WISE MEN WONDER WHILE STRONG MEN DIE
”Some say food is the spice of life,” Neron pointed out with a fanged grin, but he could only nod in acquiescence. He couldn’t exactly taste very well any more, and if she had no problems with it then it could stay the way it was for the time being. Perhaps his other patrons would have different ideas about it.
He should have expected her to push on the matter about Loren - she was a very smart woman, was Morgan, and he was learning that more and more to be the case - but that didn’t mean he wanted to talk about it. Still, he found that he couldn’t brush her off, much as he would like to.
”I was very cruel to him, when we were children,” he said. “My family prided magical prowess, and Loren was not always the accomplished mage he is today. He was the black sheep. I made sure he knew he was never welcome among us. We were identical, back then.” He blinked, like he’d forgotten about it.
The story had distracted him enough that he didn’t notice her awkwardness perhaps as much as he ought to have, Neron instead glancing back at her when she spoke again. Tilting his head, he gave the matter due consideration. Some things were easy to answer - others not so.
”That feeling, when you were bitten. It goes both ways,” he says. ”That’s the only time we feel pleasure in a physical sense. As for the rest...habit, maybe? We might not need to do those things, but we still have emotions. We’re still used to wanting to do those things. I don’t know of any ancient Ascended - perhaps we grow out of it after a while.”
(It is now.)
He should have expected her to push on the matter about Loren - she was a very smart woman, was Morgan, and he was learning that more and more to be the case - but that didn’t mean he wanted to talk about it. Still, he found that he couldn’t brush her off, much as he would like to.
”I was very cruel to him, when we were children,” he said. “My family prided magical prowess, and Loren was not always the accomplished mage he is today. He was the black sheep. I made sure he knew he was never welcome among us. We were identical, back then.” He blinked, like he’d forgotten about it.
The story had distracted him enough that he didn’t notice her awkwardness perhaps as much as he ought to have, Neron instead glancing back at her when she spoke again. Tilting his head, he gave the matter due consideration. Some things were easy to answer - others not so.
”That feeling, when you were bitten. It goes both ways,” he says. ”That’s the only time we feel pleasure in a physical sense. As for the rest...habit, maybe? We might not need to do those things, but we still have emotions. We’re still used to wanting to do those things. I don’t know of any ancient Ascended - perhaps we grow out of it after a while.”
(It is now.)
