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

[alicornucopia]

"Huh. Okay," shrugs Zeus. Snowfort snowfort. "So I am prince of this snowfort. 'Cause I started it."

[pythbox]

Harley giggles.

"What's a prince of a snowfort do?"

[alicornucopia]

"I, um. I sit on top of it, and if a snow dragon shows up you can be the snowfort knight and slay it and bring me its head!"

[pythbox]

"Cool," Harley opines. "I wonder what a snow dragon looks like."

[alicornucopia]

"The size of both our houses put together! And made of ice and snow and with big sharp icicle teeth," asserts Zeus.

[pythbox]

"I wanna kill one," Harley declares.

[alicornucopia]

"You should get an icicle sword. That's the only way to do it," says Zeus.

There are convenient icicles reaching down from the house roofs.

[pythbox]

"I will then!" says Harley, and he studies the icicles to see which one would be the easiest to grab.

[alicornucopia]

There is a nice one over there!

Zeus continues the structural additions to his fort. It is now a cave with two tunnel exits and a skylight, surrounded by a partial wall.

[pythbox]

Harley climbs up and grabs the icicle.

[alicornucopia]

Just in time, too! "Sir Harley! Knight of the Snowfort! There is totally a dragon right over there!" hollers Zeus, waving at someone's snow-covered car.

[pythbox]

Harley giggles and runs over to the car, which he climbs up onto and then stabs mightily in its snow-covered windshield. His icicle breaks, and most of the snow slides off the front of the car, taking a giggling Harley with it.

[alicornucopia]

"Oh no! Your sword broke!" exclaims Zeus, and he abandons the snowfort, sliding headfirst out of a tunnel, to grab another big icicle - two, one for him and one to replace Harley's.

[pythbox]

"But I killed the dragon," snickers Harley.

[alicornucopia]

"There could be more dragons!"

[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."