Upon Return from Unintentional Sabbatical.

[DoS Archive]

From: perrinis@aol.com (Perrinis)
Date: 05 May 1998 02:53:01 EDT

Having devoted by far the bulk of his time to his daughter, and making the final arrangments for a permanent Executive Assembly to transfer leadership of the Territory to, the young General has had little time for hitting people with sticks and such.
But one always finds there way back to the Arena, do they not?

Perrinis, dressed in a casual(and easily cleanable) attire, meandered on over to the boards one tranquil Monday Afternoon, his daughter scampering in a tireless zig-zag pattern behind him. Looking back from moment to moment as they travel, he chuckled inwardly. You're so much better behaved when you're with your mother, he reflected. You actually eat your cookies, instead of decorating everything with them, silly girl.
He paused, and as Delilah caught up to him, he crouched down, scooping her up in his well-exercised arms(he'd had far less time to visit the gymnasium, but just as well, Delilah kept him in constant exertion), and spinning her about, earning bubbly giggle and flailing arms in return.
"Daddy stop it stop it!" She squealed delightedly, kicking her little feet as he set upon her with an impish rib-tickling. He smiled, nodding and hugging her close, eliciting a toddler/bear hug back in return.
In one of those passing ponderances, he noticed how similiar Delilah's hugs are to those Drake used to give him.... that must have been a long time ago, the memories of that time in his life--what he chose to refer to it as to himself--seemed so.. unreal, distant.
And yet, they felt.. right.
"C'mon Delilah, let's go write on the boards, okay? You can practice your alphabet."
Despite her reply, consisting of her pointing her tongue in his direction and rolling her eyes, he carried her over to the boards.
Taking a pen from his pocket with his free hand, he shifted Delilah back on his opposite shoulder, and penned out a little missive on the top sheet of paper, if a little unevenly written:

Hey everyone:

I've been preoccupied for the past... long-time.. and I'm not going to put my self through the ordeal of reading this immense stack of whatever you people've been writing. So, in a nutshell, what's happened? Anyone chop anyone else's head off, or anything?
I saw something about new rules and new rings, coming with the next tourney... anyone want to elaborate with me and Delilah?

Thanks a bunch:

Perrinis, father first and a General too.

He nodded approvingly, then looked to Delilah, fishing a crayon from his pocket as he puts away the pen.
"Want to show off your awesome writing for everyone, sweetie?"
The General's daughter sighed an a very dramatic fashion at the intense labor she was suffering to undergo, then she leaned over in his arms to snatch the crayon. After a giggle and a swift scribble on her father's shoulder, she turned to the boards, pursing her lips and mumbling "hrmm..." in a deadpan imitation of her father:

A B C D EFG
...at this point, a moment's pause was taken for her to look quizzically back at her father, then to write H, I, J, and K on his shoulder with a mischievious grin...

L M N OP G

..she pauses, then frowns and ruthlessly scribbles out her mistake, then nods with a serious approval, and continues...

Q RST U V X Y

..upon coming to a favorite letter, she bounces up and down in Perri's arms, then scribbles excitedly across the remainder of the page, and a few other previous posts too for good measure, then slowly, and carefully prints out her name.

D E L I L A H

The young father smiles at her with a beaming warmth, and kisses her forehead. "You did a -very- good job, Delilah. I'm very very very proud of you, and when mommy sees this, she'll be very very very proud too."
Delilah debated sticking her tongue at Dad or something, but decides to be nice and smiles sweetly up at him. "Mom likes -everything- I do. She's silly."
With the exchange of secret little grins, the two head off to go play in the park.

[DoS Archive]

From: cygnetsera@aol.com (CygnetSera)
Date: 05 May 1998 08:53:48 EDT

Pausing at the ancient cork, a familiar handwriting catches the angel's eye. A bright smile graces Cyggy's visage, especially reading the delightful "addendum" to the original message.

With a tender touch, hesitant yet deliberate, the angel passes a finger over the name signed in crayon, eyes shimmering, a wistful dampness rimming the deep midnight blue of her gaze.

What soft, tremulous whisper of words she spoke, might as well fallen on deaf ears...



Cygnet Seraphin
Redeemed1st of the 9 Orders
Keeper of the Queue, ad call, DoS
Jade Gryphons, TDL
~cs~

[DoS Archive]

From: taylara@aol.com (Taylara)
Date: 05 May 1998 18:47:56 EDT

As she peruses the boards her lips curl to a soft smile, her eyes following the crayon line to it's origin, noting the childs alphabet is well written for one so young. It will be nice to see Perri back in the Arena, but there goes one of those new rings...::Chuckling::



::She tears a little piece of paper from the bottom of one of the messages, takes out her purple pencil and jots down a few words..::



Welcome back Perri, ya still owe me that duel......::Snickers::


Taylara

[DoS Archive]

From: sidarthae@aol.com (Sidartha E)
Date: 06 May 1998 20:45:56 EDT

Hey Perri~

When have you known anything to CHANGE around here? All that is piled here are pages upon pages of arguments and insults.

There have been a few good things, but unfortunately, they've been drowned under waves of bickering.

~Sid

::walks away, patiently waiting for her daily dose of insults::

[DoS Archive]

From: karenwildr@aol.com (KarenWildr)
Date: 07 May 1998 00:26:47 EDT

::Testing the limits of her recently learned literacy by perusing the boards::
"I's nae had a good arguement in a month 'er more!"
::Glancing around, she spots someone eating peanuts at the bar.::
" 'ey! Ye'd betta be savin' so o' those fer me or I's'll whoop yer hide!"
::Turning back to the boards, she posts a quick note.::

'ey General... does ya want a re-match? Ya ain't beat me yet, ya know!

Karen Jendis.

[DoS Archive]

From: perrinis@aol.com (Perrinis)
Date: 09 May 1998 04:56:24 EDT

Forget about it. Just push it out, let all that crap flow out with your movements, Perri.

No one had ever actually spoken those words to the young General, but just the same, they echoed through his mind's ear, as his flurry of fists impacted on the well-word sandbag that was mounted so in the Manor's basement mini-gym. Since Delilah became his primary object of attention from Monday Morning, when Drake returned her from weekend custody, to Friday Morning, when Drake would arrive for the next weekend.

His gloved hands hammered away in an unceasing, untiring roll against their target, the practiced technique repeating itself thoughtlessly, having come so etched into memory...
..And as his exercise required negligible attention, his mind was unfortunately free to wander.
What would he say to Drake when she came on Friday?
Hey, thanks Drake, for dropping me from the Jade Gryphons, nice of you to tell me about it.
Why even bother talking to her? She hardly would even say word one to him about Delilah these days... Perhaps she'd prefer sending a housekeeper to fetch Delilah for her soon enough.
Forget about it, Perri.... it's not worth it. Let's move on.
In keeping with his waxing aggression, the General's hands flew harder against the bag... until the point where the seams stretched to where they all but broke--but Perrinis's reluctant self-control--some would knew him well might be a little suprised at it, took sway, and the exercise slowed to a stop.
With slow, heavy breaths, the young Father sighed, turned, and exited the basement.
He'd have to find his tonfa this weekend, and get plenty of practice for the tourney.