Thanksgiving (Pt. 4): A Fiery Fight Between Family
--- Jon Whitaker ---
“Seriously, Fe, let’s just talk about this!” He said, raising his hands and backing away from his currently deranged cousin.
“Yeah, no.” Felicia shut down before kicking off the ground and leaping at him with enough force to crack the ground beneath her.
With her already moving towards him he ducked and slid under her swing, before spinning on his heel to keep an eye on her. Something that proved necessary for blocking a roundhouse with his forearms just before being sent rolling back when he realized just how much force was behind the kick.
(Okay, super strength… That’s a default for a Malcontent, right?) Given how he’d never met one outside of his cousin, he didn’t actually know much about Malcontent beyond Miss Edna’s occasional rant about the whole Tall Man thing. (And given how she’s throwing around fire and portals instead of shadows and tendrils I’m guessing that isn’t all that useful right now.)
This thought was proven correct when he was forced to step to the side to avoid a helm splitting swing from his cousin. A shift in the air had him immediately leaping away, his experience with Ying’s lightning proving useful in avoiding Felicia’s flame as her blade erupted into a pillar of flame.
“Alright, so you think I’m not me for whatever reason.” He nodded, not taking his eyes off of his malicious cousin for a second. “So why don’t you tell me why I feel… wrong? I mean, I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.”
“Jon’s a fucking marshmellow who couldn’t hurt a fly!” Felicia yelled, as she continued trying to hit him either with her sword or her claws. “You… you reek of blood, death, and rot. More than any Deadman I’ve ever met!”
“Okay, first off. I am not a marshmallow who couldn’t hurt a fly. I mean, have you met my ma? She taught me how to takedown someone thrice my size when I was like eight.” He pointed out, feeling just a little offended by the first part. “And what do you mean I reek of blood, death, and rot? I bathe like twice a day with apple scented body wash!” (Sometimes three times on the days I actually get covered in blood!)
His cousin simply scoffed as she pulled her sword back. “It doesn’t matter how much you bathe when I can smell your soul!”
“Smell my soul…?” He couldn’t help but frown in confusion. “Is-is that a Malcontent thing?”
“No, it’s a me thing.” Felicia admitted, before swinging her sword and unleashing a massive wave of ferocious flames at him.
(Oh, that’s not good.) He grimaced, his eyes darting between the flames in front of him and the edge of this island not too far from him, before narrowing as he realized he could still see through the fire.
Thinking quickly, he grabbed the edge of his jacket and ran straight at the flames, and just before they began to bite at him he spun around while pulling his jacket over his head. Letting the fingers of the fire to grab at his jacket as he dove through the flame before putting them out as he hit the ground in a backward roll.
“Wasn’t sure that would work.” He sighed, patting out the few bits of flame still trying to eat through the enchantments on his jacket. (So glad I wasn’t home long enough to take this thing off.)
Unfortunately, this still distracted him enough for Felicia to deliver a kick to the side of his head, once more sending him to the ground. Only unlike the previous time this happened, his cousin stamped a boot on his chest and put her sword to his throat.
“And that’s another thing.” Felicia growled, her eyes glowing hotter than the flames dancing from her blade. (Which aren’t hurting like fire? They’re still warm, so… it’s probably based on how much power she puts into it with this being a near minimum. If she turned it off, she’s either giving me a chance or it drains her too fast to be worth it.)
Either way it was something he could make use of.
“You’re way too calm.” Felicia continued, unaware of his thoughts at that moment. “Your eyes are too focused. Jon may spar with Aunt Min but he’s never been in a real fight in his life. And you are way too calm for someone with a sword to their throat.”
He couldn’t quite help the bark of laughter that escaped him at that, a touch of madness entering his voice. “First off, have you fought my Ma? Second, you’ve got no idea what kind of fights I’ve been in Fe.”
Felicia flinched back for a moment, giving him the opportunity to grab her sword hand by the wrist and shove it away from him with one hand as he grabbed her ankle with the other and jerked it in the opposite direction sending her toppling on top of him.
As he wrapped an arm around her neck, putting her into a simple headlock, he also drew one of the many knives he kept on his person and put it to her throat.
The malcontent tensed in his arms the moment the blade touched her skin and he forced himself to take a calming breath because (she’s family not a monster.)
Just as he got his wilder side under control, and was about to ask her if they could please talk this out, he felt the heat of one of Felicia’s portals wash over him just before he found the two of them falling through the air.
The shock of this provided his cousin with just enough opportunity to drive her elbow into his stomach before ripping his arm off of her and getting ready to kick him away with an agile movement that could not be pulled off by a mundane human.
Realizing how dangerous this would be for him at such a height, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hoped his jacket’s enchantments would be enough to tank the blows she rained down on his back.
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“Let. Fucking. Go!” Felicia hissed, and while she couldn’t get the best leverage with him clinging to her, she was able to use her claws to rip massive several tears that cut down to his skin.
Eventually though they seemed to get too close to the ground for her to risk landing herself, and so instead she used her claws to tear open another portal. This one launched them horizontally into a tangle of limbs as they rolled across the ground, only separating when Felicia shoved him away extending his own tumble even as hers came to a halt.
His back stung as dirt and ash got into the open cuts on his back, but the pain was nothing in the face of the many broken bones he’d fought through before, which is why as he picked himself up he told himself he’d (Just have to keep fighting!)
Shaking his head clear, he turned a glare onto his cousin as she picked her blade off the ground, causing him to realize that she was not going to listen to reason. (Fine. She wants to fight. We can fight.)
Pulling on the cool warmth of his talisman he pushed his magic into one of his contracts before shoving his hand forward and ordering, “Wolf disable!”
In a flash of light Wolf burst into existence already sprinting forward, even if his connection to her felt curious behind the aggression. This being the first time he’d summoned her straight into a fight already in progress, her previous summonings having all given her a chance to get her bearings before they had to fight.
As angry as he was he still had the thought to add, “Don’t hurt her more than you have to!”
“So you’re a summoner, eh?” Felicia chuckled as she glared at the hound. “You’re going to need a lot more than this bitch to beat me faker!”
A pang of annoyance passed through his connection to Wolf, not helping his own frustrations. “Yeah, I figure we’ve reached a point where you won’t believe I’m me until I make you believe me.”
“Yeah, and that isn’t happening.” Felicia assured him just as Wolf howled and summoned a couple of her duplicates to fight with her. “Besides, the fact that you know magic is just another point against you being Jon!”
“Oh, for… Grah!” He let out a growl of frustration as he watched Wolf’s clones circle his cousin. “You do know that Miss Edna -the woman I spend every Summer with- is an Arcane right? And that’s not counting Theo being a Practitioner!”
He’d been content keeping it all a semi-open secret from his family, but the fact was that with her powers and his lack of equipment he could not take Felicia without magic.
(His blade tore through flesh, as his teeth sunk into her throat, each stab doing more and more damage as he shredded her organs.) He shook that thought from his head. (At least not without seriously hurting her.)
Once more rather than listening to reason Felicia merely scoffed as she swung her blade and ripped open another portal before quickly leaping through it.
“Careful, she can come from any angle.” He warned Wolf as he started to cautiously make his way towards his canine companion.
Wolf gave him a nod as her pack began to circle them, the canine panting far more than usual. Something he found himself doing as well now that things had slowed for a moment. (Why am I so winded? I should be able to fight a lot longer than this.)
(Everywhere!) Before he could contemplate that previous thought much further, he found himself dropping to the ground as several portals opened around him, each spitting out a stream of hungry flames surrounding him in a veritable inferno.
Rather than reaching him however, these flames were pushed away as a vortex of wind wrapped around him and Wolf, the magical canine manipulating the wind around them in a defensive manner he’d never seen from her.
He could feel this clash of elements draining the magic in his amulet, Wolf needing more magic than she could bring to bear to keep up the defense. The fire doing everything it can to devour the air she was bringing to bear and her doing everything she could to push it away.
This didn’t scare him since he fully trusted Wolf, (and as psychotic as she apparently is, I don’t think Fe actually has murder in her) what did worry him however was the fact that the more magic Wolf pulled from him the hotter his talisman got. Something he’d never really experienced before. (Then again I don’t think I’ve ever burned through magic this fast either…)
Eventually though, after several minutes where the heat made it harder and harder to breathe, his cousin finally ran out of whatever power she was using to create this Hellfire Hurricane around him causing the clash to end.
Unfortunately, the sheer amount of power she’d had to channel, combined with the heat, and whatever this place was doing to his connection to her, was more than his canine companion could handle. Which is why as she slowly fell to the ground, his arms just barely managing to catch her, Wolf’s body began to dissolve into particles of light and magic as she was forcibly returned to wherever she came from.
(She’s… she’s okay, just… she’s just back home…) He tried to assure himself, not at all used to his companions being dismissed mid-fight and not at all knowing what state Wolf was in as she returned home.
(From the right.) He raised his hand and caught Felicia’s flaming sword with his bare hand, uncaring for the damage it was doing to his flesh, and sure that his little light could fix it the moment he returned to her.
Which is why instead of letting it go, he used it as leverage to pull the shocked Malcontent close before slamming his elbow into her face with enough force to break her nose.
“Fuck!” Felicia cursed as she stumbled back, before being swept off her feet as he swung his leg back and at her ankles.
She recovered though before he could act by doing a back handspring which left her unable to change direction as he threw his backup knife at her, catching her in the shoulder and drawing blood. “Shit!”
With no concern for the damage, Felicia ripped the knife out, causing a small flicker of flame from the wound as she cauterized it shut. A distraction that prevented her from noticing as he broke her one handed grip on her sword, disarming her.
Before the blade could touch the ground he grabbed the blade’s handle and -idly noted it burned his skin as he- swung the blade at his opponent’s hip, letting it go before it could actually touch and curling his hands into a fist that he slammed into Felicia’s solar plexus.
After pulling his fist back he shifted it into an uppercut that his opponent managed to sway out of the way of, even as she started coughing.
He moved to grab her by the throat and felt something wrap around his leg just before a kick to his knee and a carefully timed pull sent him to the ground. And of course Felicia once more tackled him to the ground, this time pinning his arms down with her hands and using her tail to bind his legs.
The Malcontent grew a feral grin full of fangs as he found himself unable to move, before she asked, “Any last words before I rip your fucking throat out with my teeth?”
He glared into Felicia’s hellfire eyes thinking about how (all of this is just like her. Jumping to conclusions and just running with it until we’re all in hot water because she had to pick a fight with someone) before telling her, “Stuff like this is why I’m Jake’s favorite sibling.”
Felicia’s crimson eyes went wide for a moment as she blinked, taking him in once more before silver eyes narrowed at him. “Oh, you bitch.”