Chapter 855: Pride Cos After a Fall as Well
Xiang surfaced quickly and dragged himself to shore before shaking himself like a dog and trying to get as much water off his clothing and face as possible. After a few monts he stepped away from the spot he’d been dripping and flopped onto the ground. As he moved though, the water started to bubble and churn. A golden light could be seen from the surface and the water was starting to hiss.
Yang exploded out of the water, clawing at the ground and creating deep gauges in the muddy dirt as she wrenched herself out of the water. Unlike Xiang who looked thoroughly soaked but not too bad otherwise. Yang looked... well... let’s just say she wasn’t winning any awards at that mont.
Xiang wore the drenched hair look well even as lay on the ground facing the sky. Eyes closed of course. Yang was not so lucky. Apparently Xiang’s reflexes were a step better in all ways. Once Yang made it to the shore she coughed out a large amount of water and stomped on the ground as she started to shakily stand up.
Her hair looked like it had been run through a few trees. She had sticks, leaves and a good deal of mud all stuck to her hair. It also had started to frizz up rather badly and was sticking out at odd angles despite being soaking wet. Her golden hair looked... a lot less gold at the mont.
Her outfit, which was once a nice white, was now brown in most places and green in a few others. It was also torn in two places, one just next to her waist and the other was a slit up the edge of her sleeve. Unlike Xiang who still had his eyes closed, Yang wasn’t quite so lucky. Her eyes were glowing bright yellow at the mont but when that light faded it would reveal two red bloodshot corneas. Regardless. Yang was not happy.
A few more coughs ca out of her mouth before the words did, “WHAT THE FUCK XIANG!”
Xiang’s mouth twitched a few tis before he carefully wiped it with his hand, getting rid of most of the dirty water. Without opening his eyes he said, “What exactly are you criticising for?”
.....
“You were leading the way! Why the heck did I end up drenched?!” yelled Yang before she got caught in another round of coughing. It didn’t sound great, very watery. A few monts later yet more water dribbled out of Yang’s mouth and proved that particularly thought rather well. Nobody really liked seeing or hearing that proof but it was there.
“Hang on Yang. Normally I’m willing to put up with your criticism. It’s not always entirely fair... but normally I can understand where you might find a problem with my actions. Sotis your points are even quite good. So please know that I say this not out of irritation, or a dislike of you personally but...
“What the fuck are you smoking? Did that swamp water already get into your brain? In case you didn’t notice I’m also drenched and not a single bit happier about it then you are! The floating algae looked remarkably like grass and I wasn’t exactly paying attention. Now, maybe that is my fault... but I’m not responsible for you in this scenario. I also didn’t have any intentions of falling in, or drenching you. Maybe if it was just the splash from my entry that hit you I might be a little more understanding but you fell in face first as well!”
Now. Xiang might have been correct in his statents. He was not truly at fault and he was potentially just as put out as Yang. Sadly, Yang didn’t quite take it that way. Not only did Xiang managed to avoid a lot of the roots and the ssier parts of the swamp, getting out significantly cleaner looking, though the fact he was wearing leathers helped prevent the mud from really showing. Yang took her fall very hard in a number of ways.
Kat could see Yang’s fae was actually a bit red. Slapping a wave of water and then the bogs surface one after another at full speed was not ideal. Xiang was in a similar position but he flipped over further before entering the water and the ‘damage’ was in his hairline, much less visible. Yang’s eyes were of course red from the water she got in them, not closing them quickly enough. And her mouth wasn’t any better. She’d swallowed a good deal of water and could still taste it.
So regardless of how little Xiang could be found at fault by a reasonable person... Yang wasn’t a reasonable person at the best of tis. And a Yang with burning eyes, mud in her mouth, ruined clothes and completely soaked from head to toe... well that was not a Yang that would be anything close to reasonable.
Before Xiang could even react properly her mace slamd straight down on his ribs and unlike last ti where she held back and was mostly going for distance, this ti the spikes were out. Kat heard a loud thump followed by the sound of tearing leather as Yang pulled her club back.
Xiang’s chest piece now had a large cut in it from where it had been impaled by one of the club’s spikes that had been at the best angle to do the damage. Xiang was wheezing at this point and Yang was actually pulling back FOR ANOTHER SWING.
Kat dove to the ground and caught the mace as it was coming down. It wasn’t hard to hold around the spikes, they were large and fairly spread out so Kat just needed to fit her fingers around a few and tilt her hand a bit awkwardly. There was a light thud as Kat took the weight onto her hand even as she winced at her mistake. She’d continued to hold Lily in her arms. Sure Lily wasn’t likely to want to leave, especially not with the sll, but Kat realised she’d just taken Lily INTO combat which was not ideal. Even if this was just a minor brawl between allies.
“What are you stopping for bitch? He deserves a good beating for what he did!” hissed Yang.
“No he doesn’t” said Kat slowly, “You should calm down. This wasn’t really Xiang’s fault and you’re taking things too far. A little hit is one thing but you managed to get through Xiang’s armour and probably bruised a few ribs. You’re lucky I didn’t hear a cracking sound,”
“Fuck luck. It’s all skill. I knew exactly how hard I was hitting him now GET OUT OF THE WAY or I’ll show YOU CALM!” growled Yang.
Kat couldn’t help but feel Yang was doing a good job of reminding her of a particularly rabid dog. No that was unkind. To the dog. Yang’s eyes weren’t helping her seem less crazy either. Though her attitude was of course the main problem. “Yang. There is no need for this,” insisted Kat.
Yang didn’t like that so she wrenched the club back and tried to swing it at Kat. Kat was a little annoyed she didn’t have a good enough grip on the thing to prevent Yang from doing this, but she the top was much too large to wrap her hand around so really this should have been expected. Kat watched as Yang wound up and debated what to do in her slowed ti. Jumping over it would be funny, but likely live Xiang exposed. Blocking it with a hand again was fine... but Yang might try to twist it or sothing.
Deciding not to risk it Kat stepped forward right into Yang and shoved her backwards ruining her stance. Yang didn’t let up on the swing but Kat just raised her forearm up and t the club lower down to avoid the spikes. Hitting Kat was a lot like hitting a wall at that mont and it all reverberated back down to Yang’s hand, causing her to flinch. That was just enough for Kat to elbow the weapon out of her hands and then follow up by kneeing her down into the ground.
Yang screeched at the indignity but Kat was pressing firmly on her chest and with a bit of extra pressure the air could be knocked out of her and Yang knew it. Didn’t stop the screeching sadly so Kat made good on the threat. Yang wheezed at it and then tried to roll out from under Kat’s knees but she was pinned.
Kat just sighed and said, “Ok. Yang. I’m going to hold you here like this until you calm down,”
Yang tried to spit in Kat’s face. Emphasis on tried. It didn’t have any power behind it and the angle was awful so it just fell back towards Yang’s face. She managed to twist out of the way bit the spit landed back on her own cheek. “Well that was just rude,” mumbled Kat. Loud enough for Yang to hear of course.
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