SUM OF YOUR PARTS.

     Zarkon can feel his ears getting hotter with each second, he’s thinking about it too deeply. Far too deeply. So he tries to quell this awkwardness, bringing the fried tentacle back into view, breathing in a little before he makes an effort to answer Alfor as calmly as possible.

           “ Oh, it is nothing. ” He still makes no move to taste it, but he’s attempting to gather the motivation. His apprehension is only making this worse. No one else will make the connection, what harm could it do? Better to avoid having to explain or lie about it.

    With the brief relief the reassurance gains him, the Emperor brings the food to his mouth. Once it’s in, the embarrassment of it all comes back in full force, making it feel like his soul has just crumbled into tiny little pieces. He tears a part of it off and brings the stick away, making a mental note that it at least tastes good. He tries to focus on that the whole time he spends trying to chew through the tender thing.

          “ It is good, I agree. ” Zarkon says after swallowing, giving Alfor a smile, though the uneasiness is still showing. If you were to look hard enough, you would see the faintest shade of purple on his cheeks. “ I wonder what creature this comes from. ”

     “ uh-- ” zarkon’s ‘concern’ is palpable. lips pursing, he all but watches the emperor’s apparent inner dilemma before he finally appears to get over himself and just eat the gift given to them. in return, the king arches a brow and furrows the other. 

and then lifts a hand, waving it to dismiss the question, and then he leans uncomfortably close, squinting at him.

    the amount of alien cuisine he’s had in his lifetime more than prepare him for a delicacy just a little odd. now they come from not only peace treaties over dinner, but even as celebratory feasts and rewards for saving this from that. alfor knows that even the most disgusting looking dish can taste divine, so he seems quite confused at zarkon’s hesitation. isn’t this the man who eats still living bugs and by far the most revolting soups he’s ever tasted?

the altean looks at him weirdly, shrugging a shoulder and speaking with a half full mouth:

      “ it tastes good to me. ” and with another odd face (which in reality is just him struggling to chew the damn thing, given its texture is like rubber), he swallows and continues. “ what’s the face for? you haven’t even tasted it yet. ”

     “ err.. slimy? ” a look of disgust but fascination passing, he lifts his hand from the small, slime-covered creature, sniffing at it curiously. alfor is quiet, as if about to exclaim a noise of disgust, but his expression quickly turns to pleased surprise. “ doesn’t smell that bad, to be honest. ” 

seconds after he speaks, he both hears and watches her scribble something rapidly down. notes, if he had to guess, not that he does because he leans over to catch a glance.

    “ where’d you find this thing, to begin with? ”

“I’m used to more advanced technology, yes. Simply repairing the ship’s engine presented its own set of challenges,” he said. He turned his head to regard the man again. “Is that why the Lions have lasted so long as well? We found the Red Lion in a half-dead volcano, I’d imagine the others were left in just as hostile hiding places.”

     he considers a more elusive nature, but decides against it. what does it matter now? he feels a pang for the mention of red, and sighs.

Haven’t made the best impression seemed like something of an understatement to the Dreian, but he declined to comment such to the hologram. His new Paladins had ended up saving the day against the odds, so what did it matter what damage he’d done?

He glanced down at his arm, the fingers curling and relaxing out of reflex before he looked back up at the long-dead king.

“Salvageable. I suppose I should be marginally impressed given that it was two aliens that put it together by working with technology alien to them.” Bitterness had a way of tempering such reactions. “Likewise, I’m surprised the ship was in as decent condition as it was. Almost flightworthy despite having been sitting on Arus for so long.”

alfor is already well aware of the existence of temporal anomalies, holes torn open in space where alien life pours through from the next reality. there is a certain kind of weight to experience there, to know that your universe is only one of many, but it’s a privilege to know the truth. 

even when it isn’t necessarily beneficial.

the old king seems as if he’s almost staring past the younger man slumped on his knees on the floor, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. if he looked any harder, any closer, he might just burn holes through him.

it’s him, but not him. him, but another him. young and naive.

his eyes narrow and he speaks, but he doesn’t motion for the other to stand from his kneeling position, two altean sentries keeping this imposter closer to the ground with spears at his neck. he could embrace a cruel nature more befitting of a galran than an altean, but he does not. he’s better than that, than an animal who cannot control themselves.

         “ what are you thinking? ”