Shadowy Legacy
Nov. 9th, 2020 01:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerNot Mentioned Here, but Pashran would get the concept of being trans. Sex is a concept that only matters if you’re actively trying to have an offspring, and they’re aware gender is largely constructed, too. That being said, names are not Male or Female. They’re chosen by concept, not gender. (This is only relevant because of the Tom and Greta analogy.) There's probably been more than one tarukwul for something minor just so someone could transition.
Also apparently Pashu is another language that already exists. I am sure they are very different linguistically, partly because I’m making this up and I’m not a JRR Tolkien linguist.
Link to separate post on Pashu, because otherwise we'll need another Bloody Petals length A/N for this and technically it's not information required to inform the story.
I enjoy the concept of 'found family' but Buffy doesn't do near enough with it. I'm working on doing the whole 'we're all outcasts' with an eye on moving to 'we're all outcasts together'. Buffy couldn't move past the 'let's all hurt each other for the sake of drama' bit. (Which is...happening a bit in GDA, unexpectedly, but they're actually going to do this thing called character growth. I make fun, but Buffy actually did do some stuff with this: S1 Xander is very different to S7 Xander, Willow definitely had a character arc...pretty much everyone had character arcs, which is impressive for TV, but they all spent way more time tearing each other down than being supportive and that's really sad. And typical.)
Given the appearance and some of the behavior, Pashran might be very distantly related to dragons.
Also, RL is super stressful but suddenly it's so much less so.
Main Points:
Buffy/Devil May Cry
Chapter Summary: Giles presents the results of his 'favor' he's doing for Xander. (It's yet more research.)
Word Count: 2741
Rating: Teen
She can’t help but smile happily, even as it stabs her a little in the heart. Because Xander’s thanking her and acknowledging her but he’s so distant, and he’s not seeing her. And also because he brushed off the exorcism thing too easily.
“You need to take this more seriously!” she blurts.
Xander glances over, first with confusion and then with alarm. “…I…didn’t mean to make you worry?” he ventures, wringing his hands and casting a bewildered glance at the other two, which just makes her feel worse. At some point, he didn’t have to look to anyone else to explain how or why she was feeling. It’s cute that he cares, but he’s just making it worse.
“They’ve got humans, too. What if they try to exorcise you?” She can’t stop thinking about it.
“I’m not possessed?” His confusion makes it come out more like a question than a statement.
“Miss Rosenberg has been paying attention to her studies,” Giles acknowledges that warmly, and that gives her a case of mixed feelings, too, because Giles is attractive and knows what he’s doing, but he keeps being mean to Xander. “There were cases mentioned in the Watcher’s Diaries about the use of exorcisms in combat against demons or devils, but the results weren’t recorded—I think to encourage future Watchers to allow their Slayers to continue to bear the brunt of the danger. What they would do to you is an unknown, so do be careful.”
He smiles at Giles. “Why, I’d almost think you cared. Thanks for your concern.” He glances at her, and for the first time in a long time he’s actually seeing her. “Look, I like Guilt Cookies, but not enough to buy them with your tears, all right?” It’s a good start. Now if she can only get him to think about that in the moment.
“Now that we’ve covered that concern…” Giles asks, raising an eyebrow, and it’s not enough. Never will be. But it’ll have to do. She nods. “I’ve done some research on Pashran, and listed all the figures I can find in the relevant texts. It wasn’t easy.”
“You know I appreciate anything you got for me,” Xander responds with a smile, and Giles splutters a little. It’s funny to watch.
“I helped,” Willow offers after a second, and he grins at her.
“Of course you did.” Sometimes it feels like he’s taking her for granted.
“Pashran, as you know, are a type of Shadow Devil, capable of concealment and shadow manipulation. While durable, they are less so than several other types of devils, making for good assassins, scouts, and leaders.” Which isn’t the best news. Willow was hoping Pashran were really durable, because Xander’s just going to keep being reckless. “They slightly resemble dragons, though it is unknown what similarity the two species bear. Dragons are a simple species like griffons or unicorns, but several traits are similar. They share a boundless curiosity, have a tendency to collect things, are some of the most intellectual types around, and have a talent with languages. They love riddles, learning, and wordplay, and are generally playful. You are also atypical in your fighting style. Pashran are just as prone to bloodlust as other devils, but attempt to finish fights quickly. To do otherwise is dishonorable.”
She watches Xander’s eyes dim. She’d known Xander wasn’t going to take it that well the moment they’d found that, but even then, Giles didn’t have to put it like that. Plus, there’s the whole playful thing, which she’s definitely noticed. He’s even probably sitting there calling himself stupid in his head, but he was in the advanced placement classes with her and wasn’t doing all that badly, back when they went to school. He didn’t care about the academic side of things too much, but if it was a topic that caught his interest? Before the change, he’d gone deep into Babylon 5, for instance, learned the history and culture and languages. He’d liked to characterize it as ‘Ivanova and Delenn were hot’, slinging memorized facts at Jesse, but she knew better, having watched solely for the opportunity to draw him into several English class-like discussions, such as whether Sinclair or Sheridan was a better leader, or how the PsiCorps could be run to not be creepy like Bester. Since the change, he’d gone and memorized so many things about demons, but it wasn’t like they were all dry and without substance. He could actually use them so easily, without much of a thought. Even picked up languages quickly, if just a word here and there.
As if he hadn’t noticed the turmoil that he’d caused probably on purpose, Giles continues. “They are also charismatic. Others are drawn to them. They are intensely loyal, and, even for devils, honorable. Several are known to try to protect the weak through some combination of honor, curiosity, and seeking a greater challenge. They are fierce and quick thinkers. They also have a complicated relationship with the truth. A white lie or deception is better than torture.” That summarizes the Xander she knows. Giles irrationally dislikes him (he can’t help how he was born), and yet is still here and even developing some fondness as much as he’d like to argue it. Xander had taken Giles and Buffy in, the right thing to do even if it did put him in danger from crazy Council people. Though part of her had liked the time when it was just her and Xander solving people’s problems. He’d relied on her so much more then, even if Giles was really good at the research. At least she didn’t hurt his feelings reporting on what she’d found. And she loves the look on his face, where he’s briefly lost in thought and then mimics her Resolve Face without even realizing it.
Xander’s zoned out. He doesn’t even look like he’s listening, so Giles pauses, irritated, and he interrupts, sounding a little distant. “Why wouldn’t I have learned about them before now?”
Giles blinks, taken aback, but he recovers pretty quickly. “It seems fairly basic, but their stealth and shapeshifting powers are not to be underestimated. Their presence, in most cases, in all likelihood simply wasn’t noted. Most of this information comes from a single source, Fassad’s Guide, a source likely considered inaccurate by the Council due to the fact it contained references to supposedly friendly demons and devils. I suspect that Fassad held an interview, as it were, though this is not explicitly stated. I’m merely lucky it happened to be one of the volumes I managed to have on hand when we fled.”
Xander nods. He carefully doesn’t have an expression. He’s protecting himself, shutting off the outside world. Willow hates it when he does that.
“Now, I believe it would make sense for your father to be one of those exiled, fortunately listed in the Writings of Dramius, Volume Eight, for which I am very thankful to have had Willow’s help. That would explain why none of the others of the ‘nest’ came to get you,” Giles continues.
“Hahev,” he murmurs offhandedly, and Giles blinks.
“I’m sorry, what?” He sounds offended.
Xander fidgets. “Hahev. Hahev is ‘nest’ in Pashu.”
“Fascinating,” the former Watcher breathes. Buffy mostly looks confused, but then, she wasn’t there for the research, and doesn’t have the demonic understanding. Something uncharitable in her says ‘let her be confused’, but she’s missed her chance anyway because Xander’s already moving on.
“Wouldn’t that mean they’re definitely on the naughty list, though? Pashran don’t like to break up the community.” His concern might not be showing on his face or in his tone, but it’s definitely there.
“While this is true, many of the exiles are done for, shall we say, political reasons. They are desired by those outside the community, and in such cases at least two would be exiled so the Pashran in question would not be lonely.” And hey, he’s actually being nice! She knew it was possible!
Xander nods, grabbing a Guilt cookie (she knew he’d enjoy those but she half thinks he should be getting those for her even if he can’t bake and already bought her four containers of ice cream, just to be sure) and gets up again to look at the table, where they’ve scattered all the copies and speculations they’d been working on.
He frowns and looks at her. “Are these…family trees?”
“I wanted to make it look good!” True, it’s not a presentation, but still.
Buffy grabs more two cookies, and he transfers his glare.
Giles moves in quickly to protect her. “You may have already known this, but Pashran can change their names in a special ceremony for certain deeds. Chronicling relations and name-changes is an important part of the process.”
“Tarukwul. Okay, fair enough.” He sits again, throwing his feet on the table.
Giles opts to ignore that and move on. “Now, I doubt it would be Dheune, solo. Her crime was senselessly murdering humans.”
“Yeah, I can’t see it.” At a look, he translates, rolling his eyes. “Warrior Pain. Given the name, I’d get the exile. Either she or the family liked playing with their food a little too much.”
“Two questions,” Buffy interrupts. “Do Pashran actually eat humans, and are there entire families named ‘Tom’?”
“No. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but it’s the least weird analogy I had?” Xander shrugs. “And…yeah, there kind of are? If you don’t distinguish yourself and get a tarukwul, a name-change ceremony, you could have an entire nest of Tom and Greta—you inherit the name of your same sex parent. Many ukron, er, individuals? would earn one, but I’d guess for the families that don’t you’d use nicknames? Probably not outside the nest, though.”
Giles frowns at his notes. “There’s very little indication of whether a…tarukwul…had occurred in any of these cases.”
Xander just waves that off. “The only reason that’d be relevant is if we were trying to figure out whether the individual or an ancestor had earned that name. Go on.”
The former Watcher straightens his notes. “The next option is Taruken, one brother, certainly a political exile. They were sentenced together for taking the wrong side during a conflict, perhaps against the Old Ones themselves, though the information is regrettably vague. I would guess that either he or his brother or both had a ceremony, since they are not Tom and Tom.”
Xander stretches out his feet just a little further. “Now you’re getting it, G-man, and before you ask, academic. Smart, probably from a family of bookworms. If it’s him, I barely inherited anything. Might even be a disappointment with the whole ‘Xander and Magic are nonmixy things’ thing.”
“You are not a disappointment,” Willow tells him hastily. He flashes her a weak smile.
“I did somewhat suspect either Taruken or the other brother, Pyuhatas, to have been Fassad’s interviewed subject, due to the number of similarities drawn to dragons, and the references contained therein to other scholarly works. I once had the opportunity to peruse a volume of a Taruken’s translation of the Book of the Dead, a fascinating experience that I would never have credited to a devil. It has something to do with giving humans information, like Prometheus. At least, if the hints given by Fassad are any indication. They were supposedly favored by the dragons,” Giles continues, and waits with pen in hand.
Xander rolls his eyes but obliges. “War campaign ash. Might’ve used a fire attack or something, like Zhuge Liang.” It is slightly unfair, the way words just roll off his tongue now. Even their resident adult figure looks vaguely impressed. Her friend was a disaster in their English class. But maybe she should just be happy for him instead, because that way he can tell her more stuff, even if he’d only picked up the Pashu just by looking at it once.
“Ah, here’s a notation about a tarukwul. Syuvai, ‘used to go by a different name’.” Xander smiles indulgently. “Fairly high profile, and solo simply because of the nature of what happened, though he had a cousin that was exiled later for railing against the decision as unfair—he was generally well-liked in the community, but they couldn’t go about saying so to their allies at the time.” Her friend’s raising an eyebrow, and Giles finally notices. “You have something to say?”
“You didn’t actually mention what his crime was.” That…is a very good point.
“Ah. Quite.” It’s clearly time for glasses cleaning, though he continues as he does so. “It’s fascinating that this record is more complete, though most of the relevant information is found within the footnotes. In the fourteenth century, an incredibly powerful devil was summoned to this reality to wipe out humanity. Simply called ‘The Judge’. Armies were sent against him and were destroyed. Syuvai questioned his orders and switched sides, aiding the humans in their fight against the devil. He ended up barely standing himself, but in the end had wounded The Judge enough that his human allies were able to dismember the devil. In general, the Pashran were against the notion of destroying humanity, as were others such as the parasitic types that fed off humans or possessed them, but he was allowed to become their scapegoat. However, there is little information as to his whereabouts after that point.”
“Blade Justice. Or Light. …Both? And it could just be ‘weapon’.” Xander looks frustrated. She knows he’s alternately loving and getting super frustrated by the language. He’s been writing everything he can over the old sign-in book he found, and she can hear him scribbling and growling at night. He says his handwriting’s awful, but it looks fine to her. (Apparently all the lines have to be perfectly straight, which…yeah, she can see that being a pain for him; he could barely color inside the lines when they were six, and there’s this whole square-dot thing where he tries to use the squares but it’s too slow so he ends up just dotting instead and apparently that’s really sloppy not-cursive in Pashu.) “If it’s a re-name, there should be a name before that, something starting with Kra. What was Syuvai’s old name?”
A shake of the head. “It’s been stricken from the records following his exile.”
“What does that mean?” Willow asks. She can’t help it. She wants to know, to understand.
Xander bites his tongue, drawing blood as he thinks. “I guess it’s comparable to a maiden name?” he decides. He doesn’t look like he’s even noticed the blood. “They don’t really use given names, so, using your mom as an example, it’d be Kraadler Rosenberg, and you’d inherit that, too, until you had a tarukwul of your own.”
Giles makes a note and moves on. “His cousin has a little more specific knowledge about her—Kemumbu. Now, I believe her to be a likely candidate. She had already spent more time in the human world than in her own nest, and was apparently quite ‘mouthy’. She liked to appear from nowhere to save humans from demons, to the extent that for some time the Watcher’s Council believed her, somehow, to be a rogue Slayer, before they’d located the next one. She’d apparently had a run-in with Dracula—yes, the one from the books—and also removed one of the members from the Order of Taraka permanently. She also apparently marched in the women’s suffrage movement. It was rumored she took a human husband.”
“There are books?” Xander asks with a perfectly innocent smile, just to make Giles sigh and polish his glasses again. “Translation for that one’s True Smoke. Probably for a shadow-walk ability. Any others?”
“My copy is damaged, so the answer is possibly, but I wouldn’t know.” He’s upset about that, Willow knows.
Instantly, Xander’s standing, speed inhuman. He stretches, as if trying to maintain the illusion, but there’s really no need. “Well, with that, I think that’s my cue to exit stage right.”
“What about me?” Buffy asks, stifling a yawn, and he glances at her, pausing still in the middle of his near-flight.
“Eh, if you want you could go check on Gabriel and Lorraine again, but I’m guessing they’ve gone home, and I’ll need you well-rested.” He smiles, waves, and phases through the wall. That’ll never stop being cool.
Also apparently Pashu is another language that already exists. I am sure they are very different linguistically, partly because I’m making this up and I’m not a JRR Tolkien linguist.
Link to separate post on Pashu, because otherwise we'll need another Bloody Petals length A/N for this and technically it's not information required to inform the story.
I enjoy the concept of 'found family' but Buffy doesn't do near enough with it. I'm working on doing the whole 'we're all outcasts' with an eye on moving to 'we're all outcasts together'. Buffy couldn't move past the 'let's all hurt each other for the sake of drama' bit. (Which is...happening a bit in GDA, unexpectedly, but they're actually going to do this thing called character growth. I make fun, but Buffy actually did do some stuff with this: S1 Xander is very different to S7 Xander, Willow definitely had a character arc...pretty much everyone had character arcs, which is impressive for TV, but they all spent way more time tearing each other down than being supportive and that's really sad. And typical.)
Given the appearance and some of the behavior, Pashran might be very distantly related to dragons.
Also, RL is super stressful but suddenly it's so much less so.
Main Points:
Buffy/Devil May Cry
Chapter Summary: Giles presents the results of his 'favor' he's doing for Xander. (It's yet more research.)
Word Count: 2741
Rating: Teen
“Well, I appreciate everything. You’re the best, Willow.”
She can’t help but smile happily, even as it stabs her a little in the heart. Because Xander’s thanking her and acknowledging her but he’s so distant, and he’s not seeing her. And also because he brushed off the exorcism thing too easily.
“You need to take this more seriously!” she blurts.
Xander glances over, first with confusion and then with alarm. “…I…didn’t mean to make you worry?” he ventures, wringing his hands and casting a bewildered glance at the other two, which just makes her feel worse. At some point, he didn’t have to look to anyone else to explain how or why she was feeling. It’s cute that he cares, but he’s just making it worse.
“They’ve got humans, too. What if they try to exorcise you?” She can’t stop thinking about it.
“I’m not possessed?” His confusion makes it come out more like a question than a statement.
“Miss Rosenberg has been paying attention to her studies,” Giles acknowledges that warmly, and that gives her a case of mixed feelings, too, because Giles is attractive and knows what he’s doing, but he keeps being mean to Xander. “There were cases mentioned in the Watcher’s Diaries about the use of exorcisms in combat against demons or devils, but the results weren’t recorded—I think to encourage future Watchers to allow their Slayers to continue to bear the brunt of the danger. What they would do to you is an unknown, so do be careful.”
He smiles at Giles. “Why, I’d almost think you cared. Thanks for your concern.” He glances at her, and for the first time in a long time he’s actually seeing her. “Look, I like Guilt Cookies, but not enough to buy them with your tears, all right?” It’s a good start. Now if she can only get him to think about that in the moment.
“Now that we’ve covered that concern…” Giles asks, raising an eyebrow, and it’s not enough. Never will be. But it’ll have to do. She nods. “I’ve done some research on Pashran, and listed all the figures I can find in the relevant texts. It wasn’t easy.”
“You know I appreciate anything you got for me,” Xander responds with a smile, and Giles splutters a little. It’s funny to watch.
“I helped,” Willow offers after a second, and he grins at her.
“Of course you did.” Sometimes it feels like he’s taking her for granted.
“Pashran, as you know, are a type of Shadow Devil, capable of concealment and shadow manipulation. While durable, they are less so than several other types of devils, making for good assassins, scouts, and leaders.” Which isn’t the best news. Willow was hoping Pashran were really durable, because Xander’s just going to keep being reckless. “They slightly resemble dragons, though it is unknown what similarity the two species bear. Dragons are a simple species like griffons or unicorns, but several traits are similar. They share a boundless curiosity, have a tendency to collect things, are some of the most intellectual types around, and have a talent with languages. They love riddles, learning, and wordplay, and are generally playful. You are also atypical in your fighting style. Pashran are just as prone to bloodlust as other devils, but attempt to finish fights quickly. To do otherwise is dishonorable.”
She watches Xander’s eyes dim. She’d known Xander wasn’t going to take it that well the moment they’d found that, but even then, Giles didn’t have to put it like that. Plus, there’s the whole playful thing, which she’s definitely noticed. He’s even probably sitting there calling himself stupid in his head, but he was in the advanced placement classes with her and wasn’t doing all that badly, back when they went to school. He didn’t care about the academic side of things too much, but if it was a topic that caught his interest? Before the change, he’d gone deep into Babylon 5, for instance, learned the history and culture and languages. He’d liked to characterize it as ‘Ivanova and Delenn were hot’, slinging memorized facts at Jesse, but she knew better, having watched solely for the opportunity to draw him into several English class-like discussions, such as whether Sinclair or Sheridan was a better leader, or how the PsiCorps could be run to not be creepy like Bester. Since the change, he’d gone and memorized so many things about demons, but it wasn’t like they were all dry and without substance. He could actually use them so easily, without much of a thought. Even picked up languages quickly, if just a word here and there.
As if he hadn’t noticed the turmoil that he’d caused probably on purpose, Giles continues. “They are also charismatic. Others are drawn to them. They are intensely loyal, and, even for devils, honorable. Several are known to try to protect the weak through some combination of honor, curiosity, and seeking a greater challenge. They are fierce and quick thinkers. They also have a complicated relationship with the truth. A white lie or deception is better than torture.” That summarizes the Xander she knows. Giles irrationally dislikes him (he can’t help how he was born), and yet is still here and even developing some fondness as much as he’d like to argue it. Xander had taken Giles and Buffy in, the right thing to do even if it did put him in danger from crazy Council people. Though part of her had liked the time when it was just her and Xander solving people’s problems. He’d relied on her so much more then, even if Giles was really good at the research. At least she didn’t hurt his feelings reporting on what she’d found. And she loves the look on his face, where he’s briefly lost in thought and then mimics her Resolve Face without even realizing it.
Xander’s zoned out. He doesn’t even look like he’s listening, so Giles pauses, irritated, and he interrupts, sounding a little distant. “Why wouldn’t I have learned about them before now?”
Giles blinks, taken aback, but he recovers pretty quickly. “It seems fairly basic, but their stealth and shapeshifting powers are not to be underestimated. Their presence, in most cases, in all likelihood simply wasn’t noted. Most of this information comes from a single source, Fassad’s Guide, a source likely considered inaccurate by the Council due to the fact it contained references to supposedly friendly demons and devils. I suspect that Fassad held an interview, as it were, though this is not explicitly stated. I’m merely lucky it happened to be one of the volumes I managed to have on hand when we fled.”
Xander nods. He carefully doesn’t have an expression. He’s protecting himself, shutting off the outside world. Willow hates it when he does that.
“Now, I believe it would make sense for your father to be one of those exiled, fortunately listed in the Writings of Dramius, Volume Eight, for which I am very thankful to have had Willow’s help. That would explain why none of the others of the ‘nest’ came to get you,” Giles continues.
“Hahev,” he murmurs offhandedly, and Giles blinks.
“I’m sorry, what?” He sounds offended.
Xander fidgets. “Hahev. Hahev is ‘nest’ in Pashu.”
“Fascinating,” the former Watcher breathes. Buffy mostly looks confused, but then, she wasn’t there for the research, and doesn’t have the demonic understanding. Something uncharitable in her says ‘let her be confused’, but she’s missed her chance anyway because Xander’s already moving on.
“Wouldn’t that mean they’re definitely on the naughty list, though? Pashran don’t like to break up the community.” His concern might not be showing on his face or in his tone, but it’s definitely there.
“While this is true, many of the exiles are done for, shall we say, political reasons. They are desired by those outside the community, and in such cases at least two would be exiled so the Pashran in question would not be lonely.” And hey, he’s actually being nice! She knew it was possible!
Xander nods, grabbing a Guilt cookie (she knew he’d enjoy those but she half thinks he should be getting those for her even if he can’t bake and already bought her four containers of ice cream, just to be sure) and gets up again to look at the table, where they’ve scattered all the copies and speculations they’d been working on.
He frowns and looks at her. “Are these…family trees?”
“I wanted to make it look good!” True, it’s not a presentation, but still.
Buffy grabs more two cookies, and he transfers his glare.
Giles moves in quickly to protect her. “You may have already known this, but Pashran can change their names in a special ceremony for certain deeds. Chronicling relations and name-changes is an important part of the process.”
“Tarukwul. Okay, fair enough.” He sits again, throwing his feet on the table.
Giles opts to ignore that and move on. “Now, I doubt it would be Dheune, solo. Her crime was senselessly murdering humans.”
“Yeah, I can’t see it.” At a look, he translates, rolling his eyes. “Warrior Pain. Given the name, I’d get the exile. Either she or the family liked playing with their food a little too much.”
“Two questions,” Buffy interrupts. “Do Pashran actually eat humans, and are there entire families named ‘Tom’?”
“No. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but it’s the least weird analogy I had?” Xander shrugs. “And…yeah, there kind of are? If you don’t distinguish yourself and get a tarukwul, a name-change ceremony, you could have an entire nest of Tom and Greta—you inherit the name of your same sex parent. Many ukron, er, individuals? would earn one, but I’d guess for the families that don’t you’d use nicknames? Probably not outside the nest, though.”
Giles frowns at his notes. “There’s very little indication of whether a…tarukwul…had occurred in any of these cases.”
Xander just waves that off. “The only reason that’d be relevant is if we were trying to figure out whether the individual or an ancestor had earned that name. Go on.”
The former Watcher straightens his notes. “The next option is Taruken, one brother, certainly a political exile. They were sentenced together for taking the wrong side during a conflict, perhaps against the Old Ones themselves, though the information is regrettably vague. I would guess that either he or his brother or both had a ceremony, since they are not Tom and Tom.”
Xander stretches out his feet just a little further. “Now you’re getting it, G-man, and before you ask, academic. Smart, probably from a family of bookworms. If it’s him, I barely inherited anything. Might even be a disappointment with the whole ‘Xander and Magic are nonmixy things’ thing.”
“You are not a disappointment,” Willow tells him hastily. He flashes her a weak smile.
“I did somewhat suspect either Taruken or the other brother, Pyuhatas, to have been Fassad’s interviewed subject, due to the number of similarities drawn to dragons, and the references contained therein to other scholarly works. I once had the opportunity to peruse a volume of a Taruken’s translation of the Book of the Dead, a fascinating experience that I would never have credited to a devil. It has something to do with giving humans information, like Prometheus. At least, if the hints given by Fassad are any indication. They were supposedly favored by the dragons,” Giles continues, and waits with pen in hand.
Xander rolls his eyes but obliges. “War campaign ash. Might’ve used a fire attack or something, like Zhuge Liang.” It is slightly unfair, the way words just roll off his tongue now. Even their resident adult figure looks vaguely impressed. Her friend was a disaster in their English class. But maybe she should just be happy for him instead, because that way he can tell her more stuff, even if he’d only picked up the Pashu just by looking at it once.
“Ah, here’s a notation about a tarukwul. Syuvai, ‘used to go by a different name’.” Xander smiles indulgently. “Fairly high profile, and solo simply because of the nature of what happened, though he had a cousin that was exiled later for railing against the decision as unfair—he was generally well-liked in the community, but they couldn’t go about saying so to their allies at the time.” Her friend’s raising an eyebrow, and Giles finally notices. “You have something to say?”
“You didn’t actually mention what his crime was.” That…is a very good point.
“Ah. Quite.” It’s clearly time for glasses cleaning, though he continues as he does so. “It’s fascinating that this record is more complete, though most of the relevant information is found within the footnotes. In the fourteenth century, an incredibly powerful devil was summoned to this reality to wipe out humanity. Simply called ‘The Judge’. Armies were sent against him and were destroyed. Syuvai questioned his orders and switched sides, aiding the humans in their fight against the devil. He ended up barely standing himself, but in the end had wounded The Judge enough that his human allies were able to dismember the devil. In general, the Pashran were against the notion of destroying humanity, as were others such as the parasitic types that fed off humans or possessed them, but he was allowed to become their scapegoat. However, there is little information as to his whereabouts after that point.”
“Blade Justice. Or Light. …Both? And it could just be ‘weapon’.” Xander looks frustrated. She knows he’s alternately loving and getting super frustrated by the language. He’s been writing everything he can over the old sign-in book he found, and she can hear him scribbling and growling at night. He says his handwriting’s awful, but it looks fine to her. (Apparently all the lines have to be perfectly straight, which…yeah, she can see that being a pain for him; he could barely color inside the lines when they were six, and there’s this whole square-dot thing where he tries to use the squares but it’s too slow so he ends up just dotting instead and apparently that’s really sloppy not-cursive in Pashu.) “If it’s a re-name, there should be a name before that, something starting with Kra. What was Syuvai’s old name?”
A shake of the head. “It’s been stricken from the records following his exile.”
“What does that mean?” Willow asks. She can’t help it. She wants to know, to understand.
Xander bites his tongue, drawing blood as he thinks. “I guess it’s comparable to a maiden name?” he decides. He doesn’t look like he’s even noticed the blood. “They don’t really use given names, so, using your mom as an example, it’d be Kraadler Rosenberg, and you’d inherit that, too, until you had a tarukwul of your own.”
Giles makes a note and moves on. “His cousin has a little more specific knowledge about her—Kemumbu. Now, I believe her to be a likely candidate. She had already spent more time in the human world than in her own nest, and was apparently quite ‘mouthy’. She liked to appear from nowhere to save humans from demons, to the extent that for some time the Watcher’s Council believed her, somehow, to be a rogue Slayer, before they’d located the next one. She’d apparently had a run-in with Dracula—yes, the one from the books—and also removed one of the members from the Order of Taraka permanently. She also apparently marched in the women’s suffrage movement. It was rumored she took a human husband.”
“There are books?” Xander asks with a perfectly innocent smile, just to make Giles sigh and polish his glasses again. “Translation for that one’s True Smoke. Probably for a shadow-walk ability. Any others?”
“My copy is damaged, so the answer is possibly, but I wouldn’t know.” He’s upset about that, Willow knows.
Instantly, Xander’s standing, speed inhuman. He stretches, as if trying to maintain the illusion, but there’s really no need. “Well, with that, I think that’s my cue to exit stage right.”
“What about me?” Buffy asks, stifling a yawn, and he glances at her, pausing still in the middle of his near-flight.
“Eh, if you want you could go check on Gabriel and Lorraine again, but I’m guessing they’ve gone home, and I’ll need you well-rested.” He smiles, waves, and phases through the wall. That’ll never stop being cool.
