[ He's expecting retaliation. Ready for it. What he's not expecting is for retaliation to be so swift and sure-footed.
One second Yujin's laughing, really laughing, easy and bright in a way he's not seen him before and the laughter's infectious and Stephen can't help the chuckle that's pulled from him like water from a stone caught off guard—
And the next Yujin's got him. There's nothing to grab for to keep his balance, the other man's grip putting Stephen's arm between the two of them and nothing in the way of his seeking hands, so-much-for-loyal cloak floating benignly a long way out of reach. ]
Oh, fu—
[ So he goes down. And the water may not be real, but it's wet right now, and Stephen lands awkwardly from the where the grip and the sweeping leg had unsettled his balance so one entire side of him gets dipped before the arm under him can shove him back out of it again. He low-key tries to keep himself balanced on that one arm, teeters on the brink of thinking he might be able to push himself up out of the water all the way and keep half a dry torso - and loses the battle.
Slumping back to centre has the dry parts of his shirt guzzling up water from below. Propped up on his hands, sodden from pretty much the neck down save for a few just damp patches on his torso, he sits there in the shallows staring up at Yujin on the bank with an impossibly straight face... for the all of five seconds he can hold it before his expression cracks into a smirk. Then a grin. Then laughter leaking low and rich at his own expense and their shared victory over another morose day in a row of morose days. And for all his laughter is just as earnest as the mirth spilling from Yujin, it's also got a little natural edge of this could well be the prelude to a dastardly plan.
He lifts a hand out of the water, still grinning as he sweeps it over his mostly dry hair, an expertly elaborate ruse— and then brings it down palm flat and angled like a blade into the water. Where any other person's hand might cause a tiny little wave on impact his sends a sudden sheet of water rising up out of the river about the height of a man and moving fast toward where, as if by magic, a man just so happens to be standing.
The first time was an accident. The second time barely a splash. This one's vengeance, but at least it's served with a smile. ]
[The entire scene's absurd: two grown men who are much too old for this fighting in the water like boys. But perhaps it's also something necessary. Though both bedraggled and thoroughly drenched now, they've still won-- against the orbs, against another day of giving into worlds upon worlds of despair. And he's made Stephen laugh. For once on this station, victory really does feel like victory. Yujin can endure getting a little wet for that.
Of course, it's a mistake to forget about the magic a second time. Just as he shuffles over to Stephen, the last of his laughter bubbling away, the other man brings his hand down like a knife. Yujin might be fast, but he isn't fast enough to evade a man-sized wave crashing into him head-long.]
Hey! [he starts, and never finishes: he's sputtering water in the next instant, stumbling backward several steps. So much for that earlier drying spell. Yujin, a little damp before, is streaming water all over again.]
You're-- [Chuckling, Yujin fruitlessly wipes at his face with a sleeve that is just as wet.] --you're an awful cheater, I can't do magic!
[As if to illustrate, he swipes an arm outward: there's no five-foot curtain of water, but it does shower Stephen with a few stray droplets.]
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One second Yujin's laughing, really laughing, easy and bright in a way he's not seen him before and the laughter's infectious and Stephen can't help the chuckle that's pulled from him like water from a stone caught off guard—
And the next Yujin's got him. There's nothing to grab for to keep his balance, the other man's grip putting Stephen's arm between the two of them and nothing in the way of his seeking hands, so-much-for-loyal cloak floating benignly a long way out of reach. ]
Oh, fu—
[ So he goes down. And the water may not be real, but it's wet right now, and Stephen lands awkwardly from the where the grip and the sweeping leg had unsettled his balance so one entire side of him gets dipped before the arm under him can shove him back out of it again. He low-key tries to keep himself balanced on that one arm, teeters on the brink of thinking he might be able to push himself up out of the water all the way and keep half a dry torso - and loses the battle.
Slumping back to centre has the dry parts of his shirt guzzling up water from below. Propped up on his hands, sodden from pretty much the neck down save for a few just damp patches on his torso, he sits there in the shallows staring up at Yujin on the bank with an impossibly straight face... for the all of five seconds he can hold it before his expression cracks into a smirk. Then a grin. Then laughter leaking low and rich at his own expense and their shared victory over another morose day in a row of morose days. And for all his laughter is just as earnest as the mirth spilling from Yujin, it's also got a little natural edge of this could well be the prelude to a dastardly plan.
He lifts a hand out of the water, still grinning as he sweeps it over his mostly dry hair, an expertly elaborate ruse— and then brings it down palm flat and angled like a blade into the water. Where any other person's hand might cause a tiny little wave on impact his sends a sudden sheet of water rising up out of the river about the height of a man and moving fast toward where, as if by magic, a man just so happens to be standing.
The first time was an accident. The second time barely a splash. This one's vengeance, but at least it's served with a smile. ]
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Of course, it's a mistake to forget about the magic a second time. Just as he shuffles over to Stephen, the last of his laughter bubbling away, the other man brings his hand down like a knife. Yujin might be fast, but he isn't fast enough to evade a man-sized wave crashing into him head-long.]
Hey! [he starts, and never finishes: he's sputtering water in the next instant, stumbling backward several steps. So much for that earlier drying spell. Yujin, a little damp before, is streaming water all over again.]
You're-- [Chuckling, Yujin fruitlessly wipes at his face with a sleeve that is just as wet.] --you're an awful cheater, I can't do magic!
[As if to illustrate, he swipes an arm outward: there's no five-foot curtain of water, but it does shower Stephen with a few stray droplets.]