Description: The Full Moon Society comes in contact with one of the Hunters standing vigil and watching for any signs of aggression whilst all attention is turned to the west, the Metro City incident. The world is watching as Darkstalkers invade in a calamitous seeming fashion, the Guild instead divides its attention between other potential hotspots and preventing any additional problems.
Stirring the open air fire sends a billowing cloud of rising embers and wealth of smoke skyward before it settles down, the girl set an empty tin can in amongst the glowing logs. A campsite tucked away in the woods if only from the wind it's well visible for miles and judging by the presence of stones enough for a fire pit and couple of dragged up logs, this spot has been used as such before. The can gives a metallic tic as the cool water inside and flames licking at the exterior of the can tortures the metal.
Akame, squatting by the fire for warmth, hands wound around her knees has her eyes focused intently on the fire just occasionally blowing on it or reaching down to take a stick in hand, using it to steady the can in place when logs shift or crumble away beneath its weight.
She could be camping, a tarpaulin tied to a lower hanging branch close to a tree trunk and staked into the ground conceals a couple of blankets where she had been sleeping ...but this wasn't really the type of place one would go camping casually, it would be fantastic if it weren't so dark and foreboding a wood.
Things were moving out there in the dark of the woods occasionally, they hadn't ever come too close to her fire and instead watched for a short time and moved on or avoided the site entirely. She listened for them, it worked better than her eyes ever could have with her staring deep into the blazing fire and intent on boiling water. A tiny schoolgirl all wound up in an oversize cardigan, and swaddled in a muffler with firelight reflecting off her charming red spectacles, she was hardly a threat to anyone.
The radio equipment she had buried under the edge of the fallen seat of a log behind her would indicate something contrary to that first impression.
She was observing, and she was telling someone what she was seeing.
The events that had been occurring on the other side of the world had seen the Full Moon Society grow at an alarming rate. Nightwolf had to concentrate all his focus on attending to the waves of refugees that fled the disaster area of Metro City and had to cross over an entire ocean to be in these shadowy woods.
This unprecedented event that gathered so many Darkstalkers together was bound to bring unwelcome attention to the Dark Forest and the hidden village that it protected. Nightwolf and what few sentries had been selected from the Bastion Village where all on high alert for intruders, particularly after the run in with that strange pink haired girl who claimed to be working for no one and yet knew all about Darkstalkers.
No one that young fights Darkstalkers just for kicks, there had to be something she was hiding.
Although one thing that the Sin Eater was about to learn is that Hunters really do come in all sizes and ages.
Nightwolf needed not powers to locate an intruder in his woods. Any traditionalist Apache worth his salt, like Nightwolf, could spot a campsite from miles. The shaman didn't even need to stand on the highest portion of the Sky Temple to see the column of smoke that appeared over the horizon, he had simply stood on one of the taller pillars that supported the temple to look over the canopy of trees with some binoculars.
As he did, one of his Darkstalkers advisors approached him from below. He was a tall, tree like fellow, what people known as an Ent. "Nightwolf, I found something." He informed the shaman who simply nodded in return. "I see them too."
"Hunters, you think?" Asked the Ent.
"Possible, although they are not hiding their location or don't know how to." Answered the shaman as he leapt down the building, handing his binoculars to the Ent, who grasped it on a branch like hand. "I'll go investigate. If you don't hear from me, wake Raiden up from his slumber."
SOME TIME LATER
NEAR AKAME'S CAMPSITE
Anyone that wasn't a Darkstalker had to be here for a reason. This place was no camping site and it was ways off the road, making it impossible to accidentally wander here. That said, Nightwolf seldom asked anyone directly what were their reasons to be here, as he knew of ways to make people tell him without directly asking.
After following the trail that lead to this campsite and spying Akame's movements for some time, the shaman simply decided to confront the girl directly.
It was not a man who appeared before Akame, but a wolf.
The large, black furred creature emerged from the woods and glowed an unnatural green aura. Bright white eyes peered into the girl as it gave a low growl of warning.
Akame's reaction to his appearance would tell Nightwolf all he needed to know.
The bubbling and boiling in the can begins to shake and threatens to topple it atop the fire. Akame guides the stick into the opening and pulls down adding just enough tension to lift the can before gently and clumsily guiding it off the top of the fire and onto some of the bare earth surrounding the pit.
"Caaaaare~ful."
Success! The can rests cooling as she picks up the polystyrene cup and half peels away the lid of some store bought generic brand ramen. Setting it down beside the can she looks around for something to pick the can up with and for lack of something better to use pulls back the sleeve on her right arm. Unwinding bandages quickly she binds them around her hand, improvised mitten. Cheerfully sing-songing or humming to herself she tentatively picks up the scalding hot can and pours the water into the ramen, not that long now.
Pushing the lid down and sealing it tight she reaches into her pocket, then tries it again with the other arm because the mitt has little luck grabbing hold of - the Cupmen Instant Noodle Figure(tm)!! Setting the little plastic half bent over man down on the ramen cup he hangs over the edge, holding the lid in place firmly down.
Pleased with her work she begins the careful task of rebinding those bandages before they get dirty, taking a seat on the log she winds it round and round her arm with deft practiced motion unlike her clumsy display with the stick. She can hear something else approaching in the woods but is intently focused on her ramen and the task of binding her arm back again. Downwind or close enough the stink of bad blood is strong around her. Unhealthy, inedible ...sick.
As the wolf strides into the campsite her winding and humming stops abruptly as she looks up, spectacles sliding down her nose and jaw dropping open just a little. Uh-oh, she hadn't heard anyone approach.. Standing ever so slowly like she might be dealing with a wild animal she slides forward with the same slow pacing and reaches down for the comforting weight of the stick with her left hand, draws back with it still held in both hands as if she were practicing kendo.
Maintaining form she reaches up to push the spectacles back into place in front of her eyes and studies the wolf in kind. It was glowing; chances that it was a normal wolf were pretty slim. She adjusts her form and angles the stick for thrusting, if it leapt at her she could aim for the mouth or the throat. Maybe even a little meat to go with her ramen! The prospect of cooking wolf dances though her thoughts.
Ugh! The wolf snorts loudly when the scent is caught, but not of the bad blood that this girl seemingly possesses, but the of the bland ramen! Even in wolf form, the Apache shaman is greatly averted by those artificial monstrosities that pass for food. As he said once before, he wouldn't even consider feeding that trash to coyotes.
The wolf recoils, Nightwolf apparently having half a mind to just bolt out of there to avoid being exposed to cheap ramen, but he's not as childish to succumb to such childish impulses and abandon his duty. Perhaps, depending on how things turn out, he might be able to teach this girl of some good eating habits. She sincerely looks like she needs to eat things that are organic.
What she is eating ultimately tells Nightwolf nothing, other that she's from the city, which could mean just about anything. However, just as he suspected, her reaction to see him tell him entire volumes of who she is.
The girl panics briefly, pushing her glasses up to get a good look at him. Bad sight, frail health, lack of survivor knowledge, poor eating habits, bad initial reflexes.. and yet she still reacts like a fighter. Much to his surprise, the girl actually stands up and takes a stance against him, recognizing the technique she uses to make ready a thrusting attack in order to defend herself from a leap attack. Considering how steady she is, this girl actually believes she can survive the encounter.
Nightwolf needs to see no more.
"You are either foolish or incredibly brave to try an attack a wolf you can barely see." The wolf's snout opens and from within a man's voice and words come.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The wolf continues to speak.
How rude, she can see him just fine! ...with her glasses, now her eyes are adjusting, after he showed he was there by walking into her campsite. She sniffs pointedly while absorbing the facts of the situation and adjusting her glasses again needlessly. No clues as to category, class or rank.. Definitely carnivorous in that form if there were other forms or just a sign of age or intelligence at least the beast was easy to understand and communicate with. A leader or a lone pack member engaging her to access the threat? Her thoughts take some time, but she does lower the stick in some evidence of goodwill. Best keeps it close at hand, it wasn't all she had she could defend herself with but it was reassuring to hold.
" ...Akame."
Names didn't really matter much to give away, she wasn't coming from a position of strength so much as the expendable bait dangling on the end of the hook. When she speaks it is in Japanese but there is an accent, she doesn't spend all her time here and it's not the only language she speaks. Not by a long shot.
"I'm observing. Watching the comings and goings."
She very deliberately leaves off mention of reporting on any movements in large numbers or suspicious composition of groups or directions they were travelling. One human city was already under assault by Darkstalkers and so a nest of them so close to another was not likely to be overlooked.
She very stiffly makes the effort to sit back down and smooth's the skirt across her lap before sitting the stick with it's one charred end down across it. Even now she presents many openings but is more than ready for a sudden turn to violence.
"You've settled close to a human city, more and more youkai are coming here. Why is that?... Why here?"
Eyes vanish behind the reflected image of the fire in the lenses of her glasses. The tiny little pink haired sweetheart of a girl displays far too much knowledge of the movements in and around the forest if not the village hidden away in it. Many among her seniors were suspicious of their intentions toward the city, the humans living peacefully there.
She IS a hunter. One who is disappointed that there is no chance she'll be eating wolf tonight. Even the thought of eating a Darkstalker or something like it set her stomach to churning, or that could be the hunger.
Names are indeed meaningless right now as it tells Nightwolf absolutely nothing of the true nature of this girl. Though she looks like a fairly ordinary Japanese girl, there are subtle hints of the true nature of the huntress beneath. The poise, the defiant stance, the fact that she's not panicking when seeing a glowing green wolf talking to her. This girl knows who Nightwolf is, or rather, she recognizes him as a Darkstalker.
This girl /is/ a Hunter.
Albeit, clearly an inexperienced one. No Hunter in their right mind would make a fire so visible in an area that is clearly infested with Darkstalkers. She is either expendable or truly doesn't know what she's doing, and given that this is Nightwolf second run in with a mysterious girl who seems to know about Children of the Night, he has real reason to suspect that the Guild is sending skirmishers here to test their forces.
And yet, there is that ever present stench of bad blood within her. No Darkstalker would dare prey on a girl that smells this bad. Perhaps she is relying on this to come out of this place with her life.
Unfortunately for this girl, not only is Nightwolf not really a Darkstalker, he's eaten things much worse than her. If he can eat the Butcher's curse and Lightning Spangles' past sins, he can eat her if he really wants to.
It just won't be a pleasant experience for either of them.
"I'm asking the questions here." Nightwolf takes a more demanding tone, the wolf's speaks in Japanese but its clear he has a very thick vaguely American accent. He's a foreigner, and rightly so, as this type of black furred wolf isn't native to Japan, and even if it was, wolves are long extinct here.
"You knew this is our territory and yet brazenly walked in without permission? You have got some nerve, little one."
"Tell me truly now. You are with the Guild, are you not?" It seems that Akame isn't the only one that knows of her prey rather intimately.
Little pink eyebrows rise in response to the assumption of authority, ownership? That was arrogance, she'd heard it was a common trait amoung the stronger Darkstalkers. Higher up the food chain than not, If not a leader then perhaps a voice of dissent in the pack. But were they acting alone?
She reaches down to her side and lifts a little deadwood log tossing in into the fire without asking anything further or answering; Just weighing her options. She has to twist her lips and wrack her brain around trying to even find a way to diplomatically to address this point. It's harder than she thought, her frist few choice words would likely antagonize or provoke.
"Not really much nerve, no. This place doesn't belong to you, nor to those coming here recently. Immigrants and outsiders to this country among whom will be some dangerous killers."
The shower of sparks and embers rising from the fire with the addition of new fuel only just now begin to calm and settle. The girl chastises the wolf openly in her tone but also switches from speaking Japanese to English as she tries to narrow the field some and gather a bit more information on her dinner guest, she had noted the accent.
"You didn't think we wouldn't at least watch? There are people here to keep safe (citizens of South City), but more importantly you have gathered quite a few of them together."
Quite the nest egg for an enterprising team or some of the strongest hunters, if the village were to be sacked how much would it be worth to the soul who did so? Would there be any mercy for the weak, sick or young; the harmless and afraid? Unlikely. This talk of life and death, of potential butchery doesn't bother the girl in the slightest, she is still hungry for her dinner, wary of the wolf and largely unaffected at the thought of a slaughter of Darkstalkers.
"They have been exposed to danger the moment they began gathering as a group large enough to attract notice. Foolishly close to a human city and found after 'mysterious' attacks and murders carried out in Southtown. Also, the murderess 'Renard' responsible for numerous assassinations and rather sadistic attacks was also tracked and spotted hereabouts not long ago. Dangerous supernatural monsters and killers abound, all of a sudden-"
The girl gives the wolf an 'I wonder how that could have happened' pointed look while sitting there with her dainty knees pressed together and ankles turned in. From her perspective she was politely warning the villain that he and his kind were in danger here and sticking around to experience the outcome, would be on their own heads.
The Hunters Guild was watching, their focus right now was on the incident in Metro City but there were always a few hunters not up for the international travel.
Some would come if a call went out.
"So you are with the Guild."
The girl's attitude tells Nightwolf all he needs to know. Always so entitled, always so certain that their actions are justified, hunting them with the pretext that it is for the good of humanity when in reality they only do it for the money of the Darkstalkers' pelts.
If he could spit in wolf form he would.
"Land cannot be owned as it belongs to the great Earth Mother. However, this is still were we live, and you will ask permission before entering our house." The glowing green wolf paces around, watching the curiously defiant girl closely. He's decided he doesn't like this girl, she reeks of the Hunter Guild's influence and its not only for her bad blood.
She is an enemy.
"Typical." The wolf continues speaking in Japanese with that not quite American accent. "So quick to fling accusations as the Guild always does. An enclave of Darkstalkers has been gathering so they are obviously responsible for every disaster that has been occurring around the world, right?" The wolf snorts and offers no answer for Renard. Nightwolf knows of Kiyomi's great distaste for humanity, but she hasn't done anything against humans that has been backed up by the Society. If it has happened its all her own individual little band.
The worse part of all this is that Nightwolf would be more than glad to cooperate with the Guild to put down a marauding force of Darkstalkers, but this girl is not giving him any incentive to do so, putting the blame on Nightwolf's pack and all.
"Leave, girl." He says at last. "We will be staying where we are."
"Tell your Guild masters that we care not for interfering with them, we are a peaceful group that only want to be left to our duties and we are more than happy to let humans to their own devices."
"However, if you insist on hounding us, I can guarantee the death of all whom you send here. You are dealing with things that the Guild could not possibly comprehend."
This, after all, goes beyond simple Humans vs Darkstalkers business. Antagonizing the Society means getting involved with Outworld too, and legit Gods such as Raiden.
"That is so? ..A peaceful group that can guarantee the death of all whom are sent here."
She did not advise the creature to be wary, she assumed this kind of ignorance was simply part and parcel of the supposed arrogance and high opinion some Darkstalkers had of themselves. Lords of the lands, terrors of the night and rulers of all they surveyed, Gods and Rulers of nations and realms. She repeats it back carefully to ensure the creature has understood its stance to see if she gets the flavour and intent behind it correct. If not the repercussions such a message might bring simply in those it is shared with.
"We do not follow your religion nor recognize your claim to this land Gaijin, none will. This place is of and for humans, and you bring danger and conflict to it."
The girl is generally displeased with such a silly and hokey religious answer being given, Whatever the beast's intentions, good or evil were irrelevant! Unless this great earth mother was yet another local Darkstalker or false deity that would need to go. Something among them would make a mistake, people would be hurt or killed and then it would be too late for negotiation or a peaceful withdrawal.
"I do not think you know Guild Hunters very well creature. Else you would know what you ask is impossible to do."
There were no-one to impress with such threats, Just a price tag to be applied for a contract to be rid of this problem, the bigger the problem.. the higher the bounty and the more that would come seeking it. The problem itself would be best nipped in the bud before something tragic happened. But hunters were selfish creatures who usually wanted the price to escalate just a little... ammunition, spell reagents and equipment sometimes bit deeply into the profits unless there was a good enough contract.
"Do you care to change your message? or have any questions you want to ask?"
A quirk of her lips into a smile betrays her amusement, genuinely! If this Cabal or pack of Darkstalkers was more concerned with their own legends or rumour of what the Guild was then that might be something for sharing with the other hunters, her own story to share when moods were high and cups were full, what did the monsters think of the boogiemen who hunted them in return?
This one did not understand who they were at all.
"Is that really so hard to believe?" Answers the wolf quickly. "The stag is a peaceful creature and yet even we wolves are wary of approaching him lest he gets a good kick in or a gore of his antlers."
"Why do nations keeps armies in time of peace? Why warriors constantly hone their skills when there is no enemy to be fought?"
"Make no mistake girl, your Hunters will only find death here. We can be neutral or be your undoing, the choice is entirely your own."
The wolf's snout opens wide and he jerks his head backwards, looking like he was laughing. "How quickly are you to assume I even worship any Gods, or that I have a religion." There's a literal deity that Nightwolf converses with every day and he doesn't worship Raiden, the shaman is at best spiritual, but he's far from being a zealot. "Respect for nature doesn't equal religious fanaticism, but I suppose the Guild wouldn't know the difference would they?"
He shakes his head, licking his lips. How very typical indeed, even with this rookie Hunter sent to scout them, the Apache Sin Eater can tell the Guild hasn't changed at all in these many years.
"I know the Guild better than most. I have fought against the Guild and assisted it as well. Where I to be blinded by greed perhaps you would know me by name, girl, and we would be allies." Nightwolf is after all a Demon Hunter himself, it is only through choice that he hasn't joined the Guild. Well, choice and the fact that he doesn't agree with the Guild's policies at all.
He paces about again, white eyes ever watching, sniffing the bad scent coming from the girl, this girl who insists on trying to intimidate him when it's clear she doesn't even know where she is. Thinking that this group of Darkstalkers is just that and nothing more, how surprised would the Guild be where they to find that there would be humans who'd stand against them from attacking this group of Darkstalkers. Humans who would normally have no business being here even, like Johnny Cage.
"My message remains the same."
"Leave us be, lest your heads leave your necks."
He even simplified it for them to understand. Nightwolf really does know how to deal with Hunters.
"You are not neutral; you simply do not know it. You act as asylum taking in strays and one of those strays will bite someone else, Someone innocent. An accident maybe, deliberate or a misjudgement as to their character or how fearful they really were. Innocent blood will be spilled -- as it always has been."
There are many ways this could be handled? ...burn the forest itself to ashes, to reveal the location of the village to the public and watch as the panic gripping a city turns into vigilantes, and inevitable military intervention. There would be no refuge or way for them to stay, not with public opinion such as it is right now with the crisis involving Metro City in America.
The more this village fought back, the more hunters that died? The higher the bounty would climb, the steamrolling effect of human greed and mercenary behaviour that proved so very effective, of course people would die if the conflict began. But it was when the most powerful began to move that the mill would begin to grind down anything in its path.
"No."
If she died so easily she would hardly be here to have this confrontation, just sitting there complacently with her head quirked she defies him, curious as to how he will react. Her declaration is simple as is her reasoning, which she doesn't care to share.
Her ramen is still steaming away, the fire warm and yet she still feels a chill when acting uncharacteristically defiant because she is confronted by a creature she cannot comprehend.
Bringing death down upon those you care for out of pride, she has no pride in her and so she considers him as alien and unfathomable a being as is possible to exist.
"Don't you dare talk to me about innocent blood being spilled!"
Oh, that really got to him, even Akame will be able to tell despite the fact that the wolf can't make a lot of facial expressions. His fur bristles and even though he reigns in his temper remarkably well, its perfectly clear he perceives that as an insurmountable insolence.
"You who would rip a wailing child from their parents' arms just so you can skin them for profit. I have seen how well the Guild 'protects the innocent', and I will not tolerate any of your insufferable, nauseating kind in our forests."
"But you are right about one thing...."
"I was foolish to think we could be anything other than enemies."
He forgot that things like duty and selflessness are entirely alien concepts to the hunters of the Guild. They only know one thing and she proves it when she answers in a quite simple manner.
He keeps simple too so that even a Hunter like her can understand what he means.
"Then you will all die."
To think that Nightwolf and his pack would not be prepared to engage the Hunter Guild is a foolish thought. Inevitable war is coming to this world, that is something that the shaman has been trying to let everyone know for quite some time now. War is coming, one that will sweep across the entire globe and will drown everyone, innocent and guilty alike, in blood.
Outworld is coming.
Ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, the Hunter Guild is really just small potatoes to the things that the Society was created to fight against. One of the many obstacles. If they cannot overcome this challenge then they were never prepared to save Earthrealm from the armies of the Kahn to begin with.
"Your move."
"I dare. Do you think for some reason I wouldn't have the right to?"
It had happened times beyond counting already, blood spilled on both sides of this divide. No one side in this conflict was blameless and both were guilty of the worst of atrocities and yet only one of them was becoming indignant over what were sad, inevitable facts. The outrage and bristling of the wolf does nothing to dissuade the girl from her opinions though her face does contort and lips twist as though she had bitten into and tasted something sour with his example.
The little man sitting atop the ramen cup continues his vigil, hanging over the edge and holding the paper lid down with his little body changing colour from a gelatine rose red to a cloudy and murky white as the temperature continues to rise, broiling away at his limbs and gut as he clings.
If anything there was some surprise that there was ever the thought in their head that there could be peace or friendship between the Guild and they. That could never happen, for good enough reasons that they would both likely agree to.
"As long as there are Darkstalkers the Guild will also exist."
It hadn't always existed however, she knows full well about those times; but now one could or would not exist without the other, not since humans had grown as powerful and numerous as they had. A creeping darkness and unforgiving purifying light, neither a welcome addition to your home or the outskirts of a city filled with innocent (and not so innocent) souls.
The wolf was quite correct they would all die, sooner or later. It was part of what it meant to be human, an acceptable condition to have and one of the biggest differences between what motivated humans and the more tyrannical of immortal Darkstalkers. The human condition necessitated letting go and passing power down to others, to be able to hold on to nothing in the final mortal end of your existence. Perhaps it was that finality that made them different in the first place, not that it wound up mattering.
"My move..."
Akame lifts the stick from her lap and prods and scrapes at the ramen cup unable to draw it closer even for her trying, the cup wavering and the little ramen man falling to the ground, she panics before leaning forward and dropping to her knees to pick it up normally. The little ramen man picked up and blown on to remove some grit and a leaf stuck to him with condensed water. Sitting back on the log she lays him out across the top of her thigh, warm red and white against the black hose he sits now visibly clinging to her as she stabs the fire stick straight down into the earth with a thrust, vertically standing beside her as she peels back the lid of the ramen cup to inspect the contents. It looked alright, maybe a little bit firmer than normal but she probably hadn't used enough water. A little disappointing but she had eyeballed and guessed at the water level.
The lens of her glasses fog over with rising steam and as she leans over the cup to fish a pair of chopsticks out, fumbling around, it appears the girls move is to simply continue living her life like there was no threat of death or intruder sharing her fire. She didn't have enough to share, and they weren't friends anyway so etiquette probably didn't dictate she had to offer.
Her chopsticks rasp against the polystyrene as she picks out a loose clump of noodles and pops it into her mouth with a 'nom' and she relishes chewing. They weren't especially good noodles or her favourite flavour but hunger enough made things taste better than they should.
If he did choose this moment to try and leap now she was confidant she could drive at least one if not both of these chopsticks into a vulnerable spot, eyes or throat maybe. Heart would be ideal but if she hit a rib she would likely shatter the little sticks without penetrating or inflicting more than a bruise.
"Never think that war, no matter how justified, isn't a crime." The wolf is all too quick to respond. It's almost like.. he has this argument with people constantly. His view is quite clearly in another level, and it is likely that Akame isn't the only one that thinks his ideas and morals are very alien.
So peaceful and yet has no qualms about fighting, so territorial and yet so welcoming. The glowing green wolf with the black pelt ambles around some more, continuing his gaze-less stare to the odd pink haired Hunter.
"There are no heavenly decrees that say that Man and Darkstalker shall be forever be locked in Kombat. If you and your fellows choose to charge heedlessly into your own doom. Then it makes it not right or wrong..."
"Just your own decision, ignorant as it may be, it is still your own."
When Akame announces that she will now be performing her move, the wolf raises his head expectantly, almost eager to see if the girl really intended to charge him with nothing but a stick.
As she instead sits, the wolf's reaction is simply to snort.
Being an uppity little Hunter skirting his territory isn't enough of a reason for Nightwolf to kill someone. If it were.. then he would have killed Mimiru a few days ago.
No, Nightwolf won't strike her down if she intends to simply sit there and eat her ramen peacefully. Let her camp where she wishes and talk to the Guild if she wants, even if she has nothing but ill upon Nightwolf's pack, if she is not actively hurting anyone then the shaman has no reason to attack her.
After all, hurting people for absolutely no reason is more of the Guild's portfolio.
The time will come when these two will meet in battle, and it serves Nightwolf's purposes that he doesn't fight this girl tonight. If he doesn't, then this girl, and by association also the Guild, won't know that's not really his true form.
They won't know that Nightwolf is actually a human.
As she does her move he does he own.
The wolf turns and departs back to the forest with nary a word. Goodbyes are reserved to those that he enjoyed conversing with, Akame only gets a flick of his tail.
Before there was a capacity for war, these things were fought one-sidedly with humans being at the mercy of night terrors and beings that called themselves gods. Now that they were capable of fighting back and killing the monsters in turn this was 'detestable unjustified war.' Only in the eyes of the Darkstalkers perhaps.
Akame lifts another helping of noodles to her mouth and slurps them noisily and appreciatively as the bitter wolf continues his speech. Being ignorant of an enemy or particular strength before it was revealed was an unfortunate side effect of the system. Lowballing a contract ranking could see a few hunters lose their lives before the appropriate level of response gathered once the fee and level was raised appropriately. What would she decide? Her report would be one of the first and her assessment would help decide that intel in exchange for her small payment, for simply sitting and watching even if there was some threat to her life.
A third mouthful and resolving to chew even as the food starts to taste like ashes in her mouth.
She watches carefully as the wolf turns his back and wanders into the woods, a whole world of tension she had never even noticed starts to drain away and she slumps to the side with a sigh. Uaaaa, that was a first time actually talking to a Youkai, or maybe a Darkstalker, usually she just chased after them until they outran her or escaped.
Patting and and sweeping away some of the dirt and leaves between her feet she uncovers the polythene waterproof black bag that the radio transmitter was buried in and pulls out the handset. But what could she say here and now?
Lifting her free yet dirty hand to her chest, the other balancing both the ramen cup and hold of the receiver she raises index finger and thumb against her chest, she can feel her heartbeat in her chest, a very distant light in the trees blinks twice having seen the handsign. She raises a second finger and another light in a different spot winks back at her in the Dark, also twice.. they were fine. Nothing to add either of you?
"Little Bird sending unscheduled report. Uglies one and two are nesting with no difficulties, they're adapting well to the climate. Local wildlife -has- been nosing about the campsites."
She takes a deep breath and letting that sink in on the other end.
"Considering the impact of infestation of local flora and we might consider upgrading to a -- Level 4 response."
No matter how encrypted there was always a chance that radio chatter could be intercepted and so it never hurt to be a little more careful.
It was a rather high assessment of the threat levels involved. Other reports would have to concur but the advisement that C ranks hunters and higher should be sent to deal with this threat only could save some lives, and she had a horrible feeling that it could be justified. Seeing as she was a mere F rank this was far and above over her own level. All she could really do was watch, and try to keep innocents out of the crossfire.
"Arrogant fucking wolf, how many goddamn people is he going to get killed because he doesn't want to move?!"
The radio in her hand clicks twice and a female voice on the other end thanks her for the report and then chimes in with a 'good night!' She's thankful for the sentiment which bring out an unexpected smile at the surprise but after meeting the wolf prowling these parts she's not sure she'll be sleeping anytime soon.
Log created on 18:42:35 04/21/2015 by Akame, and last modified on 03:56:40 04/24/2015.