It begged the question of where Loren had spent the last Long Night, but Jigano distantly recalled some rumor about a 'sex cave' - had Edy said that? - and let that particular mystery go for the moment. The memories it called up of the dark-haired girl's vivacious grin and bright cackle as she tried to make him blush were too leaden still with grief, and he was distracted from pursing that line of inquiry as the least-like Launceleyn cousin came up instead.
Astra proved to be a welcome and much-needed distraction, and he reached to rest a hand on the little deer's head, scratching gently as he let her presence soothe him. Loren spoke with such defeat in his body language that even the blighted bard couldn't miss it, and he cocked his head at the wording. 'Splitting resources' hardly seemed to be a problem to him, whose experience with Long Night was that the naturals stayed in their personal homes (with any outlanders they may have adopted) and the rest of the outlanders gathered in the Rathskeller to drink and make drama and fuck and fight and all the rest of the things that drew the monsters to their door. So long as wherever people gathered was protected, he didn't see a problem with having several smaller enclaves instead of one big one - so long as at least one of those enclaves included the Infirmary.
But he had lost Ronin's trust and his position as advisor to the king, and he and Wessex... well, the less said about that, the better. One semi-civil meeting with Remi playing referee wasn't going to change things between them, though he had grudging respect for how well she had held things together in Ronin's absence. Regardless, it meant that his opinions didn't matter for spit, and even less so now that his blood still stank of corruption and he couldn't even entirely trust himself yet. At least Loren was useful in his skills and magic; of all the spells he'd lost when he'd fallen through the portal, it was his healing spells Jigano missed the most.
But while he had been spending the weeks as a mindless, rabid beast in the wild, what had the talented mage been up to? Getting on the bad side of the Fae...? "There aren't a lot of rules to break," he said quietly, stating the obvious. He gave Astra a pat and went back to sorting the snow moss into usable chunks for insulating the windows. "Though I was guilty of it myself, once. I admit to curiosity... but it does not sound like a pleasant experience. May I at least ask your reasons for breaking them?"
Astra proved to be a welcome and much-needed distraction, and he reached to rest a hand on the little deer's head, scratching gently as he let her presence soothe him. Loren spoke with such defeat in his body language that even the blighted bard couldn't miss it, and he cocked his head at the wording. 'Splitting resources' hardly seemed to be a problem to him, whose experience with Long Night was that the naturals stayed in their personal homes (with any outlanders they may have adopted) and the rest of the outlanders gathered in the Rathskeller to drink and make drama and fuck and fight and all the rest of the things that drew the monsters to their door. So long as wherever people gathered was protected, he didn't see a problem with having several smaller enclaves instead of one big one - so long as at least one of those enclaves included the Infirmary.
But he had lost Ronin's trust and his position as advisor to the king, and he and Wessex... well, the less said about that, the better. One semi-civil meeting with Remi playing referee wasn't going to change things between them, though he had grudging respect for how well she had held things together in Ronin's absence. Regardless, it meant that his opinions didn't matter for spit, and even less so now that his blood still stank of corruption and he couldn't even entirely trust himself yet. At least Loren was useful in his skills and magic; of all the spells he'd lost when he'd fallen through the portal, it was his healing spells Jigano missed the most.
But while he had been spending the weeks as a mindless, rabid beast in the wild, what had the talented mage been up to? Getting on the bad side of the Fae...? "There aren't a lot of rules to break," he said quietly, stating the obvious. He gave Astra a pat and went back to sorting the snow moss into usable chunks for insulating the windows. "Though I was guilty of it myself, once. I admit to curiosity... but it does not sound like a pleasant experience. May I at least ask your reasons for breaking them?"
