no such thing as a team player [brynja]

[pterodactyl]

i should blame you for the falling rain
i should blame you for my constant pain
i should be there to remind you every day
i should walk you through the halls of my own fate
i should let you taste the tears that fell in hate
i should be there to remind you every day
i should...

A scream came from on high. The brown and white bird it belonged to, a majestic hawk, wheeled gracefully above Leona Lake. There was prey here, naturally: the glistening blue waters and green foliage, now tinged with pink sunset light, gave an excellent habitat for small animals. But where there is prey, there are predators, and the hawk was no different than any other killer. Swooping soundlessly, its eyes remaining locked on target, the bird's cruel talons snatched an unwitting mouse from the ground. It flew on, back towards home, ignoring the kindred predator waiting on the ground.

Dane crouched in the rushes beside the water, as he had been doing for hours, waiting. Malandra Ramakrishna, his religion's Prophet, had ordered him on a hunt. It wasn't just any hunt--it was a person hunt, Dane's least favorite kind. He was to kill this young girl and bring her lungs back to Ramakrishna as proof of her death. Quite distasteful, he knew. But those were his orders, and Dane Gunnarsson had learned long ago that the orders he were given were the orders that would save the lives of his children for another day.

Taken from his musings by the sound of footsteps crushing reeds, he zeroed in on the girl--his target, he reminded himself. Don't think of them as human. It only makes it worse. The Paladin drew his arrow, nocked it, and prepared to shoot. Deadly calm washed over him like the lapping of the water upon the shores of the lake, as it always did while on a job. Deep breath, in, out, in, and-- The sound of an arrow hitting home into living flesh and then the sound of the target thudding on the ground assaulted Dane's ears. His arrow was still on his bow, so he hadn't killed her. But if he hadn't, who had?

{ muse } ugh.
{ notes } none.
{ tags } brynja
{ listening to } the sound of my own procrastination.
{ words } 313 (ook. gross.)

[kaioinazuma18]

Ah yes, another clean kill. She had a style: quick, clean, and ruthlessly efficient. Brynja closed in on her kill, removing her arrow and cleaning it, returning it to its sheath. She smiled down at her kill. It's what she had been paid to do, now that she had done it she needed to take the girl's belongings. Brynja was disappointed when she saw that the girl didn't have much in the way of equipment, but she found a nice dagger, quite a bit of money and a waterskin. She took the money, the waterskin and the dagger, knowing that later on she would need all of them.

Brynja was hidden practically wholly from sight, her features shrouded in a deep tan cloak that matched the dead grass around her. The hood was up, the face guard also up and her bow in hand. The bow was too nice to be of human make, so she supposed that if she was ever caught, she'd have to lie about how she came about it. Her sensitive ears picked up on the noise of someone with a bow strung. She turned her head slightly, the man appearing in the very edge of her peripheral vision. She knelt there, waiting, making sure her ears were disguised as human before she moved anywhere. If he saw her, he would surely not be happy that she killed a young girl.

Her emerald green eyes showed a feral spirit, a dangerous soul housed within a body that was quite misguiding. She completely lost track of how many rich men she wooed before killing them in their sleep. It was her job, killing the unjust and hunting down people for a living. It wasn’t exactly glamorous, but who said that elves had to be glamorous. She enjoyed being herself and not having to live up to anyone else’s expectations, it gave her a kind of freedom she wouldn’t have had otherwise. She stayed put, waiting for the man to come closer if she was going to reveal herself, or at least indicate that he knew she was there. If he could, then he was obviously a hunter himself, and that would mean she would have to make her getaway that much faster.

[pterodactyl]

i should blame you for the falling rain
i should blame you for my constant pain
i should be there to remind you every day
i should walk you through the halls of my own fate
i should let you taste the tears that fell in hate
i should be there to remind you every day
i should...

Dane watched as the person who stole his kill removed the arrow from the girl's body, cleaned it, and replaced it in her quiver. The other assassin--for assassin she must be, to murder a young girl at a lakeside--was dressed in loose clothing, such that there was no telling whether it was a man or woman. The figure was tall, so the Paladin leaned more towards man, but with so many female Hive assassins, one never could tell. Confident in his own strength and prowess, Dane was not afraid. In the time it would take for this other assassin to nock an arrow and shoot, he could already have tackled him to the ground or placed a throwing dagger between his eyes.

He only wished he had his sword, left back with his horse a ways away. When moving in for a kill, he never carried more than he needed. Throwing knives were good, but the heft of a sword in his hand gave him a feeling of security that a knife could never give. Putting his arrow slowly back into the quiver, Dane stood, feeling a sick lurch in the pit of his stomach and noting the shake in his legs as he moved from his crouch for the first time in hours. His own cloak fell into position as he moved, smoothing the creases and giving him a rather shapeless appearance. His hood was up, masking his curly brown hair and throwing his face into shadow.

"Who are you, and what are you doing stealing my kill?" The words came out angry and harder than he had intended, but he didn't know this person. There was no reason to be nice to the man (woman?) that had probably brought him into disfavor with his superiors in the Hand.

{ muse } urg.
{ notes } well, there's only so many words you can have in a scene without being too extensive. i would have expected more from myself, but too much thought slows the thread.
{ tags } brynja
{ listening to } nothing, sadly.
{ words } 302

[kaioinazuma18]

Brynja remained silent, standing up straight. She turned to face him, her hood's face mask protecting her face from view and the top of the hood hiding her face in shadow. She remained silent, watching the man. Her eyes were intently on his cloak. He was obviously angry. She readied herself to use her hidden blade if she really needed to use it. She hoped she didn't have to.

She whispered, her gender-neutral whisper carrying on the wind to him. "You can have the kill, I have already been paid for the hit." Her voice carried, soft and gender-neutral, hiding her gender. "As for who I am, it is of no concern to you." her feet shifted and she readied herself to run if need be. This man was beginning to get on her nerves, just the look of him made her want to take him out, not kill him, just knock him out so she could make her getaway. Her body was tense, as it always was when someone who was equally threatening to her, as she might have been others, caught her. The instant she turned to face him, hair fell into her eyes, forcing her to move it silently, a gloved hand silently moving them out of the way. She stood tall, hiding her apprehension at the man’s presence, almost challenging him to come and hurt her.

(muse): blech, wimpy
(tag): Dane
(listening to): Rolling Stones - Hey, You, Get Off Of My Cloud

[pterodactyl]

i should blame you for the falling rain
i should blame you for my constant pain
i should be there to remind you every day
i should walk you through the halls of my own fate
i should let you taste the tears that fell in hate
i should be there to remind you every day
i should...

"As for who I am, it is of no concern to you," claimed the assassin. That was bull. One didn't interfere with the Hand and expect to live--and that was a fact of life.

Flipping down the hood of his cloak, Dane moved to claim the dead girl, wondering fleetingly why anyone but the Hand would want her killed. He crouched and inspected the corpse for anything the other killer had missed, feeling nothing but dead flesh and clothes underneath his searching fingers. As he worked, the Paladin wondered why the other wanted to keep such an air of mystery. If there was no honor among thieves, then there were no barriers between murderers. Although killers kept themselves masked when among common folk, the realm of assassins was built largely upon reputation.

Dane kept himself tightly aware of where the cloaked figure was even as he finished the pat-down and whistled to his horse, left to graze in a clearing nearby. The box was with his mount, a black stallion this time, and he would need it to retrieve the kill's lungs as proof of death. There was no way he was going to carry bloody organs there and then come back to wash his hands. Even he had standards after years in the business. A tight bark of a laugh escaped him at that thought. Do I really?

"I think it does matter who you are," Dane mused from his crouched position, squinting up towards the cloaked person. "Because I'm from the Hand, and they'll know you interfered. You won't escape them and I think you know that."

{ muse }
{ notes } none
{ tags } brynja
{ listening to } none
{ words } 279

[kaioinazuma18]

She almost laughed at that. Did he seriously think they would find her? Bah! He didn't know what she looked like underneath the cloak, besides, she could change her appearance, she could make herself appear human, even male to those who didn't know any better. "Now that's a laugh." She said in a normal tone. "If you think they could track me down, that's one thing, but if you think they can kill me, then you're dumber than I originally thought." She said calmly. "Many people have tried to hunt me down and kill me, and none have succeeded. I'd like to see the Hand try, it might be fun for everyone." She added afterwards, turning to face westward. The tone that had graced her voice was not one of sarcasm, but rather, that of a challenging tone, one that earnestly wanted the challenge of being hunted. She smiled, thinking to herself ‘Let’s play a game of hide and seek. I’ll hide, and I’ll seek.’

Her stance told of her strength. She was expecting to be attacked by him, and if he did, she would not hesitate to kill him. She was not afraid. Even if he did turn out to be well trained for a human. She had nothing to fear, for even though they had superior numbers, she had better training and magic on her side. If he dared attack her, she would be breathing down his neck in a heartbeat.

[pterodactyl]

i should blame you for the falling rain
i should blame you for my constant pain
i should be there to remind you every day
i should walk you through the halls of my own fate
i should let you taste the tears that fell in hate
i should be there to remind you every day
i should...

"Now that's a laugh. If you think they could track me down, that's one thing, but if you think they can kill me, then you're dumber than I originally thought. Many people have tried to hunt me down and kill me, and none have succeeded. I'd like to see the Hand try, it might be fun for everyone."

Dane shrugged. Have it your way. It's your life. His horse plodded over from the clearing where it had been waiting, the dull silver box clanking among the saddlebags where it had been stowed. Standing, the Paladin removed the box and drew his saxe knife. Its wide blade was a full nine inches from point to hilt, complete with blood gutter and double-edge. The girl had been dead for long enough now that there wouldn't be too much blood when he removed his proof of death, which was a plus. Such things only served to make him sick, even after so many years of killing. Dane didn't have room to feel now, not with the other assassin still standing over his shoulder.

Removing the organs without any fuss was easy. He placed them in the box, ignoring the smell of the blood and the feel of the liquid on his hands. "So," Dane said in a conversational tone as he made his way down to the lakeside to wash his hands, "If I pulled down your hood, would I see a man or a woman?" Thrusting his hands into the water, the Paladin twisted to look back at his nameless friend, raising his eyebrow quizzically. "If I were to take a guess, I'd say you're a woman, just because that sort of thing would happen to me. What's more, you'd probably be an elf or something, too."

{ muse weird. }
{ notes ohhhhh my gosh, i am sooooo sorry! i completely forgot about this thread and only just remembered to post! my bookmarks are, for some reason, only alerting me to posts in certain threads? i think i fixed it now, but we'll see. }
{ tags brynja }
{ listening to nothing. }
{ words 295 }

[kaioinazuma18]

"You would be right in guessing a woman, but an elf, now that's a bit of a stretch." She responded to the paladin in the same whisper. If he were to find out that she was an elf, which would be problematic. Brynja's eyes tensed, though they were hidden from sight for the moment. "What would you do if I were an elf?" She inquired in return. The instant he would reply would probably be the end of their little talk. She knew most humans would try to kill an elf on sight, so this could be problematic for her. She drew in a deep, silent breath, the smell of blood on the air comforting her and reminding her of the isle she lived on for so many years.

She lifted her head, her emerald green eyes staring at the man before her. “I would love to stay and chat further, but I must be leaving. There are other jobs to be done, and said payoff to be collected.” She muttered before turning to head further down the shoreline of the lake. Her movements were graceful and gentle, hiding the killing instinct of the woman that walked before him. “One last thing, don’t just follow orders because someone tells you to, killing little girls and ripping the organs out of their bodies.” She said, stopping to say that one piece of advice. The bow and quiver as well as a long sword on her back glinting in the light of the sun that reflected off the metal parts. Brynja turned to look over her shoulder. “Good luck.” She said aloud for only the second time.

muse: meh
notes: blech, crappier than usual
tags: Dane
word count: 265 (appx.)

[pterodactyl]

i should blame you for the falling rain
i should blame you for my constant pain
i should be there to remind you every day
i should walk you through the halls of my own fate
i should let you taste the tears that fell in hate
i should be there to remind you every day
i should...

"You would be right in guessing a woman, but an elf, now that's a bit of a stretch."

So, a woman, Dane thought. I wonder if she's pretty. Squashing the errant notion, he concentrated on her question. "What would you do if I were an elf?" Honestly? Dane had no idea how he'd react. There was a part of him that would want to fall over in shock. Then again, there was another part that would demand that he attack and bring her with him back to the Hand. His bosses would probably love to experiment on a naturally magical being. Even so, he couldn't bear the thought of condemning someone to a lifetime of torture in a dungeon somewhere in the Tears. Even if that person's killed countless people for money.

But it was her "advice" that really set Dane off. “One last thing, don’t just follow orders because someone tells you to, killing little girls and ripping the organs out of their bodies.” The casual tone the elf-woman used was probably the worst aspect of her snide comment, considering she'd probably done the same thing somewhere along the line. That woman had no right to judge Dane, as far as he was concerned. It wasn't like he had any choice in the matter. His service to the Hand was forced, unless of course he wanted to sign his own sons' death warrants. "The things I do have nothing to do with orders. I save lives every time I take one. But I guess you wouldn't understand that," the Paladin blurted angrily.

{ muse fair }
{ notes -shrug- none }
{ tags brynja }
{ listening to random bedtime music }
{ words 264 }

[kaioinazuma18]

She whipped back around, grinning as she pulled her hood down. She had hidden her features to look like a human while in human territory. Her emerald green eyes and copper hair long and flowing down behind her in a french-braid style haircut. "You know, you're kind of cute when you're angry." She said with a smile. It was how she had decided to hide herself as, and she was going to continue like this until she deemed him worthy enough to expose her true form as an elf (to her that would take centuries for any human). Her eyes stared at him, taking in his features as she knew he was doing the same with her.

"Tell me, Paladin.... exactly whose lives are you saving?" She inquired calmly, walking back over, a calm yet gentle expression on her face. She wished to know, for every motive had a consequence both positive and negative, whether it be one or both. This much she knew, and as long as she knew why she traveled in search of worthy opponents her search would never end. However, as she stood in front of the Paladin, she knew she had met a worthy match, his eyes were strong and he exuded a fear of something she could not decipher. It was something she was unfamiliar with, family, maybe? Or maybe it was a lover he had... whatever it was, it was influencing his actions.

[pterodactyl]

"Tell me, Paladin.... exactly whose lives are you saving?"

"I have two sons," Dane began, looking up with only mild surprise at the copper-haired woman revealed by the dropping of the hood, a frown still on his face from when she'd called him cute. He was too pissed to respond favorably to a woman's advances. He'd already prepared himself for weird; this whole business was strange. His leg muscles tingled, reminding him to get up from his crouch by the lake and do his job, damn it. Picking up the silver box, Gunnarsson regained his full height, releasing the tingling wash of feeling down into his legs, already half-asleep from his long wait in the reeds and his crouch by the body and by the lake. The rippling sound of the water and the chirping of a lone bird accompanied the Paladin back to his dark horse, where he stowed the box. An expression of disgust flitted across his face.

"They grew up and left home a few years ago. They might still be together, they might not. I haven't heard from them. Ever. The people I work for...they have no scruples about holding my sons' lives over my head." Dane's voice was bittersweet as he referred to his sons. On the one hand, he was proud to have raised such fine young boys. Men, really, now. On the other, he was seething against the use of those men against him. Dane could die at any time, which honestly wouldn't be too bad. But to even threaten a hair on either Rainer or Sebastian's heads? It made him wish to be one of the Riders, just for a day, so he could wave his hand and blot them all out, the entire Hand.

{ muse out the freakin' window }
{ notes none }
{ tags brynja }
{ listening to dream theater }
{ words 294 }