[FIN] Night and Day

[Suudonym]

"But if it's necessary, it's necessary," the girl repeated, lifting her chin slighting. "Necessary is necessary. Do or die." She folded her arms, a frown in her features. "People like you piss me off - happy to just sit back and let the world happen to you, happy to think someone's bound to come along and play hero if you need it, and happy to turn a blind eye while they get their hands all filthy with the crap you didn't want to touch. In case you didn't notice, I wasn't the only person around; most everyone else walked by without a second look. What were you gonna do if no one wanted to help, huh?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Her words were startling, and it took a few moments for them to fully sink in. Tears began to well up in her eyes when they had, for she had managed to anger the very person who had saved her. "No, I.. That's not it at all! I just..." Her thoughts went back to the first time she'd needed help. Running away had only carried her further from safety, and she didn't no what would have happened if Luke hadn't been there to save her. That was inside a building, but this had happened outside - surely if she'd gotten away, she would have been safe? She just needed to get out of his grip first; she didn't need to hurt him to do that. "I would've tried to get away and run if no one had helped. I couldn't hit him - that would've hurt him! I can't hurt someone! I don't want to hurt anyone!"  

[Suudonym]

She threw her hands to her sides, her voice firm, "And you think he wouldn't have happily hurt you? You can't know just how bad a person's intentions are until it's too late, you know. Maybe he wanted a date, maybe he wanted the organs out of your fresh corpse. What's worse: knowing the guy'll be hurting like hell for a few hours because you kicked his balls in, or being dead in an alley because you were afraid to hurt someone?"

There was a tap on her shoulder, and she looked sharply to the source, met with the calm, one-eyed stare of the nearby Scizor. She held his gaze momentarily before heaving a sigh, "Yeah, yeah, I get it, it's none of my business, right? Well excuse me for thinking this puffball might need to know a thing or two about self-defense in a big city like this." She crossed her arms indignantly.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Stealing body parts from a corpse? Being dead in an alley? The thoughts were too horrible to bear, and tears finally started to slide down her cheeks. "I don't..." She didn't what? What could she possibly say to that? The thoughts were frightening to say the least, and something she never would have even dreamed of considering before now.  

[Suudonym]

"Well don't start crying now!" She turned her head and turned up her nose. "Fight or don't fight - it's your own choice, and if you choose not to fight, you don't get to go crying over the consequences!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Nicolette continued to stand there with tears and her eyes, growing more confused and upset by the minute. She had never dealt with a person like this before and hadn't a single clue what to say or do. One thing she did know was that no, she shouldn't be crying, but with the stress and fear of the previous situation and the angry girl before her now, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to stop her tears at this point. "I'm not any of the things you said, so I'm not crying over the consequences," she countered heatedly, raising a hand to her eyes to at least try to wipe away some of the tears while a displeased pout frown formed on her face. "I'm crying because you're being so mean! Do you always help people out and then berate them for having to help them?"  

[Suudonym]

She gave her company a sidelong glance, her expression aloof. "Oh, so I'm mean, huh?" This chick didn't know the half of it. "For your information, no - I'm 'berating' you because you've got a crappy attitude about it. The only way to deal with people who hurt others for their own selfish reasons is to put them in their place. The sooner you learn that, the better off you'll be."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Crappy attitude indeed - just because she didn't want to hurt someone? She couldn't help but suspect that she wasn't the one with the unpleasant attitude. "And is that what you do?" She asked, wiping her eyes still but at the very least her tears were lessening.  

[Suudonym]

"Put people in their place?" She returned her hands to her hips, advancing half a step into a proud posture. "Damn right I do! You just saw it for yourself not ten minutes ago!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She nodded once - because how could she forget that when it literally just happened - even though her pokemon had done it, not really her. Not that she was about to mention that, of course. "Is it... something you have to do often?" She hazarded, honestly unsure of the answer. From the way this girl spoke, she seemed to quite like the idea of fighting, judging from her disappointment that her pokemon had taken care of her assailant and from how she spoke now, but that didn't give her any clue as to the frequency. Hopefully it wasn't often.  

[Suudonym]

The pride dropped from her expression, leaving in its place something a bit more composed, or even solemn. "Yeah," she said, her tone remaining largely nonchalant despite the change in her disposition. "Pretty much since I was a child."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Though she rather disliked this girl so far, the sudden, unexpected change in her demeanor caught her attention and made her curious. "May I ask why..?"  

[Suudonym]

"'Cause children are cruel towards people who are too different from them," she said, "and you can either shut up and take it, or you can put 'em in their place."

There was a sense of loneliness in the meaning of the words that she didn't project in her tone, expression, or posture, but the Scizor picked it up nonetheless, wearing a quiet sympathy in his features. He didn't know a great deal about human children, but he could understand that the inherent spirit of what she said was indeed something very lonely.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Her tears had by now ceased, and she lowered her hands to fold them in front of her. Either take it, or 'put them in their place.' That wasn't a lot of options... Weren't there more than that? "And you think I should... put them in their place?"  

[Suudonym]

"Well yeah!" The 'duh' was implied. "It's a matter of plain self-respect! If someone's treating you a way you don't like, you tell them to cut it out, and if they don't cut it out - like that guy, if you recall," she jabbed a thumb in the direction of the alley they'd used to escape, "- then you make them. It's pretty straightforward."