video; un: deathweaver

[respired]

[ Koltira's back to his usual self once again--his hair pale as ice, his eyes burning with lichfire. His skin sallow, tinted with hypothermia, and shot through with spiderweb cracks. He wears the black ALASTAIR uniform as he sits on the edge of his bed, twisting a new ring around one gloved finger.

Beside him, his lynx cub rolls around sleepily.

His voice is still deceptively lilting, but the ethereal echo, the underscore of a guttural scratch, haunts him. ]

I must ask for a favor, should you have the capacity to grant it.

[ He glances back at the lynx cub. ]

The dead are not meant to care for the living. If one of you would take responsibility for this creature, I'd consider myself in your debt.

[ A pause. He frowns slightly as he goes on. ]

Recently, some of you met me as I once was. Understand something now. That man is gone. He died nearly twenty years ago, and nothing--nothing--of him remains in me. His house is ash, and cannot be recovered.

[ Not entirely true, though Koltira maintains otherwise.

Another beat, longer this time, as if he's unsure whether to keep talking. But, eventually: ]

Many of you recognized me, yet you did not ruin the past with visions of the future. For this ... I thank you.

[ And that's all. ]

Comments

[respired]

As near as I can tell, few of us have ever cared for a wild thing.

[hiddenlights]

Hnn. Well, I have. More than once.

[Which isn't exactly an offer, but it's useful information, yes?]

[respired]

[ Interesting, in any case. ]

Oh? Tell me of it.

[ He likes the distraction. Needs it, even. ]

[hiddenlights]

What do you wanna know? I took care of a monster called a firble, once.

[Though that one was killed by a vile traitor...]

And later a second one, that I raised into a Pyron.

[He could also make a joke about his group of Deimos here, but it's less amusing if they're not around to hear him make it.]

[respired]

[ That's half gibberish. ]

A--firble? What manner of beast is that?

[hiddenlights]

[He suspected it would be.]

It's a monster that resembles a white lizard. And a Pyron is a legendary creature with the power of flight, a firble can evolve into one if given the right kinds of food.

[respired]

[ Well, it's always nice to learn something new. ]

Mm, I see. I don't expect Belore will be quite so complex. I once cared for the lynxes that lived in Quel'thalas, and she has proven little different from them.

[hiddenlights]

If you've cared for such creatures before, are you really so certain you can't do it again?

[It would hurt, wouldn't it? Giving up an animal like that. He knows he'd find it hard, even if he'd never say as much out loud.]

[respired]

That was another life.

[ Literally.

Darc's right, of course. It does hurt. But this isn't about him. ]

[hiddenlights]

Well. If you're sure.

[He'd said he's undead, after all, and whilst Darc's curious, he also isn't one to pry into other people's personal matters too deeply.]