[IC] The Two Sides

[Azereiah]

The Metallica shirt was ripped open, and he felt hot, steaming blood flowing down his chest. The smile returned to his face as the endorphins started flowing in full and the scent of his own blood filled his mind. His eye was twitching from excitement.

"See, that's the sort of thing I've been hoping for. Now I can't say this fight was totally worthless."

He dropped into a forward stance, holding the blade upright, ready to pivot it around its center of gravity at a moment's notice.

"Third time's the charm? Get another good strike like that in and I'll probably slow down a bit."

[xiaomiau]

@Azereiah Misha drew back and shook her head. "What the fuck, man? This some kind of game to you?" She heaved one frustrated breath and poised herself to strike again. She took one steady step towards him at an angle, eyes narrowed and mind clouded with anger.

[Azereiah]

Brick's eyes narrowed a bit, and his smile widened. Drip, drip, drop - the blood spattered across the river's bank as he held his head high. No arteries or veins had been slashed, so he estimated he had a good twenty minutes left in him before he started tiring from blood loss. Still, he felt he had to take it seriously now. He moved his top hand further up the dull blade of the sword, widening his grip significantly.

"It was until a few moments ago."

[xiaomiau]

Misha backed up, her eyes flashing somewhere between anger and disgust. I live here, goddammit. I have nowhere else to go and this guy is coming here like it's some fun vacation. She bared her teeth in a snarl and ran at him with a curved motion, aiming to slash into his exposed side.

[Azereiah]

"Think fast."

Brick's mind swirled with even greater excitement to the point of overflowing as he tossed his sword towards Misha, point aimed towards the sky. The threat of blood loss, the endorphins, the adrenaline - they all coalesced into a moment of pure ecstacy. His mind went blank for just a tiny fraction of a moment as he shifted for the first time. He felt new, stronger, faster, warmer - and not just from the blood coating his chest. The sword was still flying through the air as though it had just left his hands when he came to, and he charged at Misha, readying a backhand to the legs.

She now had to deal with a fully grown silverback gorilla.

[wallaberry]

Kianna leaped to her feet as he shifted, filled with alarm. Misha couls never handle that! "Misha... shift and run," she muttered to herself. She would intervene if it got ugly.

[xiaomiau]

Misha flinched as the sword left his hands. It took her a split second to register his shifting - she was used to the steady flow from human to animal forms. She kicked backwards at the rocks and mud below her feet to dodge with advance. She landed hard in the water, knife outstretched in a vain attempt to defend herself.

[Azereiah]

Brick stood at the edge of the ford and looked down at Misha, then reached down and swatted at the knife to try to disarm her. He'd have to get her out of the water and haul her back to camp. He was thankful to her, even though she had been trying to kill him a moment earlier. He had never felt a rush like that before, and probably wouldn't for quite some time.

[xiaomiau]

Misha slashed her knife at him to deflect his swat. "Don't touch me!" she spat. "I'm not going back with you." She stared up at him in defiance, though she was smaller and her clothes and hair were plastered to her body from the river.

[Azereiah]

Brick pulled his hand back and swung a massive fist at her knife hand instead - with no intent of stopping, knife or no knife. He had tried being nice.

[wallaberry]

"Misha, come on. Drop the act." Kianna huffs, standing on the shore. She didn't know how Brick would react but she didn't want to watch. "It'll be easier if you don't fight."

[xiaomiau]

Brick's gorilla fast hit her wrist hard. She let out a muffled cry and dropped the knife into the river, then withdrew her hand. She bit her lip. "What do you even want? I'm no use to you! You already got our healer. All you're gonna do is start a damn war if you keep kidnapping us."

[Azereiah]

"You're implying a war hasn't already been going on for a while. Anyway - Kianna, you get the knife."

Brick reached down to take Misha by one arm and help her up out of the water. A light twinge of pain floated through his lower back, and he realized that he wasn't exactly built for standing upright. He'd have to tough it out until they got back, though.

[xiaomiau]

@Azereiah Misha let out a hiss and began kicking at him. The pull on her shoulder was painful, but she was more concerned with the indignity of being brought back to their camp a prisoner. She aimed a kick at his face with the hard sole of her boot.

[wallaberry]

Kianna snorted at him. She walked forward to grasp the knife handle in her teeth. "Hurry up with this," she mutters.

[Azereiah]

"Would you rather come hanging upside down?"

Brick made sure his grip was solid, but not painful, and he tugged her along towards the Rabin camp. She had given him two choices - either get stabbed in the back or kick her ass, and he chose the latter. While he enjoyed the fighting greatly, he felt as though it shouldn't have had to happen in the first place.

[xiaomiau]

@Azereiah Misha let herself go limp for a moment but didn't ease her frigid glare. "You got no right to do this, asshole. I came on your territory to get our healer." She spat at him.

[wallaberry]

Kianna rolls her eyes at the two's interaction. She follows them quietly, mostly because she had the knife in her mouth. Why did it have to be Misha? Of course it did. Typical.

[Azereiah]

"I suppose you would rather have gone back to Fabine without your healer, and with a few rather nasty injuries to boot. This way is easier on everyone."

Brick shrugged and tugged her along back to camp. It shouldn't take terribly long, provided she didn't struggle much.

[xiaomiau]

@Azereiah Misha closed her eyes and sighed. There was no getting through to him. She committed herself to trying to relieve the pressure on her arm as they moved through the woods, back to the slight familiarity of the Rabin camp.