b a l l s

Aris was disappointed to have been dropped from the tournament. Well, disappointed was a bit of an understatement, really. She was furious. Her brother was going to be so insufferably smug about winning against her, and worse he would be a condescending ass, talking down to her because you're just so small and you're less skilled and Daddy likes me better because I'm a boy and you're just a girl and you'll never be as good as me but at least you're a Fatalis, I guess and frankly she was fucking tired of being not fucking good enough.

While everyone else got ready for their second round, Aris had gone off to lick her wounds and brood rather than watch Kotori strutting around preening over himself. If it didn't mean a Fatalis losing to one of the "look at us we're so pretty and regal and useless" kids from the rest of the Empire, she'd have wished for him to get his tail thoroughly kicked in his next fight. Maybe she'd get lucky and he'd be paired with one of their sisters and she'd crush him, but she couldn't remember who else was participating and if they'd won their first fight or not.

She was so caught up in her brooding, she almost didn't notice when she was suddenly not alone, but a crack of a twig had her whirling around to face whoever else had come on the scene.