All's Well That Ends Well [Aurelia]

[Aras|Ofelia]

((Continued from here.))

Barely a word had passed between them since they had left the Nine Muses. They'd gone their separate ways, Aras to his apartment and Aurelia to Reyes' house, to pick up the necessary equipment. Managing not to look too conspicuous as he loaded everything into his car (thankfully, the only two passerby barely even spared him a glance), Aras drove north. They were to rendezvous at the border between the forest and the meadow. Aurelia had not told him how she planned to get there, but he knew she'd find a way. Hunters could take care of themselves.

His mind was still reeling at the revelation. Even the vulture had descended into a shocked silence for a while. A part of him was relieved that he and Aurelia were technically on the same side; the other part of him was trying very hard (and failing miserably) to get over the fact that instead of making small talk over half-finished mugs of coffee, they were going to hunt together.

What a way to get to know someone.

Parking somewhere relatively secluded, he walked the rest of the distance, the large black case in his hand swinging with each step. It was mid-afternoon; while he was not nearly as good with a compound bow, accuracy had to be sacrificed for stealth. The last thing they needed was the report of a rifle alerting anyone within earshot of their presence. He'd tucked a pistol and hunting knife into his belt as well, but if all went smoothly, he would not have to use either.

A quick scan of the area confirmed that Aurelia had not yet arrived. Aras set down the bow case and, leaning against the trunk of a sturdy-looking young tree, waited. Thoughts and questions whirled about in a veritable mental cacophony, but he did his best to tune them out. First, they would do what they were sent to do; thinking could come later.

[DesperateDark]

They had parted ways when the two Hunters left the Nine Muses. Aurelia went back to Reyes' house while Aras told her that he would be heading back to his apartment. They'd meet up in half an hour at the boarder of the meadows where it met the pine forest, but in that half hour, they both needed to get ready.

Upon arriving at the Japanese man's house, she quickly found that he wasn't home by him not running out to tackle her when she came in. All the better, she supposed; there was no need to explain to Reyes why she was hauling weapons out. She quickly changed clothes from more casual to darker shades; mostly blacks and murky greens to blend in. Camouflage, of course, is important. Aurelia also made sure she put on a sturdy belt and got her machete and set of throwing knives. She debated for a minute whether to borrow Reyes' katana, but decided she didn't need it.

Pulling her hat farther over her eyes, she headed out and locked the door behind her. Her only option was to get to the meadow by foot; Reyes had taken his motorcycle to wherever he went, he didn't have a car and he didn't have a bike. Aurelia went north, thankful that Reyes' house was already near the woods.

In her mind, this was one of the strangest ways she had ever gotten to know somebody. But she'd get over it, because that was her job. Aurelia normally worked alone, and it was mostly to clean up after other Hunters, so she didn't know how good she would cope with the new situation. It was good that she knew the forest, so that was why they sent her with Aras.

Being so distracted by her thoughts, and trying to figure out the information she was given, she nearly ran into a car. It was parked in a secluded area, so it was probably Aras'. Running for the last bit, she finally came to the large meadow bordered by the woods. Aurelia knew she was a bit late, so it came as no surprise when she saw her hunting partner had already arrived.

"We're looking for three Innocent shifters," light talk would come later, they had a job to do. "Lynx, hyena and serval. I hope you know what a serval is. Target location is by a stream northeast in the forest. Kill, then clean up. Questions, comments?"

[Aras|Ofelia]

He greeted her with a simple nod this time. Sparing no time for pleasantries, Aurelia went straight to business, rattling off the basics of their mission. Her information coincided with that which he had been given. Another nod. "They travel together, so we'll have to take them all out at about the same time." Little chance of them scattering; based on their informant, the three were a tight-knit group, more likely to seek revenge than to turn tail and run. The main concern was finishing them off quickly so the others wouldn't get the chance to attack while he and Aurelia were preoccupied with another.

He picked up the case, following a half-pace behind Aurelia as she struck out in a northeasterly direction. She was familiar with the forest, he'd been told, and her strides were deliberate and confident.

"Your weapons?" Aras asked, picking his way among the twisted roots wrestling along the forest floor. Humus and decomposing needles and muffled their footsteps, making their passage silent save for his voice. "I've a compound bow, hunting arrows. A knife and pistol, too, for backup." She didn't look like she was carrying a lot; hopefully, she had some sort of ranged weapon on hand that wasn't a firearm.

And finally, the question that had been bothering him ever since they'd brought up the topic at the cafe: "And your talisman?"

It was quite ironic, really. Now that he was able to ask without hesitation, he was no longer certain he really wanted to know. He almost preferred it when he was in the dark about her allegiances; the label of 'Hunter' weighed heavily in his mind, although it would have been worse for him if she were and Innocent. It would have, however, been much simpler if they were both neutral--but that was no more than wishful thinking.

[DesperateDark]

"Your weapons?" he inquired, before listing off his own. She guessed that the bow was what was in the black case, and that it was his primary weapon for this mission. That would do, and the backup was good too. "Throwing knives and the same machete you're already acquainted with. First aid kit if we need it." Then again, maybe she should've brought Reyes' katana, or one of the other weapons he stored in the house. Maybe even his uchiwa.

"And your talisman?"

A long, thick silence followed. She nearly stopped dead in her tracks if she weren't being driven on by the job at hand. The answer to his question was simple enough, but whether she wanted to answer him or not was the hard part. Rarely did she answer that question in the first place, much less a person she initially just met. But if they were in this hunt together, there had to be trust, whether she liked it or not.

"I can ask you the same. Later though." She opted for later, mostly because he would find out in the end anyways. Unless he was willing to go and eat their prey afterwards, she had to do it, and like hell she was doing something like that in human form.

And, it seemed, they had arrived at their designated location. The Innocents had yet to arrive, but they would be here soon. They would need to stay discreet, and there was plenty of foliage to provide cover. "Okay, get your stuff ready and find a place to aim from. Up in a tree preferably, but I'll take the bushes. They should be here in a good hour, more or less, so keep on your toes."

She walked lightly along the edge of the stream, making sure not to make footprints that were too obvious and hoping Aras had enough sense to do the same. Unlike Aras, who's hearing was probably fine, she needed to find a place where she could still see. Her hearing was shot and she was mostly considered half deaf. Thank you komodo talisman.

Location to hide selected, she ducked in and waited to either see them, or some sign that Aras had spotted the roving gang first.

[Aras|Ofelia]

The vulture, uncharacteristically silent, raised its head and glowered at the mention of the machete. It had clearly not put the incident behind it, but it knew better than to divert Aras' attention in the middle of a mission. He needed all the help he could get, and that included not being distracted by shrill warnings if he was in no immediate danger. So it opted to keep quiet (which Lammergeiers usually were--it was just Aras' luck to be saddled with a particularly talkative one).

It could, however, still raise a fuss afterward.

While Aurelia's reluctance to tell him her talisman was understandable--he himself felt much the same way, after all--it was a bit frustrating. Like hell we're telling her, his talisman grumbled. A slight frown creased his features, but he didn't press the matter. If she planned on using her animal form in combat, she would have told him. In that case, it wouldn't have been a matter of trust; it would have been a matter of rationality and good judgment. Withholding such information would have compromised the mission. Armed as she was, she was evidently planning on fighting in human form.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. The place was unfamiliar; Aras rarely entered the forest, and the few times he did, he'd never traveled this deep. It took him a minute or two to select a tree for a proper hiding place. It had to be solid enough for him to climb; the branches and leaves had to provide enough cover but not impair his line of sight.

Finding a tree a good many meters west of the cluster of bushes into which Aurelia had crouched, he hauled himself onto a stable branch, pulling the bow case up after him by means of a length of rope. Quiver at his hip, bow strapped to his left wrist and trigger to his right, he was left with the tricky job of securing the case to the branches. It was an ungainly task, and the result could only be described as a chaotic snarl of rope, but it worked.

Now came the waiting. By their given estimate, they had about a half-hour until the targets showed up. The three were creatures of habit, visiting the stream at more or less the same time every day.

He didn't use the time to think. He merely stared absently at the stream, watching the clear water carry bits of debris downstream and out of sight. A flicker of motion, but a false alarm--a pair of mourning doves had taken wing, settling on an adjacent tree, their soft coos subsiding after a while.

Fifteen minutes more. With an inaudible sigh, he nocked an arrow and clasped the trigger to the string. He didn't bother checking the time after that.

The lynx appeared first, followed closely by the hyena. The serval was the last to come into sight, bounding behind its fellows.

Taking his best estimate, Aras adjusted the sight to accommodate the distance. He drew back the string, took careful aim--

--and a feathered cannonball came screaming at his face.

The shot went wide.

[DesperateDark]

Aurelia watched in silence as Aras made his way west until he was at the very edge of her visual range. She took note of the tree he had hauled himself onto, then turned her attention further back upstream. She decided against using the time to think because she might ‘zone out’ and be put at a disadvantage. Instead, she counted the number of leaves and sticks that went floating by. Her stillness was lent to her by her komodo dragon.

Half an hour, fifty seven leaves and twenty eight sticks downstream later; a faint movement in her peripherals drew her eye. The lynx made an appearance first, padding along silently near the stream, followed by the hyena and the serval jumping along happily behind them.

Focusing, licked her lips once, she felt the prickle of the scales just under her skin. Aurelia was about to jump out, wanting to take down the lynx first, when there was a muffled whump sound, followed by the shriek of a bird of prey and choice words uttered by none other then Aras.

Aras’ shot had gone wide, and it just clipped the lynx’s nose before scraping her cheek and impaling itself in a tree behind her. She froze, stunned for a moment, before swiftly swiping the back of her hand across her cheek. It was confirmed that there were a number of rivulets of blood trickling from the fresh cut, and she grit her teeth. If Aras turned out to be a double agent, she would have his ass.

“Arthur, you idiot.” Aurelia breathed between her teeth.

But it was a few hairs off the side of his head for a bit of skin off her cheek, and she could deal with that. The first blood drawn was hers, and from an ally not the less and that was what bothered her. But again, she would deal with it and with another swipe of her palm across her cheek; she jumped out, phasing into her komodo form in a quick thirty seconds.

Komodo instincts took over, and the first thing she aimed for was the underside of the serval’s throat, who was unfortunate enough to be closest to her. Aurelia used her tail to knock the lynx down when it advanced at her, still chomping down on the serval in her mouth. The hyena, however, was running downstream towards the tree Aras was in.

Now that she got the chance to glance at it, she realized that Aras was being dive-bombed by some sort of large brown and creamy coloured bird and the hyena was heading towards them. The guy was competent; he could probably deal with that himself. Aurelia had her claws full with the serval and the lynx for now.

The poison in her saliva would probably kill the serval off, so she let it go and lunged at the lynx instead.

[Aras|Ofelia]

He didn't even see where his shot went because the shrieking blur was diving at his face again. Swearing with surprising fluency, he instinctively raised an arm to shield his face. Talons and beak tore at his sleeve and skin. The bow was weighing his other arm down; he needed to get it free before he could properly defend himself.

A swipe at the raptor made it release its grip and loop around for another pass at him, buying Aras enough time to work off the straps on his bow arm. The bow fell, clattering on a few branches before landing on the ground with a thump. He reached for a weapon--

--but the bird, still screaming, was going for his eyes now, and with a shout and a curse, he had grabbed hold of something and was swinging it in front of his face. The action, however, was enough to make him lose his already-precarious balance, and before he could right himself, the bird was upon him and he was falling.

By the time he regained his bearings, he was lying face-up on the forest floor, the blanket of needles having somewhat cushioned his fall. Black spots danced at the edges of his vision, and his mind vaguely registered the snarls and hisses of a fight nearby. Hurriedly pushing himself up into a half-sitting position--the world wobbled sickeningly, and he shut his eyes for a few seconds in an effort to make his head stop spinning--he quickly checked for any injuries. Astonishingly, the fall had not resulted in any broken bones. Something--obviously blood--trickled down the sides of his face, and his hand was still clutching an arrow. But there was no blood on the tip, which only had to mean...

The hawk came at him once more. Aras swung his arm in a swift arc, and the arrow caught the bird full in the chest.

He didn't even get the chance to take a deep breath or two before the hyena was on him, jaws fastening around his upper arm.

[DesperateDark]

Aurelia drew back, head raised and mouth opened in a hiss. She had received multiple cuts and scratches along her face, neck and shoulders. However, the lynx seemed to have it a bit worse. It's front left leg was pretty much shredded, it's ear was shredded and it's side along it's ribcage was getting pretty close.

The komodo hissed and lunged again, but turned it's head when it suddenly heard Aras screaming once again. It had subsided for a little while, but as it was now, he was on the ground and the hyena was shaking him by his upper arm. There was a decent amount of blood coming from his bicep where the teeth went in, and she began to dart in his direction before her talisman stopped her.

We've got other tasks here, he can take care of himself.[/b]

But by looking at the state Aras was in, she was tempted to disagree. So she did disagree and lunged in his direction, transforming from a komodo dragon back to a human quickly, drawing her machete from her belt on the way. The hyena noticed her advance, but reacted too slowly to get out of the way. It did, however, react fast enough to keep it's head from popping off like a bottle cap.

Aurelia brought the blade down on it's neck, but it moved and she knew immediately it wasn't going to work the way she planned. She hit it's vertebra at the wrong angle, so she was unable to send the animals' head rolling. The hyena released Aras' bloodied arm and bolted towards the lynx while Aurelia turned to Aras. There was a bird lying nearby with an arrow sticking out of it's chest, but she would deal with that later. She grabbed Aras violently by the collar of his jacket and pulled his face close to hers.

"Listen Anthony, don't you dare die on me or I will never forgive you." She ground out between her clenched teeth before dropping him and grabbing her machete again. Aurelia had cuts all over her face, neck and arms, and Aras' upper arm wasn't looking so hot either, but somewhere in the world there was a cat pushing a watermelon out of a lake, therefore, their argument was invalid.

The hyena looked up at her, along with the lynx when she began to run towards them with her machete in hand. The hyena shot the lynx one last sad look before the cat batted at it's nose; telling it to go. The lynx was in no condition to run, and the message was obvious. The hyena bolted into the woods, and Aurelia darted after it; sparing one last glance over her shoulder to make sure the lynx wasn't going after Aras.

Damn, it was going after him. But she couldn't let the hyena get away, so as much as she didn't like to, she had to leave it to Aras... Like he displayed how perfectly capable he was with defending himself just a few minutes ago with the falcon and the hyena.

[Melissa|Tristan]

Her trusty backpack slung over her shoulder, Melissa's soft footfalls barely made any noise as she walked over the carpet of pine needles. Everything seemed peaceful, but she knew that the forest was only pretending, like everything else in the world. There was only silence as she moved towards the stream, her backpack weighing heavily on her shoulders. Everything she couldn't live without was in the bag, because her flat was no longer safe to live in. The police had set up a surveillance system for the building, but if Vicky came back like she'd said she would then they would arrive too late to do anything for her. She'd already be gone.

There was a stream up ahead, and Mel angled towards it, looking for a nice place to get a drink. There was still a cover of trees in front of her, shielding her vision of the actual banks, and she'd just thought about setting her heavy load down when there was a shriek from somewhere nearby. Instantly sinking into a crouch near the ground, Mel carefully crept forward, towards the sound. Idiot! We should be going the other way, you know...away from the scary noise? Her talisman continued to rant in this manner while Melissa's body sank closer and closer to the ground until she was practically army crawling between the trees.

There were snarling and spitting noises coming from up ahead, and the more frightening the sounds became the more frantic her talisman got. We really should go; it's none of our business anyways. Please, please, please can we leave? With a firm mental 'No!' from Melissa it still didn't settle, but held it's tongue for the time being. Finally reaching a gap in the trees where she could see, Mel came upon the grossest sight ever. There were four animals and one person present, and it was obvious that they had been fighting. By the mismatch of animals, Mel knew that they were Hunters and Innocents fighting each other. There was a lynx, who appeared to be hurt pretty badly, a hyena, who seemed to be doing fine, a serval, who looked like it was dead . . . or nearly there, and some sort of large lizard, who'd transformed into an Asian woman. How many Asian people are there in this town?

The woman was running towards the only other human present, a man with blood running down his arm, which the hyena seemed to have just released. Listen Anthony, don't you dare die on me or I will never forgive you. So the man's name was Anthony. Well, one name was better than none, and as Mel watched the lynx send the hyena away, with the woman in hot persuit, she couldn't help but feel sorry for all parties involved. Moving out of her hiding place behind the tree a little, she moved carefully towards the man, coming to an abrupt halt when she saw his bloodied face. Aras. Stunned, Mel froze where she was, not moving a single muscle. The woman had called him Anthony. Who are you? Keeping one eye on the lynx, Mel's question was for both of them. Are you okay? There was a lot of blood coming from Anthony's Aras's? arm, reminding Mel of what her own injury had looked like before. With blood everywhere, Mel didn't touch anything. The thought of staining her hands with someone else's pain made her want to get sick.

[Aras|Ofelia]

He knew there was absolutely no way he was going to escape the hyena's hold until it was dead, or close to it. But he sure as hell was going to try. Unfortunately for him, the hyena had had enough sense to go for his dominant arm, and Aras was having an excruciating time trying to reach his knife with his left hand. His fingers would brush the sheath a couple of times, but the hilt was angled the wrong way and the hyena was literally gnawing on his arm; he cried out even as he kicked and twisted, trying in vain to get a hold of the knife before the creature could put the bone-crushing power of its jaws to work.

There was the sound of blade hitting flesh and bone, and hyena jerked violently to the side. Releasing its grip, it fled. Aras barely had time to contemplate this sudden change when he was snatched by the collar and pulled upright. Aurelia's cross expression filled his field of vision.

"Listen Anthony, don't you dare die on me or I will never forgive you," she growled.

"Aras," he corrected without thinking, "and I don't intend to." The level tone was obviously forced.

As Aurelia dashed off in pursuit of the hyena, he drew his knife, hissing in pain when the movement upset his wound even further. Transferring the weapon to his left hand, he turned to face the lynx, who was coming to finish the job its companion had begun. That it seemed to be in worse condition than he was a slight relief; its gait was unsteady, with a pronounced limp. Aurelia had managed to do a fair amount of damage before she'd come to his aid.

"Are you okay?"

For a moment, Aras thought that Aurelia had returned. The voice, however, was coming from the direction opposite of which she had run, and his partner would never be caught dead sounding so timid. An intrepid passerby added yet another complication to their already-bungled mission--but he would deal with her later.

"Get out of here," he growled at the newcomer. Taking advantage of the distraction, the lynx lunged. It was met with a booted foot in its face and a blade between its ribs. Blood filling its lung, it knew it had lost. It made one last go for Aras' throat. He ducked down and thrust the knife upward.

The lynx landed heavily on its side and lay still.

Turning his head away from the corpse, Aras took several deep breaths. A quick assessment of his injuries: a chewed-up arm that made it feel like his right arm were about to detach mid-humerus and more scratches, courtesy of the hawk, than he could count. Not to mention that his body probably had yet to realize what sort of damage the fall had caused. As much as he wanted to curl up somewhere warm and safe right now, there was the matter of the hapless bystander--who clearly had not heeded his order--with which he had to deal.

He looked up, saw Melissa, and swore.

[DesperateDark]

Aurelia sat on a rock, her elbow against her knee as she stared blankly at the hyena corpse that lay in front of her. She took a deep drag of her cigarette and let the smoke float from her mouth in a plume before flicking the butt away from her. The Vietnamese woman had finished her job that she had set out to do, and she thought that maybe she could sit here for a bit longer and relax a bit.

With a deep sigh, she picked up the hyena's body by the hole in it's neck and grabbed it's severed head by the mane, careful of her thumb. The hyena had given her a nasty bite that had nearly torn off half her hand, but she had decapitated it just in time. Despite coming out on top, she was anything but unscathed. If Aras had somehow been killed by the already nearly dead lynx back there... Well, she didn't want to think about it at the moment. Her gait was slower and had a slight limp to it, but she managed to get back to the side of the stream in good time.

There was another person there. A woman, blond hair, standing near Aras. Damn, did he call for reinforcements? Was he really a double agent? A gruff, almost defeated sigh as she dragged the hyena's corpse and head out, dumping both bloody and gruesome items next to the mauled serval. She walked over to Aras, grabbed the lynx and threw it into the growing pile of bodies, along with the hawk laying nearby. Their informants had failed to mention the hawk, but she would worry about that later; she had other things on her hands right now.

Aurelia ignored the new arrival, and instead crouched down next to Aras and took his arm; taking a quick examination. She was no doctor, but she learned a thing or two after getting injured multiple times herself on missions, and a few things from Reyes. The man's arm was beyond her ability to repair, and all she could do was stem the bleeding so he wouldn't die from shock or blood loss.

Being as quick as she could, Aurelia went over to the bush she had crouched in and grabbed the first aid kit, knelt back at Aras' side and began to rifle through it. Just her luck, there was nothing she could use to staunch the blood flow of his arm.

A pause as Aurelia tried to figure out what she could use as a tourniquet, before she reached for Aras' pants. Well, not his pants in particular, but more like his belt. She unclipped the sheath of his knife from his belt, tossed it aside and proceeded to undo and take off the belt, dearly hoping that Aras wouldn't take it the wrong way.

Once the belt was free, she wrapped it around his upper arm--an inch or two above where the bit marks started--and began to tighten it a little before turning back to Aras. "This is gonna hurt a little." Was the only warning he got before she tugged it hard, tightening it and tying it off when it was wound tight enough to cut off the blood flow. Makeshift tourniquet, check.

Next, she grabbed an unlabeled bottle from the first aid kit and unscrewed the cap. The strong smell of rubbing alcohol nearly overpowered the metallic scent of blood. Nearly. The scent of death still hung heavily in the air.

"Okay," Aurelia eased him down until he was mostly laying on his back, then knelt with one leg on his chest and another shin across his wrist so he wouldn't jerk his arm too much. "This is gonna hurt like a bitch, so try not to cry like a little girl."

There was a pause as she let the information sink in, then she took a wad of cotton from the box, poured the rubbing alcohol onto it--a curse as some of it seeped into the tear on her palm--and pressed it into the gore on Aras' arm.

[Melissa|Tristan]

Blood was everywhere. The ground seemed covered with the slick substance, and even some of the trees were spattered with it. The scene was like something out of a horror film, and Mel wished it would dissolve like a bad dream. She closed her eyes tightly for a minute, but when she reopened them the sight was still before her, clear as ever. In fact, everything was clearer than before.

Aras's growling at her did nothing to make her move. In fact, it did the complete opposite. Hoever, the blood pumping out of Aras's arm did mobilize her. The only problem was that at the same time as she finally moved forward, so did the lynx. As it lunged for Aras, she let out a yell. I won't let you hurt him! As she jumped forward (with no plan whatsoever) it seemed that she wasn't necissary. Aras simply pulled out a knife. Mel's eyes squeezed shut tight blocked the images, but not the sounds of it's violent death. If I don't see it, it isn't real. It isn't real. It isn't real. If only that was true.

The only sounds now were a rustling, and Aras's voice swearing. Obviously he'd seen and recognized her, though since her eyes were still tightly shut she had no way to be sure. The bushes rustling off to the side agravated her talisman enough for it to almost force her eyes open, so Mel caught sight of the Asian woman entering the area carrying the decapitated hyena's corpse. Wheeling around and racing for the trees, Mel got almost 100 meters away before giving in to the basic urge to throw up.

Her entire body was trembling both from the sudden sick feeling she'd gotten in her stomach region, and the sounds of the lynx's death still echoing in her ears. She spent the next couple of minutes on the ground, trying to control her body again. Backpack. I need my backpack. Moving slower than a snail through the trees, Mel finally reached the spot where she'd dropped her backpack and carefully picked it up. One voice had become clear, and it was female. Better not to cause any more problems for them, since Aras obviously hadn't wanted any intruders around. Eyes shut again so that she wouldn't glimpse any more carnage, Mel moved far too fast. Taking two steps back, she tripped and fell backwards with a yelp, landing on more pine needles slick with blood. Who it belonged to was another question altogether.

[Aras|Ofelia]

Before he could think of anything to say (that didn’t involve a profanity for every other word, at any rate) Melissa had turned heel and bolted. The faint but unmistakable sounds of retching came from somewhere in the distance, and Aras tuned it out without a second thought. He was in no state to go after her, even if he wanted to. All he could do was dread their subsequent meeting.

He couldn’t, however, forget the way that she had moved to help him without hesitation when the lynx had leaped. Had it been simple altruistic instinct, or did she think so much of him that she would not betray his secret, even after all she’d witnessed here? He didn’t know, nor could he really ask. The girl was doubtlessly traumatized at the scene, too; any attempt to get a coherent answer out of her would fail tremendously.

He said nothing when he saw that Aurelia had returned, only stared blankly at the remains of the hyena she was dragging along behind her. The urge to hurl at such carnage had long faded after the first few missions, and he merely watched numbly as she tossed all the bodies into a bloody pile. The vulture didn’t utter a word either, but it seemed to be eyeing the corpses with—No, Aras snapped at his talisman. It turned a baleful eye at him but didn’t comment.

The rest of cleanup could wait until later, evidently. Aurelia moved to crouch next to him. Aras grimaced—from the pain as well as the sight of the rather nasty condition he was in—when she lifted his arm to examine his wound. It was clear to both that she was in no way equipped with the proper supplies or knowledge to take care of it properly. All she would be able to do was staunch the bleeding to the best of her ability before they rushed off to the clinic. She didn’t appear to be doing too well, either, but since his right arm was essentially useless at this point, he would be of little, if any, help to her.

She brought over the first-aid kit, brow wrinkling in consternation when she failed to find anything that would effectively slow the bleeding. A moment’s thought; then, without a word, she began working off his belt. Too enervated to react as anyone normally would have, Aras gaped at her for several seconds before comprehension dawned. Right. Bleeding. Tourniquet.

A sharp intake of breath when she pulled the belt tight around his arm, above the wound. And he very well knew the worst was yet to come. The pungent sting of rubbing alcohol reached his nose, and he gritted his teeth in apprehension.

"This is gonna hurt like a bitch, so try not to cry like a little girl."

It hurt like a bitch. Thankfully, Aurelia had had enough sense to pin him down before she applied the disinfectant, because it was all Aras could do not to swing at her with his other arm, much less keep the injured one still. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of writhing and shouting and a shameless string of rather foul cursewords involved. He did, however, possess enough self-control not to cry—but that might have been a more matter of trying to regain his battered dignity than one of restraint.

[DesperateDark]

Aurelia didn’t hear the girl run off, nor did she hear her puking her guts in the bushes over Aras’ shrieking and cursing when the disinfectant was applied. Even in her half-deafened state, she could still pick out every word he was saying. To her surprise, there were a variety of languages and she even singled a couple of Vietnamese ones (”Con di me may!” and ”Di chet di!") that were badly mispronounced but still made her laugh anyways. But he didn’t cry, and she was glad that she wouldn’t be forced to lose all faith in the man.

After a few more seconds of holding it on, she figured that was enough and removed the cotton and sat on the ground beside him. “You know, if you’re going to insult my mother and then tell me to go and die, at least pronounce it right.” Aurelia sounded serious at first, but then the corners of her lips curled into a faint smile as she began stroking his sticky, blood matted hair absently for a few minutes.

Getting to the job at hand once more, Aurelia loosened the belt a few notches so his arm wouldn’t die, but it wouldn’t bleed spontaneously either, and took out her machete again. Without a word, she cut off the shreds of his jacket sleeve and put the blade away before reaching for the magical healing box once again. Sterile white gauze was soon wrapped tightly over his wound and tied securely.

Moving on to his forearms, more cotton and disinfectant. She didn't bother to pin him down this time, just held him by his wrists and rubbed the liquid in quickly and hoped she wouldn't get slapped. Aras' face next, and she helped him up into a sitting position before taking more cotton, dousing it in more disinfectant and rubbing it into the scratches on his face. After a few minutes of trying to dab the liquid on his face and Aras trying to dodge it, she finally got a decent result by just rubbing it on his face and not specific cuts.

Leaning back a bit, making sure she had done what she could, Aurelia pulled out a cigarette, offered one to Aras before lighting her own. “Your job is done here. We need to get you to the clinic, tell them you were attacked by wild animals or something, and I’ll come back here to clean up… Unless you can wait a bit longer, then I can stay with you at the clinic. Your call.”

The woman found that she was talking a decent amount on this mission, while others she kept quiet. Her komodo had probably taken into it’s head that she was in charge of this one since her partner had fallen out of a tree, nearly gotten mauled and proven that she could’ve done all this on her own in general. But then again, her talisman seemed to hate Aras. She flicked the butt away from her.

“Who was that?” Aurelia leaned over and began to check his injury again after five minutes. She couldn’t leave the tourniquet on for too long or it would destroy the limb, but she had to keep it on long enough so the blood would stop spraying all over the place. “Don’t let me find out you’re a double agent, okay? Or else it’ll hurt more then that disinfectant.” No, it was not a threat, only a warning.

“There, that's most of what I can do for now," Aurelia threw the items back into the box and turned back to Aras. "You feel like you can walk, or do I have to carry you, Mr. Duval?”

[Melissa|Tristan]

Not wanting any other parts of her body to touch the slick pine needles, it took Melissa several tense minutes to get up. Besides not wanting to touch them, trying not to look at them made things even more difficult. At one point she had her body suspended off the ground with her hands on a nearby tree trunk, and her feet supporting her. It was like some sort of super hard plank, and her feet slipped a couple of times. Woefully Mel realized that she would have to throw out her shoes when she got home.

Until she remembered that she couldn't go home, thanks to Vicky. A couple of expletives escaped her mouth as she finally stood upright, and she kicked the tree in frustration. What am I gonna do now? Her talisman had been thinking the same thing, but neither of them had an answer. We should go wash off first, so we don't go around scaring people. HEr talisman was right in this case, so Mel picked up her backpack, taking great care not to touch it with her hands.

No sooner had she begun moving in the direction of the stream than she heard a voice begin yelling swear words, including ones she'd never heard of before, and even some in another language. The voice was unmistakable. Aras. If he was in some kind of trouble . . . With this thought in mind, Mel moved through the trees as fast as she could without falling. You're gonna be okay, you're gonna be okay... Saying it like a chant to herself, Mel gathered what was left of her bravery and stepped back into the clearing. Upon entering the clearing, the sight and smells of the carnage swept over her again. Trying not to gag, Mel moved more quickly in the open, and raced towards where Aras was laying on the ground with the Asian woman practically on top of him.

Noting the tourniquet made out of a belt, Mel moved within hearing range, keeping her backpack on her body in case she needed to take off. You're hurting him! Her tone accusatory, her expression worried for Aras, she moved a couple of hesitant steps closer. While she was focused on Aras and the woman, her cheetah was looking at . . . other things. Usually it preferred live prey, but it was willing to make exceptions in curcumstances like these. No! There were hyena's in Africa, and they tasted pretty good. No! It wouldn't really be considered killing them, since they were already dead. No! It was pretty hungry, since it hadn't eaten since that granola bar at breakfast...NO!

It took several seconds for her to realize that she'd shouted out loud, as well as in her head, and when she did a familiar blush covered her face. Ignoring it, she moved around the opposite side of Aras to the Asian woman, noting his pale colour and the blood coming from his arm. Speaking to him, she tried not to mumble. Sorry I . . . didn't . . sorry. She wasn't sure if there had been anything she could have done, but there was a guilty knot in her stomach nonetheless.