But okay, really? Buckled in for this ride, Hank?]
Not usually gods. ...I mean, yeah that happened once, but generally not. [The irony in this is that shortly after this conversation he will get flung into a canon update that sees him engaged to a part-time god of terror, but that remains unknown for now.] For the most part, gods are too much magic and not enough mundane to survive outside their realms when the magic wave ebbs. So they usually don't risk showing up. There are some exceptions.
It's more... well. [How to describe this.] The biggest thorn in our side right now is my friend's father. Millennia old wizard... king... guy. Roland. The Builder of Towers. Plays at being a benevolent ruler and architect of progress and enlightenment. ...mostly wants to destroy and rule over humanity. And probably wipe out all my kind of people, since shapeshifters don't fit into his definition of civilized.
It shouldn't be believable. It's absurd. All of it. Shapeshifters and vampires and wizards and witches are facts of life, and traffic in Atlanta is worse than ever.
[His world's a mess. But it's home.
He smiles at the question about his friend.]
Kate's younger than I am. She just really drew the short straw as fathers go. But... everything Roland is, Kate is the exact opposite. She cares too much sometimes, wants to help people. Hell, she even keeps the Beast Lord in line -- or as in line as he he can be kept. He's a lot easier to deal with since the two of them got together.
[The 'traffic' thing makes him laugh. It's a weird little detail, somehow makes the rest of it seem even weirder, and Hank tries not to think too hard about the way his mind's struggling to wrap itself around the idea of all that being a real thing. Sitting here talking like this, having a drink together, it makes it a little easier to at least pretend to be casual about all this shit.
And it keeps his mind off- other things. So he's got the stuff he's not thinking about, the weird-backstory-as-a-distraction that he's also not thinking too hard about, and he's got the drink and the company to take the edge off all the shit that's sitting in his head not getting thought about. And there's details in all that, anyway, that Hank does know how to take, that he can kind of latch onto. So that's fine.]
Yeah, being in love can do that. For a while. Is he usually kind of a dick? Like in a personal sense, outside the whole, uh, 'having to keep a bunch of assholes in line on a daily basis' kind of dick.
[Barabas starts to nod before hesitating and shaking his head.]
Curran is a control freak. Things are his way or the highway. But he's done a lot more good for us than I can explain. He's earned a bit of leeway for being a dick.
[That said,] Kate's still good for him. And he's good for her. They were either going to kill each other or fall in love. It's better for all of us it was the latter.
[There’s the seed of something defensive there, Hank thinks, or maybe something that could be, if Hank pushed. He pauses, noticing that, shakes his head.]
Sorry, I uh, I didn’t mean to sound like I was trying to shit on the guy, I was just- [Trying to find something in all that he understood, and doing it wrong.] Things change after you’ve been with someone a while. I thought I knew something about that, but I’m pretty sure I just came off like a bitter old asshole. That’s not what I meant. Sorry.
[He gives a small, apologetic smile and then looks down to contemplate his drink again. He’s still too lazy to get up and get more; that’s still probably a good thing. Let that time between refills stretch out.]
[Barabas shakes his head with a smile.] I just realized my own opinion has changed a little about him. Mostly for the better.
[Though he does add with a shrug,] I did almost attack him once, probably would have if his sister hadn't tackled me -- which would not have ended well for me, incidentally. But that wound up being a misunderstanding. Sort of. ...I still would've liked to get a punch in. But punching werelions is bad for everyone's health.
[His grin is back and he settles on the edge of the bed again.] Don't sweat it, Hank.
[Hank raises his eyebrows, lifting his chin in acknowledgment. No sweat here.]
So, you guys fight in your uh... your animal shapes or, whatever? What would that even be like, a mongoose trying to bite a lion in the face?
[He pauses, tapping the edge of the glass against his lips, gaze distant.]
I think I saw something like that on animal planet once.
[Hank takes a second to think that over, looking kind of amused, kind of baffled. He really doesn’t know what he thinks about that mental image, pairing it up with the totally normal, sane guy sitting in front of him. He tries to shake it off.]
You do that a lot? Try to take on guys like twenty times your size?
Most often warrior forms, if we have them. Sometimes animal form, depending on the animal. I have both, but mongooses are--
[Okay Barabas stops mid-sentence to dissolve into laughter at that, nodding.] You probably have, yeah. Pretty accurate. [Animal planet, his life.]
As a rule, no. But I'm a knife fighter. And I'm fast. Being quick can get you a long way even against someone that much bigger. Curran still would've destroyed me without breaking a sweat, and I knew that. But he'd hurt Kate -- turns out he did it to save her life, so I guess it was forgivable.
[Hank slips that in to his mental folder of things he knows about Barabas. Not the animal form stuff - the storage space in Hank's brain for weird shit's a little messier - but the story itself, and the observations about the guy that come with it.]
Well, I'm glad the beastmaster didn't eat your face. Then who'd help me get rid of all this shitty moonshine?
Beast Lord. But yeah, me too. I like my face where it is.
[This is Barabas refraining from saying "it's fine my face would probably grow back anyway" because he doesn't want to throw too much ridiculous magic shapeshifter crap at Hank. He's already dropped a lot today.]
...and the moonshine is... I think I am answering my question about my metabolism. {He's buzzed. Legitimately buzzed, though not quite drunk so he's calling it a high tolerance, but not the way Lyc-V usually burns through liquor clearing it from he blood like it's a poison.]
No shit? In a good way, right? A 'it's working' kind of way?
[Hank grins, lifting his glass toward Barabas, then finishing off what little he's got left in it.]
If yes, congratulations. I kinda wish I'd planned something good now, your first time getting drunk's supposed to be fun, or wild, or something. If we were back home I could at least show you old Beastmaster reruns so you could get my crappy offensive jokes, but here I think your choices are, uh, go out in the woods and get your ass kicked by some weird shit, or go that fighting ring thing and get your ass kicked by some weird shit. At least you got options.
Are you kidding? Weren't we just talking about animal planet, we could have our own little... you know, set your watch thing to video, go slow enough that I can follow with mine turned on, then you'll see how many people want that. Uh- unless you'd be, um-
[He's not going to say 'unless you'd be tearing people's throats out'. That feels rude.]
You're still like, yourself. When you're like that. Right?
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[He swirls his glass around, thinking about how much is still in it, especially in light of where this conversation's about to go.]
So, since we're there, why don't you tell me about those ancient powers. You're talking about gods, right? Like, Zeus or some shit?
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[Barabas shrugs with a faint grin.
But okay, really? Buckled in for this ride, Hank?]
Not usually gods. ...I mean, yeah that happened once, but generally not. [The irony in this is that shortly after this conversation he will get flung into a canon update that sees him engaged to a part-time god of terror, but that remains unknown for now.] For the most part, gods are too much magic and not enough mundane to survive outside their realms when the magic wave ebbs. So they usually don't risk showing up. There are some exceptions.
It's more... well. [How to describe this.] The biggest thorn in our side right now is my friend's father. Millennia old wizard... king... guy. Roland. The Builder of Towers. Plays at being a benevolent ruler and architect of progress and enlightenment. ...mostly wants to destroy and rule over humanity. And probably wipe out all my kind of people, since shapeshifters don't fit into his definition of civilized.
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You know, I never used to read books about shit like this? I never thought it was believable enough.
[He huffs, amused, and takes a little sip.]
Sorry, uh, so your friend. Are they one of those 'ancient powers' too, or did they just get a lucky win in the parent lottery?
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[His world's a mess. But it's home.
He smiles at the question about his friend.]
Kate's younger than I am. She just really drew the short straw as fathers go. But... everything Roland is, Kate is the exact opposite. She cares too much sometimes, wants to help people. Hell, she even keeps the Beast Lord in line -- or as in line as he he can be kept. He's a lot easier to deal with since the two of them got together.
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And it keeps his mind off- other things. So he's got the stuff he's not thinking about, the weird-backstory-as-a-distraction that he's also not thinking too hard about, and he's got the drink and the company to take the edge off all the shit that's sitting in his head not getting thought about. And there's details in all that, anyway, that Hank does know how to take, that he can kind of latch onto. So that's fine.]
Yeah, being in love can do that. For a while. Is he usually kind of a dick? Like in a personal sense, outside the whole, uh, 'having to keep a bunch of assholes in line on a daily basis' kind of dick.
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[Barabas starts to nod before hesitating and shaking his head.]
Curran is a control freak. Things are his way or the highway. But he's done a lot more good for us than I can explain. He's earned a bit of leeway for being a dick.
[That said,] Kate's still good for him. And he's good for her. They were either going to kill each other or fall in love. It's better for all of us it was the latter.
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Sorry, I uh, I didn’t mean to sound like I was trying to shit on the guy, I was just- [Trying to find something in all that he understood, and doing it wrong.] Things change after you’ve been with someone a while. I thought I knew something about that, but I’m pretty sure I just came off like a bitter old asshole. That’s not what I meant. Sorry.
[He gives a small, apologetic smile and then looks down to contemplate his drink again. He’s still too lazy to get up and get more; that’s still probably a good thing. Let that time between refills stretch out.]
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No, no you didn't.
[Barabas shakes his head with a smile.] I just realized my own opinion has changed a little about him. Mostly for the better.
[Though he does add with a shrug,] I did almost attack him once, probably would have if his sister hadn't tackled me -- which would not have ended well for me, incidentally. But that wound up being a misunderstanding. Sort of. ...I still would've liked to get a punch in. But punching werelions is bad for everyone's health.
[His grin is back and he settles on the edge of the bed again.] Don't sweat it, Hank.
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So, you guys fight in your uh... your animal shapes or, whatever? What would that even be like, a mongoose trying to bite a lion in the face?
[He pauses, tapping the edge of the glass against his lips, gaze distant.]
I think I saw something like that on animal planet once.
[Hank takes a second to think that over, looking kind of amused, kind of baffled. He really doesn’t know what he thinks about that mental image, pairing it up with the totally normal, sane guy sitting in front of him. He tries to shake it off.]
You do that a lot? Try to take on guys like twenty times your size?
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Most often warrior forms, if we have them. Sometimes animal form, depending on the animal. I have both, but mongooses are--
[Okay Barabas stops mid-sentence to dissolve into laughter at that, nodding.] You probably have, yeah. Pretty accurate. [Animal planet, his life.]
As a rule, no. But I'm a knife fighter. And I'm fast. Being quick can get you a long way even against someone that much bigger. Curran still would've destroyed me without breaking a sweat, and I knew that. But he'd hurt Kate -- turns out he did it to save her life, so I guess it was forgivable.
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[Hank slips that in to his mental folder of things he knows about Barabas. Not the animal form stuff - the storage space in Hank's brain for weird shit's a little messier - but the story itself, and the observations about the guy that come with it.]
Well, I'm glad the beastmaster didn't eat your face. Then who'd help me get rid of all this shitty moonshine?
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[This is Barabas refraining from saying "it's fine my face would probably grow back anyway" because he doesn't want to throw too much ridiculous magic shapeshifter crap at Hank. He's already dropped a lot today.]
...and the moonshine is... I think I am answering my question about my metabolism. {He's buzzed. Legitimately buzzed, though not quite drunk so he's calling it a high tolerance, but not the way Lyc-V usually burns through liquor clearing it from he blood like it's a poison.]
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[Hank grins, lifting his glass toward Barabas, then finishing off what little he's got left in it.]
If yes, congratulations. I kinda wish I'd planned something good now, your first time getting drunk's supposed to be fun, or wild, or something. If we were back home I could at least show you old Beastmaster reruns so you could get my crappy offensive jokes, but here I think your choices are, uh, go out in the woods and get your ass kicked by some weird shit, or go that fighting ring thing and get your ass kicked by some weird shit. At least you got options.
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[A grin of his own and he lifts his own glass in a little cheers sort of gesture.]
Ha. Well, as much fun as both those things sound for doing... no one wants a buzzed hyena running loose after tangling with the local fauna.
[Though part of him thinks that could be funny, but he's aware his sense of humor is broken sometimes.]
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[He's not going to say 'unless you'd be tearing people's throats out'. That feels rude.]
You're still like, yourself. When you're like that. Right?
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Barabas nods at the question though.]
I am, yeah. Still me. Some of the instincts are a bit stronger, but I remember myself and my humanity.
[And he keeps a tight hold of it, like all shapeshifters do.]
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[He shrugs. He'll take what he can get.]