One of Those Stupid Life or Death Things {Mordred et al}

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Mordred would wake up to find a note attached to his door. It wouldn't be there like a normal note, or be some sort of text message. No, this was in accordance with old ways. It was written on what seemed to be a piece of parchment in what appeared to be actual script. And it had been stabbed to the door with an honest to God dagger.

Lord Mordred Le Fay,

It has come to the general attention that you are a wastrel without honor or skill, undeserving of the Le Fay name and the titles bestowed upon you. In light of your recent actions, we are demanded recompense in the truest of the old ways. Assuming you are not as devoid of courage as you are honor, you will meet us on the field outside of Trenale in the early morning light, prepared to duel in defense of your family and yourself. If not, we shall decry you as a coward and weakling as well as a knave.

Sincerely,

the Family Summer

Because if anything should scare the daylights out of them, it was an extended threat by the Summer mob. Which was precisely what Lorelei, dressed for a duel and standing in field, was counting on. She'd turned her stupid mobile messaging device on silent and decided to do this her father's way. Maybe it was Dad's temper in her; she sort of hoped some of his sword skills stuck, or her time in Trenale was going to be short. For now, the lithe girl at least looked the part: dressed in fighting leathers with her hair pulled back into a tight tail, a sword at her side.

"Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll chicken out," she mumbled, flexing her hand. This was going to end poorly, she just knew it.

[Mordred Le Fey]

This had to be a joke.

Seriously, it was kind of funny. If it was a joke, anyway.

Mordred stood in his doorway, holding the note in one hand and the dagger in the other. He had woken up with a hangover, gotten pissed off at discovering the total lack of coffee in the house - he was blaming Aiden for that one - and then opened the door to head to the coffee shop for a fix to discover the note pinned to the front door. He'd read it three times before he'd actually taken in the contents.

His first thought had been regarding which one of the crazy and extensive Summer family had challenged him. It wasn't clear from the note, and as he went through the various family members in his head, he wasn't sure which one it could have been. He'd talked to Tristian, and there's no way Tris would be this... formal about it. G-Jr wouldn't dare challenge Mordred, he knew that for certain. Jenny wouldn't care, and Genevieve was too nice... It had to be Jesse, that freaky little weirdo. He had to admit, he was surprised, he didn't think Jesse would have had it in him.

But then again, it was signed from 'the Family Summer' - could they have actually banded together, strength in numbers and all that? He sighed, folding the note and putting it in his pocket. The dagger he was definitely going to keep, it was pretty nice craftsmanship. They couldn't be serious with this crap - ok, what he'd done was pretty unforgivable, but they weren't in Camelot. There were other ways to deal with this sort of thing here. He debated for a minute, wondering whether or not to just ignore it.

"For f*ck sake..." He muttered, turning and grabbing his sword from the umbrella stand - he'd figured it was a handy place to keep it - and headed out of the door, belting the sheath around his waist as he went. He didn't know what he was going to find at the field, but he thought he'd better prepare for the worst. As he walked, he pulled out his phone, firing off a quick text to Aiden as he went. He wanted someone to know where he was... just in case.

He thought for a moment, and then sent one to Tristian too - Someone in your mental family has challenged me to a duel on the field. Thought you'd like to know.

Reaching the field, he stepped onto the grass and slowly walked out to the middle where a figure was waiting. As he got closer, he stared. Of course, it was the bloody crazy one. He always seemed to forget about her...

"This is a joke, right?"

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Great, he'd shown up. Now, seeing him here, Lorelei could feel that oh-so-wonderful mixture of emotions. The utter terror at someone known for tormenting most of the Camelot/Summer brood; the mental anguish Lorelei had all but given herself cross-referencing potential prophecies that indicated a "Mordred' would kill everything; and of course the raw rage at what this particular guy had done oh so recently to one of the few people who actually, honestly gave a crap whether or not Lorelei lived or died.

"The joke is that you actually think you've got some honor left to defend," Lorelei said, drawing her sword and thanking God that she didn't fumble the action. "I'd say standard duel regulations, but neither of us has a second, and I'm pretty sure the school would actually kick me out for killing you, even if I'm doing the world a favor," Lorelei rolled her shoulders, flicking the tail of her hair behind her. "So I'm thinking third blood, since first blood would just be too embarrassing for you."

She held her sword in a steady grip, trying to remember everything Dad had beat into her head about it. He'd made sure she knew what she was doing, since she did have that "Lac' part in her name, but Lorelei had been better about understanding swordplay in the abstract than the practical.

"Oh, I'm Lorelei Summer-Lac, Princess of the Summer Country. You hurt my best friend. Prepare to bleed."

God she hoped that sounded as cool out loud as it had in her head.

[Mordred Le Fey]

There were very few times in Mordred's life when he had found himself speechless. He almost always had a quip or a comeback; he was known for his quick wit and sharp tongue, and he was prided himself on it. It was all part of his charm.

Right now, though, he had absolutely nothing. He stared at Lorelei as she spoke, his mouth open slightly and a thoroughly bewildered look on his face. She couldn't actually be serious? She was half his size - and a girl, apart from anything else. Mordred had no problem sparring with girls - he enjoyed his training sessions with Gwyn - but this was different, this girl actually wanted blood, and there was only so many defensive stances he could take in a fight. Plus, he could tell she was pretty likely to wind up fast, and when his temper flared he couldn't be held entirely responsible for his actions.

"Third blood... right..."

This wasn't going to actually happen, surely. Mordred stood on the field and watched her raise her sword, his arms folded across his chest. He wasn't going to draw on this kid. No way was he humouring her with this. He'd always known she had a screw or two loose, but this was a whole new level of utterly mental. He glanced around the field, hoping that Tristian or Aiden would arrive to help him talk the mental girl down, but so far he was alone.

At her declaration, he had to stifle a laugh. "Oh, wow, ok Princess Lorelei of the Summer Country," His voice was mocking as he failed to keep the amusement from his face. "You realise how crazy this is? You want to take me on?"

He shook his head in amused bewilderment. "There's no way I'm going to fight you, kid." He said with a shrug. "I don't particularly fancy dealing with your parents after I accidentally kill you."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei's expression remained dead serious while Mordred worked it out, her hand still on her sword. Her body seemed to actually barely move, which would be quite surprising from anyone who actually knew the girl. Those brown eyes were locked on him. They only flashed for a moment as he started mocking her.

"It's not crazy at all, actually," she said, keeping her voice even. "Like I said, it's a duel to blood, not to death. And if you're so bad at fighting that you accidentally kill someone when you're fighting them just to harm, then you're at least at bad at swordplay as you are at being a decent human being. If you decide not to take an honorable challenge, then it means that you're pretty much a coward. I did kind of figure it based on what I'd heard about you," Lorelei shrugged, "but I can't say I'm not disappointed to find out. It'll be real fun to let everyone know that you turned down a fight with the little crazy Summer girl. You know the one, right? The crazy one that never shuts up."

Lorelei nearly smirked, flicking the tip of her sword at him. "Plus, I do want to fight you, and I'm already armed. Also I'm apparently crazy." She nodded. "So stop being a coward and draw."

[Tristian]

After receiving the message Tristian had grabbed his shoes and his coat and raced from his flat to the green, and on the way still tried to put a face to the name of the girl that was duelling Mordred.

What on earth was she thinking?! Challenging Mordred?! Who even was she?!

He was vaguely aware that he had a sibling via Lancelot, and that her name began with an ‘L’, he was also vaguely aware of being introduced to her at some point during one of his stays in the Summer Country. He understood that she spent most of her time with her father and Tristian had seen very little of him since he had started spending more and more time in Camelot, what with being the crown prince. Although there was a good chance that this Lorelei had been around a lot more when he was and he just had not noticed. The only sibling he seemed to spend any sort of regular time with was Meredith and that wasn’t exactly by choice. He saw the Legume lot fairly regularly as well, keeping in touch with Jenny’s shenanigans, working to improve Gaston Jr’s image, keeping up correspondence with Genevieve who was very endearing and doing the odd book exchange with Jesse.

But Lorelei…they might be related but really…he had no idea who she was…and now he had to somehow connect with her enough to talk her out of duelling Mordred. He knew nothing about her so had no idea what approach to go with; bossy older brother or patronising older brother…

He caught up with the two of them just in time to hear Mordred say that he wasn’t going to fight her. Well that was a relief, clearly he had made it just in time before the other girl wound him up enough that he changed his mind. Looking at Lorelei now he could see…..that he still had no idea who she was. Oh well, when in doubt; prince it up.

“Right, enough of this nonsense,” said Tristian stepping in between the two, and then turned to the girl, “Lorelei, whilst I give you full marks for style and panache, as a daughter of Guinevere Summer you really ought to know we use our words first then our swords. Besides, I can assure you that whatever transgression it is that this man has paid you, it is likely that he has already received the appropriate punishment.”

Meaning: I’ve already punched him a bit so back down.

Damn this was going to be really embarrassing if it turned out that this girl wasn’t Gwen’s daughter at all.

[Mordred Le Fey]

Well, she certainly knew which buttons to press to truly piss him off. No one called Mordred Le Fey a coward and walked away unscathed, crazy little girl or not. He took a step forward, unfolding his arms and putting a hand on the hilt of his sword. "You're pushing it now, little girl." He said darkly, his eyes darkening with anger and his voice taking on a menacing tone. "Call me a coward one more time, and I swear to you, you will regret it."

It was at that point that Tristian had arrived and stepped between them. Mordred kept his hand on his sword and scowled at the girl over Tristian's shoulder.

"No, you know what Tris, she wants to fight me then let her. Let's see what the kid is made of." He was starting to give in to his anger now, and he really, really wanted to fight someone. He unsheathed his sword, and raised his eyebrows at the girl. "You really want to do this, then bring it on.  Defend your friend, kid."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Oh yay, Tristian was here. Part of Lorelei was thrilled, since Tristian was kind of the Camelot hero. The golden boy, heir to the throne, technically the only legitimate child among the entire Summer brood. Plus, he was Lorelei's bigger brother, and there was a bit of the whole kid sister looking up to big brother and really hoping he'd be awesome and save her present there.

Plus, with him here, the chances of Mordred actually killing Lorelei dropped significantly.

"Thank you for the offer Tristian, but I have this,' Lorelei said, again with more confidence than she felt. She met Mordred's angry gaze, seeing the pure rage there, hearing his snarling voice. He really did seem to play the part of the villain, didn't he? Who had hurt him to make him want to hurt the world this much?

Lorelei raised her sword into a ready position, shifting her grip. She was left-handed, trained by Lancelot, and had the advantage of knowing a lot about Mordred while he knew nothing about her. On the other hand, she was about as likely to trip as she was to manage this, and most of her swordfighting knowledge was abstract.

"A little girl against a coward? Sounds like a fair fight," she said, bracing for the inevitable attack.

[Tristian]

“Oh for crying out loud,” said Tristian as Mordred started rising to the bait the Lorelei was dangling.

Tristian shot him a look as if to say ‘really?’, although he was secretly thinking the same thing. What was this kid made of? She seemed to have the guts to challenge Mordred, although it was debatable whether she actually knew who he was, then again, she had known him on sight. He had fought the urge to correct her when she called him ‘Tristian’, he accepted that from his siblings not strangers…but she was a sibling…so…

However then Lorelei was back to speaking again and Tristian really could not help but look round at her in disbelief and say, “who are you?”

He shook himself, now was not the time an idea started to form in his head. There was no way either of them were backing down, fine, the best he could do then was to limit the amount of damage.

“Right, fine, you want to fight, you can fight, but we will do this properly,” he said looking between them both.

He really ought to have worn that black and white striped jumper he had been looking for an excuse to wear for ages.

“Lorelei, you issued the challenge so by the rules Mordred gets to pick the weapon, although seeing as you both have swords, unless Mordred wants to change his mind we will go with that, and Lorelei you’ve already picked the place,” said Tristian running through the protocol in his head, how many of these had he got himself into back home, “now, both of you need seconds, we’re not going any further until I can see that both of you have a second.”

[Mordred Le Fey]

Mordred laughed coldly at her. "Yeah, Tristian, she has this." He mocked, his lip curling as he scowled at her. He took a step closer to her, sidestepping Tristian as she called him a coward again, raising his sword threateningly. "Call me a coward one more time..." He growled at her, bringing himself up to his full height to tower over her.

He was about to raise his sword and take his first swing, hoping to catch her off guard, when Tristian spoke again, and Mordred's irritation increased further. He let his sword drop to dangle by his side with a frustrated groan, turning away from them both and rubbing his face. "This is f*cking ridiculous..." He muttered, as Tristian decided to take the role of referee and began to call out the rules.

"Are you kidding me? This is a joke, you're not taking this seriously? She wants third blood - that'll take me ten seconds, just get out of the way Tris." His voice was a low growl - all he'd wanted was a damn cup of coffee, and if Aiden hadn't drunk it all he'd never had opened to door and seen that stupid challenge in the first place.

"Fine. Swords." Mordred knew he was exceptionally skilled at swordplay, and there was no chance this little shrimp would get a blow in. He pulled out his phone and checked the messages. "My second's on the way - you realise this is a completely crazy, screwed up waste of time though, right?" He asked Tristian angrily.

"Your bloody family..." He muttered, glaring daggers at Lorelei. "Come on then, who's your second going to be? Jesse? G-Jr?" He scoffed at her.

[Aiden Mumble]

Aiden woke when Mordred closed the door upon exiting the house. She was still on the living room floor. She raised her head slowly and moaned, lamenting the weight of it. "What a dick" she murmured, thinking he could have easily closed the door a little quieter. She felt sick and maybe just a little still drunk. What time had she fallen asleep? What time was it now. Where was her phone? She managed to crawl back on the couch and lay there for what seemed like days until she mustered up the courage to crawl back upstairs. Her plan was to crawl into bed and stay there for the rest of the day. She knew there wasn't any coffee left, but she didn't feel well enough to go out and get some.

When she reached her room and plopped, face down into bed. This is around the time her boobs buzzed and her phone question was answered. Aiden jumped and groaned again, recalling that she had stashed her phone in her sports bra. With much effort she pulled it out and squinted at the text from Mordred. What? she fired off a text in reply. After a moment of thinking she decided that she had to at least witness whatever was about to go down, not to mention, if his reflexes were impaired it was a little her fault. She sent him a second text confirming she'd at least show up.

She forced herself out of bed an threw on a worn black shirt over her sports bra and gray leggings from last night. That was a good enough effort, right? She threw on some sneakers and found her darkest pair of sunglasses. By the time she reached the front door another text from someone else reached her phone. She pulled it out of her shirt once more. It wasn't Mordred, it was some phone number she didn't recognize. Stanley? Did she know a Stanley? Ugh, she didn't want to deal with this. Why would Mordred tell this guy that she had to leave? She responded, then focused on the task at hand. She looked at the front door with an expression of grief. She took a deep breath and faced the sunlight.

By the time she had found them in the field she'd stopped at the coffee shop and fired off a few more texts. She wasn't really grasping how dire the situation was. Aiden didn't even know people still dueled each other. So when she walked onto the scene in all her hungover glory, she was a bit shocked by all the tension in the air. She walked over to get in the sight line of Mordred, though he seemed rather busy. She had two coffee's in her hands because she was a thoughtful and amazing person and also the shop had screwed up and given her two on accident. Behind her sunglasses she was blinking at the scene. She wished he didn't feel like throwing up, then she'd probably enjoy this a little more. There was some serious drama happening. She was real mad about the Costin thing, but now didn't seem like the time to bring it up.

"Uh...hey" Aiden managed, hoping she was at least loud enough to be heard by someone. Ugh even her own voice hurt her head. Aiden took in the weapons present. Was that from the umbrella stand? Aiden had thought it was just a prop or something. You know, for weird stuff. She didn't judge. Aiden glanced at the person Mordred was yelling at.

Wait...was that....Lorelei? Aiden's brain was too slow to do anything but stare. This made absolutely no sense to her. Was she being pranked? Maybe they were putting on a play. Lorelei seemed like the type of person to do that.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Great, this was getting out of hand, and not in a way that Lorelei particularly liked. Suddenly she was really regretting Tristian's presence, even if that would add some weight to the proceedings and all. The fact that he apparently didn't remember her actually hurt her more than she cared to admit, and his outright question was met with a glare that would look so much like their mother's with just a dash of Lancelot in the angry eyes. Making it worse, he'd decided to follow some set of rules that Lorelei had really hoped to avoid... mostly because she was fairly certain that she coudn't get anyone to be her second.

"For once I agree with Mordred," she said. "It'll take me all of about ten seconds to prove to him that he can't just go around bullying everyone and get away with it." Keep bluffing, Lorelei, and maybe you'll start to belief it. She knew she was decent with swords, but Mordred was good. He was angry though, and not taking this seriously, so she figured she did have a shot so long as Tristian didn't be... himself.

Then Aiden of all people showed up. Lorelei almost startled, wondering what the mermaid/penguin princess was even doing here. "How many people did you invite to this thing?" she asked, looking at Mordred. She almost started giggling, knowing it was as much for nerves as anything. "Were you that utterly terrified of fighting me that you called in your posse? Oh, and Tristian? We don't actually need the seconds, because he," she pointed her sword at Mordred, "already accepted the challenge, which validates it in accordance with the standards. Besides,' Lorelei straightened, "I don't need a posse, unlike some people,' she favored Mordred with another cutting smile, hoping yet again that they didn't see through and take note that there was literally no one who would come support Lorelei in this.

[Tristian]

“You are not fighting to third blood, for goodness sake, that’s not even a thing,” he said, looking at Lorelei and shaking his head, “first blood or the two of you walk away unsatisfied.”

Tristian held his ground in between them, holding up his hands on either side just in case they decided to move in on each other. He was pretty sure this Lorelei was not going to be dumb enough to run through him to get to Mordred, if she really was his mother’s daughter she would know how much she would not like that. And with Mordred…well…again…he was fairly sure his friend wouldn’t turn on him…

Tristian turned his full attention to Mordred and said through gritted teeth and quiet enough so only he could hear, “Is that how you thank me for giving you an opportunity to blow off some steam? Don’t pretend you haven’t wanted something like this. It’s only a pity she won’t give you much of a fight. Put her in her place but don’t hurt her too badly, just a nick and that’ll be the end of it. Then if you’re still not satisfied you can fight me...” he was about to turn back to Lorelei when he turned back to Mordred and added, “again.”

He was about to go into lecturing his supposed little sister again when another girl arrived. Oh great, who was this? Another one of Mordred’s harem? Was that coffee in her hand? Oh she sure knew how to pick them.

“Welcome, you’re just in time for the show,” said Tristian to the new arrival, “I wouldn’t pull up a chair this is going to be quick.”

He turned to his sister, “If you have no one else to be your second I will, you have 5 minutes to arrange one otherwise. And yes you do need a second, because you need someone to help you afterwards, and to pick up the fight if you can no longer continue and refuse to concede.”

[Mordred Le Fey]

"Bullying... what the f*ck are you even talking about?!" Mordred yelled at Lorelei, starting to wish he'd brought that dagger with him so he could just chuck it at her throat and shut her up. "I don't bully anyone!" He was beginning to lose control of his temper, and he was ready to cause serious injury. If he hospitalised this girl, at least it would get her out of everyone's hair for a while. That was just doing the community a service, surely?

"You know what, Tris, we can make third blood a thing, because I really want to hurt this kid..." He was practically baring his teeth as he spoke, not taking his eyes off of Lorelei as he glared at her with utter venom. He had begun to pace, truly itching for a real fight now - he'd had enough of letting people slap him and punch him and accepting he deserved it, now he was ready to cause harm to someone else. And this girl had just walked right into it, so who was he to refuse her death wish?

He bared his teeth as she shot him that smile, and swung his sword around his head, swishing it through the air in front of him in way he knew showed of his exceptional skill, and which he hoped would scare the crap out of her. He was breathing heavily, well and truly ready for a fight, his adrenaline high and blood pumping in his ears. When Tristian spoke to him he barely heard, but he scoffed as his request not to hurt her too badly. "She got herself into this, she can take what she gets." He growled, scowling at her and turning away, stretching his neck and arms to limber up.

He saw Aiden approaching, looking rough as anything, and rolled his eyes. That was not the look of an effective second, and he immediately regretted his decision to text her instead of Gwyn. At least Gwyn could fight, he was pretty sure Aiden was going to be pretty useless. Although... was that coffee in her hand? Without speaking he took a cup from her and took a long drink before actually acknowledging her presence. "Thanks for the coffee, you're just in time to watch me MURDER THIS BITCH!" He raised his voice at the end of his sentence, turning back and spitting the words in Lorelei's direction. He took another drink, before pushing the cup back at Aiden and returning to his sword swinging intimidation tactic.

He stared at Tristain as he offered to be her second, pausing mid swing. "Are you FREAKING kidding me?!" He yelled at his friend. "Don't think I'll go easy on you when she bails, just because your my friend! You fight for her, you ARE her. Now are we f*cking fighting or what!?"

It had been a long time since Mordred had been this angry while sober, and he wanted blood.

[Jesse]

All he had wanted to do was go for a gentle stroll through the park, get out into the fresh air for a bit. He had spent most of the afternoon reading a book about how to tell jokes whilst he sculpted a small statue of a rabbit he had seen the last time he went to the park. It had all in all been a very pleasant, albeit, lonely afternoon. So he had taken himself to the park to see what sights he might see there, and maybe test out a few of his new jokes.

Which is when he came across the current scene unfolding in front of him. There was Tristian, standing between…yes that was Mordred and…well the girl he didn’t recognise but she seemed to be very angry, well they all did, and then there was the girl with the cups of coffee in her hand. Well there was something very tense going on there.

He had just recently read that sometimes, during tense situations, it was helpful to crack a joke.

Feeling confident he decided to step towards them all, hands clasped behind his back and his best smile (his most creepiest), “Hello everyone, did you know that waking up this morning was an eye-opening experience…”

Nailed it.