Ascending Pride

Noelle almost choked, papa… bird? Rommel's reaction was the most exaggerated while the rest just stopped to stare as if they couldn't comprehend the relation.

Rommel's throat and nose burned, ale was meant to go down one orifice, not up three. Ugh, now his nose was running as he grabbed for a handkerchief to cover his face. Waters of the Sea, a tsunami of ale must have come out of his face. Rommel could feel the fox's eyes burning into his back as he hurriedly tried to clean himself up.

"Are you quite finished general?" The fox demanded almost a full three minutes later. What a rude human, perhaps he should follow them around again and scare off their prey. The human's red face could have been from laughter, or coughing… a good swat to the face aught to fix those shiny eyes.

Rommel forced the cough down, "Please, forgive me Lord Fox, I just," Rommel tried desperately to find a justification for his outburst, "Just the idea of such a small baby bird being called papa. The image was too much for me." Rommel quickly added, the idea was actually pretty funny, a chick lording over all these foxes.

The fox gave a tight smile, "I'll keep that in mind for the future general."

Rommel felt himself pale, Waters of the Sea, he should just remain silent, "Please, I meant no disrespect Lord Fox," Rommel felt sweat running down his back when the fox just turned away to look back at Hazel at some unseen signal.

"You can call me Rahm, delicate flower," Rahm stated with an enticing smile as his tail brushed up against her back again. The flower's smell grew just a bit stronger, though not in a way that encouraged Rahm's attentions, so he turned back to the others.

"Lord Rahm, please, if we are misunderstanding the meaning of pride, your guidance is always appreciated." Zane stated trying to recover some goodwill of the fox. He was forcing himself to not stare at Hazel obviously.

Rahm had already lost interest in the lordlings, he should have kept to himself. Maybe found a nice bird to nest with for the evening, "Anyway, I'm sure you're basing your understanding of pride as arrogance, as most humans in power do."

Noelle let her gaze flicker ever so slightly over princess Hazel, true. When Noelle thought of pride, she usually thought of men bragging about their exploits and conquests. Young Song was so… calm for the most part. Even when the emperor had challenged him to his face, Young Song only pealed back the blinders, he didn't force the emperor to submit. At worst, Young Song had only met the challenge until Lucian acknowledged his own arrogance.

Zane tried, but he couldn't stop his gaze from resting on Hazel, her… timidness could in no way be mistaken for even a semblance of pride or confidence. Honestly, Hazel looked like she might pass out with how little she was breathing, if she was breathing at all just sitting ramrod straight.

Rahm laced his fingers under his chin while he leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table. This conveniently blocked their vision of the delicate flower, "You humans and your generalizations, you all indulge in passion, but claim the most base form as unsavory."

Noelle watched the fox, Rahm, "Lord Rahm, is not any excess to be found unsavory? Too much water will drown a man, too much sun will cause a desert." If this fox wanted to make a point, Noelle had to stay focused. Caius was known to mislead a conversation just to tease. Noelle had no doubt his kin would follow similar habits.

"Of course, greed will encourage even squirrels to hoard food for winter. Sloth to rest and recover, lust to procreate, wrath to defend what is yours, gluttony to eat, envy to strive to do better, and pride be confident. Yet only humans tend to take these to excess, so consider them sins." Rahm added with a bit of disdain through his smile. Ahh, so the delicate flower was aware, she had relaxed just enough for her dress to flatten. Had Rahm not been paying attention he would have missed the slight shifting of her dress even as she remained still.

Hazel gripped her dress again to create more bunches, though if they were all calling her a flower… they probably already knew.

Zane hesitated, technically speaking, Rahm wasn't wrong. Even the more excessive forms of virtue were frowned upon, love could be smothering when one sided. Charity could beggar a person; kindness could make someone a pushover. But the difference was usually excessive virtues were taken advantage of, excessive sins were the ones taking advantage.

"I believe the differential is that when there is a beast of greed, the humans become excessively greedy. Then when there is a beast of charity, the people become more willing to donate to those in need." Noelle remarked as if just making an observation, no need to anger this Lord class fox.

Rahm grinned, "So the human's lack of self-control is the problem? I dare say, even beasts without reason only benefit from being around sin or virtue beasts. The only animals that… cannot stop their indulgence seem to be… humans." Rahm added giving them pitying looks, "Of course not every human lacks such control, just… most of them."

Zane watched Rahm, whatever the beast was hinting at, "Is that why we cannot understand how Young Song is a good example of a beast of Pride?" The sly smile that grew on the fox's face was rather… unsettling. Zane felt as if he was being led into a trap.

Rahm pushed himself up, "Well, that's how I see it, perhaps you should watch our papa bird a little more closely in the next few days. Compare how you would act with pride, were you in his situation."

Rommel wanted to choke on his curse, had this fox come just to deliberately call them ignorant, undisciplined, and blind? Rommel held it in as the fox stepped over the bench but didn't start walking away just yet.

"It wouldn't hurt to compare his actions to Alaina's, maybe something will stand out." Rahm added then changed back to his fox form, now… if only he could find a nice warm bird to cuddle up to, a night flyer preferably. Being awake all day was making him cranky and short tempered, that was the excuse he was sticking with for not pointing out papa bird's strengths anyway.

Zane narrowed his eyes, that could be considered an insult. No matter how powerful or gracious, Alaina was currently the most powerful of any virtue or sin beast. Alaina was also the beast's mediator, if she made a move everyone took note. That was partially why the Smyrnaean's had only attempted one campaign against Adar.

As the de facto leader, to be compared to a hatchling… was no different from comparing a commoner infant to Lucian. For Rahm to make a statement that could put both beasts at odds… was very unlike the foxes. As far as Zane was aware, they were still indebted to Alaina for Caius ascending in her territory 400 years ago.

Noelle watched the fox trot off, "Perhaps we should write down how Young Song's reactions do and do not agree with our idea of pride… and how we believe Lady Alaina would have reacted?" They may need to consider if… Caius is trying to push Young Song up as the new leader of beasts.

Jaxon was only half heartedly taking notes, he couldn't do anything for the dead, Devlin was still sleeping, Monroe was with Serafin and the others. Now he was stuck with this crazed necromancer screaming in Lucian's face to "embrace the light."

Leonard took his umpteenth deep breath, "Lord Jakub, we don't understand what (embrace the light) means, is it a physical light? Like Dragon fire?" The fact that Lucian hadn't struck the necromancer down or left in a rage was already commendable.

Jakub turned on Promise, his connection to the priestess was still strong, but… her ability to separate from the other two was far from ideal. "The light, how him the light!" Jakub snarled shoving his finger almost into the emperor's nose.

Lucian had to restrain himself, of course he didn't want the empire to become an undead wasteland. But unless someone could tell him what light he was embracing, they might as well play an orchestra to a bull. Lucian glared at the finger just a hair's distance from his nose. At least until the priestess stepped forward.

"Show him the light." Jakub ordered clutching the pentagram, Promise was still under his control, even bound to the others… but her ability to separate her thoughts was becoming annoying. If Bodin or Wilbert were better at holy power control Jakub would have ordered one of them until he could understand what the foxes had done.

Promise clutched the dragon tooth that was little more than a symbol at this point, then closed her eyes to chant. The previous pope had tested all of the descendants, including Jaxon and Monroe. None of them had shown any holy attributes, which were often purest at birth.

Lucian didn't move as Promise stood over him, chanting in ancient Smyrnaean, the familiar white glow made him tense, but he didn't resist. Instead of the warmth and comfort the holy light should have provided, Lucian felt as if some insidious slime was crawling along any exposed skin, then sinking into his flesh. Lucian's fingers twitched from the effort to not draw his sword as the oozing warmth seeped past just his flesh.

Lucian knew Promise wasn't going to hurt him, well not without Jakub's instruction. Still, his childhood memories of this warmth only after they had sliced him open, broken his bones, whipped him, left starving the dark for days at a time. Even after almost twenty years, his visceral reaction was to lash out.

Jaxon stood up, then knelt on Lucian's side. Having also been at the tender mercies of the church, he could sympathize with the idea of willingly allowing any of them cast any type of spell was akin to willingly drinking poison. "I'm here Luc, focus on what you feel," Jaxon wanted to give some sort of direction but… he wasn't sure what embracing the light meant either.

Jakub glared into Lucian's chest, without the beast's help he couldn't see if Lucian's light was getting brighter or not… if only he could reach in, past the flesh, and rip out the source. If Jakub could just… get a sample he might be able to artificially recreate the light, then slowly start freeing some of the souls outside the capital.

Jaxon glanced up at Jakub while he held Lucian's tense hand, "Can you see anything?" Between the eerie green glow from Jakub's eyes, and the white light from Promise, the world was getting a little washed out.

"I doubt corrupted soul sight can see such a faint shimmer." Talvi stated as she walked in glancing around.

Leonard tensed, "Lady Talvi, how can we be of service?" Knowing a second-tier guardian class beast had just waltzed into their private meeting without raising any alarms was not a good sign. Hopefully, she hadn't eaten the guards standing outside the doors.

Talvi took a seat as she watched the death mage, watching the corrupted priestess, watching the dragonkin. "I'll make this quick, you failed to present an offering to Father Caius, ensure you have one tomorrow. Also, we will expect payment for father Caius helping to suppress the dragon's influence, so tomorrow all of you should make an effort to hunt something pleasing."

Leonard gave his best smile, "Of course, is there anything you have in mind that would be an appropriate offering to Lord Caius?" Just the idea of a displeased giant legendary fox was enough for Leonard to give his full attention.

Talvi crossed her legs, then slowly bounced her ankle, the soft jingle of her anklet resounded in the room, "An offering of Passion, if it's accepted father Caius may just give you a hint."

Leonard had to resist shuddering with each delicate sound, "We will do our best to offer something pleasing, and the payment for Lord Caius's assistance?" Leonard's gaze locked on the elegant snow-white ankle, not for its beauty, but because each sound seemed to ripple through his body.

"Either one noble lordling each day, or the equivalent in mana and meat. Papa bird will decide if it's worthy or not." Talvi informed with a slight upturn of her lips, yes, that would be a good way to start encouraging their baby bird to integrate among the kin. Talvi scrutinized the death mage, he was stronger in just two days… how curious.