Ash remained silent for a little while. She wasn't really contemplating her options, more just enjoying the way Bris' magic interacted with her own. Considering they were the ones that could fix each other's magic, she had no reason left to distrust him. She'd honestly had to search for reasons since Misty had walked into the bar.
Moving the hand he wasn't holding, she summoned her status screens and altered his placement on her friend list, dropping him into the friend category. Having grown used to the way Fantastoria treated names it felt a little sudden when his own name changed on her friend list. She was used to everyone knowing her name, it came with what she was to Terra. It felt as if some time should have passed before she knew his name in the same way.
"Tenebris," she said his name quietly, "Lord Venatio named you after a domain that is not his own?"
Bris chuckled slightly, "You could say the same of Lord Sidus naming you with Terra as part of it. The planets are not his domain any more than darkness belongs to my own lord," he took a deep breath and released it slowly, "He named me for my scales. As dark as a night sky with no stars, reflecting no light to betray my location. A hunter born for the dark of night. A Draequus born to watch over all that would hunt and see to it that they do so with the proper honor."
"And the grand hunt?"
He shook his head sadly and his eyes gained a distant look to them, "Draequus are exceedingly powerful, far beyond most of the other bound races. We are essentially the same race as Lord Venatio," he laughed a little bitterly, "I do not know why I say we. As far as Lord Venatio has told me, I am the only one across all of the worlds currently."
Once upon a time Ash would have never contemplated what it would be like to be the only member of her race. Having been alone since the gods were sealed from Terra, though, had taught her exactly what it felt like. The idea of having been born alone with all of the responsibility she currently had was heartbreaking. She moved her hand out of his grip and touched his palm lightly, intending to offer some form of comfort. His fingers twined with hers and his gaze dropped down to meet her own, the distant look banished with a small grateful smile.
"I am spared from some of Lord Venatio's responsibilities by the grace of how long it takes for Draequus to form. I came to be sometime within the same century as you, well after the start of the great hunt and quite unable to do much to stop it though I did try. At some point I pivoted to trying to save as many as I could. That worked better. The problem is that the bound races were never open for hunting, all of them have far too low of birth rates to be hunted. Beyond that, despite what some of the shorter-lived races think, they are people and not animals."
Almost unbidden, his player kill count came back to the forefront of her mind and she moved to extract her hand from his and walk outside. She felt certain he wasn't a danger to her, but he was dangerous. She had to know why he'd killed but felt a little reluctant to ask as, after all, she'd only seen the numbers when she'd examined his information using her unicorn eyes skill.
"You've killed people here in Fantastoria," she said as she paused by her pond.
He looked past her, catching sight of the marvelous starseeing pond and all of the divine plants growing alongside it. A little distracted, he said quietly, "You have no Hunterbell flowers. I am rather fond of them so I managed to get my hands on some seeds but was never able to grow them," he shook his head and kept his focus on the serene water as he got back onto the topic of her unspoken question on his reasoning, "The grand hunt has begun here in Fantastoria and I am much more powerful than I was when I first encountered it in Terra. I have done my best to work with the limitations this form has and I will not allow any lives to be lost if I've the power to save them."
"Did you have anything to do with the morphs going on?"
He shook his head, "I assume you feel much the same, that the act of causing such a thing is not something that can be forgiven no matter the methods used. As much as I am curious about it, though, I have my hands full setting up information networks and getting to new teleportation arrays so I can quickly get to those that need help."
Ash let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding when he finished his explanation, turning her own attention to the pond. Hunterbells were a lot like bluebells though they were dyed red as if with blood. Many found them disconcerting but she found their crimson color to look marvelous next to a starseeing pond, drawing attention to smaller stars whose color was harder to note without their presence to remind that the stars were not all the same. They also thrived quite nicely next to the plant connected to Lady Prudentia's power, which was no small surprise considering the two gods were married.
She looked once more to his eyes, finding that their crimson shade was much like the Hunterbells that grew by her own pond. Being a Draequus rather than a human, she had no doubt that the color was his natural eye color though she wasn't quite certain how the rest of him translated to his true form. Running a hand along her hair, she restored the opalescent shine to it without much thought and let her eyes drift back to the pale pink they'd been of late.
His smile in response was a soft thing and he stepped close to catch hold of her hand again, "You seem to have something on your mind," he probed.
"Right now I am recovering from some unwise decisions and Luri isn't available. I'll be able to introduce the two of you a few days after the festival," she frowned slightly, gaze moving again to the pond. The gods worked together to maintain the worlds they watched over and she was beginning to wonder if, perhaps, the bound races should do the same instead of all acting separately as they had been, "When I am well, I would like to help you…Though I fear this world has other dangers to face beyond the hunt already…Or perhaps, the hunt has progressed enough that things are already starting to unravel."