Day Two: Early Morning

[Minoshia]

Situations like these were not a strength for the child warrior, he was lost when it came to dealing with the unnecessarily awkward. Normally, when this type of occurrence confronted him, he would solve his problems by slaying and dismantling everyone and everything in his sight. In the eyes of the Konat, mayhem was the simplest solution to any enigma.

You want to kill him, don’t you? You want to pull back his head and slit his throat. You want to watch the blood pour down his neck and onto his chest as it becomes a cascading waterfall of death. You would enjoy that, wouldn’t you? Minoshia didn’t respond to the voice, the question seemed rhetorical; both parties knew that a murder would be the simplest solution to this complication. But that isn’t what we want, no it is not. He’s changed; we can see it in his eyes and read it from his body. There is something happening here, and we mustn’t let the past decide our future. It is what we want, not what you want, that actually matters. Never forget that, fool. He dropped his head, letting his chin hang mere centimeters from his chest. Rubbing his brow furiously, he tried to take the edge off the frustration and confusion that was pooling behind his eyes. How he had managed to partner with the one person he despised most in the world was something he would never understand, someone upstairs had slapped him in the face with a massive paddle called irony. Never the less, he had always respected the abilities of his raven haired adversary, and now there was something more to the equation; a change in the Android that was somehow refreshing.

“You’ve changed.” Minoshia shot towards his ‘partner’, his eyes never moving towards his target. Seventeen’s head, on the other hand, quickly shot in his direction and the Konat could feel the staring of his eyes burn holes through him. He didn’t respond with words, all he could manage was a grunt, after which his eyes returned to the horizon. That’s as good of a confirmation as any… It seems to be something he isn’t entirely thrilled about. “Even without the shouting fit…” Minoshia paused and motioned his hand backwards, indicating he meant the action that had taken place beforehand. He spoke with less menace than usual; there was hardly a snarl in his voice. “We could tell the moment we saw you.”

“We?” Seventeen shot back quickly, his head snapping around instantly. He was suddenly taken aback by the term Minoshia had used, as if a singular person using the term ‘we’ struck a particular nerve in him. Interesting reaction android… well played, well played. The Konat’s eyes darted from the ground to his nemesis, making it blatantly obvious that he noticed the reaction. Quickly jerking his head away, the raven haired warrior stared at his shoes with a grimace on his face. “You seem to be acting civil enough Minoshia, maybe you have changed too.” Eager to change the subject, he retorted with a particular poison in his voice.

“I wouldn’t count on that ‘droid.” The snarl and menace had returned to his voice, much like the fire that had been relit in his charcoal eyes. Brief moments of friendliness weren’t common between these two men, and they had to be destroyed immediately. “Seventeen.” He stated his name bluntly, hissing his name as if he were speaking of a deadly disease.

“Minoshia.” The acknowledgement was shot back in the same tone.

“We’re not so different, you and I.”