first verse Augury: Ten of the Void

[Archer]

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Jessic is the daughter Tion forgot he had, until now. Negation probably knows of her, at the very least. He would also know that she was born about three hundred years ago.  RIP

“And that’s why I’ll never fish blindfolded,” Tion said, ending a fifteen-minute lecture about the Nomadic tribes’ dueling methods. He let the silence envelop them after that, listening to the sounds of their footsteps as they walked.

After a while, he cleared his throat. “Gati, you’re good at manipulating people. I’ve got a question for you. There’s this… thing I have been trying to get my friends to do to me. A favour, you might say. The ones who seemed the least inclined to do it, I tried being nice to, for several hundred years. I thought they’d eventually clue in and offer to help, out of kindness. They never did.”

He paused, letting that sink in.

“The ones I thought might do it, I just pushed in that direction. Little shoves, here and there, to build up their rage sufficiently. I had hoped they would try to make me stop, but they never went far enough, you know? It was always disappointingly half-hearted retribution. Useless.”

He cleared his throat again, somewhat awkwardly.

“The one I thought could do it was also the only one who could definitively stop me. So I hid from them. I was good at that. But they always managed to find me and mess my plans up.”

If he could have looked Negation in the eyes at that moment, Tion would have done so. “None of these approaches has worked. So what do I do? How do I get them to help me?”

[AonEne]

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Girl from the flashback? 

...Gati is not good at manipulating people. Gati is crem at manipulating people. But then this is Tion talking, so you could very well just be trying to manipulate me  

Gati slowed his walk, thinking about that. “Well. You could try asking them.” 

[+Sorana]

Sagitta closed her eyes and then looked down.

"Why should the gods care about us? I doubt any of us is as important as Ta'e'ilo and that was ages ago. Today... there are so many people, they can't listen to all of us." She sighed, tooked some dry earth in her hand. "The wars have been going on for so long, if they wanted to stop it, they would have. I think they leave it to us to sort it out. We started the war, we have to bear the consequences."

Slowly she opened her hand, let the earth fall to the ground. "And then, I'm not sure, if it would work if they acted directly. They are so diffierent, just like humanity is different." With a short smile at Price she added. "Entropy's powers are incredibly useful in battle, but I'm not sure if I want to meet the god Entropy. Somewhere after my second or third battle, I kind of lost this believe that one day, the gods will come for us, will help us out of our mess. They offer us our powers and the rest is up to us."

@I think I am here.

@Lunamor

Edited September 21, 2019 by Sorana

[I think I am here.]

10 hours ago, Sorana said:

Slowly she opened her hand, let the earth fall to the ground. "And then, I'm not sure, if it would work if they acted directly. They are so diffierent, just like humanity is different." With a short smile at Price she added. "Entropy's powers are incredibly useful in battle, but I'm not sure if I want to meet the god Entropy. Somewhere after my second or third battle, I kind of lost this believe that one day, the gods will come for us, will help us out of our mess. They offer us our powers and the rest is up to us."

Price nodded, looking at his hands. Hands that could use Entropy. But why? Why was the most useful battlefield skill given to him and not some soldier?

“I wonder why each person has their instinct. Random? Or maybe, for a purpose? It seems the gods would have a plan if they were to give us all one power or another. Maybe it’s all in the long-term, too long-term for us to comprehend.”

[Archer]

On the trail to find the mortals. 

“I can’t do that,” Tion intoned distantly, his focus distracted as his brain conjured up an ancient memory. “I have self imposed restrictions to prevent my asking for that particular favour. Plus, I think it would have catastrophic consequences for humanity.”

He narrowed his eyes, peering at the fresh animal tracks in front of them, subtle imprints in the soil from something large and quadrupedal.

“Here be dragons,” he muttered under his breath. “Anyway, the way I understand it, I am a conduit of considerable amounts of raw, magical Power. To prevent an overload, some of it disperses into the air around me, into the rocks and trees and humans, like a kettle letting off steam. That’s the only healthy way to manage something like this, my body knows that. Anyone else in my position, without the safeguards I’ve developed, would have exploded centuries ago. I am, unfortunately, irreplaceable. Not that you really care about that.”

The sound of distant voices gave the god an opportunity to change the topic.

“Do you hear that?” he asked, turning his head to try to pinpoint the source. “We need to make contact anyway, let’s check it out. Follow me.”

Tion broke into a jog, veering off of the right side of the trail at an acute angle. “Come on, Gati, I’m invisible, remember? Keep up or get lost.”

[AonEne]

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Rrrrgh I feel like I’m ruining this roleplay. Everyone else is an awesome writer and I’m just over here with no idea where this character is headed in terms of anything. I am so sorry. 

In the meantime, you’re talking about gods? Here, have some.  

Gati knew exactly what those footsteps represented, and frowned slightly. She had once attempted to take it upon herself to rid the world of these, until some scholar had come out with a study saying they were important in the cycle of the environment or some such. Like Tion, she had restrictions on herself, though probably not the same ones as him. She assumed all the deities had their own self-imposed rules to follow. 

She followed him, rustling through the leaves, until they broke out of the forest and found themselves on a road, one that seemed to be well-traveled. This is Tühine, Gati remembered, and close to...Ílaní? Renaji? Somewhere around there. She stepped out of the foliage, keeping herself invisible, and looked around. It didn’t take her long to see a forlorn carriage at the side of the dirt road, surrounded by bodies. One of them was not human; she narrowed her eyes at it. She hated Forestlynxes. 

To her surprise and mild interest, three people were talking just outside of the vehicle. She started walking closer, intrigued as to how they had survived - it must have been a bad fight. Though, she reminded herself, mortals these days were far more capable than they had once been. She shouldn’t underestimate them. 

It looked like only one was from Tühine. Another’s ethnicity seemed closer to Ta’e’iloan, and the last had...Cahayan features? Bit odd to see one of them in this country, unless they were being held prisoner, but this girl was interacting with the other two, apparently without any problems. It wasn’t something you saw a lot - or ever - and Negation had seen many things. 

She raised an eyebrow at where Tion might be, if he hadn’t moved - not that he would see it. Then she began to walk toward the threesome, hoping she was being quiet enough for them not to hear her. 

[I think I am here.]

18 minutes ago, AonEne said:

Rrrrgh I feel like I’m ruining this roleplay. Everyone else is an awesome writer and I’m just over here with no idea where this character is headed in terms of anything. I am so sorry. 

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You say that, and then disprove yourself by writing an amazing post straight after

Don’t be sorry! You’re not ruining anything, only improving it. 

At the pause in conversation Price heard some very light rustling. Tilting his head to the side to hear it better, he was relieved to hear it wasn’t the steady shaking of leaves that indicated another Forestlynx. Maybe a small animal, at most. Price looked back at Zura and Sagitta.

[AonEne]

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That post wasn’t amazing though. Thank you anyway 

 

[Lunamor]

Zura stared at her feet, pulling her knees to her chest. She took a small knife out of her boot and absentmindedly started scratching in the dirt. This whole conversation felt unnatural. People didn’t normally talk about this stuff, right? It only seemed to bring pain. Thoughts like this hurt less when they remained buried deep inside. Could conversations like this help to resolve them completely? 

The problem was, she still wasn’t exactly sure what she thought. 

“I just...”

She paused, adding a new stroke to her rough drawing. 

”I just sometimes wonder why humans have instincts at all. If I were a god, I wouldn’t trust us with power. We don’t deserve it.”

She finished her drawing. It was a shattered knife, the broken pieces still loosely in the shape of the original weapon. Small tendrils of smoke curled around them, seeming to keep the fragments from rejoining. The soft swirls and sharp lines contrasted in a little war of their own.

@I think I am here.

@Sorana

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Lunamor

[I think I am here.]

11 minutes ago, Lunamor said:

She paused, adding a new stroke to her rough drawing. 

”I just sometimes wonder why humans have instincts at all. If I were a god, I wouldn’t trust us with power. We don’t deserve it.”

“We don’t,” Price agreed.

“But then, it means that even if bad people can do more bad with instincts, good people can do more good. And maybe that’s all that matters. If I got to choose...” Price paused.

“Everyone would start out with one, and then judging on what they did with it, good or bad... they’d get to keep it or it would disappear. That seems the best option.”

Price looked at Zura’s drawing. It was nice, but Price wouldn’t say that. Being alright with a Cahayan was a long away from being happy friends. “Or maybe the gods don’t have enough time to decide that. Maybe they’re above our puny struggles.” He laughed, a short, sharp ‘ha!’ than anything resembling a natural happiness.

[AonEne]

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If this was a book, that knife would be the cover art. That sounds cool. 

Ah. Gati nodded soundlessly to herself, walking a few steps closer and sending up tiny amounts of dust. They were talking about philosophy. That made these three even more interesting, and that was all Gati needed to be convinced. She stood in front of them, relishing the starlight for one moment longer, then appeared in her usual guise before their eyes. 

Smiling, she explained in a voice that carried just enough to be heard. “It’s not actually our choice. From what I’ve been able to tell, it’s merely a natural effect on the world.” She shrugged lightly. “When one of us goes somewhere, the people being born in that place are more likely to have the instinct of that god or goddess. Though it could also be Probability messing with the rest of us.” 

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This encounter had to happen somehow  

 

Edited September 22, 2019 by AonEne
Changed with us to with the rest of us

[I think I am here.]

10 minutes ago, AonEne said:

Smiling, she explained in a voice that carried just enough to be heard. “It’s not actually our choice. From what I’ve been able to tell, it’s merely a natural effect on the world.” She shrugged lightly. “When one of us goes somewhere, the people being born in that place are more likely to have the instinct of that god or goddess. Though it could also be Probability messing with the rest of us.” 

Someone appeared out of the bushes and Price stood up shaky, stepping away. They said their own theory on instincts, that it was natural and not the gods’ choice. But... why did they use words like ‘us’ when describing the gods?

“Who are you? And...” he looked around at the neighbouring foliage.

“And how did you get here? We’re in the middle of a forest.”

[Lunamor]

Zura scrambled backwards on hands and feet for a moment before grabbing her knife and getting to her feet. How had they managed to sneak up on them? She had been listening carefully. And why did they refer to themself as a god? And... were they talking about Probability? Why was she talking about her instinct? She couldn’t tell if the person was Tühine or not. If they were, she likely wouldn’t be able to survive long. She desperately hoped that the darkness covered her Cahayan features. She kept silent, not wanting her accent to reveal her nationality.

@Sorana

@I think I am here.

@AonEne

[AonEne]

“I walked.” She smiled. Gati didn’t often reveal herself to mortals, maybe once a year at most, and then she almost always took the memory from them afterward. She’d forgotten how fun this was. Be nice to him, she told herself. “And I am Negation.” She grinned for a moment, then stopped, faintly embarrassed at the younger woman’s reaction.

“Anyway -“ she tried to banish her embarrassment “- what are a Ta’e’iloan, a Cahayan, and a Tühinine doing out here? That’s not regular behavior.” A shiver passed over Gati as it occurred to her that this might have something to do with the Augury. She took an unconscious step forward, drawn by the possibility of answers. 

[Lunamor]

Zura took an unconscious step backwards as the woman advanced. She said she was Negation? Like the instinct Negation? That was odd. And Negation instincts were supposed to be incredibly rare, possibly even non-existent. She certainly had never seen someone with it before. She subtly moved her hands into positions that would allow her the fastest attacking speed. She likely wouldn’t make a difference if this truly was someone with Negation, but it couldn’t hurt.

[Archer]

Sighing, Tion dropped his invisibility as well. 

"Sup," he said wearily, waving a hand at the strangers.

"Don't mind this-" he gestured at his body, which, along with his clothes and supplies, was entirely black. The monocolour made it hard to distinguish his features; everything seemed to blend together unless one looked at him in profile. "-Sensation, you know? Give me a moment, I think I can get it under control."

He tilted his head back and squeezed his nose between his fingers. Slowly, the darkness began melting away, like paints in the rain, revealing his regular coloured form beneath. 

"That's better," he said, turning his attention back to the mortals. "I'm Sensei Tion, by the way. Congratulations on your collective good fortunes, you all are about to fulfill your purposes in life. Just do what he says, and you'll have something to tell your grandchildren about. Assuming you remember any of this."

He smiled at the group toothily. It was an off-putting expression. Then he winked at Zura. 

[AonEne]

Gati gave Tion an amused look. 

[I think I am here.]

The stranger’s nonchalance unsettled Price and he backed away, behind Zura. A part of him detested going behind a Cahayan in  a time of danger; most likely Cahayans were the danger, but now it seemed this... stranger, whatever nationality they were (Price couldn’t tell) was enough of a worry. Negation? Did they say they were Negation?

Then, another man appeared claiming to be Sensation. The Sensation. His clothes were weird, they seemed to have some sort of ink. Perhaps they were merchants, with all of those weird inventions that were of no practical use. Price frowned and looked at the both of them.

“I think it’s interesting both of you say we’re irregular, when you two are some sort of travelling merchants maybe claiming to be gods.” Price narrowed his eyes at Tion. They must have overheard their situation and thought it was the right moment.

“Go to someone more gullible for your scams.”

Edited September 22, 2019 by I think I am here.

[Archer]

Angry grey clouds started to appear in the otherwise blue sky overhead of them, blowing in at an unnatural pace. They cast hazy shadows over the valley, particularly over Tion's face, cloaking his eyes in pits of darkness. 

 "Oh, we're not salesman," the god replied with a smirk. "We're a different kind of thief."

He reluctantly took stock of the humans' postures. They all seemed tense, ready to fight. Fortunately, only one of them had the body of a warrior, although the other two were in reasonable condition. Meanwhile, the storm clouds began expanding, growing to cover the entire area in darkness. Dull lighting flickered amongst them. 

"Godhood is a matter of perspective. Fortunately, opinion is easily influenced by shows of Power. And while my talkative companion here may not have a flashy ability, I can certainly put on a show."

He snapped his fingers. Instantly, the storm disappeared, bathing the region in sunlight once more.

"That said, I really don't like being tested."

Edited September 22, 2019 by Archer

[Lunamor]

Zura froze when a man appeared seemingly out of thin air. Every part of him was a pure black, so dark that he looked to be completely featureless. Color bled into him and her breath completely escaped her. That shouldn’t have been possible with any of the Instincts... He claimed Sensation, which could maybe do that, but she had never heard of one so powerful.

He said something prophecy like, which made Zura rather annoyed for some reason. When he smiled and winked she lowered her knife hand slightly, confused. She noticed Price backing behind her out of the corner of her eye, but she didn’t dare turn to look at him. She couldn’t peel her eyes away from the terrifying sight in front of her. The sky turned dark and little lights flashed among it. She couldn’t see the stars. Then the clouds all vanished all of a sudden, making her jump slightly.

He said something about godhood, which didn’t fully register until a few seconds later. Godhood? Was he claiming to be a god? He seemed to have enough power, but she still didn’t fully trust him. He could just be someone with a really strong Instinct. It wasn’t like he’d be the first person to imitate a god.

”What are you?”

She asked, unable to completely keep the tremor out of her voice.

[I think I am here.]

21 minutes ago, Archer said:

He snapped his fingers. Instantly, the storm disappeared, bathing the region in sunlight once more.

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It's nighttime

Price looked up as the sky was swallowed by clouds and lightning, then immediately disappearing again. Instantly his mind shifted to a rumor he'd heard about a specific drug some herbalists made, that caused hallucinations. But that wasn't quite right, Price hadn't eaten in a while and even then, those drugs couldn't be activated and deactivated on command. Stepping a little to the side, so he wasn't fully behind Zura he stared at Tion and the stranger (=Gati).

"And..." Price said, building on from Zura's question. "Why have you come here?"

[+Sorana]

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Sometimes I hate my timezone.

Sagitta jerked awake, realized she had accidently nodded of. A voice, new voices, different voices. She stayed where she was for a moment, listened, tried to understand the situation, where the new ones were, what they had done. Gods, they clamined to be gods? It had to be a joke. Here she was, sitting on the ground, claiming that the gods didn't care about mortals, and then two of them walked up to them? She reached out for the branch once more, got to her feet.

One thing after the other. Wordlessly she stepped in front of Price and Zura, covered her limp up again. There was no need to add anything to the questions already asked, and so she stayed quiet.

[AonEne]

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I didn’t realize I could do what happens in the below post until I thought of ways Gati could be flashy. But Sanderson’s laws apply - this has a consequence. Multiple, actually, but only one that will really manifest right now. 

“Flashiness is also a matter of perspective,” Gati said to Tion, grinning at him and ignoring the storm he’d brought to their eyes. She hadn’t felt this happy in weeks; it was irrational, and yet she didn’t care. “I just don’t feel like killing any trees. However...” 

Her gaze moved to the fallen corpses. She scanned them one by one, guessing that she’d only have enough Power to do this once. She’d been shocked at how much it had taken the first time she’d done it, and how much it had taken out of her. But while she was here, since she had the chance...she looked at each of the warriors, but in the end it wasn’t a hard choice. The boy who was younger than them all, the only Cahayan among the group, with the freshest wounds - if only barely. 

As the three humans shifted places in front of her, Gati walked to the boy, noting his positioning and wounds. It spoke of a mercy kill, someone putting him out of his pain. She studied him for a second longer, reviewing what could have caused him to lay just so, then gathered her Power and thrust it like a spear at his body. 

Pulling someone back from the dead was difficult. It was something that Negation sensed had implications, ones that went farther than most of what she did. But it was worth it, in her opinion, always worth it. 

So she wove the needle of her magic through Fate’s loom, and she brought the Cahayan back. 

His wounds sealed; his limbs moved on their own as his body mimicked the actions it had made right before death. He stood bolt upright, life now in his eyes - and she stopped using her Power there, before anything else was undone. He stared around at them, gasping. He wouldn’t remember what death was like; she’d asked others before. None of them could recall a single detail, just light. 

The lack of the Power it had taken to revive him hit her as she released her grip, and Gati felt like the breath had been punched from her. It hadn’t been, of course. She was breathing just fine outwardly. It only felt like this because she was so used to having Negation inside her, and now it was lessened. She knew it would come back. Eventually. 

She turned back to Tion with a playful “Ta-da!”, not letting the three - now four - mortals see what it had taken out of her. Tion could probably tell, but then he’d seen her do that type of thing before. 

She cleared her throat and looked back at the first three. “Anyway. We’re deities; that’s what we are. I don’t know if that means we’re not human...” She cast a questioning glance at Tion, though he likely hadn’t given it more thought than she had. She’d given it a lot of thought. “And we came here by chance. We were simply walking through the woods.” Telling them about Entropy wouldn’t be a good idea. Best to keep it uncomplicated. 

[+Sorana]

52 minutes ago, AonEne said:

She cleared her throat and looked back at the first three. “Anyway. We’re deities; that’s what we are. I don’t know if that means we’re not human...” She cast a questioning glance at Tion, though he likely hadn’t given it more thought than she had. She’d given it a lot of thought. “And we came here by chance. We were simply walking through the woods.” Telling them about Entropy wouldn’t be a good idea. Best to keep it uncomplicated. 

Sagitta spread her arms in protection, when Negation did something, when the boy came back to life. She stared at him, stared at the gods, shook her head. This was wrong. Incredibly wrong. "He wasn't one of yours." She was surprised by her voice, it sounded brittle, shocked. The dead they were dead. It was how it worked. You remembered and then they were gone. Gone. She swallowed, wondered what she was supposed to do against gods, if they expected her to fall on her knees and thank them. No.

Her eyes darted to sensation, a man, not a woman as she had been told, and she wondered if the rest of the tale had been true, if the stars really were a present, of if it was a lie as well. Per chance. They were gods. They weren't supposed to do things by chance. They were supposed to know everything, to be above their mortal problems and worries.

"Why don't you stop the wars?"

She asked their earlier question, because somehow it mattered. Mattered almost more than the boy that was walking the earth again. An undead. There were tales about undead, about creatures crawling from the sea, from the ocean. Reaching out for those brave enough to face the waves. Living in the swamps, pulling the unlucky ones into their cold embrace. She felt cold at the thought, that a god had just created a monster, just like that, only to show that they were a god. It were their rules, their country. She made sure to continue to look at the gods, but her thoughts swirled around what happened. They might need to escape, might need to flee. If these gods created undead, who knew what they would do next.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Sorana

[AonEne]

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I thought she’d react like that...I actually agree with pretty much everything Sagitta just thought (except for the zombies). What about you? 

“Technically, nobody is ‘one of mine’,” Gati said, smile faltering at the look on the woman’s face. And then it slipped completely away at her next words. She sighed, shoved one hand through her hair, scratched her scalp and twisted a rope of hair in her palm. The wars. Now that was something she didn’t want to think about right now. Or ever, really. “Can we sit down?” she asked, hoping to change the subject, but not sure if they’d let it go. They probably wouldn’t.

But she actually did want to sit down - it might help her recover herself, and maybe everyone would calm down if they couldn’t engage each other in combat. Not that it would really stop either her or Sensation.