@makehistoria

[fistsofjustice]

Ever since she was old enough to feed herself, Amelia only went after humans who deserved it. They are pitiful creatures, her father said, and that is why you must always be righteous. Killing innocent humans was frowned upon like humans frowned upon kicking small, helpless animals; there was no justice in that.

Hunters were a favored target, as were priests who spoke ill of the Fog God. She wouldn’t usually interfere in human-on-human conflict, unless the crime was especially heinous - sometimes one had to put down a rabid sheep.

Such was her recent prey. A Bavan native, notorious for taking any job, no matter how gruesome. Amelia swooped down on him and carried him all the way back to her nest beyond Lager Woods, on the cliffs by the north-western shore. She put him on a rock ledge where no human could reach without special equipment, plucked his eyes out and left him there to starve, though she gave him water once a day. Amelia always made sure they regretted their crimes before taking their lives.

It’s been a week now, and he wasn’t screaming as much. If he doesn’t throw himself on the rocks soon (like some did. Others would beg her for release) she’ll have to do it herself.

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[makehistoria]

Stocke dropped the human's body first to his knees, then to his side as he heard the hunters draw closer - now he curls around some of the man's many scuffs and claw marks. There's heavy bruising where Stocke snatched him out of the sky, the shade notes.

The "human" raises his head as the hunters seem right on top of him. Pained: "I - I'm not sure, I can't -"

Stocke cuts off as one of the hunters turns a flashlight on the man's empty eye sockets. The shade goes still, but all the hunter does is let out a soft, angry snarl. It figures monsters would tear out eye-sockets. After a moment, the shade continues, "I think they went that way after they dropped me -" He motions vaguely away from Amelia.

The hunters confer, very shortly. Most start to spread out in a search pattern - one stays behind with Stocke to keep the human safe.

It's only another few seconds before the man grins oddly - Stocke's just had a thought. A way to keep the hunters busy and turn appropriate vengeance on his prey without Amelia's interference.

The hunter staying behind is looking away, on guard - Stocke reaches his puppet's hands to a corner of his ragged clothes, ripping some strips free and stuffing them in "his" mouth. Then he gathers himself together and leaps at the hunter guarding him.

The man lets out a startled exclamation and fights back, but Stocke is - again - uncaring of how much damage is done to him. It's not his body. It's purely because of that that he manages to bear the hunter to the ground - his opponent has a chance to shout, " - he's one of them! In disguise!" before toppling.

There's an easy to miss dart of shadow as Stocke abandons both his victims. His prey is left to let out muffled exclamations behind a mouthful of cloth, but not to proclaim his innocence to the hunters suddenly attacking him.

Stocke, meanwhile, himself peels out of the ground just behind Amelia and suggests innocently, "Planning to move while they're distracted?"

[fistsofjustice]

Amelia puffs up in rage, claws raking the sand. Crouched behind a low mound, she watches the hunters run back to gang up on her prey and barely stops herself from screaming. Her wings twich, muscles aching to take off and snatch him back.

She does squawk when Stocke appears behind her, startling her. Amelia turns around and glares at him. After he went to such lengths to steal the human alive, she hadn't expected him the shade to sacrifice him so readily.

I'm planning to kill them all, she wants to say, but decides to not grace him with a real answer. Instead she grumbles: "Don't act so smug. You just gave up a soul."

[makehistoria]

"If all I wanted was a soul, I'd have taken it at your nest." You see this shade? This is an incredibly smug shade. This is the best solution that could have come out of this, as far as he's concerned - he didn't break his word, he got to irritate the harpy, and still got his revenge. The man who took any job, uncaring of who he harmed in pursuit of it, is now being killed by a group of hunters, uncaring of who they harm in pursuit of monsters.

It's a twisted representation of circumstances that's probably only satisfying to a shade.

"I suggest you move before they start looking for the other monster. Or realize they haven't slain who they thought they did," the shade offers, just as innocently. Then he turns and starts drifting away.

[fistsofjustice]

Argh. If only he had the decency to be solid, she'd rip the words right through his stupid smug throat.

"This isn't over," Amelia hisses after him, needing to say the last word. She then takes off, casting bitter looks at the hunters. Later she would come back to see if they left the body there, but while the meat would sustain her, there'd be no satisfaction in eating.

She will get the shade back for this.