video

[deepstar]

Type: Video
Sender ID: deepstar ( Khalid )
To: General
Subject: Just Wyvern Problems
Warnings: NA

[ The feed starts out a little dark, honestly. But one can definitely hear the heavy breathing of some sort of creature. ]

Come on, girl, you have to let me out sometime.

[ Light suddenly shines through and one can see Claude's hand pushing up a large wing and exposing the vast expanse of white scale. ]

Apparently she thinks that I also need to stay in her nest. You'd think we've gone back in time where she had just been a baby and me a kid spending nights in the aery together. That's not what this is about though.

[ The camera pans to Khalid, who gives a little wave before pointing back to his wyvern. A white wyvern in a nest, wrapped around two eggs. Claude is still holding a wing up so that he can catch sight of his best friend. The wyvern just releases a little groan and a huff. ]

She had them just the other day. Chances are if you don't see me for a while it's because of these little guys. I'd hunt down anyone who cursed me with this luck, but how can I be upset seeing at how pleased she is? What a proud mother.

Comments

[refantasma]

The gods made it that way, ever since Cadmus, one of our first mortal heroes. They married him off to the goddess Harmonia, and it was one of their wedding gifts.

So it's been that way for three thousand years. Granted, getting the teeth from the dragon is the tough part.

[deepstar]

Gods. The gods made it that way...

[ Do you hear the skepticism? ]

[refantasma]

[Nico rolls his eyes]

The gods are weird—they have all the weirdness of humans, a boundless imagination, and are empowered to do anything because of human belief.

So yeah, the gods made it that way because. The goddess Athena instructed him to do it, and the zombies rose up to serve Cadmus. One for each tooth. Souless and if given a target they will chase them unto the ends of the earth. Father doesn't like them, but the other gods, especially Ares don't mind them and often give them as temporary gifts to their demigod children.

[withermarked]

Is she a pet, or what?

[After all--for all he knows, that could be something closer to a person. He's been having to expand his definition of person a lot here.]

[emet_sulk]

Do white wyverns have some peculiar trait which sets them apart from their kin, besides the colour of their hide?

[ Albinism is a curious evolutionary trait he has sometimes observed over the centuries. He wonders if there's any more to it than a quirk of colour (he had more important things to do than study fauna). ]

[deepstar]

Sorry, I don't make a habit of putting faith in anything like gods or goddesses. Especially when they're just as capricious as humanss.

[ That's not to say that he doesn't acknowledge their existence. He does. Just not belief in. ]

[deepstar]

[ Yeah she heard that and Azita growls because of it. ]

That's not really accurate. Think of her as a companion or a partner.

[refantasma]

They exist whether you believe in them or not—not that I worship either. It's weird to worship your cousin or some other relative, and you know they flirted with a particularly good-looking statue. If you get technical, I'm probably Father's high priest, but that feels weird. I did claim to be his ambassador for a bit. That doesn't feel as weird.

[deepstar]

From my experience? Not really. It's just when you're from a culture of warriors where the saying "an axe to grind" can be taken literally?

[ Something he is slowly going to... Redirect. Khalid respects his father's culture where things can be settled with a fight. But fighting senseless battles to just prove their worth? Eh... ]

Let's say that it's easier to pick out a rider on a white wyvern than it is on a brown one.

[sunsetking]

My hero.

[Can that sound anymore enthusiastic.]

[deepstar]

I'll be your hero any day.

[ Wink! ]

[withermarked]

[Well that's not a comforting noise.]

I apologise! People don't... look so many different ways where I'm from.

[That's not quite true, but people transforming into creatures is a different issue. And they usually stop caring what they're called by that point.]

[deepstar]

Excuse me, but I think I'm missing some context here.

Cousin?

[deepstar]

Look so many different ways?

[ Wait what? ]

[refantasma]

Huh? Oh yeah, one of my cousins, Apollo is the god of the sun and music and light and other stuff, and he flirts with statues sometimes. My father's the god of the underworld.

I'm only half-god because my mother was mortal.

[deepstar]

How's that working out for you? Being... I guess what? A demigod or...

Honestly I'm not sure what it's called.

[refantasma]

Demigod, yeah, and kind of awful. You have one foot in the mortal world, another in the world of monsters and gods. Monsters want to eat you; immortals want to kill you to get revenge on your divine parent; and everything that can kill a mortal can kill you, too. I've just turned fifteen and I've already fought in two wars.

Lots of power, but the life expectancy of not making it to adulthood. At least I know where I'm going when I die. And it's not so bad, I already have a room in Father's palace.

[emet_sulk]

Ah, so they target you and her simply because she is most visible? How crude. So much for respect.

[deepstar]

Yeah well. That's what having your siblings as foes does. There won't be any respect afforded, you know?

[emet_sulk]

Ah, they're your siblings. Well, that was a losing battle from the start.

[ Emet-Selch sometimes wonders what it would have been like to have a sibling. ]

More importantly, did you win?

[deepstar]

It didn't have to be.

[ Azita gives a huff at that. Then Khalid just gives her a pat to soothe her. ]

Anyway, yes, I did. Some of them were able to at least come to the negotiating table. Others... They required a little bit more of a forceful hand.

[ Like dumb Shahid... ]

Don't you have people that just want to see your downfall for no other reason but for the fact that they can?

[emet_sulk]

Mm, no, there was always ample reason to want my head, in some form or another, [ he remarks cryptically. ] In my experience, men rarely act out for no reason. Your siblings are probably jealous of your wyveryn and wish to...'knock you down a peg', so to speak.

[deepstar]

Yeah? What sort of reason would someone want your head?

[ Because wow. Yeah. That's sure something to lead with. ]

I mean it's absolutely jealousy since I'm my father's favorite child.

[emet_sulk]

[ A short laugh. ]

Well, there you go then.

[ And hey, the man asked...! Although, Emet-Selch isn't sure he necessarily wants to horrify someone who has thus far been amiable towards him. ]

...As for why someone would want my head, let's say that I made a deliberate enemy of a great many people in my home world. I had my reasons.

[deepstar]

Oh that was never in question, believe me.

[ Because his mother is a foreigner. A foreigner that married a king and became a queen when others could not. Other women had tried to captivate Khalid's father and only ended up with a child and no real title of their own. Then the King favors Khalid for succession. That's enough for all of his half siblings to come for his life.

But the guy seems to have a story. One he's not disclosing. Oh that makes him curious. Makes Khalid want to ask a bunch of questions. Discover the answers. ]

I'm sure you did. Most people have their reasons. It's just whether or not people understand or agree with those reasons.