//AN: Picture is Ri//

Neither of them said anything as they nearly downed their first bottles of Deri. Ri is almost a bit surprised that Den offered him one in the first place. He decides not to tell his mother or Estara about this... they would probably skin Den alive. He also decides not to tell Den how both of them nearly had heart attacks when he snuck out to a local bar when he was only ninety-nine years old. It was after that day that they forbade him from ever drinking anything alcoholic beverages ever again.

What they don't know won't hurt him.

When both of their bottles are empty, Den manifests only one more. He takes a drink before passing it on to Ri. Ri accepts with a slight nod, and takes a sip. Perhaps he could get used to visiting his father more often.

"So," Den starts, his hands folded all casually behind his head. "Tell me what you know."

"The long version, or the short version?" Ri asks before taking another sip.

Den chuckles and leans over to snatch the bottle back. "Here's how this works. I take a drink, you ask a question, I answer and pass the bottle. You take a drink, I ask a question, etcetera. Got it?"

Sounds simple enough. Ri nods.

Den nods in return and leans back in his chair again. "As for that, whichever version you like."

"Uhm... well, my mother said you were a bounty hunter, and that the reason she met you was because you were hired to find and kill her brother -- my uncle -- Eilon. I was then conceived because you didn't kill him, and she liked you." Ri scratches his head a bit awkwardly. "After that, she dug up everything she could get, but the only things I know are about jobs you've done, praise from previous people who hired you. The stories are all on file in the palace records, where my mother found them as well. She couldn't find anything about you that wasn't related to your bounty hunting years... and well, I don't know how old you are or even where you are from, details like that. But ask me anything about any of your jobs, and I could answer that." He smiles sheepishly. He doesn't know that much about his father, but at least it's more than what Den knows about him.

He thinks.

Why is he still so awkward? The Deri hasn't done anything to calm his nerves. Ri mentally curses himself again.

Den nods and takes a drink. "Your turn to ask a question," he says.

Ri thinks it over for a minute. "Uhm... can you fill in the gaps?"

Den arches a brow and looks at the bottle in his hand. "That's going to take a lot more liquor."

Ri blinks, not seeing a problem with that or why it's an issue to start with. Den takes a long drink and is silent for a moment. He tips his head back and looks at the sky before he begins speaking. "The gaps... there are a lot of gaps in there. You'll have to be more specific."

"How about we start with how old you are...?" Ri suggests, since he is actually curious. He already knows his mother is a fossil.

Den makes a thoughtful sound. "The sum total of my years in Zar -- that's the world I'm from -- is just about five hundred thousand years at this point, I believe. If you include the years I've spent in other worlds," he waves a hand, "I've never counted. I'm not as old as your mother. I'm definitely old."

Ri nods. "So not a fossil then."

Den barks out a laugh. "Oh no, I'm absolutely a fossil." He grins wryly and passes the bottle to Ri.

Ri takes the bottle and arches a brow. "You aren't even a million yet. My mother is nearly eight of them. You aren't a fossil yet," he says with a smirk. "Just never tell her I said that."

Den chuckles. "I feel like a fossil, then."

"Then you really should stop doing old man stuff," Ri teases with a wink.

"Old man stuff?" Den asks, raising both brows. "And what, exactly, constitutes in your mind as 'old man stuff', eh?"

"Anything that makes you feel like a fossil," Ri replies simply.

Den just shrugs at him. "And what do you do with your time, then?"

Ri takes a very long drink, not sure how to answer that question to someone who is technically his parent. He lowers the bottle finally and shrugs. "That depends..."

Den arches a brow.

"I do a lot of different things...?" Ri suggests, almost sheepishly.

"So tell me what they are," Den says, smirking.

"What, you want names?" Ri asks.

Den grins and takes the bottle, not commenting on Ri's 'hobbies'. "Your turn," he says.

Ri tilts his head and shrugs. "What do you do with your time?"

It's a lazy question, he knows, but nothing else is occurring to him right now. Besides, what is he supposed to ask after just basically telling his father that he sleeps with any willing woman that is not related to him?

Den snorts. "A lot of different things."

"If I say I want names, is the list going to be long?" Ri says with a smirk.

Den crosses one ankle over the other and takes a drink. "I was trained as courtesan as a child. What do you think?"

And Ri does not know how to respond to that, so instead he reaches over and takes the bottle. He downs the rest of its contents in one sip, gesturing at Den to ask his question.

"I shouldn't have said that, should I?" Den asks with a sigh.

"I... just don't know how to respond to that..." Ri admits.

Den waves a hand and shrugs. "It's a fact, not a request for your opinion. If you don't want to say anything to it, you don't have to."

Ri just nods again. This is going great. It seems like Den doesn't like him. Well then.

Den pinches the bridge of his nose. "You misinterpreted that just now, didn't you?"

"Uhm... did I?" Ri asks, furrowing his brows.

Den puts his boots on the ground and manifests another bottle of Deri, setting it between them. He looks straight into Ri's eyes when he responds. "When I speak, I tend to be very honest and matter of fact. That doesn't mean I'm..." he waves a hand as if searching for the word, "that doesn't mean I... sometimes I come off as mean or rude. I'm sorry." He rubs his face and picks up the bottle, taking a very long drink.

Ri didn't know that his expressions are that easy to read. He blinks at Den, unsure of what to make of it. Ri isn't used to people being able to tell what he's thinking without actually reading his mind.

"That makes sense," Ri says, slowly. "I guess I'm just used to my mother. And you've met her."

Den grins a little and leans back again. "Question..." he mutters, tilting his head. "If you could pick just one important thing to tell me about yourself, what would it be?"

Ri arches a brow. "You want me to summarize myself in one important detail?"

Den waves a hand. "No... " his brows draws together. "Nevermind."

Ri frowns, thinking about the question. "I guess... I would do anything to protect my mother and my aunt," he says finally, with a shrug.

Den smiles a bit and nods as Ri reaches for the bottle and takes a drink.

"What's one thing you want me to know about you?" Ri asks after he places the bottle down again.

Den tilts his head. "I will never lie to you."

Ri grins at him. That's comforting, considering the family he's grown up in. Lies are all the Mi'antiae know.

Den takes a drink from the bottle and twirls it in his hand, watching as the liquid sloshes around. He glances up with a wry little grin. "You inherited my sort of hobbies, and you like gardens," he says. "What else?"

Ri smirks. "Well... I like weapons. I've trained with pretty much every single one I've been able to get my hands on -- though I prefer the bo staff. I also have a strange obsession with sculpting, one of my messier hobbies... and other than that, I also like to eavesdrop on conversations, but in my defense, it's really hard not to hear people when they are so loud all the time."

Den grins.

Ri grabs the bottle and takes a long swig. He's starting to feel the buzz, his thoughts not quite as orderly as they were a minute ago. Not that they were particularly orderly to start with.

"So what exactly are you? Since you can't be a normal elf... I've met some of those, and well... they are very different."

"They're weak and pathetic, is what you mean," Den says with a grin.

"Or that," Ri admits.

Den clears his throat, his grin fading. "I am... " he waves a hand. "To explain it in a way that you can relate to, our race -- the gods-Fae -- is to my world what the Lescaeans are to Kracia. Or they were, a very long time ago."

Oh great. He comes from two lineages of messed up.

"Were?"

Crap. Ri feels his filter slipping away. He's had way too much Deri.

"They're dead," Den says with a shrug. "Except me. And well, you now. We're it."

Ri reaches for the bottle. What's one more sip?

Or two... he takes another before placing the bottle down. "What happened?" He asks, at least he thinks that's what he asks.

"They were wiped out." Den takes the bottle and stares at it for a moment. "There was a war, a very long and bloody war so they tell me. It happened while I was..." he waves a hand again. He likes doing that it seems. Ri wants to wave. "...not around. To end the war, a group of nature spirits created a poison that wipe out my entire race in a matter of months."

"That's terrible," Ri says, though he can't seem to recall why that is terrible or should be... "Why were you around?" Ri shakes his head. "Weren't. Why weren't you around."

Den arches a brow at him. "I was locked up. When I said I couldn't speak for three hundred thousand years, I meant it quite literally. I was in Isolation-- a statis state, unable to move or speak or... well." He shrugs. "The gods-Fae version of life in prison."

"Why did they lock you up? What did you do?"

"Threatened to murder them all and burn their city to the ground. I would have, too, if the spirits hadn't done it first." He takes a long drink. Ri's eyes follow the liquid.

Stars, he needs to snap out of this.

"Why did you do that?" Ri asks. He needs to pay attention. He is paying attention. His father is a murdering psychopath apparently. No wonder he got along with his mother.

Den stares at the bottle for a moment -- that bottle must be fascinating -- then lifts his eyes to Ri. Their amber depths are hard, and something about the look in them sobers Ri up a bit. "They forced me to drown my mate just because she was human and they didn't like it. So I started killing them, and they didn't like that, either."

Ri blinks at Den. That... that is horrible.

And sounds just like his uncles. Every last one of them -- excluding Eilon. "They sound like my uncles," Ri says, his tone matching Den's.

"Two of them were your uncles," Den says, snorting. "On my side."

"How am I sane?" Ri asks, more to himself than to Den.

Den chuckles darkly. "We'll go with your mother is more insane than all of them put together."

"Well, she sure will frighten them all to death. At least, she's succeeding with that among her brothers. Except Jaerren... he's the only one not afraid of her," Ri says with a frown.

Den frowns too. "That bastard. Somebody needs to kill him."

"Many have tried, I'm afraid," Ri says in agreement.

Den sighs. "On a lighter note..."

"I have nothing," Ri says sheepishly.

Den taps the bottle thoughtfully. "You can hear me," he says.

Ri nods. "Yes, I have ears. I'm glad you noticed."

Den leans over the table and Ri doesn't realize what's happening until he smacks his head, grinning wryly.

"Ow," Ri says, rubbing at his head with an offended look on his face.

"Earlier," Den 'clarifies'.

"Last I checked, I had ears then as well...."

Den sighs. "You are definitely related to Eilon."

Ri looks excited, dropping his voice to a stage whisper. "He has ears too?"

Den shoots him a sardonic look. "She should have named you Nalfeng," Den says under his breath, the words so soft that anyone besides Ri wouldn't have been able to hear him.

"Nalfeng, what does that mean?" He asks, his brows furrowed, unsure if he should be offended or not.

Den smirks. "It means 'idiot'," definitely offended, "which is what you are. And that, just now. No one else could have heard me, but you did. How?"

"Firstly, you're the one who couldn't seem to understand the concept of ears, so that doesn't make me the idiot." He huffs. "Secondly, I just listened...? How else...? I've always been able to hear things other people can't."

"Since you were a small child, or after you reached your first century?"

"Since before I could even walk," Ri says, shrugging. "And the first century is a thing? Everyone was very confused when I suddenly lit on fire one morning..."

Den laughs. "I thought so. You're a god of fire? No..." he tilts his head. "Heat, I'd guess, from looking at you. Yes, your one hundredth birthday is when you would have come into your gods-Fae Gift. Mine is Sound," he looks amused, "but it isn't hereditary, so I was a bit confused when you could hear me. It must be something you go from the Lescaean side."

"Seems like it really wanted to be hereditary then," Ri says wryly. "And yes, heat... I can manipulate anything with a heat signature. And play with fire, which is always fun."

Den grins a little. "Your Gift is directly related to your developed personality. It can even become something else over time if your personality changes drastically."

"So heat... what does that say about my personality?" Ri asks curiously.

Den arches a brow. "You want me to analyze you?"

"Sure...?" Ri replies hesitantly.

Den shrugs and then tilts his head at Ri contemplatively. "You're very controlled," he says thoughtfully. "And capable of patience, though I get the feeling you aren't fond of it. You have a temper that probably rivals mine, and unless I miss my guess, which I rarely do," he smirks a little, "you're pretty much a bastard. Welcome to the family."

A pretty accurate assessment.

"Not bad," Ri says, nodding. "And thanks. I would welcome you to mine, but I don't think you want to be part of the Mi'antiaes... no one willingly does."

"For the record," he sighs, "I did ask your mother to marry me. I was rejected. Quite rudely, in fact." He smirks a little again.

Ri shakes his head. "You actually asked her? I feel sorry for you... But considering you are still capable of coherent speech, she must have gone easy on you."

He laughs, but it contains a pained edge. "You underestimate my ability to handle things."

"No, I just know my mother very well," Ri says with a wry smile. "Tearing men down is her specialty."

Den shrugs. "Any other questions?"

"None that I can think of right now..." Ri says, also shrugging. "You?"

Den shakes his head. "Katrine is making pancakes?" He suggests.

"I like pancakes," Ri says with a grin.

"Then you'll love Katrine," Den says with an answering grin before they fall through twin portals -- amber and silver, as opposed to Ri's amber and violet -- and land in the living room of a cabin.

"Oh look, they have returned," Eilon says cheerfully from his position on the couch.

"Eilon," Den says very lowly. "When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it." He smacked Eilon's head, earning himself a dry look. "And the next time I ask for moral support, don't go making people think rude things about me just so I'll get rid of you. You didn't have to come in the first place, bastard."

Eilon sighs. "He was not thinking rude things about you, Den. I would know, unlike you, I can hear him."

Den throws himself onto the couch next to Eilon. "I was thinking rude thoughts about me," he mutters.

Ri watches them curiously.

"I know," Eilon says, tapping Den's forehead. "I might not be in there, but that doesn't mean I can't tell what you're thinking." He gestures at Ri, causing him to blink at the sudden attention. "The boy was thinking rude thoughts about himself as well. You two have a problem. But see? That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Den kicks him. "Stop meddling." He then pats the space on the couch beside him for Ri to sit. Ri very slowly walks over, unsure if he wants to get involved with whatever's going on with the two of them.

"If you didn't want my meddling, you wouldn't have asked me to go with you," Eilon says simply. He looks over at Ri with a wry grin. "We don't bite unless you ask, Ri."

"If it had occurred to me that you were going to meddle, I wouldn't have asked you to come with me," Den corrects, and then smacks his head again as Ri sits down warily. "You stay away from my son."

Eilon sighs. "Den, you've known me for longer than a day," he says, as if in reply to both of Den's statements.

"Which is my point," Den says, propping his boots in the table. "And I was terrified, idiot." At least Ri wasn't alone with that feeling. "I wasn't thinking straight."

"I know you were terrified, because Ri obviously has claws and large teeth," Eilon says with a smirk, shaking his head.

What has Ri walked into?

"But you," Eilon continues, "know as well as I do that this was something you had to do alone. You wouldn't have talked at all if I had stayed. And you were too scared to go without me holding your hand --"

Den punches Eilon in the jaw, cutting off his words.

"Feel better?" Eilon asks, sighing deeply, rubbing at his jaw.

"Yes, thank you."

"You sure? Because the other side of my face feels left out," Eilon says dryly.

Den smirks. "Shall I kiss it better?"

Ri blinks at the two of them.

Eilon turns his face to Den. "Go ahead," he says, patting his cheek.

Den pats his cheek as well. "Perhaps when there isn't a child present."

Ri is about to protest his 'child status' when Eilon interrupts him. "You heard the man, Ri, make yourself scarce."

Ri is at a loss for words.

Den rolls his eyes. "Ignore the idiot, Ri."

"Now, Den, that's counterproductive. Never a good idea to tell your child to ignore you." Eilon tsks.

Den arches a brow. "Is that what you thought I meant? My, you're even stupider today than usual."

Eilon smirks and throws his arms around Den's neck and climbs onto his lap. "Stupid for you," he says with a bright grin.

Den just looks up at him impassively. "Your affections have been noted." He waves that hand again. "Now shoo, little pet."

"Oh, I forget, you just like sleeping with my sister because you can't handle me," Eilon comments dryly.

Den sighs. "I realize that your feelings are hurt, but you really must learn to move on, poor child."

Eilon shakes his head and shoots a glance at Ri, not climbing off Den's lap, or removing his arms from his neck. "I hope you are looking forward to having a sibling."

"What?" Ri asks, his brows furrowed.

Den arches a brow again. "My question exactly, thank you Ri."

Eilon arches a brow at Den in return. "You're one for one. Why not two for two? Apparently magic happens when your pelvises meet."

Den's tone is very dry when he responds. "I think you just ruined my appetite, thank you."

"You're welcome," Eilon says cheerfully.

"Wait... you and my mother... again?" Ri asks, arching a brow.

"My question exactly, thank you Ri," Eilon says dryly.

Den glares at Eilon before glancing at Ri. "In my defense, she started it."

"It's never your fault. Let me guess, Kat started it too?"

"No, no, that was entirely my doing," Den contradicts.

Before anyone else can say anything, a woman walks into the room with a tray of pancakes, succeeding in gaining all three men's attention. Her expression is not pleased. She drops the tray on the table and promptly exits the room without a word.

"Thanks," Eilon calls cheerfully after her retreating form.

"Somehow," Den says dryly, "I get the feeling Katrine is upset."

"Oh, she's downright murderous," Eilon says easily. "She's contemplating all the different ways she can murder you in your sleep."

"Why?" Ri asks, his eyebrows in his hair.

"Well, shall I tell the story, or are you going to tell your son how it's your life's goal to sleep with every woman who matters to me?" Eilon asks with a very sweet smile. Too sweet.

Den rolls his eyes. "That is not my life's goal, Eilon."

"Really could have fooled me. Stars, I'm just glad you never met my daughter. I might have had to kill you then," he says dryly.

Den sighs. "If I apologize, will that make you feel better?"

"No. Because you won't mean it and will just wait anxiously until I adopt another woman to care about."

Eilon almost sounds sullen.

Den pats his head. "Await is not the word I would use."

"Oh? You'll choose the next one then?" Eilon challenges. "No waiting involved there."

Den just sighs.

"Pancakes," Ri says, leaning forward and taking some. He starts eating, not looking at his father and his uncle -- his uncle who is still sitting on his father.

"Eilon, you're in my way," Den says dryly as Ri decides he's never tasted anything better than these pancakes. Stars, they are divine.

"Tough. I'm comfortable," Eilon says easily.

"I'm hungry," Den counters.

"And I'm deaf."

Ri continues eating, trying to act like all of this is normal.

"No, you're a child," Den says.

"A very cute child," Eilon answers.

Den snorts. "In what realm of the imagination?"

"Imagination isn't required for things that are plain to see," Eilon counters.

Ri finally looks at them. He speaks, cutting off whatever Den's reply was going to be. "Why did you not kill him?" He asks abruptly.

"Oh thanks, you want me dead now. I love you too, nephew," Eilon says dryly.

Den snorts. "He looked so pathetic that it would've been a mercy. I'm not merciful."

"No, he decided I'm too awesome to kill, and here were are."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Eilon," Den says calmly.

"You help me sleep at night. You're a very comfy pillow," Eilon responds, stroking Den's silver hair.

Ri regrets asking.

"And you are a terrible pet," Den responds. "You can't even pass the pancakes."

"That's because you are my pet," Eilon says, grinning wickedly. "And you want pancakes? Okay."

He lifts the plate with the remaining pancakes and smashes it into Den's face.

Den's expression is impassive when Eilon discards the plate as broken pieces of pancake stick to Den's face and fall to his chest. He looks at the mess and sighs. "Those smelled delicious. I wanted those."

Eilon picks up one of the larger pieces and shoves it into Den's mouth. "There."

Den looks at Ri. "I'm very sorry that you're related to him. Feel free to disown him."

"I'm sorry you're related to Den as well. The offer stands for both of us," Eilon says, resting his head on Den's shoulder, cuddling closer.

Den just pats Eilon's head.

Ri shakes his head, trying to clear some of his confusion. This isn't what he was expecting when he thought about meeting his father and uncle. Not at all. Not even a little bit. He does find it strange that they seem to have developed a very close... relationship in the last ten thousand years. He's sure the people at the court didn't expect this outcome when they hired Den to execute Eilon all those years ago. He doesn't think anyone would have been able to predict this.

Ri arches a brow at both of them and leans back in his chair. He might as well roll with it. "So, when's the wedding?"

Den sighs. "Did you miss the part where your mother rejected me...?" He asks, but his eyes are twinkling.

"I suspect that's why you are getting cozy with my uncle instead," Ri says, nodding in mock seriousness.

Den looks thoughtful as Eilon just watches them with an amused grin. "No..." Den says. "No, that's definitely not the reason."

"He's cozy with me because he loves me, obviously," Eilon says, still playing with a lock of Den's hair.

"Actually, it's more that he's an attachment," Den says, gesturing at Eilon. "And I can't get him to come off."

"You don't seem to be trying all that hard," Ri points out.

Den grins. "I already hurt his feelings once today. I'm trying to be nice."

"So generous," Eilon comments dryly.

For the next several hours, the bantering continues between Eilon and Den, and Ri finds himself involved in it almost as if it's natural.

Sure, it isn't what he expected when he thought about meeting his father for the first time, but he can see himself getting used to this. Used to actually having a father.

Ri sits back more comfortably in his chair, thinking to himself that it'll be nice to finally have a family, one he can actually like.

He smiles.

End of Story