Keeping It in the Family

The first of the dragon-things-- :Hathian beasts,: Cherek had corrected him, :Though being referred to as a "beast" isn't exactly flattering, I admit.:-- had already finished and gone by the time Casequin and Cherek had gotten downstairs to where the food was. Cherek had fallen on what was left of the raw meat like a starving thing, muscling aside a smaller "beast" and pointedly ignoring a bigger one-- the only bigger one, Casequin recalled with pleasure, the brown four-headed male-- to get at it.

There was a brief squabble as the unbonded purple one, whose name Casequin never did catch, tried to retaliate for being shoved by biting Cherek's wings. This time Casequin himself got to stick up for his-- he still didn't like calling him a beast, so maybe Hathian would work-- for his Hathian by giving her a rumbling growl of his own and tugging her back by one wing with brute strength alone. When she tried to retaliate for that, Cherek threatened to gang up on her with his bond, and she backed down and focused on filling her belly, as Cherek was, his, and the brown one was, his, ignoring them both. The rest had already left, leaving only the three and two bonds, but to where, Casequin didn't know.

:Probably upstairs, to their own rooms,: Cherek commented while busy stuffing his face. :Except those psychos, who are hopefully a million miles away by now.:

And good riddance, Casequin thought fiercely, feeling wordless agreement in return.

:You know, you should be feeding me.:

No, I don't know, and who says? You're feeding yourself just fine.

:That's just how it's done.:

Not now, it isn't. Besides, you're almost done.

:Hm. I guess you're right.:

Finally full, Cherek backed away from the "meal", which was really nothing but a few spare scraps left anyway, leaving the brown four-header to finish up. So what do we do now? Casequin wondered to himself.

:Sleep,: said Cherek firmly, answering the unintended question. :Well, I am going to sleep, anyway. And get clean.: There was a brief feeling of digust for how egg-slimy Cherek felt, before he added, :Not necessarily in that order. Where are you staying?:

Oh, upstairs... Come on, I'll show you where. Though as he thought, the image of his rooms came to mind, so Cherek probably picked that up, too.

To his surprise, as he climbed the stairs, slowly so that Cherek with his winged arms could keep up, Casequin found that he was even oddly tired. He was lazy during the day, of course, but actual weariness? :It might just be because I'm tired,: Cherek admitted, and Casequin got the feeling that to no one else would the three-headed Hathian would say such a thing. Rather like Casequin would never admit to anyone else that he had been afraid of Cherek at first--

To anyone else. That was fast, to adjust to thinking of Cherek as exempt to the rules he applied to anyone other than himself. A sort of smug pleasure buzzed at the back of his mind, and he glanced over at Cherek. The feeling wasn't coming from him, so it had to be coming from the Hathian. It had that slightly three-fold sensation to it, which only confirmed the suspicion.

:Well, why shouldn't I be pleased?: came the faintly echoey response. :You're my chosen, you're supposed to trust me. Can you imagine what it would be like if you didn't trust something that was stuck in your head all the time?:

Well, that made sense.

:Of course it does.: Then the usually confident mind-voices took on a certain plaintiveness, as the round little Hathian puffed on his way up the stairs. :Are we almost there?:

Actually, they were. Casequin turned them off the stairs and lead the way down the hall, just a few doors to the one he'd been assigned. If I had room, I'd just go demon and carry you, he thought, a little surly that the whole building seemed built for small things-- like humans. A moment of curious confusion from Cherek prompted him to bring up an image of himself, the way he usually looked, for the three-headed Hathian to hopefully pick up. It was easier than explaining, and seemed to be plenty for Cherek to understand what he meant.

With a sigh of something like relief, Casequin put his hand on the door handle and turned it. He'd been given a pretty fancy pair of rooms, from what he could tell from his limited experience with actual rooms, made up of a bedroom and attached bathing room. It was supposed to be large and spacious, but Casequin always felt a little cramped in it, anyway. That whole "made for humans" thing. Well, at least it was more comfortable then a cave.

The door swung open, and three pairs of pearly eyes focused inside and three linked minds radiated confusion and, in smaller amount, disgust. :Who is that?:

Casequin looked inside, confused, himself, then gulped to swallow a groan. There, sitting cross-legged on his bed, was Rao: mostly nude, as was her preference, displaying far too much black skin; violet hair tumbling over her shoulders in a manner that he guessed was supposed to be attractive; and snapping, golden eyes fixed on him. Not on Cherek, not on the door, on him, as if she'd been expecting him.

My mother, he thought glumly at the three-headed Hathian.

"Hello, Mother," he said aloud, voice expressionless, coming inside.

"You brainless, worthless shit," she responded. Two of Cherek's heads snorted in surprise, the third hissing in displeasure, but Casequin only sighed and shut the door behind them both. Rao ignored all the little noises.

"What did I do wrong this time, Mother?" he asked tiredly.

"Wrong? Wrong?! You-- imbicile! How could you do this to me? I can't believe I've raised you, trained you, fought for you to bring you to this Zenite-cursed place-- only to have you bond that!" She pointed imperiously at Cherek, who mantled slightly, wing-arms tensing and all three heads lowering in unified dislike.

Casequin glanced down at him. Don't take it personally, he suggested. She's like this all the time.

:Don't take it personally-- don't take it personally?!: The middle head started to growl, but Casequin stroked it between the horns to try and calm all three. It didn't work very well, but at least Cherek stopped growling. Rao continued to ignore the Hathian, as if somehow he was beneath her.

"I thought that's what you wanted me to do, Mother," Casequin tried diffidently. "I stood at the hatching, just like you said, and one of the hatchlings liked me. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Not that!" she snarled, unfolding and rising, expression dangerous. "I should just rip it apart right now-- fucking thing is worthless! Didn't you see the others? The bigger ones? The stronger ones? How could you ignore them! Four heads! Four! FOUR, QUIN! Bigger, stronger, more magical-- and you ignored them!"

Struggling between an honest fear of what she might do, an honest fear of what Cherek might try to do, and a red haze of rage that was half his and half Cherek's, Casequin shut his eyes with a pained expression. "I didn't ignore anything, Mother," he groaned. "It's not my choice who picks me, I thought that big black dragoness told you that the same time she told me. It's the hatchling's choice, and even if I'd seen the four-headed ones first, it wouldn't have mattered if Cherek had already chosen me. --Besides, I like Cherek," he added boldly, partly in hopes of pacifying the three-headed Hathian, and partly in defiance of her.

For a moment, he thought he had gone too far, for her eyes blazed brightly golden and her form seemed to swell, not in shape-change, but in fury-- or maybe she just gathered up her considerable power and he was sensing that. Whatever she was doing, it was nothing good, and his first thought was that she might go through with her off-handed threat to tear Cherek apart. He wouldn't, couldn't let her do that. The first creature to actually like him, and she wanted to destroy it.

So, before the infuriated silvered hatchling could do more than bugle a young, three-voiced challenge-- apparently unaffected by a certainly healthy fear of what Rao might do to him-- Casequin stepped quickly in front of him. Human-bodied, he could hardly block whatever spell Rao would throw at them, any more than he could stop Cherek from charging into quite probably his death, but demon-bodied, he could. He called up his own shape-change, growing nearly instantly in his haste from scrawny and furless to shaggy and bulky. His head ducked so his horns wouldn't ruin the ceiling, he bared his teeth at Rao, who lost her spell in surprise. He had never stood up to her before, not like this.

"You'll have to get through me, Mother," he growled. "If you want to hurt him, you'll have to kill me, first." Cherek's surprise and pleasure cut through the three-minded rage, diffusing it, but Casequin's determination still remained. No matter what she did to him, she was not laying a hand, claw, or spell on Cherek.

To her credit, Rao did not sputter or bluster-- not that he had honestly expected her to; she was to self-assured for that. Instead, she narrowed her eyes at him, and he could almost see her mind working furiously. Cherek peeked through his legs at her, baring all three sets of teeth hatefully at her, as well. There was a very long, very uncomfortable moment of silence before Rao finally smiled. It was not a pleasant smile, but it wasn't a terribly dangerous smile, either.

"Fine, then," she said. "Keep your pet. But don't expect me to dote on it."

And with that, she abruptly vanished, leaving Casequin limp with relief.

:I do not like her,: Cherek grumbled, just one voice, as if that gave the words more emphasis.

"Neither do I," Casequin agreed. "Neither do I."