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 Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 1:28 am
Ganyma couldn’t help but stare. His gaze weary, grey eyes fogged with exhaustion as the dreamlike scene carried out in front of him. All of him tensed, all ready to protect himself if necessary. But Ganyma hadn’t foreseen this. Kursha was making himself the target.
He was the aggressor, the hunter. He sought his prey and laid in ambush, waiting for the biggest prize before claiming the trophy of a victory and a head on a pike. All this time, did he see Ganyma the same way? Did he see him as a predator, hellbent on vengeance in cold blood? The thought fizzled in Ganyma’s mind, but the primal realization was greater than any logic or deep psychoanalysis that he could have employed.
I want to win because more than anything else, I don't want to lose. But you know what? You can't win unless you strike without mercy.
Ganyma stared at the teal-spattered rifle in his hands, and then back again. He was not like Kursha. He hated what he stood for, and he hated who he was to the very core of his rotten ideals. His eyes bore into the greenblood, filled with steel and fire.
That's your weakness. You doubt yourself and your cause and so you show mercy to an enemy who wants nothing more than to see you wiped out of existence.
Eloquence didn’t come naturally to Ganyma, but he’d thought back to the moment at the theatre every night since the conflict. Kursha’s words had burned into his mind with the rest of his tangled influences. Replaying the moment, he would consider how things might have been different. Was he not fast enough? Forceful enough? No. There was one thing that Kursha was right about. Ganyma wasn’t doubtful any more. He finally spoke.
“I don’t need to kill you for that. Take your victory and shove it; I ain’t like you.”
There was a thick crack of the rifle. The shells landed softly in the damp forest loam. Without any ceremony, Ganyma discarded the weapon behind him.
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 5:25 pm
There was little Luxara could do in her temporarily blind state besides stay out of the way for a while. However, seeing Kursha throw a knife at Ganyma was nearly enough to make her turn around and throttle him. She had taken a blow for him just so he'd ruin any chance she had at diffusing the situation. No wonder he was so bad at treasure-hunting. When the going got tough, he didn't think.
And yet somehow he managed to pull one over her tonight. Wonders never ceased.
But Luxara had been hurt enough in the past that she could still keep moving as the tension was high. In fact, she crept up behind Kursha as he was monologuing. She notably stopped in her tracks for a good moment though, as he gouged himself with his own knife. This was not the troll she had befriended all that time ago...was it? Did it even matter? Whoever this was now was a dangerous animal who needed to go down. And if the tealblood wasn't willing to make a move...
As soon as Ganyma stopped talking, Luxara drove her bony little elbow down on the back of Kursha's scalp with a loud crack. "No, you shut up! And stay down!" she sneered at him, but Kursha was already out for the count from the blow. All she could do now was yell at his unconscious body while the cut next to her eye continued to drip blood down her face and onto her shity. The Luxara grin was back, though, but it was a rigid, tight expression compared to before things went to s**t. It was either be this caricature of herself or bawl like a wriggler again. Self-control was hard, but her seething ire would see her through for now. For herself. For Ganyma. For all her misplaced trust and affection.
Kursha was a bloody, beaten heap. And he'd be powerless to stop her if she decided to break his legs or take his knife and slit up his face. Hell, she could leave him here. Or dump him down the well. Or drag him to the hunting sites deep within the forest and let the highbloods and wild lusii have at him. It would be poetic. She swallowed. This kind of power was terrifying. Exhilirating, in a way, but awful. She had to be better than this. If Ganyma could keep it together, she had to as well. It was only right.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," Luxara muttered as she tried wiping some blood from her cuts. "Things were supposed to get better, y'know?" She paused to look at her fingers as she pulled her hand back. "But I guess you can't fix what's broked, huh? I'm...I'm sorry, Gan." Then she crouched over Kursha's body and removed what was left of his shirt. She tore off some of her tank top near the bottom hem to use as makeshift bandages. "It's my fault we all got hurt today, some way or other. Either from me doing stuff or not or just...not thinking." Another pause, both from wrapping some of his wounds and from speaking. "I didn't know he killed anyone. I didn't know he wanted to kill you. I thought what I was told was something fixable. But I didn't know about what else went down, so I guess this is my fault. If he dies, it's my fault. If something happens to you..."
She looked up at Ganyma with her one open eye. Ganyma was a gross mess himself, with the blood and all. But all of his wounds were gone. No bullet holes, and the knifing to the face thanks to Kursha's recklessness... If her general feelings didn't bounce between hollow and dull, threatening panic about her boys, she would've thought whatever abilities Ganyma had now were the coolest. "And you betrayed the rebels. That explains a lot of tonight. I'm upset about Kur. At Kur. A lot of things about him right now. I'm half-tempted to kick him in the head but I don't want to kill him still, funny as that is. But you. Gan. My captain. I'm scared for you. And I'm the one supposed to stay safe, huh? God." What could a troll do if he defected from one side and both sides knew? She wasn't as street-smart as most, but even she could see that whatever made Ganyma switch sides like that clouded his judgment bad. But they weren't so different, either. The only divide was that one of them got caught. She wouldn't make that mistake when she took up arms in the future.
Luxara shook her head "There's so much I wanna say, but..." She looked down at Kursha again. "I'll have to save it, I guess." That was a new thing for her. "For next time. There'll be a next time, right?" Or would it be too much to hope she hadn't ******** everything up? "This jackass wanted to kill me and tried so hard with you, and he's not worth it, but..." The little greenblood sighed, obviously a little annoyed at herself for what she was about to say. "I need you to help me get him to my hive. I can't carry him by myself and I don't know where Stagdad is. But, y'know, I've gotten roughed up before. I'll have stuff to clean us all up and from there I can settle some stuff between him n' me on my own terms." As she spoke, her one-eyed gaze roamed back to Ganyma's face, almost pleadingly. Please trust me on this.
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Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:32 pm
Luxara was doing a lot of talking. As Ganyma stood, shivering in a world of pain, he had a tough time comprehending which way was up. His wounds would be as good as gone eventually, but he’d taken massive damage. It wouldn’t be easy, or painless. He had to get back to a recuperacoon, and fast. And away from Kursha. No one was at fault here. He grunted and looked upon her, not with pity, but respect. “Don’t worry about me. I’m gonna keep my mouth shut and live my life.” He said simply. He gave her a small smile, and then took a deep breath. He had to get his mind off of his injuries, which twisted and twitched under his flesh. “Let’s get him inside.” Ganyma lifted Kursha easily. He was tall and gangly, but relatively stringy for a troll his size. With the help of Luxara, the two were on the move. The tensing feeling in Ganyma’s clavicle burned. As he walked, he became aware of all of his aches trying to reopen from his strain, and for a moment considered staying at Luxara’s. But, no. Her hive wasn’t big enough for the three of them. Number of recuperacoons aside, Ganyma couldn’t stand to look at Kursha any more than he had to to keep him alive. Luxara wanted to help. To heal. But now was not the time. The wounds were too fresh. He gritted his teeth, and as they reached her hive he allowed himself to speak. “I can’t stay. I’m sorry I hurt you.” He murmured. Ganyma looked up at Luxara, finding her wound hard to bear. The irony was not lost on him. His promises of protection and vow not to harm seemed petty now, accident or no. He’d said his piece to her, and she to him. They were square. “I’ll heal soon. And I’ll see you too soon, okay?” Ganyma offered a grim smile.
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