<div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>The Bet</strong></span></div><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/eRBwTzu.png)</div><strong>NAME:</strong>Albion<br/><strong>DAY:</strong>June 12th, 2021, Mid Afternoon<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong>SOPHE, Training Grounds<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong>Nerissa<br/><strong>EXTRA:</strong>Preparing for round two<br/><strong>WEARING:</strong>As pictured<br/><br/><hr/><br/>"Oh, the vixen's got jokes, huh? I better not catch you on my lawn then, or there's gonna be hell to pay, you naughty little whippersnapper."  Albion barely controlled himself from loosing giggles as he emulated a grumpy old man, waving an invisible cane. Maybe Nerissa was right though, maybe he did grump more times than he cared to admit. Of course, he could also act his own age, but that usually presented a whole different slew of problems, what with renting company for evenings and drinking like he was practicing for Oktoberfest. The moments of calm, passive, and arguably normal behavior seemed few and far inbetween. His most well-mannered human moments all seemed to mostly occur outside of SOPHE among associates and acquaintances, old and new, and as such were seldom seen by most except Toshiro when accompanying him for drinks or Nerissa when she felt like following him.<br/><br/>It made him realize just how much space he kept between himself and other members of SOPHE. It never really seemed to be a problem for him, but perhaps it did cast unwanted shadows on his reliability... But he knew what he was capable of, and what he could and could not do as one of their agents... Then there were the things he<em>shouldn't</em>do but did anyway, because why even live if you didn't live s little dangerously?<br/><br/>Nerissa seemed please they were going to make a game of their next training session, but she had caught him off guard asking about what she would win if she came out on top. "Shouldn't the training be its own reward? Hrm... But I suppose I could look into something a little more fu-  A car?" Well... She mentioned it needed a washing, which didn't sound too bad... But this was Nerissa, there was always a catc- "A swimsuit? Of<em>your choosing</em>...!?" This idea was already starting to go from 0 to 180 in record time. She knew full well how much he didn't want to be seen in swimsuits!<br/><br/>If she wanted to call him out for making sacrifices and being fair... Well, she had taken the words right out of his mouth. "Very well then, if I win, you'll be washing my car in the swimwear I choose for you, and boy do I have ideas..." He trailed off with almost wicked delight, a rare image of Albion who almost never seemed to act like that toward Nerissa... But then they never made a bet with stakes like this before. The kind of stakes that said Albion better fight like his life depended on it if he wanted that reward, but also to keep himself from out of the line of fire.<br/><br/>Advancing onto the mat, he flicked his wrists and made sure his cushioned gear was properly fixed along his arms, legs, and head. "Looks like we both can't afford to lose then... But one of us is gonna have to fall. When you're ready, first attack is yours "