Post by LACKLAN on Mar 16, 2019 0:48:11 GMT -5
"Perhaps some would view Cotton declining the opportunity to challenge her friend for the World Title to be a noble gesture. I see it as a weakness, evidence that Cotton is neither prepared nor equipped to take the next step. It is certainly disappointing, to say the least. At Infinity, I experienced first hand the pure talent that Roxy Cotton possesses. A pity she lacks the courage of her convictions."
Green in a field of white.
White.
Black in a field of white.
White.
Light steps. Soft swishing.
Heavy steps. Thick trudging.
Muted pat.
Muted thud.
“Ne me teste pas!”
Light but with a scratch.
“Do not hesitate!”
Garbled voice.
A scream.
A roar.
Aveline Lacklan and Redmaine come tumbling out of the thick fog, each holding onto the other while also reaching for one another’s throat. Both were drenched in sweat, wore nothing but their small clothes, and had murderous intent shining brightly in their eyes. With another trip around in the circle, they landed hard with Aveline on bottom and the large mass of muscle that was the masked man pinning her hands to the forest floor.
“Yield!”
Aveline snarled in response, green eyes full of fire, and she lifted her knee up as hard as she could. Redmaine felt the change in her body and shifted his hips, narrowly avoiding the knee meant for his groan, and adjusted his grip. But that movement was enough for Aveline to slip out of his grasp and roll backward into a crouch. Before he realized what had happened, Aveline was thrusting his pale white hair out of her face with a toss of her head and focused on him again.
“I said-”
The man’s eyes go wide above the mask painted to look like the fabled giant worm as Aveline burst from her crouch. White hair flowing behind her, the sweat lathering her bare skin making the dozens and dozens of tiny scars on her arms pop in the cold of the morning, the Champion of Chaos looked like a demon coming at him. Redmaine tried to avoid her, but her burst was too intense, too powerful. She slipped to her knees as she approached him, the pale skin of her legs pushing through the grass underneath and helping her slide at his side, and then pushed up back to her feet, behind him. He turned but was only able to get part way before she was on his back, leaping high into the air and bringing his head into her arms. She screamed as she held tight, as she moved her arm into position under his chin, and he wisely tapped on her arm before she could finish the choke.
”Je gagne!”
Redmaine chuckles as Aveline drops down from his body and he can finally breathe fully again. Out from the fog come servants, each wearing the black livery of the House of Lacklan, the various slashes of purple and silver accents denoting rank among their number. The large man took a bottle of water from a servant and turned toward his queen, but then stopped in his tracks. Aveline drank from her own bottle and her body glistened in the faint light of the cold morning. Wearing just a tight top and close-fitting shorts, every curve of her body, from bony hips to abdominal muscles that were finally beginning to make their way to the eye, could be seen, and he was taken aback by her beauty.
And not for the first time.
“Do you ever think of Fear, Redmaine?”
The masked man shakes his head. Lost in his thoughts...in his fantasies...he had not realized Aveline was now next to him. Looking down at her, doing his best to keep his eyes on her face, he gives a shake of his head.
“Fear? You are afraid?”
Aveline gives him a flat look.
“Everyone is afraid of something, maréchal. I mean...Fear.”
Redmaine nearly raised his eye at the use of his title in such a familiar manner in front of the servants, as being bestowed the Marshal of the compound had been important all those years ago, but the emphasis on that last word made him cock his head.
“Ah. Deimos.”
Aveline nods.
“What of him?” he asks as Aveline goes back to her bottle of water. Upon finishing it, she blindly tosses it to the side, where a servant is there to take it away without question.
“He said something recently and it has been stuck in my mind.”
She pauses and closes her eyes. Redmaine takes this time to enjoy the way she looked, serene for the moment. The area around her eyes was dark, evidence of how tired she was, but she was still in far better condition than she was when she had first come to him. The bags were still there, but there were fewer of them.
“Cotton is delaying her title match...because she fears Vaughn.”
She opens her eyes and Redmaine enjoys the emeralds within. They were tired, too, with tiny tendrils of red spidering at their edges, but like the rest of her, they were far more rested than a year before.
“Do you?”
An honest question. They both knew who she was. They both knew the blood that coursed through her veins which answered the question of how and why she had done so well in the first two years of her career. A closely guarded secret, to be sure, but they knew the answer to the question that befuddled so many, the former champion included.
“She is formidable.” She looks around at the servants at their sides, hiding the motion with a shrug, and caught his eyes with hers. The message was clear for him: More on that subject later. In the privacy of their sleeping chambers. It would, after all, be a cold night.
“But she is not the only person Cotton fears, which is what has been weighing on my mind. Yes, it makes sense that she fears the child who is champion. Yes, it makes sense that she fears the woman who has defeated everyone in the UGWC at some point in time, including myself. Yes, it makes sense that she would fear her friend in the name of honor. But Deimos is right: Cotton has no honor. So she hides. She cowers. She quivers. And for all of her fear, she is going to find that she made a large mistake: She trades one person she fears for another.”
Aveline suddenly rushes forward and stands close to Redmaine. He could feel her heat on the cold morning, could feel the sweat making her body shine. The light in her eyes as she looked up at him shone with mania. He nearly quivered, himself.
”Elle me craint, maréchal! Her body tells the truth of the lies her mouth spews. Over and again, she has taken the chance to mock me, our shared admiration and respect long since gone. Gone! Are the days we could stand together. Gone! Are the days when we could share the occasional laugh. Instead, with her promise, her FAILED resolution to take away my Chaos Championship, she has found herself lockstep with my wretched daughter-in-law. Lockstep with the numerous infidels we have found ourselves surrounded by. And, unfortunately for her, she has routinely found herself losing to me since her change in disposition. And now, because of my strength and power as the Champion of Chaos, she has grown to FEAR me.”
She clenches Remaine’s arms, the man’s muscles growing taut in unconscious response, and he feels her nails bite into his forearms.
“Over and again! We have fought. And she cries. Oh, she cries! She cries about having to face me! She makes jests about how many times we have fought! She pushes away the pain and fear of facing me with transparent nonchalance. She talks about how many Muff Divers and Kitty Busters there has been...and laughs off the Embrace of God. She holds her victory over a cripple high into the air with the haughtiness of a rooster yet finds herself crumbling whenever having to face someone not in the muck and mire. After all, victories over children like Raab and Salvatore do nothing to bolster the spirit when she faces pillars of this business, and she will find that her gamble to delay fighting Vaughn, that the hope and prayer of a different champion by her Massive Melee deadline will be turned to akin to the Lake of Fire. Because when she convinced Ichabod to give way to her during her global stipulation fulfillment, she was unaware of the true lengths of the Creative Director’s trickery. For like the monkey’s paw ruining your life with your wish, she has found that she will be sacrificing the fear of Vaughn to the fear of God.”
Redmaine finally does hiss as her fingernails break through his skin. He felts his blood boil in that moment, felt, moreso than ever before, that he was a man and she a woman.
“Because I will be the world champion, Redmaine! I will be the one to take down Vaughn! I will be the one to show the world that the TRUE champion in this business is the Champion of Chaos! I will be the one to show ALL of this business that order CAN come from the chaos! And as we embark on this match, with the right four people all gathered together, there will be NO doubt who has the advantage going into the Trios. I will-”
“La reine mere?”
Aveline’s head snaps to the side at the intrusion, but her angry gaze softens when she sees that the invading servant is a young woman named Prenn. The girl had been in service for years, had even helped chaperone the Lord’s daughter what felt a lifetime ago, and had certainly earned some deference.
“Yes, mon enfant?”
Prenn gives her a small curtsy.
“I have some news you would wish to know immediately.”
She bites her lip with a slight hesitation.
“The Duchess-”
Redmaine feels himself growl at the mention of THAT one. So many problems caused in the family of his master because of THAT one.
“-has declined your invitation.”
Aveline’s eyes go wide.
“What?! When?!”
Prenn reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small phone and hands it to the Queen. Redmaine leans forward to look over her shoulder.
Her hands tremble on the phone.
“Even her.”
She hands the phone back to Prenn and then makes a complicated series of gestures with her fingers. Redmaine read them, fully versed in the surprisingly detailed sign language the child had created for the guard and servants over the years, and watched as a servant brought over the queen’s coat. Once in her hand, Aveline fishes within and pulls out her own phone. Her fingers flash across the screen and Redmaine cannot help but raise his eyebrow.
“Her?”
“Yes. We have a deal. She WILL honor it.”
La Reine Mere
Daughter
Daughter
Sarah is the Best, Sarah Number One
Not right now.
Not right now.
Aveline grimaces into the phone and her fingers flash.
La Reine Mere
À présent!
À présent!
Sarah is the Best, Sarah Number One
Literally about to have post-promo sex with my wife.
Literally about to have post-promo sex with my wife.
Aveline drops the phone with a hiss. She rubs her hands on her cloak, kicks the fallen phone away with her foot, and then throws her coat on top of it for good measure.
”Les lesbiennes sont les pires!”
Redmaine silently agrees as she shivers in utter revulsion. No matter what he had said as he was mad with sickness, Redmaine knew that his master would never give his blessing to the child turning into one of those.
“I will call her later. They will come to my party. And they will thank me later.”
Redmaine gives her a nod of his head, though he had often voiced his disapproval of her plan. He much preferred the angst-filled anger between the child and her disgusting partner of a prior time.
“Would you like to spend any more time talking about someone not in your next match?”
Aveline narrowed her eyes at him, but he did not care. Like so many of his other lessons, this one was understood.
“No. My partner took care of that for us.”
Aveline looks around at the forest and the servants, all dark shapes muted by the fog.
“Let us go, Redmaine. It is cold. I wish to be warm.”
Redmaine could not help but agree. But as they began to leave, he held her arm so that she would look up at him.
"What do YOU fear, my queen?"
A long moment passed between them as the servants gathered their belongings and clothes. She finally answers him after licking her lips.
"Ava Quinn."
Once again, Redmaine could only agree.
~~fin~~
x2
2013, '18, '23 
2013 