Macy found it in herself to remain frozen for almost three lifeless hours, but also felt compelled to suddenly lose sight of her focus for an object of a greater importance. Her mind boggled at the mere fact that her posture had been undisturbed for such a long time. It killed her to think of the slight aches she would have to endure once she returned to The Tower. Surely, the ensuing mockery and annoyance would be directed to her fellow companion. For all the glimmer and quiet this mission was worth, the least he could do was spur up their uneventful cinders with a douse of idle chitchat. "9...8...7...9...8...7..." Instead, the Hunter lying down next to her was making friends with the minds he conjured up for himself. They spoke nothing to him, but his talk was kept relatively short, given the dry state of the situation the two found themselves in. He held in his hands a messenger, one hand gripped tightly around the worn down handle and the other positioned nearby as to maintain the sniper's balance. A single eye peered through the weapon's magnified scope to a distant entity some few irrelevant measures away. It matter little to the Hunter how far his target was. His shots never strayed or succumbed to fear. Yet his whispered speech and feeble trembling spoke otherwise, perplexing the Huntress at his side. So she worked up the nerve to ask, finally giving in to the boredom that had consumed her fragile body lifetimes ago. "Would you just shoot the damn thing and move on before-" Silence was ejected along with a silver shell and a sender bullet. A sudden flashed caused Macy's body to shudder and her eyes to blink almost instantly. The crackle of condensed thunder created a barely audible whistling noise that left a thin trail of smoke. Jack relaxed, his body shaking after bearing the force of a rampaging Titan on his right shoulder. Said messenger had delivered its noteworthy statement in mere seconds, the rifle verbally quaked in glee once the receiver faltered. The quiet resumed its reign once the pair rose to their feet. Upon further inspection, Macy's unyielding stare caught sight of the creature her companion just decapitated. The beast of a Hive Ogre was an abomination of its own kind, known to threaten the stability of all if left unchecked. Cleaning up the enemies' messes was something general considered a last resort when bounties ran scarce. This on the other hand was something else entirely. A shiver fell down Macy's spine as she looked back to Jack, who was quivering despite standing upright. "That [i]thing[/i] down there, ugliest combination of scary and intimidating." "What if I told you that I couldn't take the shot because I was scared? It knew it, somehow sensed my fears and threw me into a mental battle of wits. It was winning." Jack attempted to describe. "What do you mean? Did that sniper kick the sense out of you?" "I saw things and in turn, it saw my triumph card. I acted before it could and got lucky." "Your triumph card, you mean your childish counting?" "9...8...7..." Jack spoke happily, "it reminds me that I have control over the situation. If I belittle the enemy from my standing at 9 to a lesser number like 7, I have the strength of 7, 8, and 9. The enemy is lower and weaker, thus making me stronger." A smirk grew on Macy's lips, "So you can count, big whoop. I know the whole alphabet backwards but you don't see me using that against a Devil Walker." "Call it childish if you like but it also has a more [i]frivolous[/i] meaning: 9 ate 7." Jack chuckled lightly to himself before motioning Macy to follow him. An unsatisfied shrug was the answer he got before the Huntress let go a dumbfounded sigh and began walking toward the horizon. [spoiler]As for a quick introduction: Hello, I'm Midas Cyeneus. I have been a member here for some time, but never had the time to contribute until now. I too hail from The Black Garden, just like SaviorsBlood, and I have written some pieces over there. Hope to add more here in the future :) [/spoiler]