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[b]Interactions:[/b] Alex Schafer ([@Smike])[/center][hr]

[color=thistle]"You will be doing no such thing Private. You will treat every captured enemy with dignity and do no harm to them unless they attempt to escape. Do anything else and I will personally drag you off for court-martial."[/color]

Those last three syllables alone had gotten Mehetabel's attention. She knew a court-martial threat when she heard one, and even though the sergeant may have meant it for everyone, the fact that he happened to use her as the first example was more than enough for her to take it personally. She'd thought he was chill enough back when she joined in on that card game, but now all of a sudden he proved to barely be any different from that last guy. Mehetabel swore this song and dance between herself and chain of command was gonna be the death of her...

[color=92278f]"Oh, I'm sorry Sarge. Dignity? Like they gave me and the village I used to call home?"[/color] she paused for a moment, only to scoff at the sediment, [color=92278f]"Get. The fuck. Real. There's no dignity in war; there's only agony, bloodshed and death, all three of which the Imps have given out in spades. And when the time comes, it'll be [i]my[/i] turn. Y'know why? Because killing the enemy is the one job I have as a soldier! As well as reason I signed up in the fucking first place!"[/color]

Those looks she was given didn't go unnoticed by her either. Mehetabel knew what some of the others had to be thinking. [i]Was[/i] she completely mad? Maybe she was. Perhaps the trauma she had to endure had pushed her over the edge, and put her in that state of mind that was the very definition of psychotic. But at least she was being honest about herself; more than what she could say about anyone else.

Every fiber of her physical being wanted her to storm out right then and there. But the tiniest amount of sanity she had left spoke to her, just as she picked her gun back up and took but a few steps towards the exit. She just couldn't end it like that. Not yet. Realizing that she owed some form of reassurance, Mehetabel found herself turning back to the sergeant.

[color=92278f]"Look. I'm not gonna go out of my way to blatantly disregard the MO, if that's what you're so worried about,"[/color] she told him, [color=92278f]"Only a dumbass would do that. And if by some... whatever the antonym for miracle is I screw up anyway, then fine; do what you want to me after the fact. But in the meantime, I reserve the right to use my own judgment and play this by eye. Oh, and Sarge? With all due respect... tch..."[/color]

That came out wrong. She could feel it in her bones, and she didn't have the sincerity in her to pull that way off. Rolling her eyes, she shook it off and tried again.

[color=92278f]"Who am I kidding? With what respect is due, you wouldn't know all that I've been through to get this far; not even if you [i]have[/i] read my file. Nor could you know just how much further I'm willing to go to end this,"[/color] at this point, Mehetabel broke direct eye contact with the sergeant, this time turning to face as many of the other soldiers as she could catch in her vision, [color=92278f]"[i]None[/i] of you could..."[/color]

It was at this time that Mehetabel recommenced with her early leave. She didn't care who thought what in regards to that exchange. She abandoned almost all care of what others thought of her within the first few days of service. The only thing she concerned herself with was what she would do next. Would she try to get a head start on the mission? Double back to base and revise her loadout? Try to squeeze in some target practice before her official deployment and use that to blow off some steam? She didn't know. All she knew right now was that she needed to get her head in the game if she was to last much longer and, if anything could provide that chance for her right now, it would be space.