Shale listened intently to Valvatorez’s description with a curious expression. “So humans have… polluted that far, huh? I don’t recall having that many problems with it back home… I guess Dust doesn’t have the same problems. Maybe.”
And with a shrug, she continued walking forward, hands in her pocket as she kept a relaxed pace. “If they’ve expanded that far, I really wonder how other humans have dealt with the grimm problem. Seems pretty clear they’re not afraid of coming out of the walls anymore… other planets are a lot more different than I expected.” Shale finally admitted, looking through what was starting to look less like ordinary forest and once more like untamed jungle, the forest floor practically carpeted with ferns and other greenery… along with a fair bit of water.
Great. Marshland… that jacket cost more than her hammer in current market value, for god’s sakes! The thought of it sitting in some mud-caked puddle somewhere brought a heavy groan from Shale as she rubbed at her eyes in irritation. “Because of course it landed near the grossest place possible…”
As Valvatorez finished his shop-talk, Shale opened her mouth to reply - after all, she’d actually met Yamaxanadu Shikieiki, her netherworld's judge, so if there was some sort of cross-organization, it’d be easy to notice…
But the moment she heard about where her jacket might be, ignoring anything else from her companion, she zoomed off. “That’s what I needed to hear!” She added with a grin, spinning her hammer from her back to her grip with the enthusiastic energy of a five year old blowing out her birthday candles. The last statement briefly struck Shale’s mind and gave her a slight frown… before it turned into a broader grin.
She had a whole lot of repressed anger and pain to deal with at this point. Beating up some punk would be a perfect way to let off some steam!
The huntress was moving so fast, however, that she’d been keeping her eyes stuck firmly on the ground in front of her. Not looking above - not checking below. Which meant that the flicker of exploding flame caught the huntress firmly unprepared.
Shale put up her arms in a cross fashion on reflex, and the scorching explosion tossed the huntress backwards like a rag-doll, sent bouncing and rolling across the mud and grit of the swampy soil.
“Alright, asshole… this is my only shirt. Mind explaining yourself?” The huntress growled.
“Tough talk from some bitch collapsed on the mud.” A mocking, lyrical voice shot back.
Shale looked up to see what looked like some unearthly mix between a bulldog and dragon, a snapping, rough beast made up of sinew and thick, knobbly skin. It’s hot panting lit sparks along the marsh-weeds, and she took it as a sign that the burly beast was responsible for the Warm welcome.
What caught Shale’s eyes far more than the squat dragon that she was lying just below eye level with was the woman riding it, however. Blonde hair and angular features were pointed off with elven ears and flowing purple robes that didn’t seem to really fit in this mud-covered jungle. The Nerd in Shale would have been ecstatic seeing what might have been a real, honest-to-god elf and the marvel that her favorite book series might not be fiction here...
But there was a certain, beautiful black leather jacket sitting on top of those robes, fitting a little loosely and rigid in all the places where armor-plating had been subtly weaved into the fabric. A beautiful marvel of engineering and the last work of art ever made by the Black Ties’ late tailor.
His parting gift. To her.
“Uh-huh. So what’s the idea with the rude entrance, princess…” The veteran added, putting a hand to the ground. An unsuccessful push just caused Shale’s arms to shake before she collapsed back onto the ground.
“Oh, just a little thing called a robbery.” The girl responded smoothly. Her Elven features turned smooth at the statement. “That is a very nice hammer you have, by the way. I hope you don’t mind if we take it. And… I’ll just have to check your pockets to see if there’s anything else…”
The huntress glared hard at the woman. “So you’re some common thug with a big pet, huh? Nice, but that’s my jacket.
“I Don’t see your name on it.” The impish thief responded evenly, gingerly jumping off the beast with an unceremonious motion, before pulling out a dagger.
Wait a minute…
“That’s my - did you just come out here to steal my stuff?”
“Oh, darling, I wouldn’t talk quite so loudly if I was you. I mean, your life is literally in my hands right now. If I were you, I’d sit quietly on the mud, and hope that I just end your life instead of leaving you for the other beasts here. After all, Charleston gets quite hungry. Don’t you, Charleston?”
The Elven woman looked back, clearly expectant of some reaction from her companion, only to find the beast digging directly in the mud, kicking up a miniature mudslide behind it as it shoved it's face intently into the mud below.
“Hey, hey, Charleston! Charlie! No! We’re not digging for mushrooms right now! Charleston-ugh!” The woman groaned.
The snickering from shale got the Elven thief’s attention, and the woman walked forward. “I wouldn’t be so fucking happy with yourself. You’re lucky I don’t sell you to-”
“You’re not going to do a thing.” The huntress shot back.
“E-excuse me?!”
“You don’t hold that thing right. You’re slow with it. Careful just when walking. You’re not used to a knife. You’re wearing clean purple robes in a jungle. You’ve been constantly threatening me, but you haven’t done a damn thing.”
The huntress looked up at the elven woman. “You might be used to roughing up people with your big-shouldered ham-beast over there, but you ain’t never killed a woman, have you? It’s an act. And you’re not even very good at it.”
The elven woman started shaking, before giving her the grin that Shale had seen before. Of someone trying very hard to convince her of their psychotic intentions. “And what makes you so sure?”
The huntress tensed a little. “Well, to be honest, I ain’t, completely. Maybe it’s a double-bluff. But, y’know…”
The Huntress’s muscles tensed, and the athletic girl twisted, clutching onto Grond’s handle before springing back up to her feet in one smooth, rolling motion. Only feet away from the Elvish robber’s perfect jawline.
“...This has t’ be your first time trying something like this if you made an amateur mistake like not checkin’ how injured I actually was!”
The woman’s complexion turned white, her eyes widened in fear…
And her mouth spoke strange syllables, incantations of light, and Shale realized she might have made a mistake herself.
With a crackle, the woman vanished from standing in front of shale and back onto her draconic steed. “Charleston! Finish her!”
The huntress sighed.
She looked back to see Valvatorez had caught up, and she immediately wished she’d at least caught the elf before he caught up. It would’ve made up a little for being half-caked in mud from this stupid swamp.
“...Hey, uhhh… weird question, but d’ya know if there’s anywhere near here with a…”
The dragon blasted another solid blast of flame forward, trying to take advantage of the distraction, but the Huntress turned around, her expression completely serious, and slapped the blast out of the air, Swinging the massive hammer like a baseball bat and knocking the blast of flame out of the air with all the speed and skill of a major league player…
Before turning back around, her face immediately relaxed again. “...Like, a dry cleaner. And a shower. It’d be real nice.”