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 Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 12:14 pm
"I said an actual reason." Byakko's lip curled with disgust, shaking her head down at him disdainfully. To her, that simply wasn't a good enough excuse. Pain was temporary, but like the tattoo, the threat of Zeffer being thrown into danger because of the mark was permanent. The thought of losing him terrified her. It had to be dealt with. Cutting it off was clearly the best option. She was steadfast.
"Stop being so pathetic. Do I have to do it for you?" She spat at him, pointing the knife briefly to gesture at herself. Akko's displeased expression only intensified as she loomed above him, stare fiercely unwavering. It was clear she had no intention on dropping the matter.
He was all bark.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 3:17 pm
"I'm not. Don't act like you wouldn't be nervous too, b***h." Zeffer hissed, and tried to wrench away from her claws again, bringing his legs up to try to shove her off. He glanced around, trying to think of some way to stall, or some other idea that wouldn't be as bad as actually cutting the thing off. He shuddered.
"That might help, though." The grin returned to his face, as he remembered for a moment how funny she could be when she got all riled up. Using his foot, he shoved her back and proceeded to turn his back to her as he curled into a ball on the couch.
"Just give me a ******** minute, okay? I need to brace myself."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 3:48 pm
"I do what needs to be done, regardless of how I feel. Always." Byakko chided sharply, grip tightening around the knife. That seemed to be a concept Zeff struggled with. "At the very least, I don't make empty promises." She was absolutely seething now- what was the point of telling her he'd deal with it, only to... not? Simply to shut her up? Byakko gritted her fangs, swallowing back another snarl as they continued their little showdown. This was getting dealt with, now. He wasn't leaving until it was.
"Nnf-"
Letting out a surprised grunt as Zeff bucked her away, Akko took a few staggered steps backwards. "a*****e," she hissed under her breath. Snapping to attention, she readied to wrathfully berate him again- but Zeff was curled in on himself, turned away. Like a sad little woofbeast. Akko felt a pang of guilt.
"Fffffine."
Byakko crossed her arms, shifting her weight onto one hip as she tapped her foot impatiently.
Clack clack clack.
The hollow wooden sound of her geta echoed through the cavern rhythmically, as if she was keeping time.
"You now have 40 seconds."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 4:28 pm
Zeffer groaned as Akko groused at him, and cradled the afflicted wrist, poking at the jagged, snaking lines. It was more of an annoyance than anything, and it irked him deeply to think that Akko probably saw him as a coward for being so evasive. He'd been through so much worse, after all, and he felt guilty for continuously forgetting and procrastinating, only to be cornered in the end. It was for the best, perhaps.
"Let's burn it off instead." He said suddenly, about twenty seconds in to the time Akko had given. He glanced back at her with a smirk, wondering if she would go for the idea. It would happen all at once, at least, and it would give him more time to stall.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 9:42 pm
With each tap of her foot, Akko had been mentally counting down every second. The clacking subsided when Zeffer spoke, catching her off guard with his compromise. Burn it off? The mutant squinted down at him, corners of her mouth twitching with mild annoyance. Well, as long as it got the job done.
"If you want. It's your arm." She shrugged, well aware of the hypocrisy in her comment. Without so much as another bat of her eye, Akko veered away from the couch and towards the nearest cluster of candles, melting together slowly atop a jutted boulder. She shoved the metal blade against the wick before returning her gaze back to the blueblood. Probably should have done this anyway for the sake of sanitation, huh?
"...Might take a minute." It dawned upon her in that moment that Zeffer might've been trying to stall. The flickering candle light dancing from beneath her face only served to dramatize Akko's frown as she glowered at him from across the room.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 9:51 pm
"Akko, we're gonna need something hotter than those shitty little candles." He commented with a snort as she moved to begin to heat up the knife. It looked just wide enough to cover the tattoo, but if the heat wasn't intense enough it wouldn't do the job completely, which would only prolong his unwarranted suffering.
As she glared over, Zeffer smirked, pleased as punch that his ploy was working. He'd relaxed on the couch once she had acquiesced to the new plan, but sat up as another idea came to him.
"We should try to make a fire or something. Also, it'll be easier if I can numb myself, so I'm gonna go get some snow." The blueblood stood up from the couch, glancing back at her as he slunk over towards her front door. He didn't give any ******** about looking like a huge baby anymore; anything to lessen the pain he knew was coming.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:12 pm
Byakko returned her frown down at the melted glob of wax and wick, realizing Zeffer was probably right. Even if the candles could get the knife hot enough, it was going to take forever. Gog damnit. She flushed vague pink with embarrassment- thankfully the dim light of the cave was forgiving.
"Fine." She sounded bitter, but withdrew the knife from the flames. Turning back to him, Akko gestured towards the hive's entrance. "If I'm going to light a bigger fire, I have to do it where there's better ventilation anyway." Cooking her meals outside her actual hive was a mild inconvenience, but she didn't have much of an alternative. At least she had no neighbours to hear his inevitable shrieks...
Akko also made her way towards the door, purposefully shoving in front of Zeffer; giving him a decent helping of cut eye as her shoulder brushed against his. Taking the lead, she wordlessly trailed through the winding path back to the mouth of the cave system, glancing back every so often to confirm that Zeff was still following her. Eventually, the stars broke into view, and she turned back to speak.
"Go. Get your stupid snow." Akko waved Zeff off lazily, bending over to collect a few dry twigs for her fire. "And don't even think about bolting off."
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:42 pm
Zeffer snickered as he had his way, tugging the heavy door open before Akko hurried infront of him. He ignored her nasty looks and reached out to give her a little shove in return, amused at her pissiness and happy that he would have just a little while to mentally brace himself. He tried to think of similar things, like getting an arrow removed, or a bullet dug out. Painful as ********, but over with quickly, as long as whoever was doing so knew what they were doing. His grin faded as he eyed Akko, and began to have second thoughts.
"Wouldn't even dream of such a thing. Here." Zeffer dug a lighter from his pocket, and tossed it to her, before exiting the cave and tromping out into the snow. Without his jacket, it was less than a minute before his teeth were chattering, and he wasted no time in making a tightly packed ball of snow before skittering back in.
"Cold out tonight." He snorted at the joke as he plopped down next to Akko, holding the snowball over his tattoo.
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Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 11:59 pm
Usually, Byakko would have turned around and pushed Zeffer right back for daring to shove her. Instead, she had merely glanced over her shoulder and shot him a seething look of disapproval- Akko figured what was in store for him would be sufficient revenge.
Fumbling to catch the lighter, Akko cleared her throat and continued scavenging for tinder. "Mmm. Thanks, I guess." She didn't need such fancy devices to start a fire, but at least now he was being cooperative.
By the time Zeffer returned, Byakko had a small fire crackling. Once again, she held the knife over the flames, turning it slowly to ensure even heating. She looked up, narrowing her eyes impatiently at him over the pit. "Not particularly. You ready yet?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 12:35 am
Zeffer assumed she wouldn't even know how to use a lighter, but it was more a show of his willingness than anything (even though it was wavering, at best). Despite what it was being used for, the fire was a somewhat welcome sight as he huddled in front of it, sighing as he watched her heat up the knife.
"Try to hold it in lower, toward the core. That's where it's hottest." His breath puffed in the cold air as he sighed, avoiding her impatient questioning. The application of the snow to his wrist had stung at first, but as he flexed his hand he knew he was beginning to lose feeling in the area.
"Just a while longer, I think." He finally added after a moment, knowing she wouldn't stop hounding.
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 2:00 am
"Shut up. I know what I'm doing." Akko barked over the fire, but nonetheless aimed the blade lower. She fell silent, and for a few moments, there were no sounds save the cracking of burning wood. Hunched over, Byakko mainly focused on the dagger in her hand, but occasionally glanced up over the smoke to sneak a peek at Zeffer. In all honesty, she had expected him to deal with the tattoo himself. She wouldn't have wanted anyone else coming at her with a knife- especially if it was red hot. As much as Akko wanted to see it dealt with, she still wasn't overly fond with the idea of doing it herself. Regardless, it needed to get done...
Silently rising, Byakko sidestepped around the fire pit and settled back down beside Zeffer. She gave him a brief glance before returning the knife to the heat, biting the inside of her lower lip as she stared into the flames. Hesitating, no. Empathizing... a little. Shifting her weight, Akko leaned sheepishly against Zeffer momentarily; offering him a small gesture of reassurance after all their squabbling.
"Alright. That's good enough, I think." She finally broke the silence after another few minutes had trickled by. Byakko turned to Zeffer, expression grim, rolling the hot knife in her palm. Reaching down with her free hand, she laced fingers with those of his tattooed arm, giving him a squeeze in what she hoped read as comforting.
"Let's get this over with."
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 2:47 am
Zeffer snickered at Akko's irate retort, before settling into silence himself. The snow was starting to melt against his skin, and his hand was getting cold, too, but he held it there all the same in the hopes it would provide some relief in the end. Gazing contemplatively into the flames, his mind began to drift into less cheerful territory. How much of Akko's respect had he lost tonight? The heat slowly rose to his face as he realized how much he trusted her, to allow her to do what they were preparing for. He knew she was pissed, and had every right to be...but ********, it was going to hurt. If she hadn't caught it, he would have gone on covering it up. Going as long as he had had made him cocky, but he knew she was right.
He was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice when she'd looked up at him, finally blinking back to reality as she got up and rounded the fire. Seeing the edges of the knife already glowing red made him shrink away nervously, but her gesture caught him off guard, and he blushed hotly leaning against her in turn.
"Are you sure??" He swallowed hard as she took hold of his hand, squeezing back...before giving it a little tug. "M-maybe just a minute longer. Just to be safe." He was still pressing the remnant chunk of the snowball to his skin, glancing down for a moment before offering her an anxious smirk.
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Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 11:42 pm
"Zeffer, come on already. I'm ******** done with your stalling." Akko tugged back on his hand, iron grip tightening as she wrenched his arm across her lap. He was just torturing himself by waiting longer at this point. "It wont be that bad." The lie was paper thin, her voice flat and unconvincing- but he had long since whittled her patience down to it's end. Empathy only got him so far when s**t needed to be dealt with.
"On the count of three, alright?" Lowering the glowing blade inches over his tattooed wrist, Byakko glanced back up to meet his eyes.
"One..."
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:07 am
"Nnn!" Zeffer huffed as she tugged his arm over, his heartrate starting to pick up as he gazed down at the glowing hot knife. Already he was beginning to have second thoughts, as Akko made a half-assed attempt to be reassuring. As his stomach flipped, his mind began to race, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, for something, anything, to postpone the 'procedure'.
"Wait!! W-we should have like, a first aid kit ready. Or something." He stammered, and was grinning again, hand tremoring in her grasp. He knew she was going to be livid at such a suggestion, but it hadn't kept him from blurting it out.
"Burns can get infected pretty easy, y'know." He added on after a moment, flashing his fangs as he smirked nervously.
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Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:41 am
She scowled. Akko scowled so hard her face hurt. While she understood why he was reluctant, sympathized even, the mutantblood's expression didn't flicker even once. As far as she was concerned, he wasn't holding up his side of the compromise. If it had been anyone else, Byakko may have had qualms about what she was about to do, but...
"Two,"
Her unforgiving stare was relentless. Altogether ignoring his stammering- her hive wasn't that far away, for gog's sake- she lowered the knife close enough for Zeffer to feel the emanating heat.
"Three."
Without so much as a bat of her eye, Byakko pressed the glowing side of the blade down onto Zeffer's exposed wrist. There was a sickening sizzle and an accompanying stench that lurched her stomach; her only visible reaction was to tighten her grasp on Zeffer's hand to keep him from flailing and messing up her handiwork.
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