She couldn't hear him.
Jintao slowly leaned down, picking up his coat which had dropped when she attacked him. He stood back up at the same slow speed. "Is that your choice?" His adrenaline slowed down, which helped him to see her as he had before- Lonely, in pain, fragile and possibly scared. "You want me to be the good 'ol rat that I am? It's my payment for breathing after all."
"Dear man, take your foul proverbs and leave me be." She swiped the knife from his hands and cursed him as she climbed up the fire escape. She stopped on the first creaking platform and looked back down, his fingers gripping the splintered railing. "You think you're righteous, but even a holy man must defend what belongs to him. You are some coward, Jintao, some cripple and poor-man. Use it to save, not kill," she mocked his words, "hah. What would you know? You could not save even yourself."
)
His fingers tightened on the rail. He took one step up and went no further. "A pirate since I could hold a blade, a shooter once I had my first kill, a first mate when the last was fought over as a slave," he stared up at her. He was rolling out his past like it had a deep meaning, even if he had never shared it before. He threw his head to the side as he continued. "And I throw it all away because some 'saint' is caught by my crew and I'm the one who pulled the trigger on him!""Dear man, take your foul proverbs and leave me be." She swiped the knife from his hands and cursed him as she climbed up the fire escape. She stopped on the first creaking platform and looked back down, his fingers gripping the splintered railing. "You think you're righteous, but even a holy man must defend what belongs to him. You are some coward, Jintao, some cripple and poor-man. Use it to save, not kill," she mocked his words, "hah. What would you know? You could not save even yourself."
She bent and collected the towels and goods, indecently upset.
@Lacy Duckwing
(oh gosh. That dialogue *cringes*.
Look what Homer has done to me
Jintao turned back and looked up at her. "Maybe I'm just trying to stop you from making the same mistakes I've done." He looked down at his coat that he had draped over his arm. His mood had softened as though what happened only a few minutes before never occurred. "The Crusher was known and feared by many, yet he never attempted to kill anyone. All he ever wanted to do was save others, even if some were his enemies."
She straightened, then froze, staring cooly down. "Go on, man. If you must speak, then tell me it all. But come." She turned back to the ladder. "I can't stand round here."
Jintao glanced up at her, then back down at his coat. With a sigh, he walked up the ladder. "Mind giving me a minute to get my coat on?" he asked when he reached her level.
She leaned against the wall and watched him with an unrelenting gaze.
