why. couldn’t. she. kill. that. thing.
she watches as it disappears from her sight, appearing a small distance away. sop ii almost throws another grenade at the foul creature. her fingers grip the grenade tightly, so, so close to putting the explosive into the grenade launcher adapter already fastened on her gun, sending her final grenade off at the creature… who still hadn’t attacked her.
she thinks back to the other creatures who usually attacked her by now.
… she wonders if this is actually another one of those peaceful otherworldly people stuck here like her.
was that what the thing’s garbling was trying to communicate with her?
the pouting face is quickly is replaced by one of confusion. she tilts her head.
she stares at the monster.
she stares at the monster again.
“are you… not one of those monsters?” she asks. “… were you trying to tell me that the whole time?”
“can you even understand me?” she wonders out loud. with that, she clears her throat and tries to muster the most throaty and guttural–
“duoJKsyUiUndskTyGN!” she grins. “is that better?!”
no. it’s really not better—noel would’ve groaned out loud had his physiology allowed so, and a low grumble is instead audible from his current form. at least the girl seems to have understood his lack of intentions to attack her, albeit belatedly. as the last few seconds of his five-minute-limit tick over, there’s something akin to a shifting of the space around him, almost like an optical illusion.
and then, all that’s left in the monster’s place is a very ordinary, bedraggled young man.
he rises slowly, brushing himself off—thankfully none of the wounds or bullets had transferred over. a look of caution is still cast in the stranger’s direction, though. understanding attained or not, there’s something unnerving about a teenager armed with a machine gun.
there’s a wry note to his voice as he replies, expression weary. “ ... yes, i understood. not the last part, though.” a pause, then noel meets her gaze with hesitance. “i-is it alright if... you just forget that you saw that?”