Redux: Lineage

After hearing Svea's knowledge on Heimili, Luna suggested that we all take a break from planning and plotting to refresh ourselves; be it with an hour or two's nap, more food or drink, or even just lounging around doing nothing, we were to relax in some manner. Of course, I was soon cornered by Annerose, who had a great idea to 'relax': sparring. With barely any chance to say no to the shorter fighter, I was dragged down to the arena once again. The two of us had raided the armoury on the way down for a sparring gear, mostly padded gambesons and wooden training swords. Once dressed and armed for sparring, the two of us entered the fighting grounds and squared off with our weapons in a guard position.

"Good to see you picked an actual weapon this time around," I smirked, looking at the wooden longsword Annerose held in her hands. "The wood might actually be more durable than your other one, that's for sure."

Annerose snarled angrily, lashing forward with a strike aimed towards my neck. I deflected the blow with the length of my sword and stepped forward, slamming my shoulder into her torso and knocking her backwards. The opening allowed me to lunge forward, stabbing the blunt tip of the wooden sword into the thick fabric of Annerose's gambeson. I soon retreated back into a guard stance and gave the scowling warrior a brief smirk.

"Point to me," I said smugly. "What are we going to here?"

"First to thirty," she answered.

"Fuck me," I sighed. "We've got an hour, not a month to goof off."

"Then you better hurry up and quit whining, eh?" she asked, readying herself once again and charging forward.

There was a brief clash of wood, the loud knocking sound echoing through the hollow metal arena, before a feint and a knee from Annerose got her the upper hand. The impact of her knee to my gut was absorbed by the gambeson, but still left me in an awkward position for her to bring her sword down onto my head, stopping the swing mere centimetres away from the back of my skull before lightly tapping me on it.

"One to me," she said, turning around and walking back to the marked ground in the arena.

I returned to my own marked spot, tossing my sword back and forth between my hands before Annerose signaled she was ready to go again. I kept on the defensive this time, focusing mostly on deflecting and glancing her attacks. I tried my best to get her to either open herself or allow me to open her up, but she wasn't having any of it. I eventually stopped trying to hit her blade aside and decided to go on the offensive for a while. I used powerful, controlled strikes aimed for her abdomen to keep pushing her back.

She made a smart move of dodging rather than deflecting a strike; the lack of control I'd put into the attack proved to be my downfall. I lunged forward with a strike aimed for her right hip only to have her spin out of the way, moving to the side and slightly behind me, where she managed to swing her sword at the back of my neck, placing the wood gently against my flesh.

"Two to me," she said, lowering the sword and rolling her shoulders. "You feeling alright today? You're usually better than this."

"Might just be having an off-day," I shrugged, eyeing her up as she walked away only to hook her foot with my ankle and trip her over, placing the tip of my sword against her spine and smirking. "Two to me."

"Alright then," she said with a chuckle and a growl, pushing herself up to her feet and cracking her neck. "If that's how you want it..."

After booting the hornet's nest and pissing on it, I found that it may have been a mistake. Where she had once held her strikes back, she did no such thing now. Where she had once only aimed for killing blows, she did no such thing now. I was forced to use practically every muscle in my body to dodge and deflect all of her vicious strikes. Both of us were landing shots on one another, painful thwacks to the legs and head, and it seemed the point system had completely gone out of the window in less than two minutes.

Annerose seemed entirely focused on beating the living shit out of me, now throwing punches, kicks, grapples, and throws into the mix. The two of us were soon covered in nicks, bumps, and cuts. Annerose's eyebrow had opened up slightly and trickled blood down onto her face, just as my cheek had been cut open through sheer striking force. The two of us were panting heavily before she managed to knock the wind out of me entirely by slapping aside my blade with the flat of hers, tightly wrapping her hand around my throat, and hoisting me up into the air before slamming me down onto my back.

Pain exploded throughout my entire torso, second only to the pain that exploded throughout my face as she swung a leg over my chest and slammed her fist straight into my nose, breaking it with a sickening crunch as my head rocketed backwards into the arena floor. Annerose then placed her hand onto my forehead and held my head down, panting heavily as she leaned back slightly.

"I'd advise not getting up after that," she said with a smirk. "You've only got so much of your pride left to lose."

"Yeah..." I said with a sigh, a glint in my eye as I slammed my fist into the side of her face, knocking her off me and into the dirt.

"Alright then, cunt..." she panted, pushing herself up and throwing her sword aside. "You asked for it."

"Yup," I grinned, wiping the blood away from my nose and spitting more blood onto the ground. "I'd owe you a smashed jaw, but you're much too delicate for that."

"Funny," she said, stretching her back out. "I was gonna say the same thing to you."

She rushed at me, opening the now-fist-fight with a brutal left hook. I ducked under the blow and brought my right fist up into her stomach only to have the gambeson absorb pretty much all of the impact. I threw her back slightly, both of us acknowledging the other's wish without speaking it. We took the gambesons off and cast them aside, now launching at each other again with vicious blows aimed for vital areas. I barely managed to duck under a roundhouse from Annerose, something that would've sent me sprawling, and responded by booting her other foot out from underneath her.

She dropped to the floor, rolling out of the way of a stomp I aimed for her chest, and climbed back to her feet. She charged forward into a tackle, but lacked the momentum to knock me over. I wrapped my arms around her slender waist and hoisted her up, attempting to slam her down onto her head, only to have her, using that incredibly flexibility of hers, wrap her legs around my neck and sit up, using half of her own momentum and half of mine to send me toppling onto my back again.

She brought the side of her forearm down onto my face, my nose flaring up in pain once more, before she rolled away from me. She got back up to her feet just as quickly as I did, rushing forward and launching a knee strike aimed for my gullet. I brought my elbow down into her leg, the two attacks hitting into one another with mine winning out thanks to hitting the muscle in her thigh. Her leg went entirely lax at this point, unable to support her weight.

As she staggered back, keeping her guard up, I booted her full in the chest. She went sprawling to the floor and kicked up a lot of dust as I followed up the attack by kicking her in the face and sending her rolling sideways. The two of us seemed to take a break at this point as Annerose staggered back to her feet and I merely stood there. Our guards were up and out chests were heaving, eyeing one another closely as we waited to see what we would do next.

Annerose moved first, though not in an expected way. She dropped her guard and hunched over, panting loudly and rubbing her sore jaw. I gave it a minute to see if she was bluffing, as we both often did, but it seemed that she was genuinely done for now.

"I think you broke it," she said in a slurred manner.

"Probably did," I said, walking over to her and giving her a rough pat on the back. "Wanna go see Luna?"

"Yeah..." she nodded. "This hurts like a motherfucker."

"I gotta say, kids," Karra's voice came from the entrance to the arena. "You two put up a good fight. Almost makes me feel like I'm not just giving my army to a bunch of layabouts who barely know the difference between a spear and a halberd. Almost."

"Thanks," I said, still not sure what to make of the arrogant catgirl.

"You're welcome," she said, walking over to the both of us. "I gotta say, the way you handled yourself against your girlfriend here made it look like you actually know how to fight."

"I have that effect on people," Annerose said, standing up straight and spitting blood onto the floor. "Now if you excuse me, I need to go get my jaw put back on properly."

"Same," I said, the two of us walking past Karra only for her to put her a hand on a shoulder each, getting us to stop moving.

"What do you two say about a sparring match?" she asked. "You two against me?"

"Do you think you can handle the two of us?" Annerose asked.

"Well lover-boy over here's about as useful as a donkey without legs when it comes to fighting, so I think I should be fine," Karra chuckled.

"Thanks," I sighed, my temper flaring up briefly. "You wanna make a wager out of it?"

"So long as it’s not ridiculous," she said. "What did you have in mind?"

"If you win, I make sure that your army gets all of its funding and equipment directly from the Equestrian Treasury," I offered. "That means you get top-tier weapons and gear, free of charge, forever."

"That sounds like a deal and a half," she grinned, her eyes lighting up brightly. "What do you want if you win?"

I looked at Annerose for a long moment, her eyes lighting up in horror as she assumed what I meant.

"Please do not tell me you're gonna ask to fu-" she began.

"If we win, you do this job for free," I said, looking Karra dead in the eyes.

The light in her blue orbs died immediately as she realised how much of a risk this would be.

"That's... that's a steep thing to ask for," she said, scratching the back of her head. "You sure there's nothing else you want?"

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "If you refuse to put that on the line, then I'm not putting my support on the line either."

The Nekomata was silent for a long moment, her ears twitching as she thought the deal over again.

"C'mon... there's nothing else you want?" she asked, batting her eyelashes and dragging a seductive finger down my chest. "Truly?"

"Richter..." Annerose said in a warning tone, knowing me much too well at this point.

"Do you really think sex is a worthy prize for victory when loss will end up costing me several hundred thousand gold?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"It'll be good sex," she said in a confident manner. "I promise you."

"If you're going to lower your offer, then so am I," I responded nearly immediately. "If we lose, then all of your soldiers get a new suit of armour and a weapon of choice forged by our best smiths."

"That's not nearly as good," Karra pouted.

"It's all I'm willing to offer for you," I said. "Take it or leave it."

Karra was quiet for a moment, once again thinking it all over with her ears flicking and her tail swishing behind her. Several long moments ticked by before Karra opened her mouth to ask a question.

"Does the girl want sex as well?" she asked, looking at Annerose.

"I'm alright, thanks," she said, distancing herself from the two of us.

"And you're not going to offer the supply deal if I win?"

"Not unless you offer to do all this for free if I do," I said with a shake of my head.

"So... if I win, I get a new set for everyone," Karra said. "And if you win, I have to fuck you?"

"That's the deal," I nodded. "Take it or leave it."

"Look, kid," she said. "I'd love to shake hands on the original one, believe me, I would. I'm confident that I could slap you both around for hours on end. But I'm not gonna risk something like making my entire army go without pay for this job, no matter what the offer is. We can barely manage repair costs and pay for their work on regular contracts against beasts... but this dragon might have millions in her cave. That kind of money could help us grow and expand for years without needing to work."

"I understand perfectly," I nodded. "That's also why I want that money for myself. That amount of gold in the Equestrian Treasury is really gonna give my country some economic benefits... but if you're unwilling to put it on the line, the other bet is just as good."

"I just hope you're not a shit lay," Karra sighed, holding out a hand to shake. "You're on."

"We'll see you in a couple of minutes," I said, shaking her hand firmly.

I walked away from Karra, Annerose following quickly and giving me the most unimpressed look I'd ever seen grace her features.

"What?" I asked with a smirk.

"You were aiming to make a sex bet, weren't you?" she asked. "That was why you made her losing offer so ridiculous. You knew she'd offer to put out instead."

"Haven't a clue what you're talking about, my friend," I chuckled, wiping blood off my face again.

"If that was what you were aiming for, why not just ask for it outright?" she asked me. "You wanted sex, so why not just make the deal about sex?"

"Because I would've come off as creepy," I shrugged.

"But you still made a deal for sex!" Annerose snapped. "How does that make you look any less creepy?"

"Because I did not ask, I was instead offered," I said, bringing up a tactic I'd used before.

"W... What?" Annerose asked in confusion. "How does that make you look better?"

"Think about it like this: if you're helping someone with something, whether it’s moving a lot of furniture or helping them on their crops, you expect a reward for your efforts. But if you outright ask for money, either afterwards or beforehand, you look like an asshole who only does things for money," I explained. "But if you don't ask for a reward and instead seem like you're doing it out of the kindness of your heart, then the person you're helping tends to feel that you're noble and helpful, and thus feel compelled to offer a reward."

"I... that's..." Annerose said, bewildered by the thought process. "That's extremely manipulative."

"Of course it is. If you wanna look extra noble, then you turn the money down and say that you don't want it, as they'd do the same for you," I continued. "Then, when they insist, you take the money and say that you only took it to not offend their charity. It's the same with getting sex as a reward without asking for sex as a reward. Though as a warning: this only works with specific women. Do not try this on a woman who isn't liberal with her body privileges or has a committed relationship."

"I wasn't really planning on it, but thanks for the advice," Annerose said with a roll of her eyes.

"The main method is, like I did back there, asking for a reward that is rather ridiculous," I said. "That sets the stage and kind of causes panic to sprout in the woman you're talking to. Then, if it is that specific type of woman, she'll usually know that men are dogs and that we'll bark, sit, and shake if we're offered so much as a whiff of vagina."

"Is that true?" Annerose asked.

"Only certain types of men. The smart ones never usually jump into a volcano if a woman waves their vagina at them," I answered.

"Would you?" Annerose asked.

"I slaughtered a whole nest of Wyverns just so I could fuck Celana," I said, looking at her with a blank expression. "What do you think?"

"Right... you were saying?" she said, eager to move past how terrible of a person I was.

"Right, yeah... so this type of woman will know that she can play this type of men, and by offering sex as a reward or incentive for their services, she's essentially offering them nothing and getting those services for it," I explained.

"How is it nothing?" Annerose asked. "People have to have a lot of confidence in themselves to do that kind of shit."

"And once you have that confidence, you throw that shit around like it's nothing," I shrugged. "I could pay seven hundred gold to rent this room at an inn for the night... or I could just fuck the manager, give him the satisfaction of getting sex, and stay in a high-class room for nothing."

"So you were expecting her to back out of the deal and offer sex instead?" Annerose asked, walking herself through the thought process. "Because you knew that she'd try to play you and offer only superficial pleasures instead of something of actual value."

"Yup," I nodded with a smirk. "But since she's the one that offered it and not me, I don't look like a creep because I didn't directly ask for it."

"I... that's..." she stammered, unable to form a sentence at first. "You devious bastard."

"I try," I smirked. "Right, now let's go get ourselves fixed up so we can take down Karra, and I get to mess around with those big kitty titties of hers."