#nazari

My loved Alhambra… Spain

Che sei come un vino pregiato

Tipo un Valpolicella,

E io sono un bicchiere scheggiato

Tipo della Nutella

honestly, i don’t know if you could call this a fight. i think that would mean both parties have some measure of effectiveness.

Lariat stared blankly at the young man in front of him.

“I am sorry,” he said contritely,  “I really don’t remember you.”

“Are you kidding?” the man seethed. He was the only one in the dinner party who hadn’t fled or called for security that wasn’t there. Stupid of him, really, and even stupider for him to be standing squarely between Lariat and his avenue of escape. “You kidnapped me!”

“I kidnap a lot of people,” Lariat said smoothly. “I believe it’s what the kids call, my thing.”

“You killed my brother!”

Ah. “Now that,” Lariat said sorrowfully, “I do remember.” He kept his eyes on the young man as he spoke, his hands clasped behind his back. Thin ropes slithered across the floor towards the young man. “You would be a Mr. Nazari, then.”

“Glad you remember,” Nazari snapped. He didn’t look away from Lariat - and yet, when the ropes got within striking distance, Nazari made a sharp, cutting motion with his hands.

Lariat didn’t quite see what happened. Ripples in the air - and then the ropes, sneaking towards Nazari from either side, were sliced to pieces. It startled Lariat so much that his control fell to similar pieces, and even the strands wrapping up his latest hostage, sobbing like a child, went slack.

But only for a moment.

Nazari rushed him. Lariat summoned another coil of rope from where he’d hidden them as he sidestepped another slice of wind. He wasn’t quite fast enough, and hissed as it cut straight through his jacket sleeve, shirt sleeve, and narrowly into his arm.

“You’ve learned a new trick since we saw each other last,” Lariat said, and just watched as Nazari tripped over another rope. The young man snarled and rolled over, kicking it off, and Lariat let him get to his feet.

“You still play the same old ones,” Nazari snapped back. He had to move to generate his power, Lariat noted; Nazari cut his hand through the air to generate his razor-sharp winds, and this time, it was easier for Lariat to see and dodge. “I won’t let you take my friend, too!”

Blood dripping down Lariat’s arm, he moved forward. Nazari gritted his teeth and skipped back, already bringing his hand back for another swing. Lariat wanted to roll his eyes; the kid telegraphed his intentions like a neon sign.

Lariat twitched one of his ropes to the side. It caught Nazari’s attention, and he sliced it in half with another wind. Good peripheral vision, Lariat thought, except Nazari was watching the wrong thing.

When Nazari turned back to Lariat, it was just in time for the older man to slam a fist into his jaw.

Nazari staggered back, cursing; Lariat kept advancing and punched him again, until Nazari had stumbled into the table. Pushing off the table, Nazari swung awkwardly at Lariat, a cross punch that was so pathetic Lariat almost let it hit him.

He half-turned, grabbed Nazari’s arm, and jerked him forward, kneeing the poor kid in the ribs. Nazari sprawled on the floor when Lariat shoved him down, and just to make sure he stayed there, Lariat drove the heel of his shoe down on the side of Nazari’s knee.

The kid’s yelping almost made him feel bad.

Lariat paused to take a breath, and ropes slid across the floor, entwining themselves around Nazari’s ankles and up his legs. Lariat squatted down on his haunches and peered at Nazari’s face.

He was bleeding from his nose, and flinched and shoved himself backwards when he looked up to see Lariat right there. Lariat gave him a thin smile and held up a finger.

“First of all,” he said, “you rely too much on your powers. Second of all, you assume others to do the same. Third of all,” and here, Lariat’s smile broadened into a grin. He put two fingers on Nazari’s cheek and directed his gaze to the far side of the room, and the open door, and the ends of ropes slithering out into the hall.

“Third of all, you let yourself get too distracted from the objective. Maybe next time, Nazari.”