#sharkrat asks

[sharkratparty]

Kippa! you in big boom too? the big fire boom! boom was scary .......

-Tre'ach'tchik

(tick got too close to the Thaumanova Reactor explosion and got elementalist powers from it)

(he's a skritt)

"Oh! No no, I wasn't in the explosion myself. You see, before the big explosion, there was a city far above the reactor called Rata Thauma, and I grew up there. I was at the Durmand Priory when it happened, but the city as completely destroyed, and my family...

...anyway. I can't imagine how scary that must've been for you. It was big enough to destroy the entirety of the city, and contaminated so much of that area with magical fallout. The Inquest certainly did a number on a lot of lives that day, but I think that the fact we're here at all is just as important a thing to remember as all the bad things that happened that day, you know?"

[sharkratparty]

Rhen and Kippa, how's life been as new parents?

(R) "Honestly? It's kind of amazing. I mean, it's exhausting sure, but Suzzi's the best thing that's happened in my life since I met Kippa. With all the work I'm doing in Janthir lately, I haven't spent as much time with her and Kips as I should, but I try to take breaks as often as I can to help."

(K) "I don't mind. I get to listen in on the most interesting things during Alliance meetings, since I'm technically Isgarren's liaison anyway. And it does help that Lyhr is very fond of me. He's taken with Suzzi, and whenever he checks in he takes her off my hands to tote her around. You'd think he was her grandpa the way he acts."

(R) "And she's smart as hell! I mean sure she's not making full words yet, but it's clear she recognizes things and can point out things we tell her. Pretty common for progeny, I know, but I'll bet she'll be talking before too long. It's so wild to me how fast she picks things up. I just hope I don't miss any big milestones."

(K) "As if I'd let you. Yao did lend me that holo-recorder... it works so much better than the old one Uncle Gixx has in his collection back at the Priory. Even if you're not there, you'll get to see it regardless."

(R) "And I do appreciate that, beautiful- that being said? It's a lot of sleepless nights, sure, but it's exciting all the same. Watching her become her own little person is the best thing in the world, and we're both looking forward to where she goes from here."

[sharkratparty]

Leyya, do you know where Zojja is? I can't seem to find her

"As much as I'd like to tell you that she's off on some grand adventure, she's honestly just spending most of her time tangled up in red tape with the council. Especially considering how much she's been needling Ludo during all the Tyrian Alliance nonsense.

And to be fair, she's glad she has the position. She can push back on Flax and Yahk, and she's always keeping an ear out for... you know. Interesting gossip I can share with my good friends.

But most of the time it's listening to fiscal reports, going over budgets, being the tangle vote that keeps the Inquest from scrabbling back too much power, and making sure the less progressive councilors don't try to take advantage of our new alliance with the rest of Tyria's major world powers.

I just wish she'd take the time to get some more sleep. She comes home exhausted constantly, then goes straight to tutoring Chuui. She keeps falling asleep on the couch during dinner.

But... yeah. If you really need to talk to her, I'd check the council chambers first."

[sharkratparty]

Hey now Rhenn, they were just trying to make you stronger. you should take that as a gift.

-Halik

(she's inquest)

"Here's the thing: they weren't trying to make me stronger.

My "dad" was the overseer of the Applied Maginetics lab, and his entire mission was to create genetically enhanced super soldiers from scratch, following the requests of important members of the Inquest. I wasn't meant to be a strong person, or even a person at all. I was designed from the ground up, grown from harvested genetic material in a tube, to be a weapon with someone else holding my leash.

Prikk didn't want a son. He didn't want an independent child. He wanted an obedient tool, a hammer meant to be swung with force at whatever he decided needed destroyed. The only reason I'm where I am now is that he forgot one very important detail: a living weapon can realize it can take the leash back itself.

Sure. The experiments he performed on me, all the unethical surgeries and pointless fights and spars and strict orders, turned me into a weapon. I'm stronger, faster, more resilient than any other asura you'll ever meet. I don't get sick. I can go longer without getting tired. Most toxins have no effect on me. I am strong. But those things aren't what make me strong.

That's my integrity. My will to be my own person, my love for my friends and family. Their love for me. Hell, even Zojja, for as much as she and I constantly butt heads, came to have the faith in me that helped me get the hell away from that mess.

The Inquest only sees strength as something they can use. I know now that it's a lot more than that.

They weren't trying to make me stronger. I did that on my own."

[sharkratparty]

Rhenn, how do you feel about Aurene in the context of the both of you lacking a natural upbringing? I know it's not fair at all to compare her time with the Exalted to your experiences with the Inquest, but do you ever wonder what she would have been like, had she grown up a free dragon?

Though, I suppose destiny is a leash which is the hardest to shake of them all.

"I think about Aurene's early months a lot in that regard, honestly.

Neither of us ever had a choice in how we were born or who we became. Yeah, people can argue "oh you chose to leave the Inquest, to stay commander," but that's not the point. I was designed to be a weapon. Everything Prikk did was to mold me into a perfect soldier, the pinnacle of what an asura could be. And that's what I became.

On the same path, Aurene was meant from the moment she cracked her shell to be the filter for all magic in Tyria. To save the world from the threat of her own family. She never got to be a kid.

Neither of us did.

From day one, we were meant for something other people wanted us to be, and neither of us could ever escape that.

If I'm being honest with you, I think Aurene coming into my life was the real moment I started to feel like something was... off with how I was raised. I hid from it for the longest time, and... I think that's why she pulled on the leash too.

I did my best to give Aurene a childhood she deserved. One I never got, and I knew would be stolen from her at the earliest opportunity. It wasn't a lot. I tried.

I think... I think that's what tied us together, at first. Both of us realized, as we grew together, that we couldn't escape from what we existed to be. A savior. A weapon. Regardless of how we tried to shape that future, either one of us, it was never something we could escape. We both knew that.

So... yeah. I do think a lot about how she may have grown if she wasn't tethered by her destiny. By what she was meant to be at the hands of others. I think a lot about that for myself, too. Being able to become our own people. Make our own choices! To live a life free of tethers and leashes and other people putting chains around our necks! It's so intoxicating to think about. I dream about it, sometimes.

But in the end... we couldn't escape what we were. Aurene was always going to be Tyria's last hope. I was always going to be a weapon, swung at any threat whenever someone needed it destroyed. There's no escaping that. For either of us."