TBATE - CHANGING FATE

Chapter 17.5 - The Playdate

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VIRION POV:

"-and because of Director Goodsky's information there were no casualties when dealing with the camps. For now, that's all we have to report Elder Virion."

Saluting me with absolute precision, Lances Alea and Aya looked at me with a stoic face while reporting their latest dive into the dungeons to deal with the Alacryans.

Letting out a long sigh, I leaned back into my seat and waved the two off so they could rest from their travels.

'To think there was another continent apart from Dicathan... and that they had discovered us before we even knew of their existence.'

"How troubling..." I muttered quietly.

"What is?"

Spinning around in shock at the voice that appeared behind me, I let out a sigh of relief to see that it was only Arthur.

"You b-r-a-t!" I yelled with a grin while pulling on his ear, "you should know not to scare your elders. I nearly had a heart attack."

"Good to see you too G-r-a-m-p-s" he mockingly replied while flicking my hand off of him. "Hope you don't mind me dropping by unannounced."

"Nonsense," I snorted out almost offended, "you're practically family Arthur. Hell, give it a few years and you probably will be. You can come here anytime you want..."

Trailing off, my eyes wandered to the little girl who was hiding behind him and holding tightly onto Arthur's hand.

Kneeling down to her height I held out a small piece of candy that I usually carried around for Tess. Seeing her eyes glitter at the sight of the sweet treat, the small girl slowly reached her tiny hand out and took the candy out of my palm.

"Now who's this little cutie?"

Seeing how she was struggling with the wrapping Arthur took the candy out of her hand and unwrapped it for her.

"My little sister. Mom and Dad wanted to spend the day out on a date and asked if I could take care of her. I talked to Tess, and she wanted to have a playdate with her, so here we are."

Racking my brain for a bit, I remembered how Arthur had mentioned he had a little sister before. "Oh- so you must be little Eleanor. It's nice to meet you. I'm Virion, but you can just call me Grandpa if you would like."

Tugging tightly at Arthur's shirt, Eleanor looked up at her brother and then down at me multiple times. "G-gwandpa? Hai~ Gwandpa, I'm Ewanor!"

Looking back on how Tess used to act just like Eleanor back when she was her age, I let out a large grin and pat her on the head. "I don't want to take up too much of your time, so I'll let you go see Tess now. I think she's out in the garden."

Waving them off, I watched as Arthur and little Eleanor walked towards the direction of the garden. Looking back at my desk, I sighed as the pile of documents towered over me. Burying my head in the stacks of paper, the thought of preparing for war and protecting Ele-, no... the entirety of Dicathen moved my pen faster.

TESSIA POV:

'Dodge! Duck your head- no wait just move your neck! Swing towards his wais- ah, I missed! Oh no...'

Tumbling backwards in order to avoid Arthur's sword, I rustled the grass out of my hair and focused on his posture.

'Rats, why does he never have any openings! Or maybe... I'll just try this.'

Charging towards him, I feigned an upwards slash towards his chin. But just as he was about to dodge it, I spun backwards and tried to land a kick towards his... "weakness" as Grandpa told me. But Art managed to put his hand in between just in time and grabbed my foot, pushing me off balance.

"I swear you're getting scarier by the day" he mentioned while holding his hand out to help me off the ground, "did Gramps teach you that move?"

"He said that would work..." I muttered under my breath. "Let's go for one more round."

But as soon as I said that the aroma of freshly brewed tea tickled my nose, changing my mind.

"It's teatime everyone!" Aya called.

Quickly wiping the sweat off my face, I walked over and placed my sword down next to my seat. Next to me was Ellie, who had already been snacking on some biscuits while watching the two of us train.

"Is it good?" I asked her while wiping some crumbs off her cheek.

"Mhmhm" she replied with her face stuffed, but guessing from her smile I'm guessing Ellie said yes.

The five of us: Aya, Alea, Arthur, Ellie and me were sitting at a small outdoor table in the shade, taking a quick break from the sun.

"I noticed you targeted his crotch Tessia, good job" Aya mentioned nonchalantly, "a man's family jewels are a critical weakness to even the strong."

"Agreed," Alea nodded, "but when I mentioned that to one of my dates during an argument he ran away... such a shame. I just wish I had a lover that wasn't afraid of me."

Spitting out his tea, Art with a shocked face tried to change the conversation suddenly to avoid any more talks about his... jewels. But with growing up and having Aya and Alea act like my older sisters, I got used to their weird conversations.

"Enough talks about... anyways, what did you two think about Tess's swordsmanship?"

While I thought that it was good, Aya and Alea had noticed that I focused too much on strength and aggressiveness, and said I should try a more passive stance for my next match with Art. Pointing out several more mistakes, like my stances and openings, I mentally noted them down.

"I thowt that Tess was stwong!" Ellie raised her hand excitedly, joining in on the conversation.

"Guess I only have one person here who believes in me" I said while patting her head.

Slowly letting the sun pass, we talked about different things while occasionally returning to training. Ellie also joined in with a sword more suitable for her size, but she ended up getting bored of it soon enough. Before we even realised it, the sun was setting.

"Hey kid, are you going to stay for dinner or go back?" Grandpa asked as he walked out into the garden, eyebags growing under his eyes from working all day.

"We should probably get going back soon," Art replied while carrying Ellie who fell asleep from moving around all day. "I'd love to stay, but unfortunately mom's cooking pot roast for tonight and I can't miss that."

After saying goodbye to Art and Tess, me and Grandpa had dinner together, but mom and dad couldn't come because they were in a meeting of some sort.

"So, did you have fun today sweety?" Grandpa asked while poking at his vegetables.

"Yep!"

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Word count: 1159

I'm alive, just some stuff came up. Got a new job for a couple of months, was accepted into a university overseas for exchange and travelled around Asia for a month. All that plus my slowing motivation for writing = no chapters for like 6 months. But I'm back, so hi! Once again, yada yada any mistakes please point out, vote or don't, and I'll see y'all later!