Its mind is the most alien thing about it, really. It's all anger and hate and violence, with no root she can discern. No mage-collar forces it to behave this way. Johnny and the other woman caused no direct offense, nor offered harm before it came after them. It just attacked because it could - attacked them, in particular, because they were there and it was easy. She wants to reason with it, but how can she when there isn't any?
Daine exhales, slow and steady. She pushes away the cries of Johnny and his rabbit, the louder rumblings of the beast. This won't work if she can't focus completely. Even Coromotto's growl fades into the background as she takes her magic into the beast again. It's a more precise invasion this time. The creature is too big for her to hold all of it, so she'll just have to find a smaller part that matters enough. A faint line appears between her brows as she insinuates her magic into the musculature of its great, beating heart.
It feels the invasion and gathers itself to rail against it, but before it can lash out at her or anyone else, Daine squeezes, slow and pitiless. A lack of pity - that's something it can understand, and it shudders beneath the internal assault, drawing its tentacles in around itself.
Now, you listen, she says, confident that she has its full attention. You can leave if you like. Go out to sea. Don't come back. But if you so much as think of touching someone, you will be stopped. She tightens her grip, stilling its heart for three beats of her own, heedless of the terrible moan it makes. As if she hasn't already killed hundreds of monsters she'd rather not have fought in the first place. Easing back, allowing its heart to resume a strained beat, she asks, Do you understand?
no subject
Daine exhales, slow and steady. She pushes away the cries of Johnny and his rabbit, the louder rumblings of the beast. This won't work if she can't focus completely. Even Coromotto's growl fades into the background as she takes her magic into the beast again. It's a more precise invasion this time. The creature is too big for her to hold all of it, so she'll just have to find a smaller part that matters enough. A faint line appears between her brows as she insinuates her magic into the musculature of its great, beating heart.
It feels the invasion and gathers itself to rail against it, but before it can lash out at her or anyone else, Daine squeezes, slow and pitiless. A lack of pity - that's something it can understand, and it shudders beneath the internal assault, drawing its tentacles in around itself.
Now, you listen, she says, confident that she has its full attention. You can leave if you like. Go out to sea. Don't come back. But if you so much as think of touching someone, you will be stopped. She tightens her grip, stilling its heart for three beats of her own, heedless of the terrible moan it makes. As if she hasn't already killed hundreds of monsters she'd rather not have fought in the first place. Easing back, allowing its heart to resume a strained beat, she asks, Do you understand?