Thread: A Radiant Slither and the False God. (Clearsight, SomethingEsoteric)

When Hilde caught up to Val she hissed, retracting her hand but calming down when Hilde didn't let go. She looked at her rather irritated, she didn't like being followed, like she needed help, Val never needed help. Not that she wasn't surprised when Hilde started talking, Nothing in your precious church worth a life... She muttered, not going anywhere with it but thinking it sounded ridiculous that Hilde would say that when those she associated with would feel quite different about the matter. Hell not to mention she had just lost a friend for something that church wanted, fuck the church. It irritated her but she wasn't that angry with Hilde, just angry in general and being wounded didn't help, not when she had been so incompetent as to take an arrow in the first place. Val had always been hard on herself, for years she had blamed herself for the death of her people, her inability to do anything haunted her, and day to day she found blame for whatever occurred and placed it on herself, even if the situation hadn't been her fault, including blaming herself for getting hurt despite helping a child. However as much as she blamed herself nothing brought her back to reality like anger. Hilde said something that infuriated her, 'I knew you were more.' What the fuck does that mean... She growled, eyes narrowing and tempted to push Hilde away but as she began to draw out the poison Val grit her teeth, bearing the pain without much bother but finding herself more tamed by how close the Paladin was to her lips, just a hair away and she swallowed hard as the pain ended, her rage slightly diminished by the unexpected nature of what Hilde had done, how close the innocent woman had come to kissing her. You... You... You infuriating woman! Val burst out as Hilde pressed against her wound and made to separate after what she had said and done. First you insult me, saying you knew I was fucking more... Then you painfully pull out the poison, almost kiss me, and then poke my damn injury... She snarled, reaching out with one hand and pulling Hilde in close once more as her eyes locked with the woman. It's as if you're doing it on purpose to rile me up... Are you perhaps more knowledgeable about how to drive another woman insane than you pretend to be? She leaned in, her question begging an answer but her lips and desire refusing to allow Hilde a response. She shoved her lips against Hilde's, a rough and primal kiss, powerful and filled with lust. Val knew what she wanted and while there was no damn time to do anything more Val was not going to let her escape after all her shit without at least a small treat to hold her over until she had more time to show Hilde that her bullshit wasn't going to be tolerated. Fuck! She muttered in frustration before pushing Hilde gently away, Get the people ready, I'm going to go and get the gear I had stashed and some herbs from the apothecary... Make sure they gather essentials... She muttered, audibly but in a huff as she turned to rush off, leaving Hilde to do her part as she claimed what she needed before being ready to leave. Fucking Hilde, she had to make everything so damn complicated, make it where Val wouldn't just be heading out but waiting for civilians, agitate and rile her up, tease her without being aware of it. Val made haste regardless of the emotional hurricane raging through her, moving from her current position to a more dangerous part of the city now that Hilde was not there to stop her. She knew there were dangers and no way to know whether her stash was even still in her room at the inn, but she had to risk it and find out, she had a few invaluable pieces of equipment waiting and the apothecary was a few places down. Danger or not she made it to the inn before long, having navigated the cityscape as if she had lived there her entire life, the few times she had walked down the streets solidified in her mind. It was different this time however, buildings smoldering, broken windows and splintered doors, corpses of innocent people splayed about with the peppering in of grisly marauder. It was strange, with Hilde she had felt at ease, okay even within the chaos, but as she traversed the city and found her way to the inn she was a bit lost in the situation, mind rushing back to memories of her village, her family, and countless friends lost along the way. The most haunting location was the inn itself, as she entered the gap where the door had been there was a lack of anything. The bustling in and roar of the fire no longer present, no food scent and only stale alcohol still lingered, the fumes from burnt down buildings stronger than anything else. She moved through the inn, creaking wood beneath her feet as she started slowly up the stairs, eyes looking around as she went to looking for her room. The upstairs was less torn apart than the downstairs, certain doors smashed open but most left untouched and as Val moved down the hall she noticed bodies in each of the rooms with smashed doors. Her eyes narrowed, it seemed the marauders hadn't been interested in searching for valuables but mostly on killing and rampaging through the city, it was odd but it they were the vanguard of an army it wasn't entirely unexpected, but it meant whoever called the shots had even these rough cretins under control. It allowed Val to get in and out of her room quickly though, gathering a rather exquisite looking bag and tossing it on her back, the bag containing vials, valuables, and most everything important Val owned, and while it wasn't a true bag of holding it was something she had received from her tribe, holding more than one would imagine at first glance. She also went about grabbing a spare sword of hers and placing it on her back, as well as a small dagger she shoved inside her bag, it had been Avice's blade, her only actual weapon, the one she had been using when she died had been one Val had loaned her. She took a deep breath, moving back outside of the inn while in a trance, a trance that wasn't easily broken. Even as footsteps approached behind her she didn't hear, not until sobbing and arms grabbing her shoulders caused her to spin around. Please help. A crying woman was in front of her, leather armor and a shallow cut on the side of her neck and a deeper wound on her forearm, no weapon on her at all. Around the corner came three of the marauders, seeming battle hungry as they chased the woman, no doubt wanting more than to kill her seeing as she was still alive. Val's mood wasn't one of battle however, she had none of her usual frenzy for battle and instead she pushed the woman behind her and her right hand burst into flame, flickering flames covering her hand without burning her. Fucking wastes of life... She growled, tossing a fireball from her hand and scorching one unlucky face and as he burnt the other two rushed forward, another fireball shooting out but being dodge. Val cursed, her precision with magic wasn't spectacular, she had power but she got one another and she simply decided to handle the others with her blade. So she moved forward, drawing and twirling her sword, gripping it tightly in both hands and parrying the first slash and coming up into an upward slash, cutting through the gut of one before turning and chopping through the spine of the other. Go, to the church, I'll catch up! She shouted to the woman, turning back around when she was out of sight and making her way to the apothecary, knowing exactly what she needed and making quick work of it. Nothing special of course but she grabbed some things that would help in capacities healers had a hard time doing, plus a few things for herself that she knew how to work with, shoving it all into a large backpack and gripping it in her hands before running back out and making a spring back towards where Hilde and the civilians would be waiting. She just hoped they were ready to go, and she hoped Hilde was ready for what would come afterwards, because she still had that woman and her infuriating mouth in her thoughts, and it was infuriating in every damn way.