Wanderer [I'ka] [GoblinFae]

[Nightcrawler]

Eln should have seen it coming. He should have known that he'd gravely underestimated this little man. He thought his opponent would continue his tantrum and pull at the spear. He thought wrong. Instead, the man shoved, and Eln's back foot was not ready for it whatsoever. He stumbled backwards and released his grip on the haft to catch his balance, only to be swept off his feet and knocked flat on his back. To make matters worse, that maneuver — the sweep — had pulled his knee the wrong way.

Stupid, he thought. Perhaps he did deserve to die after all, so slow was his mind. To perish at the hands of some whelp...well. Was that not the way of things, after all? He simply didn't expect it so soon. To his surprise, he began to chuckle again. "Ai, Ertu," he wheezed. He pushed himself into a sitting position and smiled up at the young man. He fully expected the spearhead at his throat. He did not, however, intend to go down without giving this mosquito a fight.

[GoblinFae]

With the weight of the fall, Waquin'i not only allowed himself to tumble atop of the other man but he dug the head of the spear deep into the earth. It had served it's purpose for now. Now they would fight properly. He squeezed tight with his thighs, trying to place his weight firmly in the other man's lap. With his hands now free he grinned back, feeling laid back again as he also shoved at Eln's chest hard.

This was no fight to the death. This was but a skirmish to test the mettle of the other man. Fine, test him. And find that Waquin'i though smaller, younger, and free-spirited was just as worth of his teeth and gills as the next I'kanan. At least this was a far more entertaining manner of warming up.

[Nightcrawler]

His assumption was again proven wrong. Mosquito did away with the spear and seemed perfectly content to fight as he'd demanded to before: hand to hand. It was not Eln's strong suit, though he faintly remembered employing such combat in his dirtiest and most harrowing battles. The young man gripped him with his legs, pinning both of Eln's remaining weapons. He shoved, but Eln had stabilized himself well enough this time. The smile disappeared, replaced with the calm, determined gaze of a man who was not quite ready to give up. He had something that Mosquito did not. He had horns, and a thick skull to carry them, and now, he had the desperation to use them like an animal.

WHAM. Without warning, he drew his head back and swept forward, aiming the base of one horn at Mosquito's already bloodied nose.

[GoblinFae]

The young man had most certainly failed to take into account that those horns were far from just for show. He had only enough time to realize his mistake in tucking his chin down and thereby saving his nose from becoming as flat as a sun-dried worm. However, it was not enough to avoid 100% of the impact. For a moment his vision went pure black and then he was seeing stars as those strong horns connected with the top of his forehead. A sharp, pained whoosh of air escaped his lungs as the effort to scream was entirely too much energy.

Eyes squeezed shut against the literally blinding pain, Waquin'i went all but limp astride him, his thighs loosening some of their crushing grip in the process. Instead of striking back, he clung tightly to the other man's tunic in his desperate efforts to remain on top and conscious.

So much for that first win. Round two definitely went to the old goat.

[Nightcrawler]

He struck true enough, and although the impact dazed him, it seemed that his opponent caught the worst of it. Good. The whelp wanted a fight. He had one. He shook off the pain and found a dirty, bloodied hand clutching the front of his tunic. Mosquito's legs had loosened, too. He had an opportunity. He could draw his belt knife. He was not certain that he wanted to anymore. Was this another unwise choice on his part? Yes. Likely. But his opponent seemed pleased now that Eln followed the rules.

He would try.

Eln wound an arm around the man's, met his bandaged chest, and shoved, hoping to disengage his grip. He yanked his good leg out from under his opponent and kicked hard at the man's knee. He had little practice in this maneuver. Would it topple the Mosquito? Or had he only succeeded in flailing?

[GoblinFae]

One arm was dislodged at the shove, sending a groaning Waquin'i sprawling back over his lap. The other hand clung on for dear life though as if the other man was a lifeline above a frothing sea of bloodthirsty sharks. The kick connected and while deeply painful managed to dislodge the young man's leg from being caught beneath them. This he used to raise and stomp down hopefully on the leg that had kicked him so that he could push himself back more across Eln's lap and thereby free his painfully pinned leg.

Blinking away the pain as best as he could manage, Waquin'i attempted to refocus and bring his head, as throbbing as it was, back into the game. With his free hand he pointed at the man's chest with a light jab and made a confused questioning sound, waiting only long enough for him to look down before driving his fist upward, trying to catch chin, nose or both and return the favor.

[Nightcrawler]

Mosquito drove his knee into Eln's good leg and ground it in. "Agh!" Eln cried out. The little man was out for blood. In an instant, he had recovered his stance and redoubled his grip. Any chance to draw a blade was now forfeit. For a moment, Eln thought that Mosquito was ready for a break, for he seemed to ask a question. But this was a trick, and the man's fist caught him square in the chin, sending his head snapping backwards. Teeth clacked against teeth and cut through gums. He tried to shake the disorientation, but his head still spun from the impact.

Don't be stupid, he thought as he strained to remember the fundamentals of a style he was never trained in. There was a man, once. A...friend. Different from the others. Hornless. And he had shown Eln these things, even if Eln had put no stock in their importance at the time. Use your weight. Use momentum. Use gravity.

How?

He panted like a bull now. The tussel had begun to wind him. But he was not done yet. He lunged forward and wrapped one arm over Mosquito's shoulder, and the other arm under his armpit, twisted, and shoved.

[GoblinFae]

Well this was one hug offered too late. Waquin'i didn't mean to but he giggled at his inner thought even as he was fully pinned beneath the panting man. One moment he was sprawled across his lap and the next they were face-to-face with him now crushed under him. He shook his head some as he test how stuck he was, huffing as his bun came undone and soft, black hair splayed out around him like a dark halo.

His arms were pinned to his sides at the shoulder but he found he still had some range of motion below the elbow. It wasn't much but it was something so with all the force he could muster in the short range of motion he had, Waquin'i swung his arm back and then down on top of of the other man, effectively spanking him in the rear.

[Nightcrawler]

Mosquito...laughed? Was this somehow funny? Eln found that the sound riled him as though he were half his own age. He scowled. But that scowl quickly became a wide-eyed look of alarm as a hand swung down and slapped his backside. And again. Slight though the impact was, he still felt it in that one bad knee. He grumbled, both at the pain and in affront at being treated like an unruly child by an unruly child. He tugged loose until he could snug his forearm right up under the man's chin. He glowered as he pressed down just enough to send a message. "Yese," he barked.

[GoblinFae]

Well that certainly made the pounding in his head increase to a crescendo. With the way he pressed on his throat it, Waquin'i was sure he could feel his heart throbbing in his eyeballs at this point. But, his brow furrowed in deep confusion. "Yes?"

Hesitantly he raised his arm and smacked him in the rear again, absolutely confused beyond belief at the request. Still that didn't stop him from hooking his legs around the back of Eln's and attempting to roll and throw his weight onto the man's favored knee in order to try and end up on top again.

[Nightcrawler]

Mosquito repeated his own word back to him, but it was not right. He smacked Eln again, and Eln put more of his weight on his arm. "YEH. SEH," he snarled, as though somehow speaking slower and louder would make his opponent understand. With every syllable, he pressed down on Mosquito's throat. What did this whelp not grasp about being told to stop?

But he should have known that the young man would not admit defeat. He felt legs hook behind his, and his bad knee dragged across the ground as Mosquito tried to turn the tide. The pain was more than just a nuisance, now. If Eln wasn't careful, he wouldn't be able to walk. "Argh!" Wide-eyed with genuine concern for the first time since this struggle began, he was faced with a choice. Did he risk dealing serious harm to the whelp? Or did he scramble away and chance being pursued?

He sighed, and for one brief moment, an apology flashed across his creased, contorted face.

"Yese," he commanded, and aimed a horn at Mosquito's forehead.

[GoblinFae]

Wheezing, gurgling sounds were the only answer the other man got as he crushed Waquin'i's windpipe. Uselessly he struggled harder, not wanting to actually pass out and certainly unwilling to beg for mercy. There was something about the flickering expression that passed his attacker's face though that struck a chord in the young man.

And then his head was moving back and Waquin'i knew exactly what that expression had been about. Panicking, he squawked hoarsely and flailed his arms up defensively. He most certainly did not want to be brained again thank you very much. He had learned his lesson the first time. Futilely perhaps he latched onto the horns as best as he could, praying it would be enough to stop them from crashing into his adorable little face.

[Nightcrawler]

Finally, Mosquito seemed to have had enough. Eln drew back, preparing to lift his weight from the man's neck — only to feel hands grasp his horns.

He froze. His eyes slowly traveled from the hands, to Mosquito's terrified expression, to the hands again. His nostrils flared. The corner of his mouth twitched in disgust. He did not look the young man in the eye again, so great was the offense. Instead, he swept his arm off his opponent's neck and upward to dislodge fingers that should never have touched him in such a manner. He scrambled to his feet, stepped over Mosquito, and limped a few paces away, tugging his cloak about him in irritated little motions as he went. The spear stood between them. He was too affronted to bother with it, nor with acknowledging the man at all.

[GoblinFae]

Waquin'i gasped him massive gulps of smokey campfire night air, his chest heaving as he rubbed his aching throat. He did not understand what he had done but apparently it had been enough to protect himself from a caved in face. Gingerly he sat up, rubbing and wincing at his aching skull while keeping half an eye on the stranger just in case he decided to come bulldozing back in to finish his victory.

With the thrill of the brawl now leaving his system, everything seemed to ache. As he crawled to his feet, he felt a pop across his back and the bandages that had been binding his chest began to unwind revealing his bare and not quite so flat chest. Flushing with embarrassment and aggravation he attempted to cover it while moving back towards the fire where his sweaty and cooling flesh could have a chance of warming again. His expression and body posture was very much that of a sulking, scowling young child who had been caught with their hand in the fishing nets. Waquin'i could only hope that the outsider was not like the Serenians who hurled insults at him or worse on the rare chance they realized his gender differenced from his body.

[Nightcrawler]

He breathed harder than he should have been. That fight had taken more out of him than he'd expected, and now he could not even put his full weight on his injured knee. If he removed his trousers to examine it, he risked alerting the whelp to his weakness. He also risked sending the wrong message — though, the more he cooled down from their scuffle, the more he came to realize that the offending grip may well have been a measure of self defense. That did not make him any more pleased with the whelp's conduct, though.

No. It made the most sense to wait. He would tend to his knee in private, when this strange standoff was over. He crossed his arms, winced in spite of himself at his injuries, and watched Mosquito out of the corner of his eye to ensure that the man didn't try to sneak up on him for another round of foolishness. But Mosquito seemed to have given up, and opted instead to sulk by the fire, nursing his many bruises. "Hmmh," Eln grunted. Good. Perhaps now that the young man had learned his lesson, they could both spend the evening in peace.

He limped a few more paces until he could position himself well across the fire from this strange little man. He sat, groaning at his knee as he did so. And he waited.

[GoblinFae]

While the stranger saw to his own wounds and pride, Waquin'i worked at flipping his damp shirt over to dry more evenly and stoking the fire, all one-handed as he kept one bound over his chest at all times. He was exhausted. His pride was wounded and his body ached. 

However, he was alive and he had been left to his own devices. Whoever this outsider was, he did not appear to be a threat to the community. Even when ropes were tugged as only one such as Waquin'i could do with such ease, he had always sought the more diplomatic and defensive road. It may not have been the I'kanan way. It may have been a more cowardly route. But all the same, Waquin'i was grateful not only to be alive but for the fun of the brawl. Things had been too quiet lately and he had almost begun to miss the drama of the village a bit.

He waited patiently as the other man limped closer and finally settled. It seemed he was not the only one aching from their tussle and perhaps he had given just as good as he had got. With one arm still secured, the other tapped with two fingers twice over his heart. "Waquin'i." He then pointed across the fire at the other man. "You?" He repeated the gesture twice more. It seemed only fair to share his name that the two had locked horns. 

[Nightcrawler]

The young man was quiet for a time. It seemed safe, for the moment, to let his guard down. Eln sat and he ruminated on every difficulty this new injury would bring. If it was serious, he could very well die of starvation or by some wild animal. Even if it was not, he might have to stay off of it while it healed, and that meant losing time and strength. He shook his head. Of the two of them, he was the rash one to have allowed himself to be goaded into such a pointless scrap.

"Wakini," the man said suddenly. Eln glanced up in time to see him gesture, first at his chest, and then across the fire. Was it his name? "Wa...kini," Eln echoed. So. Mosquito — Wakini — had chosen peace after all. Eln made a brief face — something to express his exasperation that they could not have simply done this in the first place. But then he nodded. He tapped his own chest. "Ah...Eln-i-Ara, Haruka-i-Kara-Misu." He paused, seemed to reconsider, and then corrected himself, once more imitating the Wakini man's gestures. "Eln-i-Ara." He followed it with one of his own: a hand to the left temple, then extended outwards towards the stranger. My clan greets yours.

[GoblinFae]

"Waquin'i," he repeated tapping how own chest before pointing out at the other man. "Ah-elleny-ara Harukai-carmoosa," he attempted slowly, his brow furrowed in deep concentration. The man certainly had a very long name. It would prove to be quite the mouthful should he use it in an emergency. Still. It was a name and that was a good thing. 

He grinned broadly, covering his mouth to hide his teeth even as his eyes crinkled. It was only polite after all to hide your teeth among friends. 

[Nightcrawler]

"Wa-kee-neh," Eln tried again. He inclined his head at the stranger's attempt. "Eln-i-Ara," he corrected. His full title was unnecessary now. He had only said it aloud out of habit, and the words meant nothing to the man who now smiled at him from across the fire.

Eln tilted his head. He frowned. Until now, he hadn't noticed it, but it was difficult not to miss. Mosquito held a hand to his chest, as though his bandages had come undone. Had Eln accidentally reopened an old wound when he pushed the man away? He mimed a gash across his own chest, then pointed to the man's. It was the only way he knew to ask.

[GoblinFae]

"El-nee-n'ara," he tried again, grimacing slightly as it still didn't sound right. He rolled it over his tongue getting closer and closer to better before noticing what Eln was doing.

Quickly he glanced down at himself, dropping his arms to reveal his bare chest and even letting the flesh in the firelight to inspect. There was nothing new there though. Waquin'i shrugged and shook his head before covering his chest again. As far as he could tell he was unhurt there. He tapped his throat though and made a wincing face followed by his forehead. Now that DID hurt. He could already feel quite the lump forming. The young man groaned softly as he rubbed the spot. What rotten luck.