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She was surprised herself when her fist connected solidly with the line of his jaw, and she actually recoiled from it, cradling her fist to her chest as she flinched away from a blow that never fell. She expected him to retaliate, to strike her back, and when he didn't she blinked up at him with wide eyes.

She'd been angry before, was still seething from what he'd done to her, but with her dizi in his hand, arm caught in his grip, she was afraid.

When his hand came forward she jerked, struggling anew to free herself from his grip, only to freeze as the strand around her neck snapped. Beads and charms falling like rain on street, scattering like the pieces of her heart. Everything they'd had together, everything was broken, shattered, beyond repair.

This was his doing. All of it. All this hurt and anger was his fault. He'd wanted her to fear him, and for a moment she did, but her hate for him would last. "This is no victory, coward." She hissed at him, jerking her wrist free of him as he released her, terribly tempted to lash out once again. This was no battle, this solved nothing! "Run away Huang! From the truth, from your feelings. You keep running!"

As he slipped away into the shadows she dropped to her knees, collecting the taken dizi and cradling it to her chest. Her breath catching in her throat as Liu's presence approached at her back. She felt him there, watching her, but said nothing. Ashamed that he'd seem this failure of a battle, ashamed that she'd let herself be disarmed so damned easily.

There were fresh tears on her face when she finally turned her attention to the discarded necklace, and the rage within flared anew, curling her lip before she plucked the blossom from the collection of beads. The leaf was nowhere to be found. She stared at the silver flower in her palm, anger receding slowly until there was nothing left but a dull ache and she closed her fingers around those hand wrought petals, squeezing them into her skin. "You leave me with nothing."

Clear blues very carefully stayed focused on row of acid dip spikes following her kind request for them to depart. Waiting patiently as they made up their mind on obeying, or stubbornly remaining affixed to poor nergal's back. Should they persist in staying as they were, she suspected it would make sleeping a bit of a challenge, and that was a very tragic line of thought to the marid. Much to her delight though, the spikes clacked once before obediently seeping back within pale skin, leaving the lovely expanse of Sharra's back untouched and whole. Even to an entity of water, the shift was seamless and flowing. "That was splendid." The comment was as much for the shift itself, as for her own ability to communicate with the things.

Oh, and it just got even better. The murmured curse pulled her gaze back up to the boil's face, and she blinked curiously before he continued on to say something that had nearly the same effect on the demon ghoul as the tiny droplets of water that he'd flicked at her leg. Finger tips tensing gently, she felt her smile taking on a decidedly coy appearance. "Promise?" Was that a purr to her docile tone? It just might have been.

Had she really been aware of just how terribly flirtatious she was being, she might have attempted to reign in some semblance of control over herself. As it was, further forward behaviors were distracted by the touch of a tiny paw on the ankle of the foot she'd moved to rest on the grassy side of the fountain so she could straddle the little brick wall. All the better for introductions and spine whispering.

Curious, Yaya glanced down at the owner of the paw, and like any warmblooded young woman, melted immediately at the sight of the little freymon fawning for her attention. "Well aren't you just too adorable for words?" She cooed down at him, bending so she could tuck fingers under tiny arms, lifting him up to situate him carefully in her arms, mindful of the spikes. "Do you belong to the young Mister Eldwaithe here?" Dark fingers stroked along the soft line of his snout. "How very lucky for him."

The last was said with a grin turned up to the demon boil in question. "Does he have a name?" If not, he would likely have one within the Hour. Hadiyya seemed to have a natural affinity with small animals. Now also wayward body parts it would seem.

Conversation was progressing nicely, very nicely, in the djinn's humble opinion, but there was still the matter of mud clinging stubbornly to her drying form. Nose twitching gently in distaste, Yaya stood, stepping fully into the fountain. Shifting her grip so the freymon wasn't held so tightly to her chest, she closed her eyes in concentration, took a breath, and focused on the water swirling along her calves, willing it to climb.

And climb it did. A thin layer of water swirling up dark legs and hips to further spread until every inch of the exotic youth was covered. Soaked from head to toe, it rested for a second or two, then with a soft exhale the water fell away from her, back into the fountain leaving behind a clean, though drenched, marid. "Mm, much better." Flicking a few drops from her fingertips she moved back over to the edge to reclaim her seat, cuddling Herbert back to her chest. "My apologize, the flaking mud was growing quite distracting." If he dared follow the line of thought that statement hinted at, he'd find she hadn't wanted to be distracted from -him-.