video [isonade hunting tips]; un: hunter

[notched]

[ The woman on camera is petite with a pretty face. Her hair had been braided back neatly at some point, but now loose strands of it hang around her face. Her clothes are loose and androgynous; always in rough-spun breeches and sturdy boots. She is sitting in what appears to be one of the Tamamo pleasure dens, the phone balanced on its side with a stand so she can speak to it without holding it.

That's as far as she's gotten with technology, it mostly baffles her, but she has something to say: ]

Isonade hunters. Listen well. All Shark Giants are capable of a deadly, four-legged charge attack and they swipe at you as they come into range. Dodge to the side, not backwards, so that you may more easily circle to their back.

Bait and kite them until you are able to land your backstab cleanly. Their hide is tough, you must commit in full. But they will fall swiftly if their spine is severed.

If you have not the poise to withstand their charges, you must stay at range from them and work slowly, steadily. They will tire with the cumulative damage to themselves.

Gather as many Haniwa as you can to take with you. They have no particular defense against accursed attacks, these will be a great boon to you as a projectile. Do not linger long with them in your possession, however, or it will be you who suffers from their taint.

[ She goes silent for a moment. Studying the camera, something she is not used to speaking to. Her dark eyes are ever so slightly disconcerting, a little distant and empty.

But she quirks a small, courteous smile, ]

Happy hunting.

Comments

[notched]

Aye, a long time now.

[ She looks young, pretty. But time loops are a bitch. She's been trapped in the same night for... there is no telling how long. ]

Many ugly things.

[identitycrisiscore]

I can believe it. [And that's not sarcastic - The way she describes how to take down these shark-people is brutal. Efficient in its own right. Comprehensive.]

I'd heard people were using the statues as bombs. I've never had the need to use something like that myself, but you clearly know your way around making use of what you have.

What's your preferred weapon?

[Might as well ask - from one monster hunter to another.]

[notched]

One must use any weapon they can. There were icons in Yharnam much similar to the Haniwa, accursed things.

[ She has her whip on hand with her, it is an elegant thing. A long whip with many delicate little hinges that allow the many blades to snap and flow. It rips, it tears. ]

The notched whip. A Hunter's trick weapon.

[identitycrisiscore]

Bladed? [ The way he looks into the camera makes it looks like ] Looks like it's in good condition.

[ A mercenary can always appreciate another's weapon. ]

Heavy blades are more my speed, but I looks like a nasty piece of work.

Must have been some nasty things in Yharnam, to have these kinds of weapons close by.

[notched]

[ Its many hinges must be maintenanced constantly, or they become rusty with blood and encrusted in meat. It is a very particular weapon that does not suit every fighter. However, ]

I am a rather small woman. Speed and agility are my greatest weapons.

[ She is petite, but tireless. She can have slashed that whip in every direction and rolled away well before most enemies can do a thing about her. She tears them open, gets them bleeding, and then wears them down. ]

The city was overtaken by the scourge of beasts. Our townsfolk turned.

[identitycrisiscore]

Makes perfect sense to me. I know a girl quick on her feet, too. [ It's not his style, but he knows it can be effective. ]

...Turned? You mean - they became monsters? [ That definitely gets his attention, in a way he can't easily describe. He sort of leans into the camera, his brow heavy and his lips pursed. ]

goes back to my regular backtags laughs...

[notched]

Aye. An ugly business.

[ It had seemed noble to protect the town as the scourge spread. She had learned otherwise, that she was just another pawn in a game bigger than she could have imagined. ]

LMAO RIGHT

[identitycrisiscore]

[ He takes a minute to ponder that. Cloud isn't... unfamiliar with people being changed, and not always for the better - it's not like Shinra didn't have their own fingers in the pie, there. Still... ]

Was it - an experiment? Or something else? [ Because, admittedly, this is what he would jump to. ]

[notched]

Aye. Church founders and scholars, playing with something they oughtn't while the hunters cleaned up their messes.

[ That's the truth. ]

Yharnam died with most blind to the truth.

[identitycrisiscore]

Of course they were. [ It comes out quick, and bitter. ] Those kind of people only think of others as lab rats.

You survived it all, though. [ It's a small consolation, and Cloud knows well how it feels. ] Got to count for something, at the end of the day.

[notched]

[ Her head... tilts. ]

Couldn't die in the Dream. Could... often, but you'd wake in the Dream and go out on the Hunt again.

[identitycrisiscore]

[ She can the information hit Cloud like a brick - his poker face is practically non-existent, and the way his brow bunches up and his mouth opens as if he wants to say something, but can't find the words, tells her all she needs to know about how he feels about that. ]

You... would die and revive over and over in a... dream. Trying to finish this hunt?

[ He's trying to put it together, bit by bit. It sounds - well, it sounds hellish. There's no other word for it. ]

[notched]

Yharnam is... dreams upon nightmares upon dreams. Cursed.

[ You'll see, when the curse blossoms over Jigoku-cho, just how at home she is. ]

There are lanterns in the dreams, leading the way to the end of the Hunt. None of us have ever made it all the way there.

[ So it goes on. ]

[identitycrisiscore]

In other words, it's real, but it isn't. A place where... everyone's shared memories make up the dream? Memories of whatever the real Yharnam may be.

[ The way she spoke, it at least sounded that way, but it was hard to parse. Probably just as hard for her. ]

...Then the hunt was still going, before you arrived here. [ That's... a sobering thought. Would Anna go back to the Hunt after getting out of Hell? Talk about a curse. ]

[notched]

Aye. The dreams exist in a stack... [ She gestures with her hands, spreading her hands vertically. ] The sky of one because the ocean of the next. Created by the Great Ones and their rituals.

[ She looks down tiredly, sighing. Just talking about it, forcing herself to focus enough to put inconceivable things into words, is exhausting. ]

I am here to work in Hell for Yharnam... To set the city free. To never hear the Great Ones' voices again.

[ She is talking about herself. She is haunted by their voices. Their intonations have been burned in to her. She hears it always: Hunter, Hunter, Hunter. ]

[identitycrisiscore]

[ He lets her talk - not keen to interrupt her when she's diving into her memories for something she'd rather forget. He knows that feeling all too well, and glance to the side might tip her off. ]

Sorry. I didn't mean to pry. I get it. There's things in my past - well, that I'd rather not think about too long.

I don't know what it's like to be under the influence of a Great One... but it clearly can't be pleasant.

[notched]

[ She doesn't really see it as prying. Natural questions when presented with something so fantastical, but it is the truth and she'll speak to it. Mostly, she knows a lot of what she says doesn't make any sense at all. Mumblings from a damaged mind. ]

...gives you purpose, on the Hunt.

[ She'd have gone insane a lot earlier if she hadn't had the Hunter's mark to drive her. ]

But... [ If it was that simple, she wouldn't be like this. Her eyes close as she tries to even put together the words. ] They're things that don't belong in a human world. You feel that, deep in your body; that they're unnatural. But they must be the natural thing somewhere... Somewhere horrible.

And they don't care about little things like us.

[identitycrisiscore]

[ The way Anna describes it - he feels something sort of tense in his gut. He... had fought something like that, felt something like that- in the Shinra building. Something that could not have felt anything but wrong. Was she - no, was it...? ]

I think I might understand that feeling. I've had it - only once. But... it's not something I think I'd like to experience again.

[notched]

Don't think on it.

[ Bringing those things into the forefront of your thoughts gives them their power all over again, the shuddering echo of their horrible gaze. ]

Leave it where it lies.

[identitycrisiscore]

R...right.

[ There's only so much dwelling he can do without getting lost in his own thoughts. That much is true. ]

It's not important here, anyway.