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Knives Out



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Wed Jan 22, 2020 3:30 am
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Mageheart says...



Knives Out

Brought to you by

@TheMulticoloredCyr and @Jaybird


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Rated 16+ For Potential Gore and Definite Assassins
mage

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roleplaying is my platonic love language.

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Wed Jan 22, 2020 3:44 am
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Mageheart says...



Damian al Ghul


Today was not going well.

This week was not going well.

It all started with a kidnapping. Considering that Gotham had a street named Crime Alley, and considering that the kidnapped kid in question was walking down it when he got snatched, that fact wasn't all that surprising.

What might have been surprising, however, was what followed.

The kidnappers were the League of Shadows, and they weren't doing the kidnapping for a nefarious scheme. It was actually a rather tame one: they wanted to get on their leader's good side. And that meant "rescuing" his grandson from the clutches of Gotham's heroes.

So now Damian Wayne al Ghul had been stuck wandering through the halls of the League of Shadows for the past few days, waiting for Talia and Ra's al Ghul to return from whatever month-long trip they were on. Damian didn't really care what they were up to. He just wanted out. He wanted to get back to Gotham, and away from all of this craziness.

But Damian, sadly, was stuck as a nine year old, so the escape plan really wasn't working out as well as planned.

Bored out of his mind - neither Ra's or Talia were exactly caught up-to-date on most of the cooler, kid-related pieces of technology out there - he started wandering through its vast hallways. The league would be having a heart attack if they noticed, but they were too busy running themselves in their leader's absence.

(And Damian was too good at sneaking around to be discovered.)

After a little bit of strolling, he found himself peeking in on the training sessions. He didn't like doing them himself, and knew that he was watching future enemies train, but there was something cool about the way they moved. If he wasn't supposed to be a hero, he might have really admired it.

(Or, even, incorporate it into his future fighting style.)

None of the league noticed him entering. He already had an excuse ready if they tried to get him to leave or join in. Instead, he just watched. He was specifically watching a blond haired girl who looked vaguely familiar. He couldn't figure out why, but he was sure they had met somewhere before.

Whatever the case was, her movements were the most entertaining to watch.

He studied her from afar, an almost unnaturally neutral expression on his little face.
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Wed Jan 22, 2020 3:51 pm
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Teddybear says...



Megara wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she did know that she wasn't losing a fight to some overzealous kid with an attitude problem. Before the fight, he'd flashed her a smirk and politely informed her that she shouldn't be too cut up 'when' she lost.

For the sake of blending in, Megara might have considered losing on purpose. Unfortunately, there was someone who depended on her to get knocked down a couple of pegs, and who was she to let him down?

To his credit, he was fast, and he was skilled. But she was faster, and she had more practice. It wasn't long into the fight that they both knew she was toying with him.

The look on his face was one she would cherish for a long, long time.

Before these events, she'd been with Eddie. Dropping him off with a friend so she could go get some money. Oh, if her father ever learned of how far she'd fallen. Not much was off the table. Theivery, bounty hunting, freelance work in the profession he'd trained her in. Anything to earn a few coins to get her and Eddie into a more stable situation. And, maybe, to buy the words of a few select individuals who could do certain kinds of damage to her father and his little club.

The kid made a jab at her gut. This proved itself to be a dumb move as she got a grip on his wrist and used his own momentum to flip him onto his back. Maintaining her grip, she twisted. The boy didn't cry out in pain beyond a few grunts when he hit the ground and as she twisted to nearly the point of breaking his wrist.

"I yield," he gasped after a few long moments, and she released him.

Without another word, she readied herself for a rematch and he did the same. This time when he went for her, he did so with a vengeance.

Megara had been in some small town, barely bigger than a village, when whatever happened happened.

A flash of light and a feeling of dizziness, like the world had tilted beneath her feet as her eyes refused to focus. She had stumbled on the dirt and fallen only to have her knees hit stone.

She'd collected her wits only to realize she didn't know where she was. These were unfamiliar halls full of unfamiliar people. Unfamiliar people in uniform.

The next step was obvious, easy, and had landed her here. Apparently, those who wore the uniform she had taken were meant to be here, training to fight. The class wasn't the basics, it wasn't even that easy, but it was still below her level. Holding herself back and making it look like that wasn't what she was doing turned out to be a little harder than she thought it would be. Apparently her training wasn't complete.

She finished her thought just as, again, the boy yielded. The instructor, or whatever she was called, made them change partners then, and Megara thought she sensed the implication that the boy would be disciplined later on.

In the short break while her new opponent was sizing her up, Megara glanced around. There was a vaguely familiar dark-haired boy sitting where he would mostly be out of sight if one was used to the place and wasn't explicitly looking around for inconsistencies.

She didn't have long to contemplate him before her new opponent struck, or tried to. She wasn't much faster than the boy had been, and Megara blocked her as she turned her attention back to the fight.
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Wed Jan 22, 2020 7:43 pm
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Mageheart says...



Damian was bored.

Really bored.

And, from how things were going, it looked like the girl that had caught his eye for both her familiarity and her prowess in battle was probably a little bored, too. She was beating her opponents with ease. It was the same kind of fighting that Tim had used when Damian forced him to train him - when you were holding back for your opponent.

Damian needed a distraction, and that girl was the perfect opportunity.

He walked over to the instructor. The instructor had been there long enough to be around for Damian's birth and subsequent training, so Damian knew he'd be able to turn things in his favor.

He made his request with the politeness and power any al Ghul heir had.

The instructor wasted no time in calling the girl's opponent back to the sidelines. The opponent looked angry and irritated, right until she saw who she was being replaced with. Then her angry retort was replaced with a begging, needless apology that Damian barely acknowledged.

Damian stepped in and gave her a cool smile.

"Hi," he said.
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Wed Jan 22, 2020 7:53 pm
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Teddybear says...



She sized him up, trying to figure out where she'd seen him before.

"Hello," she returned his greeting. This kid wanted to fight her most likely, and judging by the look on the face of the girl whose ass she'd been kicking a moment before and the occasional smug glance from the boy with the mercifully unbroken wrist, he wasn't someone she should underestimate.

Most of the fighting around her lessened slightly in intensity. It didn't stop, it just slowed for a second here and there so the other fighters could glimpse what was going on.

Megara gave the boy a smile of her own and brushed a curl from her face. "Are you here for a fight or did you stop mine for fun?" she asked, trying not to sound too sarcastic. She wasn't sure who this kid was yet, best not get too far on his bad side right away.
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Wed Jan 22, 2020 9:26 pm
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Mageheart says...



Oh.

It looked like the girl had an attitude. Damian liked that; it always annoyed him when the league acted like everything he did was sacred.

"A little bit of both," he said, the smile growing to become a little more mischievous. "Mainly to fight, but also to see her-"

He gestured back at her old opponent.

"-reaction when she had to stop fighting you. Not that it would have been a long fight, would it?" He tilted his head to the side. "You held back with your fight earlier. I want to see what it's like when you don't."
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Thu Jan 23, 2020 1:34 am
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Teddybear says...



Megara smirked, "Alright, kid, if you think you can beat me, give it a shot." She prepared for the fight, looking plenty more confident than she was feeling. She was confident, yes, but there was a healthy dose of caution mixed in.

She was forgetting, at that time, her need to be stealthy. To figure out where she was and what was going on before she did anything ridiculous. Like fight a clearly pretty important kid when she was supposed to be a trainee, for example.
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Thu Jan 23, 2020 2:12 am
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Mageheart says...



There were whispers among the other trainees. While he hadn't come to their past sessions for obvious reasons - namely, being in Gotham - he still had a reputation among the members of the league. He couldn't tell if she was oblivious to who he was or if she was ignoring her knowledge, but he was thrilled either way.

"Okay," Damian said.

He eyed her for a moment, studying her as he tried to figure out what his first best move.

Then he lunged for her stomach, with a very simple punch right to its center.
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Thu Jan 23, 2020 2:23 am
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Teddybear says...



That punch was far too easy to block for Megara to think for a single moment that it was a legitimate strike. He was feeling her out, testing the waters. He wanted to know what she was capable of as a fighter before he committed.

She slowed her reflexes slightly when blocking. Two could play at that game.

She retaliated with a strike of her own. This would be more fun with weapons, but it wasn't like she couldn't beat him with her hands. Or without her hands. She wondered, as she fought, what it might be like to have her hands fully disabled in a real fight where the stakes were higher than just the threat of drowning.
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Mageheart says...



He had a sneaking suspicion that she was onto him. Good for her, then - this fight was going to be as interesting as he hoped it would be. Some of the trainees were gossiping behind them. Only the instructor had seen him fight before; none of the other new league members knew what to expect from the league's heir.

And no one knew what to expect from the trainee he was fighting.

He easily dodged the attack. His age was his weakness and his advantage. He was obviously at a physical disadvantage and a skill-based one, but he knew how to use his height when he could. He was small and hated it, but at least he could get something useful out of it.
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Thu Jan 23, 2020 2:38 am
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Teddybear says...



Megara increased her speed and, as expected, the kid proved himself more than capable of keeping up. So, she would have to beat him with experience rather than speed.

A few more hits were exchanged. Megara let one of his land, taking a blow to the ribs in exchange for an opening. She used her opportunity to catch both of his arms, then suddenly she was behind him, his arms crossed and twisted behind his back as she kicked him to his knees.

She waited patiently for him to yield.
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Thu Jan 23, 2020 2:42 am
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Mageheart says...



The battle flew by in a blur - and, for the first time, he felt like he finally had met his match. But then he was down on the ground with his arms twisted behind him, pain dancing up and down his back and arms.

(It hurt, but it was nothing like the fire. That was true pain.)

"I give in," he said. He knew that it wasn't wise to push this. God, he wanted to, but he knew that his little body was too fragile to handle any more strain without access to the Lazarus Pit. And while he might have thought of sneaking there before, conversations with certain people reminded him that it wasn't really a good idea.
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Thu Jan 23, 2020 2:45 am
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Teddybear says...



Megara released him as soon as he gave up. She offered him a hand, "You're good," she commented. Really good. The combination of the fight and the dark hair, the dampened emotions and the commanding stillness, this kid reminded her of Briar.

That was not a good thought.

She thought to reach out mentally, then, and feel what the kid was feeling.
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Thu Jan 23, 2020 2:54 am
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Mageheart says...



Damian had no way of knowing what she was doing. He didn't even know that other people could feel each other's emotions like that. It made sense, in the scheme of things, but wasn't the first thought he would have when trying to explain her reaction.

But Damian was feeling...things.

There was disappointment about the fight being over, and a bit of regret, too. There was also a tinge of embarrassment, but the embarrassment was overrun by a feeling of boredom.

And, most importantly, of loss and longing.

He wished to be anywhere but the league's halls right now. He wanted to be back in Gotham, bothering Jason and Tim and everyone else he usually bugged. He wanted to be messaging his best friend over Discord, too. There wasn't good service in the league, and cell phones were hard to come by.

He pushed the longing down.

The longing was replaced by curiosity.

He knew so little about the girl who had beat him, and he was desperate to learn more. He could try raiding the records, or he could try bugging her a little. He mulled over which one would be more entertaining, and quickly decided that he wanted to talk to her more than studying some boring texts probably written in Arabic.

"Thanks," he said, grabbing onto her hand.

He got to his feet.

He glanced over at the instructor.

His look clearly said that she was going to go with him whether the instructor liked it or not - if an al Ghul took in an interest in a trainee, it was never supposed to be questioned.

He grabbed onto her wrist.

"Come on," he said, arms aching as he tugged on her. "I'm bored, and I need someone to hang out with right now."
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Thu Jan 23, 2020 3:04 am
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Teddybear says...



Megara followed the boy, glad to be free of the class. She mulled over those emotions he'd been feeling, trying not to overthink them. The curiosity had been directed toward her, for sure. That was all she could really know about why he was feeling what he was feeling.

She drew back in and felt her own emotions only. Her feelings had stopped feeling like so much over time as she got used to taking in the feel of others, sometimes even whole crowds at once. The curiosity she felt on her own was nothing compared to the curiosity of a whole room of people faced with a mystery or a challenge. Her anger alone was feeble in the face of the fury of a rioting mob.

Her perspective was much, much different, so she didn't think much of what might have been more than a twinge to her a long time ago of worry amongst the other assorted feelings in her gut.

She had to fight off a cocky smirk as she followed him wherever he was leading her. "I don't suppose I have a choice in that matter?" she asked half-jokingly. She was going to go with him, she was as bored as he was, but it would be nice to know how much authority he thought he had. Or that he did have. She wasn't quite sure.
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You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into… the Twilight Zone.
— Rod Serling