#fracturedfables

Ruby pressed the finger tips of her index fingers together, nervously pressing them into each other. "Well, yeah, I mean... I didn't experience it."

Ruby was smart enough to know that her and Blake had had very different lives. And likely, they couldn't really understand what the other had been through. But that didn't mean they couldn't listen and empathize, at the very least.

human emotions were still very new to her. understanding them and knowing what they meant were something someone like her should not be able to understand. and yet, somehow she did. to an extent, anyway. "Thank you, General Ironwood, sir." She responded, like she always would whenever they were in the same room. what is being informal? Her face widening in a smile. "I will continue to do my very best!"

"No need to sir me when we're alone, Penny." He chuckled. "Nor for the title. You can call me by my name." He doubted she would, but the offer was there.

right, because mercury had a death wish. there was no challenging salem here. mercury now wasn't sure that there was any way he was walking away from the situation unscathed, but he had to try. defying salem was a terrifying thought on its own, but actively denouncing her plan, to her face? mercury would rather take on the entire horde of grimm outside her palace than even consider giving that an attempt.

on his knees before her, chin bowed and teeth gritted tight enough to snap, mercury shook his head.

LACK OF SLEEP STARTERS | accepting

"i'll lay down when i'm in a coffin. or when the sugar crash finally hits. whichever comes first."

... her eyelid twitches just the TINIEST amount.

"you and i both know you are not fine." mercury did not want to touch blake without her permission - even with his obvious concern, he doubted she would take kindly to that kind of proximity. but, that wound needed attention or it was going to get ugly, and the battle raging around them meant mercury needed to move fast.

mercury crouched next to her, frowning. his next course of action depended entirely on how quickly he could get blake to safety - if at all. but the location of the wound meant she would not be going anywhere unless the knife was removed. it didn't look like any major arteries had been struck...

sighing heavily, mercury met blake's gaze. "i'm helping you because we need all the people we can get if we are going to survive this. and i know how nasty wounds like that can get if you don't deal with them immediately."

he hated being in her presence. he hated the way that her gaze made him feel like that five year old boy waiting for his mother to wake up from her latest bender again. he's stared down the law, the military, huntsmen and huntresses, even rival crime lords and bosses that could snap his neck and leave him in the gutter.

he's stared all of them down with a cocky grin, a bloody nose, and a laugh in his throat, but salem made roman feel a FEAR he hasn't felt in a very long time.

cinder didn't know that roman knew about salem. she didn't know roman had gone behind her back and did some digging of his own. now, he regrets digging so deep because now instead of being under the thumb of some little thing drunk on power and magic, he was under the thumb of something far more ancient and older.

"wasn't an excuse, ma'am." his gloved fingers brush the brim of his hat to tug them over his eyes, casting a shadow over his face. "just offering a reason for why things have been delayed."