ax_main | Fatale, Mort, and Vax

Fatale challenges Vax to a game of darts, but when she learns that throws daggers, that's just when the real fun begins.

"So, you know what you need to do, right?" Fatale asked Mort as they headed over to the dart board Pietro'd so thoughtfully provided. So far, the party hadn't sucked anywhere near as much as she'd expected it would, and after a couple of beers, she'd come up with a brilliant idea. Now she just had to hope Mort would get his part right.

Mort grinned, showing yellowing teeth, and then finger-gunned her. "You know it, beautiful."

Fatale rolled her eyes, grinned, and gestured for him to come along. "Whatever. Just do it, okay?" They reached the dartboard, and she pulled out the darts and turned towards him, looking puzzled. "So...what do I do again?" she asked, trying to sound even younger than she looked.

"Psh, it's easy doll! You just take the dart, and kind of," he gestured semi-wildly, clearly not a dart-master of any kind. If anything, his oddly gangly limbs made it all the more uncoordinated to watch. "Line it up, and bam!"

Fatale's eyebrow rose. "Just like that?" She turned around and eyed the target, then threw half heartedly, aiming for the edge of the target. The dart hit exactly where she was aiming, but feebly, and fell out right away. "Hey, I hit it!" she exclaimed, sounding like one of the cheerleader girls she faked being when she went to the mall with Alex.

"See, you are basically ready to go, sweetheart." Mort said, sidling up to her (though not touching her; darts were sharp and he wanted to live).

"Are you sure you don't want to play?" she pouted at him.

He shook his head 'no,' and held up his grayish-greenish hands. "I make it a point not to play against beautiful women," he said, with as charm as he could.

Fatale rolled her eyes. "Uh huh. That's why." She sighed. "Any idea where Pyro is? Maybe I can talk him into it."

"Making out with Magik, no way am I breaking up that lip-tango," Mort said. He did not do flames or magic. Certainly not both at once.

Based on what she'd seen earlier, that might even have been the truth. Fatale sighed and turned back to the dartboard, and threw another poorly aimed dart, just barely hitting the outer ring. "Fine."

A couple yards away, Vax'ildan leaned in the shadows, watching the two 'Brotherhood' mutants talking about darts. The girl was petite, and blue-skinned, and not dressed to impress like the others at the party. No cleavage or short skirts - nothing that would make her seem like she was trying to get the attention of any other guys with the game of darts. Then again, she could just be genuinely excited about a new game. Kiki definitely would have been.

Curious, and admittedly taking the bait, Vax melded out from the darkness, a smile on his lips. "I don't mind playing against beautiful women."

Startled by the newcomer's sudden appearance, Fatale tightened her grip on the dart, but then paused and eyed the guy curiously. "You're the guy who keeps disappearing."

"I suppose you could say that," he agreed. "I'm Vax."

"I'm Fatale, And this is Mort," Fatale offered, gesturing towards her teammate. "What would you call it?"

Mort grinned broadly, and offered him a hand that may or may not have had some slime on it. But, really, who didn't have slime on their hands from time to time?

Vax glanced down at the slime, but the boy seemed so enthusiastic that he didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Gathering darkness into his hand and around his fingers like a glove, he nodded and shook. “There’s the posh name they gave me at the school, but I just call myself a shadow master,” he told them, flashing a small grin.

Fatale grinned back. "I bend light," she countered, and did so, disappearing for a moment before she let it go and became visible again, though she couldn't quite keep herself from glancing down to make sure it had worked.

Mort was pleased at the strangers reception. "And I'm your all around toad man. The hops, the tongue, I'm the whole package."

Vax gave a short nod at them both, then tilted his head at 'Fatale'. "We both have something to do with the er, spectrum." He didn't remember the exact name of it. The thing that made light visible.

Fatale frowned, unfamiliar with the word. "I guess? That sounds like an Eileen thing, though." She looked over at Mort for confirmation. He'd had more school than she had, at least.

He shrugged. He might have had school, but it wasn't like he'd ever done well in it.

"It doesn't matter. I hardly understand it myself," Vax pointed out. "So. Darts, then?"

"Darts," Fatale confirmed, just barely managing to hold back a smirk. This was going to be fun. "Did you want to go first? I'm not very good," she "admitted".

"That's alright," he agreed with a little smile. "I've been drinking. I'm hardly top form." To prove this, he took one of the little missiles and looked around on the floor for a moment, trying to decide where he should stand.

"Here." Fatale moved out of the way and waited to see just what kind of competition she'd picked up. She snuck a quick glance at Mort and grinned.

Vax flashed her a grin, then turned and tossed the dart, a little too flashy, like he was trying to show off, and hit just inside the second ring. "Bam," he grinned, looking back at her. It wasn't anywhere near the bullseye, but he seemed proud of himself.

The next dart was a little closer, though on the other side, his aim seeming to swing wildly across the range of the board. The final one was the worst of all, hitting the outer ring at a clearly debilitating angle. "Shit," he cursed, but shrugged when he looked back at her and went to collect his darts. "We keeping score here?"

Mort grinned broadly, and hopped (literally) over to a small chalkboard that was used to keep score. He messily scrawled "Hottie" on one side and "Shadow-guy" on the other.

"Mort!" Fatale objected, rolling her eyes as she realized what he'd written on the chalkboard. "Honestly, I live with morons," she confided to Vax as she took her place at the spot and waited for him to get his darts out of the board.

He brought the darts back to her, then glanced at the chalkboard. "Maybe we should be using the darts on him instead."

Fatale's eyes narrowed in a manner that those who knew her would have recognized as dangerous, and she planted her hands on her hips. "You don't get to throw things at him. He's maybe a moron, but he's our moron."

"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful," Mort told Vax, grinning even wider at Fatale defending him. He thought about mentioning that she could drop the shadow guy both by teleporting him to the arctic and by stabbing him herself, but decided to keep that to himself.

"It was a joke," he told them both, raising his eyebrows as he handed over the darts.

Fatale took the darts from his hand with one last, suspicious look, then turned back to the dart board. Right. A joke, not a threat. Her eyes still narrowed, she picked out a few likely bad targets on the dart board and began throwing.

Unfortunately, training took over and the darts grouped considerably closer to the center than she'd planned. "Huh. Beginner's luck," she said as she went to retrieve them.

Mort had been on the not-joking end of things enough times not to trust Vax entirely, but he kept smiling gamely anyway. "We can take a joke, bro, of course."

Vax watched Fatale with a practiced eye. It didn't really matter where on the board the darts landed. She was experienced at this. Or she was a natural. With her darts grouping together so consistently, it was clear she wasn't an easy 'target' so to speak. "No, you can't," Vax realized. If this small group of mutants was anything like Vox Machina, they'd be fiercely protective of their own. "Or at least, I shouldn't expect you to in this matter. Forgive me for overstepping."

Fatale turned to look at him, the darts in her hands, and nodded slowly. "Forgiven." She walked over and handed him the darts, and shrugged as she met his eyes. "The Brotherhood take care of their own." Somehow, she had the feeling he might understand that. Not like most of these kids.

"I get it," he told her, taking the darts. "And in the interest of being honest, I suppose I should be on all fronts." Then he turned, and, with practiced precision and speed, threw each of the darts one after the other, thwip, thwip, thwip, to cluster in the center of the dartboard.

Mort leaned against the wall, crossing his spindly legs as as he watched the two of them play.

A slow grin spread across Fatale's face as she went and retrieved the darts, unwilling to wait for him to do so. Without comment, she returned to her original spot and threw, the darts clustering in the exact same configuration they'd been before she pulled them out. "In the interest of honesty," she repeated, smirking as she turned back to look at him. "How are you with knives?"

"A hell of a lot better," Vax smiled, forming a shadow dagger in his hand from the darkness in the corners.

"Oh, no fucking way!" Fatale protested. "That's so not fair." She turned to Mort, her jaw setting. "Go find Alex. Tell him I know he has at least one of my knives on him, and I need it. NOW."

Mort managed, only just, not to roll his eyes. Sure, she as going off plan, but she also had pointy darts in her hands, and he knew which way was up. So he wound his way around until he'd located Alex. "Fatale said something about you having one of her knives, bro."

Relatively content, at that moment, just to watch the party around him and occasionally take a sip of his drink, Alex's brows rose slightly as Toad hopped his way. "Maybe," he said, shifting slightly against the wall. "Maybe not. It depends on what she wants to do with it. She's not planning to shank one of our guests, is she, Mort?" He'd brought it as a contingency, but things seemed to be going pretty well so far. And Pam had a tendency to fly off the handle, sometimes.

Mort shook his head. "Nah, brah, showing off for one of the X-geeks."

The blond teen scrubbed a hand across his face. "Oh, for fuck's sake," he huffed. "Okay." He produced a knife from inside his jacket and held it out to him. "But I'm gonna keep an eye on her anyway. Christ. How did it come back to knives at a freakin' party?"

"Hey, there's a handy dart board target," Mort pointed out. He accepted the knife, tucked it into his own jacket and hopped back over. "M'lady."

Mort shrugged - he wasn't going to make promises he couldn't keep - and handed her her (mostly slime-free) knife.

Vax said nothing about the slime, or the fact that she kept a knife on standby. He was fairly certain it was not for the purpose of impromptu competition. "I feel the need to point out that my daggers don't last long after they hit their target."

Fatale wiped the knife - and her hand - off on her jeans, then turned to him and smirked. "I'm guessing the holes they leave do? We can figure it out from that. Are we using the dart board?" It wouldn't last long, but they could always switch to other targets.

"As long as the target's not the Toad," Mort said.

Vax shrugged. "You're the one that called for the knives."

Frowning, Fatale looked around, her eyes lighting up as she spotted one of Pietro's glowy-stick chandeliers hanging from the ceiling about ten feet away. "Okay. Name of the game, cut down the glow-sticks. Mort," she turned towards her teammate, "make sure everyone stays out from underneath so nothing falls on their heads. I don't need Eileen chewing me out for giving people concussions."

She turned back to Vax. "First one to miss loses?" It'd get progressively harder, the more lights fell, and the chandelier thing would probably swing like hell as it unbalanced, but if he could throw like that, he probably wouldn't give a fuck about the difficulty level. And in the meantime, they'd be de-neoning at least part of the room. It was practically a public service.

Vax glanced up at the neon obscenity and quirked a smile. He kind of hoped neither of them won. This would be fun. "You first, this time."

Mort really doubted he'd be able to do that, and did not at all doubt Alex's ability to plasma-fry him into French frog legs if he let Fatale knock people unconscious even by accident. This was not promising at all. Of course, he also did not at all doubt Fatale's ability to knock him unconscious, so. He guessed that's what was going on.

Fatale smirked as she stepped backwards and eyed the makeshift lightfixture, her fingers twirling her knife between them in preparation. First throw was going to be tough, just because the lights were still hanging straight, but that was fine with her. She'd done harder. Without preamble, she threw - and the first of the glowing sticks fell to the ground, narrowly missing Mort's head. "Maybe move over a little more?" Fatale suggested before turning back to Vax. "You're up."

Vax watched the neon stick fall to the floor, his stomach warm and fuzzy at the sight. He'd never seen anyone throw knives like he did before. It wasn't like he'd ever trained with anyone - he'd just...made up his own style and had flung metal at enough trees that form eventually began to catch up to his natural eye for aiming. "Where did you pick this up?" he asked, turning a shadow dagger over in his fingers and aiming before severing another glow stick from the chandelier. The dagger itself vanished as the stick fell.

She felt her shoulders tense, her throat tighten, and she shrugged, as much to try and dismiss the rising sense of panic as in answer to his question. "Tell you later, maybe," she said, and headed over to pick up her knife, wishing Alex'd had the forethought to bring half a dozen or so instead of one. Or...maybe just as well not, considering how she was feeling, just then. She walked back to her original spot and eyed the fixture, which was swinging lopsidedly now, heavy on the end opposite where they'd already struck.

She could do this. Fatale could do this, and didn't have to worry about whether or not she could stop, after. She was the fucking best. Ignoring the flashes of white behind her eyes, the remembered smell of antiseptic, she took aim and threw.

Another glow stick fell to the floor and Fatale stretched, smirking as she turned to her opponent. "Next?"

Vax reached out, another dagger forming from darkness between his fingers. He twirled it thoughtfully as he looked at her, then looked back up at the swinging chandelier. Not an easy target at all. Definitely not a tree. He took a deep breath, a bit of his swagger fading as he focused on the target. He twirled the dagger again, then flung it sharply at one of the sticks hanging free from the rest. He almost thought he didn't make it, as the dagger disappeared a second before the glow stick began to fall. Then he released his breath and gallantly waved a hand for her to continue. "If I win this...will you still be willing to talk to me later?"

Mort dug in his pocket and felt...a dollar and fifty-nine cents. He still wasn't entirely sure how much money that was, too used to pounds even now, but hey, money was money! "A dollar fifty-nine on Fatale!"

"Probably?" Fatale grinned as she went to retrieve her knife. No promises, because who the fuck knew what she'd feel like five minutes from now, let alone whenever they finished, but she thought so. If nothing else, she'd never met anyone who could throw a knife like she could. "I will if I can, how's that?"

She walked back to her place, all confidence now, and eyed the target, only vaguely aware of Mort collecting bets from the onlookers and that he'd bet on her himself. Another throw - and another glow stick fell. Her grin smug, she took a bow and waved for her opponent to take his turn.

There were fewer sticks to choose from now, and the chandelier was swaying haphazardly from all the action. Vax quirked a grin at her showmanship, then paced in place, trying to find a good angle. He noticed the betting too, and while it wasn't the first time he'd had people betting on him, it was certainly a safer situation. Ah. Actually, perhaps not, given the Brotherhood's reputation. He glanced around briefly, trying to see if he saw Percy or Vex. If they needed to leave quickly, he wanted to know where to find them.

But then his attention was drawn back to the game and he formed another dagger in his hand. He turned, then with a centered breath threw a dagger at the next stick, cutting it down...though it nearly fell on his head.

Snickering at the sight of her opponent dodging the falling glow stick, Fatale went and retrieved her own knife, sparing a grin and a wink for Alex who, true to his promise about the darts, had come to watch. Or possibly, she reflected, he'd come to make sure that she didn't gut anyone with the knife. Either way, he was there, and so were Pietro and Wanda.

So yeah. Not fucking this up.

She walked back to where she'd begun and eyed the light fixture. It was definitely swinging now, unbalanced, and she shifted her stance as she picked out a lightly target. Eyes narrowed, she threw - and another glowstick fell.

"Giving up yet?" she asked Vax as she waved for him to take his turn.

She was loving the attention she was getting, clearly, but Vax wasn't quite sure that he felt the same way. The people gathering made the hair stand up on the back of his neck and he fidgeted for a moment with a ball of shadow as he tried to focus on the glow sticks. Except...his gaze landed on Percy at the edge of those gathered and he didn't know why, but somehow this stupid contest meant more in that moment. He flashed a daring look at Fatale, then formed two daggers - one for each hand. And, with a sharp flick of each wrist, suddenly slashed two glow-sticks from the swinging target.

Breathless with adrenaline, he raised his arms in the air, whooping excitedly. "That's the way it's done!"

"Asshole," Fatale muttered sulkily, pretty much without malice as she went and retrieved her own blade. Now it was on her to outdo the guy - which was going to be a good trick with one knife. Not, she had to admit, that she was sure she could have done that trick herself - she could throw with her left, but nowhere near as well.

She stepped back to her spot and eyed the chandelier with scrutiny. If she put a spin on the knife, she could maybe...

It was worth a shot, anyway. Biting her lip in concentration, Fatale threw, aiming for two of the closely hung glow sticks. And watched, feeling almost as if it were happening in slow motion, as the blade nicked both.

But neither fell.

"Fuck." She turned towards Vax and shrugged, as if she couldn't care less about the outcome. "It's yours."

"Hardly," Vax told her, giving her an appraising look. "You're amazing."

"Yeah, you're not too bad yourself." Fatale's lips quirked up a touch. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Let's just say that I've had a lot of time on my hands," Vax told her, with a touch of a wry smile. "And a good eye runs in our family. My sister's an archer."

"Yeah? I've never tried that." Maybe she should, if it was a hand/eye coordination thing. She'd have to see if she could get a hand on a bow and some arrows. She gave Vax a speculative look, then smiled and shrugged. "Want to go grab a beer?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely," Vax grinned. "I wouldn't miss a chance to know someone like you."

Fatale eyed Vax, trying to determine whether or not he was messing with her, decided he wasn't, an smirked. "You may regret saying that." She glanced around, met Alex's eyes, and flashed her hand, twice. Ten minutes, and they'd bail. She'd promised. But she wanted one last beer, first.