Name-calling would sound more like this: You're an empty-headed twit. What I did was describe two potential states of being - both of which seem equally likely, by the way.
And you're still evading the question. Don't you think it's a little childish not to own your mistakes, Mello?
[She's out prowling the streets, as she is fairly often: exercising her hyenas, hunting the smaller monsters to keep them fed, rummaging the shops.
Except it's not the rodents of unusual size she's stalking today. She sticks to the city itself, spiralling out from the residential areas. It's not that large a city, and wherever he's been hiding, Bianca knows he'll have to come out occasionally. And sooner or later, he'll do it in her line of sight.]
If I made a mistake, Bianca, then yes, it would be childish. But since I didn't, your argument is invalid.
[And he exhales the loudest, most exasperated-sounding sigh in at least the last five minutes.]
This is almost certainly the work of at least one of the gods here. I shouldn't have to explain that to you.
[He's kept regularly on the move since shooting Sharon, changing his location every day or two. Today, Mello has relocated to the park, deeper into the trees than most people would probably consider safe. He knows better, though; no place is truly safe.
Still, it's a less populated area, so he hasn't taken the usual paranoid precautions against being spotted; his sunglasses remain tucked away in his jacket pocket, and the jacket's hood is pushed back from his head, resting around his shoulders as he sits with his back against a tree. He isn't at all relaxed, despite what his slightly slouched posture might indicate. Mostly, he's just tired.]
[Bianca's first thought, when she sees him, is addressed to her mental construct of Johanna. Oh, how I wish you were here, love. She can picture the spin of the axe in flight, the light flashing on its blade, the spray of blood and the solid sound it made when it hit that woman in Johanna's dream.
It's not even really about Mello any more. Mello is irritating, and if she had still been Iris she might have punched him. Bianca is much less keen on violence for its own sake, and while she has been stalking him with a vague sense of purpose, she'd rather assumed she wasn't going to go through with it.
But this place has trapped her, frustrated her efforts to break free, and now Johanna, who made this a place she could have wanted to stay, has gone. And this annoying, arrogant shit who took Sharon's life in his hands is still here.
It's the last straw, and Bianca can almost hear herself snap. The axe isn't her weapon, and she's nowhere near as good as Johanna with it, but it's the axe she brings up. She doesn't even speak. She just brings it up and throws.]
[As tired as he is, Mello is on his feet the instant he hears the axe splinter the wood near his head, pistol drawn, every muscle in his body taut and alert and ready to spring into action. He flattens himself against the opposite side of the tree and slowly turns to peek toward the person behind the deadly projectile.
Bianca. He recognizes her from the video post, that not-apology for making what Sharon did exponentially worse. How did she know? They've never spoken in person before; Mello has always taken care to keep his face off the network. Someone told her? There are only a few who have seen his face and know him as Mello: Near, of course, but he wouldn't give up Mello's description (or would he?); Sharon, but she'd claimed she had no intention of taking retribution; Chris, but he's far too upstanding in moral character to sanction a revenge killing, and Mello has absolutely no doubt that's where Bianca's intentions lie. Kate, maybe; she's the most likely culprit, since she knows his face and name from the dream they'd shared, and she'd worked together with Bianca in that half-cocked plan they'd concocted.
It doesn't really matter how she knows, though - not at the moment. Right now, the priority is in dealing with the immediate threat she poses.]
[She's not terribly surprised to have missed, actually. The throwing axe really isn't her weapon. Which is why she had already drawn her staser pistol even before the axe hit the tree.
She strides towards him, too angry to consider that he, too, may be armed, and fires a bolt of destructive energy at the tree he hides behind.]
[Mello curses under his breath when she fires at the tree, the crackling sounds of shattering wood echoing loudly in his ears. Of course she'd have a weapon straight out of science fiction, because that's just the sort of place Hadriel is, isn't it.
(This place is bullshit.)
Mello gulps in a deep breath to resettle his shaken nerves and slides off the safety of his pistol, calling out to her from the back side of the tree:]
Are you always this lousy of a shot, Bianca, or are you putting on a special show just for me?
[This pisses Bianca off even more, because she's a very good shot; there's just a bloody tree in the way and he knows it.]
I'm going to wind your intestines round a stick, you miserable, cowardly manchild. I'm going to feed your liver to my pets.
[Bianca's too incensed now to try and be clever. She fires again, this time at the base of the tree. If he happens to pop out at just that moment, she may hit him, but she doesn't really expect to. She's just pinning him down till she can get a clear shot.]
[He isn't moving yet - timing is everything right now, like it so often is, and he may be shaken by the sudden assault, but Mello isn't stupid. His mind works well under pressure, ticking away like well-oiled machinery at hypotheticals, options, possible stratagems, a way out. He's been in worse scrapes before; she's only one woman with an arguably powerful weapon, but this is still fairly open terrain, despite the foliage. Mello managed to escape being cornered in a warehouse by an entire police tactical team, one member of which had a Death Note, his name, and a clear view of his face.
The tree is solid enough, but he estimates it won't be able to withstand many more blasts like this. He needs to relocate. There's another tree a short sprint away, bigger and sturdier than this one, but the path there will provide a clear shot for Bianca to take while he runs. He has one thing on his side, though - the element of surprise. With any luck, she won't have guessed that he's armed. Mello will only have one chance to use this factor to his advantage; he'll need to make it count.]
Not if I kill you first.
[In one fluid movement, he pivots out from behind the tree, pistol raised, and fires off two shots in quick succession. He doesn't have time to take proper aim, so he's not counting on either bullet hitting her, just that the startle of being shot at will provide enough of a momentary distraction for him to run for cover behind the next tree. He doesn't wait to see the results, just dashes ahead, heart pounding wildly.]
[She doesn't even register the shots, not even when something hits her in the ribs like a hammer made of ice and fire. A human would probably have dropped in her tracks, but Bianca has three lungs and her body can get by without one for the time being.
She thumbs the staser to a broader stun beam before firing at the running shape: Mello isn't likely to allow her another opportunity for a clear shot, and this one has to count.]
The odds are just not in Mello's favor today (but when are they ever, really) - he's hit by the stun beam mid-stride and crashes to the ground in an ungainly tangle of his own immobilized limbs. The pistol in his hand skitters off underneath a bush to the side, far out of his reach, and he's left sucking in sharp breaths through his clenched teeth against the pain of the blast, the fall, and what he estimates is coming next.]
[What's coming next is Bianca, with her long daggers. She could have just fired the staser again, but that's just target practise; Bianca is at a level of pain and fury that demands blood for blood.
And there's plenty of blood. She's whitefaced, holding one hand to the spreading patch of sticky darkness over her lower ribs, but she's upright, still holding herself together - no for a lot longer, but long enough.
She doesn't talk. She doesn't have the breath for it. She just eyes Mello's throat for a moment, bares her teeth like an angry dog, and then strikes.]
[Mello has been prepared for death - expecting it, ever since he settled on the plan to show Near the grave miscalculation he'd made, a stratagem that depended on his death to be successful. He has imagined his death many times over, even dreamt it - but not like this. A heart attack is far too bloodless and passive in comparison to what Bianca enacts on him now.
No amount of willpower can override the paralysis of his muscles as she draws in close, and there is no time for him to speak (what would he even say?) before the edge of the blade slices into his throat and he is left making undignified gurgling sounds instead of words, wheezing his last breaths as the world in front of his eyes goes dark.]
[The worst thing about murdering someone to relieve the pressure of grief and rage balled in Bianca's throat is that - it really doesn't. The catharsis she had mentally linked to the hot arterial spray doesn't happen. All she has for her trouble is ruined clothing, a hole in her ribcage and an inconvenient corpse.
Bianca straightens, wipes her dagger on her trousers, and leans against a tree while she thinks about what to do next. She had fantasised about delivering Mello's severed head to Hope's temple, a delicious parody of an offering to lay on his altar, but she thinks about the butcher's work of hacking through bones and cartilage and knows she isn't up for it.
No. She'll just summon the city guard from where she is. She's too exhausted to make any more decisions; let that nice Nick Valentine do it.
She pulls her phone out of her pocket and stares at it.]
[And Bianca certainly wasn't expecting this. Though, she supposes, she shouldn't be surprised. It was always clear that Shadow was special.
Oh dear. Shadow.]
Shadow, dearheart, are you all right? I could have walked, you know.
[Not very easily and probably not without puncturing another lung, but since he's made walking completely unnecessary, Bianca may as well claim the possibility.]
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no subject
Nor does that answer my question. Who were you going to claim hacked your device?
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[voice and action]
[She's out prowling the streets, as she is fairly often: exercising her hyenas, hunting the smaller monsters to keep them fed, rummaging the shops.
Except it's not the rodents of unusual size she's stalking today. She sticks to the city itself, spiralling out from the residential areas. It's not that large a city, and wherever he's been hiding, Bianca knows he'll have to come out occasionally. And sooner or later, he'll do it in her line of sight.]
[same]
[And he exhales the loudest, most exasperated-sounding sigh in at least the last five minutes.]
This is almost certainly the work of at least one of the gods here. I shouldn't have to explain that to you.
[He's kept regularly on the move since shooting Sharon, changing his location every day or two. Today, Mello has relocated to the park, deeper into the trees than most people would probably consider safe. He knows better, though; no place is truly safe.
Still, it's a less populated area, so he hasn't taken the usual paranoid precautions against being spotted; his sunglasses remain tucked away in his jacket pocket, and the jacket's hood is pushed back from his head, resting around his shoulders as he sits with his back against a tree. He isn't at all relaxed, despite what his slightly slouched posture might indicate. Mostly, he's just tired.]
[now incorporating fuzzy time]
It's not even really about Mello any more. Mello is irritating, and if she had still been Iris she might have punched him. Bianca is much less keen on violence for its own sake, and while she has been stalking him with a vague sense of purpose, she'd rather assumed she wasn't going to go through with it.
But this place has trapped her, frustrated her efforts to break free, and now Johanna, who made this a place she could have wanted to stay, has gone. And this annoying, arrogant shit who took Sharon's life in his hands is still here.
It's the last straw, and Bianca can almost hear herself snap. The axe isn't her weapon, and she's nowhere near as good as Johanna with it, but it's the axe she brings up. She doesn't even speak. She just brings it up and throws.]
[perfect]
Bianca. He recognizes her from the video post, that not-apology for making what Sharon did exponentially worse. How did she know? They've never spoken in person before; Mello has always taken care to keep his face off the network. Someone told her? There are only a few who have seen his face and know him as Mello: Near, of course, but he wouldn't give up Mello's description (or would he?); Sharon, but she'd claimed she had no intention of taking retribution; Chris, but he's far too upstanding in moral character to sanction a revenge killing, and Mello has absolutely no doubt that's where Bianca's intentions lie. Kate, maybe; she's the most likely culprit, since she knows his face and name from the dream they'd shared, and she'd worked together with Bianca in that half-cocked plan they'd concocted.
It doesn't really matter how she knows, though - not at the moment. Right now, the priority is in dealing with the immediate threat she poses.]
You missed.
no subject
[She's not terribly surprised to have missed, actually. The throwing axe really isn't her weapon. Which is why she had already drawn her staser pistol even before the axe hit the tree.
She strides towards him, too angry to consider that he, too, may be armed, and fires a bolt of destructive energy at the tree he hides behind.]
no subject
(This place is bullshit.)
Mello gulps in a deep breath to resettle his shaken nerves and slides off the safety of his pistol, calling out to her from the back side of the tree:]
Are you always this lousy of a shot, Bianca, or are you putting on a special show just for me?
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I'm going to wind your intestines round a stick, you miserable, cowardly manchild. I'm going to feed your liver to my pets.
[Bianca's too incensed now to try and be clever. She fires again, this time at the base of the tree. If he happens to pop out at just that moment, she may hit him, but she doesn't really expect to. She's just pinning him down till she can get a clear shot.]
no subject
The tree is solid enough, but he estimates it won't be able to withstand many more blasts like this. He needs to relocate. There's another tree a short sprint away, bigger and sturdier than this one, but the path there will provide a clear shot for Bianca to take while he runs. He has one thing on his side, though - the element of surprise. With any luck, she won't have guessed that he's armed. Mello will only have one chance to use this factor to his advantage; he'll need to make it count.]
Not if I kill you first.
[In one fluid movement, he pivots out from behind the tree, pistol raised, and fires off two shots in quick succession. He doesn't have time to take proper aim, so he's not counting on either bullet hitting her, just that the startle of being shot at will provide enough of a momentary distraction for him to run for cover behind the next tree. He doesn't wait to see the results, just dashes ahead, heart pounding wildly.]
no subject
She thumbs the staser to a broader stun beam before firing at the running shape: Mello isn't likely to allow her another opportunity for a clear shot, and this one has to count.]
no subject
The odds are just not in Mello's favor today (but when are they ever, really) - he's hit by the stun beam mid-stride and crashes to the ground in an ungainly tangle of his own immobilized limbs. The pistol in his hand skitters off underneath a bush to the side, far out of his reach, and he's left sucking in sharp breaths through his clenched teeth against the pain of the blast, the fall, and what he estimates is coming next.]
no subject
And there's plenty of blood. She's whitefaced, holding one hand to the spreading patch of sticky darkness over her lower ribs, but she's upright, still holding herself together - no for a lot longer, but long enough.
She doesn't talk. She doesn't have the breath for it. She just eyes Mello's throat for a moment, bares her teeth like an angry dog, and then strikes.]
no subject
No amount of willpower can override the paralysis of his muscles as she draws in close, and there is no time for him to speak (what would he even say?) before the edge of the blade slices into his throat and he is left making undignified gurgling sounds instead of words, wheezing his last breaths as the world in front of his eyes goes dark.]
no subject
Bianca straightens, wipes her dagger on her trousers, and leans against a tree while she thinks about what to do next. She had fantasised about delivering Mello's severed head to Hope's temple, a delicious parody of an offering to lay on his altar, but she thinks about the butcher's work of hacking through bones and cartilage and knows she isn't up for it.
No. She'll just summon the city guard from where she is. She's too exhausted to make any more decisions; let that nice Nick Valentine do it.
She pulls her phone out of her pocket and stares at it.]
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She smiles weakly at Shadow. Her voice is thin and shallow, when she speaks.]
Shadow, my dear friend. I need to surrender myself to the Guard - so kind of you to come and find me.
Perhaps you could help me to the clinic?
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Oh dear. Shadow.]
Shadow, dearheart, are you all right? I could have walked, you know.
[Not very easily and probably not without puncturing another lung, but since he's made walking completely unnecessary, Bianca may as well claim the possibility.]
Someone has to arrest me. I promised.
no subject