Love Struck || Orion & Luce
Timing: August 5th, 2020
Location: Downtown White Crest
Tagging: @3starsquinn & @divineluce
Description: Unaware that Rio’s actions were the result of this incident, a chance encounter presents Luce with an opportunity she can’t pass up.
Luce emerged from the art supply store located downtown, a small bag with a few tubes of oil paint in her hand. She’d been painting more lately, her art turning more abstract, less restrained than it had been in the past. She told herself it was just her way of developing new techniques and experimenting with other mediums and color pallets. But, the crisp clean lines, the black and white art she’d done before… it didn’t feel quite right anymore. Even her charcoal art that she’d attempted, they’d started to blur at the edges. Shaking her head, Luce glanced up from her feet and froze as she saw a familiar person walking down the opposite side of the street. Her blood boiled as she took in the boyish face, tucked underneath a snapback and sunglasses. She could see strands of blue hair peeking out from under his hat and she knew exactly who he was. With a growl, she hurried across the street, making a beeline for the little shithead.
Outside of work, Orion had basically been avoiding any outings. He wanted to avoid running into anybody he knew as much as possible for the next couple of weeks. Until something else took the towns attention. Or until Rio was done being embarrassed. He had a pretty good guess which would come first. He had taken a liking to stealing Ricky’s snap backs and sunglasses and wearing them around town. Even if people weren’t actually staring at him, the sad excuse for a disguise at least helped him convince himself that he was more anonymous. He was leaving the bookstore, carrying a small bag of books and making his way towards the car when he spotted Luce leaving an art store. From the way she paused, it looked like Luce spotted him too. Okay, so clearly the disguise shouldn’t have brought him much comfort. Rio sounds away from Luce, trying to not be too noticeable but most likely failing. He made his way down the sidewalk the opposite direction, hoping it hadn’t been too obvious that he was trying to avoid her. He could hear her footsteps from behind him though. They got closer and closer, the distance between them shortening. At this point, Rio wouldn’t be able to get away unless he broke into a sprint. And that wasn’t a good look. He took a deep breath, accepting his fate before turning around and pulling his sunglasses off his face. “Hey Luce!” He waved and smiled, the nervousness making him shake, “Listen, I-“
As Luce raced across the street, not bothering to wait for the traffic to stop, Rio met her eyes for a moment. And then, he turned on his heels and began to walk in the opposite direction. “Siki tuttun--” She swore under her breath before hurrying after Rio. The bruises on her body from the attack on the Ring twinged as she jostled past a few people on the sidewalk, but she didn’t care. That fucking little punk. Whatever stupid joke he had been playing on Winston, she wasn’t a fan of it. And now he was trying to run away? Fuck no. She wasn’t going to let that happen. When Rio turned around, Luce glared daggers at him. “Let’s have a chat, Rio. Some place private” She growled, hand grabbing the young man by the front of his shirt. She dragged him into one of the nearby alleys, out of the way. With a glance over her shoulder, she reeled back and punched Rio in the face, her knuckles slamming into his cheek. “You fucking dick. Play games all you want, but don’t fuck with Winston’s head like this. They don’t deserve it.” She snarled, shaking her hand out before backing out of the alley, middle fingers pointed upwards as she left.
If Orion saw the punch coming, he didn’t do much to dodge it. Either his hunter reflexes had completely failed him or Rio had subconsciously resigned himself to taking the blow. Maybe he thought he deserved it. As easy as it was to believe that this had not been his fault, that hadn’t helped to ease the guilt any. Luce didn’t hold back either, her hips seeming to turn in with the punch and giving even more power to the blow. It connected with his face, his cheek baring the bulk of the hit and carrying the majority of the pain as well. Rio stumbled back a couple of steps, grabbing at his face and allowing himself a few uninterrupted seconds to let himself feel all of the pain. The whole side of his face ached in pain. He pressed against the wound on his cheek and flinched back at the sting. That was definitely going to bruise. He glanced at Luce. He couldn’t tell if she was pissed enough to go for another punch or if that was had satisfied her enough. His face was in pain, but could he be mad? If Rio hadn’t known the full situation wouldn’t he have hoped that Winston had the kind of friends that would throw punches for them? Winston certainly deserved that. Without knowing what to say to Luce, he took a few more seconds cradle his cheek in his hand and try to shake the headache that was forming. Even then, all he could think to saw once he had mostly gained his composure was, “Ow!”
