#wing mutilation

Warning: implied mutilation, though it’s not written out.

❝...Thorn.❞

This was perhaps the first time Rosalia had even uttered a word after falling silent - her voice was still hoarse from cursing & screaming earlier, when she wasn’t crying instead. The loss was... hard on the deity, more so than on the one that she called her twin. Thornara had no true bonds to regret losing, unlike the other... though she, too, felt a pang of loss. Eldria had been her home, as well. While she had retreated away from the raging guardian, the twin had returned once things were silent, grumbling as she tried to see to her own wounds.

So the dark-haired twin turned her gaze to the other, frowning as she tried to figure out what was even going on through that head of hers. ❝Yeah? Gonna finally let me take a look at you?❞

Thorn had tried to see to Rosa’s wounds, but the woman was not reasonable at the time, so she was feeling a little stung & sullen at the refusal. Not that she was in a hurry to do so - even Thorn would grimace with a glance to the mutilated wing, drooping to the side like Rosalia couldn’t even feel it. Maybe she couldn’t, for all Thorn knew. 

Rosalia couldn’t - or maybe wouldn’t - meet her twin’s eyes, staring instead at the ground. ❝...yes. But you... need to remove this first.❞ As though to specify what she meant, she’d shift the half-consumed wing from its position, though it was a strain that showed in her expression. ❝It is useless... I can only feel this... burning sensation... where the consumer had stopped at.❞

With an raised eyebrow, Thorn wouldn’t comment immediately, though eventually a sigh left her. Of course she’s only wanted to do the dirty work. Yet maybe she couldn’t blame Rosalia for looking to her for this. Who else was she going to go to now?

❝Once upon a time, I’d have been ecstatic to cause that kind of damage, but man I’m not feeling that wholesome glee while looking at you now.❞

There wasn’t a response, not even a crack of a reluctant smile, so Thorn muttered under her breath as she moved close, undoing the armor that still clung to Rosa - they had both been wearing such protection, & even the darker twin would admit that it probably helped save her own life. But they’re in the way, & so was the shirt.

This was going to get bloody real quick.

❝Lay on your stomach; it’s gonna be bad enough with you being awake for this, but I’m not about to deal with your flails.❞ Seeing the wince in the other’s face, Thorn relented with a sigh. Comfort was not something she’s used to, whether giving or receiving. ❝I’ll make it as quick as possible, a’right?❞

❝...alright.❞

Once she was in position on the ground, made as comfortable as possible, Thorn placed one knee & part of her weight onto the mid-part of Rosa’s back, the other knee on the side, doing her best to keep the other pinned securely even as she felt the guardian tense up beneath her. Well, tough - she could see that the consumer’s bite had done more damage than eating half a wing. Cursing audibly, she traced her claws to the points on the back where the damage had spread to. 

❝Your son is one hell of a sadistic asshole. This is gonna need a little gouging from your back too, but at least that’s recoverable.❞

❝Just... do it.❞

With some of her own shirt ripped off & wrapped around a relatively strong stick, Thorn leaned close to her twin’s face to offer it to her. Once it was taken from her hand & bitten onto in preparation, the creature sighed as she stared down at the damaged appendage she was about to take away. She had nothing but her own claws... but these were all she had to offer.

In Vos’s underworld, if you wanted to send a message, or if you had positioned yourself well enough that you could make a bold move without fear of retaliation, there was a certain method of execution.

Hitmechs would cut off their victim’s wings and then bring them up to a certain height, as high as they could get away with and not be caught, and throw them off of a tower. It was a humiliating and painful way to go, and I did see it done a couple of times. 

It wasn’t a method used often by anyone in the Air Command, as it was considered unseemly, but that didn’t mean our associates didn’t handle the details of the work we gave them in their own way. When I discovered that one my rivals had placed members of a particular syndicate in key positions to spy throughout the city, I hired another syndicate known to be their enemies, and allowed them free reign to make their moves as long as it didn’t get back to me, at least until they were done. Finally, I arranged for my own rival to meet me at the spot where my agents had brought the leader of the other hired gang, and right when my rival landed, they threw their captive off the tower. That threw this mech off balance, so to speak, and I warned him against further power plays against me, and blackmailed him to keep quiet since he had no more support structure and my spies had infiltrated his networks.