He isn’t strong - that had been made perfectly clear to him. He’s not strong enough. For what, he isn’t sure. To prove himself? To be something, anything. To be worthy of her? The reason doesn’t matter if he doesn’t get stronger, if he doesn’t learn how to fight - to be able to take what he wants.

So he haunts the pit, watches others fight and spar, to pick up what tips and tricks he can from spying. It’s better than nothing. Even in the growing cold of winter, he lingers, balled up like a loaf of bread on the edge of the arena while he waits for the next lion to come waltzing in to train.

+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 0/2
+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 0/2
+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 0/2

@Bruno ♔

_{ART — CODE}

What had happened to Amaryllis?

In the weeks that followed that eventful day at Ecrosia, this was the thought which would not stop echoing through Bruno's mind. He felt an utter stranger in the only land he had ever known. The pit was largely filled with the audacious battle cries of women throwing themselves at one another even as he strolled toward it with head low and eyes peeled. Despite his wraith's approach, he snorted and spat upon the ground to announce himself. Clearly he was softened in his time away from the land – slackened from his true abilities. It was the only explanation for how the old wench had managed to throw him.

Bruno scanned the vast arena for an opponent worthy of his time. There lurked a small clutch of cove cubs on the opposite end of the pit, assumedly beginning what 'training' nursemaids were capable of conveying. There squawked the group of lionesses doing much more talking and laughing than was needed in such endeavors. And there, tucked and folded like a chicken meant to roast, laid the scrawny form of a lion likely not much older than Bruno's own daughters.

He looked to his left. He looked to his right. Frustration simmered in his gut as it sank in that Bruno would find no greater opponent to throw himself against than the boy moping in the corner. He would fail to see any irony in his scrutinizing judgment.

"Is this a new exercise technique I haven't heard of?" He chuffed a question as a form of greeting, attempting to stand a few yards away from the pile of fresh meat. "I was always told you have to use a muscle a thousand times for it to perform how you want once." Though his expression and drawling tone remained blank, there shone a subtle question in Bruno's climbing ivy stare. Are you worth a damn?

---

|| december y12 | five years | rogue lion | at the pit | @Peregrine ||

code by corvus | image by moogle

His gaze shifts across the boring groups gathered around, none of them offering much information or entertainment, and Peregrine is almost about to consider leaving when a short, thick lion stalks into the pit. Dark and older, he reminds Peregrine of someone but the boy can’t place the strange feeling. He blinks a few times when their gazes meet and he advances.

Yeah, Peregrine drawls, it’s called the don’t freeze your balls and toes off technique. But he stands, ass shaking as he clears off dust and snow from his body. He jerks his chin to the cubs and their caretakers. There’s not exactly much here to much on offer here to practise with -

It’s not the face. It’s the voice. The accent.

Something shifts in Peregrine’s cocky expression. Something cold slithers across his face.

You offering, old man?

+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 0/2
+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 0/2
+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 0/2

@Bruno ♔

_{ART — CODE}

"Right," Bruno snorted, shifting his weight onto one leg as he regarded the boy. Though it was an excuse over something so trivial as the weather, he supposed such snark was to be expected when prodding at an unsuspecting adolescent. "I did not realize you were prioritizing gains... there," he retorted, propping up a single quirked brow rather than reiterating said parts. He lamented a lack of opponents, and while Bruno had mourned the very same only a moment ago, he maintained his resolve that it was not a sufficient excuse.

"You offering, old man?"

He barked a laugh. Shaking his head with the first hint of a smile he had cracked in a long time, Bruno peered off in the distance of the sprawling pit.

"No. If this is how you have been training, I'll put you in the dirt." He spoke it as matter of fact rather than a true taunt, mental gears whirring over what was to come next. "There are simpler things you must do to strengthen yourself before technique will even help you. I mean everyday – I mean until you cannot move anymore," Bruno urged. He allowed his stare to wander back to the inky smudge of that boy against the stone canvas they shared in consideration.

"Who are you?"

---

@Peregrine

code by corvus | image by moogle

For the first time in his life Peregrine is not trying to be funny, or a jokester, but the dark lion finds him amusing regardless and it's annoying. How dare he be in a not shitty mood while Penn feels like crap?

Totally illegal.

He looks like a warrior, this stranger. The stocky build, the scars and wounds, the way he carries himself - the way he declares so confidently that he will put Peregrine on his ass. The black bird believes him, even if it stung. He's proved himself a useless idiot already, so anyone would beat him. Maybe he should go practise pouncing with those cubs.

Like what? Peregrine finds himself asking, desperate enough to actually make himself expose his insecurity and weakness.

I'm Crow. He lies, falling back on that old name, unwilling to reveal himself just in case. Who're you?

+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 2/2 (exercise)
+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 1/2 (strength training before technique)
+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 0/2

_{ART — CODE}

"What makes you lose your breath – what hurts," he answered simply. Bruno kept his stare on the boy, lips twisting in a mirthful smirk as he introduced himself as Crow. It was not enough, and his continued probing would reveal that it was not what he wanted.

"Wow. Now why in Amaryllis would you pick that name?" Bruno taunted sarcastically, unsure if he had actually rolled his eyes or if his tone had said as much for him. He pushed off to begin a slow, circling path around his young acquaintance, clearly sizing him up somehow, yet keeping his findings to himself. "I mean who are you?" He clarified at last. Bruno left only dusty outlines of his paw prints in his wake where stone would not give way beneath him, a lack of a hunter's crouch all there was to differentiate him from a lion circling a lamb.

"It would be stupid to teach someone one day only for theirs to strike down mine the next. And, I am not stupid... Crow." Bruno paused in his pacing expectantly.

---

@Peregrine

code by corvus | image by moogle

The male doesn't answer - instead, he taunts Peregrine for his false name, stalking around the younger lion. Silver eyes follow Bruno as he paces, pushing to the very corners of their sockets.

He demands again - who are you? - and Peregrine feels his stomach knot. He knows what the male is asking but in the cold winter light, he has no answer. He might as well truly be Crow; he has no attachment to anything or anyone anymore. He's made damn sure of that.

I'm no one. He says, his voice soft but blunt, raw in its truthfulness. I want to fight so I can change that.

+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 2/2 (exercise)
+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 2/2 (strength training before technique)
+40 Learn something from a Master of your trade 0/2

_{ART — CODE}

"I'm no one."

It was a reality Bruno could not imagine. He had been a very small piece within a very large puzzle from the moment he gasped his first breath. Even a second son was a Stärke. Even a lanky yearling was a Rike when the draft call went out.

"I want to fight so I can change that."

Bruno narrowed his eyes slightly as he considered this. He showed no cracks in his armor despite how his heart thrummed with the weight of a wrong judgment – of what the stakes truly were. This could be the silver dagger plunged in his spine one day. This could be the ass to sit upon his throne, the claw to strike against his daughters. That which he created could be his very undoing; ask Alaric if he ever cared to carve out a place for another warrior after raising his own firstborns.

"Very well." He broke the silence at last. "I will teach you all I know, but understand this: it means you are one of mine. Betray my trust and I will leave you weaker than when we started." His warning gaze was unwavering.

---

@Peregrine

code by corvus | image by moogle

Those eyes can see straight through him, Peregrine feels. His heart pounds under that gaze, the inspection - but he holds it without flinching. He is worthy. He will prove it.

I’m not agreeing to anything until you tell me who you are. Peregrine might be an idiot but he isn’t an idiot - he’ll at least read the fine print before signing his soul away. He has a sinking feeling he knows roughly who this man is already, but he wants to hear it - wants to hear that name from his own mouth.

No matter how badly he wants this training.

@Bruno ♔

_{ART — CODE}

"I’m not agreeing to anything until you tell me who you are."

The demand for knowledge might have been impressive in its practicality if Bruno were not at the other end of it. Though he did not make a habit of sharing his full name needlessly, he hardly considered this boy a true threat.

"I am Bruno Stärke-Rike, son of Alaric Stärke and Erna Rike, rightful king of Ecrosia Mire." The more lines he drew in the sand, the less ignorance the young lion could cower behind should he prove disappointing to him. He allowed his words to echo over that pit, uncaring if the various women and children gathered cared to look up from their games of make-believe.

"Now, who, are, you?" His patience waned.

---

@Peregrine

code by corvus | image by moogle