---POV: Odin---

Odin walked around his camp. The hounds layed around as the fowl just roamed between the caves and the spring. Odin had been here for about seven years now, just him and Lucy, but he wanted to get off of this world. He just wanted to leave. 

After coming up with a plan, Odin had Lucy use the pod's transmission equipment to send out an array of frequencies, all saying the same thing.

"Stranded on planet, follow frequency" was the message, and that was all it would ever say.

Odin looked up, and his jaw dropped open. A ship had broken through the planet's dense clouds. They had only been broadcasting for a month.

[size=34]Menka wasn’t usually one for deserted worlds with no sentient life, especially ones that had an atmosphere that even she felt a twinge of fear flying through. But there was something different here- the planet was the source of a ship’s distress beacon.[/size]

[size=34]“Stranded on planet, follow frequency.”[/size]

[size=34]She had received the distress beacon about a week ago, and ignored it for a while before her curiosity got the best of her, fly towards the planet. As she descended upon the surface of the planet, she squinted. She could see the wreck, and a number of wolf-like beasts in the area. She reached underneath her console, grabbing her shotgun that she kept loaded at all times. Whatever they were would probably flee as soon as she started to suck their lifeforce from them by force- a very painful process.[/size]

[size=34]She moved to the back of the small transport, pushing a series of buttons to disable the magnetic lock to the cargo door, watching as it hissed open. She stepped out into the world, blinking as the sunlight hit her face. She lifted her shotgun, firing into the air in an attempt to chase the wolves off. A flock of birds leaped to the air, frightened by the sudden crescendo.  She looked at the cavern- the dogs were still present.[/size]

[size=34]“If anyone’s in that cave, if these are your dogs you better say so now or I’m killing them all.” she said, her shotgun raised and ready to fire.[/size]

---POV: Odin---

Odin ran up behind the newcomer. He didn't notice them at all, he was only concerned about his animals. Then he noticed that the craft had landed on two of his hens. He ran up to the newcomer turning them around to face him by their shoulders.

"Why did you land on my birds!?!?! What kind of person would do that!?!?!" he yelled, mourning the loss of his breeders, "And now you want to kill my dogs! Just my luck, to have someone come down and kill my ten years of hard work!" Odin let go of the person, turning around and patting himself on the face.

"It's alright, they couldn't have known about the birds and the dogs are scary as hell too. So, it's a natural reaction." Odin stood there, calming himself down. He needed to round up the remaining birds, and fast, before all of his good ones ran away. Turning back to the person, Odin outlined a plan for capturing the fowl. He kneeled down in the dirt and started drawing what he was describing.

"Ok, so more likely than not, the birds that did not immediately run into the caves are currently foraging at the edge of the forest. You are going to help catch them by going around up the north side of the basin, I'll go by the south side. We will then enter the forest and drive the birds back here where they will then run into the caves. Got it?" Odin asked as he looked up, but when he saw her, he was speechless.

The woman stood in the penumbra of her ships light, allowing just enough light around her to let Odin see clearly. He could see every feature of her face, a halo of light forming through her crazed strands of thick, brown hair. Her emerald green eyes glowed slightly, pulsating with some unseen force. They drew Odin in the most, his curiosity and sense of wonder spiking as he looked into their icy depths. Her skin was pale, but not sickly. Her teeth, a sheet of white almost perfectly spaced. She had had a slight snaggletooth with her upper left canine. Odin thought that she would look exceptionally pretty if she smiled. her thin, but full, lips sat there, their pink outline enticing Odin. Immediately, Odin wanted to kiss her, he wanted to run his hands through the thick locks of her hair. He wanted to hold onto her and never let her go.

These thoughts and emotions ran through his head, surprising him. Odin had never felt this way before. He had never been attracted to any of the girls in Bastion, and Lucy had always seemed like a little sister to him, but this woman drove his beating heart into a frenzy. Odin could only mutter a single word,

"Wow..."

[size=34]Menka stood still for a moment, perplexed by the strange man now muttering angrily and shouting on her. She raised an eyebrow as he spoke of hens and hounds. Sure, she wanted to kill them, what about it? She wanted to kill most living creatures. As he began to draw in the dirt, she took a step back. Maybe she found the beacon too late and he had gone mad?[/size]

[size=34]She realized he was talking to her, and she laughed darkly. “I’m here to see what that distress beacon was. What makes you think I’m going to help you?” To prove her point, she raised her shotgun and shot a hen, killing it from the inside and absorbing its energies. She tilted her head. He looked at her, and she frowned. He kept staring at her. And kept staring. And kept staring. She frowned, shifting uncomfortably. At this point it was clear that he was eyeing her up. She cleared her throat.[/size]

[size=34]“Excuse me, big scary necromancer here to kill things. Shouldn’t you be afraid?” She asked, lifting her shotgun.[/size]

[size=34]Most that encountered her recognized her garb and magic instantly, and generally ran in terror as she fired at them. This man didn’t even seem to flinch, not did he seem to even register that she had a shotgun pointed at him. She blinked. “Well, if that’s all you’re gonna do, I’m off.” she said, turning back towards her ship. Hardly worth the danger of getting here.[/size]

[size=34]A thought sprung to her head. She whipped back around, approaching him. “So what were you doing on this planet? Obviously it’s a deathtrap for ships, and I’m not entirely convinced that I’ll make it off this rock alive. So what made you grow a pair large enough to dive in?”[/size]

[size=34]This whole setting was odd- why did she let her curiosity get the best of her? Although… If he wasn’t sane, she would have no issue with killing him and his pets for energy. Get something useful out of this little excursion she had decided to embark on.[/size]

---POV: Odin---

The woman had turned to leave, but then she suddenly whipped back around and stepped even closer. Odin could swear that she was able to hear his heart beating frenetically. 

"uummm," stumbled Odin, trying to respond to her question, "What do you mean 'dive in'? I was born on this planet. I just had no way of getting off and I thought that I would give the signals from the old settlement ship a try." Odin was slightly confused by the woman's question. Why would he have ever travelled to this rocky wasteland?

"I've been here, in this basin, for about ten years now, or at least since I was 15." Then Odin remembered something strange that the woman had said.

"What's a necromancer, and why would I be afraid of you for it? Also, please stop killing my birds, they're valuable." Odin noticed the fowl that the woman had just shot. It looked strange. The bird didn't look as though it had just been killed, it looked as though it had been dead for decades. Odin bent down to pick it up, but as he touched the corpse, the bird disintegrated into a pile of dust.

"What the hell...?" he muttered, turning back to look at the woman's shotgun. Then he ran up to her and raised her arm. Odin didn't take the gun out of her hand, he merely studied it, trying to figure out how it did what it did to his bird.

"How does this thing work, and what did it just do to my bird?" He asked, hoping for a reply. Then, Odin's head snapped back as he remembered his manners.

"Oh, sorry. My name is Odin. Could you tell me yours?" He asked, stretching his hand out for a handshake.

[size=50]Oh wonderful. If this man was telling the truth- which she doubted- he was a local, which meant more crazies, and she highly doubted he had never dealt with a necromancer before. Crazies loved the dark arts, much to her dismay. She was a sociopath, not a psychopath. And then he basically gave her his age. Somewhere roughly around 25? Ripe for necromancy. Still, something held her back. Had he really never seen necromancy before?[/size]

[size=50]She had an idea. “You wanna know what necromancy is?” she asked, She pumped her shotgun, the expended shell falling to the ground with a thud, but before she could do anything, he had approached her, grabbing her arm and lifting it. She yelped, pulling her arm away and raising her shotgun.[/size]

[size=50]“You’re about to learn what this shotgun can do if you don’t back the fuck off.” she said, aiming at him.[/size]

[size=50]“Forget your manners my ass. You need to step right the fuck back.” she said. No way in hell was she giving this man… Odin, her name. She glanced over to another one of the hens. “To answer your earlier question, I use the energy of the living to cast magic, rather than my own mana. Leaves things looking like your hen there. Like this.” she said[/size]

[size=50]She lifted her shotgun, aiming at a hound and firing. As the hound was his, green wisps floated towards her, into the amulet under her armor that held the energy she acquired. She glanced around. “Now, if that’s it, if you live here, why the distress beacon? Why not just, y’know, take a shuttle of world?”[/size]

---POV: Lucy---

Lucy had been yelling into Odin's left ear for a while now. Who was this woman and why did she keep killing everything around? And WHY is Odin so preoccupied by her? She killed his animals. Anyone else and he would have decapitated them and ripped their bodies apart. But this woman, who still hadn't said her name, was shooting them left and right and he didn't even blink. Summoning up as high a volume as Odin's ear piece could produce, Lucy shouted.

"ODIN! What are you doing!" Her voice ringing out loud enough for the woman to hear as well.

---POV: Odin---

'"Owww!" shouted Odin yanking his head to the right in pain. Pulling out his earpiece, he shouted back at Lucy.

"What the hell was that for?" He asked, holding his left ear, a trickle of blood stemming from it. He listened as Lucy told him about the death of his birds and dog. Which seemed to snap Odin out of the trance that he had been caught in.

Looking around, Odin noticed that one of his good, though thankfully not his best, dogs had been killed. Its forked tail and beaked mouth hung limply against the ground. The light blue glow of the patterns on its fur and in its eyes had gone dead. Its sharp talons splayed out to the side. Odin walked over to it, a small tear forming under his right eye. He reached out to feel the fur of his dead dog, but before his fingers could brush up against it the dog's corpse fell apart to dust.

Standing, Odin turned back around. His normal quiet smile now a hard, cold look. Anger and hatred pouring forth from his eyes. Then, faster than the woman could react, he ripped the shotgun from her hands. Looking at the ground between their feet he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear him.

"Do not shoot my dogs." An icy tone escaped from Odin's lips, shaking in its eternal anger. He continued, "They are my life and blood. Do not harm another one of them. I would rather not have you shoot my birds, but if you must, then ask before you do. I will willingly offer up the lesser of my flock."

Odin brought his once warm eyes up to look into the woman's, his superior height causing him to look down on her. They were no more than a foot apart, their breaths mixing. Odin, offered the woman her gun back.

"Just ask, okay?" He said, hoping that she would head his request.

Then, the icy hardness of his features melted away, replaced with a sad, but warm, smile. Odin asked once again, "What's your name?"

[size=61]There was a high pitched shout coming from Odin, but he wasn’t making it. She took a step back, looking around. He must not be alone. She watched his grief over the death of one of his dogs with an unfeeling gaze. She couldn’t relate- how someone got attached to anything in this world was a complete mystery to her. As a necromancer, she knew just how easily things could be destroyed, especially life.[/size]

[size=61]The look on his face when he turned to face her warranted a step back- not out of fear, but as a precaution. He rushed her, grabbing for her shotgun. Luckily, she was always a fast person, and while he managed to knock it out of her hands, he didn’t actually successfully grab it. It clattered to the ground as she slid her foot out, kicking the shotgun into the air before reaching out and grabbing it.[/size]

[size=61]Her face had lost the slight hint of amusement it had before. “Don’t want me to kill your dogs? Then I suggest you don’t try to take me shotgun. I also heavily recommend against you trying to attack me. You would die before you finished your second step.” she said. She looked over towards the trees. She could barely see the outline of the birds hiding there, and she was willing to bet he didn’t see them either. She used the energy she had gained from his creations to fuel her quiet muttering of a spell. As a large blob of wispy green energy formed in her hand, she smirked.[/size]

[size=61]“That wasn’t even the fun part.” she said.[/size]

[size=61]“This is.”[/size]

[size=61]She snapped towards the trees, throwing the green orb towards the trees. As it splashed against a large tree, it seemed to be mostly harmless. Then, as the disease she had conjured began to work, the grass withered, dying with the trees. Dead mummified birds fell to the ground with soft thuds as they burst into dust, green wisps reaching out for her, converging on her amulet, seemingly sucked into it. Still, he asked for her name. She sighed with annoyance. What the hell was the point?[/size]

[size=61]“I am Menka Fellroot, Necromancer. Who was the person talking to you? If I were her, I would reveal myself, lest she be hit by accident with my spells.[/size]

Odin laughed as he heard Menka's last comment. "As far as I can tell your spells can only harm living things. Am I right in that assumption, Menka?" Odin rolled her name around a few times silently in his head. It sure was a pretty name.

"And if that is the case, then Lucy has nothing to fear from you. However, if you still want to meet her, then follow me." Odin slipped into the old biology pod, yelling at Lucy to wake up. Then he poked his head out the door and looked at Menka.

"If you're coming then hurry up. And whatever you decide to do, don't kill another of my animals!"

[size=34]Menka rose an eyebrow at his laughter. Surely there was nothing funny about possible danger to his friend’s life? She could hurt machines rather easily with her spells, but she saw no reason to reveal her cards just yet.[/size]

[size=34]“Actually, that’s about as much as I can hurt, yes.” she said, crossing her arms. So this… Lucy was a machine, or an AI of some sorts. She wanted to know what she was up against, so she followed him. She chuckled menacingly when he mentioned killing his animals. Had he not gotten the message already? She does what she wants, when she wants, and she would be damned if some crazy bird man could stop her.[/size]

Lucy watched as the new woman entered their home. She didn't care for the look in the woman's eyes. But Odin had asked her to be nice and so she would.

Waiting for the woman to completely enter the pod, Lucy then switched on the screen on the wall. She was a small, white skinned girl with pale blue eyes and long platinum colored hair. She then greeted the woman rather loudly.

"So! If it isn't the indiscriminate animal killer! Welcome to our humble abode!" A pained smile was clearly pasted to Lucy's face as she spoke to the woman. She still didn't understand why Odin had gone all weird before, but she did think that this woman was the cause.

[size=34]The pod’s inside was tiny- there was barely room for two people to breathe. Not to mention it was covered in clutter and panels. How he had managed to live in this thing was beyond Menka. She would have gone mad by now. Then again, Odin seemed insane at first. Maybe he had.[/size]

[size=34]“Well if it isn’t the harmless squeaking voice! It’s my pleasure to visit your...home.” she said, already obviously annoyed at the construct. “Besides, it’s not indiscriminate- I aim for the ones full of life, the one likely to live out long lives. They give me more power. Weaklings are a waste of my time.” she said, her shotgun resting in her hands, but ready should the strange man  attack her.[/size]

---Odin---

"Like that makes me feel any better," retorted Odin as he heard what Menka had said about killing things. "Hey Lucy, how are our perimeters? The Dark Tribes might have noticed Menka's ship, and that would be bad, especially since a certain someone killed one of the dogs."

"The borders are fi--...," Lucy paused, then continued, "Nevermind, we have enemies incoming. Two groups, twenty each. One from the north, the other from the west. They'll be here in about 20 minutes." Lucy revised her statement, fear growing in her voice.

Odin groaned, the Dark Tribes today of all days. He had thought that they were too scared of his dogs from the last time they attacked. "Well Menka, seems like it's your lucky day today. How do you feel about killing some bastards with me?" asked Odin.

Odin slipped pass Menka, brushing up against her since the pod was so small and cluttered. When he reached the pod's door he began to whistle. It was an intricate whistle with all manners of notes, volumes, and tones. Amazingly, the five remaining dogs gathered up the still living birds into the caves and, after that had been accomplished, they stood at attention in front of Odin. He turned his head to face Menka, placed another contact device in his left ear, and asked, "Ready?"