Ask Night Terrors

[Zero]

Clouds swirled above, darkened and foreboding as they rumbled with a certain grittiness, warning those below them of what was eventually to come. A village rested just underneath the brewing storm, one that resembled a ghost town more than anything else. Despite the lack of apparent life, the place was still inhabited by those that were unfortunate enough not able to leave, wading through the streets as if each step was a struggle.

Zero strolled down the same street silently, passing Rodians only offering him peeks before continuing on and without any reaction from the Hunter. The number of looks he received was as varied as the color of Rodians he saw; a few appeared grateful, finally laying eyes upon a solution to their plight. For the others, it was a mix of horror and hate as they had heard rumors of what flowed within his blood. Not only was he an abomination, but he was also bleeding them dry.

Even though the village had a meager appearance and energy to it, the townspeople managed to scape enough credits together in order to put up a suitable payment. Zero was made and bred to kill monsters but he was never made to do it for free. It was the one constant rule that the Association managed to maintain across all Chapters.

As he walked down the mud street, multiple houses would noticeably be much more damaged than others. Sections of each would be crumbled and interestingly, a hole appeared in the roof of each one. Before he let himself get distracted before he agreed to the contract, Zero halted in the middle of the street before pulling out a puck from one of his pockets. Activating it, it projected a holo of the supposed Elderman of the town and the person to acquire more information. Slipping the device away after, another inspective scan was taken of the town before he located what appeared to either be the town hall or cantina, he couldn't decipher which.

Not intending to waste what daylight he had, Zero approached the door of the building, the only sound audible from him being the soft crinkling of the leather in his outfit. Without announcing himself, he simply opened the door and stepped inside.

@lizziie

 

[Venus]

Venus had been on her own for a few months now, ever since she and her former mentor had parted ways. From time to time she missed them - or rather, she missed hunting with them - but the longer time went on, the less and less she cared. The Neti had never been one to dwell on the past. With so many potential years ahead of her, it was much more natural for her to live in the present and look forward to the future.

Being on her own though, meant taking solo jobs. This one had neatly presented itself to her. Someone knew someone who came from a village that was dealing with some sort of problem right along Venus' alley, and she'd made the contact. Pretty soon she was on her way there, touching her ship, the Vessel, down outside a cloudy village. Venus wasn't super happy about the cloudy weather, but it wasn't the end of the world.

As it turned out though, this wasn't a solo mission. Venus was informed of this when she reached the contact's hut, not long after she ducked her towering form through the door and sat down in one of the various chairs lined up against the room's walls. She didn't even have to wait five minutes before her partner for the mission walked in the door, a few inches shorter than her and a lot more covered up. The Neti's attention was immediately drawn to the mask covering his face, a bit of a sparkle in her wooden features.

"Ah, you're both here... wonderful." The elder Rodian man stood up from his chair, and Neti followed not a moment after. "My apologies for not informing you about this... partnership.," he said to Zero with only a whisper of regret in his tone. "Either of you, actually," he added, noting aloud that Venus hadn't been aware of it either (until about five minutes ago). "The... creature that bothers us is quite... formidable. I was not confident only one... hunter would sufice."

Venus, again, just shrugged. She was unbothered by the surprise and had no expectations for Zero whatsoever. As long as he wasn't out for her neck, she was confident she could manage.

"Ah, so, this is Zero," the old man began, gesturing to the masked hunter who'd just walked in while looking Venus' way. He turned his gaze to the man, intending to repeat the introduction. "And this is-"

"Venus." The Neti interrupted the Rodian before he could finish, speaking in a slightly raspy, alto voice. She gave him a short nod, then turned her emerald gaze to the old man again. "Can you tell us everything you know about it?"

tag: @Orbit

 

[Zero]

Entering what he discovered to be the town hall, there were two souls inside, one expected by him and the other not so. While he was here for the Elderman, Zero's attention solely focused on the Neti donned in gear similar to his, albeit each in their own preferred style. She wasn't Ventooine Chapter, he would have recognized her or they would've already had their blades out for each other. The contract had been left up and active when he took it, leading him to get the sense that she was a freelancer, in essence, a wildcard for him.

In theory, two trained sets of hands could more easily take out a monster but Zero wasn't pleased. Whatever payment had been scrounged up from the village would unfortunately be a 50/50 split between them. Not only has his pay decreased but he now had to keep one eye on the back of his head more than he already did with this random Hunter. Silence would occupy the space between the two of them, announcing exactly what he thought.

Zero peeled his gaze away when the Rodian spoke up, apologizing for having Venus and him cross streams; it being too late for them to do anything about it but listen to the proposition. As the Elderman spoke, he quietly walked over to one of the windows, peering out of it as he stared out at one of the destroyed houses across the street. Both his arms crossed over his chest, once again the only sound emanating from him being the light crinkling of leather. With the Rodian introducing each other, there wasn't much to say as Venus immediately launched into questioning, the secret game of their people.

The Rhodian glanced at Zero and then at Venus before answering, "I have little information. We've done our best to avoid the creature, not find out more about it. We haven't even visited the houses attacked." A tired sigh escaped him, one filled with stress and fear, "So far, there have been three attacks. It's always at night when we're all asleep and in our homes." The Rhodian then closed his eyes, his long fingers pressing into them as he rubbed to recount the memories. "Every time, all we could hear was screaming... from those attacked. And we can always hear... the screeches that the creature makes." A shutter followed his words, obviously able to remember that at least clearly.

Dropping his hands from his face, the Rhodian walked over to Venus as she was the one more responsive between the two, "It's been a few days since the last attack. It will come again... Soon. You have to help us, please. We can obviously pay!"

 

[Venus]

Zero wasn't a talker apparently, which instantly reminded her of her former mentor. She couldn't help but wonder if this was just a side effect of being a hunter. Would she too, in about five years, retreat into a shell of broody silence?

The Neti listened to the Rodian man speak and found herself greatly disappointed that he had but a crumb of information for them. It came at night, it was specifically violent against structures and the people inside, and it screeched. It was... something, at least.

"Has anyone survived one of these attacks?" she asked after a moment, glancing over to Zero briefly to see if he looked like he was paying attention. Notably, she ignored his emotional plea, trying to get him back on the topic to see if he could give them any more info. "And how much damage has it appeared to do to these homes? Structural, or just minimal?" Hopefully the answer to that could give them an idea of how big it was, especially if there weren't any survivors thus far.

tag: @Orbit

 

[Zero]

The two Hunters arrived at the same conclusion; the Rodian's information was worth jack-shit. That fact wasn't too surprising in their line of work. For most people, if they laid eyes on the monstrosities Hunter's fought; their reaction is to shit their pants and strive to forget the memory of the encounter, not remember the fine details.

When Venus glanced over to Zero, she would find him still staring out the window as he gave up on the Rodian and instead tried to gleam whatever information he could from the destroyed houses. He's been through this dance enough that he trusted his own eyes more then a majority of the reports by "witnesses." Even so, she would be able to see that he was still listening, only by the indication of the slight tilting of his head whenever she finished asking a new question, waiting to see what the answers were. Whatever their worth was.

The Rodian sadly shook his head to her first question, "None." The pain was apparent in his voice given their tightknit community. To her second question, he answered slightly louder, "Uh... structural, I'd assume. Like I said, we've done our best to avoid the houses. You both should just look for..." What cut him off would be the sound of the door squeaking open, Zero stepping out as he was one step ahead of the Alderman. "Yourselves," he finished before slowly looking back to Venus as he asked fearfully, "Will you two be able to work together?"

Zero exited out onto the street, a couple of the villagers taking a wide berth away from him. A glance wasn't offered to them as he instead identified the houses that were attacked. Not really pausing for Venus, he began to walk toward the nearest one.

 

[Venus]

Look for herself. Okay, helpful. As for whether or not the two of them would be able to work together... "It's on him," she answered, giving the man a half-shrug. "Guess I should go see." With that she exited as well, giving the man a wave with her back turned as she ducked out of the small hut.

It wasn't difficult for Venus to spot the tactically-dressed man after she exited the hut as her height allowed her a greater vantage point. She followed in his direction, paying no attention to the villagers that looked her way. She was much more interested in the silent fellow.

"Do you speak?" she asked upon reaching the house, simply standing by and surveying the area as she waited for an answer from the man. Her tone wasn't rude, though it might be taken that way if she didn't specifically sound curious. Maybe the man was mute, maybe he was broody. Who knew; not her, not yet. "If we're going to work together, might as well make things easy," she continued. "What are you good at?"

tag: @Orbit

 

[Zero]

Zero paused at the foot of the small stairs that led to the front door. There was a stiff air that emanated from the abode, all of the windows were colored dark from the lack of lighting inside and more importantly, lack of life. Each house that was attacked carried the same air and made them easily stand out amongst the rest, the villagers giving them a wide berth just like the Hunters.

The silent Hunter could hear Venus approach before she asked her question, the response from him only being a slow glance toward her, even his eyes hidden away underneath the mask to give away nothing. Even though his reply wasn't vocal, it was loud enough that she would get the idea. Zero turned his attention back to the front door before ascending the small two-step to approach it.

He expected it to be unlocked and it was but when he tried to open it, the door would barely budge, as if it was stuck against the frame. Zero fiddled with the door as Venus continued to speak, coming to the conclusion that simply pushing against it would accomplish nothing. When she arrived at her second question, he took another glance toward her and was once more greeted with silence. But this time, he would take a step back as he tore his gaze away from the Neti and fixed it on the door once again. One step was taken before he launched his right foot right underneath the door handle, the hinges giving as it opened with the sound of splintering wood.

They would be greeted with darkness but more importantly, both of them would notice this sort of black goop that almost completely covered the inside. After the door had opened, a large clump of it fell from above and right in front of Zero with a sort of squelch. When he glanced around the door frame, he saw the same black goop all around the edge, explaining the reason why the door had been stuck.

Zero turned on his flashlight, the device connected to his chest, a cone of light provided to make his steps easier as he entered inside to investigate.