[Verdant] - Fatal Flaw

The Barcade was closing and everyone was being told to finish up their drinks and slot their last coins. Huntress looked to the Painted Purpleblood beside her, a Verdantian Native whom she’d routinely squared off with at this very Barcade for the past several sweeps. She had just finished performing an ultra-complex frame perfect unbreakable combo, winning her third consecutive win with a Perfect. He muttered at her in East Alternian, to which she revelled in and laughed; teeth were flashed, gapped and gold, and she gave him a friendly and _firm_ slap to his shoulder. He took it with a grimacing grin and a fake-out choke which just turned into a bubbling laugh and a shaking of her shoulders. He’d lean forward and, playfully, Huntress would nuzzle the tip of her nose against his. It left a white smudge on her face.

“_Same time tomorrow, Offearcer?_” He teased, slinging his arm over her shoulder as the pair walked back towards the bar for Final Rounds. Huntress reached up and held his wrist, laughing to herself as they came up. Without a word, the Bar Owner, a Native Blue, readied their drinks.
“Yeah yeah, boy, you really like gettin’ your ass kicked by a cop, huh?” Huntress purred, scrunching up her face at the Subjugglator as she spoke. He grinned a wicked and mirthful grin back at her. “_Somethin’ like that._” He replied, dropping his arm off to take up the pint of grape-colored booze. Huntress took up her two shots and downed them, one after the other, before hissing out a chuckle.

“A’ight, yeah. I got, like, a Thing I gotta do for the Presanc tomorrow so I might be a little _roughed up_ but I’m pretty sure as long as I got the use of like... _three_ of my fingers, I could kick your ass at any of the games in this place~”

The Subjugglator let out a booming laugh and spat something biting and flirtatious at the Olive in East Alternian. With that, he finished his drink, said his goodbyes with a kiss to her cheek and another white smudge, and headed off through the neon front doors of the Barcade. Huntress remained, eyes down and signing down her drinks for her tab. A large and _powerful_ hand gripped her shoulder, gnarled and dark nails easily snipping through the fabric of her shirt. Her brows raised first, and then so did her eyes.

“Can I help you?” Huntress spat. She was met with a deep and gravelled _’huhuhuhuh...’_ of a laugh from behind her moments before the painted face of yet another Subjugglator. Huntress had never seen this one before.

“**I was hopin’ so. How much is y’alls tab up and cost?**” Spoke The Wendigot, her voice strained and damaged from years of abuse. It made Huntress’ skin crawl despite the well-held smile on her dark grey lips.

“Why’s that any of your business, if you uhh... if you don’t mind me askin’? You own this Bar?” _Huntress knew full well that the Subjugglator didn’t._

“**No, no, no. See, I want to pay it for you. As __my__ half of an exchange.**”

Huntress laughed, shrugging off the large and horrifying hand and re-adjusting her shirt. She went back to writing as she replied. “I ain’t for sale. Not sure what you want from me, Ma’am but I ain’t a fuckin’ bodyseller nor a pale prostitute so you can take your Caegars els-”

“**No,**” Suangi interjected. “**-nothin’ like that. You misunderstand. See, I want you to _stop_ botherin’ my Brother- the one who all up and just left. He ain’t need to be pallin’ around with the likes of you, Lowbie.**”

The more Suangi spoke, the tenser Huntress became. The Customer Service smile had gone from her lips. “**So, I wanted to pay it off square; more if you want. Whatever it takes for you an your little motherfuckin self to stay away from that Mirthful Chucklefuck what left. Whatever it takes for you to stop makin’ a gross fuckin’, quadrant-skirtin’ motherfuckin scene like what y’alls was just doin’ over by the cabinets.**”

Huntress finished signing her Nightly Tab with a sharp flick of her wrist and a slap of the pen down on the bartop. Before she turned to look at The Wendigot, she rolled her neck, forced a smile, and only then did she proceed to turn on the balls of her feet. A wide and _fake_ grin adorned her face.

“A’ight, so, first-off! What I do on my time is none’a your business. If I wanna Quad a Subjugglator, I’ll quad a Subjugglator. Secondly, because _lowbies_ like me can be responsible, _shocker,_ I got like ~~C~~20 on a Tab that I pay off every fuckin’ weekend because, and _thirdly_, I’m an Offearcer of the Law for the VED.

All that bein’ said, Miss, I think you should take your Caegars and go buy some other Lowblood’s cooperaton with em. Might have more luck in the Red or Black Districts, might help you _relax_ some, I hear Bronzebloods fuck like mad.”

Suangi’s own smile doesn’t falter, no matter how much Huntress wished it would. All she did was step forward, closing more of the space between her and the Olive which only further put into perspective how much Height and Width The Wendigot had over the Huntress. Kanach didn’t shrink or lose ground. The Barcade went quiet.

“**How thoughtful of you but I __fuck__ quite enough to keep me and myself up and satisfied, thank you _Offearcer_.**” It was so much worse when _this_ Subjugglator spoke that title; it wasn’t a playful Joke, it was a vicious mockery.

“**Bein’ all up an’ enforcin’ the Laws of this here Planet means you’re familiar with em, right?**” Suangi spoke. Without touching her, The Wendigot reached forward and gripped the edge of the bar. She leaned down and in, smoke and blood scented breath pouring over Huntress’ face. It made her nose and eyes burn.

“**That bein’ said, I think you should leave, lest you be breakin’ Hemorebellious Laws, kittycat.**” Her head tilted as she spoke. One of The Wendigot’s hands came up, slowly, premeditatedly, and moved to stroke the side of Kanach’s cheek with the back of her index finger.

Verdant is a strange planet. The Subjugglators here are peaceful, largely non-threatening and generally accepting of their Lowblooded counterparts; their Churches are served by them, they welcome them into their worship, they commune and Honk, they praise shoulder to shoulder. Even the society as a whole is more relaxed, benign Hemorebellion is commonplace, Lowbloods speaking as equals Highbloods and Seadwellers because the Platform is allowed. Jadebloods find themselves largely uncullable, and even moreso nearly Worshipped on the cavernous planet.

So how, having grown up first in the Wilds of Verdant and then the populated City, was Kanach to know that this towering Monster was any different? How could she be blamed for what it was she were about to do?

The Wendigot’s hand was knocked away with a strike of fingerpads and claws, drawing beads of viscous purple blood to the surface of four thick slashes. Huntress’s smile was gone. Suangi’s smile was not.

“I know my rights. I ain’t gotta do _shit_ unless the Owner of the Bar sides with you, and I ain’t sure that’s gonna happen you fuckin overgrown thorn.” Huntress spat, upnodding to the Troll behind her. She turned to look over her shoulder at the man for confirmation.

“I don’t want any trouble. I think you should leave, Huntress.”

His words made her blood run cold. She felt sick. _This Barcade was practically a second home to her, and now she was being ousted by a Subjugglator Fuck with a chip on her shoulder._ A low growl left Kanach’s lips. With a wild push off from the bar, she shouldered into the taller Troll on her way out. Of course, while that should have been the _end_ of the interaction, Trollian Values weren’t really something Huntress had properly learned. She’d sparred with the Empress, wiped the floor with Violetbloods. Who the fuck was this _Purple_ to tell her to leave?

Whipping back around, she threw her middle fingers up at The Wendigot and bore her teeth. The Alcohol and Fire in her was about to speak, and neither part understood the weight of the situation.

“Let’s not fuckin’ meet again, Asshole, because I ain’t playin’ around. I _will_ fuck you up and I _will_ claw that fuckin’ smile right off and watch you bleed out like a fuckin’ animal until you die. Have a good night!!”

And with that, Huntress left the building.

The silence of the Barcade was suffocating and thick, only broken by the sharp clacking of The Wendigot’s boots on the hardwood floor. Her hip met the edge of the bar and she casually brought the rakes of her fingers down to procure the Tab last, scanning it with the milky purple of her eyes. Her head tilted, the tangled mass of mane falling over her exposed and scarred shoulders. White and undefined pupils turned up towards the barman, and Suangi smiled with her horrible and uneven shards of yellowed teeth.

“**I’ll be payin’ this. You’ll be tellin’ me that lowbie’s address, too. You heard her. She directly threatened to kill me.**”

Another deep, guttural ‘huhuhuhuh’ filled the room of the Barcade.
_Slowly, everyone began to file out for the night._