Which is to say that Nen knew Knives was strong, knew he could move fast and traverse incredible distances with this scores of bladed tendrils, but Nen's never actually seen him fight. Not like this. Defending against a few squirrels is nothing like this.
When Knives moves, Nenonen can feel the amount of force and power that goes into each step. He's so fast. Faster than Nen's able to process and react to; one second he's gathered them up in his arm, and the next he's whipped around to fend off another bunch of scorpions before they have a chance to get their wits about them. It's a miracle they don't suffer any whiplash from it; the sheer force that he moves around with makes Nen feels a bit like they would on any ride with a bit of g-force to it.
Nen's never ridden one, but it makes the blood rush to their face and their stomach a bit queasy.
Thus, it's not until Nen manages to lift their head after that last jerk forward--where Nen's face bumps into his shoulder despite their best attempts to hold onto him and brace themself--that Knives will see the twin trails of black blood that run down from Nenonen's nose. It's not that they're hurt, or that they even hit his shoulder very hard; it's that their new blood thinners? Are a bit more effective than normal.
And now Knives's shoulder has a nice dark smear of Essence-blood on it. ]
I'm...I'm sorry.
[ Nen's hands tighten against him, fingers pressing into the dips of his muscles for leverage. ]
no subject
Which is to say that Nen knew Knives was strong, knew he could move fast and traverse incredible distances with this scores of bladed tendrils, but Nen's never actually seen him fight. Not like this. Defending against a few squirrels is nothing like this.
When Knives moves, Nenonen can feel the amount of force and power that goes into each step. He's so fast. Faster than Nen's able to process and react to; one second he's gathered them up in his arm, and the next he's whipped around to fend off another bunch of scorpions before they have a chance to get their wits about them. It's a miracle they don't suffer any whiplash from it; the sheer force that he moves around with makes Nen feels a bit like they would on any ride with a bit of g-force to it.
Nen's never ridden one, but it makes the blood rush to their face and their stomach a bit queasy.
Thus, it's not until Nen manages to lift their head after that last jerk forward--where Nen's face bumps into his shoulder despite their best attempts to hold onto him and brace themself--that Knives will see the twin trails of black blood that run down from Nenonen's nose. It's not that they're hurt, or that they even hit his shoulder very hard; it's that their new blood thinners? Are a bit more effective than normal.
And now Knives's shoulder has a nice dark smear of Essence-blood on it. ]
I'm...I'm sorry.
[ Nen's hands tighten against him, fingers pressing into the dips of his muscles for leverage. ]