27: A Better Life

Jay leaned against the wall next to Kris. Kris didn't have a lollipop on hand so she used something else to sweeten her mouth. A vape pen. She puts it in her mouth and breathed in. She breathed out the excessive amount of smoke that Jay tried to wave away the smoke. He never liked smoking. After he once tried a tobacco and made his throat itch badly.

Jay looks at Kris with an annoyed look. Kris looks back at him, "what?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why do you smoke?" He questioned.

"Just felt like it," she shrugged. "Bored," she added.

"Does it have any benefit?" Jay genuinely wondered.

"Helps me focus."

"Is that scientifically proven or just in your head?"

"Nicotine helps with focus, yeah."

"Isn't something like coffee a better choice?"

"What, you want me to carry a coffee canister everywhere?" Kris retorted.

"Nah, like in the morning and shit," he replied. "Don't girls have morning routines?"

"I mean, yeah I do."

"Like what?"

"A shower? Skin care? Make up? Breakfast?" She snarked.

"You're an ass," Jay smirked.

"Well, Mr. I'm so well trained, what's your morning routine?"

Jay laughs as he hears her words, yet it also stuck like an arrow in his chest. He scratches the back of his neck as he thinks of an appropriate reply. 

"I wake up, then I work out for a little bit before showering, then breakfast," Jay thinks of anything else he's done that's unique to him.

"Not much is it?" Kris giggles.

"Okay, so I don't have that much of a routine either."

"Pretentious ass," she said half-jokingly.

Jay shrugs in response.

Kris then looks down to his body, checking him out a bit. He found his built to be interesting, unlike Sam or Dan or Heath or Nate, they were strong but not bulky like Jay was. Not from stuff like performance enhancers either, but an actual built, trained, and maintained body.

She takes in her vape into her mouth again and breathes in deeply before breathing out a cloud of smoke. "Say..." She thought she wants to ask him. "Are you okay with being a sorcerer?"

"Meaning?"

"Were you open to the fact that you awakened sorcery and had three years of your life..." Kris thinks quickly about the most appropriate words to use to rile Jay up. "...Taken away from you?"

Appeared in the center of the room were two beasts that were built similarly to an armadillo. Their backs seemed to be a thick and impregnable layer of armor. Jay and Kris stood up and prepared to fight. Kris takes a last whiff of her vape before sliding it in her pocket.

"Conversation postponed," Jay said as he walked forward.

Kris scoffs as she walks along side him. She fixes her beanie. She puts her finger in her mouth and covers it in her saliva, then freezing her finger. Creating a small few inch of ice that she grab and broke off her finger. She then continued the freezing process and created a halberd from it.

Jay loaded his arms as he looked dead at one of the beasts. One of the beast looked back at him, it curled up into a ball and started rolling in place, charging itself up before launching forward. Jay punched his hands together, then beats his chest with one hand as hard as he could, As the beast came closer to him, he tucked his hand back in to a fist. He takes a stride forward and drive his fist forward and collided with the beast, blowing a great explosion that sent the beast back to the wall, ricocheting.

The other beast did the same thing, Kris quickly moves out of the way and hits the beast with her halberd like a baseball bat, she sent the beast flying upward to the roof, then bouncing against the wall and headed right for Jay. Kris froze her whole right arm and lands a punch to the side of Jay's body and charged him up without a word.

Jay takes another stride forward and claps his hand together, releasing a similar size of explosion as his previous one.

The other beast circled around them and tried to flank Kris. She froze the ground from the heel of her shoe, creating an ascending wall of ice that blocked the beast's ambush.

"These guys seem pretty simple, let's continue talking," Kris said.

"Uhh... No," Jay shook his head.

"Why not?" Kris asked with confused smile.

Both of the beast rolled around and gained enough speed to try and sandwich Jay from his right and left. Jay pounds his chest with both hands and and turned to his left, driving his fist and releasing a deflecting wave of heat. Kris throws her halberd like a spear and knocked the beast on Jay's right to swing off course.

"I needa focus," Jay turned around and shrugged as the dark smoke envelops him.

"Bullshit," Kris replied.

"Well, I don't wanna talk about it anyway."

"Why not?"

"It's personal."

"Well, let's get personal then."

"Why are you even interested in the first place?"

"I have an interest in you," she claimed, gaining his attention.

Jay blushes unexpectedly, "o- okay, that's something," he murmured to himself.

"What was that?" Kris asked, smiling a tease.

"Nothing!"

Kris rushes over to Jay and punches him on his hard abs. She hit him quite a few times. "You know, this is quite a weirdly effective strategy?"

"You think so?" Jay couldn't see her definition.

"We attack the enemy, but I also attack you, confusing the enemy."

"Oh," Jay realized. "You don't have to hit me so hard, is it personal or something?" He felt the pain a little bit more whenever she hits him.

"A little."

"How!?"

"Tell me, did you like being when you became a sorcerer?"

"No."

"Why's that?"

"I'm not telling you that."

"Well, can I guess?" She asked as she dodges the beasts with style.

At that point, all the two were focused on was their conversation. The beasts trying to collide itself against the two were a hopeless and an ill-sighted strategy.

Jay rolls to dodge and turns around to punch the beast's armor and knocked it off course. He shook his hand afterward, not realizing how tough it was. "Fine, go ahead," Jay thought he would entertain her conversation.

"You were an... Athlete?"

"Okay," Jay nods.

He casts Flame Chakrams and held the two chakrams on both hands. He was able to throw them in quick succession at the beasts. Kris just kept making barriers and dodging the beasts, letting Jay do most of the work.

Kris ran up against the wall and created a pillar of ice under her feet before jumping off it quickly. "Did you compete with a team or not?" She asked mid-leap.

"No," he yelled as he was in a strength competition with one of the beasts. He was pinned against the wall and tried to push the beast away.

"Then something in athletics, right?" She presumed as she runs up to him with a newly conjured halberd.

She knocks the beast off to the side and cracked the shell loose. Jay takes a moment to breathe before absorbing strikes from the staff of Kris' halberd.

"Yeah, I was in athletics," he confirms.

"Let me guess," she looks up to the ceiling of the cave, wondering how it was well lit for a place with zero light source and ventilation. "Was it discus throwing?"

Jay's jaw dropped slightly, impressed at Kris' deduction skills or her guessing ability. "How did you figure that out?"

"Your built suggest you're older than most of us in class and trained before you even enrolled," she pauses to gauge his reaction. "You also used chakrams that looked like discusses. 

"Well, shit, I guess I'm predictable."

"You're no longer in it because you're blacklisted, right?"

"I was," he nods somberly. "I had the worst reveal to the world that day, I'm pretty sure it made the local news."

"How was it revealed?"

Jay sighs, "It was the state discus throwing championship, I was ready, disc in my hand and was doing everything with perfect technique down to the minute details," he said in a mocking tone. Visibly irritated.

"Then?"

"After I was on the moment of release, I released something, my whole body was on fire. I had shot a stream of flames that turned into an explosion that caught everyone's attention, long story short, I was in a room with Hinora Kai."

"What'd he say?"

"He told me that I'm banned from competing in any sport for the rest of my life."

"How'd that feel?"

"I was in the dumps for fucking months. In fact, I'm still in the dumps. I had a shot to be something great! I was living a better life!"

"Is that what you think?" Kris scoffed. "I pity you, almost."

Jay got very irritated of Kris' void of empathy towards his upbringing. He slams down to the ground, unleashing a great wave of flames that burned off one of the beast's shield. It could no longer ball up and roll around.

Kris takes the opportunity to erect a wave of ice spikes and pierce the beast and creating dozens of new orifices. 

"You see, my life sucked before I became a sorcerer."

"Yeah, I fucking figured," Jay said, mockingly.

Kris turns to him with an annoyed face, "okay, calm down, fuck face." Kris said, a little bit raising her voice. 

Jay shook his head, "yeah, sorry." 

"Anyways..." Kris shook her head. "Being a normal girl in high school sucked."

"Did you not have any friends?" Jay wondered, a little smile painted on his face.

Kris sighed, then fixed her beanie. "Why does everything you say piss me off?" She asked with an irritated smile.

"I didn't mean it!" Jay replied.

"I had friends, they were just fake and annoying. Using me for their own gain, I hated that."

Jay smirks and found the perfect reply, "so, you didn't have friends."

Kris grits her teeth, "the next wall of spike I make, I'm sending it your way," she swore.

Jay runs past Kris and punches the beast approaching her, knocking the beast's armor off like the other one. As Kris promised, the next wall of spikes she made was at Jay's direction, Jay shifts away and the wall of spikes pierced the beast easily.

"Finally! That's done," Jay sighed in relief.

"Anyway, my life was simply dull and boring. Now that I'm a sorcerer, I can use magic and earn good money even when I'm lazing around."

Jay's jaw drops slightly in awe at how dazzlingly vain Kris was at the moment, "is that it?"

"Yep," she said stoically.

"Well, at least you know it."

The cave reshaped and opened up a path for the two to leave the room, only deeper into the cave.