[TOY] Plaything

[skinstealer]

You shake yourself off and concentrate, pulling your wings back into fists as you take your own step forward. Play with the narrative, huh? They want you to hit them back, so…they’re expecting it. And you get the feeling the narrative won’t be satisfied until it shows how unmatched you really are…

Straight punch isn’t gonna cut it, and you’re gonna need to channel some serious rage behind this to make it count.

You think back to how you felt upon waking up on the ground, how it felt right before-

You feel the memory of something from what feels like long ago piercing you clean through, and you lunge, filled with red hot anger thinking about it. Thinking about them.

Cindi moves to dodge and you land your hit- using the other arm than the one you feinted with. The horse is knocked back a few steps, wheezing.

CINDI: Now that’s a hit!
CINDI: I’m gonna take a bit of credit, though.
POLKA DOT: W-what? You didn’t do shit!
POLKA DOT: I hit you!
CINDI: Yeah, but I lied.
 

You get that feeling that they’d be grinning again.

CINDI: Twice.
CINDI: The narrative does not favor the little guy.
CINDI: Don’t get that twisted.
CINDI: In this city, the stronger almost always wins. 
CINDI: Everybody in charge’s pulling us along on stupid little strings.
CINDI: I’m lucky enough to be big. Nobody fucks with me.
CINDI: If I started out with that, though, you wouldn’t have been able to hit me hard like that.
CINDI: You believed you were the stronger one. That you could do it.
CINDI: That backed you up.
CINDI: Doesn’t mean you have the excuse to act stupid and reckless, though. 
CINDI: Unless you have a real good reason, some real good motivation…
CINDI: Don’t assume you’re gonna win. 
CINDI: You’re better off finding weakpoints and being confident in your ability to take those down than swinging wildly with a shitload of bravado in your pocket.
CINDI: Second lie…
CINDI: Narrative can still cause injuries.
CINDI: Let’s say you’re up against something metal and you’ve got some piddly toy knife. No sharpness to the blade.
CINDI: You can probably cut into them like it were metal if you put enough energy behind it.
CINDI: Hell, judging by that hit, if you had gone for a proper seam rip with your hands, you could have torn me open.
CINDI: So whatever you used to make that count, hang onto that.