[PRP-BATT] Sock it to me [Deimos + Nahori]

[nepsah]

The chain is only as strong as its weakest link

 

[nepsah]

Deimos didn't have much of a reason to linger around the space tower now that things were over - at least, volunteers weren't really needed anymore. But he was curious by nature, and since his last attempt at snooping around the military side of things hadn't exactly gone as planned... well... he figured he might as well try again. Just, not in dark hallways. Casually making himself at home at the closet area to the military deck was much more doable and far less suspicious.

It just... didn't really seem to get him anything interesting, though. Most of them seemed to be talking about boring stuff he didn't care to pay attention to. He'd need to go somewhere less public if he wanted to hear anything interesting- maybe future plans to get back into space? What were they going to do with all the ships in orbit, anyway? He needed to know.

He made his way closer to conveyor 8, doing his best to be as nonchalant as possible about it. If he looked like he knew what he was doing, no one would bother him, right?

saedusk

rip lemme know if i need to change anythin'!

 

[saedusk]

It wasn't the worst plan, not really. Were Deimos anyone else, Nahori might've passed right by him without a second glance. Being a private—wait, no, she was a corporal now even if the promotion hadn't stopped feeling strange. Being a corporal, still relatively low in the hierarchy and an orangeblood in the face of a tealblood to boot, she wouldn't have dared assume Deimos wasn't supposed to be here.

Except, well, Nahori recognized him, she knew he was a civilian, and she recalled quite sharply that she hadn't enjoyed his company much at all.

What would Sarcel do? Each step she took in his direction felt like a slow-mo video locked into a weird, tunnel vision-y camera angle. Nahori wasn't good at confrontation, nor was she good at saying anything contrary to a highblood, but it felt wrong to keep walking as if his loitering around the space tower far past need wasn't unusual. Suspicious, even. Why, she wondered, had this awkward situation been presented to her of all trolls when all she'd been trying to do was get to the gym?

"Ex...cuse me," she managed, stopping and hoping Deimos would stop, too. "Do you... need help with something?"

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

So far, so good. He'd been making good progress, keeping his gaze straight ahead, not bothering to look at anyone he passed by-- at least until a familiar face approached him. He resisted a grimace. Of course someone he'd been on a ship with would find him. He slowed to a stop in front of her, neutral expression falling into a look of mild annoyance. Then again he always seemed to look annoyed if he wasn't concentrating on not looking annoyed.

"No, I don't need help. Do you?" He leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing. She wasn't very sure of herself, which meant if he acted particularly pushy she might just go away. Maybe. She had sort of started to grow a backbone at the end of their ship, but only after he and Degras had saved her a**. Right.

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

When he leaned in, Nahori leaned back just as slightly, toying at her lip with her buckteeth until she reminded herself to stop before she made it bleed. It wouldn't be the first time.

"No I... don't. It's... j-just that..." Damn, the stutter. Honestly, she'd done well to hold it back as long as she had. Not in this particular moment, and that's what bothered her when she already knew Deimos thought poorly of her, but taking a second to consider how much she tripped over her own tongue before meeting Sarcel in her office at the start of all this... It was definitely an improvement.

"Most of the other volunteers... have gone home," she breathed, spoke slower, and reigned the stutter back in. For now. "Most if not... all. So..."

The implication was there: why are you here?

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

Ah, there she went. Backing up. Honestly... how did someone so timid make it into the military? Weren't they supposed to be more... He didn't know. More confident? Or was there a Weenie Hut Jr's department of the military he didn't know about? He leaned back, placing his hands on his hips, leaning to one side as he leveled her with an unimpressed stare. Of course she was going to press it, despite obviously being uncomfortable. "So? Is it a crime to want to look around?" He quirked one brow, tone gaining some edge to it.

"Stuff was pretty hectic before, maybe I didn't get a good enough look around the place 'n want to see more of it. Not that I'd need your help for that." Deimos shrugged, then shifted his weight to start moving again. "Anyway if that's all... I'm sure you got more important stuff to do than ask me dumb questions." He started to slide on by her, intent on continuing his path down the hallway. Where exactly did this one lead to anyway?

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

Well, that was that. It was easier to let Deimos pass, to het his snappy tone and insults dissuade her from messing with him further, than to open herself to greater embarrassment. Nahori might've held rank over him, and that actually meant something to some trolls, but it didn't seem to be doing her any good. Sarcel would probably be disappointed. No, Sarcel would never know.

The orangeblood sighed, hands held at her waist and pressed together anxiously. What if Sarcel did find out, though? What if Deimos kept wandering wherever he pleased until he ended up where he really shouldn't have been? Would they check the security cameras and see she'd made the most pitiful attempt to stop him? Would they blame her?

It was all conjecture, and irrationally paranoid at that, but it was enough to make Nahori swallow her distress over Deimos's attitude and intimidating blood color. She turned and went after him, her pace quick enough that she managed to step in front of him and block the hallway.

"I'm... sorry, but I think... you should go back to the... the entrance."

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

He came to a stop, one brow raised as he stared her down in the eyes. If she wasn't going to back off, then... he'd just have to switch tactics. Clearly she was going to cause a fuss one way or another- whether it be continuing to bother him, or go run off to tattle (if she dared) so the possibility of going any further was probably out the door. But that didn't mean he was willing to back off entirely, no. She'd ruined it! If she'd just let him be, he probably would have made it in quite a ways before turning back on his own.

"You think I should go back?" He tilted his head to one side, mouth twisting into a sort of smirk. "What, you still can't bring yourself to actually issue an order? We both know you've got rank over me yet you haven't actually tried to use that to your advantage even once." He shrugged, waving one hand dismissively as he spoke.

"What're you gonna do if I decide not to listen to you? Tattle? That'll just prove you aren't really worth whatever station you somehow managed to get. Couldn't stop a civilian from goin' somewhere you didn't want him to go. And I don't think you could actually stop me from moving forward even if you had the guts to do it." Ah- there went his bad habit of going further than he needed to, but really. He wasn't thinking about that. He was just focused on giving her a hard time for getting in the way of what he'd actually been wanting to do.

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

Tattle? Of course not. Even with her thoughts tossing and tumbling in a cycle of doubt and circular logic, there was no way she could do that. It was like Deimos said, it would only prove she couldn't handle this. Hadn't she just had a conversation with Sarcel about taking new responsibilities? Hadn't she just reminded herself that if she wanted to accomplish anything or make her choice to join the military something that actually mattered, then she'd need to take chances?

Nahori sucked in a sharp breath. It was obvious his words affected her. It hurt when he dug into her self-doubt. After all, words could cut like daggers when you were a troll like Nahori, but still...

"You... need to go back," she said. She could do this. She'd already stood up to Deimos once before, even if he still didn't respect her. "I'll walk you there."

She tried to ignore his poking and prodding and challenge in favor of being direct. Hopefully he'd stop pressing so she wouldn't have to prove she had the guts.

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

He rolled his eyes, folding his arms across his chest as he shifted his weight to one leg and began tapping the ground with his other foot. Right. She wasn't really getting it, was she. "Mmm... nah, I think I'm good." He shook his head. "Unless you're able to convince me and I don't mean with words, we already know I'm not going to listen to that." He glanced outside, eyes landing on the old volunteer cafeteria... that building had plenty of space and would likely be empty. He looked back to Nahori.

"How 'bout this...If you can beat me in a fight - duel, spar, whatever you wanna call it, I'll go. If I beat you, I get to keep exploring until I decide I've gone far enough, without your interference." He jerked his head toward the window, "the old volunteer cafeteria should be empty."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

This would've been the perfect opportunity to assert her authority and tell him no, to make him go back. It's what she should've done, but Nahori didn't quite have the confidence for that yet. For now she'd convince herself that a spar to prove she wasn't as weak as he thought she was would work just as well. Heck, she needed the practice, anyway.

"Fine... Let's go..."

The cafeteria was, as Deimos assumed, blessedly empty. Nahori knew this wasn't the best place for a fight, but at least there wouldn't be any eyes on them, not like there might be at the gym. She only hoped she didn't make a fool of herself.

"No weapons," she said, "A... fair fight. And this place isn't exactly... made for combat."

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

HP: 20/20
Dmg Dealt: 3

Perfect- it was empty just as he'd expected it to be. "That's fine by me." He shrugged, then shoved one of the many tables off to the side with a foot to make some space. If it was going to be a fair fight, they didn't exactly need obstacles to hop over. He did the same to another table, then turned to face Nahori. "First one to give up loses." He grinned, then dashed forward to try and get in a quick punch to her left side. Admittedly he wasn't that practice with hand-to-hand combat, but he was pretty confident Forera's general fighting lessons wouldn't fail him.

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

deals 0 damage

They were in the same hand-to-hand boat, really. It had only been since her arrival on base right before the space missions that Nahori started training with Sarcel. Even that was an improvement over what she'd been doing before that, though—a whole lot of nothing. She'd definitely learned something, at least

Still, she wasn't swift enough to dodge Deimos's punch. It caught her near the ribs and her expression twisted faintly, but she side-stepped and put more distance between them again. She didn't lash back right away, instead opting to try and get a read on his movements.

--

HP: 17/20

nepsah

 

[nepsah]

HP: 20/20
Dmg Dealt: 5

When she didn't immediately lash out, Deimos opted to just follow up- it was better to stay on the offense than to back off when he had an opening. He continued forward, this time raising his right leg to kick at the same side. This would be a good opportunity to see if hitting live trolls with his prosthetic worked as well as it did with zombies. Whenever he upgraded, he'd have to be sure to get something durable enough to do multiple kicks if things panned out as well as he wanted them to.

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

deals 5 damage

Doing this sort of thing felt surreal, honestly, because Nahori hadn't sparred with anyone but Sarcel and the lieutenant's body language was absolutely different when compared to Deimos. Not that she'd claim to be any sort of expert at this kind of thing, but she was patient and observant when she wasn't panicking. Unfortunately, she was still slow.

The kick caught her right where he'd probably wanted it to, near the ribs, and it definitely hurt worse than it would've if her side hadn't already been softened up. That would probably bruise.

It was her chance, though, she thought. Fighting fair didn't always mean trading punches and kicks back and forth like predictable clockwork, right? She thought Sarcel had said something like that before. Even if she wasn't fast enough to dodge Deimos, she was able to grab his leg against her side, only to immediately jolt backwards and let go. It was an attempt to use his own force against him.

--

HP: 12/20

nepsah