He truly didn’t wish to be bothered by it. It was beneath him to be drawn into a pissing contest but the lord felt as though gnawed away inside him. Lazily he stirred awake from his bed and slowly rose as the calling grew stronger. He was aware of the city of Aysut and what the city had once represented. His power resonating with the energy there made him all the more aware but there hadn’t been a care given at first. But now, this spilled into something much more than pettiness, this was a complete lack of respect. And if there was one thing he couldn’t tolerate, it was that towards true power. Uncaring for his disheveled appearance with his hair making it obvious that he just woke up and his clothes just thrown onto him, Xunatar cast a gate for the desert when he had remembered something. In his chamber was Estelle; her mother had left her in his care for the time being. Of course, he wasn’t the sort to leave the sweet babe to her own devices without proper supervision. So the God did what any responsible grandfather would have done; he scooped her up into his arms and took her through the gate.

The city wasn’t too far off and he easily manipulated the area around them to a much cooler temperature for his grandchild to endure as he marched on. Barefeet touched the heated sand, but it didn’t cause for deterrence one bit. There were lessons to be taught, after all. “Perhaps you will remember this day well, dear Estelle”, he spoke, looking down at the girl as he carried her snugly with one arm. “Your first lesson in this world is that you tread carefully unless you have the upper hand. Had your wicked witch of a grandmother remained breathing, then I shudder to think of what she would have done with you. She didn’t heed my words, but you are from her wiser daughter. Perhaps your bloodlines won’t be completely wiped away from this realm.” Of course she wouldn’t remember this far back and he would have to re-educate her when she was of age.

Not too long after he stepped into Aysut did he attract the attention of its citizens. Necromancy was as clear as day here as the cause for their revival though considering their state, they weren’t much of the people they had once been. Just as one of them dared to close the space between it and them, Xunatar merely stared out at it before it was consumed by dark flames that erupted from out of nowhere. “Pretty, isn’t it?”, he spoke to Estelle as if she could give him a true answer. The God stepped over the blazing mess that was the undead and kept on going further. Those that dared to get close enough would meet with the same fate as they traveled towards the center. One certain sight made him halt and observe; the stature of another god stabbing him. A bored look came over his face; while many would have thought he would be furious by this, he merely sighed and looked to the baby. “Shame that they didn’t get my good side…I know, let’s fix it.” With his free hand, he flicked his wrist and the whole statue shifted into a blue color. “How’s that?” He did it again, this time the statue turned green. And then pink, red, orange and purple.

Estelle knew only a few things in life. Ma had food. Da was good to play with. Uncle Dante was constantly around. Her Pa was warm and snugly when she spent time with him. Snuggling with Pa was one of her favorite things to do when she was tired. He smelled good and reminded her of Da. Rousing from her sleep when her Pa moved she began a light fuss. Her hands went up and began to rub at her eyes before Xunatar scooped her up. Her wild black wisps of hair were everywhere.

She grunted at first as the sun hit her blue eyes and she hid her face into his shoulder. Promptly she assumed the cuddling position with him as she avoided all the light around her. It wasn’t fair in her tiny mind that she be subjected to such torture. More grunts left her lips but slowly the infant began to rouse herself awake. “Pa, pa, pa, pa.” She lightly babbled up at him. She had recently begun to say that with Ma and Da. Angela had told the family that Estelle would advance likely far faster than most infants her age due to the lycanthrope blood in her veins.

Pulling on his shirt she lightly stuck the corner of the shirt into her mouth and tasted the weird fabric with her tongue. She loved to taste things but there were lots of things she didn’t like. Pa’s shirt tasted good though so she went with that. When he began to talk she peeked up at him and gave him a gummy smile as she squealed. His voice was soothing. The air felt good now that she wasn’t as grumpy and it make her eyes wander around where they were.

The dark flames made Estelle try to reach out and touch it. She had never seen such pretty shinies before. “PA!” She kicked her feet lightly and flailed her arms just a bit. Reaching out she managed to reach a not so burnt piece of mummy wrapping. She gave it a good pull as her grandfather took her away from the scene. She babbled at him as she fiddled with the fabric in her hand. It wasn’t too long before she was trying to put the mummy wrapping in her mouth. Which was swiftly stopped. For a few seconds, Estelle whined but she went back to playing with it, she understood no just a bit.

Estelle took his hair now distracted by how the light hit it and dropped the wrapping on the ground. Her blue eyes were directed towards the color changing statue. Once it hit the purple Estelle began to squeal and bounce to her heart’s content. Her arms reaching out for the pretty color. “PA PA PA PA PA!” She screamed and squealed as she curiously reached for it.

The girl, as he would figure, seemed to had found the new settings distasteful for her. Not to mention that stirring her from the comforts of sleep didn’t help matters. But soon enough Estelle grew curious of her surroundings and the constant wonders they were around. The mummies seemed to be dangerous in numbers if one was ill prepared, but for a deity, they were nothing more than like flies as they dropped around him. While he noticed that the child had taken to one of the mummies wraps, he didn’t lecture nor removed the garb from her grip. Instead he merely watched on and let her find out about it for herself, even when she put it in her mouth. Her reaction was all that was needed for him to know that she learned well enough. He certainly would be considered the best parent in the world, let alone grandparent. But his views and teachings towards his blood were much more effective in his opinion than merely coddling or teaching them without the experience.

Had her parents been here, they would surely not be pleased with the fact that he had brought her to this place at all. “Nasty, isn’t?” He chuckled darkly as she recovered and found her little fingers entangled with his hair. It was better now for her to start getting acquainted with how this world works early on. It would likely shape her into a stronger person that could handle it better than those that weren’t like them.

The colors of the statue changed until Estelle seemed thrilled by the purple. “I see, you like that one?” The lord crept up to it and brought her close enough for her hand to touch the stone. “I see. I’ll change everything to purple if you want.” Xunatar brought her back to kiss her head as more of the mummies came pouring from behind them. “Ah, more friends.”

A portal appeared near his free hand and out from it fell the special mace that he had gained briefly before he rose to godhood. The mace itself resembled a hobby horse, but appearances aside, it was a terribly dangerous weapon to wield. But he wasn’t going to wield against these things and soon the horse came alive and was launched over to the nearest mummy. As it collide and tore at it, it neighed like a real life horse and kept on with its work against the group for Xunatar’s enjoyment. “What do you think, my love?”, he asked Estelle as he carefully stroked the bits of hair on her head.  

Scarlett finally emerged from the door that linked her workshop in Baltil to the Cradle, her curly red hair looking a little frizzy, her face smudged with charcoal, and she smelled of forge fire and soot. She was so tired that she dropped her bag and herself onto the bed she shared with Xunatar without a thought. She naturally assume he would still be there, and when she reached out to curl up with him, she was surprised to find him missing. She sat up and looked around. She could feel the familiar crackle of gate magick and she sighed heavily. 

"He must have decided to go and deal with that issue in Hare–" she froze, her eyes falling on the bassinet that had been moved into the room so they could watch after Estelle while Eldora and Steele were away. She swore in primordial and jumped off the bed, her back snatched up in the process. "He better not have done what I think he did…" she muttered as she walked over to where the residual gate magick lingered and took a bit of chalk out of her pocket. She drew upon the floor the intricate markings she needed before she slammed her hands into the ground. The gate reopened and she jumped through. 

Her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the Harenian sun and she felt like she had just stepped back into her work space in Baltil. She looked at the haunted city that rose out of the sand just meters away and heaved and exasperated sigh as several of the dehydrated and desiccated residents began shambling towards her. 

"I don't think so…" she muttered and shot flames from her fingers. Moans and flailing took place as the mummies were quickly reduced to ash, and she all but stomped off to find her lover and 'granddaughter'.

Estelle stuck her tongue out in disgust from the taste of the mummy wrappings. She knew that she wasn’t supposed to put EVERYTHING into her mouth. Her mother and father often stopped her and while she wasn’t so sure about everything there were things she absolutely knew not to taste… Like old clothes that looked like death, not that she knew what death was but the smell wasn’t that great. Now she had her grandfather’s pretty silver hair, just like her Uncle Dante’s, and she was gentle with it. Eldora had been helping to teach her what gentle was and sometimes Estelle had a hard time grasping it.

Once he had changed the statue to purple Estelle squealed in approval of the color. It was dark and soft… But it was bright at the same time. Depending on the light that is. It might have been the regal in her blood that made her love the color so much. She bounced happily and squealed as the prospect of more purple and touching the statue. She snuggled into his lips as he kissed her.

Estelle’s big blue eyes watched as he summoned the hobby horse. It looked like one of the many toys in her playroom that she was still trying to figure out. Once it came to life she giggled and laughed at it. “Pa PA PA PA!” She loved it. She loved the noises and she squealed as she curled into him. Once he pet her thick black curls she leaned into him and pushed herself up so she could put her drool covered lips to his cheek. “PA PA PA PA!” She loved her grandfather despite not being the best grandfather in the world.

Soon her eyes spotted something nifty as she began to reach for a canopic jar that wasn’t too far from her grasps. With a strong tug and maneuvering of her small arms, she had the Anubis shaped jar in her arms. More babbles left her lips as she held the jar up and showed it to Xunatar proudly.

Whoever was in charge of these parts would have certainly minded how an “inferior” god was turning this place into his granddaughter’s own playground. Soon enough, many of the buildings had found themselves turned purple for her own enjoyment. Xunatar didn’t necessarily believed in revenge, otherwise that statue would have been long since torn down. Instead, he figured a better way of teaching them respect- he would merely slay them in front of the statue and ask for their god to save them. Only when the realization hit them that he was no more would they learn their folly. In any sense of the matter, he let Estelle observe as much as she wanted while the living mace dealt with any staggers that wanted to get in their way.

The girl was having the time of her life as she wiggled in his arm; how to be so innocent in the world. Now that he thought about it, he himself had never been such a thing and the humor behind it forced a crafty smile between his lips.

Xunatar dropped his attention on her for just a little bit but looked towards whatever had her curious mind at the moment. The jar gave off a funny smell that made his smile drop. “Now, now, your mother would throw a fit if I let you taste that thing… “ He wouldn’t let her even try so much, but he would allow her to keep the jar for now.

Glancing up, he could see, or rather smell that some of the leftover mummies were being set on fire. His curiosity growing, Xunatar threw up a fireball into the air and let it explode when it was high enough to be seen around so that he would attract them towards their direction. “More friends to play with, you’d like that, Estelle?”

Scarlett used crumbled portions of the wall to climb up high and get a more aerial view of the city. Xunatar was sure to be making some sort of chaos and she wanted to be able to see it. She wasn't disappointed as a short distance away from her several buildings went from the cracked white alabaster to a rather lovely shade of purple. She squared her shoulders and pulled her goggles down over her eyes. Things were about to get interesting and it showed when Xunatar shot the fireball into the sky to attract attention. It certainly worked, as both mummies and barely visible specters began floating in the direction of the explosion. 

"Time to go to work," she muttered and began making her way across the rooftops quickly to rendezvous with the Kitsune. 

Mummies and ghosts came from all directions to surround Xunatar and the infant he carried, and yes, it was as Scarlett had feared, he had in fact brought her with him. The fire Genasi palmed her forehead before she began sniping the mummies with well placed fire bolts from her fingers before she jumped down into the center with the King of Lies and the tiny Starbright. 

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GODLY MIND?!" she demanded loudly, fully intending to let him know the sheer stupidity of bringing the baby to a place like this. "BRINGING THE BABY HERE?!?"

The jar had a funny smell that was true and it made her wrinkle her nose at it and grunted towards him. She understood that she couldn’t eat this jar. This jar was just shiny. It looked like a doggie and she associated that with her father. “Da da da.” She held up the jar to show that she was thinking of her father and cooed towards it. She really did miss her parents.

Her head snapped in the direction of the voice and she squealed just a bit. “LE!” She couldn’t pronounce words but she did catch syllables every once in a while. “LE LE LE!” She held up the canopic jar and squealed. “DA!” she shook it just a little bit to show her the little doggie on it.

She babbled at Scarlett and Xunatar not really realizing that Scarlett was mad. A mummy was coming up and she could smell that the jar and the mummy smelled the same. She let out a wicked squeal as she lifted the jar and grunted at Xunatar. She made motions towards the same smelling mummy before tossing the jar. It didn’t make it too far but she did try to throw it in the direction of the mummy.

The canopic jar broke and Estelle started to sniffle and cry. She was just trying to give it back to the mummy. It smelled just like him. She was suddenly so into her emotions that the jar pieces without the entrails floated up in a pleasant purple light and melded back together using their earthly properties. It came back to Estelle and she hugged it tightly as she continued to whine towards it not even realizing what she had done.

Xunatar’s eye immediately fell onto his beloved, though she hadn’t found as much delight in it as he had. A playful pout formed across his face as she went to explain the situation of being a baby like Estelle to such a place. “I am fully aware of it, and trust me…when it comes to how I have parented my own children- this is child’s play.” He stroked her hair again, just as softly as possible. “If you are so worried about her safety, don’t fret. Who’s hands are much safer than a god’s?”

At least Estelle seemed thrilled with being here. Then again, she seemed ecstatic for many a things here. He noticed that she was quite content with the jar, and was even calling it the same thing that she babbled about whenever she was around her father. “My children were exposed to far worse things, but it was for their betterment to understand this world around us. These things, these mummies, they are the least dangerous things I’ve encountered. Truly you too have seen what is more hazardous to this realm…” Looking around them, seeing the charred remains of their enemies, he shrugged and adjusted the baby to be more comfortable. “As you see, the sweet girl is safe and sound and…” His eyes shifted over to one of the mummies that were still intact and Estelle threw the jar at it.

When she started to cry, her grandfather wiped at her tears. “Aw, don’t you cry, little Estelle. It will be okay.” His voice was soothing and soft as he rocked her but then something peculiar happened. The pieces that were once the jar were placed back together and came right back to her. “Well now…she’s much stronger than I had suspected… Xunatar smiled brightly at her and turned his back to the mummy who then found himself consumed by black flames like the others. Of course he wouldn’t let her watch that one go away. 

[OOC: Sorry that it was short, was tired.]

Scarlett's eyes narrowed at Xunatar as he pretended to pout. "Do you really want me to answer that?" She knew better than to call him safe, whether he was with family or not. She heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It isn't the mummies or ghosts here I am worried about. I concede, you aren't wrong about them being all THAT dangerous, but did it ever cross your mind that MAYBE the chaotic energy that is here and NOT under YOUR control might have a bad effect on her?" she asked, her attention more on her lover and the infant in his arms than on the shambling wrapped bundles of kindling (mummies were ridiculously flammable). 

When Estelle threw the jar at the mummy and realized it was broken, Scarlett immediately made to swoop in and comfort the baby girl just as her grandfather did. However, she froze when the energy coming from the child picked up, reformed, and returned that same jar to the infant's arms. Scarlett's jaw dropped slightly.

"I don't think I have ever seen that level of power in someone so small," she mused softly as she came up and gently rubbed Estelle's hair and wiped a tear from her face. "You liked that jar, eh, Starbright? Is that a doggy on the top, like Daddy?" she asked the infant.