hey kids, want some skill points?

His siblings arrived. Looked like it would be a family affair... that was nice, actually. Dread regarded both Andy and Charlie with a nod, a bit of a smile. The most excitement he'd show, typically. It was better than nothing, at least. He sat on his haunches, listening carefully to what Hazel had to say. They were gathering for a fighting lesson, but they weren't... actually fighting? Seemed like a weird way to go about things, but that was fine. He supposed that Hazel might know what she was doing, if the Warlord had put her in some sort of authority to teach them things.

She asks them to think about their last spar. Shit. Dread knows exactly who that spar is against. He shifted his weight a bit from one side to the other, his mind on the pretty pirate girl. While Hazel had disclosed who she'd fought, Dread... well, he thought better of it. What had he done well that fight? He knew what he'd done poorly, at least. Dread had gotten distracted by just how close she was, and the fact that she'd just kissed him, and how wrapped up in it all he was-- no. None of those things were things he could say out loud, especially in front of his family. Certainly the fuck not.

"In my last spar I did a good job looking for opportunities to land counter-attacks." Sure, he'd go with that. That was something like how Dread replayed it in his mind. "But uh, I didn't do a great job keeping control of my opponent. She was a lot lighter than me, so I had a hard time keeping hold of her." She was slippery. And pretty. And had done far more than best him in that moment, seeing as she lived rent-free inside his head.

"Dread Fatalis"