The Ranch

Happy Holidays (5)

The hockey players line the edge of the sectioned area to act as a crowd while they take a break. Axel calls over a friend to play as his teammate, Damien. He's two generations older than Axel and Tih. He's in Phillip's generation. The man is proficient in hand to hand combat and the spear, leaning more towards the spear. It's also his weapon of choice for the game.

Axel uses a scythe, a weapon most similar to a hockey stick. Casanova looks around the crowd and borrows two weapons from the hockey members, a scythe for Tih and a Chinese guandao for him.

Axel designates himself the attacker, while Damian stays at the goal net. Assuming they have some bad blood and need to duel it out, Casanova takes the defensive position in front of the net.

Tih languidly twirls the scythe in his hands. His movements freeze and his head jerks up as he senses something. Bloodlust. Red swirls in his eyes. Something is coming. It's attacking. Tih moves towards and jabs it with the upper grip at the end of the pole, holding the lower grip with one hand. The enemy groans and the bloodlust disappears, the red quickly disperses.

Tih looks down. It's Axel. He kinda remembers what just happened. Axel hugs his stomach, collapsed on the ground. Casanova's voice finally enters his ears," Take the puck and hit it into the net."

Tih looks next to Axel. A small round, flat thing with needle-sized holes on the sides. Yes, Axel was using the tool in his hand to move it. He also has one of those. He taps the thing with the scythe. It slides a bit. Tih moves across the ice with the puck.

Tih looks ahead. The net looks similar to the one he was tied to and used to catch a lot of things in the water. There's someone blocking it though. Well, he just has to have it go around him.

Tih scoops up the puck and swings the scythe like a bat. The puck launches at Damien. It's too fast for him to react. He starts moving to block it, but it's already behind him. The silent timer stops as it hits the net.

Axel can't continue, he's admitted to the hospital for internal bleeding. Casanova drags Tih out of the circle. There are no cheers. What he did wasn't..well, it could be considered underhanded, but there's no rules against it, there's no rules at all for a sport that only lasts one week a year.

Casanova lays on the snow, away from view of the lake," Well, karmas a bit-oh, children are present," he reminds himself. He stares atTih," You have fast reflexes," he compliments the boy.

Casanova and Tih stare up at the sky as their backs soak up moisture. Only the sounds of distant voices and rustling branches are heard.

"Another year..." Casanova lets out a sigh. The puff of breath is visible until it dissipates moments later. He stares at the rhythmic breath of white smoke. "When am I gonna find a boyfriend."

"..."

"Want to make a bet? How long will it take for Phillip and Sinclair to get together? I'll give it a decade. Hey, maybe Sinclair will die and the dipstick will finally realize his feelings."

"..."

"God I wanna date a cougar. Why are there no women on this damned island?!" He throws a handful of snow.

"..."

"...I don't want to die alone in this godforsaken place." He turns his head to Tih," Your only option is men. If you get into a relationship, it'll be with a guy, not that anyone on this island cares. IN FACT, it's normalized!" He sits up.

"Thank your ancestors. Now we're stuck in this...environment." He flops back down like jelly. He covers his face with his hands,"At least, at least give me someone hot."

Casanova let's the snow cool his head for a few minutes before feeling better. A chance to vent doesn't come often, he forgot how liberating it is.

"Oh the team's holding a work group vacation at the ryokan up the mountains tomorrow. You should come. You're coming. I'll pick you up at seven." He pulls himself up and dusts off the snow that's fallen on him," And no need to tell me your apartment number, I can find out by myself."

Author's note: is anyone ever annoyed that I never do correct punctuation when they're talking?

On another note, I found a website called royalroad, anyone read there?