Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-5999656-20170705042341/@comment-5999656-20170720050000

"H-hey!" Lustra said quickly, as soon as she saw Cyzarine pick up the arm. She'd been so absorbed with making sure she was travelling in the right direction that she hadn't noticed Cyzarine trailing behind to examine the corpse. Now that she knew, though, she tried to stop the younger girl from doing anything too hasty. Cyzarine dropped the severed, rotting limb a few seconds later as Lustra drew up beside her. The white-clad Huntress bent down, unslinging her pack and withdrawing a pair of rubber gloves.

She stopped short when she turned to get a good look at the limb. Her team had worked missions mostly in urban Vale, where the police were always there to clean up the bodies and gore after the fighting was done. Even when Team QUIL had ventured out into the wilds, Quill was always the one to handle the... more delicate task of... reporting Huntsmen and Huntresses who had expired in the line of duty.

But here? Where the desert stretched for hundreds of miles all around save the tiny towns and the long, dusty roads? What was she supposed to do?

No, she knew what to do. She knew exactly what to do. She just didn't want to have to be the one doing it. But as the senior Huntress, she had no choice.

"You want to be careful when handling remains," Lustra began slowly. "Just as a... as a matter of principle." It was hard to explain. Despite having no qualms about opening wounds on still-living people, Lustra was remarkably hesitant to deal with the dead. It wasn't so much that the physical subject repulsed her, but rather the thought of it having to interact with an empty shell where there was once a soul, as the Beacon professors put it.

"When it comes to identifying Grimm signs, you want to -" Lustra stopped short as her next words caught in her throat. She cleared her throat awkwardly and swore quietly under her breath. She couldn't maintain this monotonous drill when they were dealing with things as emotionally raw as dying by Grimm.

"It's probably a Vladikoff. The gash and pecking makes it obvious. The cloth's been eaten away by acid. That's how I can tell." Lustra fell silent and reached forward, gingerly unclasping the broken watch from the hot, soft flesh. Tiny shards of broken glass tinkled agianst the rock as she took the timepiece in her hand, before peeling off the glove and turning it inside out as a makeshift container.

"I'm going to go up and take a picture of the body," Lustra said somberly. "I can put it on the missing Hunters registry when we get back to town." Lustra straightened up and backed up, preparing to launch herself up to the overhang with one leap. Before she could, though, three black silhouettes swooped overhead with a rasping scream. Lustra's hand flew to her fan as the shapes twirled in midair, turning their beady red eyes to the two Huntresses below. They began to circle far above, red claws stark against their jet black plumage.

(I'l edit later to continue your flashback story ;P Just wanted to get the most important stuff out first)