— Natala, Odile & Liza —
Liza knew what her plan of action was. Considering this one would become her masterwork, one to trump everything she had ever done, the Artist was certain that she would take her time. For that, the next logical step was to be able to stick around this newcomer without bringing up any suspicion.
Friends, that was the term, Liza had to become friends with the nameless female stranger. ”I am Liza, a traveling Artist! How about I h-” In that moment the masked figure glimpsed something else. The sight of an Abomination. The girl couldn’t quite reason how this behemoth came so close before her attention shifted. ”Watch out!” She yelled at the other female.
Liza had to act quick If this beast was to damage her canvas she would never forgive herself. Then again, maybe she should have been thankful? After all it gave her some insane lavage in her beginning relationship with the tattooed stranger. Saving the damsel in distress and all that.
Not even time to pull out one of her guns; Liza instead aimed her open palm towards Odile before a quick magical blast in form of a spinning arrow left her palm. As the attack connected with the monstrosities chest the monster got knocked back as Liza made haste to get closer towards Natala - for protection sake.
Natala had her sword half drawn by the time she managed to look over her shoulder at the mess behind her. The sword thumped back into the sheath as she instead reached up grasp Lizas arm.
“That’s… That’s my friend.”
She sighed and covered her face with the other hand. This was an awkward way to start things.
It hurt. The blast had sent Odile to the ground without much resistance. Odile wheezed as tears welled up. Numerous ribs were cracked. His skin was cut by the blast. He lay on the ground, clutching his chest as the pain took hold of him. All that was on his mind was the pain; he couldn’t think, not in the slightest.
Her friend? This… beast? Was her Masterpiece’s friend? Fuck. A myriad of emotions were going through the Artist’s mind upon that discovery. Though, in the end Liza responded with a. “I am so sorry!” with her emotion distorted by her small speech device she broke loose of Natala’s grip to check on the on the ground lying body. ”C-Can you hear me? I can provide first aid!”
Natala walked over with less haste than might be expected. She turned Odile over onto his back. This was one of the worst wounds she’d seen him take yet. Not that she could blame this stranger, Natala had done the same thing. Sighing again, she stood back up.
“He’ll be fine, let’s get that fire started.”
She headed towards the nearest treeline and unsheathed her blade. Some might frown at such abuse but even such a fine sword was a tool and it chopped wood very well. Then there was a feeling, one of those that wasn’t her own. It’s wasn’t quite anger, but disappointment. Natalia paused looking around. It was indistinct, with no obvious trigger.
As the masked character approached and spoke about first aid, Odile quickly swung his arm at them. He didn’t want to be comforted by this person; they were the one who reeked the most and the one that wounded Odile. His intuition was right - this person could not be trusted.
Upon being laid upon the ground, Odile grew still. His panicked frenzy had dulled into a seething bath of injury. He looked down and saw his own wounds. It wasn’t the worst that he had experienced. Though, no amount of experience would ever make him used to the pain. Soon, odd sensations began to overtake the pain. It felt as if his skin was being stretched and pulled, his bones forced back into place, and everything felt tight. Even if it was working slowly, his regeneration could repair this much.
Just...what… was he? The monster’s ‘friend’ treated this like an everyday occurrence. ‘Strong regeneration’ was what Liza thought about that. Close to a vampire but nothing immortal. Good. If both of them were friends it meant Liza had to get along with those thing as well. Just a small annoyance.
Still, with the monster taken out for now the masked Artist followed Natala to help her get the firewood into place. ”So, what’s your name and what is bringing you ‘here’?”
Natala finished cutting off a limb and looked over at Liza.
“I’m not sure that I want to tell someone that won’t even show their face.”
“I… don’t like showing my face to people.” Liza simply responded - wasn’t being an Artist enough of an excuse?!
The former slave shook her head and lopped off another branch. “Well it can’t be any uglier than my friends. Until you lose the mask you can call me Chained, I suppose.”
Urgh. This was really something. Usually, Liza wouldn’t care, but considering this person was her Masterpiece, well… ”...I-I’ll m-make an exception for you but you have to promise me to not laugh!” The masked Artist simply responded. After all, she was ‘supposed’ to find herself rather ugly. Taking it a step further, she even stretched out her hand for an handshake. ”Promise?”
Natala wasn’t sure what to think. She could well sympathize with not wanting to show her face, but this person seemed to be more embarrassed. Maybe this ‘Artist’ was on the run, like her. She pursed her lips and then took the hand. “Sure”
”Alright.” Liza nodded before taking off her mask to give her soon-to-be a good, long, look. ”Well, satisfied?” With her voice distortion gone Liza’s natural voice could be heard as well. Her face made a clear uncomfortable expression.
She couldn’t see why Liza had insisted on hiding her face and had been so embarrassed about taking the mask off. Maybe it was simply to put out a tougher appearance. Certainly this rather childish face wouldn’t do much to deter anyone from bothering her. Natala smiled. “I’m Natala, nice to meet you.”
