greek deities

[her_imperial_radiance]

Harley is seven, and he and Elspeth are hanging out in the Québec capital (because the rest of the Golden Coven is doing so), and as is usual in capitals with major wolf villages, she, he, and Jacob stay in village quarters during this time.

The capital as a whole moves less often than it once did, now that people can readily teleport to other sites to handle things there; this is the first time in Harley's life that they've been to Québec for anything other than a brief visit, so it's the first time he's seen the Imperial Alpha house in which Jacob, his imprint, and her fosterling are entitled to live.

They have neighbors. One of these is a seven-year-old puppy boy, who is currently making a snowfort.

Comments

[pythbox]

"Maybe the houses are dragons," Harley speculates. "They've got the teeth and everything!"

[alicornucopia]

"Yeah! They're sleeping dragons! We gotta get them or they'll wake up and wreck the fort!" Zeus begins relatively gently attacking his house, trying not to break his icicle.

[pythbox]

Harley, of course, joins in the battle with more enthusiasm and less restraint.

[alicornucopia]

He may have to replace his sword more often than Zeus does, but that's okay, there are plenty of icicles.

They are making a bit of a racket. An earmuffed woman sticks her head out the door. "You made a friend!" she observes.

"This is Harley and he lives with Jacob and the Princess!" exclaims Zeus, prodding the drainpipe with his current sword.

[pythbox]

"Your house is a dragon and we're killing it," Harley adds, cheerfully.

[alicornucopia]

"Oh no! Have I been living in a dragon? All this time?" chuckles Zeus's mother. "Well, please don't kill it too energetically."

[pythbox]

Harley laughs. "You're funny!"

[alicornucopia]

"It's true! I'm Demeter," adds the woman. "I'm Zeus's mother. I didn't think Jacob and the Princess had a kid."

"They don't! He's a human and Princess Elspeth kidnapped him 'cause his parents were bad and now he just lives there," says Zeus, flailing his sword wildly at the bricks and breaking off the tip.

[pythbox]

"I love Elsie, she's great," Harley says cheerfully, attacking the wall some more. His icicle snaps in half.

[alicornucopia]

Zeus throws his broken icicle remains like a lance at a window; Demeter winces, the icicle breaks, the window survives.

"Try not to break the house," she says. "You know that dragons shrug off physical damage like it's nothing; you only have to intimidate them to kill them good and proper, and then I can go on living in this one."

[pythbox]

"And then you'll be living in a dead dragon!" says Harley. "Cool. But how do we intimidate it if we can't talk to it?"

[alicornucopia]

"Who says you can't talk to it?" says Demeter. "I think you can."

Zeus giggles.

[pythbox]

Harley eyes the house speculatively.

[alicornucopia]

"It won't answer you, most likely. Dragons are arrogant like that," smiles Demeter.

[pythbox]

He giggles again.

[alicornucopia]

"Hey dragon!" roars Zeus at the house. "You better roll over and die because we've got - even better swords! We have magic swords, yeah, and we can own you!"

Demeter ducks back into the house.

[pythbox]

Harley is laughing too hard to help intimidate the dragon.

[alicornucopia]

"I'm a Snowfort Prince! Smart dragons don't even let me talk to them, they're already dead when I get there," asserts Zeus.

[pythbox]

"It's true!" Harley agrees. "He's already killed, like, a million more dragons!"

[alicornucopia]

"A billion!" corrects Zeus. "And that's not counting the smart ones! This dragon here must be really dumb," Zeus adds to Harley.

[pythbox]

"Yeah," snorts Harley. "The dumb ones are easiest."

And he runs up to the side of the house and shouts, "BOO!" and then dusts off his hands ceremoniously.

[alicornucopia]

"Is it dead?" asks Zeus skeptically.

[pythbox]

"Yeah, look at it," shrugs Harley. "You see it moving?"

[alicornucopia]

"Maybe it's asleep," says Zeus. "Maybe it's in a coma!"

[pythbox]

"Hey, if we scared it into a coma, I think that's good enough," says Harley.