[h1][center][color=9e0b0f]Lavinia[/color][/center][/h1]
Marduk got about two words in, those being [i]‘Little Vin.’[/i] At that point, the Little Vin in question decided she’d heard more than enough and flipped open her grimoire. Marduk would find his jaw suddenly locking in place, the blood within it rebelling against his muscles to prevent him from speaking further.

[color=9e0b0f]”Don’t test my patience, you flatulent muppet. I know what I have to do.”[/color] Ordinarily she’d have been happy to trade jabs with the old man, but right now she was too on edge to make conversation with a petty nemesis. Indeed, it was a mercy that Marduk never reached the part about ‘romantic rivals,’ or else his scrotum might have ended up being unceremoniously obliterated in similar fashion to Asher’s.

As it happened, Lavinia was thinking about that boy as she knelt down beside Zenith to heal him. [color=9e0b0f][i]Why did I… Why did I attack him, just then?[/i][/color] She’d never felt any particular affection for Asher, but it wasn’t as if she disliked him, at least not beyond her general antipathy for all things good and proper. She had no reason to care about him sharing a post-battle hug with Ria, or making out with her, or whatever it was they’d been doing back there. Ria was nothing more than… than a trusted acquaintance, that was all. [color=9e0b0f][i]If she even still trusts me after today.[/i][/color]

It was all Gwen’s fault. If that damned harlot hadn’t distracted Lavinia with her lies, she’d never have gotten so worked up in the first place. Scowling, she got to work on fixing up Zenith, making a mental note to think up an appropriate retaliation against the ice mage later. [color=9e0b0f][i]If she wants to be violated so badly, then I’ll… I’ll touch her butt when she’s least expecting it! HAH![/i][/color]

Using her grimoire, she sealed off the capillaries near Zenith’s wounds, preventing any further bleeding. Fresh blood washed over him in a gentle wave, slowly knitting together his flesh where it had been rent asunder. He, at least, didn’t say anything to draw her further ire, beyond a single snarky remark that actually made her smile a little.

[color=9e0b0f]”That’s right,”[/color] she told him, wiping her eyes. [color=9e0b0f]”I’m a brick, and this world is a window. One day I’m going to destroy it all, just you wait.”[/color] By now her spell on Marduk would have worn off, leaving him free to flap his jaw to the gathered reporters. Lavinia herself didn’t join in; she’d had more than enough of dealing with imbeciles today. Shying away from the old man’s touch, she shuffled around to Zenith’s far side, pretending to be busily focused on helping him recover. With any luck, that’d keep Asher from coming after her with a sword…