#support: shinon and yarne

[fletching-scar]

"…"

Why is that knight staring at him what did he do this time Naga nonono….

"…Can I… help any?"

Yarne stiffens, reaching for his beaststone. He doesn't like this stare. Not. One. Bit.

Shinon stills his whittling knife, not quite able to work out what he's looking at. This... this creature here... is this guy wearing pants?

It really doesn't look like it? If he's wearing anything, it's a loincloth fashioned from the skins of other beasts.

Shinon will admit that he plays pretty fast and loose with shit like decency... but either way, that's weird.

And then the guy is talking to Shinon, like Shinon needs help or cringing politeness or anything other than a new, improved hangover cure.

"Help?" sneers Shinon, digging his nails into the hunk of balsam he's been carving. "Don't make me laugh, half-breed."

[fletching-scar]

Heartless? Maybe.

What else is there to be? Life, or all Shinon's ever seen of it, is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

And here this beast-man is, bristling, insisting that it should be... what? Different? Not the way it is, not the way it always has been?

And does he think pretty words are gonna change it?

Shinon sighs.

"Don' understand what you want from me," he mutters. "I'm not the one who did all that. I mighta said some shit, but I didn't lay a finger on you or your kind."

He shifts his weight awkwardly, growling under his breath. Fuckin'... why is he still here?

What does he care?

Every fuckin' brat in the world drags some tragedy around, trailing in the dirt like a ratty old blanket.

Shinon hasn't got the time or the heart or the energy to go around worrying about all that.

"Should I be sorry for somethin' I didn't do? Should you get all... should you make demands of folks just 'cause you got a shit hand? 'Cause I don't, an' there's nothing that makes you better than me."

"Just do somethin' about it."

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

[fletching-scar]

When they took her home away…

Shinon grinds his teeth, feeling nothing at all. Some soft touch might back down, hearing something like that. Tearjerker shit.

But Shinon simply can’t relate. The cold, slushy hamlet he was born in… that’s not home. And anywhere else, he’s just been passing through.

This beast-man, though, he’s got his blood up about it. Teeth bared. Like it matters that much. Like it’s something he’ll fight for.

Or maybe it’s just dignity, or whatever the fuck. Half-breeds are always so proud of themselves, just for being…

For being what? The freaks they are?

Again, Shinon doesn’t understand. He worked damn hard for every scrap of pride he’s got. He’s a first-class bowmaker and an excellent shot and he tells it like it is no matter what.

Without those things, there’s nothing to be proud of.

Beast-men don’t understand that. They think they’re worthy of respect exactly as they are.

Jumped-up little pests.

Shinon blinks. Furrows run deep in his brow.

“All that,” he rasps, almost cautiously… “What’s it to you? Why do I give a fuck about your sob story? If some bastard like me hates you… what does that even matter?”

He sighs.

“Bleeding hearts, all your kind.”

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

[fletching-scar]

No-Pants shudders, starts breathing all heavy like he's been shot. Can't keep his shit together. The panic on his face makes him look young.

Maybe this bunny rabbit's just a kit--but hell. You can never tell with beast-men.

He's jabbering, too, like he can't shut up, like nothing can hurt him as long as he's babbling on.

Fucking... Shinon's not gonna attack him. It's not worth the time or the rabies.

It's not that serious, no matter how bad the bunny is shaking, or what he says about... Oh.

Shinon's commanding officer. That would be bad. Shinon is... too hungover to stand getting yelled at, and the drinks in this town are too damn expensive for him to take a pay cut.

He shakes his head, shrugs his shoulders. Hopes that No-Pants didn't see his double-take.

"Shit," he drawls, like the drag of his knife-point into soft wood. "Can you relax? Learn how to take a joke?"

He kicks himself, a little. More trouble than any beast-man's worth.

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)