[SRP] For Life (Destati x Nyctimus)

[Epine de Rose]

 

[Epine de Rose]

"He did what?" Nyctimus did not benefit from his father's self control, not yet at least. However, as the next heir to the role of Justicar, he had been provided with the news long before the rest of those involved would be informed. After all, it would be Nyctimus that would have to shoulder the burden of addressing his brother's return if it occurred after his father had moved into the Great Beyond. It was a duty that no Justicar would ever wish on anyone, then again, it was a duty that even a Justicar himself would never want to encounter.

...The need to end the life of one's own blood was extreme in the greatest sense.

"The only thing that he has to his advantage is that he is extraordinarily naive," Destati remarked, choosing to ignore his seething son as he took a seat and turned his gaze to observe the compound. It was eerily still, no longer filled with the bustle and chatter of a white lioness in her quest to find out every little detail about those who worked in the Justicar's servitude. Unsurprisingly, her disappearance had caused the household to become much more muted; they werte grieving, for want of a better description.

"There's naive and then there's categorically <******** stupid," Nyctimus spat.

"There is, but I would not necessarily call his actions stupid," Destati knew that it would take many years for his son to learn the self control that he displayed. When he was younger he had the same fire, the same intolerance, and the exact same inability to see both sides of a coin. Age and experience had a way of correcting those weaknesses and re-educating the willing. Destati might not have liked the reasons behind Epimetheus's actions, but he could see how such things had come to pass. In the Al-Siq, such behaviours were to be expected, they were self-fulfilling prophecies as it were.

...It had been Destati who had been naive in assuming that a foreign born son might be resistant to the call of the Scourge. He had also been naive to the fact that by pure virtue of Epimetheus's blood, society would have known better than to tar him with the same brush.

Heh ad been wrong, and this had cost him dearly.

"He kill -"

"Missing," Destati interrupted and shook his head.

"They're scourge!" Nyctimus growled. "Mother and the younglings are exactly what they hate," he pointed out.

"And your mother is Divine," Destati's tone was direct and to the point. He'd adopted the exact same one that he used when he wasn't prepared to listen to arguments. The facts were what they were, there was no denying it and Nyctimus was entitled to shout obscenities if he wanted, but there was a time and a place. Now was not the time; now it was appropriate to evaluate their situation and figure out where they were going to go from here. Destati couldn't do this alone, there was simply too much scope, and as a result his son really was going to have to fill his boots.

"That aside I cannot dispute that depending on the circumstances her time may very well be limited," he acknowledged and released a disgruntled sigh. "Your brother has made his choice, misguided as it might be he has seen a necessity to betray his own blood for what he perceives to be the greater good," he grimaced deeply at this, while he would be loathe to admit it, the stab in the chest was a little overwhelming even for him.

He'd never suffered this deep a betrayal before.

"Greater good?"

"Liberty," Destati interrupted his son again before he could leap on to the soap box again. Nyctimus would have done well as a politician based on his tirade at the moment, but Destati had faith that he would eventually settle down. All three of his sons were young and had much to learn, a little self control in the face of adversary was one of those things. "Justice, Equality," he paused to allow the last of those sink in.

In those moments, it seemed Nyctimus had come to an understanding.

"And in his opinion, this seemed like the only option..." He couldn't quite disbelief it, and the only thing that seemed to reassure him was the long stare he was currently receiving from his father. "How long do we have?" he asked after a few moments, opting instead to scream insults at a later date, preferrably in the privacy of his own rooms.

"That is where we fall short," Destati shrugged his shoulders. "We have no idea and as it stands, we have no leads. Adar-malik has already made the decision to descend into the warrens again, though I had advised against it."

"His cover is blown?" Nyctimus was alarmed.

"It is something that we will need to be prepared for, yes," Destati confirmed. Nothing was set in stone, but the scourge had gotten so close and his sons had encountered his collective. They might have been 'friends' to begin with, but it would have been enough information to deploy several curious scourge scouts. Destati trusted Adar implicitly and believed in his capabilities, but the black lion wasn't invincible and if he was discovered, it could very well be the end of him.

"What a mess," Nyctimus muttered, clearly disgruntled.

"Welcome to the Al-Siq," Destati replied in his usual, deadpan manner and returned his gaze to his son. "And it's only going to get worse from here in," he added. "The life of a Justicar may seem glamorous from the outside, but it's far from it," he finished softly.

"Yeah," Nyctimus uttered. "That's one way to put it..."

There was a pause as the younger lion observed his father and then he asked the question he would have much preferred to avoid.

"So where do I begin?" he asked gently, resigned to the fact that he needed to put his fury behind him, and look towards finding a solution to more than just a simple conundrum.

"Spectre," Destati replied simply. "When building your team, you always identify your strongest assets and when one is attempting to find the lost -"

"You seek out the means to locate it," Nyctimus mused and pursed his lips. Spectre's abilities were 'unique' to say the least, and for the most part, they were on point. Nyctimus wasn't quite sure how he was going to employ them at this point in time, but he was sure he'd work it out eventually...

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