[u]Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon[/u]

Emily

Emily’s eyes had spied the final member of her team, a man dressed in heavy clothes and wearing a scarf to protect against the desert sand. She made a note to keep an eye on the man. Mainly because she didn’t want him passing out, the heat and heavy clothes didn’t exactly fit well together-at least from what she’s discovered- but the way he looked, Emily didn’t want to chance suggesting anything. Risking conflict now would’ve been troublesome later on. Fran’s high pitch squeak to Diane had Emily’s attention return to the giddy pair, her expression trying to be polite. She caught the compliment about Soule and its decision in co-habiting; her thoughts came back to the payment to achieve it. 

 “Sometimes I wonder if it was worth the price.” Emily said simply. 

Her tone held a slight bitterness and depression, her thoughts broken by the rumbling sound. It started out small and grow, the sand rose and broke the surface in a sandy cloud. Emily’s eyes quickly closed as her gauntlets shielded her face, half expected to feel a Sand Drake’s break attempting to drag her underground by her foot. Her eyes slowly opened, cautiously peeking to see who emerged from the clearing dust: Sean and his bladed Ragworm. The man dismounted and stepped forward from the lounging worm, the creature’s large bulk settled upon the sand, while shaking the sand away. Emily quickly noted the differences in his appear compared to the last time she had met him. His form had thins, his skin suffered several more scratches and burns but most notable was the fact his clothes had been torn largely in places. To her, the man looked as if he was on the run after a fight. Her eyes focused on the large tears, noting how it seemed something with large claws had ripped through them in place. Emily’s skin slightly took on a paler color at her suspicions of who might’ve caused them. 

At Sean’s blunt question, Cerberus snarled and tensed. She watched her spirit loomed over the man that casted guilt towards his holder, his fangs pointlessly bared and encouraged by Emily’s familiar guilt rise again. He had told her several times death was a natural part of life even if she caused it. Needless to say, it didn’t endear her view on him or fact she wouldn’t trust him this time, preferring to leave the negotiations and chatter to Fran then risk Cerberus increasing the death toll. 

“Things have become more complicated and if it wasn’t necessary we wouldn’t be here.” Emily said before the others could reply, her next words were hardest to say. It had taken weeks to even reflect on the Mother of the Dunes mission and now, she felt that heavy feeling once more stab into her heart, “After what happened last time, I won’t make the same mistake of trusting my spirit again.”