Why we lose

Lexa had originally planned to head back to Vanaheim once she had left Romeo’s ship, but had made a quick stop in Isla before doing so. Mostly because the ship had to make a supply drop here, but also partially because she feared to meet Arawn once she went back to Vanaheim. Imagine if she went back today: she’d have to meet Arawn with a hangover. She’d rather kill herself right here, right now. That would, by far, be the least painful option.

When someone bumped into her, the brunette grabbed hold of her dagger. The excuse of the man made her squint her eyes, as she stepped back and refused to put the dagger back. “Tired, you say?” Her eyes seemed to thoroughly inspect the young man, as she raised a brow. “Who are you?” she asked. His excuse had sounded unconvincing to say the least. For all she knew, this wasn’t on accident and yet another moment of chaos was about to happen. She really didn’t feel like fighting anyone before even heading back to Vanaheim, though…

His words created a frown on the face of the brunette, who clearly seemed to get a bit more annoyed each time he opened his mouth. Why he was spreading lies was unknown to her and, having lived the way she had, the brunette knew that lies could be bad, very bad news. Why else would someone bother lying to a stranger, after all?

Even though she didn’t trust him, the brunette lowered her arms. She still held the dagger against her wrist, just in case the tattooed idiot would try something. She placed her weight on her right leg, while the first stood slightly more in front. “So, Mort,” she said, repeating his name. He seemed… fuzzy. As if he was drunk, yet the smell of alcohol was missing. “Is everything okay?” A brow was raised as she looked at him. She still didn’t trust him one bit and would not hesitate to cut his throat if he came closer, but something seemed… off.

Her mouth couldn’t become more of a straight line, after Mort had spoken. ‘It’s a nice evening, isn’t it?’ he asked. The woman put her nails in the palm of her hand and took a deep breath in, before she took her nose between index finger and thumb. “Are you fuckin kidding me mate?” she asked, clearly not too amused. A part of her felt like this guy was playing a joke on her. He couldn’t be this idiotic, could he? This was surreal. He either wasn’t fine, was completely off this world, or he was just pretending to be funny.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You look like you haven’t had a meal or sleep in weeks,” she decided to sigh. Her tiredness had made her grumpy and she decided to put her annoyance on that. She couldn’t explain why else it was that his face seemed to annoy her, as if he reminded her of someone she couldn’t stand…

She wasn’t wrong. The brunette sighed, pulled her hand through her hair for a second, still holding her dagger in the free hand. She couldn’t afford to be careless, after all. “How about you tell me what’s up?” she asked, raising a brow, slowly putting a step in his direction. She didn’t know this guy. He acted… out of place. Strange. Almost a bit creepy.

A part of her wanted to slice his throat, but the other part of her, which was the Commander inside of her, was just… trying to care for a stranger. To her it did not matter. Someone from Vanaheim or not, everyone was a Child if they portrayed good behavior, if their sins were in good belief. Monsters existed on both sides of the boundary and one day her people would believe the same, she hoped.

A special diet. The more this guy spoke, the more Lexa began to reconsider her decision to cut his throat and leave him for the crows to find. She decided to give her curiosity free play. The knife was slid back into its holster and she folded her arms over her chest, raising a brow. Her face made too clear that she wasn’t buying it, yet she was still here. Still not planning to walk away, but not any closer to buying his idiotic lies either.

“I happen to not be from here either. Maybe I know what you’re looking for?” she asked. She could feel her dagger inside its holster, just… waiting for her. Waiting for her to grab it and push the guy to the floor as soon as he’d make one wrong movement, speak one word she would disagree with. Yet, a part of her could not help but feel like he had no harm in mind. Like he was a lost boy, rather than someone she needed to watch out for.

Oh, for the love of the Mother and all that was holy. “Fuck,” the brunette sighed, as she grabbed the hand of the man and decided to pull him with her. No words spoken, no explanation given. She just… took him. Wandered across the street, until the two of them reached an alley where they would be free from the eyes of the strangers on the streets, people who would be less than happy to hear the word he just spoke. But, Lexa feared for them. Not for herself, but for the people. People who weren’t even hers, people whose… lives were invaluable if you’d ask hers. But, all the brunette saw was a vampire that was on the brink of giving in, something that would traumatise people closeby, something that could potentially hurt someone. Really, really badly. “How good is your self-control?”

Arawn would kill her and the Commander would feel the wrath of the hundreds of Commanders that had gone before her if anyone ever found out about the plan she had. About what she was about to do, simply because she didn’t trust the current situation. The brunette felt like she had a few options. One was to leave the man be. He seemed like he’d lose control soon enough, biting someone and draining them of their blood. Who would this be? A weak, old woman perhaps who would die from the loss of blood? Or someone who would forever be traumatised from the experience? The second option was to do something the brunette would never do and something that it was way too late for now. She couldn’t take a vampire in this state. She missed her spear, her better weapons. He might be hungry and weakened, but with just a dagger she didn’t stand a chance against a vampire. So that left the third solution she could come up with.

“I’m going to put my dagger through your brain if you go too far,” she spoke, before she took off her glove and revealed her lower arm to him. She just stood there, staring at him as she held her hand up. Stupidity was, perhaps, her second name. But, there was not a vein in her body that would think of letting someone else take this. She did not put blame on the vampire, unlike her people would do. She truly believed they suffered from a curse and that it was a challenge, one that they had to overcome. They had to learn how to live with it, find the best way to do so. They weren’t bad. They were just cursed.