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Tsurai forced a shrug. "Bornes likes me. I doubt he'll come."

He uncrossed his arms, instead shoving them in his pockets as he began to walk off to bother Jiden again. He stopped midway, turning to Kaegan, giving him a puppy dog look.

Tsurai was not that great of a person, but he was much better than who he used to be, with Kaegan's help. He was waiting for Kaegan's final word. Although respect wasn't entirely ingrained in him, one could say he was at least working on being tamed.

Tsurai had no idea what 'inconsequential' meant, but gave a half-wave to Kaegan anyway as he left to go bug Jiden some more.

A few more hours passed and Bornes had simply slept it all off until sundown. He got up and stretched, but had a headache from interrupted sleep patterns and no water. The deer he had eaten before finally seemed to be gone, and he had that sobering empty feel in his stomach as he yawned.

He got up from the cot and paced around in a small circle once or twice before sitting back down, unsure of what to do. Tsurai was just a kid, he thought he'd have no problems... But ... Tsurai was just a kid.

The hybrid was already weak now, but he knew the longer he waited, the worse his situation would get. He'd have to go fight someone today, regardless of who it was. Tsurai seemed like he'd be omega, though he never did say what he was. But still. Just a kid, he told himself.

He stood up once more and forcefully expelled the air from his lungs loudly through his nose in determination. "Okay," he said, finally. "I'm going."
He took his sunglasses off and laid them on the cot so they wouldn't get broken, and then quickly left before Isiah could say anything to change his mind.

He went toward the well, and sundown was over already by the time he got there. Already Bornes felt he had the upperhand. Most people couldn't see that well at night, and Tsurai was just a child-- his eyes were probably not fully developed yet, if his brain was any indication.

Once Bornes got to the well, his eyes hungrily stayed on the well itself for a few moments. He licked his lips in anticipation, fantasizing... Water... Then he pulled himself away with a snort. He couldn't do that. He looked around for Tsurai instead. The kid usually hung out near here. Lived with Kaegan, who was right here.

Before too long, Tsurai came out of his and Kaegan's hovel. Seemed like he didn't expect anyone to come for him, wasn't even looking this way.
Bornes could've pounced on him right then. Bornes knew Tsurai couldn't see him. He wondered briefly if a surprise attack like that was valid.

"Tsurai," he called out.

The boy looked over to Bornes' direction, and frowned, trotting over.
"You came," Tsurai said, slightly disappointed.

"I did," the hybrid answered, shifting his weight. "Are you ready now?"
His tail waved about uneasily. He was unsure of how this whole process worked, and he knew that now he had Tsurai's full attention, he couldn't attack him directly. Bornes was horrible at offense. It would be better if he started out defending himself.

"You're very strange," Tsurai stated, standing still, waiting.

Bornes grimaced, trying to think of something. "Yeah, well, you're mother's a whore." Good, he thought. Kids get easily provoked, right?

"...What?" Tsurai asked. He seemed hurt, and began to get into what seemed like a fighting stance- slightly crouched, legs apart.
"Why would you say...?"

Bornes needed to dig deeper now. His own legs spread and his tail began to slacken, no longer waving. "She had to be an inbreeding whore to produce a dumbass like you," Bornes spat.

And that was all Tsurai needed. He roared with anger and jumped at Bornes, who easily sidestepped. Tsurai did not falter and spun on his heels to punch Bornes in the face-- this was also evaded. Bornes' plan was to hopefully tire the boy out first, then go in for the kill later. He didn't know about Tsurai's stamina, or his steadily increasing speed, or how the fact that the angrier he got the more he fought like a crazed animal.

The evading and dodging went on for a while-- maybe a full minute. Tsurai kept getting louder and angrier about how nothing was connecting and Bornes was beginning to feel uneasy about how long Tsurai was lasting. The boy seemed to expel more force each time- he should've been getting tired a lot quicker than he was. This wasn't good.
Bornes was going to tire out before Tsurai was at this rate, simply because he hadn't been fed.

Tsurai came in with an uppercut, and Bornes decided that instead of simply evading he should probably start trying to do some damage this time. He slid inside Tsurai's gait and turned around, throwing the kid over himself in a shoulder throw. He held onto Tsurai's arm and began to twist-- almost certain the boy would say give just as easily as Jiden had in the similar stunt Bornes had pulled the other day.

But Tsurai didn't. Tsurai grabbed his arm with his other and yanked Bornes down on top of him.

That was something Bornes had never seen before and in response let go of Tsurai's arm. Now that he was ontop of Tsurai, he figured he should take advantage of it, and started pummeling the boy's face.
But apparently Tsurai could block those, and grabbed Bornes' fists with a strength he wasn't expecting.
They now resorted to grappling eachother on the ground. Bornes began to give off feral growls, similar to a rabid dog's in his anger that he was losing against someone so small. Tsurai was making similar noises but they, of course, were substantially more human.

Tsurai finally let go of one of Bornes' hands, and yanked on the hybrid's tail, who let out a startled yelp in response. In Bornes' shock, Tsurai rolled on top of the hybrid, and thrust his hands around the man's neck, clasping his windpipe shut and forcibly cutting off any more of those stupid bestial sounds Bornes was eerily capable of emitting.

The hybrid's mouth opened in a snarl, and he tried to knee Tsurai, but the kid was too short for his legs to reach. Bornes' hands went in between Tsurai's arms and tried to hit at the inside of the boy's elbows and loosen the boy's grip, pull his hands apart-- but Tsurai was, simply put, stronger than Bornes. And remarkably so.

Bornes could see all the memories of being choked by others flash before his eyes as they began to roll into his head. But he didn't want to lose to a kid. A kid. He couldn't lose to a kid.
In one last attempt, he shoved his right hand up on Tsurai's chin, pushing his head back and exposing his neck more. Then, Bornes took his free hand and tried to punch the boy's neck. His vision was failing him and he desperately needed air-- he missed, missed... Hit!
Tsurai let go, holding his neck and coughing for a second. Bornes stayed on the ground, sucking in air.
It was obvious he made an attempt to get up, but it wasn't enough. Bornes' couldn't even get two inches off the ground, and trying to get up before Tsurai recovered simply made his own situation worse, and he blacked out of his own accord.

So close.

Tsurai, still coughing slightly, wanted to lunge toward the downed Bornes-- he wasn't finished yet. Kaegan interrupted.

"No, that dog insulted my mom!" He shouted, trying to push Kaegan away. He knew he couldn't. But that didn't mean he wouldn't try.

His throat was fine, but even though he hadn't fully recovered from it yet (he still coughed and made funny noises while he breathed) he still wanted to see the werewolf dead. Their friendship was gone. After what Bornes had said? That was unforgivable.

While Tsurai was preoccupied with Kaegan, Isiah had carried Bornes off again. This was becoming somewhat of a normal occurrence.

Bones was out cold, and when he was laid on the cot, still gone for a good two minutes. When he came to, his eyes fluttered slowly and he sucked in a deep breath, coughing afterward. Still he shoved himself up as fast as possible and shouted some sort of jibberish that seemed to be half french and half english.
He breathed through his mouth, realizing no one was around but Isiah, trying to calm himself down, his body wavering in dizziness from getting up so fast.

The reality of what had just happened finally sunk in, and his face paled.
"I passed out?" he couldn't believe it. "I was so close and I passed out?"

He started to growl, but it turned to a gurgle that further evolved into wheezing. Apparently his throat still hadn't recovered from being squeezed so tightly. Bruises were coming back.

Bornes shut himself up to save his breath and vocal chords, but his mind was screaming about how stupid his low blood pressure problem was and how weak and feminine he had to have been to lose to a retarded husk of a child.

"What do you know?!" Bornes shouted back, his voice cracking in the middle of it. He would've growled if he was sure that wouldn't make him sound worse. He coughed into his fist.

He knew himself better than Isiah knew his ******** problems. Isiah had no right to-- Bornes grumbled inwardly and lied down on his stomach, his hands over his head.

"Loosen a kid up," he scoffed. "How the hell was I supposed to know he had the stamina of a ******** horse."
He closed his eyes.

"I want you to be the one to do it," he said after a small bit of silence. "Just kill me before I go back out there again."

He lowered voice to a whisper, "losing to a ******** KID..."

Tsurai shoved Kaegan's hands away, but followed his foster father anyway. "Oh it won't be over. He's gonna get it worse than today. Just wait and see..." He grumbled all the way back to their home and into his cot. He'd stayed up let enough as it was.
That werewolf slept during the day... He'd go get him in the day. That's what Kaegan had done. That's what he would do tomorrow. What a jerk, that Bornes. He really was a traitor. He must be a perpetual liar.

Bornes turned over onto his back and glared at Isiah. "I would've won if I didn't black out. I should've smoked beforehand. I would've won if I had smoked beforehand!" Now who was whining like a child?

Bornes grimaced and rubbed his neck softly, faintly running his fingertips over his seemingly crushed windpipe. He softened his voice. "If I were stupid I would've asked to stage a fight with you, but that definitely won't work now," he thought aloud.
Not that it had a chance in hell of working before he lost to the kid.

Bornes stayed silent after that for a minute or two, turning on his side. He was thirsty, hungry.

"There's nothing I could do to get out of this, is there?" he said softly. "Nothing I could offer Kaegan?"

Bornes knew he'd just get weaker and weaker if he couldn't eat or drink. Isiah must've known that. If he couldn't beat that kid now, he wouldn't be able to tomorrow or the next day.

He wasn't even sure if he could walk at a decent pace for a long period any more. He needed water, at the very least.

Bornes watched Isiah, a bit confused at first. When Isiah held out the can of soup, Bornes first instinct was to decline.

"Isiah I can't--" He didn't even have to look at the look on Isiah's face. He could feel it. Bornes sat up and quickly took the can anyway and began to gulp it down. But he only got maybe halfway through before he started to choke. Stupid Tsurai seemed to have had a better grip than Isiah did.

Bornes tapped himself forcefully on the chest a few time,s and even though it hurt to finish, he finished the soup can as fast he could, tossed it to Isiah, and laid back down, his back toward the man.

The next words out of his mouth should've been a thank you, but Bornes stayed silent, holding back a few more coughs.

Bornes wince as he heard the can clatter on the ground outside somewhere. He mustered a "Thank you," though it was not that heartfelt.

"Tsurai never said his rank," he whispered sometime afterward. "Maybe he's not omega. Maybe someone else is."