|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:58 pm
Perhaps his nerves were the most on edge because of the fact he was increasingly guilty for being here. It was because he knew his bother would bust his a** for betting his few partial marks in a game where he was sure to lose. It could just as easily been taken for nervousness over something else. The bottom line was: he looked like he was afraid of getting caught at something.
Perhaps it was the noise in the room, the people packed together and curses exchanged now and then, or it could even have been the way Avery was looking at him. Her words were slowly and carefully starting to tick him off.
With sweating palms, he tossed down a full mark, and cast the girl the largest, most defensive glare of his lifetime.
"I don't intend to back out early." The mark was something that he hadn't acquired for very long. There were all sorts of contests that went around, and who was he to know that some of the losers weren't really playing fairly.
It was easy to carve into wood, after all, and honesty only went so far.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:42 pm
Avery's voice was cool, dismissive as she began to deal cards, simultaneously reaching out to scoop all of the bets into pile to change marks for stones.
"Yes, well, most boys never intend to finish early, yet is seems to be a reoccurring problem, hm, love?"
Whatever she was about to say was changed by the sudden halt of her motions, her hazel eyes running over the players' faces before dropping back to the bets.
"This game is over." Her usually amused tone had a hint of chilly malice to it and she took back cards, ignoring the groans and angry comments from those that had found themselves with a good hand. Finally, raising her eyes to Bachi's, she provided an answer.
"I reckon we have ourselves a cheat."
A silence fell across the table. Cheaters rarely came to Avery's table, preferring to attempt and con those more likely to fall for their tricks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:55 pm
If she called him love one more time. . .
Bachi never got the chance to finish his own thoughts. There was a steel to the air that caused a chill to travel down his spine.
His jaw clenched, teeth ground, and his fist followed suit shortly thereafter.
The accusation, however, he hadn't expected. He looked between everyone else for a moment before looking back to Avery. Her eyes were still on him.
It took Bachi a little while longer to register what was going on. Sharding hell, what were they playing at?
"Care to say it again?" He stood up, the wood scraping harshly along the flooring.
"I've dealt with your s**t all afternoon. I'm done. I played the game the same as everyone else. I'm not going to curl up at your feet and beg like a b***h like everyone else here." Calling him 'love' was something he could tolerate with anger. Calling him a cheat was something he would not.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:02 pm
Avery did not like the way his muscles tensed. She did not like the way he stood, physically putting himself above her, and she definitely did not like the way he spoke to her.
"You heard me the first time, love." Carefully, quickly sorting out her cards and setting them aside, she stood, still partially bent over the table as she picked up a mark from the table, near-casually flicking it toward his face. Icy disdain was clear in her voice as she spoke slowly, clearly, her words clipped despite tagging on a petname.
"Your mark is fake, little cheat." She straightened, the table no longer between them as she gestured toward the general direction of the latrines, not the candidates' quarters.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:13 pm
Bachi was faced with a very big problem here.
He was as illiterate as they come. He only knew certain marks by his organization and what people had told them they were. Naturally, he could not tell the difference between a counterfeit mark and a regular one, he didn't have the eye.
When Avery went off telling him that the mark was fake, there was nothing but malice written on his features.
"My mark was just fine when I gave it to you," he snarled in response. Had he been a smarter, more rational fellow, he would have gone backwards in time and with logical deduction and the problem might have been found.
Bachi was thinking with his fists and his testosterone now, and as he slammed said fist down on the table, it was evident where that all of that extra energy would be going. "You go first," he growled in response to her gesture. He was not being casted out to the 'latrines' on account of some girl's inability to play fairly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:20 pm
Perhaps if Bachi hadn't been a newer Candidate, or if he had been more familiar with Avery's character, he would have apologized, or explained himself. Alas, that was not the case, and so actions that could have been avoided were not.
An elegantly gloved, perfectly formed fist flew for Bachi's face, in the form of an uppercut to the underside of a clenched jaw. Why? More likely to knock him out. A strike to his nose followed.
Avery was the youngest child in her family, a sister to two older, stronger brothers who didn't take it easy on her. That, as well as many turns of making sure bets were paid in full, defense against mugging and unwanted affections, and general rough-housing had made for a scrappy, already strong young woman.
That, along with her resolute need for respect at her table, and the requirement to make examples of cheaters forced her hand. Avery was not going to let some boy three turns her junior get the upper ground on her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:28 pm
Although it didn't knock him out, it did cause him to stun. From there, his brain wavered long enough to feel the second launch to the soft cartilage of his face.
If he hadn't stumbled back then, he probably would have had his broken. Unfortunately for Avery, Bachi also had two older brothers and half a neighborhood of Hold-friends that were always willing to join him in the fun of black eyes.
He worked off us instinct and took a lunge, barreling his shoulder to her abdomen. He'd always heard that girl's were a little weaker there. Shards, his jaw was hurting already and the light-headedness of shock and pain were beginning to follow.
But he didn't really care as he heard a crash and the shouts and murmurs that proclaimed a fight had started.
Normally he wouldn't hit a lady, but Balin wasn't here to tell him to stop, and she'd come at him first!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:34 pm
Avery's muscles were small, but hard and she knew how to take a hit, which was lucky because while Bachi may have been shorter than she, he was heavier and his shoulders broader, causing a gasp as some of her wind left her body. Still, her cool mind ran over possibilities, her body responding quickly as she worked to not be pinned or end up on the floor under his bulk.
Falling back against the table, she used it to brace herself as she sent a bladed arm and hand, flat and sure, for his throat, attempting to knee him in the groin. Two very important places he'd want to protect, however, he'd probably only be able to successfully defend one. Luckily, he was fighting as a boy fights a girl, with grabs and pushes, not as one fights another boy, with his fists.
No one seemed to be stepping in, as this was a bit of a hierarchy jostle at the gaming tables. Of course, if the candidate master caught wind in time...
Avery would just have to disable him quickly and mercilessly, before he could hurt her or they could be punished.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:58 pm
Bachi managed to avoid the first by shoving her firmly along the clavicle region. Unfortunately, that just gave her more room for the second option.
He buckled for a second, stumbled to the right and caught the wall with his face flushed red as he spit out the cotton-taste in his mouth. That was not a legal move in fight was all he was thinking.
It was a hard enough hit, and the jaw before, that he wasn't up for continuing. Not over a stupid mark that he knew nothing about. As much as he wanted to, it was against his morals to hit any girl. Even one like this one.
"I don't cheat!" he hissed between his teeth as he sucked in a pained breath and kept one hand on the wall for support.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:06 pm
And Avery believed him.
The curly-haired girl stood panting, a hand pressed her aching chest as she heard the whispers of Candidatemaster Z'nal possibly on his way to check out the commotion. Most of the youths had gone back to what they'd been doing before, some simply leaving the dining hall, and Avery's quick mind rejected Bachi as a conman. They usually stopped asserting their innocence this far into the fight, and well, he didn't seem bright enough to be lying past this point.
Grabbing her bag with her cards, stones, and marks in it, she glanced over her shoulder to assess the situation. The crowd seemed to be parting for someone. Bachi was still recovering from her strike [which she only felt a slight bit of remorse about, as he was stronger than she], and she moved past him quickly, a hand clenching around his shirt.
"Come on," A quiet, firm hiss, she was not a fan of punishment.
The brunette ducked into a hallway.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 9:56 am
Bachi was still trying to catch his breath when there was a heavy pressure around his neck and footsteps in his ears.
With a groan, he blindly stumbled off after Avery's voice. When he'd caught his breath and the pain had given way to numbness, he put a fist to the wall and set his gaze onto the dark-skinned girl.
His brows had wrinkled the space between his eyes which were narrowed. Was she just going to humiliate him further now? After she attempted to cripple him?
He didn't bother to say anything all in response to the situation. He didn't want to be caught, either, so he cracked his shoulders and stood up straight and started down the hallway. It was after hours, and he needed to beg his roommate not to turn him in.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:10 am
"Hey," Avery's whisper was a little rough, still out of breath, and she reached out to touch his elbow as she followed him. The young woman didn't apologize, but she did continue, her tone without accusation.
"Who gave you the mark?" Her acknowledgement that he didn't cheat and that she was done fighting him. A wry smile at her sudden realization of her lapse in manners and her brow creased at the feeling of her swollen bottom lip. He hadn't done it. She'd bitten it when he'd shouldered her. It still hurt.
"I'm Avery." She didn't look like she was letting him get away. "It's important."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:15 am
Bachi looked back and jerked his elbow out of her reach. Touching was not okay.
Eventually, however, he did stop. So now she wanted to talk to him? Bachi was still skeptical. It showed in how he crossed his arms and that his jaw remained clenched for a little while.
"A boy I won a contest against." His voice was steeled over as this was information he really had no desire to tell. He didn't know the kid's name and he only vaguely remembered what he looked like.
Talking was hurting his jaw, but it was still better than the soreness that came with clenching it. It would probably be slightly swollen tomorrow.
Did she want his name, too? Not going to happen. "I didn't have any idea it was a fake. I can hardly read." It wasn't something he was ashamed of at all, although it probably would his brother.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:58 am
An exasperated sigh from the curly-haired candidate and she couldn't stop herself from putting her hands on her hips, shaking her head at him. "Why didn't you say that?"
Ugh, boys. Pulling two marks from her pocket, she held them out to him. "Take these. Examine them whenever you've the time, and then tell me all the differences. I'll let you know which is fake."
Apparently she thought they were on speaking terms. "In return, you can let me know what game you were playing, and anything you can remember about that boy."
Chances were, it was someone she knew.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 11:07 am
"I did," he reasoned. It hadn't been stated perfectly, but he told her that he wasn't a cheater and she hadn't believed her. That was her fault, not his.
The marks surprised him, but he wasn't going to ask questions before Avery handed him the wooden coins and finally explained. He took them and turned them over in his fingers before pocketing them. He'd try not to forget that he had to compare them.
Vaguely, he considered telling her to go take a hike around the lake, that he wasn't going to turn anyone in, but then he realized that would make him look stupid and suspicious again.
"Okay," he finally agreed. His lips were pressed together in a fine line. "Give me a day or so to think about it."
Now. . . "Meet me in the East corner of the dining hall on in two days." It was time to go back to his sleeping quarters. He really couldn't afford to be any later. If his brother got wind of this, he was in for it as the event already stood.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
