Snippet #1490738

The Captain had expected a perfect dodge from his opponent and had planned his next strike to take her by surprise. As it turned out her attention was drawn away by a scuffle of boots from behind her and his three-pronged weapon was sent directly towards the side of her knee, a shattering blow to be sure. With a grimace at the effort, Kronis pulled back the steel and landed only a glancing blow on the joint, something he hoped would not cause any damage. Leaning back to counteract the momentum he bought the spinning metal around and let it loose behind his head where it took off in a flurry of spinning chains, covering the distance between himself and the wall in a matter of seconds. There it connected with three consecutive thuds that each arose a cloud of dust and a tiny shower of rubble.

He was angry, no, furious at being interrupted during training. Every soldier knew how dangerous it was for themselves, let alone this pair. A split second later and Kali may have left on a stretcher. A second or two later and he himself may have been caught in the midst of a counterattack and been sent to the morgue. He opened his mouth to vent his rage but was beaten to the task.

“And you though you should come and interrupt the Captain’s and my… Engagement?” came Kali's reply to the soldier, who had made the unfortunate mistake of confusing Lieutenant Reshma for a male officer. Well, perhaps a good verbal chastising from the pair of them would do the trick, so he let her go first, something he would soon come to regret.

As the unique woman put what feminie charms she had to use the Captain grew more uneasy. He could not tell exactly what was going to happen but he had a sneaking suspicion. And he just hoped that she wouldn't follow through with it. It was not his day. He watched in silent horror as the Lieutenant set about taunting the private like an animal in a cage until he had no choice but to follow his instincts and tell her to back off in a way that he thought she'd understand. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

As soon as the slightest contact was made Kali had spun the man around and before he could so much as yell out in surprise he had a knife held to his throat and was perched precariously on the edge of his balance, or so he thought. Kali may have been angry but she was not stupid and had no intention of letting him fall and end up with a case of murder on her hands. The jury would see it as nothing but killing in cold blood and have her hanged.

She finally released him and the Captain's keen eyes noticed immediately the tiny bead of blood gathering about where her knifepoint had been. That alone would be cause enough for a tribunal, something he really didn't need in the current siutuation. As well as his regular duties there was an uprising to deal with in the West, some disturbance in the market that warranted a Lieutenant to sort it, the disappearance of the vagrants of the city and rumours of hooded figures practicing dark magic. To top it off with someone under his direct command being accused of insubordination could potentially drive him over the edge. It had already been weeks since he'd had a full night of sleep.

But it was already done and he had to simply wait until the men had disappeared and left the two of them alone again, stone-faced and impassive as ever as he stood watch. As soon as they had rounded the corner he gave a flick of his head to signal the flagsman away and waited then until he spoke, a flicker in his eye that was too much to control.

"If you so much as try to interrupt me in the next two minutes I'll have you busted down to shining swords for the rest of your career, understand? Good." No chance to reply, he simply continued talking.

"What you just did there was unacceptable. You deliberately provoked a response from a soldier you knew full well knew nothing of your rank and took an aggressive response against action that you caused." He was talking quietly and calmly but took deep breaths between each sentence to steady himself.

"For all you know Kali, that soldier could have come straight here with direct orders from the general. If he were to go back and report that to him then I can safely assume that he would pretty FUCKING ANNOYED!" Here he lost control and let fly with the full power of his commander's voice, bellowing out a scolding at the same volume he would bellow orders in war.

"Do you have any idea what kind of shit I'd have to go through if he decided to take action and I defended you? The only thing standing between him and you is me! I know you're irritated by prejudice but you're a soldier, dammit, suck up your pride once in a while and try not to bite the hand that feeds!" At this point he lashed out with a straight leg kick at one of the thick, wooden posts which marked the corner of the arena, landing the sole of his boot against it and splitting the wood visciously down the centre.

He took another deep breath and barely managed to regain his composure before starting again.

"You have too much potential to waste on idiots like him. If you want to jeopardise your career then fine, go right ahead. You tell me now so I can stop covering up for this kind of crap. But if you don't then, learn some restraint. You could be Captain one day and you know it as well as I do. Hell, you might one day make it to general. Until then though, you're a Lieutenant, start acting like one and show some resolve. You can start by taking that messenger boy with you on your little errand." It was the first time he'd ever broken out of character and let loose with emotion outside of battle since taking his place as Captain, as well as the first time he'd spoken aloud of his belief for Kali's future.

"Now get out of my sight and don't forget to apologise." He finished with a simple enough request and felt bitterly sick with himself. He'd just pummeled her into the ground for standing up for herself against all odds. Though he was convinced it was for the best, for both of them, and he felt more like a Father than he ever had before. He didn't like it.

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Sebastian found himself calmer than he had been before. The adrenaline that had kicked upon realising he was in an unfamiliar place was wearing off and he was around people who were... Well, strangers. But not quite to the degree of the inhabitants of this strange place. All except one. An approaching woman who towered above them all and seemed to be made of some pottery and a lot of wires took his focus for a while, She was almost comical in a summer dress that was clearly too small for her and she somehow resembled what he imagined a robot trying to fit in would look like back in London. It was amusing but not enough to cause him to laugh. He didn't know what this machine was capable of but he wouldn't put it past any artificial intelligence to rip him limb from linb, he'd seen the films.

"Right. So... now... if you came across an object last night and took it home and it showed up here with you... uh, I dunno, nod or raise your hand or something."

It was the woman who'd dragged The Prophet, as Sebastian had come to think of him, down from his hay-stage. And what she said managed to draw his attention away from the absurd ceramic woman to his right, if only for a moment. He held up his hand, the old leather gloves still dangling from it and reflecting tiny rays of sun from each bead. Why hadn't it done that before? he wondered. Then he glanced down and saw only shadows cast from the high walls. Christ, it must be getting close to dusk... How long have we been out here?

As though they were destined to have no peace another incident kicked a few people back a little as robo-mannequinne fell to the floor. It was almost too much for the teacher, a man who lived his life by logic and theories based on evidence. None of this made sense, not a single moment since his arrival.

"She's... she was a computer. You know... before."

Oh, there it was. The breaking point, he was sure of it. He couldn't quite comprehend how he'd held on for this long already. His only option, he thought, was to accept he was now insane and treat this as reality.

"Oh, I see" he replied, trying his best to act casual about the statement. "Guess she's, err, moving up in the world..." It didn't feel natural to be talking this way but there was nothing more for it. Either this or lose control. He knew which he preferred, but it was like asking a man to choose exactly how he wished to be tortured.