all-the-way-to-mars-and-back

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funontherox​:

funontherox:

“We get together every now and again.” Rox shrugged. “It’s good to make sure the culture doesn’t disappear, you know? Spread it too thin and things are bound to get lost. Don’t get me wrong, I love what you guys have going on for yourselves and I like being a part of it, but��� well, you know.”

She smiled. Mara seemed like the understanding type, and once again something told her she didn’t strictly need to tell the other hunter any of this. It kind of spoke for itself.

On her side of the path, she jabbed her spear at the occasional mushroom, vine or clump of moss, but nothing too hard. She needed her weapon as sharp as it could be, and having to sharpen it along the way would only take time off their deadline. Time she’d rather spend doing other things.

“I guess I understand why,” she continued. “Maybe if you’re with me, I would like to try that too sometime. Try to get over my fear!”

Mara would then get a nod of agreement. “They might look like people at first glance, but there’s not even a brain under all those rags. Maybe if we’re careful, we can bring back its carcass so someone can study it?”

She blinked. “Sorry, that sounded kind of morbid. I guess I just like knowing what makes monsters tick.”

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“Oh, don’t worry, I get it. Human culture is a big hodgepodge of different things, and there’s tons of us so it won’t die out. Keeping your culture alive is important.” Mara reassured with a wave of her free hand, her gaze returning back down to the path they walked.  She could almost forget that they were on their way to a job in which they’d have to take down a deadly monster with the fun she was having talking to Rox. She was normally alone for the most part, making smalltalk with people in taverns and towns, though mostly just for goods and services both ways. So actually being able to talk to someone, even if they were working together, was a breath of fresh air.  A grin came to Mara’s face and she carefully nudged the xomora’s arm. “That’s the spirit!” She encouraged with a light laugh. “I’m sure I’ll be my fair share of afraid if we actually encountered a ghost, but it could be fun. Potentially. Maybe.”  She waved a dismissive hand once again at Rox’s apology. “No, it’s all right. We’re already going to have to kill it, so I don’t see why taking it’s body to be researched would be too much worse. Might make it so we can understand them more than just a bunch of rags.” She replied, looking to her again, “Have you killed one of these before?” She asked. 

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funontherox​:

funontherox:

The sounds a xomora made, even when speaking a human tongue, weren’t quite the same as the ones humans could make. The best they could do was mimic, not unlike a parrot, but that was a skill all its own.

Rox blinked at the question, then offered a smile. “I don’t actually remember when. I kind of grew up speaking both! When there are only a few thousand of you in a world with millions of humans, you can’t not pick up some English along the way. And that also means I get to practice a lot.”

A part of her found it a shame that the xomora had had to adapt to humans without that much effort coming from the other end of things, but they just didn’t have the numbers to make such a thing happen. Still, that didn’t mean their own language and culture had to die out. Rox did her part to preserve it, and teaching Mara about it actually helped with that.

She watched Mara slide down the pile of rubble with a smile on her face. Having a shorter weapon to vault with meant a smaller leap, but the human seemed to accommodate for that.

“Right. I agree, they’re cool in theory, but imagine being one or having to fight one.” She clenched her jaw shut, and probably would have shivered if she could. Rox wasn’t exactly great at avoiding danger either, but the spirits of the dead were one of the few things she knew never to mess with.

“Good thing wingwraiths aren’t ghosts… they’re very much flesh. Or something like flesh. Not the incorporeal types.” No one knew if they had once been human, or if they were the product of some strange alchemy or magic… just that they were very physically real, and very dangerous. The mystery was part of what made them so frightening.

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“That makes some sense, I can’t imagine you get the opportunity to speak your native language a lot when you only meet a couple xomora in your lifetime.” Replied Mara, returning to using her bat as a walking stick. She intentionally pushed the head of her bat into the ground onto spots where twigs and fallen leaves were, just for the fun crunch noise it would make.  “I’d actually really like to communicate with a ghost or two someday, though hopefully not an evil one or anything like that.” She admitted with a small grin, one that showed no fear though perhaps there should’ve been some reluctance in there. “I’ve been reading up on the very basics of spirits, I guess it’s piqued my interest.”  “There’s at least some hope of defeating a wingwraith, even if the normal chance of it is...one in a hundred, generously talking.” Laughed Mara lightly. “It may be corporeal, but at least you could usually count on a ghost to have some sort of human-esk soul. Something you can reason with or at least understand. Wingwraiths are just killers.” 

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funontherox​:

 funontherox:

Rox’ languages featured many consonants and only a few vowels, most of which were shortened on top of that. She had expected Mara to have some trouble getting used to speaking that way, but she was happy to have been wrong about that. Who knew, maybe she’d end up being fluent in no time!

“Right?” She chuckled. “That’s how it felt for me when I first started learning your language. I really had to get used to the way you say things. It’s not just a matter of learning the words, but also how people think.”

She would be more than glad to teach her more in the future, if the opportunity arose. All the more reason to make sure they’d both get out of this in one piece.

The mood between them only seemed to get better with every word passed between them. Rox smiled, both to Mara and herself, as she used her spear to vault over some rubble. Then, she looked back and waited for the other hunter to catch up – with another question, apparently.

“Nothing specific,” she began, “but everything about ghosts just feels… wrong. It’s not that they’re supposed to be dead either. Vampires and liches don’t scare me. It’s just that… they break every rule of how things are supposed to work. They don’t have bodies that can be touched, but they can still move things around and hurt you. You can’t see them, but they can see you. And they don’t even have a smell.”

When one’s sense of scent was as keen as Rox’, that was as scary as them being invisible to the eye, if not more so. all-the-way-to-mars-and-back: 

Mara was by no means great at the pronunciation of the new language, but she was doing her very best to mimic the way that Rox said things, and she hoped that practice would do something to help that. Even if she never became fluent, it would be nice to know a little.  “When did you start learning english?” Asked Mara. A part of her had sort of assumed Rox had learned the two languages together when she was growing up since she seemed to speak the second of the two languages without problem, from what she could tell. It also helped that becoming fluent in a second language had always felt like a humungous challenge to Mara looking at it from the outside. She’d learned some conversational phrases in other languages when she was much younger, but she could barely even recall them without butchering them as well.  She followed suit in the lizard-woman’s move of vaulting over the rubble, not doing so as effectively with her bat, but making up the distance she didn’t vault by sliding down the tail end of the pile, then catching herself up with walk with Rox again.  The smell remark was a bit more comedic since she hadn’t really registered that Rox’s sense of smell was greater until just then. “That’s a pretty good set of reasons,” hummed the curly-haired hunter, looking straight ahead as she sorted out her own thoughts on ghosts. “I find them kind of cool for those reasons. I mean, if I had a malicious ghost on my tail I’d be freaked out, don’t get me wrong, but I just...the idea of a spirit that has something keeping it from moving to the afterlife, or some purpose for lingering in this weird lifeless in-between...that’s so rad!” Mara grinned just slightly. Not to mention, she wasn’t the smartest about avoiding danger, so that could have something to do with it. 

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funontherox​:

funontherox:

The longer their conversation went on, the more difficult of a time Rox had to contain her enthusiasm. Mara wasn’t just showing interest, she looked almost as passionate about xomora culture and language as the xomora herself. They both had a lot of curiosity about the world, it seemed.

The uneven terrain had Rox using her spear for support similarly to how her travel partner used her bat. It was good to be so familiar with one’s weapon as to be able to use it for other purposes! Flexibility and resourcefulness could mean the difference between life and death. Rox’ hopes were high for this fight, and not just because she thought their odds of winning were favorable.

“Of course!” She grinned happily. “Hello is rtosh thi lhw, or just rtosh. It means ‘I see you’. Thank you is dz’haxi thi lhwiz, or just dz’haxi. ‘I owe you’. You see where this is going? Just say the verb on its own and we’ll understand!” Xomora grammar was weird, but these shortened phrases were pretty neat – and a good place to start learning, in her opinion.

“And baxuch means sorry. It’s short for bax shuch pesh thiogz, which roughly means ‘it weighs on my tail’. I guess you could compare it to how you guys say guilt can weigh down on your shoulders.” The true meaning behind the phrase could be found in the traditional religion of her people, but she didn’t feel like delving into that right now no matter how much she still liked that part of her culture. It felt… nicer than a lot of human belief systems she had come across.

“Oh, and one more thing. Grasz is a swear word, pretty much our counterpart to your ‘crap’.”

A grin spread across her face as Mara seemed to be able to dish out such jokes just as well as Rox. Good to know! “Thanks, Mara… dz’haxi. No need to say sorry. I would’ve taken it as a compliment either way.”

She then gave a nod, trying to answer the question seriously and resisting the temptation to turn it into a well-meant joke. “I wouldn’t say hard-headed… but we don’t scare easily. I guess it’s a side effect of living on an island for thousands of years. The only thing that gets to me, personally, is ghosts.” And she wasn’t afraid to admit it, either.

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Mara repeated most of Rox’s new words right back to her after she said them; first muttering the word to herself to know how she would say it, then excitedly saying it back to Rox. Of course, this was only the smallest fraction of Rox’s language, and she didn’t even know what it would appear like written down, but it was exciting to start learning something like this regardless.  “The translations are so cool! It feels so different- not in a bad way, of course.” She smiled, repeating back a few of the words again excitedly. This would be far from the last time Mara asked for a lesson in her language, considering how enamored she seemed to be with the foreign language, she would certainly ask for more to be able to say more.  The curly-haired woman chuckled quietly, looking back at Rox after she had the relief of knowing the joke went over well. She had doubted that a joke would make Rox turn and leave Mara to deal with a wingwraith on her own, but there was always the slight worry that with someone new, the sense of humor wouldn’t be aligned. “I’m glad to hear it.” She grinned back at Rox, taking a small hop over a rock in her path.  “Ghosts specifically, huh?” Mara asked with a tilt of her head, walking along the ridge of a tree root along the ground. “Did you have a haunting experience that got you scared of them or have you just always gotten the creeps?” She inquired. 

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funontherox​:

funontherox:

Seeing the wonder on someone’s face whenever she gave them a glimpse into the world of the xomora, would never get old to Rox. And Mara was no exception to that. The bat-wielding huntress had approached the subject with an open mind, which added to her own excitement.

The xomora people had been isolated from the rest of the world when their language had first developed, so they didn’t have their own words for things that didn’t exist on their own islands. Those had to be borrowed from humans that already had ways to refer to them, including the word for humans themselves. Rox found it fascinating, as each of those words had a story behind how it had been adopted into her native tongue.

“Oh, that’s easy! Yb lhw thuchiz? That literally means ‘what are you going with?’ I promise it makes more sense out of translation.” She really had to resist the urge to geek out a bit at this point. “And you could reply yb pfoch. That means ‘I’m going well’!”

She knew better than to judge someone’s combat abilities by how much attention they paid to their surroundings outside of a fight. They weren’t in danger, after all, so there was no reason for either of them to keep their guard up.

A chuckle escaped her. “Yes, but I don’t mind. I’m open-minded, and a lot of humans seem to be too. Don’t think I didn’t notice you staring.” She winked, which she hoped let the other know she wasn’t serious about that last part. After all, she figured that actually interpreting things that way would just have made Mara uncomfortable.

“But I don’t see us dying out anytime soon. We’re too stubborn for that,” she joked. So far, she really seemed to take the rarity of her species pretty well, all things considered.

all-the-way-to-mars-and-back:

Mara tilted her head as she listened to Rox speak, similarly to a curious pup. She wouldn’t have minded Rox geeking out about it in the slightest, it was fun to listen to her talk about her native language, especially when she was so excited to do so. It was also questionable how often she got to do this, so Mara was keen on listening for as long as Rox wanted to talk. 

“That’s so cool!” Responded Mara excitedly, glancing back at Rox as she used her bat as a walking stick to ensure she didn’t almost eat dirt again. “Are there any other, like, conversational phrases you could tell me?” She asked, not hesitating to keep the ball rolling since Rox was interested in talking about it.  She caught on right away that the lizardwoman was just joking, moving the back of her free hand up to her mouth to conceal a tiny grin, “Well, can you blame me? I was just enamored by it.” She paused, lowering her hand, “Oh and your tail was cool too.” She shot back a wink, but she could hardly keep the composure long enough to pull the joke off, bringing her hand back to her mouth to cover the laughter. “Sorry, sorry...” She quickly apologized, since they had just met, not wanting the joke to go over poorly of course, though she doubted that Rox would.  She moved her hand to run it through her hair, a lingering grin on her lips. “Are xomora notoriously hard-headed?” She questioned, “I mean, I had sort of assumed you were since it takes a pretty strong will to monster hunt,” she brought her bat over her shoulders again.

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funontherox​:

funontherox:

“Pretty good!” Rox nodded, smiling. “Like I said, it’s a word you guys came up with, so it’s actually harder for me to pronounce than it is for you. Weird how that works.” Weird, but also really interesting. She had always been fascinated by the history of her people, especially the way they had spread out into the world after leaving the confines of their archipelago far to the east.

To think that had only been two hundred or so years ago, while humans had been building civilizations like this one for dozens of times that long.

“Of course! What would you like me to say? Lhw thi thuch pfesh chitr? Word for word, that’s: you I what say want?” she added with a quiet laugh.

Every word in her language sounded guttural, and it would quickly became clear just how out of her depth Rox was when pronouncing English words. Vowels in the xomora language were short, sometimes even inaudible, which made most human languages a big step away from what her people were used to.

She resisted making a joke about the way Mara kept staring at her tail. Maybe later, once they knew each other better, she would risk it once she knew she wouldn’t unnerve the other adventurer too much.

“See for yourself.” With a swift motion, Rox switched her spear from her right hand to her tail the way one might swap an item from one hand to the other. She wasn’t as nimble with the weapon like this, but she could definitely hold it with the thinner, more flexible portion of her tail.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw Mara almost fall on her face, but just as she was about to try and catch her, she’d already helped herself back up. And she already had another question ready.

“That’s more than a lot of other people,” she admitted. “But yes. Up until a while ago, we just lived on tropical islands in the far east. We’ve spread ourselves a bit thin since then.” Rox flashed a smile. “I’ve only met a few myself, and only dated one in total.” all-the-way-to-mars-and-back: 

Once again, nearly akin to a young child figuring something out for the first time, Mara’s grin brightened some as Rox reviewed her pronunciation of the word. “Oh, that is odd.” She hummed, assuming pretty quickly that the xomora language probably had some influence from other languages, though which ones Mara wouldn’t be able to say. She knew a few conversational phrases from other languages in her study when she was younger, but now she wasn’t certain she’d be able to recite those with confidence.  The guttural sounds of Rox’s native tongue were really interesting to listen to, and she figured it did make sense considering the way her own vocal cords and Rox’s functioned had to be a bit different. Admittedly, the sentence structure when translated took Mara a moment to get, and you could almost see the gears struggling to turn behind her eyes as she thought it through. “Maybe something like, ‘how are you?’ or whatever the xomora equivalent is.” She requested, figuring that a phrase Mara might actually use.  Mara honestly wouldn’t have minded a joke about it, after all, the thought did cross her mind that staring at Rox’s tail made it seem like she had her gaze somewhere else for waaaay too long. 

“Woah! That’s so cool!” She admired. She’d always kind of wondered about any species that had tails, but it wasn’t like she could go up and ask these questions to anyone on the street--though admittedly she’d certainly tried once when she was younger and less cautious--there wasn’t usually an opportune time like she had with Rox now.  Mara tried to play off the fall as best she could, mostly so Rox wouldn’t have doubts about doing this job with someone who couldn’t even walk in the woods without fumbling. She gave a nod as she listened, a little surprised that they were so spread out that even Rox hadn’t met too many. “So, I guess a relationship where both ends are xomora would be pretty rare then?” She hummed. It was odd to think about how it would feel to rarely see any of her own kind, though she supposed it was something Rox was probably used to.��

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Can you reblog this if the mun is 18+

[all-the-way-to-mars-and-back]

funontherox​:

funontherox:

What Mara expressed by shifting her weight from one leg to the other while they walked, Rox did by swaying her tail from side to side. It wasn’t even a voluntary thing: she tended to do it whenever she was walking, as it somehow helped her stay in balance. Smaller, less sapient lizards did the same thing.

“That’s right!” Mara’s pronunciation may not be perfect, but she was doing pretty well for this being her first time trying to speak the language at all. Especially since she was a human, which the words just weren’t made for.

“But if you want to say ‘human’, you can say orang. It’s… a word we borrowed from the first humans we met.” After all, the xomora people had never needed a word for humans until they actually encountered some. That had happened long before Rox was even born, but she’d always been told it had been a relatively friendly first encounter.

It was good – no, more than good to see her fellow adventurer open up about her curiosity. Rox worked best with people who stood up for what they felt and wanted.

“That’s a bit complicated. It’s not as good as a third arm, mostly because it’s on my butt, but I guess you could say it comes in handy.” She smirked at her own pun. “There are some situations where I need both hands and my tail to get something done. This?” She tapped the base of her tail without slowing her steps at all. “It’s all muscle. Well, mostly.”

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Mara’s grin seemed to broaden just a little as Rox approved her attempt at the unfamiliar language, and the moment that she introduced another new word, Mara was quick to try and parrot it too, “...orang...Orang.” Her first attempt was more of a mutter to herself to ensure she was repeating it close to the same way Rox had said it. 

“Can you say a whole sentence?” She requested of Rox, back to holding the bat in a way that she would kick the end of it with her boot when she walked. She didn’t expect to be able to understand what Rox said since she knew a total of two words in her native tongue, but if she was being honest, it really just sounded cool to her; between the entirely new language and the differences in the way Rox talked because she was a xomora. 

Mara quietly snorted at the pun, moving the back of her hand up to her mouth instinctively. Perhaps humor wasn’t the greatest metric for measuring how well they were going to get this job done, but if anything told her that she and Rox were gonna work together great, the pun certainly helped. 

Regardless of the pun, Mara glanced back to Rox’s tail when Rox referred to it, nodding as she listened. “Can you grab things with it? Like, coiling around it?” Mara asked, keeping her gaze pretty much on it and making a spinning motion with her finger when she mentioned coiling. In any other case she’d be worried about coming off as rude from staring, but since they were talking about it and Rox had been cool with most everything so far, Mara wasn’t concerned. 

“Oh! And are you kind of--” There was a brief hault in her sentence as she stumbled a moment from her boot catching on a tree root, her bat steadying her similarly to a cane. She played it off pretty well aside from her face getting slightly redder: as it turns out, it’s a lot easier to trip when you’re looking at someone’s tail rather than the path you’re walking. “Are you all native to a certain area? I’ve seen another xomora...maybe once, so I just wondered.” She inquired. 

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funontherox​:

funontherox:

“You’re right, and I have the scars to prove it.” Rox snickered. She didn’t mean to brag, but just to back up the fact that she agreed. “Sometimes you have to let them feel like they’re going to win so they’ll let their guard down.” It was a bit of an unfair tactic, sure, but it was also an effective one. And the kind of creatures Rox fought weren’t prone to being reasonable, so any strategy was fair game. She wouldn’t fight a person the same way, or at all unless she absolutely needed to.

She didn’t concern herself with the details just yet. As long as both of them knew their strengths and weaknesses and how to avoid dying, everything else was a matter of how things turned out once they started.

But until then, she had all the time and energy to be enthusiastic about sharing xomora knowledge.

“We do have our own language, but the accent you hear is a mix of that and some other things. I’d still sound different if I grew up speaking your language, just because the way I talk is different.” She paused. “In my language, gzomora just means ‘people’. It’s a plural, so technically I’m a gzomor. And technically, so are you!”

There! She had managed to share two words, or two forms of the same single word. Not bad for this being the first time she’d gotten to talk about her people or language in a while.

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Mara had never been opposed to appearing more beaten than she was to try and win a fight; If that’s what her remaining option was, then she’d utilize it. Sure, she’d never been a great actress, but she could certainly pretend to be a worse fighter than the monster she was fighting. She rarely fought anyone of a humanoid nature either, but depending on how bad of a person her opponent was, she wouldn’t mind using deceit either. 

She keenly listened as Rox explained her accent and native tongue, her gaze mostly on Rox as she rocked from one foot to the either while listening. She was the type to generally stay moving in some way, as apparent by how often she switched the grip on her bat, but she stayed listening. 

“Gzomor...” Mara repeated quietly upon hearing the new word. Obviously her pronunciation wasn’t great, with her own accent mixed in and a lack of general knowledge of the language until then. However, she was trying, and she seemed just as ready to listen to Rox explain as Rox was ready to give explanation.  “Cool!” Mara replied with a matched excitement, blowing some hair out of her eye again.  “So...okay, is your tail...is it like having a third arm? Or does it feel different? Because I’ve seen people who have tails that don’t really do much but then I’ve seen people who can control their tails.” She asked pretty immediately after Rox had answered the first question. Once she had gaged that Rox was happy to answer, she was less cautious with asking. 

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funontherox​:

funontherox:

With any luck, it would only take one good fight to take down this monster. Even the most menacing, malevolent dragons didn’t let themselves be drawn into too many rounds of combat before deciding to resolve things some other way. And Rox’… unique way of interacting with some monsters usually meant that ended in a way everyone liked.

She didn’t think that kind of strategy would work on a wingwraith, though. They were pretty… single-minded, if they could even be said to have minds at all. Wingwraiths were more like forces of nature than beings with their own individual thoughts and feelings. They couldn’t be talked down or reasoned with, which was one of the things that made them so frightening and enigmatic to most people. A werewolf, a ghost or even a vampire, you could relate with to some extent. But the creature they were about to fight was much too inhuman for that.

Her starting comment hadn’t been meant to sound doubtful. Mara seemed skilled enough to take on something of this caliber, but they were a bit too rare to assume every monster hunter had crossed paths with one. Still, it was good to hear they both had some experience after all.

“If you’ve seen one in action before, I’m sure you’ll know how to handle yourself!” She smiled. “I’ll try not to turn you into the wraith’s punching bag. We’re both going to need to get some hits in if we want to take it down.”

Even with that reassurance, she didn’t plan on taking the role of leader upon herself. A duo like this worked best when both members had equal control over the team as a whole, so she would listen just as well to what her partner had to say as the other way around.

The moment the name xomora left Mara’s lips, Rox’ face lit up and she stopped in her tracks before turning to face her. Even her pupils, which were narrow ovals most of the time, seemed just a bit rounder than usual.

“Yes! You’ve heard of us before? That… doesn’t happen too much. Either way, that’s not a rude thing to ask. Is there anything you want to know about me or, well, us?”

It seemed she was more than excited to be able to talk about this subject, even with a deadline hanging over their heads. There was no need to rush just yet. 

all-the-way-to-mars-and-back: 

Mara hadn’t taken any offense from Rox wondering about her experience with the creatures, after all, neither of them knew how long the other had been in the business of hunting in general, so it was a fair question. From the way Rox had approached with confidence Mara had instantly assumed she had already handled a wingraith prior, but then again, Mara had approached the job just as confidently. 

Mara snickered quietly at the ‘punching bag’ comment, and hesitated to admit that was pretty much how it had gone the first and last time she went up against a wingraith. “Hey, I’ve been the punching bag a good few times for the sake of a job, wouldn’t be a first. Sometimes letting them wear themselves out by kicking the dirt out of you isn’t a horrible plan.” She rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand, giving a quiet chuckle, “But I’ll get in some hits, don’t worry.” She reassured. 

And if unintentionally she did get pummeled to a pulp, she had some first aid in the pouch attached to her leg. Knowing what they were facing up against, they’d likely need more in the aftermath, but she knew a place they could get patched up, so stuff like that hardly worried her. They’d cross that bridge when they got to it. 

Mara halted a moment after the xomora had, very briefly worried she had said something wrong before the enthusiastic reply came. Mara’s smile crept back onto her face and a small breath of relief came with it. She noticed the shift in Rox’s pupil size and couldn’t help but be intrigued by even that; knowing as little as she did about what Rox was, every small thing was new and honestly intriguing. 

“I wouldn’t be too impressed, I barely know anything past appearance, and even then I wasn’t positive.” Mara laughed lightly, her hand holding her bat and pressing the head of it into her own boot. 

She did have some questions, and seeing how excited her new partner seemed to answer them encouraged her to actually ask, “I noticed you’ve got kind of an accent when you’re talkin’.” She pointed out, still slightly cautious in asking things since she didn’t want to make assumptions. “Do you have your own language? Or is the accent just a result of where you’re from?” She asked. She had set aside their goal and deadline for the moment, they had more than enough time to ask questions. Besides, Mara probably would’ve just wondered the entire time anyways. 

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funontherox:

Truly, monster hunters were a class of people viewed by most with both awe and fear. There was something… unpredictable about someone who went about swinging a big weapon at even bigger, more dangerous creatures. Compared to the human, Rox seemed much calmer – but then again, maybe that was just because she was cold-blooded.

Ugh. Stereotypes. The man shook his head, trying to get that thought out of his mind. It was wrong to assume things like that, he knew, but getting rid of views that had been built up since childhood was difficult.

Besides, even if he was right, that shouldn’t keep him from hiring Rox. She and Mara seemed like they could work together after all.

After covering some more, small details that mostly concerned money, the two hunters were sent off to prepare and get the job done. Three days, and the monster’s lair was only an hour or so from here on foot.

“Look, we don’t know enough to really get into detail.” Rox smiled as their conversation continued along the way, her spear slung over her shoulder so that the tip pointed diagonally up. “And there’s bound to be something that makes us have to switch things up, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t cover some stuff.

“I can’t tell if you’ve gone up against a wingwraith before,” she admitted, “but either way, I think we should get on the same page. Its wings are big, but you won’t kill it by just swinging or stabbing at those. It has a weak spot… and I think I could get to it if you stun it and keep its attention away long enough.”

After all, the spikes on Mara’s club were long, but not long enough to pierce through a wingwraith’s thick, layered, cloak-like body and poke a hole in its heart. A dagger might do the trick, but that would require her to get very close to the creature… which would be a challenge considering its huge wings.

“Does that sound good? I don’t want to boss you around, so if you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them!” 

all-the-way-to-mars-and-back:

Once payment had been properly discussed, Mara was more than eager to start on their journey. To say that she was excited to fight the wingraith may have been a bit of an overstatement; she did have some sense of just how dangerous this creature was, and given that they had three days to complete this did leave room for plenty of error. But the sooner they got out there, the sooner they could figure out their standing with the monster. 

As the conversation continued, Mara glanced over at Rox, keeping her gaze mainly forward for the sake of not tripping over a rogue branch. She gave a strong nod of agreement, shifting her hold on her weapon to keep it cautiously over her shoulder, walking the fine line between casually carrying it and casually jabbing herself with a few spikes. 

At Rox expressing her uncertainty at Mara having fought a wringraith before, Mara nearly nodded before seeming to stop herself, thinking for a moment before speaking. “I’ve gone against one, but I’ve never defeated one.” She confessed. It was some months ago, as far as Mara remembered, but even if she hadn’t managed to kill it, having some idea of what to expect was a good start at least. 

Mara had no problems with Rox’s suggestion, with her knowledge of the wingraith. She’d likely get scuffed up serving as the distraction and batting around the winged creature, but she didn’t mind in the slightest. The dagger was too big of a risk to count on for the killing blow, since even if she managed to get close enough, the dagger would probably need a few stabs to fully take out the monster. 

“Sounds great to me.” She replied, her gaze returning to rox for the moment and her grip adjusting on her weapon’s handle. “As I said, I’ve never been one for making the best plans, so don’t feel bad telling me what to do.” She reassured, her free hand waving dismissively. Her best ideas came from adrenaline, from feeling the ache of her bruises already gained and the fear of whatever was coming next, but that approach wouldn’t be terribly wise with a teammate. 

Mara let her bat come down and swing at her side, the opposite side of where Rox was walking, since swinging the bat randomly in the direction of Rox would be a fantastic method to lose her teammate. “So, I hope this doesn’t sound rude...” She pursed her lips to the side, glancing at the lizardwoman again. “You’re a Xomora, right?” She asked. She was so near certain that she was right about it, but with the bare minimum she knew about the lizard-like people, she didn’t want to assume much. 

[all-the-way-to-mars-and-back]

funontherox:

The way Rox’ spoke came from a mix of factors. The fact that her anatomy was just a bit different from a human’s definitely played a part, making her voice a bit lower and scratchier than those of most women, but she also bore an accent that matched her native language. Who knew, maybe Mara would learn a word or two from her on this trip. The xomora loved sharing little tidbits of her culture whenever she saw the opportunity to.

If she noticed the way the other hunter was looking at her, she didn’t show it. Her optimistic demeanor never faltered, even when the man looked like he regretted his decision already.

Little did he know, being a monster hunter required a little bit of chaos in one’s personality. Some had it more than others, but very few ordinary people would ever take it upon them to face off against the world’s most dangerous creatures for nothing except a bit of coin. It wasn’t just a way to earn a living, it was a way of life.

“Same here,” she replied. “Being able to adapt and think on your feet is a good thing, don’t you agree?”

Three days wasn’t the worst deadline she’d had to deal with. There had been times when her clients only gave her a few hours, even minutes to deal with something… and that was especially frustrating when there was no need to hurry that much. A lot of monsters were more annoying than dangerous. Wingwraiths didn’t fall in that category, of course.

Rox seemed to follow Mara’s example as she turned her spear back around so it pointed up at the ceiling, and she leaned on the shaft as the blunt end tapped against the floorboards. “We’ve got you covered!”

However, her attention was then only on Mara, as the two of them would be the ones actually doing the work. “Shall we talk about strategies and stuff?” she began, her tone no less friendly than before. “Come up with some kind of plan together?”

all-the-way-to-mars-and-back 

Mara knew the look all too well that came from the man. It could only be expected seeing as the way she approached things was reason to be wary. As far as she was concerned, she got the job done, and so long as there wasn’t a monster wreaking havoc anymore, it could always be considered a job well done. 

The messy head of hair moved with her as she immediately nodded, a curl falling into her face for only a moment before she blew it away. “Exactly! Adaptability is everything. Even if a creature is predictable in theory it can still kick your butt in practice if you can’t adapt.” She agreed instantly, clearly with a liking towards the spontaneity in battles. 

Mara had definitely dealt with the...pickier clients before, sending her out in a hurry against something that was hardly more harmful than a house-pet. But she was admittedly no stranger to having to push the deadline or even talk to the client about extending the time restraint. Rarely was it a boost of morale, but she’d gotten used to it, and hardly ever did she have to drop out entirely. She was much too persistent for that. 

Her gaze flicked over to Rox and again she nodded, the small grin still sticking to her face. She would also admit that she was at partial fault with some jobs for not planning or strategizing at all until she’s at eye level with the creature, but now that there was someone else there, she couldn’t slack on that either. 

“My main weapon will do okay for stunning it, but even with some damage from the spikes, it won’t be enough to really do anything but blow it back.” She held the handle in one hand, the head of the bat resting at the tip of her boot. She patted her hip, where there was nothing outside of her pants visible, but it sounded like there was more than skin and bones beneath the fabric. “I do have a dagger stashed away too, if necessary. Which, knowing what we’re looking it, it probably is.” She remarked, moving that hand to her hip. 

[all-the-way-to-mars-and-back]

@funontherox:

The man looked more than just tired… he had to be desperate. According to the story of sorts that he’d told Mara, people had been going missing for over a week now when going out after dark. One particular path was the scene of most of these disappearances, and with the glimpses people had caught of the monster roaming around there, most knew better than to risk their hides by trying to fight it. Fearless – or reckless – monster hunters like Mara were his best bet, and his last resort.

Wingwraiths were rare and frightening, even to seasoned adventurers. Rox had only heard the man’s initial request and the last part of his and Mara’s conversation, so she didn’t even know what they were up against when she offered her help.

Upon being told what kind of monster they would be dealing with, though, she didn’t show any sign of reluctance. Wingwraiths weren’t ghosts, after all – they could be felled by a well-aimed blow, cut, or thrust of a pointed weapon.

The blunt end of her spear tapped against the ground a few times as she thought for a moment. “I’d be happy to help! This should be fun.”

That earned her a weird look from the man, but his attention was back on Mara just a moment later. “Sounds good. If you think you’ll be able to work together, I’ll pay you both in full. Just… try not to get in each other’s way.”

“I don’t plan to,” the strange lizardwoman said. Swapping her weapon from her right hand to her left, she held out her newly freed hand to Mara. “Nice to meet you!”

all-the-way-to-mars-and-back:

Whether the lizardwoman’s resounding confidence towards the job was reassuring or not to the man, it sure was a boost of confidence to Mara. To go as far as to say that the job would be fun, when Mara was certain that the words “fun” and “wingraith” had never been genuinely uttered together until then, was enough already to convince her that her teammate had some strength. She could sort of gather that just from looking at the scaled woman, but then again, she’d seen maybe one other xomora in her lifetime, so it wasn’t easy to judge her build. Regardless of the woman’s source of confidence, a small grin tugged at Mara’s lips as she looked back to the man. She waved her hand dismissively at the mere idea of them getting in each other’s way. “Psh, we’ll do fine. Don’t worry about us. Just keep yourself safe and we’ll handle the rest.” Mara reassured, her now casual courage probably doing the opposite of reassuring anyone.

Her eyes flicked back over to her new partner and she rocked forward in her seat, using her weapon as leverage to stand before putting her hand in Rox’s for a shake. “Nice to meet you too, Parter.” She responded with a nod, her small grin still remaining. “I’m Mara. You are?” She asked as she brought her hand back to hold the handle of her weapon. She considered for a moment twirling her bat to look a little cooler, but she quickly figured out that would likely end in property damage that she wouldn’t want to use her job money to pay for, and it would definitely revoke any faith the man had left in her to do this job.

Right off the bat she wanted to ask about Rox. Sure she’d seen a xomora before at a passing glance, but she knew little about them, and even if she had been taught, she hadn’t retained much from her younger years of learning. However, she figured it would be a bit rude to come out of the gates asking those kinds of questions, so she bit her tongue for now.

[all-the-way-to-mars-and-back]

Mara could recognize when a certain job was biting off a bit more than she could chew. She had listened in keen interest as the man across from her described his woes, and she could see by the way he was clearly juggling his few remaining options, that this was a job with plenty of risk. Maybe a little too much. But just because she could recognize when her better option was to leave it be, that rarely meant she chose the better option.

She sat forward in her seat for the few moments she took to think, pursing her lips to one side as she glanced down at the bat she held between her legs. She absentmindedly twirled it by the handle, an action that would likely render a few scratches on her shins had she not fidgeted like this nearly every time she sat down. Finally, her gaze lifted and lips parted-

Just in time for a new figure to approach. Mara’s mouth shut as her gaze flicked up to the scaly stranger. There was a moment’s delay as her gaze landed on Rox; Well, having a partner with this to make sure Mara wasn’t dead within the minute of arrival could be a help. “There’s a wingraith causing some trouble around here.”  Mara briefly explained, leaning herself back in her chair in some effort to appear cooler, maybe? Mara herself couldn’t be sure.

Embarrassingly enough, her one reluctance in having another hunter on the job with her was that she couldn’t jump ship for a while if things turned for the worse with the wingraith. But maybe if someone else was there, they wouldn’t need to. Plus, Mara could use the payment for a meal or two.

“With something like this, I could use the help.” She agreed, using her bat to sit up slightly. Then, despite the fact that it probably went without saying, she turned her gaze back to the man, “Looks like you’ve got two people on the task.” She confirmed.

@all-the-way-to-mars-and-back | Plotted Starter

“That’s all I can tell you. You think you’re up to the task?”

The stranger had called upon the services of any monster hunters that happened to be in the tavern, clearly at a loss about what else to do at this point. He seemed to trust Mara so far, judging by how many details he’d been willing to give about his… predicament.

What neither of them could have expected, though, was for a stranger to place a clawed, scale-covered hand on the table between them. Rox smiled down at the two sitting across from each other.

“I heard you were looking for monster hunters. What’s going on?”

Her gaze lingered on Mara for a second. “I don’t want to barge in if you plan on taking this job, but if you need someone to team up with, I’m game.”