"why didn't you listen to me? look at you." @tyrran tells them to look at themself, and so they oblige: everything that should not be visible is, in fact, visible.
flesh peeled back in heavy, glistening folds, hanging in torn strata; muscle fibers exposed in slick, trembling bands as they knit themselves together once more. bone flashes white beneath the disassembly, momentarily freed from its place before being taken back into regrowth. to others, it is an unpleasant sight. to them, it is only familiar. vann looks exasperated all the same. when feeling returns to their hand, they flex it once. then they laugh behind it — blood dried and fresh both at their mouth, clinging to the lips and teeth in dark, uneven smears.
"i did listen to you." they move, stepping closer. "then i considered your advice." another step. "considered the situation." and another. "considered the consequences." until they are nearly against him, coiling in close like a snake. they tilt their head up, peering through their lashes. somewhere within them, something else repairs itself with a low, wet snap. "what you are failing to account for is that listening does not require agreement, and agreement does not require obedience." prosthetic claws meet his chest, then trace along the edge of his scarf in search of purchase. "you are operating under the assumption that your concern should have outweighed every other variable i was considering at the time. it did not." they smile. "that is not an insult to you, mind. it is simply an honest reflection of scale."
their gaze drops briefly down to the state of themself. "this is proof that i made a choice knowing exactly what it would do to me, and did it anyway." they let the claws slip free of vann's scarf, pausing only long enough to reclaim their cane from his grip and step back — reclaiming the distance between them with unhurried precision. they spare a glance for the dissipating dead. "i understand why you find that upsetting. it suggests i am not governed by the same incentives as you are." their singular, reflective eye returns to both of his amber ones. they smile again, showing far too much canine for comfort. "i assure you... that much has always been true."