Fable - Ask Fox Fangs and Wolf Wails

[Diaz]

"Shadowkin only?" Diaz growled. "How is that even a test of-"

The old priest cleared his throat.

Diaz sealed his mouth. His eyes hardned as they stood in the darkness of the chapels training ground.

"If you hope to climb the ranks, young assassins, you must learn to imbue your shadowkin with the same menace, and threat, of your ambitions," the old priest bowed his head to them, and two great ravens appeared upon his shoulders, each with eyes that swirled with a hollow light. Dere and Esqe. "For it is your desire to climb, that will see the Mother's will spread across the land, ye vowed souls of Meness,"

Diaz shut his eyes, and bowed his head. He had no fucking clue what the old geezer was going on about, but if it meant giving him an edge when it came to boosting his ranking, well, he'd fuckin listen. "Alright,"

"First to draw the other's blood, shall be considered the victor,"

That had a wide grin spread across Diaz' face. "That's it huh?" His eyes came open and looked across to see his opponent. The useless fox. "Consider it done," he drew his dagger from its sheath, and slit the pad of his thumb open. A fat bead of read welled there upon it, and he drew three red lines across his face. One down between his brow, and one across each cheek, ending in a long curved point that looked like canines.

In the dim room, so covered in shadows, appeared a wolf that looked to be made of smoke. Its lupin eyes fixed on the other assassin, across the dark expanse of the stone floor between them. It stood still, upon all fours, hunched with its head low.

"First blood's mine!" Diaz said with excitement, and the wolf darted forward. ​

---

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

Solitude had learned long ago that her fellow brothers and sisters tended to be crazy in the head. How she ended up the normal one was beyond her but maybe she was just built different.

Or you’re just stupid, Celosia thought to Sol.

“Still alive though,” the young assassin mumbled into her black mask, hearing the discordant laughter of her shadowkin in her head. Luckily for her, her sister joined in on the mental conversation, although no longer eloquent like she had once been, Solitude was grateful that someone had her back.

“First to draw the other’s blood shall be considered the victor.” Solitude looked at the Priest, then her crimson eyes went to look at Diaz. Ugh. Diaz. Dude needed to get laid or something, he was also so fucking raring to go when it came to—

Bring me forth. Celosia demanded.

You know I suck at blood magic. Solitude watched as Diaz began the contract, the offering. She took a step back, bending her knees.

You heard the priest! Only with me can you win this!

Does it matter if I lose this one? A wolf slowly began piecing itself together. Diaz looked like a lunatic as usual.

Yes!!! The shadowkin gave what Solitude imagined was a sigh. You can at least start doing what you’re good at.

Yeah? And what’s that?

RUNNING AWAY!!!

Solitude didn’t need to be told twice. She turned her back on the wolf and Diaz (yeah, yeah, don’t turn your back on your foe and whatnot) and sprinted to the chapel’s wall. Jumping up, she kicked herself off from the wall and was able to grab onto one of the low hanging beams of the church. Without missing a beat she began scrambling up along the old, heavy thing. Her mask prevented the plume of dust from getting into her airways, but she had to close her eyes for a moment. She used a hand to disperse the dust cloud to the left and right.

Solitude could feel her sister, sensing the danger, trying to materialize. Not now. Sol thought, finally opening her eyes.

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

The shadow wolf scraped along and scratched across the black granite stone of the floor, jaws snapping and claws raking as it lunged for Solitude, who leapt out of the way.

Diaz growled, and watched his nimble footed counterpart cling onto a crossbeam, pull herself up, and settle in a cloud of dust. Good vantage point, he would give her that.

"Great," he growled, and laughed. "Yeah! Way to go!" He barked, his wolf looked to him, then faded into the shadows.

Blood dripped from Diaz' thumb, and his mouth shut into a wide eyed grin, his hands clapped together as if in prayer, his head bowed, just so, as he whispered canticles beneath his breath.

Oh in the depth of darkness, does the righteous blade hide,
Deliver, unto thee, my foe, the mother's will,
Through the shadows that she doth provide.
Spring now, kin of mine, from shadows measured sill,

She forget who they were?

Across the shadows of the wall, crept a shadow darker than all those that veiled the underground training room. As if untouchable to the candles light.

With exhelation of breath, more blood seemed to run from Diaz' opened wound. Red rivulets, warm against his palms, traced down and dripped onto the floor.

His eyes, wide with excitement, fixed onto Sol. He clapped his hands quick, once.

Snapping jaws lunged from the darkness and aimed to bite at the fox with silent gnash.

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

Sol!

“I know!” Solitude hissed, trying to focus. Did the shadowkin not realize that the more she spoke the harder it was for her to focus? Ugh, her stomach was already roiling in that oily, greasy hunger she felt whenever she was around others like her. Always made her drool a little and get her dizzy, like now. Which only meant one thing.

He was close. From Celosia’s bickering, Solitude pushed herself close to the center of the beam. She saw the head of the wolf, saw it’s black teeth and eager eyes—

CrreeeEEEAK!

CRRAAAAAAAACK!​

“Shit!” Solitude cursed, falling as the beam broke beneath her. Was she really that heavy? There was no time to think as she saw Diaz’s shadowkin following after her. What options did she have? Well, she could lose. But then she would be losing to Diaz, that little braggart. That stupid old man of a dick-chewing…

Solitude angled herself, if only because of her years of training, so wouldn’t land face first. Simultaneously she pulled out a dagger, knowing she needed something to defend herself. Just stay in my shadow, Sol thought as she rolled off to the side to face Diaz and his stupid, stinky dog.

You’ll lose.

Just be patient for a damn minute!

Like you have a minute.

“Damn, Diaz!” Sol said with a laugh, holding one arm behind her back as if she had something of value there. “Walking all big and tall and for what? You’re there bleeding and I’m not even breaking a sweat.”

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

Diaz' wide eyes flashed from hot excitement to cold shock, the corners of his mouth down turned as he dart back, away from the rain of dust and debris that came loose before the utter failure of the support beam.

He clapped his hands twice, quick and sharp as the wood groaned and snapped, and his wolf, mid lunge as it trailed Solitude on the way down, dissipated. No fucking way he was risking Sesshōmaru.

Crack rumble and crash like thunder.

The priest palmed his forehead and mumbled something unintelligible as he shook his head and his ravens, Esqe and Dere croaked and tilt their heads. A wave of dust and debris washed out across the cold granite floor, and the candles flickered, almost went out, until the priest stamped a fist into the palm of his off hand, and the flames kicked back up to life.

Diaz pant, his hand bleeding still from his self inflicted wound, dust clouds swirling thick around him. "You're absolutely fucking crazy," he said with rabid joy. "Guess luck won't be such a bad thing to have," he clapped his hand once more. His wolf swirled and spun and smoked back to its corporeal form as beads of blood sprayed out from his gesture.

Superficial. He could keep going.

Damn, Diaz! Solitude tried to taunt.

Diaz narrowed his eyes, snapped his teeth and his familiar snarled and snapped in turn. "Don't fucking play with me, you failure of a fox," he smirked. "Can't even bring your familiar to be yet, can you?" He bowed his head, flexed his flesh until he felt the bones of his hands press together. "Well let me show you how its DONE!" He clapped twice again, and the wolf vanished, sank into the shadows that swirled within the clouds of dust that trailed about.

He clapped once more. The wolf stalked closer. Clapped twice. The wolf vanished. Clapped thrice. The wolf lunged out of the dust and aimed to rip at her torso with tooth and claw.

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

He clapped once to bring it forward, clapped twice to have it meld back into the shadows. With this knowledge in hand, Solitude felt a sense of relief. If she paid attention to his clapping, she could get the best of Diaz.

Sheesh, those claps, did Diaz not realize how obvious he was being? Maybe someone without training would be confused, but she had been in the same school as him! They had been classmates for Mother’s sake! Did he really look down at her that much?

By his words, yes, he did. Failure of a fox? Really? Maybe after this Solitude could give Diaz a lesson on insults that actually sounded badass and not like a belligerent old man.

He clapped twice. Solitude prepared herself, staring hard at Diaz. Her blood magic sucked, unlike her sister who excelled at all of that bookish stuff. She was far more studious than Sol. He clapped once. The wolf appeared. Two claps— wolf vanished. He was toying with her now, wasn’t he?

Every muscle was taunt as Solitude focused. One clap and— what the fuck did three mean? The tingling in her gut was her only warning, and even that was fast enough to warn her of the wolf jumping at her. She only had time to lift her dagger between it’s jaws but was knocked down onto her back.

USE ME!!!

I won’t be able to do whatever it is the fuck Diaz did!

You know what I want. Give it to me.

For being made out of shadows, the shadowkin was heavy, and Sol had to position her arms just right so that the wolf couldn’t claw at her, even if it was by accident. Solitude understand she was between a rock and hard place, at this rate, Diaz would win and gloat about it for the rest of his life. She had to do something, and something big. Celosia had little desire to be imbued with Solitude’s shadows, she was a shadowkin after all, the shadows were their domain already. Blood, then, was a great offering to them. But it couldn’t just be offered, something more was involved despite it being sacrilegious to those blood mages outside of the Church.

She only had a few other things to give Celosia. Solitude had tried to avoid it for as long as possible.

What do you want?

The face of your sister.

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

A cruel and merciless laugh rumbled out of Diaz' throat, his teeth bared with a beastial excitement, his long black hair seemed to flair and rise with the swirl of his energy, his hands still pressed so tightly together they squeezed more blood out from his self inflicted wound.

"YEAH, COME ON COME ON, SOL, YOU CALL THIS A FIGHT?!" He snapped his teeth shut and twist his hands quick at the wrist as he watched his shadowkin snarl and snap against the blade of her knife. Its claws scrabbled and scratched and Diaz' shot his hands out before him, arms extended, hands flat, right over left, his fingers twitched and curled like fangs that laced betwixt each other. They shaped a shut maw of blood, flesh, sinew and bone. It slowly opened wider and wider with rigid force.

Sesshōmaru seemed to slowly shift from something made of solid weighty mass, to smokey wisp. The edge if her blade slipping into the edge of its form.

"That's right, just lay down, and it'll all be over soon," Diaz said seething with tight voiced joy. His hands, joined at the base of his palms and the bones of his wrists, looked every bit like the widening jaws of a great and twisted wolf, all the more rabid for the smear of dark blood across them. The shadow wolf slipped forward. Passed the knife's guard. Full of hungry menace. Diaz shook with greasy excitement.

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

While Diaz was shouting his crazed nonsense—what else was new?— Solitude was busy fighting for her life, and the right to keep her sister’s face.

That’s my own face, Sol argued.

Yes.

So are you asking for hers or for mine?

I wonder….

No deal.

Shame. It’s such a good deal. I wonder what Sesshomaru asked of Diaz?

Probably his left nut and a quarter of his sanity.

Celosia didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to. Sol was in the bind, not her. She had all the power, and besides, it’s not as if Solitude was actually going to die. If she was, her sister would have shown herself already.

Her crimson eyes darted over to the Priest, watching her intently.

She couldn’t do it.

Solitude angled her arm just right and sacrificed it to the dark maws of Diaz’s shadow companion. Crimson splattered onto Sol’s face, pieces of her where they shouldn’t be.

“ENOUGH!” The priest shouted, his two ravens flapping their wings excitedly. A lull in the air, a command from a priest and his shadowkin. Sol felt as if the energy she had before was being sapped out of her. If he wasn’t pissed before, he was definitely pissed now.

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

How the teeth ripped and tore. The blood flowed. Diaz' eyes were wide with excitement. The tendons in his hands so flexed and crooked as they twitched they looked right ready to burst. The muscles in his arms, bulged and shook as blood trickled out.

All he could hear was the pounding of her heart. Loud in his ears. All he could smell was the scent of her blood. Full in his nose. The sound his wolf's teeth made as they worked against her arm.

ENOUGH

Ravens quarked, the dark wind blew through the dark chamber. Sent a chill up Diaz' spine. He clapped twice, and his wolf bled back into the darkness. He snarled.

"You fucking let me win," he spat. His hands balled into tight fists. "YOU WORTHLESS LUCK MONGER!" he shout and kicked the floor. He would have shout more, but their was something... new.

"You went over the line, Assassin Diaz," the old priest growled. Esqe and Dere had settled, though their feathers were still flared. Still roused from their need to speak and calm the rabid wolf. "Now, we face the consequences of your recklessness,"

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

“Course I let you win,” Sol shot back, sitting up and trying to ignore the fact that she could see bone peaking out through chunks of red. She rolled her eyes as he began kicking at the floor, throwing a temper tantrum.

“You want a fight I’ll give you one and you won’t be coming out of it alive, dog-breath!” She got to her feet, pointing her dagger at Diaz, flicking her wrist as if she were about to throw it into the soft part of his belly.

“Children, the both of you!” The priest threw out his hands and strong, black tendrils shot out. Solitude felt a icy-cold hand collar her throat and shove her against the wall. She scratched at where the hand should be but could feel nothing physical.

The same thing had happened to Diaz. That didn’t make Sol glare at him any less.

“Heal up. Breathe. Pray to the mother.” Solitude was holding her breath, gritting her teeth. “Now.” Once again, she felt compelled to listen. Focusing on her breathing, praying to the mother, starting with the Three Hail Daughters and moving up to Our Mother and Praise Be.

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

"I didn't," Diaz growled through the choking grip that viced around his throat. "Take... any damage!" his show of teeth looked as proud as they did furious. His hands clutched around the cold force that grabbed at him. If only because his own Shadowkin detested being handled so unkindly. But the hand of darkness only squeezed tighter. Only took from his energies all the more until his hands went slack, his arms limp at his side.

Half dead, he muttered the prayers. His speech slurred and lazy.

Pray thee daughters, hail three, through which the mother's blessings be. Amidst the lost, yee have helped us found, and from thy bosom, sweet succor doth resound. Sisters, to thy power of three, this lowly sinner does beseech. All gifts to you. All deeds to the mother. Neath her darkest guise. To Menese i doth resign.

Darkest Mother, Who in the pitch of black doth reside, may this cant the deepest depths divide. Blood spilled. Bones collected; thy judgement passed, in the light as it is neath the cloak of dark. On this day, doth our hunger end; our failings instructions, scars to remind, bones better mended, to heal stonger than before; take us, not to the land of those lost, but into your loving embrace. By the Power of Three, we beseech thee.
​

He growled. Weak as he felt, choked as he was. He coughed. "I can't" he wheezed and rasped. "Remember the last one," he near croaked.

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

“The last one is the shortest one, dumbass.” Sol threw Diaz’s way despite having following along with him even as he mumbled his words like a drunk belligerent. Truth be told, she could never remember the first two— they were much too long.

“Praise be to the Mother. Praise be to Saint Ausrine, Saint Vakarine, and Saint Zorza. Praise be to the Ashen, to the Burned, and to the Seared. As Darkness was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, a shadow without an end. Amen.”

The Priest was right. Reciting the prayers did help, along with breathing fully and deeply. Sol’s arm would slowly begin to heal itself, sinew reattaching to sinew, muscle beginning to overlap as if they had never been shredded.

“Idiot.” Solitude said one last time to Diaz, although this time, the Priest cleared his throat loudly. Solitude sat up, pulling down her mask all the way so she could wipe at her nose. It was bleeding, and soon enough she was using her fingers to wipe the blood off her lips.

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

He growled. Hated that she called him a dumbass, EVEN THOUGH HE REMEMEBERED THE FIRST TWO AND SHE OBVIOUSLY JUST FOLLOWED ALONG.

But he hated more that he had to follow after her on the third one.

The Priest released them both from the binding shadow. His hands clasped before him and his head bowed, as if he were in prayer.

Diaz coughed, and wheezed as he tried to control his breathing again, rubbed his throat with his right hand as he took a knee and bowed his head.

"Too unclean, Diaz," the father began. "Too loud," he added.

"You never said-"

The Father needn't speak a word for the younger assassin to stay his tongue. It was all in the look in his eye. And those two ravens that stood so ready upon his shoulders, it was in the look in their eyes too. The curve of their beaks. They crooked and croaked. But never so loud as the wolf growled.

"And Solitude, you have lost the bout," he closed his eye, and bowed his head. "Illuminate us, as to the reasons of this failure, young assassin,"

Diaz snarled. Huffed. He hated that even when he won, it still felt like he had lost.

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

Solitude fidgeted more with her mask and other things on her body. Taking the knife she had used to protect herself and taking the time to clean it— although it really didn’t need to be cleaned in the first place. But she had to think and consider her words and wonder how she was going to even start with explaining the sentiment of knowing her sister’s face.

She had lost, but did it really cost her anything? It wasn’t a matter of life or death. It was training.

“Well,” Sol said, glancing up at the Father. “We don’t all have to fight the same way. Diaz likes to run around with Sesshy, and I like to handle everything manually. Two different tactics, doesn’t make one better than the other.” She could hear Celosia laughing in her head, saw the shadow fox materialize from her shadow, and step out. There was a flick of its ears and a shake of its haunches.

Sol suddenly felt like she was about to be ganged up on.

“And yanno, like, my shadow-working is pretty good. I'm like a pro at it. Just not with making Celosia do shit. You can't tell foxes what to do. I respect her too much.” Celosia’s laughter ricocheted off the small church’s walls. It sent a shiver down Sol’s spine but what else could she do other than smile and shrug at the Priest?

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

The father's eye stayed fixed upon the young fox. Impassive. It seemed to measure her every word, and the way she delivered them.

"What was the objective of this assignment, Assassin, Solitude?" both ravens turned their heads, like clockwork. They fixed theirs eyes on her and remained statue still.

"Idiot," Diaz muttered.

One of the Ravens eyes gleamed, and ticked to spot Diaz.

It vanished from the Father's shouldlder, appeared before Diaz, huge and monsters, it's grabbing talons clutched him up and with single beat of it's great wings it lift the young assassin up, another beat and he was slammed hard against the stone wall where he was held by dagger like points. Blood trailed from his wounds, and he near screamed as he was pinned there.

But the raven shrieked at him with harsh caw. Its spade like beak hovering by his eyes.

"Another sound, Diaz, and I will place your tongue upon the altar, as offer to the daughters three," there was no heat in the father's voice.

His eye had never left Sol, and his other raven's attention remained fixed on her as well.

"Go on, Assassin Solitude,"

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

Solitude understood when Father punished Diaz it was a reminder to her, she needed to know her place.

“You can’t make me.” Solitude said, every muscle taut. She could feel her sister rising up behind her, dark and dangerous and destructive.

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

The Father stood, unblinking. The raven at his shoulder, still perched upon his right side, crooked its head, and blinked.

"No, I can," he said. And the raven vanished, and with it all the lights of candle flame. Only his one eye shone in that near abyss. And those of his ravens. Esqe's wings still beat strong, as Diaz struggled on in silence. Dere's wings appeared beside Sol's head, but an inch away from her face. Its long beak, darker than the absence of light that enveloped them.

It opened its mouth and cawed loud. The sound sharp.

Diaz grit his teeth all the tighter, and shut his own eyes.

"But I will not force the lesson upon you, when the world will teach it to you freely, Soledad." His silver eye came shut. And with its light gone, the room grew darker still.

"You claim to respect your fox," his voice came from every direction. "What did it ask from you?"

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

Solitude frowned, being called Soledad had bitter memories resurface, which she was sure was the purpose of even calling her such a name. She was Solitude, Sol for those close to her. Soledad was another person, another soul entirely.

Darkness surrounded her, without any light, Solitude couldn’t even make out Diaz’s shape despite hearing his struggling. Her heart wouldn’t slow down, beating so quickly she was certain her rib cage would shatter from the force.

Why did this answer felt like life and death to her?

“My sister’s face.” Solitude answered hesitantly, looking behind her shoulder to see a ever-darker form behind her. Celosia would leave them if push came to shove, but there was one being who would never leave Solitude’s side. Her twin, her sister, her— “which is technically my face, isn’t it?” Celosia, for all her giddiness, was quiet. Solitude held her breath as she waited the Priest’s answer.

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

A single punch of a sound came from the Father's throat. A laugh. "Far too high a price, for the mere act of being called forth, Soledad," the name dropped from his lips like a beat against metal.

The raven, Esqe, cawed harsh and loud in the dark.

Diaz made no sound, save those grunts that rumbled in his throat. Quieter behind pressed lips and clenched teeth. He recited the prayers in his head. One, two, three. Hail Daughters, Our Mother, and Praise Be. His head nodding their rhythm to help his mind stay focused.

"If your shadowkin does not respect you, it will try and take from you without a single regard for your well being, or survival," the Father spoke with cold certainty.

Cold, shadowy talons landed against Sol's right shoulder. Gripped tight, punched through skin. But Dere settled on her shoulder all the same, as blood welled around, and dripped down from where talons sank into flesh. Its shining eye gleamed in the pitch black. Ticked in that way of birds. Quick. It regarded Sol in full.

"You are a tool of the Church, a representative of its teachings, Assassin Solitude," he chided. "You are to use every tool at your disposal, to the utmost efficiency and effectiveness," he let the words sink in.

Dere clattered their beak, and shift across Sol's shoulder, piercing claws just, a little closer to her neck.

"You claim to respect your Shadowkin, but I wonder," he trailed off, and Dere croaked loudly before his clutches let go again, and a strong beat of its wings sent it sailing through the abyss that drank them all in. "Are you so vain, that you believe you can still be of service to Our Darkest Mother, with no shadowkin?"

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

“My name isn’t Soledad.” Solitude seethed. “It’s Solitude.” Celosia chittered . With her back against the wall, the only thing Solitude could think to do was to talk back, to fake it til she made it. Act tough enough and sometimes people backed down without a fight even starting.

“I don’t need Celosia to come out and bite someone like Diaz does,” Solitude said, “I don’t need to have shadowkin to do my bidding either. I am an assassin, I have served the Church and will continue serving the Church. My sister and I have done our duties.”

Poorly, Celosia reminded Sol. Very poorly.

“Celosia has aided me when I needed her help. If she wants to ditch me and leave, I’ll still be kicking ass. Everyone does things differently, isn’t that why the Church takes in anyone who’s a believer?” The Citadel of Ash was happy to take in twins, but many of the inhabitants were believers without a twin. Families who worshipped Mother Meness, unable to give children to the School of Shadows, were not treated as lesser. A believer was a believer, all were equal to Mother Meness, physical power meant little to one as omnipotent as the Mother.“And I’m not a tool. I’m a follower of Menessis.”

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

A low rumble of a laugh rolled out of the darkness. The white eye of Dere gleamed in the dark, perched upon Father Torment's shoulder as it was.

"A follower of Menessis," came the father's voice. His tone, almost contemplative in that black room of deepest shadow. He gave a nod, the motion hard to see, even with the assassin's gift of shadow vision. He nod again. "Leal is the lamb whose blood does spill upon the alter," something like a laugh came from his throat.

Esqe qarked, flapped their dark wings, and struck back to Father Torment's shoulder.

Diaz fell to the cold stone with a hard crumple. Made no sound, said no word.

"Very well," the shadows swirled back around the old Priest. As if he were the eye of a storm. The candle lights flicked back to life, and the room and all its ruined glory had returned. The fallen beam still strewn about all of its debris. "Let the world teach you what lessons you let yourself learn," he made for the exit. Stopped at the door. "Oh, and one last thing," he turned and fixed his single shining eye upon the young fox bonded. "Repairs will come out of your contract earnings, Assassin Solitude," he clapped both hands before him, and bowed, as if to pass a blessing unto her. Turned and left.

Diaz rose up off the ground, his wounds slowly sealing. He growled. "You are fucking miserable," he grumbled, and got up. "LETTING ME WIN LIKE THAT!" he shout.

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

Solitude kept up her act of bravado until the Priest left. The moment he left the chapel and Solitude felt that slick, greasy feeling in the pit of her stomach diminish, she deflated. Turning her head away from Diaz, Solitude let her fear leave her body. She retched horribly onto the dirty floorboards, getting rid of her breakfast that was too heavy to be inside her.

It had been a long time since she felt fear like that. Her body must have gotten soft, she couldn’t handle stress well anymore.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Solitude’s crimson eyes glared at Diaz.

She could feel her sister right behind her, telling her that all she had to do was say the word and they would tear this insolent man a new one.

“YEAH?!” Anger fueled her, and she got up from her hands and knees to stand up and point a finger at Diaz. “Maybe I am miserable every time I have to be around your stank ass!” Without thinking, she rushed over at Diaz, reaching out with both of her hands to wrap them around Diaz’s thick neck. Her foot caught on something, so before she could even try to collar the dirty wolf before her, Solitude tripped, going to crash into the other assassin.

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

Fucking disgusting. "You puked?" he asked, without a trace of sympathy in his voice. A low rumble of judgement there. A hate. "You fucking PUKED?" he shout and snapped, cold and quite as icy haze. "Disgusting..."

Her eyes glared at him, and he glared back at her, lips pressed into a flat line, eyes narrowed to needlepoints.

"Yeah," he replied, flat and unimpressed by her posture. His own frame stanced up. She charged forward. Quick. She was always quick.

His body lurched back, lips twisting into a wobbly snarl. Nose flared as his hands came up, to ward her away. Trajectory clear. Path telegraphed. He would flip her a new-

She tripped.

Crashed into him hard. Knocked the air right out of his lungs as he doubled over.

"What the fuck you stupid-"

Solitude

 

[Solitude]

Diaz was many things, but Solitude supposed one good thing about him was that he was sturdy. She kept herself standing by holding onto Diaz, but with one solid push, she was doing everything she could to have him lose his balance and get him on the floor.

“I’m gonna puke on you and then we can who’s gross, me the puker or you the one covered in puke!” She shouted into Diaz ribs, her shout muffled but because they were so close she was certain he could hear her. With all her might, and perhaps because Diaz wasn’t at his best, Solitude was able to throw the two of them onto the ground.

“You’re always picking on me.” She said, struggling to get on top of her rival, fighting him every second of the way as she did her best to cage him with her body and the floor. “And acting… like… you’re so—“ she huffed and then wheezed, debris making her sneeze, “much better than me when you’re just crazy!”

Diaz

 

[Diaz]

She shoved at him, he stayed rigid, growled, grit his teeth. Whenever she came near him. Whenever any of them came near him, he could feel it stir down in the put of his stomach. Churn.

An oily want. He bared his teeth, but she went on bulling, shouting.

She grabbed on to his gee, slipped, back cracked against the floor, she was tangled with him, he grit his teeth, growled, his fingers grabbed and clawed at her. "Get, the fuck," he cursed as he grunt, his muscles flexed as he tried to get her off. But for all the ill he had to say about her, she wasn't bad when it came to getting physical. Arms and legs always at just the write spot to make things hard. To make it a struggle.

Every little jerk he made, he shoved him back down, when he bucked, she smothered back. "GET OFF OF ME," he growled, feeling trapped. Feeling locked in. He thrashed, raised his head up and opened up his mouth to try and rip a chunk out of her shoulder with his teeth.

She sneezed right into his mouth.

It stopped him in his tracks.

...you're just crazy!

He stared up at her with horrified clarity. She was still on top of him. He pant. His eyes wide with realization.

The sneeze had her freeze too.

A rumble came from his throat, and he pressed his right leg hard against the ground to try and throw her off. To get her off of him. To escape.

She held firm.

"FUCK YOU SOL," he snapped. "Crazy," he said through gritted teeth. "Crazy?!" he growled in futility. "What the fuck do you think we are? HUH?" his eyes burned with a cold hate. "How fucking dare you pretend like this is just..." he thrashed one last time, and felt something in his arm pop from how she had him pinned. He grit his teeth and bared it. He wouldn't let her feel satisfaction in his suffering. "Always acting like we are all just friends, A FAMILY!" he rasped. "Don't make me laugh," smiled full of cruelty. "The minute your name goes up on the board, who do you think they'll send to take it down?" his teeth showed. "I'm crazy," he laughed. Thrashed again. "GET OFF ME!"

Solitude