Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
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04-02-2022, 12:38 AM (This post was last modified: 04-02-2022, 12:40 AM by Talyson.)
It was as good of an answer on the reasons of the gods as any, and Tal grumbled quietly into silence on the topic, scrubbing Bell's ears fiercely, much to the dog's delight.
His simple question received a much more involved answer than he'd expected, but Sah took Tal's ribbing with better grace than the courier had expected. His grin actually flashed genuine for a second before he remembered who he was talking with, and he quickly looked away. He chewed his lip fiercely while they debated the reasons for going to war, looking down at the top of Bell's head.
"D'you think they'll fight fair, the other side?" he asked slowly, working the ideas of War out from what he'd heard in stories on long Deepfrost nights, with no personal experience to draw on. Tales of great battles and treacherous betrayals; blackmail and noble last stands against terrible odds, all shaken together and falling out into new shapes now that they were suddenly becoming imminent. "Or... will putting yourself on the front lines make your loved ones targets, too?"
Sah noticed Tal's quick grin and smirked, "Aww.. am I growing on you Errand Boy?" He had to, ok? The other man was just too much fun to tease. And the Abandoned had to let his sadistic tendencies out somehow. What better way than some good old fashioned harmless mockery?
The smirk vanished at Tal's next question. As someone who had seen multiple wars, he'd seen firsthand how morals fell apart as a war heated up. "No. I don't suspect either side will play fair. Maybe at first. But as things get worse and more desperate? I expect every trick in the book will come out." Sah hated the fact, but there was no denying it.
The last question gave him pause and Sah sighed. "That's also a possibility. But the ones that I want to protect most are safe. Safrin made it so that any minors who get caught in the crossfires are instantly teleported away. And the rest of my loved ones are either part of the fight or more powerful than me." Soleil and Luke were children and Accepted. They were safer than any other beings in Caido. Lilly wasn't but if things got bad enough, he'd send her away with the twins.
Aino and Ilma were outliers in that regard, but they were relatively neutral. And his adoption into their family wasn't well know. They should be safe too.
A sudden bout of mist begins to swirl rather charmingly around your heels. It’s gone nearly as quickly as it came, followed by the indistinct sound of faraway laughter.
Sah couldn't have wiped the grin off Tal's face faster if he'd thrown a bucket of ice water on him. All too easy a target, the courier's scowl flipped so fast he risked pulling a muscle as he reached out to shove half-heartedly at Sah's shoulder. "Yeah, right! In your dreams, Jester!"
Ugh, as if!
Too bad the threat of real, imminent war stifled the boyish high spirits before they could get to the really inspired name-calling. Tal nodded morosely to Sah's prediction that 'fair fighting' would go out the window as soon as the going got tough. Human nature was a bitch sometimes. But the mention of minors had dark brows rising in surprise as he looked over at the Abandoned again. "D'you have younger sibs that came through with you?"
Of course, then the mist and the laughter made their appearance, and Bell jumped up from where she'd been so calmly sitting to bark an offended warning at whatever playful water elemental had snuck into the city to cause mischief. Tal reached out to sink his fingers into her fur as she sniffed around for the perpetrator, soothing her shoulders with careful scritches. "S'okay, girl. No harm done." ... Yet, at least.
Sah's lips twitched slightly at Tal's quick rebuttal, despite the nature of their conversation. The war was looming, and things were getting tenser by the second. He had to find amusement where he could.
The question about his pups pulled a soft smile from the Abandoned. "No. My kids. They recently portaled in." He paused, brow furrowed as old grief reared its head, "I thought I'd lost them forever." Sah still wasn't sure how he'd gotten so lucky. Their world had ended, they had all died, himself included. And yet two years after he awoke, alive, in Caido, Soleil and Luka portaled in from who knows where.
The mist was a sudden surprise and pulled Sah from his darker thoughts with a fond chuckle. He reached down a hand and let the mist run over his hand, "Hey spirits. Good to see you." It was probably a strange reaction, and he wasn't certain that it was the spirts. But it was the best explanation and Sah had been fond of the entities since conversing with them at a shrine months ago.
Once the mist had vanished, Sah turned back to Tal. "My twin's names are Soleil and Luka, if you happen to see them around." A sharp smirk stretched across his face, "Fair warning though. They do bite." Literally. Luka had told him how he'd bit Maeve when they first met. Sah was prouder of that than he should be. But how could he be mad at his son for protecting himself and his sister?
"Kids," Tal repeated flatly, giving Sah a frankly disbelieving look, clearly thinking that the other man was pulling his leg. "You." Alright, so some people had kids young, but the other man looked barely out of his teens!
He watched the other man's interaction with the mist a little dubiously. "Careful... if it's the elementals, they aren't always friendly." Or rather, their definition of 'fun' seemed to come with a whole lot of pain for the unfortunate meat bag who'd caught their attention.
So apparently Sah wasn't kidding... that, or he was leaning real hard into a prank. Tal scowled at the other man's smirk, but it was more on instinct now. If there was an itch, Tal scratched it. If Sah smirked, Tal scowled. "I bet I know where they learned that from," he grumbled, looking away so Sah wouldn't see the gleam of amusement in his pale eyes.
Sah nodded, "Yup. I was a surrogate for two of my friends back in my world." He'd been young, yes. But so had they. "Though I'm not sure why portaling into Caido aged the twins up so much. They should only be four now, but they seem to be around seven or eight." Apparently aging in Caido was weird for kids in general. At least it meant his pups had a better chance of looking out for themselves in an emergency.
Tal's warning received a nod, "Good point. Still probably best to be friendly." Though being wary at the same time was good.
The scowl and slight jab pulled a snicker from the Abandoned, "Guilty as charged. Though one of their mothers was just as bad." Sah glanced at the sun's position in the sky before standing. "I should probably get going. Need to pick the pups up and get them fed." Otherwise they'd eat Ilma out of house and home.
