@gonchayas : ( as the black hound. ) thought you’d be lighter without all that blood. / accepting.
LUMINE THINKS SHE LIKES THE BLACK HOUND.
It's disgusting, monstrous, another Fatui toy that the world will be better off without — but it's also a CHALLENGE, and Lumine hasn't had a PHYSICAL CHALLENGE in a while. TARTAGLIA ONLY STILL BREATHES BECAUSE SHE'D MISS THE CATHARSIS OF BREAKING HIM REGULARLY. LYNEY'S GOT A FEW YEARS, TOPS, BEFORE LUMINE DECIDES TO RIP HIS SPINE OUT. SHE ALMOST HOPES THE DOCTOR SPITS MORE COPIES SO LUMINE HAS MORE OF THEM TO KILL. But THIS FREAK ——— !!
She feels her movements going sluggish — her body breaking, bleeding, struggling to keep up. LUMINE WON'T LOSE, THOUGH! It's a foregone conclusion! The hero can't die until the story's over, and THE TOOL HERO ALWAYS KILLS THE MONSTER!!
and while lumine may well be a monster, too, the black hound is most certainly not the hero. THEY ARE BOTH PUPPETS, THOUGH! OR WORSE!
Her next attack is slower — they dodge easily, wounds her in the effort, and she clutches at the new gash in her collarbone, atop one of the scars Childe left. Light escapes through her fingers, shining cold and sterile against her face.
"Thought you'd be lighter without all that blood," the Hound says. OH! It's playing with its food. Lumine's head tilts — Lumine's mouth splits. Making fun of her for getting slow! The blood that bubbles against his palm, against the light trying to escape the too - thin confines of this bound body, is black as pitch.
"You like my blood?" SO DOES TARTAGLIA. OR DID. THE LAST TIME THEY SPARRED, HE CALLED IT CHEATING. Lumine drops to a crouch, bloody palm falling to Festering Desire's hilt. It loves Lumine's blood. It loves Lumine's sick. "Let me show you a NEAT TRICK."
She's plenty light, now — plenty fast. Appears behind him; is gone when it turns, carried by arching, violet lightning. Her hand raises, black blood staining it, just as they turn back to face where she's disappeared — that hand slams into his helmet, hard enough it cracks. And keeps cracking when Lumine's grip tightens, even as the other fights back. Lumine's eyes glow bright, and when there's FLESH revealved beneath the hiding, her hand presses harder, CURSED BLOOD ATOP THE MONSTER'S FACE.
The monster looks like a person. Both of the monsters look like ———
When Lumine leaps back, they're swaying, ragdoll, sluggish again — not smiling. Eyes still glowing. And their blood HURTS THE OTHER, they can tell by the way it shouts, grasping at its face, PATHETIC. PATHETIC! LUMINE SURVIVES WITH THIS BLOOD IN THEIR VEINS EVERY DAY!! THIS BLOOD, THAT'S KILLED THE GRASS BENEATH THEIR FEET WHERE IT FALLS. THIS BLOOD, THAT'S SICK SICK SICK FOR THIS WORLD THAT HATES HER FOR HER BROTHER THAT LEFT HER. A cruel gift is still a gift. WILL THE ACID OF THEIR BLOOD SCAR THE MONSTER?? LIKE THIS WORLD HAS SCARRED LUMINE?
She thinks she likes the Black Hound. She likes a challenge. She likes an excuse to go all - out. MOST ALL, SHE THINKS SHE'LL LIKE SCARRING THEM UP.