บท 12: Conflict
After being in the village for a week Leo had gotten used to his new life. He slowly became used to the life there and the various jobs required. He would help tend the gardens one day, and help cut and distribute firewood the next. When he asked Iris about what kind of work he would need to do in the future, she simply stated that he would be where they needed him to be. He became suspicious though when she kept training him in the bow, and they even started close combat drills the day before.
As he finished tending the garden on his eighth day, he started walking back to the house while also meeting up with Iris. He saw her throw a cold look somewhere before happily asking how his afternoon was. While he replied, he looked in the direction that she directed the cold look and was Unsurprised to see Curly standing there looking over. Leo had learned that Curly (who Leo believed was called so due to the curved horns and curly goatee) belong to a small group of men that couldn't find wives in the village, due to the fact that there were more men than women living there.
Several years ago, the men were despairing when they thought they would remain single their whole lives; until they noticed Iris was developing into a beautiful young woman. Knowing she was in a similar boat as them as the only person in the whole village in her age group; they approached her with the intentions of increasing favor then, to appear more appealing when she aged a few more years. When elder grandma and Natalie noticed what was going on they quickly put a stop to it.
They had told the men not to harass her, and if she would choose one of them it would only be after she turned twenty and if she was willing. They then grudgingly decided to wait a few more years. That was until nearly two weeks ago now that Leo showed up, and was bedridden while Iris personally cared for him. Some recognized they wouldn't win her and gave up, others like Curly wanted to pursue her and became mad when they saw how close Iris and Leo were from day one.
Noticing Curly looking their direction, Leo decided to be a bit bold and took Iris's hand in his own. Realizing what he was doing Iris didn't say anything, but seemed to squeeze his hand tighter.(though he might have imagined it) Curly's face turned a deep shade of purple and stormed over. Leo had hoped seeing the intimacy would help Curly give up, but instead it seemed to provoke him further; and was thinking about how to resolve it when Iris said,
"This is my problem so let me handle it, he fights with the Warriors so I don't want you to get involved." Hearing her words he nodded, then released her hand and stepped back in case she needed swinging room. Seeing him backing away seemed to infuriate Curly further, and when he arrived in front of them he verbally exploded.
"What the hell Iris?! You give the rest of us the cold shoulder for years, then happily jump into this guys arms the same day he arrives? Look at him! He even backed away to leave you by yourself!" Iris had the coldest look he'd ever seen on her face and spat back at him,
"Speak for yourself, I never would've married any of you to begin with. And besides, you have no say about who I do choose. As far as you're concerned, I'm just a piece of meet meant to be owned." Curly seemed to be even more enraged by her words. Leo on the other hand, was also getting pretty mad. He didn't like seeing women getting disrespected to begin with, however Curly had essentially called Iris and easy woman due to how quickly the two of them got close.
This had ticked Leo off, especially since on top of being indebted to her he cared about her a lot. So when he heard Curly being so rude to Iris, he went to take a step forward. He stopped though when he saw Iris shake her head slightly. He decided he'd still stay out of it, but prepared to jump in just in case. As the argument continued more people gathered and at some point, someone even went to fetch elder grandma since Natalie was out hunting. Curly's next sentence however caused many people to start yelling at him and practically sent both Leo and Iris into shock,
"Better to be a piece of meat than a slut who opens her door for the new guy in town!"
SMACK!!! At a complete loss for word, Iris left a bright red handprint on Curly's face before storming back to her house. Leo was about to follower her when he saw Curly look down at Iris's backside and suddenly reach a hand out. Seeing what he was trying to do, Leo reached out and grabbed Curly's forearm. Curly looked at Leo in rage and tried to fight back, but his look of rage slowly turned to shock, and then into fear.
****
Curly had spent the last several years of his life rather depressed. Due to all the women in the village already being taken, he thought he might be forced to live his life alone. The worst part was that as a "disgusting mutant" he wasn't even able to leave to find a wife, or move somewhere else entirely. Then he realized that Iris, though being a little young, would grow into a fine looking adult.
Like the others, he first tried to make himself seem more appealing to her for the future. After he was made to stop though, he noticed that she started giving cold looks at him and the others. He then realized that elder grandma and Natalie must have said something to her to make her hate them. As the next couple years went by she seemed to grow more beautiful by the day and Curly became more and more convinced that she needed to become his wife.
Then that all changed when she found that damned Leo. He had watched as day by day they became even closer, and his rage building all the while. Then after a week of this, he noticed that Leo took iris's hand in his own while looking at him. 'Are you trying to spite me you damn brat?!' Curly's rage exploded and he went to confront the two of them. However as he approached he saw Leo back up and leave the fighting to Iris which infuriated him even further.
Through the fight though he realized he wouldn't win Iris from this upstart and called her out on it. After she slapped him and started to walk away, he decided that if he couldn't have her then he would at least win a small victory and cop a feel of her firm looking ass. Before he could however, a firm hand gripped his arm.
"Let go of me you bastard, or don't blame me for what happens!" Leo however held on to his arm and started applying more strength to his grip. 'Damn brat, I'll show you strength!' Thinking this, Curly first coated his arm in chi to protect it, then gathering some chi in his hand hit Leo in the shoulder. Thinking he had won, Curly had a smile on his face. However he then noticed that let alone being injured, Leo didn't even seem to register the hit. The grip on his arm also seemed to be increasing in strength as well.
Curly became concerned for the first time and leaned forward and head butted Leo in the head with his horns. Thinking he might have done something this time, Curly was shocked to see that not only did Leo seem to be unfazed; there was a small cut on Leo's forehead. Curly watched on horror as the cut seemed to heal almost instantly. And as he looked at Leo's face his glare seemed to be getting fiercer as well. Curly started to feel fear now and could only stand there as Leo used an increasing amount of strength to crush his arm.
Looking into Leo's eyes, Curly then noticed that the usually brown eyes had gained a bit of orange at the edges. At this time there came a crunching sound and Curly felt a sharp pain. Looking at his arm, he could see that Leo's nails now seemed to be cutting into his flesh while his bones continued to be crushed under his grip. His rage forgotten, Curly fell to his knees due to the pain and with tears forming in his eyes,
"Please stop. I, I promise not to bug you anymore so please let me go." At this point he started sobbing while the sound of crunching could still be heard from his arm. Curly looked to his eyes again pleading, but all he saw was the look of a bloodthirsty beast. Iris who had been in shock this whole time then gently grabbed Leo's arm and said that Curly had had enough.
"Leo that's enough, he might be an ass but he doesn't need to lose an arm over it." Leo hearing her words released Curly's arm and turned around with Iris and together they walked to her house. Curly felt pain, he felt humiliation, but most of all he felt fear. Seeing his broken and bleeding arm had also turned purple, he turned and fled to Austin's house hoping to have him arm healed. But most of all, he wanted to get away from that monster.
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