[Soq PRP] The OTHER Son - Cricket, Ethan, and Diogenes

[Sabin Duvert]

Ethan's ears flicked back and he found himself falling back a pace as Diogenes exhaled in his face. Maybe it was just him, but the shadows of the woods seemed to be growing blacker, the temperature colder. It became more an more obvious to Ethan just how far away they were from anything familiar. That here, it was just him and Cricket...

But when Diogenes, his brother advanced on Cricket, that budding fearful feeling began to twist around in his stomach.
"H...hey!" Ethan found his voice again. He didn't like the way Diogenes was looking at her. She was just here because of him. If something happened to her....
He shook his head resolutely. Nothing was going to happen to her.

[Sosiqui]

Cricket's stomach twisted, but she forced herself to stay put, not moving back an inch even though her instincts were screaming at her to move. "You're bigger? I-"

Her mouth dried up, and she worked her jaw for a second before closing her mouth, her ears tilting all the way back.

[Kamiki]

Diogenes gave out a dark, rumbling laugh at Cricket's 'observation.' "That I am," he said, coming up to her side and letting his long, snake-like tail curl over the lower part of her back leg. "Run along, brother." he hissed at Ethan, narrowing his eyes and pressing his ears down on his skull threateningly. "I doubt you want to see this."

[Sabin Duvert]

That cold, twisting, clenching fear that coiled in Ethan's innards suddenly began to warm, to heat to a rolling, boiling anger.

Fear, humility, and even irritation and frustration were all feelings that Ethan was well familiar with. But seeing the dark stallion touching her like that, the barely veiled threat...

Ethan made a quick dash forward, his own ears pressing backwards and his lips pulling back in a snarl.

"You leave her be!" Ethan cried, with no stutter to his words.

[Sosiqui]

Cricket's skin crawled at the touch of Diogenes' tail - she couldn't help it! She took a step back, trying not to let the brief shiver turn into full-body shaking -

- and stopped, standing stock-still as Ethan flew past her, crying out.

Protecting me-

It gave her courage, and a shiver of something in her heart, something she couldn't name - something she'd think about later. For now, she pulled back, trying to yank herself out of the kalona's grip in the moment of distraction.

[Kamiki]

As Cricket pulled away and Ethan came charging towards her, Diogenes narrowed his eyes and braced for impact. He took a step forward, dig his hooves into the ground, and met Ethan's charge head-on. Their horns made contact, sending a shockwave down Dio's neck. The larger stallion shimmied his head, intertwining the horse together and then through his all his weight to the side, trying to throw Ethan off his balance and onto the ground.

[Sabin Duvert]

Ethan's entire body shook as the force of impact traveled from his horns to his hooves in a terrifying crash. Ethan's back hooves scrambled for a stronger hold as Diogenes expertly locked their horns together and Ethan began to realize just how much larger his brother was than he.

But as he caught a glimpse of Cricket, watching with wide-eyes, he found strength in his renewed anger. The hungry look that Diogenes had given her... the way he touched her.

His vision seemed hazy. His thoughts were coming less in words, and more in actions as an anger he had never before known seemed to take his reins. He bellowed, wordless, as he kicked against the ground, trying to push up against Diogenes' tilt to the side, striking at him with the sharper parts of his misshapen, devilish foot.

[Sosiqui]

Cricket stumbled backwards, pulling free from the fray as stallion met stallion. Her instincts were screaming at her to run, run as fast as you can-

But she couldn't leave.

She could, however, back up; the mare scurried backwards, putting a tree between herself and the stallions, hardly daring to breathe.

[Kamiki]

Diogenes snorted as Ethan's clawed deformity flayed the flesh where in contacted with his shoulder. He quickly reacted by jerking his head, detangling the horns and took a quick back before rearing up, his lips pulling back in a sneer as he descended upon Ethan from above, hooves coming down in a flurry of quick, sharp hits.

[Sabin Duvert]

Something had snapped in Ethan. The anger, the fear. All of the months and months and months of fruitless searching for his sire, all of it blended into this burning rage against this dark stallion. The reason he was fighting began to become less important than just fighting. Diogenes became a punching bag for all of this overboiling emotion that Ethan had never really expressed.

He couldn't tell how long he fought. But gradually, the pain began to seep into his mind. Diogenes was bigger, stronger, and more familiar with violence than Ethan. And while his pure instinct-driven anger had landed a few good blows, this was a losing battle. Slowly, his battered consciousness began to return, his body was crying out in pain from the abuse, and his attacks were getting slower and weaker.

He stumbled backwards, breathing ragged, blurring vision clearing. The fear returned - fear of the massive stallion... and fear of his own blinding rage he had only just surfaced from.

[Sosiqui]

((You guys go ahead, Cricket isn't going to interfere - she's too scared. >.>; Just assume she's still there but hiding and being scared.))

[Kamiki]

Diogenes, on the other hand, was calculating and deliberate the entire fight. He obviously wasn't trying to kill Ethan, for he was much bigger and stronger than the inexperienced stallion and could have delivered a fatal blow with his long spiral horns had he been so inclined. But every blow of Ethan's was returned with a more violent and skilled one from his competitor. Diogenes wasn't unscathed, however. Bright crimson trails of blood stained his blue fur - a glaring reminder of the violence Ethan discovered within himself.

The larger stallion, bleeding and breathing heavily, let a smile break over his face, seeing the horror unveiled on his opponent as he realized what he had done. "You are not much different than me after all," he finally rumbled, looking almost proud of himself. "I'm just much better at it."|

He let his gaze trail back over the cowering mare behind the tree. Technically, he won, and he had every right to claim his prize. But an expression of confliction and doubt crossed his features only briefly before Diogenes gave a quick shake of his head.

"Leave," he said to Ethan, his voice low. "Before the master of these lands finds you - you've certainly made your presence known. And he will not be as merciful as I."

[Sabin Duvert]

Ethan's whole body shook as he took one step back, then another, then another. It felt like his legs were going to give out underneath him at any point. Now he felt the sledgehammer blows that Diogenes had slugged him with. Now he felt the bleeding gashes that had torn open his hide.

When the stallion just stared menacingly back at him, letting him retreat, he felt a wash of relief. But it was a hollow, pained relief. And Diogenes' words was the last bucket of cold water that drove home the results of this encounter. He winced as if Diogenes had just kicked him again.

He didn't need to be told to leave twice. Defeated, he barely could look at Cricket. What would she think of him now? Didn't this make him just as violent as the stories she had heard? There WERE traces of demon in him. Just like her friend had said.

Tail tucked, he glanced vaguely in her direction, to see if she would still follow him out of these cursed lands.

[Sosiqui]

Without a sound or a glance back - though the shuddering of her breath and the flecks of foam along the corners of her mouth clearly displayed her distress - Cricket moved after Ethan, unable to really process what had just happened. Her stomach lurched every time she looked at the slick runnels of blood that trickled down his sides.

But she wasn't leaving - at the very least, he was the only even vaguely familiar thing in a world turned upside-down. More would require more thought than she was capable of at the moment.