Silk and Slime: A Dip in the Past

Nui considered the question.
"Weeeeell, there were a few things I did outside of my work, but none of them are particularly... ummm..." Nui paused, thinking on how to word it without coming across as a sociopathic monster. "I used to enjoy... toying with people. Some more than others..." She frowned. "Other than that though, my work is pretty much my life. I mean, I do enjoy working with clothes!" She added, trying to end her answer on a more positive note.

"What about you? Obviously puzzles!" She commented, pulling out the prize she'd won for Liselle on their first date.

Liselle decides to not really comment or inquire about the hobby too much as it seems to be an uncomfortable subject for Nui, probably from the mentioned skeletons in the closet but finds some light in her love of clothing which is perfectly fine for her.

"Well technically most of the things I do is a hobby since I don't work for a living persay. Yeah puzzles are a thing for me as well as chess exploring, and definitely reading. But I also tend to manipulate the events around me on a bit of a more larger scale...some times with some pretty interesting results."

Nui raised an eyebrow.
"You play chess?" She giggled. "I suppose that makes sense. Oh, and what books have you read? And, well, I'd ask where you've explored, but it seems you are already answering that question with our date, and hopefully future ones too." Nui rambled. "And what do you mean by 'manipulating events'?" She seemed particularly invested in the answer to her last question, and it clearly interested her as her eye glinted with curiosity.

"Yeah chess is pretty fun though been wanting for good opponents since not many play chess. As the books I read, The Duelist of Dual Souls ((not related to Ixana!)), Craft Lord, and How to be a Ninja...what don't give me that look, a lot of my skills come from that book!" She sticks her tongue out playfully.

"As for manipulating events, something along the line of discovering a city that is leading an expansive crusade against midaras and for some unexplainable reason the prosperous city sudden lost their metal supply, crafting recipe, and have their entire economy crash within a span of a month. Or brigands suddenly finding themselves falling for their own set trap because some strange force changed the position of their trap. The poor parents of a sick child suddenly discovering someone had 'dropped' a bag of medicinal herbs near their home." She tries to look innocent but complete fails at it due to what she had said.

Nui grinned.
"Well, I'd offer to play chess against you, but you'd almost certainly beat me." She shifted the weight of the basket in her hand slightly, readjusting her grip on it.

She let out a giggle at 'How to be a Ninja'.
"Oh, I didn't realise you were a ninja. But I suppose you are a master of disguise. No one would suspect this cutey to be a ninja." She commented, teasing.

Nui listened with interest as Liselle described what she did.
"Wow, that DOES sound like fun." Nui giggled. "You know, I could probably help with that. I am preeeeetty good at disguises myself."

"Actually the ninja part is more of me going stealth, watch me closely." She watches for Nui's gaze to fall squarely on her before she starts to fade out as she becomes transparent, including the clothes somehow where you can only see vague distortion outline. Then she steps next to a tree that makes her distortion seems part of the tree's trunk pattern for a bit before she willingly becomes invisible before rejoining her, linking arms once more with Nui.

"Excellent for retreat and subterfuge operations." "Mostly the the former but..." Liselle's voice suddenly drops the humor and takes on an unusual serious tone. " ...for those that I feel warrants misfortune, I won't hold back getting creative. Ask that midara genociding city mentioned earlier...actually you can't, their people crucified them in an act of irony and karma after I crash their economy."

Nui tried to keep track of Liselle as she became transparent.
"That does seem useful." Nui commented.

Her eye took on a slightly malicious delight as Liselle described the midara genociding city's fall.
"I didn't know you had it in you." Nui commented, a slight smile on her face, clearly impressed. "I think we could probably have some fun with that."

"I do what I have to though, usually I do not cause large events since it creates a ton of other things to occur. But that city's influence was spreading and it was starting to get too close to my home's location for my comfort and its presence wasn't something I could ignore." She stretches out. "On the plus side, from it I have several large stash of building material, books, and treasury from my campaign against it so if you are in need of any of it, love. Feel free to ask."

Nui considered for a moment.
"Well, if you ever feel like being a heroic destroyer of an evil city, be sure to let me join you~" Nui giggled.

"And as far as riches and treasure beyond imagination, I am already rich, now that I have you." Nui added, a serious note to her tone, but a smile on her face. "I don't think I could possibly want for more."

"Well it actually rarely happens and I mostly use discrete methods but sure I will call you up." She looks a bit ahead and see taletell signs of what she was expecting before turning towards Nui. "The lake is actually a few minutes up ahead, it won't be long unti-" She sudden perks up and not in a good way, as if she is suddenly alerted by something. A pseudopod slips from her sleeve and pointing towards the way they came from for a few seconds before she warned. "-until someone reaches us actually."

Nui looks towards Liselle, to check which way she's looking, only to notice the direction of the pseudopod. Rather than look back, But positioned herself behind a tree, slowly pulling out her scissor blade.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Nui commented, a worried tone to her voice. "You... might want to hide. If they dislike midaras, you could be in danger. I might be able to talk them into going another way." She whispered.

"I look human enough right now and not the first time I've ended up fending against hunters but alright." Liselle wasn't exactly comfortable with having Nui alone but she does turn transparent and blend into a nearby bush area.

Nui was a little relieved when Liselle agreed to blending in. Even if she was more than capable of defending herself, more so than Nui even, she couldn't stand to see Liselle being hurt by whoever was coming.

Nui slowly peaked around the tree in the direction that Liselle had indicated their stalker was coming from. It was difficult to make out anything, as they were still far away, but there was a definite glint of something red, reflecting light from the morning sun. Nui froze as the realisation dawned on her, staring at the rather rapidly approaching figure.

Liselle remains blended as she herself kept track of the pursuer. She can't see far from a disance but can keep track of life vibration through her pseudopod. Yep they are headed towards their way... wait...Nui's way?

She only agreed to hide so that they could avoid trouble if Nui could talk them down but seeing that expression on Nui's face as well as the intent of the pursuer's direction forwards her instead of their group makes it doubtful that Nui could do it, is it someone Nui knew?

Nui ducked back behind the tree.
"This is bad." She whispered. "This is really bad. I don't think this is going to go well..." Nui seemed less worried about the threat this mysterious stalker posed, and more concerned about how it might make her look. She clearly was showing the same sort of worry that Liselle had seen in her when she'd dropped the massive bombshell of her past sins.

Nui's action is causing a lot of concern for Liselle whom seem to have cause the frilly dressed girl some grief. So much for averting the danger, seems they are now evading it. Still transparent, Lisele decided to move towards the direction of the pursuer to see what is it that is making Nui worried while being very careful of avoid being detected utilizing the surrounding behind her, avoid any noise-making foliage under her feet and making sure that if she is looked at, she stays still so the distortion will not trigger any suspicion.

The girl approaching seemed to be a girl who was slightly taller than Nui, and couldn't look any more different. She had dark hair with a red streak in it. She was wearing a dark sailor uniform, and has a red scissor blade on her back, matching Nui's pink one. Although what she was saying could not be made out easy, it seemed she was talking to someone, despite no one else being there, and seemed to be on high alert, but did not notice the nigh impossible to spot Liselle.

Liselle made several observation from what she can gather, the first is notably that scissor weapon that looks very similar to the one Nui has; she makes a glance to see if it is the opposite orientation of the one Nui has, possibly the same half of each other. The fact that she is also talking to someone though makes her needing to try to sense for any other individuals nearby, using a pseudopod to try to sense the life vibration of anyone else near here or anything. The fact that this individual seems to be actively alert kept her own actions on the caution side, again aiming for avoiding detection.

Upon closer investigation, it does appear that this half would fit perfectly into Nui's half to make a complete giant set of scissors. It also appeared that there were two distinct lifeforms coming from this girl, on slightly different frequencies, though they seemed very complementary, making it difficult to pick them apart from each other.

The girl seemed to stop about a small distance away from the tree that Nui was hidden behind. Now at this distance, her voice could clearly be heard.
"I suppose she could be hunting someone." The girl responded, to no one in particular. She began scanning the area, and her head seemed to stop as she was looking at the tree Nui was hiding behind. "Are you sure?" She whispered, quiet enough that Nui wouldn't hear it. She slowly began to draw the scissor blade from her back. "Of course. I trust you." Her hand then moved towards a strange glove on her hand.

Liselle confirmed the match of the blade that seems to be another half of the scissor, seemingly matching Nui's. She will have to ask about that later on. On top of that, she can sense something odd about the vibration from her as there seems to be two frequencies though it is hard to tell at first but over time she was able to piece it together.

Wait she seems to be reaching for the blade and...oh goop! She is looking towards that tree she last saw Nui at. The pink wearing couturier is a region of green won't be able to hide detection if she is scouted there. Acting quickly, she spotted a low lying branch a bit of a distant away and extends another pseudopod to reach over that branch and give it a brief snap before withdrawing it back in her body and creeps away from the area. It might jeopardize her position but keeping her attention to herself is a more preferable choice that Nui getting attacked.

The girl's attention was distracted by the snapping sound, her head darting up.
"I don't think we're alone, Senketsu." The girl commented. There was a pause before she spoke again. "Could be. Damn, I hate invisible opponents." She held up her blade, looking like she was going to slice all the branches around the snapped one, but she hesitated. "Okay. Okay. We'll try it your way." She lowered the blade.

"Hey!" She yelled up into the branches. "Do you want to come down here before you hurt yourself?" She asked. If Liselle was paying attention, she'd notice Nui's heart rate had increased as the girl shouted.

Senketusu? Is that someone's name. Judging from the dialogue and from the action of the one with the ssicssor, the unseen one seems to be the more level-headed one while the scissor wielder seems more of the brash one.

Replaying a bit of the scenario in her head, she can still act the part of someone that would not dare to show up thanks to that scissor blade looking pretty scary right now and rightfully so with how it is being waved around but she is still had crept away from that area where she snapped the branch.

The girl let out a sigh.
"See? I told you it wouldn't work." She commented. Pause. "Okay. Okay. We can give it another go. I guess they might know something."

"I'm not going to hurt you." She added, slowly putting away the scissor blade, a putting a hand up to show passivity. "You aren't the one I'm after. I just want to talk."

Nui calmed down a little, hearing that, but was still a little worried.

Well she is extending the proverbial olive branch so it is probably safe to come out for a bit, probably safer as the alternative is to get attacked. She isn't too concerned as blade don't do well against her form.

Making sure she is against a tree before she turns opaque and in her human form, she slowly steps out, a trace of platinum blond hair shows up before her face is from behind the tree she is hiding from. Her leather outfit does seem a bit out of place in the forest region as those wearing them is more city-oriented (and it is Nui's cloth so it make sense). ""OK....?" She sounded unsure of the intent of the girl and still remain where she is.

The girl watched with with a slight look of impatience before seeing Liselle step forward from her hiding place. She then puts on her best comforting smile, something clearly not practiced, and turns to face her.
"I'm looking for someone. Someone very dangerous. I know she's somewhere near here, and I'm trying to track her down." She explained. "Perhaps you've seen her? She would be pretty hard to miss. Blond hair. Pink frilly dress. Obnoxious laugh. Looks a little unhinged, or sickly sweet." She asked. "Oh, and carries around something that looks like this, but purple." She added, gesturing to the scissor blade on her back.