[SRP] Seriously, just HIT HIM! (Tet/Ari/Des/Dio)

[Epine de Rose]

The time had come, she had been drilled by the sire of her children and she was soon relatively confident that she could land the necessary blows to ensure her son retained his honour. It hadn't been an easy thing for her to do, the training sessions had been grueling and on more than one occasion she had burst in to tears. Suffice it to say that Destati was not one to suffer fools and he wasn't forgiving of her mistakes either.

If she made the same mistake more than once she was quickly chastised, corrected and instructed to do the entire thing again. It was no wonder that her children had turned out the way they had. Hell, it was no wonder that Destati was the way he was too. However as the weeks had drawn on she had eventually been polished into a diamond; she wasn't a perfect diamond but she had been regarded as viable by the lion.

It wasn't often that divine beings got belittled or put in their place in terms of their capabilities, but it didn't seem Destati had elected to shy away too much from the challenge. In this current situation she was all too aware of her position on the totem pole and it wasn't at the top.

Not that he was cruel, he was just blunt about it...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To say that Destati had little faith in Arimathras's capabilities was an understatement. While she had turned in to a reasonably good pupil and had eventually begun to learn the ropes, she still possessed the seeming inability to hurt a fly. Her punches were nothing more than nudges and even with her superior, divine strength, she couldn't do the damage she would need to do in order to acquire the approval of these Vikings. It wasn't that she couldn't do the damage, she just wouldn't.

It was a source of frustration to the lion who didn't tend to appreciate those who wouldn't act to their fullest potential. He'd already reassured her that their son could take an incredible beating (he'd seen it for himself), but this didn't seem enough to persuade the deity to actually perform to the standard she needed to.

...Thus it had been with this in mind that he had already come to a decision regarding this particular endeavour. He hadn't advised Arimathras of this, she'd have argued all day over it, but she wouldn't be fighting today. On this occasion it would be father versus son again, and the warband would get the spectacle that they wanted. That being said there was no chance of their Captain winning, he was up against a superior being and Tethys hadn't been around long enough to know tricks that his father couldn't counter within a move or two.

Words (Ari): 227
Words (Destati): 239

 

[Epine de Rose]

"Did she say when she'd be back?"

There was a measure of concern in the lioness's tone. Their mother had been gone for several weeks now and while Tethys had attempted to keep tabs on her he'd failed. Consequently neither of the children had heard anything, to make matters worse, even Solomon hadn't heard a damn thing. Their elder brother had promised to keep his ear to the ground, but he was in much the same position as they were... no one could act until they had a sliver of a lead. How did one track an individual who could fly when you couldn't fly yourself...?

Dione could do little more than watch and wait, keeping half an ear towards the gossip in the town in the hopes that there had been a stirring. Yet Ari still hadn't come home, even during Tethys's brief stints she hadn't shown herself. At this point the lioness was rather concerned, it wasn't like Ari to simply vanish without a trace... she was much too interested in meddling with her offspring's lives!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She did not," Tethys replied with a disgruntled sigh.

All of his sources had failed him so far, and he was starting to think that one of them might deliberately be hiding something. This was paranoia of course, he knew that Ni'it had searched as hard as she could, but the deity was simply too difficult to place. In recent weeks Ni'it had gone far and wide in the hopes of gaining some sort of insight in to where the deity might have gone and no one had been any the wiser. It was quite the puzzle, but it was also one of grave concern. After all, Arimathras was the epitome of everything the phantoms desired to sacrifice.

What if they had already found her?

He wasn't sure, but there was a small part of him that firmly believed his father would intervene before that. There was something about the manner in which his father operated that reassured him that very little went unnoticed. If there was one thing Destati was bound to prevent, it was that.

"As I said she basically just went, I didn't exactly have the opportunity to get any detail from her," he muttered.

Words (Dione): 178
Words (Tethys): 202

 

[Epine de Rose]

"So all I have to do is roar out in challenge," Arimathras explained as they continued towards the border. She had been chattering the entire way and Destati's vague expression seemed to imply that he simply wasn't listening anymore. This was inaccurate, the lion typically heard everything, he simply wasn't contributing anything to the conversation. Arimathras knew this, he'd always been a fabulous soundboard and if she was perfectly honest he was settling her nerves just by being there.

After all, the deity knew what she had to do.

She couldn't treat her son kindly, she was going to have to round on him hard and win. That meant, in their sire's terms, that she was going to have to rip him apart. Blood would be spilled, there would be roars, and hopefully she would come out the end less worse for ware than her child. Based on what she had come to understand about this pride, Tethys wouldn't hold back. He wasn't allowed, particularly after what she had done, so much as he might be loathe to hit her he was going to do it.

...But what if she did irreparable damage?

She shooed the uncertainty away with a shake of her head and took a breath, she wasn't ready to roar just yet, but she would once she had her composure...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chatter, chatter, chatter.

Destati wasn't entirely sure why he put up with it, honestly there was a large amount of inexplicable behaviour on his part when it came to this particular lioness. While the yammering should have bothered him a great deal, he actually found the entire thing relaxing. There was a lilt to her voice that simply settled him, the dulcet tones washing over him in a way that should not have sat well. Frankly if anyone else had attempted to talk this much and so inanely, he imagined he would not have been terribly polite.

Nevertheless her need to chatter seemed to derive from her desperation to settle her own nerves. He'd already known this would happen... The closer she'd drawn to the borders, the more anxious she'd become. There was no way he was going to allow her to go through with this, she'd let herself be beaten up and that was not something he would stand for... But he'd give her bonus points for trying.

It was as she was regaining her composure that e simply stepped forward and gave an almighty (and familiar) roar...

Words (Ari): 224
Words (Destati): 191

 

[Epine de Rose]

The roar had carried across a considerable distance, testament to the force that it had been delivered at. It caused a stir in their immediate area and the lioness looked up in surprise. It was a temporary hesitation, one that she hadn't expected, but it wasn't so much the volume as the fact that she recognised the sound. Up until this point only Tethys had been graced with the opportunity to see their father, in fact he'd seen him more than once...Dione on the other hand had only received messages.

She'd been a little jealous, but now that she had heard the war cry she immediately began to make a beeline towards it. Oh she wasn't allowed to participate in such a call, but she was in the company of her brother so few would stop her from walking towards it. Hell, even his warband had stirred - she wasn't the only one who wanted to investigate who it was, and she certainly wasn't the only one who probably wanted to know what it was about.

"Father?" she asked incredulously, glancing briefly towards Tethys for confirmation of her suspicions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That's him," Tethys confirmed as his band wandered ahead of him. Even Dione had taken a few steps ahead and she had only paused when she realised she couldn't really go so far out without escort. Tethys however hadn't been in any immediate rush... If his father was here, and said sire had issued such a warcry, then Tethys had an inkling as to why that might be. It was of great relief to him; after all, Destati wouldn't fight for just anyone and if he was here then it meant that their mother was fine.

"And I would imagine that it's also mother," he mused with a chuckle.

He disregarded Dione's raised brow as he strode towards the borders. Slipping passed his own band with ease he took the lead and moved swiftly to answer the call. It was in his best interests to get there first, if Destati was here for the reason his son thought he was, then it was appropriate that his son face him. No other Reaver or Captain would do on this occasion; given how Arimathras had left before the only way that his band would forgive his mother's accident was to receive the spectacle they were promised.

...Tethys had no doubts that his father would ensure it was a spectacle.

Words (Dione): 190
Words (Tethys): 219

 

[Epine de Rose]

Arimathras was half way through lecturing Destati by the time the band and her two children came in to view. It was at this point that she was torn between joy at seeing some of her children again, and frustration at the intervention of well...her children's sire. He hadn't been required to step in and yet he had done so without even consulting her, it was like he didn't think that she was capable!

...Alright so maybe she still wasn't sure she could hit her offspring but still, she deserved a chance right?

This was the point she had been attempting to make as the larger lion had lifted his paws and promptly placed one to the top of her nose and one to her chin. She could do nothing more than widen her eyes and give a sharp intake of breath as she stared at him - had he really just silenced her?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He had silenced her - he'd officially grown bored of her yammering as she attempted to dispute his intervention. She'd tried every trick in the book and on this occasion he simply wasn't going to concede defeat. She would eventually accept that what he was doing was right; her hesitation would just turn her in to a laughing stock and this was exactly what she had wanted to avoid. If he stood in her place then it meant that this could be avoided; after all, he certainly didn't shy away from a good match.

Thus when his children finally came in to view, he gave the lioness one final glance and released his hold. It was at this point that he strode forward and gave a low, rumbling chuckle of welcome... he even reserved a warm smile for his daughter who he was glad to see was looking as healthy as always.

"I am here on behalf of your mother," he spoke with considerable volume so that those who had come to investigate could also hear him. "I will fight in her stead," he continued and raised an arrogant eyebrow.

"She promised you a spectacle after all - the only way you will get that, is with me."

Words (Ari): 155
Total Words (Ari): 606
Words (Destati): 207
Total Words (Destati): 637

 

[Epine de Rose]

Her mother had promised a what?

Dione cast her gaze directly towards her brother who seemed unfazed by his father's declaration. A moment or two more of further observation and she noted that his warband seemed not so much surprised, as excited. She had several questions at this point and while she knew her brother had given her what information he had, she couldn't help but feel like she was missing something. Based on her father's declarations it seemed that her mother had done a little bit more than have an 'accident'.

If her father had come the whole way here, if he was dueling on her behalf, then Dione had to wonder just what her mother had done to cause a stir. She would have to pull her to the side when it was quieter and have a discussion regarding it but for now she would hold her peace. It was in her best interests to let this entire scenario play out before she started asking for further details, particularly if there were expectant spectators.

"Tethys, I sincerely hope you're going to explain what the hell is going on later..." she muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was right! Destati had answered the call on behalf of their mother; it made sense now, his mother had gone to the one place where she knew she could get help. Based on his mother's face he could only surmise that she was a little ticked off at his father. Perhaps she had received training for this, but Destati being who he was, had recognised that she lacked the capability to perform properly on this occasion. Maybe in time she would grow less anxious about placing harm on others, but several weeks wasn't enough to coax an otherwise gentle creature into warfare.

She was a bunny for a reason after all...

"Oh I sincerely hope you're capable of a spectacle," Tethys responded with enthusiasm and gave a laugh. It was then that he cast a sidelong glance to his sister and spoke in a volume that only she would hear.

"Now watch as he destroys me," he murmured and raised a brow. He expected nothing less, the last time his father had practically toyed with him, and somehow he didn't think this would be any different. One of these days Tethys would persuade Destati to teach him everything.

"It's a good day to die, father!" Tethys addressed him formally and gave a bow.

His father acknowledged in kind and the games began.

What followed was to be several rounds of combat, starting off slowly as though his father was warming him up, before the elder lion finally unleashed his full strength. Tethys would not win this fight today, but no one would go home disappointed.

...They would all know that the heart of a warrior ran thick in this line's blood.

Words (Dione): 196
Total Words (Dione): 564
Words (Tethys): 284
Total Words (Tethys): 705