[April] [World of Darkness] Learned the Hard Way
Title: Learned the Hard Way
Day/Theme: 13) the confusion of mind you dub honor
Series: World of Darkness
Character/Pairing: Marco Polo
Rating: PG
They were idiots. And they were going to die for it. And they were proud of it!
There were so few Garou left to fight and they were going to throw their lives away on a damn fool idea that would gain only glorious death. It made Marco nauseous, and being a Bone Gnawer, that took some work. He had wanted to wade into their little circle, grab their leader by her ear piercing, and shake some sense into her.
She hadn’t been beaten yet. Had no idea how hard it was to get up and keep fighting after you had already lost. She was spouting about honor and glory and had no idea how very little of either you found fighting for your life in the pits with some wyrmspawn. There was no such thing as glorious death. There was only death, painful and final. If you were very careful and kept your head and planned it right and timed it right, your death might accomplish something, but it was as hard to be careful and thoughtful in battle as it was to find honor in the blood and guts and acid and eyeball jelly that rose a little higher every time.
Marco had tried to tell her. Had lost his temper and shouted when she called him a coward. Had shapeshifted to tower over her, showing off the scars of dozens of battles when she had sneered at a Bone Gnawer telling someone of her lineage about battle. How many fomori had she hunted down? He had screamed it at her. How many times had she suffered through purification rituals to cleanse wyrm poison out of burns and gashes? Never, he had hissed. Never. Sheltered, spoiled, little girl pretending to be a warrior.
She in turn had also shifted and lunged at him bellowing her own fury and he had sidestepped her and thrown her into her own followers. Let her claw and kill them, he had said. Let them waste their own lives following her. He would not allow her to endanger him, no matter how much help she might need. He advised them, as he left, to leave their stories behind, because no one would ever hear of them otherwise. Can’t be honored in song if no one knows you ever lived or died. It wasn’t nice or comforting, but it was true, and they had been fed enough romantic crap for one night.
Day/Theme: 13) the confusion of mind you dub honor
Series: World of Darkness
Character/Pairing: Marco Polo
Rating: PG
They were idiots. And they were going to die for it. And they were proud of it!
There were so few Garou left to fight and they were going to throw their lives away on a damn fool idea that would gain only glorious death. It made Marco nauseous, and being a Bone Gnawer, that took some work. He had wanted to wade into their little circle, grab their leader by her ear piercing, and shake some sense into her.
She hadn’t been beaten yet. Had no idea how hard it was to get up and keep fighting after you had already lost. She was spouting about honor and glory and had no idea how very little of either you found fighting for your life in the pits with some wyrmspawn. There was no such thing as glorious death. There was only death, painful and final. If you were very careful and kept your head and planned it right and timed it right, your death might accomplish something, but it was as hard to be careful and thoughtful in battle as it was to find honor in the blood and guts and acid and eyeball jelly that rose a little higher every time.
Marco had tried to tell her. Had lost his temper and shouted when she called him a coward. Had shapeshifted to tower over her, showing off the scars of dozens of battles when she had sneered at a Bone Gnawer telling someone of her lineage about battle. How many fomori had she hunted down? He had screamed it at her. How many times had she suffered through purification rituals to cleanse wyrm poison out of burns and gashes? Never, he had hissed. Never. Sheltered, spoiled, little girl pretending to be a warrior.
She in turn had also shifted and lunged at him bellowing her own fury and he had sidestepped her and thrown her into her own followers. Let her claw and kill them, he had said. Let them waste their own lives following her. He would not allow her to endanger him, no matter how much help she might need. He advised them, as he left, to leave their stories behind, because no one would ever hear of them otherwise. Can’t be honored in song if no one knows you ever lived or died. It wasn’t nice or comforting, but it was true, and they had been fed enough romantic crap for one night.