Same People, New Beginnings (Private, Anima)

[Vincent Clemens]

Well today had been a rather eventful day, first he tries to rob a guy and then he abruptly gets disrupted by two women from two different groups. The since then the man had been more weary to jump people around here, seeing that the first time hadn't gone all too well, he'd rather not have a repeat. Plus he probably shouldn't be jumping people anyway, despite his need to survive it wasn't quite right. Then again, what was right in their world? Plus he would bet that the man he jumped would do the same if he had the chance. His conscience was going to get him killed someday he swore.

The sky was growing dark and the man had made preparations for the night, a small fire boiling water and cooking a skinned rabbit for him and his Molle backpack off to the side next to a cot. He was situated in a small grove, hidden from any eyes out in the flatlands. Vincent had taken off his jacket and laid it over his backpack, welcoming the cool air on his exposed arms. He sat with the fire before him, his sawed off shotgun laying beside him as he examined his knife for any rust. Despite his current task at hand, he found himself looking over his shoulder every so often to make sure there wasn't someone sneaking up behind him. He wasn't worried about any wild animals, his fire should be enough to keep them away, but the only thing that would keep away hungry people would be his gun, and even that that didn't always work. Which was why he had to stay alert, especially while his fire still burned.

[ANIMA]

[align=center][div style="width: 400px;"][align=left]Today had been an eventful day. Not a positively eventful day, seen as her patrol had led her to find two members of the Badlands and a random stranger. All of them had left without trouble - something that was good. She didn't want the Badlands coming to try and torment the Wild Hunt, even if the Hunters would outmatch the Badlands in the forests and in the plains. War wasn't a good thing for her group, despite their name's connotations.

Besides, the Council would not be impressed. She didn't exactly feel like being kicked of her own home, the only family that she'd ever known. The world was harsh now, she didn't feel like being a solo huntress for real. After all, there were many people who didn't want to simply wish you well out in the wilds. She would likely inspire them to do some of the worst things.

Still, she saw a fire out in the distance. It had been a long day, and that meant that she was going to investigate the fire. It was a little too close to the Hunt's camp for comfort, that meant that she had to check that it wasn't a raiding party or something. So as per usual, one arrow was nocked onto the string of her bow, fletchings made of Tsumi's feathers for aesthetic purposes before she decided to show herself again.

She huffs and there's a short laugh. "It's you again. You're close to our lands stranger."

[spoiler=INFORMATION]GENERAL:
— anima blair
— female | she/her | assigned female
— biromantic bisexual | female preference
— huntress of the wild hunt
— "queen of crows" / "magpie" / "sharpshooter"
— bonded to a female eurasian sparrowhawk named tsumi
— also has several magpies, named numerically from 1 to 10

APPEARANCE :
— main fc - choi sooyoung
— other fcs - riven ( league of legends ), lightning farron ( ffxiii ), crowe altius ( ffxv ), cirilla ( witcher )
— anima looks like a huntress. from the white facepaint that she regularly dons to her figure, well muscled and toned. her hair is kept shorter than most, tied up in a small scruffy bun at the back her head and her fringe is left down. she has green eyes, sharp facial features and stands at a rather modest 5"5. her legs are quite long for her size whilst her torso is on the shorter side.
— she tends to wear "comfortable" clothing - this ranges from warm coats in the bitter cold to hoodies in warmer weather. she likes leggings, but will also regularly don light armour. she wears one steel pauldron constantly on her right arm and an armguard upon her left forearm to stop wear and tear from her bow. her right hand is often found with a glove to protect her fingers.
— anima has two amulet for protection. one is tied to her bow and is red in colour, dedicated so that her arrows will not miss their mark and is an Onamori. the other is a small amulet that represents a zenko kitsune and is worn as a necklace tucked under her clothes.

PERSONA :
— forest ranger, friendly sniper
— like most hunters, anima is not a welcoming figure to most outsiders. she meets strangers with harsh words and tends to distance herself from there. when meeting them, an arrow is likely nocked in her bow. she will not attack without being provoked and will not reveal much about herself. she is quiet around strangers, acting as a hunter and not as a person.
— to whose who are a member of the hunt or friends of her's, she tends to become more talkative. she has a slightly offensive but still good natured sense of humour, a casual attitude towards death and injury. she loves her birds to a great degree and tends to talk about them at length. she is usually willing to help out her friends, and her methods may not be... Orthodox or even particularly moral at times, but she will do her best

COMBAT & INTERACTIONS :
— fights with two weapons
    — a shortbow
    — single handed sword
— more proficient with the bow than the sword, can reasonably hold her own with a blade against unskilled and reasonably skilled opponents
— prefers to attack from cover, stealth over open combat
— does not fight fair, will use insults and other tricks ( poisons, knives, dirt ) in order to give herself the upper hand in a fight
— will often steal things from other groups, especially "valuables" such as jewelry
[/spoiler]

[Vincent Clemens]

Her voice gave him a start, damn those hunters were silent, nothing like most people out here. He supposed that was a benefit of not replying on technology. He looked up from his knife, sheathing it and turning his gaze over to the woman. "You want me to pay rent or something?" He asked, motioning to the cooking rabbit. He supposed he could share what he had, not like the rabbit had been much of a challenge to get. He didn't really care if the woman didn't like he was here, he wasn't planning on moving. He had a feeling though that his bribe wouldn't convince her to let him stay though. Their first meeting hadn't been the greatest, what with him trying to rob a Badlander, honestly though, he probably deserved it considering where he came from.

Despite their rough first encounter, he highly doubted that the huntress would attack him. He probably looked like a bad guy to her, but from how she reacted to seeing him here and how she acted when they first met, she didn't seem very likely to be violent. So despite her sword, notched arrow and the fact that she's a stranger, he was a little less on guard around here, but he made sure to note where his gun was beside him. You could never be too careful, and in the world he found himself in, that was too true.

[ANIMA]

[align=center][div style="width: 400px;"][align=left]"You could if you want to." She puts down her bow on the floor gently, half satisfied that she isn't going to be shot. She creates a ledge for her chin with her hands, elbows dug into her knees as she offers a grin that suits a shark.

"I'm staying because you're not robbing anyone here. I'm also going to use your fire or I'll tell Tsumi to take out your eyes." As if to punctuate her statement, she shouts a short phrase in Korean and the bird lands on her knitted fingers. It's not a large bird by any means, but she loves her nevertheless. "She's got sharp talons yknow."

The bird hops off onto a rock. Anima grabs her pack and digs out a rabbit that was killed a few hours ago, throwing it towards the Sparrowhawk and then digging out another for herself and a small flask.

"Besides, you should always drink with company. And you've caused enough annoyance for one day. You can call me Yokai."

[spoiler=INFORMATION]GENERAL:
— anima blair
— female | she/her | assigned female
— biromantic bisexual | female preference
— huntress of the wild hunt
— "queen of crows" / "magpie" / "sharpshooter"
— bonded to a female eurasian sparrowhawk named tsumi
— also has several magpies, named numerically from 1 to 10

APPEARANCE :
— main fc - choi sooyoung
— other fcs - riven ( league of legends ), lightning farron ( ffxiii ), crowe altius ( ffxv ), cirilla ( witcher )
— anima looks like a huntress. from the white facepaint that she regularly dons to her figure, well muscled and toned. her hair is kept shorter than most, tied up in a small scruffy bun at the back her head and her fringe is left down. she has green eyes, sharp facial features and stands at a rather modest 5"5. her legs are quite long for her size whilst her torso is on the shorter side.
— she tends to wear "comfortable" clothing - this ranges from warm coats in the bitter cold to hoodies in warmer weather. she likes leggings, but will also regularly don light armour. she wears one steel pauldron constantly on her right arm and an armguard upon her left forearm to stop wear and tear from her bow. her right hand is often found with a glove to protect her fingers.
— anima has two amulet for protection. one is tied to her bow and is red in colour, dedicated so that her arrows will not miss their mark and is an Onamori. the other is a small amulet that represents a zenko kitsune and is worn as a necklace tucked under her clothes.

PERSONA :
— forest ranger, friendly sniper
— like most hunters, anima is not a welcoming figure to most outsiders. she meets strangers with harsh words and tends to distance herself from there. when meeting them, an arrow is likely nocked in her bow. she will not attack without being provoked and will not reveal much about herself. she is quiet around strangers, acting as a hunter and not as a person.
— to whose who are a member of the hunt or friends of her's, she tends to become more talkative. she has a slightly offensive but still good natured sense of humour, a casual attitude towards death and injury. she loves her birds to a great degree and tends to talk about them at length. she is usually willing to help out her friends, and her methods may not be... Orthodox or even particularly moral at times, but she will do her best

COMBAT & INTERACTIONS :
— fights with two weapons
    — a shortbow
    — single handed sword
— more proficient with the bow than the sword, can reasonably hold her own with a blade against unskilled and reasonably skilled opponents
— prefers to attack from cover, stealth over open combat
— does not fight fair, will use insults and other tricks ( poisons, knives, dirt ) in order to give herself the upper hand in a fight
— will often steal things from other groups, especially "valuables" such as jewelry
[/spoiler]

[Vincent Clemens]

As he watches her sit down, he drags his backpack behind him and sits back on it, getting more relaxed. Her smile was a little disconcerting, but at least she wasn't waving a sword around or pointing an arrow at his face. This was actually pretty strange, he never thought he'd ever speak to a hunter, ever. They were even more isolated than him and it wasn't like he really liked them either. Hell, the only settlement he even came close to liking was either Flintlock or Saint Peter's. Saint Peter's was probably the obvious choice to like, but they were too idealistic and careless. It was only a matter of time until the Badlands swept through and killed them all. But Flintlock, they were careful, smart. Although it was really cold there and despite his old home from before the end of the known world being rather cold, he'd rather not have to deal with that now.

He raised an eyebrow as the woman mentioned "Tsumi", but before he could ask his question it was answered as a small hawk-like bird came and perched itself on the huntress. It was a pretty small bird, it didn't seem to be much of a threat other than the possible infection he could get or the loss of eyeballs. "I don't know... She looks like breakfast to me." He said, giving her a small grin as he spoke, despite it being meant as a joke, he wondered how the bird would taste smoked.

He watches the bird for a few moments, he has to saw, despite being a midget hawk, it does look pretty cool. He wondered how long it took to train such a thing, it couldn't have been easy, especially in this day and age. His hazel gaze then goes back to the woman after she tossed the bird the rabbit and he shook his hand when he saw her pull out another on. "No, you can have some of mine, it should be fully cooked by now." He said, deciding that he might as well share now that it looked like she was staying.

When she mentioned her "name" it struck a chord in his memories. "What, like the Japanese spirits?" He asked, what a strange thing to call yourself, was it supposed to be some sort of illusion that she was calling herself "ghost"? Either way, he supposed it didn't really matter, she could call herself whatever she wanted. "Eh, I'm not much of a drinker." He added, as his attention was drawn to her flask. He never really had been, it made people stupid and during a time like this, stupid was not a good trait.

[ANIMA]

[align=center][div style="width: 400px;"][align=left]( nine days late ! i think this is a record. )

"And you look like breakfast to us." She replies back without flinching, stopping to stare at him for a moment to judge whether he was serious. If he was... Then this would not a pleasant parting. After all, she had the advantage here, it was two against one. Her hawk and herself would be able to kill him, and then she'd decide whether her spirits would approve of cannibalism. She would likely think not, but that didn't mean that she couldn't feed him to her birds.

She shakes her head when she's offered. She's not taking handouts from a random stranger, they're not friends. She's simply using his campfire, making sure he doesn't try anything with any of the hunters. "I don't want your charity. Disrespectful to kill without meaning." There's a sneer to her voice, she's definitely insulted by the offer of food. It's something that seems odd to outsiders she supposed, most people in the wasteland wouldn't turn down a free meal. She was not most people, evidently.

"はい. Have you ever heard any stories about them?" She knows a few, mostly passed down from her elders. They told stories about many a demon and many a hero. There were crows that would eat all the food, leaving famine in their wake for all but the hunters would could survive upon the wildlife instead. Spirits of women that cried unnatural tears that caused bloody lilies to grow. A giant centipede the size of a mountain that breathed fire. They were hardly comforting tales, but she took upon the guise of one to make herself seem more terrifying.

Anima was terrifying in a sense, but there was scant supernatural about her. In fact, she was just a woman that was rather good with a bow. And when he refused her offer of a drink, she simply chuckled.

[Vincent Clemens]

//It's close at the very least
but don't forget the never replying, that definitely holds the record :p

He shrugged at her comment, he's heard of people getting desperate enough to eat people. He also heard that when they get a taste for human flesh that they tend to prefer it over any other. He considered the latter to be bogus, but he didn't doubt people becoming cannibals in desperate times. He really doubted that she would eat him, probably just trying to use her barbaric reputation and her rather intimidating appearance to her advantage. "I'm probably pretty stringy, I'd stick to your rabbit if I were you." He said, his tone hinting that her somewhat of a threat had very little effect on him.

He then reached forward and grabbed the spit that held the cooked rabbit. He then pulled the body off and placed it on an aluminum pan to cool. He then handing "Yokai" the stick he used as a spit, assuming she would rather use it than simply tossing the rabbit into the coals. He found it very strange that she wouldn't accept free food, as that is definitely not an offer that comes around often, especially from him. But he wasn't complaining, despite being taken aback by her tone, he was rather grateful to have the whole thing to himself. "Alright. I assume you wanna cook right? Here." He said as he handed her the stick he used as a spit.

There she went saying something he didn't know again. It was slightly unnerving not knowing what someone was saying. He really only knew english, despite him learning spanish in high school it hadn't stuck around. Luckily Yokai seemed to translate what she had first said, at least that was what he could assume. He had to shrug at this, the words struck a chord in his days in high school in mythology class, but it was only chance that he remembered that word. "Can't say I do, High school mythology was a long time from now." She obviously seemed rather interested in this sort of stuff, but sadly what he said was true. Although then again, even if he did know something, he doubted he would admit it. He'd rather not try to tell a story, especially to some stranger he hardly knew.

He then sat back again and tore off a leg from the cooked rabbit. He took a bite out of the leg and watched the woman with her alcohol and a question suddenly came to him. Swallowing the piece in his mouth he asked, "So, you're supposed to be like self sufficient, no "modern day" stuff right? Then why do you have that?" He asked, before taking another bite from the leg and then using the leg to point at the flask. He expected these people to just drink water and stuff, so seeing her with a flask of something intoxicating served as a surprise from the man.

[ANIMA]

[align=center][div style="width: 450px;"][align=left][font=arial][color=black][size=10pt]"There are people to the North of here, far north, who feast upon the flesh of strangers. They shoot them down as soon as they enter, but they only eat the ones that put up a fight." She replies, it's relevant only by the slightest tangent but she adds it nevertheless. She hated them all, blood upon blood upon corpse upon corpse. They stunk of rotting blood, blood stuck underneath their fingernails and matted upon their skin and hair. They claimed that their Gods were smiling upon them. She found it best to avoid them, or at least kill them if they were isolated enough.

She takes the spit, mostly because she doesn't have one to hand and was planning shoving it on a twig. There's a small appreciative grunt in response, before the rabbit is impaled and stuck over the fire. She doesn't really keep eye contact with the stranger, instead watching the fire, looking towards the sky, checking on Tsumi who happily tears away at her prey.

"One of the Elders used to tell me stories. When we were up in the mountains, she told about the Yuki-onna. The spirit of a woman who controlled the blizzards and storms, who lured men to an icy grave unless they offered her a place to stay in the cold. It was said that she was kind towards women though, so I decided to go and find her one day. It was not fruitful, as is expected." She may as well tell stories, it's unlikely that they'll meet after this night anyways. After all, the world is ever changing and her world is ever shifting. People outside of the Hunt don't tend to stay friends for long due to their nomadic nature.

"Stranger, every one must have their comforts. Even poor little hunters." She shrugs, it's always been a comfort thing. The sake burns, but it's warm when it's cold and it calms her nerves. Besides, she knows how to brew it, as well as other things. Rice wine isn't that hard to make, but rice is hard to find now. So it's few and far between - yet she uses it brew something that isn't a food source. She didn't claim she was smart.
[spoiler=A BLOOD MOON RISES]RECENT EVENTS:
— currently staying at the flintlock lodge after being attacked by a raiding party from the badlands

GENERAL:
— anima blair
— female | she/her | assigned female
— biromantic bisexual | female preference
— huntress of the wild hunt | currently staying in flintlock lodge
— "queen of crows" / "magpie" / "sharpshooter"
— bonded to a female eurasian sparrowhawk named tsumi
— also has several magpies, named numerically from 1 to 10

APPEARANCE :
— main fc - choi sooyoung
— other fcs - riven ( league of legends ), lightning farron ( ffxiii ), crowe altius ( ffxv ), cirilla ( witcher )
— anima looks like a huntress. from the white facepaint that she regularly dons to her figure, well muscled and toned. her hair is kept shorter than most, tied up in a small scruffy bun at the back her head and her fringe is left down. she has green eyes, sharp facial features and stands at a rather modest 5"5. her legs are quite long for her size whilst her torso is on the shorter side.
— she tends to wear "comfortable" clothing - this ranges from warm coats in the bitter cold to hoodies in warmer weather. she likes leggings, but will also regularly don light armour. she wears one steel pauldron constantly on her right arm and an armguard upon her left forearm to stop wear and tear from her bow. her right hand is often found with a glove to protect her fingers.
— anima has two amulet for protection. one is tied to her bow and is red in colour, dedicated so that her arrows will not miss their mark and is an Onamori. the other is a small amulet that represents a zenko kitsune and is worn as a necklace tucked under her clothes.

PERSONA :
— forest ranger, friendly sniper
— like most hunters, anima is not a welcoming figure to most outsiders. she meets strangers with harsh words and tends to distance herself from there. when meeting them, an arrow is likely nocked in her bow. she will not attack without being provoked and will not reveal much about herself. she is quiet around strangers, acting as a hunter and not as a person.
— to whose who are a member of the hunt or friends of her's, she tends to become more talkative. she has a slightly offensive but still good natured sense of humour, a casual attitude towards death and injury. she loves her birds to a great degree and tends to talk about them at length. she is usually willing to help out her friends, and her methods may not be... Orthodox or even particularly moral at times, but she will do her best

COMBAT & INTERACTIONS :
— fights with two weapons
    — a shortbow
    — single handed sword
— more proficient with the bow than the sword, can reasonably hold her own with a blade against unskilled and reasonably skilled opponents
— prefers to attack from cover, stealth over open combat
— does not fight fair, will use insults and other tricks ( poisons, knives, dirt ) in order to give herself the upper hand in a fight
— will often steal things from other groups, especially "valuables" such as jewelry
[/spoiler]

[Vincent Clemens]

Well that seemed stupid, from what she told him about these Northerners is that they were ridiculously inefficient. It didn't make much sense to eat the fighters if you were already eating humans, you might as well as eat the easy prey too right? Although he had his doubts that what she told him was true, simply because it could be a message to stay away from North of here; he decided he'd do just that, rather not liking to take the chances of there actually being an aggressive tribe somewhere over there. "You'd think they'd eat everyone." He said, perhaps to give somewhat of a hint that he didn't completely believe what she said.

Then she told a somewhat story of some sexist ghost woman who hated men so much that she practically killed them. Despite him showing not interest in the story whatsoever, he still had to admit he was somewhat curious why you'd want to meet a spirit like that. Sure she was kind towards women, but even if he was a woman he'd rather not take his chances with a murderous ghost. He also didn't believe in ghost, so that too would had kept him away from looking for such silly and meaningless things.

As he listened to her as he watched her bird devour it's food. How strange it was to see such a thing domesticated. That was something he had expected to die out, maybe not so much with dogs and some cats, but it seemed very rare for people to own pets anymore. He himself had let go of his own cat long ago, thinking it would stand a much better chance alone than with him. He also would rather not have to look after the thing to make sure he didn't lose it either. Despite his lack of showing interest in much other things, he pointed to the bird, deciding to show his curiosity about it. "So, how did you manage to tame that? Were you a zoo keeper or something before?" HE questioned, well aware that people didn't really like to talk about the past, especially people like this, who had changed into something completely different just to survive.

He then shrugged at how everyone has to have their own comforts. Not to sound edgy or anything, but he couldn't recall anything that he had that particularly comforted him. He had his wallet, but sadly that's become more of a painful reminder of what he never would have ever again. He was simply a lonely man with nothing much to his name and no decent habits. "I guess whatever keeps you from offing yourself." He said with a small shrug, certain that if he wasn't so scared of dying that he would have done so long ago.