Glade 2, 524
"Dumb spell plague." Aya leaned up against the street-facing wall of the closest school to her apartment. She had showed up once or twice, but frankly nothing they were talking about was as stimulating as the word vomit Phinneas could produce from his obnoxious wordhole without even noticing. There was one thing that he could not provide though. He wasn't old, necessarily. Aya reckoned he was an average dad-age. But he hasn't been able to keep up with her sword arm since her thirteenth birthday. So this is where she got her practice. A lot of the kids her age would stay after class and spar, and sometimes bet their chump change. Fertile play space for someone like Aya.
Why does the aether creep bother you if you're not going to use any magic, Aya? Dot leaped from the ground up to the low wall Aya was leaning on, I thought we were going to begin to respect the 27.
"I wonder if I had a choice in cat if I would have chosen a snitch."
Dot glared at Aya from below, his eyes slits and barely visible beneath his brow.
"Fine. Uncalled for."
The 27 tenets.
"Yes, oh my god I will follow the 27 tenets if you care so much." Aya's ears perked up. She heard the closing of the main hall door. Had to be close to class release.
Good. Even though we've been here for a while now, your father's right, and you can get in a lot of trouble for acting dishono- Hey! Dot leapt to catch up to Aya, who had already placed her hands against the outside wall of the school, and Seemed her way to the top. Although he was happy for her, Dot felt a lot of power leave his position when Aya developed that ability. Maybe someday, Dot would learn a magic. That'd show her.
Don't be rude.
Aya shrugged. She reached the other side of the roof, the area overlooking the outside field. That's where he'd show up, with his big gaggle of boys. She sat with her legs hanging off, resting her chin in her hands and peering downwards at the school's egress into the yard.
Dot approached her and weaved himself in between her arms to sit on her lap. "Any minute now, Dot."
I don't see why you keep picking on him.
Aya opened her mouth agape in mock surprise and turned slowly to the beast beneath her chin. "Because, Dot, someday, I will forget to show up here after school. And if I do it once, I'll do it again. And if I keep forgetting to visit, then Zargus Org's ego will balloon back into critical proportions and he'll float away into the sky and the village will miss him very, very much."
So this is community service.
"Community service! I knew you'd understand."
Dot huffed from his nose and collapsed onto his side.
Aya closed her eyes and put her awareness in her ears. Heavy footfalls of dumb, eager, shortsighted Zargus Org. And perhaps twenty others. But certainly approaching.
She cordially invited Dot to find some sunbeam to lie in somewhere else, retracted her legs up, and perched on the roof, waiting for her prey.
Don't kill 'im, Dot schluffed out, fully ready to nod off.
"Of course I won't kill him. What would I do tomorrow?"
As if right on time, there were those footfalls. Aya opened her eyes, it was easy to hear them coming now. She could even hear his voice, boasting even now. That bigheaded orc.
The school vomited a gaggle of draconic-colored heads out under her into the dirt-trodden yard, but Zargus Org was impressively easy to spot. Nearly purple, deep blue eyes, wide jaw, long hair. Loud. So loud.
"No, I wouldn't," he laughed in Ecitharese "You have delusions, surely."
"Delusions? No, I am not deluded at all, my eyes are open fully!" The other boy laughed back. Cadmius, Zargus Org's best friend. Aya didn't have a strong opinion of him. He was nice. "Every week, three or four times, my eyes are open. The Aya would win again."
"You are wrong, Cadmius. Why else do you think I show face here?" He smiled and spread his arms wide. "Because I am scared of the human Aya?"
Aya cupped her hands around her mouth. "Because you also like how to eat dirt!" Her Ecitharese could be stronger. She was pretty sure he got the idea, though.
The crowd laughed. Crowd was a strong word, there were roughly seven other teenagers that stayed after school, but it felt like a crowd, and Aya drank up the attention like sweet liquor.
Zargus Org turned slowly, his arms remaining outstretched. "You know what I learned, Aaaaaaaaya?"
Here it comes, Aya thought, and a smile stretched across her lips, the goading.
"A mother visited your Phinneas' house, and learned that the one who feeds you gave you that name." He smiled like a rat.
"Okay and?"
"That is your Phinneas? Who gave you your name?"
"No, it's your mom,"
Another snicker. Little victories, Aya.
Zargus Org facetiously giggled with the crowd. "Funny. What else is funny? No land name."
Cadmius furrowed his brow. "A foreigner with no land name? How?" He snickered.
This was new. He was probably just guessing, but even so, it was more competent than what Zargus Org could typically summon up. Even still, it's half cooked. He has the information but what's he doing with it? Just presenting it? What a lack of artistry. He probably doesn't even know he's right.
"Are you not ashamed of gossiping like a daisy when you boast of fights? Ooooh but remember everybody, Zargus Org is going to be the strongest Oei'ngeh of the modern age!"
"Then come prove me wrong, bug girl,"
The crowd gave out a japing oooooooooooo at Zargus' remark, but Aya could do nothing but smile. Bug girl. To cross such a cultural taboo and waste it on calling her bug girl. Stupid, dumb, ignorant, idiot Zargus. He would simply have to suffer her wrath.
"Oh Zargus Org, what a strong Orkhan. So proud." She stood, approached the wall, placed one hand on it, and allowed Kinetics to both keep her attached and slide her down slow. "You know, I am learn a lot of things fast when I came here. A lot of cultural differences between us, Zargus Org." She began walking towards her purple rival. His skin was almost irridecent. Glittering. It was wasted on him. The crowd parted as she approached him. "Calling me a name that I did not give you? Ooh." She sucked in through her teeth. "Line you can't uncross in Ecith. But not where I'm from. Not big deal to me. Happen every day, literally every day. So you know what I think, Zargus Org?" She was right up on him now. He was easily a head and a half taller, but that didnt stop her from locking eyes with him and staring him down with her chin at his sternum. "I think you're a pussy."
The crowd was quiet. Aya smiled. She got him. Maybe this time he'd try to actually hit her.
She stuck out her lower lip and made her eyes big. "Are you ready, big Oei'ngeh Zargus Org?"
"Two, Cadmius."
Cadmius hurried off, and was gone for more than a few breaths. Eye contact between the two did not falter. Zargus' eyes shaking and squinting, Aya's sneering. What a big, dumb Zargus.
Cadmius returned with two dull, wooden shortswords. Sparring like this was not uncommon practice, and the school was outfitted with safe toold in accordance with the 27. The yard was stomped flat to dirt for just this purpose. Like someone built a playground, just for Aya! And a public execution stage, just for Zargus! Cadmius tossed both in the air towards them. Zargus caught his, but Aya didn't need to break eye contact to catch hers, and she was certain that made Zargus Org furious. Above all else, he hates it when someone can do Zargus Org better than Zargus Org can. But that was so ridiculously easy. Perks of detecting the aether flux, Aya figured.
They took three steps back, and Zargus huffed - huffed! - at her. Like some kind of pig. Aya had to laugh. She stripped her coat and threw it aside, preferring to fight in her undershirt and skin wraps. Like a professional. "Your bruises healed well, Zargus."
"Yours won't."
"Okay, big tough Oei'ngeh. Set your terms."
The other students - Cadmius, Agata, Utius, Kathas, all of them - formed a loose circle around the two of them, and the two began to circle each other, crouching down and keeping distance while in motion. Aya loved this part. It was like climbing a tall hill knowing about the downward slope on the other side.
"No magic tricks."
"Be more specific." Aya Pulled on his shortsword with her kinetics. Not hard enough to yank it out of his hands, but hard enough to jerk him forwards and out of his stance.
He growled again. Like a real man! Aya thought jeeringly. But the others were smiling.
"No making anything move, no stopping my moving thing, no moving yourself. Just you and your sword and the pain I cause you."
"It always hurts to see you embarrass yourself, Org. Is that it? Or is your plan to biting me?"
"No biting. No huckshot. No spit. No dirt. Ready?"
"I agree to your terms, Zargus Org."
He bore his teeth, and the fight began. In the stories, they always make fights seem so dramatic and long, with so much back-and-forth exchanging and words and flourishing. In Aya's opinion, that's why she continuously wins fights she thinks she should probably lose. Well, that, and the aether sense. Aya's aether sense allowed her to see the ripples in space that all things both generated and are made up of. Aya has spent a long time studying these rhythms and waves, the crashing and ebbing of them. She could see the movement of Zargus' arm before it moved a hair's length. Was it cheating? Not by the terms set. But Zargus didn't need to learn that she had this up her sleeve. Nor that she could turn it on or off willingly. And as a result, Aya's fights were always short, one way or another. Especially with big dumb Zargus.
Zargus always thought he had something new to trump Aya with, but Aya always forced him into the first move. That's why it was easier to enrage him before the fight, that poor, dumb bastard. He could open with a feint, a strike, a dive, whatever he likes, but Aya will always know before he does. On this day, Zargus decided he would like his licks on his left side. With his dominant arm, he stepped to his right, hoping, no doubt, to get into Aya's pocket and get a few free strikes. No such luck today. Aya, just as quickly, darted forwards to cut him off, arriving close to his chin with Zargus' blade far on her righthand side. Before that blade could round its way back into striking position, Aya delivered a wide sideswing into the side of Zargus' jaw, the blade beginning beneath her hip and fully following through. With Zargus stunned (and he was stunned), Aya had ample space to grab his sword arm, twist it backwards far enough to force Zargus' back to bend, and then grab Zargus' head by his long, silky hair. She raised his skull and slammed it against her knee, and Zargus Org fell to the ground.
Aya looked out at her peers. They had long since stopped praising Aya for winning, but it still felt good to know none of them would ever challenge her like Zargus would. She dropped her wooden sword into the dirt, swung her coat over the shoulder, and said "no more namecalling to me," before turning towards that waist-high wall and vaulting over it.
As she rounded the corner of the schoolhouse, Dot leaped from the roof above to the ground near her ankles. Good one today.
"Eh."
I agree, actually.
Aya laughed, "Oh okay this is because I was rude, is it?" They began walking back home.
Dot looked up at her. Do you think you would beat him if you weren't cheating?
Aya glared at him. "I think I have a more liberal definition of 'cheating'."
Drop your aether sense, you'll get the spell plague.
"Oh shit, thank you."
Aya wondered if she took it too far, if she broke him. She didn't think so, but she'd still have to wait a couple days before challenging Zargus Org again.
"Dumb spell plague." Aya leaned up against the street-facing wall of the closest school to her apartment. She had showed up once or twice, but frankly nothing they were talking about was as stimulating as the word vomit Phinneas could produce from his obnoxious wordhole without even noticing. There was one thing that he could not provide though. He wasn't old, necessarily. Aya reckoned he was an average dad-age. But he hasn't been able to keep up with her sword arm since her thirteenth birthday. So this is where she got her practice. A lot of the kids her age would stay after class and spar, and sometimes bet their chump change. Fertile play space for someone like Aya.
Why does the aether creep bother you if you're not going to use any magic, Aya? Dot leaped from the ground up to the low wall Aya was leaning on, I thought we were going to begin to respect the 27.
"I wonder if I had a choice in cat if I would have chosen a snitch."
Dot glared at Aya from below, his eyes slits and barely visible beneath his brow.
"Fine. Uncalled for."
The 27 tenets.
"Yes, oh my god I will follow the 27 tenets if you care so much." Aya's ears perked up. She heard the closing of the main hall door. Had to be close to class release.
Good. Even though we've been here for a while now, your father's right, and you can get in a lot of trouble for acting dishono- Hey! Dot leapt to catch up to Aya, who had already placed her hands against the outside wall of the school, and Seemed her way to the top. Although he was happy for her, Dot felt a lot of power leave his position when Aya developed that ability. Maybe someday, Dot would learn a magic. That'd show her.
Don't be rude.
Aya shrugged. She reached the other side of the roof, the area overlooking the outside field. That's where he'd show up, with his big gaggle of boys. She sat with her legs hanging off, resting her chin in her hands and peering downwards at the school's egress into the yard.
Dot approached her and weaved himself in between her arms to sit on her lap. "Any minute now, Dot."
I don't see why you keep picking on him.
Aya opened her mouth agape in mock surprise and turned slowly to the beast beneath her chin. "Because, Dot, someday, I will forget to show up here after school. And if I do it once, I'll do it again. And if I keep forgetting to visit, then Zargus Org's ego will balloon back into critical proportions and he'll float away into the sky and the village will miss him very, very much."
So this is community service.
"Community service! I knew you'd understand."
Dot huffed from his nose and collapsed onto his side.
Aya closed her eyes and put her awareness in her ears. Heavy footfalls of dumb, eager, shortsighted Zargus Org. And perhaps twenty others. But certainly approaching.
She cordially invited Dot to find some sunbeam to lie in somewhere else, retracted her legs up, and perched on the roof, waiting for her prey.
Don't kill 'im, Dot schluffed out, fully ready to nod off.
"Of course I won't kill him. What would I do tomorrow?"
As if right on time, there were those footfalls. Aya opened her eyes, it was easy to hear them coming now. She could even hear his voice, boasting even now. That bigheaded orc.
The school vomited a gaggle of draconic-colored heads out under her into the dirt-trodden yard, but Zargus Org was impressively easy to spot. Nearly purple, deep blue eyes, wide jaw, long hair. Loud. So loud.
"No, I wouldn't," he laughed in Ecitharese "You have delusions, surely."
"Delusions? No, I am not deluded at all, my eyes are open fully!" The other boy laughed back. Cadmius, Zargus Org's best friend. Aya didn't have a strong opinion of him. He was nice. "Every week, three or four times, my eyes are open. The Aya would win again."
"You are wrong, Cadmius. Why else do you think I show face here?" He smiled and spread his arms wide. "Because I am scared of the human Aya?"
Aya cupped her hands around her mouth. "Because you also like how to eat dirt!" Her Ecitharese could be stronger. She was pretty sure he got the idea, though.
The crowd laughed. Crowd was a strong word, there were roughly seven other teenagers that stayed after school, but it felt like a crowd, and Aya drank up the attention like sweet liquor.
Zargus Org turned slowly, his arms remaining outstretched. "You know what I learned, Aaaaaaaaya?"
Here it comes, Aya thought, and a smile stretched across her lips, the goading.
"A mother visited your Phinneas' house, and learned that the one who feeds you gave you that name." He smiled like a rat.
"Okay and?"
"That is your Phinneas? Who gave you your name?"
"No, it's your mom,"
Another snicker. Little victories, Aya.
Zargus Org facetiously giggled with the crowd. "Funny. What else is funny? No land name."
Cadmius furrowed his brow. "A foreigner with no land name? How?" He snickered.
This was new. He was probably just guessing, but even so, it was more competent than what Zargus Org could typically summon up. Even still, it's half cooked. He has the information but what's he doing with it? Just presenting it? What a lack of artistry. He probably doesn't even know he's right.
"Are you not ashamed of gossiping like a daisy when you boast of fights? Ooooh but remember everybody, Zargus Org is going to be the strongest Oei'ngeh of the modern age!"
"Then come prove me wrong, bug girl,"
The crowd gave out a japing oooooooooooo at Zargus' remark, but Aya could do nothing but smile. Bug girl. To cross such a cultural taboo and waste it on calling her bug girl. Stupid, dumb, ignorant, idiot Zargus. He would simply have to suffer her wrath.
"Oh Zargus Org, what a strong Orkhan. So proud." She stood, approached the wall, placed one hand on it, and allowed Kinetics to both keep her attached and slide her down slow. "You know, I am learn a lot of things fast when I came here. A lot of cultural differences between us, Zargus Org." She began walking towards her purple rival. His skin was almost irridecent. Glittering. It was wasted on him. The crowd parted as she approached him. "Calling me a name that I did not give you? Ooh." She sucked in through her teeth. "Line you can't uncross in Ecith. But not where I'm from. Not big deal to me. Happen every day, literally every day. So you know what I think, Zargus Org?" She was right up on him now. He was easily a head and a half taller, but that didnt stop her from locking eyes with him and staring him down with her chin at his sternum. "I think you're a pussy."
The crowd was quiet. Aya smiled. She got him. Maybe this time he'd try to actually hit her.
She stuck out her lower lip and made her eyes big. "Are you ready, big Oei'ngeh Zargus Org?"
"Two, Cadmius."
Cadmius hurried off, and was gone for more than a few breaths. Eye contact between the two did not falter. Zargus' eyes shaking and squinting, Aya's sneering. What a big, dumb Zargus.
Cadmius returned with two dull, wooden shortswords. Sparring like this was not uncommon practice, and the school was outfitted with safe toold in accordance with the 27. The yard was stomped flat to dirt for just this purpose. Like someone built a playground, just for Aya! And a public execution stage, just for Zargus! Cadmius tossed both in the air towards them. Zargus caught his, but Aya didn't need to break eye contact to catch hers, and she was certain that made Zargus Org furious. Above all else, he hates it when someone can do Zargus Org better than Zargus Org can. But that was so ridiculously easy. Perks of detecting the aether flux, Aya figured.
They took three steps back, and Zargus huffed - huffed! - at her. Like some kind of pig. Aya had to laugh. She stripped her coat and threw it aside, preferring to fight in her undershirt and skin wraps. Like a professional. "Your bruises healed well, Zargus."
"Yours won't."
"Okay, big tough Oei'ngeh. Set your terms."
The other students - Cadmius, Agata, Utius, Kathas, all of them - formed a loose circle around the two of them, and the two began to circle each other, crouching down and keeping distance while in motion. Aya loved this part. It was like climbing a tall hill knowing about the downward slope on the other side.
"No magic tricks."
"Be more specific." Aya Pulled on his shortsword with her kinetics. Not hard enough to yank it out of his hands, but hard enough to jerk him forwards and out of his stance.
He growled again. Like a real man! Aya thought jeeringly. But the others were smiling.
"No making anything move, no stopping my moving thing, no moving yourself. Just you and your sword and the pain I cause you."
"It always hurts to see you embarrass yourself, Org. Is that it? Or is your plan to biting me?"
"No biting. No huckshot. No spit. No dirt. Ready?"
"I agree to your terms, Zargus Org."
He bore his teeth, and the fight began. In the stories, they always make fights seem so dramatic and long, with so much back-and-forth exchanging and words and flourishing. In Aya's opinion, that's why she continuously wins fights she thinks she should probably lose. Well, that, and the aether sense. Aya's aether sense allowed her to see the ripples in space that all things both generated and are made up of. Aya has spent a long time studying these rhythms and waves, the crashing and ebbing of them. She could see the movement of Zargus' arm before it moved a hair's length. Was it cheating? Not by the terms set. But Zargus didn't need to learn that she had this up her sleeve. Nor that she could turn it on or off willingly. And as a result, Aya's fights were always short, one way or another. Especially with big dumb Zargus.
Zargus always thought he had something new to trump Aya with, but Aya always forced him into the first move. That's why it was easier to enrage him before the fight, that poor, dumb bastard. He could open with a feint, a strike, a dive, whatever he likes, but Aya will always know before he does. On this day, Zargus decided he would like his licks on his left side. With his dominant arm, he stepped to his right, hoping, no doubt, to get into Aya's pocket and get a few free strikes. No such luck today. Aya, just as quickly, darted forwards to cut him off, arriving close to his chin with Zargus' blade far on her righthand side. Before that blade could round its way back into striking position, Aya delivered a wide sideswing into the side of Zargus' jaw, the blade beginning beneath her hip and fully following through. With Zargus stunned (and he was stunned), Aya had ample space to grab his sword arm, twist it backwards far enough to force Zargus' back to bend, and then grab Zargus' head by his long, silky hair. She raised his skull and slammed it against her knee, and Zargus Org fell to the ground.
Aya looked out at her peers. They had long since stopped praising Aya for winning, but it still felt good to know none of them would ever challenge her like Zargus would. She dropped her wooden sword into the dirt, swung her coat over the shoulder, and said "no more namecalling to me," before turning towards that waist-high wall and vaulting over it.
As she rounded the corner of the schoolhouse, Dot leaped from the roof above to the ground near her ankles. Good one today.
"Eh."
I agree, actually.
Aya laughed, "Oh okay this is because I was rude, is it?" They began walking back home.
Dot looked up at her. Do you think you would beat him if you weren't cheating?
Aya glared at him. "I think I have a more liberal definition of 'cheating'."
Drop your aether sense, you'll get the spell plague.
"Oh shit, thank you."
Aya wondered if she took it too far, if she broke him. She didn't think so, but she'd still have to wait a couple days before challenging Zargus Org again.