Essay on the spar with Ros
So now that Epros has freaked out Ros with the spar, I should explain.
Epros has been at camp about two months. At first there was excitement, new things to learn, companions to reunite with, a challenging barrier to break. Now, not so much.
He’s frustrated, bored and missing Linda like crazy. The barrier is beyond his powers and he is getting anxious about returning home to defeat Beiloune. Camp is trapping him and it reminds him a little too much of Classification. He can fight it all he wants but the results will end up being futile unless he can bring down the originator. Unlike at home he has no real way of doing that. And he’s learned the Director is powerful and untouchable. He also can’t really learn anything new by remaining in the shadows (being the mysterious wizard that he is) and popping out to be cryptic when he wants to. This all adds up to a lot of frustration and he’s starting to lose his handle on it.
Added to that, he’s getting a little bored. He’s caught between a rock and a hard place. He’s insatiably curious about everything but can’t really satiate that curiosity without sacrificing some of that mysteriousness he prides himself in. It’s a dilemma. But he’s starting to give in and reach out to meet people. Still a little loath to do more than cryptically hint about himself yet but it’s a start. Of course he hasn’t quite given in enough to free himself from that pressing boredom.
Then there’s Linda. She left after he arrived but before he got a chance to talk to her. It was upsetting for him, to say the least. She frustrates and flusters and vexes him but Epros likes her, quite a bit. He may flirt with others but Linda’s the only one he’s seriously interested in right now. And even if he did, somehow, find himself in a relationship with someone else he’d almost certainly drop that person if Linda showed up again. His feelings for her are strong and he has no idea what to do with them yet, and probably won’t for a looong while but he does miss her. A lot.
He also hasn’t had a decent fight since he came to camp. Zombies and toucans and gorillas just aren’t cutting it anymore. He isn’t exceedingly violent or bloodthirsty but he does very much enjoy a good fight. (And my reasoning for that probably deserves another essay.) Having been denied one for so long he’s just itching to fight somebody.
Now what does all this have to do with the way he handled the spar?
All of this stuff has been building and his attempts at quelling it are failing. He was distracting himself by flirting and then Ros brought up doubts, in jest and he knows that, about him being a Former Evil King. His first thought was, “A chance to fight!”
He was originally intending it to be an average spar. But all of the internal stuff plus adrenalin from the opening salvo erased that quickly. He changed from friendly spar to fully intending to thoroughly defeat her, a la the battle for his Evil King powers. He trusts her more than enough not to go for the kill, and he wasn’t either. But he wasn’t really intending to stop until one of them wasn’t able to fight any longer or got very seriously wounded. He let go, and was being reckless as hell; anything to win.
And because he wasn’t being cautious and facing the Hero… yeah, it didn’t go well. It’s a good thing Rosalyn stopped it when she did.
Epros has been at camp about two months. At first there was excitement, new things to learn, companions to reunite with, a challenging barrier to break. Now, not so much.
He’s frustrated, bored and missing Linda like crazy. The barrier is beyond his powers and he is getting anxious about returning home to defeat Beiloune. Camp is trapping him and it reminds him a little too much of Classification. He can fight it all he wants but the results will end up being futile unless he can bring down the originator. Unlike at home he has no real way of doing that. And he’s learned the Director is powerful and untouchable. He also can’t really learn anything new by remaining in the shadows (being the mysterious wizard that he is) and popping out to be cryptic when he wants to. This all adds up to a lot of frustration and he’s starting to lose his handle on it.
Added to that, he’s getting a little bored. He’s caught between a rock and a hard place. He’s insatiably curious about everything but can’t really satiate that curiosity without sacrificing some of that mysteriousness he prides himself in. It’s a dilemma. But he’s starting to give in and reach out to meet people. Still a little loath to do more than cryptically hint about himself yet but it’s a start. Of course he hasn’t quite given in enough to free himself from that pressing boredom.
Then there’s Linda. She left after he arrived but before he got a chance to talk to her. It was upsetting for him, to say the least. She frustrates and flusters and vexes him but Epros likes her, quite a bit. He may flirt with others but Linda’s the only one he’s seriously interested in right now. And even if he did, somehow, find himself in a relationship with someone else he’d almost certainly drop that person if Linda showed up again. His feelings for her are strong and he has no idea what to do with them yet, and probably won’t for a looong while but he does miss her. A lot.
He also hasn’t had a decent fight since he came to camp. Zombies and toucans and gorillas just aren’t cutting it anymore. He isn’t exceedingly violent or bloodthirsty but he does very much enjoy a good fight. (And my reasoning for that probably deserves another essay.) Having been denied one for so long he’s just itching to fight somebody.
Now what does all this have to do with the way he handled the spar?
All of this stuff has been building and his attempts at quelling it are failing. He was distracting himself by flirting and then Ros brought up doubts, in jest and he knows that, about him being a Former Evil King. His first thought was, “A chance to fight!”
He was originally intending it to be an average spar. But all of the internal stuff plus adrenalin from the opening salvo erased that quickly. He changed from friendly spar to fully intending to thoroughly defeat her, a la the battle for his Evil King powers. He trusts her more than enough not to go for the kill, and he wasn’t either. But he wasn’t really intending to stop until one of them wasn’t able to fight any longer or got very seriously wounded. He let go, and was being reckless as hell; anything to win.
And because he wasn’t being cautious and facing the Hero… yeah, it didn’t go well. It’s a good thing Rosalyn stopped it when she did.