The illroot was wearing off. Scarlet was aware of what she was doing. Of who. Why was he saying these things? They didn't exactly put her at ease. Even with him grinding hard into her, and her enjoying it Scarlet pulled herself up then off of him. Now...was not the time for that.

She wanted more. Gods she wanted to finish herself off. But this had gone far enough. Scarlet...didn’t want every encounter with the man to end with the two fucking out their frustrations. Blood fell from her inner thighs and trickled into the stained water. Her body ached, sure she was a masochist, and sure she liked the pain but the kind he inflicted seemed...odd to her. She wasn’t sure if he was enjoying it, or if he was just going through the motions. It almost felt...sloppy. That wasn’t what bothered her.

What bothered her was the way she just admitted everything. She was furious. Scarlets hands were balled into fists. Scarlet wasn’t angry at him for taking advantage of the situation. How could she be? Scarlet would have done the very same thing. Well - she wouldn’t have fucked him. But she would have sucked every piece of information she could from him.

“A jolly ol’ fuck eh?” Scarlet mumbled then laughed bitterly. She shook her head. Why the hell did me make her think of that cuck of a woman. What a cockblock. Even when she wasn’t here.

“Why should I care who you fuck. I ain't got no control over that. I don't care.” She shifted her eyes to look up at him. The gold rims were fading, being engulfed by the inky black. She was getting close. Too close. This…this feeling in her chest. She had to sort this out. She had to sort him out. Why was it whenever anything got serious he’d shrink back? Scarlet felt like she couldn’t hold a decent conversation with him without it ending in some sort of angsty emotional drama.

“Then I won't. Fuck.” He stood up, and shoved his way out of the water. “And you don't have to worry about Philomel. Not my type and she thinks I'm a genetic monster.” He paused in the water and looked at her, then clamped his right hand over the hole in the left forearm. Did the two correlate? Why did he clasp the stone part of his arm as he mentioned fuzzy tits name?

Hunter continued. ”You don't have to care who I'm with, Dawn girl. But I'll listen anyway. I - should leave.” He shook his head, and there was self-harm in those silver eyes before he was moving away, keeping his face turned away from her. He grabbed up his clothes and paused in the doorway, tugging on the trousers. She heard him swallow, loudly. “I'm sorry. I'll leave you be until you need me again. But - everything I said was true.” He tugged his shirt over his head. “I'm going to go let that kid know he's free. I'm - glad you're OK.” He pushed open the door to leave.

There it was. She knew this would happen. The leaving, the fucking emotional manipulation of ‘oh I’ll just leave then but ya you’re ok’ Scarlet wondered if he was even aware of how manipulative he was being right now. She wasn’t sure if she should congratulate him or kick his ass out to the curb. Neither. His actions pissed her off.

“Why do you always just walk away?” Scarlet turned to him. “What kind of fuckin’ man walks away when he is being challenged? Are you aware you’re being an emotionally manipulative asshole?”

She was angry. Angry at herself for letting him get to her. Angry at him for always saying he would leave. Angry at Philomel and her god-damn fucking perfect tits meddling in his shit. “Aren't you meant to face challenges? You felled that manticore, you killed that drake, oh but when it comes to facing me you just put your damn tail between your legs and vanish?” The words continued, like venom. She was used to it, to using them for this. To bring hatred upon her. She almost couldn’t help herself. “Fuck. I’m surprised you lasted 800 years with her.”

He froze. His fingers splintered the wood of the door jamb. He slowly turned around, and the silver in his eyes was blazing. He let the piece of shattered wood fell from his hand in tiny clatters to the floor as he slowly began to stalk towards her. There was no tenderness in the gaze now, but an intense, cold stare that pierced through her. Scarlet matched it with one of her own.

Good. That’s better. That’s what I’m used to and that’s what we need. Scarlet thought to herself.

“Let me make something -perfectly- clear, Scarlet. The only, only time, I back down from something, is if I think it will hurt you. Because I am absolutely fucking terrified of losing you again and this time because of my own fucking actions.”

Scarlet blinked. She was expecting hate, she was expecting anger and whilst she was getting it to some degree from the man...his words weren’t said to hurt her.

As he spoke the Hunter was slowly pacing towards her. “It was -my- inaction that ripped my wife and our child away from me. Because I faced challenges without a fucking care in the world. Even when my Amari warned me not to. I was stupid. I ran face first into everything. A perfect, little, hunter. And then because I didn't know when to fucking walk away, someone learned about my wife. And her heritage. And I trusted them - and I lost her.”

“You giving up and being a fucking wimpy shit - leaving. That hur-” the words caught in her throat. No. She wouldn't say that. She barely knew the man. He froze again. His the coldness in his gaze faded. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. When they opened again to her black tinged gaze, they were guarded, wary. Contemplative.

“You say - you said you don't care who I fuck. I care. Because I don't want to hurt you. Philomel - is an ally. One I feel fairly certain can do with seeing less of me than she already has. Last time I saw her, I made her break down crying. But - I will not go near her sexually.” He was standing closer to her now, having moved forward as he spoke. “And I will not leave your side until you return to your - to him.”

“You made her cry? What did you deny her sex or something?”

Scarlet didn’t like that he had allied himself with the faun. She knew where that would lead. The woman and her self righteous heroic attitude would no doubt end up swaying him. Her and her sweet words and her lilting lillies and everything else. She had at her disposal. She was a powerful enemy. Already, Scarlet felt it may be best to just leave. But then wouldn’t she be doing just what he was? Leaving the situation because she couldn’t handle it?

Scarlet swore. “See where trusting someone gets you-?” She turned away from him and sat herself on the edge of the plush bed. Running her hands over its soft covers. “I'm… not Good with emotions. I'm not good with comfort. I'm nrt a good person. You want to tell that kid they’re free? Hell - I’ll kill it. It’s life is going to be miserable anyway. So why not just slit its throat and be done with it?” She sighed. Such actions had caused ire before. Killing an ‘innocent’ child. Who the hell cared?

Scarlet swung her legs to and fro, her toes danced along the polished wooden floorboards. “I'm not your wife. Gods it'd be easier if I was but no - I have no memories of that life. That is not who I am. Who I am… what I am is a danger. You’ll come to learn that. Be it from me, from Advencia or from Tits McGee.”

She felt his hand rest on her shoulder and offer it a tight squeeze. He pulled his hand away and was quiet as he walked around the bed and moved onto it. Scarlet felt the bed shift - and then his back was against hers, supporting her. She felt his warmth trickle into her cold, virtually lifeless skin. He drew in a deep breath that moved her slightly, then let it out slowly, in a drawn out hiss. “You never were good with comfort. Ky’lin would always come to me if she was upset about something. You loved her fiercely, but - showing it has always been a bit off for you. But - you know? You called me Flay in the bath. Just now.” His voice was soft. Calm.

Scarlet laughed bitterly. “You keep saying ‘me’ as though we are the same person. We’re not Same lifeforce, soul or whatever - sure. But personality? I doubt it. You’re only going to hurt yourself if you keep looking for similarities.” She paused, hearing him mention the name. “Well...it suited.”

“It does. Because it was Ri’s favorite Nickname for me. She called me it more often than Fil'ayn. Hell, I only heard my full name from her when she was pissed off at me, or really, really distracted.” She felt him shift against her back, the bed creaking.

“is that so?” So much for her words of not being that person. She didn’t expect that. Perhaps it was possible to have snippets of memories. She had seen them before - when the Ixian Knight helaed her of her corruption the first time. Scarlet had seen them all, countless glowing reincarnations of herself. Course - they were all glowing and bright so there was no way in telling which of them was which. They looked exactly the same.

“It was. Confused me when you used it.” He sighed and shook his head, his hair dancing against the back of her head. “There are times when you are so like her that it hurts. Making off with my tea, for example. Knowing when bath water is going to be too hot for me. Small things. Makes it very hard to disassociate you from her. But - she’d probably hate me now, you know. I was the one who got distracted, held up - and the damn magic-hunters came.” His body sagged. “I’m - always half expecting it now. That you’ll turn around, and it will be her looking out from behind your eyes, full of hate for me for failing her.” Now was when he moved away, though he only moved up the bed, and from the corner of her eye she could see that he was leaning against the wall. Silent, his face twisted in thought.

“So what if I do?” Scarlet swung her legs off the bed and headed to the bath. Pulling the plug. “So what if I somehow...fuckin’ magically and conveniently be your dead wife, so what if she hates you? She’s dead.” She enunciated the ‘dead’ with a heavy punctuation. Driving home the fact. Even with what Aislynn did, and how it reconnected her to her past selves. There was no guarantee it could be done again.“You know her more than I. Do you think she’d carry such resentment?”

“She-she should. By every right, she should. But.. She wouldn't.” His body deflated.

“I act like her. Do I look like her, aside from being a white ass fucker?” Scarlet asked as she turned and leaned against the porcelain rim of the bathtub. It wasn’t as comfortable as the large bed but Hunter was currently taking up that space.

“Yes. Aside from your skin tone and your eyes - painfully so. And your birthmark, the mark of your cycle, is in a different place.” He sighed, and she noticed he had started rubbing his left arm - his fingers running along the edge of the hole that pierced through it. It seemed - a little smaller, but it was healing nowhere near as fast as the other injuries.

“Your arm. It’s stone. Why?” She needed to distract herself, and him from the previous conversation. So she did resemble his dead wife, and act like her. Great. Just fuckin’ great. He looked down, as if only now realizing what he was doing.

“Did I tell you how I came to be here, on this continent, instead of Alerar?” He lifted his eyes to her. “This is - tied to that.”

“No you didn’t, I don’t ask questions. We aren’t exactly...chatty about that sort of thing.” Scarlet dusted her hands off then went to wipe them on her clothes only to realise - well - she still wasn’t wearing any. The woman sighed as she reluctantly headed over to the bed and dragged off one of the many blankets and wrapped it around herself before sitting on the end of the bed. “Regale me.”

He chuckled and nodded. “Well. It started in an inn. I was there waiting to see if anyone had a Hunt. Then in comes this blonde human woman - an oddity in Alerar. She tries seducing me, I think, but does it entirely wrong to really get me. Then she insults me, and I left. Outside - well. I ran into titfaun. Turns out, they were there looking for information, and the human woman was an absolute nonce about trying to get me alone to ask.”

Scarlet scoffed. “Sounds like something she’d do. What was she looking for?” Scarlet waved her hand dramatically in the air. “Ways to fell the evil sciences of steam engines?”

“Oh, nothing so grandiose as all that. She had apparently found out that Alerar was working on genetic experimentation.” His voice was - oddly bland.

“Oh?” Scarlet lowered her hands. “What, that’s you? So what? She needs to keep her fuckin’ nose out of other peoples business.” The Hunter nodded once, then shook his head.

“Indeed, I am one of the people who was experimented on. This was - during the years I had lost, so I wasn't aware of my past at the time. But in any case. She of course felt that genetic experiments are an affront to nature, and that I was a vile monster who had to be slain. She chased me across some rooftops before flanking me with that damn grinning fox.” He grunted.

“I truly thought I was going to die there. No one would have even noticed, then.”

Scarlet bought a knee up to rest under her chin. She….she didn’t like Philomel, rather she hated the woman. But she didn’t think the woman so callous, so big headed that she’d kill another over something so trivial. It didn’t make sense to Scarlet. “I’m disappointed with her.” Scarlet muttered. “I thought she was better than that. If it puts you at ease, if she tries it again I’ll crush that foxes skull and rip its flesh off to throw in her face.” Scarlet offered Hunter a grin. “I’ll show you the memory too so you can see the look on her face as her beloveds dead carcass slowly slides down from it to plop onto the floor.”

He snorted. “Careful. Damn thing can grow and breathe fire, don't know if it could do that last time you met it. And she has a fucking dragon. Not a drake, but a thirty foot long fucking dragon. And - turns out she didn't kill me. Just bound me, threw me in a cell on her ship, and sailed away.” He leaned back against the wall, and frowned before taking off his shirt. When it was off he began rubbing the edge where stone and flesh met on his arm.

“So we’re sailing. I'm her captive. She keeps coming down to me and trying to convince me that science is unnatural, an abomination and an insult to the gods. Which I calmly shut the hell down. Science is more natural than magic and the gods. But I won't bore you with that. Suffice to say, every time the youngling tried to talk to me, she came away with a headache and her worldview being slapped down.” He shook his hed, amused. Then the amusement faded.

“Cue her coming down, drinking. And finally admitting why we left so suddenly. Turns out someone important left the fort, and she had to go back and rescue them from being an idiot. Asked me if I knew of any cures for Medusa or Gorgon stoning. I did, do - but they're based in

Scarlet interrupted. “Let me guess - that evil abomination of science was the cure? Who was so important to her to have her run off like that? Shinsou? Storm?”


He frowned. “I - cannot say. It wasn't either of those - I'd never heard of shinsou at this point. But yes. Not only that - but she needed me to track the individual down. Because a Gorgon had been hunting in the area, and threatening the women of her little fort family. That was part of the reason she needed me so badly - but couldn't admit it. Who wants to admit they need the help of a monster? Other, calmer heads prevailed, and I followed the tracks. Right to the person as the Gorgon bit them. Stoned them completely with their venom. We fought it - and I was bit. We managed to get the Gorgon back before it could inject too much venom into my system -”

Scarlet frowned. He woudn’t tell her? Why? What secret was the faun keeping. Did she have some sort of family? A sister? Brother? Scarlet felt anger build inside of her. “What is so important to that bitch? To have you get injured like that? After she treated you like that? What the fuck is her fucking problem?”

He stared at her for a long, long moment, then he shook his head and leaned forward to take her hand in his left. He held tight, not letting her take it away. “Her problem is that she didn't want to admit she was wrong. It's hard for someone so young to admit to faults.” He shook his head again. “My - the cure worked on the victim. But it didn't work on me - I guess because the stoning venom wasn't fully injected, it affected my chemistry differently. So until I find another solution, I'm left with this.” He rubbed his right hand against the stone flesh.

“You won’t answer me will you?” Scarlet hissed as she yanked on her hand futily. Wasn’t he the one who said they should talk more and that she should tell him how she felt. Why was she the one that was forced to tell him everything and he got off free?

“I - dawn, I can't. I wish I could. I wish I could share everything with you.” He sounded torn. He closed his eyes and let go, and leaned back. “This isn't my secret. Or I would tell you in a heartbeat.”

“Fine.” She spat.”Go have your secrets with her.” Why did it have to be her of all people? Scarlet shook her head then f the bed. “Scooch I am cold and want to get under.” She pointed to the goose down he sat on.

“But I can't hate her, even if she did kidnap me and got me hurt.” He complied, shifting over to give her room. “Because if she hadn't kidnapped me - I wouldn't have found you again.”

“Yeh, well like that fuckin’ matters. She’ll take you from me. She takes everything from me. So fuckin… I don’t car.e.. I’m done with this subject. I shouldn’t have asked.” Scarlet pulled the blanket from

“She will not take me from you. No one will.” He voice was firm - and looking at him, she saw that his intense silver gaze was focused on her, shining brightly. He then blinked and looked away, and shifted off of the bed. Without looking back at her, he stripped down, tossing the clothes to the side. Then he slipped under the covers - keeping a short distance away from her.

“She will… they all go in the end.” Scarlet whispered as she forced her eyes shut