Finding Trouble [log]
Who: Cagalli Yula Athha [rougedawn] and Franziska von Karma [nofractions].
Where: Foresty area on the outskirts of the suburbs of New Sanctum.
When: Saturday, 22nd September, early afternoon.
Summary: Franziska and Cagalli go monster-hunting in the woods, at the latter's request. It goes as well as you might expect. Arguments are had, defence attorneys are villified and shoes are repeatedly problematic.
When one took into account her temperament, it was a miracle that Cagalli Yula Athha had lived as long as she had. She possessed that potentially disastrous mixture of curiousity, recklessness, courage and an iron will that led to either great leaders or heroes, or an early grave. She had become ever so slightly more ‘sensible’ (as her father put it) in her late teen years, but was still extremely foolhardy, prone to blundering into dangerous situations with little to no forethought.
Walking through the forest on a slightly chilly September day was perhaps not foolhardy in itself. She was dressed for the occasion, wearing hiking boots, a duster and appropriate clothing, and she even had a map and compass (taken at her poor bodyguard’s pleading request, since he had been denied actually accompanying her). She had even brought a friend along, although how useful Franziska von Karma would be trapped in the wilderness -especially in those heels- was debatable. It was what she was doing in the forest on a slightly chilly September day that was so thoroughly reckless: monster-hunting.
There had been a murder there, several days ago. The body had been found mutilated, as though wild animals had torn it apart, except that it had been fifteen feet above the ground draped over the bough of a tree. Cagalli was convinced that a monster was responsible, and had dragged Franziska out there to prove the much-argued point between the two; that monsters really did exist inside New Sanctum.
“It’s just a little further,” Cagalli reported, glancing down at her map again. She’d circled the point where the body had been found. The police had already declared the place a free zone again, as not much evidence had been found at the scene. They were only about a half-hour walk from the tourist site, but it was a fairly obscure walk through the forest land. No-one else was in sight. “Y’know, you really should’ve worn boots…”
Franziska von Karma was rapidly beginning to regret ever bumping into Cagalli. Traipsing through the overgrown woodland was certainly not her idea of entertainment and she couldn't help but think about the things that she was supposed to be doing. There was a new case being brought to the courtroom in a few days time that she was going to prosecute. Of course, she had already gone over the evidence in great detail, picking apart every little piece and concocting adequate lies or contradictions in order to guarantee the defendant a guilty verdict, but there was no such thing as too much preparation, and she would have preferred to be doing that, or anything else other than picking her way through the undergrowth.
Her heels were becoming quite problematic, and continued to sink into the sodden ground, she had already laddered her tights in several places on various thorny plants and broken tree branches, and all for what? To visit the sight where a violent murder had taken place. She would have cared more if it actually had something to do with her case, but it didn't, so as far as she was concerned, Cagalli should have been showing a detective around and getting them filthy.
Besides, it was a fairly open and shut death from what she'd heard. The body had been discovered with its limbs strewn across the clearing, the rest of the body looked like it had been ripped open with a series of blades and had been left in a violent, bloody mess. It was quite obvious the body had been dumped, although some of the wounds admittedly could have been caused by wild animals before the body was actually found.
Heaving a sigh, she tried to quicken her pace to catch up with Cagalli. "This is foolish," she remarked flatly as she wiped the sweat from her brow, although it had started out as a rather chilly day, beneath the heavy canopy of trees it was very stuffy, and she was really beginning to wonder if Cagalli had lost her mind. This was the kind of place young girls were taken to, raped and then murdered, not a place for 'monster-hunting'.
Of course, when she had first met Cagalli she had simply assumed that she was just another ordinary teenage girl forced to live the life of a brainless socialite in order to keep up appearances. It seemed to be the fate of any young girl who was even remotely attractive and many of them suited the role quite well. She had always looked down on such things, and at the time the other girl seemed to have felt the same way so they had gotten talking, but all the talk about monsters and other supernatural beings were slowly making her wonder whether she had been right to assume that Cagalli was any different from the shallow-minded people who attended those foolish gatherings and balls dressed in gowns or slutty clothing that had cost more than what an honest working individual could make in a year. The idea that there were horribly mutated and downright disgusting creatures like demons living amongst the general public was insane!
“Just remember our deal,” Cagalli said simply, turning to her with a reckless grin. She was thoroughly undaunted by all the walking; if anything, it was quite fun, wandering around in the wilderness. It was an adventure, at any rate, and a fair sight better than sitting around in her boring home reading a bunch of boring political case-files to appease her boring tutor. Cagalli did take her studies seriously, but was also a firm believer in weekends. “If we don’t find anything, I’ll never mention any of this again. That was my promise.”
Privately, she was beginning to have her doubts. The death had certainly seemed suspicious, but maybe it had been what Franziska said it was. (Although even the police had seemed baffled as to exactly what to call it. They were ‘still investigating’, which was a nice way of saying ‘we have no idea, please help us!’.) “Anyway, this isn’t so bad, right?” Cagalli glanced at her again. “It’s good to get some fresh air every once in awhile. The city’s so stuffy and polluted. Besides,” she turned away, tilting her head upwards and gazing up at the trees. “This is the closest we can get to the way things used to be, I figure. You can’t see the sky too well from here.”
"This foolishness isn't my idea of fun. You need to accept that you were wrong and move on with your life," Franziska answered as she rolled her eyes and tried to keep up with Cagalli, although that was proving rather difficult since her heels kept sinking into the dirt. "I'm only staying out here for another half hour, I'm prosecuting a case and that evidence wont research itself," she added as she brushed a few spindly, hanging branches out of her way. If any of those foolishly foolish fools find out I willingly went along with this foolishness, I'll never hear the end of it.
"Face it Cagalli," she added as she glanced at the taller girl. "Someone dumped a body here, it was savaged by wild dogs, and that's that. It has nothing to do with this foolishly foolish monster nonsense you keep preaching about. In the next half hour, I'm abandoning this foolishly foolish search, going home and showering, I can't believe I even let a fool like you drag me into this foolishness."
Cagalli internally lamented her friend’s lack of adventurous spirit, but outwardly merely shrugged. She didn’t seem concerned in the slightest by Franziska’s repeated insults, more bemused than anything. “Half an hour it is. We’ll walk to the site, hang around there for ten minutes, then go back the way we came,” she agreed.
Cagalli was surprised that the other girl had even agreed to this, and at how painless it had been to get her to agree. Now, they needed to find something, or else Cagalli really would look like a fool. “I promise next time we’ll go somewhere nicer,” she tried, in a vain attempt to appease Franziska. “Like, um… the beach? You like the beach?”
Wondering if humouring her was really going to be a good idea, Franziska shook her head. She hadn't gotten to where she was now by spending her time exploring woodland or soaking up the rays at the beach and for her any time off was too much time off. "You're drifting away from the subject. If you wanted to get to know me better, there are far easier methods than dragging me around this foolish forest to find the foolish clearing where that foolish fool of a fool was killed by another fool which you so foolishly believe is some kind of monster," she remarked sternly before nudging Cagalli forwards, simply wanting to have this over and done with.
“Okay, okay,” Cagalli held up a hand. Even if she tended to be a bit repetitive, Cagalli could definitely see how in spite of her age and appearance, Franziska would be intimidating in the courtroom. At least once during virtually every discussion they had, Cagalli was thankful that she wasn’t a defence attorney. “What about-“
Cagalli’s next suggestion would never be known, for she abruptly stopped, halting in her tracks and her speech. She looked around a trifle uncertainly, frowning. Could’ve sworn I saw something… “Did you see that?” she asked after a moment. It was only out of the corner of her eye, but she’d definitely seen something moving higher in the trees, too high for an animal (and the forest was meant to be unpopulated by wildlife anyway).
Fixing her with a look, Franziska rolled her eyes. "And now the foolishly foolish fool is trying to frighten me with amateur tactics. You know there's nothing out here just as much as I do, that's why no one comes here. What you saw on the news was a body violently mutilated by another sick murderer. The 'claw marks', as you call them, were made by a knife or some kind of sword, and the areas where it appears that the flesh was torn right from the victim's body was the work of wild dogs, what more proof do you need that the victim was murdered in a brutal fashion and then dumped here to rot for several days before finally being discovered by a foolish rambler?"
“You’re more willing to believe someone would chop up someone else with a sword than that monsters exist when you’ve already seen one?” Cagalli mumbled, scratching her head and wondering if maybe convincing Franziska was simply a lost cause. Shaking her head, she turned to face Franziska fully and protested, “I saw something, I’m sure of it! It was only out of the corner of my eye, but I saw something moving up in the trees!”
"it was probably an animal, you fool!" Franziska retorted swiftly as she coiled her whip around her knuckles before pulling it taut with a loud crack, even now she had simply refused to part with it, even if it was a pain to lug around in this kind of environment. Suddenly her grip slackened and she fell silent, staring at the grotesque creature that now loomed large over Cagalli's shoulders. Her eyes widened in terror and she immediately took a step back, only to have her heel sink into the mud again. "…What is THAT?!"
“Wh-“ Cagalli fell silent as she turned around, eyes widening. She had got what she wanted, it seemed: a monster. A big, ugly, angry-looking monster, with sharp claws and glowing eyes. In that instant, Cagalli became fully aware how incredibly, as Franziska would say, foolish this entire idea had been.
Fortunately, while Cagalli was reckless and prone to moments of incredibly foolishness, she wasn’t stupid. When embarking on a monster-hunting expedition, she was smart enough to bring a loaded gun. She took a step back towards Franziska as she drew said firearm from her duster, holding it out in front of her and flicking off the safety. Allowing herself a quick “I told you so!” before leveling the gun, she added, “Get ready!” before firing the gun.
"You brought a GUN?!" Franziska demanded as she eyed the firearm, unsure of what was more terrifying at this point, the monster or the fact that someone her age was in possession of a firearm and was standing right next to her. "You foolish fool! What good is that going to do?!" She added angrily before yelling out as the monster swiped at her, acting on instinct and striking its arm with her whip before Cagalli fired the gun, though neither attack seemed to affect it much. "Forget that, RUN, you fool!"
It’s a gun, and she’s asking ‘what good it will do?’ Cagalli gritted her teeth, taking a couple of steps back and raising the gun again nevertheless. When all was said and done, she had never expected to actually encounter anything dangerous. It hadn’t even occurred to her that they would seriously actually find something. Her hands were shaking as she tried to even up and take the shot, narrowly avoiding being struck herself as she stumbled backwards, tripping up and falling back into the mud. She got to her feet quickly, keeping her grip on the gun and taking another step back. The monster seemed to be at least a bit distracted by the injuries they’d inflicted on it.
“Go!” Cagalli shouted, eyes narrowing. Of all things, she refused to be responsible for her friend being injured or worse by some crazy monster. “Just give me a sec, I just gotta…” Even if it was a monster, she doubted it could survive a bullet to the head.
"Fool! You can't take that thing on by yourself!" Franziska snapped before she held onto a tree branch as she pulled off one of her high-heeled boots and immediately flung it at the monster’s head, causing it to let out a howl of pain. Yelling out as it swiped at her, she tripped rather than managing to dodge and hit the ground hard with a grimace. Pulling off her other shoe and throwing it at the creature as well, she stood up again and struck it with her whip as it tried to slash at her waist. She was hardly an experienced fighter short of whipping people both in and out of the courtroom and her actions were purely down to her survival instincts.
Cagalli’s eyes narrowed, and she suddenly felt light-headed, somehow disconnected. Time seemed to slow down -or perhaps she was just perceiving it faster-, and in a few moments, she saw everything. Her eyes glazed over, pupils dilating as she again raised the gun, holding it in front of her expertly. Her hands didn’t shake and her grip was firm.
“I can’t… I won’t let you hurt my friend.” That was all she would later recall thinking in that moment, her mind completely blank aside from that one thought. Her eyes and face were emotionless, and she seemed in a trance as she emptied the gun at the monster’s head with pinpoint accuracy, hurling the pistol itself at it when the ammunition ran out. She stumbled back slightly, her eyes returning to normal as she lightly touched her head, feeling disoriented. Is it…?
Franziska watched as the creature staggered forward, blood pouring thickly from the various wounds in its head before it let out a gargled snarl and abruptly collapsed with a loud crash, turning to dust after just a few seconds.
"..." Unsure of what to think, she found herself surprisingly speechless as she stared at Cagalli.
"..." Cagalli was equally speechless, staring at the monster. Finally, tentatively, she stepped forwards and nudged the pile of dust with the side of her boot, as if to confirm it was dead. “I-I didn’t think…” she said finally, staring at the ground. “I didn’t think there’d really be something like this… I mean, I thought… but…” Her words were all jumbled in her head, and nothing was coming out right anyway, so she just settled for a sincere, “I… I’m sorry…”
"You're… sorry," the young prosecutor repeated to herself as she slowly began to come out of her stupor, turning her cold gaze onto Cagalli as she felt the anger welling up again. Clenching her fists as she began to tremble lightly from both the shock of the ordeal and her own temper she eventually stood up, certainly looking a sight with her badly laddered tights and bare feet.
"You're… sorry… you foolishly foolish fool of a fool! You could have died! I could have died! You… you… you FOOL! What were you thinking when you decided to drag me along for this foolish monster-hunting expedition, didn't it ever occur to you that we could be put in danger!? You foolishly foolish fool! You drag me out here, insist that there are 'monsters' and when we actually DO encounter one, you aren't even prepared to deal with it properly! Look at the STATE of me! The dirt is one thing, but I'm BLEEDING and how am I supposed to get back!? My shoes are GONE! You… you… you FOOL!" Pulling her whip taut with a loud crack as she ended her rant, she slowly began to calm down again.
Cagalli was silent for almost a minute after Franziska had finished. To her credit, she didn’t bother protesting - she had deserved the admonishments, and she knew it. It had been, for lack of a better word, a foolish endeavor, and had she thought it through more, she would’ve realised that there was a good chance they could’ve been harmed. She didn’t even bother pointing out that she had brought a gun, so she’d at least been prepared.
Then, out of the blue, she questioned, “What shoe size are you?” as she walked over to Franziska. Letting her own duster fall to the ground, Cagalli offered a mental prayer of thanks that Mana had bullied talked her into wearing a sweatshirt as it ‘was cold outside, and you don’t want to catch a cold!’. Mana probably hadn’t envisioned this use for it, but what Mana didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. She promptly pulled off the sweatshirt and moved to wrap it around Franziska’s injured arm as a very makeshift bandage. She didn’t have anything she could use to cut the material, but it was thin enough material to be easily bound and transformed. “Hold still, okay?” She didn’t wait for a response.
"…never mind, it doesn't matter." Franziska answered after a moment, considerably calmer now than she had been just before. She stood still as she allowed Cagalli to wrap the fabric around her arm, the cut wasn't too bad and the amount of blood was rather deceiving, the demon hadn't even injured her, she'd hurt herself when she'd tripped and fallen. "If I say I believe you, promise to never speak of this foolishness again to anyone." She added after a moment.
“I promise,” Cagalli responded without hesitation. The last thing either of them needed was for anyone else to find out about this. (Her father would probably snap and send her to a boarding school for delinquent girls or something if he found out.) Glancing back into the forested area, she mumbled, “Your shoes are probably nearby… wear my boots if we can’t find them, we’re probably the same size.”
"I'll manage… fool," Franziska answered, although her tone lacked its usual harshness as she spoke to Cagalli again, she felt tired and even a little run down, the expedition proving to be a source of stress that she just wasn't used to. Facing people down in court and condemning potentially innocent people to a lifetime jail sentence was one thing just to maintain her perfect win record was one thing, but fighting for her life against some other worldly creature was just too much. "Come on. Before they notice we're gone."
“Are you sure?” Cagalli asked, taking a quick look around. She couldn’t see anything out there, but she was certain that the shoes would have to be somewhere nearby. Fiddling with her gloves, she added somewhat sheepishly, “I’ll buy you new ones…” She blushed faintly, feeling rather embarrassed now about the entire situation, although there was a hint of pride at their accomplishments. She could barely recall how they’d actually managed to dispatch the monster, but the fact remained: they, two completely normal teenage girls, had successfully slain a monster.
"Mm, it was rather foolish of me to wear heels into a forest anyway. It'll be easier to get home without them," she answered dismissively before motioning for Cagalli to follow her, not wanting to remain in the woods for a minute longer in case that thing had friends. "Hurry up."
“Right,” Cagalli nodded quickly, hurrying off after her. The same thought had evidently just occurred to her. Now that they were out of ammo and Franziska had lost her shoes, they were officially weapon-less. Then again, Franziska does still have that whip… “…look on the bright side. We killed a monster. You don’t get to do that every day?”
"…right," Franziska answered sceptically as she walked beside Cagalli. Impressive or not it was an experience she did not want to repeat. Just put this foolishness behind you and focus on the court case, she told herself as she climbed over a fallen log.
“Well… next time you go to court, just picture the defence attorney as that monster,” Cagalli suggested with a small grin. “You’ll definitely be motivated…”
Where: Foresty area on the outskirts of the suburbs of New Sanctum.
When: Saturday, 22nd September, early afternoon.
Summary: Franziska and Cagalli go monster-hunting in the woods, at the latter's request. It goes as well as you might expect. Arguments are had, defence attorneys are villified and shoes are repeatedly problematic.
When one took into account her temperament, it was a miracle that Cagalli Yula Athha had lived as long as she had. She possessed that potentially disastrous mixture of curiousity, recklessness, courage and an iron will that led to either great leaders or heroes, or an early grave. She had become ever so slightly more ‘sensible’ (as her father put it) in her late teen years, but was still extremely foolhardy, prone to blundering into dangerous situations with little to no forethought.
Walking through the forest on a slightly chilly September day was perhaps not foolhardy in itself. She was dressed for the occasion, wearing hiking boots, a duster and appropriate clothing, and she even had a map and compass (taken at her poor bodyguard’s pleading request, since he had been denied actually accompanying her). She had even brought a friend along, although how useful Franziska von Karma would be trapped in the wilderness -especially in those heels- was debatable. It was what she was doing in the forest on a slightly chilly September day that was so thoroughly reckless: monster-hunting.
There had been a murder there, several days ago. The body had been found mutilated, as though wild animals had torn it apart, except that it had been fifteen feet above the ground draped over the bough of a tree. Cagalli was convinced that a monster was responsible, and had dragged Franziska out there to prove the much-argued point between the two; that monsters really did exist inside New Sanctum.
“It’s just a little further,” Cagalli reported, glancing down at her map again. She’d circled the point where the body had been found. The police had already declared the place a free zone again, as not much evidence had been found at the scene. They were only about a half-hour walk from the tourist site, but it was a fairly obscure walk through the forest land. No-one else was in sight. “Y’know, you really should’ve worn boots…”
Franziska von Karma was rapidly beginning to regret ever bumping into Cagalli. Traipsing through the overgrown woodland was certainly not her idea of entertainment and she couldn't help but think about the things that she was supposed to be doing. There was a new case being brought to the courtroom in a few days time that she was going to prosecute. Of course, she had already gone over the evidence in great detail, picking apart every little piece and concocting adequate lies or contradictions in order to guarantee the defendant a guilty verdict, but there was no such thing as too much preparation, and she would have preferred to be doing that, or anything else other than picking her way through the undergrowth.
Her heels were becoming quite problematic, and continued to sink into the sodden ground, she had already laddered her tights in several places on various thorny plants and broken tree branches, and all for what? To visit the sight where a violent murder had taken place. She would have cared more if it actually had something to do with her case, but it didn't, so as far as she was concerned, Cagalli should have been showing a detective around and getting them filthy.
Besides, it was a fairly open and shut death from what she'd heard. The body had been discovered with its limbs strewn across the clearing, the rest of the body looked like it had been ripped open with a series of blades and had been left in a violent, bloody mess. It was quite obvious the body had been dumped, although some of the wounds admittedly could have been caused by wild animals before the body was actually found.
Heaving a sigh, she tried to quicken her pace to catch up with Cagalli. "This is foolish," she remarked flatly as she wiped the sweat from her brow, although it had started out as a rather chilly day, beneath the heavy canopy of trees it was very stuffy, and she was really beginning to wonder if Cagalli had lost her mind. This was the kind of place young girls were taken to, raped and then murdered, not a place for 'monster-hunting'.
Of course, when she had first met Cagalli she had simply assumed that she was just another ordinary teenage girl forced to live the life of a brainless socialite in order to keep up appearances. It seemed to be the fate of any young girl who was even remotely attractive and many of them suited the role quite well. She had always looked down on such things, and at the time the other girl seemed to have felt the same way so they had gotten talking, but all the talk about monsters and other supernatural beings were slowly making her wonder whether she had been right to assume that Cagalli was any different from the shallow-minded people who attended those foolish gatherings and balls dressed in gowns or slutty clothing that had cost more than what an honest working individual could make in a year. The idea that there were horribly mutated and downright disgusting creatures like demons living amongst the general public was insane!
“Just remember our deal,” Cagalli said simply, turning to her with a reckless grin. She was thoroughly undaunted by all the walking; if anything, it was quite fun, wandering around in the wilderness. It was an adventure, at any rate, and a fair sight better than sitting around in her boring home reading a bunch of boring political case-files to appease her boring tutor. Cagalli did take her studies seriously, but was also a firm believer in weekends. “If we don’t find anything, I’ll never mention any of this again. That was my promise.”
Privately, she was beginning to have her doubts. The death had certainly seemed suspicious, but maybe it had been what Franziska said it was. (Although even the police had seemed baffled as to exactly what to call it. They were ‘still investigating’, which was a nice way of saying ‘we have no idea, please help us!’.) “Anyway, this isn’t so bad, right?” Cagalli glanced at her again. “It’s good to get some fresh air every once in awhile. The city’s so stuffy and polluted. Besides,” she turned away, tilting her head upwards and gazing up at the trees. “This is the closest we can get to the way things used to be, I figure. You can’t see the sky too well from here.”
"This foolishness isn't my idea of fun. You need to accept that you were wrong and move on with your life," Franziska answered as she rolled her eyes and tried to keep up with Cagalli, although that was proving rather difficult since her heels kept sinking into the dirt. "I'm only staying out here for another half hour, I'm prosecuting a case and that evidence wont research itself," she added as she brushed a few spindly, hanging branches out of her way. If any of those foolishly foolish fools find out I willingly went along with this foolishness, I'll never hear the end of it.
"Face it Cagalli," she added as she glanced at the taller girl. "Someone dumped a body here, it was savaged by wild dogs, and that's that. It has nothing to do with this foolishly foolish monster nonsense you keep preaching about. In the next half hour, I'm abandoning this foolishly foolish search, going home and showering, I can't believe I even let a fool like you drag me into this foolishness."
Cagalli internally lamented her friend’s lack of adventurous spirit, but outwardly merely shrugged. She didn’t seem concerned in the slightest by Franziska’s repeated insults, more bemused than anything. “Half an hour it is. We’ll walk to the site, hang around there for ten minutes, then go back the way we came,” she agreed.
Cagalli was surprised that the other girl had even agreed to this, and at how painless it had been to get her to agree. Now, they needed to find something, or else Cagalli really would look like a fool. “I promise next time we’ll go somewhere nicer,” she tried, in a vain attempt to appease Franziska. “Like, um… the beach? You like the beach?”
Wondering if humouring her was really going to be a good idea, Franziska shook her head. She hadn't gotten to where she was now by spending her time exploring woodland or soaking up the rays at the beach and for her any time off was too much time off. "You're drifting away from the subject. If you wanted to get to know me better, there are far easier methods than dragging me around this foolish forest to find the foolish clearing where that foolish fool of a fool was killed by another fool which you so foolishly believe is some kind of monster," she remarked sternly before nudging Cagalli forwards, simply wanting to have this over and done with.
“Okay, okay,” Cagalli held up a hand. Even if she tended to be a bit repetitive, Cagalli could definitely see how in spite of her age and appearance, Franziska would be intimidating in the courtroom. At least once during virtually every discussion they had, Cagalli was thankful that she wasn’t a defence attorney. “What about-“
Cagalli’s next suggestion would never be known, for she abruptly stopped, halting in her tracks and her speech. She looked around a trifle uncertainly, frowning. Could’ve sworn I saw something… “Did you see that?” she asked after a moment. It was only out of the corner of her eye, but she’d definitely seen something moving higher in the trees, too high for an animal (and the forest was meant to be unpopulated by wildlife anyway).
Fixing her with a look, Franziska rolled her eyes. "And now the foolishly foolish fool is trying to frighten me with amateur tactics. You know there's nothing out here just as much as I do, that's why no one comes here. What you saw on the news was a body violently mutilated by another sick murderer. The 'claw marks', as you call them, were made by a knife or some kind of sword, and the areas where it appears that the flesh was torn right from the victim's body was the work of wild dogs, what more proof do you need that the victim was murdered in a brutal fashion and then dumped here to rot for several days before finally being discovered by a foolish rambler?"
“You’re more willing to believe someone would chop up someone else with a sword than that monsters exist when you’ve already seen one?” Cagalli mumbled, scratching her head and wondering if maybe convincing Franziska was simply a lost cause. Shaking her head, she turned to face Franziska fully and protested, “I saw something, I’m sure of it! It was only out of the corner of my eye, but I saw something moving up in the trees!”
"it was probably an animal, you fool!" Franziska retorted swiftly as she coiled her whip around her knuckles before pulling it taut with a loud crack, even now she had simply refused to part with it, even if it was a pain to lug around in this kind of environment. Suddenly her grip slackened and she fell silent, staring at the grotesque creature that now loomed large over Cagalli's shoulders. Her eyes widened in terror and she immediately took a step back, only to have her heel sink into the mud again. "…What is THAT?!"
“Wh-“ Cagalli fell silent as she turned around, eyes widening. She had got what she wanted, it seemed: a monster. A big, ugly, angry-looking monster, with sharp claws and glowing eyes. In that instant, Cagalli became fully aware how incredibly, as Franziska would say, foolish this entire idea had been.
Fortunately, while Cagalli was reckless and prone to moments of incredibly foolishness, she wasn’t stupid. When embarking on a monster-hunting expedition, she was smart enough to bring a loaded gun. She took a step back towards Franziska as she drew said firearm from her duster, holding it out in front of her and flicking off the safety. Allowing herself a quick “I told you so!” before leveling the gun, she added, “Get ready!” before firing the gun.
"You brought a GUN?!" Franziska demanded as she eyed the firearm, unsure of what was more terrifying at this point, the monster or the fact that someone her age was in possession of a firearm and was standing right next to her. "You foolish fool! What good is that going to do?!" She added angrily before yelling out as the monster swiped at her, acting on instinct and striking its arm with her whip before Cagalli fired the gun, though neither attack seemed to affect it much. "Forget that, RUN, you fool!"
It’s a gun, and she’s asking ‘what good it will do?’ Cagalli gritted her teeth, taking a couple of steps back and raising the gun again nevertheless. When all was said and done, she had never expected to actually encounter anything dangerous. It hadn’t even occurred to her that they would seriously actually find something. Her hands were shaking as she tried to even up and take the shot, narrowly avoiding being struck herself as she stumbled backwards, tripping up and falling back into the mud. She got to her feet quickly, keeping her grip on the gun and taking another step back. The monster seemed to be at least a bit distracted by the injuries they’d inflicted on it.
“Go!” Cagalli shouted, eyes narrowing. Of all things, she refused to be responsible for her friend being injured or worse by some crazy monster. “Just give me a sec, I just gotta…” Even if it was a monster, she doubted it could survive a bullet to the head.
"Fool! You can't take that thing on by yourself!" Franziska snapped before she held onto a tree branch as she pulled off one of her high-heeled boots and immediately flung it at the monster’s head, causing it to let out a howl of pain. Yelling out as it swiped at her, she tripped rather than managing to dodge and hit the ground hard with a grimace. Pulling off her other shoe and throwing it at the creature as well, she stood up again and struck it with her whip as it tried to slash at her waist. She was hardly an experienced fighter short of whipping people both in and out of the courtroom and her actions were purely down to her survival instincts.
Cagalli’s eyes narrowed, and she suddenly felt light-headed, somehow disconnected. Time seemed to slow down -or perhaps she was just perceiving it faster-, and in a few moments, she saw everything. Her eyes glazed over, pupils dilating as she again raised the gun, holding it in front of her expertly. Her hands didn’t shake and her grip was firm.
“I can’t… I won’t let you hurt my friend.” That was all she would later recall thinking in that moment, her mind completely blank aside from that one thought. Her eyes and face were emotionless, and she seemed in a trance as she emptied the gun at the monster’s head with pinpoint accuracy, hurling the pistol itself at it when the ammunition ran out. She stumbled back slightly, her eyes returning to normal as she lightly touched her head, feeling disoriented. Is it…?
Franziska watched as the creature staggered forward, blood pouring thickly from the various wounds in its head before it let out a gargled snarl and abruptly collapsed with a loud crash, turning to dust after just a few seconds.
"..." Unsure of what to think, she found herself surprisingly speechless as she stared at Cagalli.
"..." Cagalli was equally speechless, staring at the monster. Finally, tentatively, she stepped forwards and nudged the pile of dust with the side of her boot, as if to confirm it was dead. “I-I didn’t think…” she said finally, staring at the ground. “I didn’t think there’d really be something like this… I mean, I thought… but…” Her words were all jumbled in her head, and nothing was coming out right anyway, so she just settled for a sincere, “I… I’m sorry…”
"You're… sorry," the young prosecutor repeated to herself as she slowly began to come out of her stupor, turning her cold gaze onto Cagalli as she felt the anger welling up again. Clenching her fists as she began to tremble lightly from both the shock of the ordeal and her own temper she eventually stood up, certainly looking a sight with her badly laddered tights and bare feet.
"You're… sorry… you foolishly foolish fool of a fool! You could have died! I could have died! You… you… you FOOL! What were you thinking when you decided to drag me along for this foolish monster-hunting expedition, didn't it ever occur to you that we could be put in danger!? You foolishly foolish fool! You drag me out here, insist that there are 'monsters' and when we actually DO encounter one, you aren't even prepared to deal with it properly! Look at the STATE of me! The dirt is one thing, but I'm BLEEDING and how am I supposed to get back!? My shoes are GONE! You… you… you FOOL!" Pulling her whip taut with a loud crack as she ended her rant, she slowly began to calm down again.
Cagalli was silent for almost a minute after Franziska had finished. To her credit, she didn’t bother protesting - she had deserved the admonishments, and she knew it. It had been, for lack of a better word, a foolish endeavor, and had she thought it through more, she would’ve realised that there was a good chance they could’ve been harmed. She didn’t even bother pointing out that she had brought a gun, so she’d at least been prepared.
Then, out of the blue, she questioned, “What shoe size are you?” as she walked over to Franziska. Letting her own duster fall to the ground, Cagalli offered a mental prayer of thanks that Mana had bullied talked her into wearing a sweatshirt as it ‘was cold outside, and you don’t want to catch a cold!’. Mana probably hadn’t envisioned this use for it, but what Mana didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. She promptly pulled off the sweatshirt and moved to wrap it around Franziska’s injured arm as a very makeshift bandage. She didn’t have anything she could use to cut the material, but it was thin enough material to be easily bound and transformed. “Hold still, okay?” She didn’t wait for a response.
"…never mind, it doesn't matter." Franziska answered after a moment, considerably calmer now than she had been just before. She stood still as she allowed Cagalli to wrap the fabric around her arm, the cut wasn't too bad and the amount of blood was rather deceiving, the demon hadn't even injured her, she'd hurt herself when she'd tripped and fallen. "If I say I believe you, promise to never speak of this foolishness again to anyone." She added after a moment.
“I promise,” Cagalli responded without hesitation. The last thing either of them needed was for anyone else to find out about this. (Her father would probably snap and send her to a boarding school for delinquent girls or something if he found out.) Glancing back into the forested area, she mumbled, “Your shoes are probably nearby… wear my boots if we can’t find them, we’re probably the same size.”
"I'll manage… fool," Franziska answered, although her tone lacked its usual harshness as she spoke to Cagalli again, she felt tired and even a little run down, the expedition proving to be a source of stress that she just wasn't used to. Facing people down in court and condemning potentially innocent people to a lifetime jail sentence was one thing just to maintain her perfect win record was one thing, but fighting for her life against some other worldly creature was just too much. "Come on. Before they notice we're gone."
“Are you sure?” Cagalli asked, taking a quick look around. She couldn’t see anything out there, but she was certain that the shoes would have to be somewhere nearby. Fiddling with her gloves, she added somewhat sheepishly, “I’ll buy you new ones…” She blushed faintly, feeling rather embarrassed now about the entire situation, although there was a hint of pride at their accomplishments. She could barely recall how they’d actually managed to dispatch the monster, but the fact remained: they, two completely normal teenage girls, had successfully slain a monster.
"Mm, it was rather foolish of me to wear heels into a forest anyway. It'll be easier to get home without them," she answered dismissively before motioning for Cagalli to follow her, not wanting to remain in the woods for a minute longer in case that thing had friends. "Hurry up."
“Right,” Cagalli nodded quickly, hurrying off after her. The same thought had evidently just occurred to her. Now that they were out of ammo and Franziska had lost her shoes, they were officially weapon-less. Then again, Franziska does still have that whip… “…look on the bright side. We killed a monster. You don’t get to do that every day?”
"…right," Franziska answered sceptically as she walked beside Cagalli. Impressive or not it was an experience she did not want to repeat. Just put this foolishness behind you and focus on the court case, she told herself as she climbed over a fallen log.
“Well… next time you go to court, just picture the defence attorney as that monster,” Cagalli suggested with a small grin. “You’ll definitely be motivated…”