'Just like that?' Pride offered a nod, to this, a quiet "Mhmm," murmur of agreement. "As for Attikias, that would be best--you're right--but you may have trouble running into him without his--ahh, both of your--daughter, first. I hope it goes well, whatever you choose; I'm sure it will. Bring her a story, perhaps," he added, smiling, then the smile faded and eyes widened a touch as he remembered something important. "Ahh--she was very young when I met her, but I told her a story that was--fiction, and she does not... She did not then, at least, understand metaphor and story. She would, I think, see fiction and fairytale as a lie; a tale of purple fields would have her believing they were real. Be careful how you phrase things, so that you don't lose her trust," the elder stag advised.

He offered only a nod in response to the question about magic--it was all he had time for before Azizos had yoinked the little rock from his mental grasp (a strange feeling, to be sure, and a disconcerting, almost dizzying one) and held it up a little higher. Pride snorted, amused, and reached directly for Azizos--to lift the lion-stag just an inch or two off the ground. Even then his grip was weak, and he settled his son right back down again before speaking.

"Be careful what you wish for," he offered, playfully; "I may be weakened but I'm no pushover! -Let's play," he added, in agreement, and turned to trot a few paces farther away.

A game of catch was no good, after all, when its players were standing right before one another.

@Azizos

"Perhaps, I could bring something that... did happen - ? An account, really," he hummed, considering, "there's plenty of strange happenings that don't even need to be exaggerated."

Azizos'd been picked up through magic, before, but that didn't make the experience any less gut-sinking. He was most comfortable with all four hooves on the ground, thank you very much. Making gravity's acquaintance wasn't his favorite pastime. In short, he let out a soft bleat of surprise, then another as he was set back down - "oh, you're on... !" He sputtered, trying to think of an insult that wasn't too strong or childish. "Old man!"

Before the reckoning came, the lion-stag twisted back to Mischief, lounging contentedly on his back, and muttered, "sorry, Mischy..." before gently lifting her up and placing her back on the Throne. Once she was all settled in, Azizos shook his mane out and braced himself.

Ready to play ball.

@Pride

Pride snorted at his son--even as Mischief let out a quiet sort of hissing squeak as she was moved, and set down. An indignant stare was fired Azizos' way from the Throne, and she sat back, then, paws brushing over her ears as she put herself back in order.

The stag, meanwhile, eyed her and then smirked at Azizos. "She's annoyed with you, I think. Right-... A shame you haven't got a shield, just in case. I learned a way to pull energy into my body, to hold it there--perhaps you've learned it? It creates a sort of burst outward if you're struck," he explained. But he was choosing a small, round stone, even as he spoke.

For a moment he paused, head low, nose just before the rock, and his gaze flicked playfully, mischievously, up to Azizos.

Rather than picking the rock up, as yet, Pride sent a blast out horizontally--sending it skittering along the ground, destined (unless caught) to shoot between Azizos' hooves and out behind him. "Catch," he warned, sharply, amusement in his tone.

@Azizos

"I said I'm sorry -" he bleated softly, nudging her softly with a big, wet nose. As if that'd make it all better. But, he knew that Mischief would live if she wasn't experiencing the peak of comfort at all hours.

Azizos nodded - then shook his head, "the same sort you were... casting before I came? I've not learned it, no - only the sort that is your own blast, or to transfer energy from yourself to an object." The latter was great for skipping stones across the Eyes.

"Catch -" and the lion-stag clattered slightly to the side, completely removing Pride's intended target from play and putting a leg directly in the path of destruction. Magic reaching out for the fast-moving object, Azizos let out a small "oof!" Right in the ankle. Favoring that leg for a second, he tried not to let it show just how much that'd hurt. "My fault, my fault - ouch," he bleated. "Hold on - toss me another one, I'll catch it."

@Pride

Mischief let out a soft snort as she grasped Azizos' meaning through Pride's own mind. She was now sitting 'upright' atop the Throne--slouched down, on her rump, her back to the back of the Throne and her fuzzy underbelly exposed to the world. The way her hind legs splayed carelessly out to either side, the way her ears lay lazily and her eyes tracked Azizos with half-closed lids, showed wholly how much of a little queen (on her Throne) she was. Idle, casual, dismissive, amused, all in one, and Pride looked to her, and snorted again, himself. He then shook his head and looked to Azizos--in time to realize that his son had not only not caught the stone, but had, in fact, stepped directly into his path.

Whoops.

He was, for a moment, worried that he'd somehow permanently hobbled him. "Are you all right?" he asked, concerned--but he was asking for another throw, so... it couldn't be that bad, could it?

"All right, then. Get ready," he suggested, and looked around to find another small rock. This one he tossed more gently, an underhand (but without hands) throw, lobbing lightly skyward before his son.

@Azizos

If only they could all vibe as easily as Mischief did.

"I'm okay - I'm okay, just... rock and bone don't mix well," Azizos gave a whistling sort of laugh, wincing as he tested his weight on the ground. He grit his teeth against one another, then put that hoof down with an air of finality. Surely, the pain would fade.

He just... needed to put his mind to something else.

Like catching rocks thrown your way by your dear father. Moonlit eyes caught it first, then his telekinetic grip. Once the residual momentum dispersed and he was holding it safely below his knee, Azizos tossed it back - also underhanded. Just to be safe.

... his aim was awful, to be honest.

@Pride

He sent his mind after the stone, speaking all the while. "So--was there anything specific that caused you to go back into your stone?" Pride asked, carefully. He knew that stress could do it, and he hoped that Azizos hadn't been under such strain. Especially without my noticing; and what kind of father would I be-? But then, he trusted Mercurius, at least, to note such things and Mercurius hadn't seemed to have any idea, either.

That was... relieving, a little.

He caught the stone and sent it lobbing gently back, a light arc through the air. "And is everything else all right?" he went on. "Mercurius and Arsu are both well, if you haven't seen them; Mercy and I revisited the garden recently." He offered a kind incline of his head--a reassurance.

Family, at least, was all well.

@Azizos

Grab stone, toss back - simple as that.

"Not really, I don't think," the lion-stag admitted, "it must've not been long after I... made Vivilene - I don't remember ending up in the garden." Just waking up there, but his father could certainly fill in the blanks. They'd both subconsciously blamed the overripe fruit for the other happenings of that night; why not blame it for his sudden hibernation?

Azizos nodded gently, though - "everything's fine. I, um... sat with Mercy during that... big meeting thing." Moonlit eyes glimmered, though they fell under his worrying brow, "you looked alone down there - I'm sorry I didn't come to talk to you sooner. There were... a lot of people there."

He hummed softly, "I went to the Pillars shortly after - for a bit of quiet time. Nobody ever seems to go there." Fair enough, right?

@Pride

He felt, for a moment, a stumble: a stutter in his magicka, a strange sense that something had faltered. It was like a door falling open, and he had to struggle, for a beat, to concentrate on his son's words. They were more important, after all, and he focused on them closely.

The rock, however, clattered to the ground.

"Hm, sometimes we simply sleep, I suppose. Livius has gone into their gemstone often enough, and it seems to be simply random, at times. Weariness, perhaps; stress, I do not know." His eyes lit, a bit, at the mention of the meeting. Pride was still very torn by the role he'd played. By which side he'd been tempted to take. Shame still gripped him. But this, too, he shook away, for now. "What did you think of all of that, then? It was--a heavy topic. Difficult business."

I hope you are not ashamed of me.
And only now--and half as a distraction--did he turn his mind toward the strange tug he had felt at his mind. To that open door. He reached for what lay beyond.

After a moment, he felt... bouyant. His hooves left the ground. The stone--and all the others around him; perhaps Azizos, as well, began to lift, to hover just a little. What-?! he thought, with alarm--and then looked up, blinking, to his son. "Ahh," he said; "I think I just found out what that magic does."

@Azizos

The game of catch'd gone well thus far, but the stone clamored onto the ground. Azizos's gaze traced its trajectory onto the floor, then glanced up to Pride, who seemed to... not be under any particular strain. A break, just to talk - ? Ah.

"It was... a lot, I'll admit - I didn't expect Astraea to be so open to answering questions, even if some of it could've been lies," he began, and abruptly shifted tracks because that wasn't the point, "I... don't think you had a choice in saying what you did. Playing devil's advocate, and all that -" Right? "it'd be for the greater good that we surrendered, but... there's the attachment."

He'd been ready to say more, but his hooves were leaving the earth. A sharp bleat tore out of his throat as he moved - as if swimming in the air - and started to turn rear-first. Ground control to Major Azizos. "F-fascinating," he trembled, ears flickering to and fro as the whites of his eyes showed.

Sure, it was fascinating, but it was also... seemingly pretty uncontrollable. The first stab at magic never seemed to be the safest.

@Pride