Sifr

Iris Ascendis

Hildegunde's head snaps back at the scream. Her eyes widen. Time simultaneously moves too slow and too fast. Her heart thumps hard in her chest, blood rushing in her ears.

Run. Save yourself. Her own inner voice. Every fiber of her muscles cries out in solidarity.

And yet something nagged at her. A growing consciousness, those little white specks of light that Ciara hungered for? Or perhaps just guilt at the idea of being responsible, even if only in part, for else's corpse in the woods once again.

She reassesses her position in that split seconds. Their pursuer is gaining speed. Could she even manage to outrun them at this point, Chloe or no Chloe? The rebound on Chloe's end didn't inspire much confidence either in how much longer her own might hold.

"Shut up," Hildegunde hisses, which was probably a mangled attempt at urging her to save her breath. As she does, she dashes towards Chloe, focusing. Pulling on the air, then the ground. The earth surrounding Chloe would dip and rise, cobblestone tumbling away in wake of dirt and debris, roughly in the shape of a C formation, trying to pack itself solid. At the open end stood Hildegunde, back to the half-elf. By no means the sturdiest of barriers, but Hildegunde doesn't have much to work with - or much time to think things through.

Breathe. Focus. She still has a bullet left. She is a hunter, damn it. Whatever was aiming at her, if it were of flesh and blood, was just as vulnerable as she was.

She just needed to spot the thing. And if she doesn't?

If she doesn't...

She unsilences her rifle and gives her Adapa a command, sending a brief, scattered message out to all her contacts.

Forest. Help.

It was a long shot, but she tried.

She peeks over the dirt tower and straight ahead at the enemy, eyes narrowed. Looking for any inkling of a paw, the wagging of a tail, the glint of fangs. Something, anything, for her to latch onto the entity that pursued her.

Only then could she identify a target.

@Psyker Landshark@Estylwen@AThousandCurses@Nanaya@ERode

Iris Ascendis

Sorry, had an absolute comedy of errors go on on my end ranging from snowstorm that cut our power in April because fuck me to health scare with my mother 's heart to my own mental health relapse to world's most awkward and sudden reunion. I still have a lot on my plate and I still don't have laptop access so I'm writing on my phone; I should have laptop access in a few hours again. I feel really fucking bad for leaving everyone hanging, shit just happened so much forever and it slipped my mind. Stuff is still happening in all honesty but I'll try to get a post up today. If I don't I urge you to skip me because I definitely cannot on Monday because I'll be busy, and you guys have waited long enough for me to go out and ask if you can wait two more days.

Extra apology to Erode because he's been waiting on me.

Iris Ascendis

Sorry I know erode is waiting on me to reply but today has been Not Good to me so I'll try for tomorrow.

Iris Ascendis

How long had she been listening? Did it matter? If Chloe wanted to think Hildegunde had seen little - had not heard her talking to anyone - she would feign ignorance. There was no need to answer her question when she came up with her own happy falsehood.

"If you say so-" Hildegunde says, but cuts herself off. Her shoulders rise and her body tenses. The sudden rustling of bushes, the tearing of vines; Hildegunde instinctively goes on the defensive, summoning her PB. By the time arrows go flying, she had begun to run; forget gracing the quip of her attacker. For reasons she couldn't understand right away, she can feel the curling lips of her Adapa in her mind.

And then it hits her.

She was leaving Chloe behind.

Why did this bother her now? She'd have been glad to leave the half elf behind yesterday. She'd have left most anyone behind then. She had thought her classmates unwell of mind for risking their safety for each other the day before. Why did that smile compel her so against her own instincts? Why was she now doing the same?

Despite all of her own logic, Hildegunde stops in her tracks, one of the obsidian arrows whizzing past her head as she does.

"The attunement ceremony will commence in five minutes. Make your way to the leyline attunement zone, where students will familiarize themselves with Wingram's leylines and declare their choice of Wund or Nero! And speaking personally, I respect, but do not expect fashionably late individuals. That is all."

The announcement gave her a moment's hesitation. She'll be late if she stops. Ultimately, she knows she won't make it in five minutes anyways.

She makes a motion towards Chloe, gesturing for her to follow. And in case it wasn't clear enough, she punctuates the gesture with a single word.

"RUN!"

Otis's message would be left unread. Her focus was elsewhere. Perhaps, if she checked, she'd have sent a distress call. As it were, Hildegunde was focused on two things: To ensure her own survival, and to ensure Chloe's. If Chloe did not follow, she would run back for her and drag her out of the forest herself.

@Nanaya

Iris Ascendis

Not 100% sure if I can get a post up today but I will for sure have one tomorrow if I don't

Iris Ascendis

Hildegunde wasn't sure what she had walked into, but it felt immediately much bigger than herself.

Freischütz, she thought, make a record of this. A detailed one.

As you wish, Fräulein Nachtnabel.

She did not care for how pleased her Adapa sounded, but she gave it no further thought. Not when her attention was drawn in by the mystery voice and the conversation at hand.

Then, like Chloe, her eyes widened and her hair stood on end.

"Not as long as you can still let yourself be followed so easily by unwanted eyes."

The first choice was whether to run or not.

Her first instinct was the former. Who could blame her? The child with a hand in the cookie jar - why linger at the scene of the crime? Why risk capture?

The second choice was whether to hide or not. Once again, her first instinct was, indeed, to hide.

Fräulein Nachtnabel, if you will. I think it best now to flee.

For once, Hildegunde considered the words of her Adapa seriously. She thought, weighing her options. She could run - probably much faster and further than Chloe. But if she were noticed running, Chloe's wrath would be surefire and swift. She did not understand who or what the other voice was, or what they were capable of. Hiding seemed futile, when the other voice already seemed aware of her location. Chloe would likely find out within seconds if she did hide.

If she revealed herself, there was no variable of whether she could escape or not. But perhaps it'd be better to bet on mercy than escape.

The fibers of her muscles that ached, screamed, to run - she would ignore them. She also strangled the urge to wisecrack - last time she had done that, it seemed to alarm Chloe.

Silence, she told the voice.

She would show goodwill. Or, at the very least, she would try. Hildegunde made a few silent paces, making a significant distance between the two of them - giving herself headway in case she needed to bolt.

Gloves removed, hood down, and palms raised out, Hildegunde would step forward. The rest of her body was still hard to make out, melding into her surroundings.

She channeled the energy of a lost child as best as she could. As unusual as it was on the hunter, it came all too naturally, all too authentically - she often felt this way and hid it. The world she grew up in and the world she lived in were two vastly different ones, and it often made her feel as if a childhood lack of understanding was something she'd simply never grow out of.

"Sorry. You looked upset leaving class, and I wanted to say something, and I didn't know what to say. And was scared you'd snap and prune me if you noticed me following while I took my sweet time deciding what to do. I didn't mean to step into whatever this is," she says, gesturing vaguely. It was technically not a lie. As curious as she was, she never knew what she was getting into. She was no spy or malicious actor.

A beat. Hildegunde's heartbeat rushes in her head.

"Scared of you as I still am, I misjudged you. You don't seem half bad. And I can tell you're stressed. And frustrated. And I want to help. But if you want me to leave and never speak of this, or to you, I can do that too. Sorry," she would end her speech as she started it.

Her muscles still ached. At the moment of provocation, she would run.

Iris Ascendis

So unless things change last minute I should be here.
Posting once I'm home.

Edit: spent most of the day drafting wills for my parents for them to write later so apologies if the reply is fucky wucky in any way

Iris Ascendis

Possible heads up, Newroz (new years for various ethnic groups) is coming up and if my family is doing something this year (we often don't because Newroz in Canada is not what it is back home) I might be gone for one-three days. I'll update on that tomorrow.

@ERode For reply purposes, do you imagine Otis is in the woods already, or not?

Iris Ascendis

Beat me to the group picture I said I was gonna draw! Looks great!

Iris Ascendis

@ERode

Oh fml. Let me see if I still have it somewhere, scared I deleted it X - X If not I guess I'll draw her again.

EDIT: I found it but I also kinda wanna redraw her. She looks kinda icky - part of the whole drawing in a style I'm not used to but nfdkjn

Thank you for letting me know though!