Playing for keeps

Your axe thunks into the target, just outside the bullseye.

"Not bad," Huntress acknowledges. "You all warmed up?" Her axe hits just inside of yours.

"Why, are we playing for keeps now?" Your 2nd axe hits further out but at least it sticks. You have actually done this before and you can feel yourself getting back in the groove.

“Sure," she laughs, "Loser buys dinner?" She sticks it right in the bullseye.

"Boring." Your 3rd axe hits in the 4 ring just below the bullseye.

"Okay then, what keeps are we playing for?" Her last throw hits the bullseye again.

You turn to look at the purple-clad vigilante and with a mischievous grin you run your eyes up and down her body. Your eyes reach her face and meet her gaze, one eyebrow raised. Her eyes go wide behind the mask, and she turns away, but not before you see the red flush forming on her cheeks.

"Well that’s..." She makes a show of walking down the lane to retrieve your axes. "That's bold. On several levels, starting with the fact that I'm kind of kicking your ass here." She gestures at the target before she starts pulling axes out of the wood. "If you're that eager to get your dick out, there are easier ways to get me to say no."

"Well yeah, obviously I'd expect some sort of handicap, what with you being a trained professional who practices here regularly."

Huntress stares at you, slack-jawed. "Wow. You've got balls, I'll give you that." You resist the urge to tell her more about your balls, and wait while she shakes her head. "Y’know what? Fine. Whatever." She tosses an axe back to you - a little more forceful than is strictly required - but you still manage to catch it. "I'll spot you one ring. Happy?"

"And getting happier by the minute!" You take the other two axes Huntress hands and sweep your arm in an After Your gesture. "Lady vigilantes first."

Huntress glowers at you a moment longer, then without looking she sidearms one axe down range where it smacks into the 4 ring.

You glance at the target and do your best to look unimpressed. "Not bad," you allow, "tho maybe you should look next time? Just a thought."

She maintains her glower, but you can see in her eyes she's trying not to laugh. She holds your gaze as she defiantly chucks her other two axes one right after the other. One lands in the 5 ring, with the 3rd one landing in the 4 ring on the opposite side of the bullseye.

You shrug. "If you want to give me the additional handicap of not looking at target, fine, but seems excessive to me." You turn towards the target, and slowly and deliberately throw your first axe, followed by your second, then your third. You land two in the 4 ring but your third throw is a little low and lands in the 3 ring.

"If that was the handicap, I still won," she laughs as you walk to collect the axes.

You pause. "Well...no.” You point at her three axes, all inside the first ring. "Those all count a ring out, so a 4 and two 3s against my two 4s and a 3. That’s how the whole I'll Spot You A Ring thing works."

She gives you a blank stare for a beat, then rolls her eyes and starts tugging on the fingers of her left glove until she can pull it off. She repeats the process with her left glove and throws them onto the table. "Pairs count as one, I assume?"

"Of course," you say and start throwing. You put two axes in the 4 ring and one in the 5 ring. She would have to get at least one bullseye to beat you.

She sinks two axes into the bullseye.

"See? I told you you’d do better if you looked," you say as you shrug out of your shirt jacket, revealing your T-shirt.