Argh, I couldn't quite get the idea I wanted across in this one. But I couldn't figure out how else to do it :P Feel free to point out what I could have done better!
Oh, and Beauty and the Beast is officially a quarter finished! Woo! :D
25. Equivalent Exchange
A blow for a blow, an eye for an eye.
We shouldn't be so evenly matched. He's toying with me, just like always. I should hate it.
A swing for a miss, a threat for a jibe.
There's an equivalency here, a back and forth balancing act that satisfies the scientist in me. Even if people don't think it, I'm order – even if I sleep in my clothes and kick down doors, I like an organized world, where I can keep things shelved and sorted and predictable.
A push for a shove, a jump for a leap.
Envy is different. He's the incarnation of chaos – that cackle of his when he's found me for yet another 'game', the tangled bird's nest of his hair. Even his fighting style is a blend of fifty different styles, all picked up over his long life, or so I assume. He's the one thing I've never been quite able to figure out.
Order for chaos and steel for steel.
"Tired already, pipsqueak?" he jeers, darting just out of reach.
"Not even! And at least I know how to dress!"
Back and forth, insult for insult, the way things (should) work.
Finally, it's over. Nobody wins – he just darts away into the darkness, maniacal laughter serving as a farewell and I slump onto the pavement, bruised and bleeding and breathing hard.
Equivalent exchange.