Ember had mentioned Pride now and again to Spark. But now, as he led the kid toward the Throne, he repeated himself just a little.

"He can seem... distant, but he's nice," he assured. "He's... He didn't make me, but he's my father. Like Mercy." If Mercy was there, too, they'd get lucky; blood or not, Ember considered both his dads, and therefore, Spark's granddads. "He's better than I am at magic. Better than anyone I know," Ember went on, threading his way toward the Throne.

It wasn't that Pride used the throne. Ember wasn't actually sure why the white stag lived there, yet always left it empty. He'd never thought to ask, though now he found himself curious.

But first things first. "I think that's him--yes." The white tines were just visible, dipping up and down--the stag was grazing, then, on the sparse plants that his lion companion had spread through some of Orion.

"Pride?" Ember called out, as they drew closer. "-Dad? This is Spark. Your... grandchild," he added, glancing warmly to Spark. "Go say hi," he suggested, wings lifting in a friendly shrug.

image credits: [x] [x] [x]

Pride glanced up with some surprise.

The child-?

Oh! The moonstone, he realized, blinking.

He had his own chrysalis growing here--one a rich and pretty brown, striped and banded with darker and lighter hues. But this one had hatched first and, he saw, had grown already. Or was going to get fairly large, perhaps. He approached with a politely attentive demeanor, ears forward, eyes trained on the visitor. On his grandson! They had an odd set of wings--he didn't quite recognize what sort of creature those might be from--and he wondered if the child could fly. Otherwise they were like a sleek, almost mustelid sort of mirror of Ember--a little less spiky, perhaps.

They reminded him of the Seven's absent King.

"Hello," Pride greeted as he reached them. "I'm Pride--it's very good to meet you."

He wondered, for a moment, what they'd be like. Patience, he urged himself; he was about to find out.

As requested! Ember will be in the background unless I feel I need to actually post him-

@Spark

Spark followed Ember like a faithful student, listening as if each word held a new lesson. They had only entered their second cycle recently, and they felt that their development had been more shallow than they had wanted. Their frame had lengthened and their fluff flattened, and they still hadn’t quite learned the landscape of Orion, hadn’t explored the caves they knew were outside. They listened to Ember as if he was their teacher, and they had fallen behind on their studies.

‘Better than I am at magic. Better than anyone I know.’ Spark’s mind shot back to their last attempt at calling forth their internal fire. The failure still stung a bit, the tensing of extremities the only indication of that. Would he teach them? They hadn’t tried to cast another spell since, their chest ached in fearful anticipation every time they thought about it.

They caught sight of his silhouette further ahead, pale like like them, horned like them. At their fathers suggestion they trotted forward, doing their own once over of their adopted grandfather. Even if he held no relation to either of them, they appeared so similar compared to the others of the cave that it wouldn’t have mattered. He already looked like family. “Hello, I’m Spark,” they returned politely. “You’re my grandfather?” Not so much question what he was, that was clear, but what role he played, what the title meant to him. It seemed to hold some significance in Spark’s head, but that significance would need to be clarified before it could be acknowledged.

@Pride

The question jolted him a little; he'd been about to say that he was Ember's father but it wasn't entirely accurate. He had to quickly rephrase in his mind; it wasn't that he didn't consider Ember his child, but rather, that he wanted to be as honest as possible in general and especially with family.

"I raised Ember," he replied amiably, with a warm glance at the dragon-wolf; he then looked back to Spark with a nod.

"In any case, you're welcome to come here any time; if you're hungry, I can perhaps summon you up a bit of food-? Otherwise, it might be nice to get to know one another. Any questions you have, you're free to ask," he went on, kindly.

He was trying to be as open and friendly as he could be; and as neutral. He didn't want to pressure the child, who he'd only just met, and he didn't want to assume anything, like what activities they might want to do, or the like. So he made generic offers, and waited for Spark to lead.

@Spark

Spark simply looked back at the deer, apparently satisfied with his response, though the hybrid wasn't sure what the relevance of the true relation of the two was. They were uncertain what difference it made, if Ember had come from Pride's stone or not. Would that've changed the relationship, or the relationship Spark had with their father?

They nodded, accepting the offer. "Food would be nice." They were unsure of the word he used though, their vocabulary wasn't the most developed at this stage, but to summon food seemed to alude to a different action, different from foraging or hunting or catching food. Maybe they were looking too far into it.

Maybe neutrality would be the wrong way to go about this interaction, Spark wasn't naturally inclined to a leading role. Still, they'd try to take initiative if it was what was required of them. "Do you have parents?" How far did the tree go back, they wondered.

@Pride

Pride gave a little nod, leaning down, nose nearly touching the rock before his hooves. The bright yellow banana that appeared was small, stunted, but he nudged it forward nonetheless. "I'll make another in a moment--that one's a little small. But break open the peel. The sparkling will wear off," he advised. He was unsure if Spark was the sort to eat plants or meat, but the bananas didn't care; they were magical.

As for parents--he started to answer in the negative, but then remembered they were discussing adoptive as well, and abruptly remembered Reseda. 'Greed.' He fought to dismiss it, the faintest grimace crossing his features before he shook his antlered head. "No--not really. I was spawned from the wall, as were many of my time. I did have a Gembound find me, and try to raise me, but she was hardly an optimal parent," and his tone was dry.

He blinked, realizing that maybe his vocabulary was a tad complex--just how old was Spark?

"I am glad you're here now, though. Family is important. I look forward to getting to know one another; maybe you can tell me a little about yourself?" he suggested gently. "And if you have any questions about me, of course, I'm glad to. Or I can give you the biography version," he added, again with dry humor.

@Spark

Spark gaped at the strange yellow plant, having manifested out of nowhere, as if called forth by Pride’s very will. Yes, the banana was stunted, small, but the hybrid had never seen anything like it, and thus it was enough to enthrall them. Was this the kind of magic their grandfather contained, something as incredible as this?

Wordlessly they picked up the object, not wanting to betray their excitement, even though it was evident in the way they rotated it every which way in their claws, and in the way their eyes widened and sparkled with delight. Finding the meeting point of the skin, they deftly peeled the outer layer back, revealing the soft flesh, and taking a small, testing bite when the end of it had been fully exposed. The process had come so naturally, perhaps this had been destiny, as if it wasn’t the banana hadn’t been created for them, but they had been created to eat this banana.

Mildly distracted by this experience, Pride was correct to assume that his vocabulary might be too alien. Spark had no clue what it meant to ‘spawn’, or what it would mean to do so from a wall. Other than that however, there had been only one other word they had failed to understand. “Can I get the biography version?” They took another bite from the banana. “Also, what’s a biography?”

@Pride

this post is way too long feel free to just have Spark zone out through half or whatever I'm so sorry-

Pride settled himself on the stone, knees folding beneath his chest, his haunches out to one side. He looked content--briefly chewing cud, ears swept forward, half-lidded eyes watching Spark peacefully. At their question, though, he laughed--brief but hearty, genuinely amused. "A biography is an entire life story," he answered, humor in his voice. "I'll give you... a short version, then--well, as short as I can--and if you want to know about anything in more detail, you may ask?"

The white stag had--in cycles past--spent many hours telling his own children stories, embellishing them, or making them up wholecloth from fantasy. Mercurius had done the same. Many tales of fields of purple grass, or floating dragons made of light, or talking gemstones, had made their way from his lips to the ears of young spawn--so he did his best to at least make his 'biography' interesting.

That meant not only an engaging tone of voice and simplified details, but a little magic pushed into the air: shimmering imagery joining his words for Spark to see.

"I was hatched a very long time ago, and even then I was given the gift of strong magic. I blew my way out of my gemstone with magic," he began, and imagery was given of an exploding diamond, its shimmering facets flying about. The magic wasn't all that strong; it came and went, the images quite translucent, but... it was something, at least. And he didn't sound arrogant: he sounded as though he were just trying to tell a good, and interesting, story. "A lizard found me right away," and here he showed a rather green version of a long Komodo Dragon, "and saw my strength. She wished to use me for her own ends, and told me that I was very special; she took me to others to show me that they were weak and mad, trying to convince me to help her dominate the caves." The images shifted to show a hyena in a cave of bones, with a young Pride and the lizard there together. "She wasn't... entirely wrong. The creature she took me to see did seem quite mad; her perception of events was... wrong, to say the least. She then took me to learn magic," and Pride showed a new image.

This one was of he and the lizard facing off, and he embellished just a little, smiling at the air: sparks of color flew and danced around the two as they fought, flashy rainbows of exploding magic that they hadn't actually really used.

"I met others, after that--I went my own way for a time. Had my own adventures. Another fawn, her antlers half amethyst," and he showed her in brief but brilliant detail, "and a black dog who shared my magic, but injured her leg with it. So I spent time hunting for food for her," he went on, and showed her too, smiling a little at the memory of her. "It's strange, for a plant-eater like me to hunt, but she would have starved, so I learned. I learned from them," and here he managed to insert the smallest moral lesson, "that regardless of what the lizard wanted of me, others had their own feelings--their own dreams and desires--and to treat them with kindness. After that, I met someone new," and here Pride sounded amused.

The image turned to a little, bright-eyed green-hued weasel, their gemstone a little gold-hued crown upon their head. Even the image was tiny, barely a few inches long. "Envy had been found, too, by the same one who found me on my hatching. Where I was named Pride, they were named Envy--and I found that the lizard, Greed, wished us all to be her army. An army of 'sins,' named for things she found dark, but that she thought we should embrace. But though Envy wanted power, they were not cruel, and we became friends." He glanced at Ember, then at Spark--was this next part, perhaps, a little dark for a child to hear-? Ah, well; he could gloss over it. "When Greed turned too violent, later--kidnapping, harming others--we stood against her together, and killed her." It was not said with arrogance, but rather almost sadness, and Pride nodded up to the skeleton fixed to the back of the Throne. "She still serves as a warning against such things here: we formed a group of guardians to protect against future villains of her sort."

He paused, and the images began to cycle more quickly. It was taking effort to keep the magic going, and anyway, he had spoken too long, he felt, already. He didn't want to bore the poor child. "That is why I live here--why the remainder of the Seven, and our families, live here--to protect, where we are needed. Envy--Livius, now--is still our king; but they sleep, and so I watch over the Seven and Orion in their place. And we have fought our enemies," he added.

There was an image of war: Pride, with the green weasel atop his head, charging into battle with a great black cat and a brown one, a tangle of bodies, blood and magic (none of it very clear; his magic in the here and now wasn't cooperating for such a detailed scene) briefly visible in a flash of violence. Another battle, a new group of strangers alongside Pride in a dark tunnel, fighting a massive pitch-black beast with glowing yellow eyes. Another hulking black hound, red-eyed and half-hidden in the mists of a dark swamp. Another, a fight of a dozen Gembound--snarling and clawing and sparking magic--against another group, again in the black of the swamp. An army rushing out into the bitter snow of Ursa, their enemy unseen, Pride among them. These then faded, and the white stag paused.

"Sometimes," and Pride's voice here was a bit subdued, "those I thought to be friends turned out to be our enemies. Weak of will--or too loyal to family who held cruelty at heart. Always be careful in your life, Spark--try to do the right thing, and be kind to others, because you never know who might carry misery or anger in their hearts."

Now there was an image of a white lion, his moonstone horns swept back and gleaming. "I met Mercurius--now a close friend of mine--and together we created new children, and cared for those we could find. He is very gentle, and very kind--and a better storyteller than I am; I hope you will get to meet him soon."

"I have many other friends--I have met many of the Masters, and had many children, and I hope you get to meet them, too." Ahh, how difficult it was to condense a life of so many cycles, of such activity, into such a short tale-! But he had to, for the child's sake; he doubted anyone's attention span would have lasted this long, already. He added brief imagery, though: a kind-looking, spiny little lizard; a creature not unlike a winged moose; a beautiful and enormous blue-and-white phoenix rising in sheets of ice and water from the Pisces lagoon; a huge gathering of Gembounds in Orion's forum, another angry, red-eyed stag that oozed power even in the image down in the center of the arena, a hulking purple Valkhound by his side. A silver, shining dragon, and a black fire-breathing one. A far larger black, firebreathing dragon, and this image was life-sized--enormous--sweeping over Orion igniting the ruins with his flame. A spotted black leopard, his pale eyes gentle; a white wolf standing tall with flaming eyes--and was that Ember's stone at his chest-? A dozen others came and went, the magic unable to really show them properly; various size, various shapes, probably as to be expected from one so old as Pride. There were other gatherings of Gembounds in these images, too--quiet meetings in other caves and tunnels; a group trailing through the darkness of an unknown space, deep pits and black rivers all around them; Gembounds testing their athletic ability in a large group as they raced and leapt over obstacles; others testing their magic before three judges, bright and flashy;

He shook himself, at last, and offered Spark an apologetic smile. His magic was fading--despite his wishes; he had so much more that he could show but he had spoken too much already. Granted, much of it had been show, and not tell, but he knew he had likely stretched the child's attention span to its limits, if not beyond. "I do not mean to go on and on. There's much more I could show or tell you, but it's all--a little much, isn't it?" and he had humor in his tone.

As if in apology, he then nodded to Spark's banana peel. "-Would you like another bit of fruit?"

@Spark

They'd nod, wanting to know as much about the deer as possible. What secrets did he hide? Spark sat eagerly with their banana, ready to listen. But the magic was unexpected, they gasped when light and colour shimmered before them. The glitches and flashing of the images flew right past their head, it was like taking a kid to see a movie for the first time. Soon their thoughts shifted from a million questions of the machinations of the spell, if they could learn to replicate it somehow, to the feelings of someone completely invested in the story before them, even though they wouldn't be able to understand all of it.

They pondered the image of Pride's birth, wondering if they could've done the same. The memories of it were almost completely lost to them, just a feeling of calm and warmth and cold, then warmth again. It'd been the first time they'd felt the warmth of their magic, that they knew. They could never forget the feeling. They did feel a spike of jealousy now, wishing they had blasted forth from moonstone, casting it glittering shards as this image did.

Their eyes widened as Pride showed the lizard, put forth the concept of dominating the caves. Spark didn't even though how much of the caves there was, and controlling them all seemed such a hassle. Why anyone would do such a thing was beyond them. The hyena looked intimidating, but they knew that didn't always mean bad, or crazy. Wicker had looked twice as scary, and he'd been so nice!

"Woahh." They leaned forward, closer to the illusion, and they almost felt like they were there. Magic seemed to contain infinite possibility, their every interaction with it further fascinating them. They must learn more, so that maybe they'd have a chance of recreating these feats. They snickered at the thought of Pride hunting for another, of him trying to use his blunt set of teeth, made for cutting throught plant life rather than skin and meat. They couldn't laugh too hard though, having little experience themselves.

Spark giggled again, now at the tiny green speck. "They're so small! And long." They added thoughtfully after, their own long tail moving side to side slowly, in a fascinated wag. The humour died quick, at the telling of Greed's death. Is that what would happen, if someone sought to control the caves? They looked to the skeleton, the grim warning it was. Well, they knew what would happen if they decided to follow in her footsteps at least. Maybe this was a bit too macabre to tell a child. The fighting and the violence made their ears tilt back, the only indicator of its effect on them.

Try to do the right thing. They would, they'd try, whatever that meant. So long as they wouldn't end up like Greed, who was now nothing more than an ornament.

It was at this point that their attention lapsed, as the final images flashed forth. They rediscovered the banana they'd been holding, having been too enraptured in this biography to actually take another bite. They did so now, stuffing the small stunted thing in their mouth. Questions, questions. "Who's the other, mean looking deer near the end? Are they one of your children? Who's the big dragon, the black one?" Queries spilled forth like a tap left on and unattended. They paused the onslaught briefly. "Who's the one that looks like dad?"

They barely took time to consider Pride's offer for more bananas. "Yes please."

@Pride

He gave a little grin at the mention of Envy's teensiness, but did not interrupt himself for it. And when it was all done, he listened politely, attentively, a faint smile still curling his lips. It looked strange, on a deer, but Pride was content here.

His snout pushed gently against the floor again, magic shimmering up in an attempt to form a new banana for Spark. It formed whole from thin air, shining, and then plopped to the ground; he nudged it toward Spark with a friendly backward flick of his ears. "There you are."

"As for the other deer--a very good catch. You have a good eye; he is not my child, no. He is far older than I am: one of the Masters of the cave, as was the larger black dragon. They set rules that they demand we follow, though for the most part, they are absent. They hold enormous power and the dragon, in particular, can be enormously destructive. It is best, when you can, to avoid them; they are not our friends, bar one. That one is Tenzin--the white-and-blue phoenix I showed, the one who lives in ice. He lives in Pisces; and he is very kind." Pride's tone was warm as he said this--Tenzin had helped Gembound at no cost to them more than once. In fact, Pride had accidentally formed a child with Tenzin--his daughter Jampa--but that was a story for another time.

"That first black dragon, though--the smaller one--that was your grandfather," he went on. "He gave life to your father's stone," and he nodded to Ember. "The stone came from the one that looks like your other father, the white wolf. His name was Fireheart. Fireheart was-... a good friend. One of the Seven. He was very strong with his magic, and-" Pride paused.

Hesitated.

It was one thing to tell of Reseda's bones. Even that was perhaps too grim, as were mentions of war and death, but... This? This was a story of cruelty. He took a breath, and tried to frame it in a way that wouldn't traumatize poor Spark. He noticed Ember staring at him from a few yards off--steadily, trusting, but there was a warning to his gaze and Pride gave him a little nod before looking to the child.

"One of the Masters' cruelties was to test Gembounds by sending them to a cave called Hydra. Hydra is very dangerous. And some of those they sent, last time, had no choice; two of the Seven went as guardians to try and save them. Neither... made it back," he added softly, mournfully. "Fireheart was one of them, but from all I heard and saw of it, he went down fighting, and saved others' lives in the process. I returned there to bring back his stone; I found the strongest fire-user I could find and asked him to revive it, as fire was always such a strong part of him. That is where Ember came from," Pride finished, giving Ember a nod and a warm smile.

"It is important... to me, at least... that though many of us come and go from this life, they--and their sacrifices--are never forgotten. That their stones live on in some form, when we can. It might just be sentimental," he admitted then, with a pale-eyed wink at Spark. "In any case, Fireheart was a good person, and Ember shares his kindness, and I am certain that you will too. Tell me about yourself, then... Unless you had more questions for me? But I'd like to get to know you better, too. Is there anything you have done; any adventures you have had?" He paused, tone turning kindly. "Anything that you love or hate, or want to learn more of, or to do?"

Granted, the child was indeed just a child, and it would be a long way yet until, perhaps, they knew fully who they were, but--who was Spark, really?

red deer img credit - dan seagrave

@Spark