.~Edelsteine~. - Xia Lu Ling's Journal by Syrie

[khiarhu]

...//ORP - Grigori - Part V (MP)

XiaoRen

His mein took on a different gravity and he opened his mouth with an inward puff of air. The next words out of his mouth might have been, "continuing last weeks discussion of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason...". It calmed him to slip safely back into objectivity. Armageddon or Geometry, this was a lecture.

"That was Samyaza. She is one of the Grigori. They are a...race...a...faction." He stumbled over the gap in what he knew. "I am not sure. But they are the enemies of Creation. They use Void, or are used by it. Void is nothing. That's almost self explanatory, but the meaning of it is subtle. Arctang, a part of you has ceased to exist. She didn't hurt your neck, she unmade a little of it. Destruction is different. Destruction is part of Creation, they can't exist without each other. If all things are destroyed, they may yet be remade. Void will unmake even Destruction.

Any god can hurt a grigori, if the god is strong enough. But the grigori will heal. Quickly, I expect. They have spent all the time since we faded and were reborn gathering power. Whether this is a calculated strike, or an opportunist one, they are ready and we are not. They only way to permanently wound a grigori is to use a power directly associated with Creation. Gaia, Byrne, or a god of plants or animals can wound them." There was no point in mentioning Harmodius.

"But they can wound any of us. A godmade weapon will erode, even as it hits them. Void courses through their veins, and if you open them, and that ersatz blood touches you, then it will unmake some of what it touches."

I want to know how the grigori do it. Why arent they more unmade, and only bear pox marks and limb rotting, if it is their very blood. Why do they have form?

"The grigori warred with the gods before, and there were artifact weapons made for those battles, but even those weapons would only withstand a battle or two. There are only four Artifacts so imbued with Creation that the Void cannot unmake them by contact. Aristogeiton’s sword, Harmodius’ glaive, Gaia’s shears, and Rebirth’s jesses. We need to find these items before she returns. Believe me, she will return. With the other grigori I expect. When the thing in the Throne room is ready to hatch, they will be here.”

Eftemie

Jaster listened carefully to what Gianfar said of Void. This was why Taj had said she was empty, a waste. Void was nothing and in this case it had the ability to unmake life, not just halt it. Something nagged him from what was said though. A frown settled on his face as he tried to make sense of it all. It occurred to him that if Creation and Destruction were the antithesis of Void, then how had she been able to injure the god as she had. To force this change. If she had that power then why wait now for it to be used? Why not unmake them all? They had certainly been outpowered by just her.

And Gaia? The girl injured. She would not be helping anytime soon. Her injury would take some time to heal, but he wondered briefly if she would be able to regrow the arm.

"Gaia will be ailing for some time with the wound she received, though it will heal. Why did this Samyaza want Gaia's arm? Also if Destruction is a part of Creation, and that is her weakness, then how was she able to do that to him? Would he not have been able to prevent her- at least to protect himself and Gaia?"

With great advantage only does one fence with a conqueror. Taj interjected to Jaster, causing him to frown.

"And why not take the rest of us to keep mastery for her return? With great advantage only does one fence with a conqueror." He repeated Taj's words exactly, understanding that they were important somehow. Had 86 ages alone weakened him?

Zero Dream

Echo nodded in answer, staying silent as Knowledge spoke, trying to commit it all to her own memory. By pure reflex, she pulled a notebook and pen from an hidden pocket in her sleeves and started writing down.

"Do you have any idea where one can find them ? Where they could be ?" Tian Yue had mentioned ruins of the ancient pantheon... "We... need to be ready when she comes back. When they come back." She frowned a bit. "Some of us are looking for the fragments of Aristogeiton's soul - perhaps such a path will also lead us to his weapon ?"

khiarhu

Words words words. It was always so many words and never nearly enough action for the twisted, shadowy beast.

Yu held his host in check whilst Knowledge spoke of the Grigori - of weapons that could help to stop them and of ways to harm them. Questions were born in his mind like a thousand small stars gone supernova all at once; he could not speak to ask until they had settled some.

So Yu listened.

Fragment spoke: "Yes, why the Arm - Mourning Dove, Gian-far? Weapons...but where - and what of Dragons?"

His host's words shook him free of the multitude of questions - a glimpse of a different era flashed before their eyes: walls and gently-smiling gods. Adoration and coils around a man's feet. Horrifying carvings that made no sense when seen in the stop-motion flashes of tattered memories fluttering like dying moths. Where and how and what...but no matter - there would always be questions. The important thing was to get answers that meant something now. The rest could be discovered later. 'My host poses a proper set of questions, improperly. Verily, it is a tall order to think one would know all...but you are the best choice.'

And what of the Kings? Did they not have a place in this?

Sons and daughters of Creation did - Gianfar's words were quite plain in that aspect...but what of the Brotherhood? Something lingered in the imprisoned Dragon's peripherals....a clue he could not reach and hoped that Gianfar would know something, say something, that would shake it free.

XiaoRen

Gianfar crossed his arms over his chest, ash smudged face at odds with his dignified expression. Until that last...

"Mourning Dove..." he huffed, eyeing Yu, who could eye him back with all six red slits. It did not sound like a compliment on his soft coloring, but an image of a small, fat, fluttering bird. Slow in flight, as he was. "If you want a bird for you pie, look to him." He tilted his head towards Arctang. "Yu, please, ask him to shut his mouth and stop panting like that. It isn't hot in here."

He added to the smudge on his nose, repeating the nervous gesture of adjusting his glasses.
"The arm. That I can guess, though Eamnon could answer it. It was the gate he and Illumin used to travel in search of the very pieces of Aristogeiton that you mention, Echo. Beyond that gate I can see nothing. That means it is beyond the realm of what is Known. Only when their party returned, just now, with Samyaza, was I aware of them at all. But since they returned through the gate from that place - if it can be called a place - with a Grigori, its likely that's where the others wait. If the Grigori could come here whenever they wished, they would have before. No, that gate was a pandora's box. Samyaza wants the arm to reopen the gate, so that she can go to her fellows, so that they can travel back and forth as they please.

I can only imagine that reviving Aristogeiton will be helpful. He was a mighty warrior. He fought in the last war, and he Knew much. If he knew the last location of his sword, and it hasn't been stolen, then you would find it as well. But even you could have told me as much. No, I can't scry the future, I can't tell you if you will find the sword along with him.

What I can tell you is what is known, by at least one being who is not powerful enough to guard the Knowledge from me. But it is hard to sift those nuggets from the stream. I come up with the most haphazard things. I will try. Choose one of your questions, and I will try."

Zero Dream

So.... Gaia was the pathway in between... wherever the grigori came from and here.

This was indeed not a good sign.

The goddess remained all but silent, at first, and tried to think. Most of the questions that came to her mind where questions she knew Knowledge could probably not answer, so she discarded them.

A question related to the past... that could help in the future. That wasn't exactly as easy as it seemed, expecially for her.

They already knew how the war was won - at least partially. But even with the weapons recovered... Creation was gone. She had not see Rebirth in this age. Kishara was missing an arm... and Aristogeiton was pretty much in pieces.

Things looked grim.

She couldn't think about anything useful to ask, and she did not want to waste Gianfar's time - blue on blue eyes turned to the massive black beast, then. Maybe Yu would know what to ask...

Eftemie

Jaster was silent for a long moment, thinking about what Gianfar had said. He reflected back on that day in the cavern when Destruction was there. He now knew it was certainly he that had appeared. But what should he ask that he might find a clue of what to do within? He understood about the arm and why Taj had felt it so important. Some faint memory that appeared hazy and abstract because of the circumstances they were in. But there were other questions running through his thoughts.

Names unwriting. A faint echo from Taj appeared as if asking and answering

"There were many names, he said, some more recent than others. They are unwriting." He mused softly for a moment. Something about those phrases had bothered both he and Taj. It was why they had felt such an urgency to get there. "When I asked for his name in the cavern, those were his exact words. What did he mean "they are unwriting? He seemed as if struggling with something." This was the question he needed to think on.

khiarhu

Gianfar's annoyance at Fragment's 'pet name' amused the beast greatly (Yu also, but he did quietly remind his host that this was a God and deserved respect). The request to silence the boy-child with the Void-rot at his throat was met with a grunt and a tail flick. He had but to turn his great shaggy head and roll the words out; Arc would calm -- the unspoken threat of being eaten alive had silenced many others, it should work for him.

Ah...the Arm was a Gate to this other place...and so they had allowed the Grigori to leave with at least one thing she should not have had. Dammit all to Gehenna -- precisely what they had done too!

What question to ask Knowledge when they had only so much time? Yu felt it slipping through his host's fur as he pondered something worthwhile to ask Gianfar -- perhaps where they might find Aristogeiton? Logical question for one newly brought forth; a good one too. Before Fragment's jaws opened to grate out more words, another spoke.

Names unwriting...? It twisted, memory, twisted and slid away from him like an angry eel. Flashes and bits of Things...nothing. He would wait to hear what the monk-robed godling would say.

XiaoRen

He sat down beside the couch, his back to it, and rubbed his temples. Yu’s first question was a good one. The Dragon kings were as close to the Twin Crown as his lovers, in a way. His first servants, his favorite children." Or pets. He took deep breaths, like someone beginning taichi, and tried to dive into the darkness again.

There were facts near the surface, dislodged along with Samyaza’s name. He knew whatever he had dredged up, he didn’t want to look at it. He had held his mind shut, pressed his back to that door, praying they would not come through ever since his encounter with Destruction. The battle had broken him down, had loosed them. Now he was swimming in it, flotsam memories drifting around him.

Still, that one had a glimmer of nine scales, the very colors that once tangled in a sleeping pile around the Throne. It felt like opening his mouth, to drink it in.

The Dragon Kings were lined before the Throne, six on each side, and Yu Five Claws was at the end, coiled beneath Harmodius’ feet. They were all looking at him. Why did he stand here, at the end of this aisle? He was shaking, could see his own silver feathers in the air around him. Every burning pair of eyes was on him, and Chien-Tang’s were the worst. Even more than Harmodius, who looked as sad as he was angry. His hand was lifted, about to fall. There would be a judgement.

Gianfar struggled free. “No!” He was in the new Pantheon. Back against the couch an the others staring at him. “No…” he repeated. His hands on the carpet on either side of him. “I don’t have any idea of the purpose of the Dragon Kings. They must have one, but I cannot tell you what it is. I am sorry Yu.” Yu had been there…

“As for names, I have been thinking about that. I had forgotten until I heard Samyaza speak. This is conjecture drawn from hazy memories, but bear with me. Let’s say that in the beginning the gods spoke the First Tongue, the Old Speech, whatever you want to call it. Some philosophers say that Creation made Gaia with a word. I think that a thought, a desire, a name, and a thing are all one in that language. A thing’s name and its being are the same.

It would have been a language too powerful for Aoide, for mortals. How could their minds comprehend all of Creation? So I must have made them their own languages. But all younger tongues can only describe, not really Know things. A rose is a rose by any other name, right? How many names are we known by, any of us? We use those languages to commune with our worshippers. I think we used their language more and more. We faded and we forgot. Now we don’t know the Old Tongue. We don’t even know our own true names.

But the Grigori never faded, never died…never forgot. I think they know it, at least in part. Samyaza’s strange rhyming way of speech, I think it is a mouth used to the First Tongue speaking so that we can understand.　I think the spell she cast to make the void wall may have been in the First Tongue, or some sick version of it. If it is the language of Creation, then couldn’t it be used as the language of Uncreation? If the Grigori know the true names of things, they could change or unmake them. Even Harmodius.”

And if he could only remember it, he would have the power to change things…wouldn’t he?

khiarhu

Fragment and Yu watched the white-haired Knowledge; they noticed the way he stiffened and seemed...slightly unsettled. It wasn't something worth bringing up right then,but perhaps later? Had the Mourning Dove not wanted to explore a bit with him? Yes, he had....some sort of experimenting.

So he waited and listened again. 'It is a sound supposition, Knowledge. Perhaps we will check the wall for clues also.' The beast cocked it's head; he did not bother mentioning the reasoning to the others - they were quite likely to have their own agendas and theories to put into play....as for him...well, he would join Knowledge for a bit of experimentation.

Once the other was quite done with answering questions, the two could go; large black beast and the soft brown-and-white scholar.

[khiarhu]

...//PRP - Beauty & the Beast

This is WIP & Mostly unformatted. This will change.

Gianfar

Enough of their questions. Usually answering questions gave him energy, like a good double espresso. With quesitons of his own though, he felt that he had no time.Gianfar walked towards the great doors. In panic, it was dignified enough to use the window, but in the hushed trauma after the event he thought they could go back to being civilized. Well, he could. He looked to his side at the eager beast and addressed it, not Yu. "Do you fear the wall, outside?" He also waited for it to open the door. Put that brute strength to purpose.

"then, Nothing? as you name yourself." after outside.

Fragment

Fragment had sat, so still - so patient - while Gianfar answered question after question after question. Endless words built to drown one in sound and thought when action was needed; the beast would have long since left had the Dragon King not held him there with a firm rein. Knowledge moved towards the doors and he rose to his feet and padded slightly behind him until it was his turn to take the lead. The great doors moved as he pressed his bulk against them, muscles and fur rippling from the effort. Once they were outside he shook his shaggy head and responded to the question. "Fear the wall, I do not." Yu was nervous about the wall, but his host felt nothing but a tingle in his nose that said there was something...Other about it.

Gianfar

To fear Void should be instinct. It could be that madness had robbed it of the urge for self preservation. Or perhaps it had less to fear than a normal beast. "Good, because I think we should go have a close look at it."

Fragment

Likely it was some strange mix of both - but leaning more towards madness. He chuckled, a raspy sound. "What would you find, Gianfar - Knowledge?" Loremaster. Scented of ozone and old books.

Gianfar

It called him by name, a step up from Mourning Dove. He was glad it hadn't degenerated to Nugget or Drumstick.

"Of you? I would find what harm it can do you. Can you touch it? You say you walked in Void. Where? And how did you survive it? Was it in the Ashlands? Do you know of the Ashlands?" These were complicated questions, perhaps not put simply enough.

Fragment

Fragment would have called him Lunch had Yu not chastised him to behave appropriately.

No no no -- he knew it as none of those! Fragment shook his head, each set of eyes blinking slowly - blink. blink. blink. "Ashlands?" He worked his massive jaws and moved towards the wall, sitting before it like an expectant cat awaiting it's filled food bowl. "It walked where there was Nothing, not even a name. What speak you about 'Ashlands'?" The beast didn't know what the place may have been called, only that it had been Nothing. InBetween. "Touch, yes." But then, anyone could touch, it was what happened when you did so that determined the rest.

Yu held his 'imaginary' breath while the creature reached out with one massive paw to plunge it into the wall; he was unconcerned and not even looking as he did so.

Gianfar

It's paw! It needed that. He would have chosen a horn tip or a tail. It was looking over at him and sticking its limb into annihilation. "Don't just stick it in..." The caveat was after the fact... But his eyes were wide, and he craned close, his own instincts had always failed when it came to new learning. His nose was inches away from the paw and the dizzy not color, hard to say which was more dangerous.

He would have explained the nature of the experiment before conducting it - what the Ashlands were, what other in betweens he might have come from. But that wasn't half as interesting as what was happening now.

Fragment

Yu was shouting much the same inside of the beast's head - 'Don't just stick it--' - but in typical beast fashion, he'd done just that. For brief seconds there was nothing...and then a cold-burning sensation that caused the beast to yank it's limb back. Or what was left of it. Fragment's brash stupidity had cost him his paw; it was removed, very neatly as though cut by a diamond-laser - but with void rot. Host and Dragon howled with one voice and backed away from the wall, blood starting to seep through the decaying, cut area.

Gianfar"

He reeled back, on his a** in the dust and scrambling away for the second time that hour. The howl was amazing, dual toned and deep like a shakuhachi made of a sequoia bole. The cut was amazing, a perfect vivisection of its joint - and Gianfar took note. Did the beast's physiology follow any sensible patterns, or was it as mad inside as it was out? But as he gathered himself and stood, his expression was not amaze. "Tch...well, it was too much to hope for." The chances of a Dragonking wearing a form that could withstand Void were slim in direct proportion to how much they could use something like that. He ought to get that bleeding stopped, but he wasn't inclined to get any closer. He took off his stole. "Yu, if you calm him, I can bind the stump."

He yelled, hoping Yu would hear him over the howl, and because he was standing 10 yards away. Couldn't be too safe.

Fragment

It took a full two minutes for the Dragon King to get his hulking monstrosity of a host to calm enough for him to be able to even think of having any sort of aid - first or otherwise - done to the raw edge where the creature's paw had once been. 'Pity my host...is so foolhardy...'

The beast whined and bent it's head to lick at the bleeding stump, fur standing on end. Since the gem had been implanted, he'd been able to heal from wounds and injuries -- but it also made his shifting a little more complicated. It would take a good three minutes before the flesh and bone had reformed, before skin with short, soft fur had covered the sinews. He would be able to have a proper paw again, but Fragment would growl at Gianfar if he came too close while he was altering his shape to do so. Wounded beasts never liked to be touched.

The main difference after he'd reformed his paw? Less fluff, but he would have his paw!

Gianfar

Now he had amaze. It was licking a Void wound healed! That was another attribute that would be so convenient that one dared not hope. He did wander close enough to be growled at more than once, out of fascination. Though he would rather Yu thought it was from concern. Each time it snarled he fluttered and jumped back, but his eyes didn't leave the stump. Gruesome bone and gristle jutted and curled out from under its tongue, like a cat rearranging it fur. Wait, that could be it... But as he looked the beast over he couldn't tell if anything was shifting. It was so damn fluffy. At last, when it had finished and his curiosity brought him inside its personal space with no warning growls, he asked "How did you do that?"

Fragment

Oh no, no - healed from bleeding, but not from the Void; he would have those scars always....but, his flesh was such that he could appear to have done so, simply by covering it up and moving the scars elsewhere, internally. After, when Gianfar asked how it had happened, Yu could not quite answer - his host's malleable flesh was still somewhat alien in it's workings; he simply knew that he could shift the flesh with his will.

Rather, the beast could. He could not as of yet control that aspect of their shared body - and more's the pity.

Fragment flexed it's newly-formed paw and watched the razor-claws moving smoothly in and out as he flexed. Good, it was a neat job, that. "How? How does a bird fly? It learns and then does."

Gianfar

The paw was as good as new, and the beast casual about it. He beat down the hopes that were sparking with the wet blanket of good sense. If it could heal Void, Yu would have said something inside. Unless he had a grudge against Arctang. But the beast was insane, might not see the use, maybe...maybe. "Let me ask that differently. What did you just do?" He stood with his stole trailing from one hand in the dust.

Fragment

Gianfar's summation was correct: if he could heal Void wounds, Arctang would have benefited from it. Yu was a Dragon King, not a sadistic beast, regardless of what his host was. "Moved self. Rebuilt what was lost using what remained." Now that the beast was no longer in pain, it wasn't fighting the Dragon's hold and didn't seem likely to take a bite out of his companion.

Gianfar

He nodded, the wet blanket settling about his shoulders. No this is all just a freak show, so far, not a breakthrough. "I had thought it might be that. ah well." The fact that it could shift its form implied another disappointing possibility. "It would be impossible for me to Know where you have been, since you yourself don't know. Unless someone had sent you there, and they knew. But the fact that your form is unstable...do you know, has it always been so, or is that something that came with the Nothing?" An unstable, in between place made unstable, in between things.

Fragment

Gianfar scented of disappointment and spoke in a tone that suggested much the same. Yu had his host settle onto it's backside and sit up like a good dog while they talked. 'Would that it were different, Gianfar.'. He flicked his ears a bit and then let the beast answer - it knew better than anyone. "Always, always could shift - even Before, where there was just the Original. Before the InBetween." When he had been part of Khiarhu. "The Unicorn sent it Between."

Gianfar

So his guess was off, it was a shapechanger. Had been? Was it a copy, a piece of many, a remains? But that didn't matter much to the battle, though he supposed it might matter to the beast and to Yu. His guess had been off, but it said it, said InBetween. "You were banished to the Void?" It tickled his brain, static of things rubbing close. That statement applied somehow, should fit into his understanding of the true Void. But...a unicorn wasn't a god, to send something outside of Creation. "I don't think it could have been the Ashlands. I don't think a Unicorn could send you there. The Ashlands aren't In-Between, they are Out. They are an old place, that I don't know very much about. But, I do know that there are many worlds, this one at the center of them." Now in the sense that a hole was at the center of a whirlpool. "They overlap, and in places they gap. There are empty spaces." He replaced his dirty stole around his neck. He was altogether a different color grey, after all this.

Fragment

Fragment's fur rippled and he shook his shaggy head at the Void question -- he knew where he'd been, and it had been nothing...but that had been a different nothing than this Void Gianfar spoke of. Obviously, as he had travelled so easily through one and lost a piece of himself in the other. "Empty places, between worlds. Nothing and void -- but no, no.. Treasure says no, not your Void. Can't be...." He growled a bit, not a menacing sound but one of frustration. "Unicorn put a hole in our chest, shattered and broken... We turned to the InBetween, banished. Not living-but-alive."

Gianfar

I expect it had good reason to. They aren't very warlike. But it was so like a dragon, such bulk of pride and menace and yet whining over old indignations and wounds. Like a daft, evil brother of Gabriel's. It shouldn't be endearing. He reached up and scritchied it on the heavy forehead between its center eyes, massaging muscle over the thick skull beneath. "That sounds horrible, but not as bad as being in the Ashlands then. At least you are here at all, and Yu can be with you." to devour the fragments of your soul, with us hoping its enough for him to be properly reborn. not much of a congratulations. "It may still be of use if you can travel those in between places. There may be more and more of them as the fabric of the worlds tears. And certainly that you can appear to not take wound, even when you do. The Grigori don't know that. They can be fooled, as surely as they can lie." Perhaps a task would cheer it. Perhaps being ordered around would piss it off. "Are you up to seeing how big this wall is?"

Fragment

The beast rumbled when Gianfar gave it a skritch - touch was yet something it was getting used to in this realm. Touch it had gone for so long without; even Yu - with his (misguided) Dragon's pride - could not begrudge his host the simple pleasure of touch. He was not cruel on purpose. "Treasure will be All, someday. We will be part of Treasure then." Oh, the beast well knew that Yu would take over his body and the bits of his soul that remained; he also knew that his sanity was being pieced together by the King inside him. Clarity came more and more often, after all. 'So you think my host's abilities may yet have merit. Good. We will use whatever we can against our foes, no matter how small.'

Six eyes peered at the Wall, the memory of hurt was still there, but both Dragon and Gianfar wanted to know. "Fly bird, fly. See what is the height, yes?"

Gianfar

"Fly? Oh yes of course, you could manifest wings. I expect its quite high..." he looked up the sheer face of black. It messed with your sense of gravity, like it should be the horizontal plane and you about to fall on your nose into it. "I had been thinking along, or around. We don't know which yet. See that writing there, at the base, I want to know if it repeats, if it peters off though the wall continues, or if it is a single long string of language different from beginning to end. With the hope that it has a beginning and end and she isn't powerful enough to bisect Gaia."

The rumbling opened wider the cracked door of affection. It wanted to eat him, but it liked having its head scratched in just the place Gabriel did. There would have been nothing under its paws, to its sides, no direction in the in between place. With time beginning to stretch out before him, to get back to his study of the language, his heart relaxed like a fist letting go. he extended the petting back as high as he could reach, over the ridge between where his horns merged.

He had never been comfortable discussing the takover of hosts. He had been so ruthless with his own. Easier to let it go. It was a simple, correct acceptance, that the beast had. It could see what most more complicated minds purposefully obscured.

Fragment

Fragment didn't bother looking up, it was still enjoying Gianfar's hand on it's head; it supposed the wall was very high - it was meant to hold them, after all. The Grigori b***h had done a right-smart job of it too...a trick that Yu would have liked to know how to replicate. 'Ground first. Less wasted effort...the shape-changing takes it's toll on my host.' Which was why they had not done much in the beginning....the beast had hoarded energy to heal and to give to the still weakened Dragon King.

Oh, good - oh yes, with a very un-dignified thump of it's tail, the black beast dropped it's head to further encourage the petting. Eating Gianfar was still on his list of things that Might Be Good to Do, but not on his list of things To Do. "Words...always words and stretching along with hidden agendas." Fragment would enjoy the petting while it lasted; eventually Gianfar would tire of it or Yu would. They had Business to attend to.

Gianfar

Gianfar's patience for it was longer than his patience for the questions inside. He let himself enjoy something simple, ignoring the absurdity. Looking left and right to make sure none saw, he sunk both hands into the fluff and got under its chin, behind its ears, and down along its mane. Only when he realized his arms were around its neck, sort of a personal embrace for a Dragon King, did he stop. He expected his front to be coated in black fur, out of mental habit, since Gabriel couldn't come close without coating you in silver stardust and fur. But there was none. It was a mass with a form imposed on it by will. That wasn't fur, but the shape of fur, and as integral as its heart muscles or eyes.

[khiarhu]

...//PRP - Stupid Dog! Git Outta the Way! (Sloth)

Laying. He was just laying there...in the middle of the goddamned walkway, a few steps away from the stairs. He was in the absolute perfect position to trip any unsuspecting person traversing in that direction - though it really would have been hard to not see the giant black monster-dog-beast-thing. Not that he'd move. After failing to maul Samyaza and all that they had learned from Gianfar and what had happened with Harmodius' chrysalis after, Yu had not wanted to leave his Lord and Master's "side" (as it were). Which meant that when the first trumpet's clarion rang through the world, shaking the very ether, he was there. By the statues.

In the time since that first wretched note, Fragment hadn't done much save for move his position a time or two.

Even Yu's prodding wasn't enough to make him move. There wasn't really a point, now was there? They were trapped. So he just sprawled and generally got in the way like a very big cat, sunning itself.

Ellis was bored. He had helped keep Gaia from bleeding to death and he had kept a careful eye on her since then, but he was just sitting there, and it was boring! It wasn't like they could leave or anything, with that giant impassable canyon between the exits and the rest of the world. What would have been the point of leaving, anyway? The rest of the world was just as screwed up as they were here. He didn't feel like getting to know his peers, and for once Neva didn't push him to do otherwise. He didn't really feel like doing anything, but he was hungry, and he clomped noisily down the stairs--

--and nearly tripped over Fragment, who was laying in the single most inconvenient place ever. He nudged at the shapeshifter with the toe of his shoe, scowling halfheartedly down at him. "That's a stupid place to put yourself. I almost stepped on you," Ellis said, as if his size 11 could have done a bit of harm to the much larger creature.

Heavy footsteps told the beast nothing but that someone was coming; however, that signature bite of chill that nipped at his sensitive nose did tell him that it was Neva - rather, Ellis - that approached. Still not moving. Surely the human would see...but no, not until the very last moment. Had he not been housing a rather depressed Dragon King and suffering some under the banner of Sloth, Fragment would no doubt have laughed. A Dragon King...being tripped over like a common house cat!

Massive jaws cracked in a grotesque mockery of a smile as the human-turned-host toed at his side. "Entertaining place, say I." The creature roused itself only partially and gave the brunette a yawn. "Treasure mopes...the air is lead. All heavy, tired..." He stretched a little and then flopped back into place; clearly having almost caused the human to take a face-first dive into the cool flooring didn't bother Fragment nearly as much as moving troubled him.

Ellis shrugged a shoulder laconically, too tired, too apathetic to refute the beast's adjective in regards to his chosen resting place. "Yeah," he said, sighing gustily, "it's like...we shouldn't be here, we should be out there looking for Samyaza so we can bring her back and make her fix this big ******** mess she made, but...why? Who cares, anyway?"

He exhaled another sigh, lowering himself to sit in the narrow space between the creature and the staircase. That proved uncomfortable after a moment, so he shifted around to lay with his upper half reclining against Fragment's back and his legs draped carelessly over the stairs. "This sucks," he declared.

Fragment grunted in agreement - there were things that technically they should have been doing. He was host to a Dragon King, after all...shouldn't he have been off tailing that Grigori-b***h to get the Empress' arm back or something? And once in a while, Yu would surface from his depression at having not been able to stop any of what had happened to poke at his host as though they might very well do just that....but mostly? Host and Dragon stayed down...stayed flat and empty.

"Horns called forth the Time, we can only wait. This shall pass." Yu and Fragment, speaking together - neither feeling it worthwhile to 'argue' over whom had control. The human was settled against his back, weighty but still somewhat chilly thanks to the Goddess taking over his body, soul and mind. Fragment had one last thing to add, however. "Sucks. And it's the start."

Worse was yet to come.

Neva hadn't bothered reprimanding her host for his lack of productive activity, seeming content enough to wallow in a state of lucid hibernation. There was nothing she could have done, and her host was less than useless, so why bother? "Why bother" seemed to be the theme of the week, anyway. In any case, it felt good to just rest--after the tension that had been mounting between host and goddess for months, after the violent effects of the wave and everything that had occurred in the aftermath, a break was sorely needed.

"Huh...the start of what? The Emperor guy's got a great big hole in him, there's a goddess upstairs who's missing an arm, and to top it off, none of us seem inclined to do anything about it. To top it off, we're all stuck here together like a bunch of stoned castaways from an old TV show. I'm sure it can get worse, I just...don't care if it does. Do you?"

What a funny question for the human to ask. Did he care if it got worse? Honestly, his answer would have been "not really" had he felt the need to answer with anything more than a low grunt and a rippling of his silky, seemingly alive fur.

"Our Lord...needs something..." Sigh. Fragment's thick tail went thump-thump-thump against the ground lazily; even that bit of movement was an effort. "The Gaia rests, yes? She will heal." Wait...stoned? What was this phrasing? Yu couldn't be bothered -- he wasn't really listening to Ellis anyhow -- and the twisted beast could only think of the most literal way to take that term.

"Stoned?" A pause. "Granite-changed?" A tiny hint of curiosity crept into the beast's gravelly words. The barest of interest, but almost more than he had generated when speaking of Gaia resting.

Ellis idly scratched at his cheek as the beast's rippling fur brushed against it. It was soft, and at any other time he might have been inclined to pet it, but right now it just seemed like way too much effort. He could feel it against the nape of his neck, anyway, and he didn't have to do anything about that except lay right where he was.

"I dunno, she lost an arm. I'm not doctor or anything, but I don't think something like that will grow back. And maybe your Lord," he continued, the slight emphasis on the possessive conveying the belief that it wasn't his Lord, or his problem, nuh uh, no way, "needs to rest, too. He's in a cocoony thing; maybe he's trying to become a beautiful butterfly."

Ellis turned his face in the general direction of Fragment's head as the beast misunderstood his phrasing. "What? No, not like an actual stone. You get stoned when you smoke marijuana--which is a plant--and it makes you all lethargic and stuff, and everything seems funnier than it really is, and you usually get the munchies, too." Food sounded like a good idea, and hadn't he come down here for that anyway? But the fridge seemed so far away now...

Ellis' lack of reverence towards Harmodius, towards Him -- Twin Crown. Creation and Destruction -- typically would have made Yu bristle and snap at the human via his host's muzzle. This time, the simple mechanics of getting the beast to growl were too complicated for him to attempt. "Harmodius is the Lord of All." As weak a protest as it were, that was all that came from the pitch-coloured beast. The conversation moved on; was it even worth it to dwell?

Besides, Xia was stuck in a gem, stuck in a crazy goddamned dog-thing...it wasn't like he could do much. The Dragon King went back to his sulking, leaving Fragment free to converse as he saw fit.

"Nothing so nice, Alpha-emerged will be." Sloth reigned, but did not entirely dull his senses. Fragment knew, through the sickly miasma of scents pouring from Harmodius' chrysalis, that whatever came out wouldn't be half as "nice" as a butterfly. Another sigh, then the creature's ears twitched and his head turned slightly to look at the brown-haired host. "Is this...interesting? Being stoned?" It certainly sounded a lot better than where they were at - being stoned sounded rather...pleasant. And it made you hungry - which was even more of a reason to do something as eating was very pleasant. The problem was motivation.

And - of course - availability.

"Tell us more, Winter-host."

"Being stoned? I guess...I haven't done it since college. College--that seems so long ago now." It seemed to have happened in another life, a different one, free of soul-sucking parasites and huge, comfy dog-things and overwhelming laziness. "Anyway, it's like...kind of a social thing. You smoke out with your buddies, and you laugh at really dumb s**t together, and you eat a couple of pizzas. Then you wake up from your drug-induced haze and cram for a final, or something."

Ellis gazed thoughtfully at the pod containing Harmodius, raising an arm in its general direction before letting it flop down again. "Lord of the Cocoon People over there could look like a really pretty butterfly if you were high enough. He'd probably sparkle a little, too."

Having never been to anything as ordinary as 'college', Fragment couldn't quite get a connection going - especially not with how disconnected he was feeling under the current conditions. Yu was of a different age completely but quite possibly had tried herbs and things that would have produced a similar effect, at one time -- unfortunately, he wasn't being any help. The beast was stuck with half-puzzling over what Ellis had described for him. College and marijuana and getting the "munchies". Cramming for finals - whatever those were.

"Strange human, musing butterflies and nothing now." Really though, it sounded like being 'stoned' might be interesting...sometime. Later. Maybe. Fragment chuffed and laid his head back on massive paws, half closing his eyes. "We think being stoned might be better than just being, currently."

Ellis shrugged a shoulder, too lazy to move them both. "What else is there to do? We're stuck here, and we're all so, sooo lazy...and 'we' think you might be right, but again, don't know where to find any weed, don't care enough to look."

He sighed, studying the toes of his sneakers intently. "Okay," he said, his head lolling on his neck in the general direction of Fragment's ear when watching his toes wiggle got boring--too long, but it had taken effort to tear his gaze away. "Now it's your turn to tell me something. Did anything interesting happen after I took the one-armed wonder upstairs? I've been stuck there, getting in the way, and stuff." That rang of blasphemy even to his own goddess, who stirred, all set to lash out in righteous anger...and stilled, finding it too much effort for too little reward.

Great sides heaved in a sigh that might have been termed 'long-suffering' but was really just due to 'boredom' and the creature's inability to wont to make himself move. "Pity, Ellis-host. Perhaps later." Later...they could get stoned. It was the End of the World, wasn't it? Why not?

Yu pushed at his host a bit - why not? Because they had Important things to do....Gianfar had told them a great many things. Unfortunately, the timing had sucked. Fragment flicked one ear lazily back at the human using him as a furry bean-bag and licked at his chops a bit. "Gian-far spoke of ways to harm the Grigori b***h...of weapons filled with Creation's aspect." The white-haired Knowledge had spoken of much else as well, and as speaking took very little effort...the beast didn't mind spilling what they knew.

Knowledge had given them power in Knowing...and they would share as much as possible. The more that knew about how the Void in the Grigori's veins would erode anything it touched, the more that knew what was required to harm them...the better. Plus, it wasn't like either of the two gem-trapped gods were going anywhere for a good while; their hosts were entirely disinclined to move more than a few twitches here and there.

"Oh, yeah?" Ellis asked, interest stirring beneath a thick blanket of doldrums, painting a vague image of what might bring down something as powerful as pure Nothingness. After a few moments of sluggish introspection, he gave up, mentally erasing the picture he had imagined of crudely-drawn stick figures waging war against a finely-crafted masterpiece. To anyone who hadn't been privy to his train of thought, it may have sounded like he was content to acknowledge Fragment's tidbit of information without asking after it, until he continued, "Like what?"

Fragment wasn't in any sort of hurry to get up and go anywhere, so the lull in communication didn't bother him. He simply lay his head down and sighed the way beasts did, eyes searching about the room aimlessly until the human-turned-host spoke again. "Ah...yes..." He ruffled his fur a bit before reciting the words Gianfar had spoken to the group earlier.

"There are only four Artifacts so imbued with Creation that the Void cannot unmake them by contact. Aristogeiton's sword, Harmodius' glaive, Gaia's shears, and Rebirth's jesses. We need to find these items before she returns. Believe me, she will return. With the other grigori I expect. When the thing in the Throne room is ready to hatch, they will be here."

The beast chuckled a bit and then returned it's head to it's massive paws. "Also, he said that those touched with Creation could harm. Gaia, Hunt's hounds...." Things he didn't get but would pass along like a good dog. Faithful dog.

Good dog; smart dog. "That'd be bad," Ellis noted. "One of them was bad enough. Hunt...that was the green guy, right? The dumbass who made everyone attack the Void lady? I wonder...maybe he could track her down, if we ever get out of here. Set his dogs or whatever on her, so she doesn't come back. One of them was bad enough."

Silence settled over them once more, almost companionably, before Ellis added, "And what the hell are jesses, anyway?"

He grunted and whuffed at that - what a statement to make! Even Yu rolled his eyes - or rather, the impression was given to his host that he were in fact rolling his eyes (though he had not eyes of his own to roll). "Hunt, yes. Hunt could wound...others, also. Gaia - Empress...others...." His tail twitched and swatted at the human lazily. "Repeating, repeating Ellis-host. We do not think to hunt the Grigori, no....she will return." Black-furred ears swept close to his skull and the beast's gaze turned towards where he knew the chrysalis to be.

"Back to the End, she will come when it breaks the shell to End the World."

Jesses? Pfft, as if he knew! Xia felt a slight bite of recognition, but did not have it in him to reach further, so it slithered away. "We know not, being neither book nor Knowledge."

Ellis batted idly at the tail that had ever so rudely stuck itself in his face, spitting out some silky hairs that had gotten detached on his tongue. He muttered half-epithets about dumb shedding dogs until he could breathe without inhaling fur, at which point he promptly stopped caring. "Why wait for her to come back to kick our collective asses--with help, no less--if we can use this guy to get a jump on her? We'll have enough to deal with, with this End of the World thing anyway."

"Perhaps Hunt does not wish to die?" He grumbled and flattened a little bit, once more returning his massive head to his thick paws. "Gian-far said they would wound, not that we could kill." They would definitely have needed the weapons for that...and they had none currently. Perhaps others were going after them - he did not know, so he did not say anything about it. 'Void destroys what it touches, unraveling the very fabric of our beings -- it would be unwise to go after Void-wielding creatures without some sort of plan....' Yu kicked that little bit in - if the hosts were going to talk about this, he would get somewhat involved.

Maybe.

"Oh, right." Ellis's temporary bubble of purpose burst at the reminder that just because they were the good guys doing what was right, that didn't necessarily guarantee success--less so, if anything, given the power they were up against. "I wonder who would know where the weapons are, and if whoever they belong to are the only ones that can use 'em. If they are, we can count Harmodius's pointy stick out," he snickered.

"Lore-keeper could not say where, just that there were such things." The beast's tail flicked and twitched; those were questions that had crossed the minds of all present, but there had been Other things to query about and Gianfar had plainly stated that he may not be able to give them information as requested. 'I cannot imagine that they would be set for just one to wield, though our Lord had a wicked sense of humor...' Yu could not help but kick in again; speaking through his host wasn't nearly so hard as it might have been otherwise - Fragment rarely fought his control.

"Oh. Well that's helpful--except not really, if we don't know where they are. What would we do with Magical Shears of Awesome, anyway? Prune Samyaza's other arm off?" Quiet melancholy overtook the human host again at the loss of the dim flicker of hope.

"What else did you learn? Any new tricks?"

"We are not a dog, Ellis-human, Host to Winter." Fragment would have nipped at the other, but it required a bit more enthusiasm and energy than he was willing to put into anything...and Yu was busily going between sulking and...well, contemplating this past - not that he could well remember any of it. He did speak again though -- 'What may be done with the Shears we do not know yet, but surely they will have a purpose. Gianfar would not have wasted our time.'

He grumbled a bit, his stomach making sounds -- loud, hungry sounds. Ahh...Sloth may have corralled them, but hunger could still be felt - could still stir the Beast to movement. "You know as we know, Frozen Heart and Host. Let us up, lest we make a snack of your bones."

"You look like a dog," Ellis countered, turning his head to glance pointedly at Fragment's narrow muzzle and tufted ears. "You kind of smell like one, too, Dog-thing, Host to...whoever." The information about the weapons was stored haphazardly in his mind, filed somewhere in the drawers of Things That Could Be Important, But Probably Wouldn't Matter. Given the week, that also covered most of the things Ellis had learned while he had been trapped in the Pantheon.

Fragment's stomach grumbled beneath his head--his entire head, like some kind of weird, vibrating pillow--and he rolled his eyes at the idle threat, but sighed and scooted off of his comfortable companion. "Yeah, right. Your thing wouldn't even let you eat a kid. Let me know if you find some chips or something, though."

Fragment got a sly look on his face and then opened his jaws and gave the entire side of Ellis' head a nice, drooly tongue-bath. If the human was going to continue calling him a dog, he would act as one: sloppy mutt-licking and all. "You taste better than chips." The beast rose to it's feet and stretched, cat-like; before shaking all over to dislodge any dust. "Being eaten would be mercy now...we shall see."

Yu still didn't plan on allowing his host to maul people, but then again...he was feeling lazy and unwilling to exert himself...

"Gross!" Ellis whined, flailing ineffectually at the beast while trying to wipe the slobber off of himself. Neva laughed at him from somewhere deep down as he scrubbed at his face with the bottom of his shirt. "Don't you have a garbage truck to go chase, Wonder Mutt?"

With his backside towards the Host-Human pair, Fragment twisted his head a bit to laugh back at his companions. "Going, going, going - Ellis-host." Ah, it had been worth it, the energy expended - he now felt as though he'd done something (which was kind of sad, all things considered). Fragment would have likely lingered a little bit longer to amuse himself with Ellis and Neva, but his stomach rumbled again and drew his attention back to that most pressing concern.

Food.

'Until next time, Lady Winter, Ellis.' A parting line from Yu and then the pitch-coloured beast was slowly trotting off in search of things to eat.

[khiarhu]

...//Solo - Shattered Hall of Broken Gods

Fragment saw a great many people come and go from the Pantheon - either gods or hosts or the strange combination of neither that signified the twist of Host-God into God-Host. The place he may or may not be, one day. Humans came too. Not many, oh no - but some. Why they felt drawn to this location, to the chaotic rippling of unrest that spawned from the very spot where Harmodius-not-Harmodius' chrysalis stood, incubating Gehenna, he could not fathom.

A man, horribly disfigured by fire or chemical burns came to spit on the floor before stairs leading to the empty throne. A gnarled wooden cane was held in an equally gnarled hand; it tap-tap-tapped slowly against the bruised and dirty flooring.

Either he had not seen Fragment clearly or did not care to recognize him there, for he gave no sign of recognition. Waiting to see what more the human would do, the beast lay like a dark statue against one of the statues nearest Gehenna's cocoon; changeable body half-blending into the shadows draped throughout battle-scarred room.

It was impressive to host and Dragon that this filthy creature should have the balls to approach the Throne of the Elder God and spit - that such a being, utterly without divinity, would find it in himself to approach the twisted, breathing shell enfolding Once-Harmodius without falling to his knees and gibbering madly at the horror before him.

"Human,"

Fragment's voice came across rough and gravelly, yet clear enough that the man turned so he could look at the creature with his good eye and with the milky-white of his long-past injured eye - he saw shapes in it, but naught else. Not magic, demon nor angel. Blinding white and flashes of grey for the deepest of shadows, such as the creature that had cracked wide it's maw and was addressing him.

"You come to the House of God without fear in your step and you spit upon the floor. Explain" The last word he breathed and raised to his feet languidly as though he might make sport of this singular one among those holding fast in such hopeless times.

The man did not seem surprised that he was being "faced-down" by a large talking monster. He had seen far scarier "monsters" as people fell prey to themselves and each other. From shadow to monster, the beast was no different than anything outside, in his jaded eye(s).

Puffy pink-and-white scar-flesh shifted visibly as he opened his mouth to speak. "I have been to Hell and back, I say to you there is no God. Only this spiral of mortal hate and greed." His jaw worked for a moment, but no further words came out as it pained him to move the hardened and frozen meat of his face to speak even somewhat clearly.

'If you ventured there long ago, you saw the Ruins of Hell, untended by diefic hands.' Yu spoke at the human, Fragment's head cocked to one side and tail lashing behind him like an angry cat's might. He did not know how long Underworld had been returned, but from what had been gleaned whilst skulking about the Pantheon's ashed grounds, it hadn't been long at all. 'How came you to be here, if you do not believe?'

Again, it was slow coming - the answer to his query - but this time it was less direct; the man rambled. After all, Men wanted to have their voices heard...and here in the Shattered Hall of Forgotten Gods, this one man could be no different. Pain or no, words tumbled across imperfect lips to fall upon large, fuzzy ears - faster and faster and faster still.

"Weeks ago, something...struck. Men fell in the streets, dead and dying. Those left standing fell upon the fallen in sorrow or greed. Shortly after, a great weight sought to drown the survivors in the depths of despair, the pitch of our souls...week after week, sicknesses of heart and mind and body lay claim to All." He was leaning forward on his cane, spittle flinging from his lips as his voice became stronger, more feverent. "Those with words yet gibber on about gods congregating here."

At this, a twisted smile came to the man's gnarled face, his eyes bright with a sort of lunacy not entirely caused by Gehenna's incubation.

"I came to pay my respects."

***

The sick sneer that had come over the man's face prompted Yu to come forward completely; this was no time to have his cryptic, crazy host pulling at the human's strings, pushing his buttons (so to speak). Obviously Harlan - for that was what he came to discover the scarred man's name to be - was at a delicate crossroads. All around him the world was falling apart and he himself felt the effects - it would take much to woo him away from the utter contempt displayed in the Pantheon.

Outside, Dragon-in-Host and human walked the charred earth. 'Those with words are correct -- the True Gods come to the Pantheon, but they do not stay long. We too are struggling, fighting with the malaise laid upon these lands. It is not simply mortals, but our own kith and kin...and more, Harlan. For it is up to the Gods you despise to pull together and find a way to cure our Lord, the Twin Crown...the Now-Nameless One.' Yu sighed a bit and flicked his tail behind him as they moved slowly past a crumbling marble bench. 'Without Him all are as dust. This world will Unmake itself, none will remain but the Void - the great Nothing.'

"So you say, Dog. We are doomed and you want me to believe that a dog and a group of rag-tag freaks are going to save us all from the monster waiting to be birthed from the cocoon?" Harlan did not sound convinced at all, but there was the slightest tinge to his voice that said perhaps with time to think and reason through all the beast had said he may come around. With time.

'No Harlan, I want you to believe. There are Gods pooling together to stop the End. Your belief will help us to do this...it is the beliefs of the peoples of this world that give us power. Offerings to our names, to that which we are Lord over - that helps.' Time. The one thing they really didn't have much left of...and yet, Xia walked slowly across the ruined land, talking with the human. He was trying to reason with him, using the wits he possessed to gently turn the man's brain away from the senseless lunacy that tainted everyone, away from hatred and towards a more solid understanding of what was going on and why he should care. Why he should return tot he Pantheon and truely pay respects.

Xia Lu spoke plainly, without riddles - the Human deserved to know the truth, as much as he would be able to comprehend and act upon. About Samyaza and the Grigori. About the End, about Void and the trumpets calling out the Weeks. And how the mortals' faith and offerings were important - how important, Yu could only recall from the flashes of memory,but he mentioned it anyway.

Some things were left out, but nothing that was necessary was omitted.

By the time that Yu - through Fragment's mouth to save his energy for more important things - had related all that he had wish to and answered an endless stream of questions from the crippled human, they had settled themselves in Harlan's temporary home - a Catholic School's church. There were a great many people there - a gated school with classrooms, offices, a gymnasium and the church and rectory. It worked for Harlan's purposes - he had run a half-way home for abused teens before any of this had started and had moved them here once things had gotten out of hand.

Those under his care needed the sort of reassurance that the gates and the church provided them; especially in these most trying times.

A slender girl with pale hair like moonlight brought in canned tea for Harlan and a bowl of water for Fragment. The beast watched her with interest - thin bones, very fragile...empty eyes. She reminded him of someone else...a memory, perhaps? Fleeting, but there was a feeling that haunted the Dragon (and so haunted his host) that they knew this girl...or one like her.

"Thank you, Blessed." Harlan dismissed the girl with a wave of his hand; she was shy and not all there - she hadn't been for a long time. They were of no relation, but Harlan felt a very strong sort of fatherly urge to protect her as much as he could. Blessed had come to them from a child-prostitution bust- she had butterflies tattooed all along one arm and across her wrist. A sign of ownership - one delicately inked tattoo for each year she had been "owned". She had five going from her right wrist to her elbow, and four that went across her right shoulder down her arm. Nine total.

Once she had left, Harlan explained consisely what he did and why. Why they were there, why he was having those in his care stockpile resources and lock them up in what he felt was a 'safe place'. Harlan shook his head and sighed; the next comment from his lips was one that in other circumstances might have been amusing.

"The man on the corner calling to passers-by about the End of the World is right--" Yu had confirmed it with all he'd said.

One small bit had been left out, but the scarred man mentally added it. 'And I am that man...'

[khiarhu]

...//Solo - A Cross and a Girl Named Blessed

Two days passed and still they did not return to the Pantheon. Yu was chafing a bit at being away from what may end up being the 'final resting place' of his Revered Lord Harmodius and Fragment was just cranky. Lots of people around, many things that he wanted but could not take in the name of peace. Xia had to remind his host (and himself, to a lesser extent) that they had a mission to see that the End of the World did not happen -- be it through interaction with the other gods and goddesses or with the mortals that they co-habited the world with. What they were doing did have potential -- belief was the foundation of their existence and each person they spoke to had the potential to believe - and ultimately, if they were successful, the ability to help their cause.

The Dragon King knew these things, but it didn't always help. Sometimes, he too needed reminding. Back and forth, host and King went in turns; one wanting to go, the other finding a reason to stay. For Fragment, it was very basic -- pets. The girl, Blessed, liked to pet him and comb his mane. For Xia Lu, it was more that he came to enjoy speaking with Harlan and his mortal wards. Potential Believers. In the time spent there, they were slowly turning the mortals into believers with their words, their actions and in some instances with the re-actions. It seemed such a small thing, but in times like the ones they were living in, sometimes belief was more powerful than one could ever imagine.

Two days had turned to three, three to five and finally seven days.

--blah blah blah, tbc--

[khiarhu]

...//PRP - Addictions...(Lust)

Prowling prowling prowling. Fragment sniffed about the Pantheon to find the Pardess that he knew to be there. Somewhere. He knew she was there - she belonged to Zhiji...a Dragon King, like the one he held inside himself. Dragons did not seem too inclined to leave the Pantheon -- he, however, came and went quite a bit (much to Yu's chagrin). But now? He wanted to find Ashoka, to nuzzle at her soft body and hear her laughing while he coiled his malleable body around her. The beast growled a bit and cracked it's jaws to pant, bringing in more scents.

Where, oh where was 'Shoka~ Or Zhiji, who would know where she was. Either would work - which was why he was following the faint scent tracks left behind to see if he could find them.

Ashoka knew she was being looked for, and it absolutely tickled her pink - like hide and seek, but not. So very amused was she that, instead of peeking out and meeting Fragment somewhere in the middle, she stayed right where she was in Zhijian's room, confident that he would find her eventually. He certainly had the nose for it! So she sat on the bare floor - quite bare herself, as usual - humming to herself and playing with her toes. Waiting. Sort of patiently.

Fragment's tail swished behind him in a predatory manner as he trawled the Pantheon, following complex scent roads for the most recent - yes yes yes, 'Shoka had been there....he was close, he could almost taste her strange magic and her scent. A room - or rooms. A door to such rooms; it smelled heavily of 'Shoka and had that certain extra something he'd come to associate with the Dragon Kings. Fragment waited outside the door a moment, thinking - he would surprise 'Shoka - he would. And so he shifted, body and bones, fur and fang - until he was in a humanoid shape. Still crazy looking, but bipedal.

Then he knocked - Yu insisted he not break the door down...yet.

In the meantime, Ashoka had worked her way over to the door, leaning against the wall to wait. It was one disadvantage to knowing something was going to happen - it never just happened. You had to wait for it! Wait wait wait. Usually, she was a relatively patient sort, having spent most of her life waiting for something or another to happen, but today she was rather impatient. While this was amusing and all, where was Fragment?

A knock! The pard bolted to attention, dancing on her toes as she pulled the door open with a sing-song "You found me~!" It wasn't just Fragment, though - it was Fragment on two legs! That she had not seen, and it was delightfully surprising, and he was delightfully attractive. This too was quite delightful, because she'd never really seen anyone that way before. Exciting.

So fun, so good to be welcomed with such a smile - such surprise! The beast chuckled and lashed his tail, eyes blink-blink-blinking in that strange, staggered way they did; yes, 'Shoka looked pleased too. Waiting to shift, to change - not breaking the door down first and waiting for her to open it -- it had all been well worth it. The wait, that is.

"Of course!" Fragment reached out and picked the pardess up so he could squish her into a hug -- it was a very vauge memory he had from when he had been part of Khiarhu, hugs being how you greeted someone you were fond of -- but it certainly felt nice! "Is this as good as many-tails?" So soft, she was just so soft...could he steal her away and drown in that softness? She belonged to Treasure's Brother, but... hmmm.

Ashoka was quite the eager hugger - the kind who circled limbs around the other's neck, and hopped and wrapped legs around their waist. Fortunately, she was also quite light of build, and would hardly be a burden. Long tail flicking at Fragment's feet, she nuzzled happily at his silvery hair. "I think so," she answered, thoughtful. "Not as fluffy, but still very nice! very good for hugging."

Oh ho! Having Ashoka so eagerly 'leap' onto him, into his thickly furred arms, brought a possessive-pleased rumbling sound from deep in his chest. No, the Pardess was his, no matter what her Dragon said - he had decided, and that was that. Let the other show up and try to take her by force! Yu mentally chastised his host for such thoughts and warned him that things would be quite unpleasant if he harmed one of the Brothers.

Fragment, of course, ignored this in favor of nuzzling at the very soft, very sweetly-scented Pard-woman in his arms; her tail was tickling his ankles and feet - interesting touch sensations! And she was settled on his hips with arms around his neck, so solid but so light too. "Better for hugging?" He spoke to no one of his "experiment" with Gianfar -- the reason behind some of his fluff-loss; the Void wall and it's taking of one of his paws -- he still had all his limbs, of course, but it had happened. "'Shoka's light, like a very big feather."

"Mm-hm! You can hug back!" It made it even cozier than hugging something four-legged, having arms around you. Extra-cuddly! Ashoka rested her head on his shoulder, giggling at his comparison. "I do have feathers~" Not that Fragment was likely to have missed that.

"Yes yes yes, but you are not a feather." He chuffed a bit and finally took note of more than 'Shoka's smiling, giggling self. "Dragon-yours lives here, or you alone?" Fragment would have assumed both, but one never knew -- apparently the Kings were somewhat strange and stuffy...if his Treasure could be used to take the measure of the lot (which...in his head, why the hell not?). 'Where is your Master, Ashoka?' Yu, sneaking in to seek information from the girl clasped around his host's thick body like a monkey. "Gone, for a while we hope~" Wretched beast.

Yu had not painstakingly strung his host's mind and body together just so the beast could join in "cuddlepiles" and rut.

"Could Fragment be a feather?" she mused aloud. He would be an awfully big feather, however, she supposed. "He does! He's not here, though, still sulking around the old City." Regardless of whether or not Yu approved of Fragment's agenda, Ashoka certainly did - he was warm and cuddly and strong, and held her very well.

"Less fun as a big feather." He peeked about for a place to set himself and 'Shoka -- Yu didn't want to stay standing like that, not if his Brother might return at any moment, it just didn't speak well for either of them. Unfortunately, it was the beast's nature that held the reins, so pff on him! Fragment cocked his head and nipped at the pardess playfully. "More fun like this."

So far as places to set themselves, options were limited - there was a cushy chair, a beaten-up couch, and the floor. Zhijian would have liked a bed, but as strong as he was, he couldn't really fetch one and haul it up the stairs himself, and Ashoka wasn't much help in that department. Nipped at, the prophet giggled and returned the gesture, nibbling playfully at Fragment's neck. Clearly, she agreed.

As much fun as it would have been to demolish the cushy chair, Yu gently encouraged his host to take on the couch. It was already beaten up and Pearl only knew that whatever his host and the Pardess planned on doing couldn't damage it too much more. "Pretty 'Shoka - too bad no bed." A bed would have gone quite nicely with the timing - sweetly-scented female...so soft and willing! Thick fingers petted silky hair once they were no longer required to help hold Ashoka up.

Yu would have sighed, if he could -- his host seemed quite unable to resist the pleasures of the flesh - be it food or female - now that he had a form to enjoy such things with...and at least by distracting Fragment with Ashoka, they weren't off doing other things - like chasing mortals for food.

Yes, of all the things his host could be doing, this was certainly the, ah, most appropriate...

[khiarhu]

...//PRP - Shadow of the Day (War)

Khiarhu

Dragons...dragons everywhere, but not a one complete; should the spider roam the complex, he would have been quite likely to run into at least two of the Kings - Zhijan and Yu (in Fragment's flesh) had chosen to stake out the Pantheon. Both roamed a bit, but stayed close.

Ivynian

It was difficult, left to immediate independent device, to consider a starting point. There had been queer goings-on, told in the map of the room. The floor was pocked in places and one of the doors was eaten into by some force. The window nearest the wall was broken out. He started there, more for lack then drive, tracing his fingers on the stone frame outside the housing of metal. There were shapes in the open beyond. How the lava beds would be construed as more welcoming then the couches, he did not know, but there were some who preferred out-of-doors. Maybe they were there when it happened.

There were many mouths in that place, he should not waste time in discovering the right ones.
Xedre moved from the window to the door and out again to examine some of the blotches.

Khiarhu

Fragment lay sprawled on the ground, tail twitching. He was edgy from the Week's influence though he had returned not but a few hours before then from a Hunt; he did so like to go out and bait humans and others into fighting with him...so that he might tear them from "throat to thatch". Yu was not much pleased with his host's choices - but allowing him this violent and bloody sport assured that the beast did not give him much of a fight when he wanted control.

A strange set of scents had wafted over from the throne room - someone was coming to view the pod again. Fragment snorted and ignored it until a pallid creature came out. The beast lifted it's head and skinned it's lips back from it's teeth as though to laugh -- a spider!. Old, yes old...strong...tainted heavily with the scent of the Alpha...and others. Weaker ones.

He did not speak, but simply watched to see what this creature would do.

Ivynian

It was
a dog? cat? horned...thing?
Xedre came to a pause some three body-lengths away, and considered the hunkered, slavered thing. Would it even be capable of speech? Where had it come from? Perhaps also why. Though there were plenty of lesser or stranger races across what existed then boring humans or other such smooshy beings.

"Can you speak." It was a question, though his tone was flat, without expectation. Plenty of the gods also kept pets and lesser servants not of divine right. It could be one of them.

Khiarhu

Fragment laughed - a low, grating sound - and licked his chops. Itsy-bitsy here wanted to know if he could speak! Yu yanked the 'chain' he held his host by and drew the creature up so it sat upon it's large haunches, fur and scales glimmering in the cast from the lava.

"I can speak, as can the beast before you." Yu blinked at the Drider with his host's body and thumped his tail unconsciously. "You scent of Harmodius...and others--"Fragment interjected here, able to do so simply because Yu had not been expecting it.

"From the Egg to Outside, what purpose does a spider speak to Us?"

Ivynian

"I am of His retinue." A distinct separation to an 'I and the best'. Most likely a host, given the circumstances of the pantheon. "I was away, given to temporary service of Silence. I want to learn what has happened."

Khiarhu

This creature was part of the fallen Twin Crown's retinue then. And he had been away with a god called Silence? That must be one of the other scents upon his pale skin - something to be filed away for later...should later come.

"Quite the story to tell, Spider, but tell we will." He paused and the beast cocked it's head. "I am Yu the Five Claws. I see no point in titles as He has fallen and sharing how is more important." Fragment settled back, allowing the Dragon King inside to have control while they spoke with Xedre.

"A Grigori, Samyaza, came...took His name and set this into motion. We were not there at that time. The first Wave hit while we were out - but we came quickly to find the Deed done. The Grigori b***h also took the Lady Gaia's arm with her. Many were gathered at the Door there but none were able to stop her from leaving. Gianfar told us later of four weapons that may harm the Grigori...but said little about the Thing growing inside that egg." There was more to tell, but the gist was that. If the creature wanted to know more, he would tell it - but that was most of what he had shared with others when asked.

Ivynian

This was to be Yu? Xedre blinked slowly, but his neutral expression did not falter. He did not know what a Grigori was, but the proceedings sounded gruesome enough. It was something that could best the gods in their own home.

"Where is your brother, FutsLung?" The thing may not know. There was no telling who it had and had not met.

Khiarhu

Indeed - and the host was, as Xedre had noticed, questionable at best (but at the least, it was fiercely loyal to it's "Treasure" ). Had the spider asked, he would have gone further into the lecture about how the Grigori were not only wielders of Void, but also how they were made made of it. Unbidden, he did not think to explain further.

"FutsLung..?" Yu thought hard and recalled through Fragment's broken memories that there had been one before him - a gem of gold and jewel. That smacked of his brother - the sensation of being secured inside Harmodius with his brother-gem returned briefly to Xia also. "He...is within a new host. Beyond this, I do not know of FutsLung. Zhijan is here, however...he will not leave his throne for long. Another Dragon was at the Door, but I do not know which."

"InBetween, a Treasure - taken by the DarkMan. Alpha punished, but also gave Treasure to us. Nothing and nothing - met and married again and again."

Meepfur

Zhijian sniffed his way back into the throne room, feline brow furrowed curiously. Three scents here - the one that clung to Ashoka, which he knew to be the host of one of his brothers, and two less familiar. He stopped to stare, especially at the spider-like aoide - Fragment was somewhat strange, but it was ugly.

Licking his muzzle, he tilted his head inquiringly. "Hello."

Ivynian

YuThing was rambling. He did not have time for its private madness. It did not know where FutsLung was, just that others of the Kings had been there. He would keep searching for some more fortunate god.

-Hello-

Xedre paused, then looked over his shoulder. It was a cat. Or a walking, winged, horned one at least. In all likelyhood another god.
"Greetings."

He bowed, moving out from between them. It may have want of words with the YuThing, and it was not an Aoide's place to stand between gods. Nor did it seem wise, and a more likely position to get eaten in. Depending on if they interacted, or how they greeted each other, he would know easily enough if this was a god, a King, or otherwise.

Syrie

The spider moved and Fragment-Yu got a an eyeful of brightly-colored Dragon King. Zhiji. He made a pleased sound and licked his chops. "Brother--" "--How's my girl?" A bit of weight was placed on my; clearly the beast felt ownership for something that belonged to the other Dragon, even if Yu did not...but both considered the once-pard a "relation".

"Itsy-bitsy and Treasure were just talking about you." Sort of. Crazy mutt.

Meepfur

"The prophet is mine - do not forget that, host of my brother," he grumbled. Fragment was singularly strange - and aggravating, wanting to claim some sort of ownership over his servant. If the dog weren't host to his brother, Zhijian would certainly have taken more than vocal exception to that. Ashoka doing as she liked was mostly fine, borrowing was fine - he didn't have that kind of relationship with the pard, anyway - but the possessiveness was going a little too far.

"Well." He flicked his ears. "I'm here." What had they been talking about him for?

Ivynian

Brother uttered between them both. So this was another of the kings, but not FutsLung. It woudl be Zhijian, the name it had mentioned, but not a name that had meaning for Xedre. They could each collect names like wings of butterflies, and still he wouldn't really know any. They were all new, and it was titles that he had been told, not names. It was titles that the court used, that the Crown had called them by.

"I am Xedre, servant of the Crown. The Kings were to have been gathered, the Manacles were to be found. We were told to wait for the fullfilling of these tasks, if our Lord was indisposed."

Questioning each other and by personal (if the dog coul dbe said to have a person)admittance, they did not all know each other, so that at least was failed. "I look for FutsLung. Do you know him?"

Syrie

Such focus, Yu could easily imagine the Drider-Aoide at His side, doing the bidding of the TwinCrown. Xedre seemed almost obsessive - but if his directive had been to see that the Kings were gathered and that the Manacles were found...

Memory, fluttering and fleeting - a golden brother and things made to hold - but then gone. Yu grumbled and made the beast bow it's head to acknowledge that the other King's words were true and that they both acknowledged that (even if Fragment didn't quite feel that way).

"Why such want for the Dark-man that took the Golden Treasure?" The beast's eyes blinked and he licked at his lips a bit; curiosity may have killed the cat, but it certainly wasn't going to kill him -- Void, however...

The Dragon was pleased with his host's question - it was one he himself had been wondering; the answer may help them. "Knowing your purpose may help."

Meepfur

"Tian Yue sought the others, told those he found." Though he might not have succeeded, strictly speaking, he had tried, and Zhijian was defensive of his closest brother. "Why they didn't come, I cannot say."

"I know Futs Lung." Yes, another brother finally returned - well, almost. "He means to seek the Manacles, though...they will not stop the End. Tien Lung and I saw this."

Ivynian

"The rope that can stop the end cannot be woven." The aoide nodded with the answer.

"I have nothing more. Thank you."

The gods were handling their own troubles then, informed at least. He would go and search for his companions then, or their remains. Zedre bowed to the kings, backing away.

khiarhu

Yu hauled harshly on his host - the beast wanted to play with the spiderine Aoide more and it would have done naught but cost them more time...and that was in shorter and shorter supply these days. Instead, he turned to his Brother, the beast's head moving slowly from watching Xedre back away respectfully.

'So much I now know and so very little. Where did you see these things, Brother?' Held in a broken beast's form, Xia was still a King with a King's pride and thirst for knowledge and knowing. 'I would know what you know.'

Meepfur

Zhijian was about to let the aoide go, but Xedre's phrasing piqued his curiosity. It was probably nothing, and he'd have said more if he'd actually known, but... "Can it be come by any other way?"

It was, at the very least, worth asking. To his brother, he said, "In the fate-stones."

Ivynian

The Aoide paused. Come by any other way? What, a binding that could permanently stave off the freedom of the End to come?
"Every beginning has an end, Lord. There is nothing I know that can prevent that forever. "

Even if now was inconvenient, and they were wanting for such a thing. Even somehow opening that egg and forcing the form back to a Power, back into their holy Emperor, was just a temporary solution by definition.

That wasn't the question, plain enough, and Xedre didn't care to elaborate on his thoughts. It would be more likely to offend then aid the Kings and their pride.

khiarhu

A pause and a response from Xedre; a pause and a response from Zhijian - both directed at different faces. Yu had little interest in the Aoide save that it tickled at the edge of his mind that he had seen this one somewhere, sometime other. No answer that Harmodius' servant could give the other Dragon King's question would grant them the ending they desired.

"Begin and End, it once was, so now again."

"Hush, beast. Do not mock what will end you -- so hard did you fight for life, yet you are ready to face beyond death with a laugh.' Fragment's big body padded a bit closer to Zhiji, his mannerisms showing just who happened to be in control at the moment.

Nothing was readable in the white-skinned Drider's expression; he was holding back, but the Kings could not know this and so once more did Yu/Fragment turn towards the blue-furred King.

'Tell me Brother, what of the fate-stones?' Familiar words, a sharp clack and a flash of memory so flitting he scarce recognized it as such. The bright flare of a firework at midnight, then just smoke to let you know it was ever there. 'I...remember so little.'

Meepfur

"I will not just let Him End." Unless he spoke, said to him that it was His wish, he would fight it. Not simply for his own sake, but for his Lord's; let Him bring the End if He wanted it, not because some Grigori b***h did.

That was all the more he had for Xedre, before turning to his brother, who had as suitable a host as his own - physically, at least. He curled toward the body of the large canid, purring. "They tell stories - stories of the truth. Some pertinent to what we might need, others not. Most not."

Syrie

Yu had to agree with his Brother -- unless Harmodius specifically called for the End, he would fight with his very last breath to stop said occurrence from happening. Stubborn was a calling card of the Dragon Kings, was it not? Both Zhijan and the as-yet gem-bound Xia Lu were quite alike in that aspect - exceptionally stubborn.

"Alpha's pets, so stubborn -- mules, but prettier!" Fragment chuckled and received a mental cuff from Yu.

'Being stubborn was how I managed to be the last King standing--' This internal discussion was brief, seconds, really. 'I remembered! I was the last of the Brethren to fall at His side....I remember too, we all failed that time. No mention would be made to the others, however -- no need to mention one failure with the shadow of another looming ominously before them.

"We want to see them." Fragment would answer, for he wished to see as well. Would they be able to? Was it a good Time to go? That none could answer, but the wont was there, slow-burning and heating the Dragon's blood. 'What stories, Brother -- I want to see them, but time grows short...and I do not remember.'

Meepfur

Zhijian did not mind being called a pet, or being compared to a mule - for him, they were both rather apt comparisons, and he liked mules as much as he liked horses, or any other pack- and riding-beasts.

"Perhaps you could come with us when Tian Yue and I return." The more dragons, the better! "They show the future, and I think also that which has already happened?" He'd been too busy looking for relevance to pay real attention to all the contents.

Syrie

'Yes, I think we should. It would be good to return and see...and perhaps it would jog our memory.' It was annoying for him -- knowing that there were things that he should have known, but did not because his memories were locked and/or lost to the decay of the ages. Having been with not only one failed host, but nearly two...Yu's recollections were a bit hazier than they would have been otherwise.

"Anything, to reclaim Alpha - and Treasure's self." If nothing else, Fragment was a quite willing host!

'I look forward to a journey with you both.' He shook his shaggy head and flicked his tail a bit. 'My host grows restless, Zhijian. I need to take him out to "play".' Distasteful as it was, allowing the bestial creature to roam and hunt was really the best way to keep him happy and malleable to Xia's wishes.

[khiarhu]

...//PRP - A Fire for a Mortal (Plague)

Fyre

There was little left healthy and growing in the world, but the ruined temple retain some little power and for the moment, there were a few fish in the water and plants growing that could be eaten. There was also the little food she still carried, canned or dried, that she had used sparingly, saving it for emergencies (as though the end of the world wasn't emergency enough all by itself).

They had traveled and long way together, May and Li Shing, and a certain pattern had developed. Li Shing had grown somewhat used to being constrained by mortal exhaustion and hunger, and now he brooded quietly while May built a fire. He was thinking about the news Tien Yue had brought, she knew, and occassionally he would make an offhand comment to her, as a General might to a comrade. She was surprised to find that she was developing opinions and answers to his comments, where so often before she had found herself with nothing to say. When he suggested he hoped Futs Lung was succeeding in his own endeavor, something occurred to her.
"You called the cat....Zhijian...brother didn't you? And Tien Yue as well. And you talk about the others. Who are they? You're family?"

In a way. You might call it a metaphor. There are nine of us, Tien Lung and Ying Long and myself, then there is Shen-Lung, Ti-Lung, Futs-Lung, Mang, and Yu Five Claws.

khiarhu

Sickness and stench filled his sensitive nostrils, blotting out so much and stinging so that each of his six eyes stung. It was annoying to say the least - the week of Plague. Rotting flesh in the sun, smaller creatures bursting with strange and unknown diseases...it wasn't good to hunt and eat anymore.

Yu wanted to stay as close to the Pantheon as possible, but his host had other ideas and was being forceful about them, so exploring they went. Not long before a whiff of fresh hit Fragment's senses.

"Going where fresher. We cannot breathe Treasure."

'Fine. It will be good to rest and think somewhere without senses clouded by Plague's horrorshow.' Host and gem-bound Dragon were surprised when they came to the source of the "fresh" scents -- a temple in ruins. To what gods or goddesses, they neither knew nor cared to dwell on...there was another scent. Sharper. Musky. Soft.

From one mouth, two words tumbling almost at the same time: 'Dragon.'"Woman."

Fyre

May almost asked Li Shing if he'd heard something, but then of course, Li Shing would have heard whatever she heard.
All this time, and we still have not found you a weapon of any decent sort the dragon complained as May picked up a piece of fist sized rock to throw in case it was necessary.

"Who's there?"

khiarhu

"Nothing, sweet-scented one." Fragment was purposefully obtuse, but Yu would have nothing of it -- this was a Brother of his -- female host or no female host -- and he would announce himself properly.

'Xia Lu Ling, Yu Five Claws. Emblem Pillar to the Throne.' He made the beast stand still, massive jaws partially open so that his voice could come through. 'Who are you, Brother?'.

Fyre

The girls eyebrows lifted, and then, with the sense that simply telling ...them?...herself would be improper, like a deliberate slight from one lord to another - the kind you read about in old stories. So it was Li Shing who spoke, though it was still May in the foreground, Li Shing conserving his strength out of some mistrust of the beast his brother inhabited.

"Li Shing, Great Chien Tang, Blood Shogun to the Twin Crown. Fate has brought me many reunions today."

khiarhu

"A sad fate to re-bind Dragons." The beast commented and laughed, it's too-wide jaws cracking further to show off more of his sharp teeth.

'My host is correct. It pains me to reunite with a Brother under this most...trying time.' Yu noted the girl's unease with his host and was quite certain that Li Shing felt the same -- most did, when confronted with the six-eyed monstrosity that was the Fragment.

"Do not worry, Dragon -- I will not eat your Host. That is not allowed." Another gravel-scraping laugh escaped the beast before Yu yanked his host back into something like behaving.

Fyre

There was a little flash of annoyance in the girls eyes, possible both her own and Li Shings, as she drew herself up a little taller and lifted her chin, so she could essentially look down her nose at Fragment.

"You could try beast, but you would be incapable regardless." Under the anger at being spoken to by a mortal in such a way, there was something else very much like pride in the girl that colored the dragon's tone.
"Better a reunion now then none at all, Brother. Our own state is barest inconvenience next to the stricken world around us."

khiarhu

'Agreed. My apologies for my host, Brother. His nature is not the best, but he has served me well thus far.' And one day, he would serve Xia Lu very well indeed - on the day that he gave up his body and mind and what was left of his soul to fuel the Dragon King's rebirth. Freedom from his gem-prison. Freedom to properly serve the Crown again.

Ah, he was a stubborn thing.

Yu's intonations, but Fragment's voice - words came forth in a low, raspy rumble: "Utter sorrow at having failed Him again....our Lord, fallen to one such as she. And the Empress as well..." The great shaggy beast seemed to droop all-over; he had been there, but unable to stop what Samyaza had started.

Too weak...but not forever.

Fyre

"I am told that Qian Lung seeks the Empress, but all I know is here say. I have yet to speak with one who knows what truly happened."
The girl settled to sit on her heels, rock still in hand, as Li Shing continued, "Our brothers Tian Lung and Ying Long were away, and I have been traveling on mortal legs to come to this place."

khiarhu

Having gotten the sense that Li Shing and the girl were none too fond of his host, Yu kept the beast checked - he too spoke through his host, but without taking the fore.

"Of Qian Lung, I know not - nor of what truly happened to our Lord...but the aftermath is not unfamiliar. I - we - were there." Yu/Fragment sighed and settled back on his haunches, tail curled around to cover his feet in a manner much like an oversized dog or cat. "I can relate what I know, if you wish."

Fyre

"I should be grateful for anything you can tell me. The more I know, the better I can decide how to proceed." The girl, May, was watching Fragment while Li Shing spoke, and relaxed a bit, as he sat.

"Tien Yue and Zhijian, along with Qian Lung and Futs Lung move to undo what has been done, and I would assist them in any way I can."

khiarhu

With a nod, Yu brought the story forward once more - concise in the telling, but leaving out nothing that warranted knowing.

"One from a place called the Ashlands, the Grigori Samyaza, came and took His name using Void. Unmaking our Lord, essentially, and setting this into motion. She also took the Empress' left arm from her so that she would be able to bring more of her kind across from the Ashlands. At the time, we did not realize this - she had hidden the arm in the Void inside herself - Gianfar, Knowledge, was the first to understand what had happened." Fragment paused to look around a bit, then chuffed and continued at Yu's gentle insistence -- he really hated the waiting, the endless words.

"Many were gathered at the Door - god, godling and mortal alike - but none were able to stop her from casting a Void wall to bar the way and escaping. Gianfar told us later of four weapons that may harm the Grigori...but said little about the Thing that has taken place of the Crown, save that it is Gehenna - the End."

There was more, but that was something that he and Gianfar had done after, and had very little to do with the actual start of The End.

Fyre

May nodded, slowly. It might have been the first time everything Li Shing and other gods had talked about began to make any sort of sense to her. It was Li Shing who continued to speak, however.

"Tien Yue told me of the weapons. I will speak with Gainfar myself, for they must be gathered. For many reasons, though," He growled low in May's throat, "I would like to see one through the heart of Samyaza by my own hand or anyone else's." The information filled in many gaps for Li Shing, although it still left some small doubt as to the Grigori's final intent. Perhaps they simply wished to see the world shattered so that they might remake it in their own image and be gods themselves...

khiarhu

Unfortunately, the Grigori's intent was not something they knew -- at least, not with any certainty. However, May/Li Shing's sentiments were completely agreed with and the black beast nodded it's head again.

"We too, would like to tear her apart, Brother. She has caused much trouble for us all." His fur rippled as though alive, each strand twitching and crackling. "There is, I believe, a great deal of motion at the Pantheon...and speaking with the Lore-Keeper is an excellent idea."

Fyre

"I will join Zhijian later and seek him out. I imagine there is much he can tell us aside from how to search for ancient weapons."
May felt the dragons urge to pace, and fidgeted a bit, rocked in on her heels.
"Tien Yue spoke of many plans and possibilities, but as yet it is impossible to know what all are doing, and no one possesses all the information. I have heard Futs Lung seeks manacles to bind Ghenna, but both Zhijian and Tien Yue spoke of a prophecy that says they cannot hold for long. There was also a prophecy in which five dragons attacked Ghenna and all were destroyed."

khiarhu

Inwardly, Yu was pacing - outwardly the beast sat calmly, muzzle skinning back a bit in a sick parody of a grin. 'The Fate-Stones held that prophecy. I too know of it...our Brothers seek to find a better Way.'

"The End chose Alpha, not Alpha choosing the End -- Dragon and god and mortal alike must fight! Fight or die or die fighting!" Fragment cut in and chuckled deep in his chest, all six eyes blinking slowly, movement staggered so he was never blinded...never kept from watching the girl with her rock.

'We must all do what we can. I too would join Zhijian and Tian Yue in the hunt for another answer.' He wanted desperately to return to the old Pantheon, to see if any of his memories would return to him. Two failed hosts and one that was utterly insane did not make for the best of chances!

"Yes yes yes - much to do, yet Dragons linger. Words. Endless words when actions speak so much louder!"

Fyre

"Unguided actions are folly, to act for the sake of acting without plan or understanding dooms you and all who follow you." The dragon in May said, sharply, "Better to spend time on words then to throw yourself into a trap, or exchange blows with one who is not your enemy. At the moment, beast, there is nothing to fight. Would you attach disease, drought, and disaster with tooth and claw?"

May lifted her brows at Li Shing's own frustration. She suspected if it were possible he would fight those things, and be more at ease then he was now.

khiarhu

'My host is not right in the head, you will - of course - forgive him his excitement and rash words.' Fragment could not help his inclination to run headlong at the situation -- that was how he had even managed to get Yu's gem inserted into him; it was also how he had lost a paw (and later regrown it) to the Void.

'He does not think as you or I Brother, or as your own Host. Rightly, he would attack those things, as would I, had I any thought it might work.' But knowing it would not kept the Dragon King in check, kept him working in other ways towards a solution.

Fyre

"I admit I prefer a clear battle to fight. But we must rise to the task before us, regardless." Both may and Li Shing sighed, "What will you do, brother? Shall I bring you news from Gainfar when I have it?"

khiarhu

'Agreed. We must succeed, no matter the costs.' Ah, that would be brilliant, yes - he would be free to roam the Pantheon and see what others yet dwelling there may know, and Li Shing would meet with Gianfar...later, they could come together and swap information again. Splendid.

'That would be excellent. I believe there yet may be people within the Pantheon - or very near to it - that may have information that is useful. I plan to seek them out and learn what I can.' A pause as the beast licked it's chops, 'Of course, I will share any findings.' It only made sense to do so - they were all in this together.

Fyre

May and Li Shing nodded in agreement, it might have been either of the who did but it was Li Shing who spoke "There must be. I spoke with a servant of Tien Yue who suggested there were many who had information, although he was less then clear about whom - time has not been kind to him."
Every general knows the importance of division of labor, and Li Shing was used to trusting his brothers abilities. Whatever his opinion of the host, he had no doubts about Yu.
"It is agreed then. There is much still that we do not know, and many others who may be taking separate courses to try and prevent was may come. I shall seek you out, when I have spoken to Gianfar."

khiarhu

Fragment was behaving, so Yu released some of his hold on the beast and spoke through him without having to choke-hold the beast. "I will search the grounds first, then outside. Perhaps the Empress will be in a better condition now to speak of what she may know." Since she'd been comatose the last he'd seen of her. "Yes - it would be good to piece as much together as we can. Seek me here, Brother. I do not stray far from Him for long."

It seemed as though they had spoken all they would for the moment - they had delegated tasks and a loose plan to go by. The beast rose to its feet but made no overt gestures towards Li Shing's host; Fragment was edgy and wanted to go now. He was just as eager to stop the End as Xia Lu was.

If the world Ended, he couldn't "play" with Ashoka again - and that would be quite the pity.

"Until next we meet, Brother. Host." He turned and trotted off, massive paws leaving little indentations in the remaining vegetation as he left.

[khiarhu]

...//PRP - Look what I have biggrin (Plague)

Meepfur

With Zhiji out hunting, Ashoka slunk out of the room and down the stairs, looking for a certain six-eyed, fluffy canine. She really didn't want to leave the room, to be honest, as instinct combined with her already eccentric nature had led to an obsessive fixation on her eggs. They were hers, and she needed to keep them warm and comfortable and safe, which was why she'd kept them to herself until now.

But now she needed some help with the warm and comfortable part, because Zhijian had disapproved of her choice of nesting materials.

"Fraaaagment," she called, peering around the dark lower level.

Syrie

Fragment and the Dragon held inside his body were - at that moment - sprawled out in front of Harmodius' chambers. They had discovered his doors while wandering about the Pantheon looking for information and now felt this shadowy corner was quite the place for a Dragon to sleep.

He would have been curled around the Pod, but...there was entirely too much activity near that damned thing most times, so it made for poor sleeping. Plus, the blond godling that tended the pod was just a little creepy, in his opinion.

The beast's ears pricked -- Ah, 'Shoka was calling to him! He brought his head up and came to his feet so he could pad towards the sound of her voice. "'Shooooka~"

Meepfur

"You're here!" Delight and relief flooded both her face and her voice, and she wriggled. "I have a se~cret. Come and see? Please?" Ashoka was clearly and uncharacteristically anxious. Even knowing nothing would happen to them, she wasn't at all comfortable being away from her little treasures.

Syrie

The Pardess was uncharacteristically anxious about something, so he did not bandy his cryptic words at her; even this broken creature knew better than to screw around with a distressed woman.

"A se-cret, 'Shoka? Show me this se-cret." He padded over to her and rubbed his head against her waist before waiting to follow wherever she may lead.

Meepfur

"Yess, a secret~!" She led Fragment to the stairs, which she trotted up on all fours, then stood again to pad down the hall, where she pushed open the door. There was nothing particularly secret- or strange- looking right off the bat, as she'd since fixed Zhijian's bed, but the cushions were gone from the chair and couch.

Ashoka had built a little 'fort' with them in the corner, using them as walls so that her babies wouldn't go rolling. She gestured the dragon-host over to peek in, tail swishing as she beamed with pride. Now that she was back in the same room, she felt much better.

Syrie

Up the stairs and down the hall to Zhijian's room. Xia Lu's curiosity was piqued by this point - and tinted with a little bit of dread. What could the girl possibly be showing them? Granted, she was as fanciful as his own host was broken, so the thought of spawn didn't pass across his thoughts.

Until host and Dragon were peering down at two pitch-colored eggs. Eggs.

"..." Fragment poked his head over so he could sniff at the eggs; they scented of Ashoka and...his own strange self. Eggs? "These...are...yours. And...mine?"

Yu was utterly horrified. His Host had spawned.

Meepfur

"Babies!" Ashoka crowed in confirmation, before leaning down to coo at the shell-cased bundles of adorable. "Aren't they cuuuute?" Yes, she was absolutely positive that the black eggs were the cutest things ever, despite being...well, eggs.

"Need a better nest, though," she sniffed, rubbing at her scabbed cheek. "Zhiji wouldn't let us use his bed-furs, even though they're comfy."

Syrie

Cute? Spawn was not cute - Fragment felt no real connection to the eggs; they were eggs and meant to be eaten in his mind. Of course, he wouldn't eat them - they made 'Shoka happy so if she wanted to tend them, she could.

The beast whuffed and snorted. "We will bring you soft things, 'Shoka. Eggs should be...comfy, yes." Marks on her cheek. Ah - Treasure's Brother had struck her - his hackles rose slowly but he knew that Yu would not allow him retaliation.

Yu confirmed that thought and settled back to dwell on this most...unnerving development. He could well imagine that Zhiji's reaction had been about the same as his own would have been; he would sorely like to smack his fragmented host. Who could have guessed the monster even had the ability to create life?

Meepfur

Happily oblivious to Fragment's thoughts when it came to eggs, Ashoka threw her arms around the fluffy host and nuzzled. "We knew you would help!" It wasn't Fragment's use of plural rubbing off on her, or at least mostly not - she had decided to talk for the eggs, too, not that she actually had any idea what they were thinking, or if they were thinking at all yet. "Not supposed to leave them, even for comfy things."

Syrie

The beast rubbed his head against the Pardess and made a rumbling sound, a pleased sound.

"Stay. Watch eggs. We will go and return with many soft things." She was right, the eggs shouldn't be left alone -- what if someone else wanted to eat them? Someone else that wasn't as inclined to keep Ashoka happy?

Meepfur

"I will make a better nest this time, with your soft things." Ashoka nodded and purred happily, dilemma finally gone. All was once again right in her world - not only was the world probably not going to end, she had cute eggs, and Fragment was going to go get soft things so she could stay with her cute eggs.

Syrie

Ashoka relaxed and Fragment understood that the unsettled feelings she'd had were entirely linked to their eggs. Okay, that wasn't so bad. Now he just had to go and take soft things - the softest available - and bring them back.

"Yes yes yes. Better nest, this time." He licked her cheek and flicked his tail. "Does 'Shoka want anything else, while we are hunting soft things?" Yu had been the one behind that question; Fragment wouldn't have thought to offer anything else. His mind wasn't that together.

Meepfur

It was a good thing Yu thought to ask, because it wouldn't have occurred to Ashoka to ask for anything else, either. "Food? Zhiji is kind of angry that I used his bed, and I don't think he's going to share."

She had cached some edibles before laying her eggs, but she'd eaten through the last of them a couple of days ago.

Syrie

Again, his fur stood on end at hearing that Zhiji wasn't treating his 'Shoka well, but Yu stomped that down by reminding Fragment that there were more important things to worry about.

"Yes. We will bring food and soft things when we return." Fragment twined his tail around the woman's leg and then released her; he saw no point in wasting time -- it would be easier to loot the leavings of the humans in the light...and as for food...well, that would take some effort as the mortals remaining were fighting desperately to keep what they had.

Not that he would let a mortal stop him from taking what he wanted.

Syrie

Fragment trotted off after a few more sniffs at the eggs - his eggs - and made his way out of the Pantheon; purpose in each padded foot-fall.

He would not return for several hours, and when he did return, he was not alone. A girl came with; filthy and too-thin from the hardships the End was putting on mortals. She was pulling a shopping cart behind her and had eyes only for the black beast guiding her.

"Shoka! I bring soft-things and food." Across Fragment's broad back, furs and blankets had been tied with a heavy rope. The girl - or the Pardess - would need to open the door to Zhiji's chambers for him.

Meepfur

The longer he took, the more Ashoka worried that Zhijian might come back first - not that Zhijian would object to Fragment's fetching of things, but overall he was quite unhappy with his brother's host. After all, he hadn't just stolen his only servant, his only servant now had eggs she was absolutely obsessed with. Still, it remained for now nothing more than a worry.

She sprang up and scuttled to open the door at the sound of Fragment's voice. Now she could have a nest! But who was that? She blinked at the filthy girl for a moment before offering a friendly smile. Whoever she was, she had stuff!

Syrie

"Blessed, bring the cart in. Where does the food go, 'Shoka?" The girl's cart was heavy with food, water in containers and a few pillows and blankets. Most of the soft items were strapped to Fragment's back.

"She won't harm you, or the eggs. Blessed belongs to...Yu." He shifted enough that the ropes holding the pile of soft to his broad back loosened so he could step out of them, then changed into a humanoid form, fur and scales and all.

In the pile there were many soft blankets - flannel and microfiber and down - and also furs. Fragment had raided several stores, one of which had catered to wealthy women that wanted dead animal draped across their expansive bodies. Rabbit and mink and god only knew what else. There were smaller items too, baby blankets and even a bathroom mat or two! He hadn't discriminated save that the items had to be soft and comfortable.

Meepfur

Food and water! And lots of it! "Umm...there?" She pointed off in the direction of a side room before occupying herself with the soft things, rustling busily through the pile. "Yes, there will work."

And these would work fabulously! She sorted through Fragment's findings, putting like things with like before scooting back to see what she had to work with. The bath mats could go on the bottom, yes, and...

Ashoka quickly dismantled her cushion-fort only to re-erect it a few feet away and set the eggs carefully within again so that the corner could become the site for the new, better nest. She even made sure to nuzzle gratefully at Fragment before going to work.

Syrie

He grunted in a pleased manner and shifted back to his bestial form so that he could settle to the floor and watch both women at their tasks.

The girl stood blankly only for a moment after Ashoka had gestured where she wanted the consumables to be set. A nod from Fragment was all she needed to set herself back into motion, pushing the cart and moving the food into the side room as directed. Thin as she was, she worked quickly and quietly and in no time was done and back standing before Fragment expectantly.

"Return to Harlan, Blessed. Give him my thanks." Yu sighed and watched the slim woman-child leaving Zhiji's quarters. She believed in him...she did as he asked. It wasn't enough, but it was something. Attention returned to the Pardess and her eggs, Dragon and host lay their shared head across their front paws and rested.

Meepfur

When it came to entertainment, nest-building was hardly the most thrilling thing in the world to watch. Interesting, maybe, but a rather tedious process. The bath mats went down first, a conveniently non-skid base to build on, and then she began with the rest - furs first, then down, then flannel, and then microfiber. Microfiber blankets happened to be her favorite, and the nest was for her, too. Furs were the bottom to keep them safest when the eggs hatched, since it would be messy and fur would be harder to wash.

Finally the baby blankets went down, and then she scooted over to Fragment, eyeing his fluffiness. It would be very good for nest-lining, oh yes...and so she set to finger-combing it, hoping for loose bits.

Syrie

No, watching Ashoka building her nest was not the most entertaining thing that Fragment (or Yu) had ever done, but they were tired and welcomed the chance to just lay. To be lazy and sprawl on the floor.

And then there was the grooming. It wasn't truly fur that coated the beast, but cells...held to a form by the monster's will alone. However, he could shed pieces, if he so wished - and once he knew what Ashoka's purpose was...he let her pick fluff from his coat. Loosing such little bits would not harm him at all and the grooming felt very good. It wouldn't take long before his eyes were nearly shut and his tail barely twitching.

Meepfur

At first, she was disappointed when nothing came loose, but then it seemed she finally found the right spot, and fluff started to come away. Pleased, she continued her grooming/fluff-collection until she was satisfied with the amount and returned to her nest to line it with Fragment's fluff.

Finally deeming it suitable, she gingerly moved the eggs to their new nest, fussing until she thought they were as comfortable as could be. The finishing touch was to pull a couch cushion over to act as a side wall, so that it was 'secure' on three sides.

Syrie

No more grooming? Fragment lifted his head and cracked his jaws open wide for a yawn after Ashoka returned to her nest-building. "Nest is good, yes yes yes?" And now she had food - things that were pop-topped canned, or boxed and needed water, jerked meat and dried items...Harlan and the girl had helped him fetch foods (Fragment would have just slaughtered a mortal or two and brought the corpses back, but Yu had insisted they see his followers).

"Good, yes? Zhiji will be fine, yes?"

Meepfur

"Very good," Ashoka affirmed, curling around the now-comfy eggs so that she was comfy too. Her tail curled and swayed, an absent sign of her contentment.

"He will still be annoyed, but he will be fine. Not using his presents anymore, so he will be fine."

Syrie

"Good."

The beast rose to his feet and stretched, slinking off into the side room where the food had been placed by the girl named Blessed; he returned a few short moments later with water and some jerked meat. 'Shoka had said she had eaten her food days past, so...she must be hungry. Yu's logic, once again helped his host to not be utterly careless with the mother of his...spawn.

"Eat. Rest. We go to find information, but will return." Once in a while, to check on the pretty Pardess and her clutch of eggs. Dragon and host did have a 'job' to do, however and that did come first. There was no point in anyone's spawn if the world were going to end.

Meepfur

Ashoka accepted the food and water with a happy purr, and wasted no time in starting to nibble. Yes, it had been very worth it to leave her eggs to find Fragment, even if it had been very hard. Now she wouldn't have to leave them again at all!

"Bye bye, Fragment~"

[khiarhu]

...//PRP - Toppled Pillars

Ivynian

Focus, in the raging of breaking cords and whiplashing fibers of the unfurling of all, was easier said then done. And he was weary, weary in doing so little and drained by some outward force that barely defined itself through his memories.

It was not dissimilar to the Fading, only it was more...

something. Mortal words and speech, that which he was tied and left to descry the stuff around and inside him with, seemed to have too many words and not a single one that could encapsule the whole of the madness.

Maybe that would be enough, itself: Madness.

But focus he did finally achieve, puling star upon star in and out of himself and shifting here or there and found the last weak glimmers of the Emblem Pillar that echoed with some old, dead and quieted rhythm....barely, barely.

But it was there and it was unmistakable. Here was one of the Dragon Kings that had only just been brought from the brink. Universe took bodily form, coalesced in stars and shadowed nebula and walked to find this King.

Syrie

Yu was musing over his meeting with Li Shing and his host as he trotted back towards the front of the Pantheon to re-enter the ash-covered building. As he had told his Brother-dragon, there were people there that might know things - he would find them (or they would find him, as it were).

Fragment caught a strange scent, familiar and yet unfamiliar; not unusual for the Pantheon as there were a great many that he did not know - it was no cause for too much thought though he did wonder if the person attached to the scent would have any information for his Dragon.

Naturally, he had no idea that one such was actively pursuing him.

Ivynian

"If the simpleton teeth of a mortal host seek to tear into me they shall find themselves removed of them." Lucius snarled. Dragon or no, he did not stoop to fear of hosts. "Just the same I speak to you both. Host and god."

The god spoke in voice separate easily. Either he was very, very close to his emergence, or like so many of the others Lucius had already noted about the complex, a fool. They all spoke early and often, burning through themselves and their powers like greedy fires.


"Is much memory left to you, Emblem Pillar?"

Syrie

Fragment's fur twitched and rippled at the tone in the other man's voice - it was delightfully autocratic and smacked of power. Here was one he would enjoy fighting with, had he the chance.

"Easily fixed, teeth." But the beast only cracked it's jaws to laugh silently; laying back to allow his Treasure control as that was what was wanted of him.

Perhaps Yu was a fool - speaking through his host, but perhaps not. They had - at the start - held court mainly with Fragment speaking for both. 'Flashes and glimmers of the past come but sparingly. Nay, I remember little.' Inwardly, he grumbled about this - it was a sore spot indeed. 'Why do you ask, Stranger?'

Ivynian

"'Stranger' then to you the very stars must seem above, Yu. I am Universe. "

No memory at all. Flashes. Phantoms did little good as it was before with him. Misinterpreted they could only go astray, if they could be called forth and be useful images distinct enough to decipher anyway.

And this thing, distasteful, didn't seem much worth bothering with. Jogging of memories, while an original aim, seemed less and less profitable as the seconds of staring at the dragon source waned.


"If there is not memory, it is just as well. You brothers will no doubt trouble you with the findings of this and other fore days. Worldshield and I checked Harmodius' chambers, and found there some tomes. They set me to thinking, your title of old was the Emblem Pillar. The symbol and seat of the Power of the Throne. There was small chance that something may have been left to you. I see it is not so."

Syrie

Universe? There was a bit of duality in the voice that wound around Lucius' title and crooned it- Host and Dragon. 'Universe...Yes, much is strange this go 'round.' No apology, but the beast seemed to dip it's massive head to him.

No, there were no large spans of his past life - little was left after a failed implantation and what amounted to nearly another. Closer in memory to the Dragon was the deep thrum of Destruction all around him.

"Found lacking again, disappointments abound." Fragment whuffed and sat back on his haunches, heavy head lifting with some sort of pride in the gem-dragon inside him, in his own self. "Treasure weaves and supports thiscreature - memories come seldom, but one's purpose does not change."

'You speak as though there would be no chance, Universe. I recall little, but some. As long as there is the smallest fragment of myself, I will take any chance.' He pulled back and let the beast speak for him for a moment; he was annoyed that this one would seek him and then dismiss him so easily.

"Were we not the last Dragon King standing, at the Fading? Watching Brother after Brother fall. Shadows of what we once were."

[khiarhu]

...//Solo - Without A Name

Talking with Universe had been...interesting. Xia Lu wasn't certain about the God of the Skies at all and Fragment...well, he would have been quite happy to see if the man bled stardust when flesh was rent with teeth. Not from ire or dislike, but simply because. It was in his nature - a nature that Yu Five Claw held in check far more easily now than he had when first fused with his mercurial host.

"Lacking again, my Treasure. A pity there are no memories...only faint flutters of nothing in our head."

Fragment's lips skinned back to reveal wicked teeth to no one. He was alone - his whelp still with Ashoka as they were young and nursing - and his companion a spirit bound to his flesh as surely as he himself were. It wasn't the first time since their encounter with Lucius that this topic had come up. It was becoming trying for the Dragon King to hear his host fixating upon his lack.

'Enough. There are memories, I am certain. Universe was not so inclined to seek them, but they must be there.' But would they be enough? Would the shreds of his past be worth anything in the mangled, rotted state they must be in after so much time; so many failures? Xia Lu did not know but he was not willing to give up so easily.

'You and I, we will seek the memories within.' For both their sakes.

***

Drifting...drifting. Fragment had procured both incense and weed (which he had learned of from Ellis, host to Neva of Winter) though neither had been easy to find. Only his sharp senses and a smattering of information from some of Harlan's wards had aided him in his quest. Perhaps peyote or some other hallucinogen would have been better, but he had not time to seek out things for which he had no information about. Incense and marijuana burned in small, hammered metal holders; they left the air thick with a sharp-but-heady set of scents. Smoke-streams twined together and sought to fill Fragment's lungs with a smokey-sweetness.

Some of the weed had been smoked as it had been meant to and the beast was feeling lethargic, it's mind drifting loose and free- unfocused on anything and yet entirely focused on nothing.

'I am Xia Lu Ling, Yu the Five Claws. Dragon King and Emblem Pillar. Who are you?' Words. Lots of words. Words that crept through his mind and fumbled and fought to take a form and order that would allow the beast's brain to translate them into something intelligible. Words to ask and words to know.

Paths of discovery, being woven with the broken and frayed pieces left Behind.

"There is no name, Treasure. You know this." He hissed back at the King; eyes closing so that he could "see" within. The two took shape in Fragment's mind - vague and watery; shadows of shapes. Drifting, wispy...but real enough to the pair. "Don't..."

"...tease. I would not." But he would ask. Yu could feel, easily, the creature's pain and frustration. It had no name. Only something it could be called by: Fragment. A foul curse more than a name, perhaps. But Xia Lu Ling could not name his host any more than his host could name him. Harmodius could likely have given Fragment a True Name, but then...that could have caused problems.

With a name came power. Many cultures believed this. Beasts certainly did. The power of one's True Name had even been made into stories: bard-songs, books and even musicals later. The knowledge of this was there - inside the Dragon King--

--and strangely enough, inside Fragment as well!

Curious and curiouser. The creature had no name but the knowledge of Names belonged to it.

"Part of something Whole once, with a name. But no more Treasure, no more. There is no Name." Deep, deeper. The incense and drugs pulled the beast further into a trance-like state.

Before them, in the mind-scape, a large stone materialized. Inside it, silvery-golden liquid swirled. Fragment reached for the lip of the bird-bath shaped object and then fell into it headfirst. No liquid splashed out - it merely swallowed the pitch shadow-shape into itself as Yu watched.

"Memories...Host, give them to me. Give me your all that I might devour it as my own!" Words again. Words came across fabricated lips and were born into the vast shadowy mind-space, echoing only after he felt they must. Slowly, so slowly Xia Lu didn't notice it at first, the liquid pool began to swirl counter-clockwise. An image began to take shape - the world. Through his host's eyes. Before.

Not a world he knew, but the space Fragment referred to as the "InBetween". It was not the Void, but something Other...something perhaps close to the Void - or even born from it somehow...but as they had learned with Gianfar MourningdovewhitescholardcolourlessbirdKNOWLEDGE...notVoid. The Dragon King watched intently as time ran backwards; he watched Fragment attacking his Brother-Dragon's chosen host. He watched the beast's ceaseless, lonely journey through the emptiness.

Watched - but was not part of. They were not his. And though he had spoken of taking them into himself, claiming them, he felt it was not yet time.

Running running running. Anbu of the Shadows. Strong and fierce and watching through the eyes of one watching. Curious that his host would watch another...curious that it was not Fragment with the Black Jackal, but the Other. Yu was interested in this Other -- the Original, the one from which his fractured shadowy host had broken from. Magic and smoke and mirrors and nothing that now tight around his own spirit (let alone that of his host).

It was a good thing indeed that the beast did not have much to begin with or their 'arrangements' would have been quite harder to bear.

Further, further -- time moved back like quicksilver. Glinting and jumping and jerking in the deep stone basin. Limitless until they reached the bottom of the creature's memories. How long his host had wandered a spectre, hunting and haunting the shape-shifter that he had once been part of, Xia Lu Ling could not know - only that it had been a great stretch of time. Long enough for Fragment to have gone from barely there at all to something reasonably solid as he had been when Destruction had impressed His will upon him.

The thick liquid changed it's direction, swirling clock-wise. Images began to seem sensible once more.

In the silence, there was pain. Splintering, fractured light and great pain. sound came - a great rushing-roaring-screaming. So many screams. The thick, coppery-sweet metallic tang of blood and magic crawled across the back of his tongue. At his feet, a boy-child: Broken. Dead. Claws, massive and soaked in blood curled into fists as he turned; seeking out more. Seeking...something. Someone.

More screaming. Panic and fear heavy in the air, almost tangible. Ambrosia. Arousing. Horrifying. Terrible. There was blood and flesh and bones cracking-crunching-breaking-shattering under his teeth. A flash and then blinding, pure pain. White. So white and painful and things were moving forwards again - playing and replaying in some sort of grotesque ballet...

Yu staggered against the basin, holding onto the lip as though it would save him from the turbulent nightmarish memories before him. They were not whole - something was missing. It came in and out of focus and clarity with such a random manner that he would have thought harder on it save that he knew his host was simply a part of whatever that Thing had been.

"Fragment!" The Dragon King pulled himself - his host's consciousness was deep inside the stone, liquid and trembling. Scenes played out in forward motion, going past Fragment's being thrown free, past the frightened children being sent home...past the quiet talks between the tainted unicorn Miako and the older woman that had helped nurse his host's Other back to health. Endless, slow days spun out before Yu - but he knew now that there had been other names that could have fit. Gallu. That was what the pair of women had referred to the rampaging beast as - it was fitting. A shape-changing lower demon. Very fitting.

Right then he decided that he could not allow Fragment to know and adopt that name. He could not allow there to be a chance that the creature would try to fight him. Xia Lu Ling would continue to dwell in a host without a name.

Yu did not wish to relive more - he shifted, pulling from the wisps of memory a form that felt right, but that he could not quite see. A shadow-dragon. A smoky, dusky ghost with indistinct scales shining like mercury. The stone basin cracked and chipped as he lifted it with heavy claws; teeth flashed as his maw opened and the liquid went pouring down, images still playing as he devoured the liquid.

A harsh sound came from 'within' the Dragon King; he rose up, thrashing his head and roaring inside their mind. Moments ticked by as the great dragon thrashed and bellowed it's pain and irritation; the end came with a loud, wet sound as Fragment was hacked up and spat out before the dragon's quivering, shadowy form.

"You and I are connected - I will not let you live, but your memory will not die, host. It is mine now, with your body." Yu's mind-form returned to what it had been before as he spoke. "You have no name, but your purpose is greater than your name. Your trials to be More are done."

The creature simply watched the Dragon King - even here, inside the mind, his limbs were too heavy; his body drowsy and unresponsive. Yu felt it too, but less - as was his will.

"My purpose is You." And with those words he fell into a heavy, drug induced slumber.

[khiarhu]

...//Solo - The Ghosts of Yu

As the drug-and-incense combination had worked remarkably well for the little soulmemory-searching adventure with Fragment, so Yu and his host went for the same effect again. However, this time they were not seeking out any part of the host-beast but rather any bits of the Dragon King's past that could be stirred up in such a state.

Hell had crashed in and made all rotted and unwell. Weeks moved and their world rotted and changedfor the worse. He had to know if there were anything...anything that could have possibly helped them. It was the Dragon King's nature to support his Crown - regardless of his form. Or lack of.

'Worlds collide, Host. Ages pass. We are not as mortals, but we died...' Yu's voice filtered up through the murk of Fragment's mind; slow and silky - as his host's body was affected, so too was he.

"A woman..." Beast and God breathed the words and reflected inward. They saw Blessed, Harlan's near-mute ward but they saw something behind her as well. A face beyond a face...

Delicate and pale with un-seeing eyes. Laughter and...sharp tones. A time when He was not HE. Yu twitched inside his mind, coiling and diving deep, deeper into himself to tear out memories that went beyond the failed fusion proposed by the Plague-God.

Yes, he remembered that. He remembered the man, Eddard - the second Failure. But that told him nothing, so he pushed past those wobbly memories and went further back. It was dream-like and muted; very...distant. But he saw her. The girl. Edana. The First failed Host. Her host.

Watery Recollections

Slipping out of bed Edana could tell it was going to be a weird day. She could feel it. Her hands nimbly traveled over the soft down filled duvet to the house coat she'd flung at the end of the bed. Grabbing it she wrapped it around her. The cold was beginning to take nest in her bones, she'd have to move quickly if she wanted to beat it. With the coat wrapped snugly around her she began searching for her cane. Then she remembered, it was in the living room. Cursing softly as she got to her feet she made her way to the door of her room. So far so good.

Then she reached out in to the hallway, one arm desperately grasping for air, a wall, anything. It landed on a picture. Moving forward she clung to the wall like a gecko with it's toes all curled out. It seemed to take ages to reach the living room door, but she'd managed it. Her hand reached for the doorknob, a shiver coursed through her entire body. Stepping forward she opened the door, but instead of the soft fragrant familiar smell of the den she was met with the harsh scent of heat, of fire. Of death.

It was early, too early for most, the grey light or predawn was filtering through the stained panes, sending pale shadows of colour across the bodies the arched and writhed in carven agony along the walls. Destruction lay soread like fallen icarus on one of the round rounches, wings unfurled and beneath him spilling over the plush edges onto the floor.

He heard a small, startled intake of breath nearby, likely in the vicinity of the archway between the throne and entry room. He made no answer nor motion to move, chuckling inwardly. Let her wander this way and find him by touch. The startle woudl be all the sweeter.

Inching forward and finding nothing to hold onto she instinctively reached back for the door, but found it gone. Her heart fluttered like a hummingbird. Was she dreaming? This had to be a dream. She calmed her heart and mind, in order to listen to the world around her but she heard nothing. It was so still, like a tomb. She could feel pieces of sunlight breaking through. She took a step forward relying on her sense to guide her. Forward again, and again until her foot hit softness. A chair? A person? Her heart quickened again as she tentatively reached an ivory hand towards whatever lay before her.

A silky smoothness, with rough grain running through it. It reminded her of the wings of a bat. Strong, and dangerous, yet achingly beautiful. Her hand slowly traveled along the thing until she encountered a new sensation. Heat.....a heat that scorched the soul, consummed passion, ravaged worlds. But instead of shying away she felt herself become drawn to it, she wanted more of it, to be close to it for all time.

He slowly shifted his hand over hers, pressing her thin fingers and palm against the top of his thigh where they traced, and listened for her breath.

"The passion for destruction is also a creative passion....and what is the name that houses these passions? Your name, little one, before your hand discovers more then you ought for your age."

Feeling a hand cover her own Edana inhaled sharply. Was this a person, laying before her? Then there was a voice. Velvety and smooth, like a deep dark well. Her mind was in a frenzy, and every inch of her body was screaming for her to leave, to turn and run, but something made her stay; a feeling....a very familiar feeling, as if she'd met this creature before.

Her lips parted in an attempt to speak, but managed only a whisper. "Edana Myrddin."

He sat up, and effortless work of his flat stomach and lifted her hand to his lips, kissing the back just above her knuckles. "Welcome then, such as it is, to the home of the Edelsteine. You may call me Harmodius. You seem recently waked, and disheveled. May I offer you a seat? You weren't expecting to come here, I am aware, but that happens often to those drawn to this place. I assure you, you're quite safe."

Her cheeks flushed at his touch, and at his mention of her appearance. She'd completely forgotten that she was dressed in nothing but a silk nightgown and robe.

Finding her voice, she nodded. "Thank you. A seat would be most appreciated." A shy smile found it's way to her lips as her free hand reached out for the empty space next to Harmodius. Once seated her hands flew to her hair and robe in an effort to straighten them as best she could. Sitting next to him the feeling of recognition was even stronger. "Harmodius you say....and Edelsteine? I've never heard of such things before. Am I safe to assume that I'm no longer at Willow Manor? or possibly even earth?" Her voice was a little shaky now, as she tried to wrap her head around the situation...but she still couldn't shake the feeling that she knew this Harmodius. Nervously, she extended a hand towards his face. "May I?"

"See me? Yes, you may, in your fashion," He held still for her touch, a smile curling on his lips. "Edelsteine. Jewels of greatest value that house the final powers of dead gods. I am the curator here. Unless your willow manor has a shop inside it of the sort, I shouldn't assume you were still at home. This is neither earth nor any one land, within this shop you are above such things as planes or worlds. You are in all of them."

Edana shifted herself so she was, what she figured to be, facing Harmodius. Her hand extended forward and met with his cheek. Ever so warm... she mused to herself. Slowly her hand traveled down his neck and rested upon his shoulder, at which time she brought up her other hand. Then carefully she moved both hands up his neck, her fingers molding to every ridge and crevice. Then to his jaw, stopping once again to cradle his face. Up to the forehead, then to the eyes, the nose, and lastly his lips. Lips were the most important, it's where one in her position could see a smile, or a frown...any emotion really.

Bringing one hand down beside her, she braced herself and leaned forward, her other hand still resting on his lips. She leaned in near his neck and inhaled deeply. A frown wrinkled her brow as she spoke. "It's strange. You seem so familiar to me, yet I cannot place you. Your face is not familiar, nor your scent. 'Tis very strange."

"Other lives, perhaps other perceptions....." He blew across her fingertips, opening his neck to her examinings. The necklaces and chokers there chinked with the movement. Slowly he reach up and unpinned his hair, letting it fall as a cascade about his shoulders, hot and smooth as freshly glassed black sand or obsidian veined with deep lava glows. He held the elaborate pin a moment and pressed it into her other hand, "It is in the likeness of a dragon....it would match your necklace well."

He stood slowly from her then, chainmail and jewels dragging onto the floor. "Yu....fair scales coiled about blooded moons and half fair chrysanthemum blooms. The Twin Crown broken and halved and rebroken and now reborn in part. Yu, imperial dragon with five toes and five great claws. That is your necklace."

"My necklace?" Her free hand pressed her to her breast momentarily grabbing for her necklace, before admiring the pin. It was similar. Her heart quickened as she felt him rise from beside her.

"Yu..." she pondered for a moment. "Yu....my necklace....There is a god within my necklace?...But that's ridiculous." She shook her head. "My brother gave me this necklace. He would have mentioned having to visit a shop such as yours in order to procure this piece." It didn't make sense. Cerri told her everything.

"They are like to artifacts.....I do not hold all there are in this shop." Not all would find their homes from the confines of the building. He looked down, eyes sharp, at the glinting edges of the dragonscales.

"Your's is a fine piece. She is valuable, and her voice is strong and even. Keep her well, close to you, and she will protect. She was a guardian once, and held in her claws what kept All together."

He slowly strode to the kitchen nearby and quickly fixed some chai, a strong blend of spices and milk, and brought it back to the girl, offering it down. There was no need to heat it by the time he handed it to her....his own grasp did the trick well enough at a bidding.

Edana flushed again, embarrassed by her outburst. Cerri was allowed his secrets, just as much as she was.

Calming herself she reached in her robe and withdrew the jewel. Running her fingers over it she thought on Harmodious' words. Valuable, strong, even....protect. A smile graced her lips. "You knew her then? Before she was reduced to this jewel. Was she precious to you? to others?" Edana wondered where Cerri had acquired the jewel, but either way knowing the stone's history she knew why he'd given it to her. She held it tighter, a solitary tear escaping the confines of her eyelids.

Hearing the musical clink of his clothing, Edana turned her head. The scent of the tea had already reached her when he returned, offering it to her. Releasing the jewel she accepted it heartily. "Many thanks." She inhaled deeply, before taking a sip. "Have many come before me?"

"Perhaps not many yet, but many enough considering the circumstances. These jewels were all but forgotten," he looked about the shop, thinking back through the images that were not entirely of his own perception. So many changes since the damned hands took the first stone.

"Sometimes neither tea nor coffee is warm enough to the body to make it feel at home and awake in the morning. The spice of that drink carries enough history and flavor for it, I think."

He crouched, heels supporting into the backs of his thighs, facing her, looking over her youthful features. "Yes, I knew her. Long ago."

In a way the tea did remind her of home, not that that was what Harmodius meant. Perhaps it was meant to make her feel at home here, in this world?

"You spoke of the jewels finding their homes. Is there a place then that they all belong? How do the stones get to these homes of theirs?"

She could feel his eyes upon her. She wondered what it was he was looking at when his next words crossed his lips. "Will you ever see her again? Do you miss her?" There was an undertone to his words, one she couldn't quite make out. Was it sadness? regret? longing?

"They get where they want to go, passing themselves along until they find their chosen. But that is her story, not mine. She may tell it to you in time." He grinned, so naive this one. The sweetness like honey pastries was puzzling, but if Yu so wished that influence, so be it. It was her choice in the end. This girls frame was, all things considered, laughably small. The image of the great dragoness curled up slight and diminutive like a housecat on his lap, form-for-form proportionally made him chuckle aloud.

"Tai shan." He spoke the name as if it were a summons to wakefulness and a blessing all at once.

Was he laughing at her? She was stunned. Instantly her posture went rigid, and her brow furrowed. She hated being laughed at. No matter how innocent the joke, it always reminded her of her handicap, and the days after the accident.

"I find it intriguing that you're laughing....yet you've failed to say anything amusing."

"Not to you perhaps," Amusement crept in his voice, noting the defensive tone to hers. "Poor dear. Don't worry, your blinded sight means nothing here. Even the blind, when the veil is lifted from the Glory of the beings here, can look on them. Blind eyes *can* see gods. Better not to traumatize you though."

There was arrogance there, but still the pervading amusement, "Dragons the size of cats. That was the joke. Simple, yes? Or do you have claws in those pretty little hands that you would punish me with, after all?"

"Now you're just being patronizing, and I doubt you could traumatize me any more than I already have been." She really didn't know why she was being so defensive, but something in his manner offended her...In his familiarity. Here he was speaking in riddles while she was somewhere far from home, and instead of answering her questions plainly he responded with yet another ridiculous response. He was toying with her, like a cat does with a mouse before it kills it.

Her eyes narrowed. "Is there something for which you wish me to punish you? or for which I should punish you?" Her grip tightened on the mug.

"Only if you're into that sort of thing my dear." He reached down and pet slowly down her shoulder once, letting the texture do the talking. He let his hand drop again, laughing, and the sound grated like breaking earth and obsidian through the hall.

"Patronizing is technically a good this child. Many mortals in the past have died trying to get my attention that I may be their Patron...and show them what gifts and powers I may. But that can wait for a future time. You won't be needing me, or any really, with that trinket from your brother."

Edana felt her cheeks flush. She turned her face away from him as the fire in his touch consume her, if ever so briefly. She was still so young, and ever so innocent, despite her tongue. "You have a cold heart....it echos in your laugh..." She spoke quietly, the words tumbling from her mouth before she could stop them.

Hearing the stone mentioned once again, Edana ran her slender fingers across its surface, enchanted by it. Her head was racing with thoughts. "...but I will need her? The goddess within this stone?"

He considered, and laughed again at her observation. "And why shouldn't I? Do fires pause and stop for pity of the forests they consume? Do swords feel sad for the blood they drink? Or do the very cosmos quake at the thought stars colliding and vanishing in a silent shower, miles across of reacting chemical? Destruction is more force then emotion. Would you touch my heart, that it offends you that it is frozen? "

Another fodder for Creation, it would seem. "You may need her, such a bold mouth as yours."

He didn't sound offended, rather he seemed encouraging. "You have a lot of fire of your own."

A smile crept at the corners of her mouth. "Offend? No, it doesn't offend me. If I feel any emotion towards it I would name it sadness, and pity...for you've gravely miscalculated...is there not another side to destruction, one filled with nothing but emotion?" She inquired, tilting her head slightly to the side. "To destroy oneself for another would that not be guided by emotion? or to destroy one's enemy in battle...does emotion not rule there too? To be without emotion...I would liken that to a life half lived." Her posture had changed, a new found courage perhaps? Her blood was hot, coursing through her veins, it awakened a desire to challenge, to push, to explore.. Her face was flushed, but no longer from embarrassment. Setting the mug aside, she rose in a fluid motion to her feet, and angled her head in the direction of Harmodius.

"Is that a threat? That I will need her protection." She paused. "...You were there weren't you.." The fog was beginning to lift. "You were there, that day. The day I lost my sight. I realize now why you seem so familiar to me Your mark was everywhere that day." She inhaled deeply, clarity falling upon her shoulders like a veil

He smirked, "Pity? Now that is a dangerous thing to say. You pity me? And claim miscalculation. Such an ego, my girl, such pride now in the face of absolutes. You *are* perfect for the task." Destruction shifted, slowly going to the front door.

"Focus on you home, and when you go through a door here, it will take you back. Or stay if you like, maybe you can meet some of the others who carry the guardian dragons. There are yet some that must find their homes."

Edana's heart lept out of her chest. Such arrogance...it was infuriating. Did he expect her to just lie down and take it? Her temper was flaring, and she could feel sweat beading at her temples. But she didn't move a muscle, she couldn't. Fear and loathing had rooted her to the spot. How she hated him at that second, and yet as she dwelled upon his words her anger was dissipated by a queasy, unfamiliar feeling in the pit of her stomach that was beginning to overwhelm her.

Facing the ground her mind fluttered, she'd offended...vexed him. A feeling a failure and shame washed over her. Why couldn't she control her tongue? He'd been kind, arrogant but kind, and she'd repaid him with a lashing...why? Because he'd put her in her place? Because he had a cold heart? She met people every day with cold hearts, why did his matter so much? She was a prideful creature indeed. A senseless, prideful creature; for he was right of course. What room did destruction have for emotion? What good did it serve men on the battlefield? They needed clarity of mind, and body, unhindered by emotion. And that's what he was, perfect clarity. Calm, calculating, unemotional. The Ultimate. Emotion only threatened this perfection. It made one weak, or overconfident. It added insecurity to the hand.

Bringing her hands to her face she wiped away the sweat that had collected there, and....tears? There were a few. "Wait..." Lowering her hands, she attempted to speak, but her throat could barely squeak out the sound. "Wait!" She tried again. "What do you mean 'perfect for the task'? What task? Why am I really here?" Distraught, she moved as if to follow him, but then stopped realizing she didn't know where he was. Her heart had slowed, and she listened for any sound of his, the chainmail, the jewels, his breath...

The room was silent, but for the heavy flutters of the torches and the occasional flutter of a decorative scrim. Somewhere outside it seemed the heavy drag of chainmail echoed, but the breeze from what must be the door was hot, dry and uninviting. It smelled like ash, and as if on cue a thin, blistering breeze picked up and whirled the residual ash on the florr from Destruction's wings around her.

Her heart sank, as weakness overcame her. But despite her physical state she was still listening intently but heard nothing; only silence and the occasional flicker of a torch. Normally she'd welcome the silence, but not now. All she'd hoped for was a sound, anything really, a sigh, a breath, a growl, a hiss...anything to know that he was still there.

But he wasn't. The sudden gust of wind that now twirled around her was evidence of that. The ash in the air stung her eyes bringing tears to them, and offended her nose. Dejected she flopped down onto the couch. What had she done?

Her eyes were red, rubbed raw from being irritated. Her throat was sore, she ached all over and her head, well it was a mess. With a last burst of effort, she hoisted herself off the couch and thought of nothing else but her down comforter, and pillows as she felt her way around the room until she found a door. Opening it wide she stepped through without hesitation. And within a split second of entering the door she was back in bed, snuggled under her covers. Closing her eyes she began to weep, for what she had no idea. What she did know is that she never wanted to return to that place again.

Xia Lu Ling wrapped himself tightly in his own coils, hissing at the memory. Yes. Tai Shan. Harmodius had said far kinder things to Edana than to Fragment, but then...Edana had taken him-her when he-she had been strong. Not weak and fading like so many flute-notes over a distance.

"She was a guardian once, and held in her claws what kept All together.".

It puzzled him - for absolutely Xia knew himself to be male. And the change in name? Which were true? Something to ask of his Lord, should He return. But the station was yet the same. He was a guardian and in his claws would he hold All again. Valuable, Harmodius had told the girl. He had not, however, said much else about the Dragon King...nor why a female form. Perhaps after the Fading he had wished to come back in a female form? To be reborn with breasts and curved hips? Soft and sweet-smelling...much as Edana had been.

Yu made a rumbling sound, filling the space inside his head with the low noise. No wonder he had been drawn to Blessed. She was different than Edana, yet had much the same air. Would she fail him too? Edana had been far too weak of spirit to house him properly - female aspect or not. Blessed was merely mortal, no god rested in her bosom, no magic threaded through her blood and bones to aid her.

"Death is not always Failure for mortals." Fragment reminded the Dragon King quietly. His place in their shared body was smaller than before but he did not complain. Soon, he knew very soon there would be only Yu the Five Claws.

A sigh, then deeper into the mists. Past Edana's delicate touch and soft sweetness, past the time when there was naught but dark - when he had been bones and dust. Things became frightfully patchy here - grand expanses of nothing threatened to swallow the Dragon King. Here and there it seemed as thought a veil parted, showing flashes of the past.

A past where He ruled with his Wife the Queen Mother Gaia and the Consort Aristogeiton. Brilliant lights like jewels; laughter and screaming...so much lost. His memories corrupted and falling apart even as he reached for them to cradle them close to his breast. Such delicate things, memories were. So hard to hold onto when so very much of himself had been lost. The Fading...Edana...Eddard...and finally Fragment. This time he was much much closer to becoming himself again - inasmuch as he could do that without the memories of the past to aid him.

Xia Lu Ling, once Tai Shan, reached deeper through the haze of smoke and incense; fingertips touching butterfly-wing delicate bubbles of thought and memory.

Here, white hair and a flash of feathers paired with the scent of old books. Paper. Knowledge. A long hall. The Kings, all standing present -- The Empress-Mother and Harmodius...stern and unyielding Harmodius. Words were being spoken but he could hear only scraps and snatches of what was said. Judgment was being passed, Knowledge had done something...he had been there with the Brotherhood; dressed in full regalia.

A formal trial?

Yu didn't know. The fragile memory fell from him and he spiralled ever deeper.

Yu, the Five Claws. Small, so small - the smallest of the Dragon Kings. Firey and steadfast in station and stance. Proud to be the Crown's Emblem and Guardian. Being small did not deter him from battle, nor did it make him weak. Oh, what had he been, back then? It was a jumble, a mess. Tien-Lung had been the Shield, their unspoken leader. Shaiming! Yes, that had been his name. Shaiming, the celestial dragon. Magnificent and utterly devoted, the great Dragon King courting even Universe; scales shining as brightly as the stars--

His eyes fluttered in the trance and the shadow-form floating freely in his mind roared with recognition. That was why Universe seemed so saddened -- he had known him quite well.

"More...I thirst for more of myself!" Black scales sprouted as the King's shadow-shape changed; claws scrabbling for purchase on imagined hedges and obstructions. He worked his way ever deeper through his fragmented memories; even something was better than nothing!

"Who was I?" Yu hissed, the sound bouncing and echoing endlessly until the syllabance washed around him like a tidal wave.

Ying-Long...the Mount. They had been companions...but there were others in the Brotherhood, other Kings that he had been closer to. Gold and jewels sparkled in his mind's eye...treasure. Fragment called him treasure, but no -- Futs-Lung. Yes, Futs...he had been inside Destruction. The other King that had nearly disappeared. Chien-Tang he had met again. Chien-Tang had not been as close with him then, no.

Even among the Dragon Kings there were...degrees of separation. Who was it? Who had called to him and spent such time with him?

A vision of scales and fang; flashing smile and shining eyes -- standing with the Empress, smiling at the Consort. Yes...he couldn't remember the name, but this was the King he spent a good deal of time with. Quian Lung. Guardians, both of them. But nothing more came to him, not even a small bit of shaky recollection. It was frustrating.

All these ghosts haunting him and nothing that he could do to fix that. "Alpha. Ask Alpha." Surely He could help?

Who had he been?

[khiarhu]

...//PRP - It's a TRAP!

Meepfur

Ashoka had all but shut herself in Zhijian's rooms since she'd last seen Fragment, able to do so thanks to his successful hunt for nesting materials and food. She was every bit as loathe to leave this time as she had been then, but it was equally as necessary...well, not necessary per se, but important!

The pard scuttled down the stairs and out to the garden, calling, "Fragment~!"

khiarhu

The furry beast was laying out by the lava flows - it was warm there and he was enjoying himself, teeth digging mats and debris from his fur, from between the pads of his massive paws.

At least, that's what he'd been doing until he heard a familiar voice calling to him. 'Ashoka calls you, Host.' "Well aware, Dragon." Fragment rose to his feet and answered her call with one of his own, even as he moved towards the sound of her voice.

Meepfur

"There you are!" Ashoka paused long enough to hop up and down clap her hands with glee before turning to dash back inside, hopefully with Fragment following. "Come on come on! They're hatching!"

khiarhu

In the face of a bushy tail turned to him, how could he not follow Ashoka? His ears picked up the syllables of her words and his brain took the meaning, but Fragment wasn't paying attention -- his interest was in the Pardess leading him a merry chase.

Yu, of course, was another thing entirely. He got what was happening. The eggs. Hatching. He shuddered inside his host and tried to curb it's enthusiasm towards Ashoka's backside and refocus the beast on it's whelp.

"Hatching? The eggs?" He'd see it was truth soon enough.

Meepfur

Fragment was out of luck today - there were more important things going on! She bounded up the stairs on all fours, and kept up her pace down the hall and into Zhijian's room - he'd cleared out when the cracking started, wanting no part in whatever ensued.

Yu's question was answered when Ashoka pulled away her nest's cushion-walls to reveal the two eggs, both of which were starting to show little cracks.

khiarhu

Out of luck in one area and about to be either very lucky in another...or very unlucky, depending on how one viewed children.

Fragment's big head went down so he could sniff at the scaled eggs, his breath warm. The cracks grew larger as the creatures inside the eggs fought against their shelled prisons. Out! We want Out!, the sharp, jerking motions seemed to say.

Meepfur

Ashoka wiggled with glee while she hovered over the eggs, petting and cooing her encouragement. Even knowing what was going to come out of them, she was impatient to see them in person! Eggs, little eggs!

"Come on, little egglings," she encouraged, sing-song. "Daddy is here now!"

khiarhu

Daddy. The word made the Dragon King coiled inside Fragment's body quail. His host had spawned, Crown help them. He couldn't even imagine what sort of monstrosities would emerge from this...hatching.

"Out, little ones. The world is yours to take - but you come out first!" Fragment gave his whelp a bit of encouragement but refused to help them break open their shells. They must do this on their own.

One of the eggs jerked and shuddered, a tiny growl coming from inside as the shell cracked enough for the two parents to see one tiny eye, peeking out at them, and then a wet, glistening nose. Not free yet, but tasting freedom!

Meepfur

Letting go an excited giggle, Ashoka hugged on Fragment's neck, intensely pleased that he'd joined in cheering the little ones on. It was a short-lived hug, though, because once one started to break free, she huddled in close to it. "Yes! Come out, egg!

The other egg had yet to make such interesting progress, and the Prophet peered at it. "Come on, lazy!"

khiarhu

The lazy egg seemed to give off an aura of "no" - but whatever was inside kicked a bit at one of the cracks to widen it and get it's first breath of air from the world outside it's egg. Obviously, the two were different - but once that freedom was tasted, the goals were the same: Get Out!

The more active egg was jerking as the beast inside battered at the weakening wall of it's hard-shell, one tiny padded foot kicking through the ever widening hole it had peeked out from.

"Small things, fighting fiercely to come out..a good sign indeed."

Meepfur

As time passed, Ashoka was considering helping the eggs break free - surely, now that they'd gotten started, it was okay? Glancing sidelong at Fragment, she reached out to see about helping the eager egg while the lazy one made slow but steady headway.

khiarhu

It was fine to help now - both of his spawn had shown a will to live, a wont to come out (though one was being decidedly lazy about it!) He chuffed and flopped his big body down, shaking the floor a bit and causing the eggs to wobble in their nest.

"Come out, brat." He was talking to the lazy egg, tongue flicking out to thump the shell a bit; which caused it to jerk and growl and kick-shudder-crack more than before. It's sibling was getting aid from Ashoka, and was finally visible - tiny paws, tiny claws reaching.

Meepfur

When Fragment didn't object, Ashoka quickly broke away piece after piece of the egg - which, curiously, was greenish on the inside. Even in her excitement, she was careful to pile the bits of shell off to the side, very much intending to hoard them.

The eager eggling was soon revealed - wet and patchy and winged and adorable. After letting loose a delighted squeal, the pardess shifted to her four-footed form, which was ultimately more suited to baby-grooming, and set to licking the first little spawn.

khiarhu

The tiny life yowled - once free of the shell, it found life outside the shell cold and bright and then there was Mother and he was getting a bath and rasping his tiny tongue at anything that came close enough.

Fragment cocked his head a bit and watched their first hatchling being bathed for the first time for a few moments before returning his attention to the second egg. It had gone mostly still again so he thumped at it - this time a little eyeball peeked out at him as if to say "You don't fool me!". "Come out or I'll eat you~" 'Come out little one, join your Mother.'

Yu was nicer about it, but the effect was the same: tiny cracks grew larger until bits flaked off. Eventually Yu would prompt his host to help the lazy creature out of it's shell so it too could be bathed, coal-black and small - smaller than the first.

Meepfur

The lazy hatchling peeped in protest, continuing to put in less effort than it's sibling - it wanted back in! This had seemed like a good, instinct-fueled idea at the time, but where had the warm dark gone? Finally, it put in the most effort it had yet...into trying to bite at the troublesome licking tongue with pinprick teeth.

Ashoka filled the nest with the sound of her happy, rumbling purr, unable to speak but managing to convey the depth of her joy nonetheless. Once she was nearly finished with cleaning the first, she paused to nose at the second.

khiarhu

Fragment's tongue was too quick for the tiny teeth that went after it, and his massive paw snaked out to pull the little one closer so he could give her a bath. Perhaps he was not made so well for it as Ashoka was, but there was a stirring (at Yu's prompting- eh hem) of parental pride in the two small things they had brought into this world.

Ashoka's purr prompted a broken-glass rumbling of his own, though it were more pride than joy. "Treasure says they must be named." Biting little things, oh yes. And hungry too.

Meepfur

Pulled closer to her father, the little black eggling surrendered - it was soft and warm this close in, and an acceptable replacement for her shell for the time being.

With a flick of her ears, Ashoka changed shapes again so that they could discuss naming. She wiggled over to cuddle up with Fragment, bringing patchy hatchling with her. "They are...they are Egg," she said, wrinkling her nose. She'd called them that for weeks, after all!

khiarhu

Fragment's teeth were large but gentle as he picked shell-bits from her tiny wings; one large paw curled easily around the pardmentling until Ashoka came over - he'd share the bitty with her too.

"Egg is not a name, I'm told." Yu was shaking his head inside Fragment's mind -- good lord, these two--!

The patchy fuzzball kicked at it's mother a little and then poofed it's tail out at it's sibling and father.

Meepfur

The little one's wings twitched - that tickled!

Tweaking the patchy pardpuppy's kicking feet, Ashoka frowned at Yu's input. What else were they supposed to call them? Though she herself and every other pard in existence had ended up with a name that wasn't 'Egg,' she had no idea how anyone came up with these things! "Ask Yu what is Chinese for egg?"

khiarhu

Fragment chuckled and consulted the Dragon King coiled inside his malleable body. "Dan, he says." The beast nibbled at his daughter's wings, cleaning them of egg-goop as he seemed to reflect inward, listening. "That is egg."

Yu hadn't wanted to tell the Pardess what the word had been, but he figured even "Dan" was better than being named "Egg".

Fragment's eyes settled on the patchy-coloured pup for a moment, then shook his shaggy head. "Joss." It was God. The Devil. Luck and Loss, all rolled up in one. Yu approved of this name, if not why the beast wanted to call him that -- because it sounded neat. Ack!

Meepfur

"Then that one is Dan," she said with a decisive nod, promptly stealing the black pardmentling from Fragment and replacing it with the patchy one so that she could fuss over the girl for a bit. Trade~!

khiarhu

"Good, they are named." Fragment found himself with a small, patchy colored bit of fluff between his massive paws when Ashoka swapped their pups. He peered at the second tiny creature and whuffed a warm breath over it - he approved the scent.

The newly named pardmentling to reach out and hooked it's tiny claws into it's parent's face (not a comfortable thing, really), growling in what it considered a fierce manner. "Rrr...rrrr!!" Joss clung to Fragment's face, utterly fearless despite the large teeth and rough tongue.

Knowing that his host was as likely to kill and eat his young as groom them, Yu kept a close watch over the family interactions. As abhorrent and strange as it was to him that his host had managed to spawn in such a time, Xia Lu Ling was not going to allow them to die if he could help that.

A son and a daughter. Hopefully Ashoka would be a good mother to them - she seemed to be doing quite well with Dan; the little pitch-colored creature was making pleased sounds - a far cry from the growling her rapidly tiring sibling was currently making.

"They are strong, they need to be." Oddly proud, for a creature that would have enjoyed eating his eggs at any point before they had hatched.

[khiarhu]

...//Solo - Whatever's Left

All around him, there was activity. Mortals, Aoide and Gods alike; all the survivors were busily zipping about the Pantheon in preparation for a ceremony to return Harmodius to himself and banish Gehenna.

A ceremony to save the World. Whatever was left of it, that is.

Yu had no major part in the execution and planning that went into the Lotus Ceremony save for bringing his small menagerie of followers in to help work and to worship, guarding those left alive and...well, providing for his host's spawn. Fragment was still not to be trusted and though the Dragon King's attention was focused more upon returning the World and Harmodius to rights, he did spare thoughts for the continued existence of the spawn.

Joss and Dan had been left with Ashoka while he patrolled in feral form. Since the flood of mortals into the Pantheon, Yu and brought his host's body into a more humanoid shape; bipedal and with hands to help, hands to guide and direct.

Here and there mortals and gods were working furiously to clean the throne-room and halls; scented oils brought from secret stores to dress the air in something other than ash and death. Heavy fabrics and boards pilfered from the destruction of so many buildings had been used to seal and hide the broken windows; hiding the emptiness where the Sky and Universe used to be. Many refused to step outside the Pantheon for any reason; being too unsettled by the lack of sky to handle such a sight.

Fragment and Yu went out on patrol and even the Dragon King and his host were unsettled by Universe's unmake. Scary s**t.

Yu and host slipped back inside, moving closer to where Gehenna waited; that vile shell appearing to breathe - dark life, waiting to be born. The hairs on the back of the beast's neck rose even as his body shifted to an more upright version. A demoness appeared from what seemed like nowhere; his Aoide Artimesh...he had fought her during the week of Hell and in that defeat had gained her unwavering loyalty. She brought him a drink but spoke no words; since joining Yu's retinue the sharp-featured Aoide had been beautifully aware of her Lord and Master as she was of no others.

"Go, Artimesh. See that Joss and Dan are taken care of and then return to aide those in charge of the ceremony." Words from his mouth became orders burned into stone by divine hand. She scurried off to attend her chores as the Dragon King drank from his cup, eyes bright as they took in the activity.

Soon. He knew that the stage was quickly being set for what might prove to be the Final Act.

Yu moved to the chrysalis and placed one hand on the slowly "breathing" shell with, shoulders slumping a hair's breadth. "My Lord, we look forward to your return." Harmodius would return. He had to. Standing so still and quiet in the midst of such a flurry of activity, Yu silently willed his Lord and Master back; willed the Ceremony to be a success.

For the sake of the World.

***
Skin crawls
Wind is walking
Through the walls
Now there's nowhere to run
Heart pray we'll be ok
Now there's nothing to say
But the damage is done

What keeps you up at night, my love?
What turns you on?
Dark shadows turn in the pale blue light
It won't be long

A thousand torches
Beaming in the distance
They bleed from the sky
And as I open my eyes
I see they've come to take me home

How now
Can we allow
We gotta stop 'em somehow
Body over mind
Oh no, now we both know
That there's nowhere to go
And the damage is done

What keeps you up at night, my love?
What turns you on?
Dark shadows turn in the pale blue light
It won't be long

A thousand torches
Beaming in the distance
They bleed from the sky
And as I open my eyes
I see they've come to take me home

And as I float through the sky
I know I've known it all along
And as the stars step aside
I know the battle rages on

A thousand torches
Beaming in the distance
They bleed from the sky
And as I open my eyes
I see they've come to take me home
And as I float through the sky
I know they've come to take me home
- Monster by 3

[khiarhu]

...//ORP - The Ritual of Renaming