Ryoko's heart stills in her chest for just one beat.
Of course it would end up this way. Maybe because of her frantic desperation – or maybe because the catalyst is such a small, fragmented thing that the summoning has been similarly fragmented. Either way, she can't afford to look a gift horse in the mouth... even if some tiny part of her feels cold and panicked at the thought of trying to control a Berserker.
Not that she lets any of it show. Her hands curl into fists and she wills herself to stay steady, even as her whole body wants to shake. ]
The men coming this way are looking for me... or I suppose you could say that they're hunting me.
[ The command that should follow stills on her tongue. Just long enough for her to let herself think about it.
Even if her Berserker is the one who kills him, Ryoko is the one who gave the command. In that sense, he's nothing more than a weapon and once his work is done, Ryoko will be the murderer here. She's fought and tricked her way in and out of the SIU and defended herself when it's necessary, but Ryoko has never killed before. She waits for some second thoughts, some fracturing in her resolution to tell her that she doesn't have the stomach for this.
Instead, she feels... nothing at all.
When she speaks up again, her voice is harder and steadier than it was a moment ago. Maybe more than it should be to give a command like this. ]
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Ryoko's heart stills in her chest for just one beat.
Of course it would end up this way. Maybe because of her frantic desperation – or maybe because the catalyst is such a small, fragmented thing that the summoning has been similarly fragmented. Either way, she can't afford to look a gift horse in the mouth... even if some tiny part of her feels cold and panicked at the thought of trying to control a Berserker.
Not that she lets any of it show. Her hands curl into fists and she wills herself to stay steady, even as her whole body wants to shake. ]
The men coming this way are looking for me... or I suppose you could say that they're hunting me.
[ The command that should follow stills on her tongue. Just long enough for her to let herself think about it.
Even if her Berserker is the one who kills him, Ryoko is the one who gave the command. In that sense, he's nothing more than a weapon and once his work is done, Ryoko will be the murderer here. She's fought and tricked her way in and out of the SIU and defended herself when it's necessary, but Ryoko has never killed before. She waits for some second thoughts, some fracturing in her resolution to tell her that she doesn't have the stomach for this.
Instead, she feels... nothing at all.
When she speaks up again, her voice is harder and steadier than it was a moment ago. Maybe more than it should be to give a command like this. ]
Take care of them.