Balyn barely got his blunderbuss up in time. The heavy gun boomed even as the elegant woman's twin blades sheared past, spraying blood in their wake. Fragments of quicksilver blasted into her chest, stunning her and dropping her to her knees.
He jumped forward, hand outstretched like a claw for the finishing blow…only to step right into the flame cloud that trailed the arc of blood from Lady Maria's attack. He grunted in pain, but the true loss wasn't his charred eyebrows. It was the way he staggered at the shock of it, giving Lady Maria the chance to shake off her momentary paralysis.
He was still cursing under his breath when she cut off his head a moment later.
At least I won't have to worry about burn scars was the thought that went through his mind the instant before Lady Maria's sword did.
~X X X~
"Welcome home, good hunter. What is it that you desire?"
"New weapons, better reflexes, and a strategy that will actually work. That's eight times that she's killed me. Eight!"
The Doll tilted her head to one side, regarding Balyn with open curiosity.
"This seems to bother you, good hunter. Have there not been many such encounters?"
"…Not actually helping."
The Doll did not respond to this statement.
"Maybe the problem is the familiarity," Balyn mused, taking a second look at her.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, this Lady Maria is a hunter, not a beast, so that's part of it, but what's more, she looks a lot like you. I mean, almost exactly like you, if you were human and had skin and stuff. Even her voice is the same. It's like the guy who built you modeled you on her or something."
Saying it out loud, the hunter thought that sounded more than a little creepy. The Doll did not openly react, though, being a doll. Which was actually kind of significant, he realized.
"You're pretty different, though. I mean, as people," Balyn hastened to add. "I mean, you've got this whole 'cool beauty' thing going on, all poised and stoic, while Lady Maria…" He grinned at her. "She's really what I'd call…hot-blooded."
The Doll gave him her head-tilted curious look again.
"Good hunter, are you sure you are well? I have heard that frustration can disturb a human's mental equilibrium."
~X X X~
A/N: Somebody had to make that pun. Also, Plain Doll best tsukkomi.