This had to be one of the most exciting nights Victor had ever experienced. Between riding the Hellevator, exploring the Dregs, and gaining a new level in [Vampire], he’d thought there was little that could happen that would surprise him anymore.
He had been wrong.
As soon as The Host mentioned the Old Music, Victor’s ears perked up and never went down. The Catboy knew without even looking at Waverly that she was beyond excited, too. Okay, her tail was swishing hard enough that he felt the draft from a Coffin away, but even without that, he knew her well enough, now.
From the outside, it must have seemed as though Waverly and him were polar opposites. She was loud and bubbly and easily excited, and he was quiet, loved to watch stuff happening, and liked to make his words count. Or at least, that is how he had described himself in his college application. In any case, he didn’t fault some random stranger for asking themselves why he and Waverly hung out together.
Besides the obvious facts (she was smart and fun to be around with her crazy ideas and neverending drive) there was something they both shared: Curiosity. His dad had often warned him that he had lost several lives for being too nosy, but he probably knew that there was no denying the call of the new and exciting. Still, Victor had listened to him and gotten pretty good at waiting for the excitement to come to him, instead of chasing it himself, even if that meant that he sometimes had to wait for a long time for something exciting to happen.
In a way, that was another thing he and Waverly shared. In a twist of irony, they both hadn’t explored the extent of their curiosity. He preferred his comfort over it, and he sometimes thought she was almost scared of her desire to learn. He should probably ask her about that, later.
After Fight Night.
His cat side was still mewling about the fact that they had to fight, and why couldn’t he just find a nice place to nap and hunt some easy prey later? But his vampiric side? It demanded no less than complete Victory. And he intended to do his best to make that a reality. In a way, that scared him, and that fear grew little by little as people started to trickle into the CrowBar.
He’d wondered why he was more afraid of winning than losing and found out that it wasn’t winning that was the issue. It was attempting to win. If he just spent a token effort, he could always say that he would have won if he tried for real, even though he could never prove it. If he tried and failed, however, then his best wouldn’t have been good enough, and he would have nowhere to hide from that harsh reality.
So every time the door opened with a creak and the sound of the old bell above it cut through the din of the conversations that had started around the fight pit, he caught himself glancing over at the door, wondering if it would be this Orc or that Ratkin he would be pitted against.
But then Waverly draped her arm over his shoulders and gave him a little squeeze. “Excited?” she asked, and like a natural extension of her friendly grin, her tail wagged against the stool he perched on.
“Yo,” he said, and it wasn’t as hard as he thought to smile back. “A little.”
“That’s like, totally normal!” Waverly said, and if anything, her tailwagging sped up. “I was super excited, too, the first time, you know? But my parents splurged for all of us to go to Dismayland the week before and I’d been just tall enough to ride the Trollercoaster, and so they couldn’t really forbid me from getting on, and when I was deciding whether or not to jump in and fight, I kinda realized that excitement felt exactly the same!”
Victor, for his part, just blinked and nodded slowly. He guessed he could kind of see it, except that he also didn’t like rollercoasters.
Waverly’s tailwagging slowed a little as she frowned. “Actually, I guess that’s kinda a good point, right? Excitement is just that. Some toothbees in your stomach, I guess?” she trailed off after that, lost in thought herself, for once.
He was just about to offer a dinar for her thoughts when the Crow flew to the center of the stage. He landed with three little hops, picked at something on the floor, then looked around the stilling crowd.
When he had their undivided attention, he said “Caw!”
“Welcome, everyone, to Frightday’s Fight Nights at the CrowBar!”
That got a cheer out of everyone, and even Victor found himself clapping, despite the butterchurner he felt working in his stomach.
“Now, most of you have already been here before, so you know the spiel. For those of you who are new, especially those who came just to laugh at a few numbnuts whaling on each other, I have an exciting piece of information: You’re getting first-row seats, because if this is your first Fight Night, you have to fight!”
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Another cheer rose at that, but it didn’t sound as bloodthirsty as Victor had feared. More… courageous? Inviting, almost? He wished he had leveled his [Social Intuition] more. Mom had mentioned it allowed him to read a room like a cookbook at higher levels. That’s why he had taken it, but he didn’t get the chance to use it all that much.
“Caw!” The Host said when the din subsided.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. The doors aren’t locked, you are free to leave, and if you’re under level 15, we’ll make an exception. But I’m sure you’d agree that it’s not fair to come here to ogle people risking death and dismemberment for your amusement and not at least show some respect for them and yourself.”
A murmur or agreement at that. Still, from the corner of his eyes, Victor saw a few young monsters slink out of the bar. There were no jeers, no curses. In fact, people seemed to not pay them any mind at all. For some reason, that made Victor feel a little bit better.
After a bit of a pause, The Host continued and said “CAW!”
“Alright! In case you haven’t signed up last time, Jim is going to be by the kitchen entrance, taking submissions. If we catch a first-timer watching without being on that list, we’re going to toss you in for the grand melee, so get yourself signed! In the meantime, Bar’s open. We’re trying glass mugs again, but I fucking swear if I have to sweep shards off the Arena floor between matches again, we are going to have words. Anyway! Go on! Git!”
At that, the crowd moved to the bar, and Victor soon found himself surrounded by laughing patrons. Someone turned on the music, some dark industrial techno, it sounded like. Victor could live with that, even though it definitely wasn’t mainstream.
To escape the press of people, he headed over to where Jim sat by the kitchen entrance. He had a cheap folding table set up, and on it were a few lists, an inkwell, and a quill.
“Hey,” the Minotaur said, nodding at Victor with arms crossed as the Catboy approached.
“Yo,” Victor said.
“Already put you in.”
“Thanks.”
“Will find you an easy opponent.”
“How? Need my level?”
“Nah. Gut feeling.”
“Appreciate it.”
“Don’t. Easy fights make for bad entertainment.”
The Minotaur grinned at him. Victor chuckled.
“Just to be clear tho,” Jim said, leaning forward in a way that made his chair creak under his massive bulk. “You make Waverly cry, I rip out your whiskers.”
Victor inclined his head in acknowledgment. “Don’t have Whiskers, but I got your point. Also, we’re not dating.”
“I know. It’s metaphorical. Talk more later? Gotta sign the others.”
Victor nodded and made way for a tall, lean Lizardkin behind him, who eyed him the way a snake eyes a mouse. Victor did what he always did in these situations, and just held his gaze. He smiled faintly until the Lizardkin chuckled, nodded at Victor, and approached the signup table.
“Can I get that guy? He ssssseems fun!” Victor heard him say before he slipped into the crowd to get himself a drink.
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Standing at the edge of the impromptu arena, Waverly took a swig from her drink. It was kinda a nervous habit, she knew, even though it was just coal-a-cola. She was allowed to drink now, sure, but it would be super dumb to get shitfaced before she was about to get into a fight. She’d lost count of how many times she’d won because the other fighter couldn’t even stand anymore.
She just kinda wished she could be in the arena right now, instead of just milling about with the other spectators, because it was Victor’s turn, and she worried she might have majorly fucked up. Had she pushed him too much? She really wanted the best for him, and this was kind of like her therapy, but now that she thought about it, perhaps it wasn’t the best for him? What if she had pushed him into something he hated? Yeah, he had promised to always tell her if something bothered him, but he was also nice, and perhaps just nice enough to NOT tell her, because he didn’t want her to be sad.
Her tail twitched. Perhaps she should jump in and tell them to stop? But he didn’t look like he wasn’t enjoying himself. He just smiled as he usually did as he took his place on one side of the arena, a particularly scuffed circle on the floor of the bar. But also he was always smiling like that, and why couldn’t he just talk more and just blurt out everything he thought?! It was so annoying.
He wouldn’t be Victor then anymore, though, and she liked him as he was. So he definitely shouldn’t change. It was just that she was so anxious...
Jim raised a hand. That was it. Time to go.
“FUCK HIM UP, VICTOR!” Waverly howled, and people around her flinched back as her voice easily subdued all the others. She thought Victor’s smile widened at that, but she couldn’t really tell. He was focusing on his opponent. It was Ssseth, a lizardkin she’d seen around the bar before college devoured all her free time. That was bad, though, because she didn’t know how good he was. He’d always said he was really good, but that could have just been because he was trying to impress her. Seemed like he finally developed the courage to follow her advice, and step into the ring.
Jim’s hand fell, and it was Ssseth who initiated the duel.
“Alright, pretty boy, let’s fight,” the lizardkin said, moving his long neck left and right as if to crack it. Instead, it looked like a wave ran through his entire body as if he were a snake with legs. It looked surprisingly graceful, and that worried Waverly even more. What if Ssseth was as good as he’d always claimed?
Then the system message appeared in front of her, just like it did for everyone else.
Duel proposed. Waiting for opponent…
Victor took a deep breath, and Waverly could swear he was shaking a little. Oh no. What had she done? He hated it.
But then he grinned and said, “Bring it,” with a voice so quiet, it should have been drowned out by all the hubbub.
But she heard it loud and clear, because it carried enough confidence to cut through granite.
Request for Duel accepted!
Victor K. - VS - Ssseth S.
You may now place your wagers until the Duel begins!