A body bursts through the shadows, and this is how Cinder knows she’s fucked.
She’s nowhere near the most experienced at putting up wards, which tends to be her downfall, but she thought she’d have a little more time to get the job done. Cinder turns and the shadow and smoke turns with her, blotting out the light the intruder brought with them. She’s halfway through a shift; she must look horrifying, gnarled and tangled with her own smoke.
The intruder doesn’t falter. Annoying. Must be Winter, then, Cinder thinks, because she would know Winter anywhere, and because she’s also irritatingly persistent. She sidesteps a blow as it comes towards her, dodges the edge of a sword that cuts to her arm, sprays a burst of fire at a flash of white hair through the dark, and then she’s on the floor with Winter’s hands around her throat.
“Bit early for a duel, don’t you think?” she asks, turning her skin hot and sharp. It’s not what she was going for when she started trying to shift, but she might as well give it a shot.
Winter’s face appears through the dark, drawn with pain. She grimaces as Cinder’s skin increases in temperature, but doesn’t recoil. Right; the ice powers. “Not a duel,” she says coldly, “vengeance.”
Cinder kicks her hips up and thrashes sideways, forcing Winter to push her down to keep her pinned. “Vengeance for what? Ohh, are you mad I won last time?”
Cold pricks through under the palms of her hands. So, she’s playing dirty. And she’s trying to monologue about it, too. “You blew up a building. And then you just walked free like it was nothing. And you couldn’t even set up the proper wards, either; are you really that stupid, or are you just fucking with me?” Her hands tighten around Cinder’s throat, sending cold shocking down her spine; her eyes flare bright blue as she dumps aura into her fingers and pushes.
The only option is to shift, so this is what Cinder does. She hates shifting rapidly — it drains the energy out of her, forces her to push harder to finish a fight — but she might not have a choice, not with Winter’s hands around her throat. Tuning out the rest of her stupid monologue, she imagines and pulls and closes her eyes, and when Winter’s hands jerk away with a gasp she scrabbles for the door, dispelling the ward as she goes.
Smoke vanishes from the room immediately. Cinder kicks Winter’s head as she runs, dodging the spear of ice she sends shooting her way. It’s hardly a fair move, but warranted, really. Doesn’t matter, though, because the only important thing here is getting the fuck out. Winter could absolutely kill her if she really tried.
FILL: Team Anime/Manga
A body bursts through the shadows, and this is how Cinder knows she’s fucked.
She’s nowhere near the most experienced at putting up wards, which tends to be her downfall, but she thought she’d have a little more time to get the job done. Cinder turns and the shadow and smoke turns with her, blotting out the light the intruder brought with them. She’s halfway through a shift; she must look horrifying, gnarled and tangled with her own smoke.
The intruder doesn’t falter. Annoying. Must be Winter, then, Cinder thinks, because she would know Winter anywhere, and because she’s also irritatingly persistent. She sidesteps a blow as it comes towards her, dodges the edge of a sword that cuts to her arm, sprays a burst of fire at a flash of white hair through the dark, and then she’s on the floor with Winter’s hands around her throat.
“Bit early for a duel, don’t you think?” she asks, turning her skin hot and sharp. It’s not what she was going for when she started trying to shift, but she might as well give it a shot.
Winter’s face appears through the dark, drawn with pain. She grimaces as Cinder’s skin increases in temperature, but doesn’t recoil. Right; the ice powers. “Not a duel,” she says coldly, “vengeance.”
Cinder kicks her hips up and thrashes sideways, forcing Winter to push her down to keep her pinned. “Vengeance for what? Ohh, are you mad I won last time?”
Cold pricks through under the palms of her hands. So, she’s playing dirty. And she’s trying to monologue about it, too. “You blew up a building. And then you just walked free like it was nothing. And you couldn’t even set up the proper wards, either; are you really that stupid, or are you just fucking with me?” Her hands tighten around Cinder’s throat, sending cold shocking down her spine; her eyes flare bright blue as she dumps aura into her fingers and pushes.
The only option is to shift, so this is what Cinder does. She hates shifting rapidly — it drains the energy out of her, forces her to push harder to finish a fight — but she might not have a choice, not with Winter’s hands around her throat. Tuning out the rest of her stupid monologue, she imagines and pulls and closes her eyes, and when Winter’s hands jerk away with a gasp she scrabbles for the door, dispelling the ward as she goes.
Smoke vanishes from the room immediately. Cinder kicks Winter’s head as she runs, dodging the spear of ice she sends shooting her way. It’s hardly a fair move, but warranted, really. Doesn’t matter, though, because the only important thing here is getting the fuck out. Winter could absolutely kill her if she really tried.