Freeloader [closed]

[Fulong|Clara]

The problem with being a hired Hunter was that you only got paid when you were out on missions, and you only got paid enough if you actually managed to kill someone. If that wasn't bad enough, the state of the current economy and the influx of talisman bearers into town also meant an absolutely shit job market. Hunter had always been something of a second job for Onji and she'd never wanted it to become her first, but it didn't seem as if she had a choice here in Noatak.

As things stood, neither she nor An-qi had been kicked out of their apartment yet, but it was only a matter of time. This was the third week in a row they'd been late with the rent, and they'd only managed it yesterday because they'd set Gobshite on the landlord as a diversion while they picked the man's own pockets.

All of the above explained why she was pleasantly surprised when she stumbled upon the deserted cabin in the woods. Her talisman whuffed once in faint warning, and for once she heeded it, shifting smoothly into binturong and approaching the building by tree. She caught the barest hint of smoke as she approached the chimney--not entirely abandoned, then, and used sometime in the past month. But the roof was in good shape, and it bore her weight well as she hooked her tail onto the eave for balance and lowered herself in through a window.

She shifted back as soon as she was inside, pulling her scarf up to cover her nose in anticipation of potential dust. That was unneeded; both the well-tended fireplace and the ample furniture confirmed what she already knew. This place was used, if not entirely inhabited. But it was a nice place, it really was, and as far as Onji was concerned, it deserved better.

There were a few slightly dusty cans of food in the cupboards, and Onji helped herself with her usual lack of scruples; they were running low on ramen as it was. The front door was locked, and she left it that way. If an owner appeared, she could very well claim it had been unlocked in the first place.

Having had that thought, she searched the rest of the cabin: no weapons, either. Well then. A slight smile appeared on her face, quirking upward. As far as she was concerned, that meant this cabin was all but hers already.

[ECS NPC]

Raven De Santiago walked slowly but with purpose towards the little, creaky old cabin in the middle of the woods. In the pocket of her skinny ripped jeans was a single old, rusted up key that was supposed to open the door of this cabin, and expose the secrets inside. Her poor, poor sister had given this little key as a farewell gift to her, along with the directions to the Innocent's secret cabin.

However, as soon as Raven stepped up onto the rotting and groaning planks on the porch, she felt something was wrong. First off, one of the windows farther up was slightly open a crack, and from inside there came traces of light. Her unusually coloured eyes--indigo flecked with the most brilliant shades of gold--travelled down to the doorknob, the keyhole sitting right underneath. Digging they key out of her pocket, she placed it into the keyhole and it unlatched with a near-silent click.

It was quite sad how she came into possession of this key, actually. It was a goodbye gift from her older sister, as the last of her blood spilled from the gaping wound in her chest. Morgan had been out and about, doing her own business, when a Hunter came out of nowhere and stabbed her before she could properly defend herself. Then the cruel person simply left her for dead, when Raven had come across her bleeding body and received this key and directions to the old cabin.

Again, Raven wrinkled her nose. She sensed it strong in her bones; something was really wrong about this place. Well, not the place, but something or somebody inside it to be exact. A deep breath and with a quick kick, the door swung open and slammed onto the wall with a bang.

Inside was a woman, glasses and dark hair. Raven's own midnight black hair shone in the last rays of sunlight over the trees, and her eyes flared at the woman. She felt it, and that feeling had been correct all along. This woman was probably a Hunter, one of those people that killed her sister, simply left her to bleed to death.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

[Fulong|Clara]

The binturong's ears pricked moments before Onji herself heard the footsteps outside the door, but she didn't try to run. That was just about the dumbest thing you could do in an unfamiliar place with unfriendly people breathing down your neck; if you did that, you frankly deserved to be shot. Rousing suspicion was the last thing she wanted to do here. Instead she dropped into a chair, leaning back with the false confidence born of countless medical school interviews, keeping it just short of tipping. When in doubt, act like you owned the place. She'd always been surprised at how well it worked.

The chair tipped back further as the key clicked in the lock and the door crashed open. Some entrance, all flying hair and curiously colored eyes. The key and deathglare suggested ownership of the cabin, but it had been abundantly clear the place was mostly unused. And Onji had been wrong about snap judgments before, but it didn't really seem like this girl's idea of decor, either.

Still, there was no need to make enemies so early on in the game. Onji pushed her glasses up higher on her nose, bringing the chair back to rest and standing up. Interview training now--slight look of embarrassment, hands apart, picture of confusion.

"I didn't think anyone lived here anymore," she said, "the door was unlocked and everything and I figured I'd go ahead and explore a little. I'm really sorry if this is your house and I've gone and made a mess of it."

[ECS NPC]

"I didn't think anyone lived here anymore," her hands were apart slightly, a look of mild confusion on her features. "the door was unlocked and everything and I figured I'd go ahead and explore a little. I'm really sorry if this is your house and I've gone and made a mess of it."

Raven wrinkled her nose the slightest amount, barely noticeable. The brilliance of her eyes reflected any light in the dimness of the cabin. There was something so wrong with this Asian woman, though from what part of Asia Raven couldn't tell. All Asians looked the same to her. But this woman, she felt, was not just a normal hiker that stumbled across an old cabin and was curious.

Raven felt it deep in her spleen; a dull burning that persisted despite whatever she did. It was her warning signal, to tell her something was horribly wrong. It had burned horribly as she approached her sister's bleeding body, and it was burning again now. Only this time, it was a different burn, if that made any sense. It was an ability and it came in handy more times then she could count.

"Who. Are. You?" She repeated, as the woman did not answer her question the last time. Raven straightened her posture, taking a small step closer, her midnight black hair falling around her shoulders. The light coming from the threshold came in from behind her, lighting up her hair and face as if it were surrounded by a halo.

[Fulong|Clara]

Really, this was a bit much. Onji could feel herself starting to get slightly cross; a dramatic entrance was all well and good, and it had been a decent one if she was any judge--albeit slightly cliché for her tastes--but this was definitely pushing it. Especially if the woman was going to strut about as if she owned the place. And she looked as if she did, but that didn't change anything as far as Onji was concerned. No self-respecting owner let a perfectly nice cabin in the middle of the woods go to ruin like this.

But there was an upside about meeting imperious people like this one--and Onji also considered herself a relatively good judge of those--because they were often so high up on their pedestals they couldn't see the people who were chipping at the base. Onji didn't usually consider herself a puppeteer, but this time she couldn't resist. Just a nudge here, a tap there...

"Yueying Huang," she said, letting the crossness come through. She had never been that good an actor, and in this case, her emotions were probably to be expected from any intruder, regardless of how innocent he or she happened to be. "I'm a biologist doing fieldwork in Noatak for my Ph.D. If there's a better reason for me to be wandering around the woods here, I don't know it. And I could ask the same of you, really."

[ECS NPC]

Her spleen continued to burn, but it was nothing like that night her sister died. Raven would never feel that kind of pain again in her lifetime. But this ability had kept her alive many a time, so she was absolutely sure that this girl was up to no good at all.

Even though her face was almost entirely backlit, Raven's eyes flashed an frosty blue. Eyes were the window to the soul, but since her sister's cruel death, Raven's eyes had never betrayed anything but ice. The only exception she made was for her lover-to-be, Eduardo, for whom her eyes softened to the tenderest shades of pastel lavender. Only he was safe from her frigid glares.

She tossed her ebony locks over her shoulder. It caught the light and shone in the dark cabin. She never had to take care of it; it was just naturally beautiful and the envy of any woman who laid eyes on it. The jet-blackness of her tresses outdid even those of Asians--including those of the intruder standing before her.

"Yueying Huang," Raven's accent was impeccable though she had never learned Chinese before. The woman was lying. Raven knew that wasn't even her name. "You're lying," she declared. "How did you get in here? And I'll ask you one last time: What are you doing here?"

[Fulong|Clara]

It was difficult to tell, through all the drama, whether the woman's disbelief was fueled by mere paranoia or actual knowledge. Onji decided on the former; she knew she and the other Gobshites had been careful in town. Unless the woman was also from Toronto--but no. She'd been little more than a grunt back then, albeit a highly experienced and non-expendable grunt, and any quarrels anyone might have had then were better directed at the Elders.

Definitely someone with a talisman, though. That much was obvious. She looked like the sort of person who had a talisman--probably gave it a name, too. And almost certainly not a Hunter--no self-respecting Hunter would behave like this. Although, she had to admit, she'd been slightly underwhelmed by the quality of the Hunters here.

In any case, there wasn't much point in admitting she was lying. That would only screw things up if Drama Lady was paranoid, and...well, there wasn't much use in admitting it if Drama Lady knew who she was. Which, it was becoming evident, she didn't; clearly she would have said if she'd known more.

"I'm not." She did her best to sound exasperated. It wasn't difficult. "I got in through the door. It was unlocked and appeared to be in disrepair. I decided nobody would mind if I had a look around. Call me curious--and you know, you haven't answered my questions, either. You're not being a very good host today, are you?"

[ECS NPC]

Hah. Unlocked? Of course the door had been locked. Why would her dying sister have given her the keys to an unlocked door? The cabin was a secret meeting-place; no-one but the most important Innocents and those they trusted knew its location. And no Innocent would have ever made a mistake so stupid as to leave the door unlocked. If the burn in her spleen hadn't already told her, Raven knew that by now she would have figured out that the woman was lying.

And yet she continued to deny it. She even had the nerve to sound impatient. The woman's guise was so transparent. How could she be foolish enough to believe she could trick her? The golden flecks in her eyes glimmered with a cool, transient mirth as Raven pondered on the utter ridiculousness of the idea.

Her eyes reverted to their previous frosty blue when she turned her attention back to the woman. "I don't need to answer an intruder's questions. Enough with your lies. Tell me the truth," she demanded.

Raven stood in the doorway, hair afire with the aforementioned halo of light as if she were an avenging angel just descended from the heavens. And she was just that--ever since her sister's brutal murder, Raven had vowed to get revenge on everyone responsible. Those silly legal issues would be of no consequence to her, because in the end, everyone would see that her quest was just and right.

So until this intruder answered her truthfully, Raven was not going to let her leave.

[Fulong|Clara]

Rampant, unchecked paranoia it was, then. Onji dropped back into the chair, frowning in annoyance. It would have been one thing to doubt her reasons for being here--she'd been careless about that, there was no getting round it--but even her name? That was ridiculous. Drama Lady was definitely getting on her nerves. Time to play the indignant card.

"Enough with your attitude," she shot back. Her eyes didn't flash different colors so much as narrow slightly, as if it could concentrate the venom in her voice. "Just because you've got a key doesn't mean you belong here either. You could have taken that off anyone. You could be a Hunter for all I know. Give me one good reason why I should trust anyone like you."

She said that one word, Hunter, with practiced disgust, like an epithet. Hopefully that tightly-bound anger would needle Drama Lady enough for her to start talking. No Innocent liked being called a Hunter--or, for that matter, being accused of anything that wasn't, well, innocent. Get someone angry enough, and they spilled secrets. They always did.

[ECS NPC]

The woman then dared to put an attitude at her, and Raven heard the annoyance in her voice. "Just because you've got a key doesn't mean you belong here either. You could have taken that off anyone. You could be a Hunter for all I know. Give me one good reason why I should trust anyone like you."

This woman had the nerve to accuse her, Raven, the purest of Innocents, a Hunter? But she caught on to the other woman's little act immediately, and she frowned in disgust, the expression marring her perfect face. They were all so easy to figure out, weren't they? She wanted to get her angry so she could slip up, that's what they all did. But Raven knew she had better self control then that and decided to stay calm for the time being. No insignificant little intruder was going to get the best of her.

But how she had accused her of being a Hunter was not going to fly with her, and Raven crossed her arms in defiance. "I am not a Hunter, do you hear me?" The tone of voice she used would have reduced anyone lesser than she to quaking in fear. Her eyes became an even frostier shade of cerulean than before when she remembered what those... those monsters did to her poor, poor sister.

For now, she figured she could not trust this newcomer at all. She might be a Hunter herself for all Raven knew--she, in all likelihood, was one, if the burning in Raven's spleen told her anything--and her eyes flashed gold again in thought.

"And you haven't given me a name. Your real name." Raven would push it now, and she knew that she would be the one to come out on top. This woman was like any other who had tried to best her, but none were better than Raven at detecting their lies.

[Fulong|Clara]

It was just as well Onji wasn't in the habit of considering herself lesser than anyone. As much as the girl had decided to stay calm, the accusation had clearly still hit home, and she'd confirmed her own allegiance. Innocent, then, and Innocent with a vendetta. Perfect.

"Yueying Huang," she returned, but now there was an obvious hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "If you're so sure about that being a false name, why don't you tell me what you think my real name is? Or can't you?" and now one eyebrow was raised, the pretenses beginning to drop away. "I'm sure that ability would've helped save that loved one of yours, whoever he or she was."

It was clear she wasn't getting much more information from this girl--at least, nothing she didn't already know. But that was all right. She'd had enough information already. This place wasn't just some dilapidated cabin, judging from her reaction; there had been enough hubbub about there being a key to confirm that. And if an Innocent was strutting round acting as if she owned the place...

She was suspicious enough to be one of the Elders, but Onji had a feeling her real target was someone else. Still, it didn't matter overmuch in the end. Onji had been sloppy here--sloppy enough to raise suspicion. And there was only way to clean up a mess, as far as she was concerned.

All she had to do now was make the other woman drop her guard.

[ECS NPC]

And now this woman had the gall to smirk at her as she repeated the obviously false name. How long did she think she could keep up that ruse when Raven had seen through it the very first time? To think that she, Raven de Santiago, could be so grossly underestimated--especially by the likes of a lowly trespasser. Her lip curled in a disgusted sneer that in no way detracted from her beauty despite the fact that it made one eye squint more than the other and made her nose somewhat asymmetrical.

When the woman mentioned Raven's failure to save a 'loved one,' Raven's eyes darkened to a dangerous crimson red. The last person who had had the misfortune of seeing this terrifying hue in her usually-shining orbs had tried to take her sweet Eduardo's life. Eduardo had escaped, safe and sound, but his attacker had fallen under Raven's awe-inspiring wrath. She had remorselessly sent him to his grave--and of course no-one had accused her of murder, because she was unquestionably justified in killing a murderer who was clearly irredeemably evil.

"How would you know? Unless--" It struck her. "Unless you're one of them," she snarled, and the excrutiating twinge in her spleen told her she had hit the nail on the head.

Her hand went for the ruby-and-sapphire-encrusted golden hilt of the dagger she always carried on her belt. (It was a family heirloom, and her mother had bestowed it upon Raven when she had come of age.) "Hunter," she spat, her legendary anger surfacing like a whale beaching itself on the shore. "I'll only ask you once: how did you find this place?"

[Fulong|Clara]

All right, this was getting ridiculous. Onji didn't bother to hide the gleam of satisfaction in her eyes at the woman's reaction; this was what she'd wanted. Fencing, kung fu, it was all the same, really; the best sort of people to face was the angry sort. They made mistakes. And then they made them again. And then they sometimes made them yet again, although usually they didn't live long enough to do that.

"Yes, I'm one of them, if by them you mean 'rogue biologists who sort of know about the whole talisman thing and are really, really pissed off at all you lot who think you can get away with fucking up the ecosystem with your super special morphing abilities.'" That, at least, wasn't fully a lie, but it was enough of a half-truth to probably irk the woman further. She seemed to have some sort of built-in lie detector, except with extra paranoia thrown in, and if Onji couldn't avoid it outright, she might as well fiddle with the wiring as much as she could.

And there was a dagger there--she hadn't noticed that dagger before. Funny thing really, because now she'd seen it, it stuck out like a gaudy sore thumb. It probably was sharp, though, and that was a bad thing, because she hadn't thought to come out here armed. Even angry people usually knew which end of a blade to stick into the other person. Onji shifted in her seat, legs tensing slightly.

"The way you're talking," she said, forcing herself to keep her voice calm despite her rising annoyance (and, if she were to be fully honest, a touch of nervousness, because fuck why hadn't she brought a knife to a knife fight), "I'd almost think it impossible to stumble across a random, apparently deserted cabin in the middle of the woods. Or want to explore it. Gee, I wonder if that's what happened? Probably. Nice place you got here, by the way. If it's your place, and all."

[ECS NPC]

Raven made a low, wolfish, feral sound in the back of her throat that made the bravest of men cower. This woman had so much sass, it was irritating to say the very least, and that gleam wasn't helping. 'Rogue biologist' her smexy ass. However, as soon as this Yueying Huang woman tensed up slightly at the draw of her dagger, Raven felt a tinge of satisfaction. However, she had not let it slip her notice that she had not replied to the accusation of being a Hunter. For all Raven knew, this Asian woman standing in front of her could have been her sister's murderer.

"Of course it's my place," Okay, so she had to play the lie now. It may have not been completely true, but it was to a certain degree. Her sweet sister had given her the key into this place, which meant, by some extent, it belonged partially to her. But now there was a Hunter in this sacred meeting place of the purest Innocents, and it was her responsibility to get rid of this woman before she could do any damage.

Raven swirled the dagger, it's perfect glint flashing in the receding sunlight. It was a beautiful, complex little trick that most found impossible to learn, but she had mastered it the first time she tried, or picked up this dagger for that matter. "You really are a Hunter, are you?" Actually, she didn't even have to ask, Raven's spleen simply told her it was true.

This woman--Yueying Huang wasn't her real name, she was sure--seemed to not have a weapon on her, which was all the better. She had brought it upon herself and Raven wasn't at fault here whatsoever, but she wouldn't let her guard down. Alright, if this was going to lead to a fight, she would have no remorse. This woman was a Hunter, and Hunters were mindless killers who took away her sister.

[Fulong|Clara]

It was just as well she'd used her scarf as a makeshift glove to open the cabinet doors here, and she'd been careful enough about leaving fingerprints anywhere else, but Onji had still left enough traces of her presence to warrant taking action. She needed to erase all signs that she'd ever been here in the first place, and she couldn't do that without getting rid of Drama Lady.

Today wasn't shaping up to be a good day at all, was it. Come in for a few cans of soup and vegetables and have to commit murder just to keep them. Onji considered herself fairly generous by Chinese standards, but even she was pretty sure that was a crap deal.

Well, there was no use complaining about it. She'd gotten herself into this situation, after all. Onji swung to a standing position, keeping herself relaxed as her feet shifted instinctively into horse stance. There wasn't a lot she remembered from kung fu, but you didn't resist muscle memory in situations like this one. "Might be. Who'd you lose? Boyfriend? Parents?"

She wasn't entirely sure where she was going with this, but she knew she had to keep talking. Keep Drama Lady angry, keep her blind with rage, and Onji stood a pretty good chance of winning. At this rate, even clichés ought to work. "I kill a lot of people, you know. I can't keep track of all of them."