A Green Tinted Sky

[Clownpiece]

The once deathly silent air now held the echoes of raucous laughter. Laughter in defiance of everything that held down the soldier. Guilt, finality, futility, she spat in the face of all of them as she released that roar of a laugh. For what felt like the longest time, Somerled could only stand there, face blank and confused, as he witnessed what could possibly be described as a mental breakdown in progress. Just as suddenly as it had occurred though, the laughter faded, and the woman just stood there, chest heaving with the energy of the rant she had just produced, staring at the monster with a gaze that sent chills down his spine, as if she was looking into his very heart and judging it. Then, his mouth broke into a menacing, toothy grin, his eyes betraying thrill under their predatory glint.

“Now there’s a determination I haven’t seen in decades!” Somerled’s voice was rough with excitement. “You, I like you,” he dropped his nonthreatening stance, now looking truly like the human-hunter he was at heart. “Someone who will keep fighting with their all even in the face of inevitability.” The still air stirred into a light breeze with the spirit’s intensity. “Well, here’s the face of inevitability!” His eyes glowed menacingly as he stirred up the magic in his body, the magical equivalent of stretching before a run. “What will you do?”

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” his own voice interrupted what Somerled considered to be a great speech. The wind that could barely be considered majestic fell into nothingness immediately.

“Oh fuck off!” his maniacal grin instantly fell into an exasperated frown. “Let me do what I want!”

“Well unlike you, I don’t feel like getting myself killed,” Sonny responded. Somerled went for a retort, mouth at the ready, when it suddenly struck him that yes, the soldier was still right there. His expression shifted to a pained grin, and his voice fell into an almost inaudible whisper.

“And now I look fucking crazy,” he scolded his other half, “Now shush, or I swear to the fucking squirrel god that I will rip your mind into existence and punch it right back out.” Keeping his pained grin, he began addressing the woman in front of him again. “Please, pretend that never happened.” A strange mixture of anger, exasperation, and worry stirred up in his heart, and he doubted this situation could be salvaged, but damned if he wasn’t gonna try.