"Noisy."
A low, heavy thud followed before Maynette eventually dislodged her boot from Smiths' gut. Her gaze moving from Smitty's face to Fess', the woman contemplated her comrades' words for a moment, quiet intensity slowly giving way to curiosity. Truthfully, the wellbeing of the townspeople themselves couldn't have been any further from the Sacaen's mind—in fact, had the Lycian soldiers indeed put Khaltet's locals down to a man, they'd only done her a favor, really. Made the annoying civilian factor completely irrelevant.
But that was the real problem right there. Why would the soldiers even bother? The obvious questions about massacring one's own countrymen aside, what was there to gain without the townsfolk moreso than with them? Certainly not the dilapidated buildings and perimeter wall likely rendered useless by their own efforts... curious, curious.
Not even bothering with the knot, Maynette simply snatched away the clearly too-loose cloth gag hanging from Smiths' face in one savage motion, then stuffed the entire rag into the man's mouth afterward, stopping just short of blocking his throat. Smitty and Fess' comments lined up with what the woman had seen so far. That gave her only two out of three angles on Khaltet's situation, though.
Nothing useful had come out of that crowing Lycian's mouth. Yet.
Contemptuously wiping the saliva on her hand from Smiths' mouth into his hair, Maynette sank down onto her heels right beside her captive. Waiting until the party was past this ruined building was her plan, but seeing as Smiths had been so willing to interject earlier, May figured there'd be no harm in softening him up now to talk.
"Hey. Lycian," May said in a whisper with a new, strangely soft undertone, gazing ahead at where she'd sent Nikang further into the building, "Having fun, yes?" Her hand, having never left Smiths' head, slowly tightened into a vice around a fistful of hair. "Like telling jokes? Like to laugh? I want to laugh, too." An equally strange, soft smile was slowly spreading across the woman's face as she went on, her constricting grip on Smiths' hair starting to strain his scalp. "So. I've an idea. A fun game. Lots of laughter. Wanna play?"
It was a moot question. Maynette licked her lips and just went on smiling as she forcibly nodded the soldier's head in the affirmitive. No thanks to that dumb armistice, it had been far too long since she'd last had a prisoner of war to torment, be it for info or enmity's sake.
A low, heavy thud followed before Maynette eventually dislodged her boot from Smiths' gut. Her gaze moving from Smitty's face to Fess', the woman contemplated her comrades' words for a moment, quiet intensity slowly giving way to curiosity. Truthfully, the wellbeing of the townspeople themselves couldn't have been any further from the Sacaen's mind—in fact, had the Lycian soldiers indeed put Khaltet's locals down to a man, they'd only done her a favor, really. Made the annoying civilian factor completely irrelevant.
But that was the real problem right there. Why would the soldiers even bother? The obvious questions about massacring one's own countrymen aside, what was there to gain without the townsfolk moreso than with them? Certainly not the dilapidated buildings and perimeter wall likely rendered useless by their own efforts... curious, curious.
Not even bothering with the knot, Maynette simply snatched away the clearly too-loose cloth gag hanging from Smiths' face in one savage motion, then stuffed the entire rag into the man's mouth afterward, stopping just short of blocking his throat. Smitty and Fess' comments lined up with what the woman had seen so far. That gave her only two out of three angles on Khaltet's situation, though.
Nothing useful had come out of that crowing Lycian's mouth. Yet.
Contemptuously wiping the saliva on her hand from Smiths' mouth into his hair, Maynette sank down onto her heels right beside her captive. Waiting until the party was past this ruined building was her plan, but seeing as Smiths had been so willing to interject earlier, May figured there'd be no harm in softening him up now to talk.
"Hey. Lycian," May said in a whisper with a new, strangely soft undertone, gazing ahead at where she'd sent Nikang further into the building, "Having fun, yes?" Her hand, having never left Smiths' head, slowly tightened into a vice around a fistful of hair. "Like telling jokes? Like to laugh? I want to laugh, too." An equally strange, soft smile was slowly spreading across the woman's face as she went on, her constricting grip on Smiths' hair starting to strain his scalp. "So. I've an idea. A fun game. Lots of laughter. Wanna play?"
It was a moot question. Maynette licked her lips and just went on smiling as she forcibly nodded the soldier's head in the affirmitive. No thanks to that dumb armistice, it had been far too long since she'd last had a prisoner of war to torment, be it for info or enmity's sake.