Tri-District Tournament Day Two: Fray vs. Le Roux

[lance]

The decision to hold each of the top 16 matches one at a time instead of simultaneously, while time consuming, proved to be a massive hit. Instead of splitting their attention eight ways, the spectators of three districts oohed and ahhed as one by one, more victors emerged and more combatants were eliminated. A forfeit, a decimation, even a severed leg that had to be quickly treated so that the afflicted girl wouldn't bleed out all over the stage - and there were still three rounds remaining.

The dawn of the next day started off, and with eight contestants remaining the stakes and tensions only rose. The noble families of One and the Games royalty of Four overwhelmingly won out the previous day, and Two of all places saw their hopes of a victory placed solely on a girl with no notable name to carry all the way to the end. With half the matches consisting solely of those with Victor's blood in them - a civil war in One between Fray and Le Roux (two families that had lost many to the Games but, interestingly, never at the same time) and a clash between the Fray dynasty and a relative of Four's own Annie Morrisen, the other matches seemed like they would pale in comparison.

The second match featured a clash of two names that would truly excite the Games fanatics in the audience, for while Fray and Le Roux alike had lost many a child to the Games since they first brought home victory, they'd never graced the same arena at the same time. Of course, there were doubts that either individual that carried the name were trueborn heirs of the family - it was an open secret that the Frays often adopted to replace those lost in the Games, and Eden carried none of the bright features that the public had grown to associate with the lions of One - but at this point, that didn't matter. At long last, an age old debate - which of One's most recent Victor families was superior - would finally be decided.

This fight consists of Noel Fray of District One (Zoe) vs Eden Le Roux of District One (Calla)

[✨ zozo.]

n o e l .

come back to remind me
of who i was
when i go disappearing
into that good night

Tarver had grabbed the flail out of Noel's bruised hands and thrown it to the ground -- "fight with a real weapon next time."

"Thanks Dad," she'd drawled, eyes rolling up to the back of her head. No matter the win to her name Noel still wasn't good enough. A rough day, so what? And in her spite, bitter words caught between her teeth, she'd spent the rest of the afternoon with her previous opponent. Turns out Juno of Two was as good a companion as she was a sparring opponent, and as a bonus Noel knew her sportsmanship would only make her adopted father seethe.

Le Roux, the bracket told her - spear in her hands, she'd been taught enough about them to know they were the shinier, newer versions of the Frays. Honey-haired children with a victor from this decade, whispers calling them the Golden House of Fray's replacements dancing in the summer air.

But who faced her on the mat that afternoon was both a stranger and someone so familiar, it took the breath from Noel's lungs in shock. No sandy-haired child, but a boy who carried himself like she and Leon. Every child from the streets knows a fellow orphan when they see one. If the Le Rouxes were the Fray family's replacements, it seems that they had taken a page out of Tarver's book and found their own street-rat children to pluck from obscurity.

He had the edge in this eyes, one that reflected back in Noel's own vision. Familiarity, she smiled - if she were going to lose, my god she hoped it was to Eden Le Roux.

If that was really his name, as make-believe as Noel Fray.

table by elegant !

noel attacks eden, spear
FMiX_zlxOwspear
shallow cut 4

0/25

spear

[tick 12a / calla]

eden le roux

Eden sits on the floor of the far stall in the bathroom until the next match is announced. The buzzer had gone off and the referee had gone to raise Eden's hand, but he'd already been halfway across the room, the sound of the crowd pushing and clawing against his back. There's a kid standing near the urinals that tried to give him a high-five but Eden just rushes past and locks the stall door behind him.

He traces an E into the tile grout over and over again and waits for his name to be called.

His new opponent is different than his last one. His eyes flick over the bracket - Fray, and he remembers Eurydice handing him a gold embossed lion pin and sending him to the Justice Building to form an alliance with a ghost. Bastian Fray had died nearly a week later and Eden had heard Eurydice scoff from his place at her elbow.

But New Fray is different. Less cocky, more cautious. Smarter. She smiles at him and Eden clenches his teeth.

Her spear flashes against the fluorescents and Eden feels it more than he sees it. It hits him but barely, grazing sharply in a way that reminds him of fighting with Steel. He's already turning by the time it raises again, batting it away with that heavy sword and lunging.

vu2UQALNJ6sword
Shallow Cut on Forehead -- 4.5 damage

4/25

sword

[✨ zozo.]

n o e l .

come back to remind me
of who i was
when i go disappearing
into that good night

A wound like that across her head, Noel should cry. But instead she winces, and although her eyes swim with tears she laughs instead. There's a thrill in combat up-close and personal, two kids with names that don't belong to them - who shouldn't even be here.

"Nice," she grins, stepping back to wipe the blood that pools in her eyebrows with the back of her hand. A red smear stains her skin, a dull throbbing below her hairline - this feels different than the wind knocked out of her chest yesterday, raw and primal.

Like she's home. Like he's Leon.

She's still smiling stupid at him when she strikes again, and a playful laugh escapes when his sword catches the tip of her spear.

table by elegant !

noel attacks eden, spear
4MCiXdft1Pspear
block 0

4.5/25

spear

[tick 12a / calla]

eden le roux

Eden pulls the same trick he did last time, aiming high and playing dirty, but instead of yelling at her like Four did, Fray just laughs.

"Nice." She says. And Eden just blinks.

He suddenly feels unbalanced. Off-kilter. Fighting has never been fun, it's never been something to laugh about. He did it to survive and then he did it to live and now he does it because it's all he knows how to do. Fray acts like it's game, but there's something about the set of her shoulders and the look in her eye that makes Eden pause.

He sees his sister again, unbidden.

Fray's spear falls on Eden's sword again, scratching against the gold. He bares his teeth at her, more grimace than smile. The crowd shouts again.

pAd4aKMKfLsword
Shallow Cut on Back of Head -- 4.5 damage

4/25

sword

[✨ zozo.]

n o e l .

come back to remind me
of who i was
when i go disappearing
into that good night

There's something about the way Leon fights, both in the training centre and on the Exy fields, that transforms him. She's always been the grumpy one of the two, the one to jump in front of a blade for him, the bad to his good. But in the way that Leon has taught Noel to be kinder, softer, gentler on herself, she has taught him how to grit his teeth and fight to survive.

And she sees this in Eden Le Roux, the way he bares his teeth and snarls as their blades collide. He's not giving up easy. Noel thinks he might not give up at all. Good, she thinks, the weight of his block providing momentum to push away and pirouette like she'd been trained to to.

As if he can read her thoughts - see her path before she takes it - he strikes, and when she turns around she groans, a flash of pain at the back of her skull and strands of blood-matted hair falling to coat the floor beneath them. 

"You're quick," a smile. "Too quick."

A strike.

table by elegant !

noel attacks eden, spear
dFo2kGuvr2spear
deep gash, 9

9/25

spear

[tick 12a / calla]

eden le roux

Fray's spear digs into the side of his head and Eden's hand flies to his temple. He steps back, feels his hand come away wet, and looks at her a little surprised. Head shots, it seems, are something they have in common.

He wonders what the boy from Four'd have to say about that.

His face does a thing again - a quick twitch that doesn't look quite right, but he can't remember the last time he's laughed. He's a little rusty. He uses one bloody hand to push his hair back and glances at the way the referee seems to be side-eyeing them now, edging along the edge of the ring. Someone like that's probably never even seen a street fight.

Something uncoils in Eden, something that Fray calls out to, and he lets it furl over his arms and move down to his hands, wraps a hand around the sword hilt a little firmer.

rdSD3bd3rWsword
Shallow Cut on Right Shoulder -- 3.5 damage

13/25

sword

[✨ zozo.]

n o e l .

come back to remind me
of who i was
when i go disappearing
into that good night

He's quiet. Noel could learn - should learn - from someone like Eden.

Her big mouth has gotten her into more fights than she can count, and that's only within the walls of the Fray household. At school they call her a fake, a counterfeit, a street rat. And she tells them that they're right, and then they turn around and say she should be grateful for what she has.

She wins the fight against Juno from Two and her father takes it as a loss regardless. There is no winning when you are Noel, nobody. There is no victory as Noel Fray, somebody, either.

She and Leon were born to find each-other, and she will die trying to let him live, but she knows she alone was born to fail. Leon is careful, quiet, pensive - and it will keep him alive, like Eden Le Roux.

Noel knows she is fighting a losing battle. She has known it all along, even when it looks as through her cuts dig deeper. But the difference here is she doesn't mind losing. Not to him. Not to her kinfolk.

For the first time in her life, it finally feels like she's fighting a fair fight.

table by elegant !

noel attacks eden, spear
VjZ2ny3SC7spear
shallow cut 3.5


12.5/25

spear

[tick 12a / calla]

eden le roux

They move faster now. It's like a dance that no one else in the building will understand.

In another life, a nicer life, maybe, Eden wouldn't understand. But he does. Fray's spear shudders against his sword and her feet mirror his. They circle each other like animals and Eden has to keep shaking his head to keep present. It's a common comfort - this display. He's not used to the way that the careers posture and preen, and if he had to bet, he'd say that Fray isn't either.

But Eden was bought into this family - he doesn't know what Fray's excuse is.

The mat shifts under Eden's feet, he looks into her eyes. There's something there that feels like his own and he forces himself away from it. A bit of blood trickles down across his face, it stings, but he ignores the feeling.

E8val5r4Vbsword
Deep Gash on Left Thigh -- 8.0 damage

16.5/25

sword

[✨ zozo.]

n o e l .

come back to remind me
of who i was
when i go disappearing
into that good night

They're awfully quiet, save for the clashes of steel and huffs of breath and soft patter of feet upon the mat below them. Noel's used to so much noise, taunts and jeers and great cries of strength in the Fray training center. She far prefers this type of fight, without all the bravado and show. Here it's just two kids alike and their weapons, a dance without an orchestra.

But Noel misses the familiar bite of words, the comradery that comes with a battle. It's half the fun - "Oof!" she chokes out as her leg spills open, pink skin and gold fabric ripped apart by a sword's blade. Her hands catch her knees and she crouches, taking a second to absorb the shock that comes with the pain and breathe.

"Didn't like these pants anyway," and she bares her teeth too - the corners of her mouth twisted upward. "Thanks!"

Up she goes, blood and sweat and momentum.

table by elegant !

noel attacks eden, spear
ZXSlvPckQBspear
miss 0

20.5/25

spear

[tick 12a / calla]

eden le roux

Fray quips her way through another swing and Eden watches her, half wary, half amused. He doesn't know what to make of this.

It's like watching his sister in the ring again, all that cocky bravado that she uses just as well as her knives. Fray moves with a kind of lightness to her now, every second that ticks by seems to lift something off them both. Eden doesn't know anything about her family except for his brief interaction with Bastian ages ago. He remembers the gleam of his fists and the cheer of his backing crowd, but that's it. The boy he met in the Justice Building had seemed different then the boy he'd seen in the ring.

Eden sidesteps the spear that falls towards him again, twisting himself out of the way and watching the point of it dig into the mat. He feels a camaraderie with Fray suddenly, something small coiling in his chest, but this is still a competition, and he still has a job to do.

Nnr0MoDiQ1sword
Shallow Cut on Right Hip -- 3.5 damage

16.5/25

sword

[✨ zozo.]

n o e l .

come back to remind me
of who i was
when i go disappearing
into that good night

She's seeing stars now, the world tipping with each strike. Le Roux's got stamina, and hers is fast but fading. It's only when Noel's leg groans as she shifts her weight to support her body that she looks down and sees her once gold leggings now soaked in red, the wound weeping warm, sticky blood that pools at the soles of her shoes.

"Oh," she sighs gently, blinking once, twice, three times.

He's going to win, Noel thinks softly. Even her thoughts are tiring, the voice of her conscience just a whisper. But she manages a smile, because she's okay with this. He's like her. Like Leon. He's different, out of place in this show yet born to fight. To rebel. To survive.

"Oh."

Her arms are shaking as she lifts her spear one final time, vision crinkling around the edges.

"It was," she starts, finishing her words in tandem with the effort of thrusting her spear forward one final time, "an honour."

And, I hope we meet again.

But she only has enough strength left to think it.

table by elegant !

noel attacks eden, spear
HlB0EvOvGnspear
shallow cut 4

24/25

spear

[tick 12a / calla]

eden le roux

The way Fray's spear slices through him makes him feel like paper. Like a little doll that a child's cut out, a little ragged around the edges, a little crumpled from their hands. He's all coloured in with markers and crayons, hair drawn outside the lines, smile crude.

Fray looks tired. Eden feels it.

He hopes she isn't about to fall over.

The referee suddenly looks a little shifty, like's he's waiting to spring forward and break them up. They know he's dangerous, it makes sense. One of the Fray fans in the crowd boos.

Eden watches Fray sway in place and nudges her spear a little, knocking it aside, still wary of her speed. He admires the fact that she's still fighting, he can feel the fatigue clinging and creeping into his own bones. It weighs his limbs down and makes him sluggish, his swings go a little wider. He sets his jaw though, and he narrows his eyes again and again and again.

2Q8FS3QZRksword
Miss -- 0.0 damage

20.5/25

sword

[✨ zozo.]

n o e l .

come back to remind me
of who i was
when i go disappearing
into that good night

So this is survival instinct.

Fight or flight, she always chooses the former. Even subconsciously, seconds away from doubling over and succumbing to blood loss, Noel lets her mind go and allows her body to take over.

At the last half-second something in her reacts. The damaged muscles in her legs ache as she dodges out of the way of Le Roux's sword in slow-motion, watching with half-closed eyes as the steel flies past her head and beyond her shoulder. Somewhere behind her a voice in the crowd whoops and cheers, and on the come-up she feels her hand tighten around the spear's steel-and-rubber handle.

But her eyes tear away from the sword, unsure where on Eden's body muscle-memory is directing the tip of the spear, and focus on his own stare. Dark, dark, dark -- his eyes narrow.

Her own shine.

table by elegant !

noel attacks eden, spear
EWPSU_77Klspear
shallow cut 3.5

24/25

spear

[tick 12a / calla]

eden le roux

Fray catches him off guard. The world spins a bit. The mat feels like jelly under his feet.

The trickle of blood that falls in Eden's eye stings, it makes everything a little blurrier, like there's a red film over his vision.

That heavy sword of his swings wide again, the gold glinting, and Fray is right there in the opening, another paper cut. It stings now. His whole body does. His head is pounding like the blood can't get there fast enough. And it probably can't. It's too busy seeping out of him to drip on the mat and he wonders if this is what Eurydice had in mind when she sent him here.

He makes eye contact with Fray, a split second, and feels a rush of something.

O9gJor7e8usword
Stabbed Through Heart -- 40 10 damage

24/25

sword