Blood and Sand

[Magyar]

Bolion glanced at her hand and scowled, but didn't remove it. He still did not cry, although his eyes were reddened. He stood, and stalked over to another hut, this one unlit, and laid within, upon the overgrowth and ash. He rested, slouched on the wall.

After a time, he called, "I wasn't there. I should have been there, and I wasn't there." He was defeated, and drunk, his words slurred ever so slightly.

[DragonSong]

She frowned, approaching slowly, like he was a wild animal. Gods, she had so not signed up for this.

"It seems to me like you can't blame yourself for that," she murmured slowly. "That's not your fault."

[Magyar]

"But see, I was there, and I left! And by the time I came back..." he motioned to the homestead around them, "It was gone. They were gone... And I wasn't there." His scowl had deepened, anger still evident in his tone, "Even if I had died with them, at least I would have been there!"

[DragonSong]

"Hey!" She knelt in front of him, scowling. "What good would that have done anyone? Then you'd just be dead!"

She shook her head and looked away. "I tried that way, alright? It's not like it does anything for anyone but yourself."

[Magyar]

"Yeah well it's not like there's really anyone else left to consider, now is there?" He defended, but then puzzled, went on, "What do you mean, you tried?"

He sat up slightly, ready to stand, although he was only adjusting for comfort.

[DragonSong]

Her expression shut down. "Nothing. It's not important. Look- do you really think your family would be happier or something if you'd died with them?"

[Magyar]

"They're dead!" He fought her, exasperated, "I don't think they can be happy!"

He got off of the floor, awkwardly sliding up the wall, and wobbled slightly as he stood. His scowl morphed into a grimace, "I don't risk my life because I think it's fun, Della."

[DragonSong]

"Gah!" Della threw her hands into the air in exasperation. "I never said you did!"

She huffed and turned her back to him, stomping back to the campfire and grumbling under her breath.

[Magyar]

His drunkenness clouded his judgement, and he went after her, "Where're you going?" he growled, seeing her leaving as a personal sleight. In his anger, and stupidity, he grabbed wrist, "Hey!"

[DragonSong]

Caught off guard, Della hissed like a wildcat and swung around, hand raised with a ball of electricity gathering in her palm.

She managed to catch herself in time and froze, panting as she looked down at him. "Let me go, Bolion," she ground out.

[Magyar]

Bolion from several days ago would have listened, in fact wouldn't have done it in the first place. Even Bolion from a few hours previous would have been rational, but Bolion now was drunk, angry, and thick headed. Besides his emotional trauma, when drunk, his orcish heritage bore it's teeth and reared it's head. The first night he'd gotten truly drunk was the same night he'd learned to kill a man with a glass barmug. A deep, very inhuman growl emanated from his throat, and a snarl spread on his face.

"No." He snapped, and tightened his grip. The little voice that would traditionally yell at him to be reasonable was throwing up in the bathroom, and so he pushed, and bitterly viewed Della as somehow antagonizing him, despite the reversed reality.

[DragonSong]

For the first time in years, Della felt a little thrill of fear run through her. "I said let go!" she demanded, trying to tug her wrist free. Magic crackled to life in her palm again. "Don't make me do something I'll regret you pig-headed merc," she hissed, silver eyes flashing.

[Magyar]

Bolion deigned to release her, instead closing the gap between them, sandwiching his grip between them,and stared into her eyes, searching for something he didn't seem to find. He never left her eyes, and after a tense few seconds, pushed her and her hand away from him a tad roughly. It was only then that he saw the lightning in her palm, and flicked his eyes back up towards hers. He snickered lightly, and stalked back towards his overgrown hut, muttering to himself something about unfairness.

[DragonSong]

She growled as he got a closer, a feral sound that was nowhere near human.

But then he released her and stalked back into the hut and she blinked, surprised. "What- oh hell no!"

She stomped after him. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? You don't get to throw a tantrum like than and then walk away like nothing happened!" She cuffed him on the back of a head in what was strangely almost a maternal gesture, scowling.

[Magyar]

As soon as the hand hit him he tensed. After a second's gauging, he spun around, backhanding Della across the face, and on the return gesture caught her under the jaw. Stepping towards her, he let his arm go slack, only slightly, then flexed and straightened, picking her up and throwing her out of the hut, by her throat, all within the span of a few seconds.

Still standing in the doorway, he grunted, turned back into his hut, bent over and threw up.

[DragonSong]

Completely stunned, Della rolled a few paces before laying on her side, gasping. Her jaw ached, heart racing, flashes of memories she'd rather not have racing trough her mind.

No. fuck this, it didn't control her. Snarling, she got to her feet and shouted a spell, throwing a hand toward the hut.

A net of bluish-white electricity formed around the hut, effectively forming a cage. Still growling quietly, she made her way back to her bedroll and curled up, nursing the hurt carefully.

[Magyar]

Bolion finished vomiting, drawing a hand across his mouth. He walked towards the net, and extended a hand to it, intending to push it, but got shocked quite painfully. Jerking his hand back, he stared at the net and decided that full on shoulder bashing it was the best course of action.

Taking a few steps back, he ran at the prison, and ashen he hit it, it stretched a little bit, then electrocuted him so badly that when it flexed back towards the hut he simply fell backwards, partially into his own vomit, fully unconscious. His head hit the ground with a thud, and any hope of waking up in the next five hours was gone.

He came back to consciousness slowly, and his head hurt immensely. One part alcohol, two parts violence contributed to a throbbing for migraine, and a bath in bile. He pushed himself up onto his hands, and looked for the way out, which was still electrocuted.

"Della!" He called, then groaned and pressed a hand to the side of his head, and much more quietly said again, "Della."

[DragonSong]

She'd been awake for an hour now, having fed and watered the horses and put a salve on her bruised cheek and jaw. When he called her name, she stalked forward to stand on the other side of the net and arched an eyebrow.

"Do you need something?" Her voice was pure ice.

[Magyar]

"I'm sorry." He said quietly, then in absence of anything else, "I don't drink for a reason." He shifted awkwardly, and winced, then looked down. He had crisscross burn marks on his clothes and skin, and his right shoulder had first degree burns on the skin, a hole burnt through the shoulder cloth.

"I fucked up, alright?" His tone was bitter, but whether at her or himself he didn't know. "And I need to clean this shit off of me, so let me out. Please." The last word was added belatedly, admittedly as an afterthought. Normally his consequences for drinking were self imposed, and he didn't have to plead with himself when he wanted out.

[DragonSong]

She stared him down. Then, slowly, she raised a hand and clenched her fist. The electric cage flickered away.

"If you ever strike me again, I will stop your heart," she warned, then put her back to him and walked away.