[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgleft]Boar had been frequenting the Fairy Court’s long and lavish summer banquets the whole season, and every time he visited them, he deftly made off with far more than his -already formidable - share. He simply assumed the tribe were simple minded idiots who didn’t deserve the good fortune of inhabiting a plentiful territory and that he might as well be the one to part them with their excess before someone else did. He hadn’t expected to come up against any sort of resistance.

And yet, in the middle of gorging himself silly on berries at the largest banquet yet, he’d found himself woozy and before he could stop it, completely unconscious. He staggered and fell in distress and his pets scattered to find assistance.

That was the last thing he remembered.

When he stirred awake, it was in a cool dark cavern, where he struggled to make out the shape of anything around him. His bones hurt almost as much as his pounding head, and as he stirred, he realised that his legs were all firmly bound with what seemed to be dried and sturdy vines.

He snarled, baring his razor-sharp teeth as he fought against his bindings.

“Oh, don’t struggle so much.” Came a drawling serpentine sort of voice. “You won’t get free, I made sure to bind you up properly, you are an exceptionally large sort of Totoma. Strange too. A mutant.”

The speaker stepped into view, his hide sparse of fur and shining oddly in the dark. He too had sharp teeth, though smaller and neater than Boar’s. Boar had to assume he was an Acha, but it was an Acha as twisted as any sin-weed touched creature he’d ever run into.

“You’ve been stealing from the fairies.” Be Seeing You said, narrowing his slitted eyes.

“And now I have this additional burden. We need to decide how to get rid of you. We don’t look kindly upon pests.”

He turned his slender and serpentine head to another kin who’d just been called into the caverns.

“You were stationed where this wretch was thieving. What have you to say about this?”
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[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uncert.png[/imgleft] See's son was young and thin, with the gangly outline of muscle on him. He looked at the strung up totoma with increased worry, trying to line up what he thought his Dad might want to hear from him.

The truth was, he liked Boar. He thought he was handsome. He liked that he ate with impunity. And he didn't much like seeing him strung up like this, but he could have guessed it would end up this way. It always did.

"I think...he was hungry?" he hedged.

"Hungry!" See snapped. He was a skinny creature, all bones and lithe wiry muscle, and tended to keep it that way, any kind of gross excess was to be frowned upon, with the seelie considered just about the stupidest creatures in all the swamp by his estimation. "This creature could not possibly be hungry. Look at it!"

He kicked out with a hoof at Boar, hard enough to make a dull thump as it struck thick hide and fur. Boar hissed in mostly anger and tightly clenched the teeth at his gut..

"It's fat." he said. "Fat with our food!"

Boar did however recognise the voice as the whip thin but friendly kin he'd spoken to with the bright intelligent eyes. He twisted, scraping his horns on the ground to get a better look at him.

"There was plenty! No one asked me to leave!"

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[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uncert.png[/imgleft] Light locked eyes with the other kin and made a sound low in his throat.

"Maybe they're expecting?" he hedged, shuffling his hooves.

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For a change this seemed to actually throw Be Seeing You off of whatever sort of stride he was on. "Expecting?" he said, snappishly, doing his usual thing where he echoed what someone had just said in an effort to make them listen to their own stupidity, before faltering. "...Light." he said.

He gave his son a very dubious sort of look.

"Light, it's very obviously a male." he said, before seeming to question himself on this point, glancing back to Boar.

"I'M..." Boar growled, before seeming to realise that this was not a time for honesty in the slightest.

"I'm expecting lambs, yeah." he said. "Eating for two...to like, six."

Be Seeing You looked absolutely incredulous and annoyed at this, well aware that the seelie were very enthusiastic about having more seelie around and that in addition it could be any of theirs knowing the way everyone in the tribe carried on.

His tail curled in irritation.

"You can't be!" he said. "You SMELL male!"

Boar shrugged. "Well excuse me for smelling different." He seemed to consider Light a bit. Maybe he'd say they were Light's just to really mess with Be Seeing You, but he'd think about it before he did.

Be Seeing You wasn't fully buying it. "It can't be possible." he said.
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[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uncert.png[/imgleft] Light seemed to puff out his chest a bit, having seemingly a similar mind to Boar about it.

"Maybe," he hedged further, "it is possible."

He pressed the point. "Maybe they are gravid."

"And if they are, maybe they're mine," he finished, trying to look confident and push away the feeling of heat on his face.

They hadn't done anything of the sort, so even if Boar was, they weren't his. But what he did know was that Boar's sex was ambiguous enough to not foil the bluff. His Dad didn't have to know. And he really didn't want Boar helping to keep their land fertile from under the ground. Just the thought of the other kin as an old and disappeared story for whatever reason made his throat tight. So what if he ate? So what if he enjoyed a good time?

He didn't want him gone. So he was doing what he could.

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Oh good, thought Boar. He was playing along, they were a team now. A team against this little rat of an Acha who thought he had any place threatening one of the council of the seven. He'd defeated a lot more substantial kin than Be Seeing You in his time. Still, it was easier to talk his way out than fight his way out, because from what he'd heard from Light, Be Seeing You had a whole guard under his control, and they could be literally anywhere in this territory.

He gave Light a big knowing sort of grin which was mostly for coming up with this plan, but looked to Be Seeing You as if it was a more romantic sort of grin. See stamped his hoof irritably.

"Of all the kin you could have chosen!" he snapped, glaring at Light. "Why can't you be normal? Why this?!" and again he gestured at the twisted, strange Totoma with its wide grinning set of teeth nestled along its belly. He didn't want to think what could hatch from such a creature.

"We are taking it to King. He'll decide its fate, and maybe yours."
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[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uncert.png[/imgleft] Light had done the best he could, but he hadn't thought as far out as King.

"Uh, yeah," he agreed. "I guess that's a pretty good idea. They seemed strong," he said, thinking his dad would at least approve of that. His dad had to think so too, or he would have overpowered him instead of knocking him out.

He was still looking at Boar, but he didn't grin back, because he felt about as nervous as an owlcat trying to walk through a pile of sleeping caiman. He had a little bit of guile, anybody raised like he had been would pick some up, but everyone else around here was lousy with it.

He moved around closer to Boar, balancing back on his hooves to go and loosen some of the tight bounds with his teeth.

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Boar was happier to be up on his hooves and stretched each leg in turn, flicking his tail. He wasn't afraid, fear was a complicated emotion that involved a certain level of investment in one's own self value. Boar didn't much care what happened to him, just that he'd prefer to see more sights and sample more tastes.

Be Seeing You was very, very wary. The Totoma was massive, even by the standards of its kind, and he figured it would take more than a few individuals to bring it down if it went on a rampage. They wouldn't be able to sneak it sleeproot while it was chewing on their extremities. King would be best positioned to do something about it if need be. See turned and stalked to the door of the small cavern and spoke to one of the kin stationed outside, sending them to retrieve his father, it was still Fair's reign and it wouldn't do to bring her here until King had assessed if it was required. There was a chain of command, and even if no one else in this silly place seemed to respect it, See did. He'd make sure they all did eventually, but he needed to make sure it lasted till he was in charge.

"I am flabbergasted." he said as he turned back to the two kin. "At the stupidity involved in choosing an outsider." He would not concede out loud as to the Totoma's strength, seeing the other factors as far less pleasant. Now Boar was up, he circled him, looking him over, his mouth set in a thin line. "There are too many mutated ones around these days." he hissed.

Boar raised a brow at him. "Spoken well for someone with a friendly Acha sort of smile."

See narrowed his eyes. "I include myself in that count. There is something wrong with the swamp. It needs order."

Boar scoffed low in his throat but turned his head away, nuzzling Light in affection designed to irritate See.

It worked and the kin gritted his teeth irritably.

"Hopefully he isn't far hence." he said, unsure how much longer he could tolerate being shut in here with this.
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They didn't have to wait long, it turned out, with King sauntering in as if he owned the place not long afterwards. He didn't wait for See to explain what was happening at all, instead simply turning to Light.

"Oh. You, runs after moonbeams or whatever your name is!" he said. "See's child. Tell me what's going on please, I am a very busy kin."

See spoke up. "Sire I.." but fell sullenly silent as King shushed him.

"I asked moonbeams!" he said, and looking over Boar, raised a brow. "And I'd definitely remember you." he said.

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgleft]The nuzzle felt good. The nuzzle was a relief. Contact was simple. The rest wasn't.

If Light could sweat, he would be pouring buckets.

"We wanted your blessing, Grandad," he said instead. That was diplomatic, right?

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King listened thoughtfully, and the worst thing about King was that when he listened like that it was almost impossible to tell what he was thinking. He looked from Light to Boar and then to See, before looking back again.

"Oh, a blessing?" he said, and couldn't help but look entirely crestfallen. "Let me tell you." he said. "No one wants to talk to me any more who isn't asking me for some babies or other to be given my blessing!" It wasn't right, the King of Shadows forced to deal with blessing silly little babies who would grow up into even more silly adults. He was the realm of winter, winter and death, all the dark and wonderful things. He was not some nanny dispensing blessings.

"But I suppose I'm your grandfather, so I certainly can't say no to you."

Be Seeing You made a little furious sound but couldn't really say anything without putting himself in danger, King could be a bit weird about any perceived danger to his family.

He made his way over to look at Boar. "What's your name?" he asked. "You certainly aren't from around here." There was a smell that hung around the Totoma that was sickly sweet and put him in mind of some particularly poisonous flowers.

"Boar." he replied.

"Well that's easy to remember." he said. "Well Boar. Why should I bless you?" he said. "More than the simple answer that you want healthy little babies, everyone wants that."

He smiled with sharp teeth and a broad smile, something in his voice veering into compulsion, snarling up in emotion and drawing forth earnestness in the unprepared Boar. "What is it you really want?" he asked.

Boar couldn't help but respond. "An army fit to rule the swamp." he said, and froze up in rictus shock, expecting King to be furious.

But he wasn't.

"Oh good." he said. "The fairies should be found everywhere. Fair would agree. More fairies. A veritable army. " he looked sidelong at See. "I'm sure their grandfather would agree."

He reached out a hoof and placed it on Boar's head where there was a feeling of magical warmth.

He looked really concerned about it, giving Light a look.

"Er. Thank you." he said.

King gave Light a nod. "A fairy blessing for the royal line." he said. "Just remember to announce your good news to Fair, Moonbeams."

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... uncert.png[/imgleft] Light sat beside Boar while King examined him, barely risking a swallow to relieve the dryness in his mouth. Still, in this moment, he felt maybe a little better about doing this than anything else he'd done in his whole life. To the swamp with the consequences. If they went down, they'd go down.

His shoulder was against Boar's.

But instead of calling their bluff, King extended a blessing and all that a blessing like that entailed. Light looked at Boar in pleased surprise, then broke out in a smile of his own.

"Sure," he said, and caught up in the stirring excitement of their success, planted a kiss against Boar's teeth. "We'll tell the Queen right now. Thanks, Grandad." That was definitely their queue to go.