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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Mar 7, 2024 21:52:42 GMT
River paused in his movements when someone spoke behind him. He looked over his shoulder and spotted Daniel behind him causing him to straighten and address the boy.
"Hey. How are you feeling?" he asked with a small smile. He stood his spear up next to him and sorta leaned his weight into it. His eyes scanned Daniel once then twice before he raised an eyebrow and made an observation. "You look tense."
They hadn't seen each other since Daniel and Echo got back and they were all in medbay together. River assumed he was hanging out with Lane like usual while he himself was off training in his self proclaimed territory or checking in on Echo and Pascal. They hadn't really gotten a chance to just talk since everything.
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Post by shickey74 on Mar 8, 2024 0:23:37 GMT
Okay, he seems like he's fine. Hopefully I don't say anything that would change that. He thought to himself.
Daniel returned the smile though it seemed somewhat forced "Doing better every day" he lied. "And that's probably because of the amount of time I've spent in the library. I feel as stiff as a board and my neck is starting to kill me." He started walking over to a rack holding training weapons and picked one up. He took a few practice swings with it before turning back towards River. "How about you? How you holding up?"
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Mar 8, 2024 0:42:30 GMT
"Managing," River laughed weakly. He shrugged and then gestured with his head at the sword in Daniel's hand. "You want help? Or just need to hit something?"
Not that River could help much except give direction. Pascal would kill him if he messed up his stitches and bandages again. He didn't want another talking to about taking it easy. It was bad enough that Ares was nagging him about resting.
But he just couldn't. It wasn't in his nature.
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Post by shickey74 on Mar 8, 2024 16:33:43 GMT
Daniel let out a small chuckle at River's response "Probably a little bit of both. Gotta learn how to actually use a weapon now that I can't transform. Have to learn how to actually defend myself" he said.
While still slightly on guard, Daniel seemed to relax slightly as he started to come to the realization that River wasn't angry at him for what happened to Echo. Gods, he wished Sobek would speak for once even if it was just to tell him he was being stupid. The god had been silent ever since his capture and his missing presence had had a greater effect on Daniel thanhe'd ever care to admit.
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Mar 12, 2024 20:45:39 GMT
"You can't transform? Do you know why?" River asked, concern etched on his face as he watched Daniel carefully.
He did seem still and still a little out of him. Made sense since he only just got back a few days ago and also still needed to heal from his injuries. River had only seen a glimpse of the burns but they looked awful. He should be resting, but just like River it seemed that wasn't an option at the moment.
He pointed the tip of his spear down at the ground and waited for Daniel to tell him if he wanted to attack or defend against River. For if he just wanted the man to watch his progress. The only thing he gave in advice first was a quiet, "Take it slow."
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Post by shickey74 on Mar 13, 2024 23:13:26 GMT
Daniel pulled down the collar of his shirt to show a portion of the myriad of scars across his chest. “I don't know how much Echo told you about the night of the mission but after fighting Fenrir by myself, I wasn't able to transform. What Ripley did afterwards didn't help, I'm sure,” he said as he released his collar. “As for why, if you ever saw the full thing I think it worked like some kind of magical circuit and with too much damage done to it, it ended up losing its function. That's why I've been in the library so much in the past few days.”
He turned back towards the weapon rack to pick up a shield before facing River once again. He raised The shield in front of him, the wooden sword held up and over the shield, the tip of it pointing at River. “Would you mind trying to attack me? Think I want to work on my defense and reflexes first."
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Mar 20, 2024 18:37:08 GMT
River nodded and readied his weapon to attack. His eyes glanced over Daniel as he decided if he wanted to take it easy first or cause a little difficulty. He decided to attack his arm holding the sword.
"She hasn't told me much. I didn't want to push any of you," River explained as he moved. He attacked twice more with two quick jabs before spinning and swiping the spear at Daniel's feet, moving a little faster as he did.
"I should have insisted we stayed together," He grunted as he swung his spear upward and then thrusted it again towards Daniel's chest.
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Post by shickey74 on Mar 22, 2024 20:20:41 GMT
Daniel easily blocked River's first attack fairly easily. "I don't blame her. Poor girl has been through too much" he said as he raised the shield to stop the incoming thrusts. He noticed River going low and dropped to one knee as he stopped the spear from toppling him.
"Maybe or maybe not" he said before the upward swing caught him off guard as he was standing back up. It had hit the underside of the shield which caused his arm to be knocked over his head and leaving his torso practically undefended. He saw the thrust coming and tried to parry it with his sword but failed as it connected and hit him in the chest. "Shit" he muttered under his breath.
He got back into a fighting stance as he prepared himself for the next assault. "I don't think all of us sticking together would have changed what happened for the better. There were too many of them who are far more skilled than us. We would have all been captured or killed regardless," he said as he took a deep breath. "If you're trying to blame yourself for what happened, don't. I never blamed you for what happened to us and I'm sure Echo and the others feel the same. It's my fault me and Echo were captured."
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Apr 4, 2024 18:30:52 GMT
River reset himself quickly and rushed forward again. His wounds be damned now he just wanted to hit something. He didn't care is Pascal yelled at him for it. He needed this too.
He thrusted his spear into Daniel's shield then a little wider out to force Daniel to block wider. He then spun behind himself to attack the arm holding the sword with his spear pommel. He jabbed the pommel into Daniel's bicep, not hard but still uncomfortable. Then he stabbed the pommel into the ground for balance and kicked Daniel back by his shield.
"It's not your fault for being taken it's theirs," River argued a little sternly as he caught his breath and pointed the tip of the blade back down towards the ground. He was breathing a little deeper as he raised his chin, trying to steady his breathing again.
"But, telling me I shouldn't blame myself doesn't change that I do. Just like I can't tell you not to blame yourself and you immediately believing it. I knew we shouldn't have split up in the moment but I still let us. I didn't speak up and because I didn't more people got hurt and taken than needed too," He said in an even tone. He'd had a lot of time to think about this. A lot of time to reflect on hindsight and how he needed to do better. "I agree with you that some of us would have been taken. But, at least three of us could have made it home instead of just me."
If River was anything, he was a realist and a planner. He's never been optimistic.
Using his spear to gesture the ground between River and Daniel he looked between the ground and Daniel. "You're letting me get too comfortable with my position. Either get too close or far enough away that I can't use my spear," River gave the note before he could stop himself. At this point giving direction was just ingrained in his person.
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Post by shickey74 on Apr 9, 2024 18:30:37 GMT
Daniel was as prepared as he could be for River's next barrage. The first two strikes were easy to defend but it seemed like River liked to open up his attacks with it before ramping it up to ten. Because of that Daniel was far too slow reacting to the jab at his arm which caused him to grimace. He barely had time to react to the kick and blocked the brunt of the force with the shield though the force from it caused him to stumble back and fall on his ass. "Fuck!" He cursed, a lot louder than previous time, as he slammed the base of his shield against the ground before getting back up.
As he listened to River speak though, Daniel started to feel guilty. Here he was being dismissive of River's feelings and being hypocritical at the same time. Lane had already tried telling him something similar and it hadn't worked for Daniel. River was absolutely right, just saying it wasn't his fault didn't make everything just disappear. "Fair enough man. I'm sorry but I hope you know I meant it when I said I never blamed you" he said
Daniel glanced at the ground as River motioned at it. Even though Daniel was being fairly passive on purpose, a small smile formed on his lips "Thanks for the tip. I'll try to put it to good use" he said before he started to close the distance between the two.
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Apr 24, 2024 4:45:17 GMT
River couldn't help the corner of his lip twitching into a small smile as Daniel cursed loudly. He didn't mean to but it was a little humerous. Plus it felt good to win for once.
He raised his eyebrows at Daniel's insistent resurgence of not placing the blame on him and gave him a pointed look. "I hope you know the same," he replied.
He figured the only one that should be blamed for what happened during the mission was him. He will always hold a bit of guilt when merely thinking about it. That would probably never leave him for the rest of his life. And he suspected that Daniel may do the same if he was blaming himself for being kidnapped against his will.
Lessening the blow for both of them would be helpful.
River fully smiled when Daniel did and tucked his spear under his arm while backing up. He pointed the spear tip downward from his opponent's chest as he matched pace. "Come get me then," Ares' champion challenged with a cocky shrug.
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Post by pallas on Apr 26, 2024 21:25:48 GMT
It had been far from easy lately, and Dillon knew he was not an insignificant part of why everything had been such a mess.
If he could turn back the clock and make a different decision for River and Laurie, god, he would. How could they ever be a team if they were willing to hurt one another in the way he and Cleo had hurt River and Laurie? How could they ever come back from that betrayal of trust?
He didn’t know. Maybe there was nothing to do but work on himself as he intended to, be better and let time do the rest. He wasn’t entitled to forgiveness and maybe he would just have to accept that some things couldn’t be fixed. In that case perhaps them all just being able to work together for the sake of the group as a whole was all that could be hoped for.
He had no idea, but the thoughts didn’t care that he didn’t have answers for any of them. They kept coming anyway. In the end they plagued him so much that he had to accept that he wasn’t going to be able to get any sleep that particular night.
So with a sigh, he’d kicked away his bedsheets and gotten back out of bed, tying a dressing gown over his pyjamas for warmth as he wandered out into the Pantheon. He didn’t know at first where exactly he planned to go.
The Pantheon hallways were eerily empty this late at night, especially with people missing. It felt worlds away from that night when people had gotten up on that night early on after they’d been chosen, getting to know one another and raucously playing games ridiculously early in the morning. He’d have given anything to go back to then.
The boy found himself moving through the hallways, making a beeline for the leaders’ room. If he was going to be up, he might as well try to be productive. It was only when he was almost up to the door that he realised the strip of light coming from underneath the door. Somebody was in there, and he had a feeling he knew who he’d find.
Dillon pushed open the door, only to have his prediction confirmed. There es Cleo, evidently in the middle of an all-nighter of some description. They looked exhausted, and he wasn’t putting that lightly because he’d seen some very tired people putting in long hours in the library fairly often since their choosing.
The boy sat down opposite Cleo, looking first at the paper and research scattered around that they were obviously trying to work through, then at them with concern. Silently, he grabbed some of the reading material Cleo was working through so he could help. He read through a few of the lines before he looked up at Cleo once again.
”Can’t sleep?”
He didn’t want Cleo to think he hated them after their whole exchange about how they’d handled Laurie in that meeting. He got the sense that to get to the bottom of this whole situation, Cleo needed to be approached without judgement. And Dillon was probably the only person in the building who had no right to judge Cleo for what they did, since if he did so it would make him a hypocrite.
____
CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by shickey74 on May 7, 2024 19:49:25 GMT
Daniel noticed the smirk, "You say that but the look on your face isn't helping convince me of that, but I'm most worried that Echo does blame me. Ever since we've got to this place, I've caused her nothing but pain even when I'm trying to protect her."
Daniel looked somewhat dumbfounded at River's provocation. He had been entirely ready to take River's advice in the next volley but he figured he could still apply it while attacking. He wasn't gonna let River get any distance. He rushed in, closing the distance as he raised his sword above his head before swinging down towards River. After completing that swing, he arced the sword back up. He used the momentum of the swing to turn his body to the side before swinging his shield arm out at River in the hopes of either breaking his defense or just opening a gap in it. There was one problem though, everything about his form looked sloppy, like he had never held a weapon before and he was trying to copy things he'd seen in movies and tv shows which was definitely the case.
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Jun 17, 2024 4:13:20 GMT
It was like his eyes lit up at Daniel rushing in and closing the distance between them. His smile seemed to get wider, and he bounced on the balls of his feet as his mind raced with what to do.
It was like he was back in those underground fights, trying to survive. He didn't know how much he had missed that feeling. How much he had missed fighting for fun and not to the death.
River stepped to the side as Daniel swung his sword down and then backed up as Daniel swung upward. Good, he was keeping him off balance. But it wouldn't do much good if the attacker was also not secure in his movements.
When the shield came swinging at River, he had no choice but to take the hit. He lifted his free arm to protect his face like a MMA fighter would and dug his feet into the ground to try and hold his position. The pain that rippled through River's body starting from his elbow was teeth grinding. A note for later.
Reaching up and over the shield, River latched on to Daniel's forearm to hold his arm in place and jabbed his pommel into Daniel's ribs and then again into his armpit to make him let go of his protective weapon. Once he did, River grabbed and tossed the shield behind him and rested his spear tip across Daniel's collarbone, just beneath his throat.
River huffed out a tired, triumphant breath and grinned at Daniel. "Maybe ask her then. And whatever she says you just have to accept as the truth. But, trust me, you'd know if she hated you," River breathed before lowering his spear and wiping at his forehead. "We'll always blame ourselves for what happened. I think they know that's enough to push us to be better."
The pain of Daniel's previous shield punch was finally starting to catch up to Ares' champion and he sucked in a sharp breath. He opened and closed his hand and noticed that some of the stitching on that hand had opened up. Maybe he just wouldn't tell Pascal and fix it himself. At least it wasn't his dominant hand.
"You can hit hard, Daniel. Could do some real damage with that thing," River observed and gestured to the shield behind him. "Just make sure to stay grounded when you swing that hard and you'll get me."
Giving Daniel a pat on the shoulder, the leader relinquished the floor for the Sobek champion to use and went and got some water and his notebook to write notes in for Chiara like he originally intended. Every now and then he'd look up and give Daniel a note or tip before leaving him to figure it out for himself.
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Jun 17, 2024 21:20:32 GMT
"Mooi seun, of course i'm conceited but at least im honest," Ripley laughed loudly and gestured to himself proudly. He gave Atticus a wink and a smile when he muttered that this was nice.It was nice. Normal and quiet for once. And they weren't biting each other's heads off or trying to be sneaky with plans. They were just having a nice domestic moment between just the two of them.Ripley pointed at the basil Atticus had chopped and gestured for him to bring it to him. "Put that in the pan," he instructed and then turned to focus on the boiling water. He grabbed a handful of spaghetti noodles and placed them in the pot to slowly ease their way into the pot. Then he grabbed a couple more deciding that it wouldn't be enough. Moving to the sink he turned the water dripping on the water off and checked the chicken by poking it. It was more or less thawed so he picked it up and unwrapped it before placing it on a cutting board and beginning to season it."You know Gwen came to your defense about how we act. Said I don't treat you well," Ripley began as he worked and glanced at Atticus with a sly smirk. "Do you think I'm mean to you?"
Content warning: 2 guys sitting a hot tub, 5 feet apart because cuz their not gay! Atticus rolled his eyes at Ripley's comment about being honest, a snort escaping him at the words. He considered Ripley many things, but honest wasn't one that came to mind immediately. Though, Ripley was a rather honest and blunt person, if Atticus were to be honest.
At Ripley's instructions, Atticus put the basil in the pot, before leaning back against the counter, and looking back at Ripley, as if asking 'what's next Boss?'.
As Ripley mentioned Gwen, he sighed softly. "You know how Gwenny is," He started, rolling on of his hands in the air as he spoke, "She's overprotective."
He then looked back at Ripley, leaning into his space, raising an eyebrow, "And why do you ask? Do you think you're being mean to me?" It was common for Atticus to do that. To take a question directed at him and direct it right back at whoever asked. He was a master at evading questions.
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