Hey! You're pretty tall! [Tag: Victor]

[luke denmark]

It was early in the morning, before the sun could even think about rising. A large building's doors were open, to allow fresh air to flow into the room, large, thick mats covered the floor, a small section were shoes could be removed marked the entrance and the walls were decorate with various weapons, most of them decoys, in case of thieves in the night.

A lone figure could be seen, setting a few things up. First, came a large, wooden blocking dummy, its limbs were thick and solid, with indentations where they'd been struck many times. A small push sent it spinning slowly on the spot, not moving across the floor. The boy was tall and muscular, and he smiled slightly as he walked along the floor, his feet making little noise on the padded area.

He was setting up for his next class, which wasn't for hours, but Luke didn't want to have to worry about doing that later on. He wanted to get some training in on his own before the sun came up to make things unbearably hot. The back of his dojo opened up onto a small yard, in which a little boy was curled up on a bench, snoring away.

"Hey." Luke said, walking over and sighing, ".....Skittles...." He nudged the boy "You can't expect to get in trouble with Iggy and then sleep on the day he punishes you. You're supposed to be helping me." The boy wouldn't wake, so sighing, Luke straightened to his full height of seven foot four. He held the kid by an ankle and poked him awake. "Come on. Get to work."

"......Fine." The small boy complained, yawning and as Luke set him down, he walked away and began to clean up inside. Luke watched him for a moment.

"If I catch you sleeping again, there will be hell to pay!" he warned him, then smiled and moved to the center of the backyard. It was still plenty dark, even though street lamps were lit, but Luke didn't need too much more light. There was enough from the stars above. He began stretching first and then, began to work out, starting with clapping push ups, then moving on to vertical push ups on his hands, with his body supported in the air on his arms.

Finally, he decided to to a better work out and picked up a blindfold from the table, "Hey Skit. Come out here. Bring me the balls."

"Okay." The kid said, and within a few minutes, he carried out a large basket filled with rubber balls, each the size of baseballs.

Luke tied the blindfold firmly around his eyes and then crouched into a fighting stance, turning to one side. "Ready." He said and Skittles began whipping balls at him, running all around the yard, throwing them from all angles.

The taller man dodged, blocked or caught as many as he could, even though the blindfold was tightly tied over his eyes. He twisted his body, ducked and leaped, wasting no energy and using as little movement as he could. When he caught the balls, he'd throw them aside, and he'd block them with either his open palms, closed fists, elbows or arms and sometimes he'd even kick them away. He was in his element. A smile was on his face and those he didn't manage to dodge, left a small mark on his body, for they were covered in white flour.

[victor hunter]

In the cool darkness Victor stumbled his way along one of Central's many streets. He had been drinking for over several hours now and even with his large size to weaken the bite of alcohol it had begun to truly affect him. So much so that the bartender had kicked him out of the pub. Victor had tried to stay by showing his pocket watch to say he was a state alchemist, but was told that alchemist's could drink too much like anyone else.


So Victor now moved with the intent to find his way to another bar he knew of, not far from the first. It had been years since he was in Central, but his body moved absent of his liquored mind following a path he had walked hundreds of times beforehand. Coming to the door Victor threw it open, a grin appearing on his face only to quickly slip away as he noticed that the place was empty.


His mind slid over a few thoughts such as where is everyone or why is there not much light, but a drunk's mind is a illogical thing. So naturally (to a drunk) he just figured they had moved outside for their festivities. So he half walked, half stumbled through the building, not noticing the dojo mats or training dummies until he found himself outside and in the presence of a man who was actually taller, if not larger than himself and a young boy.


"Whiskey! Make it a double!"


It was at that point that Victor missed the step down to the ground and found himself on his back, staring up at the stars of the night sky. Turning his head to further look up from his perspective, he looked over to the two other beings a frown on his face.


"Why'd you trip me!"


It was an impossibility considering their distance from each other, but alcohol was not something you could speak to rationally. . .

[luke denmark]

Suddenly, the silence was shattered by a loud voice, yelling for whiskey. Blinking, Luke lifted up the blindfold and was shocked to find a man just as tall and muscular (if not more so) than he was. "....Skittles, come here." He said lowly and instantly, the little boy ran to stand behind him, peeking out at the large man.

"This is a dojo." Luke said firmly, fearlessly stepping forward, "Not a bar and you tripped over your own two feet." At least, he hoped he had. Luke had been blindfolded, perhaps this man had tripped over his little brother. But as Luke glanced back at the boy, Skittles shook his head. Turning his attention back to the man, Luke continued speaking "We haven't any alcohol in this place. Now .....please leave. We're closed until seven this morning. That's not for another few hours."

Unfortunately, the man didn't seem to want to listen to reason. "Skittles. Up the tree and stay there." He commanded without looking at him.

"But I want to help you Luke." The boy protested, brown eyes wide with fear.

"No way. This guy is out of your league....hell....he might not even be in mine." the older boy said grimly, listening to the rustling of leaves as the kid climbed into the branches. "Good. Stay there."

Glancing around, Luke spoke up again "Look man, I'm not really in the mood to fight you....but if I have to throw you out of here....then I will. I said it once, I'll say it again. This is a dojo. Not a bar. Leave."

He studied the man well, glancing him up and down, looking for an opening, waiting for him to make the first move. Looking for anything that might tip him off as to any sort of fighting style, or maybe hints of a past injury that would make him slower or give Luke the advantage. His eyes caught sight of a single, silver chain dangling from his clothes and sighed. "Shit...." He muttered, "You're a state alchemist aren't you?" He complained, "Well that's just my luck." at least the man would be able to pay for any damages that would occur once the fighting started.

The man was drunk, that was easy to see, perhaps he wouldn't be able to fight as well, maybe his balance would be thrown off. Or maybe drinking just turned him into some sort of beast. Luke was glad he wasn't wearing his flute necklace, he didn't want to have to worry about it of all things. It was safely hanging from its hook in his room. The entire place was two stories, the first level housed the dojo, the second was living space for himself.

He was ready for this, and a small part in the back of his mind was whispering 'This should be fun. A real challenge.' Was he crazy? Perhaps.

[victor hunter]

Victor laid on the ground several moments longer, only half listening to the man speaking, at least until he mentioned that this place was not a bar. That utterance got Victor to his feet in near record time as well as got his attention focused on the man, the boy moving into the tree going unnoticed.


"Of course it's a bar, it's always been a bar and what type of bar opens at seven in the morning?"


It was said fairly loud and showed that Victor was too soused to believe anything, but his clouded mind. That was when he mentioned something about a dojo. Victor stood there for a moment scratching his head trying to figure out what the hell the man was talking about, but could only keep muttering:


"What the hell does a doe have to do with anything?"


He listened a few moment's longer, hearing the man exclaim that Victor was a state alchemist and something about luck. Victor broke out into a grin once again just as his voice broke the silence once more.


"Forceful Alchemist! Does this mean I get my drink now?"


Victor was still clueless of the situation he was in, but that was to be expected when the majority of the other man's words had been about as well received as the buzzing of a fly over a corpse on a battlefield.

[luke denmark]

This guy was an idiot! A freakin' idiot. He heard a nervous giggle from the tree behind him and agreed silently with his brother. If he were a bystander too, he'd have joined in on the laughter. But, unfortunately, he wasn't just standing by to watch. He was in deep and he had to defend his dojo, or risk losing it. Maybe even his brother would get hurt.

Luke didn't think arguing with the guy or getting him to listen to reason would do any good. The Forceful Alchemist, hmm....that meant.... absolutely nothing to him. And everything. It meant he didn't know what his ability was and that a fight with this man would be more than a challenge, it would be a struggle.

There was just no reasoning with him, Luke had to think. If he started a fight with him, maybe this jerk would have him arrested....maybe he'd even destroy his dojo, not to mention his home above. If he didn't fight, he'd probably never get rid of the guy. But .....it was better to just.....deal with him than to start a fight he probably couldn't even finish.

Sighing deeply he said "Okay okay.....like I said....this isn't a bar.....but there's just no use fighting you or trying to kick you out so.... ....you can stay. Just .....don't go upstairs and don't.....bother my brother." he told the man firmly, turning around and heading off to at least attempt to get back to work.

"Come on down Skit." Luke called, "Jump." and he caught the boy, then set him down on his feet. "Go upstairs okay? Lock the door behind you....and I'll be listening below.....I don't want you sleeping. You keep cleaning okay? You're still in trouble."

"Okay." The boy said, then took the key Luke handed him and ran to a door, unlocking it and flinging it open, then slipping in and shutting it behind him. His footsteps could be heard going up the stairs and moving around above.

"And no." Luke said to the man before he could ask, "There's no booze up there either. That's my apartment." Maybe if he was nice to the guy, he wouldn't fly off the handle and kick his ass. "My name is Luke. That kid you saw was my foster brother, Charles but everyone calls him Skittles." and he went to the blocking dummy and started training with it.

He moved with a grace and flow that spoke volumes of his skill, not one single movement was wasted as he punished the wooden dummy with solid, heavy blows, sending it spinning this way and that.