This is Me

[Nhysa]

Nhysa was not sure what the apology was for, but she accepted it anyhow. She shifted from her haunches to sit cross-legged in front of him, surprised at how palpable his fear was. It reminded her a little of how abnormal she was, though it was not a realisation that particularly disturbed her. Fear was a lot like pain; just an outside stimulus. 

“Neither a little darkness nor a little temptation must always be a bad thing,” she told him. A coy smile teased her lips, like perhaps she spoke of something else, but the advice was meant sincerely enough. She had seen nothing in the boy that Li ought to fear turning into, but she suspected the roots of this problem thrust far deeper than the surface level to which she was privy. Scars were like that.

Anger twisted the answer to her question. Such stark vehemence fountained from the words that she wondered how long he must have been holding on to the emotions with no outlet. Nhysa killed the Custody’s enemies and protected those it deemed worth protecting with barely any personal distinction between the different jobs, and she asked no questions and had no insight into what happened after registration. She trusted, though, in the way of the blindly loyal. The Ascendancy was not a good man, but he was a just one. The empire he built might bury bones, but it was not built on lies. “The Custody is a cruel mother. She will not hold your hand and nor will she wipe your brow when you are ailing. It does not mean she does not care.”

If the registered Atharim were ever deemed a threat, it was someone precisely like Nhysa whom Li would find as the executor of that death sentence. He wasn’t wrong in his assessment -- of course it was necessary for any government to know of the threats lurking within its own borders. Just as it was necessary to know those who might have cause to become loyal to it. The world changed overnight, but the consequences were slower to build, and it was foolish to second guess the Ascendancy’s intentions. Despite Li’s frustration for the way it had ruined his life, she was glad he had registered. He might doubt, but she did not. He was safer for it, she was sure.

“Would it make you feel better if I swore to kill any Atharim who tried to harm you?” Her lips twitched, and she gave a husky laugh. Probably joking.

[Tan Li]

It wasn't that he wanted his hand held or his brow wiped. Li sighed and shook his head. "Putting your name on any list where a shadow organization can get their meaty little hands on is a death sentence. Did the Ascendancy think of that ramification? That every name on that list has a target on their back. The Atharim know everything. It's only a matter of time before they find them and kill them. And me? The only reason I'm still alive is because people would notice I was dead. I'm not a shadow figure, I'm in the publics eye. And I intend to stay that way." he growled.

Li smiled at Nhysa and laughed. "I am honored you'd do such a thing, but unless you want to live in the shadows watching for snipers until I'm dead I'd rather you do what you do and I'll stay in the lime light where there are no shadows."

[Nhysa]

She did not like that he second-guessed the Ascendancy or the Custody. The target painted on Li’s back was there because of what he was, not because he had signed his name to the Atharim registration list. Whatever its perceived risks, the fact he did not consider it a modicum of protection bothered her, but not enough to comment. She found him simply wrong. 

In the shadowy war between a cult and the greatest nation in the world, Nhysa had no doubts as to the eventual victor. She respected the Atharim’s reach, and had a gut wound to prove it, but while it remained a threat to Nikolai Brandon its days were numbered. The list Li disparaged now might be the very thing to save him, one day. A reckoning would come, and the Atharim would either evolve into a form the Custody found agreeable, or they would die.

Voicing that seemed pointless, though. A brow arched, but she remained silent.

Throaty laughter rolled for the last comment. As Li’s life was in the sun, so Nhysa’s was in the darkness. Numerous times he had spoken of such shadows like they were something to be feared, while at the same time acknowledging their temptation. She shrugged lightly, and let the subject drop. Her eyes narrowed. “You know, we did not agree terms for a yield,” she teased instead.

[Tan Li]

Nhysa didn't really react much to the situation. His words were heracy in this world. Except he wasn't a legal national. He had rights, he was of China. Not a CCD nation. Maybe he saw things through tainted eyes as well. Same as in the United States, or what was left of it anyway.

Li was glad for the change of topic back to their date. He gave her a wry smile. "Oh. You are right we did not. Are you suggesting a less distracted round?" He thought he could oblige?. "What are the yield terms?" He smirked.

[[ sorry for the delay and the short response ]]

[Nhysa]

Li accepted the switch of topic without any fuss. For now it was forgotten about. Nhysa’s hands rested on her knees, fingers tapping against the caps of bone like the swish of a cat’s tail. If she had taken the opportunity to appraise him anew, she did not appear to now find him wanting, for coy as she might choose to be with flirtation she was never indecisive. Had that been the case, she would have left him sitting there the moment their opinions diverged.

“No, my dear,” she said. Amusement played with her expression. A brow rose. “I am suggesting you cheated.”

[[no worries]]

[Tan Li]

Li laughed. "Cheated? How do you figure, dear one?"

He stood up and looked at where the boy had been. "You think I orchestrated that boy coming in here and distracting me with his talent and for what to let you win without a fair fight?" Li chuckled. "If I wanted you to win like that I'd have yielded and just agreed to take you to see an Oni. Not that I know where to find one with ease, but the boy might." A tinge of guilt flickered across his face. He had done exactly what Nhysa accused him of, treated the boy like he was a piriah that the Atherim thought they were. He smirked. "Do you think I don't want to hit a girl?"

[Nhysa]

Li stood, but only Nhysa’s eyes followed him up. Her palms still rested on her knees. Her dark eyes were unreadable beneath the blunt line of hair hanging above them, but a smirk still sharpened the edges of her lips.

“I do not think you intended anything,” she said. “And as adorably chivalrous as you seem to be at times, I do not think that either. Besides the fact we both know I am hardly a girl.”

No warning preceded the shift of her weight, and the snap of one leg out to sweep against Li’s ankles. Nhysa was not there to soften his landing this time, though the flex of the dojo floor would, she was sure, be kind. He’d seen her fight in the underground club before, more than once, but knowledge of ruthless speed was quite different from the experience. She was on top before the surprise at his fall was likely to entirely register. Though he would not find the pin too difficult to escape, if he chose.

“However, it remains that your yield was entirely a cheat, even unintentionally."  Humour lit her expression, but darkness too; the sort that consumed. She was teasing, that much was clear, but he would do well not to forget that he played such games with a predator. "And it seems clear to me that cheaters are deserving of a forfeit, no?”

[Tan Li]

Li laughed at her comments. She was always right. Nhysa was hardly a girl. A woman of great mystery and one Li was very happy was pinning him to the floor at the moment. The surprise attack had taken him down with ease -- as expected. Li wasn't sure who would win in an earnest fight, and he didn't want to find out -- he rather liked his insides on the inside. And he knew how Nhysa fought in the ring -- a real fight would be down right devastating.

Hand to hand combat wasn't something you wanted to do with monsters. Not even the best of them did that for the joy of it. They could, and did, but that was usually when the hunter got dead.

Li didn't really know how his yield was a cheat, but he'd give her the win, if only to take her hunting. He chuckled. "I suppose the lady is always right too? I will find you an Oni, but I will need help in doing so." He would have to hope that the boy's friend would return and he could get contact information. Li chuckled returning his attention to the woman on top of him. "So now that you have here, what do you plan on doing?"

[Nhysa]

He did not even wriggle. Perhaps he did not fancy his chances. Yet despite the fact Li presented no kind of challenge, Nhysa’s smile was perfectly smug, if only for the preference of her current view. She did not desire to hurt him, and likely she would have done just that had the fight proceeded in earnest -- though certainly she would have intended to make it up to him afterwards. He was no delicate flower, but she was a trained killer quite absent the moral boundaries of more ordinary souls. She’d warned him several times he could expect no quarter.

“The lady might not always be right,” she said languorously, her gaze making a very thorough inspection of the prize beneath her. “But Li, my dearest, she always gets what she wants.” She laughed, and was not particularly subtle with the salaciousness of it. Yet she did not lean closer. 

”For now, you have an oni to track down, and I have a day job to attend to. Unless you plan on convincing me to stay a little longer.”

[Tan Li]

Li laughed, completely content with his position on the floor. But she was right. Life moved on as much as he would have liked to stay there and convince Nhysa to stay. "I think your clothes should be ready by now." He smirked, "If not you wearing my clothes to your own place gives you a reason to return them." Not that he expected Nhysa to need such a mundane excuse as she said she gets what she wants. "Or I can come retrieve them."

Li's smile was brighten. "But if you intend to leave you will need to get off me." He smirked.