AEA7
E, Eris, Erim [He, His, Him; She, Hers, Her respectively]
Suun and Seel develop skills to help them avoid the pummeling they experienced in their first games. Seel sings out loud as e and eris strike team navigates the sandy terrain that the gymnasium morphs into for today’s games. The bottom half of the gymnasium walls’ video projector extends the bright orange landscape to make the space feel expansive; there is a very large floor space that today is spattered with varying sizes of dunes and eight compounds constructed of metallic rectangles in the respective team colors that serve as the bases of operation for each of the teams. The Green team had split into smaller factions and Seel’s team had been sent to defend against the Yellow team’s advancement on their compound. All the while Seel sings an old Druinte folk song that members of eris team enjoy while pretending not to notice it. When they confront a contingent of the Yellow team, Seel sings louder as both teams attack with fists, elbows, the bright blasts of light that issue from their laser guns. E practises tips that eris roommates had taught erim before sleeping at night and eris is getting very good at evasive maneuvers. Both e and Suun struggle to strike anyone, no matter how many blows they absorb, and they mostly concentrate on perfecting their aim with the laser guns to remove opponents who threaten them.
As the team manages to eliminate the players of the Yellow team, Seel continues eris song, but is interrupted when they are ambushed by Yellow team members who zip by with propulsion technology on their shoes. Seel is panicked and flips, tucks and rolls to avoid their blows as they zip by and it takes all of eris concentration. But then Seel is struck on the face, hard enough to send erim dizzying to the ground. And then e is kicked and punched. The Yellow team member that is beating Seel stumbles and falls close by and when Seel sees erim there, e jumps on erim and uses his fists in ways that e has never done before in eris life. E bloodies the face of the Yellow team member and when Seel is done, e is surprised that the members of eris strike team are standing and watching erim. Most are impressed, a few are stunned. Suun is horrified.
At the conclusion of the games, when the two are in the laboratory, Seel tries to explain erimself to Suun.
“It was a surge of feelings, partner. You have to understand. I am not giving into the barbarism, and was merely protecting myself.”
“It seems to me,” Suun says, “that you were out of harm’s way and wanted your assailant to feel the pain that you were caused. Which only compounds the pain experienced in that gymnasium. If we contribute to it, then we will be losing ourselves. And I do not want to lose you.”
“Haven’t you wanted to give back the pain that you experience in those games? Maybe it is not wise to stand and receive punishment. Maybe it is our obligation to use force in response to force. We can teach our assailants that attacking us is unwise. It can lead to a net loss in the total amount of violence in the gymnasium.” Seel moves close to Suun and speaks sincerely. “Partner, it is most gratifying, I must say. Do it. Strike back at them.” Seel looks around and they are alone in the lab, and then e kisses Suun. “Do it for me.”
The couple is decidedly aggressive in their next effort at the games. Suun is reluctant at first watching eris partner punch and kick the orphans on other teams, but when e is struck on the face, something inside of erim finally unleashes and e fights back. At the next games, the two go rogue from their team and leave a trail of injured orphans in their wake. They lead their team to victory in a series of games that breaks a record. And all the while, as Suun and Seel become a near unstoppable fighting duo, moving in perfect sync and defending and attacking in tandem that makes them one being with eight limbs, Seel sings out loud. It becomes a rallying cry for the Green team. And after every victory, the team huddles with their arms draped over the shoulders of the orphans next to them, and it is a shock to everyone in the gymnasium.
Falstraq is in the viewing room after the Green team breaks the record for longest winning streak. E smiles to erimself as the monitors show the team huddled together. There are other screens and monitors that show the other teams, mostly in conflict, but the Orange team seems to be entranced by the sight of the Green team. Falstraq can hear the various monitors debating the role that nonviolent physical contact could possibly have on the team’s performance.
“Why would touching change anything?” One Druinte asked passionately.
“It is the only thing that differentiates this team from the others,” another responds. “The Green team has no other clear advantages that would account for their success. If that is the case, it is necessary to examine other factors that could be impacting the performance of these orphans. They play now with the same ferociousness that the other teams have, but they are kind to one another. I don’t think they in-fight at all anymore.”
“Their last in-fight,” another interjects, “was at the games before the start of their current win streak when they narrowly missed victory.”
“It is not the physical contact,” another says, “though that seems to be the outward physical projection of their newfound strategy of team harmony.”
These orphans could do it, Falstraq thinks. They could change Druinte society forever. They were impressing everyone that mattered, and it wouldn’t be long before the leaders of industry were implementing new ideas about teamwork at the Halls all across the society.
Falstraq is very eager to find Suun and Seel at the conclusion of the games and e figures that e will find them at their jobs. But Falstraq does not find them there. E looks in the dorms, and when he finds them empty, e finds God at eris laboratory period. Falstraq pulls erim aside.
“Have you seen the social Druintes from the Green team?” E asks.
“Suun and Seel? They were out on the mall the last I saw them.” God says the words with a straight face, but Falstraq can see a glint of menace in eris eyes. It was God’s record that the Green team had broken and e was bitter for it. E did not want to anger Falstraq, so e mostly avoided the couple, but when eris record was broken and attention shifted from God’s brilliance to the unorthodox methods of the Green team, God experienced jealousy for the first time. No one had ever questioned that e was the best at any given thing e was doing, until Suun and Seel came along. And e had forgotten erimself, the self that Falstraq was helping erim to be, and e had stirred trouble in the couple’s relationship.
The Green team was out on the mall after the conclusion of the games, and after the team dispersed, God saw Suun and Seel arguing. E had been watching the couple carefully. They were formidable opponents, they had eliminated God from the games earlier in the day and very few orphans could say they had ever done the same. The way they argued felt very aggressive to God, more aggressive than e had ever seen them talk to one another. God got closer and e could hear that they were arguing over the lack of intimacy they had shared since coming to Triusia.
“You don’t even miss my touch.” Suun complained.
“You are mad at me because I am used to the constraints that we are under? You are mad that I am adapting to ensure that we never experience undue harm or separation?”
“I am mad because it seems that you enjoy touching your teammates more than you enjoy touching me!” Suun yelled.
“You are my teammate!”
“That is not the response that you should have.” Suun looks on the verge of violence and God can see that Seel is ready to answer it. But they stand in a silent posture, their bodies unfamiliar with the idea of threatening their partners and reluctant to do so.
God’s brain worked quickly and then e decided to absently smash into Seel who looked the most upset and ready to take out eris frustrations on anything that presented itself. When God bumped eris shoulder, Seel reacted without thinking and punched God in the stomach. It was a solid blow and God was impressed at the strength, but e mostly exaggerated eris reaction to it. E let out a yelp, and fell at Suun’s feet. E conjured a tear and said sympathetically, “I’m sorry for my clumsiness. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
Suun was ready for an excuse too, a reason to deny eris instincts to love and care for Seel. And in that moment Suun blamed Seel for all of the violence that e had perpetrated in the gymnasium. E had made it ok. So Suun would show Seel what it felt like to have Suun’s violence turned on erim.
By the time Falstraq makes it to the mall, Suun and Seel are being taken away for medical treatment. Both have sustained life threatening injuries at the hands of the other.
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