[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/909715047918497815/1037211200871731300/Umbri_banner6.png[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/4uuThLm.jpg[/img]



Umbri held a vial up to the light. A jiggle, and the pearlescent fluid swirled, the shadow of a pill bobbing just under the surface. She had no idea what she was thinking when she stole it. [i][color=CD09DC]"It'll stay with you forever. Most drugs only make you feel powerful. This one shows you what it's like to be a God."[/color] [color=DC091C]"GIFT is a blight on the streets! We need to destroy it all!"[/color][color=#A4303F] "GIFT being spread around down here feels like the biggest middle finger you could throw at the upper city you hate so much."[/color][/i] All these voices shook around in her head like the pill in its bottle. She glanced back at the hallucination of Stabby-Rat trapped in the mirror. It panted, whole twisted form shuddering as it looked - through broken red goggles and one non-punctured eyeball - at the drug, [i]daring her.[/i]

To do what? Put a drug distributed by the Mother of Monsters in her blood, to save her from the venom that came from one of the very own monsters he mothered? There wasn't any guarantee that the substance would unlock anything in her that would help. It was a roulette. Laser eyes or whatever that blue stuff was that Aegis had would not save her.

The truth was, she didn't steal it in that moment because she thought it was useful. She knew that miniscule chance it had to be useful now was barely worth considering. She was just -

A shriek cut through her transfixed state, coming from outside the workshop, not within it. She blinked. Stabby-Rat no longer shared her mirror, and the vial lost its tempting lustre. Umbri swept up both the vials and stashed them away in a rush.

[hr]
The only thing Umbri had done about her 'naked' feeling was throw her jacket back over her bikini and thong and fix her asymmetric wig back to her scalp, before she walked back into the workshop on crutches. Temujin's corner was cut off from the rest of the workshop by a screen stretched between two poles, giving the armourless torso some semblance of privacy. Whatever a robot would need that for. Especially now, in this... unnervingly [i]dead[/i] workshop. Everyone had been banging around in here just moments before, and now they were gathered in a black and orange blob outside.

[color=#A4303F][b]"Did you offend them?"[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"Everyday,"[/b][/color] Temujin answered without missing a beat. He looked up at Umbri. Her eyes were puffy and damp, with the whites nearly as red as her pupils. [color=DC091C][b]"What happened?"[/b][/color] He asked, a tinge of emotion bleeding through his voice. He lowered his head, deepening the angle of his glare. [color=DC091C][b]"Did Aegis make you cry?"[/b][/color]

Umbri's head whipped away from trying to figure out the commotion outside to look at him, baffled that the robot had it in him to be so astute or even care. [color=#A4303F][b]"What? No,"[/b][/color] she snapped, then shook her head and glanced away, flinching. [color=#A4303F][b]"No, I was- I was just working."[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"What?!"[/b][/color] He yelped. [color=DC091C][b]"There? In your current condition?"[/b][/color] He did a double take down the corridor she came from. 

[color=#A4303F][b]"Holographic, remember? All of this made me miss a date so I had to tell my client not to kill himself."[/b][/color]

Temujin stared. And stared. [color=DC091C][b]"Maybe he [i]should [/i]just kill himself." [/b][/color]

[color=#A4303F][b]"Maybe. But I won't get paid for that."[/b][/color] Her nonchalant air darkened with a sigh. [color=#A4303F][b]"And he never will anyway. He gets off on it. Pretty woman sobbing on her knees for him."[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"Huh,"[/b][/color] The ninja grunted. [color=DC091C][b]"That feels…"[/b][/color] He sought the right word for a moment. [color=DC091C][b]"...Degrading."[/b][/color] Temujin shook his head, wishing he had hands to wash the thoughts off him. He glanced up at her, his curiosity peeking over his disgust. [color=DC091C][b]"How do you deal with that?" [/b][/color]

She shrugged. [color=#A4303F][b]"It just piles on."[/b][/color] Her crutches groaned as they carried her over to his table and she sat on the end of it. [color=#A4303F][b]"In the meantime I put on a different wig and think of who I do it for."[/b][/color] She caught her distorted reflection on the bench, the neon green invading her face. [color=#A4303F][b]"I could die soon. Can we not talk about work?"[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"Sure,"[/b][/color] he replied. [i]Shit.[/i] His mind raced to search for topics, scrolling through the dialogue they had. Small talk was not his forte, unless it involved poetic justice and the flaying of one's enemies. [color=DC091C][b]"So Aegis [i]didn't [/i]make you cry. But he didn't make you feel any better, either."[/b][/color]

Umbri bobbed her head, musing, [color=#A4303F][b]"Well I am [i]dying.[/i] That's a hard ask for anybody."[/b][/color]

He shrugged. [color=DC091C][b]"I do expect too much from paragons. They're supposed to turn water into booze and piss all-curing rainbows."[/b][/color] Umbri responded with a half-hearted laugh. [color=DC091C][b]"But seriously. What do you think of Shieldtown's premiere superhero?"[/b][/color]

She was quiet for a bit as she mulled it over. [color=#A4303F][b]"For a settlement's 'Alpha Rogue'… he's a bit insecure, isn't he?"[/b][/color]

Temujin tilted his head. [color=DC091C][b]"Is he? I hadn't noticed,"[/b][/color] he said, with a tone that beckoned elaboration. 

[color=#A4303F][b]"It's a woman thing, I suppose."[/b][/color] Umbri squinted. [color=#A4303F][b]"... You don't like him."[/b][/color]

[color=DC091C][b]"What?!"[/b][/color] Temujin shrieked. [color=DC091C][b]"That's… that's not true! Aegis has saved me plenty of times. Plenty!"[/b][/color] 

Her eyes crinkled with suspicion as her lips turned up. [color=#A4303F][b]“So you do? I didn’t think you had it in you. But you still thought he made me cry, and tried to pry gossip from me, so…”[/b][/color] She cocked her head. [color=#A4303F][b]“Hm. You’re jealous.”[/b][/color]

Temujin scoffed. The spirit hushed from his voice. [color=DC091C][b]"That's ridiculous, why would I be jealous of him?" [/b][/color]

[color=#A4303F][b]“I haven’t figured that part out yet,”[/b][/color] she replied. [color=#A4303F][b]“You’re both defenders of settlements. The Hero of Shieldtown, the Red Oni of Northbridge… just…”[/b][/color] She thought of the chatter she overheard while first entering the workshop. The fangirlish way civilians gossiped about their great protector. [color=#A4303F][b]“Does it bother you to be so feared in Northbridge, your vigilantism looked on like a bloody stain on our settlement, while Aegis is so loved and celebrated here?”[/b][/color]

Temujin considered her words. [i]Does it bother him?[/i] He was ready to shout his denials in an instant. [color=DC091C][b]"Fear is sharper than any blade. Fear keeps evil in its cage. Fear…"[/b][/color] He stared straight into her with those pitch black eyes. [color=DC091C][b]"Fear… saves lives."[/b][/color] Temujin glanced out the roller door, towards the town that prospered beneath its shining sun lamp. [color=DC091C][b]"Even here, the hope that binds the people only came forth out of fear for the monsters that plague its walls. Aegis inspires hope… but it is fear that keeps the peace."[/b][/color]

Umbri shook her head at the end of his spiel. She’d been leaning back as she listened, and looked on him now with sympathy. [color=#A4303F][b]“No. It just keeps people afraid.”[/b][/color]

Something burst from a door in the workshop and crossed the floor to the entrance before they could continue their debate on philosophy. Umbri caught a flash of orange and brown. [color=DarkMagenta][b][i]“...Can I ask for some privacy with them? I promise I’ll probably explain my shit later! To everyone, maybe. Just, not right now! Thanks!”[/i][/b][/color]

Three sets of heavy footfalls joined the scampering. Umbri froze up behind the screen. She looked at Temujin with urging eyes and lips that mouthed [i]'What's happening?'[/i] He looked back at her with a permanent scowl that could mouth no answers back. Conversation started. Conversation she had the prickling feeling that she [i]shouldn't[/i] be privy to. But her mobility was hindered, and her crutches too loud, so she stayed planted. Rooted in place for the wildest conversation she'd ever eavesdropped.

A kidnapping. A murder. A ritual. [s](A giant fish tank? Unimportant.)[/s] A resurrection. A warden who controlled flames. Ink boiling under skin, [i]cannibalism,[/i] Templars, Rats, holy shit, [i][b]cannibalism. SOMEBODY BEHIND THE SCREEN HAD EATEN PEOPLE.[/b][/i] She shared (or at least assumed to share) a bewildered look with Temujin all the while, until it became too much, and she [i]had[/i] to peek around the screen at the owner of a mouth that had chewed human flesh.

A little woman, with a soft face and warm skin and thick coils of hair. Nothing like the monstrous figure she'd envisioned - [i]what the fuck. [/i] A substance like black tar bubbled up on the woman's face, shifting her features around. From those black pools sprouted eyeballs, like meat floating to the top of a stew. Temujin could not see it. But the expression on Umbri's face demonstrated the horror quite sufficiently. She pulled away from her crack between the screen and the wall with a hand over her mouth.

[color=DC091C][b][i]“What? What is it?”[/i][/b][/color] Temujin asked her, fidgeting in his stand.

[i]Thud. Thud. Thud.[/i] Anxiety rose up in her. Aegis seemed accepting of this creature with open arms and familiarity. Umbri had seen mutants in Northbridge - people who had been altered on a biological level as opposed to Chroming up - albeit less [i]shifty[/i] than this one. Maybe she'd be more receptive to whatever the hell was going on if she hadn't just heard about all the people she'd eaten, and which ones tasted best. She shut her eyes and willed her heart down.

[i]Thud... thud... thud.[/i]

An idea, hatching in the back of her mind and more hopeful than solid, was made clearer as she calmed down. Her hand slipped into her jacket pocket and brushed the tip of the stinger. She looked to Temujin and gestured her head past the screen. [i]'I'm going.'[/i]

[color=DC091C][b][i]“Hey!”[/i][/b][/color] Temujin hissed, containing his shouts in whispers. [color=DC091C][b][i]“HEY! Don’t you leave me too!” [/i][/b][/color]

Umbri raised a brow at the serial-killing Rogue's abandonment issues. [i]'Ok, ok!'[/i] She placated him and looked back at the screen. She wanted to go, she didn't want to leave him behind. With a thrust of her hand, she pushed it over.

[i]Thud.[/i]

The barrier between her, Temujin, and the secret meeting flopped down. She swallowed and tried not to look guilty. She knew her condition was visually one hell of a lot worse. Leaving her room might not have been appreciated, let alone eavesdropping. She lifted her hands from the grips of her crutches in a show of submission, following her first instinct to quell the erratic cannibal. She nodded towards their three companions. [color=#A4303F][b]"It's ok. They know me. And I'm in no..."[/b][/color] she huffed and strained herself as she hobbled over the screen. Cold sweat dribbled off her chin. [color=#A4303F][b]"Mmgh, position to do you harm. Nobody's..."[/b][/color] a wince, [color=#A4303F][b]"Going to eat anybody."[/b][/color]

Hot pink bangs framed a tired glare. [color=#A4303F][b]"You're a shapeshifter,"[/b][/color] she stated. Not a question. She'd understood that much from her story. The only question that mattered to her was [i]how far[/i] the woman's abilities went.

[color=#A4303F][b]"Can you show me?"[/b][/color]