James
"Criticism always hurts. Can't do much about it."

*A smile appears on Serena's face, somewhat enjoying her time with the young girl. Just like a young child, Mercy reminded the slime of herself in her younger years. Not that she was old, or anything.*

"Maybe figure out what you enjoy? And maybe get better at finding food."

*Serena hands the macen yet another cooked fish. She sure had an appetite.*

"Pushover is really debatable. I doubt you could handle anyone wielding a crossbow with only that. And well... I fight for money too. Protecting others. I'm a bodyguard."

*The slime gestures to her shield and armor.*

"Not everyone will be carrying that around. It's heavy, loud and sometimes restrains movement. It's best suited for defense, so that sword blows and arrows won't instantly kill you. As for you, really just bandits are the problem. Or anyone who your uncle has sent to kill you. Always be on your guard."

*Serena points at Mercy with one of the wooden skewers.*
William
**Mercy accepted her fourth fish with a polite smile. This would be her last one more likely than not, as the full sensation welling in her stomach was already beginning to sate her appetite for now. But she went to town on the fish in hand, chomping straight on its head and meticulously working her way through skimming the flesh off of the skull.** "Fgghrh—" **An involuntary growl escaped her lips while doing so.**

"...Sorry. I uhh... Won't have anymore after this one, I'm getting full. About my Uncle, I still wonder to this day if he survived or not—I mean when I stabbed him. He had my dad with both hands, about to choke him to death and I just grabbed the rapier and thrust it as far into his back as I could, near the middle of his body." **Taking another bite of fish, Mercy's retelling of the event seemed to cause unease within her yet again.**

"Have you ever done that? Plunge something into someone else; another living being. It felt so strange, it went through his soft, macen body like butter!" **She got a bit carried away with her description. Realizing this, Mercy's face began to register the expression of regret.**

"...Sorry. But he deserved it. After, he just let go of my dad screaming, then left. I mean he just... Left. Blood was soaking his clothes and he just... Turned around, told me how disappointed he was, and then left. Like he wasn't even hurt at all—Can you explain that?"
James
*Serena can barely hold in a laugh at the odd sound Mercy makes while eating her fish. It almost sounded like a dog, which didn't match the polite smile she gave earlier at all.*

*"Have you ever done that? Plunge something into someone else; another living being."*

*Serena's mind flashes back to when she was a mercenary for hire. Often, she was on ships as a guard. Many times, said ships have been attacked by pirates. It didn't take much brains to figure out what happened.*

*Mercy's description also reminded the Uzhi of how vulnerable she was to weapons without her armor. Sure, she didn't have internal organs, but she also didn't possess bones. Any edged weapon could probably cleave her in half with one swing.*

"I've killed a *Lot* Of people in my life, Mercy. I just don't think about it. Whether they have lives, families doesn't matter. They knew the risk when they tried to attack the ship or people I was guarding. I'm just doing my job."

"As for the pain negation, I've seen it plenty. One time, a Mogash pirate ended up skewered on my spear. He continued to run at me, and I had to back up and use my shield to fend him off, and magic to kill him. He didn't care that he had been impaled, he just went for the kill. Sometimes, people are able to ignore pain altogether."
William
**Whilst finishing the final few morsels of fish on her skewer, Mercy caught a glimpse of Serena's expression; an amusing reaction to her involuntary eating grumble. It struck the macen funny as well, as she too nearly succumbed to laughter but alas, Serena began to regale with her swashbuckling past.**

**By then, Mercy was licking her skewer clean, and the Uzhi was nearly finished with her stories. Mercy waited politely for her to finish, before she tossed the skewer near Serena, so she could put it away if she wished.**

"Okay, mmk—okay... Okay." **Trying to talk while licking and smacking ones lips clean was a noisy task...** "I understand, I really do. It's just *Unreal,* You know? Imagine someone, like a Macen!; Mortal, able to bleed, able to die in one hit, with the right placement—Like you said, with the erhh...*Pirate,* Them being able to keep coming, suffering such a nasty wound is really creepy."

***Shudder.*** **The girl visibly shook at the thought of essentially, a walking corpse coming at her; bleeding profusely. Now that she was done eating, Mercy went back to her tree, propping her back against the trunk and staying like that as her eyes bleakly watched the fire, occasionally glancing at Serena as they conversed.**

"So wait a minute, hold on. What if something like that happened to you? I mean, you have armour. But look at you—Please I don't mean to be rude but *Look* At you. You're... Boneless? Bloodless?...Are you immortal...?"
James
*The Uzhi lets out a chuckle at Mercy's comment. She did have a point. Any kind of bladed weapon could absolutely decimate her.*

"Well, it would basically pass right through me. That's why I have armor. And a spear, to keep them away, as well as a shield, to protect me further. I just, I am scared. One of these days, I'll be doing bathing or something, like today. I'll be completely vulnerable, and someone takes me down with a dagger. That's all it takes."

*Serena takes in a large breath. What was she doing, giving Mercy advice? She herself was still scared of being assassinated.*

"I am boneless, but not bloodless. And we're not immortal. We can bleed out, or if you look closely..."

*Serena brings her head extremely close to Mercy. The girl can see what seems like a small, translucent core in the center of her head.*

"There's another one of those in the center of my chest. If one of those is destroyed, I die. If they're injured, I need to rest in saltwater to heal them. Not even magic can repair damage to them."
William
"Aw, what? Ew!...No no not... Not at you, but... I could theoretically cut you in half." **She stated before a puzzled look flickered on her face, and ideas started to flow in.** ***"Maybe this slime's an easier target than I thought. But I can't hurt her after she fed me... What would father think of me..."***

**There Mercy was again, facing a moral quandary of her own. Whilst she could probably gain the upper hand quickly with the element of surprise, she had to weigh her options; betray her new acquaintance and possibly gain all of her neat items... Or... Don't. Don't, because that would be completely evil and unnecessary.** ***"I'm better than that. This is my friend..."*** **Mercy was partly lost in her own little mindspace until Serena's voice became closer; and once Mercy regained focus, she was right next to her!** 

"Uh?" **Hesitantly, she leaned forward to get an even closer look at Serena's translucent innards. The sight of them had completely perplexed the macen, who otherwise knew nothing about Uzhi biology. Mercy reached a hand out and attempted to place it against the slime's cheek—if she succeeded, it would beget a pinch. The whole gesture was a cheeky experiment to beckon an answer to one of Mercy's secret queries...**

"I'm sorry... Can you feel this?" ***Pinch!***
James
"Yeah... Though not with a rapier. With a normal sword, maybe."

*Serena would let Mercy take a look inside her head, then would begin to retract, soon stopped by the macen's pinching.*

"Yeah. Not something you see everyday- Hey, stop that!"

*The uzhi's right hand suddenly reaches up, grabbing the girl by the wrist. The grip is a lot stronger than anticipated. In an almost playful manner, Serena's left hand reaches up and pinches Mercy's cheek as well.*

"Yeah, I can feel that. We still retain a lot of the functions that normal people have."