All or Nothin, What's wrong.. you scared?

People: 1 vs Unlimited
Post count: Actual
Character Type: Unlimited

Setting: Nazca at night.

Reason: It's Freya. You're not going to need one.

Freya had not been having a very good night.

No, no, to be fully accurate, Freya had been having a pretty shitty night, and a not-very-good life. Or Unlife. Or whatever you wanted to call it. The vampire didn't particularly care (at least not for the moment) as she kicked open the double doors to just one of many taverns too civilized to keep her attention, and marched in to the open street dragging a young man behind her by the hair, eyes focused forward despite his most despirate of pleas.

"I'm-- I'm sorry!" He blubbered before, with a jerk and the slightest twist of her upper body, the significantly smaller woman tossed him haphazardly in to the street. He crashed to the ground face first, nose breaking against the cobblestone road and scrambled to his hands and knees.

"I know." Freya stated, so very calmly as he crawled desperately away from her, and took a step toward him. Leaning in to the step, she lifted her left leg, jamming her iron clad, spiked black greaves in to his stomach and watching him fly up, sprawling on to his back and clutching his pierced and bleeding stomach. She was sure he -was- sorry, but she also wasn't at all concerned. Something about the spiked greaves, the bladed gauntlets, the imposing helmet-- -something- should have warned him not to grab her ass.

Consideration was a lost cause now, she supposed, though as the man screamed with pain, she noted that the wound wasn't actually very deep. He might have bled out if left untended, but none of his vital organs were particularly damaged. Leaving him untended to wasn't precisely an option, either way. He'd sealed his grave. She planned to lay him in it. Slowly.

"Quit whining." She sighed, agitation rising in her throat as she rolled her eyes, and strode toward him. As the man's screams faded in to terrified whimpers, she dropped rather suddenly to her knees to straddle his stomach, feeling the blood squish out of the wound to soak in to her pants. The movement brought a choked cry out of him but as she grabbed his jaw harshly, pinning his mouth closed, she leaned over him, forcing him to look in to her gold and brown splintered eyes. "You know you done fucked up, right?"

"Now, what do you have to say for yourself?"

She lifted one eyebrow and grinned, crimson upper lip curling up and away from one fang as she released his chin.

"Please!" He blubbered, "Please! Spare me!"

To her credit, Freya considered it. Something about the sincerity in the mans sobs gave her pause, and she leaned back to look down her nose toward him, guaging potential effects. The people of Nazca were used to such cries, to such deaths-- though some were beginning to gather, pressed against walls even as they whispered that something had to be done.

Such failures, these humans. Such cowardice. So eager to protest and to whine, but when push came to shove, they wouldn't do anything about it. They never had, and they never would. They weren't worth the time it would have taken to separate from her minor victory; even if it was only a victory over another one of them.

They weren't so bad, though. Weak, she would have to admit-- but innocent. Some of them. Then again, that's what all of this was about. It was what it was always about. If this man had grabbed her ass-- a vampire, a demon, dressed to match the part-- what did he do to the innocent?

"I don't think so." She answered smoothly, and her fist crashed in to his jaw, breaking it clear off of both hinges. A strangled shriek of pain escaped his throat, but only instants before she had decended, her own jaw closing over the front of his neck. She felt, first-- the vocal chords, the wind pipe, the vine like veins under her fangs. A messier approach than she normally preferred, but all the same, she tore it all away.

And didn't even drink the blood.

She stood, as the man's last breath brought gurgling bubbles to the free-flowing crimson, and looked around her, wings popping from her back as she spread them wide. Her point wasn't made. Her point would never be fully made. Nectara was hungry.

She smiled, licking the blood from her lips, though the guesture did nothing for blood that had spilled over her chin, down her neck, soaked in to the simple black band that covered her modesty and the bare skin of her stomach.

"I'm your problem now, Redemption!" She raised her voice, vampiric projection carrying her voice through the majority of the city. "COME AND GET ME!"

She pumped her wings once-- twice-- and spiraled upwards in to the air.

ooc:Helios for those who have no idea who or what he is and may be joining in later..

Also Helios is in his armor.

---

The scene played out like something he'd seen many times before. A disupte, one wronging another. But unlike what he was used to there was no honorable combat. No blood price to make things right without need for a trial, just a killing. The woman had simply decided on her own the world no longer needed the man's life.

Whatever his crime to kill so mercilessly even in the face of earnest regret. To enjoy it even as she seemed to. She could not be one of the Earth Mother's children. Technically that meant he was supposed to kill such abominations on the spot. But Helios had never met a being not of the natural order before.

She was small....tiny even, particularly compared to him. Yet she had proven herself dangerous. Something about her sparked his interest, besides the fact she was a sort of being he'd never met before. Something about her viciousness made him want to fight her. If only to see if the fear she inspired in the man before he died had been warranted, or if she were like so many animals he'd hunted, merely acting big while preying on the weak to inspire fear in others.

He stepped forward pushing his way through the crowd. "It seems you're looking for a fight little one." He spoke up as he reached for his axes "I believe you have found one."

Freya descended to the roof of the tavern she had so recently shoved her way out of, wings curling reflexively around her body as she leaned forward, slips of hair falling from behind her ear. She looked around, first-- taking note of the streets lest she find herself ambushed, before she looked toward the people below her. She cocked one eyebrow, and then her entire head as a figure pushed his way through the crowd-- one very much bigger than she, and with... yes, those were cat ears.

Slowly, a grin spread across her lips. She remembered this creature. Had meant to ask Darshe about him, but had never quite gotten around to it. Galam Yensa in shambles... a weary elf running quite eagerly to his side... burning flesh... yes, she recognized him. She very much doubted that he remembered her.

Even if he did, he wouldn't have recognized her. Not now. Not since...

Nectara breathed within her. She was-- so hungry. -So-... hungry.

Then I promise I'll never call a coward a pussy again. she sent the whisper, and her grin grew in to a legitimate smile at her own joke. It wasn't her voice that reached him-- no, she was too far beyond that. A mixture of voices, three women extended from her mind; mixing together to become something else entirely before her wings fluttered behind her, and she stood again.

"Let's play!"

From her hip, she drew Edmunds blade and spread her wings again, leveling a push under them and lifting herself in to the air before she curled her body toward her, and dove directly toward her adversary's chest.

She accepted his challenge without so much as a thought, and dove in headfirst at him. He couldn't remember the last time someone had so recklessly gone into a fight, much less someone who was fighting against him.

"You have a death wish." it was a statement not a question. It was the only logic he could come up with for her behavior. There was something amusing about that, but at the same time admirable. Despite her small frame and seemingly apparent fragility(as he assumed) she was coming at him, a much larger target head on.

Oh well, her mistake. He decided to leave his axes at his sides and instead stepped in and a little to the right letting her blade scrape against his rock armor and took a heavy swing with his left arm intending to swat her with just his brute strength.

A push-- leveled not toward her enemy but rather against her own back, sent her tumbling to the ground under Helios's swing. She landed efficiently, though not gracefully-- feet hitting the road before the rest of her body did and she fell in to a roll, kicking off of the ground again as she passed his left side. She pushed herself in to a flip, lashing out with Edmund's blade again, aiming for his neck once she was fully upside down.

A trail of flame followed the blade like a ribbon as her wings flared again and she was righted, hovering not far off.

Freya was small, that was true-- but she was also quite an agile little thing, and there was still power behind her proverbial punch.

To say Helios was surprised by her agility would be an understatement. The move seemed impossible and to a big man like him it probably would have been, but as he had already noted she was small. He should have accounted for her having superior agility.

Since his swing met only open air he decided to go with it, taking a step away from her momentarily allowing his back to be to her while she was rolling away from him, he turned around with a grin, though it was unlikely she could see it thanks to his helmet. Then suddenly she was attacking again, launching a rather acrobatic attack this time going for the neck. Which was impressive not just because of the acrobatics but because at Helios' height his neck wasn't something he often had to worry about.

So rather than some well thought out counter he did what a person instinctively does when something comes flying at your head. He ducked. As the flaming sword went over his head he realized his opportunity and struck out throwing a punch at freya's exposed midsection while she was in mid swing.

Shit.

As one massive fist collided rather effectively with Freya's stomach, she went flying backwards, grip tightening around her blade though the edges of the fire fizzled out before she could whip it around toward him. She spread her wings further, slowing her momentum before her back crashed against the wall of the tavern, and she dropped to her feet, feeling as though she might puke. She shook her head against it, more surprised than dazed as she rolled the wrist holding Edmunds Blade.

Lifting her other arm, she pointed, grinning broadly. "You're--"

She coughed, lifted the finger to signify that he should wait a moment, and cleared her throat before she dropped her hand, and gave an exaggerated nod.

"You're good. That's refreshing. Ready?"

She didn't actually wait for an answer. Charging forward, she pumped her wings again, bringing her back in to the air and surging flame from the blade again, in the form of a jet directed toward his face this time.

Helios rose from his ducking position as the woman was sent flying back by his punch. He was almost as surprised as Freya was. Though his surprise was at the fact that she was still standing much less able to talk or come at him again. He had assumed that as tiny as she was, she would be damaged easily and give up after a hit or two from him. However instead this only seemed to excite her.

Clearly she was tougher than he had first assumed. Or she really did have a death wish. Whatever the case he was definitely fighting a winged madwoman with a flaming sword. Caution from here on would be wise.

A fact soon proven as she now resorted to firing a stream of flame at him. Well fire itself wasn't much of a problem, but the heat......then again maybe he could use this to his advantage. He hunkered down covering any exposed areas first and pulled in excess earth from the road beneath him forming a dome of earth. No doubt if she focused on it long enough she could burn through but hopefully he could think of a counter before then.

Fire was dangerous because of the heat, the actual burning wasn't much of a concern when you were covered in the earth itself. However, his other abilities, were all based on nature. Plants would burn....Ding. Idea.

As the flame licked over the dome of rock, Freya pulled it's energy from it back, and blinked, hovering for an instant as she eyed it. She was fighting a turtle? But she thought she was fighting a cat. Then again, it wasn't looking like he was quite as fast as a cat would be.

Shut up, Alexandra's voice ticked through her mind, And fight it.

Right.

Allow me. Nedrah interrupted as Purebane began to lift from her sheath, and a small grin touched the corners of Freya's lips.

"Don't have too much fun." She answered aloud, but gave the girl her wish.

Rather suddenly, Purebane shot upwards, leaving the leather entirely and driving for the dome of rock as Freya's hands worked at the sheath's strap. Freed of the bind, she simply let it drop, giving her wings a hearty flap and bringing herself closer to roof level.

The dome seemed to work, and as a added bonus she had actually stopped her attack, the heat began to dissipate, and for a moment he was wondering if she had simply given up. He focused on the dome "Grow." A plant began to grow out of the ground, covering the surface of the dome with vines each vine lined with bulbs and forming into a tangled web of plantlife spread out over the dome which was only slightly larger than Helios himself, Freya's sword would cut through some of the vines and hit the dome directly but Helios would be oblivious to this fact, since he could see nothing from inside it, only guess at what was going on based on vibrations. He figured something must've hit the dome, but not hard enough to do serious damage to it. It was like she was just testing to see what would happen.....or maybe she was throwing a temper tantrum out there that she couldn't get her hands on him?

The bulbs on the vines soon blossomed into flowers. It was all a very pretty display, but apparently harmless.

He's up to something. Alexandra warned quietly, little more than a stray thought in the chaos that was Freya's shared mind as Purebane recoiled to strike against the rock again. Trying to break through it.

They're -always- up to something. Nedrah whined, slowing the flap of wings so that Freya's body descended, if only by a couple feet. Why are they -always- up to something? It's no fun that way!

Learn to enjoy the challenge. Came the stray reply. No one particularly wants to die, but there -is- an advantage here.

I'm not sure I'd agree with that. Freya answered them both, seizing the reins of her body, and flipping Edmund's blade again. Testing, she loosed a small burst toward one of the larger flowers, letting the flame spread as it would though rather than risking getting any closer, she brought a push against her wings, carrying herself higher again.

The idea was a Freya exclusive. The rock served a purpose, and the flowers? In the middle of a battle, they had to. Moreover, he had formed the rock as a way to avoid her flame. Whatever he was trying to do, it would most likely be fire reactant-- trap for someone as careless as she, admittedly, once had been. Alexandra's bet was on poison, but Freya had once fallen victim to one who could draw life from nothing, and remembered their truer danger all too well.

It had been a fraction of the point behind her new ensemble. None of her scars were hidden-- she'd carefully seen to that, and the thick white band of scar tissue just over left hip was beginning to itch. Solar anything could spell her undoing far too easily. Even beyond the potential convolution of the trio's link, solar wounds were something that blood couldn't heal, and Freya had absolutely, definitely, and positively no desire to try to explain why she had not only rampaged in Nazca (The Sash's most common location and the worst possible city, aside from Ascantha, to do it in) but gotten herself mortally wounded in the process.

She wasn't even sure how she would start. This was beginning to look like a bad idea.

I want to -play-! Nedrah interrupted her fiercely.

Find cover. Alexandra's voice was like ice to Freya's veins. All at once, it calmed her and quieted the flames of Nedrah's temper. Uncanny serenity fell over the woman's body as she pushed higher, back to the tavern's roof. End the potential, end the worry.

Freya's idea probably wasn't anything Alexandra would have suggested. Quickly, she fell to one knee and leaned forward, loosing another jet of flame toward the dome of rock and life, though this one was significantly more powerful than the last. With a sweep, she touched flame to vine for only long enough to catch, hand gripping the edge of the roof as she tried to catch it all aflame, and then, feet braced against shingle, she pulled.

A chunk of roofing came up as she tumbled backwards along the flat part of the roof. Not much of a shield, but should her flames have been met with a burst of light, she would have been in the shadow.

As Freya began her next attack the plant shifted as if reacting to her the petals of the flowers tilting toward the flame, and then something very odd happened. The fire seemed to be sucked into the petals of the flowers. The magic energy was absorbed and the plant seemed to grow even larger, as the sword dove in again it severed some vines and the plant recoiled as if it were alive, under Helios' guidance the plant attempted to wrap around purebane as well.

There was just one serious problem, he couldn't stay in that dome forever, he only had a limited amount of air. Hopefully he wouldn't have to stay in there much longer though. Phase two of his plan would begin next.

The plant now did something else strange, as it stopped it's second growth spurt it began to release spores into the air. The pollen released by the flowers had a mind altering effect and making it impossible to tell one person from another, but Helios safe in his dome of earth was unaffected since he was not exposed. He'd wait just long enough for it to take effect, and then make his move.

Freya blinked, braced behind her piece of roof as she looked around, finding rather quickly that no light had burst from the suspicious flowers. Cautiously, she leaned the roofing downwards and peered over it, eying the yellow fog pulsing from the plants regrowth.

"What the..."

Whatever he's doing, it's not going to be in your favor. Alexandra reminded her quietly, Don't get in the fog.

She wasn't going to need to. Finding little in the way of success, Purebane spiraled backwards, hovering amidst the pollen for a moment before it rocketed back in to Freya's hand, and the vampire stood. Approaching her created edge of roofing, she leaned her weight on to one leg, and simply... dropped Purebane again.

For a moment, it seemed as though it might continue to fall. It had nearly passed the gap between the outside air and the angry patrons inside of the tavern before it jolted upwards again, standing sentinel in front of her before it began to rotate.

Suddenly, her wings flared again behind her, and as Purebane's rotation began to speed up-- becoming a fan-- the two moved in tandem.

She simply jumped from the rooftop, bracing her fall with the spread of her wings as she landed lightly, silently, in front of the taverns door.

The pair progressed slowly, Freya's eyes burning as Nectara fought for the reins of control, careful not to make any noise. Little more than a steady walk-- even dragging her feet, though the speed of her makeshift fan continued to increase until all the pollen from directly in front of her had blown away, and the rest began to scatter outwards; away from the air flow.

Patience. Patience was a virtue Helios had more of than most of his kind. But now he had waited long enough. Feeling the earth and with information gathered from his plant he knew the woman had moved to the ground level, and was somehow generating wind, or so the gentle sway of the plant's flowers told him.

Now was the time to make his move, she was focused on the dome, on his plant. By now she would not be expecting him to suddenly appear....Which was exactly what he was going to do.

He shut his eyes focusing on the earth around him. His stone armor and the ground itself, leaving the dome alone however, he pulled the earth into himself, merging with it temporarily becoming earth himself. He then would have seemed to crumble, vanishing into the ground leaving the dome empty.

He re-appeared in her wake,not all at once but simply as a pair of stone hands reaching out of the ground and grasping at her legs intending to yank her down into the earth itself.

As the last of the pollen was cleared, Purebane returned to Freya's hand once again, humming quietly with the expended effort for only a moment as she tilted her head back ever so slightly, eyes narrowing on the dome.

Until something almost painfully solid brushed against the backs of her knees.

For an instant she panicked, and reflex was all she knew. Instinct kicked her body in to overdrive as, leaning forward, she bent her legs-- pulling her knees out of the potential grab-- and displace brought her in to the air.

She didn't even try to catch herself. Pulling her wings close to her body, she swung Purebane under her feet as though to ride it like a skateboard. Balancing herself with one hand on Purebane's hilt, she bent her knees sharply with a very different purpose. Her own slight weight, centered between a divided push drove the side of the blade downwards, fully intending to crush the stony arms.

She wasn't completely sure what she was doing. Helios had hit a nerve, and a very dangerous one at that. The humor that had tinged the battle thus far was gone, replaced by a growing fury she knew she couldn't handle... not that she had any intentions of trying.

Helios experienced the thrill of a predatory animal just as it lunged, but that thrill was quickly taken from him as seemed to have her only for a moment and then she slipped away, or rather yanked herself away. Then she almost as quickly as she had gotten away came crashing back down.

That was a mistake.

The hands she landed on fell apart, which despite being only made of stone still hurt since Helios was merged with the earth he was controlling. He cried out, a animalistic howl of pain, the sensation of losing his arms even though they were replacable earthen creations caused Helios to revert to basic instincts.

He rose out of the ground, as vines shot out around her grasping and entangling. While Helios formed himself into the form of a large golem towering over Freya and like any wounded animal he lashed out, raising one of the golems massive arms swinging down to smash her.

Freya stumbled backwards, off of Purebanes blade as the creature let out a massive howl of pain. Stooping, she grabbed the Jivatma back up quickly, and crossed her blades in preparation. It could well have been the moment, but that howl had seemed similar, at least in tone, to her own previous declaration of, "You know you done fucked up, right?"

It didn't take more than a moment to prove her suspicions correct.

She took a step back, holding her blades tightly to her chest as the vines began to extend from every direction. She jerked, managing to pull one loose as it snapped around her gauntletted wrist, but though it snagged on the spikes and bladed edges it found there, it did not snap.

Her eyes widened, fear beginning to take root as the gold in them began to swell and her skin began to redden with heat, and she uncrossed her blades, fully intending to bring Edmund's blade through only one more of the damnable vines, but as she brought the blade down upon it, it snapped around it and slithered down to her arm, even as another vine caught around her waist.

Breathe! Alexandra's voice urged her mind, but she wasn't listening, and she didn't have the where-with-all to control it. Freya was panicking. Like any animal, she fought the restraints with little avail, pulling and jerking with every fiber of her strength and very little if any result.

What does it matter? Nedrah hissed sharply, We don't run away anyway.

But if Freya heard them, it wasn't helping. She blinked wildly, desperately holding on to the moment as the vines turned in to ropes in her mind, the golem seeming to manifest bright red hair-- bright green eyes--

"NO." Her voice was little more than a growl. All at once, her eyes flushed golden, reddening around the edges as she released the push upwards, breaking the descending arm's momentum if not the arm itself. Unfinished, more pushes began to manifest-- uncoordinated and unplanned, but with all the desperation boiling inside of the woman. One aimed for his knee, one aimed for his stomach-- she didn't care. She just wanted away. Wanted him away. Wanted the flashback away.

Calm down! Alexandra bit, and Purebane began to take a faint glow with her energy, but Freya didn't care about that either.

Watching her panic it seemed like this was over, her panic and fear caused her to lose control of herself and as a result also her powers. She seemed defenseless but his swing was stopped by raw force colliding with it. The golems arm recoiled and tried to come down again only to encounter another wave of force, and then one hit it squarely in the torso.

The 'waves' of force came with alarming frequency, growing more rapid as the woman's desperation and panic grew. One after another they slammed into his Earthen body and pushed him back ultimately toppling him entirely as the large form was too big to avoid each push, despite their randomness too many found their mark in quick succession for him to keep his balance.

The fall made his concentration falter and the golem cracked, though he was soon upright again as the binding vines he had created began to wither and die, their usefulness limited by their short lifespan. The thrashing she had given him however returned Helios to his senses, he couldn't just flail around like a mad beast and hope to smash her.

Besides he was out of time to maintain this form anyway. His body began to revert to normal and the golem came apart bit by bit, first there was a clatter, his axes falling out of the golem's body, they had been in there somewhere he had simply chosen not to use them. The rest of it crumbled to dust leaving Helios standing there covered in dirt, his eyes were shut at first, and he shook violently something like one might expect a cat or a dog to do. Spreading dust and dirt around him, but leaving him somehow completely clean of dirt, Alchemy likely had a hand in that but once he stopped his eyes opened and he focused on her once more.

Feral green eyes meeting hers followed by a nod, a show of respect for his opponent. Though he had started off thinking of her as some fragile little thing she had in the course of the fight proven to be not only resilient but powerful. If a bit wild and unrefined.

He was now without his armor but that was a mixed blessing, less protected now, but faster than before and now his claws could come into play.Rather than attack again, he took a defensive posture, circling her waiting for her to move.

Freya didn't stop flailing just because the vines were withering. Even as they began to turn brown, snapping against her struggle, she kept moving-- even as their remnants slipped away from her body; until they were all gone, and her enemy was no longer the faceless golem that had somehow turned in to Dex in her mind.

Under normal circumstances, she probably would have flown at him like a bat out of hell. Been pissed, indignant-- but at the moment, she was only afraid. Her perceptions, in that moment, had drastically changed. As he paced around her, waiting for her to make a move, she could almost feel him goading her, prodding at her-- Cat and mouse, and she'd already established that she wasn't the cat.

She didn't like it. Freya was supposed to be the cat, the aggressor, the temper that got out of hand. She was no mouse by any standards, but in that moment the violence was gone from her-- drained from her. Lost. She just wanted to hide.

"I bet you think you're doing something noble." Alexandra's words escaped her mouth as instinct over road priority, and Nectara took up the slack. Visibly, her stance began to change-- gold solidifying in her bloodshot eyes, fingers tightening on her weapons, back beginning to relax. "Avenging an innocent life. What do you know about that life? What do you know about this one?"

Her movements were jerky at first as she swung Purebane over her shoulder, kneeling ever so slightly in to a defensive posture as she brought Edmund's blade horizontally before her. She did not watch Helios. Actually, it was hard to tell whether or not she was watching much of anything.

She was clearly aware of his location none-the-less. The lean of her blades made sure that that much, at least, was obvious.

"If he was willing to assault this thing that you're fighting now... what has he done to the helpless? What would he have done?"

The dialogue took only a moment. She waited until he had passed in front of her again, and swung Purebane forward sharply enough that it carried her own body forward, loosing the dark lance as she swung Edmund's blade back out, forming a horizontal wave of flame for the lance to ride on, and using the momentum to bring her back upright.

Helios smiled as she began to talk. "You misunderstand." he continued circling, not wanting to stand still and make himself a stationary target. "Our fight..." He continued as he watched her stance shift. "Is not about him. Not really. True, you judged when you should not have. Death was not necessary for his crime. But the point of our battle, is you seemed unhappy with the easy victory. You asked for another fight did you not? I simply volunteered. It is one thing to kill for food, for honor or respect, or even out of pride but there is no point in the strong slaughtering the weak out of boredom. Knowing when to stop. That is the burden of the strong. If I am doing something noble, it is only that my fighting you means you face an opponent that can satisfy you instead of finding excuses to kill for amusement."

For a moment he thought maybe they might be done. She seemed to have calmed, regained some sense of reason, and was attempting conversation. If there was a chance to stop this before another life was wasted this was it. He did not want to waste the opportunity.

Then she spoiled it with another attack. The lance was easy enough to dodge, without his armor Helios could move rather quickly and since he was already on the move circling her he simply quickened his pace. Circling around to her side and closing in or rather he would have, her wave of flame forced him to take another approach. Stomping the ground and creating a pillar of earth between him and the flame, there was a hissing sound as the fire contacted the pillar and then it crumbled when the wave passed.

"Satisfied yet?"

Alexandra smiled slightly, ever the reasonable one though Nedrah was beginning to get antsy underneath of the significantly calmer demeanor of the body. Once her attack had brought her back to her original position, she settled there though now her eyes followed the adversary she was dealing with. Seeing him in a light Freya had not allowed.

"Respect, understanding, consideration... in another life we could have been friends." She sucked in a deep breath seeming for a moment as though she was going to move, but she remained almost painfully still as she let the breath escape her lungs; Nedrah railing against her.

She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being scrutinized. Freya's perception, no doubt-- but unlike her counterparts, Alexandra didn't very much mind. She was lain out for the observation, unashamed and uncaring about what the Tigris might see. Freya minded only as much as her state of mind had created. Wanting, needing to be hidden away and untouchable, far away from the discomfort and the crosses blazing against her chest. Nedrah... well, there was only one thing Nedrah ever wanted.

The problem was that she wanted it -bad-.

She debated. Here she was presented with an opportunity to end the struggle at hand, balancing the feelings and needs of her counterparts without any particular need of her own. It was only Nedrah that wanted blood-- a controllable force to be sure, but at the moment, she wondered, just how much control the demoness would settle for. She was all that held her back, now.

Well. She lifted an eyebrow, eyes sharpening ever so slightly on the Tigris. Her, and this stranger she had no reason to trust, at least for tonight. Freya would recover by the time the sun had set again. Her fingers tightened further on the hilt of each blade.

"I don't know." The most honest answer was also the most logical. Somewhere inside of her, in a chamber made of flesh and sulfur Freya looked up, becoming aware and curious again, edging hesitantly toward her reins of control.

"You have no reason to trust me. I have no reason to trust you."