the gauntlet discussion

A 50 foot tall climbing wall. No ropes, just holds and a straight incline. Just like climbing a tree, but without the protection of branches breaking a fall. If you fell, it was almost guaranteed that you would break at least one bone, if not your back. Naturally, Dan was all over it. After his morning run, he’d been able to shake Nora off at the dorms, and he’d headed over to the other training areas, this specific cliff in mind. Other competitions would have walls and dangerous obstacles, right? Regardless, Dan had just taken off, trying to figure out the easiest way up to the top of the cliff. He’d started a couple times, decided that he didn’t like that route, and had jumped down. So he stood at the bottom of the cliff, arms crossed, examining the bottom twenty feet or so, planning his route.

That’s when he heard someone approaching. A quick glance in the direction of the noise made Dan want to roll his eyes in annoyance. “Decided to come outside for once?” Dan sneered as Jamison approached. “I thought for sure you’d spend the entire year inside with all the toys.” In the nice gym, with the sophisticated and metal equipment, rather than outside where he could get grass stains if he tried to hard. Wouldn’t want to ruin his aesthetic.

Jamison had already been wondering why he chose to go test out the cliff side, and then when he walked up and saw Daniel there? He only regretted this decision even more. Ughhhh, the entire campus and of course he had to run into Daniel. He'd been foolishly hoping to avoid him for the entire year. Should've known better....the Moss family was like a fungus, popping up fucking everywhere. Couldn't pick up a damn rock without bumping into Daniel. "Well after I went to the gym last night and saw you and Lyca rolling around on the mats the wall here seemed like a better option." Ughh last night had been awful. There Jamie was, heading to the gym just to work out a little when he'd been woken up by one of his roommates snoring and boom.

Lyca with her tongue all over Daniel.

Literally.

Stuff of nightmares right there. "But really, it's not like I could expect you and Lyca to have any kind of class when it comes to your depraved mating." He grinned at Daniel then, all charm, because as if a Moss could even have a normal relationship. They bred like fucking rabbits. The more kids the more chances of one of them becoming a Guardian, probably. And he swore with each one they were dumber than the last. "Nice to see you're branching out from the trees though, now you can be a monkey that can run, climb trees, and climb walls. Maybe you can get a little hat and Lyca can play music while you dance and do flips."

There were literally four of five places Jamison could work out inside. Why he would want to come outside and potentially get a sunburn mixed up in his perfectly paper white complexion was beyond Dan. Maybe he needed to add some color to his life, or his personality. That would be a change. Whatever the reason, he was here now, blessing Dan with his soul-sucking presence. Dan took a couple steps to approach the wall, and reached out his hand to one of the handholds when Jamison spoke.

Oh.

That.

Dan blinked, and rolled his eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself, Jamison.” He said, using Jamie’s full name, because why the heck not? He didn’t know what that had been about. To be completely honest, neither had Dan, which was why he was still trying to figure out what that entire encounter had meant. But picking up one thing out of context was so very much like Jamison, so he couldn’t be surprised that the fickle flame had used something he didn’t understand as leverage. “Lyca was just having some fun. Not that I would expect you to know what that is.” He said with a shrug, and pulled himself up onto the wall. At Jamie’s comment on him being a monkey, Dan just gave him a knowing smirk. “At least I’d be an agile monkey, rather than a stoic log working on his smolder.” He shot back. Dae had been none to shy about his encounter with Jamie, and since Jamison had made it known from practically birth that he planned on winning or sleeping with the person who did, Dan guessed his smolder must have gotten pretty damn good.

Jamison. Daniel.

Full names were kind of a thing between the two. Especially since both knew how much disdain in it the other found.

"Oh. Well that's good, I was just telling Jo this morning how I always thought a Delacroix like Lyca could do better than a you. She seemed to agree that you and Lyca coupling together was awful news." And of course Jamison had told Jo all about what he saw in the gym last night. They'd been sharing breakfast, she said he looked like shit, he said he hadn't slept because of the nightmares he'd gotten from seeing Daniel and Lyca....blah blah blah. Jamison stepped up to the wall then, putting his hands on two of the holds and hoisting himself up.

Conveniently the holds were farthest away from Daniel. And upwind. He didn't want to get any of that Moss scent all over him. How was it that Daniel always managed to smell like dirt?

"At least I have a smolder. Do you want me to give you some tips on how to charm people?" Lord knew that Daniel was lacking in charm, he didn't even dress with any amount of charm. Seriously, how long had he had the green shirt he was wearing now? Or perhaps the real truth was Daniel had an abundance of green shirts that all looked the same so he could fool people into thinking he had no sense of self style. When in reality he just chose to dress like a child's cartoon character. "People quite enjoy my smolder," So yes, thank you Daniel for the compliment there. Because being charming and alluring is obviously such a crime.

Dan hoisted himself up another hold, spreading his legs a little further than shoulder with the part on two footholds to give himself balance as he reached for the next hand up. Jamison also pulled himself onto the wall, as far away as he could get, Dan noticed. Good. Jamison always reminded Dan of a stiff dress collar, he was irritating and no one ever looked forward to being with him. But he was was upwind, which meant that Dan got a full face of the stupid manufactured scent that Jamison always insisted on wearing. Girls actually fell for that kind of thing? Honestly, if Jamison worked any harder at this trophy husband gig, he’d be a play doll instead of a person. Which wouldn’t be the largest loss in the world.

Shit. Shit shit shit. Now Jo knew about it? Dan kicked himself internally. Jamison didn’t know what he’d done, and Dan wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of knowing. “Well isn't that good, because we’re not.” He remarked with a slight shrug of his shoulders. He made a mental note to find Lyca later and tell her not to go talk to Jo like he had hinted at.

“If I ever want tips on how to become a walking statue,” Dan said, pulling himself up another hold. “I’ll be sure to ask.” He steadied himself with his foot again, glancing up to plan out his path. Poor little Jamison had always been so concerned about being the more desirable piece of ass in the room, he’d forgotten to develop a personality. And sure, people enjoyed his smolder just as much as they enjoyed awkward cocktail party small talk - they didn’t.

“Speaking of,” Dan started, reaching up for another hold. “How’s the hunt for a sugar daddy going? You might want to get on top of that, since this competition thing isn’t going to work out.” He’d seen Jamison’s placement in the first competition, and it hadn’t been anything wonderful. Middle of the pack at best. Besides, Dan was off the ground and out of reach of Jamison. There wasn’t anything the other boy could do other than shoot daggers with his eyes. If he even knew how to work them when he wasn't trying to get himself hitched to the closest money wagon, which was doubtful.

Jamie wasn't sure what it was about Dan that drove him crazy, but there was just something there that rubbed Jamie in all the wrong ways. Which often lead to hasty ass decisions being made, such as the decision to start climbing where he did, which meant that for a few footholds Jamie's legs were spread at quite uncomfortable degrees of width. At least until he finally started making some progress because obviously he had to make it to the top before Dan did to prove he could. Or maybe Dan would start to rush to get to the top and he'd slip and fall and get sent home and one less competitor to worry about.

"A walking statue? Are you saying my looks are so attractive they could only have been sculpted and be considered as art? Thanks Dan but even if you win I'm not going to be your trophy husband," Ha. Please. He hoisted himself up another foothold then, gritting his teeth as he almost slipped before catching his grip and continuing onwards. It would be just his luck that he'd pick the most complicated route to the top. "I wouldn't worry about my chances in the competition. You Moss kin on the other hand, not the best track record in the Gauntlet. I mean once you go in that's three of you who will die to it? Or are you hoping to just seriously maim yourself and drop out of Ainsley so you can run away from the Gauntlet? I'd consider it if I had a track record like that. After all....which one of your older brothers was the one who was always beating you in those races you all held? Hmmm.." If Jamison had been focusing more on his insults, he probably would've remembered just which brother it was. Instead he was more attentive to the climbing than the insults.

You Moss kin on the other hand, not the best track record in the Gauntlet. Dan felt heart skip a beat as his chest constricted. Thankfully he had just hoisted himself up another hold, otherwise he might have slipped. That was low, and both of them knew it. Dan gritted his teeth, trying to remember that he was about twenty feet up in the air, and couldn’t just lash out, as much as he wanted to. Don’t do it, whatever you do, do not panic. Dan instructed himself. He couldn’t afford to loose control here. Especially not now. Jamison had always been a pain in the Moss boy’s side. Their parents had tried to push them together to be friends, but Jamison had always thought himself better than them. Even if he was the coward who was trying to stay alive just as much as the next person. He had no right, no right, to use Jimmy and Charlie like that. But since when did Jamison care about anything other than using people to satisfy his own desires.

Dan knew his face betrayed how much Jamison’s insult had hit him, but he didn’t reply straight away, but just pulled himself up another hold. A couple more and he could be to the top.

I mean once you go in that's three of you who will die to it?

A memory flashed through Dan’s head. It was after Charlie’s funeral, the guests had left, and he and Mars were sitting in the room that, until a year ago, Mars and Charlie had shared. They’d told their parents they were going to bed, but Mars had swiped a bottle of whiskey from the kitchen, and they were passing it back and forth between the two of them. “Dan, I… I don't even know what happened.” Mars said, his eyes bloodshot from crying all day. “He was right there, right. There.” Mars reached out, as if to show how close they had been, “I knew it, but there was a group… they’d been after us all year…we got separated…” Mars dropped his head into his hands, defeated. There were no tears left in his eyes, and Dan wasn’t sure of what to do, other than pass him the bottle. Mars took a swig, passed it back and continued. “I finished, and when he didn’t I went to look for him, thinking he’d gotten knocked out or something….” Mars picked his head up, and looked at his younger brother. “Dan…”

Stop. Stop. Dan told himself, and shook the memory away. He gritted his teeth, and shook his head. The anger was welling up in his chest, but it was pointless to direct that anger at Jamison, so instead, Dan hauled himself up the few more holds to the top of the wall. When he was at the top, he looked down at Jamison, who was still struggling. “Fuck you Augustus.” He spat, anger seeping into every syllable. “I hope the Gauntlet shows you up for the fucking coward you truly are.” He said nothing else, but reached for the rope to belay himself down the wall, and as soon as his feet hit the ground, he took off at a dead sprint.