[PRP/1v1] A Woman Scorned (Deryk / Amrita)

[Enoh Love]

Deryk wouldn't see it, but Amrita's form shifted, almost deflating as she processed what he had asked her. He sounded so worried, so...small. Did he honestly fear for his own life? Perhaps he wasn't just messing with her this whole time; maybe it was something he truly felt.

"I hope they did." She growled out, her arms folding across her chest. Honestly, all evidence to the contrary pointed to a distinct lack of paying attention to her; if they had been, they would have probably strung her up ages ago for what she did to the last couple Hunters that crossed her path here.

"All while creating more of the people you call Bad." Another unimpressed snort and she turned on her toes, putting her back to Deryk and the desk he hid behind...well, for a whole few seconds anyway. She turned again to face his hiding place at his suggestion. "Then here, let me kill you and let's hope you end up on our side!"  

[Blade Kuroda]

There was a sort of whine from behind the desk as he heard Amrita state that she hoped that they heard what he said. He would be so dead when he got back. Biting his lips, he shook his head, as he heard her offer.

"Don't want to die... Not to change sides o-or for anything. And if I did become one of you... it'd mean I'd have to fight even some of the decent people at base. Or.. they'll be trying to kill me. Maybe. Can't deal with the horsemen that way too. I.. I still need to fight against the things they do."

He shifted behind the desk, trying to get a little comfortable while not exposing himself at the same time.

"Seen some messed up things. Don't know what they're up to... but.. can't be good for humanity. If... had choice.. would just fight against their active threats. N-not always choice though."  

[Enoh Love]

Standing still wasn't an option anymore. Amrita had started to move again, lightly shifting and poking at nearby objects. She had no intention of throwing them at him again, at least not yet, but it was always good to know what was nearby, just in case the urge sprung up again.

"Oh no, having someone try to kill you! How terrible~" She sarcasm dripped from her voice every bit as bitter as she intended it to be. There was a moment of pause as he brought up the Horseman, a brief memory recalled as she stared at her own reflection in a metallic plate she had taken to inspecting. Something she had asked Stacey before he was murdered, and something Invictus had more or less refused to give an answer on.

She had been so close to the answer, and yet it always managed to slip through her grasp.

"You Hunters really do hate the Horsemen, don't you?" She murmured, thinking back through what she knew, what she could remember, and tried her best to form the question in her mind. "What did they do to you? Is it about...12/31/1999?" She still didn't recognize the string of numbers as a date, nor had anyone ever given her a straight answer on the subject. The last person she heard it from was a Hunter, perhaps it was something all Hunters knew?  

[Blade Kuroda]

Deryk slunk down a little further, if that was possible, but paused when Amrita questioned how he and the hunters felt about the horsemen.

"Wait what..?" he blinked. He really didn't know much of about the incident in 1999...well.. other than a few details.

"Don't know too much about 1999.. other than it having been a suicide mission for Hunters thirteen years ago," he frowned. Scratching his head, he soon let out a sigh while trying to think of a way to explain things more.

"Just... seems like every time I run into the horsemen, there's just so much death. They have these places in the human world and it just... well... you should understand. Most of halloween is against killing humans right?"  

[Enoh Love]

"What is '1999'? Does it mean something special?" A suicide mission, huh? "What did it have to do with the Horsemen?" Invictus never answered her on that, and ended up derailing her and nearly degrading her for wanting answers. It was never fun to be stuck between two powerful warring parties, after all.

"Funny, every time I run into Hunters there's so much death." The bitterness was back, her lips pressing into an unimpressed line. The metallic disk was spun between her backward hands, her palms flat until the momentum stopped enough for her to catch it to spin it again. "The Horsemen have been helpful to us. They let us see their islands before you destroyed it, and tried teaching us some of their ways before you showed up. They helped save us when we were kidnapped..." Though she had no idea to what lengths the students went to side with the Horsemen, she did know it was the Horsemen's power that helped her kind get on the island for the rescue.

They were too late, but at least they were taken home.

"I don't know about most, but a lot of them are. I was against it." The until you showed up was left implied, and the ghoul stayed silent for a few long moments. "...Actually, the only thing I want from Humans is their FEAR and that's all. I don't want to kill them specifically." Hunters, who were apparently once Human...well, they weren't really Human any more, were they? She'd had this discussion with Petra once before, and it hadn't ended very well.  

[Blade Kuroda]

"1999 is a year. Like...right now it's 2013," Deryk replied before shifting uncomfortably in his place, "Most of the details are disclosed. Couldn't find out too much but... seems like the horsemen were up to something big. Hunters sent out to stop them. And well... only two people survived."

The death hunter let out another breath.

"L-look... don't like the fact that we blew them up too.. didn't even know that was going to happen until.. well.. it did. But we've found pits full of human bodies where horsemen been operating. And just well... deaths in general caused by them. Looks like they've been recruiting students too... Seen some students in their lair when doing own rescue mission for captive hunters. Like... that one.. bone dragon."

He shook his head again. The bone dragon just happened to be pretty distinguishable.

"Just.. please don't side with them. Do that and I'll probably be forced even more to take action. Just want to stop them from continuing doing what they're doing to my people. Humans."

He noticed that she had used 'them' when talking about humans.  

[Enoh Love]

...only two people survived? Didn't that Stacey hunter say something about wiping out his entire clan? Then maybe...Stacey was one of the two survivors? Amrita wasn't that stupid, she knew better than to ask Deryk about it...but now se was curious, honestly curious. Whether or not be betrayed her seemed less important now, especially since he never attacked back and let's be honest, she had dealt an awful lot of damage to him already. He seemed like the ally she thought - and hoped - he could be, though that little voice in her head whispered to never, ever trust him fully again.

So the Horsemen seemed to be a huge threat to the Human race? Perhaps that had something to do with that half burned note she found, and the map...damn she should really have kept that on her person! Then again that'd be putting a lot of trust in him...hrm. She opened her mouth to ask a question and immediately closed it at his next set of words.

Recruiting students?

...Bone Dragon? He couldn't have meant...could he?

She only half listened to his plea, aware that he didn't want her to join them for fear of having to take action against her; it did make her think that he really was innocent, but it was also something she didn't dwell on too far. Her mind was elsewhere, trying to scour her memories for other Bone Dragons she may have met during her stay at Amityville. Everything kept coming right back to one Bone Dragon in particular, one that had been a King in her dreams.

"I don't think you count as a human anymore, Deryk." She murmured distractedly to the end of his conversation, but she moved quietly to the desk he hid behind, eyeing his ducked form with suspicion before she carefully and slowly pulled herself up to sit on the edge of it, clearly ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble. She may also have held onto that metallic plate, just in case she needed it.

"What Bone Dragon are you talking about?"  

[Blade Kuroda]

Deryk frowned at her words. Don't count as human anymore? Well... he certain wasn't a normal human at this point.

"Might not be a normal human... but..." he just trailed off. He wasn't sure how to put it to words. It didn't really matter too much now anyway. But.. it did make him feel a little uneasy and he didn't want to think about it. Instead, he just addressed her question regarding a bone dragon.

"Uhh.. only seen one bone dragon. Dracolich I think. Glowy blue eyes. Dark dreadlocks. Shredded wing membranes. Lots of armor. Umm... dunno his name. He was pretty cold too. Least from what I could tell when he attacked," the hunter said, recalling what the guy looked like. Though, he soon realized that Amrita was... here with him now. He shifted a little uneasily, uncertain if she was going to try and smack him here with that piece of metal she had. He just gave her a bit of a nervous smile while being a little on edge. At least for now, it sounded like he had her attention. She might know who he was talking about here.

"One other student I remember seeing... another undead. Glasses. Blue hair. Stitches.. and uh... Metal arm. Shocked me with lightning."  

[Enoh Love]

"No you're not. I think you stopped being a human when you joined them." Amrita insisted with a frown: she couldn't lump the hunters and humans together, it just didn't work that way in her mind. The humans were prey, the hunters were, well, hunters.

Dracolich? She knew two of them. It wasn't until he started better describing him did she know for sure which one, and even then all it took was glowy blue eyes and dark dreadlocks. That was Aymet alright, no doubt about that. He went on to describe another student and her gaze lowered to the table, recognizing that one too. Mort.

"They were recruited by the Horsemen?" She questioned slowly, trying to figure out her own question by herself. "Why? What do they need us for?" Deryk seemed the easiest person to ask for now, but she'd have to find a way to ask them about it later.

Maybe,

Stupid tag,

"...Wait. I don't know if I can trust you anymore. How can I be sure you're telling me the truth now? That you actually know this? That you're not just pulling it from that folder?" Amrita hadn't returned his smile, in fact she narrowed her eyes at him. It still wasn't adding up, what Caelius had said to her: and Deryk really was the only Hunter she knew that would have tried to turn her instead of kill her on the spot. Aymet's picture had been in me of those files, used against her to try and sway her. For all she knew, Mort's could have made it in there too now.

She wanted to trust him, really she did. She wanted to believe that they had some good in them, but...she felt she couldn't anymore.  

[Blade Kuroda]

"I think so. After the raid on the island happened to save you guys, we went into a horsemen lair to save some of our own. The ones who were taken. And well... it was in the human world. And there were students there, fighting with the horsemen to stop us. Few other times I've seen them working with them too. Guess after taking a big hit from island destruction, they need more manpower? I dunno right now. Lizzy... er.. a spider demon... says she don't trust them though too. Mei 'n Bul too," Deryk said, relaying what he knew. Though he looked confused when Amrita brought up a folder.

"Folder..? Man... really need to dig around more. For being death hunter, really don't seem to know much," he muttered under his breath. He was supposed to be an intel guy dammit! Scratching his head, he was trying to think of how to go about this.

"Dun have any sort of solid evidence on me right now unfortunately, no. Up to you if you really want to believe me..."  

[Enoh Love]

"There were Hunters taken after we were?" Amrita sounded baffled, and she was. She hadn't even the slightest idea that the Horseman had kidnapped some Hunters shortly after the rescue of Halloween students from the Deus islands, but to be honest she didn't particularly care that they had been taken. In some weird way she saw it as an eye for an eye; they kidnapped Halloween Students, someone else kidnapped them. The world had already balanced itself out, and yet she hadn't been aware of it until now.

Was it going to change what she was doing? Of course it wasn't.

Deryk started to name drop, and the first one had her suspicious; it sounded like he was trying to explain to her who Lizzy was, but at the same time Lizzy could have been in her folder, too. The Spider Demoness was more or less like a second Mother to her, after all. It wasn't until he mentioned Mei and Bul that something changed in her, the shock of one of those two names throwing her off her guard.

"Mei, really?" The only Mei she was somewhat close to, and the only Mei she figured would be lumped with Bul like she was, was the very same Mei that had been kidnapped with her and the others. The same Mei that had the 'Hug a Human' poster bonfire with her. For some reason this particular name drop resonated with her more than the others. "Hmm." She thrummed, her lips pressing together thoughtfully.

"Yes. Folder. Caelius brought them out after you guys left, there was one for each of us, I think. I don't know what else is in there, but there were pictures of..." As she spoke she mimed opening a folder with her backward hands, though it looked more like opening a book. She trailed off, on the verge of saying names but biting it back, just in case. "...two very important people to me, put up on the monitor as a threat, kind of. He said he needed two volunteers but they already had one, and if we didn't then one of our friends might be in our position and might actually do it instead..." This time, when she trailed off she wasn't suspicious or angry with him; she sounded sad and almost guilty, giving her backward hands an indescribable stare.

The look lasted for a moment before she lifted her head to stare at him again, trying to figure him out. "...You really don't know what I'm talking about, do you?"  

[Blade Kuroda]

Deryk nodded at that.

"Yeah. Was surprised about Mei too... but she and Bul teamed up with me and a couple of other hunters during the Insanity Haunted House. At least during a part of it," he explained. Though, when Amrita began to explain her experiences with this mystery folder, he just kind of gave her a blank look.

"....Nope," he sighed, "I... really need to work on finding out more information about stuff... Doesn't seem like I'm very good at my job, no."

He groaned at the thought. That was something he needed to really work on, and it shouldn't really cause any harm to improve on that aspect in the slightest. But this thing she was explaining made him somewhat uncomfortable. What was the purpose of all of that? Well, he did know it was one part candidacy but really, they were supposed to take willing candidates for that.

Did... strong arming them count for making them willing? He frowned at that idea.  

[Enoh Love]

...Huh.

Now the question was, did Mei team up with them on her own free will, or did she team up with them because they controlled her? The suspicion was back, but at least it still wasn't as violent as it had been before. The big thing was Bul; to her knowledge he hadn't been captured by the Hunters, so if Bul also joined them...perhaps Mei had done it of her own free will, too.

"They've got to keep you around for some reason, I guess." Amrita mused, this time not sarcastic or bitter. If he was a Death Hunter and if he was supposed to know things but didn't, maybe he had other uses. He certainly had uses when it came to her curiousity, though! Even if she didn't fully trust him, he seemed sincere enough to at least put a little faith in him. No other Hunter even came close to that in her mind. "...Do you think you could see if there really is a file for me? And maybe let me see it?"  

[Blade Kuroda]

"...True. Hadn't been killed off for being useless... yet."

Deryk scratched his head at that. But he put that aside and went on to address Amrita's request.

"Could definitely look into databases to see if there are files, yes. But... probably would be crossing dangerous boundaries to show them off. Could be classified information. Should be able to tell you if it exists though, yes. That much should be safe."

He frowned and shifted a bit.

"Guess... kinda a thin line I walk here. But.. don't really like fighting much, no. Just wanna do what I can to keep humanity safe. Would not mind forging alliances with Halloween for that goal."  

[Enoh Love]

"I'm pretty sure there is a file on me. How else would Caelius have their pictures?" The pictures that had gone up had been a little too specific, she noticed upon reflection. Every person in there had one picture shown of someone they loved...but for some reason, she had two. Aymet and Christof.

No, she wasn't going to think on it any further than that.

"I will not ally with the Hunters!" Amrita's voice was sharp and sure, her eye narrowed again. "You've done too much to us - to me - no. It won't happen." She may have considered it once, but not since the tag. That had been her breaking point, and for her there was no going back.

"But I...I guess you're okay...for a Hunter." She grumbled, pointedly not looking at him and instead staring down very interested in her nails. "I mean, I probably wouldn't attack you unless I had to." A backward hand raised, rubbing a knuckle against the new grooves in her skull, one that would have been a pretty badass facial scar had she a face to scar.

"...But maybe you and I can make a deal?"