Upper City Boredom [Ebircs]

[Anonymous]

The sun blazed as hot air blew around her, sending her wavy white hair in every sort of direction.  She glanced around and having grown bored with the scenery, she rolled her eyes and sighed, crossing her arms.  She was on guard duty again, for the second time this week.  It was not as if she disliked the time in the Upper City, but guard duty was not the most exciting job in the world.  She just happened to be good at it.  She could spot things further away than many others could, which allowed her to become a very good leader and scout.  Because she was so good at what she did, she usually had guard duty more often than not.  She was proud of her ability, but that still didn’t stop her boredom.

‘If only had something to entertain myself with,’ she mused silently to herself as she sighed again, her chest heaving as she took in the air from the mask.  She couldn’t stand wearing the blasted thing, but she knew that despite her being a mutant, the air could poison her and possibly even change her more.  She has grown to like her deep blood red eyes and her paste white skin and hair.  She loves the ability that if someone were to hit her that they would most likely to end up with a broken foot or fist.  Though, whenever she thought about her mutation, she always went back to the woman that she was before this crazy change.  Marika, the blonde oxymoron, as many of her friends had called her.  She was actually quite intelligent, despite having the standard appearance of a dumb blonde.  She had long blonde hair, with a reddish tint in the summer.  Her eyes were a bright sky blue, always full of laughter and joy.  Anger began to boil inside of her as she slowly remembered her family:  her mother, father, and brother, either dead or trapped inside that place…Aedolis.  Her fists shook and eyes shined in hate.  It took her some time to gain control over herself, for it was told to her that another would be joining her post, which was not unusual, especially with the sensors going off like crazy as they were then.  She sighed and loosened her fist, relaxing her hands.

Having calmed enough to appear herself again, she leaned on the railing of the post and picked at her fingernails, colored a light pinkish-red.  She sighed, bored again, for the anger had occupied her a little bit.  But now she wanted something actually to do…or someone to actually talk to, which was a shock to her.  Yet, she figured that she was tagged on with a newbie, she would most likely scare him or her off.  She had a habit of doing that to people.

[Anonymous]

The atmosphere wasn't one of cheer nor peace. The harsh winds and the cruel creatures that roamed here were enough to throw any outsider into a gloomy mood. Yet there was a tune being whistled not far off. It was a generally bad move above ground, as it alerted the creatures and the humans around. Such a carefree nature is generally punished by bad luck.

However, Tariq, despite being a seasoned mutant bounty hunter, did not cease his incessant whistling. There was a stirring around the area and a creature, obviously drawn by the sound began to lumber onto its limbs. Yet this man seemed not to move from his leisurely stroll. It was like he was looking to be rended apart.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a single sentry. The only reason he'd notice is because he was accustomed to searching for them. He wondered why there were not two, but in his mind thought it a fault of some official. He was glad he wasn't part of the government.

In truth, was he not also on his own? Being his own leader, he granted himself permission to do that. Yet he kept whistling like some lost idiot.

[Anonymous]

As she picked at her fingernails, she concentrated on nothing else, for everything else was boring and dull.  Picking at her fingernails was much more exciting than watching a tumbleweed roll by.  She sighed again and glanced at her fingers, holding her hand out in front of her, admiring her handy work of painting nails.  Despite her being as tough as she was, she did like to behave like a girl every once in a blue moon.  She tilted her head to the side, and gave the tiniest smirk, only one side of her mouth rising up.  Suddenly, though, her smirk vanished as she heard a sound in the distance.

The sound was…whistling?  Who in their right mind would be whistling up here, where creatures could hear?  Marika lazily turned her head in the direction of the disturbing noise.  She noticed that it was an apparently normal-looking man (if she guessed right) walking around and whistling.  He seemed to not notice that a creature was moving to its feet.  Marika knew that the whistling man did not concern her, for he wished for an early death, then so be it.  However, if that creature came close to the city, Marika would not be able to live with herself.  Rolling her and thinking that this was not the kind of entertainment she had wanted, she removed herself slowly from her post and walked over to him.

She kept her red eyes on the beast that watched him and shook her head, rolling her eyes again.  Upon reaching the man, she tapped on the shoulder, which was more like a jab really, and said, “If you must be stupid or seeking an early death, whistling like that.  Stop before you I make you stop.”  Her eyes had narrowed more than they already were as she glared at him with impatience.  She hoped that he had some sense to him and that she wasn’t talking to a brick wall.

[Anonymous]

Tariq seemed to not notice the beast and did not move when it moved. He even dared to put his gloved hands into a jacket pocket and continued his whistling. Then he felt a jab on his shoulder and his head turned slowly and calmly, though his eyes betrayed some irritation. Though when looking into the red eyes, it lessened slightly. It always comforted him to see a mutant who lived normally. But now was not the time.

He drew his finger up and put it to his mask above his lips, gesturing for her to be quiet. Then he kept whistling. He heard a rustle as the creature started to stalk over slowly. Then Tariq took a break from his whistling and the creature stopped. He seemed to think a moment, even though it looked like he was just being capricious - he wasn't looking at the creature so to Marika it may look like he was just picking out a new tune to whistle.

Then Tariq turned to Marika suddenly and spoke in a very low tone in a voice that was muffled by it's own low pitch as much as the mask. "Unlike you, voyeur, I have a job to do. Go do what you do best and watch from a distance." A lot of what he said was hard to hear, but Tariq was already moving away from her, unwilling to repeat himself. Then he began to whistle again, his back to the creature that was moving. It started towards the sound again. The man looked crazy.

The creature was a large bulk of flesh. What it once was is a mystery, but it seemed to have no eyes. Instead, the majority of its head was taken over by a large mouth filled with jagged fangs. On either side of its head were long, pointed ears. It looked bloodthirsty.

[Anonymous]

Thankfully, Marika received some sort of response from the whistling man. She knew nothing of his reasoning behind the whistling and only figured that he was some passerby and just going about his business. Though, most travelers did not want to attract the attention of a ferocious beast.  But of course that was too much like common sense and it appeared as if this man did not have very much.

Marika kept her irritated state in her eyes when he stopped and turned towards her, slowly.  His eyes held some annoyance, but lessened slightly for some reason or other.  Her curious mind began to wonder why exactly had they softened.  Maybe he had a soft spot for women?  Or maybe he found some sort of similarity between the two of them?  Whatever it was, Marika could never find out, but she was somewhat thankful for it, since the crazy whistling man seemed to go easier on her.  His response to her sharp remark was something that took her back, for it was highly unexpected.  He raised a finger to his lips—shushing her.  She arched an eyebrow at him and felt insulted, and yet utterly amused.  She had not been shushed in such a long time that it seemed foreign to her.  She said nothing as he looked away from her.  Rolling her eyes, she started to speak again when he said something low and muffled.  She could not make out all of it, but she did understand “job to do”, “what you do best”, and “watch…distance.”

She was about to protest when he started to move away from her, whistling once again.  She rolled her eyes and sighed in great frustration.  She did not heed his advice, or the little that she made out of it, and remained in her current position with her arms crossed.  She wanted a front row seat to the action that was apparently to take place.

[Anonymous]

((Feel free to take over some other creature if you want. I don't wanna run the whole show Though this will be quick so that they can get to actually conversing. Also, if you want to add something during the little fight, go ahead ^^))

Tariq couldn't help but glare at the woman slightly as he walked back. He disliked the look on her face and he felt challenged. Obviously, the albino didn't trust nor know Tariq. It always irritated him slightly when people didn't know him, but it happened more often than not - again to his annoyance. Yet it never bothered him for long especially since he has a mission right now.

The creature listened to the whistling, then seemed to taste the air with a barbed tongue. It tasted his scent and got swiftly very hungry. It moved onto its imbalanced legs and steadied itself. Then it charged.

Tariq heard the movement and in his concentration, the tune broke away since he couldn't whistle a tune and be prepared at the same time. His whistle turned to one long, clean note and the creature charged faster at that. Then the whistling stopped and Tariq was in the air. His leg mutation allowed him to jump much higher than a human could, and with this was able to jump away from the monster's snapping jaws and lashing tongue. Tariq landed promptly on its head and there was a sickening crunch as his boots jammed its head into the hard earth.

But Tariq jumped away quickly, knowing the creature was not dead. The blow was softened because of a clumsy jump and bad angle. Now he only got the beast mad. Tariq was quick to draw a small gun, though it did not seem built to fire bullets. He then went back to the beast which was no tossing its head in anger and shoved the end of the gun near its ear and pressed the trigger. Nothing seemed to happen. Then the beast collapsed dead, its ears bleeding.

Tariq grunted and moved back, looking at one fang shard that was well buried into his forearm. He was careless today and he silently cursed himself for it. He didn't sigh or show signs of pain, though, and he assumed his nerves must have gone numb. As far as he knew, this wasn't s a poisonous creature, so he wasn't worried. Nothing he couldn't patch up. But right now, he had to discard this corpse further away from the city entrances and sentry posts or else it would draw attention from other creatures and possible foreign scouts.

[Anonymous]

((Sorry for taking forever to respond.  Had a bunch of homework and then my little cousin, who I hadn't seen in three years, came to visit.))

A tiny smirk touched her lips as she noticed the glare in the whistling man’s eyes.  He seemed irritated by her, which she did not care much about.  She actually found it slightly humorous.  Yet as he began to focus less on her and more on the monster before him, her smirk vanished and her eyes steadied towards the action.  He had continued his whistling and her eyes shifted towards the beast as it licked the air with violent hunger.  The beast charged and a single note whistle rang through the wastelands.  Suddenly the whistling stopped as the man jumped higher than anyone she had seen before.  He jumped fast and hard on the beast’s head, yet quickly removed himself from on top of the beast.  It shook off its confusion and regained its balance, but the whistling man appeared ready, having a gun at his side quickly.  Marika figured that it would get the job done, but she did not think that it would be that silent.  Next thing she knew, the beast was dead, its ears bleeding.

Marika, engulfed in the battle, barely noticed that he was hurt.  She debated briefly with herself to go and see if he needed any help.  With a shrug of her shoulder, she neared him slowly, her arms still folded and her look still stern.  Yet, she slowed her walk as she noticed another creature in the background.  Glancing down at the beast, she judged that it was most likely the mate of the one was just killed.  The mate snarled and growled and without any sort of warning, began to charge towards the two of them.  Marika figured that since he already had his fun, she would get her own.  The beast charge and Marika placed herself between the man and the beast, locking herself in a defensive stance.  The beast paid her no mind, and continued to charge.  Once the mate about halfway from the dead beast, Marika began to charge at her top speed, one around the speed of the beast.  Turning her shoulder slightly, she clashed together with the beast, causing a loud ruckus that sounded like an enormous clash of thunder.  Marika hopped back from the beast and cracked her knuckles, grinning excitedly.  She charged again just as soon as the beast recovered and punch hard into its ribs.  Cracking was heard and the beast collapsed panting.  Marika neared it and snapped its neck in a quick move, ending it.

Moving away from her handy work and touched her cheek, feeling a bleeding scratch.  She noticed her dark blood on her fingers and wiped it off on her pants.  Using her arm, she wiped the rest of the blood from her cheek onto her sleeve.  She looked towards the man again and nodded her head towards the dead beasts closest to him.

“We must move these, which I figured that you must know already,” she stated coldly and began to pick up her dead beast, dragging it away from the entrance.

[Anonymous]

Tariq was ready for the mate's attack, but much to his embarrassment, the woman had gotten there first! He watched her as she took down the beast with relative efficiency. Though his pride was hurt because he had stumbled over the cut in his arm. Annoyed at his own mistake, he managed to block out compliments about Marika's performance.

"Of course I know that!" he snapped like an irritated child. With a clean move, he dragged both corpses towards him and started hoisting them up on his shoulders. He could probably carry them himself, but it would drain his energy. It was as if he was trying to make up for what he thought was a shoddy performance earlier.

"Help me cover the tracks." he said simply before starting to lug the corpses away.

[Anonymous]

Despite her attempt at grabbing the deceased beast she had killed, it was snatched away from her and she heard a snap coming from the man.  She snickered under her breath and revealed a tiny smile.  She found him quite amusing.  He reminded her of a child she went to school with a long time ago.  She used to pity the boy for he was very weak, and therefore, she allowed him to follow her around and be her “assistant”.

She smirked at the old memory and watched as the man she was with currently lifted up both beasts and trudged away.  He asked (or more like demanded) help in covering the tracks.  She simply shook her head softly and snickered once more, covering the tracks with her foot.  She took great care making sure that each spec of blood was covered by the dirt and all the tracks were gone.  Soon enough, she finished and rejoined the man at his side, 1) making sure that he disposed of the bodies appropriately and 2) wanting to find out exactly what he was doing out there.

She walked beside him nearly silently except for the soft crunch of rocks underneath her boots.  She had folded her arms and looked in the opposite direction as him.  She figured that she should at least introduce herself, but with carrying the beasts, she did not know if it was the best time.  ‘Well, what time is better than the present?’[/i] she asked herself and shrugged, figuring what the hell.

“I’m Marika…Marika Citino,” she said softly, still looking the opposite direction.  She finally looked at him as she asked her question, “Who are you and what were you doing?”