#post-vault

“Fuck you.”

M’yrr can usually predict the way things went. A sudden curse and a large splash of ale across his hood and mask is not one of the things. He grits his teeth together  and wipes a cloth over the wood and steel owl-like mask he wears.

“I beg your pardon?”

Lin’s nostrils flare and she bares her fangs. “I said. Fuck. You.” Her red eyes glow with a fire he cannot place.

He tries to keep his voice even, find out what brought this on. “All I said was that it’s a shame your lover died. That I wished you had been there as well on the ramparts as he--”

The woman punches his cheek. “My lover? My lover? I haven’t fucked him since we took down Stone Vigil.”

So that is how it goes. “Is that why you always left when I was called to Dragonhead? That things ended poorly? I regret staying friendly then if he upset you. Though you still accompanied me to the camp, so I must say I’m confused.”

She takes a few breaths as  her eyes blink in shock. “Gods, you cannot be serious. That you didn’t see it. All this time, I thought perhaps it was possible. He had another whom he loved. I was but a passing cloud, lovely and nothing but mist, compared to his sun. Warm and giving. I kept following that sun, helping plan excuses to bring him closer to Haurchefant. Let him catch that sun. Had I known he couldn’t return the affections, let’s just say I still wouldn’t be a lover, but I would not have put in so much effort to make myself scarce when they were alone.”

“A lovely metaphor. It is a shame this man--”

Lin grabs the ale of the man behind her and splashes it on him. “And now it’s back to those two words. Fuck. You. I can’t make it much clearer. You’re too smart to be this stupid, M’yrr.”

It hits him with that. The man described was not some other person. She described her own behavior with him.

“I may have deserved the first splash,” M’yrr says. “But the punch, and stealing someone else’s mug for a second pint in my face was uncalled for.”

“It’s your fault!” she says. “He’s dead because of you! And all this time, I had hoped that I could be happy if the man I fancied had his lover, even if said lover wasn’t me. But it’s naught. You deserved it all you fucking bird!”

Lin tries to punch him again, but he stops her hand this time. Another blow from her other hand, and he grabs the other.

M’yrr for once is glad for his flat voice and unreadable mask. Underneath it, every feature on his friend is the same on his face. “It’s not my fault that two loves went unrequited. Had either of you spoken plain before his last breaths, at least one of you could have moved on. You chose to play a helpless maiden when you aren’t.”

She growls and tries again to start a fight. “I did everything right! You fucked up! Fuck you.”

With that, she tuns on her heel, tail bushed beyond its usual fluff, and leaves.