[ there's something about hawke's glibness that causes cinder's eyes to narrow. tilting her head as judgement seethes out of every pore. cinder is not unused to being talked to like this— like she's allowing insults to be directed her because she offers no drastic facial indicators in response. just because she doesn't look all that angry, that doesn't necessarily mean that she isn't.

hawke's tirade against spiders something cinder takes as a sign that, in this moment, cinder isn't taken encounter seriously at all. maybe it's due to hawke's previous experiences with this but it's rare for cinder to give anyone the time to day. and when she does, she wants to talk to another ruby not... another roman posing as a ruby which is an odd image but here we are. ]

Unprovoked, spiders won't do anything to harm you. Walk into its web and it just might. [ meaning don't poke the bear, or the spider, in this case. and in this case further, cinder is the spider. ] For someone who must make something of a habit of it, I imagine you must get trapped often.

[ and the unasked question being how are you still alive, then? hopefully, unlike roman, it's not because she relies on the good timing of others. cinder rests her gaze on the sword like she might already know the answer to her unspoken riddle. ]