The Chained Watcher

Tango's Question

They hadn't gone near that area again though, so he can't confirm anything without getting Grian to tell him what happened after the rest of them left. His bets are on Grian interfering in the battle, but to do that he would have had to close the distance. He'd promised, not a single step closer, and he's not one to break promises. Not without a good reason.

But then how... No, put that aside for now. Go over the information available first, refresh your memory, then start theorizing. Okay, where to start... How about Grian's ramblings?

The lilac-winged avian is usually pretty absent-minded when working on stuff, sometimes switching to what Tango has decided to call "Encyclopedia Mode". There was that whole thing with the quill where he'd started rambling about the specifics of the enchantment, which would certainly be interesting... if he knew anything about the subject. Tango hadn't understood anything from it, but it was definitely interesting to see Grian of all people going off on a tangent about his hobby.

Still, he'd cut himself off when he realized he was getting too close to topics directly about himself and his past, or else who knows how long he would have talked for. There's not enough context for the reference to paperwork, but "time isn't an issue" raises a few red flags. Everything ages, right? From trees to bugs to people... everything. But even if everything ages, not all creatures were created equal.

From what he knows, a human lifespan is usually considered the default, living for around a hundred years if the circumstances permit. Some humanoids live longer, usually elves and dwarves, along with some hybrids with certain ancestry. The more exotic species are outside his realm of expertise, but he knows things like elementals and dragons don't die from old age. If anything, they only get stronger.

If all normal species are still vulnerable to age, then most of their members take it at least semi-seriously. It's a bit grim to think about, but time marches on for everyone, and no matter how far ahead of it you get it'll always catch up in the end. Jeez, maybe that's a little too grim.

Brushing aside that thought for later, he turned his focus to the next of Grian's ramblings. This time, the topic is a rather weird one. Gods. Grian talked about gods, and he talked about them in a manner that suggested he had studied them before.

The contents of the conversation shouldn't be too important at the moment, but the fact that Grian knew all this stuff about gods just made him even more suspicious. Sure, things like false gods aren't a foreign topic to most people, but the matter-of-fact way Grian described the different types (since when were there different types???) sounded like someone who knew what they were talking about.

And since when were there research papers analyzing gods? Since gods are apparently fully real, wouldn't that kind of thing get the writer smited or something? If it's not available to the public either, then how did Grian read it? He would have either had to know the writer personally, find the paper coincidentally, or join some secret organization that the writer was in.

It didn't sound like Grian actually knew the writer, but at the same time he definitely knew of the writer, which leaves the third option. Somehow, Grian was either part of the same secret organization as the writer, or the organization he was a part of got their hands on the paper. His bet is on the same organization. There's no way Grian would have spoken so confidently on the views of the writer if not.

Wonder what kind of uniform they wore? Were they more Men in Black style, or maybe instead they wore samurai armor! Picturing Grian in oversized samurai armor, he tries not to laugh at the disgruntled expression the avian would have if forced to wear bulky armor. That's definitely going on the list of future dares if they ever play Truth or Dare again.