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[ Wait.

Hold on. ]

You got yourself hurt???

Again????

[ He's not even dodging the question about his eye, it's just that the idea of this has him so instantly concerned that he's breezing right past anything else. He has to know this first! Cat, you can't just randomly mention that to him with a 'haha', that's not how Inigo works! ]

thats not a nice way to put it
its not like i set out to get injured
i dont even like fighting

I'm just worried!!!

[ Maybe it's a little overly honest and straightforward, but.. well, that's Inigo for you. "A little overly honest and straightforward" might as well be his middle name, especially whenever the attitude he tries to put on slips and this is instead revealed behind it. ]

Besides, you never gave off the impression you didn't like fighting. I know it wasn't exactly you back there that one time, but.. you sure did seem eager to fight there.

"survive even if it means fighting dirty" remember?
survival is always the goal
that half just got a bit paranoid
and irritated haha

[Not getting worn out as quickly had helped incline him towards violence, too. Cat misses that part.]

youre an unbelievable guy you know?
not that its a bad thing

[ ... ]

Wait, how is this suddenly about me?

And what's so unbelievable about me in the first place? I'm pretty sure each and every single thing I have ever told you since we first met was very normal!

[ That one might have to get fact checked, despite Inigo's confidence in just writing it and sending it out there. ]

haha
you are far from normal

never mind all that
i dont like agreeing with that half so much like this
it isnt why i messaged you today

Okay, okay. We can spar. Even though you called me unbelievable. That's just how nice of a guy I am.

[ Make sure to remember that, Cat!!! ]

If you want to try it out right now, just send me a place where you would like to practice. I'll head right over. [ Yes, he is willing to clear his schedule for the other! Despite everything. Maybe Inigo really is just that nice of a guy.. ]

didnt i say it wasnt a bad thing when it came to you?

[You make sure to remember it, Inigo!!!

Anyway, because Inigo is 1. so eager to see him apparently, and 2. an unbelievable, nice guy, the location that Cat gives him directions to is actually...his house! Wow!! Almost no one gets his address. It's a little place, just a snug house in the hill with a black, circular door and a short teen in a cat mask sitting on top of it, longspear made of his city's debris laid in the roof's grass next to him. He's dressed simpler, now, not wanting to fuss with his gear even if it makes him feel exposed. The weather is getting nicer, anyway.]

[ Since Inigo is such an unbelievable nice guy, it doesn't even take too long for him to show up, like he doesn't want to make the other wait, no much hemming and hawing and huffing Inigo may do about some of the stuff Cat says to him. Occasionally.

In fact, he probably arrives a little earlier than most people would after having to make their way over towards Cat's house - like maybe he ran part of the way as part of his desire to not let the other wait. There's even a faint hitch to Inigo's breath that betrays he definitely ran part of the way. Don't tell anyone though.

He obviously brought his sword, but it's still hanging in its sheath off his belt. ]

Hey. [ Despite it maybe not being the most exuberant greeting ever, Inigo does give the other a slight smile as he says it, standing in front of the house and looking up at Cat. ] .. you've got a nice place. It looks cozy, I mean.

[He'd sat up a little straighter at the approach -- he doesn't live in too bustling an are, but there was still a fair amount of foot traffic, so that had been a common occurrence while he waited. When Inigo speaks rather than continues on his way, Cat grins to himself, face hidden behind the mask as usual, and pushes himself to his feet with his spear's help.]

Heh. Cozier on the outside than in. Not much of a homemaker.

[It wasn't like it was going to feel like a real home unless his sister was there, too. Still, it wasn't actually terrible, mostly thanks to a couple of plants he'd been gifted by friends, whether they'd been called true or not. Tiny touches for a tiny house.

Bizarrely, as Cat trundles down the slope that goes into his roof to meet Inigo properly, he's doing a little breath-catching of his own.]

That didn't take you too long. Do you live nearby, then? Or were you out and about already?

Oh.. [ ... ] You know.

[ That suspicious pause definitely makes it look like there's something Inigo isn't saying here, even though he tries to casually shrug like there's nothing suspicious about this. Whatsoever. Nuh-uh, nothing at all!

In fact, he technically hasn't given an answer at all by the time he's already saying: ]

Are you alright? You kind of seem out of breath.

[ Only a little bit. In fact, Inigo probably seems worse out of breath right here.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. But Inigo knows he had to run over here - what's Cat's excuse? ]

[Uh huh. Mmkay. Inigo's lucky that Cat's not too invested on getting his address out of him or making someone else's health his business. He's got enough of that on his own plate. With his free hand he waves the worry off, following the gesture up with,]

It's just from lazing about for weeks. I'm all healed up.

[Or it's the touch of pneumonia getting ready to drag him down, but that's a realization for another day. For now, he ducks to the side, spear planted, a curious cat leaning to get a better view. He sounds teasing rather than concerned.]

Need a moment? Some water?

Oh, very funny.

[ There's a bit of a sarcastic quality of that, half an eye roll added, but it doesn't seem to be anything too intense. After all, even Inigo shows it when he gets upset enough, and this clearly isn't that.

It's just him meeting Cat's teasing and joking at a similar level. Or as similar as he can get, anyway. ]

For your information, I was born ready for this. [ Despite running over, and being more exhausted than the usual because of that - but after Cat's joke, he's fully ready to just jump into it now, exhaustion be damned.

He pulls his sword out of its sheath, throwing said sheath off to the side carelessly. ]

If you need a pause or a moment of preparation, I completely understand. [ Now who's doing the teasing, Inigo... ] But, otherwise-- Have at me!

[It's difficult to tell, but seeing and hearing Inigo play along gets Cat to perk up a little. There's even a soft heh! for the effort before Cat is backing up into his own stance. It'll be familiar to Inigo, after that little spat he had with Cat's lesser half, but at the same time more cautious.

He's more aware of his weaknesses, which are even greater in number than when he'd last fought, despite it not being that long ago. The only thing he's really got going in his favor now is that the heavier weight of his weapon is familiar. It might be draining, especially on his aching, lethargic body, but he'll be able to hold his balance better and follow through on strikes.

...It is so much easier to fight in shallow water, where he can hear the footsteps, than on a cobblestone path cushioned by grass and dirt. Good thing he's already known for being chatty, even if talking while he swings and jabs with his spear is going to take more out of him than he'd like. Inigo would be easier to get talking than a puppet.]

Can you be more than defensive, I wonder?

[ It is easy to make Inigo talk.

And it's also easy to make Inigo move. Judging by the sheer sound of his footsteps on the ground, it's not that difficult at all to see what Inigo's style of fighting is. It's all very quick, like the boy is incredibly light on his feet, moving like a dancer as he swing his sword. ]

Okay, but you know why I was holding back on that last time!

[ And indeed, it seems to have been holding back - because Inigo isn't doing so now. There's actually a lot more aggressive strikes now, rather than him only blocking the way he was doing when he dealt with that odd half of Cat. Despite his fondness for the other, he doesn't seem to be holding back in this regular spar. ]

I was worried about hurting you in the middle of that strange situation!

Edited 2024-09-08 17:56 (UTC)

[He remembers the dancing steps, and tries to keep them in mind while tracking the voice. It both does and doesn't help -- he's able to picture Inigo stepping and predict the distance he'd swing from, lifting his spear to meet the slashes with the arm of it, but...he's able to picture so, so clearly the arcing swings of a curved blade brought down with ferocity or as a followthrough on a twirl. It's more distracting than not to realize that the only light tinkling sound of bells is coming from him. There's no partner with a matching set with sure, practiced movements ensuring he knows she's near, she's still moving, and he won't be hurting her on accident.

He'll have plenty of time to get entrenched in these thoughts later, as the fever sets in. For now, Cat grits his teeth to try and bite them back and replace them with frustration over how his movements shouldn't be as sluggish as they are, even if he's out of practice with a weapon that's a comfortable weight for him, but goes beyond what one would expect of someone so small, or of a spear at all. His laugh is almost more of a cough, though that comes from his feelings rather than his poor lungs, for once. Probably not too much more of it being that way.]

Oho? You're not worried about hurting me now? Inigo! Aren't we friends?

[It would be easy to not believe it, used as a taunt the way it is. Cat doesn't fully believe it himself yet, though he genuinely appreciates Inigo more than he would expect.

He knocks the sword aside by catching it on the patchy, broken sign coming off the pole that once directed people to Toy Land, quickly jerking to correct his aim and lunge forward with the sharpened spikes of some wrought iron something meant to keep people out that now live at the spear's head.]

Edited (rip, before firefly days...) 2024-10-04 04:31 (UTC)

[ It would be hard to not see the sluggishness in the other's movement. Even more so for someone with a trained fighter's eye. If it was anyone but Cat, Inigo may have questioned why they would want to spar in a condition like this in the first place. But since it's Cat-- He already knows, right? The other is so prideful, so guarded. He'd likely want to keep training and be prepared for combat no matter what else was going on.

It's the sort of thing that would want to make him say that Cat doesn't have to worry, that Inigo would protect him if he'd ever need it, but that's exactly the sort of thing that pride wouldn't accept either, right?

So this makes the most sense. Being here right now, doing this with him. Inigo trusts his own fighting skills enough to know how to not really hold back, yet ensure that he isn't making a move that would seriously injure Cat if it went wrong. ]

I'm not worried. [ --is the answer as he dodges that weapon. He watches it, trying to memorize its swing, its speed. It isn't quite like anything Inigo has said anyone use back where he comes from, so it takes a little bit of getting used to. ] Because I know that today it's not like we are fighting to death.

[ Would that Cat back there have?

Inigo thinks so. But mostly because he did not see that as Cat. Not as the person standing in front of him right now, as Inigo twirls on his feet to move in for another strike of his sword. ]

Or would you like to?

[ There's something almost teasing in his voice. Like he's daring Cat to say he would want to, even though Inigo knows - trusts - that there's no way the other would actually want to kill him.

After all-- ]

You wouldn't do that to a friend, right?

[Cat hops back, holding his weight on one foot to make it easier to pivot, and follows through the motion with a twirl of his spear to get his next swing more momentum, already grinning before Inigo asks his second question.

Once he does, though, Cat has to laugh, thinking of a puppet handing him a golden coin without a hint of an expression on his face even as Cat chattered away about how, given time, they could become actual friends. Of saying, "I'll let you go," and meaning it, even though it went against the job he was given, and even though he had to beg without a hint of over-the-top coyness he usually got to cushion his feelings in. He'd known long before the words came out what would happen if his plea -- and bid for friendship -- wasn't enough.

He thinks of a wolf crunching down on a lighter spear, shaft made of wood but tip a sharp, deadly metal, as easily as one might a pretzel, and how it could have been his arm. His rib aches -- just barely, now -- where the paw pad hadn't done anything to soften the hard kick against him that caused all this extra trouble, and where cautious hands had later examined him to confirm what they already knew about how much he'd been broken, and by what. Cat knows he'd barely gotten away from the first one here he'd named a friend and meant it.

Unfortunately, he doesn't get a chance to answer outside of that laugh, because it's just enough to push him the rest of the way into a coughing fit that has him doubling over. His spear is planted clumsily into the ground so he can both support himself and hide behind the shaft as his guard if Inigo isn't able to pull out of a swing, or if he's like Cat, and would absolutely do that to a friend, whether he wanted to or not.

Damn it. He was enjoying this, the not having to.]

[ Thankfully enough Inigo is practiced enough with a blade that he's able to redirect the swing at the last moment - mostly because he hasn't seen in that split second yet that Cat is using the spear to guard him, and while Inigo can guess the other will attempt to do that, he doesn't want to risk it.

So he redirects the momentum of the swing of his sword upwards at the last moment. It's done quickly enough that it seems Inigo doesn't even suspect this may be some sort of distraction attempt on Cat's part. He just takes it entirely for what it is, dropping his sword on the ground to instead have his hands land on the other, one hand resting on Cat's shoulder and the other on his back. ]

Hey.

[ It's not said loudly, but there's an urgency in Inigo's voice. There's a worry in Inigo's eyes to match, even if Cat likely can't see it with the way he's doubled over. ]

Are you okay?

[It's too bad that there's no use to exploiting this reaction, in times where Cat doesn't actually feel like his lungs are too small for the breathing he needs to do. If anything, the reason he makes note of it is out of exasperation -- concern? -- over how trusting a boy this is. Every time they talk he proves to Cat that he needs someone to watch out for him before he gets himself killed, or worse.

He can't do too much about it now, though. Cat wants to jerk away from the touch, but it would only make it harder to catch his breath.]

Y-yeah... [Never mind that it took him some time to get that out, and that there's a little crackle on his inhale now.] Maybe I'm pushing it after all. Fighting already wore me out before all this, heh.

There's no shame in listening to what your body tells you.

[ Inigo isn't sure if the other is worried about that, but.. well, generally speaking, Cat does seem a whole lot more prideful than Inigo himself is. And Inigo already has a complex about often wanting to seem stronger than he really feels. He can't help but instinctively want to reassure the other because of it, his hands still not leaving the other.

Especially since he's thinking about maybe doing more here. Something along the lines of-- ]

Maybe you should sit down.

[ Not that he's guiding Cat to help him with that just yet. He first wants to make sure it's something the other actually wants before doing that, not wanting to force him. ]

Ugh.

[Underneath the privacy of his mask, Cat rolls his eyes. It's awfully patronizing...but at the same time, arguing would be a waste of breath, and he'll still fighting to catch that, so...

Leaning to rely more on his own feet and his longspear, he eases himself down with Inigo's help and splays his hand across his ribs as if looking for a piece sticking out he can simply press back into place and make everything better. Things are still a little tender, but from what he knows and can feel, the freshly healed break doesn't seem like it should be causing this current predicament. Why was he feeling so heavy and like he couldn't breathe?]

Just gonna take a few minutes, then... I hope you aren't thinking you can call this a 'win'. I was barely getting started.

[ Despite his worry for the other, Inigo does smile a little bit at the other when he also squats down to be on a more even level with Cat.

Unfortunately for Cat, it's a very sweet, sappy smile. And there's nowhere to run from it, given Cat's current state. ]

Don't worry, I will ensure you'll have plenty of time to kick my butt later. [ (Affectionate.)

Look, Inigo is not going to full on tease a friend after said friend has gone down, okay. This is a more fond joke than that, especially with the worry still on his mind. ]

Does it at least feel a little better now you're sitting down?

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