Second Floor Common Room, Wednesday Evening

[wantstodirect]

For the Darkest Night finale episode, Tony handwavily picked up a couple of pizzas and several pints of ice cream. He filled up a plate for himself with a little of each. Mmm, pepperoni and chocolate. Wasn't too bad, actually.

Tonight's season finale episode featured a number of flashbacks from Raymond Dark's life. From the previews, it looked like most of them involved waterfalls, children in white clothing and butterflies. Very existential. Tony hoped they could fit some shirtless Lee in there somewhere. Maybe under the waterfall.

[Open! Last non-rerun DN post until fall.]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"Kiss kiss," Karla greeted, "haven't seen you around recently. My web scare you off?" The answer to that was almost certainly 'no,' but Karla liked to push buttons.

[bitten_notshy]

"You caught me out, Karla," Jack informed her. "I'm terrified of large talking unicorns."

He smiled. "How have you been?"

[glacial_queen]

"You struck me as the type who would be," Karla smirked. "I've been well, thanks. Yourself? Beyon the debilitating nightmares about the unicorns, I mean."

[bitten_notshy]

"Oh, utterly wrecked, I've been in bed studying the ceiling and imagining hooves coming at me," Jack joked. "But besides that? Busy, I suppose. I had my class, then lunch with Rose and stopped by the music shop. It all keeps me out of trouble."

[glacial_queen]

"Please." Karla laughed. "With those unicorns, their hooves are probably the last things to worry about. They'd resort to that only if they couldn't attack you with Craft and their horns had somehow missed." She patted his arm. "See? I'm helping. Now your terror will be accurate."

She glanced around at the group. "Are you a fan of this show, too?"

[bitten_notshy]

"You've just bought me another week of nightmares, of course," Jack grinned, though she'd done nothing of the sort.

He shrugged. "The show's all right. A bit silly, but it seems like most of what's on the teevee is. The vampire's assistant isn't a complete idiot. Have you seen it before?"

[glacial_queen]

"I saw a bit of it on Monday, but I got sidetracked by a discussion about death. Unfortunately, it means I'm still not entirely certain what a vampire is. Or zombies, really." She shrugged, her eye on the screen. The males were attractive, certainly, but Karla still wasn't entirely certain what all the squealing over shirtlessness was for.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack could have happily illuminated her on the benefits of shirtlessness, for men or for women. he wasn't picky that way.

"I've never met a zombie," he answered. "They're made by black magics, that's as much as I know. We do have vampires at home -- I might know a bit, there."

[glacial_queen]

"Really?" Karla perked up a bit. "People were telling me that they're myths! Are they truly people that have died once already?" Perhaps they were like the demon-dead, then!

[bitten_notshy]

"Not myths, though there are more than enough myths about them," Jack said. "And not ... exactly? You have to be near death to be turned -- to become one of them -- by drinking from someone who's already a vampire. But once that's done, you can live forever."

[glacial_queen]

"Oh." Karla seemed a little disappointed by the explanation. Well...they could be more like Guardians, perhaps. "Do they drink yarbarah?" she asked.

[bitten_notshy]

"Only if yarbarah is another term for living human blood," Jack said, trying to startle her her past the disappointment. He/i> thought vampires were at least a little extraordinary. "But there are different kinds in different worlds, or that's what I've learned here."

[glacial_queen]

Karla nodded eagerly. "It is!" she said, grinning. "Well, actually, it's the blood wine; blood, mixed with a robust red. It can be made with sheep's blood," she amended thoughtfully, "but the better vintages are human." Perhaps they were like Guardians after all!

She was an odd girl.

[bitten_notshy]

"And that's a popular drink in Kaeleer?" Jack asked skeptically. "Anyhow, the vampires at home couldn't have wine. But that might be different in different places, too."

[glacial_queen]

"It's popular among Guardians and the demon-dead," she said carelessly. "It's also used during some ceremonies and around Windsol. But when it's drunk by the living members of the Blood, it's usually a much higher ratio of wine to blood."

[bitten_notshy]

"The idea of blood mingled with wine and drunk by the living makes me a little ill," Jack admitted. "Is it tasty?"

[glacial_queen]

"Not really," she said, making a face. "Ugh, we warm it with witchfire, because cold, it's even worse. And when we drink it, it's invariably sheep's blood. But it's a ceremonial thing." She gave him a wry glance. "We're called the Blood. Blood was part of our creation, it makes us who we are. It's symbolically important, if nothing else."

She paused. "Still kind of gross, though."

[bitten_notshy]

"Christians do something like that," Jack said. "They drink wine and say it's the blood of Christ, to show they've been saved. That's all wine, though."

And, in Jack's opinion, a bit silly, but he'd never been a particularly religious man. He followed Jewish law, as much as he did, more out of respect for his ancestors than because he thought it made a difference.

"And maybe a little gross."

[glacial_queen]

"Who are Christians? What's a Christ? Was that a dragon, too?" The Blood weren't big on religion, exactly, and most certainly not religions from this world.

[bitten_notshy]

"... I can answer those questions if you tell me what dragons have to do with any of this," Jack said, then considered it. "Possibly after the program. It's a bit of a large topic."

[glacial_queen]

"The Blood were created by a dragon," Karla explained. "Countless ages ago, our world was inhabited by a race of powerful dragons. One day, however, they realized their race was dying. One by one, they all faded into the Darkness, save for their strongest Prince, Lorn, and his Queen. Rather than let their gifts and knowledge die with them, Lorn's Queen took to the air, and as she flew, she shed her scales. Whatever creature her bloodied scales touched, became Blood, imbued with her knowledge and power. Once she no longer had scales, she fell to the earth. Some myths say she died, others that she took on a different form. Either way, thus were all the Blood, human and kindred, created."

[bitten_notshy]

"I suppose it makes as much sense as saying God made man out of dust," Jack decided, a little warily. It sounded like one of the more insane creation myths he'd read, but he knew religion was not something one challenged.

And, for Karla's world, it might even be true.

"So does that mean you're part dragon, in a way?"

[glacial_queen]

"Dust? How does dust make sense? You can't make people out of dust," One would think that after riding around on a unicorn for a bit, Jack would accept the idea that Karla's world is... fricking bizarre special.

"I guess one could consider the Blood part dragon. In a way. A very distant way. Females moreso than males. But still...it was untold millennia ago, so other than her power, there's really no connection."

Well, and the Jewels, but Karla hasn't reached that part of canon yet.