Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor [Mad Sweeney]

[priordivergence]

 I work at Off The Wall. It's a place where I learn as much as teach, becoming stronger, more agile, more mobile. It's a place where I go to keep balanced, to be called out when my limits are pushed too far. 

I come to Lorenzo's gym when no one's hosting Fight Club. Boxing isn't my preferred sport; there's no way for someone my size to win with fists alone but sometimes just the aggression feels good. There are regulars here who know me well enough but there's always someone who has to cat call, who either dismisses me as a weakling or thinks of me like some kind of prey. I've broken a few noses on people like that. 

I'm not looking for a fight, content to take out my aggressions on a speed bag or lifting some weights, but if someone challenges me, I won't back down. 

Comments

[onlythebranch]

"Probably will," he agrees. "But it seems t'me you're ready for it."

He moves back a little, fists raised, waiting for his moment. Small and fast can usually beat him in a few ways, but he's big and relatively quick himself, which does him a few favours. All he has to do is wait for an in, it's just he's usually not that patient.

"What?" he asks with a smirk. "Never seen a seven foot tall leprechaun before? Don't tell me you've bought into the stereotypes of wee men dressed in green. The rainbow's bullshit, too, love, but the gold..." He flicks a coin at her, having plucked it from the air, then rushes her at the same time.

[priordivergence]

"I've never seen a leprechaun at all."

The distraction works. I catch the coin, mostly out of surprised reflex, and almost don't see him coming. I duck low, beneath his center of gravity, to avoid the worst of it and also try to go for his knees.

Maybe I should tap out. I'm still rattled, my body full of adrenaline, but those same rattled nerves are all telling me to fight.

[onlythebranch]

"Well, now you have," he grunts as she hits his knees and it fucking hurts, another glorious blossom of pain that makes him want to howl both with discomfort and pleasure alike. She throws him off balance, enough that he hits the ropes and if not for them, he'd likely have gone down, which would have probably ended the fight, especially if they were in a true brawl like the one he'd gotten into on his first day here.

"Now you sure as fuck have," he says with a laugh, swinging another punch, though it's off balance. From somewhere else in the gym, not all that far away, Sweeney hears a disgusted sort of snort and he brightens a little. Someone else is going to have a say, it seems, and he has a feeling whatever comes out of their mouth is going to give him a glorious excuse to knock their teeth out.

"Just knock her out and get it over with," some prick calls from behind him and Sweeney grins at Tris, a wild, mad sort of grin.

"Do you want to take care of him, love, or shall I?"

[priordivergence]

It's a wild punch and I duck under it, ignoring the sound around me and focusing on the fight. Mad Sweeney calls my attention to the man egging him on and I roll my eyes. He's a regular at this gym who's never been willing to spar with me on the excuse that he doesn't want to hit a girl but who keeps calling for my blood whenever someone else does.

"I usually ignore him," I admit. "He's never had the spine to get in the ring with me anyway."

But I can tell Sweeney's looking for something to up the stakes.

"I bet you could reach his collar from here."

[onlythebranch]

Though he'd likely deny it, that's the moment when Mad Sweeney goes from just enjoying the fight to actually liking her and he doesn't need a lick of encouragement more than that. He turns swiftly, clearly faster than the man expects, and Tris is right, he can just reach the man's collar from where he stands. His fingers snag the material and he yanks hard enough that the shirt tears a little around the seams of the man's arms before he's dragged forward.

It takes just a bit of wrangling to get him into the ring and it's only once he's halfway in that he realizes what's happening and begins to fight.

"What's the matter, lad?" Sweeney bellows and his voice carries across the gym, loud enough that others turn. "You were keen on bein' involved, weren't you? Wanted me to knock her out and get it over with, isn't that right?"

He gives the man a hard shove, sending him stumbling into the centre of the ring. Then he looks at Tris and says, "I don't think he can do it. I doubt this fucker could fight his way out of a wet paper sack."

[priordivergence]

He looks spooked and I'd feel bad for him if he hadn't made a point of calling me obscene names so many times. Mostly, I'd let it roll over me, determined not to be the one to start the fight, just the one to finish it. Until now, he's never given me the chance.

I lean back on the ropes, glancing between him and Mad Sweeney, who does currently look exceptionally mad. "I don't know if it's even worth it, then," I say, carefully measuring out my contempt. "I've been doing this for five years. He's been coming here and calling me names for...five months?" And between the trash talk, I don't know that I've seen him actually fight.

[onlythebranch]

"Fuck you," the guy spits out and Sweeney doesn't care who the words are aimed at, he just takes them as an invitation to deliver a nice, hard punch, his knuckles colliding with the man's nose. There's a spurt of warm blood against his fist, the feeling of sacrifice, and heat blooms through him. It isn't the same as an offering made to him, but it's good.

Good enough.

"It's worth it, love," he says to Tris. The blood on his knuckles is bright red and he holds it up for a moment, then flexes his hand. "Have a go. He's a prick, but there's glory t'be had in the fight, even with as limp a dick as this one."

[priordivergence]

"Doesn't seem like much of a fight."

Maybe it's the Dauntless with a death wish in me or maybe it's Mad Sweeney's influence, but I can't help the bravado. I step in front of the man who's still bleeding down his face. The blood doesn't scare me. I can see by the lack of scars on his arms that he probably doesn't have half the stories I have.

"I'll be sporting about it, even." I throw my arms out. "Let him see if he can land a punch."

[onlythebranch]

"You two are fucked," the man spits out, holding his nose, his gaze darting nervously from Sweeney to Tris and then back again. Mad Sweeney only grins in response and spreads his arms wide as if to say, of course I'm fucked.

"Is that a no then?" he asks. "You're declining t'fight her after givin' her shit?"

The man lets go of his nose, but there's still blood flowing and he looks at Tris again, almost as if he expects her to save him from this entire situation.

[priordivergence]

"Don't start things you can't finish," I say, still keeping my stance open, ready for that free punch I promised him. I never said I'd let it land but even that possibility seems to scare him.

The Faction system was flawed and Dauntless was cruel, but even now it serves me well. I tilt my head at the man and use the strongest condemnation that Dauntless had. "Coward."

[onlythebranch]

That'll be the thing that does it, Mad Sweeney can tell even before the word lands as hard as a blow and the man stiffens with anger. It's such a fragile fucking thing, masculinity is, and in it lies the difference between posturing and a man who genuinely loves to fight.

Sweeney's glad to know exactly which group he belongs to.

Finally the man lashes out and it's a terrible punch, one Sweeney is sure Tris will see coming a mile away and he snorts with disappointment, rolling his eyes. She'll take him out in short order, he has no doubt of that.

[priordivergence]

His anger gives me the excuse to act.

It's a horrible punch, all open stance and loose arms. I let the man come within an inch of hitting me and then I sidestep, twisting his arm behind his back and using the momentum of the turn. I swing my legs around until they wrap around his neck and use my weight to knock him right back to the ground, moving out of the way so that my knee is bent over his throat.

"Are you done now?" I ask. I look up to Sweeney. "I think he's done."

[onlythebranch]

"I think he was done long before he was dragged into the ring," Sweeney answers. "That was fuckin' pathetic, lad. If you're gonna flap your lips, you ought to at least have somethin' to back up all that swagger or something like this happens and you wind up lookin' a damn sight foolish."

But at least the chances of him giving Tris a hard time from now on are significantly lower. It might not stop him entirely, but there's a good group of people here who have seen her easily best him and that will help.

He steps forward and drops down to one knee, his big leg beside the man's head. "You didn't even try, but not you know it ain't so easy to take someone down just because they're small. Lesson learned, right?" he asks, then gives the man's cheek a gentle pat before he rises again and offers his hand to Tris to help her up.

[priordivergence]

This time I take Sweeney's hand because it's not really about standing. I grasp his wrist with my hand and pull myself up and everything about the grip speaks of being equal. We've gotten a very good measure of one another, not just in how we fight but in how we respond to tiny, blackhearted men who think they're so much bigger and better.

"My faction would've liked you," I observe. "You, I mean." To clarify, I point at Sweeney. "Him, not so much."

Still grasping his arm, I slip my hand down so that we're hand in hand and I shake it. "Good match."