eivorx

[eivorx]

"You've mentioned that," he deadpanned, like Casimir's endless repeating of himself wasn't because the dragon was only partially listening. Still, Eivor gripped the gift tightly in his palm. He wouldn't part with this, either, so Casimir was out of luck if he ever wished to see it again. Still, he was curious to no end, despite his hatred for the world around him, Casimir also seemed to have a healthy dose of that. Despite all his protect this, protect that. "Right. Different," he grinned, his own toothy flash something that was to mock Casimir.

"Of course I know where to find you." He did not know where to find Casimir. The dragon took a few steps away, shifting into the great Prismatic beast that he was. If he was showing off, then he'd never admit it. He knew he was excellent to look at. Not a single flaw in his scales. His head dipped down to push against Casimir's chest, glittering blue eyes studying the dhampir. "I will find you here again. Close to the Silverlands."

Casimir saw that look, such expression which provoked some sense of aggravation from the dhampir, however mild it was. "I was born into the Church of Night, I only revered what I was expected to. Volcaris I had offered myself willingly, it's... different," though the dhampir could not help whatever petulant flash of fangs he produced, even if it inevitably settled into some half grin. Eivor had an unfortunate point but Casimir wasn't going to admit that so effortlessly despite how damning the facts truly were.

The grin tried not to grow further across his face, Casimir normally not one to make such amused expression, but the dhampir was indeed satisfied that Eivor seemed to have conceded on the matter. Zaknafein was already well aware of Casimir's concern but he had failed to wholly immerse the pride demon in any mind altering wisdom; Casimir only hoped that, through this soulbond that dragon and daemon shared, that such influence would be staggering in comparison. "Do you even know where to find me?" Casimir had plenty of safe houses established over many years throughout Lysara, and though Eterna was his main vantage point he didn't entirely mind lingering at a place where the dragon could find him easier.

[eivorx]

Eivor wasn't sure what was supposed to be "deep" but he wasn't going to ask any other questions. He was supposed to know what he was talking about. Maybe Jurgen's horde was shallow. "What would I add? I guess I don't know until I see it. Then I must have it. If it shines, I'll take a second look but – it must show power."

“It’s not that deep Eivor, dragons just like items to add to your horde right? Now I wonder what exactly is deemed worthy to be added to such. What would you add to your own?” Jurgen was still trying to get a read on the other because he was under not pretension that they actually knew much about each other.

[eivorx]

Eivor hummed, listening now. He knew Casimir had said this already, was probably poking on the side of mild aggravation, but the dhampir was still humoring him. He liked to speak in circles, liked to press upon matters of utmost importance – while also using big, drawn out explanations. He tilted his head, searching for Casimir's gaze, "Volcaris? From one dragon to another...to another." Eivor grinned now, something lazy and equally interested in the dhampir seemingly swearing himself to dragons left and right.

He looked at the treasure once more, the ruby glint familiar to the one he'd just gifted Basarab. Eivor would push his luck another time, perhaps, a reminder of the promise he'd made to Nikandros, and now the dhampir who seemed to garner his own interest. "Dragons are resistant to the blight. It's in our blood. I have seen a dragon be cured of it, but we are supposed to be the final step between magic and the blight." Eivor hadn't thought much about it, but perhaps Casimir had a point. The argument about who was guilty and who was not guilty – the dragon didn't have time for that. However, he wouldn't ignore Casimir, despite how much he didn't want to be admonished for his deeds. He moved closer, standing in front of Casimir now, "Fine. I'll go speak to Zaknafein...and Nikandros. And once I do, I'll let him know of your...concern. And when I call, you better answer. Deal, Noctis?"

Casimir was more than certain he'd already covered this chapter and thus the dhampir looked at Eivor warily for a moments pause before deciding to just indulge the other again. "Dragons have always been a priority of my life - just because I was born into the Church of Night does not mean I was meant to follow it for eternity," though his mother and siblings certainly had differing opinions on the matter. "My mother and her generals have conspirations towards glory days as though such times were not a blanket of cruelty and darkness where only their power and those corrupted prevailed. I was born in darkness but I've never been interested in the subjugation of others; if you are to kill Lusacan then I think of no better cause to help." There were many dragons still hidden within each depth of the world, but Volcaris was indeed rumored to be one of the first and so he offered the name to Eivor, "I am no beholden to Lusacan because I have become one of Volcaris' favored. The last time I was demanded to return home, it was Volcaris' blessing which saved me." Casimir did not share this lightly, he would have died if the dragons power had not preserved him through the explosion of aetherium within the labyrinth.

"It is one of Volcaris' treasures, permitted to be taken by his favored. but I instead grant it to you. It's not a direct reflection of any who follow him, just a simple treasure granted from his own horde of treasures, but even he was once corrupted by this blighted taint that Lusacan and the others spew upon this world." He was quieted as Eivor corrected that the prismatic dragon was without flaw and decided to let such correction go for the moment, nodding in a begrudged sense. "I didn't say anything about being passive, but you are destroying lives of many who have no part in this cruel game. I merely wish for you not to enact your violence so blindly."

[eivorx]

"Being present only means so much." He'd learned that, as well. Physical presence meant so little. Still, he shook his head, "I fear that until you're faced with them again – until you look them in the eyes and understand that they won't let you go so easily – you can't be sure of what you'll do." Eivor didn't wish to scare her, but he could see the wavering gaze, the way she took his words to heart. It was easy to forget about things when they were considered so far away.

"I focus on what is in front of me. And what I can possibly achieve." Eivor shrugged now, though he hoped it would be of some use to Talisa. "For so long I was controlled, and this turned into...what I can do with my freedom, before they can do it again. That's how I figured out what I wanted."

In the decade Talisa and Solon lived outside of Aetheron, they had hidden away from the world. It had cost Talisa opportunities, it might have stunted her growth, even Solon had admitted as much recently in Borderreach as they prepared to take flight to rescue the marooned survivors of the Kossith’s abduction. But even now, she couldn’t bring herself to be angry with Solon over it; it had served them well in terms of anonymity and she had never really pushed back against the idea. Instead, she had slipped into a comfortable passivity that now she found, despite how hard she tried, she could not return to. “I’m here, aren’t I? Talking to you rather than looking for them or trying to aid them,” she pointed out as evidence of her rejection of their continued influence over her. Of course, it wasn’t quite that simple.

Talisa sucked her teeth for a moment. She didn’t think it would require a conversation for Eivor to intuit what she had always known–she was a weight around an ankle rather than a springboard into something better. She was something to be coddled and babysat, not an aid or a contributor. It still stung, but some emotions were safer to show than others, and she would keep her wound hidden behind her practiced veneer. “How did you figure out what you want?”

[eivorx]

@xnikandrosx Notes: leadin into the questy quest

The dragon walked through the decimated, the blood and limbs strewn about nothing but a slight annoyance as he continued to walk. Easily avoidable, they all should've ran the moment danger had lurked close by. Vanguard armor that remained bloodied and destroyed on the ground did nothing for Vaeros, who simply picked up gold dropped by them to push into his pocket for time later.

Finding his spirit was easy enough, the bond threading through his chest lighting the way forward. Casimir had expressed enough interest in Nikandros' wellbeing and had essentially flattered his way through the conversation into pushing the dragon into action as well. In their ancient words, he waited until he found the other to speak. The spirit he had bonded with so long ago was in a pain that was broken, shattered, and the dragon would only attempt to fix it. "Don't go where I cannot follow." A beat, then the dragon looked over his shoulders at the carnage. "I did more than you did." A statement based on fact, as far as he could tell. Pride was wounded, caged, manipulated. No more. Not when they were reunited with the realm, and Wisdom would never be so crudely handled again. "I have found something for us. For you. For me." He waited a beat. "With Casimir."

[eivorx]

He cocked an eyebrow, "Oh you care for dragons now, too? Is that so?" He thought it a curious thing, and Eivor was sure that perhaps this life and world would be different if creatures had remained kind to one another. Instead, mages ruled Taravell once more. Iskaldrik spurned all sorts of magic for a world they thought they could control, damning anyone who entered. And apparently Veilcrest wished to worship one of the Old Gods, one that he'd looked at. "I plan to kill Lusacan." A very, very bold statement, but he was a dragon, it had to be expected. "Does that not bother you? Would you not be forced to defend the Dragon of Night?" Casimir, yet again, had a good point. He was increasingly frustrating, and Eivor was trying not to show it. He followed the dhampir's gaze to Basarab, curiosity in his eyes now, as the displacer beast disappeared and returned.

Basarab nudged his hand and Eivor opened his palm to accept it, the amulet glinting and shining and taking exactly all of his attention off the conversation and onto the gem in his hand. He held it up, taking in the fire red stone and all the delicate stones around it, as well as the markings on the metal, "What is it?" he asked finally, most of his defenses easily dropping. They would return, but he was distracted for the time being. "I don't have a flaw," he corrected Casimir easily, like it was just a matter of fact statement, no room for argument. The dragon was tired of being a broken thing, he was certain there had to be nothing wrong with him. Otherwise the other dragons would eat him alive. "We have never gotten peace by being passive. Why is your way the only way?"

"I could wager it's my fight and all of Lysara's; everyday I await these vainglorious mages to try and step past the border they've created in Iskaldrik. To know further that their work has been on the premise of harming the home of many I care for and dragons is not something I take lightly." Casimir shrugged then, something of a wry smile on his expression, "Besides, what worth is my death on your conscious? What true weight? Imagine it as another gift which needs not to be reciprocated, although.." Casimir looked to Basarab with a knowing expression and the displacer was gone in the blink of an eye, disappeared within Casimir's shadow. In a moment she was returned, an amulet made of glinting fire opal in her mouth as she waltzed right up to Eivor. "It seems you've quite an affinity for these things - if you will not take my help openly, I don't mind bribing you to accept it." Eivor proved to be so serious and severe and Casimir often had little use for some of the spoils he collected when completing contracts for the guild that he didn't mind leaning into what the dragon had a penchant for.

Basarab nudged Eivor's hand disposing of the amulet and turning away to make her own trek back to the shadows which housed her. "And you don't think what I'm attempting is to broach some semblance of peace? Indeed that's all I want for Nikandros, though I know it's a complicated subject for Pride, for the Wisdom such daemon once was. "Therein lies your flaw, Eivor," Casimir was sure that he would not take kindly to the dhampir pointing out a flaw, but Casimir continued, "You believe peace is something to simply be pilfered or selfishly granted. I only wish it was so simple."

[eivorx]

He seemed to glide alongside Solon, wings stretched wide as the two of them cast dark shadows over the Deadlands. He was certain that plenty were familiar with the large dragons that roamed around Blackrock, but Vaeros' destruction would surely leave them cowering within any cover they could find for now. The ocean appeared in just a few moments, lapping at the rocks of the isle as the volcanic structures of Blackrock appeared on the horizon.

I remember so little. But I remember peace. Like it was meant to be. I do not remember my parents. Who they were, if they were ever around. Do you remember yours? He felt like the young dragon he was, curious if there were answers to such questions, or if they were all to remain out of his grasp. The way Solon described it all was what Vaeros had hoped it would be. Soothing.

As Vaeros slowly took off into the air, Solon watched from below, awaiting the prismatic to be a certain distance upwards before the pink dragon's smaller frame allowed him to practically shoot upwards into the sky. Wings unfurled, quick and roaming just behind the other, Solon flew below Vaeros as they headed towards Blackrock. Solon tried not to act out in protest as Vaeros repeated the phrase of being alone, many dragons were indeed solitary, but it seemed now more than ever before they needed to be truly united front.

Indeed everyone could access the dream world, but only dreamers could wholly manipulate the energy within. Vaeros once was of such talent to at least remember the dreaming world, to be able to walk within cognitively as opposed to the many who would dream the landscape and forget upon reentering the waking world. A well of souls, with emerald waters of potent minerals. Fleeting, ever-changing; we could manipulate it to our own will if we so pleased, but we always needed to respect those spirits around us. It is not so much a time nor place, for those are mere concepts within the dream world and the truth could be simply as we command it. Spirits may have given you a vision entirely different than my own; often they wished to emulate what you seek in the waking world. I can only wonder what it once appeared to you as.

[eivorx]

"And they ruined my memory. Sometimes all we know isn't good enough." Eivor had seen it as an excuse for once, and he wouldn't take it from Talisa, either. "If you've truly left them behind, then that shouldn't be your reasoning. They'll hold that power over you for as long as you let them." As they had him. So easily his magic had been triggered, and he wouldn't let it happen once more.

Eivor shook his head, "We don't speak of you." He had wanted to meet her himself, without Solon's interference. His friend was noble and loyal and steadfast, and Eivor always responded with irrationality. She didn't know what she wanted, and perhaps that was a luxury. Eivor felt like he was grasping at sand. And all it did was threaten to cover him as fast as it slipped through his fingers. "Maybe that's where we start. Finding what you want."

She stood there quietly. War… Spirits and dreaming… And what did Talisa know? Proper table settings and how to keep conversations with the dullard sons of even more dull nobles didn’t feel like it offered much to the cause. She had not known Avalon or freedom before Aetheron because there had been no before Aetheron for me. “They took me before I hatched. They’re all I know,” she said, though she expected some blowback from the prismatic, even if it came in a form as mild as questioning her loyalties again. 

Clearly Eivor was confused once more, taking her words in a more literal sense than they had been intended. “No, I was wondering if he said something to you in private at an earlier date that led you to bring that up now,” Talisa explained, attempting not to look slightly exasperated. She bit the inside of her cheek and looked at the ground between then when he doubled down on his statement that she was more of a detriment to Solon than anything else, that she would hold him back. “I don’t know yet,” she answered, still not looking back at him. She had made connections, but those connections had been so easily ghosted away from her by the Kossith or of their own free will, and now it was her understanding that she ought to detach herself from Solon for the good of the pink dragon as well. She could honestly say she wanted Solon to reclaim the territory he was owed, but she did not need to be told she was a barrier rather than a resource in that plight again.

[eivorx]

Eivor would have to rethink this, he supposed. If he'd bruised Talisa, then maybe others were bruising? She was small, he was not. He was sure Solon would've complained by now. He packed that away for later, figuring he could come back to it another time. "I know war. He remembers the dreams. The spirits." They were all disconnected now, however, but perhaps that would come by again. He could help her in that way, perhaps. She looked worried suddenly, and Eivor tilted his head, "Did Solon say something? No. I did. Just right now. Did you not understand it?" He would explain it again, but he didn't see anything wrong with his judgement of the situation. "You're offering to help but you don't have the power to do so, so you're holding him back. What do you wish to do with yourself? What do you want from this world?" He was getting good at these questions, asking about others – it was all very good.

It was evident from Eivor’s furrowed brow that he thought she was trying to dupe him. “I’ve never had someone try and make friends with me by bruising me,” she argued, a hand reaching over her shoulder to rub the still-sore spot. A moment later she was quietly muttering, “I would prefer a hug to that…” Her attention returned to Eivor when he spoke again and while he was not wrong about Solon making efforts, Talisa had been a wholly disappointing student until recently. “He’s taught me some things, but I’m sure there are other things you and other dragons know better,” she attempted. A moment later her expression flattened, crumbling at the edges in an obvious display of worry. Had Solon said something to Eivor, something about a lack of faith in her or desire to keep her close that the Pink was too courteous to vocalize for her but the less tactful Prismatic was more than happy to illuminate? “Did he say something?” 

[eivorx]

"You would help me? Why? It's not your fight. You will stand in my way. Aetheron would kill you, and it would be my fault." There'd be a whole mess to clean up, wouldn't there? The dragon wouldn't have it as such, to be pulled down. He knew Nikandros wouldn't either – and yet here they all stood. Eivor let out a hmph, before he crossed his arms over his ample chest, "Sometimes people here give gifts with expectations behind them. Nothing is ever that simple. Like if you receive a hug, you must hug back. It's all very ridiculous. I hate it here." Still, he wouldn't say no if Casimir gave him another no strings attached gift. That's what he'd done with Basarab, except the hint that if she ever, for some wild reason, didn't want it anymore, it should return to him! That had to be obvious and unspoken.

"That's not all that's massive," he growled out, feeling more like an angry dog being placated than anything else. Eivor moved closer, "Even Zak cannot be held with chains and wishes." Casimir liked to talk, and Eivor's eyes narrowed momentarily. Still, he felt what Nikandros did – swirling around in his chest. What they were to each other, what Casimir was, and how it all seemingly yearned to fall into place. "Our spirits require....peace." It felt like a dirty word, peace. So impossible for a dragon who aimlessly wandered, eternally damned to find a place in the world he'd been given. "How can we receive peace if we don't take it for ourselves, Casimir Noctis?" Eivor's voice was lower now, though he'd give the dhampir a moment to answer.

"In Veilcrest we're born and raised for the purpose of Lusacan, for my families armies," he often didn't wish to commiserate on certain things in life and was rather confident in the fact that Eivor likely didn't wish for that either, but Casimir offered this all the same. "Magic has scorned you once before but magic can be a potent ally, too. There are such things that can make your dream a reality, though I won't insist my aid upon you, just know it is there if you wish for it." Casimir could not think of a better purpose than instilling his crafts and spellwork upon something that wound hinder such cruelty; sometimes the pacifistic approach to the cycle of violence, the dhampir discovered, was indeed bullshit.

"That's the very definition of a gift," Casimir volleyed with a nod of his head; if he had to bribe the dragon's favor with rubies and glittering gems, the dhampir hardly minded doing so. His hands quickly went up in some show that, though a dragon was indeed more powerful than a dhampir, he meant no harm or malicious intent. "The Abyss, demons, all that's in which is supposedly so corrupt and maleficent, I've studied for some time. When I met Nikandros I knew not what he was, I only knew him for the Vanguard robes he adorned himself with. My care does not come from my own selfish pursuits, and you should trust I've no reason to lie to you so recklessly on that." Eivor would do as he so pleased, as any dragon who'd been so mistreated thus deserved to, but still Casimir yapped on, "Instead of rearing your massive pride, try to reflect your wisdom; what is truly important to both your spirits? Burn the settlements of Blackrock to dust for all I care, but know you are only shoving Nikandros farther down until the mage be nothing but dust too."

[eivorx]

Eivor tried to be his own, but it was a slow process. One the Kossith had attempted to lord over him, as well. The physical pain had been familiar, comforting, even. If he was in pain, he could still fight. And over and over again he had. "To put it crudely...yes. A weapon." He left out the part about his fragmented mind and memories, how long it had taken for him to remember who he was outside of the hold Aetheron had on him. How he'd nearly forgotten his own name. "Being a prisoner in your own mind...your own....body...is what I wish upon them and them alone."

"You come with Basarab. I'll have to settle for that." He never minced his words, and always got to the point. The dragon eyed Casimir suspiciously for another moment, "Though you did give me a gift. I won't be returning it. It's mine." He had made that clear, right? Eivor still thought Casimir had something else to tempt him with, but the wrong word was used next – and his temper and somewhat easy going stance changed. "Research?" He growled the word out, like Casimir was using Nik as a new form of research on daemonfey. "Defeat him? You talk in circles. Don't make me threaten you. Is this why you wish for Nikandros? To help you study him?" He spared a glance for Basarab, "Apologies, noble friend." The dragon's gaze shifted back to Casimir, "Don't embarrass her by dying now."

"These mages wanted you to be their weapon," it calls back to the malicious intent Eivor currently spoke of, but Casimir was unsure if there was ever a way to handle such fragile magic as Telperion without it shifting to such dark intent. "So now you're simply your own," again, something incredibly obvious but Casimir did not wish to pass judgment nor assumptions on the other freely. It had taken everything within Casimir to not let his own anger destroy him, his mother's torment upon him had granted the dhampir a gift, but it hadn't meant that it didn't wound him indelibly to accept it. Unlike Eivor, though Casimir could say he was free, walk as though he held no loyalty, his blood would always demand he answer a call, even if his mind wished to refuse it.

Casimir tried not to grin as Eivor made this point, nodding, "I see Basarab may always have more favor with you than I," another obvious fact and not one he took offense to; often the displace beast worked as the middle ground for many of his interactions despite the fact Basarab never spoke beyond snarls and growls. "Your Pride feeds off of one another like some festered wound, of course there's comfort in that, but it only allows for this. My research tells me that much like any demon, or their daemon counterparts, their power is only rooted in their ideology. I don't wish for you to defeat him, but if this pride is undermined, perhaps even Zaknafein could be privy to some clarity on his... methods of violence." It was rather impossible for Casimir to speak plainly enough but the dhampir did his best attempt for Eivor.

[eivorx]

This is why Eivor pretended to be familiar with everything. Otherwise he'd be like Casimir, not liking when that happened. Still, the dragon hummed, "There is not much on Telperion for many reasons. The more they mess with the natural magic, the more corrupted it will become. That's what I think." He could be off base, but nothing that the Aetherians did was of...pure intent. That alone would corrupt it. All mages and witches who abused such power had found their lives forfeit if they ever came across Eivor the Vanguard. "It was either that or remain aloof. If I am to control, then I must understand. And I think I do. More and more. But it isn't enough sometimes." That's where his unrelenting anger came in, and he gave Casimir a look, "Oh. Then yes. I promise." He could do that. Casimir was being much more reasonable, now. Eivor had already decided he'd do anything for Basarab, he wouldn't turn from that.

"I prefer Vaeros; you can call me Eivor." He didn't say it with malice, just matter of factly as he stood there in front of the dhampir. His name didn't have the same effect a daemon's would, which is why he stuck to less formality. Casimir's words didn't fall on deaf ears, but the dragon had a difficult time in finding an answer for the other. He was used to this feeling, the chaos in his chest, the desires of Pride, the feelings of an Archon's heir, all these things were not foreign to him. "When I was angry, he did not stop me. What do you wish for me to do? Remind Zak of Nikandros? Remind Nikandros that he is not weak? Speak plainly."

Casimir could see that his own reaction had not made a savory impression on Eivor, "I don't mean to offend, I just don't like when there's something I'm not wholly familiar with." He'd not heard even the faintest rumor of Telperion but his mind tried to call back to the massive library of his family home, if there was anything within each book he'd studied so intently. A conduit - there was a flash of interest on Casimir's face, red eyes suddenly brighter before he sobered himself with the reminder of what it took for Eivor to be this way; not that he truly understood the depths of that in this very moment. Torture was.... a broad scope but none of it was pleasant and Casimir did not wish to treat Eivor like an experiment either and so the dhampir bit his tongue currently. "You seem well versed in what they've done to you," it was all Casimir could say on the subject watching as the veins resorted to a duller shade of silver as though settled after Casimir's brazen touch.

"That's why I asked if you were making a promise here," There was some level of a facetious regard in which he offered this retort; Casimir did not know Eivor, but dragons were often passionate in their interests and could normally be trusted when their interest was provoked entirely on something or someone. "What has been done to me, I don't think it has saved me from inevitably petrifying, but I hope to one day make you eat your words, Vaeros. Or do you prefer Eivor?" He'd not forgotten how the dragon seemed to have revealed his true name, something which Casimir respected. Still, he did hope to prove the dragon wrong; that one day he could find a way to pry himself from what was inevitable - the Blight which ran rampant in his veins and would be his undoing. "I want both," sudden but clear, Casimir emphasizes this, "But I worry that Pride will continue to sap at Nikandros and you will sit here and believe it is okay simply because he once allowed Zaknefein control."

[eivorx]

Vaeros lifted his head once more, though he began to spread his wings, beating them now as he took off into the air, expecting the lithe Pink to follow. He circled a few times before he began to head towards Blackrock, expecting Solon to keep up. Some things I have to do alone. I am always alone yet...never alone. He wasn't sure how else to describe it, but still, he flew in sync with the other, the isle of Blackrock approaching in the distance.

It is like a shadow of a memory. Beings of magic around me. Because that's what we were. Or perhaps still were, but Vaeros struggled with that identity as a whole. Endless possibilities...emotions in every form. His soulbond was created in that realm, every bit of him was desperate to remember, yet it remained out of reach. Do you remember more? Tell me. Tell it to me, please.

Solon did not carry their shared torment well, simply the pink dragon managed to hide it better, reshaping these mangled and tattered emotions into something that resembled faith and duty. There wasn't much which could mend their tattered spirits and though Solon did not savor the idea of Vaeros' methods, such ideals of violence were not entirely wrong after how they each were treated either. Indeed he would expect to see the Prismatic when Avalon and any dragon needed him most, he understood the conviction in which Vaeros stated this.

Our paths are different but parallel, you are alone only if you will it to be. Solon possess grief in his gaze, there is much hurt he cannot ever fix, but he can only hope to shape something better for them in the realm of tomorrow. Dreaming.... what do you remember of it? Not all dragons were wholly immersed in the craft, least not as intimately as Solon, but this was his - for lack of a better word - dream, to bring Dreaming to the forefront of the world again.

[eivorx]

Eivor looked down at Casimir's hand on his wrist, then back at the dhampir's face, then back down at the hand on his wrist. One would've thought the Noctis had said that Prismatic Dragons were the ugliest of all dragons with the look on Eivor's face. Waiting until Casimir unhanded him, he grumbled, something deep in his chest that made him flex his hand as his veins reacted to the other's magic before returning to their dormant silvery shade. "It doesn't hurt. It's a conduit, forcing me into this form. As a result, I absorb the magic around me at times." A good side effect for the Aetherians, for the Archon who'd caged him, and a bit of a fun one for Eivor's magic.

"Is what a promise?" The dragon didn't see anything wrong with what he'd said, tilting his head at Casimir's reaction. "You will die. Long before me. Dragons live a very long time. Wouldn't you rather she be well and happy?" A bit selfish of Casimir to wish for Basarab to be left to her own whims after his death. And Eivor thought Dragons were self centered. Casimir seemed to speak from a place of...concern? He wasn't sure that was the right word, but the guarded look in Eivor's eyes remained. He loved them, fiercely, even if he never said it out loud. It resided in his chest, in their shared bond. "Nik did everything of his own free will." He didn't feel threatened by the questioning of his loyalty, but he was less forgiving than Nikandros. "You cannot want for one without the other, Noctis. I don't know what you feel with him, or what thing he is helping you with, but remember that."

Noticeably, Eivor stood taller, puffing out his chest as the perfect inscription of Pride that he was intimately tethered to. Casimir liked to figure he was good at reading people, but it was unfortunate to know he was right about this; that the dragon was an experiment, mishandled and treated inhumanely as though he was separate from any regular creature out there. The dhampir took a step closer as Eivor tossed his gauntlets aside, the veins starkly bright against the black smoke which provided the dark and muggy environment around them. "Telperion," the word was muttered like some curse as Casimir studied the magic that flowed through Eivor's veins, a strain of magic he was unfamiliar with. "Does this hurt still?" A foolish question even for an artificer much like himself, but Casimir's cold and undead hands wrapped around Eivor's wrist, pulling the arm closer as though it would reflect the Telperion within differently. A sharp inhale of a dead breath had him inevitably drop the other's arm as quickly as he'd once picked it up, even Casimir could not ignore his nature as a dhampir and the Shade took a half-step backward.

"Is that a promise?" Half hissed, Casimir did not often wish to think about the day madness would come for him - his life was nearly halfway over as it was. As Nikandros was spoken of, Eivor seemed to calm, Casimir listening intently. Logically, through the soulbond eivor shared with the other, the dhampir wished to be inclined to believe him, but he was unsure where true loyalties could lie. With the daemon inhabiting the mage or with Nikandros - Casimir vied to believe two things could be true, but he still remained more of a realist than one imbued with hope of compassion and kindness in others. "Did you take Nikandros for a fool as well?" His voice was calm, brow risen, "As a means to an end? I can understand... if he was your freedom, but if you care for him as you say... you cannot let Pride be absolute." Casimir frowned, he assumed Eivor would not take his perspective well, but if Casimir had faced Zaknefein and survived such encounter, he could question the dragon and hopefully remain unscathed.

[eivorx]

Aaron Taylor-Johnson for Saint Laurent

[eivorx]

Eivor couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually had someone in a bed — but he wasn’t going to think on it. Instead, he puffed his chest out a little more, despite the armor doing its best to choke his skin. He tugged his gauntlets off, tossing them down to the ground behind him. They were stained with blood anyway, and the dragon wasn’t going to worry about it. He bared his teeth slightly at Casimir’s words. “I am wrong and right.” He didn’t understand how one could be both; how Aetheron could hail him a success, and how Eivor only felt so incredibly wrong. “Telperion is unstable. Magic in metal is unstable. Magic being controlled and manipulated is unstable.” The dragon wouldn’t consider himself an expert, most of his time being experimented on had been spent in immense pain and a twilight of consciousness. He tapped the ring on Casimir’s chest once more before all of his attention was absorbed by Basarab again. He didn’t take this as a no, just a…not yet. “When Casimir dies, you have me.” Casimir looked solid, sturdy, but death would find him. Eivor would only be semi patient, but at least that day would come and Eivor would be around to have Basarab all to himself. A very noble friend indeed.

“Nik…” Eivor trailed off after a moment, thinking of the Archon’s son who’d made a deal with Zak, and how much the lines had blurred until Eivor had wondered if there was anything left of the mage. “Nikandros is there, deep within. Sometimes we deal with things in a different way. I will not speak for him, I can only tell you what I feel from him. We have been wronged not once, but twice, now. The Kossith sought to control him, and I would kill anyone who attempted such a thing.” And he had, in the end. They both had. Eivor was simply the one that would always be there, Zak never questioned that. “It is not grief but wounded pride. And Aetheron twisted him into such and now he brings what pride has wrought upon this realm. It’s what everyone deserves.”

"I'm sure your bed is never empty, Eivor," he rolled his eyes then, but was highly amused at how the others ego ran rampant, even when it came to baseless and teasing words. The next statement from the dragon would have wounded Casimir had Eivor not stated it as though it was simple fact, but it seemed such truth did not bother him deep down. "An experiment gone wrong," a dhampir was never satiated and Casimir tried not to look upon the veins that spoke so loudly out to him, instead focusing more intently on their conversation. "-That I can understand," stated as Eivor very boldly grabbed at the ring imbedded into his flesh.

"It's obsidian, but there's notes of aetherium within it, if you know anything of the latter it's horridly unstable. In some way, I survived," and in many ways it had offered Casimir a peculiar extension of his abilities, all tethered to the shadows around them. Basarab walked forward, she was rather large and so she could only curl around the outside of Eivor's leg as she walked before returning back to Casimir's side; a polite declining of such offer. "He was helping me with something, a project," Casimir didn't wish to speak of all the details currently, but it all revolved around the ring that Eivor had so carelessly tugged on moments prior, "but this new vision of him, it's not what I've come to know. He says Nikandros is no more," his eyes studied Eivor curiously as he said this, vying to know more.

[eivorx]

He opened his mouth to argue, but something about Casimir's bemused expression made him realize that was probably a joke and it was bordering something that was more an innuendo than the actual meaning the dragon had meant. "I fuck plenty, very often." Who was Casimir to ask such a question? A Noctis with no throne and a "hoard" that was just imaginary at this point. Eivor would like to see it to believe it. "No one understands what I am." He was stuck in this High Elvhen polymorph, the obvious telperion veins that shown all along his skin another giveaway that there was something inherently wrong with him. Even so, Basarab's presence and flash of the creature made his veins react. Always absorbing magic, feeling it pulse around the three of them, Eivor was definitely hard to hide.

"If you have to be one of you to be there, then it's no place for me." The dragon didn't wish to be another odd creature out; perhaps he'd leave Veilcrest to rot. Blackrock wasn't exactly a riveting escape, all ash and volcanic activity, but it was familiar. "You are the vault?" He moved closer now, reaching forward to grab the ring and tug, only to bring Casimir with it. Curiosity placated for a moment, his gaze traveled to Basarab, "You and I could go many places, friend. And bring terror to many." His smile was small, but perhaps genuine, and while he had somewhat tuned Casimir out, he couldn't pretend to ignore him when he was two feet away. "It was not always as such. He was Wisdom, I was Vaeros." Suspicion clouded his gaze for a moment, "You speak his name so carelessly."

He could sense this disappointment radiating off the other and Casimir found great amusement in it, "Do you not have others throughout the lands that come to worship you on their knees? Or is your flimsy secret hard for others to catch onto?" Perhaps he'd more information than most to make his assumption of the others true draconic form but he still considered others fools if they did not realize. If Eivor was this brazen with it currently he could only imagine how he was on any other ordinary day. "I didn't expect you to be riddled with such questions," indeed he was surprised, normally dragons were so self-absorbed to volley questions in return. "You would like it there, it's violence incarnate, but there is always a price for those who are not a dhampir or strigoi to remain within." Your worth was measured by your use for their religion, for their society and it's tools; he could shudder imagining what his mother or uncle would do if a dragon was to be in their possession.

"My vault is well guarded," Casimir pointed to his chest where the ring was embedded into his flesh for it was simply a gateway to the true abyssal lodge which housed most of his wealthy possessions. "She likes you, I think, but she would not go with you," Casimir smiled at that and suddenly there was a flash of Basarab's bright green eyes that appeared from Casimir's shadow. "You speak of the realm of spirits, how corrupted it is - is that how you've come to be tethered to Zaknafein." He was getting to the hard hitting questions without wasting a breath.