#chivo

There is still no plan for a big summer trip this year. I’m in the process of moving from southern Arizona to Kentucky, via Lake Tahoe, California, but with it being mostly interstate, there is little to get excited about as far as photography is concerned. I spent some time in Las Vegas helping a friend with a used truck he purchased, then shot up out of the desert heat into the quiet reaches of…

Chivo and Cai may work in the same “field” but as HEALERS- they got different views

Cai is a lot more experimental- little to no regard for her patients. She’d snap your leg in half and yell at you for crying

She wants to LEARN, not really help.

Chivo- meh he’s mid. He’s very calm but he’s not comforting. It’s get in and get out. But at least he remembers to use herbs for the pain before anything- unlike Cai 💀

Because fire-lizard can heal almost immediately, so pain doesn’t meant a lot to her.

Not alot of bedside manner in the Underworld, I tell you.

When it comes to childbirth, it’s a little different. Cai’s got that in spades, caring tenderly for both mother and child. (This is purely instinctual, is she wasn’t an Animal- it’d be the same game as regular medical attention)

Chivo is a fucking mongrel who flinched at the THOUGHT of childbirth. He’s got Cai to take care of THAT much-

All in all, just be glad the Underworld has ANYONE with the SLIGHTEST healing knowledge

(Not saying Cai and Chivo know a lot, naw they gotta beg the professionals for help sometimes-)

Previous Chapter

Run, run, run.

Somedays, I was running.

Racing and weaving through sometimes multiple realms in a day……

I didn’t know where I was going. Or if SHE ever intended for me to go anywhere….

I was just…….. moving.

So much time WASTED, trapped in my own mind. Reduced to a BEAST, reduced to……………

NOTHING.

That’s what she wanted. For me to feel helpless. To be trapped and vulnerable. So I could stay her “silly little Cai” forever…..

She wanted to keep me. She wanted to USE me.

And I couldn’t let her.

Their faces….. the faces of my family and friends….. haunting my heart and plaguing my mind every single second.

I had to find a way home….

It was like reading a book with a horrific plot….. but you were reading the thoughts of the monster.

I killed SO MANY Animals……… too many.

Part of it was her…….. and part…… part of it felt like ME. But it wasn’t much more than hunger….. Buluc Chabtan made no efforts to keep me fed.

Then…… my own free-rage seemingly influenced some…… behavior.

Father always taught us to never taste Earth flesh…….. but here I was.

I wish I could say I felt bad for them…….

Mm………….

Nope!

When I wasn’t terrorizing innocent beings, I was trapped with her other “servants”. More Gods enslaved by her majesty.

Xquic knew who I was….. or rather WHAT.

His wife, Xmulzencab, was always with him. But….. I don’t think she hated me. Not the way most other Animals and Elementals did……

When she looked in my eyes it was almost like she actually could SEE me…..

Not the beast Buluc Chabtan had made me, but the young Goddess who was in far over her head…..

She was……. kind. She would toss me bits of meat whenever she could. I could believe why father had loved her………

I could see, yes. But certain details were……. fuzzy. None of my movement seemed to be my own, and I began to notice…… it wasn’t exactly Buluc Chabtan’s either.

Mother used to tell us stories of Gators who had danced with darker powers and become “lost” in their bestial minds. And I began to believe that was happening to me……

I don’t remember exactly when it changed….. but pretty soon I began to crave human.

And without anyway to get to the mortal realm(apparently those with Buluc Chabtan’s collar can’t access it??)

I went to the only place in the Divine world that had the freshest, most pure, human adjacent creatures.

The Land of the Remembered.

In my heart, I felt ill. Tearing apart those who deserved their eternal rest in endless fiesta. Yet the other part of me savored in their taste……

With every man, woman, and child I devoured…… I grew stronger. I could FEEL it! As my stomach filled, so did my strength!

And eventually……. her hold broke.

So I ran.

Ran not because she was making me, but because I could feel my limbs moving because it was ME making it so…..

I hate to admit it….. but I kept killing. Sometimes because I was hungry, sometimes because I was bored.

But then I ran into a problem.

Rather, I WAS the problem…… or my Gator half was.

Mami’s stories clearly weren’t so much as STORIES.

Because I, most certainly, was LOST.

Every move I made was instinctual.

I’d even found gators to cuddle with….. they didn’t seem to mind me at all. The congregations didn’t seem bothered by my abnormal size or shape.

I was Cipactli’s daughter! Their Queen-mother! I was simply one of them……. It made me feel better than I had in such a long time.

I could speak to them…… sort of.

It was more……. them speaking to ME.

I was simply a trapped beast, THEY could travel and tell each other stories and argue over who got to spend noon on the highest sunning-rock.

(Spoiler alert, it was ME.)

They knew who I was, naturally. So they felt inclined to tell me that our Mother was searching for me, crying out, demanding……

But I never moved.

Well, unless it was to kill.

Other than that, I hid in congregations.

It was…… exhausting to try and fight my own mind. It was different when Buluc Chabtan was in control, fighting her was instinct.

But MY beast’s control?

It felt…… comforting. Like some old and ancient self defense mechanisms were taking over to protect me after being so weak and vulnerable…..

Things started to change, though.

It hurt like a motherfucker, but I could managed brief moments of clarity. Little snips of control to move my own way.

With these moments, I began to move closer to the Underworld……….

“Greetings, Princess.” Huffed the elder, not lifting his head as he stared at me from the mud. “Mother is calling.”

“Mother is always calling.” I snorted in response, settling down beside him and taking in the congregation.

It was a group of maybe thirty adults, residing in a border-realm.

A border realm was a simple “in between” of two different realms. No one owned them, and it tended to only house animals from the mortal realm, or small nomadic groups of Animals.

Elementals? Oh no they would NEVER leave their precious cities….. no. They were scum who hid behind massive stone walls.

“If you answered, she would not be sad.” The elder bellowed, catching the attention of some of the others.

Some of the hatchlings swam over the moment then saw me, encouraged by their mother’s to greet me.

I allowed them to climb all over me, even offering some of the bolder ones a seat in my jaws. Only three had the bravery to do so.

“I cannot go.” I muttered when the hatchlings moved on. “She would not take me this way.”

“Mother would take you if you were a rotting mule carcass.” The elder said, getting up and wadding deeper into the mud. “You must go.”

“I just told you- I cannot-“

“No. Go!” He rushed into the water, many of the others doing the same. Confused and curious, I looked around, before standing on my fours and tasting the air.

Where did I know that smell?……… Gods!

“C-Cai……….?” A small voice asked from the trees. “Is…… is that you?”

Chivo?! With a hiss, I spun around. Watching as my mentor slowly walked into the open, fear radiating off of him.

“Hey, little gator. It’s okay….. it’s okay.” He said gently, raising his hands and approaching me slowly. “Oh look at you! You’re alive! I mean well- of course you’re alive….. but I mean-“

He stopped speaking, eyes seemingly amazed.

“You’re…….. you.”

I assumed he was referring to my magical appearance, how he could not longer sense Buluc Chabtan’s magic on me or in me.

I grunted at him, stepping closer to him. He smiled, ears perky and eyes brimming with tears.

“We’ve all been so worried! Everyone is looking for you! Your parents…… Hura and Can…… me……. even Zatz has been waiting for his mama to come home……”

I blinked at him, and he looked…….. disappointed. Was he expecting me to have some sort of awakening at his words?

He kept rambling at me, telling me little things about life in the Underworld. Stupid little details like how we had new groups of bats move in or-

He’s rambling quite alot, isn’t he?

Gods…… he is still going.

“- and then Bitol started working with Camazotz to find you-“

…………. this is feeling familiar.

He’s a diversion!

…… so who is the attacker?

As to answer my own question, Lord Mictlan flew out of the forest, punching me in the head as he brought his entire weight down on me.

I roared, scrambling back up and turning on him. Smoke rising from my mouth.

“Lord Mictlan!” Chivo yelped, “I almost had her- if you had just given me a few more seconds-“

“We don’t have TIME for this!” The God of War retorted, narrowing his eyes without looking at the goat. “Micte will be giving birth any day now! I need Cai up and ready to deliver my child-“

SHES PREGNANT?! I howled loudly, stomping on the dirt with my front paws as I raced up to the two Gods, starling them both.

Lord Mictlan raised his sword, and Chivo yelped and raced in front of him, raising his hands at me.

I snarled, harshly bumping my nose on Chivo’s head. Answer me! Give me answers dammit!

“Puta Madre!” Chivo exclaimed, holding his hands to his head, wincing. “Owwwwww.”

“Yes, my wife is pregnant Cai. You are to come home, and you will deliver my child. Now.”

Ahahahahahhaa no. Sorry. I quite like my freedom, ass of War- OW!

Lord Mictlan grabbed me by my ear and started dragging me into the trees, Chivo hopping beside us, pleading with the King to be careful.

The War God payed no mind to his advisor, dragging me all through the trees until we reached a point of no trees. It was all enchanted, it seems. Chivo had used this place as a means of teleportation.

I whined, a begging sound. Part of me screamed, desperate to see my family. But another part of me wanted to go elsewhere. Anywhere else but that ashy wasteland……

Something is SERIOUSLY wrong with me…..

“Fix me.” I moaned, staring at Lord Mictlan with pleading eyes. He looked confused for a moment, then shook his head in aggravation before turning away.

“Open the portal Chivo. We need to get back.”

Chivo stepped up, patting the part of my arm he could reach and giving me a reassuring look.

“It’ll be okay, Cai. We will get you to your mother, she can help us understand you!”

I sure as Mictlan hope so……..

I nodded, sitting down with a thud. Chivo took this as a sign of agreement, when in reality I was…… giving up. So, so tired………

I know I’ve already said that Chivo was once a human, twisted into what he is now thanks to excessive dark magic

(For those who don’t know, the myth of “Huay Chivo” goes a few different directions depending on what you here, one of those directions is a man who made a deal with a devil or something and got twisted and turned into a hairless goat like beast)

Anyway, in my AU Chivo was once a wizard in Luna Island a FUCKING LONG ASS TIME AGO

(Luna island was the first human civilization after The Arcadia collapsed)

(See “El Dorado” for more on The Arcadia)

And well, Luna Island is the most magical thanks to its deep connection to the magic of the old world……

Chivo was born several generations later, but he was a devoted priest. A member of the Wizard’s council…….. and the son of the Gran Brujo(different Gran Brujo than Rico’s grandfather, yet all the same related)

As you guessed, Chivo does NOT become Gran Brujo, after all dark magic is FORBIDDEN-

He was banished, one of his brothers took the mantle and continued the bloodline with would lead to the Gran Brujo and Gran Bruja we see in MATT…….

And our dear Rico

Chivo knows the relation he shares with them, and he HATES it……

What’s family without drama, right?