video; [KINGOFHEROES]

[babbylon]

[Greetings and salutations, comrades of ALASTAIR! The face of a handsome young man opens the feed today, smiling wide and surrounded by lions on his bed. Yes, that's right, lions. Shishi, his mount, sits in the background, with his mate nestled nearby. And atop him, crawling across his legs, over his shoulders, even rubbing at his face, are cubs, golden and white and feisty. They growl and chirp at the jewelry floating just a few feet away, and a particularly brave one bats at it.

Their parents, as well as Gilgamesh himself, look appropriately proud.]

Good day. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting me before, I am Gilgamesh, King of Heroes, and your resident lion tamer. I bred them as a hobby, back in my native Uruk, and so I have once again come into possession of several cubs.

[The cubs themselves appear no more than six weeks old. Gilgamesh has to shift a little to accommodate them, as they are absolutely intent on making the broadcast difficult by shoving their little furry bodies everywhere. Not that it bothers him much—he's laughing under his breath.]

They have all been weaned from their mother and thus are ready for distribution. Alas, I cannot keep so many for myself; I aim to find good homes for them among you all. I do ask you bear in mind these are wild animals at heart, requiring a great degree of time and attention to train.

[Though you'd never know it, seeming so harmless, so adorable.. After a time, Gilgamesh surrenders, and gets swallowed up by their insistent pawing.]

They are not... just... housecats to sit on a shelf and... w-wait, do not touch it...!

[The necklace goes flying down the hall as a mischievous cub bounds after it. Gilgamesh will snatch it back... eventually.]

(( All lions have now found loving homes! Thanks for the interest, everyone! ))

Comments

[babbylon]

[Well, well, look who showed their pretty dead face again... Gilgamesh addresses him crisply, and though Koltira may undoubtedly be very far away and thus unable to do much harm, he holds the cubs closer by instinct. Protectively.]

An ironic turn of phrase, coming from you.

[respired]

[ Koltira doesn't miss that careful clutching, but his inscrutable expression doesn't suggest any particular reaction to it, either way. ]

I suppose. Have you placed the lot?

[babbylon]

Perhaps.

[Perhaps not. Gilgamesh seems cagey about it. And about this conversation.]

[respired]

I don't mean to ask for one, if such is your concern. It is mere curiosity.

[babbylon]

They will all find loving homes, I am sure.

[Gilgamesh at least recognizes he's being a little unfair in his unfriendliness, so he asks in a lighter tone:]

Did you keep pets, once?

[respired]

[ Well, he's used to it. ]

I didn't keep them, but lynxes once roamed the forests of Quel'thalas. I would feed them if they drew near to the temple.

[ A pause, and he murmurs. ]

I was simply reminded of that time.

[babbylon]

I see that even the walking dead are not immune to nostalgia.

[Gilgamesh gingerly avoids the obvious mention, that he's technically among their ranks too, but his own relationship with death was... complicated. Part of him had refused to acknowledge it at all, longed for a body with which to forever walk the earth.

Part of him had also gone mad because of it.]

What of this Quel'thalas? Even the name sounds peerless in beauty.

[respired]

We are vulnerable to many things.

[ By now, Koltira feels he's well familiar with the particular tragedy of Servants. He finds parallels to his own experience, if inexact--but he doesn't expect an accord as a result. As it stands now, he doesn't expect anything from anyone. ]

It means 'high kingdom' in the language of my people. A land of lush forests, of light, of eternal spring.

[babbylon]

It did not last, did it?

[Perhaps they are similar enough that Gilgamesh simply knows.]

[respired]

... no. Not as it once was. In the wake of the undead, its devastation was near-total.

[babbylon]

You hurt whatever you touch, don't you?

[Gilgamesh glances down at the cubs in his arms. So bright, so full of life, so unlike Koltira.]

Even if you were to love something, it would simply fall apart before you.

[respired]

[ He narrows his eyes. It's not untrue, but in this particular instance -- ]

My death was part of that devastation. It was my home, my people. The armies were lead by a human prince.

[babbylon]

The prince that betrayed you all?

[It's not actually a clever guess; just a story he's heard many, many times before.]

[respired]

Carrying a cursed sword.

[ Tale as old as time, right? ]

[babbylon]

Who died at the end of a sword himself...

[Indeed. It might be why one as old as Gilgamesh knows it.]

[respired]

You seem to know this story well.

[babbylon]

I know many stories. Mine was the very first of my world, after all.

[respired]

Oh? And how did it go?

[babbylon]

We would be here a very long time if I told you all of it.

[Though he would tell all of it, if asked, as Gilgamesh was endlessly proud of his own accomplishments. His story did not end much better than Arthas' did, but Gilgamesh accepted it along with everything else that happened; good things and bad things alike wove together to make a truly terrific tale.

Gilgamesh hums, thinking back to times long since past.]

Let us see... the adventure you might like most... it is the one where I tried to defeat Death.

[respired]

[ He's got nothing but time, especially now. ]

Hmmn. Go on.

[babbylon]

[Without pause, Gilgamesh recites for him thus:]

"No one at all sees Death,
no one at all sees the face of Death,
no one at all hears the voice of Death,
Death so savage, who hacks men down."

But I did seek it out regardless; I sought he who built the great ark, Uta-Napishti, and asked of him what it might take to defeat Death. Do you know what he said?

[respired]

[ Despite everything, Koltira is still an elf in his heart, and his people have always prized art and knowledge above all else. He retains memories of long, meandering banquets, spent idly listening to the lyre, telling tales, eating apples.

He leans forward. ]

Tell me.