what we owe to each other :: [ lex + denali // day seven ]

Is this it? Lex's axe finds the same wounded place on Denali's leg, criss-crossing the red slash that brought her to the ground in the first place. Both of them are long past the point of pretending this doesn't hurt — both still too stubborn to roll over and die for real. Both need the distraction of Denali protesting Lex's retelling of the Bloodbath.

"On the ropes? If you were anyone else I'd have torn your throat out with my teeth. That day, I could have done it." Lex shakes her head. The version of events in her memory look a lot different than they do in Denali's. Clearly one of them was too busy suffering from blood loss and getting taken hostage by the iconic solo wealth winner to form new memories.

[attr="id","lSpeech"]"No, no, no. You tried to bite my throat out, remember? You got my shoulder." Even through the thick woven cotton of her suit jacket, through the structured padding on its shoulders, Denali's jaws had left one ugly bruise. Lex isn't quite sure if Denali is laughing or shivering or sobbing. Probably all three. [attr="id","lSpeech"]"And I know you'd've bitten my throat out if you could've, because you said so. You told me I should get to know a girl before I make a play for her heart, cause you like to go for the throat."

The world swims as blood trails down her legs, her arms, her chest. Lex grins anyhow, laughs anyhow when Denali winks and snaps her teeth in demonstration. "I could've done it again." Alternate timelines unfurl in Denali's voice, the animated delight falling away.

A sprinkle of blood droplets fall from her elbows as Lex shrugs. [attr="id","lSpeech"]"I could've pulled your heart out right then and there. Or slit your throat instead of tying you up. This part might've been easier, but then my armor would've been so boring." That stupid impulse that demanded she get a hostage instead of a kill turned out not to be so stupid after all. Sometimes terrible ideas are good ones — she's spent enough time with her own reckless brain to know that.

A second cannon fires. Down to six. "Is it brave or stupid to continue throwing knives at you?"

Lex shakes her head. [attr="id","lSpeech"]"No. Neither." Or maybe both. It's stupid that it's necessary. It's braver to end it like this — fair and square — than anything else. [attr="id","lSpeech"]"Braver and stupider than biting out my throat, I guess."

Sent lurching forward from a spasm of pain in her thigh, the steak knife clips her shoulder, traces down Lex's back. If it weren't against the rules, she might apologize for ducking the knife that may well have buried itself in her heart.

[attr="id","lSpeech"]"This is my last axe, though." She kisses its cheek and sends it flying.


[attr="id","lSpeech"][ throws axe at denali ]

fZ09noWzNvthrowing axe

[attr="id","lSpeech"][ 10184 -- Axe in Calf -- 8.5 damage ]