milliways_bar | (no subject)

"Give me a moment to think about how to get out."

Petra replys promptly, mind working overtime.

"Try yielding?"

Bonzo adjusts the blade's position slightly.

"Don't make me destroy you."

That -is- said with a slight grin on his face.

Petra smiles.

"Na, You could surrender though."

And she moves, she's courting some rather harsh burns, but unless Bonzo decides to move the blade and an inopportune moment she might get away with it.

Mostly it involves kicking out at Bonzo. Not to hurt, just to knock him down.

Bonzo takes a deep breath and takes the stab at Petra's heart. It's the quickest, most painless shot available.

"Don't say I didn't offer you the choice."

"Well, I like to take the hard road out of life."

Petra sits up, and leans forward to rub her right foot.

"Any objection to going inside for a bit?"

Bonzo shakes his head.

"None. And I'm sorry about that, Petra..."

He offers her a hand to help her up.

"Why sorry? I feel no remorse in killing the enemy."

Not these days anyway.

She grabs his hand and stands up.

"Lets go." She leads the way into the bar.

Bonzo sighs.

"I could have disarmed you just as easily."

"Well, an inch more and I would have killed myself on your blade, and it was hardly my blade attacking you at the last."

The bar is warm on Petra's face and she slips into a stool on the bar and orders something warm, She continues as she takes off her shoes and socks.

"You really should not feel so badly for 'killing' me. Mercy is for when you know they cannot hurt you. I still had my blade, and my mind, thus, I was still a threat."

Bonzo sighs and nods.

"But you showed me mercy when you had me on the ground once before..."

Petra shrugs and smiles slightly.

"You triped, that is hardly fair now is it? Now, when I went down, it was because your blade pushed me there. And..." She falls silent.

Bonzo sighs.

"Still, it's not what I should have done. Though what's this about you killing yourself on my blade?"

Petra rolls her eyes.

"Follow my motion through. If I had actuly reached you legs as I rather ment too, My upper body would have either been wrenched around harmlessly, or more likely, propelled forward into your blade. An Accident, a risk, but an acceptable one."

Bonzo thinks about that.

"And if you'd gotten me on the ground, what would you have done?"

Petra looks Bonzo strait in the eye.

"The same as I did when you were trapped against the wall. You would have 'died.'"

No doubt now. Petra is not the same girl who went though battle school, nor even the one who escaped Achilles lair.

Bonzo sighs.

"Well, you've certainly developed a willingness to kill...I at least want to give my opponent the chance to surrender if circumstances allow for it."

Petra winces slightly and says nothing, her mind turning around his words.]

Willingness to kill... yes. Yes. That would be a way to put it wouldn't it? I left mercy far behind, in a word at the edge of war and the peacemakers gone... there is little need for mercy, and much demand for harshness.

Bonzo sighs.

"I've overreacted to what nearly happened to me, haven't I?"

"Perhaps. Why do you ask?"

Bonzo shakes his head.

"You sound like I once did. And I've become...less brutal, too."

"Take a trip though the Russian winter." the girls suggests mildly, an edge to her voice.

She forces it away and attempts to smile. "You've done well."

Bonzo arches an eyebrow.

"How so?"

Petra has no idea what Bonzo is responding to so...

"You're much more mellow now then you ever were. I remember how you always delt kindly with Kit, even when he was being annoying. The old Bonzo would never have stood for that nonsense."

Bonzo smiles.

"When you see that a road leads to a dead end...it's usually good to change roads."

Pause.

"How is Kit doing, anyway?"

"Wonderfuly. He loves the Hegemony's offices. The people there don't love him, as his favorate activity is sitting on cabnits waiting for people to pass so he can pounce...."

A faint smile crosses Petra's face.

"Needless to say, they aren't fond of that, but they humor him because it humors me."