Air screams down either side of Pixie's face, whipping her pink hair past her as she weaves through the trees. A candy-colored blindfold is wrapped tightly over the silky river of hair that flows over her shoulders. Her nostrils flare as she inhales deeply, scents from the forest mingling with the sharp, tangy odors of all those who had passed through. Male, female, happy, scared, excited, oh everything one could tell about a person just from their scent! Pixie releases a howling laugh, feet firmly pressing into the earth, pushing up and pressing her deeper into the web of scents. There was one, however, that she had locked on. Target acquired, and just like a missile glowing with red heat, she streaks through the woods towards that sweet scent, just like cake, edged with the faint musk of a fox. It was a scent so light Pixie could leap from the edge of it straight into the clouds, yet so deep she could sink breast-deep into its waters.
Closer… closer the scent washes over her, until finally she squeezes her eyes shut, coming to an abrupt stop at the base of a tree. The air around her suddenly falls still. She extends her fingers and they trace the cracking bark. She sinks her nails as deep as she can and with a jerk of her arm, she tears a hunk from the tree's skin and brings it to her face, inhaling deeply. This here piece of tree, Mayumi's fingers had touched it. The crumbling wood falls like raindrops from between Pixie's fingers and she releases them, standing, for a moment, transfixed by how lusciously intoxicating that very smell was. No, more than her fingers! More than those dainty little fingers… her whole hand! Maybe a leg, or even an arm! In that sparkling instance, Pixie understood that Mayumi had shimmied up this tree, and so to follow the delicious sweetness of that young girl's odor, she too scurried up.
There was one thing, however, that she found equally intriguing as well as disturbing: there was this scent that trailed the ground behind Mayumi, keeping a steady pace with her all the way from that mess of Grimm skeletons to this here tree, and that was this male scent. Disgustingly male! Grossly masculine, and all things Pixie disliked in a smell. Disgusting. Enough to make her spit. Unlike the soft, fluffy, deepness of Mayumi this smell was dry on her nostrils and made her toes curl, oh the fact that a male would dare pursue her for this long! How desperate, and the sick act of desperation, especially after her own precious little darling! This was something she surely could not stand for. So, she slipped that revolting smell into her back pocket and ran her tongue over the sharp points of her canines. That was a smell she'd have to remember just long enough to put a face to it, and with that face would come a name and a name meant a target. A plaything. A lovely little toy to bat her paws at.
Oh, but now is not the time for idle fantasies. No, she has a mission! A task at hand, nestled right here in her slender fingers is this goal she just had to achieve! Mayumi, yes that isher goal and therefore her focus. She reaches out and grips another branch, swinging through the air and landing in the next tree, hair floating gently like seagrass a-storm in shallow water, settling with the speed of such. She continues this trend, her fingers clawing after Mayumi's invisible calling card. She stops at its peak, the very top of the mountain of all this whirling aroma, oh it was weaving around her like a typhoon now! She wags her head in a bearish way, searching the air for a clear sign until…
Mayumi! Oh, a symphony rings clearly in Pixie's ears just at the very notion of her being so close! She slides down from her current bark-clad throne and lands heavily on the ground, mouth agape clearly revealing her gleaming fangs.
"Oh sweetie!" she calls, rushing towards the sound of rustling leaves. She feels a breath of air as Mayumi turns and then with a solid smack the two collide, Pixie herself a force of nature. Mayumi loses her footing and yelps, hands flinging into the air. Her startled cry, however, quickly morphs into the purest laughter to ever bless the thin skin of Pixie's eardrums! Pixie fumbles, fingers trailing over Mayumi's cheeks, clad in what Pixie could only describe as flesh woven with silk. Surely, it was the only way touching it could ever be so delightful. She finds her target soon enough, however, and tears off the blindfold. Mayumi's own thin hands find their way through Pixie's mane of hair and soon both are lying in the dirt, dark eyes locked on the blazing flames of blue.
"Pixie! You found me!" Mayumi says, cheeks flushing. Pixie's breast heaves with each breath as she crouches, arms on either side of her companion's shoulders. A wide grin peels across Pixie's face, her eyes alight with that beauteous life that sprung up within her chest when she caught sight of Mayumi's soft expression.
"Well of course I did, you're my favorite thing to find," she teases, slowly pushing herself up and off of the ground. Mayumi lays there, hair a halo around her face, until Pixie offers a hand for her to take. Mayumi grips it like a lifeline and with a light flexing of her muscles, Pixie pulls her up. The two embrace. Pixie's hand strokes the tender strands of Mayumi's hair, her thoughts drifting.
After what Mayumi considers too much time for a hug to be necessary, the young girl begins to squirm, twisting to let Pixie know she wishes to be released.
"Hey… we should uh… probably get going to find the relics." Mayumi gently reminds her. Pixie clutches her a moment longer, then releases her and stares at her, a smile playing at her lips.
"Ah, yes we should. Let's go! Oh, we're going to beat Narcissa and she'll be so jealous of us!" Pixie cries, hands flinging up towards the heavens in an exuberant release of clear-eyed happiness.
~Scene Break~
The steady drilling of the two daggers buzzes in Clover's ears as he continues his work. Eyes narrowed with focus, he takes the task to heart as a small pile builds between the two of them, short molars to long canines rest nestled upon the tiny green blades of grass, each strand caressing the milky bones in an almost loving way. Fully engrossed in creating the perfect hole, he doesn't notice the muted footsteps, nor does he take the time to pay attention to the scent of an approaching woman. Not until Vira ceases her carving and raises her head, piping up in a fawn's voice:
"Narcissa! Hello!"
Clover snaps his head up, eyes locking on a woman as equally blindfolded as Vira. Her hair was red as a wealthy woman's pursed lips and had a dark cloth wrapped neatly across her eyes, although Clover swore he could see her expression. He can just imagine furrowed brows and eyes filled to the brim with something hot and boiling, quite ready to spill right from her sockets. It matched her nasty frown and would perfectly compliment the business-like manner of which she carried herself.
"Boy!" she sneers, snapping her fingers with an ugent viciousness enough to spark Clover to leap up, spilling the teeth and dagger from his hand. "Shoo, scram. Get out of here." She speaks, tongue laced with a viper's venom.
"Narcissa! It's ok, I didn't look at him! He was just helping me make necklaces," Vira speaks in the near desperate tone of someone shushing an angered dog.
Clover glances between the two, muling over the aggression of Vira's apparent dream partner. He just couldn't see the appeal in her. Perhaps Vira was confused, or worse, used to this behavior. Without thinking if these concerns should be spoken allowed, he leans over to Vira, whispering softly in her ear.
"Are you sure this is who you want to be your partner?" he murmurs. Immediately, regret flushes through his cheeks as he feels the woman's gaze scorching through him, burning straight through the fabric over her eyes.
"She's quite sure, just as sure as I am that you are to leave us. Now, go." she snaps bitterly. Vira tentatively approaches, reaching out to grasp Narcissa's hand with her own. Clover watches in astonishment as she takes to the older companion like a fish to water, leaning into her with a soft smile. Narcissa snaps her neck towards him as if she could sense his lingering gaze and quite frankly, disliked it. Her invisible stare washed over him with so much intensity he could feel it burning holes in his skin.
"Alright… alright..." Clover murmurs apprehensively, hands above his head to issue his official surrender. The two begin to walk off, and once Narcissa's eyes are off of him, he turns to stare after the swaying red ponytail that's gently brushing her shoulder blades, tickling her spine. He wonders at the strangeness of the two, fearing only momentarily for the softness that was the dark haired girl following too tightly in clutch. He sighs, turning away to find his own path through the woods: whatever the case, now he can only trust Vira's judgment and hope it isn't as off-kilter as it appeared.
~Scene Break~
Mayumi weaves behind Pixie, following that colorful plume of vibrance that always trails like her personal calling card. Fresh air streams by the two, flicking gently like feathers brushing against the softness of Mayumi's cheeks. It's enough to make Mayumi howl, however she knows Pixie would become quickly annoyed in this moment of grandeur if Mayumi were to spoil it, so instead she holds her breath and spurs herself forwards.
"Oh, Mayumi! We're about to reach a clearing, I see that it brightens past these trees! I think I smell ruins, old stone and moss. Do you smell it?" she asks, and by her tone Mayumi understands the rhetorical nature of the question. She inhales deeply. She could smell it. The earthy tones of moss and the lighter, harsher, smell of aged stone. She closed her eyes, picturing crumbling towers and dilapidated shrines to gods of the past. Oh, yes she could smell it! How wonderful the keen nose of a faunus was.
The two start to slow, until at the edge they skid to a complete stop, eyes wide as they take in what their noses have already alerted them of. Smooth greyed ruins lay like the broken remains of a fallen bird's nest, the patches which receive the sun's flighty attention cast in the forest's auburn tint. Mayumi reaches out, tugging Pixie's sleeve and pointing so that she, too, would pay attention to the fragile beauty in the ruin. Pixie loves things in the aftermath of destruction. Years of walking through the cooked remains of unfortunate towns with her has taught Mayumi this much.
The girl's admiration was short lived, however, as just across the clearing the trees began to sway much too violently to be accounted for by wind, and soon a pair of figures burst forth breaking the treeline. Mayumi squints, though it's the powerful scent of their fear wafting, clear as day, through the clearing that tells her their identity instead of their figures. Randy and Gabriel!
Her eyes widen as the creature that needed no smell to identify follows their desperate forms, a large creature flexing muscles beneath black and white scales that gleamed with a fierce majesty in the sun's glare. Fangs glint, wet with venom, and a shriek spills into the tranquility of the clearing from both of its massive jaws. Red eyes glaring, the Grimm rears its heads and Mayumi feels the spike of adrenaline rush through her veins. In an instant, her swords are drawn. Pixie's voice oozes, a drunken look seeping into her blue gaze.
"Oh sweetheart… this looks like a grand ole' time…" she muses, and without a single beat of hesitation, the two girls dive in with the intent to garnish the clearing with the Grimm's skeleton.