A Chance Encounter

Terra jumped a fence, hoping it would at least slow down the creature following her, she just hoped to find somewhere she could rest for a little while, because this thing had been chasing her all day. Even the training she received from the wolves couldn't prepare her for this.

She ran through an alleyway in this mid-sized town, and looked behind her to see if the monster was still there, if she didn't get herself lost then none of this would have happened. She felt the throbbing pain in her arm return, an injury from a centaur. If it weren't for that centaur she would be able to use her spear and hold her ground. Unfortunately with the injury that wasn't an option, so she had to flee, running like a scared little girl. At least she couldn't see the monster anymore, Terra was about to turn her attention back to where she was go when she ran right into somebody, it was a redheaded girl, maybe a few inches shorter than Terra.

Daquiri was still in a rather foul mood from her meeting with Lupa the previous night. It was a couple hours after noon now, she would guess, but her irritation at the Wolf Goddess still hadn't dissipated. She had been dragged all the way across the United States, and had she gotten some answers? Pfft, no. Just directions. For more traveling. Thanks, Mama Wolf--real helpful.

But Daquiri's train of thought was knocked off its tracks. Literally. She gave an oof as she was tackled to the ground and she immediately began to fumble for her dagger as she struggled to un-entangle herself from her attacker. A few rather nasty choice of words were spat out, as well. It was surprisingly easy to roll her attacker over onto their back, and Daquiri had to wonder in the back of her mind why an opponent would attack her when they were obviously the weaker party. Her instincts pushed the thought away, however, and instead brought her blade up to her opponent's neck.

"What do you--" Daquiri cut herself off in slight surprise when she found herself looking into the face of another girl. Her words left her for only a moment, however. "What the h***?" she snapped. She kept her dagger in place, but didn't press it into the girl's skin.

Terra and the girl both fell over, but the red-head managed to get her bearings quicker, all the while saying some rather unfriendly words. Terra ended up lying on her back and she wished she could just lie there, except for the fact that the red-headed girl put a knife to her throat.

Terra's first reaction was confusion, and based on the other girl's expression, the confusion was mutual. Despite the pang of fear that came with having a knife to her throat, Terra noticed that the knife was made of an unusual material--the same material that of her spear. Terra knew that a mortal probably wouldn't have a knife like that, let alone have a reason to carry it around.
"I'm sorry...I wasn't paying attention," Terra said, but anyone could tell she was distracted. Partly because of the dagger that was dangerously close to her neck, and partly because she felt blood gushing from her arm, meaning that the wound had reopened. Probably because of the fall, or perhaps the brief struggle that had happened in the few moments afterwards.

"No s*** you weren't," Daquiri growled. The girl didn't seem like a threat, if her demeanor was anything to go by, but Daquiri had learned there was no such thing as being too careful. However, she noticed a second later a wound on the girl's arm that was bleeding rather heavily. She may have not liked people, but she wasn't heartless. Well, that, and she was a tad bit wary of where the girl had gotten such a wound. She hoped whatever it was wasn't near by...

The red-head made sure no pressure was on the girl's injured arm, and she withdrew her knife a little, but she stayed sitting on top of her, weighing her down. "Do I need to kill you, or are you going to be on your way if I let you up?" she asked, her voice a bit cold. Just because she was bleeding didn't mean she had to be nice.

Terra's attention was on the knife as the girl spoke, the material was definitely the same as the spear. Shel seemed to notice the wound on Terra's arm, and while not seeming sincere or concerned, the red-head had adjusted her position slightly upon noticing it. She knew that she could probably walk away, but then she might end up wandering around lost again. The "homing" sense she supposedly had wasn't much help for her finding where she was supposed to go, which meant that her best chance was to go with this rather unfriendly girl.

Then there was the fact that there was still a monster chasing her, which still took priority, while she could simply leave the girl, Terra knew she couldn't just let the girl be attacked without warning. Even if the red-head wasnt the nicest person on the planet.

"We don't have time, it'll be here any se-" Terra stopped when she saw the centaur, he was standing about maybe ten or fifteen feet behind the red-head.

Daquiri caught the girl staring at her dagger, and she gave her a suspicious look. If she was going to try to give her some kind of bulls*** reasons why she should let her go now, her chances of Daquiri actually listening were thinning. When the girl started to say they "didn't have time," she started to roll her eyes. Just what she was expecting.

But then a rather unsettling noise from behind made her rethink some things.

Slowly turning around, the red-head slid off of the girl as calmly as possible, all the while keeping her eyes on the monster. It looked like a centaur from the myths, except this thing looked much less nice. Not exactly the kind you'd expect to come popping out of The Chronicles of Narnia. This one had huge, curly horns on the top of its head like a ram, and a nasty expression set on its face, like all it wanted in life was to see demigod scum trampled under its hooves and then cooked in a conveniently human-sized skillet over a bonfire. With fresh herbs and butter. Did half-evil-horse people eat butter?

To h*** if she knew.

"What is that thing?" she hissed at the girl, all the while tensing into a ready position in case the thing charged.

"That...would be what I was running from," Terra said. She looked around for a way out, but the centaur could outrun them both in a chase. The only way Terra had managed to stay ahead of the creature was by climbing fences and putting other obstacles in the creature's path.

"He's a centaur, and not a very nice one," Terra said, as she stood up. She looked at the wound; it wouldn't kill her, or at least not quickly. Other than that she had no clue about the status of the injury. The centaur seemed surprised, one might even say delighted to have found another potential kill. Terra hoped that this red-headed girl could hold her own, because otherwise they were both dead.

"Last time I checked, centaurs didn't have horns," she muttered under her breath. She wondered if the monster had some kind of supersonic hearing and had taken that as an insult or something, because he took that following moment to charge at them. Daquiri immediately rolled out of the way of the creature, sticking out her dagger as the thing galloped past her. She heard it give a satisfying roar as her blade sliced through the canons on the monster's thick lower legs. Her victory was short-lived, however, as it barrel-turned back faster than any normal horse she'd ever seen, wielding a spiked club. The red-head cursed under her breath. She highly doubted her dagger would hold up against that thing.

Her mind racing, Daquiri called over to the brunette girl. "We have to get it's club away from it!" She didn't have time to say anything else as the monster approached and swung its weapon down at her. She ducked out of the way just in time, the spikes barely missing her head. She made a stab at its flank, then spun around behind it, all the while trying to avoid getting kicked.

Terra saw the girl facing the centaur, but she obviously couldn't exactly match the monster's club with her dagger, which looked puny in comparison.
Terra knew her spear would be better, but with her injury she wouldn't be able to wield the spear. But the red-headed girl could, if she could get the spear to her. Without a moment's hesitation, Terra lifted the small rawhide necklace over her head and transformed it into her spear. "I hope you know how to use this," she said, tossing the spear to the redhead.

Daquiri almost didn't catch the weapon, as she was rather distracted by not dying. "A spear...?" she muttered, slightly surprised at seeing the weapon in her hand. Where the h*** had that come from...? She was pretty sure she would've noticed if the girl had been lugging it around. After all, it wasn't exactly what she would call inconspicuous. But she could reflect on that later; there were much more pressing matters to deal with at hand.

Like crazed devil-centaurs trying to bludgeon her.

Well, this spear was definitely much more convenient than her dagger--this way, she could give the monster some nasty pokes without being within hit range. So while the club was still an inconvenience--you know, one of those possibly fatal ones--she actually had a chance at killing the thing without needing to completely eliminate its weapon now. All of that being said, she should probably get a move on it.

The centaur seemed to have realized by now that charging past her like a bull wasn't proving very effective, and was in fact hurting him more than it was her. This time, when he ran toward her, he reared up on his back legs like he was bucking--only being under its hooves was a lot more dangerous than being on its back at the moment. With just her dagger, she was either completely screwed, or she'd be getting some nasty battle scars. Probably a concussion. But she didn't just have her dagger now. No, the monster hadn't taken into account random, magically appearing weapons, apparently.

A fact that was made evident with the rather confused look on its face when the centaur found a shaft growing out of the chest of its horse half. Daquiri's heart twinged a little at the sight of it; after all, the creature was still half horse, and she'd always had a soft spot for the animals. Soft being a relative term, anyway. As the red-head had witnessed in the past, the monster disintegrated into golden dust, some of it blowing into Daquiri's face and hair as it dispersed in the wind. Making a face, Daquiri shook herself out and spit some dust off to the side. Sparkly or not, she wasn't a fan of dust.

Picking the spear up off the ground where it had fallen, Daquiri tossed the weapon back to the brunette girl. "You're welcome," she muttered as she turned back into the direction she had been going. After dusting off a few more dust particles and flipping her hair, she began walking again.

Terra watched the red-head girl kill the centaur, using the spear's reach to give her an advantage the dagger could not. The girl tossed the spear back to her, and Terra transformed it back into a necklace, taking a moment to put it back around her neck. She was rather surprised when the girl muttered something along the lines of a "you're welcome," considering her initial behavior  Though, her tone suggested she wasn't exactly feeling very friendly.

She then turned to see the red-head walking away, but Terra chased after her, managing to catch up with the girl. "Thanks, sorry I wasnt much help, he managed to hit my hand earlier, so I couldn't exactly fight," Terra blurted out, her words running together as she rambled slightly. She knew she couldn't exactly walk away, especially since she had run into a number of monsters already, and with her left hand injured (which was her dominant hand, of course), she wasn't very able to defend herself. "I'm Terra," she said, introducing herself. If nothing else, she could tag along with the red-headed girl to camp. "And...um, I think we're going to the same place," she said, hoping the red-head would react in a friendlier way than she had at their initial meeting.

Daquiri had about 25 seconds of being blissfully alone again.

Then it was back to Chatty Cathy. Closing her eyes for a moment only to roll them up to the sky, the red-head repressed a sigh of utter annoyance. That, however, was the only restriction she made.

"Somehow I doubt that," she said dismissively, not looking at the girl--Terra--as she kept walking forward. She seriously just wanted to make it to this place so someone could finally answer her questions; she didn't need a spunky sidekick to accompany her along the way. She was more of a "works alone" kind of person. "Us going to the same place would require you to go through a lot more s*** than just a scratch in your arm."

"I made it through the wolves," Terra said. She wasn't sure if this girl doubted she was a demigod, or was simply trying to be difficult. Either way, Terra decided to stay friendly, although she was slightly hurt by the red-head's words. Terra knew that she wasn't going to get anywhere arguing with the redhead. "Fine, don't think of it as us traveling together. Just think of it as us... having to go to the same place," she said, deciding to attempt a compromise with this red-headed girl. She hoped that the girl would become friendlier on the way to...wherever it was they were supposed to be going. Perhaps they  could even end up being friends, though that seemed more like wishful thinking than anything else.

Despite Terra knowing about the wolves, Daquiri continued to not acknowledge the girl walking next to her, something between a permanent scowl and a stoic look etched into her features. So she was a child of Rome, too. Whatever. Big deal. That didn't mean Daquiri had to automatically like her. Or help her. Or do anything for her. At the girl's next sentence, the red-head finally came to an abrupt stop.

"Look," she said through gritted teeth, "if you haven't noticed, I'm not really a people person. I do things alone. Always have. So if you're going to New Rome, you can use your own stupid "homing sense," or whatever, and leave me alone. If you want to get yourself into more monster fights, that's your own problem." She crossed her arms and gave Terra a pointed look.

Terra sighed. Obviously, this girl was stubborn--but then, Terra could be stubborn, too. Also, the fact that her very life could depend on this couldn't hurt her resolve either. "I get it, you don't want me tagging along. I'll try to stay quiet. But I can't exactly defend myself like this," she said, gesturing to her injury. "And the homing sense thing hasn't been working for me. Maybe it works better for others or something, but I've ended up in this town twice already."  
Terra could tell the girl obviously didn't have a very high opinion of her--anybody could tell that, though. She didn't exactly hide the fact. But at the same time, the girl didn't seem heartless. She just hoped the girl would realize that the alternative to letting her tag along could very well be sending her to her death.

((I actually had a lot of fun writing this post, now that I'm awake. Not really sure why.))

Daquiri gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes at Terra. At this rate, her eyeballs were going to roll right out of their sockets. She finally gave the girl a full once-over, which she’d been avoiding ever since Terra ran into her. Well, for starters, her hair definitely matched her personality: crazy, curly brown locks with what appeared to be randomly dyed streaks of purple, green and orange. Ew. Definitely not in her own color palette. Whether they worked for Terra or not, the red-head would rather she didn’t think about it. They made her green eyes pop, if that counted for something.
The rest of the girl was made up of angles and bones. She was pretty sure the girl didn’t possess one curve on her body—and considering Daquiri could speak for having all the right ones in the right places, she could definitely tell. The fact that she had uneven layers of clothing in bright, unmatching colors draped over her slim frame didn’t exactly help, either. The only similarity Daquiri could really find between her and Terra was that they looked to be about the same age; other than that, it was like they were on completely opposite sides of the spectrum. Personalities included.
Well, great.
“You don’t know anything about survival, do you,” Daquiri muttered as she unclipped her water canteen from her hip, saying it as more of a statement rather than a question. “Tell me you at least know how to clean a wound,” she deadpanned, shoving the canteen at Terra. “I’ll dress your arm when you’re done. Then you can be on your way.”

The red-head offered a canteen so Terra could clean the wound, and Terra knew that it was probably the best gesture she would get from the girl at the moment.  "So, do you have a name?" Terra asked as she prepared to clean the wound, rolling up her sleeve and unscrewing the canteen cap. She knew the red-head probably didn't want to talk, but her curiosity couldn't be helped. She decided to ignore the girl's comment about her lack of survival skills. Finally getting up the nerve to actually clean the wound, Terra took a deep breath; she knew this would not be a pleasant experience. The pain was intense, probably even more so than the wound itself had been; Terra grimaced and tried not to make a noise through it, gritting her teeth and even shutting her eyes. She knew that the pain was better than letting the wound get infected, however, so she struggled through it.

Daquiri watched without emotion as Terra cleaned her wound; the girl was obviously in a lot of pain, but she had seen worse. It was life. You learned to deal with it. It was moments like these you were just grateful it hadn't been a whole lot worse.

The 14-year-old's eyes hardened when asked for her name. "I don't see much point in wasting breath on formalities if you're going to be leaving," she said brusquely. Seeing that Terra had cleaned the wound sufficiently, Daquiri dug through her satchel for some leftover gauze. She'd made sure to...acquire some every few towns before she ran out. Store keepers tended to get unusually generous when she was around. Once she set to work on Terra's arm, though, she spoke again in her curt way: "If it'll make you shut up, though--it's Daquiri." She fell silent after that as she concentrated on making sure the bandage was on right.

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"Are we there yet?" Terra whined. Daquiri had kept them going more or less nonstop the entire time. Terra was currently hungry, thirsty, and tired. The sun was beginning to set. They were in San Francisco now, which felt like a world away from Detroit. Daquiri still maintained her rather unfriendly attitude, but other than that their travels so far had gone rather well, all things considered. They had run into some monsters, but nothing the two of them hadn't been able to handle. the only complaint Terra really could think to make, aside from Daquiri's less than friendly demeanor, was the fact they hadn't been able to set up camp or even rest.

"My answer. Is the same. As it was. Five minutes ago," Daquiri growled, each segment of her words spoken through gritted teeth. "And so help me, if you don't shut the h*** up, I'm going to cut off that box of Crayolas you call hair and stuff it down your throat." Daquiri was not in the mood to be trifled with. Despite her insistence on sending Terra off on her own again, she had somehow found herself being followed anyway. Something about how her "homing sense didn't work." Blah blah. It definitely didn't help in taking the permanent brand of Color Blind Idiot off of the girl. She was pretty sure the little ping that kept going off in her conscious every time she got closer to New Rome wasn't something she could turn on and off. Needless to say, Daquiri wasn't going to abuse the girl into submission, and apparently Terra wasn't put off by her constant threats--so she had finally just resorted to ignoring the girl.

  For the most part.

  "I think we're getting close," she allowed, if only to keep Terra from complaining more. But if the little pings resounding in her were any indication, it did seem they were getting closer. The space between them was getting much smaller, and they were getting much louder--like an annoying alarm clock. They weren't so much something she could hear, however; more something she could sense. Kind of like how she'd been able to sense Lupa.

  Ugh. Magic.