The Seggnerlupe fell to the ground, writhing, and Fajio held up his arm expectantly. Evegy watched as Azoo got up and went to him to pull a small bolt at the elbow of Fajio?s shackle. It popped open and fell off with a thud, and Fajio pulled free his other shackle with his free hand so that he could access his smaller pockets and pull out a long length of cord.
Fajio limped toward the crying Grimm and knelt beside it. It bit blindly at him and Fajio nodded at Azoo. Evegy flinched as the big man crunched his fist down and broke the thing?s jaw with a wet crack. Azoo pinned all four of its arms under his weight as Fajio worked the cord around its wrists, ignoring its gargling howls.
Rimer had managed to walk tiredly over to them, his chainsaw slung over his back on a bungee cord. ?Aw ? hahaha,? he panted a little, ?aren?t we killing it??
Fajio yanked the cord tighter and tied it before applying another layer to the wrists. ?As much as I?d like to watch you tear this thing to shreds,? Fajio said in a strange voice, as if he was talking around something, ?it has conveniently decided to present itself just as we were all wearing down.? He applied a third layer of cord for good measure before cutting it with his pocket knife and having Azoo bend the Grimm?s legs up. He began running cord around its calves and thighs in a figure-eight, to tie its legs up. The Seggnerlupe cried loudly and thrashed its tail about.
Fajio caught a hard whack across his shoulders and said, ?My dear, if you could relieve our friend of his latest object of rebellion??
Evegy looked blankly at him, still taken aback by their unnerving treatment of the Grimm. ?We?re taking it? But what will we??
Its tail caught Fajio in the side of the face with a crack, and dark liquid trickled out of the bottom of his muzzle. ?Cut off its tail,? he growled at her.
She took her scimitar and swiped it into the Grimm?s tail at the base, cutting halfway through it before she recoiled from its screaming. She hesitated as she watched its half-detached tail spasm and spew black fluids everywhere. Fajio snatched her weapon from her and unceremoniously hacked the tail the rest of the way off before tossing the New Moon back at her. She caught it abashedly as the Grimm?s tail writhed to the ground and thrashed its way towards Rimer, who stomped on it, laughing tiredly.
Evegy managed to find her voice again as the maimed, trussed Grimm was hauled up onto Azoo?s shoulder, its one eye darting about in animal panic. ?Wait, what are we going to do with it, shouldn?t we just kill it??
Fajio looked like he was about to answer but they all flinched when the Seggnerlupe screeched out with that same horrible sound it had hit Evegy with. Fajio looked at it, as if he was deeply offended, and brandished his pocket knife. He thrust it downward through the thing?s snout before taking the last of his cord and tying it around the knife?s handle and around the Seggnerlupe?s broken jaw, shutting its mouth tight on any further outbursts.
Fajio cleared his throat, a metal cough of white noise that sent flecks of dark out of the bottom of his mouth, like blood but almost unnaturally thin. ?The Academy is always happy to have a Grimm to look at. As many of these things as run around they still haven?t figured out too much about them, what with the whole evaporating corpse thing. Makes dissection difficult, you see. Although Rimer has made what I must say are alarming strides in that field regardless.? He nodded to Rimer as he held out his arms for Azoo to help lock his shackles into place with his free hand; the big man easily held the trussed Grimm with only one hand even though it was his size and perhaps a tad bigger, and squirming maddeningly.
Rimer laughed, having managed to get his breath back, now. ?Hahaha, I try, I try. The teachers like to take live ones for the new students to kill, right??
Evegy nodded, now, understanding the value in it. ?Yeah and can?t that old guy that teaches the older huntsmen read Grimm minds??
Fajio snorted amusedly, checking his shackles to make sure they were secure: they were raked horribly and would probably need replaced. ?That?s probably an exaggeration, my dear, I wouldn?t think Grimm have anything like a proper mind to read in the first place. He probably just has an understanding of their instincts or something. I very much doubt he?ll talk to this thing if we bring it in.? The Seggnerlupe growled through its bound mouth and Fajio looked at it and shook his head. ?Nothing personal, old fellow,? he said to it, ?but you did attack us first.?
It growled at him and Fajio shrugged. ?That doesn?t apply,? he said.
Evegy looked at him incredulously. ?Oh, you can?t understand it, Rectum.?
Fajio turned and began limping away toward town, prompting Azoo and Rimer to follow. ?Of course I can?t, my dear, but I?m quite certain that any possible argument it could have made very likely doesn?t apply.?
Evegy huffed and sheathed her scimitar before catching up to the group. ?How could you know that it doesn't apply??
Fajio didn?t look over his shoulder when he answered. ?Because we won,? he said darkly.
Azoo cleared his throat awkwardly and moved the Grimm to his other shoulder as Rimer cackled. Evegy shook her head. ?What?s that supposed to mean??
Fajio just laughed as he kept limping onward, the sound of it like crooked-toothed gears grinding against one another as it crawled throughout the trees.
?In time, my dear. In time.?