[center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/vmD5gH1s/24240e3d351d9ee1c61e7454ecc18e1e.png[/img][/center] [color=gray][sub][right][color=white][b]Location:[/b][/color] Uhladein, Eastern Marches [/right][/sub][/color] [hr] Fianna wasn't expecting a welcome upon her return. During her short stay in Uhladein, the Scilan Hunters she had been assigned along with hadn't so much as spoken a word in her presence. It wasn't as if she blamed them, of course. They might have been her own countrymen, but considering who was holding her leash, she surely must have seemed an enemy in their eyes... assuming they even knew who she had been in the first place. And given the fact that the lot of them had been barely more than children, she highly doubted that. And now they were dead. What did you expect, when you sent [i]children[/i] to a battlefield? She would know, of course, having marched onto her first battlefield at a young age herself. She'd been stupid, and reckless, and... And she had been lucky to have her father to keep her in check. The Scilan brats she'd fought alongside didn't have that luxury. What, was [i]she[/i] supposed to protect them? It was all she'd been able to do not to lose herself and devour them before the void could! Thinking about it like that, she could almost pretend she hadn't [i]tried.[/i] Hadn't [i]failed,[/i] more like -- “[COLOR=92278f]Hey! Hey Granny![/color]” The rag-wrapped huntress froze at the voice. Although it had come from right in front of her, it still took her a moment to realize [i]she[/i] was being addressed. She reached a hand awkwardly out from under her makeshift poncho, two thumbs and six fingers twisting themselves clumsily through a tangled strand of her own grey hair. Right... Hunters might not age, but that didn't mean that her physiology was immutable. Just how long ago had the color faded from her hair -- her skin -- her eyes? The days were like molasses, but the years were like lightning... But there was someone talking to her. Someone who, when she looked down, made her realize that perhaps she hadn't failed [i]entirely.[/i] There had been one other child on the battlefield, after all. And now, that same child was standing in front of her, gazing up at her with... with... Well, understanding people's feelings had never been her strong suit, even before her life had fallen apart. At any rate, the girl seemed excited. “[COLOR=92278f]You exploded![/color]” [color=#CB0B53]"...Yes...?"[/color] Fianna blinked, staring quizzically down at the girl with a blank expression as, a little ways away, a woman with blue hair quickly concurred. That one was... some manner of huntress from Prentiss, if she recalled correctly, though Fianna hadn't quite managed to piece her brains back together well enough yet to recall the woman's name. Still, she and the towering pink-haired woman next to her seemed... oddly happy about the whole situation. Everyone else who'd come to this city with them was dead, right? And of all the people to survive, they'd been left with Fianna the Bloody. It defied reason that any of them would get anywhere near her -- let alone this child looking up at her with such an odd expression. She felt the strangest of urges to reach out and tousle the girl's hair, but mastered this impulse almost as soon as she felt it -- it wouldn't do to show a gesture of affection when one's hands were still in such a sorry state, after all. But there had been one more among their number, right? A certain [i]someone[/i] had hefted a brick at her head. Where was she, anyway? Perhaps she had gone and gotten herself killed again. It was around that point that a familiarly annoying voice chimed into the conversation, and shortly thereafter, the fist connected with her face. Next thing Fianna knew, she was on the ground, staring up at the sky. She tried to open her mouth to say something, but apparently her jaw had come unhinged. Ah, how annoying... just when she'd gotten done fixing it. And to make matters worse, her [i]brains[/i] were sloshing around again, like so many little insects crawling and scuttling inside her head. Still, at least her head was clearer now. Things didn't seem so strange anymore. This was what she was used to. This was how it was supposed to be. She didn't have to think about anything anymore. All she needed to do was hate. Her jaw crawled back across her face and helpfully climbed back into its socket. She clicked her tongue once, then twice -- then spat out a mass of white shards that had probably once been teeth. No matter. She had plenty to spare. In place of her canine, a spider's dripping fang poked out from behind her lips, pulling them open in a paralyzed, lopsided grin as a row of goblin teeth quickly emerged alongside it. Crimson strands of metal, supple as spider's silk, wound their way out of her feet and into the stones beneath her, wrenching her body upward as her knees and ankles rotated in place to allow her to "stand," then snapped back with a crack. Her concussion sorted itself one way or the other, and her vacant scarlet eyes refocused themselves on the noisome dog of Midnos still yapping in front of her. [color=#CB0B53]"Oh. So you were here too, [i]Quinn.[/i] Forgive me. I assumed you'd be off burning in a ditch somewhere by now, like usual."[/color] Like a dreamer waking from a long sleep, the pale woman stretched her arms, giving a long yawn, and speaking with a disinterest that belied the blood still streaming down her face. [color=#CB0B53]"So you didn't die this time, then. What, you want me to fix that for you?"[/color] She drawled, wiping the blood from her lip before giving another, even longer yawn. [color=#CB0B53]"So needy."[/color]