[attr="class","body"]

sharp needles of rain batter against absinthe's exposed skin, filtering through the spaces between the plates of black armor coating her body in rivulets of oil-like water that snake down into her boots. the landscape before her is painted in broad strokes of grey and blue, punctuated by the lightning that tears through the heavens like jagged glass. the thunder crashes against her eardrums with a skull-rattling reverberation, somehow resonant in tandem with the frantic beating of the organ beneath her ribs. atop a bluff, she watches the storm roll towards her, and her breath catches somewhere beneath the wretched cage of her chest.[break][break]

it's beautiful, awe-inspiring. electrifying.[break][break]

which is exactly why she can't afford to slack here. she needs to keep moving. she pulls out a sheet of paper, scans the topography with experienced eyes, marks a few coordinates as checkpoints and reference points. she looks up in time to see a bolt of lightning fork through the sky, and it's in that moment, illuminated by its unnatural, ethereal glow, that she sees her.[break][break]

yuina higashi.[break][break]

eyes alight with a flame that refuses to extinguish despite the torrent pouring from the sky, absinthe cannot keep the recognition from flickering across her face - but it's not recognition borne of pleasure. rather, it's a bitter acknowledgment of a past that she cannot seem to escape, and a fear of what will result from the woman's knowledge of information that absinthe has rendered close to her chest.[break][break]

perhaps, many moons ago, absinthe would have blanched at moving to violence just to prevent a secret ago. these days, however, absinthe finds herself gripped by senseless selfishness.[break][break]

yuina must die.[break][break]

without warning, absinthe releases a shard from her pocket and shatters it, and the echo of the devil in all of its wretched glory appears before her, preening his feathers with detached derision.[break][break]

then, at a whispered command, the toxic bird lifts its head and gathers bright, spectral energy before its beak. a beat passes, thunder peals, and a MOONBLAST, bright and lofty, races towards yuina and her samurott.

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","body"]

water from the whirlpool splashes against absinthe's coat, soaking it through within instants and causing the metal to rapidly cool against her skin. the water slicks down her hair as she stands amidst the crash of the storm, just like before.[break][break]

despite everything—despite the rain and the thunder and the wrath of the gods that she seems to have incurred—she can see, beyond a doubt, the dark silhouette of yuina and the watery outline of her whirlpool shielding her from the attack. the moonblast does little to dampen as it strikes the rippling wall, exploding against the surface with a cry of tortured light. steam hisses up in towering columns from the point of impact, blanketing absinthe in fog.[break][break]

through it all, absinthe can feel the devil-bird preening just behind her, its wicked claws clicking impatiently against the metal, urging her forward into the fray. a sharp edge of delight cuts through absinthe's heart as she squares her stance, the lightning overhead illuminating the vicious glare she casts towards the ecologist.[break][break]

it was so strange that, when they had first met, absinthe had begun to view yuina in somewhat of a professionally friendly light. but with the fezandipiti shard planted firmly in her grasp, the murkiness of her morality had shifted—darkened—and absinthe now sees yuina with a covetous shine to her eye, the promise of prey to be hunted.[break][break]

and she is not the only hunter in the field tonight.[break][break]

absinthe draws nearer until yuina can see her figure, limned in craven light, bastardous and terrible. the bird is with her, and both of their eyes glint coldly.[break][break]

"it seems our paths cross again," absinthe says. "i hope you've been praying, yuina."

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","body"]

bold, indeed.[break][break]
absinthe sneers beneath the confines of her mask, muscles tensing and shifting beneath layers of soaked fabric as she contorts her face into a semblance of ugliness only fit for monsters.[break][break]

"before," she drawls lazily, a dismissal of yuina's accusation thrown away like scrap paper tossed into the waste bin. rainwater rivers down her back as she speaks. "and team rocket knows nothing."[break][break]

a lie. two are privy, but absinthe would never list them aloud, especially not to yuina. the devil-bird flicks open one malignant eye at yuina's reproach, and the shadows gather around it like wolves in winter.[break][break]

"it's cute," absinthe laughs dryly, "that you think i'd share everything with my superiors."[break][break]

many people have gone down this route with her before—absinthe has lied, she has deceived, she has avoided. but today there is a part of absinthe, tangled within the roots of her heart where the devil-bird resides, that delights in this sharp-edged dance between knowledge and ignorance. the truth of her lies excites her. the danger intoxicates her. the presence of someone willing to dive into the pits of deception just to pull absinthe out of the web she has spun so tightly makes her feel alive.[break][break]

so, her voice lowered, perhaps to blend with the tumultuous cacophony of nature all around them, she pulls yuina deeper.[break][break]

"your problem," she murmurs, raising a hand and curling it into a fist. "is that you mistake my capabilities for weaknesses."[break][break]

with a twist of her hand, the signal lifts once more. another MOONBLAST hurtles towards yuina.

[attr="class","credit"]

[attr="class","yuinanewtag"]Absinthe Blackwood

[attr="class","topimage"]

[attr="class","subtextbox"]

[attr="class","yuinanewmain"]

Squared against Absinthe, her blade poised between her and her would be assailant, Yuina kept a close watch on the pair as she leaned into Daikenki's senses, the link they shared.[break][break]
"That's not what I asked. I didn't expect you to share it with anyone, and that tells me you think you can keep it a secret. That you won't have to be subject to what its presence means," Yuina returned, knowing. Because she knew exactly what it was to shroud, to hide, to bury everything so deep and present an empty shell to the outside world, but those veils were always so thin. It would never last.[break]
"But we both know that won't last. You're smarter than that," Yuina gleaned. Absinthe was smart, Yuina had known that from their initial meeting. She had to know the more cagey she gets, the more she tries to pretend, the worse it will get.[break][break]
The bird beside her, devoid of anything except an intent to perform like a puppet with strings, splayed a wing and volleyed another Moonblast. Yuina felt Daikenki in the shadows below, his urgency, his senses, and as the light rushed towards her, blinding in the otherwise dim storm of their battlefield, Yuina sank into the darkness.[break][break]
She emerged from the shroud of Shadow Sneak as the light continued on behind her, illuminating her silhouette as she stood again to opposed. To challenge.[break][break]
"This is your last chance Absinthe. You knew me as an ally before, you know nothing of me as an enemy."

[attr="class","yuinanewpoke"]