DYING MOURNINGS, original

three : milk & cookies

┌─────━┿──┿━─────┐

𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 : 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐊 & 𝐂𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐈𝐄𝐒

└─────━┿──┿━─────┘

I stumbled backwards with a gasp, my hand going up to cradle my throbbing cheek. Monroe grinned and looked at Blondie and Winker. "You must always be alert."

I didn't want to agree with him but he was right. I had my guard down, I hadn't even thought for a second he would try to hit me. Even friends can betray you.

"When fighting hand to hand combat, you must take into account that the person you're fighting might be stronger than you, even if he doesn't look it," he explained to us, folding his hands behind his back as he spoke. "They could be faster than you, bigger than you, so how do you get out of it if they have you restrained?" He glanced at Blondie. "Take Cassandra for instance, alright? Compared to me, she is smaller, might even be weaker." He motioned for her to walk forward and she did so with an uneasy look back at Winker. "If I were to overpower her, how would she be able to get away from me?"

"Could she use her legs?" asked Winker.

"Maybe," he said, "but what if they were restrained, too?"

I frowned. "Can we have a visual–"

He grabbed me by the arm in a flash, yanking me forward and swiping my feet out from underneath me to send me to the floor. "Ow," I groaned as my back hit the ground and Monroe got on top of me to completely restrain me. He trapped my legs underneath him so I couldn't even move my knees up and then he took me by the wrists to keep them against the floor.

"Better?" he asked and I nodded even though I hadn't exactly meant me as the visual. He glanced next to him and at his audience as he said, "Now, how do you suppose you get out of this?"

"I mean, Blaire you've been in this situation before, right?" asked Blondie and I nodded. "How did you get away?"

"Well," I sighed, thinking of how I did anything without my knife and how did I tell these demons I know longer had the one thing to protect me against them? "Um, well, I can't exactly give up my secrets–"

"We're on the same side," said Eva from beside Blondie. "We're going to figure out your tricks of the trade eventually."

I gnawed on the inside of my cheek before I finally spoke. "It's actually just a lot of improvisation. I never know what I'm going to do until I'm in the moment."

"I've heard through the channel that flirting is usually a go-to for you," murmured Macabre from across the room and my eyes narrowed into a glare as Eva added happily, "And by channel, he means Archer."

"Oh?" mused Monroe. "I thought those were merely rumors, but they're true?"

"No–" I was interrupted by Eva, "–yes."

I narrowed my eyes even more and pursed my lips into a scowl. "It's not like that, okay? Whatever we have is–is a friendship!"

"She's lying, you know," muttered Blondie.

"Flirting won't get you out of everything," said Monroe. "It certainly won't work on me. Crow, maybe, but me? Not a chance."

"You could at least try," said Eva and it suddenly felt like all their voices were clouding my head, causing a static-like burning. "Flirt a little, we'd love a good show."