Spa Town Crawl [Chili]

Having been determined to catch up to Kanna drink-wise, Chili had downed several drinks and finally won against his enhanced metabolism. He was toasted, unable to walk much of a straight line, and he had chosen to purchase a lone fifth of rum to take for the trip.

The walk to the casino was quick, or at least it felt like it. At least Chili's assumption had been correct, as Kanna herself exclaimed confirmation once she spotted the casino sign. Once inside, things had transpired in a rather quick blur. Chili was still coherent enough to remember some of what had happened since they entered the casino.

After test-playing a few different games, Kanna and he had settled on partaking in craps when about fifteen minutes in, a gentleman approached with a small invitation. Someone had issued a fight request for the pettiest reason.

Apparently, Kanna had bumped into a V.I.P. member at some point as they were playing craps. She had overextended on her dice throw and ended up stumbling into him. Her horns poked him barely. Apparently, this man had taken offense to that and had gone to get his bodyguard before issuing a fight request.

That is how Chili and Kanna had found themselves on the opposite end of the fighting pit, an eight-foot deep, fifteen-foot long, fifteen-foot wide literal pit.

Getting down the latter was interesting, especially with the amount of alcohol in his system and only having one free hand since the other one still had the bottle of rum in it.

Once inside the "ring" Chili took another long swig out of the bottle before he turned to listen to Kanna. When he understood she had no idea what was going on, Chili sobered up a little, and then, before he could answer, the bell dinged.

In one energetic line, Chili alerted Kanna, "We are in a fight! Those guys versus us!"

Then the darkly tanned giant bodyguard rushed him while the potato V.I.P. darted for Kanna. Chili didn't have much time to process as he saw the glint of a blade. Chili narrowly avoided an upward swipe from a large machete with a last-second side step and ninety-degree bodily rotation to the left.

Time seemed to slow as the blade crossed dangerously close to his face. His eyes narrowing, Chili deftly delivered a devastating front kick to the bodyguard's inner right knee. As the man cried out in pain and went to fall to his knees, Chili caught him mid-decent with a follow-up right hook.

Blood spurted from the guard's mouth, and a sickening pop rang out as his jaw dislocated. His lips mushed into his teeth as he slammed into the ground from the force of Chili's punch. To the guy's credit, he did manage to roll with the momentum and ended up back on his feet.  

As the guard took a defensive stance, Chili was regaining his footing, having put more force into his punch than he meant to had sent him stumbling a couple of steps.

Chili knew the fight wouldn't stop, and using weapons was not against the rules. However, it was still a punk move. The bodyguard was tough. Out of Chili's peripheral, he watched the man shove his jaw back into place. However, dude had picked the wrong person to fight.

A smirk came across Chili's lips as he took the opportunity to watch Kanna fight. Chili took a swig from his rum as he partook in seeing her fight for the first time since they met.
The guard glowered at Chili, who blatantly ignored him to watch the other two tussle.

The guard never left Chili's side view. If the man made a move, it wouldn't end well for him.

[wc: 624 || total: 10806/8000 for New Years Event || wc: 2806 left over.]

"A fight?!"

She had no memory of how this happened. One moment she was flinging some dice, the next she was here. The blur of colors in between eluded her for the moment, but she really didn't have much time to ponder. Potato man was clunking his meaty hands together and stomping toward her, sporting a smug snarl. "N-No... wait!"

Kanna started off by twirling around the arena, alternating between drunken giggles and panic. "I don-... I don't fiiiight!" she fretted on the verge of tears, and thus far that seemed true. The potato man, who currently looked quite literally like a freakishly large one to the demoness, kept lunging at her and swatting around, either trying to catch her or hit her. He wasn't god's gift to speed, and the horned girl had no trouble dodging him. She was actually quite swift, even when she was wobbly. It was almost as if she was dancing, though it was very much unintentional.

Everything changed when Chili's opponent produced a weapon and she smelled blood. Even though the blood wasn't even Chili's, something in her brain simply switched. It was abrupt. Her seemingly accidental evasion of the stocky man turned much more purposeful as she sprung right at him. Above him, in fact. Her legs were quite powerful. "Move," she said coldly, kicking off of his shoulder-- he slammed forward and faceplanted onto the ground-- and soaring over him to the taller, darker man glaring at the blond.

She was fast. In a blink, she'd materialized between her friend and his foe, dwarfed but unfazed. Her eyes were sharp and crimson in hue. An icy, threatening aura wafted around her as if oozing from her pores, and for the first time since Chili had met her, her attitude matched her horns. This wasn't a healer. This was a demon, one that had lost just a little of her finely tuned control over her violent genes, but wasn't gone entirely. She wanted to protect her friend... by really hurting the man attacking him.

It wasn't really that she thought Chili needed her help. She wasn't really thinking at all. It was instinct, but it was good to know her instincts, even when forsaking her sensibilities, still sided with protection. Aggressive protection.

Her leg whipped out in front of her suddenly and her foot collided with her enemy's chest, push kicking him. The force simultaneously caved him in and rocketed him across the pit and into the fence.

[wc: 415 || total: 3221]

Chili felt a mixture of emotions when he witnessed Kanna move like a whirlwind, and in a blink, she downed both opponents without much effort. Chili had not had someone be protective of him since his parents. It was odd, having someone who cared to watch your back, but it brought a certain warmth to his chest.

He had figured she was able to handle herself, considering her heritage. He believed she chose to be peaceful, and his hunch was correct. By gods, though, it was a delight to see; not only could she handle herself, but she could give him a run for his money.

A smirk broke across his face as her kick sent the bodyguard flying! "Damn, Kanna, you just knocked that dude the fuck out." Chili laughed

His levity; was short-lived as a gunshot reverberated off the pit walls; Chili's eyes narrowed as a bullet whizzed dangerously close to Kanna's head.

In the minute time that Chili had commented on Kanna's ass-kicking;
the potato man had stood up from his face plant, his nose broken and gushing blood from the sheer force he was slammed into the ground with. In his hands was what appeared to be a small magnum.

Chili had lost everyone close to him and spent most of his years as a traveling hermit, keeping to himself and only interacting when required.

Kanna was the first person he'd had to call a friend in a long time; when the vivid image of her getting hit by the bullet instead crossed his mind, Chili's expression became a calm smile, his eyes cold as the flame in front of his forehead became larger and more sporadic. His reasoning flew out the window.

As the stalky V.I.P. took aim again, this time yelling as he did, "You freaking half demon-filth! I'm going to kill you!"

Chili stepped in the way of his aim, his smile getting a bit wider. Turning into a Cheshire cat grin. Speaking his tone eerily stoic, Chili started walking closer, even as the iron-fisted individual began to shoot at him.

"You know it's funny how you insult her. All things considered."

A bullet hit Chili in his shoulder, digging through his flesh but going no further as his concrete-like bones stopped it from going any further. His healing already starting to push the bullet out as his meat rebuilt itself.

"You call her filth, yet how many people have you killed due to small incidents such as the one that occurred tonight?"

After another shot and another hit, this one to the lower left abdomen, Chili walked it off. Low-caliber weapons were never that effective against him. If it didn't blow a giant hole in him or dismember a limp, most weapons didn't deal the necessary amount of damage to his body to make his healing factor obsolete.

The man started to take steps backward as he continued to unload the remaining bullets in Chili's direction. Two shots were a miss. However, the last and final bullet hit Chili in the center of his forehead, causing his head to rock backward.

A look of relief appeared on the sleazebag's face for a split second. And then was swiftly replaced by a look of absolute horror as Chili's head came to rest normally on his shoulders, his hollow eyes staring dead into his opponent's, the grin still on his face.

"M-m-monster!" The V.I.P. squealed as Chili closed the final distance between them. Snatching the man by his left shoulder and grabbing him tightly, Chili never broke eye contact with the low life. The bullet in his head popped from the spot it had hit and plinked to the ground.

Chuckling, Chili coldly spoke the last words the man would hear, "We may be a demon and monster, but we are more human than those who share a morality such as yours could comprehend."

In a blink, Chili gripped the man's hand holding the gun and forced it to move the barrel up underneath the man's chin, and before his scream could fully form in his throat, Chili made him pull the trigger, emptying the last bullet up into the potato's skull.

Blood sprayed out and upward, some of it splattering onto Chili as he let go of the potato's arm and let the lifeless corpse fall to the ground.

With the main guy dead, the bodyguard unconscious and in need of medical attention, they had won. The crowd went wild, cheering for them. Chili hesitantly walked over to Kanna, his eyes once again bright and expressive; instead of hollow. Concern was evident within them as he approached.

"Kanna, are you okay?" He asked, his voice once again warm and friendly. He was sure she was fine physically. However, he wished to see if she was okay emotionally; after having shown a side of herself to him, he assumed she had wanted to keep hidden.

[wc: 813 || total: 4034]

What happened after her kick was confusing to her. At first, she just felt shame for letting that side out, but it was quickly eclipsed by the rapid developments.

Though she was soft-hearted, being called filth and any slur combination of half and demon weren't unfamiliar. Her own people had been quite cruel and violent toward her because of her unnatural heritage. They'd tried to kill her a few times. Though her horns weren't always met with such disdain outside of Sin, it was still there depending on the person or the town, sometimes even the situation alone. People were quick to turn on each other when things took disadvantageous turns. Kanna rarely blamed them for such things.

The gunshot had scared her, though. The first one had been so close that it grazed her temple, bringing the blood. The following ones even more as they struck her friend again and again and she momentarily fought between her protective rage and her regained sense of self and restraint. However, it turned out she didn't need to protect him. Or maybe that wasn't right, maybe she should have stepped in sooner to save him from himself, because what she witnessed next brought her to her knees.

Kanna was hopelessly drunk, but alcohol hadn't changed who she was at her core. Fighting was one thing, but killing was another. Just because someone wanted to or tried to kill someone didn't give that person the right to kill them instead, did it?

By the time Chili returned to the version of himself she knew and turned to her, tears cascaded from her blue eyes. The tears the demoness had cried earlier in the evening paled in comparison to the unfettered sobs. They weren't just sad, but also a little angry. Shocked. Miserable. She might have forgotten herself for a moment and kicked a couple of people, but even if her body and mind belonged to demons, her heart was that of a healer, through and through. A healer who didn't want anyone or anything to die, as misguided and idealistic as that may be. Kanna thought there was always another option, always another choice, even if it was the harder one.

Even though Chili's life had been at risk and she'd almost met her own end with a bullet through her head, she still couldn't justify what she'd just witnessed from her friend. Not that she'd do anything about it. Violence would only perpetuate more violence. How had she forgotten that? It made her never want to take another drink for the rest of her life.

Had that been her fault in the end? It felt that way.

"Did... did he have to die?" she asked through her sobs, her hands covering her face. Oh, she felt sick to her stomach, yet she couldn't stop peeking at the body that no amount of her magic would raise again.

[wc: 485 || total: 4519]

Her question and sobbing made Chili pause; he inwardly flinched as he saw all the emotions cascading behind her blue irises. He had caused this, and the regret he felt was instant. He didn't regret killing the bastard. However, causing her any distress was not his goal, and the part of him that cared generated an ache in his heart at seeing Kanna so distraught.

He knew Kanna was a kind-hearted soul who abhorred the taking of a life; he was the opposite, a killer. His eyes shone with melancholiness as a soft, tired smile came to his features.

"That's a complex question; depending on who you ask, the answer may vary from person to person. Kind-hearted and caring people, such as yourself, would most likely say no, he didn't have to." Chili expressed his words carefully, his tone calm and resolute. However, a hint of woe was laced within them.

"I, on the other hand, would say yes. That was a man who seemed filled with hatred and a disregard for the lives of others. You bumped into him by accident Kanna, and he was going to shoot you for it. I had no qualms about killing him at that point. Not to mention an observer of our fight was hit by one of the ricocheting stray bullets." Ceasing for a moment to assemble his train of thought, Chili glanced up to see that he was correct; someone had been hit.

Knowing that Kanna would doubtlessly go to assist the injured individual. Chili returned his gaze to her and continued.

"Kanna, if more people were like you and less hateful and power-hungry, this world would be amazing. However, the pitiful truth is there are people in this world who take great pleasure and rewards from causing death and destruction. They thrive on things much more twisted and cruel than murder. They will never change. Sometimes the only way to save lives and protect what you care about is to kill. That's how I see the world."

Another small pause. Chili had a little difficulty being this open to someone in such a long time.

"However, that's why I'm grateful that you don't. You are a sincere and sympathetic person to your core; who wants to help as many as she can. Don't consider that even for a second I think you should change. Yet someone would kill you and others like you for the pettiest of reasons, and I am unwavering in my conviction that the lives of those who have such high regard for all life are more deserving of living than those who see other people's lives as nothing more than a thing that's fun to snuff out."

His tired smile became remorseful as he said his final sentence, "I know I'm a murderer, which makes me no different than the many whom I've taken the lives of; what does make me different is the why. I know why I kill, and now you do too. I will understand; if you wish to no longer be in my company, all you have to do is say. As for this man's death, Kanna, don't put the blame on yourself. I chose to do what I did. You have no control over my actions as much as anyone else's, and if you can't find a rational reason to blame yourself, then is it really your fault? Now go help the bystander who got hit. I'll be right behind you."

With his expression of his inner thoughts over, all Chili could do was wait and see how things transpired next.

[wc: 547 || total: 5066]