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Post by Kee Montgomery on Jan 4, 2010 17:41:57 GMT -5
]Though the temperature was sharply low and the snow fell in a white mist like a god's paralyzing breath, Kee forged off the beaten trail, silently counting her steps into the cover of white-noise. The cold hardly bothered her, even when it dipped into the twenties and approached zero, and she often suggested to strangers watching her quizzically due to the absence of heavy attire that it was the Inuit blood in her thickening her skin. In fact, the sting of snow against her moon-pale shoulder, one side of her jacket constantly slipping off, was almost refreshing. It energized her like a shot of caffeine, minus the jittery effect. But I am "jittery" anyways, she thought, and the mental remark elicited a smile from the stiff set of her lips.
It was a pleasant evening, and the combination of a night sky thickly brushed with stars and the gently kissing snow made it even better. Despite the rest of Stratwater's denizens, she never grew tired of the constant snowfall, electing to take midnight walks in its midst like that particular night. Again, there was something in her heritage, originating from somewhere currently known as Alaska, that fueled her with an adoration for the frozen precipitation. My uncle says the northern lights are beautiful, came the stream of consciousness. I will have to travel there one day, Alaska. It seems nice.
Much nicer than Stratwater. Honestly, she resented the small town for reasons not apparent to even herself. Its enigma and mystery might be appealing to some, but not her. Kee just wanted to return to South Carolina or Virginia or even the little house in Phoenix, New York that she had spent a year and a half in – with her father. I like Uncle and all, but it isn't the same. Breath hot, she sighed and twined her fingers through the puff of steam as her tattered sneakers stepped onto the lake's rocky shore. What a peculiarity. Cold in the summer and hot in the winter. Steam lifted off the water's surface like a ghost's chuckle. [/font]
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Post by Samantha Monroe on Jan 4, 2010 18:13:10 GMT -5
Many considered snow to be a gift of nature. As young children gather around to toss frozen water at each other and build large figurines made of snow in hopes of them magically springing to life, families gathered around at night at the fireplace, watching the crystals flutter down as the bright light of the Christmas tree illuminated the room. To every individual, snow meant something.
As her footsteps pushed down on the soft blanket that smothered the earth, Samantha - currently under the guise of the Huntress - gave a small smirk. She loved snow so much. It made her job so much easier. Tracking foot steps, which usually led her right to her paycheck-in-the-making, was the highlight of winter for her. No more asking around shady characters and doing favors or beating the crap out of someone to squeeze out a drop of information. All she had to do was look around for a few minutes and find the yellow brick road.
Tracks also told her a lot about her target. These one told her to be wary. They were large and pushed deep into the snow. It was most likely a werewolf, and the only werewolves who were large and heavy enough to sink so low in the snow was an alpha. As she bent down, trying her best to make as little as possible, she slid her gun out of its barrel, balancing the weapon on the palm of her hand. The tracks were leading her to the nearby lake, and there was basically no place to hide down there. The tracks led her to a nearby bush, which had been disturbed by the beast. As she pushed past th he beaten bush, she almost gasped in surprise.
The tracks suddenly ended. All that was left was a deep, half-pipe shape down the road, indicating that the beast had slid down the high area and flung himself in the lake. But that's where it ended. There were no signs of any other motion. Had it fail to notice the fall, and bumped it's head as it slid down? Perhaps that was the case, and the beast had simply drowned. That meant that picking up the body was going to be a pain in the ass, and as it were, the lake was currently occupied. She didn't want to make a scene in front of a civilian, so she sat down and waited for the lake to clear up before proceeding with her mission.
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Post by Kee Montgomery on Jan 4, 2010 18:30:22 GMT -5
During her short time in Stratwater, Kee, fortunately, hadn't encountered any of the “Monsters” fabled to hide under the guise of human faces, though it probably wasn't the easiest to tell who they were. Her Uncle once mentioned in passing that pixies were supposed to have hot pink hair, but when she went to school the following day, thirteen teenagers – she tallied them; she loved numbers – sported bright violet locks. Unless I count as a Monster, she reminded herself with a disquieted smile, though no one ever mistook her for a parahuman in hiding. She was too small and soft-spoken. Monsters were supposed to be huge and neurotic, blood-thirsty. Well, I suppose that applies to me once a month. She mentally tied to count the number of days until the crescent moon, but there wasn't much need for a calendar. The moon tugged at the blood in her veins like it affected the tide, and it couldn't be more than a couple days off.
Kee's mouth twitched into a frown as she focused her attention on reality rather than the thoughts breeding in her head. It was an awful habit of hers, getting caught up in her own mind and disregarding the world around her, and one day, it might get her into a spot of trouble. Smell that? her instincts crowed, and she parted her lips slightly to taste the air. It tasted wild, and when she breathed in through her nose, searching for telltale scents, there was something odd on the wind. It kind of smells like Uncle and me, but... different. Well, there it was: her first Monster scenting, if the lifting of her hackles was any clue. I should leave, but... it seems old. She always preferred caution over risk. She didn't have much of a stomach for danger.
Still, it was too good of a night to waste, and the scent was faded, anyway. I shouldn't trust my senses. They're not as defined as Uncle's yet, her common sense chided, but Kee hushed it. Another hint tickled her senses, this one metal and estrogen. The different sexes had a very distinct difference in smell, even to her untrained nose, and gunpowder was so suddenly prominent in the air that her eyes could practically follow the scent-trail. Her gaze alighted upon the female. Someone's here, and then, A human makes me want to run more than the threat of a Monster does. However, her logic was not flawed. This human had a gun. “Oh dear,” she mumbled to herself.
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Post by Samantha Monroe on Jan 4, 2010 19:07:35 GMT -5
After years of playing the hunter and prey game, Samantha had developed some sort of sixth sense, in which she would feel a tingle whenever she was being watched. Samantha looked down and noticed that girl at the lake looking at her. She couldn't see her well from up her, but something inside her told her that the girl was unsettled by the Huntress' presence. But of course Samantha wasn't the most gentle looking human out there. With her coat, hat and "toys" - as she liked to call them - Samantha looked like the sort of person you'd see in a movie. Most people shuffled away from Samantha when they saw her approaching, but she liked it that way. It made people more likely to tell her what she wanted to hear.
Then came a large splash of water. Something had emerged from the lake, sending out a blood curling scream in it's wake. Sam was half right. What had crawled out of the waters resembled an alpha wolf, somewhat. But it was much worse than that. This abomination was much larger, with sea weed green fur, and what look like... gills on its neck? It was like nothing Sam had seen in her years of work. This thing was a prime example of how deranged the people who made these monsters were.
The beast landed it's large clawed hands on the shore. It's eyes were vicious, blood shot, showing rage. And, as they lowered down to examine the specimen in front of him, it mirrored the hunger it felt. But, in it's idiotic haste, it failed to noticed another human sliding down the hill. As she reached the bottom she crouched, cat-like, and sprang up in the air. Just then, the beast caught the scent of the Huntress. As it looked up, Samantha slammed her feet into it's eyes, causing blood to spout as it's eye popped. The beast screeched, both hands grasping it's now empty eye socket. Sam somersaulted in the air gracefully and landed on the shore, taking out her gun and emptying all six shots into the beast's skull. With each bullet, the beast recoiled back until it collapsed on the shore. At least getting the body wouldn't be such a pain anymore.
"You okay?" she asked the young girl as she turned around to face her. No doubt the poor thing had been mortified by the events that unfolded beneath her eyes. To reduce the girl's fear, Sam took off her hat, allowing her golden locks to freely flow down her back as the face of the rough bounty haunter now softened into that of a woman's.
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Post by Kee Montgomery on Jan 4, 2010 19:20:59 GMT -5
As a general rule, Kee disliked people. She had nothing against them personally – that was a fib; their personalities could be atrocious, their capacity for evil astounding – but she was timid and easily frightened. It took all of her effort to so much as order at a restaurant without stammering, and at school, she shied away from group work. She hated teachers with a passion when they forced her to partner up with someone. Kee would much rather do all the classwork on her own, even if it meant shouldering a massive project. The brain-dead students loved her for it. While the threat of a present Monster failed to elicit much of a reaction, the present female made her self-conscious, and she was filled with a desire to scamper into the shadows.
Oblivious, Kee failed to notice the monstrosity that had surfaced from the warm lake until its spine-shaking bellow caught her attention. She slowly turned to look at it, every muscle stiff and her body rigid. Look away. Defer. Show no threat, animal instinct schooled, and she averted her eyes, trying to make herself as small as possible. However, this beast didn't seem to be looking for a subordinate to toss around. It was hunting. Shit, shit, shit, became her split-second mantra, but she was a rabbit, trapped between running left or right. Fight or flight, come on, do something! But fear reigned her as it always had – numbing fright.
The surface of her skin trembled as if living things were squirming beneath it, some inner power struggling to be released. However, the sudden appearance of that female again, the one with the gunpowder scent, stopped the liquid shivering and Kee snapped into some sector of reality. She stumbled backwards, blood spraying into the ear as the quicksilver lady smashed its eye. A speck of red dotted her dark jeans, and she was repulsed. It smelled disgusting, like death and carrion.
Smoke and blood choked her senses as the stranger unloaded six bullets into the monster's head. Kee resembled a gazelle faced by lions, lacing her fingers behind her neck to hide the shaking of her fingers, though every other part of her was shuddering in a similar manner. The woman, pistol smoking, turned to face her, and for half of a heartbeat, she was afraid that she'd meet a similar fate. I'm just a human to her, of course. She can't tell the difference, she hoped and swallowed hard. “Y-yes,” she mumbled, and primal behavior against instructed her – shoulders slumped, eyes downcast, muscles loose, the embodiment of harmless.
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Post by Samantha Monroe on Jan 4, 2010 19:37:30 GMT -5
Samantha sighed, tossing out the empty shells of her weapon and loading another six for good measure before placing the gun back in it's holster. "I'm sorry you had to see that" Samantha mumbled, her gaze turning to the lake, now shaded a sickening red, and the beast slouched over the snow. She hated whenever someone witness a brutal parade like that. The psychological effects a human can inherit when faced with such a disfigured freak of nature, then seeing their corpse flung around the ground, blood covering the battlefield as if an entire war had taken place, could send a person to a mental institute. It's not the first time she had to carry a mentally broken person to a doctor's, feeling the guilt rack up as their shattered sobs filled her ears, and their salty tears tickled her skin.
"Are you sure you're fine?" Sam questioned again, concern flowing out of her musical voice. Her eyes seemed clouded with sadness and guilt. Whenever this happened she blamed herself. She reasoned that if she had acted quicker and arrived at the scene before the beast made their entrance, she could have told off the human. It might make her seem cold, but at least the only possible injuries happened to her. She'd seen enough innocents being murdered and eaten alive before her eyes, screaming for help while she was powerless to do anything.
"Again I sincerely apologize. I should have done something to prevent you witnessing something so horrific. I know it's a bit too late, but..."
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Post by Kee Montgomery on Jan 4, 2010 19:58:56 GMT -5
Kee's gaze followed the path of the gun from its position in the stranger's white-knuckled grip, dark metal glinting in the twilight, until it reached the holster at her hip. She was more afraid of the weapon with its swift-winged bullets than she was of the woman, though the Monster-hunter did scare her quite a bit. There was a chance that she could hold her own in physical combat, or at least run away faster than human legs could pursue, but a pistol narrowed her rate of survival to nil. Stop being so paranoid, the girl scolded herself. She only wanted to shoot the... wolf-fish. She risked a quick glance at the corpse, shuddering. Disgusting. Her stomach twisted into twenty knots, heaving like the ocean during a tempest. Nausea. As well as being a crier, Kee was also a puker, which was just as awful as it sounded. Stress made her vomit. Though I always reach a toilet, she thought with a hint of bitter pride.
The woman's concern made Kee's mouth, set in a deadpan line, curve up. It was slightly amusing that after such a brutal scene, she could show compassion. “Um, yes,” she stammered softly. She turned her attention back to the female, struggling to decide where to point her eyes. The stranger probably wouldn't understand her body language, unless her sense of smell fooled her and there was something inhuman beneath that lovely skin. Still, Kee couldn't persuade herself to meet her eyes, so she focused on the lake.
“It's, um... fine,” she tentatively reassured her. “You saved me, right?” Kee's attention wavered as she was swallowed by her inner turmoil, the need to run away from this horrible scene and the shock numbing her muscles. “It's a shame,” she sighed to herself. “I wanted to swim...” Yet the idea of another wolf-fish-monster lurking in the lake dissuaded her from taking a dip. Her gaze timidly shifted to the woman's face. “Thank you.”
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Post by Samantha Monroe on Jan 5, 2010 13:34:40 GMT -5
It was getting ridiculous. She could understand werewolves, giant squids, maybe even a kraken. But things were getting out of hand. She was seeing more and more of these horrid abominations as time gone by, and hunting was becoming something she enjoyed less as the fear that gripped her spirit and dragged it down to the pits of her stomach increased. She was fortunate the beast didn't notice her sooner or it would have ripped her to pieces with one swift swipe.
The creature was impossibly bulked, giving the impression that the muscles were going to rip right through it's skin. And it was huge. Its hands were about half an average person's height, and those claws seemed sharp enough to slice through anything. And it could breathe underwater. Plus the colours it's coat had were perfect for camouflage, so any unsuspecting diver was ripe for the picking. A shudder slipped down her spine. It was then that she remembered the details about her job. She was to investigate the area after a few families had mysteriously disappeared in the vicinity. An image of bones and corpses scattered around the bottom of the lake filled her mind. As her eyes drifted toward the lake after the girl commented about swimming, she felt her stomach turn.
The lake was coated in crimson, thick deep like an oil spill. And God knows how many times the lake had taken up that colour these last few days. It made her head spin, and it took her all just so she could stand straight. The girl behind her had seen enough already, the details of the case were the last thing she needed. A change of subject was needed. "So what are you doing here, anyway? Wasn't there a curfew that forbade you from coming here this late at night, or was it removed?"
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Post by Kee Montgomery on Jan 5, 2010 14:47:45 GMT -5
Kee was something of an insomniac. It wasn't so much that she didn't need sleep as she couldn't. Nightmares lied in wait behind her eyelids, and every time she blinked, a flash of fear swiped through her. Her night terrors didn't begin their haunting until a few months ago, but they arrived each evening without exception, until she gave up the hope for a good night's rest and instead devoted midnight hours to devouring pages of novels and scrawling down awkward verse. Thus, she often took to wandering at night, though she was quite afraid of the dark.
When the stranger asked about her reason for being at the lake and mentioned the curfew, Kee shrugged tensely. “I, um, couldn't sleep,” she replied softly. “So I... though I would, um, come here to swim.” She was almost surprised that no one else decided to take a dip; despite the falling snow, the water was pleasantly warm like a hot spring. Then again, after seeing that... thing surface, it was no wonder. As for the curfew, she had no idea. The police had never picked her up – they were probably too busy dealing with robberies to worry about a teenager walking around at night – so she never worried about it before. “I don't, um, know about a curfew. I didn't move here too long ago...”
Self-consciously adjusting her jacket, Kee allowed herself a moment to scrutinize the huntress before her. She is very lovely, she realized, eyes running along her unblemished skin and combing through sun-gold hair. And she looks so young... to do what she just did. Whenever she imagined a monster-slayer, it was a hardened adult with chiseled muscles and a harsh demeanor, usually male - not this pretty female. How peculiar.
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Post by Samantha Monroe on Jan 5, 2010 15:07:56 GMT -5
Now there was more reason for Samantha to be concerned. This young girl was basically fresh bait for all the hungry monsters lurking around town. As a basic rule of survival in Stratwater was that you had to know your way around. There was even an agency being made to guide tourists silly enough to step onto the town's border, or those unfortunate enough to have moved here without knowing the current state the town was in. Samantha lost count of the times she had to protect a helpless civilian just because the poor chap was here for a family holiday.
"I see..." Samantha muttered half to herself, gazing again at the mountain of a corpse. "Maybe I should walk you home, just in case... But I gotta do something real quick. I suggest you don't look." Walking around toward the corpse, she unsheathed a machete , sighing as she realized that this was not going to be easy. Raising the blade in the air, she hurled it down and sliced off one of the beast's finger, brandishing a sack and filling it with the body part. She then slouched the sack over her bag, grumbling about how heavy the finger was.
She returned back to the girl, nudging her head to the side. "Let's go. The mere thought that this thing possibly has a family does not rest well on my mind."
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Post by Kee Montgomery on Jan 5, 2010 15:23:05 GMT -5
Kee didn't understand why her uncle lived in this awful town. Stratwater was... deadly, and it wasn't like he was stuck there. Uncle could easily leave at any time, yet he chose not to, therefore securing his niece in the forsaken village as well. Even Colorado with its rude neighbors was better than this. Earth-on-Sea Village, my ass. More like Hell-on-Earth. If she was able, she would grab her bags and take to the road in a heartbeat, leaving Stratwater far behind. However, she was a realist, and she knew, even with her powers, she wouldn't survive long on her own.
Despite the stranger's suggestion, Kee mutely tracked her progress to the slain beast. As the knife was lifted and dropped in a single fluid motion, effectively severing the wolf creature's finger, her stomach roiled and she paled, though she didn't have much color to begin with. How horrid. That could be me one day, she thought grimly. Though I'm not nearly that large. Am I? She didn't feel that large, but she wasn't too aware of her own state when she made the transformation.
“I'm, um, staying at the Inn,” she offered, worrying at her bracelets with apparent unease. Her Uncle had arranged a room for her there until accommodations were made at the house, and though it was a pleasant enough place, she hated being alone every night, frightened out of her socks.
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Post by Samantha Monroe on Jan 5, 2010 15:40:24 GMT -5
At the mention of the Inn, something inside Samantha seemed to jam. For a half second she froze, exhaling tensed breath as her heart seemed hollow and empty. Samantha avoided the Inn like a plague. Not because of it's state. The Inn itself wasn't bad, and the the staff was pretty nice to their guest. But because something lurked inside that in. Something that Samantha had faced again and again throughout her five years of hunting. It was her own personal demon, a mental manifestation that conjured itself inside the place, mocking Samantha whenever she had no choice but to enter.
Brief memories and flashbacks followed, and the demon's haunting laugh rung her ears and made her shiver slightly. A drop of sweat fell down her her forehead, and she swore it splashed louder than the monster had. She shook it off before her panic attack became evident and worsened. Mentally, she counted up to ten and took a silent, deep breath then slowly exhaled. She had to get her mind off it.
"So, what are you doing in Stratwater anyway?" she asked curiously, hoping a conversation would help clear her mind. "This place isn't exactly the best town to settle down in. What keeps you here? Investment, family, a guy?"
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Post by Kee Montgomery on Jan 5, 2010 15:53:38 GMT -5
Despite her general obliviousness to everything around her, Kee couldn't ignore her nose, and her senses warned her of the strong scent of anxiety wafting from the woman. Nervousness always smelled bitter to her, a little like vanilla extract but mostly like the sun. She was familiar with the smell, often detecting it on her own clothes, and that was probably the only reason she recognized it. What's wrong with her? she wondered uneasily. Was there another monster around? Every vertebrae in her spine gave a tremble at that thought. After seeing her first monster, she wasn't especially eager to encounter a second.
“Definitely not a boy,” she replied, a faint laugh undertoning her response. Kee couldn't keep the smile from tugging at her lips, though the woman probably wouldn't understand the source of her amusement anyway. When she first met her Uncle in Stratwater, she held out her hand and introduced herself, Hi, I'm Kee. I'm a lesbian. It was her view that secrets were best out of the way, spoken as soon as possible. I don't even remember being attracted to a boy, even as a little kid. How odd. Females were prettier, anyway. Not like my attraction to whichever gender matters. I won't find anyone in this terrible town.
How could she explain her situation to this huntress? Kee wasn't very sure of it herself. “My, um, family has a habit of... getting lost,” she slowly iterated. “So I had to come here with my uncle.” Getting lost was putting it lightly. Her father all but vanished, and her mother wasn't around to begin with, though by no fault of her own.
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Post by Samantha Monroe on Jan 5, 2010 16:07:11 GMT -5
The way the girl said 'getting lost' sounded a tab bit unusual to Sam. She didn't really know how to take it. It could have meant death, but that didn't really seem to make much sense. Maybe she had a deadbeat mum or dad, and something else happened to the remaining parent. She didn't really know, and she decided not to question things further. It was none of her business anyway, and Samantha knew how touchy people could get when it came to secrets. She herself once snapped a man's arm when he constantly question her about a certain secret she had. She never heard from him again.
Sam herself had much to contribute about family matters, but then again there was no reason for her to. The girl herself might not even care, and really, it wasn't common for people to just go ahead and say, "My family's all dead." It took Samantha about five second for her brain to register that she actually said those worlds out loud. She almost scolded herself too, but that would make her seem like a bigger fool. Tonight wasn't really her best night, was it?
"Oh... Uuuh, sorry about that." she muttered, lowering her head slightly. "I have no idea why I said that out loud. I have this habit of speaking my thoughts subconsciously." How awkward.
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Post by Kee Montgomery on Jan 5, 2010 16:21:04 GMT -5
Kee's usually indifferent expression softened at the woman's admission. What a horrible situation. Though she didn't have much contact with her family, at least they were still alive and... somewhere – with the exception of her mother. Poor lady, she thought sadly. Her heart gave a little squeeze for the huntress, and she almost wanted to hug her. Wouldn't that be awkward? She certainly doesn't seem like the touchy-feely type.
When she hastily explained her statement, a small laugh squeezed past Kee's lips. “No need to apologize,” she replied, lightly bumping her shoulder against the lady in a friendly manner. Her and physical contact had a love-hate relationship, and Kee carried a habit of “touching”. She was the bane of antique stores, constantly running her fingers over beautifully shaped glass or fine oak. “But, um... that's awful,” she added after several moments of quiet thought.
Her fingers, pleasantly numb from the cold, fumbled for the tarnished zipper of her jacket and tugged it up her torso, closing the flaps of her jacket. One side slipped off her shoulder again, the garment too large for her slender frame; it was an article that once belonged to her father before he... "got lost". It still smelled like him: moon and woods. Kee took a little comfort in it, as the night seemed to press close around her and the crunching of snow beneath her similarly too-large sneakers resembled the chatter of ghosts. Her attire wasn't quite suited for the cold, but of course, it didn't bother her.
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