Nasir (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
calledmenasir) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thearena2014-09-02 02:14 pm
calledmenasir) wrote in thearena2014-09-02 02:14 pm
Entry tags:
Sticks and stones may break my bones
WHO| Nasir and all the people he fights during the week (open)
WHAT| Nasir explores the mall, kicks some ass, and gets his ass kicked
WHEN| Throughout Week 2
WHERE| All over the mall
WARNINGS| Some serious violence, brief mention of past torture
Nasir had not done well during the Arena. His fights had been failures. He had not seen Gannicus since the Cornucopia. And the autobiography of himself had made him burn, not the least of which because he didn't know if the starting chapter was a lie. To make things worse, it taunted him with pictures of better days with Agron.
He was tired. He felt the bruises from his battles here. His muscles were still aching from the torture he'd been through at the hands of the Peacekeepers. He could barely sleep as memories haunted him. Then there was the fear that this was not enough. That they would not return him to life and he would break his promise to Agron. He would fail him and his brother and they would all die for it.
WHAT| Nasir explores the mall, kicks some ass, and gets his ass kicked
WHEN| Throughout Week 2
WHERE| All over the mall
WARNINGS| Some serious violence, brief mention of past torture
Nasir had not done well during the Arena. His fights had been failures. He had not seen Gannicus since the Cornucopia. And the autobiography of himself had made him burn, not the least of which because he didn't know if the starting chapter was a lie. To make things worse, it taunted him with pictures of better days with Agron.
He was tired. He felt the bruises from his battles here. His muscles were still aching from the torture he'd been through at the hands of the Peacekeepers. He could barely sleep as memories haunted him. Then there was the fear that this was not enough. That they would not return him to life and he would break his promise to Agron. He would fail him and his brother and they would all die for it.
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Just as he'd taken several steps back for a moment's rest before diving back in, the volleyball hit him hard on the stomach. It knocked the breath out of him and caused his bruised muscles to spasm out of the sharp pain that lanced through him.
"You shit." It came out as a low growl, perhaps on that couldn't be heard. Yet it was more out of frustration, out of losing each battle and being beat down continually. He did have respect for Zuko or at least he would once it was over.
He yelled as he charged him again, even more determined than ever to drive him back. While he'd fought with a ferocity before, it was more intense than ever and his eyes gleamed.
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He charged right at Nasir, jumping sideways onto the display separating the aisle only at the very last minute, balancing on the top and running along it to try to get closer to the entrance - and to possibly get behind him to get in a good blow to the back.
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That was fine. So far he was enjoying the challenge.
He jumped down with a vicious cry, pouring all of his weight into his blows, driving in even more aggressively than before. The speed and power behind slash, block, and attempted stab were two things that usually weren't paired together - and for a teenager, he was particularly strong. He tried to start driving Nasir towards the escalators. Every so often, he dropped into a low sweeping kick to try to break Nasir's balance at his ankles or aimed a lightning fast kick at Nasir's knees, trying to break his stance.
Here, just like anywhere else, his uncle's encouragement to break his enemy's root held true.
It was the way someone would fight when they weren't so much a warrior as a conqueror, someone who'd been prepared for a life of overpowering even the strong. Because he had been. He was the prince of the Fire Nation and he'd been raised for the battlefield. It was assumed that someday he would lead his people into battle, in his father's name, until it was time for him to become the Firelord. Even though Azula had always been favored, he'd still received the training, and the only reason his father wanted him out of the way, had despised him, was because he had a soft heart when it came to the weak and innocent.
But in his eyes, Nasir was no innocent. He was someone that attacked him when he hadn't had to.
And he didn't have to dig that deep for the attitude of his upbringing, for the ruthlessness and unwavering conviction, especially when he had a fair target to aim it at.
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He was not going to die. He was not going to lose. He owed Agron and his brother more. He had to protect them. There was no stronger motivation than love and even something so beautiful could drive someone to cruelty. As it did now.
But he was outmatched, even at full strength he would be, and Nasir was not at his best. After a time he slowed and the only way to avoid Zuko's kicks was to be driven back further to the escalator.
Nair launched a flurry of assaults at Zuko, swinging his blades on after another, trying to round on him to get to his back.
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He kept parrying the attacks, constantly deflecting the blows, still trying to herd the man towards the escalators, driving in even more aggressively. His attacks earned him several cuts to the face and neck, since they gave Nasir several small openings, but ultimately paid off when he managed to knock both of Nasir's hands away from his chest, leaving him an opening to kick him solidly in the chest, hard enough to knock him onto the escalator.
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He glared up at Zuko, who was fading farther from sight-- that was until Nasir placed the handle of one knife in his mouth, planted his hand on the rails of the escalator and vaulted himself up onto it. He retrieved his knife.
"Come."
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The cry was almost a growl as he jumped onto the railing as well, skidding down to where Nasir was. In between slashing blows, kicks, and blocks, he danced between the two sides of the escalator, sometimes taking advantage of how it was moving up or down.
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It was an acrobatic display, each of them balancing carefully on a moving contraption. One slip would lead to a potentially fatal fall. And Nasir was tiring. His feet kept refusing to cooperate and more than once he nearly lost his footing, leaving him open.
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One quick blow he couldn't block almost sent Zuko falling over the edge of the escalator. Catching the railing at the last second - and dropping one of his knives in the process so his hand was free to do it, he managed to hang on. With one last burst of ferocious energy and an equally ferocious cry, he heaved himself up and vaulted back up over the edge, kicked off the railing, managed to block both of Nasir's arms wile in mid-air and finally landed a solid kick to his chest, hard enough to potentially knock him over the side.
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He landed on the floor with his back first, then his head snapping back to slam against the tile. His legs and arms struck and only then did he release his grip on his knives.
Nasir tried to keep his eyes open but everything was blurred and out of focus. Pain radiated from his spine down to the rest of his body and yet more pain shot from his head down his neck. That was proof enough he wasn't paralyzed but he couldn't move.
He had lost.
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And he heard the voice of his uncle in his head. Funny how it came unbidden and he could never quite summon it up when he was actually trying.
"You don't have to do this, my nephew. The man is beaten and like so many here, he is desperate and afraid. Besides, you're already tired. If you try to keep fighting him, you may get so exhausted he gets the upper hand. Some victories aren't worth pursuing if the price of defeat would be too great and some victories aren't victories at all."
He wanted to end it, especially since this man would likely go on and try to kill others. But if he was honest with himself, that meant he'd have to try to kill anyone that was that kind of threat when this whole place was filled with people like that. This place was reducing people to their worst selves when they might have otherwise been able to live in peace with the people around them and if he killed every one of them he came across, there'd be an endless fountain of blood on his hands and he wouldn't be hurting the people actually responsible for this.
Zuko also didn't want to be his worst self, either.
The man was down and he could get away and if he attacked again, he wouldn't hesitate, but this wasn't a blow in the course of battle that would kill his opponent, this would be killing an enemy that had already fallen and risking more of a fight when he was already exhausted.
He hopped onto the railing of the up escalator, balancing perfectly there, and it carried him off. He pointed his knife down at Nasir.
"You fought with honor," he shouted. No sneaky tricks, no dirty moves, no friend waiting nearby in ambush - he'd fought a cleaner fight than Zuko and had been fearless and daring during it, something Zuko could at least respect. It had been one warrior simply battling another in this place where that had to happen for people to survive, where everyone was reduced to fear and violence because of their captors. "I'm sparing your life just this once. If you attack me or any of the people under my protection again I won't show you the same mercy."
Once he reached the top of the escalator, he hopped off and disappeared. He'd lost his one knife but he could come back to the shop later to reclaim it and get another, after he'd caught his breath and Nasir had time to clear out, naturally.