TW: discussion of sexual assault
Zea should have thought ahead before screwing up this man's face.
It wasn't the mess, not by a long shot. Everything in here was tiled, especially downstairs. What she rinsed down the drain meant that her well water wasn't the most reliable resource for drinking or bathing, but the drain itself made a big difference. It wasn't the mess. No, the problem was that she had completely wasted the eye sockets and now if she wanted to use them, she'd have to reconstruct them completely.
What a pain in the ass.
"Shut up!" she snapped. "I am trying to think."
Naturally, this imperative did not actually sink in. With a growl of frustration, Zea clapped a hand over her subject's mouth, fusing it shut. Now he could make whatever sounds he wanted through his nose, and as long as Zea did her thinking across the room she ought to be fine.
She really had gotten impulsive about the face.
Carnivorous plants had been a good angle. They ate meat, which meant that some of a human's digestive processes should be... whatever, comparable, right? But no. No, they still hadn't worked. The roots didn't take. And now she had this asshole wired to the floor, bleeding blood that the sundews she'd planted couldn't even use. What a disappointment.
Of course, she wouldn't know for sure that the process was self-defeating until she'd tried a few more times. Plenty of people failed a task for the first time, even when the task was possible. Zea just needed more time, more opportunities. Zea needed more subjects.
Could she still save the sundew? Probably she should try. Not like it had done anything wrong. This guy had. Not only did he have that big mark on his face, but Zea had not appreciated his tone. Some people hit bottom and got desperate. Some desperate people got rude, and some people who got rude got difficult. But not the sundew. Sundew never bothered anybody, not anyone larger than an insect anyway. Zea should salvage it; it had earned that much from her.
What she ended up leaving her home with was a burlap sack full of blood-soaked soil and crushed eggshells, a human hand, and a struggling little sticky sundew curled protectively in one hand. It had done its best. Now it was time to give it some good comfy garden rest before Zea had to put it to work again.
Zea lived further inland than many people preferred, depending on the aggressive decomposition of the jungle ecosystem to help her repurpose experimental materials that had not quite worked out as she'd hoped. She strayed only a little from one of the hacked-out pathways into the jungle, crouching over her heels to plant everything where it could still receive sunlight from the gap the path made in the forest canopy. It was the best start she could give it.
The soil was soft, but it only took a few minutes of digging before sweat trickled down from beneath her dark curly hair to soak her neck and back, ran down the tip of her nose to salt her lips, and soaked into the little scrapes around her fingers to sting the skin there. To distract herself from the crawling feeling of sweat on her skin that couldn't evaporate in the humid air, Zea sang a song about a man so evil even the jungle wouldn't take his body when he died. It was a childrens' song, maybe.
It was just another day of wondering for the strange creature that was walking threw the pathway. He did not know where it lead but knew there had to be an end to it. There was always and end somewhere. He gave a sigh as he came threw the path now not seeing anything yet. He was hungry and needed to feed. Though one might say that he hated that more then anything . In his mind he was not a bad dude. He was actually kind.
He paused now as he heard something moving in the distance. Looks like he just heard his next meal. oh well might as well make this quick. He growled as he moved threw moving just off the path as he heard the singing. This would be a hard meal to eat if she kept that up.
He now saw the female as she was planting something. Now what was that? He hid for a few seconds as he watched her. Then he moved closer and frowned. Well here he was now what was he going to do ? That was a good question indeed. He then smiled and said " it dangerous out here." in a slow evil sort of tone.
That was a threat. Zea's body spiked into high gear, stripping away minor concerns like soil drainage and social convention to leave only the task:
survive.
The shortest distance between where she was and where she wanted to be was frequently to escalate first. Most people had rules, boundaries, and a pace that they considered appropriate. Most people had no better use for their higher reasoning. Zea did.
She slowly slipped her filthy hands out of the dirt, holding them up at shoulder height with her palms up as though to receive handfuls of rain from above the canopy. Her upper lip wanted to pull back from her teeth, her mouth wanted to taste the air and chew through obstacles with the sheer force of her greed to always always be the last one standing.
Zea clicked her tongue twice, the way her mother used to when Zea had let someone else get a cut in. "If you really believed that you'd have stayed in town."
Hopefully he didn't, though. Hopefully he'd come closer. She was so small and delicate, so pretty and so alone; hopefully he'd touch her. The flesh sculptor couldn't pull his bones out until he did. Her time was valuable and every second he spent holding himself out of arm's reach was a second of hers he wasted.
Phears frowned at her as he saw her reaction. He did not want to do this. He did not want to have to kill her. But that was something that he had to do in order to survive. Surely even she would understand that. He sighed and looked at. Man she was good looking that was for sure. Maybe he should simply explain his situation to her. Though he was sure that the result would be then same. He had to eat after all.
" you know I really do not want to hurt you. It is just that I have to eat. Now I do not feed on flesh. I feed on fear. Though that usually results in my victim dying from fright. I am really sorry I have to do this. You are so very pretty and all" he said in that same evil tone.
He then looked at her and just sighed again. He was not going to enjoy this. He moved closer though there was still abit of distance between them. She could probably tell that he was hesitating and truly not wanting to do this. It was just that he had to that was all.
Zea turned, still sitting on the ground. She planted one hand so that she could lean on it as she looked up at this stranger. Fear. He fed on fear, okay, that was a weird biological role to be playing but as much as Zea tried to stay focused on things like how many ghosts had had to be leaving in his wake, ghosts who might like a little payback, one thing kept twitching in her thoughts like an annoying itch.
Pretty. He didn't want to kill her because she was pretty. What a repulsively shallow sack of wasted organs. Was this the best use the world had found for the meat he was made of? Where was he from, anyway? This had to be some kind of mainland bullshit. He came out just to find someone to frighten to death, but gosh darn his stupid boner.
"If I'm so pretty, just fuck my corpse. Wanna come see if you can make one?" With her free hand she crooked a finger, still sitting on the dirt at the edge of the path. "Or do you want to maybe think about where you are? I'd give you a minute but I've got company waiting. Thirty seconds."
Twenty nine. Zea wanted to see what he was made of, what was under that robe and beneath whatever he used for skin. Twenty eight.
Phears just sighed and looked at her as she spoke. He had not meant for her to take what he had said that far. He was simply making an observation. But of course like all stupid mortals this on just made a mountain out of a small anthill. He shook his head and gave a sinister growl. He was not going to all a mural to talk to him like that. " look you miserable bitch , I was simply being kind. Now I think that I feel less bad about killing you. Maybe I will cut up while you are still breathing and feed you to my hellhounds." he snarled now. He was angry and wanted nothing more then kill her.
He then moved closer to her to where he was only inches from her. He then moved with lighting speed to try to give her a quick touch. If he could do this she would find herself facing fears beyond what she could ever comprehend. If not he might be the one in trouble here.
Just like every other mainland male. Started off with a compliment and when she didn't soak her panties, it was all bitch this and murder that. Zea had expected more time to consider how pedestrian his attitude was for a man who wasn't using his feet, but he wasn't going to give it to her. Zea had tried to be good, she'd really tried, but he wasn't going to let her. She'd tried. She'd done her job.
He came close, very close, and she shifted one of her feet slightly. He was very close. She wondered if he could taste her yet. She wondered if she tasted different, if he could tell. He hadn't touched her yet, but he was fast. He was so fast that if she'd thought about it she'd have been glad she let him come to her. Zea wasn't, though. There wasn't room to congratulate herself for anything, to think about herself, to even remember herself.
Even knowing beforehand that it was coming from outside, there was too much of it. She hadn't been this scared, not even then, not even when she was a girl. Even when nobody else could see or hear or touch what was coming, even when nobody even knew they were leaving her unprotected, even then. Zea had not even been this terrified of him.
Until the flood came and smashed her thoughts apart, Zea had had plans. Now she just had fear and she hated it and there wasn't enough of her left to stop herself. When this stranger's touch blasted everything away but those old childish impulses, the flesh sculptor lunged upward with her hands out for whatever face was inside that raggedy cloak.
The plan had been to pull out one of his vertebrae, maybe, make a little gap in his spine. The plan had been humane enough, even restrained. Now Zea couldn't even feel how fast she was breathing, how hard her lungs were working to go faster than any human lungs could. She couldn't feel how hard she was clenching her teeth, how her jaw ached. She couldn't feel little swishes and pops in that space around her which wasn't air, which wasn't the world. She couldn't hear the whispers.
All she could think about was how soft organs were, wet and weak and slopping around protected only by bones. Soft and brittle, like pudding in a cage made of chalk, running through the bars, running through her fingers. Zea didn't have any witty banter anymore, didn't have any thoughts in her at all. All she knew was that she was afraid, and all her body understood was digging down through pliable skin and muscle, past eyes swollen with their thick juices, down to a brain she could squeeze in her fist. She needed it. She needed to smear that warm red and white pulp into the dirt, paint it down her face and chest and arms, and maybe then she could scream. But not yet.
First bleeding. First pain. First clawing and twisting and mauling and pieces and wet until nothing was moving. Then... well, Zea didn't know about then. She couldn't even imagine a then. and maybe there was none. Maybe there was just this moment, stretched out forever as she lost herself in terror and shredded meat, surrounded by a mist of spirits even she was no longer seeing or hearing. She wasn't afraid of them. She was afraid of this so now it was all there was.
Zea had never dealt particularly well with her emotions. On some level she'd assumed she must have grown out of them, but nobody could be right all the time. Here they all were. It had been an honest mistake.
Phears smiled as he held her in his grasp. His eyes turned green as he felt her fear. That was good. So good so sweet. He has a smile on his face as he watched her. Then he saw her try to touch him. He growled and moved his head to where she only touched his robe. He was not going let anyone touch him if he could keep from it. Touch was his weakness. The very feel of someone touching his kind unless he was mating was painful. He smiled as he intensified his power wanting to hear her scream. He was feeling better about killing her. Though he had decided to only take what had to. Then he would torture her and leave her here. That was his plan right now .
Problem. Cloth. Clothing. Zea bared her teeth in frustration and balled the fabric around one fist, tightening the fabric so that it couldn't shift and her target couldn't get away. Now they had each other and the most important thing was to dig into his body, carve him out, hollow him, paint the trees with his nerves, wear him like a suit and pull him apart from the inside.
Things that were not important: the way her heart pounded in her head, how hard she could feel her pulse throbbing in her chest, or what she could hear happening around her.
Someone was trying to get her attention. Several someones. Too many voices saying her name, those too far gone to speak bursting little bubbles of emotion to send curiosity and concern and envy. Beneath the rushing of her blood she could hear familiar voices, but they were neither the thing she hated nor between her and it. They couldn't matter. They hummed in agitation; they were not used to being ignored by one of their own. Something was wrong--that much they could feel--but they weren't used to just... not mattering.
Escape didn't matter either. Zea had never had the option to escape anything she had ever feared; the impulse couldn't take root. She'd never been able to evade what wanted her and nobody who would have helped could see or hear what she could. She'd been on her own, and it had been her or them.
That was what mattered.
What mattered was feeling herself sink into his body. He was inside her head, in her heart; Zea would get inside him right back.
Phears frown as he felt her hand balling up his hood. Well that might be a problem for him. If she touched him that would be painful. Though Phears was used to pain when he caught prey like this. He moved his face as far as he could. However the edge of her hand caught him and he growled in pain. He did not like being touched. He growled at her and barred his fangs. He then turned his head and tried to bite her hand. If he did so he would make sure that he hurt her for hurting him.
His eyes still glowed as he started to feel bad again as he was doing this. He may have been mad but he still did not like harming others. Oh well this was how life worked. He was the predator and she was prey. He was feeling the power that this was giving him. He was feeling good yet bad at the same time. Oh the trouble of being a monster with human feelings.
He kept moving! If she'd had the presence of mind to try and be intimidating, to bluff him away, Zea'd have claimed she liked it when her target struggled. It'd be a lie, though, and she didn't have any lies left in her. She hated it when they struggled. It was incredibly aggravating, and she had so much to do.
For once, though, her mind wasn't on her work. Her mind wasn't offering up handy reassurances that Inima had something planned for her, that Inima needed to use Zea for something important and as a result wouldn't take her out of the world until she'd gotten it. Clergy were tools and tools got used. Zea couldn't even offer herself that comfort, of knowing Inima still needed her. She'd forgotten Inima, as completely as she'd forgotten that the growing cacophony of voices had anything to do with her.
She just had to get in. Finally his mouth opened and with an exultant hiss Zea drove her hand for the opening. The flesh sculptor could pull apart teeth as easily as a hard palate, and the hard palate was between her and the brain and she wanted that brain. She wanted it crammed under her fingernails, oozing over the little wrinkles on the back of her knuckles, squelching under her palm, running in dripping thick globs down over the fine little hairs all over her arms. She wanted it and here was a shortcut. She wanted it.
There was a method to this that the creature could not perceive. He did not know that there was other presences here. not yet anyhow. Though he was sure that he might soon find out if he did not hurry up. Though he was not going to let her know just what was behind all of his shadows.
Phears frowned at her as she tried to get her hand in his mouth. He jerked back and glared at her. What was she trying to do? He was abit confused to say the least. Once again her hand touched him and he growled at her again. That was really starting to anger him. He did not care for being hurt like that. Though part of him said that this was his own fault.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts and tried to sling her to the ground. If he succeeded he would then stomp her and try to hurt her some. He wanted to give her a taste of true pain. He wanted to hurt her. Though he was not certain that he wanted her touching him anymore because of the pain.
He was trying to get away! No!
How fucking dare he? Hers! He was hers and his organs were hers and his blood was hers and his bones were hers and his teeth were hers and those glowing eyes were hers and she was going to get them if she had to chase him up a tree and rip him out of the air.
When he flung her, all she had to hold on by was her fist in his cloak, so she swung her legs up to try and latch them around his. He wasn't getting rid of her so easily. He was hers. Everything he had and everything he was was hers. Hers.
Pears was taken by surprise as he saw her swing her legs around his. He grunted and fell on top of her that was not what he had wanted to happen. He had wanted to hurt her and go. Though it seemed that she wanted to play now.. Her looked at her and smiled an then he started to laugh at her. This was pathetic in his mind. If she wanted him she had him now. He then moved his gloved hand and tried to hit her in the face. He would fight her if she wanted a fight. He would kill her if he had to. Right now he wanted nothing more then to get this creature subdued and leave before she was able to get him. Though he would have to admit that this was a fun little game. But his heart was not in it and he was not wanting to play. Sigh what a preferment he now had..
Now she had him. Zea had him. He clubbed her hard in the face and she tasted blood. That would hurt later; it wouldn't look too great either. Didn't matter. Flesh mattered. Meat. All of it was hers. It might have satisfied her to know that even just touching some people could hurt them, but Zea had never heard of any such thing. Everybody she'd ever been beaten into the mud by had needed to be pulled apart.
And then the fear stopped, and she could think again.
What was she doing?
This guy. This guy. He'd done something! He'd done something to her and they had an audience.
"On Inima's earth I curse you," she spat, grabbing again for his face to dig her fingers in and pull it off in a great handful. "No quiet, no rest, no home." That spark of intent was what the spirits around them had been missing. Something had been happening but not all of them were very good at reasoning anymore. Thankfully for their addled convenience, this bit was relatively straightforward. "No peace."
Phears shook his head and smiled at her. He then shoved upward and tried to move away from her. He tried to get to his feet now. He had strength to match his odd powers. However it might be hard to stand up with this woman around his legs like this. Though there was certain things he could do in order to get away from her.
He then heard what she said and frowned at her. He was not wanting to be hurt or cursed by her. She could not really blame her for doing what came naturally to him . Though he was sure that he was in trouble. He was not sure why she kept going for his face. This time she actually touched him more then before. He felt her figure dig in to him some. He howled in pain and started shaking his head. He wanted to shook her free and speak. " You know I had to do that. I would not want to starve . You must understand that don't you?" he was trying to reason with her. Though she might not think so.
Zea's heart was still hammering behind her ribs, but the fire had nothing left to burn. It would put itself out eventually and then she could... well, she didn't know what she'd do. She could decide as her reward for reaching any kind of eventually.
At least she could put one thought after another, though. Somehow they'd ended up on the ground with her holding onto him, legs hooked around his. Zea did not withdraw, as this must have been part of some kind of stratagem, but she had no idea what the hell she'd been thinking. She'd just have to branch off of it without understanding.
She did... she did remember him calling her a miserable bitch. So. Not so exotic after all. Just another bit of masculine trash drifted in from the mainland, where men expected forgiveness when they chose to violate something they wanted. He'd been sorry, then angry, and then sorry again. They were always sorry. Why couldn't he have stayed there with his own kind? The world didn't need them.
Given his bizarrely mainstream macho response to entirely reasonable rejection, Zea took another angle. Pain didn't surprise him. Fear didn't surprise him. The gritty mud between her toes gave her an idea. Her sandals having disappeared at some point, Zea twisted her ankle to gently run the soft curve of its sole up the leg she'd been holding with it, but stopped short of crooking it fondly around his waist. She sucked in an edge of her lip, letting it go wet from the inside of her mouth.
"Welcome to Thanatos, parasite," she purred, staring up through large dark eyes. "...where our kills never really leave us."
She hoped he'd hunted here before. She hoped his own victims chased him to the borders. If they didn't, she'd find someone who would. Ghosts could be ever so eager to please, with the right payment on offer. That Zea possessed in abundance, always had.
Phears was kind of confused when she moved her foot up his leg. Now most people would want him to leave when he tried to. But this creature was not letting him do that. He frowned at her and kind of looked at he wondering what was on her mind. Though he was very surprised by this kind of reaction he shivered when he heard her next words.
He moved his hands to try to make her move her legs from him. Then he tried to move away. That only resulted in him falling back on to her. Unless she moved that is. She was a creep that was for sure. He was not comfortable around her Though after he left her he would not be back. He never hunted the same place twice in case someone were to recognize him.
" let me go woman. I an threw with you." he said softly. Though there was a thought that went threw his head. What if she was not through with him? What if he was now the prey? That was a very scary thought indeed.
"Is that all you see?" Her gaze dropped in modest disappointment, the hurt feelings of a delicate hopeless romantic. Then her eyes snapped back up to him in an aggressive flash, locked steadily onto his glowing ones. "Just a woman?"
Now she did curl her leg up just a little farther, carefully and deliberately tracing this stranger's backside or whatever he kept in that general region. What she found didn't matter. What mattered was the exploration.
"I can't stop if that's still all you see. And you wouldn't have stopped either," she said, shifting her hips under him just slightly, enough to remind him where they were, without once breaking eye contact. "I bet not even if I begged. Men like you never do."
Phears frowned as he heard what she said next. Now if he was trying to hurt feelings he would have said something else. He was simply showing her that he was not interested in her flirting or whatever it was that she was doing. Humm maybe he needed to take another approach . Let her lead and keep his guard up until he knew what she wanted.
" what I see is someone who is either wanting to flirt or wanting something else. However if it is the former then like I said before you are very pretty." he said with a slight smile. He knew not everyone wanted to flirt with someone who wanted to hurt them. Though some did.
He then gave a rather uncomfortable look at her when she touched his backside. This was actually the first time that his prey had done something like this . He looked at her with those glowing red eyes as she looked at him. This was hetting strange indeed.
He then heard what she said and blinked. So he was her so called prey. Maybe he should just play along with this for the moment. " you do not know me. I have a heart. I feel my emotions sometimes" he said with a snort. He then felt her move her hips some. He kind of smiled and shifted a bit. This was not what he had expected. Not at all. " I let you live. That should have told you something." he said with a frown.
Zea smiled, briefly pursed her lips in a sultry implied kiss, and then just kept on smiling. Listen to his excuses. Whatever he was, he clearly came out of the same mold as all the other mainland boys. Never their fault, never made them bad, always thinking they'd done something magnanimous by not doing worse. They all had to tell themselves something.
"It tells me you aren't done with me, or that maybe it's how you tell yourself you're still a good person." With her free leg she began tracing gentle circles on his other calf. "Do you think that makes you special?"
She raised a hand to one of his arms, just a light affectionate touch. If only she were larger, she could engulf him completely. "Do you think that any man who has defiled me thought of himself as a bad man?" She licked the corner of her mouth where nothing was, but had been often enough. "Do you think I should agree? Do you agree?"
Phears was frowning still as he saw her imply a kiss. He was starting to get the idea that she wanted him vulnerable. He then kind of smiled back acting like he was following her lead. He always thought that if he let a few live then he was justified for killing a hundred more. Though perhaps that was his way of ensuring that only the strong survived. Though he knew that he was only a monster to everyone else.
He then frowned when he heard her response to what he had said. Some just did not know when a monster did not want them any longer. " oh I assure you I am finished with you. I just whish to leave. " he said looking at her now. Then he felt her starting to make circles on his calf with her leg. He smiled and looked at her . " no. are you trying to get to me. Because all you are doing is ...." he trailed off being at a lose for words. What was she doing to him?
He frowned at her now and felt her touch his arm. That still was not what he wanted. He tried to move away but only succeeded in moving himself in to a more seductive position. " I am not those men . I am a loner. I do not do anything that is not necessary for survival." he grunted. " think how you like ." he stated now still trying t move away.
Zea tightened her legs when her attacker tried a little more directedly to get away from her. This was clearly upsetting him more than whatever she'd been doing before to land the both of them on the dirt. She wondered how far he'd let her go. She wondered how close he'd let her get. She wondered if she wanted to kill him badly enough to... yes. Yes, she'd get as close as it took and she would not spend a moment regretting it.
If that tactic worked, her mom was going to be so fucking smug, though. It wasn't often that she was grateful for her mother's approach to parenthood, but now? Now she could sort of see it.
She wrapped her fingers tightly in his cloak again, but didn't bolt for exposed skin just yet. "Where you going, lover? If you want to meet them, I can call them here for you. They were all good men, too, good men with needs. Do you want to know what I felt like for them? I promise you they still remember."
Phears was starting to feel like he was not going to escape from her. So this was how it felt to be prey. Wow that was actually quit bad feeling . He was trying not to let her get to him. It would take more then this to get to Phears. Though he was aware that she was not going to stop until one of them gave up. Besides he was no longer in the mood for this game. No he was through with her game indeed.
He moved more now trying to shove his hands between her legs and his. He has to get away from this female. She was wanting something from him and he knew it. He then looked at her when she got her figures in his robe. So she wanted to touch him again. That was something he did not want.
Phears looked at her when she called him lover. He was not her damned lover! He growled evilly at her. He was showing his displeasure. " I am not your lover. No I do not whish to see then. I want to leave here." he stated. Then he tried to moved his hand more as to shove her away.
Zea dropped her seductive pretense and growled the single word, "Why?"
He'd been the one to approach her! As his hands lowered to pry her off of him, she clapped her free hands over one to press it against the inside of her leg. He was the one who'd shown up out of nowhere, heedless of where he was and who she might be, and decided that now was the time to float out of the bushes and get inside of people who hadn't invited him. And now he wanted to go?
Men weren't the only ones who could go from pleading to snarling when denied their assumed right to entry. Zea'd seen that song and dance so many times that the steps came easily.
"You only like it inside people who don't want you?" she hissed. "Is that it? Anybody ever been inside you, lover?"
Phears looked at her now. He had an idea now, he would get her first. He did not say a single word to her. He simply frowned then smiled at her. When she put her hand in his he smiled even more. He gently moved his hand over her leg. The way he was doing this would have been more or less like rubbing a pet. Then he squeezed the inside of her leg and laughed.
" is this what you wanted? Did you want me to give you some attention like this?" he then moved carefully closer almost to her face. So close that she could now see the horrified look that would forever twist his features. " do you like what you see?" he hissed now.
From flattering to spiteful to apologetic to indignant to uncomfortable to smug. This boy's feelings were all over the place. How old was he? It was like dealing with powerful magic wielded by a particularly badly-raised boy of thirteen summers. Maybe all Zea had to do was wait until he came back around to greedy and entitled, since he obviously could not sustain an attitude for longer than the span of a heartbeat.
"I've seen worse and you can't imagine what I've smelled," she whispered. "I told you before to think about where you are."
She pulled again on his cloak to hold him close, hoping to keep his peripheral vision away from what she'd been burying before he showed up, away from the little motions of the dirt packed there as freshly-dead fingers wiggled their way toward the open air. "Have you figured out why?"
Right now Phears was putting on an act. He wanted the woman to believe that he was no longer uncomfortable. That was far from the truth though. Inside he was just wanting out of this situation. He tried to move his hand that she was not holding further between her leg and his. He was going to get this creature off of him one way or another. He then tried to move the other hand back to where he could get her other leg off of him as well.
He then heard what she said and kind of blinked. It was then that it occurred to him that this woman must have been of some importance here. If so he certainly did not need to be on bad side. She then pulled on his cloak and he was moved closer to her. He had to get away from her.
" you have to be someone who is highly regarded. " he stated with a frown. Then using all of his strength he tried to stand up again. This time he got to his feet and then tried to shove her away from him. He was going to get away from her right now!
Highly regarded? Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe by some, less so by others. By the spirits, though... yes. Maybe those were the ones he had to worry about most.
When Phears stood up, a dirty brown-skinned hand was pulling itself by its fingers across newly-disturbed earth toward Zea. Its stump of a wrist was fairly evenly sawn off, clearly removed carefully rather than savagely ripped by an animal.
"You are standing near a temple to the goddess who rules and orders these lands, populated by priests and warriors and..." She flashed a smile, appearing and then gone so swiftly if Phears had blinked in the wrong moment he'd have missed it. "...a particularly disturbed researcher into... well. I don't think she'd call them necromantic arts. Not with an audience, anyway. On very good terms with the spirits of the land and obviously one of the blessed of Inima." She winked. "Or so I hear."
Phears was busy looking at the female now. He failed to notice the severed hand moving across the earth. He did not want to have this female on him any longer. He moved now watching the girl and listing to her. He got the feeling that she might have been talking about herself now. That was just plan creepy to him. To be able to work with what was dead. He merely dug graves not broth things to life.
" hum so I see. Well then I shall not stick around long enough to find out who this rescuers is then. Of course I am certain I already know whom it is." he then shifted his Waite and moved his head slightly. Just enough to see the approaching hand. He blinked and gave a nervous growl. He was not happy about seeing that at all.
The hand continued advancing, eventually propping it up on four fingers to raise the middle one like a questing neck which swept back and forth to find Phears and approach closer.
"You had better not," she said, still speaking from the dirt where she'd held him before this cheap little boy had wrenched himself away. "As long as you are in Thanatos, you will be followed by angry spirits who know to tattle to every soul speaker in the nation." Slowly she pulled herself up to her knees, and sat on her heels. "And you will be very unlucky if I'm the one who reaches you first. Because I can do anything I want to someone like you and no one will take your word over mine."
She hawked and spat at him.
"Get over here and give me what I want or get out and hope you can run faster than I can chase."
Then she stood.
Phears saw the hand and how it moved. That really creeped him out. He did not want to be anywhere near that thing. He was not sure how she did what she did with that hand but he was not wanting to find out either.
Phears then heard what she said next. That scared him even more then the hand did. He did not want a bunch of ghosts following him around telling on him. He would rather jusr have been left alone. " oh ...." was all he could manage to say. Then he heard her threat and just frowned at her. He was certain that he would not allow himself to be caught by her. " I will never allow such a thing to happen. I am not an easy target." he said still a bit nervous. He did not like where this was going not one little bit. He started to move away quickly. He was moving away from her. He did know where he did not want to be though.
Then she spat at him and he just moved quicker. This female wanted to kill him . He would not allow her to do that. He was all about self preservation . " I cant give you my life. I am not willing to die today." he said still moving away. Then he turned and smack hard in to a low hanging tree branch. He hit almost hard enough to knock himself to the ground. Man that hurt. He groaned a bit and held his head . He wanted the pain to go away so that he could run.
He then remember that she had stood up. He glanced to where she had been wondering if she was still standing there. Whatever she wanted from him he sure did not want to give it to her.
Not an easy target.
No, he'd just wander up to total strangers assuming that anybody smaller than he was must be helpless. He'd just tromp around an island of soul speakers and flesh sculptors and diviners under the assumption that his messy kills would never catch up to him. He'd just let himself get distracted by footsie from natural hazards.
If he wasn't trying to die, he must have been very very new to this whole monster business.
Had Zea been too nice?
She'd certainly given him plenty of chances to realize that he was making embarrassingly bad life choices. She'd given him a hint that she wasn't some helpless forest maid before they'd even made eye contact. She'd given him the chance to consider his context before he'd attacked her. She'd done something to him she couldn't even remember before he tried to escape that first time. Then she'd given his so-called heart an opportunity to realize the rationalizations he fed to it were the same chickenshit excuses every other garden-variety ravager told himself. And now she'd given him the opportunity to get a head start.
Why?
Something inside her smiled.
Because if he lived, there was a good chance that this way he'd grow up and see through his own flimsy denial. Either he'd discard this inane pretense of being a person with a conscience, or he'd hate how utterly common and paltry his predations were and rot inside from disgust.
That was one trick her mother hadn't taught her. Zea's mom never had the patience to get her enemies to torture themselves. But then his back was turned and Zea bolted over to grab him again to pull the meat away from his neck. Old reflexes died hard, and if she ever felt sad about having denied herself the long game, she'd console herself with jewelry shaped from his bones.
It was not the fact that he was new to killing and being a monster. It was the fact that on the inside he just wanted to be peaceful. Though given the fact that he had to kill to live that just was not possible.
If there was one fact to be noted about Phears it was the fact that he was stupid. He was not the brightest of creatures and he really did not seem to try to be smart. Though he was very crafty when he actually though about it. Like right now he was trying to think of a new plan to rid himself of this female.
As he glanced back he saw her running towards him. He still had a lot of pain from that bump but that would be dealt with latter. As she was almost to him he did the one thing he knew how. He flew straight up. High in to the air he rose and then watched her for a second. He knew that she would not stop with trying to kill him. However he was not going to die today. Not if he could help it he was not. Not smart but smart enough was he.
He laughed at her and then moved away from her. He was going to leave her if he could. Though he knew that she could not reach him he was still afraid to stick around in case she wanted to try something else.
When Zea's fingers closed only on air, she stared upward past the incompetent spook's feet to those ridiculous glowing eyes. Briefly she curled her upper lip to show little white teeth, but had herself back under control momentarily. She looked around for a tree with low enough branches that would let her follow the stupid thing with his burdensome alleged feelings, but by then he had gone.
"Find him," she whispered, urging the spirits around her home onward and upward.
Then she growled in frustration, kicked at the ground with one bare foot, and knelt to snatch up the hand she'd brought crawling out. Now she had to bury it all over and she was angry. Of course she was. What else would she be? What were her other options?
Phears moved quickly threw the sky. He had to get away from here. He knew that the female who he had attacked was wanting to kill him. He moved quickly but soon was encounter by something strange. Ghost who were most unhappy. He blinked in surprised and moved back form them. He then took off back the way he had gone from going even faster hoping to leave them behind. Though he had kind of forgotten about that angry woman he had left back there.