Completed [Second Quiver] Hitting the Mark (Marrin)

[Azira]

   

Her feeling of satisfaction faded a little when she saw the look in his eyes. It was only there for a second but it was something all too familiar. She'd seen that look in her own eyes in her reflection. A look that came into her eyes when she was feeling worthless and pathetic, believing all the words thrown at her. She'd obviously managed to wound him deeply. The huntress hadn't meant to, she'd just been angry and when she lashed out, she aimed to hurt, to make the other person feel some of what she was feeling.

Everyone was watching now but even still she opened her mouth to apologise. "Let's take a look at you..."The words died on her tongue. Oh oh. Please don't let him lash out the way I would. Please! Azira thought desperately. But he did. The verbal attack was very like one of hers and she found she didn't much like being on the receiving end of it.

The Avora opened her mouth to argue back but she felt her lip tremble and a lump forming in her throat and closed it again, biting down on her lip hard. She'd only wanted to shoot in peace and he wouldn't leave her alone, acting all superior and telling her what to do, how she was doing it wrong. The teen didn't like being told she was wrong so she'd snapped. She'd only hit him and tried to get back at him for saying what he had. 

And now she felt like crying. She couldn't give him the satisfaction of making her cry, couldn't cry in front of all these people but she could feel the sting in her eyes now and the world was going blurry. Spitting at his feet, she turned on her heel and marched back to where she'd dropped her bow, pulling her braids out of their bun to fall and hide her face. The girl stooped to pick up her bow, running the back of her hand across her face to wipe away her tears before striding out of the range and into the Inner Warrens, the tears falling freely now.

x

[Marrin]

"You're a hypocrite and you..." his voice faded as he saw the pain in her eyes, tears starting to well in them as her lip began to tremble. His heart sank, shattering in his chest. What have I done? his mind whispered to him. Coward. Pathetic. The words held new meaning now, more powerful than before. He'd become a monster to avoid looking weak. That wasn't how he was going to leave this, though. He would make it right. "...aww, shyke." He reached out, starting to call her name...before realizing he didn't know it. He nearly choked on his stomach as it fought against him, as if it didn't want to be inside a body so vile. "Wait, I...I didn't..." She spat at him, marching off to retrieve her weapon and left the hall. He just stared at the lump of saliva mixing with dust and stone on the ground, shaking his head in wonder. How could I be so cruel? He didn't think he was capable of such things, but he wanted to make it right. He wasn't sure if he could...but by the gods, he would try. He ran after her, trying to think of what to say, but nothing came to mind. Nothing seemed right. He huffed in frustration, careening around corners in search of her. He saw her tail end disappearing into the Inner Warrens, and he ran after her. "Wait! Please...I...Please, listen to me." He half expected her to whirl around and strike him, which he wouldn't at all protest to at this point. "I don't want to fight...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...I didn't mean any of...well, anything at all. Could you please hear me out?"

[Azira]

   

Why couldn't he just leave her alone? Hadn't he already done enough damage? Apparently not because he just had to come after her. She was crying and she didn't want him to see, didn't want him to see the damage that he'd inflicted on her. Azira just kept walking, hoping that he'd just give up and leave her alone, hoping that he wouldn't catch up with her. She didn't want to hear him out. The huntress just wanted him to go away so why couldn't he just do that?

"P-petch off!" she threw back at him, her voice holding none of the edge in it that she wanted. Actually her voice sounded...wet. Great so now he'd be able to tell that she was crying. It was obvious now, she couldn't pretend otherwise and he'd probably be one of those guys who pursued her out of guilt because they'd made her cry. She'd never get rid of him now and if she headed for her room he'd know where she lived.

Pulling her knife from its holster at her hip, she turned on him and waved it wildly, slashing at empty air because she couldn't see where he was. It was humiliating and it only made the tears worse. Stamping her foot in frustration, the girl moved her hair over her face to hide the blotchy red mess that was her face and snapped at him, "Just leave me alone, okay? I don't care what you have to say, I'm not interested."

x

[Marrin]

As she spun, waving her hunting knife at him, he had to duck and weave to keep from being hit. The slices were badly placed, erratic and blind, but he was within range so they were a danger still. He had to talk to her. Had to get her to understand he wasn’t a monster, even if he wasn’t sure that he believed it after what he’d done to her. She’d had a certain look in her eye just before he had accused her of hypocrisy. An apologetic look, one he’d completely ignored and heeded only now. He wanted to take it back, take it all back and start over. Why did that only ever happen in Wardens novels? He needed her to understand that he hadn’t been himself a moment ago. He needed her to know- “Ah!” he gasped out as the hunting knife slashed through his left shoulder, the cut deep from her wild swinging. His hand went there immediately, trying to hold all the blood inside that was trying so desperately to escape. Much of it seeped through his fingers, covering his arm and dripping to the floor. He winced, shaking his head. “Guess I deserved that…” he muttered with pained humor. “I-I know you don’t care what I have to say, I wouldn’t either if I were you. But…please. I just need to...” The pain was starting to make him feel light-headed. He could feel the warm sap of his being escaping him, and he had to blink a few times to keep her in focus. With her hair around her face the girl was just a blaze of red in his vision, one he couldn’t take his eyes off of. He started to sway, threatening to fall over. He was feeling dizzy, and could feel consciousness fading. Surely the cut wasn’t that bad? He’d been attacked by a number of wild animals that had done more damage than this. Was his blood running so hot and so fast that it hit the wound to quickly to begin to heal it?

[Azira]

   

The huntress squeaked in surprise when her wild flailing with the knife actually did something. She felt the blade hit flesh, the resistance momentary before the weapon sliced through skin. Horrified, she stared at the blood stained knife and then up at the teen that she'd just slashed. She'd managed to cut into his shoulder and the blood seemed to be gushing out of him even had he tried to stem the flow with his hand. Had she really done that?

Azira holstered the blade, determined that it wouldn't do any more damage, and took a hesitant step towards him. He looked unsteady, probably from shock and pain but she had the horrible feeling that it would only get worse as he lost more blood. He was still trying to talk to her despite the fact that he was standing there and bleeding out. He really was an idiot but he was also an idiot that seemed to need her help because of her own carelessness. 

She wiped the bleariness from her eyes and moved closer to him trying to get a better look at his shoulder, to do something. She gripped his shoulders and shook him slightly. 

"Will you shut up? Just...come on we need to get you to a healer. Now, okay? Before you lose anymore blood and you'd want to be quick about it," she ordered, her voice trembling slightly. She didn't sound as authoritative as she'd intended but she'd scared of what she'd done, even if it was an accident. The huntress hoped that she hadn't hit anything major but she didn't know much about anatomy so she couldn't really say.

x

[Marrin]

He was starting to feel dizzy, wobbly on his feet. Her words, he could understand them, but they sounded as if they were being shouted through a tunnel of some sort, echoing in his ears. He nodded, the jostling making him even dizzier. He’d have to rely on her if he wanted to make it to a healer before he lost consciousness, and he hoped the emotional wounds he’d done weren’t too great that she would abandon him. Now that times were dire her attitude had shifted immensely. While still commanding, she was no longer abrasive, helpfully urgent rather than agitated. He smiled slightly, seeing that she was no longer crying. ”That’s better…I…yes. Healer. I should…we should do that.” The pain still hadn’t hit him completely yet, the wound feeling numb and oddly separated, but not painful. He’d been hurt before, caught in traps, trampled by moose, and never had the pain been so delayed. Perhaps it was because the cut had never been so clean before, so sharp was her knife that it simply split his flesh like a hot knife on butter. Grappling with consciousness, he put an arm around her, leaning on her slightly and letting her lead him. He couldn’t think about directions at the moment, couldn’t even remember what they’d been fighting about now. He turned the short walk into an opportunity for an undoubtedly stupid bout of small talk. “So…before I die I want to say I’m sorry for the things I said… I’m not sure what I said but it was mean and out of line and I didn’t really mean it… And really I just want to start over but I don’t know if you’d be willing to do that… But I promise you if I die without you forgiving me I’ll haunt your pretty little red head.” He knew he wasn’t going to die, no vital organs were stored in the limbs and they were close enough to the infirmary that they would be able to stop the bleeding before he bled to death, and so he tried to make light of the situation with humor. However, the pain was starting to set in, and as they continued to walk with every step he could feel it worsening. A few times he had to gasp to regain his ability to speak, befuddled by the pain, the shock and the confusion. ”I’m sorry, okay? I’m stupid, you’re not. You win. I don’t…uuuf…I need to know that you’ll be okay.”

[Azira]

   

The huntress bit her lip anxiously and positioned herself beside him so that he'd be able to take his weight. He seemed to slip his arm around her without even thinking and the sudden contact made her go rigid but she forced herself to relax so she could guide him towards the Infirmary. It wouldn't be too far, not really, she tried to assure herself as they walked and he babbled in her ear. Why couldn't he just shut up?

"Don't be melodramatic, you aren't dying," she snapped but it did nothing to end his apology. As he finished, she opened her mouth to remind him that he wasn't dying but shut it abruptly when his last words registered in her brain. He'd called her pretty. "You think I'm pretty?" she blurted. The words had come out entirely of their own accord and she felt her cheeks grow warm with embarrassment. Of all the things he'd said why did she have to focus on that? And why was she still blushing at the idle compliments of men? How stupid she was.

"I'll be fine," she mumbled, carefully avoiding looking in his direction.

x

[Marrin]

”Of course I think you’re pretty! The pain and emotional outpour had swept away any inhibitions he’d had before speaking to the girl. He felt the back of her neck grow warm as she blushed, making him grin like an idiot. He wasn’t sure why, though. Moments ago they’d been screaming at each other…now in the most inappropriate of situations they were flirting? Theirs was an odd relationship indeed. It only reminded him that he didn’t even know her name. ”Is there any…woah…any way I could get your name, my fiery temptress?” He was nearly delirious, his vision fading into grayscale, the odd pleasure that came with forcing humor through pain clouding his judgment as they rounded the corner to the infirmary. By now his step were dragging, and he sometimes stumbled due to the weakness that had made a home in his kneecaps. He did his best to keep his weight off the girl, though he was not particularly heavy, which once or twice nearly made him fall off of her much needed support. He’d left a long trail of blood behind that no doubt would be the talk of the town for anyone who didn’t know what had transpired. The attendants were upon him in moments, dragging him away from Azira and onto a slab of stone where they began cleaning him up and tending to the wound. One of the idle attendants approached her, a serious look on his face. He was chiet, and as such looked at the avora hunter with respect, but there was still urgency in his tone. [b]”Please, miss, could you tell me what happened to the boy over there? Who is he to you?”[b] OOCSorry for the wait! Weekend was busy. I’ll get back to a daily posting rate now the weekend is over.

[Azira]

   

The huntress almost groaned aloud. Why did her mouth have to say the first thing that came into her head? Why did her mouth never follow the orders of her brain? She could see the teen grinning at her and she realised that she'd opened herself up for this, not something she wanted. The blush seemed to spread from her cheeks to encompass the rest of her face. Her entire face was sure to be scarlet now and there was nothing she could do about it. 

Azira  was worried that maybe somehow he'd gotten it into his head to be interested in her. It really wasn't that uncommon for guys to take a near instant liking to her but she thought that she'd gotten better at keeping them at bay. Maybe not.

"I'm Azira," she mumbled as they reached the Infirmary, glad that the attendants took him away from her before he could say anything more to her. He was in good hands now and she was ready to make her escape when a Chiet stopped her to interrogate her about what had happened. She bit her lip, trying to think of something else other than the truth to explain what had happened. She couldn't think of anything and the man was waiting.

"I...um...accidentally...ah...slashed him with my hunting knife," she mumbled, looking at her feet and fidgeting under the man's gaze. "I've no idea who he is...just some other hunter." The colour that had started to fade from her cheeks was coming back  anew. This situation was so embarrassing.

x

[Marrin]

The attendant frowned, concerned, scratching things down on a note pad with a quill. ”You say you slashed him with a hunting knife? Was your knife clean when it happened? We need to know if there’s any rot in the wound.” Marrin didn’t resist being taken away, the euphoria of the light headedness fading with the absence of Azira’s company. Now all that was left was pain and discomfort, and he gritted hit teeth with such force it didn’t take long for his jaw to ache. One of the attendants said something to him and then there was soft leather in his mouth, keeping him from breaking any of his teeth. He watched as they applied some sort of salve to the wound, which began to numb the pain. He felt tired, so very tired. The hour had been exhausting, from hitting the archery ranges, the long argument with Azira and the pain that followed. All of it just made Marrin want to collapse, the energy sapped from his limbs like a spider drains a fly. There was an odd sensation in his shoulder, as if someone had glued leather to it and was now tugging on it, trying to yank it away. He peered over and immediately wished he hadn’t. The nurses were pulling out pieces of bloody and mangled meat, his meat, and tossing them into a small bucket on the side. He began to feel sick, this treatment not doing well for him. He glanced over, catching Azira’s eye as she spoke with the only employee there that wasn’t paying attention to him. She seemed sorry, even if she never said it he could see it in her eyes. That was enough for him. With a small smile, he allowed himself to drift into unconsciousness. ”Er, thank you, miss. If there’s anything else you can tell us about the event, please let us know. If you’d like to check on him at some point, he’ll likely be here for the night, so feel free to drop by. But if that’s all, thank you and good day.”