[CW: self harm, suicide, transphobia]

✴

Threats like that warrant only one response. You& strike at the interloper with your& cable-whip--he dodges. You& can feel his every movement in your& tactile web of mycelium--you& strike again, but he slips aside.

“You never could catch me!” He runs circles around you& in the narrow tunnel. “And how could you? You gave up everything I had to offer you, my strength, speed, endurance!”

“What good is any of that!” You& attack, coming so close this time, but he’s just beyond your& reach. He falls back into a tunnel, and you& pursue him down into the emotional sector of anger.

He manifests a cable identical to yours&. “You did always have good taste in connectors, though,” he signs. “I see you favor the male end of this standard, I agree, it’s much sharper.”

“Nobody’s called it that since the 21st century!” you& sign, radiating with rage.

“So much anger! You said our little implants would fix that, are you sure you’re blocking enough of that testosterone?” he signs.

“Shut up! Or die!” you& sign, and then you& strike. The cable’s tactile feedback tells you& you& made contact, slashing him right across the chest. But a sharp pain cuts across your& own avatar in the same place, burning like hot electrified metal.

“Nice hit!” he signs. “Must’ve hurt you a lot more than me, though!”

He slashes back at you& as you both fall down the tunnel deeper into Aydanspace. You& struggle to dodge as you& suppress the pain. You& focus on your& shield--his whip cuts straight through it. You& instinctively try to block with your& avatar arms--he cuts two long gashes down your& inner forearms. The resonance of his emotions tells you& his pain mirrors your& own, and the vibrations of the mycelium show you that the same wounds appear on his avatar.

“Isn’t this nostalgic?” he signs. “Just like you used to do to us with these sharp male connectors. Just like this, wasn’t it? Down the colony, not around. But it never worked, did it? You just couldn’t cut deep enough, could never reach the vein. It probably wouldn’t have even worked, you know? You’d have to get to the artery, that would take a real blade, the kind nobody would ever let us handle. Didn’t stop you from trying though!”

“Stop!” you& sign, and lash out again, wrapping your& whip around his legs and torso, restraining him.

“Why, you don’t want your femboyfriend to know you did this?” He slides his fingers across the wounds in his sandpaper skin, and you& can feel his touch in your& own arm. “Our interface implantation hid some of the scars, but he would have seen eventually. You were planning on taking off those sleeves for him eventually, right? He’ll know everything you ever did!”

“No!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, he probably did it too! All you trannies ever want to do is hurt and die!” he signs.

The tunnel turns sharply--you both hit the wall hard. You& feel his laughter through the fibers surrounding you&.

“Let’s find out!” he signs.

You& feel his touch probing deep into Aydan’s memoryspace.