An Unfamiliar Face On Familiar Ground (Diana/Catherine)

-Central Georgia, in the woods, 3:07 P.M.-

Dressed in a green woodland camo long-sleeved shirt and matching pants with black boots and Altes Gewehr clutched firmly in her hands with a "round" already in the chamber, Diana was in the woods that were roughly a kilometer away from teh backyard of her house in Central Georgia. After returning from her trip to Japan roughly five days ago the plan had been to take a few days and get settled back in America before looking for work so that she could start earning back the money she had spent on the trip. However, her plans had been dashed when she overheard rumors at a local restaurant concerning an unusual creature matching the description of a Hollow that was roaming the woods some distance away from town. Not wanting such a destructive creature roaming her back yard in either the literal or metaphorical sense, Diana set out to hunt it down and get rid of it before it could hurt anyone. Today she was hunting on familiar ground... she had spent a lot of time in these woods after relocating to this place over four years ago, so she had something of a home field advantage.

However, just because she knew these woods did not mean that she could afford to get complacent.

To complete the look and gain some measure of concealment Diana was also wearing a camouflage face mask that concealed her face and had even went to the trouble of tucking her long blonde hair into the back of her shirt so that it did not make her stand out amidst the trees, but she had reason to doubt that visual concealment would completely hide her from a Hollow. That was why the Quincy had already brought out Altes Gewehr... if she came across one she would have only seconds to respond before it attacked, so she wanted a weapon in hand so that she had a chance of defending herself. To increase her chances of spotting it first and getting the first shot Diana was moving slowly and carefully through the woods while doing her best to avoid stepping on fallen tree limbs, pine cones, or pine needles and giving away her presence with a CRUNCH. The woods were fairly well lit because the tree canopy was not very dense... in fact she could see patches of light that resembled columns due to how the canopy was open in certain areas where branches were missing either due to having fallen on the ground or due to not having grown in yet.

As the Quincy slowly moved through the woods with spirit weapon at the ready she kept her eyes and ears open and paid close attention to her surroundings. So far all she was hearing was the occasional sound of birds chirping, but she was not complaining about that. A lack of noise enabled her to better hear her surroundings and she could ill afford to be caught by surprise. The last thing she wanted to happen was for a Hollow to somehow get the drop on her.

"Catherine Reed"

A distant pained roar would split the silent serenity of the woods in twain, the distant cries of birds and the beat of a horde's wings flying from the approximate site of origin. There would be a space of several minutes between this roar, and the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, the sounds of a mass beating against the towering plantlife, the occasional weakened or dead tree falling as the earth shook more and more with each hurried step, until a black form crashed into the area, rendered still only by a decisive strike to it's upper spine.

Once again, the ol' Bringer Light enhanced mechanical pierce was enough to down even a big bastard such as this. Unfortunately, the fall forward led to her falling off her prey and nearly eating dirt, stopped only by the instinct to force her position upright and her feet beneath her to force her skid to a premature end instead of falling like an idiot. Panting, her form was littered with cuts and scrapes, even some bruising on her face... Yeah, she wouldn't be shocked if she broke a rib or two from that thing's frantic attempts to throw her off it's back. Sure, it was a weaker guy, but it was laughable how bad the bigger guys were at figuring out how to get her off once she got her hooks between their shoulders.

Though, there was something she noticed in this clearing... Her head whipped, she caught the appearance of...

"What the fuck are you doing?" She'd call out the figure all gussied up in camo duds, the hell did they think they were hiding from with that old school junk? Better have been an animal...

END | A Glimmer of Sunlight

Diana heard and saw some commotion further in the woods and moved quickly towards it, but by the time she reached the source it had already stopped. The blonde was puzzled as to how silence had been reinstated so quickly, but she spotted a young woman with a striking combination of red hair and green eyes standing in place while looking directly at her. Mere moments later came a crudely worded inquiry as to why the camouflage-wearing Quincy was here. Diana put on her poker face before taking her left hand off of Altes Gewehr and carefully removing her face mask so that the redhead could see her face and hear her clearly when she spoke. The blonde put the mask in her left pocket and diagonally tilted Altes Gewehr's barrel towards the ground before addressing the other young woman.

"I came out here to investigate rumors concerning an unusual creature." Diana calmly gave a short version of the answer. Deciding to elaborate on it a little more, the blonde wasted no time in doing so.

"When I was at a local restaurant not too long ago I heard the locals discussing rumors that something odd was prowling the woods we are standing in now. I listened further and got a description of the creature that sounded like it could fit a Hollow. I came out here to see if I could find the mystery creature... if I found it and it turned out to be a Hollow I planned to eliminate it before it could get any closer to town." Diana calmly elaborated on the answer she had given moments ago. Now that she had told the redhead everything the latter needed to know she stopped talking and made eye contact while waiting for a response. If the stranger looked closely she might be able to see that Diana's face had a serene expression with a faint smile that betrayed nothing of the latter's mental state.

"Catherine Reed"

Woah, woah, dislocated shoulder... That's gonna smart a sec. With a tight hand and almost familiarized movement of body, she'd toss her left arm back into place, a soft shudder from the pain subsiding - yeah, that'll take a few to heal up... Least all she had to deal with right now was the strange party in front of her, talking on and on of coming out to deal with an 'unusual creature'. Her expression remained frozen in a sense of puzzling, til the lady ceased talking,

"Soo, the muddy old school clown getup's for, what exactly?" She'd ask, hopping off the stilled creature's back, approaching her with little sense of caution or worry, "You know that dressup's kind of useless for guys like this, right? Even if you were going after a raccoon or something that's a little excessive."

She kicked the hollow's face for emphasis, hand on hip, "If you don't know squat about hunting hollows, kind of a dreadful idea to go about playing hero. Lots of people get killed that way, would be a shame. This guy..." Clicks her teeth, "Would say he's a class eight? Yeah that should be bout right. Would've sniffed you out and smashed you into the nearest tree. Then wuh oh, broken bones! I'm dead, gahhh!"

Unamused, she'd scoff, "I recommend you run on home and never play risk taker again; least if you enjoy being alive, lady."

END | A Glimmer of Sunlight