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Post by Huang Jiaming on Oct 16, 2006 21:47:28 GMT -5
Agh, I knew it!
Jiaming frowned as she caught his pained expression, walking over and dropping to a knee next to him. Helping him up and telling him to call it a day would probably be the smart thing to do, but...
"The enemy doesn't give you a second," she said, lifting him up a bit by the collar of his shirt, all the while coiling a bit of the whip around his shoulder. She pulled it taught around his neck.
"What're you going to do when you're staring death in the face?" she asked, pulling it ever-so-slightly tighter.
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Post by Zhong Xue on Oct 16, 2006 21:58:17 GMT -5
The feeling of the weapon hugging the curve of his neck, ready to deliver a final blow, completely stopped him for a second. Reining in the intial panic response, he grabbed Jiaming by the wrists, resisting clawing at them like he wanted to, but squeezing them tightly. "Let go," he mumbled.
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Post by Huang Jiaming on Oct 16, 2006 22:19:17 GMT -5
Jiaming exhaled, giving off a note of anger. She let go of the whip, left it there, and got up, not looking at him.
"Your blade was right there," she said in a bit of a growl. Why couldn't he take it seriously? That's what he expected, wasn't it? Or was he just fooling around?
"If you can't take advantage of the situation, you're dead. If you try to wait a second, you're dead. Do what is necessary, or you're dead. That's the only option! No second thoughts."
She huffed a bit, pacing away from him. What the hell am I so worked up for? I'm not the one hesitating.
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Post by Zhong Xue on Oct 16, 2006 22:29:46 GMT -5
Xue backed away rapidly, picking up his sword again. He wanted to think he was beginning to shake because of the familiar feeling of someone's weapon against his neck, but that wasn't it at all. In those seconds, he wanted to hurt her. A little less restraint, and he might've.
"I don't know how to do that," he said quietly. "Take advantage of the situation."
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Post by Huang Jiaming on Oct 16, 2006 22:36:14 GMT -5
Jiaming turned back, reaching down and grabbing her whip off the ground. "Gee, that's a surprise," she snapped hotly while coiling the leather neatly and placing it on her shoulder.
Sighing, she shook her head, talking with a cooler tone. "Look. It's not something you think about. You just do it. Nothing else matters, when you're trying to fight for your life. Nothing. It doesn't matter how you think you'll feel about it later, you get it?"
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Post by Zhong Xue on Oct 16, 2006 22:43:59 GMT -5
"That's different," Xue argued to the ground, taking another step back as Jiaming picked up her whip. "If I had just done it, I don't know what I would've done."
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Post by Huang Jiaming on Oct 16, 2006 22:48:22 GMT -5
"What, you mean right now?" Jiaming asked. "You couldn't have done anything too bad from where you were. But if I was going to kill you, what difference would it make whether you knew what you were going to do or not?"
It wasn't ruthless, she figured. It was just trying to stay on top.
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Post by Zhong Xue on Oct 16, 2006 22:55:30 GMT -5
"If you were going to kill me," Xue blurted out, "I would've killed you first." He didn't dare to look up at Jiaming as he said it, he just made circles with his blade in the dirt. "I'm not going to get stuck playing that stupid game of chicken again, where someone's threatening me and I'm threatening him and neither of us thinks the other's actually going to act on it... but you weren't going to kill me." He shrugged. "So I didn't know what to do."
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Post by Huang Jiaming on Oct 16, 2006 23:00:27 GMT -5
His statement made her raise an eyebrow. Jiaming didn't really expect that kind of talk from a meek guy like him. It was kind of interesting...but weird.
"Anyway," she said lightly, as if unaffected, "if that is the case, and you really don't know what to do to get out of it...You spit. Right in their face. It'll give you a nearly nine in ten chance to shake them off and throw them off balance, trust me! Kinda get it outta your throat, too, real nasty-like."
She grinned. "Do I need to demonstrate that?"
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Post by Zhong Xue on Oct 16, 2006 23:04:03 GMT -5
Xue laughed. "Please don't." His shakiness forgotten for now, he tilted his head to the side quizzically. "That really works, huh? Have you used it in lots of fights before?"
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Post by Huang Jiaming on Oct 16, 2006 23:10:51 GMT -5
It was a relief that he laughed; she was a bit worried he was going to be sullen and annoying. Lightly, Jiaming shrugged, kicking up dust with her boot.
"I've got six brothers," she said, "and mosta them were heavier than me. I had to think of something that'd keep them from piling on top of me."
She glanced up for a moment, cracking the knuckles on her hand rather obnoxiously loud. "D'you still have that red cloth I loaned you, Xue? And please tell me you cleaned it, or we really will find out what happens when someone tries to honestly kill you."
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Post by Zhong Xue on Oct 16, 2006 23:17:05 GMT -5
"Ah? Yeah..." Xue dug through his pockets, pulling the cloth out and handing it to Jiaming. "I cleaned it off for you, so don't worry about that. I won't be bloodying up any more of your clothing, I promise."
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Post by Huang Jiaming on Oct 16, 2006 23:27:55 GMT -5
Jiaming didn't gesture to take it back, folding her arms and looking at it, as if she wasn't convinced.
"You say that now," she said, half-teasingly. She shrugged a little. "It's a charm. You wear it around your weakest limb and it'll help improve it. Like a bad swinging arm, or sore leg. Or a slow brain, in your case." She stuck out her tongue at that.
"It's red, because it takes in blood and doesn't let you notice how bad it is. So you keep going till you're done."
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Post by Zhong Xue on Oct 16, 2006 23:35:53 GMT -5
"... so that's why you used this to stop the bleeding, then?" Xue's lips quirked into a slight smile; Jiaming probably didn't realize the panic attack she'd averted by using this as a bandage. "And... you don't want it anymore?"
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Post by Huang Jiaming on Oct 16, 2006 23:40:14 GMT -5
"Meh."
Jiaming shrugged again, turning away a bit, trying to untangle a knot in her hair. "I don't need it; it's just something that kind of came along for the trip, y'know. Don't read too much into it--it's a piece of cloth."
Jeez, just take the stupid thing and don't be so nosy!
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