A Butcher's Tale

Sciens se Melius (Pars 2): "Knowing them Better (Part 2)

It had been some long days.

Jill had to admit it, even a she watched the staring contest between Jane and the newbie, sligthly weireded by how his sinews tensed when the woman had approached him. Bad memories came up from the last and, well, first time she had fought Jack. It hadn't been a long squirmish, that much was true, yet she could not shake off the sentiment of danger coming from him. Jill wasn't a veteran yet, not by a long shot.

That title could only be associated with Rouge, Angel, Jane, Jackie and a few others, yet Jill wasn't, as Benny would've said, a noob. She had yet to develop the fearlessnes the the others had, yet for the almost 10 years she had served under Slenda she had continued to learn how to kill good and with style. Alongside with her natural killing instincts, demonic heritage tends to do that, it had taken her little time to start to develop a fearsome reputation as a stealthy yet combat ready assassin.

At least, that was what she had believed.

All it took was a single blow to down her. Well, "blow" wasn't the best word to describe the act of violence she had recieved. Nah, it would've sounded too human, too grounded in biology and reason. It wasn't the first time she had fought an opponent so vastily superior in physical prowess, after all she had more than one run in with Stripes and Zero, but it was the first time she had seen one of such typology move in the way he had moved, with such immaculate fluidity and edge cutting precision, in contrast of his almo-, no, definetly animalistic frenzy. And his speed. She was faster, by a small margin but faster still, yet when his elbow slammed itself with the force of a tank shell in her stomach she barely had the time to react.

A small shudder rattled her, ending in less than a second but rearing its ugly head nonetheless 'Nothing that large and heavy should move that quick. Nothing'. Her head shook sideways as Jill continued to listen to the conversation, taking care of not showing uneasyness to anyone.

The 2 were still talking, Jane having anwered his question with the name she had given herelf before her recruitment in the ranks of the Proxies. She carried herself with grace and nimbleness, movements looking too fast for them to be her casual pace, and yet.

Jill expected the giant to simply accept the name she gave him, maybe chuckle a bit and pat her shoulder before sitting down. What she did not expect was him slamming his frame on a small couch beside them both, making the whole area rattle, while laughter bubbled up his gullet. He slapped the armrests in an attempt to calm himself down, failing miserably as his snarl like laughter grew in volume. Suddenly, while rearing up his arm, he caught the armrest in his fingers and tore it off completely, still bellowing out in amusement.

He stopped, just barely, to speak with Jane "Y-YOU'RE REALLY MAKIN' THIS TOO EASY ARKENSAW!"

Somehow Jane's face paled even more as he sat down, his chuckling slowing down. Jill felt her eyes widen at her friend's surname.

'How the hell does he know that?! She-'

Jane spoke, razor edge in her tone as her eyes bore holes in Jack's skull. What made the situation so galling was that she had reacted with a measure of composure and reason, almost friendliness, when she had every right to draw her knives and finish it in a blunter, more efficient manner.

"Jack?"

He looked at her, his chesire grin never falling from his mug of a face.

Jane's frown deepened.

"How do you know my full name? Me and Slenda made sure to memory whipe or kill any who knew"

He sighed happily before speaking again, his own voice taking a more experienced tone, like a master imparting a lesson on a disciple.