though she knew nothing of the bird of prey and it’s temperament or loyalties, she felt a sense of relief in its wild presence.

“Would’ve had me fooled. I pegged you as a loner.”

Her tone was brash. She felt phantom teeth bite at her nape; an insatiable hunger that pulled at the back of her mind that caused her to twitch and look off to the side.

Of all the times to be so antsy.

As if wanting to say something, Helen downed the rest of her tea in an instant, and though her Claymore rested against the wall by the door, her eyes fell wistfully upon it for the comfort of its weight, and she felt foolish for it. She was no child, any longer, and did not need such material comforts. But perhaps the child inside her who grew up wielding a weapon thrice her size had come to adopt such a comfort.

“I spent years trying to pull my comrade’s shell away. You kinda sound like her.”

A chuckle was given to the other’s words. “Oh no, trust and believe that I am.” Quinn stated rather abruptly, offering the other a cup of warm tea, should they desire it.

The rain always calmed her, even when thunder followed it. The ranger sat down, looking not only to Valor, but also to her wet armor, currently hung up near the fire place to dry. A symbol of pride, of honor to some. Of peace and and justice. But to others, her uniform was a symbol of death. Of inevitable demise and murder. How the world changes when it is a simple of matter of perception.

“It’s better that way, you know? Less people to hurt, less to disappoint, less to have think of you as a-” Quinn caught herself, shaking the thoughts from her mind. She wasn’t about to spill her life story to this strange.

“No point in to getting in to all that, right? You’re free to stay as long as you like, just please keep your sword by the door unless you leave.” Quinn smiled taking a moment to close her eyes and let the trickle of the rain fall calm her. Valor, however, kept his eyes on the stranger. He didn’t like strangers. There was always an air of unknown around them.

[unhinged-beast-blog]

why does my heart cry?

[unhinged-beast-blog]

“‘Course not,” Helen murmured, a little more softly than intended. When it became obvious that Clare was alone, the warrior seemed to relax her shoulders, resuming her self-assigned post against a tree.

“Got something on your mind, or are you just excited for another long day of walking?”

The comment was made in teasing, but the offer to be an open ear for the other was always sincere.

@unhinged-beast // continued.

“I just wanted some fresh air. Couldn’t sleep myself…”

Sleeping was always difficult for Clare for one she could never get comfortable and secondly her mind was always running a muck. But she could understand why her old friend came up here to sight see the view was rather breathtaking and even relaxing.

“Mind if I join you?”

[unhinged-beast-blog]

Days...

Helen groaned on the inside. Wrecking her motorcycle hadn’t benefitted her physical state in the slightest. Her ribs were bruised, if not worse, and her head was swimming like a sour hangover. It was getting harder and harder to focus the longer she went without resting, desperate to find some sort of answer. At times the fog around her seemed almost bright and blinding, and Helen had quickly suspected a head injury when she touched a part of her forehead and it came away red and wet.

His outburst didn’t help in the slightest, but Helen drew from her well of patience and made no comment, preoccupied with rechecking what little supplies she had the moment the stranger’s attention was diverted elsewhere.

Helen could be airy, but she had not gotten her career being an idiot. The moment she was told to be quiet, she tilted her head to listen past the ringing in her ears before almost staggering over to the opposite side of the wall from the other man. Her hand reached behind herself for her gun before she immediately thought better of it with a flickering glance at the stranger.

Instead, she crouched down low and pulled a knife, listening closely to the ragged wheeze and thud that echoed out from the alley. Whatever it was, he seemed to have gotten a better view of it, and she watched him for any predictable clue or indication of what to do. The pumping adrenaline took the burn from her muscles.

⸕ The man growled lowly, as if he was no better than the monstrous dog he had beaten earlier, whose skull he had smashed. Nothing escaped him, certainly not the smell of fear, but, as the woman seemed to collect herself, straightened her back, suddenly looking less like a prey, more like someone who wouldn’t bend so easily, his instinctive mind reacted at the change. His murderous eyes slightly widened and he seemed to relax himself. 

⸕ A beast. A beast feeding on the fear its sole sight could spread inside others. Certainly, that was not the full truth, but the brute didn’t let show anything.

“Yeah… he snarled, his voice low, raucous, so abrasive it almost sounded threatening. Fuckin’ days… If not more dan I fuckin’ think of…  

⸕ It was so easy to lose track of time here, in this damned town, perhaps just as damned as he was. He truly had to be cursed to end up in such an awful forbidding remote place. He retracted his arms upon hearing she had no gun, while letting out a brutal, uselessly booming, exclamation of anger. Intense displeasure immediately led to it and, out of the blue, he kicked with all his might a nearby thrash can, thrashing it. Garbage got spilled across the wet road. It was a matter of life and death but she couldn’t suspect it yet.

- Goddamn it ! Fer fuck sake ! he roared, practically shaking in some desperate rage, but a strange sound echoed in an alley, shutting him up right away.

⸕ It wasn’t a sound a human being or an animal would produce. It was different, unlike anything they could have heard before ending up here. He didn’t answer his question. Instead, he put one scarred finger across his own lips and inaudibly blew, commanding her to remain silent. He probably looked like a madman, but he perfectly knew what he was doing. Right after, he motioned for her to hide, while he was leaning against a wall, throwing alert glances at what was roaming in the dark narrow alley. From the horrific breathing sounds that kept getting louder and louder, he could tell the thing was coming in their direction.

[unhinged-beast-blog]

Helen whirled around, her breath coming in a torrent of mist in the cold air. Her frantic eyes searched behind her and found nothing but an empty street, when before the creature had been practically breathing down her neck.

The moment the tall stag looked down the street, shining bright milky orbs of light on her, she had lost the embarrassment of fleeing the unnatural. Her mind was buzzing with adrenaline when she snapped her head the other direction, bewildered expression falling on another human being. One she gazed upon distrustfully, making the long fireaxe she carried blatantly obvious.

“Don’t you take a single step closer!” Helen called out, boots scraping against the pavement as she cowed to the side. She moved far enough to keep the strange woman in her line of sight as well as the end of the street that she had come from.

[unhinged-beast-blog]

“What are you doing here?”

“Could ask you the same thing.”

Clearly caught off guard, Helen was quick to cover her initial surprise with a sly smile as she looked back over her shoulder. Most of her attention had been directed beyond the trees, where the landscape was lit only by the full moon. Miles of threaded rivers were stretched out.

“Sight seein’. It’s boring tryin’ to sleep.”

[unhinged-beast-blog]

Terrors of the mind did peculiar things to people. Bent over incomprehensible stress, humans reverted to their base inner beast.

Often, Helen was met with this. Years of figuring out how this level human mind worked and functioned, still, left many surprises to be seen, and she had learned long ago the worst was always around the corner.

Helen held her own metal bar until her hand smarted at the tension. The wariness, though initially optimistic at the sight of another person, escalated into paranoia. She knew the look in his eyes well enough, even from their distance, and it set her guard higher. It was often enough to tell her a situation would be met with heavy resistance, and suddenly, she was deeply thankful she had indeed abandoned the details of her uniform to the old vehicle.

‘A beast prowls...’

The warning had been given in kind from the janitor staff.

Helen watched his shoulders as she tried to relax her own posture, ignoring the thrumming of blood in her ears. Beasts, were predictable. Her eyes darted as she bit at her lip, running a hand back through the mess of blonde hair.

“Days, huh?”

When she had walked back down the road, and discovered a deep chasm of endless fog, Helen half suspected she had lost her mind. Perhaps died in the crash, and left to wander the town in the fog of the afterlife.

The officer took a moment to study the art of the arm extended to her, looking for any details that would potentially clue her into the personal life of the stranger. No familiar gang affiliations stood out to her, and while she might have felt guilty for making assumptions, it had saved her life too many times.

“No guns. Looks like the car was gutted.”

One dug into her back beneath her belt and hidden beneath a wrapped holster, but the clip was half empty, and Helen would have fought tooth and nail to keep ahold of it. Thinking quickly, and digging at the side of her pants, she instead offered a wrapped granola bar. She dulled her tone into absolute passiveness.

“Got food though. Just as good, yeah? Don’t think I caught your name. You’re... definitely not like the rest here. Have you seen the others?”

⸕ The man froze under the pouring rain that blinded them now as much as the sick fog that seemed ready to engulf them, like a gigantic beast would, at any moment. The small puddle of water, at his feet, was now heavily tainted, tinged with a scarlet worrisome color. It was leaking down all of him in fact.

⸕ His gravelly voice, all barbed and savage, boomed again, more thunderous than the thunder itself, that followed a bright lightning tearing the dark sky apart. The violent white light fell upon them and shark teeth flashed for an instant, appearing as briefly as the lightning. 

“Ya one of dem ??? he roared again, breathless, his whole body tensed, so ready for a fight it hurt.

⸕ He started to circle her, his scarred hairy hands still clamped on his pipe, his grip even tightening. He studied her, shamelessly, as if she was a mere object, not a human being, staring constantly at her like she couldn’t feel this deadly ominous stare, his gaze unblinking, steely.

- Naaah… Ya not one of dem… he finally rasped, snorting, his nostrils barely perceptibly trembling, as if he was sniffing a prey.

⸕ Judging by the raucous snarl he emitted right afterwards, he nearly seemed disappointed by this discovery. His posture slightly changed, as he relaxed a little. 

- It ain’t a bad dream, ya know ? Even doe it sure fuckin’ looks like it ! I fuckin’ thought it wasn’t real… But dis shit fuckin’ IS real. Been trapped in dis shitty town fer days now ! Can’t escape dis place.

⸕ Communications were down, disrupted. Bridges had been damaged, destroyed, leaving only seemingly endless void surrounding the ghost city. He was trapped here and so was she now. He let out a long gloomy sigh, then brutally clenched his square jaws, covered with a rough dark grey three-day stubble. 

- Lines cut… Ain’t a soul in dere. Ya got a gun ?” he asked in his gruff vindictive voice, already extending one scarred fully tattooed arm towards her, his greedy bloody hand open, ready to welcome a firearm.

[unhinged-beast-blog]

Haven’t seen one like him.

Her most prevalent thought at the moment, oddly. Of the very few vastaya she had seen, they sported a colorful array of feathered features or dog-like features. Her eyes were locked on his hands for a short time before she refocused her wild attention, unable to linger her attention for too long. Perhaps on any other day, the crowded bar would have been appealing.

“I’ve worked... with a lot of different people. This is a first.”

Species aside, Helen was used to being the loud and brash, usually complimented with someone a little more... discreet. But she had learned before (though perhaps not well enough) that appearances were very deceiving.

She rubbed at her arm in thought, looking out towards the coast.

“Not much more info available than that. What it looks like, what size — beyond me. Since discretion is a factor here, I was juggling a lot of different options. I don’t think there’s enough coin in the world to convince a captain to set out. I did have a plan, in the works. But it relies on how you feel about saving the many over the few.”

He took the letter and looked it over. It wouldn’t be something he would admit, but he was not able to read. However the seal was exactly the same, so that was enough of a hint to let him know that she was the one. 

“I would greatly appreciate that.” He was also slightly claustrophobic, mainly due to his size. He was fine being bound, he was fine not being able to move, but being in a small area or being in a place filled with people was not enjoyable.

The sudden change in the woman’s demeanor caught him off guard. In the bar she was serious, to the point, and very rough along the edges. Now, she was a lot more lighthearted and seemingly kind.

He chuckled softly as he returned the smile, his canines appearing in return. “An honor to meet you Helen, I am Saga. The most I was told was about the void creature out at sea and that someone would be here.”

[unhinged-beast-blog]

The fog was too thick to make good use of a flashlight, she knew. Her patrol bike was in a similar state to the car, albeit several years older and sitting in a ravine somewhere, charred up and covered generously in the sick tar-like substance from something that had risen from the road, choking on thick billows of smoke that poured from its being. Trying to navigate the encroaching darkness and heavy walls of impermeable weather made for an easy end.

The first drop of rain came with a lengthy exhale and a shake of her shoulders before the downpour. It felt good, though it rawed her skin too, until she felt numb; unlike the figure standing vigilance in the distance however, Helen was unused to it and unpracticed. If she had found the bags on her bike, she would have been much better prepared for the chill.

The way the individual approached unsettled her more than the way the rest of the inhabitants ghosted around her. They were just that, it seemed, ghosts guiding her hand and keeping her frantic mind from careening into the wickedness of the town. Though she scarce made him out, there was a predatory leanness to the stranger.

She cupped a hand around her mouth to call across the expanse. “Helen! Scavenging a car.”

In an instant of trusting her gut, she turned and gave the crowbar a hard tug, lifting the weight of the trunk to discover... nothing.

“Or not.” She muttered beneath her breath, letting it drop back closed before turning again.

“Haven’t seen anyone else around!”

⸕ Perhaps he was the worst beast here, a human one, but at least he had managed to survive for already two days, from what his watch showed him, but it had now stop to function. Still, that was quite a stunt he had pulled off, considering how hostile this cursed town was, filled with monstrous creatures attacking him on sight, as if he was targeted. The brains of one of the deformed dogs was still leaking down the pipe he had used to smash its skull.

⸕  This monster had jumped out of a dark corner, taking him by surprise, while he was trying to investigate another empty abandoned house. It had sunk its claws and fangs into his shoulder blade. Now it was bleeding pretty badly, reddening the rushed bandage he had done with shreds of clothing.

⸕ He had been walking down the empty streets of this ghostly town for the whole night, looking for an escape he never found. He had to face the truth. He was stuck here. It was a cold dark night, the visibility even more reduced because of this damned fog that never seemed to fade away.

⸕ He was hunky, but too scary-looking, even if he had swapped his prison suit for some torn stained jeans and a black tank top, put under an old military jacket. He was so bloody the blood seemed to have taken root into his rough scarred skin, forming improbable quirky scarlet patterns, making this tall individual even more sinister than he should be normally. His shoulder-length dark hair, that had gone grey at the temples, were swept back, originally by using gomina, but now they were caked in dried blood. Blood dripped down his thick untrimmed mustache, down his scratchy stubble.

⸕ As he emerged from the dense worrisome fog, his predatory eyes started to discern the outlines of a human silhouette. At first, he tensed, his muscles ready in less than a second for a fight to death. How many times had he seen this gigantic thing, carrying an garbage bag all around, leaving trails of fresh blood in its path ? This heavily breathing thing was following him everywhere he went. He was sure of it. It was like a shadow, a terrible distorted, twisted shadow, and he couldn’t escape it, just like he couldn’t run away from this place. He had tried his best not to get close to it and, for now, he had succeeded. Curiously, the monster, whatever it wanted or was, didn’t seem to be willing to face him either. Not yet at least.

⸕ His toned body slightly relaxed, under the heavy cold rain that started to pour out of the blue. He should have seen it coming though. The sky was even darker than usual, grayer. He welcomed it, this icy rain that froze people to the bone. He’d wash the blood, wash the sins, erase the consequences in his mind. He never felt guilt and he probably would never know the taste of it. It had always been too easy to suppress every single feeling. Maybe that was the reason he had become a mafia boss so easily.

“Huh ! Who’s dere ?” He yelled at the human before him, their face still unclear, difficult to discern because of the heavy fog, already ready to battle.

[unhinged-beast-blog]

                       She wears strength and darkness equally well.  

                                               She has always been half goddess, half hell.

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[unhinged-beast-blog]

' spiders . . . spiders! spiders!! '

“Nope. No. That’s more spiders that I’m going to deal with today. One spider is more spiders than I’m going to deal with today. This one is on you.”