Old World Remnants

[Nayt]

"N--" Etsu paused, once again shocked, "No. No, no, no. No."

Eld was being so difficult right now. So what if she tripped him? He'd done something to deserve it, she was sure. He'd done a million things to deserve it. How many seconds had he been alive, now? There was a whole algebraic equation to determine that-- but Etsu hated those things, anyways. Whatever. All she wanted to do was get back to the house, get a bathtub full of warm water, and soak for awhile.

Yes, soak. She'd suds up her hair, sink down to her chin, and soak for a solid hour. That would get the mud out, and it would certainly make her happier overall.

Unlike Eld, Etsu ran. At first she started to walk briskly, but that wasn't cutting it. Eld had longer legs than her. He was going to make much better time than her at that pace-- so she ran. It was dangerous, sure, but she wasn't going to stay filthy like this. He was going to wait his damn turn. If all went well, she'd at least be able to run past him with minimal difficulty. And maybe, if he didn't pick up and run too, she'd outpace him . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld figured she'd trip. He even hoped it. But he couldn't count on it, and he wasn't going to let her get there first. As Etsu picked up the pace Eld broke into a run himself, even sprinting for a bit to ensure he got ahead of her. He was no Akizetsumei or Sarah but he was still pretty quick.

He didn't care if it was rude or not. It wasn't that he particularly wished for Etsu to be forced to dry with mud on her (though the thought admittedly brought him a small amount of satisfaction). But he wasn't going to wait for her to get done before washing himself off, and if that meant she had to sit and be uncomfortable and dirty then so be it.

[Nayt]

What-- now Eld was running, too? Etsu glared at him as he started to pass her by. Yes, it was definitely true. Longer legs made him superior to her on the field. But she had something he did not:

The willingness to beat the crap out of someone she wasn't particularly fond of. This was something Eld obviously lacked, otherwise he'd have manned up recently and threw a punch at Noah Herst. But he didn't. Probably because he was a coward or something. But Etsu-- no, she wasn't like that. Eld was passing her by, which would normally guarantee him a spot in a bathtub long before her, and she was going to have absolutely none of that. This wouldn't be the case if he'd have just fallen down on his own. Then they'd just be walking back and he'd be bitter, but he'd have no competition for the bath. But no, he had to bring her down with him. This was all his fault. He'd brought it on himself.

. . . Clearly.

"No!" she shouted (meekly) at him again, before making this whole situation infinitely worse: as Eld passed her by, she slammed her shoulder into him, thrust her arms at him, and attempted to throw him down.

[Zach Kaiser]

Any doubt that Etsu had tripped him intentionally were now gone; clearly if she thought nothing of shoving him off his feet while he was running, she definitely wouldn't have a problem tripping him into mud.

Fortunately, Eld was quick to scramble to his feet, but now he was seething. In addition to being dirty, he had a fresh couple of scrapes from his fall, all because his cousin was the single most selfish person he'd ever met. Passing her just wasn't going to cut it now.

Catching up to her not too far from the house, rather than running by her he went straight at her, intending to tackle her to the ground.

[Nayt]

Etsu let out a small cry as Eld tackled into her from behind. She hit the ground with a solid thud, only to produce a small whimper as she tried to recollect herself and come to grips with what just happened. There was a flare of pain in her chest, shoulders, and face. She must have been scraped up by this. Etsu couldn't see exactly how bad it was right now, though. It hurt, but so did her lip. That was bleeding. That was definitely bleeding. She could taste blood on her lower lip. That was fine, so long as it was the only place she was bleeding. Discovering where else she was hurt didn't matter right now, though. Etsu took every second she had available to struggle and figure out what just happened to her.

It didn't take long for her to fully understand, though . . .

She'd struggle against Eld; she'd try to twist her body so she wasn't flat on her face-- so she could turn herself around enough to actually hit Eld. She didn't care where, but he seriously needed it. She'd use her hands primarily, and wouldn't at all pay attention to what or where she was striking.

[Zach Kaiser]

Following Etsu's blind swing, Eld let out a yelp of pain. Whether by chance or intention, she'd clocked him square in the nose. He spared a hand to quickly confirm that it was indeed bleeding. It surprised him; he knew he she was bossy, but despite the sport she'd helped invent he hadn't thought she was this violent.

As more of a protection against future punches than any show of dominance, he snatched up her hands and pinned her to the ground. He also made sure he was up far enough that she couldn't kick him any place...delicate. If nothing else, his childhood spats with Sarah had taught him what a girl is likely to do in a fight.

[Nayt]

Eld didn't have to try to hard to work Etsu's hands to the ground. Once she was pinned, Etsu struggled once, tried to push up with her wrists and wriggle her body, but when that didn't work, she gave up entirely, resigning herself to looking at Eld's face with the best glare she could possibly muster. The only problem was that Etsu was a naturally stoic person; even when she was upset with someone, she had a difficult time expressing this. She was meek, monotonous, and borderline expressionless at all times, and she barely differed from that right now.

She could see Eld's face, and how she had managed to get him in the nose with one of her wild swings. She had mixed feelings about that.

If anything, though, Eld would at least be able to see the state of Etsu's person. She had many scrapes on her upper chest, up near her shoulderblades, and a few on her shoulders. There were a couple of scrapes on her left cheek, too-- which was very visible right now. In all the fuss and hustle of flipping herself over, she wound up pushing her bangs to the side, and now the entirety of her face was visible.

Etsu had a bloody lip and several scrapes, but that likely wouldn't dominate Eld's attention. Something a little more harsh would-- something he was very upset about some time ago. The bruise and welt on Etsu's face had all but faded away from time, but a complication still ailed her: she could barely open her left eye. It was like something was damaged there, something preventing her eye from opening all the way. At best-- at a time like right now --she could only open it half-way.

That was not just a temporary injury . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld felt a little guilty from tackling her, seeing how scraped up she'd gotten from it. Though he probably would have felt less so if he saw a mirror, since he was in just as bad a shape. But something else caught his attention.

Etsu's bangs had fallen away from her face, and he could see her normally hidden left eye. The marks he'd seen just after she'd moved in with his family were now gone, but as she stared up at him, her left eye was opened only part way.

His grip loosened a bit. "E-Etsu, your eye...how come it hasn't healed" he stammered, momentarily forgetting that he wasn't supposed to know it'd been injured to begin with.

[Nayt]

Etsu was surprised by Eld's statement. At first she didn't put two and two together, though. Panic set in and altered her priorities. She wormed her right hand free from Eld's grip and tapped on the left side of her face with her whole palm. No, this wasn't-- this couldn't--

She looked away from him in an instant, pushed the left side of her face into the ground and made sure he couldn't see her eye anymore. She was angry, but she had no one to be angry at. It wasn't Eld's fault that her bangs mussed up. It wasn't hers, either. But then something clicked. The latter half of what Eld said finally kicked in. She felt a stinging in her gut and a hollowness in her heart.

"You-- you have . . ." Etsu trailed off.

And suddenly she tensed up, and not just in body: her facial features tensed as if she was struck with a wave of emotions that made almost made her teary eyed. It was the act of remembering that got her. This was sensitive. This was something she didn't want to share, not with her friends, not with Eld-- not even with her aunt and uncle. But they knew already. And now Eld did, too. She connected the dots in her head, and she hated the conclusion she came to. All her tension faded, replaced by depressed resignation.

Suddenly, Etsu wanted to be here even less than normal.

"Get off," she commanded-- only this time, there was a difference in her tone, just like there was a difference her in expression. She was truly glaring at Eld, a genuine warning glare, and her tone, however meek her voice may be, matched this perfectly. It was a sincere warning that if he did not release her this instant, she would never forgive him.

[Zach Kaiser]

"I-I..." Eld stared at her, wide eyed. He wasn't supposed to say anything about that. He knew that, but his concern had momentarily overridden his common sense. He should have just waited and asked his father...he'd know.

When she commanded him to get off, he did so immediately. Suddenly that she'd gotten him dirty and pushed him over didn't seem like such a big deal. For what it was worth he extended a hand to help her up even though he rather doubted she'd take it.

[Nayt]

Not only did Etsu refuse to take his hand, she outright slapped it away. This was no longer fake displeasure. It wasn't rivalry, scapegoating, or amusing herself with giving him trouble. Etsu was sincerely upset with Eldridge right now, and the difference between her demeanor was obvious.

She got up on her own. How dirty she was right now ceased to matter entirely. Etsu was experiencing a horrible set of feelings right now. All she wanted to do was rid herself of them. Etsu dusted herself off fruitlessly and fixed her bangs. Her hair was as dirty as sin, but it still fell over her face naturally once she had it there. She regarded Eld no longer, and didn't even look at him before she turned from him and started walking. For now, Etsu had no interest in speaking to him. She wasn't going to look at him. She wasn't even going to walk with him. She was going to walk solitary, where she could mull over her thoughts quietly and without disturbance.

Except she wasn't walking in the direction of Eld's house anymore. Etsu knew where his house was, though. She simply wasn't going back there, now . . .

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld backed away a bit, shocked. He thought he'd seen Etsu angry before, but no...this was her being truly upset. So what was going on before? Was she just pretending to be mad at him for everything else?

It was clear she wanted to be alone, and he was tempted to allow her that, but would that really help? Did it ever really help when he went off to mope by himself? No, it generally didn't, and the only times he felt better were when someone happened upon him.

He hesitated only a moment more before walking after her. He didn't catch up all the way, but let her keep some distance between them. "Etsu, I'm sorry. I just happened to glance at you while you were asleep..." He hoped she'd understand that he wasn't trying to intentionally intrude upon her privacy.

[Nayt]

When she had started to walk away from Eld-- when she made the conscious choice to leave his company and not return to his house for now, Etsu had every intentions of ignoring Eld if he so chose to spoke to her. At first, she succeeded. Her willpower was strong. But then, after only a few more steps in silence . . . she stopped. Another horrible feeling welled up in her chest before she could take the next step forward.

What was the use, anyways? There was only one other place in this village she could go, and Etsu didn't even know how to get there anymore.

She stood still with her shoulders dropped and head hung low. Eld wouldn't even have to look at her face to see how defeated she must have felt right now.

"Do you know . . .?" she asked, her voice on the precipice of trembling.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld stopped a few feet behind Etsu. He regretted ever opening his mouth; the last thing he wanted to do was to dredge up bad memories. It was lucky for him that she wasn't turning around; he didn't think he could face her and answer her.

"I knew you were staying with us because of problems with your family. It...wasn't hard to figure out from there." Of course he'd only gotten the specifics confirmed when he'd confronted him later, but he had the feeling even before that Etsu wouldn't go through as much trouble to hide an injury if it had just been an accident.

[Nayt]

So he did know, then. Just as she thought. This made the hollow feeling in Etsu's heart all the worse. It was weakness, and she hated to admit that it was there-- that some part of her actually gave a damn what Eld thought of her, and that part of her was frightened of the idea of him seeing her as weak.

Etsu didn't turn around. That part of her that cared about Eld's opinion had her frozen in place. An old memory fueled it, the same memory that let her get upset with him in the first place-- and even further, use him as a scapegoat for many of her problems. Old memories recycled themselves in her head, and she kept thinking about three men, her "father" and Eld amongst them.

"I hate him," Etsu declared shakily.

At least, that's how she wanted to feel. Regrettably, what Etsu wanted and what she experienced were two completely different things, and the tone of her voice-- riddled with self doubt --might tell Eld that much, too.