[Flashback]Oh, the Lessons we Learn (Chemar)

[Sairque]

Snarling, Sai used an opportune moment of dangling to hoist her leg back and snap it forward into the boy’s knee with all her might. He grunted and continued on. Sai knew she’d connected, her bare toes hurt, she knew she’d hit him. He’d grunted and proceeded to make Chemar spew blood. Not only disgusting and embarrassing for the girl, but a clear sign that they needed help. Her hardest kick had done nothing, he was unfazed, nonchalantly swinging and trying to rip them off of his arms. Chemar looked to her for leadership, and guidance out of this mess. The pressure was on. No, no, not the mental pressure, the boy was trying to shove her off his arm with his other hand. Fine, he didn’t want to ask nicely? She abruptly released her grasp, little body twisting through the air until touching the ground. Barely touching the stone floor, the little scamp flew forward while her companion distracted the oaf, who was standing and trying his hardest to peel the ape off. Up onto the table she ran, running up the bench, snagging up the boy’s dinner tray, using the edge of the table to reverse momentum, and whirling around with it poised over her shoulder to smash into his head. She went forward with the attack, the tray did not. Inexplicably, it stopped; the distance between her body and it grew, arms unwinding like ropes until the anchor that was her clamped fingers jerked her body back around. The blood had misted and globbed from Chemar’s bewildered face. Fingers unlatched involuntarily and Sai tumbled to the floor again, this time from the height of the bench and landing with a sickening crack. The friend, red in the face from laughter, flippantly let the tray slip from his fingers to whirl end over end until it clanked to a stop against the stirring soldier monkey. For long moments, Sai’s movements to rise twitched abortively, a pitiful little groan accompanying her struggles. Everything outside of the twisting ache in the side of her head, like someone had tried unwaveringly to penetrate the skull with a blunt object (something similar to a floor), blurred into the crimson distance. The down stroke of her eyelids, hiding the tilted fight between child and slightly bigger child, lasted an eternity and Sai almost forgot the task at hand. Floor slippery with the boy’s spilled meal, the two active combatants carried on, much to the amusement of those diners rested enough to enjoy. Something was missing though. And why was it taking so long? Fights never lasted this long, just drawing out boringly. No fighter worth a tail feather moved as slowly as they two did. Why did no one pull a knife? That’s what people did, stabbed each other. Maybe they didn’t have knives. Sai had a knife. She had her knife, the one that she’d cut Chemar’s hair with, the one that had started this whole mess with the Ape. Fitting for it to start and finish the rivalry. Up Sai pushed, onto her knees, halfway tucked under the bench, and waited. With her little knife clutched in her fist, finally the right moment came and she scooted out. The boy had finally stopped moving, had a good balanced, solid stance. Hunkered down behind him, she whipped the knife back and forth against the bryda of his left leg. Perplexed, Sai looked at the cut, billowy material and her clean knife. Usually there was blood. Adults did other things, in their knife fights, though. Blade large in her little fist, Sai sat on her heels and jabbed the tool forward into the back of the kid’s leg. That got a reaction. The howl echoed so disturbingly high pitched that Sai didn’t even notice the knife was still stuck in his calf. Or that she’d cut her hand when her grasp had slid up the length. She jumped to her feet and circled his flailing attempts to knock the tool out of his flesh, searching for Chemar.

[Chemar Tisserand]

In the midst of the monkey soldier's assault, Chemar was trying to keep the beast distracted, even going do far as to sink her teeth into his shoulder, but there was so much extra flesh and skin that it didn't even faze him. She ran her tongue over her teeth, trying to decide whether the blood or the bite of beast tasted worse. She scanned the fallout for the monkey, but her search was cut short when her enemy flicked his arm, shrugging her off like she was a clinging piece of lint, and not a lanky, awkward girl. The smack of her body against the spilled food and blood sounded like a bag of mud hitting the floor, though the impact reverberated through her bones. It took a few moments for the echoes of the fall to disappear, but as soon as they did scrambled to get up. Her take off was slow as her feet slipped on the crushed lunches now strewn across the floor. She heard the jerk that kept the monkey's blow from landing, and glared at the idle friend of the beast who'd decided to butt in where his input did not belong. Why do I care!! She didn't have the luxury of time to try and figure out why she was even concerned about the stupid soldier monkey, but she vowed to figure it out after this was over. Finally reaching her feet, she was about to attack again, by whatever means, when she heard the scream. So taken aback by the sound of it, she began to laugh...Not now Chemar! her inner voice pleaded, but she could not stop herself. Face bloody, covered in macerated food and tasting the dirty laundry of the beast she began laughing aloud now, so others could hear. She lifted a skinny arm and pointed at the beast with her extended finger, "You scream like a girl!" At that moment, everything in the room seemed to stop...and slow...the monkey went for her knife as the beast turned toward Chemar. The fiery -haired girl had never seen such a look of anger and hatred directed at her, and while her laughter dropped off into a black void, the laughter of the beasts friends and companions erupted like an explosion. That made him even angrier, and all that rage was directed at Chemar. In a rush of bone and body the beast lunged at her, grabbing what was left of her hair in his pudgy hands, the jerk of that hand felt as though it lengthened her neck half again and her feet lifted off the floor. Instinctively, her hands piled atop his and her short nails dug into his skin. Chemar flailed to get away her feet randomly connecting with the big boy's shins and thighs. Just as she felt the hair begin to tear free from her tender scalp, he slammed her into the tabletop with a loud slap. Her mouth opened to scream, but once again, she struggled to find her breath and no sound emerged. Wild eyes looked for the monkey as her breath no longer supported a call for help.

[Sairque]

“You scream like a girl! she heard issue forth from the Ape’s mouth in an act of misguided rebellion. Someone hadn’t gotten in many fights; Sai’s jaw would have dropped if it wouldn’t have hurt her head so bad. The boy shot forth, snagging up the larger, balder combatant before Sai made it around to her. Instead of being tugged off toward the freedom of the warrens, the ape fell into the hands of the enemy to be whirled around and slammed into the table with as much force as the older kid could manage. Once again, Sai found herself staring at the kid’s backside. Not one to complain, or take an advantageous retreat to the peril of her fellow, actively helpfully, combatant, Sai scooped up the previously abandoned tray in her little hands, and like a hammer and nail, pounded that knife deeper into the kids calf. Theoretically, it should have gone like a nail, but in the imperfect medium that is human flesh, the handle of the knife rotated down instead of shoving straight in. A spray of blood and muscle shot out, preceding the blade as the tray dipped along its path to cocked back over her shoulder for another swing. The lad screeched again, dropping the Ape to grasp at his leg and commence a-flinching, jerking, shuddering dance. It must have been the girl screams, because the mess of a scene was descended on by one grim-faced man and one skeletal fist silenced the boy first thing. Weight forced over the lad’s unprepared injured leg, he collapsed to whimper quietly under the bench Chemar quivered on. Gasping against the table, blood stained and wild eyed, Chemar came to the man’s attention next. This wasn’t her father with his patient understanding; this was guidance from Sai’s world. Deliberately, the monkey stepped toward the cadaverous man, an Avoran glassblower by the apron and the shape of his scars, and bent for her dripping knife. In a world where children weren’t the cherished vessels of innocence, in a society that lived too hard and fast to waste their own or their successor’s time with useless ideals, the threat screamed. Before his fist, of the same girth as the monkey’s thighs, connected with the side of her pea-gunk caked hair, hard yellow eyes cut to Chemar and then to the door to the warrens emphatically. It didn’t take the lecture to follow for Sai to know what they were in trouble for. They’d wasted an entire meal, and that was the offense worthy of a beating. Especially at their ages, when they’d already experienced the lean winters and had every meal carefully regulated so that no morsel found its way onto the floor or into the refuse. But it hadn’t been the pair of them that had done it. While Sai didn’t need to help Chemar escape, there was something there, in the girl’s fear narrowed eyes and the flinching snarl she’d wore while fighting, that struck Sai and dictated her actions with no self-analysis. With the ape, it felt familiar to make herself the lone bearer of punishment (except for the boy, but he deserved it) for the actions that were her sole responsibility, like they’d done this time and time before. The feeling troubled Sai only until his fist made contact and slammed her face into the dirty stone floor. “Who do you shyke-stains think you are?” he demanded of both of them, though his attention was on the red-faced monkey pinned under his foot to prevent squirming as he plucked the seasoned knife from her fist. “You wanna smear food all over the floor!” His kind of question mark was an abbreviated kick to the gut, tearing a guttural cry from the defensively curled girl. “Get the petch out of Skyinarta and get your own.” His sharp hands descended upon her, jerking the waif up, leaving her hanging until she felt safe enough to uncurl. Hesitantly, she found her feet, little fists held protectively close to her body and face turned down at away at a sharp angle. The man didn’t seem to care that she was obviously shrinking in fear, so hyped up that even the pain in her gut and broken skin on her face didn't even register. “Until then, you’d better finish eating this,” he growled, pointing at the complete meal spread around in bits and pockets on the sweat and shit streaked floor.

[Chemar Tisserand]

Bloodied and shell-shocked, Chemar sat wide-eyed trying to recover from the jarring blow her head had taken, she could still feel her brain being slammed against her skull as it hit the table. Secretly, she hoped that the blow had not made her stupid, her soft, pillowy enemy must have had his head slammed against many a table. She squeezed her eyes shut with tight force and opened them just in time to see the monkey drive her knife further into the boy’s leg. The resulting massacre of flesh and blood made her stomach seize. What a mess! There was little time for contemplation before the adult was on the scene, a brutal man who seemed as much a bully as their initial opponent. As she watched his tirade, first against the gluttonous gorilla, then against the monkey soldier, she nervously waited for her turn. Just as he had begun to lay into Chemar, the monkey stepped in, taking the brunt of all his anger. What was she doing?! There was no missing her opening of an escape route, the flick of her eyes toward the door, but the way that brutal man began to assault her could not be looked over by Chemar. Her father would scold her for rebelling against an adult, but more so, he would be disappointed, if she let her companion take all the blame for actions that were hers. The disappointment far outweighed the scolding, always. Just as the man finished his dressing down, his temper still boiling at the two of them, mostly the monkey, she pushed herself off the bench and stood next to him, her full height reaching the man’s waist, or there about. Try as she might, she couldn’t think of what words to say. The blow HAD made her stupid! With jaw set, and brow furrowed she grasped at the right phrase, now out of determination not to be a dimwit, as well as wanting to take the focus off her….her monkey. “The knife is mine.” WHAT! That was not what she would have chosen to say had she been of right mind. “ Yes.. mine.” She lifted her bloodied chin, knowing that after the slam onto the table, it stuck out a little further than it had before, maybe a good thing, for the moment. She did not look at the monkey soldier, instinctively knowing what she would see would not be gratitude, but shock and disbelief that she’d not taken the escape route offered; That monkey would find a way to hate her for trying to take part of the blame, she just knew it. She was already standing knee –deep in the hole she’d dug, so she might as well keep digging. As she heard herself, she could scarcely believe that she was squaring off with an adult, the monkey was a bad influence, very bad. Her head throbbed, and she could feel the blood drying on her skin, making a tight over lay that would dry leathery and crimson. “We were defending ourselves.” That had gotten his attention, a quick glance at the monkey confirmed everything she’d thought, the look in her eyes was at once angered, stunned and chock full of ‘what the petch are you doing!!’. The small side trip to her fighting partner was enough time for the man to refocus his anger, and boy did he. Her words had apparently been akin to a slap in the big man’s face, and he was reinvigorated in his anger. His voice boomed at her, words falling on her head like stones, pounding her posture lower and lower until all her bravado was gone and she stared at the floor. “What did you say –child-?!” His use of the word ‘child’ was filled with such palpable disdain that it felt like she’d been draped in a heavy leather tarp and rendered immobile. “Did you actually try to defend your actions here?” He looked around at the lunchtime massacre and grabbed her by the front of her shirt. “In what world, do you think that any of –this- is defensible?” He gestured loosely to their surroundings. Her words to him seemed to have taken his anger to a new level, while he spoke in a controlled manner, she could feel that the damn was about to break, and it had paralyzed her. Her eyes were now wide, pupils dilated until the green and gold were all but eclipsed. “So this is yours?” He shoved the knife against her bloody cheek, resting the flat of the blade there. The drying blood on the knife bonded with the blood on her face, making the line that he drew with the knife tip a sticky and rough movement along her jaw, instead of the smooth pass most likely intended. “You’re a liar, girl.” He growled at her and stuck the knife in his belt before curling his arm around his chest to bring the back of his hand full force against her face. Still held by the front of her shirt, there was no escape and the force of the hit from an adult hand was nearly enough to make her pass out. He dropped her sagging body to the floor, actually spitting on her as he looked down at her crumpled form. His boot landed square on her wrist with a grinding twist as he spun to go. “Clean this the petch up!” His final booming command fell on muffled ears as Chemar wavered between consciousnesses and blackout. Like an answer to a prayer, the man stormed away.

[Sairque]

Attention pulled away from the meal garnished with unpleasant floor remnants that they’d been directed to eat, the monkey warred stubbornly with the relief the ape’s intervention conjured up. Hunched over by defensively clenched abs, Sai glared at the girl avoiding her gaze. She’d gotten herself punched in the face and kicked by a full grown man so that the ape could escape, all in vain. The ape hadn’t even picked a good deflection. It didn’t matter who the knife belonged to! That wasn’t the problem here! Stupid soft, inexperienced ape. As she rubbed at the blood dripping down the corner of her mouth, she could scarcely believe that she had put herself out there for her, the ape was a worthless companion, very worthless. Meeting the girl’s eyes, though she still had the sense to keep half her attention on the man, she saw some comprehension. At least the ape knew what she’d gotten herself into, but there wasn’t a lick of regret. The way she crumpled under his renewed assault for some indefinable reason raised her hackles again, and before she knew it, her little fists were clenched and she’d prepared herself to spring should his grimy hands make a grab for her. With every gesture he made, she twitched. With every raise in volume, she inched forward. Finally, he went too far with his aggression and raised the confiscated knife to her face. Just as she rushed forward to hit him as hard as possible between the legs, a band of steel wrapped round her ankle, jerking her to a teetering stop. Everything happened so quickly after that. Sai whipped her head around, searching for the impeding force and finding the boy staring at her darkly, his hand preventing her from moving forward. One sage shake of his head left, another one to the right, and he tugged her back just a little further. Without her interference, the man’s hands shot out and battered the ape; by the time Sai had whipped her gaze back around, the man crushed the ape’s wrist as the final act before he exited the scene completely. “Let go of me!” Sai growled at the boy, snapping her foot out and kicking at his face. He glowered, flinching away without injury and releasing her. “You clean up, this is all your fault!” Sai snapped. “Hiding under the table like some sniveling Sym,” the little girl muttered as she hurried to the ape’s side and encouraged her to find her feet through the pain. “Come on, we have to get out of here before som-” “You kids should know better,” a remonstrating voice informed them before the body it belonged to kneeled at the girls’ sides. She was one of the Chiet from the nursery, a woman Sai had fond enough memories of. The little soldier monkey stepped away as the adult bent to scoop up the little ape. “Especially you Sairque, getting one of the Tisserand girls into this.” Various aches started presenting themselves as the woman led them from the kitchens, boy in tow. Sai unable to keep her eyes from cutting to the ape’s face curiously even as she reached up to cradle the sensitive side of her head and wrapped her other arm around her cramping midsection. “We’ll get you to your father, he’ll see if a healer can be spared,” she told Chemar and then glanced back at the soldier monkey. “You can run along home now, go lay down.” Sai nodded. There would be no healer for wasting their efforts on her.

[Chemar Tisserand]

Amidst the quick swelling welt on her face, and the new stream of blood that now ran from a gash made by the -adult's- echoing backhand Chemar heard the monkey soldier's voice urging her to get up. Just go, leave me here. She thought in a voice that even though unspoken, made her head throb. She had no idea a person could feel as bad as she did. A tug on her arm pushed a pained groan from her lips as the monkey still tried to get her on her feet. A cloud of blackness stole the next few moments, and when she next knew, there were arms supporting her. Whose arms? She looked to the posture of the monkey, seeing a carriage that did not signal fear, so Chemar relaxed a bit. Someone had stuffed her ears full of cotton, muffling every word she heard. We’ll get you to your father, he’ll see if a healer can be spared. Her body tightened a bit, reticent to be presented to her father in this state, but that small action cued such rebellion in her body, that she had no choice but to try and relax. You can run along home now, go lay down. What?! No! She tried to object, having seen what the monkey soldier had endured, but her mouth was so caked with blood, that no words sounded. She watched as the waif turned to go, using her good arm, she reached out and gathered the shoulder of her soiled shirt in a fisted hand. The look on the monkey's face was pained and scornful when she looked back at Chemar. It was clear she resented her even more now that this stranger would offer assistance, while shirking the monkey off to go on her own. Chemar caught the girl's angry golden gaze, conveying her thanks in the only way possible. As with the monkey's signal to flee, ultimately ignored by Chemar, the only tip off to the monkey was a flick of gold ringed eyes to her own belt. Against the odds, safely tucked into Chemar's belt, was the monkey soldier's knife. Amidst the brutality, there had been one moment when the adult's anger was so focused and blinding that he did not notice the thin fingered hand of Chemar as she slipped the knife free. Having lived in the monkey's world for those quick , tumultuous moments, she decided that the only way the monkey would survive, was if she had a weapon... Take it. She mouthed to the girl, before the knife was snatched, and all that was left was a flash of red hair speeding toward the door.

[Phoenix]

Character: Sairque Experience: Brawling- 5, Daggers- 4, Logic- 4, Unarmed-3, Intimidation- 4, Interrogation- 5, Being a Monkey Soldier- 5 Lores: Mizahars world record for largest human mudpie, Feeling shame at being scorned for one’s appearance, A long list of life lessons for such a young age, Crying in public, Trading vicious words with one’s “enemy”, Learning how words can hurt, Mistaking being soft for a weakness, One tough little soldier, Rising above another’s pity, Accepting one’s lot in life, Landing a solid throat punch, Not punching like a girl, Coming to an enemies defense, Finding friends in unlikely places/people, Doing what needs to be done, Fighting like an adult (aka stabbing away like crazy), Ending the day with a little more family then when it started. Character: Chemar Experience: Intimidation- 4, Stalking- 4, Brawling- 5, Unarmed-5, Interrogation- 5, Being an Ape- 5 Lores:Losing a fight with some hair shears, Disrupting breakfast to hunt a monkey, Building a fortress with utensils and dishware, Defending one’s self with a vessel used as an ornament or for holding cut flowers, Knowing from a young age that lying is wrong, Trading vicious words with one’s “enemy”, Learning how words can hurt, Learning the first impressions aren’t always the correct impression, Feeling pity, Being paid back for hurtful words with physical pain, Coming to an enemy’s defense, Finding friends in unlikely places/people, Taking the blame, Having someone to go home to Additional Comments: I LOVED THIS. It was so petching cute I could hardly stand it and almost threw up in my mouth a little bit. Please, write more. I loved the interactions, definately very believable and original. Also, well written and a breeze to read. If there are any questions about the lores or experience awarded, please PM me and we'll discuss.