Sylvanus (Private)

[Malverne]

"So..." Faust said, his dead eyes half open, looking at his feet, "It has a name? Of course they do. Savage they may be, but they aren't animals. Well, I suppose that depends on your definition of 'animal,' but they're intelligent." Faust met Mira's eyes. He didn't feel angry at her. She was defending something barbaric and violent, something that had now managed to hurt Faust twice, but he couldn't feel anger, or hatred, or sadness, or even pain. Faust couldn't feel anything in his chest.

"Mira, has it ever occurred to you that I know more about humans than anyone should ever know? I know that they're smart, strong, completely ruthless, and don't hesitate to destroy anything they want. And believe me, Mira, when I say that there is no such thing as an innocent man. There isn't a soul alive, elf, human, or whatever other races actually exist, that's innocent. The closest thing that you can find is an infant, or an animal." Faust paused for a moment, considering his next words.

"I wasn't trying to destroy your happiness," he said, "For once, I wasn't even thinking about you. I wanted to kill that human for me, and me alone. And I wish, with all my heart, that you'd been a second later."

[Sonatina]

a second later the words echoed in Mira's mind. Suddenly the image of Faust raising his hand to kill Ryan flashed through her brain, followed by her imagination showing her Ryan's bloodied and lifeless body lying on the floor. And that was what Faust was wishing for.

She didn't have to think twice about winding back and punching Faust as hard as she could, square in the jaw.

"DON'T YOU EVER THREATEN HIM!" She shouted, as loud as she could, her voice echoing through the forest, sending birds into flight "Do you hear me Faust?! Don't you ever threaten him again, I will throw myself in front of a thousand blades to save his life. I. LOVE. HIM!"

[Malverne]

Faust saw the blow coming, but couldn't find the motivation to dodge it. Mira's fist made solid contact with his face, and Faust gave with the blow so she wouldn't hurt her knuckles.

The force twisted Faust off balance, and he fell backwards into a drift of snow, landing on his bad side. The sound of a rib snapping was audible, and Faust's face went white with pain. His jaw clenched with the strain of not crying out. After a few moments, his spine relaxed, and Faust rolled onto his back.

"You think I can't tell that?" he snarled, "You think I don't know that you love him? You think that the knowledge that you'd sacrifice yourself for that...thing sits fine with my breakfast? I'll threaten whoever I want. Whatever I want. And there really isn't much you can do about it, because what else are you going to take away from me? I don't exactly have much left."

[Sonatina]

Mira straightened her back, her eyes narrowing "I don't give a damn about you and your breakfast Faust" she spat the words at his face "What I give a damn about is Ryan's health..." She paused, taking in his white face and the way he held himself, guilt flooding her. She sighed and her shoulders relaxed "and whether or not you choose to accept it yours, Faust, I don't know..." She faded away again, sinking down to sit next to him, suddenly aware how tired she was

"These past days have been...strange, I feel like I'm dreaming, but I know I'm not, its just I-" She looked at him, staring until he met her eyes "What is going on Faust? What has come over you? Why-....why did you try to kill Ryan? If you knew I loved him, and you knew it would break my heart...why are you so set against him?"

Her eyes bore into his, as if trying to find an answer written in their black core.

[Malverne]

Faust leaned his head back onto the snow, staring up at the darkening sky. He glared upwards, at nothing in particular, for a while, wondering what to say. He was quite aware of Mira sitting next to him. Faust didn't turn to meet her eyes.

"Well," he muttered after a while, "You interrupted before I could do anything really damaging, so your Ryan," he spat the name out, "and his precious health will be fine. Whoop-de-freaking doo. Congratulations, you get everything you want, as usual." Faust tried to scoot away from Mira, but he couldn't do any more than shift his weight.

"I told you, this wasn't about you. I did it for me, damn the consequences, because it needed to be done. Humans...I stand by what I said before. They're savages, intent on destruction, and hungry for blood." Faust's eyes closed for a moment, hiding the fact that they were watering, and when he opened them, they were clear.

"Heh, I guess I'm not any better than them now, am I?" His grin was full of self-loathing. "Maybe I've always been like that, but I never had anyone to take it out on. Well, you always told me I needed to stop being so calm, and punch someone. Are you happy now that I let loose?"

[Sonatina]

"I never meant like this!" Mira's voice escalated "Who are you to call someone savage?! What right do you have?! All you know about humans is from those stupid stories the elders tell to scare misbehaving children to sleep! You don't know anything Faust!"

[Malverne]

"I know more than enough," Faust said quietly, his low tone contrasting with Mira's volume. It was almost as if he was speaking for his own ears.

"Where do you think those stories came from? Things like that don't just pop into being. They have to come from somewhere. Everyone knows that. Except, most people just think that the idea of 'humans' evolved from some ape-like creature that an elf saw from a distance while he was drunk, but we know that's not true, don't we?" Faust struggled to sit up, but after a good amount of strife, he managed to lean forward. He pulled one of his throwing knives from the belt on his back, and contemplated it.

"I have every right to call someone savage," he said, "In case you didn't notice, I am a little savage. I know how it feels to be feral. I also know how it feels to watch something else be savage. I know so much more than you would ever think, Mira. And I hate it."

[Sonatina]

"But humans aren't bad Faust!" Mira insisted "I've spent time with Ryan and never once has he shown the savageness that you did before you even talked to him! You don't know Faust, because you've never seen one before, you are acting like a scared child! Maybe you should try and get to know someone before you judge them! Maybe you shouldn't make assumptions about something you've never encountered!"

[Malverne]

Faust clenched the handle of the knife, and squeezed his eyes shut.

"For once, Mira, just please, stop talking," he said, "You think you're the only person who's been ever been wronged? Do you really think that you're the only elf that's ever met a human?" Faust suddenly threw the knife as hard as he could, ignoring the spasm of pain in his chest.

"You really need to grow up," he growled, "You've known me for how long, and you think I do things without reason? I don't. But, believe me, I wish more than anything that I'd never even heard of humans. And maybe I am acting like a scared child, but is that really a bad thing? At least I know enough to be scared."

[Sonatina]

"I need to grown up? I do?" Mira growled at him "I don't need to be scared! I have nothing to be afraid of! Nothing! Besides in the stories, no human has ever harmed an elf!"

[Malverne]

"Are you really that dense?!" Faust exclaimed, pushing himself to his feet, "Or are you just selectively deaf? No, you just ignore everything you don't want to hear. I know exactly what I'm talking about, because I've known that humans existed longer than I've known you! Hell, I told you that, but no, you think everything is about you!" Faust spun around, his eyes blazing, looking down on Mira.

"Eleven years ago," he hissed, "Three humans almost ripped me limb from limb, for fun. I watched them turn on something completely innocent and harmless, just because I got away. You say that no human has ever harmed an elf, outside of stories? You're dead wrong." Faust spun away, his shoulders tight. He limped a few steps away, shaking with rage and pain.

"I still have nightmares," he confessed. "You want to know the reason I want your human dead? Because he's the reason I can't sleep through the night. And you..." Faust punched the tree in front of him with all his strength, "You choose something like that." Faust leaned his forehead against the bark of the tree, his eyes glistening with tears. All the strength flooded from his body, and slowly, he slid to his knees.

"He's the reason I don't have a sister," he whispered to the tree, so softly that there was no way Mira could hear, "and you picked him."

[Sonatina]

Mira stood as though her feet were rooted to the ground as she tried to work through what Faust had just said. She swayed as it hit her. He had known that humans existed, he had said, long before she did. They had tried to kill him when he was just a child. The nightmares. What terrors he must have gone through.

She looked at his slumped shoulders, the way he knelt on the ground. She saw how afraid and angry and hurt he was and suddenly she was scared and angry too. How could anyone do that, attack a small child, what a twisted and horrific soul humans must have, if they had a soul - she stopped as the memory of Ryan smiling floated through her mind, the sunlight making his hair and eyes shine. She remembered the way he looked at her, with such wonder and love.

No humans weren't evil, maybe a couple had sick minds, but that didn't mean all humans were. There were some elves, after all, that were shunned because of the way they thought and acted.

"Faust" she said, her voice cracking halfway through "Faust, I can't begin to know what you went through, but now...." she thought about everything she had just said to him "now I know how terrible I just was, and the awful....awful things I said and I...I'm sorry Faust."

She knelt down next to him, "I know that the humans who did those horrific things to you must have been sick and twisted and morbid, but Faust, that doesn't mean all humans are! Ryan, Ryan is loving, he cares and feels and is a good person. He couldn't ever do anything terrible like that. I think that not all humans are bad Faust, they can't be!" She reached out and touched his shoulder "Faust, humans aren't all bad! Just, please, please give Ryan a chance to show you that!"

[Malverne]

Faust wiped the tears from his face, suddenly exhausted. His exhaustion left him bitter and snappy.

"Yea, you did say some pretty awful things," he said, "But it's not like it's anything worse than what I've had to deal with." Faust glanced over at Mira's knees as she knelt next to him, then looked in the other direction. He wasn't sure what it was that stopped him from looking at her. Pain? Anger? Shame? Some combination of the three?

Faust managed to tolerate Mira's closeness. Despite all of his anger, there was still a part of him that wanted her, and that part was yelling at him to apologize and beg for forgiveness.

She ran her hands over Faust's shoulders, and he pulled away, unable to stand it.

"Don't-" he started, but stopped to change his sentence. "Don't say his name. Even if not all humans are bad, that one is. Or, at least, his father is. That face..." Faust bowed his head, suddenly unable to speak. "I recognized it. It's exactly the same face that killed her. It's not a face I'm likely to forget, or one that I'll ever let convince me that it has a soul."

[Sonatina]

Mira pulled her hand back as Faust recoiled from her and pulled it close to her chest. Slumping her shoulders she listened to him rejecting Ryan's name, then his face, then...

"Killed her? Killed who? Who is 'her' Faust? What do you mean about Ryan's father?"