Descendants of Etrigan

[Rionos Zanlaraniel]

Rionos sat out on the water, softly touching the edge of the surface of the lake. His wings being unfurled, allowed him to hover this way. They were a rough, dark, leathery pair of wings. There were tears in the wings, but it didn't make the wings look ratty or ugly, but gave them a sense of stature, that he'd been in some fierce battles. His entire demeanour was like that. But on the inside, Rionos was smiling, thinking about his wife and children. It had been a dream of his to have children ever since he'd been with Niessa. It was pretty much his goal in life. He could handle his inner demon with a lot more control now and he was happy. He'd been happy for awhile now and he was glad because of it. Taking a deep breath, he just looked down at the water and smiled as the ripples from the beating of his wings moved them along evenly. Pulling his muscles, he allowed himself to go high, his body dangling because his weight pulled him down. Flying to shore, he landed silently, letting his wings stay out for everyone to see. He had on a torn short, and didn't want his wings to go away. Some people at the Tower thought it was a nuisance, since he sometimes tended to knock things down, so he tried his best not to let them out when he was at home, and besides, as far as Niessa was concerned, they took up too much space on the bed, and he was uncomfortable sleeping with them most of the time, since he enjoyed sleeping on his back. Running a hand through his hair, Rionos watched several creatures walk by and eye him oddly. He glanced at them quickly and just decided to take a walk along the edge of the lake.

[Niessa Lucine Zanlaraniel]

The children were with Mae, who was more than happy to look after them. Something about taking the twins and Oroan out to play and do other "grandma/mom" things, whatever that meant. So far it was a quiet day. Nothing happening was a good thing, for now. During the last few years there had been enough action to last many people their entire lives. But not for them. She was well aware that there would always be new battles to fight be it from her family or Rionos family. But she came to accept it. After all, when you're married to Rionos you had to accept a lot of things or there would be no use in remaining together. After so many years she was still in love with him. That little crush sparked into a flaming and long lasting romance. With it marriage and two beautiful children. She should have been the happiest person in the world, and she was in many respects but something kept gnawing at the back of her mind. Something with no provocation. But as she'd come to learn, there never needed to be a reason. Scratching the back of her neck, she passed through the clearing that led to the small walk way between the body of water known as Lake Bloodran. Her eyes turned to the light that reflected against the water. On the other side was a winged figure deep in his own thoughts, and she smiled. She recognized that mug anywhere. She teleported to the other side of the water, a few feet behind him. Walking with speed she caught up within a few feet of him. "Mon Chere, why ya thinkin' dat much? Ain'cha got a little lady ta spoil?" She goofed around.

[Rionos Zanlaraniel]

Smiling, he looked over at her and shook his head. "I do, but you see, I've got to think of new ways how to spoil her or then she'll get tired of me, bored. Always so uneasy to please." Rionos slowed his pace and just put his arm around her waist. "What about you Ni? What's going on in that head of yours?" Over the years, the two were pretty much insync. He could tell when something was irking her, and she could always, without a question tell when something was bothering him. It was why Rionos couldn't really keep secrets anymore like when he was younger, when he'd try to keep things from people. It seemed ages ago that he was like that, and in a lot of ways it had been."Kids with my mommy?" He smiled softly. Maezyl. His mother. The woman who meant everything in the world to him. It was her and Niessa. The closest women in his life. He'd do anything and everything for them. Rionos shook his wings a bit and winced slightly, every so often the scar on his face hurting.

[Niessa Lucine Zanlaraniel]

"No, she won't. Not unless you do something that defines the word stupidity. Like sleep with another woman, but she knows you better than that, so she doesn't have to worry. And she knows that you know what she can do, and she happens to know through a very good source that you'd like to bypass becoming a castrato." Smiling sweetly, she held onto his hand. "Well, what's in my head? What's usually up there, different thoughts, points of view. Random images of things." She turned her head slightly and eyed the water, her eyes downcast as she listened to the whispers of the spirits that ran rampant in the lake. It was a "gift" if you could call it that. Seeing the world "beyond" and those that came before still stuck in the places of their death, or perhaps in the littles joys of their lives." She gave a nod. "Yeah. She wanted some grandma time with them, she was going to take them and Oroan out. I hope they're having fun right now. Why are you musing so much these days, Ri? I thought that was my department."

[Rionos Zanlaraniel]

"I suppose that I'm just trying to make up for some lost time with you musing all the time sweetheart. You've got the department full, so I decided to take some of the work." he smiled and just looked to where she was looking. He just saw a lake, but could only imagine how she saw the lake. Frowning, he just mumbled under his breath and shook his head. "Sorry to be so random, but do you know where the kids' stuffed tiger is? Dad needs it, they're whining and crying and he 's tried everything else." He could hear his father yapping away inside his head and just laughed. "I think Oroan just bit him." He laughed and it looked sort of out of place for a stranger to see that, the way he looked, a demon, someone who had only just been a monster awhile ago, laughing with a pure kind of joy.

[Niessa Lucine Zanlaraniel]

"Well I hope it does you better than it ever seems to do to me." She smiled faintly. Turning her head up a little to hear his mumbling. "Huh? That IS random. It's in the playroom. I put it in their little playpen since someone..." she looked at him, "Always manages to trip over it about 5 times a day." Her smiled widened. "You go Oroan, you bite him good for the both of us, bite him for that time he threw that paint on me, making me look like a green, Hulkish monster." One of her hands touched his cheek. "I love it when you laugh, baby. You sound so sexy." Her other hand crept up behind her neck and rubbed it softly for a few moments. "Can you tell me what you see behind my neck?" She had a dream about this before. And it only made the constant itching even weirder. As did the design that was supposed to be right where her hand was at the moment. Was it just some coincidence? Was she just allergic to something and those dreams came to be because of her own rampant imagination?

[Rionos Zanlaraniel]

"Well, I do it all for you and the family really." He let his father know, but assumed he was already listening to Niessa. "Well, I can't help it, the thing is huge." It really wasn't, but somehow he just constantly managed to trip over the damn thing at the most inopportune times, which would usually lead to even more damage to his body. He was surprised he didn't have a concussion yet. "Something behind your neck?" He stopped and just slipped in line behind her, tilting his head and lifting up her hair to look at her neck. He frowned, and wondered when this had found its way to her skin. "It's a dragon Niessa, and I don't think you'd get this done without telling me, so, where'd it come from? The detail is amazing, it's a silver dragon, and it's really beautiful." He ran his finger over the design and just continued to observe it. "Here's what it looks like." He kept his gaze on the tattoo and then held his hand beside her temple, sending the image to her, so she wouldn't have to wait and get home.

[Niessa Lucine Zanlaraniel]

"Yes, well if you looked a little more carefully, you wouldn't trip so much. Then again you've always ran into things head first. One of the more frustrating, yet oddly loveable qualities. But then, we all were. We wouldn't have aged the way we did if we weren't." She nodded and moved some of her hair for him. She waited quietly hopefully it was just a harmless rash. She could hope, anyway. "A dragon?" Her head shifted slightly. So then it was connected but why? "I- I don't know. I've been having dreams about it for month, but just never knew why. I always thought it may have been just a rash, you know? And it's just been intensifying lately." Sighing softly, she turned her head to catch sight of it. It really was a breathtaking image. "It's beautiful. What do you think it means?"

[Rionos Zanlaraniel]

"I blame the Zotithla twins for that one. Your house, your curiousity. I just happened to be obsessed with you at that age too. Dragged me wherever you wanted. Pathetic really." he grinned and just shrugged. "You should have said something earlier, but a dragon?" He thought for awhile and racked his mind, his memory, several others' memories and didn't find much."Maybe it means you'll turn into a dragon, that'll be cool." he laughed. "Niessa, my wife, the dragon. Just don't come to bed that way. It's bad enough sharing with you as you, but as a dragon, I rather not get smooshed by a dragon butt. Can't imagine how smelly they would be." He cringed.

[Niessa Lucine Zanlaraniel]

"Shut up." She pushed him playfully. "You were obsessed with me really?" She grinned. "Did you want to marry me?" She made a face. "I don't know what it means. Maybe I can, maybe I can't but it's still got me curious. I mean people just don't turn into dragons. We barely even see them. Only once in a few kajillion years. Not counting when your mother turns into one..." She looked up to him. "Maybe I should speak to her about this." She smirked a bit. "Maybe I'm a member of some long forgotten branch of demons. Like that Etrigan story grandpa always told me and Alder about. I wonder if it's true. We have so many legends you have to wonder whats real and what's fiction."

[Rionos Zanlaraniel]

"Tell me about it Niessa. I mean, I'm always confused as to what's going on with us. Especially with my family. There's so much my dad knows, and he just doesn't tell me. He looks at me though, like at any minute something might happen. My mother's actually pestered him and he's said it was nothing, but my mother knows better so everyday she tells me to be careful of my moods." He smiled. "For all we know Niessa, we could be directly streamed from that line of demons. I mean, look at your father, my father, our grandparents, Ather, Orenar. Were not this strong for no reason." He nodded. "I mean, this demon inside me isn't even me, it's something else, and it doesn't even have a name which scares me sometimes. He's stronger when I'm asleep. Talks to me, discusses things. He doesn't like you, OR my mother, but moreso my mother and I don't know why. Guess maybe because she gave birth to me or something." He shrugged. "I knew I wanted to marry you the day I laid eyes upon you. It's always been there, the want to be with you. Like it was just instinct to do so. I look at you, and it just feels right. Some days I feel like it was meant to happen this way for a reason."

[Niessa Lucine Zanlaraniel]

"Well your dad just cares. And he has a weird way to show it. I see it as him trying to look for warning signs to try to stop it early on. But..." She closed her eyes. That was a point in her life she would much rather forget. She opened her eyes and touched his face. "But you're controlling it. I see it in your face. I know it can't be easy. But we'll help you if anything ever happens again." She smiled. "It would be interesting. I mean wouldn't be something if we could find those fabled towns of our demonic ancestors? Maybe one day." She mused quietly before turning. "He speaks to you? What does he say, Ri?" She frowned. "He probably doesn't like us because he knows you love us. And he probably knows that your mother could get through to you in a way that no one else could...." She took a mental note of this. For some reason she felt she had to keep this information. She tried to distance herself from the uncertainty and it helped when he started talking about their eternal love of sorts. "So when we were toddlers we were already destined to be together? You're just hitting all the right buttons." She smiled lovingly. "You know, I never was into Hercule the way I made it seem. I always did it to make you jealous because of the girls you ran around with. I once beat down one of them."

[Rionos Zanlaraniel]

"Mom and dad care, and in their own special annoying ways." He nodded and just looked out at the land in front of them. "Your mom and dad do the same thing. Can you believe, that your father, actually invited me to go to lunch tomorrow? A father and son-in-law type thing. Alder didn't want to go, and I was hoping I'd have a buffer, but I'll go by myself. You know how your dad can get when it comes to his baby girl. He's funny though, him and Oroan. Their dynamic gets me crying from laughing so hard. I think Oroan knows we all find it funny, so he keeps finding ways to annoy Cerberus." He smiled. He liked his little brother-in-law. He was also a bit ecstatic, since he was going to be an older brother and all, because Mae was going to give birth any day now. And then there were his own little monsters. He loved the twins to death and there were days that he would spend every waking minute with them until they went to sleep. He loved being a father more than he enjoyed a lot of other things. The kids had also made doing things last minute, and chaotically decline. They made him think a bit more about his choices. "If anyone can find those things, it's me and you. I know the first place we should start at too. Your house." He smiled. "I found this the other day, in my grandfather's trunk." He pulled out a tattered piece of paper and unfolded it, pointing to the small part about a place called Lethe Palace. "I mean, didn't Cerberus sort of just get the house? It's not like he named it himself, as far as I know anyway. We could make someone do it for us, you know, since we have kids. I don't think either of us want to die before they're ten. But I'd really love to do this." His eyes lit up and inside them, there was that Rionos attitude of diving right into a situation. He continued walking and just watched her read the paper. "And Hercule was never a sure thing. I knew he wouldn't last. We fought, him and I. Made sure that he knew if he did anything to you, after he got beat up by you, he'd have to endure getting beaten up by me. I'm sure you remember the night. You yelled at me cause I gave him a huge black eye."

[Niessa Lucine Zanlaraniel]

"You know, I've always suspected dad to secretly like you. Except like you said that "little girl" deal and not to mention the fact that he has to keep up that hard assed father stereotype into play. Although he does that to scare you needlessly. I guess he needs to get his fun someway. It was about time he loosened up some." She rolled her eyes. "Since when does my brother like to do anything somewhat constructive for anyone else? Okay, he's been getting a tad better on it but sometimes I just want to smack him around with the way he's been these last few years. Sure he has this gigantic wings but he doesn't always have to be so stoic about it." She looked at him as he spoke those things. Oddly enough she'd never put two and two together until now. He was right. How DID her father inherit the mansion? "You're right. That should be interesting, but...." She said with some hesitation. "We need to be careful, we don't need another incident where we go off for 300 years to another realm, I'd die without our babies." Frowning, she looked up to him. She adored her babies. They were hers and Rionos, how could she not love them with every fiber of her being. She crossed her arms and looked out to the water stopping. It was time for a brief reflection. "I do. We got into a huge yelling match. I think even my dad came out to tell you to go home. It was romantic." She smiled fondly. "Those were some great times, even though I wanted to always pummel you and whatever hoochie you were with to the ground."

[Rionos Zanlaraniel]

"You should have. It would have been a huge turn on for me." Rionos thought about that happening again and thought about what they would do. "Alder died though, so I can understand it. My dad died and he came back different too. I guess you need to die and then you see certain things or something like that. I rather not take the chance, you know?" Rionos ran a hand through his hands. "Your father likes me, he's made that clear. I've overheard him with the kids. He goes on and on about how great you and I are. It was nice." He figured that somewhere along the line, someone gave the mansion to Cerberus, and there was no sign that it was Hades who owned it before, so he didn't know who it was, and Cerberus never mentioned it, just said he got it, and that was that. He figured Niessa knew more, but as far as he knew, she didn't know too much about it either. "Maybe we should have Regulus do it, or maybe, I don't know, maybe Hades and Arilios will do it."