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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 17:45:05 GMT -5
Hoplite blinked as the door was forced closed on him. With a sigh, he admitted to himself that he should've seen something like this coming. He didn't so much as look at Watermark as he was told that not a soul in the militia seemed to care much about what happened to the two, even though the news was more than a bit of a shock to him. Watermark continued in such a way that left Hoplite speechless, uncomfortable, and in no mood to respond.
"Watermark..." Hoplite started, still not even looking at the zebracorn, "Let me out of here. Now."
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 16, 2013 17:48:41 GMT -5
"Absolutely not." Watermark said, "Not until you start really thinking about things. I mean REALLY thinking. Your stubbornness is not going to help you here, you need to fess up and face the truth. No matter how much you don't feel like hearing it or thinking about it. You really needed me to tell you this for you to realize that after your sister was turned on by everyone in the militia because of a rumor and you were left to take a serious beating in training by everyone in your team? You're doing something wrong and to move FORWARDS and not BACKWARDS you need to change it."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 17:52:45 GMT -5
Hoplite's frown grew as Watermark denied him even a moment's respite. And as to be expected, Watermark continued to assault him with an onslaught of negativity under the guise of trying to help him.
The whole situation was growing much to uncomfortable for Hoplite and he desperately wanted to be away from it. He needed to find Phalanx and get rid of this stress, maybe talk it over with her, yet here he was trapped in this forsaken room. "Watermark, please...let me out!" he demanded, his tone and volume increasing.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 16, 2013 17:53:47 GMT -5
Watermark looked him dead in the eye and uttered, "No." remaining completely silent after that.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 17:57:55 GMT -5
Hoplite's head hung limp as he realized that no matter how much he might desperately need to, Watermark would refuse him at every turn. He sighed to himself, practically flopping down onto the floor near the door and burying his head in his arms.
He didn't want to be here. He needed Phalanx near him for this kind of thing, and Watermark would give him no comfort or respite. Whatever happened that night, he'd have to wait for the next morning to be back with his sister again. He just needed to talk this over with her and maybe things would be a bit better off.
Sure, Watermark was essentially right. Since the zebracorn had full control here, this situation he had put forward was technically viable. Hoplite could be propelled forward and help Phalanx from there, but it just wasn't worth the trouble or effort...and it just wasn't who he was. This was the kind of thing Phalanx would do, not him. He wasn't worth anything alone, and neither was Phalanx, so separating them or even putting distance between them would do both of them absolutely no favours.
But of course Watermark would have none of that. He seemed to see their relationship as a typical, normal sibling thing. Sure, if it was just a simple sibling rivalry, this would go off without a hitch. Trouble being: it wasn't, and Watermark didn't seem to care about that part. He might've just agreed and got it over with, but chances were Watermark would hold him to that 'agreement' for all eternity.
He still needed a way out of the room. What could he reasonably say for Watermark to let him out there to speak with his sister? Well, obviously the truth, right? "Watermark...I just need to talk with my sister, could you *please* just let me out there so we can talk it over?" he asked quietly.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 16, 2013 18:23:03 GMT -5
Watermark gestured with his hoof, releasing the lock on the door. "I'll be expecting your answer." He said quietly, closing the door after Hoplite left and resealing it, not meaning to be disturbed while he slept. He felt like he has been putting too much of his time, effort and dignity for the sake of those two siblings who honestly seemed very content doing nothing other than deconstructing everything he did for them and making everyone around them dislike them. He knew Whitefire liked Hoplite at first, but even that's gone now, now she can't stand either of them and is firm in her opinion that Watermark is wasting his energy on both.
He felt that ponies with such potential wasting it should be a crime, punishable by re-education. But of course, that would be too extreme and was probably just coming from his frustration. Of course, forbidden magic COULD be used in such a manner, but he had no intention of ever trying it. If they could not be swayed normally then they were not worth it, period.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 18:44:27 GMT -5
Hoplite breathed a sigh of relief as he was finally allowed out of the room. If nothing else, at least he wasn't being berated by Watermark anymore. He made his way just a few steps down the hall and knocked lightly on the door twice, the door soon being answered by a sorta sleepy-looking Phalanx.
"Oh, hey'a Hoppy...having trouble sleeping?" she asked, just a hint of sarcasm leaking into her tone.
"Yeah, just a bit. Could you step out for a second? We need to talk," Hoplite responded blandly.
Phalanx blinked a few times, clearly taken aback at Hoplite's tone and the suddenness of his request. "Uh...sure," Phalanx waved a quick good-bye into the room, just in case her getting up had woken Sapphire, and stepped out into the hall.
The two wordlessly walked into the living room before sitting down onto the couch. "So? What did you need there, Hoppy?" Phalanx asked before yawning.
"Well...Watermark has this weird plan-agreement-thing that he's essentially forcing me into again," Hoplite started.
Phalanx snickered, "So what else is new?"
"He essentially wants me to start taking this whole thing seriously and get more favour than you in an effort to get you to do the same...I think. It's all some weird message he's trying to get across that I should stop comparing myself to you and stop slowing down my own progress for you, and..."
Phalanx held up a hoof, shushing her brother, "Yeah, I get it. Probably wants me to start taking things seriously *through* you when you start getting serious with training and whatever. I doubt he means anything along the lines of ranking, since we've long since been booted from that sort of thing."
Hoplite shrugged, "Close enough. He seemed more intent on me 'being the best I could be'," he added a bit of snark to the last part of his phrase, "And as much as it sucks, we're still tethered to this guy and kind of have to do what he says."
Phalanx chuckled, "Well, we could just defy it, there is always that option. Albeit considering we'd have nowhere else to go besides some private military somewhere in Equestria, there's not much point."
"Actually, even that part I think is out. Watermark seemed to make it clear that if we didn't participate in this stuff, we'd have nothing left to do but work the fields and such," Hoplite glumly added.
"Ah, he's just saying that to get under your skin," Phalanx smirked, "There'd be more for us than just working fields if we left, but the point does still remain that we wouldn't have many places left to go if we did."
"So what should we do?" Hoplite asked.
Phalanx chuckled, "It should be obvious: go with it. You're not going to leave me behind just because some zebracorn is entirely intent on making you some kind of legend. I'll be right there with ya the whole way, so don't you even worry about getting ahead of me."
"You sure?" Hoplite asked concernedly.
Phalanx nodded, "Of course I'm sure. He can believe you're leaving me behind all he wants, won't make it true unless he goes out of his way to keep me back. And something tells me he doesn't want to do that."
Hoplite smiled, Phalanx always knew what to do no matter the scenario. Even just hearing the solution made it sound so painfully obvious that he wanted to slap himself for not thinking of it sooner. He inched closer to Phalanx and hugged the pegasus tightly.
"Woah, hey!" Phalanx snickered, "Don't go crushing my wings now, you big idiot." Hoplite knew she was just joking around as she returned the hug, but he still let up a bit for the pegasus.
After a bit, the two broke the hug. "Hey...I'm not much in the mood to head back up there tonight...want to just stay down here?" Hoplite asked.
Phalanx feigned deep thought, tapping a hoof to her chin, "Gee...I don't know. I've got a room to go back to inhabited by a depressing unicorn, another unicorn who hates my guts, and a pegasus who's probably missing my company...well no duh I'll stay down here with you."
The two got comfortable on the sofa, as comfortable as the two could get on the small amount of space, and soon started to doze off.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 16, 2013 18:49:28 GMT -5
Morning came quicker than usual it seemed and Watermark was already up and about the house, not making a sound or a word towards the two and instead going about doing chores while Whitefire went out to do the morning routine of checking up on things and catching up to what happened during the night. Sapphire and Fillydelphia were not yet up and were probably enjoying sleeping in a place more comfortable than a barn for once.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 18:54:10 GMT -5
Hoplite stirred a bit in his sleep, eventually waking up as the sunlight found it's way onto his closed eyelids. With a yawn, he soon sat up and stretched, stirring Phalanx in the process. The two exchanged a wordless glance and made their way towards the kitchen.
After a bit of time spent getting their breakfast ready, Phalanx glanced over towards Watermark...then back to Hoplite. She gestured with her head to the confused-looking earth pony towards the zebracorn.
Thinking on the matter, Hoplite figured it would indeed be a good idea to try and talk it over with Watermark. Leaving Phalanx to herself in the kitchen, he made his way over to Watermark, starting off with little more than a few words. "G'morning, Watermark. Sleep well?" he asked simply.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 16, 2013 18:57:40 GMT -5
Watermark turned to Hoplite with a frown, "Morning." He replied simply. Waiting for Hoplite to continue talking. His night had been alright at best, having had to grapple with himself on the sibling issue for some time before finally falling asleep and even then having strange dreams that kept waking him up every few hours.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 19:00:31 GMT -5
Hoplite blinked. He hadn't really been expecting Watermark to be so...sudden and bland. Wasn't like the zebracorn at all. "So..." Hoplite started, "Just to make sure I've got everything right...could you go over what you wanted me to 'agree' to again? I think I've come to a decision, but I wasn't exactly in the right mind that night. Could be agreeing to something that wasn't what you had meant at all."
"He does that sometimes!" Phalanx added from the kitchen.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 16, 2013 19:03:40 GMT -5
Watermark gave Hoplite a deadpan look, "All I want is for you two to take things seriously. I think that trying to surpass each other, in a competitive and constructive manner, will allow you both to constantly aspire to top yourselves and therefore help you bring out the best in yourselves. That is all, this is not some sort of agreement or contract. This is just what I think would drive you two forwards. What I wanted you to 'agree' to was thinking about it, which I see you have." Watermark sighed at the end of the sentence, he felt even more tired now that he realized that Hoplite wasn't even sure what he was saying yesterday night... why did he even bother?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 19:10:10 GMT -5
Hoplite blinked, that was it? Huh...why'd he go through all the effort then if merely saying it was bound to have him think it over. "If all you wanted me to do was think it over, why did you keep me from leaving? Just by saying it I was obviously going to think it over, it doesn't just go in one ear and out the other. Here I was thinking it was some sort of binding agreement you'd hold me to," he facehoofed, "Gah, I was an idiot. Sorry about that, Watermark."
Hoplite could tell Phalanx thought this whole thing was amusing from where he stood, but wasn't going to bother giving her input on the matter.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 16, 2013 19:12:50 GMT -5
Watermark gave him a flat look again, before continuing to arrange his house for the morning. He had no time to joke around with this foalish stallion anymore, nor did he have any inclination to at the moment to answer that stupid question, considering everything he's been telling the stallion since they met has been going through one ear to the other to no avail.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2013 19:18:46 GMT -5
Phalanx looked over to see Watermark essentially giving her brother the cold shoulder. Just exactly what had happened that night? Hoplite had been vague, sure, but it couldn't have been enough to make the typically cheery and nonsensical Watermark turn into a grump. "Hey, Hoppy, I don't think he's in the mood for us to be sitting around asking dumb questions," she started. Her brother shrugged and stepped away from the zebracorn, seeming to be at least a little more comfortable to be out of that awkward situation.
"So, Watermark, got anything you need us doing this morning?" Phalanx asked before taking a quick bite of her hay sandwich.
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