The River

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@Sulli The news of them heading out to the mountains was strange. Daimons tended to stick to cities, anywhere where they could get easy human prey, so if they were that far out she wondered what they were planning. Worse than that though was the news of a loss of a were-hunter, their souls were valuable and she hated knowing some daimon was going destroy it just to live a little longer. "They all know where Sanctuary is and we have daimons in there every so often so I am not worried about that." she said dismissively, trying to give the young dark-hunter at least something nice to think about. "There is no violence of any kind allowed in Sanctuary so we never have to fight them there."

When her friend stopped she did too and tried to listen for the same sound but heard nothing. Dara's senses were quite sharp so she wondered briefly if Sulli was becoming paranoid. Not that it was a bad thing, it would probably keep her alive, but it was definitely something new Dara had to take into account. "It's fine. If I see daimons I will let you know and then we will kill them."

@Dara Sulli sighed. "There's been reports from up in the mountains. Increased numbers of Daimons, but not just that. They're getting faster, stealthier. Last time they took out a human family unawares, and we didn't even know until after a patrol got up there. We lost a were-hunter to them the other day." She looked at Dara with worry. "I'm afraid they'll get to the Sanctuary, and we won't know until it's too late." She thought of all the creatures living, working, growing inside of the Sanctuary: dark-hunters and were-hunters alike, and, yes, even Hyeri. She wanted to protect them, and she knew Dara wanted the exact same, fiercely, perhaps even more so than Sulli.

She opened to continue, then paused, cocked her head out of long years of instinct. There was a sound behind her, soft. It could have been anything. Still, it bothered her. Everything did these days. She hesitated, tried to sense whatever spirits might be around them. Nothing. The closest humans were yards away, lumbering along in the trees at the river's edge, blissfully unaware of Daimons or anything else of their world. She shook her head. "Sorry. False alarm."

@Sulli Although her friend had tried to cover up her feelings she was going to give up that easily. Something bothering a dark-hunter was never good. If they were distracted they could fail and people could end up dead, and that was just the beginning of potential problems. Not that Dara cared only about the job her friend was doing, no, her mind just always went to the worst possible scenario and to her that was it. She would just have to go about getting Sulli to open up in a different way.

"If you say so." she replied and in cold air at the mention of her pack. Since the deaths of her parents a few years back she had been the only one left, the last alpha of the dragon clan that anyone knew on any continent. Things probably should have felt lonely for her or hard but she never really even thought about it. Her life consisted of making sure things at Sanctuary ran smoothly, being available to help both were-hunter and dark-hunter missions, and taking care of her friends. Everything else didn't even make the radar and she was alright with that.

Dara sighed and shrugged. "It's still just me, no matter how much Seungri pretends he can be a dragon too." she answered and chuckled at the thought. He had been by her side basically her entire life, grown up with him, and he was like her brother. "Daimons are daimons, you know that. I should be asking you how patrols are going?"

With a concerned look she gazed at her friend and linked their arms together. It was a little odd given their height difference but she didn't care. Sulli was beautiful, sweet and if there was anything Dara could do for her then she would do it. No matter what she would be there for Sulli, especially if the girl claimed that she didn't want or need it.

@Dara "Hey, fire-breath," replied Sulli, and softened her words with a smile, albeit a somewhat tired one. She pushed back stray bangs with one hand. "Just...you know, thinking. But enough of that. We came here to enjoy each other's company, not to dwell on past mistakes, I believe. And I'd much rather hear you talk than hear myself grouch about my own self-worth." She grins down at Dara. "How are things with your pack? The daimons aren't getting too tiring, are they?"

She watched Dara as she spoke. Her friend wasn't the tallest were-hunter Sulli knew, but she still carried herself with a certain poise, a certain confidence that others lacked entirely. As only befit an alpha, Sulli supposed. Not to mention, as a dragon of her skill and reputation. Dara was beautiful, but not in a weak way, like so many humans Sulli knew. Not in a masculine way, either. She was at once perfectly feminine and perfectly commanding, beautiful because of her poise and maturity. And, of course, she was always a good friend. Sulli smiled. Dara could enliven any room by just being in it, and she always had the best jokes and pranks. That, combined with her fighting prowess, made Sulli look up to her. Dara cheered Sulli up even when Sulli was at her most selfish, most desperate, wanting nothing but to close herself off to the world and wallow in her selfishness. That was why Sulli hoped fervently that she could return that favor to Dara as much as she possibly could.

Not like that incorrigible furball Hyeri, Sulli thought with annoyance. But enough of that for now. She could worry about Hyeri and her other problems later; right now she had some quality catching-up time to do.

Which reminded her, in turn, of Dara's best friend, sometimes resident troublemaker. She grinned at Dara. "Seungri's not been giving you any trouble lately, right?"

@Sulli The wind blew up off of the river with a slight chill that had Dara shivering in her black leather biker jacket. With a shudder she pulled it in closer around her and pulled down the hood just a bit more so it wouldn't fly off in the breeze. Even though she was dressed warmly it still always took her weeks and sometimes months to get used to the weather change. Her and her friends joke that it was because of her reptilian cold blood but she doubted that was actually the case.

These nighttime excursions were common for her whenever she had a chance to take a break from Sanctuary. The she-dragon loved her job but there were still times when she wanted to enjoy the moonlight freely as opposed to making sure everyone else was enjoying it. Plus it was the only way she could see her dark-hunter friends without one or both of them being at work.

As she saw Sulli waiting for her up ahead for just that she grinned and quickened her pace. "Hey pretty lady." she called and winked to her friend before stepping up beside her. Immediately she could tell that the other was distressed by something but she didn't know what it was. "What's wrong?"

@Dara Sulli hovered around one of the ever-bright street lamps at the river's edge, watching yellow light ripple along the dark water below her, brooding. How long would it be before there was another Daimon attack on the humans, somewhere she couldn't see, somewhere she couldn't stop them? Her last raid had gone so badly. And with each new raid, she couldn't help but be reminded, with each slash of her blades, of the way she'd fought off the men who killed her. With each tortured cry, she couldn't help but be reminded of the way father had cried at her death. With each empty gaze, she couldn't help but be reminded of the way he'd been dry, left for worse than dead. It made her feel sick that she was still here, albeit as what she was, a twisted shadow of her mortal form: immortal, but crippled. Whole, yet hollow. Living beyond her time.

At least she was still here at all. Father wasn't. She dug her nails into white-drawn skin, staring out across the water. She couldn't even feel his spirit anywhere. He was gone, and he didn't even have the chance to make a bastard body through a bastard promise with some fickle goddess of the afterlife. She felt like she'd betrayed him. Like he should have been the one to go on as an undead warrior, not her.

She exhaled deeply, forced her fingers to hang open. Relax, Sulli, she told herself. She had come here precisely to get rid of those thoughts, that burgeoning sense of guilt. She'd come here for release. She raised her head, listened for the sound of footsteps in the distance. She had asked an old friend to come here, to share news. Perhaps that friend could help her forget. After all, company helped heal old wounds.