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leorio studied cosmo's actions carefully, watching as she skillfully dissected the giant pig laid out before her. using nothing but a regular kitchen knife, she managed to cut the pig in a way that seemed too professional for someone who claimed to be doing this for the first time.
leorio had an inkling that cosmo was lying.
he noticed that a pig's body had a few similarities with the human body, something he had acquainted himself with over the course of a few years; while he still wasn't an expert, he considered his knowledge better than the average person's. even so, why did cosmo seem to know more about anatomy than him, the person who was studying to become a doctor? he stared at the masterfully retracted abdominal vein system that rested casually at her work station. (he didn't know it was possible to take that out in the way she'd done it—not a single vein was out of place. it reminded him of a display in a museum and unsettled him to no end.)
it appears that kurapika has also taken notice of her talent so he asked, "are you sure this is your first time doing something like this?"
cosmo stops what she's doing and gives the pair a narrow-eyed, disingenuous smile, stabbing her knife into the cutting board in front of her with just enough strength that it makes a split in the wood. leorio jumps in surprise at the sudden action, but she doesn't bat an eye.
with the confidence of someone who owns the world, she shrugged and replied, "i'm naturally gifted when it comes to certain things."
for the first time since they'd met, leorio takes note that something is off about cosmo. based on appearance alone, one wouldn't be able to tell right off the bat that she has a few screws loose, and he had a feeling that she preferred it that way. despite standing over forty centimeters taller than her, leorio withered under the scrutiny of cosmo's unhinged gaze. did she look like that a few hours prior?
her dainty hands grab the knife and she twirled it around like a baton and that was all the confirmation he needed that she was lying, but why lie about your cooking ability? or was it more so that she was lying about why she was so good with a knife and why she knew so much about anatomy?
leorio didn't understand her and he wasn't sure if he wanted to.
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cosmo knew she should've acted dumb like everybody else, but she'd never been presented with a pig the size of the great stamp. dissection was something she was enamored with ever since she found out that the majority of creatures on earth bleed red, a beautiful contrast to the gold she was so used to seeing within herself. cosmo made the executive decision that whenever she was presented with the opportunity, she was going to cut open whatever dead thing appealed to her, even if it meant she had to kill it with her bare hands.
all in all, both parts of the second phase were unique in their own way. she hadn't shown menchi and buhara a dish, resulting in her not passing. none of the other applicants passed either, and that was no good, so the chairman of the hunter association had to intervene. they had a redo of the second phase at split mountain and by the end of that, there were forty-two applicants left. the only thing that upset her was that she didn't get to see the spider eagles.
cosmo hadn't caught chairman netero's attention right off the bat because he was too busy ogling menchi's breasts upon his arrival, but when he realized that her aura was outlandish, she could tell he was trying to figure her out. cosmo wasn't a complete dunce and she knew for a fact that issac netero was more knowledgeable than any other human out there and if anybody knew about the existence of gods, it'd be him.
she didn't know what he'd do once he found out what she was and she was certain it'd be revealed before the end of the exam. she didn't know if she'd be viewed as a snake within their paradise or be praised as a heavenly entity. perhaps the brand on her shoulder was a dead giveaway and he already knew.
regardless of whether he knew or not of her origin, she didn't let it knock her excitement for the following things to come. gon and killua had left her behind upon boarding to do their own thing, so she was left sitting alone on a bench staring out into the night sky. the hunter association blimp that was leading them to their next destination was huge and she had yet to explore all of it, but the sparkling city below them was too beautiful to ignore. the sight left her breathless.
the sound of footsteps disturbed her moment of peace and she turned her head to find gon and killua. they were each eating a chicken leg and she hoped that by some miracle, they'd leave her alone, but the gods had other plans. gon greeted her and sat down to her left, forcing killua to either stay standing or sit down to her right. he chose the latter and the three of them continued to stare down on the city. when the two boys finished their chicken, they set the bone down on the ledge and the trio sat in silence before gon decided that he had a question.
"hey killua, your parents, are they—? i mean, where are they?"
cosmo looked at killua, observing his face. he looked indifferent to the question and she thought back to their conversation during the end of the first phase. his parents, much like his siblings and all those that came before him, were assassins. killua didn't want to be an assassin anymore, so he ran away from home and now he was here. the zoldycks were not as infamous as the phantom troupe and she deemed that as a fact given she didn't know of their existence prior to meeting the heir but hearing about his lineage still interested her. she wondered how many people he'd killed in his short lifetime. if she had to give a guess, it would most likely be in the thousands, but she didn't want to give him too much credit. there's always bigger fish.
speaking of bigger fish, the three of them whipped around to stare at the corner when they felt something she couldn't describe. cosmo wasn't alarmed, but the sensation was icky.
"what's the matter?" the big man himself asked.
to cosmo, issac netero was the zeus of the hunter world. an old man with impeccable power, unable to be knocked off his throne by the common mortals who challenged him. cosmo's mouth watered at the thought of being able to one day study his brain. the kitchen knife she'd taken as a souvenir from the second phase felt cold pressed against her leg. would she be able to overpower him? she wanted to say yes, but had her doubts. he had hundreds of years of experience on him, but she had centuries. she'd fought gods, almost destroyed civilization, and regenerated in a matter of minutes, giving her the ability to live forever. but if there was an advantage that netero had that she didn't, it's that he possessed powers she didn't yet have the knowledge of.
that, and his muscles. underneath the clothes, she had a feeling he was built like artemis. that would definitely pose a challenge, but nothing she couldn't handle.
well, a teaspoon of the pernicious substance that ran through her veins and pumped through her heart would be enough to send him to the afterlife. wiping the drool that threatened to slip from her mouth, she refrained herself from trying to split his head open. she did notice that he'd glanced down at the singular twitch of anticipation her hand gave, so it was too late to do anything anyway. issac netero was now on guard, wary of the unknown being that was infiltrating his world.
"excuse me, mr. netero, did someone walk by just now?" gon cluelessly questioned.
"i don't think so."
"you're quick for your age," killua commented.
"are you talking about that? i just moved a bit," the chairman humbly answered.
the air became tense between killua and netero. cosmo and gon observed and watched the interaction between them. in the brief time she'd known killua, the two words she'd use to describe him are "nonchalant" and "overconfident." as she'd said earlier, there's always bigger fish, and in this case, netero ending killua would be as simple as ripping a blade of grass out of the ground. for someone like gon or killua, attempting to kill netero would be like trying to cut open an ant with an ax.
at the mention of cutting something open, cosmo felt as though she had a duty to fulfill.
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[a/n: this is short and it sucks and i didn't go over it so idk if there's any errors lolz]
