watersilver

@mercurous was led astray

‘”Unfuckingbelievable,” Amusement alit in poppy colored as soft chuckle let his lips, voice reserved for the space between him and his surprised guest.

Qrow sits with patience reserved for rare occasions and this most certainly called for it. The balls on this kid to stroll up and plop himself down in the empty seat across his table. He is far from unrecognizable to Qrow. Vivid recollection from his time at the Vytal Tournament and the trauma it induced to his niece. Mercury Black and it’s eerie the similarities that run deep between them. Two individuals trained to be killers and not a record of their existence exists. 

Invisible to the world and yet, most dangerous.

Qrow is bad luck and unless they were looking to fuck, most stayed out of his way. A preferred preference on his part. No mouth for small talk, only smack and then some.

He leans forward, legs uncrossed as he tipped his glass of whiskey neat this way and that. Lips chewed to hell and back curled in amusement and Qrow spoke hushed, patronizing in every way, “I don’t think you’re old enough for this ride, kid.”

Alcohol is hot on his breath and there is no questioning if Qrow is sober or not. He is shit faced and the night has barely begun. Little effort put in hiding the fact. Like a trained killer isn’t sitting before him. He’s seen the way this kid moved in Haven. Heard tale of Marcus Black. Met him once if not more. No stranger to the stores and rumors. Not an ounce of fear in his eyes as he tipped his glass back. Downs it remains with easy and Qrow is quick to call for another.

“And put it on his tab, will ya?” He laughed, gesturing to Mercury, winking at his soon to be murderer.

It was the least he could do while he sat in silence. Invading Qrow’s personal space and privacy. He had the right to drink himself stupid without interference. Grant it the sight wasn’t so bad for his eyes.

There are worse things he could be looking at. 

“So, you gonna fuck me or you gonna fuck me, kid?” Qrow asked, sat back once more and already, he’s swirling his next drink around.

     mercury was just about as happy to be there as qrow was to see him, which is to say, not very. winding through bar tables and passing strange faces felt more like a job than anything he'd done in the last several months, the stink of alcohol permeating quicksilver's very bones. he hated this. sent on a mission to help track down the girl with the silver eyes, he figured he needed to track down her shitfaced uncle first — the man was always protecting her, it seemed. and just like silver's good for nothing father, qrow still managed to do his job semi-decently while under the influence. for a moment, mercury wondered if qrow had known marcus, if he'd known about mercury before the tournament, but he brushed the thought aside. it wasn't worth pondering in the least bit.

     when he'd sat down across from the older man, he simply watched, unspeaking, as qrow swirled his glass and spewed condescending flirtations across the table. gunmetal eyes flickered back and forth between qrow's own scarlet hues, and mercury huffed, waving down the bartender for himself. "water." he spoke simply, holding eye contact with qrow as he ordered, and as soon as the bartender brought it to him, he leaned back in his seat. he kept his stance relaxed, or as relaxed as he could be while surrounded by drunks on every side, somewhat slouched against the back of the chair, legs apart, one foot up on the chair leg. rather than drink the water handed to him, he took the mixing straw from it and twirled it between his fingers, still watching qrow intently.

     "so," he finally spoke, a note of disgust in his voice, "you're qrow branwen. finally a proper introduction." a pause. "you make a pretty nasty first impression, old man." he gave an easy smirk, taking in the disgruntled nature of qrow's position, and he shrugged. "good thing i can work with nasty." he wondered whether he should get to his point or if he needed to sidle up to the huntsman a little bit more in order to get information from him. instinct told him the latter was in order.

     putting one mechanical foot up on the edge of the seat right between qrow's legs, the assassin stuck the straw in his mouth, rolling it over his tongue piercing as if bored out of his mind. "here. let me make it easy for you. you get to decide how this evening pans out, and whether or not you get to walk the face of remnant come tomorrow. sounds simple enough, right?" mercury of all people knew not to underestimate a man based on how much alcohol he's consumed, but he took his chance to give qrow a vague choice — this interaction could go smoothly and mercury would walk away with the information he wants, or things could get real ugly real fast. the choice was branwen's.

      if  yang  was  even  remotely  close  to  the  beast  of  her  namesake   ,   she  would  have  lunged   &.   mauled  the  light  from  his  eyes  the  very  moment  mercury  spoke  up   ,   but  she’s  not.  an  exhale  of  smog  brings  semblance  of  calm  to  otherwise  boiling  veins   ,   light  grey  at  the  start   ,   blackened  at  the  end  in  a  fashion  similar  to  a  forest  going  up  in  flames.  a  growl  lingers  in  the  back  of  xiao  long’s  throat.  scathing  eyes  narrow   &.   the  fingers  of  prosthetic  curl   &.   clench   &.  collide  in  a  way  that  creates  a  subtle  yet  equally  annoying  ‘  screech  ‘.  easy   ,   xiao  long.  he’s  trying  to  edge  her  on   ,   wring  these  intense  emotions  resulting  in  explosion  forth  in  some  sick   &.   twisted  display  of  sadism   ,   &.  yang  refuses.  maybe  as  a  student  in  beacon  she  would  have  fell  for  such  things  at  the  risk  of  her  own  life   ,   but  she’s  smarter.  she’s  risen  from  the  ashes  of  a  tragedy  that  was  meant  to  destroy  her   ,   defied  all  the  odds  in  a  flurry  of  strength   &.   determination  greater  than  anything  mercury  could  ever  dream  to  throw  at  her.  

      ❝ why  do  you  care  again   ? ❞  yang  hisses   ,   a  venom  dripping  acrid  from  silver  forged  tongue  something  corrosive   &.   designed  for  the  metals  of  mercury  alone.  there’s  a  kind  of  pride  to  be  had  knowing  she’s  gone  through  so  much  change   &.   he’s  still  that  conniving  little  bastard  from  their  vytal  match   :   all  confidently  smug  grins   ,   cadence  like  nails  on  a  chalkboard   ,   save  the  ending  where  the  world  collapses  around  yang  while  he  leaves  without  consequence.  her  shoulders  roll   &.  in  an  instant  between  a  pocket  of  silence  shall  yang  click  ember  celica  in  an  act  of  warning.  challenge.  i  have  sharp  teeth  too   ,   i  know  how  to  use  them.   ❝ if  you’re  trying  to  make  me  angry   ,   you’re  doin’  a  shit  job  at  it. ❞   annoyed  is  more  like  it.    ❝ i  don’t  think  any  of  us  could’a  stopped  what  was  happening  even  if  we  tried   ‘an  it  sucked   ,   but  i  spent  too  much  time  sulking  about  it  to  turn  back  now  when  one  of  the  main  culprits  decides  to  run  his  mouth.   y’haven’t  changed.❞  empty  shells  of  loaded  rounds  fall  around  her  feet.  you  want  a  fight   ?       come   &.   get  it.

     steel eyes narrowed, just slightly, and quicksilver's gaze followed every new movement with a hint of caution — though he poked and prodded with his words, he could see in yang a sort of growth that he didn't dare underestimate. whereas before, she was easily provoked, and uncontrollably angry, now she gave off an air of control whether she harbored the same anger or not. some aspect of this truth intrigued mercury; he wondered, for a moment, what this growth encompassed, what had brought her to this point, and where she stood in skill level now. he wondered if she might be able to match him in combat now too. he glanced down at her prosthetic hand as a scraping noise rung from it, an occurrence he was rather familiar with himself, and then back up to meet her eyes. smirking expression had by then turned neutral, unbothered, even a little curious.

     truth be told, mercury hadn't really thought about yang since she'd busted up his prosthesis at the vytal festival. she packed a hefty punch, but he hadn't considered her all that memorable in the wake of things; he knew stronger people, people with more presence, and he'd rather spend his time focused on more important things than the unstable, angry blonde he'd met back at beacon. not much had changed, at first glance. the only difference of note seemed to be her right arm — mercury would have remembered that, had she hit his leg with a metal fist he might not have salvaged the part. he thought back on the scene, languid smirk spread from lips to eyes, and he swallowed down what was almost bubbled laughter. silver-tongue almost pitied her. almost. too bad mercury couldn't seem to conjure up any sort of emotion towards her, positive or negative. more than anything, he was taunting just to pass the time.

breathy laughter preceded nezha blowing up at their fringe, wrists pinned down by mercury's hands after being tackled into the forest underbrush. desire - laden smoke left on each panting exhale as they looked up at mercury's predatory mode with hearts in their eyes. ' you caught me, yīngjùn. so, now what ? '

     their little game of hide and seek had quickly turned into a full blown chase, one in which mercury hunted his partner through the woods, tracked them through the trees they once played among as children. this was different, though, vastly different from anything they'd ever done as kids. heart racing not unlike the way it did when he was young, the biggest difference for mercury now was the sort of thrill he felt, the predatory kick he got from chasing nezha through the expansive forest. the teasing that nezha had done — knowing full well that they were faster than he was — only served to rile mercury up more, to drag his mind deeper into primal darkness. by the time he'd caught the dragon, all bared teeth and heightened heart rate, he was so far gone he could hardly control the instincts that were telling him to hurt nezha in the heat of the moment. both trained assassins lay in a heap on the forest floor, quicksilver straddling the other's hips, and he pinned both of nezha's wrists down beside their head with iron grip, letting out a low snarl.

hands rest on his back as presses against the knots. massaging them out she leans over to press gentle kisses between his shoulder blades. digits go over scars with gentle graze. "you're tense." 

they knew. mercury was right. they knew and yet they still continued on recklessly. they had atrocious form, ruined by this state of igneous fury. they knew that taking this anger out onto an actual mission was signing their life away. they needed to be calm, collected, and not rush in with the makings of a molotov cocktail. mercury’s calm expression made them angrier though, moreso that their pride had been attacked by the hurtful truth. ren never admits to mercury being right, but simply corrects their stance and lunges forward, this time with better form.   ‘   some of my clan members still call me a blood traitor — even after all these years proving them wrong repeatedly. i’m being punished for my father’s desertion.   ’   twin blades blocked more of mercury’s blows, sparks flying, another attempt to knock mercury to the ground without leaving an opening.   ‘   they’re leaving me out of information relays, i can tell they want me to fail this mission.   ’