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]

"It doesn't seem age appropriate," says Demeter.

[pythbox]

Harley shrugs.

[alicornucopia]

"...I mean, I guess the princess knows what she's doing?" says Bartholomew uncertainly.

"He's seven - I know wolves have no filters and you pick up all kinds of things at twelve, but seven?" says Demeter.

"What if you don't want to have sex with them?" Zeus asks Harley.

[pythbox]

"Then I guess it'll have been silly to wait all that time to see 'em," Harley says philosophically. "But it's not like I could meet them all now anyway; the other worlds have been cut off since I was a baby."

[alicornucopia]

"Do you think you will want to, though?" asks Zeus.

"Zeus," says Demeter.

"What? He doesn't look uncomfy talking about it or anything!"

[pythbox]

"I dunno," says Harley. "Probably. They all do, and I'm another one, right? So I'm probably gonna like all the stuff they like. I already know I like to cook!"

[alicornucopia]

"Isn't that weird knowing all that stuff now when you're just my age though?" says Zeus.

"Do you suppose you can ask Jacob," Demeter murmurs to Bartholomew, "about what his imprint is doing?"

[pythbox]

"Nah, it's not weird," says Harley. "If you wanna talk to Elsie about it, you can do that! She's right next door!"

[alicornucopia]

"We don't personally know the Princess," Bartholomew tells Harley. "I know Jacob, because I'm in his pack, but I've not spoken directly to her."

[pythbox]

"She's really friendly," Harley says earnestly.

[alicornucopia]

"I don't know," muses Bartholomew.

"Why isn't it weird? If I knew something like that I would think it was weird," says Zeus.

[pythbox]

"Why would it be weird? It's just not," Harley says with a shrug.

[alicornucopia]

"Like if somebody showed me a picture and was like 'this is the person you will marry when you grow up, for sure' I would think that was weird," explains Zeus, not particularly eloquently.

[pythbox]

"Well, that might be a little weird," says Harley. "But just knowing stuff about what kind of person I'm going to be and what kind of stuff I'll like is fine!"

[alicornucopia]

"Why don't we talk about something else," suggests Demeter.

[pythbox]

"Okay," Harley says cheerfully. "Like what?"

[alicornucopia]

"After you defeated the dragon what happened next?" Demeter suggests.

[pythbox]

"Then I was a pirate and we threw snowball coconuts at each other because we were shipwrecked on a desert island! And I smashed his fort," Harley says gleefully.

[alicornucopia]

"I am a prince without a fort," says Zeus solemnly. "He is a wicked destroyer and one day I will have revenge."

[pythbox]

Harley giggles.

[alicornucopia]

"Tomorrow we should make two forts, one for both of us," says Zeus, "and - and booby trap them and play capture the flag with them! There are some other puppies around, we can get them to play too."

[pythbox]

"Awesome!" says Harley.

[alicornucopia]

Zeus beams at him.

Demeter smiles, and Bartholomew does too as soon as she does.

[pythbox]

Harley giggles.

[alicornucopia]

After dinner, Bartholomew goes next door to talk to Jacob.

He comes back somewhat reassured a minute later and murmurs in Demeter's ear about it.