The Scandic Victoria hotel was one of the finer, more refined establishments for visitors in Oslo, Norway, constantly being ranked within the top ten hotels on traveling web sites and agencies alike. It was modern, luxurious, and most importantly: spacious. The last detail was generally a deal breaker when Synn was booking hotels for his tandem crew, as being professional wresters, most were larger than your average sized person with their height and athletic builds. But more importantly, he also knew full well how hyper active his own son was, how difficult it was to reign him in, and how much space Despayre usually required in order to run around to his heart's content without breaking anything -- and thus tacking on yet another addition to their bill upon leaving.
Trust us when we tell you all out there that enough broken beds (they have to be jumped on to test for maximum springyness!) and knocked over lamps have been credited to Synn's account for replacements or repairs over the years to get a feel for what was needed.
"I'm sorry Despy." Gabriel said as he walked down the hallway of the floor that housed the reserved rooms for the stable members of the Seven Deadly Sins that were "But it's just a fact that you're going to have to understand."
Following Gabriel, of course, was the one member of this family of 'Sins' that he was perhaps the closest to, Despayre, of whom he affectionately thought of as a little brother. Theirs was a friendship and bond that spoke the truth that you did not need to be blood related in order to be family. Many found it odd, sometimes intriguingly so, at how such an innocent young man with a personality that drew both sympathy and affection as Despayre was known to do, could possibly be in the same vicinity as the tandem of heels that were despised now by the public to the extent that say, Gabriel himself was. Yet when Despayre looked at Gabriel, he did not see a heel that despised the same masses that cheered Despayre himself on. No, he in fact saw the same man that helped his own father, Synn, raise and care for him since they established this family of theirs well over five years prior.
Gabriel was a heel, yes indeed. A man that cared little for the fans and even less for the so-called honor bound rues of the sport of professional wrestling. Yet with Despayre, he was still the caring 'big brother' he had been since their first moments together in the public eye, and woe be to the unfortunate soul who tries to bring the little guy harm when Gabriel was around.
Following in Gabriel's wake, Despayre was obviously in a fidgety mood, his face in a classic 'pout' with his bottom lip jetted out for maximum effect, and his gray eyes looked at Gabriel with a pleading semblance for him to fix whatever it was that needed fixed. It was fairly well known within the circle of the Sins and the few close friends that they had, that Despayre was quite used to getting whatever it was that his little heart desired. Time and again, Gabriel would tease Synn with the fact that whatever Despayre wanted, Despayre got.
What Gabriel constantly forgot to address was that many times, he was just as guilty of the fact as Synn was.
They arrived at the double suite that Despayre was sharing with his father, and Gabriel paused to stop and turn around to face Despayre. 'Despy' as he was often called by those closest to him, had his eyes cast downwards, his fists crammed deeply into his pockets and kicked an imaginary pebble with his right shoe.
"Bud," Gabriel offered in a soothing tone. "You're just going to have to accept that there are no Panda Express restaurants here in Norway."
Yes. THAT was what had the little guy so worked up in a dither. No Panda Express. The horror! Anyone who knew Despy and his constant companion, Angel, knew that they held firm in their belief that when out and about, Panda Express was the only place to dine! Now hat were they to do for their meals? More importantly than that...
Despayre brought his glance up as he passed the key card for his and Synn's room over to Gabriel's waiting hand. "But..." he started to protest. "It's dad's birthday! Without Panda Express, what will we eat to celebrate?"
"Panda Express isn't the only Chinese food place, you know." Gabriel then looked at the aghast expression on Despayre's face and held up a hand in mock surrender. "Forgive me."
"Well *I* may but I can't promise the same about Angel." Despayre narrowed his eyes as the green light on the door's lock lit up and they heard the soft click of the lock being released.
"And besides," Gabriel smiled as he turned the handle on the door and pushed it open. "At least the place I found for you has the term 'Panda' in the name." And he walked inside of the suite.
Despayre jetted his bottom lip again, but this time in contemplation, and he finally yielded with a nod. Some Panda was better than no panda, he supposed. He -- and Angel (always remember Angel!), then followed Gabriel into the room. The very moment that he did, Despayre saw someone that didn't belong and let out a shrill shriek.
"AHH!" Despayre cried out aloud, pointing a forefinger at the person and protectively held Angel behind his back, shielding the teddy bear. "Intruder!"
Odette Stevens, Gabriel's wife, let out a yelp of surprise at Despayre's rather booming voice. Say what you will, for a little guy, Despayre could really project.
"Jesus, Despy!" Gabriel started to say, but was quickly interrupted.
"Really!?" Despayre leaned around Gabriel who was trying to calm him down in order to get a better look at this 'intruder'. "Wow is dad going to be disappointed. He always said Jesus was a bunch of baloney and here he came all the way for his birth -- heywaitiaminute! That's Odette!"
"Yes, Despy. It's Odette." Gabriel turned around to approach his pregnant wife and check on her well being. "And had you shouted any longer you may have caused her to drop the baby extra early."
"Really?" Despayre blinked, looking back and firth between them. "Is that what you want me to do?"
"NO!" They both answered quickly, and loudly, and Despayre huffed.
"Well alRIGHT!" He rolled his eyes. "No need to raise your voices." He leaned over slightly at the waist to whisper to Odette in a conspiracy manner. "It might make you drop the baby early."
"Really!" Odette exclaimed, and Despayre nodded with wide eyes, all but ignorant at the irony of his pointing out the exact same statement that Gabriel had stressed upon him.
"So what's Odette doing in my room?" Despayre set Angel down beside the flat screen television on the front dresser, the better that his best friend and protector could keep a close eye on the entirety of the suite.
"Did you forget so soon?" She asked, now showing some of the tell-tale amusement that Despayre's personality and antics were prone to drawing out in a person. "You asked me to get the decorations for Synn's birthday started."
"Ohhhhh yeahhhh!" Despayre nodded. He looked around at the head start Odette had gotten underway and nodded in satisfied approval. There were colorful balloons everywhere and streamers strung up as far as the eye could see. "I like it! I just wish everyone else was here! Melly and James are still in LA. Mom and Grandma in Las Vegas..."
"I know bud," Gabriel clapped him on the shoulder. "Rage says he and Phil..."
"And Aggie!" Despayre chirped as a reminder.
"And Aggie..." Gabriel nodded. "They wish they were here too but when we get back to Vegas for a break, we can throw a big belated party for Synn, but for now this will do in a pinch. At least Shipman is here."
"Yes." Odette smiled and spoke in her distinct Australian accent. "Besides, you know your dad appreciates smaller gatherings."
"Which reminds me..." Gabriel by passed the two and headed for the door. "I'm going to had Synn off at the lobby so you two can finish the decorating."
"Angel is gonna supervise!" Despayre declared.
"And he does a kick ass job at that." Gabriel said as he opened the door and stepped out into the hall. "The chow should be here soon so keep an eye out." And he closed the door behind him.
Despayre turned his head to look at Odette, "Is it PC to call Chinese food chow?"
"I am hoping that we are able to make this short and sweet because really, this whole humdrum bickering back and forth about who is going to do what to who, when and where? Honestly it can be a bit tedious and I am fairly certain that we all have better and far more interesting things to do. Well, most of us anyway."
"I have little to say about Crystal Hilton, as there seems little point to address her. Despayre is not the one who will be competing against her and I am confident that Amanda Cortez will have little to no trouble in putting her away in order for Despayre and herself to advance. Plus, if I am perfectly honest, the last time I saw her paired with Dreamwolf, I was not all that impressed."
"Bo, however, he does impress me but I am certain I can not say anything that has not been said before. The man is one of the few that almost everyone has something nice to say about within this industry. His technical skill, his training, his general attitude. It's all about respect, and that is something that Bo Dreamwolf carried with him in spades. Yet when all is said and done, respect will only take you so far, and once it is left between yourself and Despayre, you might as well signal the end because it will all be over and done with, and Despayre and Cortez will be the ones to advance in this tournament, and not yourselves."
"Your in-ring skills have always impressed Bo, but when you find yourself against a force of nature, there is little to nothing that you can do in order to prepare against the inevitable. Despayre is just that: A force of nature. A whirlwind of energy and emotion that reacts based on pure instinct, and there is simply no countering such a thing. All you can do is wait, and weather the coming storm."
"All due respect, it is a simple fact."
"Make a wish!" Despayre hopped along on the balls of his feet, clutching Angel against his chest while Synn stepped up toward the table in their suite with a very impressive birthday cake set in the center of the remnants of their catered Chinese dinner. Despayre would never admit it to Gabriel, but the food was pretty good -- the fact that he devoured his plate and literally licked it clean could have been a clue, however. On each of their heads was a colorful party hat, and on the bed several colorfully wrapped packages to be opened after the cake got cut.
"Five, candles Joshua?" Synn wrapped an arm around his son's shoulder. "Bless you."
"It wasn't Despy's idea." Gabriel countered. "It was the fire martial."
Synn shot Gabriel a withering look but the magician just winked. Doing as his son wished, Synn leaned over the cake with the candles and started to blow them out when...
*POP!*
One of the 'candles' exploded, taking the cake with it and sending the chocolaty goodness splattering everywhere. Everyone proceeded to wipe their cake covered faces clean and Gabriel looked at his 'little brother'.
"You got the candles mixed up with your fireworks, didn't you?"
