[Hot shame and embarrassment choke her from the neck up, like a pair of invisible hands that feel startlingly like her own. She struggles to return to that steely visage of herself, one she carries like a mask etched permanent onto her expression. Where did that tenacious shadow of herself go? Why is she gone now— why was she broken down so effectively, so easily by Ushi Gozen's gaze alone? Even in the face of abject ridicule and disdain she was able to cast those pitiful beings aside and rise up to the established leader that she is— was before.
Now... now she weeps like a child. Pathetic. Humiliating...!
And yet somehow... a small part of her is grateful for the tears. It means she still feels just as strongly, can still be wounded and made stronger—
Shousetsu.
Ushi Gozen's voice cuts through the chaos of her thoughts. She keeps her head turned away— wallowing in the selfishness tucked close in her chest. No, she did not deserve to look upon this face, to see her weakness laid bare for the demigod to s—
!!
Cold skin encases her hand and the tug that comes with it clears the bitter tightening of her muscles. A gasp catches in her throat as her hand is pulled down and wayward tears tumble from her cheeks as her eyes widen at the sight before her— almost reminiscent of the one she had just envisioned before...
Except the mask was no longer there and Rider's ardent expression was now the center of her focus, all fervid energy coursing from the demigod's fingers to her own. She feels herself pulled into the eye of that storm and her lips part from the intensity of that gaze, those words—
—Honeyed... words.
Words meant to place a spell.
'You need not watch as it happens.'
Ah, this was... the cruelty of a god. When villagers, nobles, merchants and humans alike flee from being crushed underfoot by an ancient god wrought by her own Servant she was expected to merely watch?...]
Ushi Gozen— [Shousetsu lets out the name in one aghast breath, visages of true disbelief and betrayal still flashing in her expression and the hand trapped between the demigod's begin to tremble—
"My, my! Are we in the midst of a joyous occasion? You really should have notified us ahead of time!"
Startled, Shousetsu's gaze snaps up. A waiter with a rather hefty bottle of wine begins approaching, a too wide smile on his face. There are a few other paired onlookers, their smiles just as saccharine sweet as a cold realization dawns upon the samurai.
"A toast for the happy couple!"]
N-No, no, you've mista—
["Congratulations! Congratulations!
Congra—"
A table— from seemingly out of thin air— strikes the waiter and sends him and the wine sprawling. There's a sound of the bottle shattering, his body colliding with the floor and a second later an eruption of screams.
Followed by a monstrous one, right in the center of the club.
no subject
Now... now she weeps like a child. Pathetic. Humiliating...!
And yet somehow... a small part of her is grateful for the tears. It means she still feels just as strongly, can still be wounded and made stronger—
Shousetsu.
Ushi Gozen's voice cuts through the chaos of her thoughts. She keeps her head turned away— wallowing in the selfishness tucked close in her chest. No, she did not deserve to look upon this face, to see her weakness laid bare for the demigod to s—
!!
Cold skin encases her hand and the tug that comes with it clears the bitter tightening of her muscles. A gasp catches in her throat as her hand is pulled down and wayward tears tumble from her cheeks as her eyes widen at the sight before her— almost reminiscent of the one she had just envisioned before...
Except the mask was no longer there and Rider's ardent expression was now the center of her focus, all fervid energy coursing from the demigod's fingers to her own. She feels herself pulled into the eye of that storm and her lips part from the intensity of that gaze, those words—
—Honeyed... words.
Words meant to place a spell.
'You need not watch as it happens.'
Ah, this was... the cruelty of a god. When villagers, nobles, merchants and humans alike flee from being crushed underfoot by an ancient god wrought by her own Servant she was expected to merely watch?...]
Ushi Gozen— [Shousetsu lets out the name in one aghast breath, visages of true disbelief and betrayal still flashing in her expression and the hand trapped between the demigod's begin to tremble—
"My, my! Are we in the midst of a joyous occasion? You really should have notified us ahead of time!"
Startled, Shousetsu's gaze snaps up. A waiter with a rather hefty bottle of wine begins approaching, a too wide smile on his face. There are a few other paired onlookers, their smiles just as saccharine sweet as a cold realization dawns upon the samurai.
"A toast for the happy couple!"]
N-No, no, you've mista—
["Congratulations! Congratulations!
Congra—"
A table— from seemingly out of thin air— strikes the waiter and sends him and the wine sprawling. There's a sound of the bottle shattering, his body colliding with the floor and a second later an eruption of screams.
Followed by a monstrous one, right in the center of the club.
We... We were too late!]