[Day 2] Sabre Round 2: Fray vs. Halle

Today's match is already far less unsettling than yesterday's. Kaiser Fray doesn't seem as disconnected with the world as Crona Gorgon had, and he had only just arrived. No, he seems like a normal, run of the mill asshole who believes himself the center of things.

Nothing I hadn't seen before.

Nothing like the boy trying to apologize for debating about killing me in a match on live stream.

I step into my place, eyeing Fray skeptically all the same, watching him as he twirls his sabre and call a question out to me. My eyes blink, my face unchanging as I settle the mask on top of my head, leaving my face uncovered for a moment.

"Your concern is noted, but no. I do not, in fact, have anything up my ass. So, if you'd please?" I gesture towards him with my sabre, lowering my mask with the other hand and settling into position.

vn44UF7k1-4
[total: four]

The pressure of Fray's sabre against my body is of little note to my mind. There's not much that actually worries me. I've learned when my body is hurt enough that it is bad, despite my inability to feel it. My right hand is covered in scars from an experiment of pain-tolerance when I was a child. Thrust my hand into fire hadn't been my smartest idea, but I hadn't felt a thing. Third degree burns, however, still take their toll. I couldn't fight with my right arm for a week. I learned how to use my left hand better after that because the feeling was even more dulled in my right.

”Would you like something up your ass? Because I can arrange that."

I raise an eyebrow, though he cannot see it, partially in amusement. This boy thinks he's something special in the grand scheme of things. He has fire. I'll give him that much. Sometimes the brightest that burn, however, are the easiest to snuff out.

"It wouldn't hurt, but I'm managing quite well without anything up my ass," I reply, pushing forward for the point.

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[total: six]

I blink, furrowing my brows beneath my mask. It's a little bit easier being able to handle people like this when I'm wearing a literally mask. I can school my features fairly well. I just don't feel like doing it at the time being.

"I'm not knocking anything," I quip, rolling my neck to relieve a bit of tension. I wish the match would go quicker. I can hear Harper's ridiculous crowing from the stands. The sooner I get out of here, the sooner I can pretend that nothing exists, including the creature in the stands.

"I'm simply not interested."

YR0QTlOZ1-4
[total: eight]

"What do you do for fun?"

I tilt my head, standing up straight and taking a moment to think. For fun? I scratch the back of my neck quickly and crouch down again. There's not much to do in District Four. There's training. There's work. There's swimming. I'm not the expert on fun, according to Harper especially. He sees through me better than others, but I try to hide it all the same. He always seems to find me at the worst of times, the times when my walls are lowered.

"I'm not... very good at fun," I mutter, moving forward for the point. As we shuffle about, I continue, arm thrust outwards to strike him. "I go to the beach."

That's one of the only places I can let my guard down fully. I settle into the sand like it's a part of me. Cold and coarse and spread too far.

2WlyVv2z1-4
[total: eleven]

"I know."

The beaches are always crowded. There are so many people some days that I feel like I can hardly breathe. Summertime is not the time to go to the beach. I prefer the dead of winter, when it's so cold that it feels like ice is piercing through you. Still, the pain never comes. The numbness, however, gets deeper. It feels fuller, but more muted. Everything feels dull and meaningless and my body starts to feel sluggish against the sand. Some days, I lay there until I can hardly move myself, letting my body slow to the point that nothing else matter.

"I prefer to go there alone. I also don't do well with other people."

I can handle being around others. On most days, I'm surrounded by other careers and trainers in the training center. There's a difference between that surrounding and the everyday world, however. I choose to train. I do not choose to exist among others. It's too much emotion surrounding me at one time, too much that I have to block out. Solitude settles me, it grounds me in a way that can't be found in anything else.

"That's just the way it is," I drawl, feet pushing forward as I stab outwards.

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[total: thirteen]