Tumgik
#Mostly cuz this whole story feels so wildly ooc to it
rapono-writes-stuff · 6 months
Text
Excerpt from a fic I might end up not posting:
Mostly cuz it's a very simplified version of a plot brainworm I've had for the past few months, mixed with my lack of confidence in understanding the fandom source material. Also it's not even finished yet lol.
◇◇◇
The new stranger is familiar, and the hunter doesn't know why.
Tall, too tall, and blind, hair a stark white. Eyes always closed, and yet used their keen hearing to move as if they could see. Nothing about her was familiar, the hunter would've definitely remembered someone so vividly unordinary.
And yet, the song she often hummed scratched something familiar in the back of their mind, an undeniable feeling they'd heard it before. And for some reason, it made their guts twist with a terror they couldn't quite recall, a memory that refused to surface, but was undeniably there.
“Where'd you learn that song?”
They'd eventually been brave enough to ask, pretending they hadn't been putting off doing so, the stranger turning their head to face them, despite never opening their sightless eyes.
“…I can’t recall. Known it as long as I can remember.”
With that, they sung the beautiful tune once more, the mountains carrying their voice. The hunter stood and listened, as if the melody didn't strike them with prey-animal fear.
They dream of losing a hunt that night, but can’t recall what the monster they face looks like.
---
Today, the stranger approaches them first.
“What's troubling you little hunter? I can sense the tension in your limbs.”
They bite their tongue. They don’t want to admit the truth, make her stop singing, but they can’t find a lie.
“Your song is familiar, but I can’t recall why.”
Her posture stiffens, if only for a moment, a beat of silence unbroken. It feels a little too long, before her answer comes.
“Interesting. I wonder why.”
There's an old flatness to her tone, but the hunter doesn’t question it.
They notice she sings it less frequently around them after that, as if she knows the fear it brings. Only catching the tune in the distance, but quieting to silence as they grow close.
The hunter regrets their words, despite the fear it caused, they hadn't wanted this.
-----
The stranger has become a stranger no more. Still unusual, yes, but proving herself in the hunt, despite her lack of sight. A fellow hunter, a friend.
The song loses its bite, the tune becoming familiar for a new reason. Her voice is beautiful, and carries far, able to hear her from across the village on good day.
She no longer shies away when the hunter approaches, as they come to sit and listen.
-----
“Would you still fight alongside with me if I was a monster?”
The question catches the hunter off guard, an unusual question,
“Huh?”
She elaborates.
“If I was turned into a monster, would you hunt me?
Instinctually, a part of them pounces on a yes, of course. She would be a danger to them and everyone if such a horrible thing happened. And yet, they hesitate to answer, as a smaller, quieter voice is the one to break the silence, put the words on their tongue.
“…I don’t know.”
And it, unlike the first answer, feels more like the truth.
The former stranger smiles.
“I'd hope, at the very least, you'd hesitate.”
6 notes · View notes