Vodka, Shade, and . . . Hollows [Scarmm/Khaana]

While the world of men was still recovering from its myriad conflicts, nature hadn't taken quite as long to bounce back. As was usually the case, the grass started growing long before bricks were put back on top of one another. On the fringes of the Russian expanse where peasant farmers had worked day in and day out to grow a living for themselves since time immemorial, that way of life had continued in the aftermath of the war.

The village of Streletskii was a walled in compound consisting of a few dozen houses, a meeting hall, a few small businesses, and the farm fields beyond. The location was on the bend of a river, and most of the land that wasn't cleared was verdant forest. It was a simple place for simple people living simple lives, returning to their roots in the face of globe shattering threats that robbed them of what structure they'd previously enjoyed. Everyone had a job to do, everyone knew each other's names, and when they gathered together the locally fermented vodka was a source of merriment and relaxation.

The location was one of many such small towns Scarmm came across in his wanderings, and he made sure to revisit it every time he was in the area. Their drinks were good, their hospitality was stellar once a person earned their trust, and the walls provided a modicum of safety in the night so when he inevitably drank himself unconscious, he was less likely to be awakened by a wolf gnawing on his leg. There was a particular tree by the river that he'd claimed as his napping tree, the perfect shade and a patch of soft clover made for a resting place fit for a king.

The afternoon sun had fallen close to the horizon, bathing the village and its fields in amber light. The traveling Viking descendent was snoozing beneath his tree, an emptied tankard of vodka providing his weary soul a moment of solace from the troubles of life. That was until a terrified scream caused his eyes to shoot open, short sword in hand. His well-honed senses informed him the cry came from the eastern fields, out towards the forest and away from the river. The cry of alarm was soon joined by more cries, and he made haste to see what threat had reared its ugly head this time.

Running across the air over the town, he ignored the people running around in a tumult beneath him. The village militia was being rallied, but they'd never make it out to the fields in time to fend off whatever was attacking before there were casualties. He knew he needed to hurry, an otherworldly howl sending a shiver down his spine. It was all too familiar; it was the sounds of a Hollow in search of spiritually sensitive human prey. He hated that sound, as he knew it only came when they'd successfully gotten into a position to strike and were using their spiritual pressure and unnerving presence to paralyze their intended victim with fear.

He came down towards the scene of the conflict, it was a man and a woman armed only with a hoe and a sickle surrounded by a dozen blackened monstrosities that looked vaguely like a pack of wolves. He had moments to act before things were going to end poorly for the farmers. A dozen Hollows in an open field was a risky encounter, and he knew it, but his gut instincts refused to let him stand by while two innocent people were butchered in front of his eyes. If only there was another capable warrior in the area to give them more of a fighting chance . . .

Scarmm's Sheet:

Khaana's streams usually didn't have to start up until later in the day which meant that most of the time she usually just kinda did whatever until then. Sightseeing, travelling, all kinds of stuff that she got to enjoy as a result of her lifestyle. And sometimes, that amounted to hunting down hollows. This sortof backwater village was just the kind of place she enjoyed exploring, looking out to that soft, warm sun in the distance and the soft lightkissed landscape that seemed to shimmer all with it. It was places like this that made her think of her parents, wondering if they grew up in a place like this.

But alas, the tranquility didn't particularly last. The dull roar of the hollows in the distance caused Khaana to perk up. Both brows lifting before she rose up off the grass and stared into the distance. She couldn't quite tell how many there were .... but she DID see the dark shapes off in the distance. Her good eye narrowing just a little. "Goddamn FUCKERS." She snarled a bit to herself. Her hand opening up as she allowed a crackle of her Roots to spill out into the open air, dragging in spiritual energy and sinking into the ground. A sudden slither of material as a section of grass dirt and rock promptly was melted down and converted into a long forked spear about as long as she was tall, sleek feathered wings peeling from it's shaft near the base of the blade as she cocked her arm back.

The muscles in her arm tensed, and for just an instant, she let her own spiritual pressure WASH outward, rolling across the landscape in a horrid twisted wash of warped hollow reiatsu. Something that no doubt would instantly get the attention of the hollows, distracting them, hopefully from their prey as Khaana threw the weapon, that lance letting out a CRACK as she cranked her physical strength and speed in her arm to send that lance out with a loud HISS!

The wings on that lance would pump before it promptly shot in a red blur toward the hollows! That forked blade aiming to plow CLEAN through the first enemy's head! Those wings adjusting it's course so that red blur bent and TWISTED midair! Aiming to angle itself to rip through not one, but three of the hollows in one powerful shot! Of course she had no idea how strong these hollows ACTUALLY were But her intention was to at the very least draw their attention away from the humans there. All as she broke out into a jog in their direction, a sly grin spread across her face as she promptly peeled her phone out and took a selfie! She'd send it to her publicist later and he'd be able to fashion it into some kinda tweet later. But with that done, she was sprinting FULL speed toward the group of hollows! That smile of hers wide and menacing as she felt that rushing thrill course through her. That awesome thrill she always got when fighting these things!

As if coming as an answer to prayer, before Scarmm even had the chance to get close or make a sound, a completely unexpected and quite flashy young lady jumped right into the fray. From his position above the field turned battlefield, he felt the immense wave of spiritual pressure pour out of the girl, recognizing her as not some overzealous teen, but a genuine fighter in that instant. Her intention seemed to be slaying the Hollows, and so he breathed a brief sigh of relief that he had backup and wasn't going to be forced into a suicidal charge without his armor.

There was no time to enjoy that relief, however, as the Hollows noticed her presence only a moment after he did. Her opening ranged assault cleanly severed one of the wolves' head from its body, scattering its corrupted spiritual body almost immediately. The next wolf along its curving arc was too slow to get completely out of the way of the guided projectile, receiving a messy hole stabbed through its front left shoulder as the lance flew by. The third wolf had enough time to lurch roughly to the side, tumbling along the ground. The pack howled in rage as their attention was quite effectively drawn away from the cowering farmers, now down a member with another suffering a serious injuring. The two less combat oriented folk fled through the created hole in the circle, heading towards town as fast as their legs could carry them.

Two of the wolves started to give chase, and in that moment, Scarmm dropped from the sky like a relatively silent blond bullet. In the time it took for him to sprint down from his skyward perch, the shortsword in his hand had extended and warped into a lengthy war axe. Spinning to build up additional momentum, his trajectory took him across the napes of both doubly distracted wolves. Perhaps lacking the flare for the dramatic that the young lady warrior had, and certainly employing a less flashy weapon, he'd hunted Hollows like this more times than he cared to remember, and the targets' deaths were swift as he came to a stop on the far side of the remaining circle of monsters. Three out of twelve Hollows deceased, with one effectively missing a leg.

He called across the snarling ranks of soul devouring fiends to his comrade of the day, sounding cheerful and relaxed, though his knuckles were whitened as he gripped his long axe. "Hello there! Thanks for stepping in, I wasn't sure I could handle them on my own. You take five, I'll take four?"

As he made an attempt at organizing their efforts, the Hollows leapt into action. Coincidentally, their positioning made it so that their ensuing split matched his requested responsibility. Five of the things, including the one forced to struggle with only three functioning legs, charged at Khaana with maddened fury. Two jumped towards her with vicious claws extended, while two ran out to the sides to try and flank her. The crippled Hollow came straight towards her in an off balance charge.

The sudden introduction of a second combatant had her brows raising slightly as she made note of the manner in which he suddenly slew a number of the targets. Her good eye raising slightly. Was that a kid? Almost instantly she was ...momentarily confused by his ....youthy face and she let out a Tch as she instantly felt the need to make sure this little idiot didn't get himself hurt! "Hey! Be careful!" She called out, her eye darting toward the other hollows that charged in his direction, both brows raising slightly. Were these things charging her? She held out her hand and whistled loudly! The wings of her spear flaring as the weapon began wrenching itself from the skull of the hollow it had last slain!

She narrowed her eyes, peering past the group of hollows closing in on her before she pumped reiryoku into her legs, a brief little surge of power before she promptly shot past them! A sudden burst of speed that had her streaking past them to rip the blade from the ground and turn in time to watch them stumbling to change directions. Though she did TENSE when she felt that sudden high pitched screech!

One of the wolves was raising it's head, a cero swelling within it's mouth! Almost immediately the other wolves in that little cluster howled, and suddenly that charging cero grew FAR larger than it had any business being! There was no way she'd be able to take them down before they fired! And so she came to a stop and stomped her foot into the ground, a sudden dull buzz sounding as shadow spread out from the point of impact in a 10 meter radius around her. The grass suddenly vanishing into that darkness as it was consumed, and a hefty chunk of the earth below was taken over. Injected with a portion of her own Mod Code, before surging up from below. An enormous 10 meter tall beast of pure white. Looking all but completely like a human being save for its freakishly elongated limbs and the freakish maw that was it's head, and the armor that seemed built into it's body. She crouched down as that big beast infront of her opened it's arms wide, just in time for that cero to go off in fantastic fashion.

There was a shuddering BOOM as the cero hit the beast and then promptly exploded, blowing a massive hole in the front of the beast's chest, a gory display of it's own opened ribs and bared steaming flesh dominated the field of view of the wolves , having tanked the attack by sheer merit of it's size. The beast groaning out and collapsing onto it's hands and knees. It was in that very same moment that Khaana sped past the living shield she had summoned, that spear gleaming as she swept the weapon out in a horizontal crescent, carving the chest and throats of the two nearest hollows open. Another upward swing hitting those outstretched hollow's claws with a CLANG! Parrying a swipe before the other two hollows lunged in and CHOMPED at her!

One of them managed to rip it's fangs into her shoulder, as the other promptly tool a hold of her right thigh as a loud ripping noise sounded! As cloth shredded and those teeth sunk into that protective suit beneath! Some of those teeth managing to sink through and find flesh! But Khaana managed to keep her focus, even as she shuddered, a sudden revulsion coursing through her at these beasts biting into her!

CRACK!

The splitting noise like an eggshell as her fist rocketed into the eye of the wolf hollow that was biting into her shoulder, her fist messily crunching through the socket and into it's skull in the very same motion that she stabbed down with her spear on the other side! It was no mortal blow, but that blade sliced downward and promptly ripped through the hollow's side. The injuries killed the first hollow, as the second holwed and wrenched back away from her! Leaving her leg bleeding from several puncture wounds from it's teeth, as she ripped the other dead hollow's mouth from her shoulder, thankfully her jacket having taken most of the damage. "Dammit!" She hissed, staggering back. The other two hollows she had slashed were also meeting their fates. The one whose face she'd cleaved was already dead and dissolving. But the other wolf was hungrily looking at her, seemingly ignoring the slash across it's throat as it slowly foamed, the bleeding having already stopped as it seemed to have a mild form of regeneration!

Naturally, it seemed that she physically outpaced these hollows by a solid level, but their numbers were still a threat. Already, the beast she had summoned before was melting into the dark inky pool in the ground, being broken down as it died. It's corpse being recycled. But it would be a moment before she could make another one given how much energy it took out of her. She'd just have to deal with these hollows until then. With her jacket shredded away from her, she was now mostly just in her damaged bodysuit, a vent along the spine already whirring to life, sucking in air as she kept her spear raised up defensively. Planning her next move.

Scarmm was used to that expression on people's faces when he fought. Everyone that saw him doubted he could possibly be a real threat thanks to his childish appearance. He didn't mind too much, as he'd dealt with that impression since he was actually a child. No point in being bothered by something completely out of his control. If anything, it just meant he'd still be looking good after all of them were old and wrinkly! Still, this was a presently happening combat with lives on the line, so it wasn't exactly the time to stop and tease someone for making assumptions. "Careful is my middle name! Look after your own tail!"

She seemed capable enough to survive on her own, and so he focused his attentions on the four wolfish Hollows that came his way. Unlike her, he didn't have any layers of protection, as he hadn't anticipated getting into a pitched battle while snoozing at the river side, so he had to focus even further on evasion. Thankfully, dodging was a specialty of his. The wolfpack moved similarly to how one would expect naturally occurring wolves to behave on his end, and he knew just how to ruin their strategy. One just needed to break out of the flanking by relentlessly charging one si- a glance in his ally's direction told him she'd already avoided getting surrounded in much the same capacity. As silly as she may have seemed, she wasn't an idiot.

He followed suit an instant afterwards, though he decided to sprint off to his right so that their respective fights wouldn't end up entangled, complicating matters between allies unused to each other's fighting styles. The last thing they needed was for them to be tripping over each other while being dog piled. The all too familiar shriek of a charging cero sent a shiver up his spine, and reminded him he also didn't want to be caught in any large blasts directed at her.

The four on his end were polite enough not to try and obliterate him with a concentrated beam of reishi, possibly because he carefully maneuvered to make sure he was difficult to directly target without them also blowing one of their own up in the process. His short sword shifted forms once more, melting down from the powerful axe into a serrated saber. He couldn't really afford to be pinned down, so he opted to employ a strategy of bleeding them out. As they outnumbered him, they remained confident even as he rolled and spun just out of reach of their lunging fangs and claws, rewarding every attack with a bleeding wound.

He seemed to lack the propensity for brutal violence that his comrade in arms for the day possessed, but as a survivor that was used to relying only on himself, he preferred a war of attrition against an overwhelming number of foes. He was perfectly content letting the wolves exhaust themselves chasing him and stumbling into one another while he looked like a comedic circus acrobat taking prat falls and tumbling about. The spurts of leaking reishi steadily growing in number across all four of the Hollows was proof enough that he wasn't simply joking around. The almost choreographed dance of combat followed the plotline he created, and it was his saga that he was writing another entry in.

Juking to the left, he lured one rushing wolf to skirt past him, its ravenous maw snapping shut mere millimeters way from his face. Sliding to the right, he passed under its jumping packmate, getting a very close and personal view of its vicious claws. Bouncing upwards into a backflip, one of the wolves had attempted to flank him, and he just barely managed to leap out of its path, claws rending the air where his arched back had been a blink earlier. Landing smoothly, he dashed ahead a few paces before suddenly calling on the soul in the air to pull him backwards, making the fourth wolf skid along the ground trying to keep pace with his change in directions, unable to launch an attack in passing as it had intended. With each close dodge, he raked his sword along the hide of his engaged opponent, never standing still and always keeping the pack working against itself.

It was not an honorable style of fighting, and it was not something that would inspire glorious epics of praise, but it was hand crafted for someone small and agile like him. His lack of protection made him lighter and nimbler on his feet. His thinner weapon was far easier to move to and fro amidst the press of lupine assailants. While he would have preferred to fight the wolves in the forest where he could properly use the terrain to break their line of sight and confuse them further, Scarmm was well suited to the task of bloodletting en mass. All of his wolves were losing reishi from multiple tearing wounds, and starting to slow down, though none were dead yet. Between dives, he called out to his ally who'd sworn and then fallen silent. "Holding up over there?"

A brief glance in the man's direction had her frowning in surprise. That deft, jittering dance he had with the wolves was .....flawless? He dashed, dived, and zipped between the hollows and cut them up without even getting so much as a scratch on him. And in that very moment, she had to suddenly JOLT out of her train of thought as the hollows suddenly lunged at her! She was not as graceful in the least. Backing up again and again as those wolves charged and hounded after her, one of them lunging in and yawning it's mouth open in a forming cero. She raised her spear and launched it, that bladed pole flaring it's wings as its flight was redirected straight through the beast's skull, and in that very same moment the other wolves lunged and she had to struggle djust to keep their teeth otu of her! ONe of them snagged her wrist and in a sudden panicked gambit, she fired the reishi vent in the wrist, sending a streaming line through the wolf's cheek and cutting along it's spine, severing it's head from it's shoulders just as she dropped beneath it's slumping body, shoving it off of her as the third wolf closed in.

She rolled, shoving herself away from the wolf hollow as it snarled and rushed her, she found it harder to actually move while on the ground, and in the bery last moment, she managed to kick one of her feet up and clock the beast clean in it's muzle, cracking it's mask! The beast staggered back and snarled! Thrashing about before it bolted off, attempting to escape into the distance as Khaana was left panting on the ground, rolling up to her feet and aiming the vent on her suit's wrist, firing another thin stream of reishi after the wolv, cutting through one of it's legs and causing it to drop to the ground, screeching.

An annoyed look crossing her face when she heard that shouted question. She was looking like the lesser of the two fighters here! And some small part of her wondered if the ones he was fighting were just flat out weaker. She didn't seem like the protagonist at all! Maybe she should have asked to swap enemies? "Nope! Not really!" She shouted out as she looked toward the hollows that he was fighting. And confusion crossed her features. The heck was going on, were they leaking? He didn't even seem to have killed anyone of them! "Hey! Stop messing around and finish them!" She called out insistingly to her. The notion that he was more of a long game fighter not really occurring to her. From her point of view, he just looked like he was being nice to the hollows and just trying to ward them off with smaller cuts!

As flawless as a dance of survival had to be when one was traveling the wilds alone. A dance learned through too many close scrapes he'd somehow pulled through without fully losing a limb. He had plenty of scars beneath his loose cotton shirt and rustic trousers from the myriad of times the dance wasn't flawless. Unlike her, it wasn't really in his spending budget to replace clothing, either, so getting torn up by focusing on one wolf for too long was a deal breaker for him. Much better to play it safe and let the wolves do the work. Once they'd been sufficiently weakened, he could confidently take a more definitive action . . .

That would have been the case if it didn't sound like his partner in vigilante justice against these marauding predators was not enjoying her time. It had seemed like she was more than powerful enough to hold her own with her devastating entry into the fight, dropping a wolf immediately, but apparently her experience in outnumbered combat differed from his. He'd lost too many fights trying to be the big man and show how tough he was, that approach didn't suit him. Wolves were too clever to let something like that slide, and Hollows were too desperate to flee when they were faced with overwhelming power. These things had an unpleasant mix of both. "I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!"

As such, he picked up the pace just a tad. His jagged edged saber shifted rapidly between two forms, one being a rapier and the other being a huge two-handed broad sword that easily dwarfed him. With their existing wounds lying against joints and draining their spiritual power, he hoped he was fast enough for such shenanigans to work. He used the rapier to let himself move swiftly while antagonizing each member of the pack in passing, flicking its sharp point at their eyes or throats. He wasn't brutish enough for such a thing to cause crippling damage, but it was enough to make them dance to his tune.

Once one of the wolves decided it had had enough of his 'toying' and charged him directly without the aid of its fellows, he would do a spinning leap, and at the last second, the blade in his hand would shift into a crushing edge the carried his momentum forward all the harder. A dramatic move, and certainly not something he would ever use against an opponent in their right mind as it left him wide open for counter attacks should they successfully block or dodge. However, it was enough for these mere beasts already blinded by hunger, rage, and pain while simultaneously losing more and more of their power.

The first wolf to break from the circling pack was also the first wolf to be broken, its darkened spirit splattered violently as the huge sword was brought down against its mask and skull to devastating effect. The impact was enough to end its charge right there, and it fell limply to the ground as it dispersed. The other three became more cautious after that, forcing Scarmm to stick close to one of them or risk receiving a last-ditch cero.

He returned his sword to a rapier as he dashed at one of the wolves, keeping low to the wheat. It veered away, its instincts telling it that this was bad for its health. The other two promptly joined in on the chase, seeking to bring him down from behind. He was juuuust fast enough with the aid of the wind pushing him along to do a vaulting flip across the Hollow's back right before the snapping jaws of its allies grasped his heels. Perfect timing as the Hollow he'd moved across could no longer leap backwards, blocked in by its friends.

The rapier shifted to a short spear, which the diminutive viking promptly drove through the soft part of the mask and dense spiritual skin beside the ear. Swiftly in and out, and he was already running away before it had a chance to die and the other Hollows could get a clear shot on him simultaneously. The wolves were honestly more dangerous to him now that there were only two. Fewer distractions, and less overconfidence, meant they would be harder to mislead. Hopefully whoever the girl was would be alright until he figured out how he wanted to deal with them.

Fury boiled up inside of her as she darted around, lashing out and evading the wolves as she tried to get a better sense of the situation. But ultimately, she began to feel as though it simply weren't worth this damn TROUBLE! They were in a remote area, the only witness around was this....PUNK. An acceptable PR liability. As the couple remaining wolves began to circle around and try and section her away from the other fighter, one of them made the mistake of getting too close. And in that instant, a brilliant pale white wing erupted from her chest and sliced clean through the hollow's skull! An abrupt WHOOSH of spiritual pressure sweeping outward. Hollow spiritual pressure as Khaana decided to go into her released state. Instantly she grew, promptly rising up to a solid 10 meters in height. Her upper body thickening and her neck up transforming into a monstrous lurch similar to the beast she'd summoned just moments before, though unlike the beast, she had eyes, her pupils splitting into bright crosses across her pupils and sclera. Bright white wings erupting randomly all over her enormous form.

"BITCH!" She hissed as she SWIPED with a clawed hand, her elongated limb more than enough to snag the wolf's body and SWAT them with enough force to send the body flying, splattering as the remains of the hollows promptly slammed into another hollow with such force that it's bones snapped, both toppling to the ground in an agonized mess. The remaining wolf opened it's maw, another Cero shrieking into existence in it's mouth. Her eyes snapped to it's position and she let out a loud ROAR in it's direction as the air between her and the hollow suddenly shook! The reiatsu escaping her body suddenly hardening into a hard physical barrier between her and the Hollow, and promptly that bright red flash turned into an expilosion as the hollow fired, the cero only going a few feet before exploding in it's face, the blowback from the attack itself sending the hollow flying in a charred slump.

And just like that, all three of the remaining wolves near her were dead. Her cross-split eyes darted in the direction of Scarmm. Those broad wings flared open all over her body before giving a powerful FLAP, her massive body vanishing in a sudden burst of speed similar to a shunpo. In a sudden flash, she was almost instantly behind the wolves pursuing the young man, and she SLAMMED her large clawed hands down, crushing their bodies into the ground with a loud, wet crunch. Those eyes of hers then darted toward Scarmm and she peered for just a moment in that monstrous form.

"Tch. You're lucky we weren't in a city. What if there were people we were protecting from these beasts? You just gonna nick away at a monster while it eats people? Best way to deal with a group is start lowering their number as quickly as possible." She chided him, looking around to make sure there were no other hollows nearby after her little snip of sassy advice. Making no attempt to explain her monstrous transformation. She was the protagonist after all.

Despite being in the midst of a rather intense melee with his life on the line, Scarmm felt the odd desire to sneeze, as if someone were thinking bad thoughts in his direction. Throughout his travels he'd angered more than his fair share of people, so the list of those who could possibly bear ill-will against him was extensive. A concern for another time, perhaps, as he narrowly avoided a swift flanking maneuver from both of the Hollows by turning his sword into a spear and vaulting up and over the colliding ambush. That would have been a prime moment to strike, but their exchange was interrupted.

Interrupted by a sudden eruption of spiritual pressure coming from the heroic girl that had charged in so recklessly to the aid of the villagers. The Hollows and he alike watched the monstrous transformation take place, and he had to admit, he hadn't seen anything quite like that despite how diverse his experiences had been. She seemed so hot-headed and confident, such a . . . well, horrifying appearance was extremely out of place for her. He knew enough to understand that such an ability wasn't unheard of, but it was still unsettling to see it in person. He was more than happy to step back and let her work, however.

Step back he did, letting her giant form function as a top tier distraction. The wolves that had been fighting him quickly reprioritized who was a bigger threat to them in that moment and turned to face her. It didn't do them much good as even fully focused they were no match for her speed and power. With but a few swift moments, she ended the fight and five wolves without so much as breaking a sweat. If whatever she turned into could sweat, of course.

With the soul devouring monsters dealt with, Scarmm was more curious than anything, so he looked up at her furious glare calmly, tilting his head to examine her properly. It was rare that he saw anything completely new, and so he wanted to learn anything he could while she was so kindly demonstrating a unique power for him. He meekly rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled as the girl who was almost certainly younger than him decided to scold him like he was a novice guardsman rather than a veteran wilderness survivalist.

"Well that may be true in a city, we're not in a city, and we were lucky enough to get their attention away from the villagers right away. C'mon, it wasn't that bad. You never know when you'll be able to meet a proper healer again out in the wilds like this, so it's a lot better for me if I don't get hurt as much as possible." He extended his arms out in a semi-apologetic shrug before striding casually towards her. He put his hands in his pockets as the spear diminished into a small carving knife that very conveniently fit inside his simple cloth garment.

"You were pretty impressive back there, miss! I know the people here are very grateful for you stepping in to help like you did. I'm sure they'd want to give you a hero's welcome once things calm down a little bit. Might even throw you a feast! They make some excellent, and I know what I'm saying here, excellent vodka, so I wouldn't miss out on it if I were you. Now let me take a look at those scratches, hmmm? Don't wanna let them get infected." While she seemed rather peeved at him for taking too long, he was simply relieved that everything had gone as smoothly as it did. That wasn't always the case, and he was most often alone when things took a turn for the worse. As such, he wore a pleased and gentle smile on his face as he gestured towards the more torn up parts of her body.

Khaana let out a steady breath and smoothed that wild tangle of hair back that had grown out. That fleshy maw sealing itself closed before a coil of steam oozed from her frame, slightly obscuring her as she returned to her normal size, her flesh shifting slightly so that her wounds would seem to heal themselves on their own. But honestly she was just moving around material, thankfully no chunks had been taken out of her. A glance toward the young man had her raising a brow.

Tch. DEFINITELY not a protagonist. Either that, or he was already past his selfless arc. But BLEH, who would want a protagonist that didn't need looking after anymore? She shook her head disapprovingly, what a waste of time it had been coming here! All the same, she kept most of her disdain internal. "I don't need anything like that. I just care about getting stronger. If you want, you can just stick around and take the credit for the wolves and enjoy the feast." She snapped, her voice clipped and a bit stinging as she promptly turned her back to the young man and slipped her jacket back on, clawed up as it were.

She looked over her shoulder and gave a sly smile, adjusting her eyepatch. "Not everyone is out for a reward ya know." She jabbed verbally, and promptly began to walk away. Sufficiently feeling pleased at having left on a snappy one-liner. That said she .....growled internally to herself as she let the fight play through in her head. Her Angel had been useless practically! Only useable as a meat shield, those wolves had just been too damn fast to contend with. She needed to start using them more, figure out what she was doing wrong. She had to PUSH herself. THAT was the only way she was gonna get any better! And getting stronger would no doubt find her her protagonist boyfriend and her happily ever after!