[Akua is Praesi, and Hayame is a breeding stable jinba. Yet the similarities compound. She knows nothing of the same things. She was bred to be a superior specimen, to be the best. To live by the way of the warrior and nothing else, unattached cold iron that could be directed at whatever her master required. But ever since Horos... her worldview has been ripped apart and left like an open sore, torn even further apart every time she tried to close it. It wasn't until Kenos that anyone bothered trying to help her bandage or salve it, even jut a little, and still-
It ached.
And she is too weak now to pretend that a part of her didn't crave that ruin. Didn't sometimes dream of death even as she longed to survive. She is already wounded, she is already hurting, and friends are supposed to just- just fix it? Her lips curl back and sharp canines grind into her flatter teeth, readying herself to push the other woman away, to demand... just be loyal, then! Was it that goddamn hard? Actually be my friend!
But how pathetic that would be, when Akua has already made it clear what she feels friendship is. She releases a frustrated, impotent snarl, finally finds the fire to fling the other woman's hand away from her with a burst of,]
Stop preaching, Akua!
[Except instead of leaving it there, just letting that be a dismissal and the end of it-]
I heard you, didn't I?
[But did she believe her? Was she willing to let her so-called "friends" be the way they were with her? She didn't even know yet. And how was she supposed to know? Would she know today? Tomorrow? A week from now, a month? Her hooves churn in the woodshaving bedding of a stall meant for a fucking horse, she wants to just lash out-]
Just-
[Just what? The rage burns, but it's always been burning, and there's so little embers left. She doesn't know how to offer peace, how to acquiescence or to surrender, so how... ?
- In the frustrated silence, Hayame's gut suddenly lets out an obscenely loud rumble of hunger.]
no subject
It ached.
And she is too weak now to pretend that a part of her didn't crave that ruin. Didn't sometimes dream of death even as she longed to survive. She is already wounded, she is already hurting, and friends are supposed to just- just fix it? Her lips curl back and sharp canines grind into her flatter teeth, readying herself to push the other woman away, to demand... just be loyal, then! Was it that goddamn hard? Actually be my friend!
But how pathetic that would be, when Akua has already made it clear what she feels friendship is. She releases a frustrated, impotent snarl, finally finds the fire to fling the other woman's hand away from her with a burst of,]
Stop preaching, Akua!
[Except instead of leaving it there, just letting that be a dismissal and the end of it-]
I heard you, didn't I?
[But did she believe her? Was she willing to let her so-called "friends" be the way they were with her? She didn't even know yet. And how was she supposed to know? Would she know today? Tomorrow? A week from now, a month? Her hooves churn in the woodshaving bedding of a stall meant for a fucking horse, she wants to just lash out-]
Just-
[Just what? The rage burns, but it's always been burning, and there's so little embers left. She doesn't know how to offer peace, how to acquiescence or to surrender, so how... ?
- In the frustrated silence, Hayame's gut suddenly lets out an obscenely loud rumble of hunger.]