Silent Fractures

Heart looks back at the Minotaur, surprised. "I thought you were going to breakfast." She accuses in a loud whisper. "Now you're following me too? I'm not that interesting!"

"I'm not act- I don't- What do you mean ex-" The incomprehensibility of what Iron just said overwhelms Heart, so she just deadpans, pointing at the stairs. "Breakfast is back that way, the other direction." She gives Reini another cool glare and then heads to the entrance of the tent.

Heart just gapes at Iron in shock and horror. "I don't want to kill anyone!" She runs past him, cautious not to get too close to him. She doesn't even realize that she's gone the opposite way she wanted, until she's standing at the door to the kitchen again. Her eyes find the floor again, and she marches back to the table and sits down.

Wormwood notes Bleeding Heart's return to the table but doesn't say anything. He briefly ponders telling her that he should eat, because she needs to be well-fed for the day ahead, but he already thinks he knows the response to that statement - "What are you, my mother?" So he stays silent, for now.

"Here you go." Gachilie dumped two piles in front if Celestia and Wormwood.

"Thank you." Wormwood happily digs into the pancakes, pausing for a moment to say, "'S'good." A few bites and one finished pancake later, he turned to Bleeding Heart and said, "You sure you don't want any?"

"Thank you Meg, and please hold the special syrup."
Luna leveraged her plate "More please."

"I'm sure. I can't- I'm just not hungry." Hearts stomach growls a bit at the pancakes on the table. She puts her head down and tries to forget about them.

"I see..." Wormwood is silent for a moment before he resumes eating. He wonders if she'll regret this down the line, but he doesn't want to force her to eat.

After a moment, Heart lifts her face so that her chins now resting on the table. She glances around, and when she's certain no one is really paying attention to her, she slides down in her seat, until she's barely visible above the table. Then she pulls her poetry book out and flips it open to the first clean page. Grabbing her pen, she begins writing. Every few words, she glances up at Wormwood.

The Reini hadn't slept all night; but when day broke, she finally collapsed into a dreamless sleep. Calm, quiet, peaceful...

Until a fire ran through her gut, and she was dragged back to consciousness after her breath, her hooves instinctively curling to her stomach, her head snapping around. Who had-
Her gaze settled on the Minotaur, and darkened.

"And what was that for?" she a asked trying to keep her voice even.

((For the record, I support any action that puts my costly extra lives to work.))

"Your extra lives trick... That changes who you are, and whatnot each time, right? Do you have any control over what your next life's personality is? Could you become the leader I feel we need? If I killed you right now...that is..." The Ninjataur asked as he draws his sword.

(OOC: not a 100% sure that this will lead to the death of Reini, but if nothing else should implant the viewpoint of what Cold Iron feels that The Reini needs to find in herself in this life or the next life of hers.)

Wormwood finishes his pancakes and looks over to Bleeding Heart - then looks down slightly to where she had shifted position to be barely visible. His gaze meets hers.

Heart stops to stare, with a light blush at Wormwood. Like he knew. She glances at the other inhabitants of the kitchen again, and then winks at him. Then she puts her book away, slides off the chair, and exits again, glancing back at him as she goes.

The orange-coated pony was silent for a long, long time after a Iron stopped speaking.

"Self-preservation is a powerful motivator, Minotaur. You just admitted it yourself; you don't want to die. Neither do I; more specifically, I don't want this me to die. You think just because I have nine lives remaining that I view them as expendable? When I die- when this me dies- it's still dying. It's not just a physical change. It's not even a personality. It's like someone, walking into your home and rearranging everything. It's like having everything you are taken from you. When I die, the next me comes in, and keeps on going, and it's still me, but it isn't. It might as well be a different pony, and I will not cut my life short for anypony else's. So if you feel so strongly about it, Cold Iron, do it yourself. Otherwise, keep your opinions to yourself from now on, because we are done."

Wormwood smiles a little at the wink and gets off his chair. He bows to the royalty present before saying, "The breakfast was excellent. Please excuse me, if you need us just call." And with that he trots out of the room after Bleeding Heart.

"Zero..." Was the word Cold said as he swung his blade to cut off the Reini's head. "BECOME ONE!"

((OOC: Cold Iron is trying to make the killing blow, but out of respect, not saying that it was a killing blow. Unless Cav wants and allows it to be...))

The Reini started to say something, words that were cut off... literally. It must have been providence, since even a Timeponies chance of surviving a decapitation seemed dubious; the sword just sawed into and became stuck.

For a long moment, the mare stared in a silence broken only by her own, rattling breaths, rough and unsteady things which brought up more blood than they sucked down air. Her eyes almost glazed, as if staring at something beyond the room...

Then, she pulled herself off the sword, and coughed. A golden light streamed from her lips as she did, a similar mist emerging from the wound in her neck and -impossibly- closing it. The Reini's eyes seemed to regain some measured of awareness, fixing themselves on Iron.

"Ignorant...cow. Do you know...what you've done?!"