a life worth living for anita_dee part 2
Silent, the forest appears to be hiding, waiting for something to break through the stillness and shatter it. Lying low among the underbrush, Seulgi keeps her breathing quiet and her body tense, watching as the small flock of wandering pheasants pick their way through the forest floor. Tightening her grip on her traps, she waits for when they get close enough she can catch one or more. It's been days since she's had fresh meat, not since she and 'Flower' left the city for the new job and the luxuries of civilization behind them.
Beside her, poised at the ready by her feet, the hunting wolf is just as tense as Seulgi is, sharp eyes fixed on the oblivious birds and ears twitching at the sounds of the wood. The Wilderness is rife with wildlife when it's not teeming with soldiers, Beasts, and combat. The expansive military zone is kept relatively untouched, easier to get lost in and plant traps and mines in.
The soft fluttering sounds of the pheasants as they wander through the brush are gentle on the air. Slowly tightening her fingers against the trap wires, Seulgi carefully takes one of the dart shooters and aims at the largest bird among the flock. Definitely the oldest, it’ll have a fair bit of meat on it, for her and ‘Flower’. With a final glance at the wolf beside her, she tugs at the wire and springs the trap.
The snap of the wire splits through the air as the birds take flight, and with a sudden surge of silent menace ‘Flower’ bounds from beside her like a shadow of vicious mist. The wolf ends up taking two of the flying birds in one leap, curving perfectly through the air and landing with agility Seulgi might envy with her prey between her strong jaws.
Grinning, Seulgi jogs from her hunting blind to ‘Flower’ and her own catch. She ended up nabbing the large bird she’d been after, and pets ‘Flower’s head in praise as the wolf steps up to her. “Good girl,” Seulgi says, grinning at the wolf as almost thinking ‘Flower’ grins back around her mouthful of plumage.
It’s been a few days since Seulgi left the city with ‘Flower’ (much to the dismay of Joy who had promptly fallen in love with the hunting wolf on sight) and she’s growly quickly fond of the animal. ‘Flower’ is flawlessly obedient, competent, and lethal. Apart from her surprisingly playful attitude and energy where she jumps around Seulgi and nuzzles her head under Seulgi’s hand for a good rub down, she also proved her ability to kill on sight.
The second night, she’d taken down one of the rogue Infected, wildlife that had bred and become diseased with one of the alien race. Often with addled brains and vicious behavior, they’re deadly and fearless, regardless of species. One of them, what looked as innocent as a deer wandering through the forest, had come upon them in the late evening. ‘Flower’ had leapt on it before Seulgi had realized the danger and taken the things head clean off.
Of course, she’d then tried to snuggle with Seulgi for praise with her fur still sticky with blood, but it had at least proven she was well worth the credits. Seulgi likes her, a lot, and even if she’s now hunting and finding food for much more than herself, she doesn’t mind.
“Keeping those for yourself?” Seulgi asks when ‘Flower’ refuses to forfeit the pheasants she’s caught, turning up her gray head with a soft annoyed whine. “I thought we agreed we’d share.” The wolf snorts at her, ears laying back as if to accuse Seulgi of cheating her out of her spoils. “Unless you really want to eat all the feathers and carry them yourself back to camp. Far be it for me to deprive you.”
It’s only fifteen minutes on the walk back to the Old Ruins where they’d set to make camp earlier before ‘Flower’ is nudging at her, a baleful look in her golden eyes. Laughing, Seulgi takes the pheasants from the wolf, tying them to her own pheasant as she reaches out to ruffle ‘Flower’s fur.
She stops though, when ‘Flower’ goes entirely rigid, ears twitching and looking off in the direction of the Old Ruins. Stopping herself, Seulgi’s light mood drops, looking off in between the trees and faint mist, trying to see what’s caused ‘Flower’s attention. The low growl from the wolf’s throat has her dropping the pheasants and quickly drawing up a hand cannon. It fits perfectly in her hand, the weight and motion as familiar as her own arm, and Seulgi’s focus narrows instantly.
Another growl emits from the wolf and Seulgi can feel ‘Flower’ tense beside her just as a twig snaps ahead of them. The Old Ruins are known for being a dangerous area, once the thriving capital of the old world, the destroyed metropolis resides in the center of the five nations, an old forbidden relic of the old world. It’s host to all variety of madness and horrors, newly awoken beasts (like the Infected) crawling from the depths of laboratories to scream death along the regrown streets and districts. It’s a phantom of what it was, the buildings and structures retaken by the forest in a twisting mass of history and the power of the earth.
It’s the most dangerous and also one of the largest areas in the Wilderness, and it’s where the job Seulgi is on is. Utopica has been expanding its boundaries, pushing into the outer limits of the Old Ruins and supposedly using some of the old buried laboratories to create new abominations of war.
A snarling growl emits from ‘Flower’, hackles raising to make her look even more menacing as her lips curl back to show sharp lethal teeth. It’s enough for Seulgi to know something’s not right, and she’s not about to ignore ‘Flower’ when she knows her own senses are limited.
“Directory,” she says, voice cold as ice. “Area scan.”
“Life form; unidentified,” answers the implant in Seulgi’s ear and it’s all she needs. It’s apparently all ‘Flower’ needs as well, as Seulgi has barely flicked her wrist in permission before the wolf is gone from her side, a bone chilling snarl echoing through the still wood.
A second later, she’s done, vanished among the trees and Seulgi is running to follow, flicking the switch to charge the electromagnetic conduit. A loud yell ahead of her has Seulgi pushing to run faster, the following loud snarls and growls from ‘Flower’ urging her on.
“Fie!” shouts a familiar voice as Seulgi breeches a hillock, looking down into a small clearing. The thickness of magic is heavy on the air and Seulgi coughs through it in distaste. “Off! Or your master will- Seulgi!”
Below, splayed among the fallen leaves and ruins of an old building, ‘Flower’ has a woman cornered. The wolf is snarling, poised exactly so that the woman can’t run easily. The ground is scorched, as if burned by something harsher than fire, and the woman’s pack and materials are scattered some ten feet from her. She looks up, a scowl on her face with her hair flying about her face, rifle hoisted to aim at ‘Flower’ and a huge gash across her chest.
“Serves you right!” Seulgi calls down to her, almost laughing as she bounds down the hillock. “Clogging up the air with that magic shit you play with, how was I supposed to know it was you?”
“Get this fucking wolf off,” Wendy growls, her eyes fixed on ‘Flower’s still snarling form. “I’m not here to hunt you. If I was, you’d be dead.”
“Don’t I know it,” Seulgi laughs, and clicks her tongue a moment later. Instantly, to both her and Wendy’s relief, ‘Flower’ backs down, looking back at Seulgi in an almost pout. “No, you can’t kill her. She’s a friend.”
“Friend,” Wendy scoffs, glancing up a bit reproachfully as she lowers her rifle. “I didn’t know that friends are now greeted by near death from you now. When did that change?”
“But not actual death,” Seulgi reminds, nestling her fingers into ‘Flower’s fur and scratching. “Just a good scare to keep you on your toes. You need it out here.”
“Hardly,” Wendy says, pulling her hair back. She grimaces, looking down at the slashes at her chest and the ribbons of her garments. “You know, I just bought these. What kind of animal is that? I’ve never seen a wolf able to slash though micromail like this.”
“She’s one of Jongin’s,” Seulgi answers, feeling oddly proud of ‘Flower’. As far as she knows, nothing can get through micromail. She files away the information. “Got her just recently.”
Wendy tries at a smile but it comes off as more of a wince. “Pretty.”
‘Flower’ snorts at her, shifting to settle back on her haunches, eyes fixed on the other mercenary.
“What are you out here for?” Seulgi asks, watching in vague interest as Wendy winces, tearing her shirt and micromail to expose the wounds left by ‘Flower’. They’re deep, but not specifically lethal. Seulgi wonders if it was intentional by the wolf, waiting for confirmation if it was a threat to be disposed of.
“Job,” Wendy answers, and winces as she presses around the bleeding tissue. “Had a tip off about some shit Utopica is up to. Nearer to the western border district.” Seulgi stays silent at Wendy’s inquisitive glance. She’d rather just listen then let Wendy in on her own job. “Something about them taking up new experiments to use in war and testing boundaries.”
“And?” Seulgi asks as Wendy pauses. For a moment, Wendy doesn’t answer, simply breathing as she places a hand over her chest, directly over the wounds. Seulgi watches in vague interest (having seen the Nyx perform healings like this before) as her hand glows a faint blue aura and radiates against the skin. “Find anything?”
“Shut up a moment, I’m trying to fix the damage your wolf did,” Wendy says shortly, cracking one eye open. ‘Flower’ shakes her head, as if smug about the whole affair. The next moment, Wendy lets out a long exhale, the shredded skin slowly knitting itself back together under her hand. “It’s all talk,” she finally says with a long sigh. “The area checks out. Just a few more gremlins than we’re used to. I’d suggest you go back before something comes along though.” She smiles grimly. “It always does.”
“We’ll be fine,” Seulgi says, smiling easily at the other mercenary. Wendy doesn’t have to know why she’s here, and Seulgi isn’t about to give up a good job just from what Wendy is telling her. “We can take care of ourselves. You just worry about yourself.”
The skin of Wendy’s chest is almost smooth, soft and raised on the areas that had previously been bloody and gruesome from ‘Flower’s claws. She looks at Seulgi for a moment before her eye drop to ‘Flower’. “You said you got that wolf from Jongin?” she asks. Her tone is casual, as are her actions as she makes to gather her materials she’d dropped earlier. “She’s a nice breed. What did he say she was?”
“Hunting wolf,” Seulgi answers, keeping her tone light. She likes Wendy most of the time, the other woman bright and extremely talented, resourceful in ways other mercenaries never are. She knows how to work and stay alive and has a good head on her shoulders, if not a bit more compassion than is wise in their line of work.
But she’s also sometimes too smart for Seulgi’s liking, knowing exactly what to say to get people to talk and fork over information she wants. She’s a bit like Joy in that regard, except Wendy has the added edge that she kills for a living and her Nyx blood puts her in the borderline of the Others.
“She’s pretty large for just a hunting wolf,” Wendy observes, her eyes still on ‘Flower’. The wolf in question regards Wendy keenly, her sharp eyes following the other woman’s movements closely, as if she sees more than Seulgi. “I bet she cost you a bit.”
“No more than I can afford,” Seulgi answers. “Jongin is supposed to be in town until the end of the week if you’re interested in getting one yourself.”
Somehow, that makes Wendy laugh, her musical voice ringing through the air as she brightens, the illusion of lights dancing about her sending a chill up Seulgi’s skin. Of all the Others Seulgi has met, Nyx are the ones that offset her the most. “I doubt I’ll ever find something like what you found yourself,” Wendy says, brimming with mirth. “I doubt anyone could find what you did. She’s a rare specimen.”
“I wasn’t aware you knew so much about the breeds,” Seulgi comments.
“I don’t,” Wendy says simply, and smiles prettily to Seulgi’s obvious confusion. “So, you have something for me, I believe? A rifle you want to pawn off?”
“I hate when you do that,” Seulgi grumbles, shaking her head as Wendy laughs that pretty laugh once more. “Seriously, it’s so creepy. Can’t you just do the normal thing and just ask questions instead of doing that weird magic thing?”
“Which is more convenient?” Wendy asks her, a knowing grin on her lips. “Tell you what, I’ll give you twenty credits for it, and the rest consider as collateral for your wolf ripping up my new stuff. Then we’ve no debts between us.” Her grin widens as her eyes dance. “I know how finicky you are about debts.”
“Done,” Seulgi says with a short nod. “You’ll be doing me a favor by taking it off of my hands.”
“I know,” Wendy says, that delighted glint back in her eyes that makes Seulgi’s skin shiver once more.
“Still creepy,” Seulgi informs her and gets Wendy laughing once more.
As dusk falls later that day, Seulgi sets up camp for her and ‘Flower’ amid the outer rings of the Old Ruins. Feeling a bit better with the rifle off of her hands and Wendy off towards the Krepala capital, Seulgi settles down to a good meal of the pheasant from earlier. ‘Flower’ had devoured her share once Seulgi had cleaned the birds and resorted to looking ‘cute’ nestled to her side as Seulgi ate her own bird.
“You already had your supper, it’s my turn,” Seulgi tells her as ‘Flower’ hooks her nose under Seulgi’s elbow again and looks pitifully up at her. None the less, she ruffles ‘Flower’s fur once more, getting a happy little whine as the wolf curls up around her.
If anything, Seulgi hadn’t realized before how warm the wolf was until she’d experienced ‘Flower’ curling up beside her in the nights. Larger than most of the dogs Seulgi has seen with hunters and other mercenaries, ‘Flower’ is almost the size of a bed, warm soft fur keeping heat and easily lulling Seulgi to relax.
“What did she mean?” Seulgi asks the wolf, despite knowing ‘Flower’ can’t answer her. “When Wendy said you were one of a kind?” ‘Flower’ raises her head, looking at her inquisitively. “It made it sounds like you weren’t like the other wolves Jongin had.” ‘Flower grunts at her, shaking her head and then settling back down with her eyes still resting on her mistress. “Or maybe she just meant you’re special because you’re you.”
At this ‘Flower’ snorts loudly, sending a sudden flume of embers up from the fire before them and spurring Seulgi into laughter. From the slight curve in ‘Flower’s eyes, she could almost believe that the wolf was laughing too.
✖
The Old Ruins are extensive, a massive network of old streets and pathways and ducts through a metropolis that’s been dead for decades. The buildings that once stretched higher than any trees could are gone, tumbled from their extensive glory towards the heavens to the earth where the trees and earth claimed them hungrily. The old sewers and underground network has caved in in most areas, the tunnels as much catacombs and tombs as they once were pathways. The old structures, machines, and vehicles that scatter about the area are relics, their purpose long forgotten and holding a history no one remembers.
All information, the maps of the area, is only what those who have dared to venture into the area have come out with. So much of the area is still unknown, slowly sinking under tree roots and burying under the new world.
It takes days, if not a week, to move through or around it, both from the size and the perilous terrain. It’s just as likely to fall through into an old catacomb tunnel as it is to be mauled by one of the Infected or stumble upon a group of raiders or a militia unit. In this area, very few are friends and allies, and the rule is just as it is everywhere: stay alive.
“You make this whole thing look so easy,” Seulgi laughs as ‘Flower’ leaps over one of the enormous walls of an old building. The wolf has been bounding about, apparently enthralled by the Old Ruins and excited by nearly everything, nosing into old rubble. She always turns to Seulgi, as she does now, with a sort of dopey excited look on her face, sharing her own enjoyment with the mercenary.
Now, she lets out a soft ‘woof’ in reply to the comment before bounding up to wedge herself into Seulgi’s side, wiggling her head under Seulgi’s arm for pets. Seulgi laughs, and gives them freely, feeling more relaxed than she ever has when in the area. Usually, the area is eerie, ominous and the old abandoned ruins serve as forbidding even when she encounters nothing.
With ‘Flower’ bounding about as if the place is a playground, Seulgi is put at ease, taking in more of the old districts and area without the anxiety of attack on her nerves. It makes her almost happy, smiling at the wolf. She had expected the benefits of company and at least help in hunting and fighting with a wolf, but she hadn’t expected to truly find herself so fond of the animal.
They’re a few hours from the Western border area where Utopica is rumored to have their camps and activity. “You should save some of that energy,” Seulgi says, watching as ‘Flower’ perks up and turns towards one of the side alleys. “You know, we’ll probably have t-“
It happens before Seulgi realizes there was any danger. A sudden shrill shriek splitting the air as something monstrous, black and leathery flings down on them. Then another, and another until Seulgi, who had barely grabbed her hand cannon in time, is simply shooting blind, fighting to see amid the buffeting of wings and hissing and black scaled skin. She can hear ‘Flower’ snarling and the sounds of ripping flesh, the screams of the Beasts as the blasts from her hand cannon slam into them and tear through their bodies.
“Fuck!” yells Seulgi as she’s knocked back by a sudden blow to the chest. It hit like a beam, a tree limb smacking into her and knocking the wind straight out of her. Fighting to keep her balance, she raises her gun just in time to fire directly into the gaping mouth of one of the Beasts, briefly meeting it’s wild furious eyes.
Human eyes.
“Mother fucking fuck!” spits from her lips as Seulgi stumbles back, forcing down the shaking in her core that threatens to take over her as she grabs her other hand cannon. Holding both weapons in her hands, she fires into the seething mass of monsters, black scaled and looking a cruel mockery of winged snakes with legs, their shrill screeches piercing the air.
These are new, another abomination from the labs if she knows it, and she grits her teeth as the turn to rush on her. Six of them, numerous others scattered on the ground between rubble and ruin, bear down on her, faltering only as they’re hit from her cannon’s blasts. Kicking back against the ground, she rolls in mid jump, slamming into the chest of the closest one and propelling it back.
The others around it falter, turning in and directly into the mouth of her hand cannons and death. Warm blood spatters over her as the hand cannons’ shots explode into the Beasts. Shaking free and twisting to shoot the Beast she’d flung into, Seulgi turns for the next attack to see it coming straight for her without time to raise her own weapon.
Grey flashes before her eyes, brushing past her nose just as Seulgi expects to feel sharp fangs sinking into her face. With breath stoppered she turns to see ‘Flower’ wrestling with the Beast, in a split contorting second ripping the thing’s head clean off and crushing it in her jaws.
It’s the last of them, at least thirty scattered in the area, either hosting large gaping wounds from the hand cannons or beheaded from ‘Flower’s powerful jaws. The wolf stands to the side, over her last victim, her fur matted with blood and jaws dripping with it, panting slightly from the fight. She looks an envoy of death, golden eyes almost burning with the fight as she looks at the area.
The Beasts bear the Utopica emblem, coding plates on the napes of their scaled necks. Rather than the unit numbers from Janus though, like the T1200 Seulgi took out the week before, these are all labeled with individual numbers.
Dog tagged.
It makes Seulgi’s stomach turn, knowing exactly what these creatures are. Not entirely Beast, but worse. Human soldiers put into the war units for super genetics. These were obviously the prototype troops, seeing as Seulgi (who, to be fair, is trained far above the capacity of a regular soldier) and a hunting wolf could take out thirty in one stint. However, the perfected units…
Seulgi shudders as she images a herd of these monsters descending on a city, taking out soldiers and civilians alike with their black wings and skin.
Panting and pushing back the fallen hair from her face, Seulgi turns to ‘Flower’. “Any more?” she asks, her voice cracking. The clear vision of the human eyes from these creatures still sticks in her mind. “Or are we off to find their nest?”
The look the wolf gives her makes Seulgi almost feel like the wolf is rolling her eyes at her for asking. Instead, ‘Flower’ shakes herself, spattering blood from her coat and lets out a derisive snort towards the carcasses of the soldier-creatures.
Sobered from the attack, Seulgi quickly digs into the side compartment of her pack and pulls own two small cylinders. She doesn’t like to use them much, as they’re so destructive, but in times like this, they’re necessary. The newly formatted grenades are light, simple, sleek, and absolutely deadly. When she’d bought them from Amber, she hadn’t really understood how vicious they were.
Seeing one set off back a few years ago during the outright war between Nara and Janus had set it firmly in her mind.
Packing quickly, Seulgi and ‘Flower’ pick their way through the district, trying to find the origin on the soldiers, their ‘Nest’ as it would be. The Western area of the Old Ruins are often the most cramped, buildings stacked on top of each other from the old construction and making a labyrinth of confusion. It’s hours of nerves on high and tension, the stale smell of blood drying on ‘Flower’s fur and Seulgi’s skin dampening her senses.
Finally, they find it. Located in a decrepit old mill structure, probably adapted for science equipment with the enormous domed glass walls smashed or dirtied, is what appears to be a renovated underground lab. The smell from the hatch to the old tunnels is enough for Seulgi to know, and the scratched markings of the Utopica insignia with the crude fresh graffiti in white and black are confirmation.
“Directory,” Seulgi commands, keeping her voice low. Faintly, she can hear the soft humming of machinery below the ground under her feet and wonders how large the laboratories are in this complex. “Scan of the area for life and activity.”
There is a brief pause in which ‘Flower’ steps closer to her, ears back and staring into the darkened building. Her body is tense, and that’s enough for Seulgi to know the area is threatening, as if the creatures from before didn’t suggest that. She doesn’t really want to think about what else they’re building in those labs.
“Extensive underground activity,” the implant informs, crackling into life in Seulgi’s ear. “Life forms estimated at 3,450 sentient units; five mile radius of active machinery within the complex; current prototype units appear-“
“Enough,” Seulgi cuts it off, not wanting to know how many soldiers outside of the three thousand are in the development stage, being mutated into those monsters for war. Not even human, but just human enough to make it harder for a human soldier to take one down.
There is a lot to be said for recognition, identification, and relation to an enemy. It’s why Seulgi prefers taking the Beast jobs to laying waste to full army bases and taking out political figures. Beasts are easy to kill; humans are killing a part of herself.
“Would you like to report in?” asks the implant, it’s automated voice almost muted against Seulgi’s own thoughts.
“Not yet,” Seulgi answers, then looks down to ‘Flower’. “Ready to make some pretty lights, Flower?”
The wolf looks up at her, then lets out a soft groan with her ears back a bit before she snorts loudly and turns back to the complex. She growls, haunches raising again as she steps in perfect sync with Seulgi into the building.
The charges are a mockery of the singularity simulators used all those years ago to create black holes, producing a severe amount of energy enough to decimate an entire city. They’re effective, sucking almost everything into the cores before they collapse in on themselves, temporal in structure rather than the natural ones floating about the cosmos, but they’re just as formidable.
Seulgi places two of them, one just outside the primary hatch she had looked down earlier, setting it to go off in about an hour. Placing the second one at the door of the complex, she breaks into a run, ‘Flower’ at her side. Usually better at long distance running, Seulgi feels her heart pounding hard and almost painful as she forces herself at a full sprint through the district, not slowing and not stopping. It’s unwise to sprint for so long over such a distance, but she wants to be as far away as possible when those charges go off.
Lungs burning and body screaming to stop, Seulgi has no idea if it’s been a hour or longer when the charges go off. The force of the blast slams into her with the force of a wall, crushing her against a nearby wall from the Old Ruins, closer to the center of the city. Her scream of pain is drowned out by the sound of the explosion, roaring on and on with the power of a thousand storms, her eyes screwed shut against the blinding light that is white even through her eyelids.
It doesn’t last though, and with a painful thud Seulgi lands on the ground once the blast releases her, weak and shaking and sweating from running. Skin scorched from the blast even at a distance, she pushes up enough to look in the direction of the explosion. Over the walls of the district is the western borderlands, smoke and fire and heat bending the air to wave sickly, the flames an unnatural yellow and blue.
There is no sound apart from the ringing in her ears and the echoes from the fires raging in the containment area. As the charges collapse, they’ll take that with them too, sucking everything around them into oblivion.
“Directory,” Seulgi cracks out, pushing back to her feet and looking to see ‘Flower’ beside her. She’s a bit singed, but doesn’t look seriously injured. Seulgi will look her over fully once she gets the report sent before they make camp. “Scan of the area previously occupied by Utopica.”
“Life forms obliterated,” the implant informs. “Laboratory complexes entirely destroyed. Main level of street caved in and all fourteen layers of the institutional complex destroyed. 7,294 life forms killed.” Seulgi closes her eyes and swallows down the bile that rises at the back of her throat, reminding herself that they weren’t human. “Overall status: clear.”
“Send it,” Seulgi says, her voice rasping as she tastes blood at the back of her tongue. “To Janus and Krepala. Get it done with.”
“Would you like to send a personal message wi-“
“No, just send it,” Seulgi growls, wincing as she tries to put weight on her leg and it shoots pain up to her hip. She gasps in pain and nearly buckles, startled when she doesn’t fall but instead stumbles into the soft firm body of ‘Flower’. The wolf looks up at her, worry in her golden eyes and lets out a soft whine, as if asking if she’s alright.
The communicator at her wrist vibrating slightly as the transmission completes, the implant letting out a soft beep. “Transmission complete,” the implant tells her. “Both Janus and Krepala officiates will be settled with bounty upon return to either nation district.”
“Good,” Seulgi groans, looking once more at the smoking fires in the distance. “You okay?” she asks, looking down at ‘Flower’ and getting a low ‘woof’ back in reply.
Chuckling a bit, Seulgi runs her fingers through the wolf’s matted fur. She frowns as her fingers brush over what feels like a metal implant directly between her shoulder blades. Frowning, she looks at ‘Flower’ and finds the wolf watching her keenly, as if waiting for her to say something about it.
“I suppose Jongin did that,” Seulgi says, leaving the implant alone for the moment. “I’ll take a look when we get settled in, I promise.”
The walk to a shelter is long on an injured leg, and Seulgi finds herself inexplicably grateful for ‘Flower’ beside her, a constant support as she walks. After a brief check, it appears she only twisted her ankle, and it should heal up just fine with a good rest and looking at, but for now Seulgi is more intent on making camp and finding shelter.
The fires from the Western district’s destruction melt and merge with the sun as it paints the sky a myriad of bright colors in the later afternoon. Setting up camp had taken twice as long as Seulgi usually might have done, her ankle preventing full mobility and she ends up less than satisfied with her tent, but too tired to make it perfect.
“This will have to do,” she tells ‘Flower’ as the wolf settles down beside her. Surprisingly, the wolf appears mostly unharmed from the days battles. Most of the blood in her fur washed out when they’d stopped by an newly formed pond in the center of what was probably an old hospital complex. Cleaned up a bit and with a few rabbits ‘Flower’ had managed to catch while Seulgi set up camp, the mercenary settles in to check over her wolf.
The implant between ‘Flower’s shoulders is curious, smooth and unlike anything Seulgi has seen before. It doesn’t look like something from Jongin, who tends to keep his dogs and wolves collared rather than tagged. Though it’s hard to see amid the fur, there appears to be small engravings on the metal in marks Seulgi has never seen before.
“I guess Wendy wasn’t kidding when she said you were one of a kind,” Seulgi muses to ‘Flower’, earning a soft nuzzle to her leg in return. “Directory.” The communicator clicks gently at her ear. “Contact Joy.”
There’s a long pause before Joy’s familiar and irritated voice floods into her ear. “What? I was in the middle of something.”
There’s no projection this time, and Joy’s voice is hushed, meaning she’s certainly on a job or digging for something. “I just wanted to make sure you knew I wasn’t dead,” Seulgi tells her, putting a bit of sulk in her voice and biting down a laugh. “You know, I was on a dangerous mission.”
“Please,” Joy huffs, and Seulgi can almost imagine her eyes rolling. “You can get through most anything. I expect you’re all done? Coming home? Bringing goodies? How’s my puppy?”
‘Flower’ snorts, her ears twitching as she listens in on the conversation. Seulgi allows a soft chuckle. “She’s not your puppy, but she’s fine. I wanted you to convey a message to Jongin for me.”
“I’m not your messenger girl, you can just call him yourself,” Joy huffs, sounding annoyed but Seulgi knows she secretly likes all the ‘important’ tasks. It makes her feel useful, needed, and special when Seulgi, who clearly is fine on her own, asks her to. “What’s up? Is my baby hurt?”
“No, she’s alright,” Seulgi answers before Joy can work herself into a fit over ‘Flower’. “I just wanted to convey my thanks and ask him if he’d tagged her.”
“Dogbreath doesn’t tag any of his ‘children’,” Joy says, sound a little shocked. “Everyone knows that. He calls any taggers ‘vile’ and gets run out of the Pens for it. You know that.”
“True, true,” Seulgi muses, her fingers running along the smooth shape of the implant in ‘Flower’s skin. “Well, anyway, just send along the thanks then.”
“Of course, oh great dog master,” Joy says dryly.
“Take care of yourself, yeah?”
“I should be telling you that,” Joy says warmly. “See you in a week?”
Seulgi disconnects the call after leaving Joy with instructions for a meet up and details on the next city she’s going to be heading to. She’s had enough time at Regal and doesn't want to linger too long. Alliances form from lingering, and Seulgi has no need of more complications.
“Alright,” Seulgi says, settling down and leaning over ‘Flower’ and shifting the lamp from the small tent she’d set up. The light shines directly to the implant, glinting off the metal. “Let’s see what this thing is, shall we Flower?” The wolf gives a soft snuffle, shifting under her hands but otherwise docile. “I wonder…”
Brushing her fingers against the area around the metal, Seulgi leans down, trying to find if here is some sort of seal or-
‘Flower’ lets out a soft yelp, jerking under Seulgi as, when she presses curiously, the implant suddenly releases. Fumbling, Seulgi manages to catch it before it buries itself in the wolf’s fur, and carefully shushes ‘Flower’ as the wolf makes an irritated whine at her, as if accusing her.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry, I thought-“ Seulgi begins, but falters as the implant, a small thin cylinder rests in her hand. It’s oddly heavy, as if made of something more than just iron. What catches Seulgi’s words though are ‘Flower’s eyes, which flicker suddenly brown, swirling with more colors than Seulgi has ever seen before they return to their familiar gold. “What just…” Before she can finish, ‘Flower’ is springing up though, bounding over her and Seulgi sputters, laughing as the wolf licks at her face. She supposes it’s gratitude, as a moment later ‘Flower’ lets out a delighted bark and butts her large head against Seulgi’s chest and nuzzles her enthusiastically.
“It really bothered you that much, huh,” Seulgi says, smiling happily as she looks down at the strange metal object in her hand. It’s odd, almost like a bullet, though rounded at both ends. The inscription is foreign, so similar to the markings of the Other’s that she almost wants to hurl the thing into the Old Ruins and forget it.
Instead, she stows it in her pack, tucking it to the bottom to be looked at in the next city they stop in. For now, it’ll be better if they rest. Settling down under the thin thermal blanket she’d unrolled earlier with ‘Flower’ warmly snuggled up beside her, Seulgi lets out a long breath. The small wound between ‘Flower’s shoulders has a salve on it to heal through the night, and she’ll worry more about it tomorrow.
The blast from the Western district is enough to keep possible predators away for the night, the Old Ruins hung in stillness. For once, it doesn’t bother Seulgi though, the warm of ‘Flower’ beside her and the soft breathing of the wolf lulling her to sleep easily.
✖
It wasn’t until Seulgi had a companion that she realized how much she wanted one. There was a saying she’d heard when she was young, apparently a mockery of the old age, how you didn’t know you wanted something until you had it. Seulgi felt she understood it some when she finally filled the space beside her with the constant warmth of ‘Flower’ beside her. The wolf’s calming and stable presence had quickly become something that Seulgi realized she had missed so desperately since she’d gone off as a mercenary on her own and left everything behind.
What makes her even more aware of how much she loves having her wolf though is waking up to find ‘Flower’ gone, vanished, almost like she’d never existed.
What has Seulgi throwing herself from her sleeping mat and with a loud yell and drawing her knife so fast she can hear it cut through the air is when she wakes up not next to flower, but with another woman snuggled up beside her.
Of course, Seulgi has woken up with women before. She prefers to wake up to women. However, Seulgi knows when she takes a woman into her bed, and she did not with this woman.
“Who are you?” Seulgi snarls, flung over the startled woman still snuggled under her thermal blanket with looking up at her with wide bright eyes. “Who are you?!” Seulgi repeats, louder and harsher, fixing her knees into the elbows of the woman as the blade of her knife presses into the soft skin of her throat.
The woman, pale and with her long hair splayed about her on the ground, looks up at her with wide but defiant eyes. She frowns, almost a scowl, and lets out a soft mix between a whine and a growl.
“Speak or I’ll slit your throat,” Seulgi growls, bearing down on her. It’s not the first time she’s been startled from sleep into full alert. She’s trained well enough that she has almost no delay. A part of her is still buzzing though from the soft creep of fingers around her waist and the gentle hum from this woman’s throat. “Who sent you? Who are you working for? Who. Are. You?”
The woman, still staring up at her with a sort of bitter defiance, finally relents, her body going limp from it’s tension as he head falls back. It’s as if she’s submitting to her, boneless under Seulgi as she looks up at her. “I’m-“ the woman begins, and then swallows, throat working against the blade of Seulgi’s knife. She lets out a heavy sigh that sounds almost laden with resignation. “Please don’t call me Flower anymore.”
Seulgi’s eyes widen in astonishment, her breath hitching for just a moment as she stares down at the woman stretched out under her. “You- what?”
“No, seriously, please don’t,” the woman continues, her eyes almost pleading. “It's not my real name and it’s so humiliating being called Flower. So just-“
“You’re ‘Flower’?” Seulgi asks in disbelief and mostly unconvinced. “You’re my wolf.”
“I’m not Flower,” the woman defends, and tenses a bit under her before letting out a soft impertinent whine as the knife digs into her neck again. “But I am, I suppose, yours? I’m not exactly a wolf.”
“You’re not my wolf,” Seulgi says, shaking her shock a bit and returning to herself. Leaning in, she presses the knife closer, fully prepared to slit this woman’s throat if she-
“No! No, I am,” the woman protests, tensing a bit under the blade. “I’m who you purchased from Jongin, my old master before the bonding transferred to you.” Seulgi narrows her eyes. She’d told Wendy and Joy knew, that information could have been- “You’re the one who pulled the fixation implant from my back last night and broke the seal over my form. I was with you yesterday, when you cleared out the western district.” Seulgi pauses, looking down at the woman lying prone under her.
“What are you?” she asks slowly, taking in the other woman swiftly. She’s appears to be entirely unclothed, which is nothing like any Seulgi would expect trying to kill her. No one walks in the Wilderness without protection and clothing unless they’re asking to die.
“I’m a shifter,” the woman says, relaxing a bit, apparently sensing Seulgi’s own calming. “I was captured in my wolf form when I was younger, sealed with that implant, before I passed into Jongin’s protection a few years ago. I’m from one of the Southern tribes.”
“A shifter,” Seulgi repeats, trying to keep the shock from her voice.
“My name is Irene,” the woman says, and her voice softens with her eyes, a warmth in them that flickers in hidden colors.
The shifters are some of the least known Others that had come early through the rifts. No one knew where they came from, only that they melded perfectly into the humans, walking among them undetected. They can take any form, transforming into animal and human and changing appearance however they please. They’re rare though, extremely rare, and after the wars into the Third Era, they’d all but vanished into legend.
“Right,” Seulgi says, still skeptical. “So,” she says, still keeping her knife to the woman’s throat. “Irene, why aren’t you my wolf anymore?”
“Do you want me to be?” asks the woman, and sounds almost eager. Seulgi blinks. “I had been in that form for so long I almost was worried I couldn’t shift back, but I suppose finally being released from the fixation implant and after my injuries from yesterday, my body just reset.” She wets her lips to a bright pink. “Does this form displease you?” she asks, and blinks as in confused. “I had thought that you would like this better.”
“It’s not about pleasing- look, I bought a wolf,” Seulgi says, trying to keep control on the situation. “You’re not a wolf.”
“I’m better,” Irene says, and smiles with a sort of tease to her mouth. Seulgi almost scoffs at her before Irene’s smile widens into a grin. “I can be anything you want me to be, mistress.”
The word has a dull heat ripple through Seulgi and she frowns, setting her jaw as she keeps her knife close to Irene’s throat. “Don’t call me that,” she says gruffly even as Irene looks up at her expectantly. “It’s not my name.”
“Should I call you Seulgi, then?”
“Don’t call me anything,” Seulgi says shortly. ‘Flower’ was easy. She never answered Seulgi or asked questions or made confusing conversation or talked about how she was a shapeshifter when Seulgi woke up first thing in the morning. “Just- roll over.” Irene’s eyes widen. “If you try to run or attack me, I’ll stab through your neck easier than breathing, so don’t even try,” Seulgi adds.
“Why would I attack you, mistress?” Irene asks and frowns in a way Seulgi tells herself isn’t cute.
“Don’t call me that,” Seulgi grinds out from clenched teeth, but lets up enough to let Irene roll over. Which she does with surprising obedience. Seulgi’s mouth thins into a line as she pulls down the thermal blanket, revealing the bare skin between Irene’s shoulder blades and a small puncture wound between them. It’s almost exactly the same as she’d seen in ‘Flower’ the night before when pulling out the implant.
Grabbing her hand cannon to her side just in case, Seulgi sits back and takes in the woman before her. “You can roll back over now,” she instructs, watching as Irene does so, sitting up a bit to look at her and letting the blanket fall away from her. She’s entirely bare, and Seulgi keeps her eyes trained on Irene’s face. “So,” Seulgi says, swallowing. “What happens now?”
At this, Irene frowns a bit, a small little crease on her forehead. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re obviously not my wolf anymore,” Seulgi begins a little bitterly. She had so quickly fallen into comfort with ‘Flower’ with her at all times, losing her to… well, a humanoid form is definitely a loss. She’d only just realized how lonely she had been before. “So, now you’re out of that form, are you just going to leave and-“
“Why would I leave?” Irene asks, and looks even more perplexed. “I’m still your companion.”
At the word ‘companion’, Seulgi wants to push herself back, away from Irene as the other woman straightens up and allows more of herself exposed. “You’re-“ Seulgi sighs in agitation. Seulgi doesn't like dealing with Others intimately precisely for this reason. They’re either rabid against the humans, oddly integrated to the point they may as well be human, or they… “So you want to stay?”
“Of course I want to stay,” Irene says, and laughs at her as if Seulgi is the one being ridiculous, not the other way around. “Why wouldn’t I want to stay?” She shakes her head and it’s so similar to how ‘Flower’ would- no, exactly the same. Because Irene is ‘Flower’ in a strange sort of way. “You didn’t seem to mind me staying when I was a wolf. What’s the problem? I can turn back if you’d prefer it, I just- it’s so limiting being in only one form. I don’t understand how you can stand it.”
“Well, I’ve just suffered I guess,” Seulgi says dryly, and blinks with Irene laughs, her voice loud and full as her shoulders shake with laughter. “I- you can stay if you like? We can figure details out later after getting into the city and getting you, um, clothing.”
Irene, it appears, finds the whole ordeal of clothing entirely pointless. Despite Seulgi’s insistence that she can wear the spare set of clothing she carries, Irene lightly informs her that she’s fine in just her own skin. She ends up making the argument for herself that Seulgi didn’t seem to mind when she’d been naked before as a wolf, and then ignored Seulgi’s insistence that that was different. “Why?” had been the repeated question as Irene’s lips twitched in a coy smile that suggested she was joking somehow.
Seulgi didn’t entirely understand how that was funny though, so she mostly just tried to ignore the topic after that. Irene wasn't that different in her human form from her wolf form, bounding around and making small comments but mostly on high alert. She smiled, eyes bright and flickering with gold and other muted colors as she helped Seulgi pack up the camp.
“Are you alright to travel like this?” Seulgi asks her as they set out, glancing down at Irene’s bare legs and imagining all the… cuts and injuries she could get.
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Irene says before pausing, looking thoughtful. “Although, I haven’t flown in years.”
“Flown?” Seulgi asks, feeling a big winded. Shifters are rare mostly in the meaning that few if any know jack about them.
Irene simply hums, looking up towards the canopy above them. “Do you mind?” is all she asks before her eyes suddenly flicker bright gold and appears to melt away into ash. Seulgi swallows down a shocked scream as the woman before her disintegrates into ash and dust to transform into another form altogether.
“I only wanted a hunting wolf,” Seulgi says weakly to herself as the massive form of a falcon suddenly launches from the ground, letting out a loud exalted cry as it flies through the canopy.
She’s going to have a long talk with Jongin. She and her fist.
✖
Beside her, poised at the ready by her feet, the hunting wolf is just as tense as Seulgi is, sharp eyes fixed on the oblivious birds and ears twitching at the sounds of the wood. The Wilderness is rife with wildlife when it's not teeming with soldiers, Beasts, and combat. The expansive military zone is kept relatively untouched, easier to get lost in and plant traps and mines in.
The soft fluttering sounds of the pheasants as they wander through the brush are gentle on the air. Slowly tightening her fingers against the trap wires, Seulgi carefully takes one of the dart shooters and aims at the largest bird among the flock. Definitely the oldest, it’ll have a fair bit of meat on it, for her and ‘Flower’. With a final glance at the wolf beside her, she tugs at the wire and springs the trap.
The snap of the wire splits through the air as the birds take flight, and with a sudden surge of silent menace ‘Flower’ bounds from beside her like a shadow of vicious mist. The wolf ends up taking two of the flying birds in one leap, curving perfectly through the air and landing with agility Seulgi might envy with her prey between her strong jaws.
Grinning, Seulgi jogs from her hunting blind to ‘Flower’ and her own catch. She ended up nabbing the large bird she’d been after, and pets ‘Flower’s head in praise as the wolf steps up to her. “Good girl,” Seulgi says, grinning at the wolf as almost thinking ‘Flower’ grins back around her mouthful of plumage.
It’s been a few days since Seulgi left the city with ‘Flower’ (much to the dismay of Joy who had promptly fallen in love with the hunting wolf on sight) and she’s growly quickly fond of the animal. ‘Flower’ is flawlessly obedient, competent, and lethal. Apart from her surprisingly playful attitude and energy where she jumps around Seulgi and nuzzles her head under Seulgi’s hand for a good rub down, she also proved her ability to kill on sight.
The second night, she’d taken down one of the rogue Infected, wildlife that had bred and become diseased with one of the alien race. Often with addled brains and vicious behavior, they’re deadly and fearless, regardless of species. One of them, what looked as innocent as a deer wandering through the forest, had come upon them in the late evening. ‘Flower’ had leapt on it before Seulgi had realized the danger and taken the things head clean off.
Of course, she’d then tried to snuggle with Seulgi for praise with her fur still sticky with blood, but it had at least proven she was well worth the credits. Seulgi likes her, a lot, and even if she’s now hunting and finding food for much more than herself, she doesn’t mind.
“Keeping those for yourself?” Seulgi asks when ‘Flower’ refuses to forfeit the pheasants she’s caught, turning up her gray head with a soft annoyed whine. “I thought we agreed we’d share.” The wolf snorts at her, ears laying back as if to accuse Seulgi of cheating her out of her spoils. “Unless you really want to eat all the feathers and carry them yourself back to camp. Far be it for me to deprive you.”
It’s only fifteen minutes on the walk back to the Old Ruins where they’d set to make camp earlier before ‘Flower’ is nudging at her, a baleful look in her golden eyes. Laughing, Seulgi takes the pheasants from the wolf, tying them to her own pheasant as she reaches out to ruffle ‘Flower’s fur.
She stops though, when ‘Flower’ goes entirely rigid, ears twitching and looking off in the direction of the Old Ruins. Stopping herself, Seulgi’s light mood drops, looking off in between the trees and faint mist, trying to see what’s caused ‘Flower’s attention. The low growl from the wolf’s throat has her dropping the pheasants and quickly drawing up a hand cannon. It fits perfectly in her hand, the weight and motion as familiar as her own arm, and Seulgi’s focus narrows instantly.
Another growl emits from the wolf and Seulgi can feel ‘Flower’ tense beside her just as a twig snaps ahead of them. The Old Ruins are known for being a dangerous area, once the thriving capital of the old world, the destroyed metropolis resides in the center of the five nations, an old forbidden relic of the old world. It’s host to all variety of madness and horrors, newly awoken beasts (like the Infected) crawling from the depths of laboratories to scream death along the regrown streets and districts. It’s a phantom of what it was, the buildings and structures retaken by the forest in a twisting mass of history and the power of the earth.
It’s the most dangerous and also one of the largest areas in the Wilderness, and it’s where the job Seulgi is on is. Utopica has been expanding its boundaries, pushing into the outer limits of the Old Ruins and supposedly using some of the old buried laboratories to create new abominations of war.
A snarling growl emits from ‘Flower’, hackles raising to make her look even more menacing as her lips curl back to show sharp lethal teeth. It’s enough for Seulgi to know something’s not right, and she’s not about to ignore ‘Flower’ when she knows her own senses are limited.
“Directory,” she says, voice cold as ice. “Area scan.”
“Life form; unidentified,” answers the implant in Seulgi’s ear and it’s all she needs. It’s apparently all ‘Flower’ needs as well, as Seulgi has barely flicked her wrist in permission before the wolf is gone from her side, a bone chilling snarl echoing through the still wood.
A second later, she’s done, vanished among the trees and Seulgi is running to follow, flicking the switch to charge the electromagnetic conduit. A loud yell ahead of her has Seulgi pushing to run faster, the following loud snarls and growls from ‘Flower’ urging her on.
“Fie!” shouts a familiar voice as Seulgi breeches a hillock, looking down into a small clearing. The thickness of magic is heavy on the air and Seulgi coughs through it in distaste. “Off! Or your master will- Seulgi!”
Below, splayed among the fallen leaves and ruins of an old building, ‘Flower’ has a woman cornered. The wolf is snarling, poised exactly so that the woman can’t run easily. The ground is scorched, as if burned by something harsher than fire, and the woman’s pack and materials are scattered some ten feet from her. She looks up, a scowl on her face with her hair flying about her face, rifle hoisted to aim at ‘Flower’ and a huge gash across her chest.
“Serves you right!” Seulgi calls down to her, almost laughing as she bounds down the hillock. “Clogging up the air with that magic shit you play with, how was I supposed to know it was you?”
“Get this fucking wolf off,” Wendy growls, her eyes fixed on ‘Flower’s still snarling form. “I’m not here to hunt you. If I was, you’d be dead.”
“Don’t I know it,” Seulgi laughs, and clicks her tongue a moment later. Instantly, to both her and Wendy’s relief, ‘Flower’ backs down, looking back at Seulgi in an almost pout. “No, you can’t kill her. She’s a friend.”
“Friend,” Wendy scoffs, glancing up a bit reproachfully as she lowers her rifle. “I didn’t know that friends are now greeted by near death from you now. When did that change?”
“But not actual death,” Seulgi reminds, nestling her fingers into ‘Flower’s fur and scratching. “Just a good scare to keep you on your toes. You need it out here.”
“Hardly,” Wendy says, pulling her hair back. She grimaces, looking down at the slashes at her chest and the ribbons of her garments. “You know, I just bought these. What kind of animal is that? I’ve never seen a wolf able to slash though micromail like this.”
“She’s one of Jongin’s,” Seulgi answers, feeling oddly proud of ‘Flower’. As far as she knows, nothing can get through micromail. She files away the information. “Got her just recently.”
Wendy tries at a smile but it comes off as more of a wince. “Pretty.”
‘Flower’ snorts at her, shifting to settle back on her haunches, eyes fixed on the other mercenary.
“What are you out here for?” Seulgi asks, watching in vague interest as Wendy winces, tearing her shirt and micromail to expose the wounds left by ‘Flower’. They’re deep, but not specifically lethal. Seulgi wonders if it was intentional by the wolf, waiting for confirmation if it was a threat to be disposed of.
“Job,” Wendy answers, and winces as she presses around the bleeding tissue. “Had a tip off about some shit Utopica is up to. Nearer to the western border district.” Seulgi stays silent at Wendy’s inquisitive glance. She’d rather just listen then let Wendy in on her own job. “Something about them taking up new experiments to use in war and testing boundaries.”
“And?” Seulgi asks as Wendy pauses. For a moment, Wendy doesn’t answer, simply breathing as she places a hand over her chest, directly over the wounds. Seulgi watches in vague interest (having seen the Nyx perform healings like this before) as her hand glows a faint blue aura and radiates against the skin. “Find anything?”
“Shut up a moment, I’m trying to fix the damage your wolf did,” Wendy says shortly, cracking one eye open. ‘Flower’ shakes her head, as if smug about the whole affair. The next moment, Wendy lets out a long exhale, the shredded skin slowly knitting itself back together under her hand. “It’s all talk,” she finally says with a long sigh. “The area checks out. Just a few more gremlins than we’re used to. I’d suggest you go back before something comes along though.” She smiles grimly. “It always does.”
“We’ll be fine,” Seulgi says, smiling easily at the other mercenary. Wendy doesn’t have to know why she’s here, and Seulgi isn’t about to give up a good job just from what Wendy is telling her. “We can take care of ourselves. You just worry about yourself.”
The skin of Wendy’s chest is almost smooth, soft and raised on the areas that had previously been bloody and gruesome from ‘Flower’s claws. She looks at Seulgi for a moment before her eye drop to ‘Flower’. “You said you got that wolf from Jongin?” she asks. Her tone is casual, as are her actions as she makes to gather her materials she’d dropped earlier. “She’s a nice breed. What did he say she was?”
“Hunting wolf,” Seulgi answers, keeping her tone light. She likes Wendy most of the time, the other woman bright and extremely talented, resourceful in ways other mercenaries never are. She knows how to work and stay alive and has a good head on her shoulders, if not a bit more compassion than is wise in their line of work.
But she’s also sometimes too smart for Seulgi’s liking, knowing exactly what to say to get people to talk and fork over information she wants. She’s a bit like Joy in that regard, except Wendy has the added edge that she kills for a living and her Nyx blood puts her in the borderline of the Others.
“She’s pretty large for just a hunting wolf,” Wendy observes, her eyes still on ‘Flower’. The wolf in question regards Wendy keenly, her sharp eyes following the other woman’s movements closely, as if she sees more than Seulgi. “I bet she cost you a bit.”
“No more than I can afford,” Seulgi answers. “Jongin is supposed to be in town until the end of the week if you’re interested in getting one yourself.”
Somehow, that makes Wendy laugh, her musical voice ringing through the air as she brightens, the illusion of lights dancing about her sending a chill up Seulgi’s skin. Of all the Others Seulgi has met, Nyx are the ones that offset her the most. “I doubt I’ll ever find something like what you found yourself,” Wendy says, brimming with mirth. “I doubt anyone could find what you did. She’s a rare specimen.”
“I wasn’t aware you knew so much about the breeds,” Seulgi comments.
“I don’t,” Wendy says simply, and smiles prettily to Seulgi’s obvious confusion. “So, you have something for me, I believe? A rifle you want to pawn off?”
“I hate when you do that,” Seulgi grumbles, shaking her head as Wendy laughs that pretty laugh once more. “Seriously, it’s so creepy. Can’t you just do the normal thing and just ask questions instead of doing that weird magic thing?”
“Which is more convenient?” Wendy asks her, a knowing grin on her lips. “Tell you what, I’ll give you twenty credits for it, and the rest consider as collateral for your wolf ripping up my new stuff. Then we’ve no debts between us.” Her grin widens as her eyes dance. “I know how finicky you are about debts.”
“Done,” Seulgi says with a short nod. “You’ll be doing me a favor by taking it off of my hands.”
“I know,” Wendy says, that delighted glint back in her eyes that makes Seulgi’s skin shiver once more.
“Still creepy,” Seulgi informs her and gets Wendy laughing once more.
As dusk falls later that day, Seulgi sets up camp for her and ‘Flower’ amid the outer rings of the Old Ruins. Feeling a bit better with the rifle off of her hands and Wendy off towards the Krepala capital, Seulgi settles down to a good meal of the pheasant from earlier. ‘Flower’ had devoured her share once Seulgi had cleaned the birds and resorted to looking ‘cute’ nestled to her side as Seulgi ate her own bird.
“You already had your supper, it’s my turn,” Seulgi tells her as ‘Flower’ hooks her nose under Seulgi’s elbow again and looks pitifully up at her. None the less, she ruffles ‘Flower’s fur once more, getting a happy little whine as the wolf curls up around her.
If anything, Seulgi hadn’t realized before how warm the wolf was until she’d experienced ‘Flower’ curling up beside her in the nights. Larger than most of the dogs Seulgi has seen with hunters and other mercenaries, ‘Flower’ is almost the size of a bed, warm soft fur keeping heat and easily lulling Seulgi to relax.
“What did she mean?” Seulgi asks the wolf, despite knowing ‘Flower’ can’t answer her. “When Wendy said you were one of a kind?” ‘Flower’ raises her head, looking at her inquisitively. “It made it sounds like you weren’t like the other wolves Jongin had.” ‘Flower grunts at her, shaking her head and then settling back down with her eyes still resting on her mistress. “Or maybe she just meant you’re special because you’re you.”
At this ‘Flower’ snorts loudly, sending a sudden flume of embers up from the fire before them and spurring Seulgi into laughter. From the slight curve in ‘Flower’s eyes, she could almost believe that the wolf was laughing too.
✖
The Old Ruins are extensive, a massive network of old streets and pathways and ducts through a metropolis that’s been dead for decades. The buildings that once stretched higher than any trees could are gone, tumbled from their extensive glory towards the heavens to the earth where the trees and earth claimed them hungrily. The old sewers and underground network has caved in in most areas, the tunnels as much catacombs and tombs as they once were pathways. The old structures, machines, and vehicles that scatter about the area are relics, their purpose long forgotten and holding a history no one remembers.
All information, the maps of the area, is only what those who have dared to venture into the area have come out with. So much of the area is still unknown, slowly sinking under tree roots and burying under the new world.
It takes days, if not a week, to move through or around it, both from the size and the perilous terrain. It’s just as likely to fall through into an old catacomb tunnel as it is to be mauled by one of the Infected or stumble upon a group of raiders or a militia unit. In this area, very few are friends and allies, and the rule is just as it is everywhere: stay alive.
“You make this whole thing look so easy,” Seulgi laughs as ‘Flower’ leaps over one of the enormous walls of an old building. The wolf has been bounding about, apparently enthralled by the Old Ruins and excited by nearly everything, nosing into old rubble. She always turns to Seulgi, as she does now, with a sort of dopey excited look on her face, sharing her own enjoyment with the mercenary.
Now, she lets out a soft ‘woof’ in reply to the comment before bounding up to wedge herself into Seulgi’s side, wiggling her head under Seulgi’s arm for pets. Seulgi laughs, and gives them freely, feeling more relaxed than she ever has when in the area. Usually, the area is eerie, ominous and the old abandoned ruins serve as forbidding even when she encounters nothing.
With ‘Flower’ bounding about as if the place is a playground, Seulgi is put at ease, taking in more of the old districts and area without the anxiety of attack on her nerves. It makes her almost happy, smiling at the wolf. She had expected the benefits of company and at least help in hunting and fighting with a wolf, but she hadn’t expected to truly find herself so fond of the animal.
They’re a few hours from the Western border area where Utopica is rumored to have their camps and activity. “You should save some of that energy,” Seulgi says, watching as ‘Flower’ perks up and turns towards one of the side alleys. “You know, we’ll probably have t-“
It happens before Seulgi realizes there was any danger. A sudden shrill shriek splitting the air as something monstrous, black and leathery flings down on them. Then another, and another until Seulgi, who had barely grabbed her hand cannon in time, is simply shooting blind, fighting to see amid the buffeting of wings and hissing and black scaled skin. She can hear ‘Flower’ snarling and the sounds of ripping flesh, the screams of the Beasts as the blasts from her hand cannon slam into them and tear through their bodies.
“Fuck!” yells Seulgi as she’s knocked back by a sudden blow to the chest. It hit like a beam, a tree limb smacking into her and knocking the wind straight out of her. Fighting to keep her balance, she raises her gun just in time to fire directly into the gaping mouth of one of the Beasts, briefly meeting it’s wild furious eyes.
Human eyes.
“Mother fucking fuck!” spits from her lips as Seulgi stumbles back, forcing down the shaking in her core that threatens to take over her as she grabs her other hand cannon. Holding both weapons in her hands, she fires into the seething mass of monsters, black scaled and looking a cruel mockery of winged snakes with legs, their shrill screeches piercing the air.
These are new, another abomination from the labs if she knows it, and she grits her teeth as the turn to rush on her. Six of them, numerous others scattered on the ground between rubble and ruin, bear down on her, faltering only as they’re hit from her cannon’s blasts. Kicking back against the ground, she rolls in mid jump, slamming into the chest of the closest one and propelling it back.
The others around it falter, turning in and directly into the mouth of her hand cannons and death. Warm blood spatters over her as the hand cannons’ shots explode into the Beasts. Shaking free and twisting to shoot the Beast she’d flung into, Seulgi turns for the next attack to see it coming straight for her without time to raise her own weapon.
Grey flashes before her eyes, brushing past her nose just as Seulgi expects to feel sharp fangs sinking into her face. With breath stoppered she turns to see ‘Flower’ wrestling with the Beast, in a split contorting second ripping the thing’s head clean off and crushing it in her jaws.
It’s the last of them, at least thirty scattered in the area, either hosting large gaping wounds from the hand cannons or beheaded from ‘Flower’s powerful jaws. The wolf stands to the side, over her last victim, her fur matted with blood and jaws dripping with it, panting slightly from the fight. She looks an envoy of death, golden eyes almost burning with the fight as she looks at the area.
The Beasts bear the Utopica emblem, coding plates on the napes of their scaled necks. Rather than the unit numbers from Janus though, like the T1200 Seulgi took out the week before, these are all labeled with individual numbers.
Dog tagged.
It makes Seulgi’s stomach turn, knowing exactly what these creatures are. Not entirely Beast, but worse. Human soldiers put into the war units for super genetics. These were obviously the prototype troops, seeing as Seulgi (who, to be fair, is trained far above the capacity of a regular soldier) and a hunting wolf could take out thirty in one stint. However, the perfected units…
Seulgi shudders as she images a herd of these monsters descending on a city, taking out soldiers and civilians alike with their black wings and skin.
Panting and pushing back the fallen hair from her face, Seulgi turns to ‘Flower’. “Any more?” she asks, her voice cracking. The clear vision of the human eyes from these creatures still sticks in her mind. “Or are we off to find their nest?”
The look the wolf gives her makes Seulgi almost feel like the wolf is rolling her eyes at her for asking. Instead, ‘Flower’ shakes herself, spattering blood from her coat and lets out a derisive snort towards the carcasses of the soldier-creatures.
Sobered from the attack, Seulgi quickly digs into the side compartment of her pack and pulls own two small cylinders. She doesn’t like to use them much, as they’re so destructive, but in times like this, they’re necessary. The newly formatted grenades are light, simple, sleek, and absolutely deadly. When she’d bought them from Amber, she hadn’t really understood how vicious they were.
Seeing one set off back a few years ago during the outright war between Nara and Janus had set it firmly in her mind.
Packing quickly, Seulgi and ‘Flower’ pick their way through the district, trying to find the origin on the soldiers, their ‘Nest’ as it would be. The Western area of the Old Ruins are often the most cramped, buildings stacked on top of each other from the old construction and making a labyrinth of confusion. It’s hours of nerves on high and tension, the stale smell of blood drying on ‘Flower’s fur and Seulgi’s skin dampening her senses.
Finally, they find it. Located in a decrepit old mill structure, probably adapted for science equipment with the enormous domed glass walls smashed or dirtied, is what appears to be a renovated underground lab. The smell from the hatch to the old tunnels is enough for Seulgi to know, and the scratched markings of the Utopica insignia with the crude fresh graffiti in white and black are confirmation.
“Directory,” Seulgi commands, keeping her voice low. Faintly, she can hear the soft humming of machinery below the ground under her feet and wonders how large the laboratories are in this complex. “Scan of the area for life and activity.”
There is a brief pause in which ‘Flower’ steps closer to her, ears back and staring into the darkened building. Her body is tense, and that’s enough for Seulgi to know the area is threatening, as if the creatures from before didn’t suggest that. She doesn’t really want to think about what else they’re building in those labs.
“Extensive underground activity,” the implant informs, crackling into life in Seulgi’s ear. “Life forms estimated at 3,450 sentient units; five mile radius of active machinery within the complex; current prototype units appear-“
“Enough,” Seulgi cuts it off, not wanting to know how many soldiers outside of the three thousand are in the development stage, being mutated into those monsters for war. Not even human, but just human enough to make it harder for a human soldier to take one down.
There is a lot to be said for recognition, identification, and relation to an enemy. It’s why Seulgi prefers taking the Beast jobs to laying waste to full army bases and taking out political figures. Beasts are easy to kill; humans are killing a part of herself.
“Would you like to report in?” asks the implant, it’s automated voice almost muted against Seulgi’s own thoughts.
“Not yet,” Seulgi answers, then looks down to ‘Flower’. “Ready to make some pretty lights, Flower?”
The wolf looks up at her, then lets out a soft groan with her ears back a bit before she snorts loudly and turns back to the complex. She growls, haunches raising again as she steps in perfect sync with Seulgi into the building.
The charges are a mockery of the singularity simulators used all those years ago to create black holes, producing a severe amount of energy enough to decimate an entire city. They’re effective, sucking almost everything into the cores before they collapse in on themselves, temporal in structure rather than the natural ones floating about the cosmos, but they’re just as formidable.
Seulgi places two of them, one just outside the primary hatch she had looked down earlier, setting it to go off in about an hour. Placing the second one at the door of the complex, she breaks into a run, ‘Flower’ at her side. Usually better at long distance running, Seulgi feels her heart pounding hard and almost painful as she forces herself at a full sprint through the district, not slowing and not stopping. It’s unwise to sprint for so long over such a distance, but she wants to be as far away as possible when those charges go off.
Lungs burning and body screaming to stop, Seulgi has no idea if it’s been a hour or longer when the charges go off. The force of the blast slams into her with the force of a wall, crushing her against a nearby wall from the Old Ruins, closer to the center of the city. Her scream of pain is drowned out by the sound of the explosion, roaring on and on with the power of a thousand storms, her eyes screwed shut against the blinding light that is white even through her eyelids.
It doesn’t last though, and with a painful thud Seulgi lands on the ground once the blast releases her, weak and shaking and sweating from running. Skin scorched from the blast even at a distance, she pushes up enough to look in the direction of the explosion. Over the walls of the district is the western borderlands, smoke and fire and heat bending the air to wave sickly, the flames an unnatural yellow and blue.
There is no sound apart from the ringing in her ears and the echoes from the fires raging in the containment area. As the charges collapse, they’ll take that with them too, sucking everything around them into oblivion.
“Directory,” Seulgi cracks out, pushing back to her feet and looking to see ‘Flower’ beside her. She’s a bit singed, but doesn’t look seriously injured. Seulgi will look her over fully once she gets the report sent before they make camp. “Scan of the area previously occupied by Utopica.”
“Life forms obliterated,” the implant informs. “Laboratory complexes entirely destroyed. Main level of street caved in and all fourteen layers of the institutional complex destroyed. 7,294 life forms killed.” Seulgi closes her eyes and swallows down the bile that rises at the back of her throat, reminding herself that they weren’t human. “Overall status: clear.”
“Send it,” Seulgi says, her voice rasping as she tastes blood at the back of her tongue. “To Janus and Krepala. Get it done with.”
“Would you like to send a personal message wi-“
“No, just send it,” Seulgi growls, wincing as she tries to put weight on her leg and it shoots pain up to her hip. She gasps in pain and nearly buckles, startled when she doesn’t fall but instead stumbles into the soft firm body of ‘Flower’. The wolf looks up at her, worry in her golden eyes and lets out a soft whine, as if asking if she’s alright.
The communicator at her wrist vibrating slightly as the transmission completes, the implant letting out a soft beep. “Transmission complete,” the implant tells her. “Both Janus and Krepala officiates will be settled with bounty upon return to either nation district.”
“Good,” Seulgi groans, looking once more at the smoking fires in the distance. “You okay?” she asks, looking down at ‘Flower’ and getting a low ‘woof’ back in reply.
Chuckling a bit, Seulgi runs her fingers through the wolf’s matted fur. She frowns as her fingers brush over what feels like a metal implant directly between her shoulder blades. Frowning, she looks at ‘Flower’ and finds the wolf watching her keenly, as if waiting for her to say something about it.
“I suppose Jongin did that,” Seulgi says, leaving the implant alone for the moment. “I’ll take a look when we get settled in, I promise.”
The walk to a shelter is long on an injured leg, and Seulgi finds herself inexplicably grateful for ‘Flower’ beside her, a constant support as she walks. After a brief check, it appears she only twisted her ankle, and it should heal up just fine with a good rest and looking at, but for now Seulgi is more intent on making camp and finding shelter.
The fires from the Western district’s destruction melt and merge with the sun as it paints the sky a myriad of bright colors in the later afternoon. Setting up camp had taken twice as long as Seulgi usually might have done, her ankle preventing full mobility and she ends up less than satisfied with her tent, but too tired to make it perfect.
“This will have to do,” she tells ‘Flower’ as the wolf settles down beside her. Surprisingly, the wolf appears mostly unharmed from the days battles. Most of the blood in her fur washed out when they’d stopped by an newly formed pond in the center of what was probably an old hospital complex. Cleaned up a bit and with a few rabbits ‘Flower’ had managed to catch while Seulgi set up camp, the mercenary settles in to check over her wolf.
The implant between ‘Flower’s shoulders is curious, smooth and unlike anything Seulgi has seen before. It doesn’t look like something from Jongin, who tends to keep his dogs and wolves collared rather than tagged. Though it’s hard to see amid the fur, there appears to be small engravings on the metal in marks Seulgi has never seen before.
“I guess Wendy wasn’t kidding when she said you were one of a kind,” Seulgi muses to ‘Flower’, earning a soft nuzzle to her leg in return. “Directory.” The communicator clicks gently at her ear. “Contact Joy.”
There’s a long pause before Joy’s familiar and irritated voice floods into her ear. “What? I was in the middle of something.”
There’s no projection this time, and Joy’s voice is hushed, meaning she’s certainly on a job or digging for something. “I just wanted to make sure you knew I wasn’t dead,” Seulgi tells her, putting a bit of sulk in her voice and biting down a laugh. “You know, I was on a dangerous mission.”
“Please,” Joy huffs, and Seulgi can almost imagine her eyes rolling. “You can get through most anything. I expect you’re all done? Coming home? Bringing goodies? How’s my puppy?”
‘Flower’ snorts, her ears twitching as she listens in on the conversation. Seulgi allows a soft chuckle. “She’s not your puppy, but she’s fine. I wanted you to convey a message to Jongin for me.”
“I’m not your messenger girl, you can just call him yourself,” Joy huffs, sounding annoyed but Seulgi knows she secretly likes all the ‘important’ tasks. It makes her feel useful, needed, and special when Seulgi, who clearly is fine on her own, asks her to. “What’s up? Is my baby hurt?”
“No, she’s alright,” Seulgi answers before Joy can work herself into a fit over ‘Flower’. “I just wanted to convey my thanks and ask him if he’d tagged her.”
“Dogbreath doesn’t tag any of his ‘children’,” Joy says, sound a little shocked. “Everyone knows that. He calls any taggers ‘vile’ and gets run out of the Pens for it. You know that.”
“True, true,” Seulgi muses, her fingers running along the smooth shape of the implant in ‘Flower’s skin. “Well, anyway, just send along the thanks then.”
“Of course, oh great dog master,” Joy says dryly.
“Take care of yourself, yeah?”
“I should be telling you that,” Joy says warmly. “See you in a week?”
Seulgi disconnects the call after leaving Joy with instructions for a meet up and details on the next city she’s going to be heading to. She’s had enough time at Regal and doesn't want to linger too long. Alliances form from lingering, and Seulgi has no need of more complications.
“Alright,” Seulgi says, settling down and leaning over ‘Flower’ and shifting the lamp from the small tent she’d set up. The light shines directly to the implant, glinting off the metal. “Let’s see what this thing is, shall we Flower?” The wolf gives a soft snuffle, shifting under her hands but otherwise docile. “I wonder…”
Brushing her fingers against the area around the metal, Seulgi leans down, trying to find if here is some sort of seal or-
‘Flower’ lets out a soft yelp, jerking under Seulgi as, when she presses curiously, the implant suddenly releases. Fumbling, Seulgi manages to catch it before it buries itself in the wolf’s fur, and carefully shushes ‘Flower’ as the wolf makes an irritated whine at her, as if accusing her.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry, I thought-“ Seulgi begins, but falters as the implant, a small thin cylinder rests in her hand. It’s oddly heavy, as if made of something more than just iron. What catches Seulgi’s words though are ‘Flower’s eyes, which flicker suddenly brown, swirling with more colors than Seulgi has ever seen before they return to their familiar gold. “What just…” Before she can finish, ‘Flower’ is springing up though, bounding over her and Seulgi sputters, laughing as the wolf licks at her face. She supposes it’s gratitude, as a moment later ‘Flower’ lets out a delighted bark and butts her large head against Seulgi’s chest and nuzzles her enthusiastically.
“It really bothered you that much, huh,” Seulgi says, smiling happily as she looks down at the strange metal object in her hand. It’s odd, almost like a bullet, though rounded at both ends. The inscription is foreign, so similar to the markings of the Other’s that she almost wants to hurl the thing into the Old Ruins and forget it.
Instead, she stows it in her pack, tucking it to the bottom to be looked at in the next city they stop in. For now, it’ll be better if they rest. Settling down under the thin thermal blanket she’d unrolled earlier with ‘Flower’ warmly snuggled up beside her, Seulgi lets out a long breath. The small wound between ‘Flower’s shoulders has a salve on it to heal through the night, and she’ll worry more about it tomorrow.
The blast from the Western district is enough to keep possible predators away for the night, the Old Ruins hung in stillness. For once, it doesn’t bother Seulgi though, the warm of ‘Flower’ beside her and the soft breathing of the wolf lulling her to sleep easily.
✖
It wasn’t until Seulgi had a companion that she realized how much she wanted one. There was a saying she’d heard when she was young, apparently a mockery of the old age, how you didn’t know you wanted something until you had it. Seulgi felt she understood it some when she finally filled the space beside her with the constant warmth of ‘Flower’ beside her. The wolf’s calming and stable presence had quickly become something that Seulgi realized she had missed so desperately since she’d gone off as a mercenary on her own and left everything behind.
What makes her even more aware of how much she loves having her wolf though is waking up to find ‘Flower’ gone, vanished, almost like she’d never existed.
What has Seulgi throwing herself from her sleeping mat and with a loud yell and drawing her knife so fast she can hear it cut through the air is when she wakes up not next to flower, but with another woman snuggled up beside her.
Of course, Seulgi has woken up with women before. She prefers to wake up to women. However, Seulgi knows when she takes a woman into her bed, and she did not with this woman.
“Who are you?” Seulgi snarls, flung over the startled woman still snuggled under her thermal blanket with looking up at her with wide bright eyes. “Who are you?!” Seulgi repeats, louder and harsher, fixing her knees into the elbows of the woman as the blade of her knife presses into the soft skin of her throat.
The woman, pale and with her long hair splayed about her on the ground, looks up at her with wide but defiant eyes. She frowns, almost a scowl, and lets out a soft mix between a whine and a growl.
“Speak or I’ll slit your throat,” Seulgi growls, bearing down on her. It’s not the first time she’s been startled from sleep into full alert. She’s trained well enough that she has almost no delay. A part of her is still buzzing though from the soft creep of fingers around her waist and the gentle hum from this woman’s throat. “Who sent you? Who are you working for? Who. Are. You?”
The woman, still staring up at her with a sort of bitter defiance, finally relents, her body going limp from it’s tension as he head falls back. It’s as if she’s submitting to her, boneless under Seulgi as she looks up at her. “I’m-“ the woman begins, and then swallows, throat working against the blade of Seulgi’s knife. She lets out a heavy sigh that sounds almost laden with resignation. “Please don’t call me Flower anymore.”
Seulgi’s eyes widen in astonishment, her breath hitching for just a moment as she stares down at the woman stretched out under her. “You- what?”
“No, seriously, please don’t,” the woman continues, her eyes almost pleading. “It's not my real name and it’s so humiliating being called Flower. So just-“
“You’re ‘Flower’?” Seulgi asks in disbelief and mostly unconvinced. “You’re my wolf.”
“I’m not Flower,” the woman defends, and tenses a bit under her before letting out a soft impertinent whine as the knife digs into her neck again. “But I am, I suppose, yours? I’m not exactly a wolf.”
“You’re not my wolf,” Seulgi says, shaking her shock a bit and returning to herself. Leaning in, she presses the knife closer, fully prepared to slit this woman’s throat if she-
“No! No, I am,” the woman protests, tensing a bit under the blade. “I’m who you purchased from Jongin, my old master before the bonding transferred to you.” Seulgi narrows her eyes. She’d told Wendy and Joy knew, that information could have been- “You’re the one who pulled the fixation implant from my back last night and broke the seal over my form. I was with you yesterday, when you cleared out the western district.” Seulgi pauses, looking down at the woman lying prone under her.
“What are you?” she asks slowly, taking in the other woman swiftly. She’s appears to be entirely unclothed, which is nothing like any Seulgi would expect trying to kill her. No one walks in the Wilderness without protection and clothing unless they’re asking to die.
“I’m a shifter,” the woman says, relaxing a bit, apparently sensing Seulgi’s own calming. “I was captured in my wolf form when I was younger, sealed with that implant, before I passed into Jongin’s protection a few years ago. I’m from one of the Southern tribes.”
“A shifter,” Seulgi repeats, trying to keep the shock from her voice.
“My name is Irene,” the woman says, and her voice softens with her eyes, a warmth in them that flickers in hidden colors.
The shifters are some of the least known Others that had come early through the rifts. No one knew where they came from, only that they melded perfectly into the humans, walking among them undetected. They can take any form, transforming into animal and human and changing appearance however they please. They’re rare though, extremely rare, and after the wars into the Third Era, they’d all but vanished into legend.
“Right,” Seulgi says, still skeptical. “So,” she says, still keeping her knife to the woman’s throat. “Irene, why aren’t you my wolf anymore?”
“Do you want me to be?” asks the woman, and sounds almost eager. Seulgi blinks. “I had been in that form for so long I almost was worried I couldn’t shift back, but I suppose finally being released from the fixation implant and after my injuries from yesterday, my body just reset.” She wets her lips to a bright pink. “Does this form displease you?” she asks, and blinks as in confused. “I had thought that you would like this better.”
“It’s not about pleasing- look, I bought a wolf,” Seulgi says, trying to keep control on the situation. “You’re not a wolf.”
“I’m better,” Irene says, and smiles with a sort of tease to her mouth. Seulgi almost scoffs at her before Irene’s smile widens into a grin. “I can be anything you want me to be, mistress.”
The word has a dull heat ripple through Seulgi and she frowns, setting her jaw as she keeps her knife close to Irene’s throat. “Don’t call me that,” she says gruffly even as Irene looks up at her expectantly. “It’s not my name.”
“Should I call you Seulgi, then?”
“Don’t call me anything,” Seulgi says shortly. ‘Flower’ was easy. She never answered Seulgi or asked questions or made confusing conversation or talked about how she was a shapeshifter when Seulgi woke up first thing in the morning. “Just- roll over.” Irene’s eyes widen. “If you try to run or attack me, I’ll stab through your neck easier than breathing, so don’t even try,” Seulgi adds.
“Why would I attack you, mistress?” Irene asks and frowns in a way Seulgi tells herself isn’t cute.
“Don’t call me that,” Seulgi grinds out from clenched teeth, but lets up enough to let Irene roll over. Which she does with surprising obedience. Seulgi’s mouth thins into a line as she pulls down the thermal blanket, revealing the bare skin between Irene’s shoulder blades and a small puncture wound between them. It’s almost exactly the same as she’d seen in ‘Flower’ the night before when pulling out the implant.
Grabbing her hand cannon to her side just in case, Seulgi sits back and takes in the woman before her. “You can roll back over now,” she instructs, watching as Irene does so, sitting up a bit to look at her and letting the blanket fall away from her. She’s entirely bare, and Seulgi keeps her eyes trained on Irene’s face. “So,” Seulgi says, swallowing. “What happens now?”
At this, Irene frowns a bit, a small little crease on her forehead. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re obviously not my wolf anymore,” Seulgi begins a little bitterly. She had so quickly fallen into comfort with ‘Flower’ with her at all times, losing her to… well, a humanoid form is definitely a loss. She’d only just realized how lonely she had been before. “So, now you’re out of that form, are you just going to leave and-“
“Why would I leave?” Irene asks, and looks even more perplexed. “I’m still your companion.”
At the word ‘companion’, Seulgi wants to push herself back, away from Irene as the other woman straightens up and allows more of herself exposed. “You’re-“ Seulgi sighs in agitation. Seulgi doesn't like dealing with Others intimately precisely for this reason. They’re either rabid against the humans, oddly integrated to the point they may as well be human, or they… “So you want to stay?”
“Of course I want to stay,” Irene says, and laughs at her as if Seulgi is the one being ridiculous, not the other way around. “Why wouldn’t I want to stay?” She shakes her head and it’s so similar to how ‘Flower’ would- no, exactly the same. Because Irene is ‘Flower’ in a strange sort of way. “You didn’t seem to mind me staying when I was a wolf. What’s the problem? I can turn back if you’d prefer it, I just- it’s so limiting being in only one form. I don’t understand how you can stand it.”
“Well, I’ve just suffered I guess,” Seulgi says dryly, and blinks with Irene laughs, her voice loud and full as her shoulders shake with laughter. “I- you can stay if you like? We can figure details out later after getting into the city and getting you, um, clothing.”
Irene, it appears, finds the whole ordeal of clothing entirely pointless. Despite Seulgi’s insistence that she can wear the spare set of clothing she carries, Irene lightly informs her that she’s fine in just her own skin. She ends up making the argument for herself that Seulgi didn’t seem to mind when she’d been naked before as a wolf, and then ignored Seulgi’s insistence that that was different. “Why?” had been the repeated question as Irene’s lips twitched in a coy smile that suggested she was joking somehow.
Seulgi didn’t entirely understand how that was funny though, so she mostly just tried to ignore the topic after that. Irene wasn't that different in her human form from her wolf form, bounding around and making small comments but mostly on high alert. She smiled, eyes bright and flickering with gold and other muted colors as she helped Seulgi pack up the camp.
“Are you alright to travel like this?” Seulgi asks her as they set out, glancing down at Irene’s bare legs and imagining all the… cuts and injuries she could get.
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Irene says before pausing, looking thoughtful. “Although, I haven’t flown in years.”
“Flown?” Seulgi asks, feeling a big winded. Shifters are rare mostly in the meaning that few if any know jack about them.
Irene simply hums, looking up towards the canopy above them. “Do you mind?” is all she asks before her eyes suddenly flicker bright gold and appears to melt away into ash. Seulgi swallows down a shocked scream as the woman before her disintegrates into ash and dust to transform into another form altogether.
“I only wanted a hunting wolf,” Seulgi says weakly to herself as the massive form of a falcon suddenly launches from the ground, letting out a loud exalted cry as it flies through the canopy.
She’s going to have a long talk with Jongin. She and her fist.
✖