The crowd gasped as Linnie's fist smashed into Liora's face. They winced, and Liora raised him into the air and threw him onto the floor. They cried in outrage when Linnie sent his knee into her gut.
Their idea of wrestling wasn't wrestling at all! Sure, they would 'grapple' with each other, but this was far more than that. These two... were too barbaric!
It wouldn't be long before blood would start to paint the platform.
Yes, this is how they would 'play' back when they were on the road. Linnie didn't feel any of the repercussions, and any injuries that Liora sustained would be healed quickly enough.
They had no idea that what they did wasn't called 'wrestling,' but was, in fact, called 'fighting like animals.'
"Someone stop the fight! Wait, nevermind—doesn't it look like the girl is winning?"
'Shut up! I'm definitely winning!'
Liora lunged, laughing, and crashed into Linnie's chest, knocking the breath out of him as they tumbled onto the wooden floor. He yelped in surprise, then responded by hooking a leg around hers before she could scramble away.
Her jaws opened wide, and Linnie paled.
'Is she serious!?'
He twisted at the last second, her teeth snapping shut on empty air rather than his shoulder. Linnie took the chance to roughly shove her off, but instead, she simply rolled with it—nimble as a fox.
She sprung back on top of him, pushing a knee into his ribs and pulling herself into him using his arm as leverage.
"Embarrassed?" she laughed.
'She's too competitive...!'
Linnie snarled in response, slamming his forehead into hers. He wrapped his other arm around her neck and rolled, trying to pin her down.
"Ow! What the—"
She threw him off of her, creating distance between them. They each took a moment to catch their breath before reengaging.
Liora dove, twisting through the air and trying to wrap him up again, her legs squeezing tight around his chest. They fell to the ground. It was actually a surprisingly impressive display by the girl, and almost worked.
Her face was flushed and her smug grin was glowing in the bright sunlight as she squeezed harder, pulling hard on his leg.
Linnie growled as he arched. His spine bowed as if it was made of rope, and his shoulders folded inward. His hips slid sideways, and one of his knees popped out of place just long enough to slide through her trap, before snapping back with a dull click.
He bent violently, using his momentum to break her balance. Suddenly, he was on top.
Liora frowned. Of course, she wasn't surprised by this uncanny ability of his. The first time he had done it, though, she had thought he accidentally broke something.
No, Linnie's body was simply... built for this. Perhaps if he felt pain, he would be more reluctant to use this strange ability. He didn't know if there was supposed to be pain while doing such things at all.
His body was incredibly flexible, and nearly every joint in his body was double or loose jointed. Added on top of his small size, it was almost impossible to get the boy into a true submission.
That's why his fights usually ended in either victory or him beaten to a pulp, unconscious.
Liora was slammed into the ground, laughing. Her inability to keep herself from wasting breath in such a manner was actually sabotaging herself. It also made Linnie pissed off to see her taking their match like a joke.
What he didn't realize, though, was that he was wearing his own funny expression. A wide grin, not unlike hers, was unknowingly stretched across his face.
The boy loved to fight. After all, it was all he was good at.
"Okay—ow, okay!" she said, still trying to buck him off, hands clawing at his arms.
He didn't answer. He was breathing hard now, sweat slick on his skin. Though he was smiling, his eyes had irritation written plainly inside of them. He grabbed her wrist and forced it down, then shifted his weight, pinning her legs with his own.
She kicked, her heel biting into his calf. He didn't even flinch... flinching was a bodily response to pain—something he didn't have.
Linnie leaned down, his forearm pressing across her shoulders, his body folding around hers with unsettling ease, and his joints bending just enough to keep his balance no matter how she thrashed.
Her laughter finally devolved into gasps for air.
"Okay—you win," she coughed, still smiling.
He held her there for another second, just to be sure, then released and rolled off. He had his own breathing to catch up on.
"Haaaah... haaah!"
A smug grin found its way onto his face, and he stood up slowly. Looking at the crowd didn't bring him the result he expected. Instead of cheers and awe, they were silent, looking at him with scorn.
"Girl, are you alright!? You—boy! Aren't you ashamed of yourself!? Who would fight so shamelessly with a girl like that!?"
"Huuuh!? I won fair and square!"
A boot flew from the crowd, one that Linnie barely ducked.
"What the hell—"
His sentence was cut off by another boot—this one colliding with his face. A random assortment of items flew through the air, all aimed at him.
"Hey! Stop! I'll kill all of you!"
He raised his arm, about to shoot fireball. Then he decided against it, because that would've been really, really stupid. Instead, he simply growled and made his way off the stage and to his hat.
Liora was still flat on the platform, catching her breath. She, however, had the luxury of actually being appreciated by the crowd. A woman, apparently here to wrestle, too, was even giving her cold water to drink and a towel to wipe the sweat off.
'You'd think she won with the treatment they're giving her!'
When she finally stood up, she waved to the crowd with a bright smile on her face. Linnie already escaped a distance away from the sea of people and was waiting on the sand. He scoffed when they cheered as she dropped from the stage and started to run towards him.
"I don't know—even though I lost, that wasn't embarrassing at all!"
"Shut up. Don't talk to me."