#shrinking violent

“Markin. How… funny it is to run into you here,” she forced out from behind an overly wide smile. The other violet did not look amused.

“Yes, well, you somehow broke my magic, so I had to employ other means of being able to make sure you were okay” he reached out to pick a piece of lint off of her shoulder. “It’s been rather too long since you came home.”

“Your hive never was and never will be my home, so just… Just leave me alone. We broke up, remember?”

Without any warning, he slammed his hand against the wall by her head. She flinched, pressing her back against it.

“Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. We aren’t done and,“ he looked around for a moment as if searching for someone. “Last I heard, you’re all alone now. No more overbearing lusus to bail you out, is there, Princess?” He loomed over her, the angle he stood at making him appear quite a bit taller than he actually was. He always lorded the ability to make her feel so small over her. She shrunk back into the unyielding wall behind her, though movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention. 

Celodi.

“Really you should feel honored that I want someone who’s so much a nobody still.”   Of course he still thought that he owned her, that she owed him something. She is so sick of owing her existence to someone. Her fins went from pinned flat to flared.

She didn’t even think before swinging, she only felt the contact of her fist against something hard immediately followed by a sharp pain that radiated from her hand and the head of her attacker snapping back from the force.

“You fucking BITCH” Almost instantly, Markin’s facade fell. All hint of having it pulled together melted away with the blood oozing from his nose. One hand shot out to grab her wrist while the other clamped over her mouth and nose. Her gills flared, and she clawed out with her free hand, catching his gills on one side at the same time she wiggled enough to sink her sharp teeth into his hand. He screeched, instantly letting go but letting his nails rake across her as he did. She didn’t wait, immediately grabbing Celodi’s hand and bolting, dragging her girlfriend behind her as they ran.

For her part, Celodi did not resist the pulling, instead laughing in some mixture of baffled bewilderment and delighted glee. “What the FUCK!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Contra got out between breaths, pounding heart causing a lot more blood to ooze from her wounds than she would really like. “I’ll explain more when we’re safe!” She didn’t really care where she was taking them beyond ‘away’, so she didn’t argue when Chell took over. She led them to the quieter side of the mall, where multiple stores were nothing but closed fronts. Contra wasn’t about to ask how they got into one of the stores when she was in this state.

“I spotted a first aid kit near the counter, give me a sec to grab it. You can start telling me what the hell happened in the meantime.”

She didn’t argue, just sat down, though the violet flinched when her pained hand was grabbed.

“Had a run in with my ex, he wasn’t taking a hint, so I drove it home stronger.”

Chell snorted as she finished wrapping her bleeding wrist, shaking her head and taking Contra’s hand to examine it proper.

“I think I did really well!”

“Oh yeah, real great form there, Princess. Flawless. Pretty soon you’ll be giving me lessons,” Celodi quipped. One quick glance at Contra’s tear streaked face, though, and her tone turned almost genuine. “Not that it matters with the way that fucker went down. I’d pay to see that shit again.”

“He makes me so… so angry!” A small huff, or perhaps a sniffle “He used his fucking magic to put a tattoo on me so he could track me, and now he’s pissy that I got rid of it.”

Celodi stopped dead, freezing in the midst of tucking the remaining supplies back into the pilfered first aid kit. Her voice got low, and gaze intense as she asked “He did fucking what?”

You could see the exact moment the shame hit Contra, from her fins flattening and the way she turned her face away from the other seadweller. “I got it removed!” She reiterated with a squeak. “Well, uhm, changed, actually… But it had the same effect as full removal…” 

She stopped talking as her companion started growling. Chell quickly got to her feet, ready to march out. Contra flareed her fins in alarm, reaching out to grab her. “NO! No, please…”

“Why not? Let’s just kill the fucker”

“I… I don’t want his blood on your hands more than it already is.” She looked at the mentioned violet currently staining Celodi’s hands. Hers, or his, Contra couldn’t tell. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. “Not that he doesn’t deserve it but… Look, I’ll- I’ll actually tell the boys about this and- and just- please don’t go right now…” She trailed off quietly, practically begging.

Celodi grumbled quietly, but she did sit back down with a sigh. They sat in silence for a moment, the quiet broken only by sniffles that Contra tried her best to hide.

“Your sweater’s ruined,” Chell finally commented, cracking her neck. “C’mon. We’re here to shop, aren’t we? Let’s get you something decent to wear.”