Sanctuary

It's late evening. The adults are all busy with... something. Adult stuff. Boring stuff. Thankfully not something he has to care for. So the cute giant monster demigod has snuck out of the castle and is now playing near the MoonPool. There, where the trees are thickest, he practices one of the most important tasks a young demigod can learn. Namely the art of posing.

"Halt uglyface! For you now face Nerassus! Hero of Sanctuary! ... no. Uglyface isn't... it needs to be better." He grumbles thoughtfully, before standing wide, planting his hands on his hips and bellows out. "Halt badstuffdoer!"

Timorin, having been approaching from afar, haulted in place. What have they been telling the child about me? Then realizing that the boy had not yet noticed him called out, "Two recommendations. First keep it short. Much like a sword stroke, the longer your words take, the more time they have to ignore them and plant a knife in your belly. Second, try an illustration. Surrender vile villian or be vanquished. See how that flows a little better?"

Nerassus blinks and turns around. His face breaks into a smile as he rushes forward, practically jumping onto Timorin. "Unca Timorin! You came to visit?!" His eyes gleam in delight as he hoists Timorin up and gives him the strong hug of someone who's had to really hold back his strength lately. "You got good advice. Hrm. What if I try... like... hrm. Short. Surrender or be stomped?!"

Timorin laughs and hugs the child back. "That sounds wonderful. Just make sure you hold up your end and stomp them if needed. But yes. I thought it would be fun to come and play if you would like. We can call it training."

Nerassus nods his head eagerly. "I got the idea from Nani. She was tryna teach me to dance. Afterwards she said that, if nothing else, my dancing can flatten all our enemies." He rubs his neck with a shy smile. "I think I need more practice. So whatcha wanna play? Tag? Hide and seek? Wargames? I'm not so good, but P'ua's been teaching me the rules."

Timorin sets the child down and rubs his chin. "Interesting. Dancing? I could probably help with that. We shall do whatever you want but first let's see what I can do for this dancing. Dancing is a good form but best executed against someone too big to counter your quick and fluid movements. How about we combine this game with some of the others. I will turn into a bear and hide in the woods. You shall stalk me and then try to subdue me without harm as you might take in a villian whom you do not seek to kill. Does this sound like fun?"

"Yes!" Nera jumps up with a grin, cheering and whooping loudly as he laughs heartily. "Should I turn around and count to ten and give you time to hide as well maybe?" He lifts his hands to his eyes. "I won't look, so hurry up and hide so we can begin!"

"Okay then child, begin counting." Timorin shifts into a bear and moves out of sight but not too far from where the child is. He shall try to stay hidden until the child passes and then stalk him.

"Eight. Nine. Ten! Ready or not, here I come!" Nerassus spins on his heel and looks about. He frowns thoughtfully, but finding no trace of Timorin he picks a random direction and starts to wander off.

Peaking around from his hiding spot Timorin begins creeping in the direction the child went. Though Timorin is not as familiar with this island or with this rather bulky form. He occasionally finds himself startling a small animal or rustling leaves with his overlarge bulk. Each time he does, he tries to conceal himself but the island is not infinitely filled with things big enough to hide a bear.

As he wanders, Nerassus suddenly kneels down, appearing to talk to something on the ground. It seems to be a short, but spirited conversation. And afterwards Nerassus stands up, giggles softly to himself, and then spins around, rushing towards a bush where he spots a large brown tuft of fur. "Found you villain! Surrender or be stomped!"

Timorin peaks out from behind the bush that he was failing to hide himself behind and points a paw at himself with a small groan and a tile of the head. Then he slowly walks out from behind the tree with his front two paws raised up.

Nerassus struts his chest out proudly, grinning. "Wise choice... uhm." He rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Uh... hrm. Ah... although." He frowns. "I don't... I didn't actually think of what I'd do after I caught the bad guy. The adults say something about "judgement"? So. Uh. I judge you to... something."

With a wicked bear smile, Timorin takes advantage of the child's distraction to lunge at him and try to tackle him to the ground.

Nerassus yelps as he goes down like a tree, making as loud of a crack as one as he falls to the ground. "Oh! Bad villain! No takebacks on surrendering!" He cries out, bringing his arms up to press against Timorin's chest in order to wrest him off his body.

Timorin puts up a valiant fight but eagerly let's the child win... Whether or not the child would have won on his own, Timorin would never say but he does his best to make a convincing play with him before allowing himself to be properly subdued and turning back into a human shape. "Good. Despite my trickery you overcame the vile bear villian."

Nerassus nods as he takes a seat on top of Timorin's chest, pinning the bear with his weight. "Victory is mine! Now I must imprison you. Or something. But I can't sit on you forever too..." He frowns. "Man, capturing villains is a lot harder than I thought it'd be."

Timorin give a thoughtful hum. "Do you have anything to tie me up with? Perhaps you can tap me on the head once and we can pretend I am unconscious until you find a way to bind me and put me in prison."

Nerassus looks about himself. He looks at the trees, grass, and finally he looks back at his own cape. "Oh yeah!" He grins and playfully baps Timorin on the head. "I can tie you up with my cloak!" He rolls off Timorin and grabs the cape, twisting it between his arms into a long scarf, with which he begins to wrap up all of Timorin.

Timorin let's out a bright laugh. "Ah my folly. Not only did I tell you how to capture me, but you used the gift I gave you."

Nerassus grins in pride at his own deviousness. He grabs both ends of the scarf and ties them together, tightening the makeshift "rope" a little. "Yeah. It's a lot of fun. P'ua says I shouldn't use it so much though. Apparently it's super-distracting."

Timorin nodds. "Distraction is useful but only sometimes. Distracting an enemy is good. Distracting Allie's or the people you need to protect is bad."

"Yeah. And I guess they don't need me distracting them from their jobs." Nerassus pouts softly, crossing his arms as he grabs Timorin and throws him over his shoulder. "So. Now that I caught you... what do I do?"

Timorin shrugs as best he can. "Sanctuary doesn't have a prison probably. For now we will say you properly secure me. Perhaps ask Petr or one of the masters what you would do with a villian like me." With a wink he adds "But for now you may put me down."

Nerassus nods and hoists Timorin off his shoulders. He's not gentle, so the big bear lands on the ground with a resounding crash. "Thanks for playing with me. This was fun. I hope you'll come visit some other time so we can play more."

"I am happy to come play with you any time child. I know Petr does nto always approve of me or my actions but I still want what is best for you." Timorin gives the child one more hug before adding. "You have given me much to think about."

"Glad I could help you... even though I don't exactly know how." He smiles brightly, hugging back on Timorin before he slips the cloak onto his back. "I should probably head home to bed. If I stay out too long after sundown, P'ua gets terribly mad at me."

"We wouldn't want that. Hurry along." And with a wave and a wink, Timorin is gone.