Shady

"Why are you asking me that?" Jerica grumbled. "You're the one who said it."

Jerica was sinking into a progressively darker mood, sent into a spiral by Eve's words. Just stop being Jerica. As if it was that easy. She did stop being Jerica ...

Jerica slammed the arrow back in the quiver with far more force than was necessary, then stomped ahead, jaw set and glowering. The bitch could suffer for all she cared. ...

"Well, I'm not asking for advice," Jerica snarled, still hurt. "So get fucked, you fucking bitch."

"Oh, fuck you!" Jerica snarled, surprisingly hurt by the comment. "You wouldn't be here if I couldn't switch between them and neither would I."

"I don't like hurting people," Jerica said firmly. "And I hurt the feelings of the people I care about when I can't switch between Jerica and King's Assassin. They can't ...

"I wouldn't know," Jerica muttered, some of the venom subsiding.

"Haven't you?" Jerica spat back.

"You're setting up a false dichotomy," Jerica muttered with a deep sigh. "You dissociate during and feel guilty later. You can't dissociate forever, it catches up to you eventually."

"Oh, yes, it's very emotional to acknowledge reality, my bad." Jerica rolled her eyes, feeling herself shutting down. Fine. She'd been trying to make things more pleasant between them, but ...

"I mean..." That one was her own fault. She shrugged, uncomfortable, and looked down at the arrow, brushing her fingertips across the edge of the blade. "Making things better for ...

"Never said it was." Jerica shrugged. "Only seems fair for you to tell me, since I told you why Biryn atta--" she coughed. "Was pissed at me."

"Was anything out of the ordinary going on with your friend?" Jerica asked. "Why did they come over?"

Jerica didn't like this game. And she didn't like how nosy Eve was getting. So she abruptly asked instead, "What were you doing before you woke up here?"

"No!" Jerica snapped. "That's why he was pissed at me. 'Cause you can't go back and force me to torture someone to death if they're already dead."