chimera

Halloween Costume: Satyr

Eren looked at his brother now, reaching forward to clasp the back of Mahendra’s neck and pull him closer, “The Senate…the Senate has no fucking idea what to do. Dion thinks we should play our part, be involved in what happens. Continue to protect each other, for the sake of our kind. But what have they done?” He released Mahendra now, the fire still burning in Eren’s eyes, “He may have answers. Some fucking answers that can help us. And I refuse to be their loyal pet any longer.”

-

Things were finally beginning to get interesting, Mahendra mused as he watched the fire brighten in his brother’s eyes. It had been a long time since the chimera had heard any such conviction come from the other, he wondered if it was just the revelation of Octavian’s imprisonment, or if there was something more that had lit this spark within Eren. If there was no way to go back, then perhaps Octavian held the answers to how to move forward, how to master this power within him. “You’re fired up.” Mahendra commented, “Good.”

Location: the actual market, but festive Person: @mahendraxdemir​ Notes: Vampire finally figures out how much eggnog will get him to talk about his feelings “Do ye have a moment or do ye have somewhere else tae scurry off tae?” The mouse thing, he’d sat there longer than he should have, utterly perplexed by seeing the magic up close. He thought he’d seen Anders outdrinking that crowd of wolves that hung around All Fours and he wished the rest of those lycans good luck. It meant he had a clear shot of saying what he wanted to say, what he needed to say, to the chimera. He’d basically told Anders his feelings for the both of them and yet he hadn’t yet had the balls to say anything to Mahendra. And it turned out he didn’t quite need balls, copious amounts of whatever was in the eggnog that was being peddled up and down the street was enough liquid courage. The actual market portion of town is always bustling, but at the moment it’s almost disgustingly festive, beautifully so, it’s still Rome, but he thinks he can only handle the season in small doses. “Heard a rumor some people were trying tae make it snow on the beach, might be worth checking oot.”

-

Jamie was someone that Mahendra was trying to actively avoid, their last encounter was… Embarrassing, to say the least, especially since Mahendra had ended up joining the fray only to leave Evy behind in a fit of cowardly self-preservation. For all his bluster that’s what he was, someone who ran and hid rather than facing a problem head on. Octavian might have answers, the man who’d once levelled the city had returned in a blaze of glory, that was something to admire. Something to aspire towards. “So you don’t want me to scurry off, but you do want to get me to a secondary location?” Mahendra wasn’t sure what beach the other was talking about but he thought they were fine at the market.

Anders hummed in agreement, knowing what it would mean for Mahendra. He would support him, far too separated from druid politics to have an opinion either way. He stayed somewhat silent, trying to figure out his words carefully, “Yes, but…only because I am the same. My heart belongs to you, that hasn’t changed.” Anders was worried, but only because he’d never known someone like Jamie who pushed his way into the middle of their relationship. Maybe the correct word was boldness, but Anders wasn’t going to point out the obvious. “In any other relationship, I feel like it would be…unfaithful. But he’s talked to me about it. His feelings for me. His feelings for you. His solution is all of us together. He hasn’t said as much, but I’m not as dumb as I look sometimes.”

-

“If we… invite him in, what does that mean for us?” Mahendra asked, he wasn’t sure where that would leave the two of them, “I don’t ever want to lose you - and if something happens.” The worst case scenario was that the vampire only acted to come between them, rather than bringing them closer together. “We’ll always have this, right, you and me?” Anders had pushed him away once and that lingering doubt was hard to dismiss, this was something new, something different and Mahendra wanted to be sure that it wasn’t necessarily a risk or a gamble.

He’s waiting for a kind of ribbing, for Mahendra to return the banter or maybe even just nod at him and take the liquor back. That’s the kind of thing he was prepared for. But instead there’s a hand on his jaw and the familiar fire that comes with it and everything moves slowly. There’s a second of searching, of the druid, of the chimera, just looking at him and Jamie swears he does this thing. This thing where he looks at him like he’s something, he’d done it in the bathhouse, he’d done it that morning at his place after they’d been at the bar. And he thinks about it, the intensity of the dark gaze, how steady it is and there’s comfort there and he has no idea if it’s just something Mahendra seems to radiate or if it’s because it reminds them of that night. The one he thinks about far more often now, that he’s spent nights picking apart after that night at the Embassy, after he’d been told that maybe in another life, it could have been them. Because it’d been a joke, surely. But that didn’t stop him from wondering what could have happened instead, if he hadn’t scurried back to the brothel after Mahendra had saved him. There’s more noise from outside, the other man leans in, and before he can short circuit over that, Jamie finds himself tipping his head to brush his lips to Mahendra’s forehead instead. “When we get oot of this,” Because they were going to. He thought of Anders up there, about that night in his living room where they’d talked about the man before him. Where he’d explained that there were feelings there, where he’d tried to fish to see if he was indeed insane for thinking that maybe none of them had to choose, that they could all just be. There’s a lot he wants to say, a lot he’s worried he’s not going to get the chance to, but he’s hellbent on getting them back to Anders. Because maybe this is something, maybe it hadn’t just been Mahendra feeling lost or needing the comfort of a familiar face or feeling the threat of a life or death experience, maybe Jamie’s over-thought this entire thing between them. Dianna had told him to just let go, maybe it could all just be that simple. “We’ll talk.”

And then, lips still brushing Mahendra’s skin, he hears the too familiar sound of a body hitting the ground. And another, and another and it might be presumptuous to think the subsiding of screaming means it’s really over, but he’s motivated for the first time in years by something other than spite as he rises to his feet. “C’mon, I’ll keep playing knight in shining armor long enough tae get ye home.” And as he offers his hand to the chimera, for once he doesn’t try to suppress the little bit of hope that twists something in his chest.

-

Jamie’s dismissal broke whatever spell had fallen over them and Mahendra felt the space getting smaller. He didn’t need the vampire’s help in getting home, but the other was right in that they had to get out of here. If no other reason than before either of them did something they’d regret. “I love that you think of yourself as a knight in shining anything,” Mahendra ribbed playfully, he thought to make himself small, small enough to slip between cracks and fissures, he had the perfect form in mind. It was one he’d used countless times before. His skin mottled and shifted as the transformation came on fluidly, an illtimed blink and Jamie would have missed it entirely - when Mahendra went from man to mouse and disappeared into a crack in the wall.

-

“You want to see him, don’t you?” The chimera was obviously taken with the idea of Octavian now, and who wouldn’t be? Anders ran the warm rag over the Druid’s chest now, though his ministrations stopped and he dropped the rag back into the tub. There was a silence between them now, and the lycan couldn’t help the nerves now. Jamie remained an oddity between them, and Anders would always be true to Mahendra. There had never been anything where he’d betrayed the others trust, “Do you wish to be with him instead?” He asked finally, figuring they had to speak about it now. They’d been together nearly a decade, but Anders knew the vampire had essentially professed his love for Anders a while ago, and it was almost comforting to know that Jamie apparently felt the same for Mahendra.

-

“I do, and I will.” There was a pause for a moment as he considered his words, “I have to.” Who else would have the answers that Mahendra was looking for? He’d long felt that the old ways had to die, with Octavian as he was now… Perhaps that was exactly what would happen. Mahendra was a coward for too long, in life, and apparently also in love. He’d accepted Anders’ rejection at face value, he hadn’t fought as hard as he should have. “I’ll admit I have some feelings for him, but I’m in love with you, is that odd to you?”

-

Eren’s gaze matched Mahendra’s, the glint in their eyes perhaps the only thing giving away that they were brothers. “Then I’ll help you, always.” There were questions he wanted answers to as well, even now as he stood beside the chimera. He pushed his hands into his pockets, thinking carefully, “The Senate lied about him. And I had no idea.”

-

The twinkling lights of the makeshift village of wooden slats and manmade ornaments was an odd setting for their conversation but the pair had made do in stranger places. “His power was…” Naturally, the archdruid would be more gifted, but his level of control was clear. “He retained his humanity the entire time. Do you know what the senate wants to do with him now?” The question was a loaded one, “He’s not the threat that he was before - he’s the archdruid again, right?” It felt more confusing than it needed to be but he wanted to gauge Eren’s feelings on the matter.

-

Anders frowned slightly, his hand coming up to trace idle patterns against Mahendra’s back once the druid turned slightly. “It’s difficult not to blame myself,” he murmured, though he dropped that subject once the next was brought up. His memories were perhaps a lost cause at this point. They’d been here months, and nothing had really changed until a fey. Even then, though, that had been a dead end. “I know we are. You are my fate, I’ve always known that. I just wish to always remember that. Tell me, what is the Senate’s next move? Is it even safe for us to be here anymore?”

-

“It was never safe here.” Mahendra reminded, Anders without any real control and the chimera who’d be treated as an enemy should the senate discover him Still, he had felt Octavian’s arrival so keenly - the mastery of his form, flames and power that washed over the battle. “The archdruid is alive, he’s here- I-” he hadn’t been one for structure in generations, but now with Octavian’s return Mahendra almost felt... hopeful. He, too, was a chimera, he too had been wronged by the senate and Mahendra could only wonder where the man had disappeared to. Fate was for the fools still hung up on the past but it was hard not to imagine that the intervention that night hadn’t been divinely inspired. “I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something here we have to see through until the end and Jamie-” Mahendra scratched at his chin as he remembered how close they’d come to crossing a line. “I don’t want to leave him here.” 

❀

Marcelo could sense the other druid behind him but that could go either way. He hadn’t entirely broken with the others, though he kept more to himself than was the norm. But he was very much aware that his past disappointments paired with his rather nontraditional views didn’t make him a favorite so if he was going to get a lecture, he just hoped they’d let him get this done first.

But, it appeared it was his lucky day. He chanced a glance back when he hard rustling and caught sight of Mahendra, holding out food for him. It wasn’t his favorite way of connecting with animals – his prideful side said it was the easy way out that he often refused to take – but in this situation he didn’t have many other options. “Thanks,” he replied, taking the piece of fruit offered and mushing it enough to release some scent before he dropped it a few feet in front of himself. “You don’t happen to be really connected to raccoons?”

-

There had been some fanfare around the other, once, in some sense Mahendra could relate. His parents had thought so highly of him growing up, amazed at all he could do, imagine their surprise when the only thing the chimera ended up being was a monster. Rejected for the role of archdruid, it was a heavy burden to be built up for so long only to be torn down, talented but inadequate. Unique but not unique enough. Mahendra sympathized, he was something of an outcast himself. 

“I’m not familiar with the procyonidae, no,” Mahendra said with a sigh, they were related in a sense to the rodent gene found in the muridae that the chimera could transform into if he wished, but he hadn’t spent any time studying these specific creatures. “Are you studying it?” Mahendra asked, intrigued if the other was trying to broaden his abilities further. 

“I”m nae-” There’s a noise from outside and he stops abruptly to listen. It’s something in the distance, nothing too close to them. There’s two of them, they surely aren’t going to be as appealing to the even deader undead, but they’re still too close for comfort. He finds himself biting at the inside of his cheek as if that’s going to keep him from letting out his own secret. And yet, it gives them something in common. Mahendra could get away with murder for all he cared, he’d done him too big of a favor for Jamie to ever judge him. And to do such a thing now would be hypocritical, the vampires he’d slain had, from what he’d been told, threats to the man who’d given him this new life. Mahendra had been smarter about it, he’d done it for power for himself, not for someone else. Instead of finishing the sentence, he sits up and digs a hand into the front pocket of his trousers and removes it to open his palm and reveal the few broken fangs from the zombies outside. It’d made sense to do, and it’d been easier to do to a dead vampire than a living one, that was for damn sure. “Din lump me in wae the lot of them.” When he thought about the fact he was technically an authority figure, part of what he thought was surely a corrupt system, he felt sick. There’s another noise, somewhat closer, something shambling towards the palace most likely, and he tips his head back to take a generous sip from the bottle of wine. The teeth go back into his pocket and then he’s angling his body towards the chimera and he is certain the alcohol and maybe the adrenaline, starts doing the talking. “Listen, we’re gonna get oot of this. I owe ye.”

-

This could be it, this could be the end. Mahendra wouldn’t go down without a fight but the Asphodel had their own chimera on their side, one that Mahendra only vaguely recognized. If he died here then there was no certainty that he’d be back, or that he’d come back while Anders was still alive. While Jamie was still alive, in a manner of speaking anyway. Jamie’s remark was noncommittal but Mahendra wasn’t really paying attention anyways, his mind was drawn to the night they’d met, to their time in the bathhouse when Mahendra was more shell than man. It shouldn’t have been possible to pour from an empty cup but somehow Jamie had breathed life from his dead lungs and reminded him that there were reasons to live that extended beyond a single person. 

Dark eyes met the blues of Jamie’s as his hand curved around the other’s jaw, his mouth felt dry even as his tongue moved to cover his lips. The warmth of his breath flooded the space between them as he fixated for a moment on the other’s scent - it was strong - like he was trying too hard in an attempt to make it effortless. Nights spent laughing and trading jokes, roast for roast as Mahendra carved a piece off of the vampire for his own entertainment - much to Jamie’s chagrin. The chimera was falling in love with him, or maybe it was too late. He leaned in. 

@mahendraxdemir​

Eren had immediately checked on Mahendra when he had left August’s apartment. Finding his brother had been easy enough, but he was hopeful to begin with. He was certain that the witch would’ve told him if harm had befallen his sibling, but the druid went to find him for himself. “I’m glad you’re okay. Did you shift at the party? I’m guessing not – I haven’t heard anything about an additional chimera.”

-

“He’s back, brother.” Mahendra whispered, of the two of them Eren had always been a believer. The chimera had abandoned the fanciful notions of the first and destiny, and all that drivel the keepers passed down to the acolytes in the hopes of getting them to drink their koolaid. But Rome had seen him in the flesh, Octavian, the phoenix. Mahendra ignored the other’s obviously rhetorical question, where had Octavian been all this time? Had he been resurrected and nobody realized? “I want to find him, his power and what he’s accomplished, maybe he can help me.” 

@senatusstarters​ location: some alleyway

As someone who’d grown up far away from any large city and spent their first few decades focused on nature, Marcelo had grown used to looking for small pockets of it in Rome. It was easy enough, his body had always seemed to point him into the right direction like a compass. Even if he’d gotten lost in his new home numerous times, he’d always known where the nearest park was, which way to the river. And sometimes, when he felt especially like a fish out of water (ha!), he let his body lead him where it needed to go.

It was because of that that he found himself squatting near a collection of trashbags that hadn’t fit into the dumpster behind them. One of his hands was outstretched towards a rustle in the plastic when he sensed a presence behind him. “Shh,” he said, tone more pointed than the soothing noises he’d made previously, though he didn’t turn to see who had joined him. “It’s not going to come out if you make noise.”

-

After the senator’s party, Mahendra had done his best to try and laylow. He’d cowered in some basement and run away when he’d been needed, it was easier than facing the truth that what waited within was some monster that Mahendra could not control. There was a simplicity in routine, grocery shopping, work, meal preparation, repeat - though not necessarily in that order. The monotony of this was enough to distract himself from the truth of the matter, Mahendra was hiding.

He opened his mouth to greet the druid, Marcelo, when he was almost immediately silenced. Mahendra hadn’t spent much time studying cats or rodents, but one of the druids he’d killed in the past had. Their habits, their routines, their mannerisms, Mahendra shook the thought from his mind and fixed his position against the wall, arms full of groceries. “Here-” The druid offered as he fished out something appetizing for the critter from one of the bags, “this might help.” He extended the offering towards Marcelo, gifting the other druid with what he could to help his undoubtedly flea-destined endeavor.  

He doesn’t quite know which part he finds more shocking, the connection made between what being a chimera means or the fact that Mahendra was so quick to label himself a monster. His mouth opens to speak only to close and for him to give a hum in thought. Because he doesn’t know if he entirely remembers how all of that works, but he knows to become one takes dire circumstances. Jamie raises the bottle to his lips and they’re going to need all of this wine if this was coming down to them confessing things to one another. Lowering the bottle, he leans back a bit against the pile of drapery on the floor before eyeing the other man. “Which means….If something happened, ye wouldnae come back?” The words are careful, because the details are murky, something he’d read out of a book long ago, heard stories here and there about. But he does know that to become one is no easy feat, none of the community took it all that well to have their kind killing each other. It’s like a puzzle, he knows Mahendra is thirty-two in this life, that he has an affinity for fire, and now that he was a chimera… “Yer a manticore.” It’s said the moment the lightbulb goes off in his head, blunt but deep down he’s almost excitable about it. They’re a creature he knows to avoid, but they’re also something he never thought he’d ever encounter, they were something of a myth. “Ye could have said something, I would have jus’ picked ye up an’ carried ye down here.” It’s meant to lighten the mood as he passes the bottle back. 

-

“No, no, I’m on my second life as a chimera now.” Mahendra muttered, Jamie had it wrong but the druid wouldn’t have expected the vampire to get it right. “It means I killed my own kind to get here though, broke their bones, performed rituals and devoured them - body and soul. The ones I killed, they’ll never come back. They’re...” The chimera thought of the boy, the woman, the old man. His own traits hadn’t been sufficient, he’d needed more, he’d needed them. The druids were dying and Mahendra had helped along the way. “inside of me, maybe. My own personal ghosts. If I go up there, if I transform, it’s not me that I’m worried about.” The laugh was tight and false, but humor was the only way that Mahendra really knew how to cope. “A manticore, yes. A creature of fear and fire.” Mahendra said with a sigh, “You’re a marshal, one who blamed me for your... leech problem. I couldn’t tell you.” 

“I wouldnae know how strong ye are.” His tone isn’t accusatory, but it’s on the biting side of teasing. After they’d barricaded the cellar door, he’d practically collapsed with a bottle of wine onto a pile of what must be all of the spare drapery for the palace. It was a nightmare outside, Jamie didn’t think he’d ever get the image of seeing a hand burst from the ground out of his head. Or the change in Anders eyes, the way the wolf had nearly pleaded with Mahendra when he’d realized he didn’t know what was going on anymore. He’s worried about everyone on the second floor, the wolf outside, the man at his side. Dianna had been with that senator at least, he’d never met a vampire that hadn’t fought tooth and nail to defend their home. “Thought ye lot were supposed tae draw fae nature or something.” He remarks as he takes the bottle back, it’s the good stuff, they’re surrounded by it. He’d done all of the fighting on the way there, the injuries he’d sustained already healed, and it wasn’t like he wouldn’t defend the druid with his life, he just wasn’t quite sure why he seemed to be the only one defending it.

-

There was an argument on the tip of his tongue, but it fell flat, because Mahendra wasn’t out there fight, he was in here hiding. Hiding from the dead, hiding from death itself. In truth he was afraid, afraid of what would happen if he joined the fray, and afraid that if he pushed his luck too much this life would be his last. What a sour ending that would be, he was unfinished, so much of him was still left unsaid. “I’m a chimera.” Mahendra said instead, though his voice sounded foreign to him, distant. Foreign like it must have been someone else who’d spoken. His eyes remained fixed on his hands as he worried them between his knees - wine abandoned. In his mind’s eye they were always red, he saw the faces of the druids he’d butchered, the souls he’d devoured all for the sake of a power that he cowered from now. “There are enough monsters up there, I don’t think they need one more.” He thought of the druid stood next to the Pythia, the one in the Lola Bunny costume, she was everything he was afraid of becoming. 

-

Anders kept his arms around Mahendra, keeping him close against his chest. The lycan was mostly relieved; the place had been no setting for the druid. “I’m glad, you did the right thing. If anyone had seen you, if you’d shifted…” He ran his hands through Mahendra’s hair now, resting his cheek against the side of the druid’s head, “Because I lost control and apparently was weak enough to be a puppet.” He couldn’t even remember the feeling, but he was glad to have forgotten. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. But perhaps they didn’t need to do much, I don’t know what I do when I shift, anyway. I wish I could – then I could protect you. We could’ve left together.”

-

Mahendra could have fought, he could have used any number of the traits he’d taken in his past life, instead he’d chosen not to. He took one look at those things and all that they were, then he turned and ran. If there was an answer to reversing what he’d done, it might be within the walls of the coven he’d run from, if they could turn a druid into a ghoul - what else could they do? Thoughts for another day, he leaned against the other and turned to press his cheek against Anders’ considerable chest, the water stirred in the process as Mahendra squeezed the lycan’s arm. “It’s not your fault,” Mahendra repeated, though he knew Anders would still only blame himself. “we’ll find a way to help you retain control, or at least help you with your memories. It’s why we came here, you and I were meant for one another, fate brought us together for a reason.” 

@mahendraxdemir​

Anders couldn’t remember. That was the stark realization that had hit him the moment he’d come to. Mahendra had been there, in front of him, as Anders kneeled where he’d been standing at full lycan height just moments before. There were so many dead, mortals and zombies alike, and the blood that covered him told him everything. The journey back to their apartment had been spent mostly in silence, but he didn’t need words to understand. They sat in the bath together now, the large tub warm. The shower had already scrubbed the dirt and grime off them both, but the soak after was enough to make Anders relax. “Are you upset with me?”

-

“I ran.” Mahendra whispered, the ugly truth laid bare between them. He could’ve fought, maybe as a bear or a lion, but he didn’t. The druid had been afraid, not of losing control, but of getting torn apart by those fucking things. “There was another druid there and I just... I took off.” He’d found Anders and when the lycan had returned to his senses they went home, but of all the people that had stood to fight, Mahendra wasn’t among them. “Why would I be upset with you, because you hurt people?” The blood they’d washed off of Anders wasn’t his own, “What happened wasn’t your fault, that fey- they did this.”