[aya; blitz]

if children
don't grow up
our bodies get bigger
but our hearts get torn up

Tigerius Rex —

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As the oldest in the Rex clan, Tiger often worked with his younger siblings in the gym. Naturally, he never wanted to see any of them — especially the littler ones — have to use their career training, but he liked teaching them, and it made him feel better to know that they could defend themselves. On that particular wintery day, he was trying to assist Tigris with her hand-to-hand combat (his favorite discipline) although it appeared that she had fallen woefully behind at some point. "C'mon, Teeg, use your elbows!" he encouraged, although to little avail. Every time he went in to strike, she seized up and flinched.

As he noticed her attention shift, he pulled back his gentle assault. Listening to her complaints clued him in as to exactly how she'd managed to get off track with unarmed combat. "That's why we're practicing, though," he explained, not unkindly, "'cause you have to be good at this. If you get reaped, you're gonna have to be able to defend yourself without a weapon, at least for a little while. You're not going to have an arrow or a knife or a spear on your plate, you have to fight for those." He shifted his weight a bit and folded his arms. "No weapons today." After a moment, however, he found himself reconsidering. "Well… how about this — " he cut off, pausing briefly, the gears of thought creaking slowly in his head. Then he tapped his jaw a few times, saying, "When you can land one on me, we'll switch to weapons. Sound fair?"


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