ORIGIN

Although the Throne had become central to their operations as a king, Envy still made sure that their hoard was safe at the little hollow they'd chosen for themselves in the crumbled wall, all those cycles ago. They still slept here- nowhere around the throne felt cramped enough for them to feel safe even with the other Sins in close proximity, and they felt oddly self-conscious when feeding- so they preferred to do that alone. Today was no different- they were emerging from their den after a quick catch-up amongst the baubled stones they kept in their home.

They'd felt a lot healthier since-re-emerging; the constant sickness had dropped almost into nothing, and they didn't notice the hunger pangs as much any more. Though it was definitely aided by the kingly visage they had to paint themselves- but the weasel appeared to have matured, at least a little bit. Being a little bit further away from constant starvation had certainly aided in their snippiness. Though they were still noticeably thin, they no longer looked like they might drop dead at any moment and the mangy, deathly wildness that hung over them like a cloud of flies had given way to an almost-ordinary visage. They liked their new spikes, and they liked their new tail, and the bright green hue of their fur certainly set them apart from the norm. To top that off, Envy could now go anywhere; they could cling to almost anything, even without footholds, scaling vertical and even overhanging ledges. Right now, they only used it for scrambling up onto the throne; but it was good practice.

It seemed that dying was a blessing in disguise.

Envy was pattering back towards where their subjects would surely be waiting, feeling refreshed and eager to receive the praise and love that would surely greet them. It always excited them, elated them, to think of the gems they now ruled. Happiness, it seemed, had finally found them. Though they still bore this name- having neglected to choose a new one. And it seemed pointless to do so now. The Sinful Seven were named for the concept, after all. So what wold happen if their leader suddenly decided they were above that?

It didn't matter. Envy was a king, and they were whole. they had everything they wanted. They wouldn't let jealousy ruin this moment like it ruined everything else. They were happy. They'd made sure of it.

@Pride

He watched, for a time, as well as he could given his still somewhat-damaged eyesight. Envy was a green blur, but visible to him now even despite their small size. He had made sure to wait near their den. He wanted to speak to Envy--and privately. There were... concerns, to say the least, and Pride hadn't wished to simply bring it up in front of the rest. It might have been embarrassing, at the least, and at worst, cause some sort of power struggle. All else aside, Reseda for one had motives that were damn near sinister--where Envy's goals were simple, and easily-influenced. They would listen to Pride--at least, he hoped so.

Though that was rather what he was here to discuss.

Delicately, with a ghostly grace, he stepped forth from the shadows and into Envy's path, peering down at them with silvered eyes.

"King Envy," he said softly, his voice light and musical, as always. The weasel looked... healthier, he noted; this was good. Perhaps it wasn't so terrible a thing after all, what had happened... or perhaps these black spines were the quills of the goose. Perhaps Envy was now their spy, even if unwittingly..? Pride would need to bear this in mind. He shook the thought away--it had come in a fraction of a second--and continued. "May I speak to you for a moment?"

His tone was polite, mild even, but he stood in Envy's path with a slightly tilted head, in a way that should, he hoped, be terribly rude to refuse.

@Envy

Envy slowed as they watched the stag stepping onto the path ahead of them, their ears perking and little teeth baring in a grin. "Pride!" they trilled excitedly, picking up the pace until slowing to a halt at Pride's hooves. They sat back on their hind paws, curiosity evident in their newly catlike eyes. But his request, even with the usual lighthearted tone, brought a thrill of concern and suspicion. They blinked.

"Uh... sure? Yeah. What's going on? Has someone left?" Their voice leaked a sudden worry; they'd never considered that someone might leave. What if they went straight back to the mad goose to rally their forces? What if they tried to humiliate them, and take away their kingship? Envy's blood froze but they still tried to appear calm, though their spines raised slightly. "Does someone want to challenge me?" Did someone disagree with one of their kingly decisions? it wasn't like they'd actually made any yet...

They looked at Pride nervously, but intently, tail twitching slightly, and quills letting out the tiniest rattle.

@Pride

One of Pride's eyes widened slightly in questioning. If he had eyebrows, one would be perked rather high; he peered at Envy. Why did they jump straight to that..?

"...No," he responded, tilting his head just a little. The great branching grey antlers tilted with it as he inspected the weasel. "Nothing is... wrong, exactly. But I want to ask you something. Why did you not run, when I covered our retreat..? None of them could fly, bar the goose--and had she chased alone we could have killed her. They were... helpless down there, and you--what, went back? Gave them what they wanted..? I do not understand."

His words were honest enough. The incident had bothered him ever since--a deep worry for Envy wracking him every day, a confused grief striking him every time he'd wondered, Why..? At times it had turned to bitter anger, but the fact that he wasn't sure what had happened had stifled this well enough. Had they used magic to coax the weasel back? Had Envy simply gotten turned around, and lost?

Or was there the possibility, no matter how slight, that the weasel had cut some kind of deal? He wasn't sure what that deal could be, but here they were, healthier than before and with featherlike black quills, when they should have been dead.

Just what had happened..?

@Envy

Envy felt a momentary relief when Pride dismissed their suspicions, allowing their quills to lie flat for a moment. "Okay, good," they answered, with a small sigh of relief. But the next question set their quills trembling again, a hot flush seething through their fur as Pride chided them. Like a child, they felt indigence flowing through them and felt the need to get defensive. But they were a king! They had to stay calm...

"I... they..." they stumbled at first, before taking a deep breath and settling their quills flat. "...They called me a rat. A rat! I couldn't just... just... run away like one!" The weasel thought it logical enough. They'd been defending their name. They couldn't leave! "Not when you... after you named me your King! I'm better than that!" Their voice rose, shrill at the memory. But they thought it was enough. Pride was, after all, Pride. Of all the gems in the cave, surely he'd be the one to understand.

They shook their head, taking a deep breath, relaxing, and settling back down onto all four paws. "You're... Pride. You get it, right?" Envy looked up at Pride hopefully.

@Pride

If Pride could perk his 'brow' higher, he would have. As it stood, Envy was... childish, at best, and he was growing concerned. They had mistaken his questioning, it seemed, for accusation. Another tilt of his antlered head, choosing his words carefully, and he spoke.

"I did not know if something had befallen you," he answered mildly. Then, considering the weasel's question, he continued.

"No, I... think when one is truly proud, they do not feel the need to prove themselves. It is confidence, Envy... true confidence. I knew that walking away would have left them frustrated, angry. Helpless. What did we need to prove to them..? All that could come of going back was failure. You cannot, as a king," he added--and a tone of gentle warning entered his voice, now--"rise to every taunt and bait thrown at you. A king must stand above such things."

He paused here, eyeing Envy thoughtfully. It was not a lesson, as such--not a chiding, but rather, the advice he'd promised to give his "King."

"Perhaps... if you will allow it, I can share with you this mindset? If you can understand it, you can rise above such things in the future. For your own safety, and for others'." He paused again, and then added--half to himself, and thoughtful--
"Confidence garners respect."

@Envy

"Well, Yeah, but...I'm fine now, aren't I?" It seemed that their body had needed a proper breaking so that it could repair itself. The weasel didn't like where this was going. They didn't like being berated, not when they were sure they were in the right.

"But Pride! I Am confident! And Proud! You know that, don't you? You wouldn't have followed me if you didn't." They looked at Pride, meeting his milky gaze and trying to work out what the stag wanted to hear that wouldn't make them feel embarrassed. "Besides, I... might have gotten away." Envy could almost feel themselves shrinking, growing smaller under the warning tone in Pride's voice, and as a counter to the helpless feeling inside of them, they tried to latch onto the stag's foreleg and climb up onto his shoulders. "But... what if someone sees me and thinks that I'm not worthy of being a king? What would I do?"

They puffed themselves up and tried to look strong, holding spines erect. They listened as Pride offered to share his mindset and ruffled their quills almost flat- setting their jaw tight. Pride continued to speak to them about confidence, which set Envy flushing from head to toe. What else were they supposed to do? They'd tried their hardest and they thought they hadn't let it show. Were they wrong? Were the cracks starting to show. "How? I... already am confident. They can see that. All of them can. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here as their king. Would I?"

They fixed Pride with a long look, anxiously awaiting his verdict. Their tail was beginning to twitch, paws beginning to comb at their chest fur, spines twitching softly in response to the thoughts running through their mind.

@Pride

Pride, despite his generally decent nature and gently thoughtful demeanor, rarely laughed or showed outright kindness. Oh, he could be helpful--generous, even, and dutiful--but he did not often smile, or offer reassurance. He was, instead, forthright--but matter-of-factly so, and tactfully. He was never demeaning or cruel.

Now, however, he gave a softly amused laugh. He craned his head slightly to watch Envy at his back--his wide cervid field of vision allowing him to do so with only a slight tilt.

"Why, Envy," he trilled, almost sweetly--and it was genuine, though one might be forgiven for thinking otherwise. "I do not follow you because I fear you, or believe you to be unbreakable. I offered, because I believe you would have our best interests at heart." He paused, his mind briefly flicking through thoughts.

They will listen, and take to heart the reasons I give--I had best use this chance to mold them further into a better leader. If they accept what I have to say, that is. Externally he simply appeared to muse, for a moment, before continuing. "You offered to help with something, to right a wrong done to an ally. I do not think you did that solely to gain power, but because you felt it the right thing to do." He pondered, for a moment, and realized it wasn't even manipulation. It was true. At least, he hoped it was true. With deep humor entering his voice now, he added--"Blackberry may be the most confident thing in the caves--the most arrogant--but does that make her a good leader..?"

He turned slightly more, to try to make better eye contact with Envy. This point was important, and if he could drive only one thing home to his friend, it would be this. "No. She is aggressive and violent. She is savage. She will--as I told her--bring her family to nothing but bloodied ruin--at our hand, perhaps, if we are lucky. No... a true leader has wisdom, patience, diplomacy. A leader has the ability to see what their... subjects, I suppose? --need, and to provide."

He took a breath, thinking for a moment on Envy's fears. "...Yes, if you were terribly fearful, it might be seen as weak. But asking others for their opinions is not. I do not think you can be truly confident--none of us can--without some experience. To pretend otherwise would be folly, and a fool is never a good leader. There are battles that we cannot win. Some of them, I suppose we cannot simply walk away from. Others, we would be fools not to. The trick, I think, will be to learn which one is which. But just remember what I have said: confidence alone means nothing. A fool and a monster can be confident. It does not make them right."

His little speech over, he offered Envy a solemn nod. None of his words had been given with even a hint of reproach--it was only honest thoughtfulness, offered freely--but he knew that the weasel might take offense, anyway. Their back seemed, rather literally, to be up; but Pride waited patiently. Perhaps they could see the wisdom in his words. Perhaps they would even ask to see his mindset, more directly, on what "confidence" truly was.

@Envy

Envy listened to Pride's laughter and they felt fur and quills alike prickling with embarrassment, feeling as though they were being laughed at. They couldn't help but glance away, such a motion unfortunately obvious with their newly catlike eyes. Was it true? They didn't know, but they were confused. They'd tried so hard to construct a tough exterior; did this mean that Pride had seen through it the whole time? Was the deer mocking them? The whole time, they knew, that they'd just wanted to be a king. The others hadn't mattered. This had been about them and their ambition. Their jealousy for lost souls that had amounted to so much more. "I... I... suppose that's true," they said finally, shifting their paws a little bit guiltily before lying down in Pride's fur.

They looked up at Pride once again, thought for a second, and then, after a moment's hesitation, nodded. But it wasn't true. None of it was. Pride was so big, so strong, that Envy knew his loyalty would mean more than any of the others. Envy would have thought that Pride saw them the same as all the others- small, and pathetic. That someone like him saw them as a worthy king made them feel validated. But when you stripped back Envy's talk of honour and justice and laid open their core- what they really wanted was just... well... power. They wanted to be admired and praised, raised on a pedestal above what they should be able to achieve, and they wanted everyone who'd taunted them or called them weak- Imperia- Dezba- Blackberry- to see their success and be jealous, just like they had been. Envy looked up as Pride spoke again- this time with humour in his tone. The weasel blinked, before offering a shake of their head. Pride spoke of a good leader having wisdom, patience, and diplomacy- and Envy tried to feel proud but they couldn't help but feeling Pride had found the wrong weasel for the job.

Envy wanted to act regal, to yell out, to laugh, to reassure Pride that they'd be the best king the caves had ever seen- but they found that their chest tightened every time they tried. They felt like Pride had them cornered, and there was nothing they could do.

They let down their gaze, their spines once again lying flat, and they continued to listen- slightly half-heartedly. Their attention came and went, but they at least tried. This was getting a little bit overwhelming to them; Pride was making kingship seem a lot more complicated than they'd wanted it to be. Certainly a whole lot more complex than just being carried everywhere and bowed to all the time. When Pride had finished, Envy remained silent for a time, going over what the stag had said. They felt hollow. Perhaps the excitement of being alive and suddenly a king, was finally dying down and allowing them to see sense. That they were hopelessly inexperienced, in it out of envy alone, and had spent their whole life pretending when really, they were just a sad, scared little rat. They shook their head, trying to clear it, and raised their spines slightly. They took a deep breath. "What does that make me...?" they asked, trying to make their voice as confident as Pride's, but feeling as though it came out slightly strained. "Am I a... good king?"

@Pride

Pride laughed again, voice still tinkling and kind, with warmth to it.

"...You have been a king all of a few hours, King Envy," he answered. "Give it time before you begin to ask for reviews on how you're doing, hm?"

Pride turned, folding long legs beneath him. He curled onto the rock, easygoing, and shifted his gaze to watch the weasel on his back. He simply lay there for a moment, watching Envy, thinking.

"Let me ask you something," he began. He had an idea in his mind; he knew, almost instinctively, that to allow someone to draw their own conclusions was better than merely telling them things. It might be good to try and draw Envy's own wisdom out, rather than battering them repeatedly with Pride's own opinions. "If not confidence, then what makes a king..?"

@Envy