[If Hayame had not wanted to be gone from that place as badly as she did, perhaps they might have come to a more moderate conclusion, or even considered other options. But between the two of them, both bloodied, both on the heels of failure, both feeling claustrophobic and trapped in this narrow cage of roots...
There is only action, in the desperate hope that it will solve this now.
Nothing vital to combat or agility, he says, and Hayame nods, finally moving to do something other than attack or remain on high alert in order to wipe blood from her mouth with the back of her arm. Full limbs are out, fingers are out, and she nods. Of course. She is an archer, she cannot suffer injury there. Toes are out. She doesn't even have them. Eyes are out. She only has one left, the other a hole beneath the serum and blood stained cloth near falling off the left side of her face. Innards are out...
But an ear?]
I will die before I reach the auction block.
[Now, now that she truly understands that what she was had been... no better than the Armless jinba used as mounts, broodmares, and fodder she'd once looked down upon... She had volunteered herself to die in her own world rather than return to the life of a breeding stable mare set to be sold to the highest bidder.]
I know no lover.
[She'd thought, once... If she just could open her mouth and say something, one single thing, that she could have. That she should have... But she hadn't. And now, if any chance for love had been there... it would die with them, unrequited, when she returned, or she would die untouched in worlds foreign and distant where she was the only jinba left alive. So...
So- She reaches down and grabs one of the daggers, brandishing it at him not to attack... but to invite him closer into it's reach, her empty hand held out bloody with fingers curled, ready for his cheek.]
A blemish on my beauty is nothing.
[She wore her hair back in a high tail, when it wasn't fallen wild and chaotic in fetlock-length strands loosed by a frenetic battle for her life against a demon. It would be visible to anyone. ... It's just the outer shell of an ear. As long as she can still hear...]
But I still expect you to cut clean... and I will do the same.
no subject
There is only action, in the desperate hope that it will solve this now.
Nothing vital to combat or agility, he says, and Hayame nods, finally moving to do something other than attack or remain on high alert in order to wipe blood from her mouth with the back of her arm. Full limbs are out, fingers are out, and she nods. Of course. She is an archer, she cannot suffer injury there. Toes are out. She doesn't even have them. Eyes are out. She only has one left, the other a hole beneath the serum and blood stained cloth near falling off the left side of her face. Innards are out...
But an ear?]
I will die before I reach the auction block.
[Now, now that she truly understands that what she was had been... no better than the Armless jinba used as mounts, broodmares, and fodder she'd once looked down upon... She had volunteered herself to die in her own world rather than return to the life of a breeding stable mare set to be sold to the highest bidder.]
I know no lover.
[She'd thought, once... If she just could open her mouth and say something, one single thing, that she could have. That she should have... But she hadn't. And now, if any chance for love had been there... it would die with them, unrequited, when she returned, or she would die untouched in worlds foreign and distant where she was the only jinba left alive. So...
So- She reaches down and grabs one of the daggers, brandishing it at him not to attack... but to invite him closer into it's reach, her empty hand held out bloody with fingers curled, ready for his cheek.]
A blemish on my beauty is nothing.
[She wore her hair back in a high tail, when it wasn't fallen wild and chaotic in fetlock-length strands loosed by a frenetic battle for her life against a demon. It would be visible to anyone. ... It's just the outer shell of an ear. As long as she can still hear...]
But I still expect you to cut clean... and I will do the same.