.P. ET .A. GEMINI
Stars are hereStep. Dodge. Parry. Step. At the start of every training session Shu could easily predict her strange mentor's movements. The uplifting surge of confidence tended to wear out in the first half hour, after several annoying, easily avoidable mistakes. It's only human to lose focus for a few moments. That's why sparring with an almost mechanical opponent was so frustrating.
- Should we call it a...
- Attention.
Yafdat's jaws snapped back in place with an unpleasant sound of minerals being ground against each other. The assassin frowned, instinctively bringing her arms closer to the body and letting the Shard leap forward. Sharpened claws briefly pinched the skin at the back at her neck- at least that could be felt. Not properly painful, just an indication of a hit right above her spine. Another landed near the stomach, leaving pale scratch marks on the dark leather armor.
- You're dead!
Shu scoffed and quickly pushed the grinning Shard away. She rather dramatically collapsed onto the cold grass outside their command tent and managed to look offended for a brief moment before bursting into loud, cheerful laughter. The shift between states was almost physically evident: mechanical precision was now firmly replaced by the cheerful, energetic "norm"- whatever that meant for the strange thing. Most people in the regiment were used to the oddities of the thing that led them, and Shu learnt to identify these mood shifts better than most. Maybe that's why she wasn't scared anymore. Maybe that was the reason they were as close to being friends as they could.
- I don't think this helps your focus,- the assassin also sat down, watching her breath coalesce into a white mist before disappearing- Did you think of a name yet?
The response to that was a muffled, exasperated groan as the Shard tried to tip her over. Cold purple fingers didn't have claws anymore, so they could be just swatted away with little effort.
- Let Regan do it, she came up with the first "Champions of the Shattered Pillars" thing. Or Sekhmet, he always cares...no, on second thought- not him. I don't want to end up being the Grandmaster of the Wailing Cuckoos.
Both women chuckled in unison. Shu looked up: the perpetually red sky here, in the middle of nowhere, blended with the darkness of a proper night into a deep mulberry shade. Even her star was there. A faint, glittering spot which appeared between the burning clouds on the night that portal opened. She wasn't sure if anyone else has noticed or cared, but for the first time since the world was consumed by Wrath there was at least one star in the sky.
- Is that where you came from?- she pointed up at the silvery light that probably wasn't just another figment of a tired imagination- Your "Sanctuary"?
- Wasn't my Sanctuary, even if it's the right star. That world had absolutely no need for me. I can't have a home, a family, even a cause that isn't in constant state of revolution! A spoilsport for everyone's happy ending. At least here my fight has a meaning, someone's life gets easier with every step. "The snow has fallen, but the sun will always rise to melt it away..."
Yafdat let out a sigh, quiet and invisible. Shards don't need to breathe, the assassin has learnt as much from the first few hours they've spent together. It was a choice, a way to appear more human and less concerning. The same way Shu chose to style her unevenly cut hair every morning, carve floral patterns into the hardened leather of her bracers and frown whenever the not-stray nameless cat brought another strangled mouse as an offering. Small things that kept everyone from the thoughts at the back of their minds: Does it all even matter? A regiment of thirty-odd people who put their trust into an alien creature and don't expect to return from their next mission- does it matter if they care about patterns, braids and dead critters?
She bit into her thin lower lip until it went numb. A conscious choice. Staying human, finding hope even in faint reflections of light and established routines. That's what mattered.
- You said it yourself. Harbingers of the Bright Sun- Shu also grinned, forgetting about the aching pain in her clenched teeth- Burn the misery to light the way.
- Should we call it a...
- Attention.
Yafdat's jaws snapped back in place with an unpleasant sound of minerals being ground against each other. The assassin frowned, instinctively bringing her arms closer to the body and letting the Shard leap forward. Sharpened claws briefly pinched the skin at the back at her neck- at least that could be felt. Not properly painful, just an indication of a hit right above her spine. Another landed near the stomach, leaving pale scratch marks on the dark leather armor.
- You're dead!
Shu scoffed and quickly pushed the grinning Shard away. She rather dramatically collapsed onto the cold grass outside their command tent and managed to look offended for a brief moment before bursting into loud, cheerful laughter. The shift between states was almost physically evident: mechanical precision was now firmly replaced by the cheerful, energetic "norm"- whatever that meant for the strange thing. Most people in the regiment were used to the oddities of the thing that led them, and Shu learnt to identify these mood shifts better than most. Maybe that's why she wasn't scared anymore. Maybe that was the reason they were as close to being friends as they could.
- I don't think this helps your focus,- the assassin also sat down, watching her breath coalesce into a white mist before disappearing- Did you think of a name yet?
The response to that was a muffled, exasperated groan as the Shard tried to tip her over. Cold purple fingers didn't have claws anymore, so they could be just swatted away with little effort.
- Let Regan do it, she came up with the first "Champions of the Shattered Pillars" thing. Or Sekhmet, he always cares...no, on second thought- not him. I don't want to end up being the Grandmaster of the Wailing Cuckoos.
Both women chuckled in unison. Shu looked up: the perpetually red sky here, in the middle of nowhere, blended with the darkness of a proper night into a deep mulberry shade. Even her star was there. A faint, glittering spot which appeared between the burning clouds on the night that portal opened. She wasn't sure if anyone else has noticed or cared, but for the first time since the world was consumed by Wrath there was at least one star in the sky.
- Is that where you came from?- she pointed up at the silvery light that probably wasn't just another figment of a tired imagination- Your "Sanctuary"?
- Wasn't my Sanctuary, even if it's the right star. That world had absolutely no need for me. I can't have a home, a family, even a cause that isn't in constant state of revolution! A spoilsport for everyone's happy ending. At least here my fight has a meaning, someone's life gets easier with every step. "The snow has fallen, but the sun will always rise to melt it away..."
Yafdat let out a sigh, quiet and invisible. Shards don't need to breathe, the assassin has learnt as much from the first few hours they've spent together. It was a choice, a way to appear more human and less concerning. The same way Shu chose to style her unevenly cut hair every morning, carve floral patterns into the hardened leather of her bracers and frown whenever the not-stray nameless cat brought another strangled mouse as an offering. Small things that kept everyone from the thoughts at the back of their minds: Does it all even matter? A regiment of thirty-odd people who put their trust into an alien creature and don't expect to return from their next mission- does it matter if they care about patterns, braids and dead critters?
She bit into her thin lower lip until it went numb. A conscious choice. Staying human, finding hope even in faint reflections of light and established routines. That's what mattered.
- You said it yourself. Harbingers of the Bright Sun- Shu also grinned, forgetting about the aching pain in her clenched teeth- Burn the misery to light the way.