Sanaek !gwSNAAKE5k 2010/08/19 (Thu) 05:33 No. 122029 ▼ File 128219602554.jpg - (200.06KB, 517x749 , the best Icirin.jpg)
“You don’t remember what I said, do you?” I ask, watching her carefully. Her stance has betrayed her intent, but I keep myself relaxed to prevent her from realizing mine. With my words spoken, her eyes grow wide as she recalls the little exchange we had before the events of today. It would seem that she does after all recognize how little I would think of simply taking her head here and now, though it’s taken her far too long to remember.
“No, you do remember, don’t you?” I smile, “Your legs are shaking, girl. Do you truly intend to fight me or is this all a bluff?”
I’ve instilled the fear of me in Shou once before, and it seems I don’t necessarily have to assert myself again. Mere words have her shaking in her boots, but she still intends to challenge me regardless of her own emotion. I think she’s foolish, but let her have her bravery. She won’t need courage where she’ll go if the tip of that spear moves so much as a finger’s breadth closer to me.
“It is my duty to protect the crew,” she chokes back her fear and answers me, raising her weapon’s point to my head, “You, who are a blight upon us shall die here!”
“Ah, then why wait?” I hop up onto the railing behind me, pacing, and waiting for her strike to come, “If you’re so convinced that I plan to do away with you all then why not take that first strike?”
She hesitates, and gives me the perfect opportunity to attack. Ah, but to attack her first may cause the others to think that she was right; that I am a bloodthirsty beast that is oh so eager to make meals out of them all, or whatever thoughts of the sort she has running through her head at this very moment.
“Ah, but it’s all a bluff, isn’t it?” I laugh, “Hah! That’s just all it is! What you really want is for me to break down—to speak of my motivations and beg for forgiveness, is that it? Pfft, what an idiot!”
“You… You—“ Ah, I have her at a loss for words. As she struggles to voice her jumbled thoughts I look down at her and laugh harder.
“You get down from there!”
“Nuh-uh,” I grin, “Heh, you lost steam pretty quick, didn’t you?”
“Alright, alright,” Ichirin steps back in after having dealt with Minamitsu, “You two cut it out before I get angry.” She steps right on up to Shou and grabs the bowl from her hands. A quick examination and she throws it over the side of the boat.
I guess it wasn’t really the one they were after, huh? Shou seems utterly shocked and dismayed as the sound of shattering pottery rings out from below, but Ichirin didn’t even bat an eyelash nor did she bother to say anything at all. I suppose she knew it was a fake right from the start, didn’t she? That at least explains why her surprise upon seeing it initially was so short-lived.
Shou backs down immediately after realizing her position… and more importantly her location. Though I still don’t quite see the reason for her to so hurriedly give up the fight. Ichirin is harmless from what I’ve seen, and even when she’s quite noticeably upset she carries no particular weight to her. Why does Shou act so threatened?
“You too, Nue,” Ichirin smiles at me, “put that spear down, will you?”
“Fine,” I drop it, watching the tip arc down and sink into the ship’s wooden deck, “I wasn’t really all that eager for a fight anyway.”
“Good to hear,” she seems to brighten up a bit, though it’s hard to say when she’s all smiles. I can’t tell if she’s angry or happy.
“So Shou,” Minamitsu comes back up on deck, looking just a bit worse for wear, “You were saying that this is somehow Nue’s doing… Can you prove that?”
“You’re taking her side?!” Outraged, Shou immediately goes for her weapon. But Ichirin shoots her a nasty glare… Her response is obvious.
“I’m not taking sides here,” Minamitsu rubs her face in exasperation, “and I know the ship is a mess, but I can’t have you two fighting over a hunch that doesn’t’ seem to carry any weight at all.”
“My proof is definitive!” Shou declares, pointing at me, “That bag of seeds reeks of her!”
“I smell sulphur, actually,” I say, grumbling and wishing she’s simply shut her mouth permanently. Her voice makes my ears ring when she yells so loudly, and it’s grating and annoying.
“You lie!” Shou’s confidence seems to grow exponentially depending upon how many of her allies surround her. Even Nazrin who comes up half-dressed and sopping wet from head to toe seems to encourage her by simply standing in view. Strength in numbers? Or simple naiveté?
But Nazrin is completely out of the loop. She looks like she’s been trying to wash up after a good fight, and probably just came up in the middle of her bath after having heard Shou screaming. I sympathize with her; she’s just as confused by the situation as I am.
“I do not,” I say, “You are merely smelling and seeing… and believing whatever you want. How much of this is delusion and how much is caused by this bag of snake-stones isn’t clear to me.”
“I believe Nue is right,” Ichirin says, siding with me, “I see and smell the same as what she does… Perhaps it holds the same properties as Nue’s power, and simply has an effect on the senses like that little trick she demonstrated during lunch today?”
“Ah, you noticed?” Surprise, surprise. I did figure she was fairly observant, and I had my suspicions, but she just now proved all of them to be true. Ichirin is not affected by my abilities… At least, not the ones that alter the senses. All in all I’m pleased with her; not many can claim to so easily see through that ability.
“How could I not? Your ability produces a very distinct blurring in my eyes. Even now, that bag in your hand is something that I cannot quite distinguish from its surroundings…” she smiles, “have you ever tried wearing another person’s glasses?”
… “Err…”
“I suppose not,” she tries to come up with something else and stumbles mentally once or twice, but eventually settles on something fairly profound, “Well, if I had to put it into terms you can understand, what I see is much like looking up at the sky from the bottom of a murky lake.”
“Ocean,” Minamitsu sees fit to correct her on something mundane, “It was the ocean, not a lake.”
“Right…” Ichirin seems to understand, but mentally shrugs of the comment. She turns back to Shou, “In any case, I can’t say I believe that Nue is at fault, nor do I think it wise to confront her on the matter as you have done. What say you, Shou?”
“I still don’t buy it,” she snarls at me, “My senses don’t lie.”
“But they can be tricked, can’t they?” Minamitsu jumps in again, hopefully this time not to add some asinine detail that may as well be left unsaid, “Right now that bag smells like curry to me. Nue doesn’t smell like curry, but do I stop eating curry because something that smells like it tried to kill me?” She pauses considerably, “Wait, wait. That’s not a good example. I’d probably not eat it for a while if it was food poisoning or something like that, but…”
“Mitsu, you’re not helping!!” Ichirin seems about ready to slap the girl silly… again. I can’t help but see the humor in it all.
“Hey, I’m trying! Cut me a break, will you?”
“Ugh, don’t make me drag you back inside again.”
“…Okay, I’ll be good.” Minamitsu says meekly.
“But there are too many similarities for this to be mere coincidence,” Shou continues unabated, “She had to be involved somehow!”
“I wasn’t,” I say, “Jeez, can’t I even try to defend myself? Get it through that thick skull of yours already before I pull the bones open and force it in!”
“…Force what in?” Minamitsu says while grinning, again with the foolish commentary. Ichirin goes red in the face with anger, but does nothing at this point and time. I expect she’ll have it in for the girl later in the day when our problems are fewer.
“Apologies if I mess up on the details, but lemme get this straight,” says the half naked and soaking wet Nazrin, “Shou accuses Nue of foul play, Nue protests her innocence. …And somehow that bag of delicious-smelling foodstuffs is the cause of everything regarding these strange apparitions?”
“They’re beads, not food.” Ichirin says, “You are experiencing the same effects as Shou. It fools your senses into believing that it is something that it’s not, and Shou has merely taken her conclusions a step further.”
“Ah, I see,” Nazrin says, “The solution is simple, then… So why did I end my bath prematurely for something as inane as this? Explain this to me, why don’t you?”
“That was your decision, wasn’t it?” I say, “How is it anybody’s fault but your own?”
“Ah, good answer,” she winks at me, “Now if you’ll excuse me there’s still some blood in my hair that simply refuses to come out.” She disappears into the heart of the ship, holding a towel around her waist in much the same manner as she had appeared. I believe she was merely looking for an excuse to not be a part of this, but whatever.
“…So was there any point to this at all?” I ask, feeling a little underwhelmed by the conclusion. I had expected a fight, only to see the outcome as being basically a mediation session between Shou and myself. What a boring way to go, huh?
“I still don’t trust her,” and yet Shou is unrelenting. I just want to slap her around a bit until she gets it, but I don’t think it’d do any good.
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