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Diamondbone was an infighter and he was one of those that would become the stuff of legend. Kili would have paid money to see him go up against Foehammer in a serious fight. RingMaster was an out-fighter and a grappler extraordinaire. It was definitely going to an interesting matchup.
Kili tried to dredge up memory of Diamondbone's fight, but his had been after Kili's and he didn't remember much of those. They circled each other warily, Diamondbone seeking to step in close to RingMaster and RingMaster, stepping away from him, determined not to let him get close or trap him.
Diamondbone darted in, a crushing jab flickering out. Ringmaster dodged and danced away then darted back in and landed a blow. Diamondbone absorbed the blow and twisted down, leg lifting and snapped a wicked high kick into RingMaster's guard. RingMaster staggered back and Diamondbone bone took the chance to drop his leg and follow up with a roundhouse with the other leg.
Ringmaster took the blow, staggered but didn't fall. He too twisted to bring a side kick in but Diamondbone dived to the side and then whirled bringing him closer to RingMaster's unprotected body whilst his leg was still extended.
RingMaster got a wicked elbow in the face. Another jab sent him to the floor. He tangled his legs with Diamondbone's and dragged him to the floor with him and jumped like a crocodile ambushing his prey.
They scrambled on the floor, Diamondbone struggling to get out from under RingMaster and RingMaster struggling to keep his advantage. They were a tangle of heaving limbs that spun this way and that on the sweat-slick mat.
RingMaster got in a particularly nasty punch and stunned Diamondbone enough for him to get a chance to get a proper grabbling hold on the Den fighter.
Diamondbone struggled against the grip, muscles bulging with the force he was applying but it seemed to be futile. At least at first. Inch by inch he began pulling against the hold. His back arched to give him leverage as he forcibly tore himself out of Ringmaster's grip; his shoulders were pulled back, his whole body resting painfully on them and his heels which were digging into the mat.
"Does he not have joints?" asked Kili rhetorically.
"Or nerves?" said Sting, "Does he not have nerves?"
Diamondbone arched as high as he could and then dropped suddenly. The sudden drop made RingMaster's legs lose tension so that when Diamondbone arced back up half a second later, RingMaster's legs, slid off Diamondbone's and Diamondbone pulled his arm free.
Diamondbone rolled away and popped up to his feet. RingMaster scrambled to a standing position and settled back into a crouch. Diamondbone gave RingMaster a terrifying smile, rolled his shoulders to loosen them and then settled back in a fighter's crouch.
The atmosphere in the ring switched. It was as if Diamondbone had been playing all the time and had now settled down to really fight. Ringmaster obviously felt the switch and brought his hands in more defensively. Big mistake, Kili noted. He'd practically accepted defeat just by letting himself be cowed.
DINAO snorted, the puff of air ruffling Kili's hair. "Idiot," he said, "The RingMaster ought to know that's not how you conquer the ring."
Kili didn't bother to respond to the snide tone.
The two fighters circled each other again and then Diamondbone moved.
"Damn," said Kili involuntarily. He was fast. Faster than he'd moved all night and judging from Graylin's surprised twitch, faster than he'd ever moved in the ring. Ringmaster moved to dodge him but Diamondbone forced him to the ropes with a few cleverly calculated blows.
Then, with Ringmaster trapped, he moved in for the kill. The blows were crushing on their own, the sound of them cracking across the arena but as per usual, the Den fighter's name was not arbitrary. Diamondbone may not have been as strong as Foehammer or the Lion Prince but damn, the blows he landed, stung.
When he cracked open Ringmasters guard, he shifted from using fists to using elbows. The pointed, very hard, joints knifed through Ringmasters flesh. Both cheekbones were laid open, his collarbone was broken, his jaw dislocated and some ribs were defiantly cracked or broken.
The final uppercut ended things soon after and RingMaster slumped to the ground. The referee counted down and proclaimed Diamondbone the winner. Diamondbone raised his hand in victory and then tugged his semi-conscious opponent into a more comfortable position on the mat to ease his weight off the breaks.
They spoke for a few moments, clasping hands for a fight well done and then Diamondbone was shouting to the crowd as he disappeared back into the prep rooms.
The ring minions came and carried RingMaster out of the ring and dumped him in one of the other prep rooms and then set about preparing the ring for the next fight. Bets were being placed furiously, and unbelievably, even more people appeared.
"If there's a fire, we're all dead," said Kili, his security training taking over.
Graylin huffed a laugh and DINAO made a curious noise, like he didn't know what to make of that statement. Killer outright laughed like there was some inside joke only he knew.
Kili frowned at him and then gave up trying to understand. Graylin leaned back and then said, "How long do you think this match will last?"
Kili contemplated. "Danger didn't do so bad," he said.
Killer started to laugh again. Kili ignored him this time.
Graylin kept looking at him so Kili sighed and gave a time. "Two minutes?"
"I should like to think it will be longer than that," DINAO said coolly. "This is the second stage of the competition."
Killer laughed harder and Kili said, "Something you want to add?"
Killer, still laughing, shook his head. "Just a hunch," he said a moment later. He settled down after a bit and then the betting was being wrapped up, the ring was prepared and the announcer was bouncing into the ring, screaming unintelligently as usual.
The crowd responded vigorously to his questions and eventually started to chant, "Fight, fight, fight!"
"Let's bring on our contenders! Here is the man called Butcher! He'll chop you up and sell you!"
Kili rolled his eyes and Sting snorted with laughter.
Butcher ran into the room, pumping his arms and vaulted into the ring. People cheered hysterically until Kili's ears rang and then the announcer, said something that apparently ended with, 'Lion Prince.'
Music blared, the noise level went beyond deafening and then the Lion Prince was strolling out coolly. He held out his arms from his side as if saying, 'Look at me. Who can beat me?'
The crowd ate it up and roared louder. Kili clapped his hands over his ears again until the Lion Prince slipped between the ropes. The announcer slid out, the referee called the two fighters together, gave them the rules and then sent them into their respective corners.
A moment later the bell rung and the two fighters advanced. Butcher erupted from his corner like a formula one racecar from the starting line. He crashed into the mat in the same spectacular fashion, out cold.
The crowd went into silence as the Lion Prince calmly retracted his fist from the last of the three lightning fast moves he had used to disable Butcher.
"Oh wow," said Sting involuntarily into the silence.
His statement broke the silence and the crowd erupted.
Kili leaned towards Grayling and shouted, "Good thing I didn't bet with that time!"
Killer, somehow overheard him and started laughing. The referee lifted the Lion Prince's hand in victory and then the blond Den fighter was out the ring and heading back to the prep room. Kili blinked at his retreating back and then jumped up, dislodging DINAO from the back of his chair and sliding through the ropes after the Lion Prince.
When he finally made it through the thronging crowd, the Lion Prince was sitting on one of the benches inside capping back his bottle of water. Kili stood in the doorway and flopped his arms in a 'what the hell?' gesture.
A blond eyebrow raised coolly but his frosted blue eyes held a hint of amusement. Kili was pretty sure most people though would have taken one look at the Lion Prince and apologize for intruding on his sight.
Kili stalked in, glared at him and said, "What the hell was that?"
"A fight cub," he responded coolly, "I thought you knew what that was."
"That," said Kili sitting next to him, "was not a fight. I'm pretty sure that was a massacre."
The Lion Prince shrugged negligently but his manner was very pleased.
"You're a smug bastard," Kili informed him.
"Confidence cub," he murmured.
"Confidence is good," said Kili, "but you're not being confident, you're being smug."
"Pot, meet kettle."
Kili gave up at because he didn't have a defense and instead tugged at one of his hands. The Lion Prince raised an eyebrow again but let him have his hand. Kili set to work removing the wraps from the arm.
They sat in companionable silence whilst he worked and when he finished the Lion Prince's right hand, he gave Kili his left without comment. Kili unwound his other hand taking note of the callouses that spread over his knuckles, the toughness of the skin, the tiny, healed cuts that littered over his fingers. He recognized the scars from dagger work and those that beginners of sword fighting, often accumulated.
"Sword, daggers and what else?" he asked twisting the Lion Prince's hand to get a better view of the scars.
"Ball and chain, spear," he replied.
"Never did ball and chain," Kili said, "It's not really suited for my frame."
"No," said the Lion Prince, "it isn't."
"Never really did spear either. I did do staff though."
The Lion Prince shrugged and Kili inspected the knuckles of the hand he held and found several cuts that had reopened on them, even through the wraps. He looked around, spotted the bag with the Lion Prince's stuff and went over to it.
He came up triumphant with salve and brought it back and smeared it all over the Lion Prince's knuckles.
"Are you going to kiss it better too?" came his cool, sardonic response,
Kili snorted and said, "I'd lick it to make sure it got infected." His reply startled a laugh from the Lion Prince.
"No thanks," said the blond. Kili released his hand and leaned back against the wall. The Lion Prince raised an eyebrow at Kili's ribs and Kili shrugged.
"They're healing,"
"They're not going to be healed when you have to fight."
"My problem," Kili said shrugging again.
Something like approval lit in the Lion Prince's eyes. Still he said, "And you think you can still win?"
Kili snorted. "Not an amateur here. It's not the first time I've fought while injured."
The Lion Prince leaned back as well. "Fair enough," he says.
After a moment, he took a swing of his water again and offered the bottle to Kili. Kili wiped off the top and tipped it over his mouth, the cool water soothing his poor abused throat gained from shouting to be heard over the crowd.
He handed back the bottle and the Lion Prince dumped the remainder over his head. Kili hissed and leaned away to avoid being sprinkled with water.
"You barely broke a sweat!" he protested. He got an eyes-only smirk in return and then the Lion Prince got up and went in search of his shoes.
Kili huffed and then began the arduous process of rolling back up the wraps. He had just started on the second one when the Lion Prince returned, sporting shoes and a gray t-shirt he had pulled on. He leaned against the wall and waited patiently for Kili to finish.
Kili worked with the ease of long practice and soon finished the second. He handed both over to the Lion Prince, stood, sliding his arms into his jacket pockets and said, "See you at the next fight." Then he whisked out the room, with the Lion Prince's amusement following him out.
When you try to write fluff between one brother that barely talks and has next to zero normal social interaction and another that doesn't exactly know what to say...
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