Majutsu-shi no Chikara Ch. 01

Or seeing a male approach her of its own volition.

Damon stopped and blinked a moment, caught by the supreme absurdity of it. It made him smile.

It made him laugh.

He laughed hard, thinking it had to be terribly funny to be the first male to approach this ork femalewillingly, and it was going to get him killed. Terrible, yes, but also funny. He looked over his shoulder toward his friends, and stopped. Curious, they seemed as fear-stricken as Abhilash... and they didn't seem to see him as be seeingthrough him. He turned, suddenly interested in what they were staring at. It was the ork mother.

"Oh." he said, as though the realization was at once worth remarking on, and wholly unremarkable -- of course they were looking: she was there and they could see her and she would kill them all and it must be terribly frightening. Why was it frightening?

"Spare my friends, Ser." Damon seemed to remember his manners, bowing politely and offering the honorific as was fitting someone of her station.

And he took another, almost unintentional step forward.

"They don't want to die here, and I don't want them to die here." Damon gestured to his fellows. "And I'd like it very much if you let them go home to Southwold."

"And you, male?" there was a plaintiveness in her voice, he thought... something like a fond memory.

"Oh, you'll kill me, I'm sure." He smiled, still stricken with that hyper-aware calm. "I just would rather you didn't also kill any more of my friends."

He blushed, like he'd accidentally said something impolite, or shared a secret.

"I thought you knew." He looked her in the eyes and felt something...something that tried to reach out and crush him... shape him? Control... that's what it was. "Are you trying to control my mind?"

She looked surprised. He'd thought that Abhilash's emotional range of angry, predator, lustful, lustful-predator, angry-lust, and predatory-anger were all that encompassed ork expression, and this took him by surprise, too. It made him smile.

"I didn't know you could do that." Damon looked at the floor, suddenly embarrassed to have mentioned it, then the events of the past few minutes flicked through his mind. "Oh... I guess you were."

"And now?" She asked, though it felt like everything around her took a deep breath in.

"Well, no... not since she..." Damon turned and looked Abhilash in the face, but this new expression was more confusing that the surprise her mother had. "...hm... her face looks like it... hurts? No... not since she decided to kill Billsby... no, hurts isn't the right word."

He looked down, chewing his lip in thought. Something tingled at the back of his mind, like something he'd forgotten, or something he'd just remembered?

"You think I can control your mind, but that I'm not doing it now?" She stepped forward, which seemed to frighten Abhilash -- who cowered away from her. Her sisters mimicked the behavior, scattering toward the rounded perimeter of the yurt.

"Right, not now." Damon smiled and nodded. "Why? Are you trying, right now?"

"Oh, male." she smiled. It was a pretty-enough smile for someone about to kill you, Damon smiled a little wider... maybe it wouldn't hurttoo bad.

"My name's Damon." He took two impulsive steps closer, his hand extended in greeting. "Will you spare my friends?"

The shock on her face was evident. Confusion? No, surprise! Right --surprise... he was pretty sure he'd recognize it again if he saw it... assuming someone else exhibited surprise before he died... oh, maybehe'd be surprised when he died... the thought made him giggle, which looked completely insane to the ork females.

"Damon, you..." the mother ork seemed to shiver slightly, as though cold.

Is she cold? It's not cold, is it? I feel pretty warm. Damon tried to frown, but the idea of dying by surprise at this point was simply too funny to wipe the grin from his face.

"You are arare male." she smiled, and something outside seemed to happen, and the other females -- her daughters -- seemed to calm down. "I will grant your request."

"Oh, thanks." Damon looked at his hand, as though it might have floated up from his side on its own, since she wasn't coming closer to clasp his hand in greeting. He figured orks probably greeted each other by ripping each other's faces off, or something, and dropped his arm to his side.

"And I'm not going to kill you."

"I'm sorry?" Damon looked confused. He knew what that expression looked like. He didn't recognize the ork mother's expression, butshe wasn't confused, so maybe it was alright thathe was confused.

"I'm not going to kill you, Damon." she smiled, and he thought there was something terribly familiar about it...Predatory. "I'm going to raise an army from you."

"No." Damon said flatly, hoping his face expressed his concern.

"No?" She looked amused and... now he was guessing... sad? "Why not?"

"Because then you didn't kill me, and I didn't have anything else planned after you killed me, and I didn't figure the mating looked all that fun -- because you don't seem to care about each other -- and if it's all the same to you I'd rather be killed, please." he rambled.

"You're... denying me?" she asked, stepping toward him again.

"I guess so, yes?" Damon shrugged, childlike in the realization and somewhat embarrassed, though he didn't rightly understand why.

"And you want me to kill you?" her smile vanished and she seemed as confused as he was.

"Right." he nodded, looking at his feet and then around the room -- as though something urgent was going to happen right after they were done talking.

"Because you don't have a plan for anything after you die..." she came closer, only a few paces separating them.

"Right." he nodded again, but slower, like he was coaxing her to the logical conclusion.

"But..." she stopped. There was something happening, but Damon couldn't piece any of it together. What about this was so hard? His friends go home, she kills him, he dies... everyone does there part and gets what they want... was that complicated?

"What if I don'twant to kill you?" she asked. Something was very wrong, Damon decided. This wasn't going to get him killed at all.

"But you have to -- I don't die, otherwise." He insisted.

"But what..."

"No, kill me."

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want you dead?"

"What if I let you killone of my other friends? Then would you kill me?"

"No, why would... I already agreed to let them leave!"

"But would you kill me if you didn't letall of them leave?"

"No, I don't want to kill you."

"But you have to."

"No."

"Please?"

"What?"

"Please kill me?"

"Are you fucking serious?"

"You weregoing to kill us all, anyway, and I'm not asking you to do anything weird or anything -- just let my friends go and kill me and we all go on our way."

"But I can't... you don't..." she stepped closer, shaking her head and frowning.

"Kill me, already. Come one, it's not like I'm anything special."

"No, you'reeverything." and at that moment, Damon blacked-out.

...