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[ Yuri lets out a laugh. The beast knows they're there, now, and rears up with a roar. He skids under its legs and clawed feet and leaps up with another cry ]

Rising phoenix!

[ Flames follow him as he cuts the beast's side before slamming down on it with the butt of his sword. It's inelegant, sure, but it's effective, and he grins at Anna, glad to see her feeling this, too. Fighting makes him feel alive, makes his blood burn in a way it never does here, always frigid ice running through his veins. ]

[anna is trying to take the thing head-on herself; by splitting its attention, she thinks she can keep yuri more safe than he would be, but she'll only realize that once the adrenaline wears off. all she can do is muster a battle cry as she goes after its horns, trying to remove some of the more dangerous parts of the beast first. her swing is precise as she jumps up and slices straight through one of them, leaving a glowing, smoking stump in her path. the blade gets indented in the other and the electricity surges, turning the keratin-or-whatever red hot.]

[her arm goes up to cover her face as quick as she can, protecting the twisted smile she feels growing on it. between the cry of the beast as yuri executes his frighteningly coordinated attack and the sudden explosion of its horn into burning, bleeding shards, she barely remembers that they had been talking about serious things only a handful of minutes ago. there is blood and there is bone, and she's starting to feel a little more at peace.]

[in the light of day, that may worry her.]

[ She certainly isn't alone in that. Fighting is the one place where Yuri feels fully himself, where he lets go, where he's unrestrained, and it may get him hurt, it may put him in danger, but, hell, it's worth it. He doesn't question it, not really. This is who he is, this is what he's good at. Fighting, killing, he's worked on those skills, he's good at it, he likes it. It was valuable, it's the one valuable thing he brings to the table.

He barks out a laugh as she cuts off its horn, and its attention is split, lunging toward her with a loud cry. Yuri takes the opportunity to slip to its side and plunge his sword between its ribs. The beast roars, throwing its head back, and it's not quite dead, not quite gone, but it won't be long now. ]

[good. good. she needs more. that cry rings in her ears and thrums in her chest, and she leaps upward to avoid a fierce buck of its hornless head right at her. in the air, time seems to slow down as she grips her sword in both hands and points it directly downward. the lightning crackles, arcs to the spot she'd just been standing.]

[as soon as it hits the ground in front of the beast, she plunges downward towards its head—towards its eye. there's a rush of memory inside her that she may later realize is a mostly good thing, but right now it just fuels her, gives her this exact idea and the power to enact it. she doesn't want to cut right through its brain or anything, and she'll be more than fine lancing through its eye and jaw on the way down. the wound cauterizes itself on the way through, so there is just burning flesh and another shriek.]

[she's left her sword embedded in it, letting the residual lightning do its work and shock the beast into a state of paralysis. the killing blow should be yuri's, after all. he's the one who's been hunting it.]

[ Yuri watches her move, awed, and ducks under another swipe of its giant paw. It catches him, tearing a hole in his jacket, but doesn't get any more of him. Maybe stop watching and pay attention, Yuri.

He shakes his head, taking a few steps back, taking in the beast, still and shocked and he drags his hand along his sword like Anna taught him and decides, hell, why not? He starts running at it before leaping in the air and doing the move she showed him, weeks, months ago, bringing the sword down with a shout and a burst of lightning, cracking through its skull.

The beast keels over, and he falls back to the ground, his hair standing on end ]

Hell yeah! That was amazing!

[ He holds out an arm for her to hit if she wants ]

[it's her turn to stand in awe. she recognizes that move. he's learning from her? she's teaching someone? maybe not actively but. god. it cuts through the bloodlust and makes her head jerk back a little with the realization; the surprise is still on her face when he talks to her again. she hits arms with him and then finally seems to actually recover enough to speak. the beast itself is still keeping her sword warm, but she doesn't need it back quite yet.]

Hell yeah it was. Who taught you that electrified helm splitter trick? Whoever it was must be super cool and sexy. [smirk. that's right, anna. just pretend everything else didn't happen. she pokes at his jacket where the beast swiped.] Nearly got you for a second there, huh? That thing wasn't so hard with the two of us.

Y'know, she is.

[ Yuri laughs brightly, looking at the cut in his jacket with a grimace ]

Guess so. Man, I like this jacket. But, hey, we make a good team.

[ Even if the hunt hasn't been perfect, even if the conversation that was cut off sticks in his mind, he's glad to be here with Anna. He gets it, he thinks, at least some of it. Gets not wanting to be vulnerable, being afraid of showing someone the soft, vulnerable parts of yourself. ]

Damn right we do. We should do this hunting thing more often together.

[she heads over to the corpse and wrenches her sword from its body. she wipes the entire thing clean on her longcoat in a long, practiced swipe, then sheathes it in the bag on her back. eventually she'll upgrade that, too, but it works for now. the metallic stench seeps a little more into her mind, and she smiles with just a hint of menace behind it.]

Maybe I can tell you a better story next time. One with a lot more blood.

Hell yeah. Feels like home.

[ Y'know, if the monster isn't really a person. Maybe he should interrogate that later. He looks over the monster's body. He should probably do something with that. He whistles, and Smokey caws overhead, flying down toward them and growing in size as he does. He can feel Yuri's intention here, and picks up the beast's body in his giant claws. ]

I'll split whatever we get from it with you.

[ He jerks his head back toward the town and starts to head in that direction ]

I got some of those stories, too. Some big monsters back home, got some good stuff for taking them down.

[a very impressive trick, and maybe one she'll teach vier later. not that she thinks they'd be into it, but, like. just good to have in her back pocket.]

Appreciate it, but you did the hard work of tracking it all down. I'm not against you getting the lion's share. [she's glad to follow him, still high on the rush of battle and camaraderie.] Can't believe you were doing this for pay this whole time and I'm over here fighting monsters for free.

Hah! Man, that's something the guild taught me: never do anything for free. Karol got so pissed at me when I would.

[ He snorts and grins at her. He feels better, too, more himself, balanced against the awfulness of Trench ]

And I gotta make enough to feed three guys. You have no idea how much Flynn eats.

Ha, god. That's one thing I don't mind about living alone. I get to decide what I eat and when. Way easier to plan things out that way. [way lonelier, too, but she's ignoring that part.]

Oh hey, that reminds me. You guys do anything like Thanksgiving in your world? 'Cause I think that's coming up, if time works the same around here.

Man, it's been so long since I got to do that. [ He isn't actually jealous. Cooking for one is no fun ] You could come over sometime. There's always extra.

Thanksgiving? Nah, haven't heard of it. Is that some kind of festival?

It's this big thing about family back home. Late November, everyone gets together to eat a ton of food and have arguments with family members that you can't stand the rest of the year. It's a way to celebrate what everyone's thankful for in the past year.

[though, of course, anna would be coming at it with a little negativity behind it.]

I haven't been invited to one in a while. Mostly I just spend the holiday sitting around at home eating, like, turkey sandwiches or something.

[ He snorts a laugh at that ] So, you inviting me or what? I never hate an excuse to eat a lot of food and argue.

[and she responds much the same way.]

Man, I've never organized one of these. I had this friend back home who handled all of that. If you, like, wanna hang out or anything then we can totally do that, though. Flynn can come too.

Yeah, we'll come hang out. Flynn loves an excuse to have a party.

[ He laughs easily, shaking his head ]

Be careful, he might make it into a whole thing. Just put the idea into his head and he'll be your new handling it all friend.

God. Rather take my chances with another beast. [that's mean, and she nudges Yuri's shoulder to let her know she's just joking.]

Don't need Flynn being my keeper. I know he can handle it all, but can he really handle two of us?

Eh... he can handle a lot. Been my friend since we were kids, hasn't he?

But, y'know, I wouldn't go head to head with him if I was you.

[ They're close to the city now, heading in back the walls ]

I definitely don't wanna go head to head with either of you. [this is going to come out casually, but hopefully yuri can recognize the sincerity underneath it. maybe she just feels safer because they're about to be inside the walls soon.]

I'd rather have you both at my side than against me in a fight. Whether this place lets me always have that is a different story, but, you know.

Yeah, that... [ He's worried about that, too. Worried that this place will set him against his friends, that it will make him hurt or kill them ]

We'll do what we can to make sure that doesn't happen.

I think we're doing a pretty good job of it. You always hear about how you have to believe in the power of friendship to fight that stuff off, right? [that's just, like. she may just be tempting fate by saying that. but again, it's fine.] Not to be sappy about it or anything, but you two are probably the best friends I have around here.

[ That gets him, right in his gut. He almost protests, but, well, he gets it. He gets the power of friendship because that's what helped save their world, that's how he did all that stuff. He never would have done it on his own. ]

...yeah. You are too, Anna. I know I, hell. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there, back in September. [ When Flynn died. It's strange, being this honest with her, but he feels like she deserves it. ] That really, it means a lot. Lucky to have met you.

[ He doesn't look at her when he says it, instead staring hard at a tree ]

[nah, she knows how it gets. she doesn't try to fight for his attention as he says it, and when she hears those words, there's a pang of something in her chest that makes her feel warm all over.]

Yeah, well. I just know what it feels like to go through that kind of thing alone. Didn't want you to feel the same way. [it seems as natural a way as any to return to the subject that she cut herself off from discussing so crudely earlier. she looks at her palm, the cuts already healing better than they ever really had back home, instead of to yuri.]

Flowers don't work with Rose. She didn't like them. Not after one tried to use her to take over the world.

You did, huh? [ He does look at her now, easier when it's not him who's being vulnerable. He cares about her, he really does, another person who's nestled their way in his heart, alongside too many others.

It takes him a moment to place the last thing she says, but he lets out a soft laugh ] Oh, yeah? Alright. No flowers, then. Too easy, anyway. She was probably sick of them before that, too, huh?

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