[GRO] Luxara Seleni - Adult

[Gl!tch~]

DMG: 7 +2 = 9
HP: 40/40
Agility B Artifact 1/2
Agility B Trinket 1/1
Defense B Trinket 2/2

He wouldn't look at her. Why wouldn't he look at her? She wanted him to see her, watch her pain; she wanted to stare into his soul. Why was it so hard to ask him for common ground...? She only grit her teeth as he stumbled off. Somehow, she struggled for a final quip.

Eventually, she just groaned. Kursha was deciding to be dramatic, she could see. Were they really doing this? Luxara watched him slip away. She could run. She could get out of here. His tracking skills were good, but the opening was just about perfect. Once she was in the foliage, there was no hope for him.

However.

She had a score to settle. Luxara pulled out her eyepiece, checked for her trinkets. Yes. Yes, she was ready for anything. And he was talking about hurting her? Funny. The characteristic grin pulled on her face. She climbed up Kursha's tree, vaulted over the branches, positioned herself above him. Bleed for me. Pay me back for everything by bleeding.

"I'd worry about myself if I were you," she commented as she lined her sights.

Green Minuetxx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2NgsJrrAyM

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Health: 9
Eagle Eyes: 2
Weapon: +1

With his back pressed against the trunk, Kursha peered around from his hiding spot. The place were Luxara had stood just moments before was clear. In the few seconds he took to draw his weapon and load, she had disappeared. The wily greenblood moved faster than he anticipated. Still alert, he scanned the brush for any sign of movement. His body was tense. Had she bolted? It seemed all too possible. She knew the forest better than he did, and could easily out manoeuvre him. Or maybe...? At the sound of her voice, his eyes darted to the tree branches over his head. He saw the arms of a crossbow.

He felt something like a sharp punch to the shoulder. Then a second. Then nothing. Were it not for the pair of feathered shafts protruding from next to his collarbone, he would not have believed he suffered an injury at all. But there they were, not even a spatter a blood from such a clean shot. Hell, maybe Luxara still liked him a bit after all.

He knew they would hurt like hell later.

Rifle relaxed and lowered, he grinned up at the marksman. “Why? What's the worst you can do?” he taunted. He stared into the face of her weapon with chilly disregard, unflinching. “Kill me?”

[ Kursha does 0 damage. ]

&Gl!tch~

AS PROMISED. Fixed health and added in the second bolt.

 

[Gl!tch~]

DMG: 9 +2 = 11
HP: 40/40
Agility B Artifact 0/2
Agility B Trinket 1/1
Defense B Trinket 2/2

Kursha didn't move. Hell, he didn't even react to the bolts embedded in him now. Maybe the PI assault left him his nerves fried. Useless! Luxara grit her teeth, ready to move as soon as he tried to aim...but he didn't. Kursha had the rifle out, but wasn't doing anything with it. Someone so cocky, so competitive, but not even trying?

Whatever he was up to, she didn't like it.

Kursha just looked up at her, ignoring her, the effort she was making, couldn't even give her a little bit of fear or even, hey, fight back.

It was infuriating.

"I could've done that a long-a** time ago. These days, it'd make my life easier, but if it doesn't bother you any."

She leaned into her crossbow, measuring the crosshairs to his eyes as she spoke.

"I can make life a little harder for you. Justice, right?"

Luxara fired. One, two.

Green Minuet

LOOK WITH YOUR SPECIAL EYES

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Health: 9
Eagle Eyes: 2
Weapon: +1

Luxara's crosshairs settled over his right eye, and Kursha's pump biscuit jumped into his throat. He swallowed. Though his face betrayed no emotion, somewhere in the back of his thinkpan he registered fear. Still, he did not move. He had followed her on a mission, and he had every intent to see it through. Ultimately, she would fail. She would not pull the trigger. And even if she did, it would destroy her.

That thought kept him from flinching, even as Luxara squeezed down on the trigger. The crossbow fired, and for a brief moment he saw a flash of white. Then his vision burst with the green hue of his own blood.

Only it wasn't his blood.

Standing in front of him, and nearly as tall, was an enormous, feathered lusus. A powerful tail draped around its claws, which looked like they might easily crush a calf's skull. That or pierce it. Each toe was equipped with a razor-sharp talon. A secondary weapon, a beak like a scimitar, was affixed to a cruel face atop a serpentine neck, arched with regal poise. The beast cut an intimidating sight, even from behind. Kursha knew that its real power lay in its gaze however: a cold, unblinking and unfeeling stare that saw everything and that showed nothing—a basilisk glare he himself had only partially mastered.

The Colonel closed her beak with a snap, and two halves of a bolt landed softly in the peat. The other bolt remained lodged in her right wing. The barbed shaft had gone clear through bone and protruded out the other side. She held herself imperious and indifferent.

Kursha wiped the blood from his face. “I never asked for that,” he said. The Colonel let out a faint hiss. Stupid, as always. Her voice struck him like a slap to the face. Kursha did not reply, but simmered in cold fury. For her to come back now...

The crest along her neck began to rise. Suddenly the Colonel sprang into the air. Wings flapping, she buffeted Luxara and forcing her back. Her talons raked down towards the small greenblood, seeking blood. Pull yourself together, private, she hissed. Wordlessly, Kursha shouldered his rifle and slipped back around the tree. He pressed his back to the bark, eyes darting between the ground and the canopy.

“I guess I underestimated you,” he admitted with a dry, humourless laugh. His finger curled around the trigger, ready and waiting. “It won't happen again.”

[ Kursha does 0 damage. ]

&Gl!tch~

Justice rains from above!

 

[Gl!tch~]

DMG: 5 +2 =7
HP: 40/40

Agility B Artifact 0/2
Agility B Trinket 1/1
Defense B Trinket 2/2 (Doesn't actually exist anymore I think)

There was a formula to hunting, after her sweeps of experience. At this point, she expected thrill mixing with the thoughtless adrenline. Triumph. A successful kill. Another confirmation that she was still at the top of the food chain. So, she had to wonder why every pull felt like it dug out a part of her, shot by shot. Not that it mattered. She just wanted this to be over.

Luxara flinched back in the seconds after, surprised to see a white form dive in. Few things on Alternia were that color and moved. She let out a quiet gasp in the quiet moment after. White, except for where her bolt hit it clean through in the wing. Its blood like Kursha's own color. Lusus. This magnificent thing had nurtured Kursha, technically. She had never seen them, despite their multiple encounters in childhood.

But there was no other explanation. She swallowed, and in the next moment, the Colonel went after her. Luxara reeled back, feeling the claws scrape at her face. Her clothing. She fell out of the tree. Feeling the sudden rush of air, she braced, angled, and landed feet-first in a crouch.

"Just the two of us, huh?" she shot back, wiping a cut by her mouth. "When're you gonna stop being so full of s**t?"

Two on one. Not the worst odds, at least not here. But now survival definitely trumped all else. It stung, in a way.

She focused on strafing, trying to find an angle for another shot while listening for swooping or wing flaps or a screech from hell.

Green Minuet

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Health: 2
Eagle Eyes: 2
Weapon: +1

When Luxara fell from her perch, the Colonel wheeled back into the canopy for another pass. Kursha watched as she went, until she disappeared behind the foliage. She had not gone entirely, he knew. She would be back to strike from another angle, where she could catch the marksman off guard. He grit his teeth, tasting the bitterness of blood and resentment in his mouth. While he might have understood her methods, he would never understand her reason.

“I wasn't lying,” Kursha snapped. Hugging his rifle close, he began to edge his way around the trunk. He just needed one good shot. “Save me a bullet, and go ahead and plant one in her cranial plate next time,” he finished with a snarl as his eyes searched the undergrowth for the Luxara's yellow. Just a little farther... there!

He heard a hiss and felt a sting in his stomach. His breath escaped him in a gasp. The corners of his mouth twitched. He did not need to look to see that he had taken another shot. It was a sacrifice he was all too willing to make.

Before the greenblood could escape and reload, Kursha took aim towards her right knee. His pupils began to reshape into their trademark crosshairs. Try running away now...!

He fired.

[ Kursha does 6 damage. ]

&Gl!tch~

 

[Gl!tch~]

DMG: 6

ATTACK NULLIFIED

She had hit Kursha in a key location. Bitter satisfaction welled in her throat. Finally, some sense of fulfillment. But now Kursha could track where Luxara was, and he started to aim. s**t. Now he was getting serious? Luxara's pumpbiscuit sank. A deer in the headlights. No time to move, no time at all, if he was serious. All she could do was wonder, in the back of her head, if it was all just another trap.

He wasn't aiming at her head, no, but he wouldn't have to if he wanted to draw it out. Luxara braced for impact.

She heard the shot. Her eyes shut on reflex. But...the pain...where was the pain? Luxara didn't feel any sting, or blood. Still standing.

Not one to question providence, Luxara immediately ducked, opening her eyes again as she did. Her hands went to the ground, and her fingers touched something wet. Luxara blinked. She glanced down. Green blood. Her own hue. But she hadn't...? Luxara double-checked, but despite all her frantic searching, she couldn't locate any green seeping through the yellow clothes.

Luxara's chest rose and deflated with every hard breath. She looked up. Her eyes widened and she froze in place.

A white figure stood not too far from her. No feathers or wings, though, but certainly solid. Just glancing at the antlers was enough for Luxara to know who it was. She certainly couldn't see the blood flow yet to confirm. The lusus wasn't moving, instead staring Kursha and his rifle down.

The greenblood couldn't believe it. "Stagdad!" Lusii, now, getting involved at the worst possible moment. "You shouldn't be here! I'll be fine! I was winning!"

Green Minuet

ouo/

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

Health: 0

As soon as the lusus appeared, Kursha ducked back behind the tree, keeping his back flat against the trunk. His breath came out in a hiss. He had been robbed of his shot. Bitterly he wondered how long the old stag had been waiting around in the underbrush for an opportunity to screw him over. The thought stung almost as much as Luxara's voice, plaintively crying her win. So that was how she viewed this. He was nothing more than a token victory to her. He had been set up.

Kursha's hands clenched around the barrel of the gun. His jaw tightened. The adrenaline of combat began to fade. For once, losing did not seem all that bad, at least not in the face of the current circumstances. He felt a dull throb from the shaft in his gut. The two in his shoulder began to ache.

He should have quit the moment the Colonel had been forced to intervene. Luxara aimed to kill him. Not once, not twice, but three times. Yet still he stuck around, clinging to some semblance of lost friendship. No more. It seemed the only way he ever seemed to learn a lesson was through pain. Pain it was then.

Kursha grabbed ahold of the bolt lodged in his side. Even the light touch sent violent spasms of pain through him. He could feel the length of it, embedded within him. Shuddering, Kursha struggled not to heave. Deep breaths now. He braced himself, tears springing in his eyes. He swallowed. Quick, before Luxara or her lusus found him. Twisting, he ripped the bolt free.

His world flipped upside down.

Pain enveloped his entire being. Teeth clenched so hard that fresh blood flowed from the gap in his gums, he tried not to scream. He could not give Luxara the satisfaction. A sob escaped him. As his body went into shock however, he thought only one thing: remember this.

Kursha slid down against the trunk, shaft still gripped in his fist. His eyes glazed over. “You've... made your... point...” he spat. He managed to fling the bloodied bolt away. Somewhere above him he heard the fluttering of wings.

Gl!tch~

 

[Gl!tch~]

She grit her teeth. Her lusus wasn't drawing back after her outburst. Instead, he stared at her for a moment, then went further into the ring of fire, as it were. This changed everything. There were too many bodies around, causing too much of a fuss. Two trolls firing shots, a flapbeast, and an antlerbeast. In hunting lands, it would draw attention sooner or later.

Luxara had gotten out of this with nary a scratch, and she might be able to make it back without being tracked if Stagdad kept eyes on him. Not like she could ask what he was planning, even if they could stop for a chat. The greenblood sidled behind a tree, then when she thought herself out of sight, started to climb. No point in drawing this out, not when she had plenty to lose. If anything, she'd have the satisfaction of leaving some holes despite an ambush that probably meant to end in otherwise.

As Luxara started making moves towards an escape, Stagdad began to search for Kursha, antlers ready to go on the offensive.

Green Minuet

'o'

 

[Green Minuet]

[+] Kursha Vidari

The Colonel settled on a branch above, watching over her charge. She might have followed the other greenblood, but Kursha was in no position to track her. He leaned back against the tree trunk, his blood seeping into its roots. Tears streamed from his eyes. There was no one around to see but his lusus, unless Luxara decided to come back and finish him off. How fitting would that be? To die in the same place, at the hands of the one who had saved him sweeps before. The thought elicited a rattling laugh from Kursha.

“I should have... brought a radio, huh?” he asked up to the trees. The Colonel remained impassive. Too weary to care about his personal vendetta with his lusus, Kursha continued, “Stupid to the last...” He broke off into a laugh, cringing at the spasms of pain that tore through his side. He tried to smile but could only grimace.

Gl!tch~

 

[Gl!tch~]

An entire forest surrounded her, familiar in many ways. Yet lost. No longer her territory, no longer a false sense of safety. In the increasing distance behind her, someone she once had fledgling, confused feelings for. Also out of her grasp. And Ganyma...and, in a sense Forera. Too many things. Her childhood, and everything good about it, torn from her. Would she let Stagdad possibly fall, too? The last reliable thing she could always turn to?

She caught a branch and swerved around, towards the battlegrounds she had just broken away from. "Stagdad, let's go!" she called. "We're done here."

And, maybe, this way, she could settle the score herself sometime. With no interference.

Stagdad, for his part, didn't seem to register her words. He stood his ground, then seemed to look around a little more. Then stopped. The antlerbeast raised his head. He took a step back, still eyeing the scene. After a quick scan, he turned towards where his charge had paused, and started galloping her way.

The second he began to move, Luxara followed suit, a serpentine pattern in the trees.

An emotional wound torn back open, but what had been festering was at least exposed now. She could only strive to keep rebuilding, keep surviving.

Hivestuck

That's a wrap!