To Get Away

After the burning sun went down there was a cool relief that could be felt in the woodlands. The lack of sound with a lack of visual appealed to your partially deaf person. Many things were nice about your nightly trips to the woods. You loved the light breeze and the touch of the bark.

You loved the possibility of meeting another troll here. You don't worry about status or blood color when shrouded in darkness. Only skill, fighting abilities, and weaponry. You have your staff fully extended for this reason, you can't meet someone without proper protection. If you were to get into a situation where some of your blood was spilled you hoped the other troll would find satisfaction in the fact that they had seen a troll of your blood caste. A lime blood.

But you were so tired of fighting and fleeing.

You aren't walking anywhere in particular, just using this time to get away from everything. Your violent race which you couldn't change, your disability, the hemospectrum....

You are simply bored of everything. Things should change.

You hadn't seen your lusus since sunrise. You were BEYOND worried. She'd headed down to the woodlands, so you assumed she was going hunting.

But she's never taken this long before.

The realisation hit you that there are bigger lusii in that forest. Lusii that would tear her mom apart without a second thought. Muntjacmom was strong, but she was small. She's put up a good fight but she couldn't win.

You quickly strap your blades to your side and practically sprint into the forest, completley forgetting to be quiet. Or stealthy. The thought passes that you should be more careful, but you don't particularly care. Your mother has been out ALL DAY and is completley unprotected.

The silence of the forest seems to mock you. Its still and calm, and smells just like the happy nights you'd spent collecting plants and mosses with muntjacmom. But it isn't. She's lost and your breathing is becoming labored and you're too scared to call out to her. This was a horrible idea.

It isn't until you hear a twig snap and see the shadowy figure of something next to a tree that you realize you're crying. You stop and unholster your blades carefully.

There was someone bounding through the forest recklessly. Now who was this idiot!? They were just asking for a fight and they were headed in your direction. If a nearby troll didn't get them a hunting lusus would. Then there would be all kinds of trouble. You press yourself against a tree to observe the stranger as they come closer.

They stop. You can hear their heavy breathing from here. You figure they can't be running from something or they wouldn't have brought their attention to you. Or maybe they hadn't focused on you. Perhaps they were just catching their breath before moving on with their blatant want for death.

You refuse to let yourself be burdened by all the possibilities of what this troll was doing.

The stranger pulls some type of weapon from a holster. Now you are sure the other troll had seen you. You assume they weapon they are using is a sharp weapon of some sort. Everyone seemed to carry a sharp weapon, but you weren't one for an unnecessary quick release of blood. Bludgeoning was more of your thing.

You don't call to them as you start moving closer. You move slowly, weaving in between trees, with your staff ready to attack at any point. If this troll were willing to ruin your walk with  strife, you would give them a good one.

The other troll puts their weapons in a defensive stance. Good. At least they aren't a complete flailing around like a buffoon.

As you get closer you hear a slight rattling. The trolls weapons are hitting together.... What were they nervous about? You didn't want to back down now, you don't think you would be able to if you tried.

You observe the troll as you come closer and you notice they are shaking. It was a pitiful sight really and they should be more careful.

Nerv0us are we?

You come out from the trees when the troll puts down her weapons.You don't lower yours, but you come into a standing position.

You're pretty sure you weren't being mistaken for a cholerbear. They are much bigger than you are and they are probably in an area more populated with their food.

Mhm? Y0u were 90in9 t0 h0ld 0ne 0f with th0se? Y0u must be a mi9hty warri0r, I c0uld tell by the way y0u st0mped thr0u9h here with c0mplete disre9ard f0r y0ur life.

You cocked your head to the side showing her that you knew her story was complete crap. An interesting one, maybe, if it had been more extravagant.

You could tell that this troll could see right through your hastily assembled lie. You aren't really surprised. You almost want to laugh, but not a mirthful laugh. You want to laugh like your lusus is missing and there's a tiny troll in front of you who probably wants to strife. She hasn't lowered her weapon at all.

You weigh your options, more carefully this time.

You decide to be reckless

actually, i was. they aren't quite as hard t◎ fend ◎ff, ◎nce they've been suplexed. and it's n◎t a disregard, s◎ much as an... assurance for my life.

You grin, showing your full set of fangs including your abnormally large canines, squaring your shoulders in a show of confidence.

n◎w, since we've cleared up these little misc◎ncepti◎ns, i'll be ◎n my way. it was nice chatting with y◎u.

You take measured, fluid steps past the smaller troll and silently hope to whatever deity will listen that she'll leave it at that.

As the other troll walks past you you spin your staff to gain momentum and hit her in the back of her head. You move to face her side and use the recoil from your first strike to spin it once more before pushing it towards her to jam the end of it into her chin. You move to be fully in front of her, blocking her path, before moving back with your staff in between the two of you. You crouch down prepared for another attack, but you are mindful of the opening you've left for her to attack you.

I th0u9ht it was already clear that I c0uld see thr0u9h y0ur acts. There is n0 way I'm 90in9 t0 accept that 0ne.

You glare at the other troll. You feel fairly insulted and you won't let another troll just stroll past you using confidence and mutations as their defense. You grip your staff tighter preparing for a strife and you watched the other troll. You weren't sure of what her skills were, but you would persevere. You had to. It was either that or death, you aren't ready to die yet.

As you walk away you hear the troll next to you shift, seconds before her staff connects with the back of your head. You really should have anticipated the attack, but your wishful thinking had clearly gotten the better of you. Again.
You feel a laugh bubbling up in your throat as the other troll presses the end of her staff to your chin, but you swallow it as she backs away and evaluates you.

The blow smarted a bit and you're sure that it will bruise, but it hadn't done any serious damage. You're a sturdy troll and it'd take a lot more than a little blunt force trauma to the head to take you down.

She makes it clear that she's seen through all of your bullshit and this time you actually do laugh. Its a barking, mirthless laugh that reminds you vaguely of your lusus.

l◎◎ks like y◎u arent quite as dumb as m◎st ◎ther tr◎lls

You grin, showing off a good number of your fangs.

but are y◎u just as weak?

You holster your weapons and square up. If this troll wants a strife, you're going to give them one hell of a motherfucking strife.

Okay, first you have a troll with a large fangs. Note, don't get too close she might try to bite you. Second, she is pretty resilient. She literally just laughed off two blows to the head! Tiring her out is probably the way to go, but you can't make that apparent...feinging misses would probably work well enough, but then you risk her getting too close. Ugh, there were many things right and wrong with your situation.

You starting walking slowly around the other troll with your body facing her. Your staff was still poised in an attack formation. Oh, grand this stranger troll thinks you're smart. Oh, how honored you are!

It d0esn't take much.

You remain unphased and silent when she questions your strength. You didn't plan on using too much strength in this strife, but you do notice her confidence and slight cockiness. You could use that to your advantage....

So the strategy is feign weak and defend, then feign attack, evade, and attack with blows to vital areas. May luck be on your side.

It's clear to you that this troll is intimidated. You can tell it by the fear in her eyes and the way she stays a few steps away. That's good, she should fear you.

this w◎n't take very l◎ng at all then

It's her determination that worries you. Her stare is carefully calculating, and you can tell that she's formulated a plan. That makes you nervous, and nervous makes you stupid. You take a breath and make a plan yourself.

You decide that attacking with your legs would be your best bet, catching her off guard and hopefully being able to knock her out without too much injury.

You stop at her front and sprint towards her with your staff in a defensive position. You use that to power a one-kneed slide. While sliding you jab your staff toward her stomach and stand to make the jab more powerful.

If she attacks you you can easily pull your staff back to defend yourself. You hope the she thinks she has you trapped so this strife will play into your favor.

She sprints at you and slides into a stomach jab. She's quite fast, you'll give her that, but you had just enough time to relax your muscles before it hit you. You feign weakness and stagger a bit, keeping her outstretched staff within reach.

You contemplate grabbing it for an instant, but you know it's probably a set up. So you knock it aside and instead hook your right leg behind her left and knock her to the ground. Once she's down you pluck her staff from her hands and use it to pin her hands above her head.

You hear a distant galloping but pay it no mind.

It is a really good thing you're shorter than her. You bring your legs from under her and twist your body so you are flipped right side up again. You pull your hands from under your staff and quickly grab at the middle part of it. Your wrists aren't bleeding profusely thankfully, but they are start to bead up with blood.

You hear something int the distance, but you can't tell what it is. She has your weapon...this isn't good...you'll just take her's then! You quickly pull one of her weapons from it's holster and press it to her stomach, but you don't break the skin. You keep a tight grip on your staff and lock eyes with the troll. You have a fiery glare in your eyes, if she thinks she's taking your staff she has another thing coming.

You thought you had her pinned for a moment, but you underestimated her speed. She snatched one of your chakrams from its holster and gave you a glare that said she wasn't backing down.
Now, you were pissed.
You snarl and bend her weapon a bit, satisfied when you hear it splinter. You note dimly that her wrists are bleeding a bit and that she is most definitely of lower blood. You're no longer afraid to hurt her, either. You press your stomach against the blade she's holding, just to psych her out. She's not strong enough to slice anything important without leverage, and you're nearly nose to nose now. You widen your eyes and grin again, feeling a rush of pride.

s◎ what'll it be, midbl◎◎d?

The galloping seems to be coming closer now, close enough that you begin to hear the snapping twigs on the forest floor accompanying it. It is still doesn't concern you nearly as much as the strife at hand.

Your eyes widen as you hear splintering of your staff. No! This is got going down this way! What is more important your pride? Or your staff? Your staff is probably ruined now anyways...you can always make a new one...one that isn't made of measly wood. By backing off though, you could build on the one that is currently being splinters...you're taking to long.

Did she just call you mid-blood? If anything could piss you off faster it was the blood card. You don't know why, but it just irked something inside of you. You pull back moving the blade from her stomach, keeping your heated glared locked with her cocky one. You step slightly and let go of the staff.

You decide to call her bluff. You ram her own weapon into her stomach as well as your entire body force. You are careful to make sure the blade only enters her and not yourself. You then push off the ground so your entire body weight is being carried by her.

Now she had a choice. Break the staff and fall forward, further pushing the blade into herself. Or fall backwards and spare the staff and further injury.

D0 it...

Now she thinks she's given you a choice. A thin trickle of blood drips from your blade on to her shirt and you chuckle again, this time at your own expense. You underestimated her again and now you're going to have to bandage yourself later.

This motherfucker has not only stabbed you with your OWN GOD DAMN WEAPON, but she's also using to HANG OFF THE MOTHERFUCKING GROUND. You grimace a bit, rolling over so that she's on top of you and looping her staff through your chakram, slicing it on the inner blade and pulling it from your abdomen. Your blade is yanked from the other troll's hand (she didn't know how to grip it in the first place) and slides about two feet away. Now she is weaponless and straddling your blood-stained waist, and the galloping draws even closer.

You spare a glance in its direction and see that it's a svelte hoofbeast-esque shape that's stopped in front of your discarded chakram. You blink again to clear your vision and

◎h shit

Its your mom, maw matted with blood and back strapped with slain hopbeasts. You are so grounded.

You aren't surprised when the weapon is easily taken out of your grasp. You are surprised by the galloping sounds towards you two. You turn and see some type of creature with blood around it's mouth near the two of you. You look down at the other troll and see that they are worried about whatever that thing is as well. You take your chance and snatch your staff from her and roll yourself off of her body.

When you stand you slowly back away from the pair. You literally don't care what happens to the troll on the ground, you just want to get away from that thing. You hope it enjoyed it's meal so it doesn't come after you. It dawns on you that you aren't aware of this other trolls name...oh well!