PRIVATE Snowblind || p, Xenti

[XANTI]

XANTI

“Huh. He did?” Xanti hesitated, squinting at the wolf as xe scrutinized the body language. Torture didn’t create truth out of liars. Pain simply made tongues looser, and most tongues would wiggle out any words that’d make the pain stop, slow, simmer down to an acceptable threshold. Difficult to tell if Project was lying. But he could believe that of Seamus.

The cheetah rolled a shoulder, tilted xyr head and all seven vertebrae popped. “Thanks for telling me his last words.”

Then, the butt of a bone knife slammed against Project’s mouth. The strike was precise: xe hit the gumline right above the top left incisor. Easy to aim, given the knight captain’s chattiness.

“Your advice is interesting. I’ll remember it for later.” The bone knife slammed against the opposite side; top right incisor. Xanti’s golden eyes narrowed contemplatively. A paw held Project’s muzzle against a bar, while a bone knife held up the lip. With a second bone knife, xe alternated tapping at the incisors (exactly like chiseling marble) until the two fangs dropped to the rock floor.

“Maybe I’m your husband’s reincarnation. That’d be funny, wouldn’t it? I’ve always thought it stupid for a sadistic psychopath to pair with a masochistic martyr, but, hey, maybe I learned that wisdom from a past life.”

Xanti telekinetically lifted the two fangs. They orbited around xyr head in slow circles, then disappeared into xyr satchel.

Xe looked at Project. Grinned. Then placed that paw back against his muzzle, pressed the wolf’s face against the bars. “Squishyface!” Xanti chuckled. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re cuter when you’re bleeding?”

Then xe released xyr grip. “Your morality is the coin… well, what do you do with the blood money?” Xanti blinked in perplexion. “I’m happiest when I’ve done nothing all day but meditate. How do you live when you’re fighting and killing for something as meaningless as coin?”

But Xanti shrugged. Two knives hit Project’s jaw. This time, the bottom fangs.

“I’m not signing my death warrant. I’m burying my hatred under your heart.” A charming grin. “What you do with that hatred is up to you. You want our groups to go to war? Fine, come after me when you’re free. But I’ve already talked with Meteor. He’s quite happy to toss you to the Horde alive as a sign of diplomacy.”

The grin widened. Xanti’s teeth were not vampiric, but the cheetah had xyr own fangs. “Do you understand? I’m giving you a choice: live with the hatred or let your hatred burn. Personally, I think you’ll choose the second option and, potentially, drag those you love to their deaths because you can’t let go of your hatred.”

Xanti’s paw pressed Project’s face against the bar, and, this time, a bone knife. On the bottom left fang, a cut from gumline to jawbone, then a quick stab to that exposed nerve connecting the root to the jaw.

Xanti didn’t release xyr paw, but xe did telekinetically raise the severed fang and place it neatly inside xyr satchel. A charming grin at Project. [b]“Most people are so… unaware of their feelings. I could be an excellent therapist, you know. I’ve tried. I’ve been told I’m quite good at it. But it is exhausting dealing with people’s stupidity.”[/b]

[b]“But torture is cathartic.” [/b]Xanti’s knife smashed into the bottom right fang. It shattered into four pieces, with the root remaining in the jaw.

Xanti angled the knife down. And sliced into the gumline trapping the root.

[b]“You killed my brother for something as stupid as coin, as stupid as intimidating evil foolishness into obedience.”[/b] Xanti’s lips pulled back in a snarl.

The root popped out of the jawline. Xanti levitated the four broken pieces between their faces.

[b]“So I will wind you up with hatred like a music box and watch you burn yourself alive.”[/b]

A smirk as the pieces joined the three intact fangs in xyr satchel. [b]“And you know the funnest thing? I want you to succeed in stepping outside of this anger I’m giving you. I want anyone to prove I'm wrong, that I am not the only one capable of stepping outside the cycle of hatred. But you don’t have the awareness to do so, huh? You lack metacognition. You lack awareness. You’re defective.”[/b]