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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2017 3:27:18 GMT -5
If things were slightly on fire and people were slightly dead, then that was fine. Everything was fine.
See, here was the thing. She wasn't a rookie in the sense that rookies were rookies - she wasn't new to heists, she wasn't new to being a bodyguard, she wasn't new to any of that. She was new, however, to being a mercenary, new to being hired by strangers. Perhaps it was the unfamiliar territory that made her more likely to make minor mistakes, but they were minor, and she learned from them - so what was there to be mad about?
A lot of things, if the rather angry, very Russian curses behind her were to say anything.
The mission wasn't a hard one. In fact, she'd completed it with relative ease - it was just a guard job, nothing too over-the-top, and she'd managed to do it...perfectly; she'd been paid, and then she'd left. It was as easy as that. It seemed, however, that she'd pissed off a few too many...whatever they were. It didn't matter to her. What did matter was that they were very angry, and very witch hunt-y. She'd been called a witch before! Or, or maybe that had been b***h? Either way, she'd been called it, was used to it, and that wasn't the same, unsurprisingly.
Saiph could run for miles, and she knew it. She'd been trained to do it; it wasn't long after she'd settled into the whole walking thing that she'd been taught to run, and following that, she'd been taught out to pace herself. The very beginning of her training had been something, and it wasn't a surprise that she could...outrun a lot of things solely through stamina. This situation, however, required speed - something that was fairly difficult to do in heels. She made do for barely a mile before she kicked them off, and made a run for it barefoot, instead. It was a little painful to start with, but - hey, it had probably saved her life, if the gunshots were to go by anything.
Maybe it was time to think about what, exactly, she'd done. Aside from pissing off the wrong people. She'd protected her mark - ensured that he wasn't harmed or killed. That had been easy, had been child's play. Then, of course, there had been the fire she'd started to ensure that her mark had had a safe way to escape - perhaps, in hindsight, doing that in a very flammable, very wooden house had not been the best idea. Even less so when the place had been full of alcohol. She'd been lucky to have survived. She had no doubt that many others had died, and very few of them had been the ones working with her. Of course, that led to one fairly easy conclusion; she'd killed a lot of men and had probably destroyed a hideout that had belonged to a smaller gang. It definitely wasn't the bratva. That would've been too much, and they probably had people who could outclass her in both speed and stamina. She hadn't been caught yet (though the voices said that they were close enough), and that meant she had a chance! That was fairly good.
Don't put fire in wooden places full of alcohol, she told herself, taking a turn down onto a dirt path that seemed to lead into a forest-area, it blows up and upsets people.
Upsetting people was something she had to work on. She'd done it in the past, she still did it now; there had been a reason that Germaine had 'let go' of her. Sheer skill and loyalty weren't enough to keep her on his payroll - she'd needed to be a little less...impulsive. She made rookie-esque mistakes that could cost her a job or her life; one or the other. She cared more about the latter than the former, for obvious reasons.
Either way, Germaine had been right.
He'd told her, time and time again, that if she was too headstrong, if she was too reckless, if she dismissed negotiations too quickly, then she would fail. She hadn't failed her missions, but she sure as hell had managed to fail herself, in a way. She learned her lessons! Never repeated the same mistakes twice! It was just a matter of the new mistakes - they felt like they got bigger and a little more serious, considering the hunt that was currently going on for her. She didn't know what motivated them, aside from...well, everything.
When she'd been younger, it had been...different. On the streets, she'd been the alpha, even though she had been so small and delicate. Her fighting styles were unique and true to her, but completely untrained; only a wilder power held her together, only the sheer force she could afford at the time had helped. It had given her scraps of food, had stopped one of the others from killing her - at one point, it had kept her respected. That didn't mean that she hadn't been grateful when Germaine had picked her up from the streets, promising a place to sleep and food. At the time, she hadn't thought twice about it. If she was getting recruited to a fighting ring, then so be it! She hadn't cared!
But as time had gone on, she'd learned that she hadn't been recruited for a fighting ring, but more...well. Something else. She wasn't sure what to call Germaine and his group of orphans - they were highly-trained, highly-skilled. They either stayed on as Germaine's loyal soldiers, or moved elsewhere. They became soldiers or mercenaries or parts of mafias and other bigger things. She'd known, from a young age, that she was supposed to become Germaine's personal bodyguard, that she was going to be trained even further because of that responsibility. But her fire had been too much, her impulsive nature, her lack of communications; it had all boiled down into one, until he'd lost his patience with her, and had kicked her out.
It hurt, sometimes, to think about - but it wasn't a fresh wound. It was an old scar that played up from time to time, that pulled at her if she poked at it too much.
The situation at hand was probably a little more important. Saiph had entered the forest, by now - and for the most part, she thought that she was making good progress. No wounds, she still had plenty of energy! This forest was...big, though. She didn't know how to get out, didn't know how to navigate. She could only hope that her enemies were thinking the same thing.
Pain flared in Saiph's side, and while her instincts told her to stop, she didn't. That would be stupid. Instead, she glanced down while running. It wasn't a major wound, but it did hurt like hell; it hadn't just glanced her side, but it had just barely entered and exited, which...really, left nothing to stop the bleeding. This shirt was done for. She sighed softly and put her hand to the wounded area, and continued on for as long as she could. Pushing herself to the limit was the only option, really.
Eventually, the voices behind Saiph quietened, and then vanished altogether. She'd lost them - or they were giving up for now and resigning themselves to finding her corpse later. She would take advantage of either situation to move on, except that she couldn't. Without realising it, she'd tired herself out, had expended the last of her energy. She stumbled forwards a few more steps before she dropped to her knees next to a tree, resting heavily against it. Even her panting was entirely silent, barely-there puffs of breath that came out as puffs of white. It was colder than she'd thought.
Saiph, now able to take a moment, looked down at the wound, pushing up her shirt a little to study the damage. As she'd expected, it wasn't as bad as it could've been. What was bad was the lack of medical equipment, and the lack of anywhere to go.
Could've gone anywhere but here, Farah. Literally anywhere else.
She shook her head and focused on her surroundings, trying to pick up on anything she could use. Her feet hurt, her side hurt, and she felt like a mess. She probably looked like a mess. Saiph was not used to the uncivilised life anymore, and she sure as hell didn't know how to navigate out of a forest while injured. What a dignified way to go, she thought with some bitter amusement, way to kill yourself, dumba**.
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Post by L’Éᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇʀ on Nov 16, 2017 19:13:24 GMT -5
He was told that for a man with a stature as large as he had, he walked like a cat when he wanted to. Right now, he wanted to. He and Tikhon had been tracking down an old doe left behind by her herd when she failed to keep up to speed. Tikhon and he had been eyeing the herd for some time, interested in picking out the weak ones before the wolves got to them for a good meal. Rabbit and bird made for a good morsel, but the large African crowned eagle had picked what he wanted today. And he found it only proper if he listened to Tikhon's decision.
This also made for good practice and training. It'd been awhile since he last worked a track and hunt job. He remembered the days when he was apart of the Spetsnaz, where his primary function was one of the best in their manhunting teams, it had been about endurance, stealth, and stamina. The ability to withstand their surroundings and press on with dogged determination even after exhaustion settled into most was their redeeming qualities. He was not a fast man by any means. He had long limber legs, but that didn't equate to being fast. It just meant that he could cover more distance quicker.
In the distance, he could see the doe slowing down considerably. Tilting his head to his lazy companion who had rested on his shoulders instead of putting the doe out of her misery, he whistled a low short note feeling the sharp pinch of Tikhon's talons releasing from his shoulder as the bird took to the air. Instead of flying for the doe, though, he watched as the eagle circled the air above to the west of the direction they were heading before swooping down.
If it was another rabbit he swore he was going to end the bird. They hadn't had an incident like this since five years ago, having been together for seven years. Sighing, he diverged away from the path the doe had been heading, making a mental note of it for good measure though. Holding out his hand as he the eagle searched a landing point to pounce on his prey, he whistled again and from where he was he could see Tikhon's sharp eyes meet with his, clearly discontent with his command but flying back regardless. As the eagle landed, he headed towards where the eagle had been circling expecting to find nothing more than small game. He had been wrong.
Humming softly, he broke the silence as he turned to look at the eagle instead of observing the injured individual on the ground. "What have we here, Tikhon?" There was an intelligent tilt of the head from the bird in response and he nodded, turning back to look at the thing on the ground. Crouching down a fair distance away from the stranger just to avoid being lashed out at, he squinted as he took in the individual. They seemed small. A child? He furrowed his brows.
There was blood but with the dirt and the clothing obscuring it, he couldn't tell how bad the wound was. Well, they'd figure that out later. "Looks like we've found you food, Tikhon," he muttered as the bird made a consenting noise while he rolled his eyes. "Did I say food? I meant a friend." Something told him that Tikhon didn't like that as much, but there seemed to be no disagreement as he pursed his lips, hand trailing briefly on his hunting knife before deciding against it. Injured animals responded better to the notion of safety.
Sitting down next to the stranger, he glanced over at them. They certainly didn't seem to be dressed appropriately for the weather or the wilderness. And they were barefoot. He didn't think he had anything their size. They were small, even if he could find something that didn't belong to him and an old fling, he highly doubted it would fit them. Closing his eyes, he remained alert despite how relaxed he seemed as he leaned his head against the tree.
They were still alive and there was a chance they were conscious and would attack him if they were touched. He didn't want to have to hurt them. "Who are you? And what are you doing here other than dying?" He asked, tone soft and amused as he cracked open his left eye to see if they were coiling up in themself, poised to strike. If they passed out on him, he supposed he would bring them back to the cabin - and even if they didn't, if they were too weak - he would have to bring them back to the cabin.
He wasn't a cruel man by any means. He did what he had to and then sometimes a little something extra.
Not waiting for a response, he continued as he allowed Tikhon to get down off his arm and come a little closer to the stranger. He knew the bird would lash out at the first sign of aggression, Tikhon would be fine and if the stranger was smart, they would be too. Tikhon's talons were made to crush and destroy, they were mother nature's weapons. "You know there are better places to die than here. My property."
The bird hopped close to the individual, dipping down to peck at them curiously. Raising a brow at Tikhon's manners, he clicked his tongue sharply causing Tikhon to glance up. "Be nice," he said in a disapproving tone before turning away after seeing Tikhon settle himself on top of the stranger.
"It's been a long time since an unannounced stranger has arrived," he muttered. "You had better have a good reason."
And that was the truth. He worked as a freelancer. He hunted down runaways - escaped convicts for the government, AWOL soldiers and PoWs for the military, enemies of the mafia, and any other high bidding payer. After losing his sight on a job and being honorably discharged from the Spetsnaz, he worked odd jobs tracking down people who didn't want to be found. He also was a gun for hire, a good shot in the military and an even more devastating pair of hands.
The last job he'd taken was three months ago and, as per usual, they wrote before arriving. There wasn't any signal out here, calling was a useless thing and sending a messenger into his lands unannounced meant a dead man. That was generally what happened to people who came here without writing beforehand. Or at least, to strangers. This was both a stranger and an unannounced one at that. But they were already dying. No need to expedite the situation. Maybe he'd even talk them to death. That would be one helluva bullet point to add onto his job resume.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2017 20:40:27 GMT -5
It was around the ten minute mark that Saiph resigned herself to death. She was going to die forever in a forest, because she was a fool. With a capital 'F', probably. Or 'd', for dunce. One of those. She checked on the wound - the bleeding seemed to be slowing a little, at least. She wasn't sure how the back looked. At least it was the left side! She probably would've gone back to beat the hell out of the person who'd shot her if it had been the right side. She shifted her weight a little so she was more against the tree, and shook her head to get her bangs out of her eyes.
A shadow cast overhead and she tensed, flaring up a fresh wave of pain in her side. Blood spilled between her fingers and she exhaled slowly, glancing up to try to see what was making it - but as quickly as it had come, it seemed to leave. A bird, probably. Maybe she was mistaken as prey, or something. She didn't think any birds in Russia were big enough to take her down, but they were certainly fine to eat from her if she was dead. Luckily, she wasn't dead. She didn't even feel like she was dying, but she knew that she would die, so maybe it would be good for a bird to put her out of her misery.
Except, really, she wasn't miserable. Amused? Annoyed? Yes. Miserable? No.
Saiph lowered her head and settled her breathing, pressed a little firmer on the wound. If she could stop the bleeding, at least, she could carefully stand and try to leave. She had no doubt that she was still being hunted, and staying here would just result in her position being given away.
She heard the voice before she heard the person, and that was enough to spook her, just a little. However, instead of jerking up or being startled, she slowly lifted her gaze to look at the man - and his bird. That looked big enough to eat a person. The man looked large, too, even when crouched down. Despite everything, despite the state she was in, she gave a slow and steady smile, gaze flitting down to where the man's hand trailed. A knife, she expected. She wondered what changed his mind, but decided not to think about it too much as she flicked her gaze back to his face.
When he sat next to her, she tilted her head up to watch his face - though her gaze flitted down to make sure his hands were empty, from time to time. Then, he asked a question - and her smile widened.
The situation she was in wasn't ideal, and she wasn't in control - but nonetheless, she stuck the tip of her tongue out at him and grinned in a wolfish manner. Though she had her notepad in her back pocket, she didn't think that the man nor his bird would appreciate her reaching there. Besides; she needed one hand on her wound, and her left hand was easiest to stay there. More comfortable, too. She moved her gaze away from the man, who didn't seem like an immediate threat, but to the bird. Her smile only widened as she watched it, and when it moved to sit on her, her shoulders began to shake with what she knew to be laughter, though it was as silent as she always was.
She was surprised that the heavy weight was almost comforting - it reminded her that she was in the here and now, and the warmth was nice, too.
Finally, she looked back to the man and smiled again, one eyebrow raising as she watched him. Slowly, so that she didn't startle the bird, she raised her free hand and tapped her throat, and then shook her head. I'm mute, she tried to convey. At least he seemed to be able to hold a one-sided conversation, but she couldn't answer the questions directed to her.
Saiph didn't ever feel bad for being mute, didn't feel bad about not being able to answer questions or respond to statements while working. While she could use various forms of sign language, she often chose not to; hence why she carried around a notebook and pen. She even had some blank cue cards; as long as Saiph had a pen, her voice was not as quiet as people expected. Many thought of her as the silent type, that she wouldn't talk to them. She'd gone through rough experiences due to it, but in the end, she was entirely unapologetic. Sometimes it was inconvenient, sometimes it was amusing - she didn't care about what others thought of her, for the most part. Her life wasn't dedicated to impressing anyone. Wasn't dedicated to anything, really.
If I could go back in time and tell a younger version of me that one day, in Russia, she'd be sat on by a giant bird, I wonder what she'd think.
No, she knew the answer to that. She would be pretty damn ecstatic. Birds are cool. Hunting birds are cooler. It's not even trying to kill me, she took a moment to glance at the bird, but knew better than to move too much. Wouldn't be such a bad way to go, but I don't think I'm dying today.
She wasn't sure if it was luck or what - maybe it wasn't that. Maybe she was going to die, but...well. Being oblivious to that fact made it much better than being aware that she was walking a rough path to the gates of hell.
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Post by L’Éᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇʀ on Nov 20, 2017 6:51:49 GMT -5
Whoever this person was, they sure liked smiling a lot. Almost like bleeding out and laying on the ground wasn't that bad combined in tandem, and he agreed but then again he'd been told things he was fine with wasn't exactly always normal. Did that make two of them? He couldn't help but smile back, not because of the fact the stranger offered him a smile, but due to the absurdity of their smile. It was like a grin in the face of death and he could respect that. Squinting his eyes slightly as he frowned thoughtfully when the individual stuck their tongue out.
Childish. Were they truly a child? Small and slight, childish behavior, but eerily quiet. That was a little f*cking weird, like he'd stumble upon some sort of spirit of a dying child teasing him. But Tikhon was sitting on them, they couldn't be a ghost if that was the case. Watching them move, he wanted to stiffen slightly in alarm, but he knew if their movements were faster and poised a threat to Tikhon, he would kill them himself. So he remained as he was, watching in confusion as they motioned to their throat and shake their head.
Frowning thoughtfully, he finally came to a conclusion. "You want water?" He asked, furrowing his brows at the strangeness of the scenario. Shrugging, he sat down completely on the ground, moving to dig underneath his coat and grab out a leather flask. "Usually dying people have strange needs, but not water. Why drink if you're already dying? You know what I mean?" He said, continuing on his tandem as he stared at the flask and at the stranger.
He was torn between throwing in their way and actually aiding them. They didn't seem that dangerous, but that was subject to change at any given moment. Finally, he sighed and pushed himself back to his feet, walking over to them and waving his hand at Tikhon. The eagle gave him a hard stare as if seeing if he was truly certain with his decision before giving him a noise of discontent and flying a few feet away to watch rather than hopping off of the stranger.
Dramatic bastard.
"I'll help you drink. Water okay? I don't bring coffee or whiskey with me on hunting trips," he continued as if it was normal to find strangers dying and hand feeding them water or whatever was his past time activity. Settling right next to them, he moved his hand to cradle their head, finding as he moved them slightly that he could make out softer features and a slightly small, limber build. "Don't stab me or bite me or whatever. That's not nice." He said as an after thought.
He was hoping that helping them didn't come with much resistance because dragging their body back to the camp site he had set out would be difficult if they struggled. He didn't want to have to knock them out, making things worse. There was no hospital for miles from here. He owned a 500 acre plot of land, for crying out loud! There was no way in hell he would be able to get them there before so something as lethal as a concussion and brain swelling was counter productive to the whole "helping" thing.
At least he had some things there and a fur coat that would look more like a too big robe for the small individual, but that was something. "And if you're nice, I'll take you back to my camp site," he said, as if that was some incentive for good behavior. Hell, he would think it was if he was hurt and dying and somebody let him have one last drink before he died. "If you understand me, nod, okay? If you don't speak Russian, then why the hell are you here..."
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2017 7:41:49 GMT -5
Saiph decided that the man was probably an idiot. That sounded harsh, in her mind, but it wasn't as if it was going to go beyond there; it was a simple observation. Her exhale was entirely silent, and though her eyes squeezed briefly shut, she still didn't make a sound even when the bird moved from her - it was disappointing, yes, but she couldn't really complain.
She resisted being moved - if only because she didn't want water, goddamn it. Though her smile stayed firmly in place, her glare was a hard one - not the look of someone who was dying, but something else entirely. She moved a hand slowly to cover her mouth, wincing a little as this tugged at the wound in her side. The bleeding wasn't going to stop entirely, but it had slowed. Honestly, she probably needed medical attention but this odd man seemed to not understand subtle gestures. Then again, she was in the middle of nowhere, so it wasn't too much of a surprise that she'd managed to find a recluse. He had, after all, mentioned that it was his property. With land this big, she supposed there was no point in leaving very often. That made sense.
For a moment, she considered her options.
There were not, in fact, many options. She tapped her lips and then made the zip motion - can't speak. Please don't be a complete moron. Maybe, just maybe, dying wouldn't be that bad if she didn't have to deal with this. But then again - bird. She liked the bird. Her gaze flicked to it as if to make sure it was still there. Saiph didn't know why, but it was somewhat comforting, even if it was entirely capable of killing her. She was small, and it was large; she probably should've known what type of bird it was, but she didn't.
Being asked if she spoke Russian made her roll her eyes - had he been speaking under the assumption that she hadn't understood? Had she not responded to anything? Hm, maybe not. She nodded her head and tried to push herself into a sitting position. It was a mistake. A very, very big mistake. A huge mistake. For the first time in a long time, she made a sound - a sharp hissing sound between her teeth that was just a little too quiet, as if she couldn't make a sound more than that. In something that was almost like a fit of anger, she pressed her other hand firmer to the wound; this cleared her head a little and made her blink a few times, her smile dropping for a few moments before it reappeared, albeit smaller and subtler. It was her default expression, she supposed - she was an ever-smiling woman, and that was part of what unnerved people.
Polaris had told her to stop, once. It hadn't been long before he'd lost his sight that he'd talked about how irritating her smile was, how annoying it was that she could be so happy all the time.
He'd later learned that it wasn't happiness that made her smile, and then he hadn't been able to see it. A win-win on both sides, she supposed.
She flicked her gaze to the bird once again, trying to focus on the colouring of its feathers rather than the pain in her side. What she needed wasn't water, but disinfectant and bandages, and perhaps something else to wear. Her white shirt was bloodied and torn, and her jeans had seen better days. Saiph focused on the little cuts across the arch of her foot instead of the pain in her side, which...it didn't help entirely, but it did help. Just a little.
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Post by L’Éᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇʀ on Nov 22, 2017 20:54:39 GMT -5
Having the small individual refuse his assistance and the water was interesting. Seeing her struggle against him, he relaxed his grasp on her, allowing her to move as she pleased and watched her once again try to communicate with him. After the first gesture, a part of him assumed she wanted this to be kept a secret until it clicked. Oh. "Well, why didn't you just tell me?" He huffed, amusement in his voice as he shook his head, hearing her hiss in pain. Stupid move.
"Alright, at least you understand what I'm saying," he added as an afterthought, slipping his hands around her. Picking her up and hoping she didn't resist, he found that she was light. He'd spent a lifetime carrying the carcass of his hunts and abiding to the no man left behind code, it came as some surprise how small the individual truly was. He could have slung her over a should, but it felt rude. Instead, he glanced down at her, hoping she wouldn't fight too much. "I'm going to bring you back to my camp, okay? It's not my house, but it is something. There might be enough supplies to patch you up."
After all, hunting trips did get long at times and being injured in the wilderness was dangerous. He had to carry supplies with him just in case. Except now it would be wasted on her. "If you're nice to me, I'll tell Tikhon to not eat you and share my food." He added in amusement, not holding any truly violent intentions. He didn't like strangers much. They fell all over themselves trying to do things his way or were afraid of him despite coming for his services. It could've been the sheer size. He wasn't quite sure, but she was different. She didn't seem intimidated by him at all and she didn't talk so she wasn't tripping over herself to explain to him what was happening.
That was a plus. Once he had had a man trying to pitch a job deal to him follow him for two days before dropping due to dehydration. That shut the f*cker up good, but since the man or woman or individual who sent him would have been p*ssed if he died, Vitali had had no choice but to help him. It was unfortunate, annoying, and overall against every moral he had. He had sent the man on his way and accepted the job if only to keep him quiet.
Whistling sharply, he turned to glance at Tikhon as he started heading back towards the ger he had set up in the woods. It wasn't like his cabin, but it was homely and reminded him of his days with the tribe. Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if the old man and woman were still kicking. He had been fond of both of them, but ever since he left he had never had the opportunity to come back. Maybe soon... that didn't sound like a bad idea at all.
The large eagle landed upon his shoulder, sharp eyes fixed upon the figure he was carrying and he turned to Tikhon just as the bird turned to look at him. There was something about the quality of Tikhon's eyes that looked almost pleading. "No. We still have those two hares. We're not eating them." He wrinkled his face at the thoughts of cannibalism. He'd been there, done that. It wasn't exactly the taste that had gotten to him, but the fact that they had been apart of the same unit.
Sighing deeply, he turned away from Tikhon, no longer interested in looking at the betrayal in those eyes. It was as if the words "no" to the crowned eagle meant that he despised Tikhon or something. It was terrible. The walk back wasn't that far, the doe hadn't gotten that far from their camp site which meant that the stranger was lucky. Ducking below the entrance of the ger, he laid them out on fur sheets and moved to rummage through his medical supplies, not turning back. Tikhon had taken the time to hop off of him and settle himself comfortably in the ger, sharp golden eyes watching the stranger. "Stay still, alright? I don't want you to get blood on too many things. It'll make a lot of predators take interest if we're not careful."
Returning back to her side, he slowly removed the bloody artifacts ignoring the stretch of her flesh. Instead, he cleaned the wound gently before working on fixing her up. Glancing up as he worked, he decided to try to find out more information. "What are you doing here? Hmm? Not a lot of people run into the wilderness when they're injured." They were so small it was hard to imagine that they had done something that terrible. "Are you in trouble?" Maybe it was because she was so small or perhaps it was the sh*t eating smile that never faded, but he felt a slight surge of protectiveness.
He'd never met a person capable of smiling through pain unless it was some sort of constant in their life. Hell if he'd let her die on his property.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 21:39:13 GMT -5
For only a moment, Saiph's smile faltered and her glare was, despite her size, something to be feared. However - as quickly as it had come, her easy smile came back onto her face and she raised a single eyebrow, as if she were wondering how stupid he was. Well. She was thinking that, but it was rude to state it out loud, she supposed.
It was a surprise to be picked up but her face did not show it - instead, her smile became one of more amusement. She nodded as he informed her of what he was going to do. Honestly, she hadn't expected any hospitality; she'd trespassed on his land and hadn't shown herself to be of use, but maybe he was just going to take her back to his camp to kill her for the bird. That seemed logical. It was something she would do. But, then again, some people were actually nice, and perhaps she'd made him curious! Who didn't want to know what the hell was going on when some stranger came around? She did, but then again - curiosity killed the cat was a phrase often put towards her. There were reasons Germaine had not wanted her around.
Saiph tilted her head back to watch the bird. It was a pretty thing, named Tikhon? That was...that was a pretty cool name. She smiled some more and nodded lazily - though she had to admit, she felt a little faint. Perhaps it was the blood loss. The pain wasn't light - it was actually...extremely painful. Under normal circumstances, she probably would've at least whimpered, but...adrenaline, maybe, stopped her from it. Or maybe it was just because she didn't care. Either way, she was starting to get a little worried about it.
We're not eating them. She wondered if it was a joke. Would this man actually eat a human? Hm. A little worrisome, but hey, if he was truthful to the bird then maybe she wasn't in danger. A woman could hope.
Being set down meant that her wound was pulled again, but aside from a little twitch from her eyebrow, it wasn't shown. She nodded when she was told to stay still, silently inhaling as if to steel herself. It was with mild reluctance that she moved her hand away from the wound to allow for the man to tend to her wound - and she slowly moved her hand to her pocket, making sure that the two (both the bird and the man) could see what she was doing. She pulled out her notepad and her pen, somewhat glad that the blood on her hand was mostly dried; it meant that only some of the blood stamped itself onto the white paper.
It did, of course, occur to her that she wasn't entirely literate in Russian. Nonetheless, she did her best.
Name is Saiph. Cannot speak. Chased by bad people, found land. Thought it would be good to hide in, she paused her writing for a moment to squint thoughtfully at the two, before smiling lazily and continuing to write. Suppose am in bad trouble. Sorry, bad Russian writing. Can understand perfectly. Wound is entry from back and exit on front. Missed vitals, will live. Probably.
After a couple of moment of thought, she added a small ♀ next to her name. With that done, she pushed the notepad to where the stranger would be able to read it - her grammar was messy but her writing wasn't too bad. Just missing the basics, really. She'd surprised even herself with how steady her hand had been. Now that that was done, she dropped the pen next to her notepad and tilted her head back a little to watch Tikhon - not quite in a cautious manner, but in a way that suggested she would rather him in her line of sight. From the corner of her eye, she watched the man work.
She wasn't self-conscious, so the lack of her shirt didn't particularly bother her. It would've been thrown away at one point or another. Admittedly, it was colder than she'd expected - but that was just a thing to deal with. Despite the pain, she managed to stay remarkably still; her breath barely rose her stomach, and overall, she seemed to be quite in control of herself. She was in control of herself. It was only the curiosities in life that caused her to get distracted or to be more impulsive; she didn't like missing out on interesting things. Saiph counted herself lucky that she'd found someone interesting who, at the moment, didn't seem to want to murder her. Yet. Maybe he'd change his mind.
Her lips parted in a silent 'o', and she picked up the pen again to quickly scribble down some more Russian while she remembered it. Who are you? was the most understandable she could write. If he couldn't figure out what she meant, then that would be depressing. If only she'd spent more time reading and writing Russian instead of doing literally anything else. Her procrastination would get her killed, one day. She was sure of it.
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Post by L’Éᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇʀ on Dec 3, 2017 5:59:05 GMT -5
If he was to be honest, he found that the woman had one of the most fearsome glares. It didn't unnerve him, but it surprised him. There was an underlying viciousness to it that he could easily relate to murder and for someone as small as her, it was a little curious. But as soon as he had saw it, it seemed to vanish and the change happened so fast, he furrowed his brows slightly. That wasn't natural. He had been away from people and avoided forming close relationships with humans for, well, years but even he knew that it took a certain type of person to be able to hide their emotions like that.
It was a dangerous skill, but one that explained the injury. And to be fair, he'd seen many guys that had maybe a few inches on her in the military with him and doing all kinds of odd jobs. It never made it any less unassuming and if it wasn't for the fact that he could recognize the signs, he probably would have never pegged her for the type had he been crossing her on the streets during a job.
Still, the worst she could do to him was kill him so he wasn't all that worried. She seemed to like Tikhon which meant her killing Tikhon wouldn't be a problem if that's what it came down to. Even as he helped tend to her wounds, the slight movements she made caused him to be on alert. It wouldn't harm him to be a little cautious. This was his home after all and as much as he didn't care if she killed him, he wasn't exactly interested in that occurring. She seemed to understand his and Tikhon's caution, however, and moved slowly so that they could see what she was doing.
Listening to the scribbling as she wrote on the little notebook she procured, he returned his attention to the wound before it was pushed towards him. Pausing briefly, he squinted slightly as he read the tiny scrawl. Despite the fragmented grammar, the basics were there. So he had finally came to the proper conclusion earlier about her being mute. And she went by Saiph? That helped things somewhat. At least now she wasn't just a stranger. It also explained the withering glare when he had asked her why she hadn't say something. Maybe that was the wrong word choice.
"Alright Saiph, well I guess you're lucky you're here and not in one of the other plots of land. It's a lot of land, sometimes there are crazy bastards who live in the middle of nowhere," he said, shrugging helplessly, though he realized a second too late it might have been applicable to him to some degree that what he said was ironic. He wasn't crazy, he just killed people for a living and sometimes strangers who came to kill him for a change instead of vice versa.
"I see the injury and it looks like it'll heal fine. Most of the snow and cold staunched your bleeding so you haven't lost that much blood," he added as he did his best to patch her up. He'd seen worse and he wasn't just being optimistic or attempting to soothe her. No, this wasn't as bad as it could have been. Had it been summer or spring, maybe the blood loss would have gotten to her before he had, but given that it was dead in the middle of winter, she had been lucky as strange as it seemed. Generally, from his understanding, spring was supposed to be the season of life and winter was it's polar opposite. Somehow she'd luck out and mother nature was on her side.
Straightening up now that he was finished, he took a moment to take in her self control. The controlled breathing despite her pain and the lack of sound impressed him and he nodded at his slightly messy handiwork. It would do. He was good for a bad patchwork that held but was ugly to look at. Hopefully she didn't mind. Grabbing one of his coats for her despite knowing it would cover her entirety, he handed it to her. "Don't worry about the bad men. They probably won't be able to navigate these woods. Especially when night comes and the snowfall gets heavier, they won't be able to track you down. And if they do, well," he pointed towards the hunting guns he had brought with him, "we'll be fine."
Seeing her pick up the pen once again, he raised a brow, confused as to what she had to say after all she had went through. When the question stared back at him, he laughed and realized he had forgotten completely to introduce himself. That was... pretty typical for him, but it didn't make it any less ridiculous. "I'm Vitali," he said after a thoughtful pause and then he nodded towards Tikhon who seemed to be watching them carefully, "And that's Tikhon. He eats babies."
That was probably the wrong conversation starter, but hey! Whatever works, right? He thought he was doing pretty well with this communication thing with somebody from the cities. So far, he knew one thing for certain. When morning came, he would get her on one of the two horses he had and he would take the other one and they would travel back to the cabin with the wolves and Tikhon. It was better to be hunkered down and the ger could be left behind. He highly doubted the trackers on Saiph's tail would be able to dismantle it and if they destroyed it... well, good thing they were going to die for intruding on his land.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2017 10:57:17 GMT -5
There were times where her smile was unnecessary but it remained so, and this was one of those times. Though the two hadn't shown themselves to want to kill her (yet), she found normal defensive motions sitting in place; a mild tension in her body so that she was prepared to jump out of the way, a certain way of positioning herself so that even while she was being tended to, she could have a vague sense of control - even her smile was something of a defensive motion, though she wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was just easier to smile through the pain and the fear.
She could've died. She should've died. Whether it was to the men chasing her or to the bird and the human, she should've died. The wound was nothing, it would heal and it would scar, just like the minute marks here and there, just like the marks long hidden by the tattoo spanning her side. Frankly, she didn't care about those. The situation, itself, was just strange.
For how long am I going to continue surviving impossible things? she wondered idly, gaze flicking down to the wound. He seemed to be doing a decent job of patching it up and, while it still hurt, it would definitely be fine. She made a little gesture that could've been I know but, equally, it could've been get f*cked. It was one or the other and even she didn't quite know what she meant, but hey - people often interpreted her gestures as whatever they wanted to. After all; she did not have a voice to speak up, and so she was often spoken for. It was what she was used to and her actions often spoke for themselves - if she didn't want to do something or she didn't like something, those around her soon knew. The fact that she managed to remain so peaceful even now was just a statement to how...fine she was with everything.
Crazy bastards who lived in the middle of nowhere. Saiph raised an eyebrow at him as if to say hypocrite, but didn't write anything else nor did she bother making any gestures. If he caught on, then he caught on; she didn't care whether he understood or not, and besides, it was just a matter of interpretation.
That was interesting information, though. She hadn't known that snow and cold could stop bleeding - though, to be fair, she'd never tried dying slowly in the middle of Winter. She much preferred trying to die slowly in the Summer; at least she was warm and comfortable. Right now, however, she was chilly and fairly miserable. At least she'd been saved - the bird was probably the highlight of this entire situation. It was one way of looking at things. Sure, I almost died; but I got sat on by a bird, so who's the real winner? She was. She was definitely the winner. Momentarily, she poked at the wound to make sure it would actually hold; she was used to this sort of thing, she supposed. More on other people than herself, but hey - same difference. Seemingly satisfied, she glanced up when she was offered a coat and took it. It was amusing how big it was, but it was warm and that was what mattered. Once she'd put the coat on (as she'd anticipated, it was more like being enveloped by a blanket), she sat up a little straighter.
A mildly pained jolt of her upper lip, but very little else to go from. Her eyebrows pulled down at his lack of concern but...well, perhaps she was safe, in the loosest possible sense. Saiph wasn't sure if those chasing here were good at tracking or not - she hoped not.
To herself, she signed out Vitali's name, before nodding. It was, for Saiph, similar to saying someone's name out loud to get used to it; a habit that she had gotten into a few years ago, and had never been able to fall out of. Her grin was wolfish as she set her hands into her lap and flicked her gaze between the two, and then she gave a thumbs up. Gotcha, thanks for saving me, was what it said. Something like that, at least.
Despite everything, her shoulders shook with some laughter at the mention of Tikhon eating babies. Silent laughter, but amused nonetheless. It wasn't something people often said about their animals. People praised their dogs or cussed out their cats or expressed that their bird could talk, but never that their bird ate babies. At least she wasn't a baby! That would've been inconvenient.
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