[ Alas, Gen did not grow up in 1920s Chicago (probably for the best for him), he instead grew up in [nebulous 2020s??] Japan crawling with giant monsters instead of vampires, and thus he has an absurdly large gun sword instead.
It really makes most other weapons seem small and piddling by comparison.
He will glance up from his whittling as he sees what she's starting to do, brow furrowed. The lady doesn't seem to be all that fussy about getting messy, but this is a little odd. ]
[The presence of kaiju would also drastically change 1920s Chicago. Probably. They were a much less shadowy threat than kindred.]
[Clara freezes, caught in her interest with a little dab of her tongue against her bloodied thumb. Her eyes don't flicker over to him, they stay adamantly on her own task, she's definitely heard him. If she were to resume her work it would read as purposefully ignoring him.]
[When she does lift her head to make eye contact it's when she's formulated some excuse. She takes one hand and draws it across the finger she appeared to be licking. Her bluff is... pretending she got a cut. There's enough blood in the general area this is believable unless her hand is actually cleaned up and examined.]
[ Gen is definitely not about to stick her hand in the water to see if that cut is real or not, because as weird as her behavior is, it doesn't necessarily harm him in any way.
Now all of that said, however, it doesn't mean he actually believes her. For as much of a rambling idiot who wants his ego stroked as he might seem right now, he's always had a keen eye for details. It's why he was able to achieve the rank he has despite his frequent and blatant insubordination. ]
Impressive how you didn't even react to it when it happened. You're made of tough stuff, huh?
[ There's an implication in that statement, though he remains seated comfortably where he is, so it doesn't seem like he's going to try that hard to prove anything. ]
[Clara receives the implication clearly. Her lie is noted, not convincing, but not worth pursuing. She feels her heart rate pick up and, that itself is a novelty. The kindred heart only beat as a remnant of the past and so feeling the sudden palpitations of being caught in a lie are nostalgic at the least.]
[It is also a relief because, ultimately, if she were investigated, she would simply be a "strange human."]
[Clara makes a quick gesture of the knife going across skin a couple of times. She is trying to convey that this sort of thing is usual for her. A small cut does not make her flinch. Then it's back to the task ahead of her, while she idly wonders if she should cut her skin for once the whole process ended.]
[Anyhow, decapitated and pluck chicken received! Wow, doesn't it feel great to do things with your hands.]
[ The lie does become a bit more believable in that regard. While he might throw a fit about nicking himself on something usually, if he's focused enough he wouldn't notice it at all. In fact, even during a more peaceful moment the fuss would be more for show than actually being all that bothered by it.
It's hard to be that bothered by a small cut when you've had holes blasted through your body. Clara doesn't strike him as the kind of woman who would have that experience herself, but you never know... appearances can be deceiving.
So he'll make a noncommittal sound at that gesture she makes. ]
If you say so.
[ She technically doesn't, but close enough.
For his part he had been whittling with that knife she handed him during his own judgement of her. It doesn't take all that much to just scrape off bits of wood either (the harder part is not splintering the wood or breaking the point), so he'll roll a mostly sharpened stick towards here. ]
[Appearances can be deceiving. Clara had gratefully never had real opportunity to test how durable a kindred's body was. Those who honed their blood that way could endure far more than humans could imagine. She had endured enough abuse and among her group there were people much better at taking hits.]
[Of course, now, the simulation might treat her to little pains and annoyances she didn't remember. Cutting herself to draw blood for a ritual was very different with kindred vitae than as a human with blood.]
[She nods firmly. She does say so, even if not with her words.]
[The stick rolls into her periphery and she does shoot him another look before picking it up. She stands up, not paying much mind to the blood and feathers sticking to her skirt. She wants to be closer to the fire pit for this part, which involves staring down the mess she's created and aiming the stick for the correct path all the way through.]
[Her stab is unflinching and accurate. She knows if she were to break it they would have to go through the entire routine of Narumi dancing around responsibility again.]
[ "Far more than humans could imagine", huh? That line of thinking is best not voiced out loud to a man like Gen, who has shredded monsters who kill humans to pieces before, and would take something like that as a challenge. Not that he has the suit that enables him to actually put that aggression into action if he wanted to.
The same suit that has also ironically let him endure a lot of abuse that humans wouldn't be able to live through without it, even though it puts a different kind of life draining strain on him when he taps into its full power.
Despite how many warnings that his use of it would fry his brain though, it still seems to be in decent enough shape right now, and his powers of observation haven't been diminished.
At the very least, it doesn't take much processing power to understand that she managed that with a lot more confidence than most people would. ]
So... hunter, soldier, wilderness survival expert, what? What was your deal before coming here?
[ He's asking knowing she can't really respond right now, but the game only lasts so long, and he'll be able to find her again eventually to get that answer from her if he wants it. ]
[A shame that he lacks the ability and lacks a kindred so happy to see people's anger to try it. While her thoughts go to Charlie she knows the man might not be so jovial when it came to someone who could actually observe a kindred's weak points. For every fight he picked, she knew he could quickly turn to actual anger and spite. And human life wasn't important to him.]
[A shame she can't watch them fight.]
[She deals with the structure of sticks gathered to create a spit for roasting. He asks her a question that she's even less equipped to answer with her hands full. She raises and lowers her shoulders in an exaggerated, mute huff. She sets up the speared bird horizontally, makes sure it can support the weight, then grabs a spare stick to answer his question.]
[She stands and brushes some sand and feathers off her skirt. She takes a few steps so she can angle the drawing accordingly. She doesn't want to bother drawing it upside down so she needs to make sure he's seeing it from the same viewpoint. Sharp lines are drawn one by one, creating a long, six-sided shape.]
[ A shame that Gen wasn't getting a second shot at the man on more even footing either. He'd seen what the man was comfortable with doing first hand, and despite his best efforts, a perfectly human body without enhancements hadn't been enough to really do any true damage to him.
Gen has read extensively on vampires since then, not that Clara necessarily needs to know or worry about that as long as she's keeping her fangs out of people. Besides, the information he's found is sometimes contradictory, and there's no guarantee anything he tries would work on the specific brand of vampire that he happens to know is here.
(Or knew was here, since he'll remain in the dark about Clara for some time to come.)
Though he is getting a strange set of ideas about her from this one very vague drawing. Somehow mortician isn't the first thing that springs to mind. ]
So some sort of hired killer then?
[ His tone is light and teasing, the smile on his face is easy going. The way the muscles in his arms tense up is a little more telling. It's probably not what she meant, but just in case... ]
[Even within the world of kindred there were many physiological differences. The curse of Cain manifested differently between clans, between individuals, and the deeper one dove into it the more they shaped the user. Charlie was the type to view their existence as something good. He drank deeply of the power.]
[Clara stays in the shallows of it all. He does not have the depths of power but she can live without having to take lives. She can drink the blood supplied to her without touching her fangs to another person's skin. Her existence hurts people. Still, she wants to exist.]
[after all if she didn't exist then she wouldn't be able to give Narumi the flattest look for his outlandish suggestion; how is that the first thing to come to mind!!]
[She shakes her head once then stubbornly starts to add to the drawing, as if that were going to help. A shaky line depicts the ground and then a tombstone shape drawn above it. A small crowd of people (sticks with lines coming out of them) attend for a formal funeral.]
[In truth, she could never handle that social a part of the job but it's further away from "hired killer" than drawing any of her surgical tools or attempting to get someone to guess at a morgue.]
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no subject
It really makes most other weapons seem small and piddling by comparison.
He will glance up from his whittling as he sees what she's starting to do, brow furrowed. The lady doesn't seem to be all that fussy about getting messy, but this is a little odd. ]
Hey... what are you up to?
no subject
[Clara freezes, caught in her interest with a little dab of her tongue against her bloodied thumb. Her eyes don't flicker over to him, they stay adamantly on her own task, she's definitely heard him. If she were to resume her work it would read as purposefully ignoring him.]
[When she does lift her head to make eye contact it's when she's formulated some excuse. She takes one hand and draws it across the finger she appeared to be licking. Her bluff is... pretending she got a cut. There's enough blood in the general area this is believable unless her hand is actually cleaned up and examined.]
no subject
Now all of that said, however, it doesn't mean he actually believes her. For as much of a rambling idiot who wants his ego stroked as he might seem right now, he's always had a keen eye for details. It's why he was able to achieve the rank he has despite his frequent and blatant insubordination. ]
Impressive how you didn't even react to it when it happened. You're made of tough stuff, huh?
[ There's an implication in that statement, though he remains seated comfortably where he is, so it doesn't seem like he's going to try that hard to prove anything. ]
no subject
[It is also a relief because, ultimately, if she were investigated, she would simply be a "strange human."]
[Clara makes a quick gesture of the knife going across skin a couple of times. She is trying to convey that this sort of thing is usual for her. A small cut does not make her flinch. Then it's back to the task ahead of her, while she idly wonders if she should cut her skin for once the whole process ended.]
[Anyhow, decapitated and pluck chicken received! Wow, doesn't it feel great to do things with your hands.]
no subject
It's hard to be that bothered by a small cut when you've had holes blasted through your body. Clara doesn't strike him as the kind of woman who would have that experience herself, but you never know... appearances can be deceiving.
So he'll make a noncommittal sound at that gesture she makes. ]
If you say so.
[ She technically doesn't, but close enough.
For his part he had been whittling with that knife she handed him during his own judgement of her. It doesn't take all that much to just scrape off bits of wood either (the harder part is not splintering the wood or breaking the point), so he'll roll a mostly sharpened stick towards here. ]
There you go. Pointy enough.
no subject
[Of course, now, the simulation might treat her to little pains and annoyances she didn't remember. Cutting herself to draw blood for a ritual was very different with kindred vitae than as a human with blood.]
[She nods firmly. She does say so, even if not with her words.]
[The stick rolls into her periphery and she does shoot him another look before picking it up. She stands up, not paying much mind to the blood and feathers sticking to her skirt. She wants to be closer to the fire pit for this part, which involves staring down the mess she's created and aiming the stick for the correct path all the way through.]
[Her stab is unflinching and accurate. She knows if she were to break it they would have to go through the entire routine of Narumi dancing around responsibility again.]
no subject
The same suit that has also ironically let him endure a lot of abuse that humans wouldn't be able to live through without it, even though it puts a different kind of life draining strain on him when he taps into its full power.
Despite how many warnings that his use of it would fry his brain though, it still seems to be in decent enough shape right now, and his powers of observation haven't been diminished.
At the very least, it doesn't take much processing power to understand that she managed that with a lot more confidence than most people would. ]
So... hunter, soldier, wilderness survival expert, what? What was your deal before coming here?
[ He's asking knowing she can't really respond right now, but the game only lasts so long, and he'll be able to find her again eventually to get that answer from her if he wants it. ]
no subject
[A shame she can't watch them fight.]
[She deals with the structure of sticks gathered to create a spit for roasting. He asks her a question that she's even less equipped to answer with her hands full. She raises and lowers her shoulders in an exaggerated, mute huff. She sets up the speared bird horizontally, makes sure it can support the weight, then grabs a spare stick to answer his question.]
[She stands and brushes some sand and feathers off her skirt. She takes a few steps so she can angle the drawing accordingly. She doesn't want to bother drawing it upside down so she needs to make sure he's seeing it from the same viewpoint. Sharp lines are drawn one by one, creating a long, six-sided shape.]
[A coffin.]
no subject
Gen has read extensively on vampires since then, not that Clara necessarily needs to know or worry about that as long as she's keeping her fangs out of people. Besides, the information he's found is sometimes contradictory, and there's no guarantee anything he tries would work on the specific brand of vampire that he happens to know is here.
(Or knew was here, since he'll remain in the dark about Clara for some time to come.)
Though he is getting a strange set of ideas about her from this one very vague drawing. Somehow mortician isn't the first thing that springs to mind. ]
So some sort of hired killer then?
[ His tone is light and teasing, the smile on his face is easy going. The way the muscles in his arms tense up is a little more telling. It's probably not what she meant, but just in case... ]
no subject
[Clara stays in the shallows of it all. He does not have the depths of power but she can live without having to take lives. She can drink the blood supplied to her without touching her fangs to another person's skin. Her existence hurts people. Still, she wants to exist.]
[after all if she didn't exist then she wouldn't be able to give Narumi the flattest look for his outlandish suggestion; how is that the first thing to come to mind!!]
[She shakes her head once then stubbornly starts to add to the drawing, as if that were going to help. A shaky line depicts the ground and then a tombstone shape drawn above it. A small crowd of people (sticks with lines coming out of them) attend for a formal funeral.]
[In truth, she could never handle that social a part of the job but it's further away from "hired killer" than drawing any of her surgical tools or attempting to get someone to guess at a morgue.]