There were other tricks the once-kitsune might be willing to play, but given who and what he was the desecration of knowledge - particularly ancient knowledge that couldn't be restored - or the spreading of lies to his vocational, spiritual descendants was anathema. It was also something he knew those outside the fold wouldn't understand, however, so he merely rolled with Lucas' joke, and deflected to a different topic with a (mostly) innocent question. "Did she, now?" the bard murmured in some surprise at hearing that the Ascended had been spurned. The Old Gods' shadows had shown a certain fickleness in the past, but the Voice seemed dotingly eager to answer her 'children' or those engaged with them. Still, as long as the blond had eventually achieved access to the lady's sustenance and her approval, he'd be in no danger of starving to death. Or would it only be stasis?
"Pity we can't find a course we could run side-by-side to make it a proper race," he mused. "With your nocturnal enhancement I suspect you're faster than I am, so pursuing me might not have much point. Not when you'd catch up to me before we'd barely got off the starting line! But that doesn't mean we can try and shift some things around on a second attempt, maybe make it more challenging for you, as you say?" Tight corners, for instance, might prove an effective obstacle until the newcomer got his Ascended legs under him.
The bard shook off his musing, grinning at the blond and walking to the mouth of the alley with him. He squinted down it, frowning slightly at the shadows until a sliver of moonlight peeked out from clouds, lancing down from overhead to silver the wet surfaces of the Settlement around them. Objects were thrown into washed-out relief against shadows suddenly so black even Jigano's fox-shifted eyes couldn't see into them.
A discarded slat of wood from the Long Night cleaning served as a stick, and he began to tap a soft but steady rhythm against a pole that held up an awning of what was a store during the day. Unsurprisingly, the bard was as even as a metronome, though much better-looking as he kept the time to one beat per second. "Whenever you're ready," he invited with a flash of a challenging smile for his companion.
"Pity we can't find a course we could run side-by-side to make it a proper race," he mused. "With your nocturnal enhancement I suspect you're faster than I am, so pursuing me might not have much point. Not when you'd catch up to me before we'd barely got off the starting line! But that doesn't mean we can try and shift some things around on a second attempt, maybe make it more challenging for you, as you say?" Tight corners, for instance, might prove an effective obstacle until the newcomer got his Ascended legs under him.
The bard shook off his musing, grinning at the blond and walking to the mouth of the alley with him. He squinted down it, frowning slightly at the shadows until a sliver of moonlight peeked out from clouds, lancing down from overhead to silver the wet surfaces of the Settlement around them. Objects were thrown into washed-out relief against shadows suddenly so black even Jigano's fox-shifted eyes couldn't see into them.
A discarded slat of wood from the Long Night cleaning served as a stick, and he began to tap a soft but steady rhythm against a pole that held up an awning of what was a store during the day. Unsurprisingly, the bard was as even as a metronome, though much better-looking as he kept the time to one beat per second. "Whenever you're ready," he invited with a flash of a challenging smile for his companion.
