Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2016 15:52:30 GMT -7
Theo didn't bother to hide a snort of amusement at the man's suggestion that ending his own life was the fastest way out. It did not do to make assumptions about the unknown, but while Theo had no information about this guy, he was willing to bet he was harder to kill than anyone in this room. And he was fully willing to test that theory, if his patience wore any thinner. He stood and listened, but kept both wands up: one pointed backwards toward Nikolaj, who he was pretty sure wanted to attack him, the other vaguely towards those in the room now removing their masks.
All of this guy's—Draven?--words were smooth, honeyed, and drastically unimpressive to Theo. They were meant to be inspirational, certainly, but action meant so much more than speech. And all he'd seen this guy do so far was send a bunch of people to do his dirty work. He was also taking credit for killing the last two Ministers, but everything Theo had heard suggested that multiple individuals were involved in both murders. That meant that, at the absolute best, this guy was taking credit for something he'd participated in as a group. He quietly listened to the words, the back-and-forth, The rest of it.
Then his wands were returned. Theo, trained as he was to never let his guard down, shifted the wands in his hands down to between his middle and index fingers, then snatched his out of the air one at a time with speed only possible for someone trained for unarmed combat. He slipped one of the strangers' wands up one sleeve, but kept the other out, giving him two in his left hand, and maintained a defensive posture while the others talked around him.
Finally, he smirked. “I think you've been misinformed here, Mouthpiece. I never agreed to work for Princess, or you, or anyone for that matter. What she and I came to was an agreement to work with one another: she gives me what I want, I give her what she wants. And what I want are good fights. Thus far, the only thing even approaching a good fight that she's delivered has been the dozen masked imbeciles of yours that I killed at the school.” He paused and glanced behind him at the room they had come from. “Fourteen, if you want to count those two.”
He shrugged, though the wands were held perfectly steady throughout the motion. Theo had been trained for one thing his entire life: how to fight and kill. He was supremely skilled in the art of combat with a wand, and unlike most wizards, he'd been trained to fight without magic just as extensively. He was no cocksure teenager with an attitude problem, he was a tried and trained assassin, and while there were people in the world he might not be able to beat, there was nobody he couldn't fight back against and no time when he wasn't dangerous. He, and his sister, were lethal, adaptive, and far more experienced than anyone at their age had the right to be. In a way, it was probably a blessing that Viovinnia had not been taken with them; had she been here, she would likely not have listened until she killed all of the masked figures to make sure she'd found the one that had dared to touch her.
And what the people in the room probably didn't realize was, she could do that.
“So, I'm willing to maintain this deal with you, but make no mistake. I am no underling, I am no servant, and I do not bend a knee to anyone. We will have an agreement, nothing more. You give me good fights? I'll fight them for you. The rest doesn't concern me. Well, except one thing.”
Theo stepped back now, nearly bumping into Braelynn, and shifted his wand so that he included Draven inside the most immediately response zone. “The next time you try a stunt like this kidnapping thing again, I will not tolerate it. Understand that I do not care how important it was to your plans that you kidnap me. My choices are mine to make, their consequences are mine to live with, and you will never attempt to take even a single choice away from me again. If you do, whether I win or lose, the end result will be far too messy for you to continue hiding in the shadows. Do we see eye-to-eye, Mouthpiece?”
His left hand reached for his mouth, and his teeth clamped down sideways on the other stolen wand in his hand. In an instant, his left wand was pointing back outward. His stand was loose and relaxed, his wands held to the sides where he could switch between offense and defense as needed.
The grin on his face left no doubt that Theo both could and would use the wand clamped between his teeth as well.
@baddies
All of this guy's—Draven?--words were smooth, honeyed, and drastically unimpressive to Theo. They were meant to be inspirational, certainly, but action meant so much more than speech. And all he'd seen this guy do so far was send a bunch of people to do his dirty work. He was also taking credit for killing the last two Ministers, but everything Theo had heard suggested that multiple individuals were involved in both murders. That meant that, at the absolute best, this guy was taking credit for something he'd participated in as a group. He quietly listened to the words, the back-and-forth, The rest of it.
Then his wands were returned. Theo, trained as he was to never let his guard down, shifted the wands in his hands down to between his middle and index fingers, then snatched his out of the air one at a time with speed only possible for someone trained for unarmed combat. He slipped one of the strangers' wands up one sleeve, but kept the other out, giving him two in his left hand, and maintained a defensive posture while the others talked around him.
Finally, he smirked. “I think you've been misinformed here, Mouthpiece. I never agreed to work for Princess, or you, or anyone for that matter. What she and I came to was an agreement to work with one another: she gives me what I want, I give her what she wants. And what I want are good fights. Thus far, the only thing even approaching a good fight that she's delivered has been the dozen masked imbeciles of yours that I killed at the school.” He paused and glanced behind him at the room they had come from. “Fourteen, if you want to count those two.”
He shrugged, though the wands were held perfectly steady throughout the motion. Theo had been trained for one thing his entire life: how to fight and kill. He was supremely skilled in the art of combat with a wand, and unlike most wizards, he'd been trained to fight without magic just as extensively. He was no cocksure teenager with an attitude problem, he was a tried and trained assassin, and while there were people in the world he might not be able to beat, there was nobody he couldn't fight back against and no time when he wasn't dangerous. He, and his sister, were lethal, adaptive, and far more experienced than anyone at their age had the right to be. In a way, it was probably a blessing that Viovinnia had not been taken with them; had she been here, she would likely not have listened until she killed all of the masked figures to make sure she'd found the one that had dared to touch her.
And what the people in the room probably didn't realize was, she could do that.
“So, I'm willing to maintain this deal with you, but make no mistake. I am no underling, I am no servant, and I do not bend a knee to anyone. We will have an agreement, nothing more. You give me good fights? I'll fight them for you. The rest doesn't concern me. Well, except one thing.”
Theo stepped back now, nearly bumping into Braelynn, and shifted his wand so that he included Draven inside the most immediately response zone. “The next time you try a stunt like this kidnapping thing again, I will not tolerate it. Understand that I do not care how important it was to your plans that you kidnap me. My choices are mine to make, their consequences are mine to live with, and you will never attempt to take even a single choice away from me again. If you do, whether I win or lose, the end result will be far too messy for you to continue hiding in the shadows. Do we see eye-to-eye, Mouthpiece?”
His left hand reached for his mouth, and his teeth clamped down sideways on the other stolen wand in his hand. In an instant, his left wand was pointing back outward. His stand was loose and relaxed, his wands held to the sides where he could switch between offense and defense as needed.
The grin on his face left no doubt that Theo both could and would use the wand clamped between his teeth as well.
@baddies