[FIN][1v1] Setting the Record Straight (Mort v. Bella)

[medigel]

Human. Human. For much too long he had worn the skin of a living being and wondered how the hell they could stand that constant beating heart and the sweat and the squishy insides and the much too receptive to pain nerves . . . Yuck. It had come with positive side effects, yes, but Mort was much, much more comfortable to be back, literally, in his own skin.

He had stumbled back into the hallway he had been so rudely sucked out of and nearly ran into a locker, but . . . yeah. All there. Or not all there in the case of the rotten flesh. Jack, it was good to be away from all that dungeon nonsense and back into the world of Fear and stitched skin and blues. Mort snatched his phone from a coat pocket and prayed he hadn't gone away long enough to go noticed - or rather, that Bells' exam had taken her longer than expected.

-AyeAvast

Text to Belladonna
How'd it go?

 

[AyeAvast]

Apparently Mort had been gone far longer than either he, or Belladonna, had really been aware of for it had been a little over an hour since the witch had returned from her exam. Honestly, it was for the better as she had immediately run back to her room where she locked the door, lit twelve different sticks of incense and then hopped into the shower. The first thing she had done was wash her hair five times, twice with her favorite shampoo, twice with the one Mort had left in there for his own showers, and then one last time with a bottle she'd forgotten about stashed under the sink. After that was a round of conditioner before she grabbed all her soap and proceeded to scrub herself raw. Even once she'd used most of her own soap, she still did one more round with the additional less feminine smelling one thanks to her zombie. There was absolutely no way she was going to allow herself to even remotely smell of her exam shame, so it was better to be ridiculously over the top than smelly.
Naturally all of this took a great deal of time. Long enough, in fact, that the water had run cold for the proper duration of time in which to reheat and turn back to scalding hot. Pleased by this Belladonna hoped from the shower, swaddled herself in a variety of towels and entered the hazy atmosphere of her now scented smoke filled room.
"Perfect." She announced right as her phone went off. Even more perfect. The witch was quick to dress in something a little more rugged than her normal attire after she sent a quick message back to Mort. Then she was out the door, clattering happily toward the gym.

Ol-j-man

Text to Mort
I'M A HOB I'M A HOB I PASSED I PASSED MEET ME AT THE GYM OK OK YAYAYAYAYAYYAY

 

[medigel]

Mort was about halfway to the reaper dorms before he got her response. And the gym was . . . not that way. Aghhhhhh.

AyeAvast

Text to Belladonna
Awesome!! omw

But below the complaining there was still a spark of excitement and pride, for this was a long-time coming for his ghoulfriend; she had been a hob when they had first met, but so many different things had interfered with her education. To hear that she had finally advanced and overcome the last major milestone of her knobhood was a good sign: finally, a change that was good.

In spite of his shuffling pace, Mort made it to the gym in short order, stretching his arms out behind him as he searched for Little Miss Redhead. "Beeeeellsssss?"  

[AyeAvast]

After a quick towel dry of her hair, Belladonna was off at a run across campus. Perhaps she should have waited a bit, should have given herself a little down time between her exam and this little battle, but jack damn it, she was excited! She had been a Knob for forever, so it was a major accomplishment that she'd finally graduated to her third year. Honestly it should have just been another interesting thing, not the major celebration the witch wanted it to be, but as carefree happiness was a bit difficult to come by right now, she'd take it.
She would not only take it, she would ensure it.
Which was precisely why she encouraged this little skirmish between Mort. They both needed to not only let off some steam, but to harken back to something fun and light. To a bet made only a month or so ago.

In her excitement, Belladonna had run straight into the gym and claimed an area in which for them to duke it out. So excited was she that she stood rooted in the very middle of the arena even when she heard Mort call for her. Instead she slammed her hands onto her hips and in her loudest voice (All things considered, was exceptionally loud) shouted: "C'MON TOUGH GUY. SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT."
Polite, society perfect Belladonna was gone. Standing in the middle of the gym was a small, red haired witch who wanted to hear her boilfriend sing to her.
Because they needed this lightness, they needed this irreverent silliness.
And Belladonna was going to do her damnedest to make sure that happened.  

[medigel]

She would be standing in the dead center of the arena, all puffed out and smug and loud and ready to duke it out. And dramatic. Never not dramatic. Mort couldn't help but grin as he approached even with the shouting deafening him for a moment, stopping where a white line denoted the starting point for a duelist. As he had headed over, he had had some doubts about how rusty he might have gotten during his two week absence, or if his Fear had been corrupted by Insanity enough to affect his accrued experience.

Well, there was only one way to find out. The prospect of releasing some pent up energy and emotion in a friendly competition was vastly appealing, and before he knew it Mort found himself being pulled in by the witch's fiery attitude.

"Couldn't quite hear you. What'd you want again?" he asked, the grin turning into a smirk as he shrugged out of his coat and tossed it to the side as epically as he could, because this wasn't going to be just a battle: this was going to be a cutscene.  

[medigel]

Rolling his shoulders and head, he took a stance and began to power Thor up. "Would hate to hit a ghoul on day've passed exam," he continued with that same little smirk. "Especially if tired from it. Think can keep up, little witchling?"

She didn't have a lot of time to answer, as the zomboil flung himself forward with unexpected speed to smash her barrier with Thor.

Quote:

HP: 50
Damage: 10
FEAR: Y3 SS, Y2 Eye, Y1 Chill
Distortion Points: 2

 

[AyeAvast]

Even if the witch had taken a horribly defiant stance, she could not help the wide grin that broke free as Mort made his way over to her. It was extremely difficult not to rush over to him and give him any sort of greeting, but his words caused the witch to dramatically point a finger in his direction.
"You heard me!" Another sort of joking threat had been planned on being tossed in, but when the zombie shrugged out of his coat and then epically tossed it like a boss, Belladonna almost swooned. Instead she visibly kirakira'd, eyes wide and mouth parted lightly.
Naturally this took far longer than was really necessary for her to recover from, so by the time she'd dropped her hands from under her chin, Thor was already charged.
A tiny noise of surprise was all Belladonna managed before she simultaneously threw up her shield and tossed out her cards.

"Guess we'll just have to find out!" She shouted with a dramatic toss of a card toward the zombie. When it only grazed past his arm she rolled her eyes and quickly fanned herself, apparently far more affected by that coat toss than she'd thought.
It had been pretty bad a**.

Battle Stats

HP: 40/50
Damage: 1 >:T
FEAR: Y3 BC, Y2 Chill, Y1 BC

 

[medigel]

Mort didn't take notice of the new paper cut, all grins and sharp teeth at how stunned she had been. It wasn't often he got to let loose, and while he might have normally lamented that it took fighting to bring that out in him, he was going to try and have fun regardless.

"Doesn't look like have much to figure out, huh?" he commented as they put distance between them again. Thor whirred to life with blue energy that shot up its length, and the zomboil was now bouncing on his toes. "Looks like zombie s'faster than the living~"

Quote:

HP: 49
Damage: N/A
FEAR: Y3 SS, Y2 Eye, Y1 Chill
Distortion Points: 2

Next turn is -4 instead of -6!

 

[AyeAvast]

"OOOOHHHHHH~" The witch cooed suddenly with a dramatic little skip as she flapped her arms, eyes wide. "Everything feels kind of different, ooohhh~ Is this what being a third year is like? Oh Hecate, I have been missing out!" Partially she was ignoring his first comment, but Belladonna was rather surprised by her barrier that felt... Stronger, somehow.
Oooh, indeed!

"Faster than me? Ha! We'll just have to see about that, won't we?" Belladonna replied with a devilish smirk. A bit of distance had been put between them, but what was the fun in that? With a lurch forward she broke into another run, cards militant in their circle around her. This time she headed directly toward Mort, a wayward cackle breaking free as she drew nearer. One hand grabbed a card and right as Belladonna got close enough to attack, she instead lunged forward and did her best to grab him around the knees.
Because yup, she was playing rough today.

Battle Stats

HP: 40/50
Damage: 10
FEAR: Y3 BC, Y2 Chill, Y1 BC

 

[medigel]

"Mmhmm~" That was the same look of delightful surprise he had gotten when he first went into battle as a third year - granted with a more subdued "delighted" part since it had been in a Lair. Still, imagine what it would be like when they were graduates!

The only reason he was ready to meet her sudden lunge was from his Fear charge, but the force behind it was still surprising enough to knock him down; Mort was still used to being a level higher than the witch after all. But with his body charged, he had enough sense about him to continue the momentum she had brought, fling her up and over him with a forceful kick of both legs. A card had embedded itself just above his knee, and with a small grunt he ripped it out and tossed it away as he got back to his feet, not looking winded but with less bounce to his step.

"Mrrr. Not bad, but not spectacular," he teased.

Quote:

HP: 39
Damage: 9
FEAR: Y3 SS, Y2 Eye, Y1 Chill
Distortion Points: 2

 

[AyeAvast]

Whoops

 

[AyeAvast]

Totally imbued with all the dramatic gleefulness of being a fresh graduate to a new year, Belladonna was far too giddy and far too energetic for her own good. Or, well, for Mort's own good really. She was the one doing all the tackling, after all. Unfortunately for her she'd hadn't thought that motion through all the way as she flung over him and did not even get the satisfaction of a playful romp. A startled "EEK" pervaded her flip over him as the tumbled onto the ground and managed to tuck her knees in fro a few rolls.
Eventually she stopped, but not without a few scuffs and scrapes. This was not going well at all...
"Are you kidding? That was stupendous!" Belladonna huffed in a falsely pout manner before she was happily scrambling back up to standing. Well, if this was a new year, better try something new as well!

The witch spun her cards around her in a circle as a finger tapped against her chin, as though she were picking out a skirt to wear rather than an attack. Finally her eyes lit up and she snatched the card up.
"Let us try something new." She announced in a dramatic tone before she tossed the card into the air. It quickly exploded into three fairly large, circular discs that as they plummeted down toward Mort, could be easily found to have a pentagram emblazoned into the stone. Unfortunately for Belladonna, her enthusiasm did not quite do her justice as each stone barely missed the zombie and instead crashed heavily into the ground, where they crumbled to gray dust.
"Huh..." The witch mused with a disappointed frown, certain that would have worked. Maybe third time would be the charm?

Battle Stats

HP: 31/50
Damage: ??
FEAR: Y3 BC, Y2 Chill, Y1 BC

 

[medigel]

"Okay, okay, will say was much better than when was second year," Mort relented with a little grin. "Last fight was terribly one-sided, no?"

At the sight of the card being tossed and the sensation of an influx of Fear, immediately Mort crossed his arms before him to defend himself from the impending attack. It wasn't the lance at least, but the sight of the three discs flying at him did make him step back - and he twisted his body about awkwardly to dodge them, barely avoiding bone meeting stone.

As the weapons disintegrated into dust, he lowered his hands and snapped a few fingers, inciting a small ring of electricity to dance between his fingers. "New trick? Looks nasty," Mort complimented before flicking the energy her way, more of a "come get me" than an actual attack.

Quote:

HP: 39
Damage: 3
FEAR: Y3 SS, Y2 Eye, Y1 Chill
Distortion Points: 2

 

[AyeAvast]

"Really? It feels like I'm getting worse..." The witch replied with a heavy sigh and slump of shoulders. At least she'd actually managed a few good hits on that battle, instead of being pretty much mauled like this one.
Still, this was supposed to be fun so Belladonna drew in a deep breath, rolled her shoulders and was promptly zapped. The bolt was literally and figuratively shocking, but more so was the little wiggle of fingers Mort had given.
Come and get him? Oh, wrong thing to say darkling.
Once again Belladonna launched herself forward into a run, debating whether to try another tackle or not. The first one had worked so marvelously that she figured it couldn't hurt, right?

So this time the witch didn't even bother with cards and instead aimed for Mort's middle. Because maybe if she was very lucky she could sneak a kiss in there somehow.

Battle Stats

HP: 28/50
Damage: 11
FEAR: Y3 BC, Y2 Chill, Y1 BC

 

[medigel]

Worse? More like more likely to fluctuate. One moment she was barely scratching him, the next she was tackling him again but with even more force than he could handle or counteract. With a yelp Mort crashed bodily to the floor under her, momentarily stunned as his skull whipped against the hard ground.

Note to self: watch how much you goad your energetic ghoulfriend.

Wincing, but still striving to keep his head on literally and metaphorically, Mort struggled to gain control by grasping her shoulders and trying to roll her to the side. "I-If didn't know better, would think was coming onto me . . ."

Quote:

HP: 28
Damage: 3
FEAR: Y3 SS, Y2 Eye, Y1 Chill
Distortion Points: 2