[If she didn't start this with the objectively shallow goal of putting up a show, maybe she would've taken keener notice. If he didn't crash her well-crafted little stage like a storm, maybe she would've paid better attention. The telltale signs of struggle on his already battered body whispered of more than just combat experience, not dissimilar to how the look on his face as it all happens turns extremely human in fear.
She doesn't see it, because she didn't remotely expect it. He's fought fiercely without yielding a single inch up until now, she had no reason to think a change in weaponry would also change him any. A tool is a tool, a weapon is a weapon. She immediately offered her assistance with camp chores to the soldiers after leaving the ritual site through the same reasoning, treating them as utterly ordinary people as if they didn't drag them around like slaves across the continent for the better of two weeks. The last time was so much worse; walking is a breeze, next to the time spent on that table drenched in the smell of sulphur, iron, and worse.
So it's very much with surprise that she registers the lack of resistance or retaliation from his part, allowing her blow to land far cleaner than she was anticipating. Yet as concerning as that genuinely is, she's fought him long enough to understand with crystal clear clarity that he may very well be among the most dangerous fighters the other side possesses. Any opening he shows is one no experienced opponent would waste: he's too threatening to leave alone. She's lost her rights to any claim of kindness or decency far before opening her eyes in this world, anyhow.
It only takes a beat, never lingering quite long enough to qualify for 'hesitation'. She's closed in onto his fallen figure the next moment, logically knowing she should attempt to restrain him yet not being certain if the whip alone would hold. The subconscious will to neutralize him eroded by her own doubt, the whip loosens around his arm like the ordinary tool she thought she treated it as all along. Can she even magically reinforce the unknown material? It's definitely not leather or anything else she knew, she could only tell that much. --No matter; she ought to be quick about it and at least attempt binding both his arms as she's done Hiccup, while he's still dazed before he recovers. Even if he looks quite awful and could really use a healer right now.]
no subject
She doesn't see it, because she didn't remotely expect it. He's fought fiercely without yielding a single inch up until now, she had no reason to think a change in weaponry would also change him any. A tool is a tool, a weapon is a weapon. She immediately offered her assistance with camp chores to the soldiers after leaving the ritual site through the same reasoning, treating them as utterly ordinary people as if they didn't drag them around like slaves across the continent for the better of two weeks. The last time was so much worse; walking is a breeze, next to the time spent on that table drenched in the smell of sulphur, iron, and worse.
So it's very much with surprise that she registers the lack of resistance or retaliation from his part, allowing her blow to land far cleaner than she was anticipating. Yet as concerning as that genuinely is, she's fought him long enough to understand with crystal clear clarity that he may very well be among the most dangerous fighters the other side possesses. Any opening he shows is one no experienced opponent would waste: he's too threatening to leave alone. She's lost her rights to any claim of kindness or decency far before opening her eyes in this world, anyhow.
It only takes a beat, never lingering quite long enough to qualify for 'hesitation'. She's closed in onto his fallen figure the next moment, logically knowing she should attempt to restrain him yet not being certain if the whip alone would hold. The subconscious will to neutralize him eroded by her own doubt, the whip loosens around his arm like the ordinary tool she thought she treated it as all along. Can she even magically reinforce the unknown material? It's definitely not leather or anything else she knew, she could only tell that much. --No matter; she ought to be quick about it and at least attempt binding both his arms as she's done Hiccup, while he's still dazed before he recovers. Even if he looks quite awful and could really use a healer right now.]