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ɪʀᴏɴ ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryf9_Qt_pyk
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KessKhai (Original Submission)-
🐕 "... Toza and I were twins. Not uncommon with khenra, you see--my mother and her sister, both twins. Grandfather had a twin, but he died before we were born." He clicked his tongue. 'We'. A habit he'd thought he'd gotten rid of as a child.
"Though we had all sorts of people join and leave the caravan--Simmons' father, too, even, at one point--and the Kopek clan stayed together as one? All of us were family, even for the briefest of moments. Dancing, laughing, yelling at each other over things that never mattered--heh! You should not think my childhood was much different." He smiled broadly, raising his head a bit.
"Toza and I did everything together. Myrmidon training--he was better with a sword than I, you know--exploring cities, guard duties, food--oh, the food! When you have chefs from all over the land, the menu was bigger than you'd ever believe, yes?"
The light faded a little from his face, tail giving a single thump against the roof's shingles.
"I am sorry. It... it does not bother me as much these days that they are gone. But what bothers me is that, ah. I am afraid no one will remember them but me."
"I am not the last khenran myrmidon. But I am the last of us, Cricket. I am all that remains."
🦗 "It's... curious. How these things work out."
"Earlier today, as I was winding down with Iskar, I learned... well, it is his story to tell, when he is ready."
"But we discussed memories. That when someone passes on, it is their lingering memories that keep them alive. That we are their continued presence."
Cricket began to wonder if, perhaps, the words he had learned back home were not the most important ones he would ever learn. If they were the closest he'd ever come to a spell that would bring them all back.
But for the second time today, he conjured them. Flat, and sorry, and sincere.
"Tell me a story. A happy one. The way he was."
"It's our job to keep the memories."
🐕 "Some days, I wonder if we are just one giant sad house full of sad people doing sad things. Ah well."
Ears flipped up as he slumped back a little, sighing, thinking a moment before slumping back into his ass, then his back, resuming his original position, heels digging in on either side of the ridge of the roof to keep his balance--not a particularly elegant position, really, but it kept him from rolling off, and the pressure was nice against his spine. "Heh. So... he was, ah, much more taciturn than I--he really did not approve of my philandering, really--but when we were kids? He was the first to suggest trouble."
"Euh... we were eight, nine? Old enough to know better. Grandfatheer Gazsi had just closed a deal, and we were transporting fireworks for some festival. We had--heh." He sniffs, once. "We had seen plenty of fireworks and plenty of festivals, but Toza decides he wants a private show."
"So... in all our wonderous, infinite wisdom, and figuring that they would not miss just a few rockets, we took some of the fireworks, left some silver, and rode off away from the caravan's spot. To a plains." He laughs, reaching a hand up to wipe at his cheek. He was trying his hardest, here. "A drybrush savannah, Cricket. On a summer night." He couldn't help but interrupt the story with another laugh, shaking his head out.
"And so, we lit up the night sky--or we tried. All it took was one, single, massive rocket to not only misfire and knock us both on our asses, but set the entire field on fire. Heh! Ahahh... oh. It--it was the middle of nowhere, and I started..." He sniffs again--he was definitely being too loud for a middle-of-the-night voice. "I started crying, and Toza said--he said, in this real deep, all manly voice... 'Do not worry! I will save us!' before grabbing me up and dragging me back home."
"The fire didn't spread far, we were in no danger, but... aheh. I still have nightmares about the drills Aunt Vashti made us... made us run, still covered in soot and ash."
He sniffs, rubbing at his eyes, pulling himself to stand, settling back down against the chimney. "Euh...I am sorry. That felt good." Head dipped in, resting against the tabaxi's shoulder. "I talk, too often for my own good... so when I hear you talk about your problems with Alana, and your parents, it--it hits closer to home than it should. I should not take it out on you."
"... if you tell anyone I was a crybaby as a kid, I'll throw you off this roof."
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