[BATT] Battle Royale Round 3 (Pyruet vs Aprife vs Zeffer )

[amicableAggressor]

Most trolls would have said it was impossible for a crowd to make more noise than what had already been emanating from the stadium all day. Most trolls would have been wrong. The cheering was a physical wall of sound, ringing the packed dirt of the arena floor. Rising over top of it, on speakers that were one volume notch away from deafening, the queen introduced the three finalists for the last time.

"Weeeelcome one and all to the final, yes FINAL round! Before you today stands three young trolls, three faces from out of our past and our future who have stood and fought and won, for themselves, for their castes, and more importantly, for you! Laaaadies and gentletrolls, remember the names of Aprife Invasi, Zeffer Siroco, and Pyruet Tropos!"

For the three way battle, please reply in the same order as your initial posts. (ex: Aprife then Pyruet then Zeffer, repeat, repeat, repeat) On each post, you have to specify which of the other two trolls you are targeting with your attack. On a roll of 1, you will miss so badly you will hit the opposite troll than the one you were aiming for! Fighting two enemies at once is hard, and no one understands.

Same rules for post styles and rolling before you write still stand, however this battle will not have a time limit.  

[saedusk]

Attack Target: Pyruet

Even if the last fight had taken longer, so long they had run out of time, Aprife had come out relatively unscathed in comparison to the first. Good thing, since there was hardly a second to forlornly rub the new bruise forming on his skin before he was corralled back into the ring. There was a grin plastered on his face as he stood opposite not one, but two opponents. Anyone close enough to see the nervous twitch at the corner of his mouth would know it only served as an attempt to hide how much he wanted to turn tail and walk (or run) right out of here. Surviving this far into the battle royale had been surprising, and probably should have been a morale booster, but instead it just made him wish he was back in New Hemisect. Since the rounds had started, there had been no time at all to snoop and gather new gossip like he assumed there would be. All this wasted time.

Although, when he finally pulled himself out of the lament, he realized now wasn't quite the time to be worrying about it. Now was the time to wonder, with two trolls to avoid, how this was going to work. While he hadn't watched all of the battles, he had been able to catch a good bit of that greenblood's over there. Scary. Brutal. If she had been willing and able to do all that to a highblood, even spitting in his face, what in the world would she do to him? It was too bad he didn't know her true intentions, only that she was threatening. Then again. He glanced over at Zeffer, muscles clenching expectantly.

The choice really was easy. He charged at Pyruet. 'Stay as far away from the electricity as possible,' his think pan told him. Flipping his scourge back, he flicked it at the greenblood's face.

20/20  

[Sugi Kawakita]

Attack Target: Zeffer

Pyruet entered the arena to the hisses and jeers of the people seated nearest her. She turned her head to examine them, eyebrow raised. Bunch of blue and purple bloods, some making some rather rude gestures. Huh, you'd think people would be more happy about the rather stellar performance she'd put on in her fights. "Oh well, no pleasing everyone, I suppose."

She ran the back of her hand over her lip again, a small smear of blood confirming that it was still bleeding a bit. Not a huge surprise, it had gotten torn open something pretty serious. Ugh, she still couldn't believe she'd let Sempur get such a severe hit in on her. The glancing strike to the cheekbone, sure. Maybe even the backhand, that wasn't as painful as it was offensive. But that punch, that was just...a demonstration that she wasn't infallibly better than him. And that was disgusting.

Okay yeah enough of thinking about that loathsome son of a b***h UGH, it was kind of time to make some new enemies. Except Aprife seemed to be quite a bit more eager about that than her, charging at her like he meant business. She reached for her revolver as quickly as she could, but he was undoubtedly faster. Fast being his only good quality, she supposed, the whip barely stinging as it lashed her side.

Not even worth wasting a round on. She drew the gun she'd reached for and immediately tried to fire past Aprife while he was still up close, aiming for Zeffer. She'd seen his fights, the guy was a lunatic; not to mention that she'd had first-hand experience with how much of a pain in the a** electricity-based weapons could be.

Her accuracy thrown off by the quickdraw, the bullet hit Aprife in the shoulder. She shot the yellowblood a dirty look as she lunged away from him. Charging her like that and then getting in the way of her shot. What an a**.

19/20

(well this makes a bit less sense, thanks to my fictional dyslexia, but I feel like it would be cheating to swap attack targets now >:? )  

[kamileunaire]

attack target: APRIFE

Here he was again, in another round, and boy did Zeffer seem excited about it. It wasn't just any other round, he'd made it to the FINALS. There were his opponents too, his old acquaintance Aprife, and that rocking greenblood chick he'd seen at the very beginning. He'd heard that Pyruet had slammed the vicious mohawk'd blueblood in her previous match, and that made him even more eager to see how he'd stack up against her in this battle. Made him sad he'd missed the match, too, but his lusus had dragged him the short distance home for some chow and a moment's rest after the med drones had patched up the cuts he'd received. He had never even learned that mystery guy's name! He still felt like a bit of a chump for having run out of time, but it had been a pretty fun match, and now he was ready to do it all over again.

Zeffer sauntered into the arena, his arm and front bandaged, but his clothes still torn and bloody. There hadn't really been enough time to change, and he didn't really care or notice anyway. He just wanted to fight, and have some fun in the process. It was a pleasing though that even though only one of them would be left standing, they would all be rewarded. That's what the finals poster had said, right?

The electricity of the crowd was invigorating, but the loud hum of voices would not sound as sharp as the ones emitting from his batons as he unhooked them from his belt and flipped them on. He smirked over at his opponents, playful and manic. He waited until their queen introduced them...and then they were off. It was hard to decide who to go after, but he darted after Aprife, attracted by the yellowblood's movement the moment the battle began.

"Aprife, buddy, where ya goin'!?" he asked, and gave a dark chuckle as he rushed after his 'friend'. The whole situation seemed perfect to the blueblood, who, after being railed by Arcus, was going to try to 'take it easy' this time and not allow himself to become worked up so soon. The adrenaline though...it was maddening. It made him want to laugh, to run...to zap people into submission. He was pretty distracted when he ran up behind Aprife to wail on him from behind. The baton connected with the small of the yellowblood's back with a resounding ZZZT. It was a pretty harsh blow...

But the sound of Pyre's gun going off nearly made the blueblood jump out of his skin, and he darted away from Aprife as the bullet made contact, and he acknowledged his second opponent. "Ho-ly s**t! Pyruet~ I'm a fan, so sad I missed out on your last match. Heard you really beat that guy's a**." he might as well have been ricocheting off the walls of the arena at that point. He'd forgot that this chick had a gun, and the prospect of getting hit by one of those bullets made him shiver, and grin all the more. This was going to be one hell of a match!

20/20  

[saedusk]

Attack Target: Zeffer

Eyes still trained on the original goal despite the essential failure of his attack, the strike driving into his back came completely unexpected. He should have known. He should have known not to turn his back on Zeffer, it's not like this was the first time they had met. Not that there was much time to ponder over depths of his own idiocy, muscles were locking up and vague thoughts of 'ow ow ow ow' were about the only thing he could manage anymore. At some point he had dropped his weapon, hands clenching and unclenching as his body tried to resist the terrible discomfort. It wasn't until the feeling finally started to drift painfully back into his fingers that he even tried to make a grab for it. There was no way he could do any real damage hand-to-hand, all instinct said grab the whip, get it back and then run. Grab the whip and then run.

Unfortunately, Aprife barely had a chance to bend before the greenblood's bullet slammed into his shoulder. Hissing, he dropped to one knee and his arm slapped heavily at his side. Now he could barely feel it anymore, it was as numb as Zeffer's electricity had temporarily rendered it earlier. How amazing would it be to simply lay down next to his whip and play dead? Then they would have to step over him and that would show them, oh yes it would. Wait. No. That was stupid. Teeth clenched, even biting into his own cheeks in an attempt to will away the pain. His right arm was useless now. It had been a long time since he used the left for anything but writing, but at least he was able to maneuver it nearly as well as his right. If he had lost the ability to lift the whip, it would have been over for real, not just in the yellowblood's pain-addled imagination.

Snatching up the weapon, he half-stumbled back to his feet and away from Pyruet. She looked obviously angry, or maybe she just always looked like that, but he didn't want to test the theory. It was time to deal with the blueblood before he snuck up from behind again. If those damn batons were in front of Aprife, maybe he could see them well enough to actually dodge if they came flying his direction again.

Fingers clenched tightly around the whip's handle and, testing the feeling and rightness of the new hand, swung it in a few small circles. It was enough to wind his swing up a bit by the time he brought it whistling down at Zeffer.

12/20  

[Sugi Kawakita]

Attack Target: Zeffer

Pyruet was backpedaling, trying to keep her distance from Zeffer, when his words made her pause. A fan? From just the two battles she'd put on, one of which he'd apparently missed? That sounded a bit less than sincere, really. "...Uh, yeah, I..." Well she wasn't a fan, not really. She had sort of an...almost respect for his fighting prowess, she guessed? "...I acknowledge that you're a pretty worthy opponent?" That sounded even more insincere, despite the (rather backhanded)honesty. She chose to ignore the bit about Sempur. She'd probably just get all worked up if she started talking about him, and anger didn't help her aim. No, she just wouldn't let her mind wander, nope nope nope. "Focus Pyruet, it's the finals. Get your s**t together."

She noticed that Aprife was rounding on Zeffer now. Good, maybe the yellowblood would keep him out of her hair for a bit. She shifted the magnum to her left hand, saving her the time she'd need to free her right for punching, if the blueblood decided to close the distance between them. "But that's what you are, an opponent. I'm not going to thrash you any less out of 'respect.'" She raised the gun as if to accentuate the last comment, and fired at the mohawked opponent. Not the most accurate shot--to be expected since she wasn't using her dominant hand--but it hit him well enough, no one jumping in front of the bullet this time.

19/20  

[kamileunaire]

attack target: PYRUET

Zeffer was quickly coming to find that fighting two opponents at once really was not as easy as he'd tried to trick himself into thinking it would be. One moment he was laughing as poor Aprife jerked and spazzed from the hit he'd landed, and the next he was getting whipped in the face. His whole front, really, as the yellowblood lashed out to protect himself. Zeffer had been distracted by their female opponent, and down came the whip, accompanied by a hurt snarl as he quickly leapt away. One of the tails of Aprife's weapon landed a blow across the side of his face, and he was quick to move the ******** away to avoid that happening again.

He turned his attention quickly to Pyruet, who because of her weapon posed a much more intimidating threat. He could see that his words had caught her off guard, and he couldn't hide the laughter. It really would seem like he was mocking her, but in the end, he didn't matter. He respected her ability to kick a**, and it tickled him silly that one of the most aggressive and seemingly blowhard-ish trolls in the competition had been sent home by someone of a lower caste. It was delicious was what it was. "Oh no no. None of us should hold back at all. It's just, it must have been amazing to grind that a*****e into the dirt." he said, mentioning Sempur again, as he noticed her avoid the topic.

He had to break away from his talking to snarl at Aprife and keep on his toes, not wanting to let the yellowblood get too close. In doing so, he would end up paying for it...there were a lot of things Zeffer could dodge, but bullets, it seemed, were not one of them. The blue blood nearly keeled over as he was hit, and even though it was a rubber projectile, <********>, that s**t hurt. The shot had connected with his side, taking his breath away for a moment as he staggered to a halt. He'd never been hit with something like that before. He howled, and clutched the hurt spot, and turned his head to stare over at Pyre with battle-crazed eyes. After taking a moment to recover, the grin slowly cracked over his features again as he regained his composure.

"I wouldn't expect you to." he hissed, and took off after the greenblood, eager to repay her. He came in an angry zig-zag, panting raggedly before he lunged and slammed one of the batons into the shoulder of the arm that had the gun in it. Disabling his foe had proved to be an alright strategy in the past, so of course he was going to try it out again in this match.

10/20  

[saedusk]

Attack Target: Zeffer

Since smack talk—or would this be better served under the title of friendly conversation?—hadn't been a staple of his previous bouts, Aprife wasn't exactly sure how to take what transpired between his opponents as he kept his mouth shut. As he stood off and to the side, having instinctively jumped out of the way when the bloodblood charged forward again, there was an attempt at a grin that twitched the corner of his mouth. Too much discomfort kept it from evolving into anything significant, but the battle, at least for him, seemed to pause and shift into something not wholly unusual. If only he had a pen and paper, just one notebook to scribble something down in. This awkward banter appealed to his gossipy nature, but more importantly, as the fingers of his right hand curled gently in some form of anticipation, it gave him a moment to collect himself and recover a bit. Certainly the feeling hadn't returned enough to wield with his right again, but the left seemed to be doing alright, anyway.

Letting out a small laugh that was mostly a cover for previous nervousness, he readied himself and darted forward. Zeffer was his target again, for reasons beyond simple payback. Even from an angle behind the action, he could see that Zeffer was trying to disarm the greenblood. Not exactly interested in being shot again, he was more than happy to assist, as long as it was enough just to push the other male from behind. Give him a bit of leverage or something. Maybe it wouldn't be enough to do anything, but heck… maybe this was actually just an excuse for payback, a karmic return of that back-shot from earlier.

Flipping the whip in his hand, he drove the end of the handle into the storm chaser's back. Without the force of both hands behind the strike, it wouldn't be as efficient as it had been against Fellah in that first round. Still, adrenaline finally starting to kick in for real, he was able to find quite a bit of strength to push the attack.

12/20  

[Sugi Kawakita]

Attack Target: Zeffer

"...it must have been amazing to grind that a*****e into the dirt."

He was messing with her. Teasing her maybe even. Trying to get under her skin.
And that affected her more than the memory of her fight with Sempur(although she did clench her teeth a bit at his mention). No, she wasn't going to stand here and get mocked in the middle of a battle. She was the one who humiliated people while stomping them.

She smirked a bit as the bullet connected; maybe that'd shut him up for a bit. The smirk vanished as he launched towards her, way faster than she'd expected, way faster than she could handle.

There weren't many things Pyruet could dodge. No, she was more of a blocking girl, which wasn't exactly useful when even touching the weapon in question resulted in just as devastating an attack as being hit with it would be. She grunted as the baton hit her shoulder, muscles instantly contracting, her grip on her gun tightening involuntarily as control of her left arm was all but robbed from her. She twisted away from the rod, breaking contact with it, and shuddered a bit as the current surged through her. Yeah, electricity-based weapons were a pain in the a**.

Suddenly, Aprife out of nowhere. The yellow-blooded boy slammed into Zeffer from behind, forcing him towards her. She quickly drew back with her right hand, left still numb, and shoved her palm into the area right beneath the blueblood's breast bone, forcing him backwards again. She tried to smile in Aprife's general direction, but she may have been too busy grimacing from the impact to her shoulder to really properly form a grin. Either way, she nodded stiffly at him as a quick 'thanks.' Guess he didn't really take that accidental bullet to heart, that was kinda cool of him.

14/20  

[kamileunaire]

attack target: Pyruet

Zeffer only snarled and laughed as he laid a beat down on the greenblood, getting the deep satisfaction of seeing her squirm while the electricity danced through her person. He was about to reel back and hit her again, a convenient double strike, until Aprife came up from behind. The hit to his back almost had him seeing stars, it hurt so bad. Maybe it was because he was already tired, but he gave a choked cry of pain before stumbling forward...

Only to be shoved back again by Pyre. It wasn't a very hard hit, but it was enough to take him by surprise, and for the first time since the fighting began, he teetered back and fell onto the floor of the arena in a crumpled blue and black heap. He wheezed as he struggled there for a moment, and was back on his feet again quickly enough, panting hard. He knew if he wasn't careful now, that the end was going to come pretty quick. He stowed the jab for the moment, and darted up to Pyruet again to give her a light tap on the other shoulder before quickly moving away.

5/20  

[saedusk]

Attack Target: Pyruet

There was just enough time to flip the handle of the scourge over and into its correct position before the blueblood came stumbling back at him. The momentary feeling of relief that had swelled up in him just moments ago dissipated. He half expected Zeffer to throw on that usual, boundlessly off-putting grin, turn around, and whack him right across the face. But it didn't come. Instead, as Aprife skirted backwards to avoid it, he only fell to the ground in a way that made the yellowblood think maybe it was over. Eyes darted to Pyruet in time to see only the end of the nod she had offered in his direction. Unfortunately, he still wasn't too excited by the memory of that slug in the shoulder, but much more importantly, he didn't quite take the appreciative gestures the way she meant them.

That expression. Aprife likened it to waking up in the evening only to find the milk for your grubflakes had soured. Despite her attempts at smiling, he still only saw that same, disconcerting look, as if someone had done something wrong even if they didn't know it. And now, with the nod as emphasis, all the scrawnier troll could see was 'I took that guy down, now it's your turn.'

This was it, he had to get in there and attack before she had a chance to get to him first. Closing the distance would make her weapon harder to use and if he could he could hit-and-dodge before she had the opportunity to retaliate with her superior physical strength, he might come out of it okay. Charging, he was surprised, to say the least, when Zeffer got right up in front of him. So much for that guy being down, he was always full of surprises. Not that Aprife felt good about it, in fact, he slowed considerably until he was sure the other's target wasn't him, but the greenblood. The shot was light, but the whipkind hoped it was enough of a distraction to let him in and out before she could catch him. Raising his weapon, he smacked it across her right shoulder before following the momentum of the swing and sidestepping to the right with it.

12/20  

[Sugi Kawakita]

Attack Target: Zeffer

Zeffer wasn't taking his beating well. He was out of breath, seemingly barely staying on his feet once he recovered from the fall. Not that Pyruet could blame him. The guy had been through three rounds of battle, with barely a proper break between the fights. He was battered and bruised, slashed and probably welted--not that she could see too much of his skin. But understandable conditions or no, he was the weakest link here, and the biggest threat to her. He had to go down, and apparently Aprife agreed, having been focusing on him since his initial attack on her.

Her right arm shot out to grab Zeffer as he rushed for her again, only to contract and miss as the stun baton made light contact with her shoulder. Not enough to render it temporarily numb like her left, but enough to sting and cause her to involuntarily jerk back. She growled at him as he began to dart to her right, but the yellowblood was right behind him. Huh, she was kinda surprised Zeffer had even turned his back to him considering the blow that resulted before, but she guessed it was the last time he'd made that mistake as Aprife reared back...

...and lashed her across the same shoulder, zipping off in the direction Zeffer hadn't, looking almost coordinated in their two-pronged assault. They were both out of her reach before she even really had time to register what had happened. What the hell, Aprife had targeted Zeffer right up until she'd shown appreciation, which he responded to by whipping her across the arm? She could feel her skin welting as she fumed. What was his deal?

She whirled in his direction, revolver raised, ready to fire at the yellowblood, and paused. No, she needed to take care of Zeffer, one more solid hit should at least discourage him from irritating her further, if not taking him out of the fight. Fine. Aprife could wait his turn to be attacked, she'd settle at yelling at him for now. "What the hell is your problem?" she shouted, fangs bared. She kept an eye on Zeffer; she swore, if he tried to attack while she was scolding their opponent, she was gonna punch him right in his stupid laughing face. "Pick a side and stick with it, I can't stand wishy-washiness in combat." It was kind of a moot point now, she was about to try to eliminate the sole other side he could've chosen, but it was a point worth making.

Zeffer was too far away to strike, too fast to pursue. To be frank, she was kind of tired of just shooting at people, but picking him off from a distance before he could hit her again was vastly preferred to the alternative. She paused. Four shots left in the cylinder. He might bounce right back from a single round, it might just irritate him, and that wasn't worth risking when he was as quick as he was. She spun towards him.

Two reports rang out through the arena, echoing off the massive walls. A small hesitation, and a third sounded as she pulled the trigger yet again. She'd just fired as many bullets as she'd used in the entire tournament thus far, in rapid succession, at a single target. No, she wasn't taking any chances, she was putting Zeffer down with the intention of keeping him down.

10/20  

[kamileunaire]

It was true. Even though he'd probably surprised everyone by getting back up, Zeffer was undeniably fatigued, and even in his smirk, it showed. It hurt every time he tightened his injured hand around the handle of his baton, and the gash in his arm throbbed from all the movement he was having to do. His back ached from the fresh blow that the yellowblood had landed. He didn't want to admit it, but the end was coming. Not yet, though!

Zeffer snickered as Pyre's reach missed its mark, painfully seized by electricity once again. He danced away as usual, looking surprised as Aprife came up from behind with such suddenness. That really got his heart pounding...why had he attacked Pyruet instead? He was baffled, but certainly not angry over it. Maybe things would turn around...if Aprife continued to focus on Pyre, it would certainly make things a bit easier. He hadn't been doing so great with keeping track of two opponents at once. Something to think about in the future. Something to imrpove upon.

The blueblood laughed as Pyre scolded Aprife. The guy had been so tense throughout the entire match, but Zeffer couldn't blame him, he supposed. They were all equally vicious opponents, and fighting both had been a real treat. His grin sharpened as Pyruet took aim at the yellowblood. This was his chance...maybe his last chance to get in a good solid hit on the greenblood. He hated to think of it that way, but who knew what would happen when he got into close range again. With Pyre, it seemed, it was a lose-lose. She could kick your a** from far away or up close. He began to move in, circling around to attack from behind...

Only to watch, in a split second of horror, as the greenblood spun around to face him. It almost happened in slow motion for Zeffer. The first shot hit him in the shoulder, and the second in his side again. The instantaneous explosions of pain made him trip on himself, stumbling hard, giving a few choked snarls of agony, and then came the third shot. It would be the blow that sealed his fate. The force of it caused him to crumple sideways to the floor of the arena, the grin finally gone from his features as he curled up and writhed in his hurt. He wasn't out, but Pyruet had made sure that he was down for the count. The third shot had ensured that Zeffer wouldn't be getting up again.

0/20  

[saedusk]

This was probably the first time since the beginning of the battle royale that Aprife felt real, genuine humor welling up in his stomach. Pick a side? Oh no, this contest was not about making friends, only to have those friends turn and go after you instead. This was about survival. And although his instincts concerning fights were probably pretty poor in comparison to a lot of the population, he knew that there was no honest relying on anyone in this setup. In fact, the yellowblood was even less likely to group with some chick he just met who always seemed to be giving him the disapproving stink eye. Snorting, he wrapped his good arm over his abdomen and curled over a bit.

"Pick a side?" he shouted, the first words he had said the entire battle. It was all he could get out before Pyruet pulled the trigger, bringing Zeffer down in a blaze he felt was appropriate for the blueblood, but still- That had been overkill. That made him feel even more that the idea of teaming up with your enemy could only end badly. The look on his face was stuck somewhere between fear and absolute amusement, the shift from being hilariously chided to watching some guy you knew get taken down was pretty large, at least for this particular troll. "I was never on your side. Or Zeffer's," he added for good measure. "I'm on my own side and that's it!" The yellowblood took off before he was even completely done talking. He had to get a shot in before she turned around again. Especially because being at a distance only made him think he could end up curled on the ground like their other opponent, smacked with one too many painful rubber bullets. One had been enough, thanks.

When he closed the distance between them again, his whip came down across her shoulder blade. He could feel that the hit had not been as strong as he needed right now and he could rationalize all night about how he was getting tired and his left arm simply wasn't as practiced as he right despite being ambidextrous. Now wasn't the time for that, though. Now was the time to get the ******** out of the way before she retaliated. Circling around to her side, he tried to keep only enough distance so that she couldn't reach out and grab him and also couldn't fire or reload or whatever it was she needed to do with the gun, but he knew that if she didn't turn around the way he wanted her to, he would be right in her line of sight.

12/20  

[Sugi Kawakita]

Pyre watched Zeffer twist and squirm as Aprife shouted behind her. Maybe that had been a bit much. Rubber bullets were usually nonlethal, but they were also supposed to be used to take down criminals and wrongdoers, scum whose "broken bones" and "internal bleeding" didn't matter. Zeffer hadn't really done anything wrong aside from being sort of an a**, maybe risking organ-hemorrhaging was a bit over the top. She mentally shrugged; he was probably fine, trolls were a pretty sturdy race, and he didn't exactly act like today was his first foray into combat.

She holstered her revolver as she continued listening to the yellowblood. It only had one shot left, maybe it'd come in handy as some awesome deus ex machina later, but for now, it wasn't worth relying on.

Pyruet tensed as Aprife announced his allegiances, or rather, his lack thereof. His voice had changed on that last syllable, in that funny sort of way that voices get deeper when the speaker is exerting himself. He had started running. She tried to turn towards him, but barely even had time to chastise herself for being such a <******** dullard before the whip struck her again, this lashing being less impressive than his last. Less than devastating or no, though, he was nimble, she could be facing a death-by-a-thousand-papercuts scenario if he didn't go down soon.

She whirled around, giving a small snarl, snatching at him. Two fingers hooked into the neck of his sweater, and she yanked. Whether it merely slowed him or outright stopped him was irrelevant, it gave her time to retaliate. She stepped towards him. "That's cowardly." Her open palm smashed into the small of his back, just to the right of his spine. "If you don't choose a side and take a stand, then everyone's your enemy." She was berating the boy like some overbearing lusus, almost as though she hadn't just nearly set him up to piss blood for a week. She caught herself before she continued any further, now was probably not the best time. She let go of his sweater and stepped back. She wasn't turning her back to him again, he'd gotten in enough sucker-whips today.

8/20