Augury: Hate’s Creation

[Archer he/him]

A soft knock broke the silence. The click of a latch followed, and the slight increase of outside noises as the door opened: a wind and the lapping of waves along the beach. Then the floorboards creaked, matching the footsteps of the entering god.

“How would you like some light, mm? It’s so dark in here.” Intensity pulled a rope on the wall; the shutters of the two front windows flipped open, letting in a stream of radiant white sunlight. It revealed the space to be a pleasant single-room beach house. The walls and floor were made from driftwood boards, faded but homey. A hanging mobile of seashells took up one corner, a bed with a side table sat in another, at the foot of which was a large chest with a lock on it. The last item of furniture was an old rocking chair. Intensity turned it to face Sagitta’s bed, then sat down, seeming to assume that she was awake.

He was a portly man, perhaps in his fifties. A full grey beard hung off his chin, below his pale blue eyes. His skin was tanned, including his balding head. The god wore a loose-fitting white shirt and basic brown shorts. In his hand was a crystal glass of sparkling water. “You look like ship… barnacles,” he chuckled. “But I am doing what I can to reduce that.”

“Your things are in that box. I suggest you leave them there for now. The air here has a strange way of eating away at any metal that isn’t treated. Once you’re feeling better, I’ll give you a solution to coat your armour in that will stop it from corroding.” While he was talking, he handed the glass towards Sagitta. “You have been through a lot these past few weeks. This cabin is yours now. It’s the least I can do to help you recuperate. Some rest and relaxation would do you a world of good. Speaking of which, how are the wounds feeling?”

[+Sorana she/her]

Sagitta observed the man walk through the cabin, sit down close enough to hand her a glass of water. She accepted it and nearly spilled it all over her blanket, surprised by how heavy it was. Using her other hand as well she managed to hold it, slowly took a sip. She was thirsty and that little bit of water wasn't nearly enough, so she greedily took another sip and then a third one. Reluctantly she forced herself to stop, give her body a little time to adjust, knowing that if she drank too much to quickly, she would do nothing but vomit it all over the place.

Resting her eyes on him, she tried to connect him to the beach house and to the strange air he mentioned. Maybe this was the place Tion had wanted to go to. Or maybe he had left her behind. A liability. Exhausted she turned a little, took another sip of water and placed the glass on the little table. Her hands shook, and she spilled a little of the water, but it was a relief to get the weight out of her hands. Feeling drained, she sank back into the bed, for a moment just lying there, doing nothing, only trying to sort herself.

He had mentioned weeks. At least, that would explain why she felt like this, as if he whole body was consisting of nothing but sluggish mud. Realizing that she hadn't answered his question she gave a slight nod, tried to clear her throat, only to realize she had no real answer. How was she? She hurt, but it was better, a lot better than back in the steppe. Shifting a little in the bed, she found that she could also move a little better, now that she tried again. Opening her mouth she started to speak, but nothing but a croak left her mouth. Frowning she swallowed and then tried again.

"I feel as if a horse stopped on me several times and then decided to fall asleep on top of me." She tried to describe it and looked at the chest again. There were so many questions she needed to ask, where she was, where Tion was, who the man was, what had happened, if she was in danger, or not. but for now she decided to start with the most important one of all of them.

"My sword as well?" she inquired with a weak gesture towards the chest, hoping that whoever had brought her here, had remembered to bring her sword.

[Archer he/him]

Intensity smiled at her analogy. “Your weapon is there as well. Although I would prefer that you avoid using it for anything but exercise. We try to avoid violence here. This is a safe space.”

The god stroked his beard, brushing droplets of sand out onto his lap. He looked down at them, surprised, and briefly wondered how they had gotten there. Then he drifted back to Sagitta, taking in her struggles to drink the water. “Slow and steady, that’s it. No need to gulp it down. There’s plenty more where that came from. We’re on an island, after all.”

“Oh dear, I forgot to introduce myself, didn’t I? I do apologize. Hello child, I am Intensity. Welcome to my home.” He extended a meaty hand for her to shake. A note of fatherly pride entered his voice. “We have ways of telling, you know. For me it’s the eyes. When I look at you, I see the same spark in them that resides in me. You have the Intensity instinct, don’t you?”

Edited April 26, 2020 by Archer

[+Sorana she/her]

Intensity.

He was Intensity. And he wanted for her, to shake his hand. And he knew who she was, he could see it in her eyes. Turning a little she slowly pushed herself up a little, inclined her head in respect. It was the only thing she could do, she doubted she would be able to get to her feet and afterwards down on her knees. And it probably would be awkward with him sitting next to her bed. Her arm shook from the strain of supporting her body, but she grit her teeth, slowly lifted her hand to shake his.

His skin was warm and soft under her fingers and she tried to make sure, that she wasn't gripping his hand too hard or too soft. That hint of pride in his voice, the way he looked at her, that he took the time to be here with her, to greet her personally. In his home. "I'm Sagitta." she introduced herself, "It's an honor to meet you." Letting go of his hand she sank back into the bed, fought the exhaustion that made some dark spots dance in front of her eyes. "I think I might need a day or two." she smiled apologetically at him, hated herself for being that weak.

"Thank you for offering me a place to recover." she added after a short pause, hoped he wouldn't think her impolite or ungrateful. Looking up at him in awe she found herself smiling like a child. "I never even dreamed of meeting you."

[Archer he/him]

Intensity nodded. “You need to start dreaming bigger then.”

From the porch, the sound of shattering glass could be heard, followed by angry squawking. A moment later, Tion burst through the door, his drink noticeably absent from his hand. “You have a bird problem! Hey, glad you’re better Sagitta.” His coat and rapier were gone too, replaced by a simple set of brown robes with flowing pants, all held together by a black sash for a belt. He stood solidly on both legs, his injuries seemingly healed.

The god stood awkwardly in the doorway for a minute, on the verge of saying more. Then he shook his head and mumbled something about finding some more juice as he exited as quickly as he’d come in. As Intensity watched the entire scene with amusement, his hand reached out and gave Sagitta’s a quick squeeze. For a brief moment, his eyes narrowed, but the expression was instantly replaced by a wry smile. “How one can channel such anger towards such beautiful creatures is beyond me.”

“That does remind me of something, however. I was supposed to ask about your progress. With my gift, that is. But that doesn’t seem too urgent. I don’t want to tire you out.” He slapped his knees, preparing to push himself to his feet. As he did, sand spilled off them onto the floor. “Mm, the sands often resist our efforts hold them back, don’t they? Best to just let them go where they like.”

[+Sorana she/her]

"You don't tire me." Sagitta replied quickly, her eyes still on the door where Tion had stood only a few moments earlier. He seemed a little unset, but she had kept quiet, waited for him to speak. Intensity's short gesture of comfort was confusing, and the way his eyes narrowed - almost as if there was something going on between the two of them. As if Intensity thought she needed comfort. Her fingers had tightened on his as well, grateful for that little sign that she wasn't alone, that someone cared. She felt lost, unsure what to make of the gods and their behaviour. She knew that the stakes were larger, far larger than anything she could consider. She had stumbled into something, she couldn't understand, she couldn't grasp and with every waking day only more questionmarks seemed to appear.

Her life had been easy, going in straight lines. She had known who the enemy was, who's orders to follow. There had never been a reason to question any of it, in contrast. It hadn't been her place to question. Her place was to fight and to protect, the whole complicated part she could easily leave to someone else. "But I can of course understand if you have to go, be somewhere else." she forced a weak smile on her face. "I doubt I'll be leaving any time soon."

"And I fear, my progress with your gift is lacking." She admitted hesitantly, ignoring his comment about the sands. She had no idea what to make of it, and before she messed a reply up, it was probably better not to reply at all. "I never thought about it that way, but the last few - " she hesitated, realized she had no idea how many days and weeks she had missed. "Ever since I left Ta'e'ilo, I learnt that there is more to it, aspects and situations where I can use it, I never even considered before."

Quote

If you want to, we can always timeskip a little forward, so that she had a few more days to recover.

 

[Archer he/him]

Quote

Fine by me!

Intensity contemplated this, trying to gauge Sagitta’s might. Her earnest honesty contrasted confusingly with what Tion had told him of her background. Regardless, he saw no need to chastise her. “The longer you stay, the more I can teach you, if you’ll let me,” he offered.

He got to his feet, urging Sagitta to lie back down. “This is a special place to me. I hope in time you will discover some of the reasons why I like it so much. Feel free to explore! Now, I'm going to go stop your companion from chasing away all the birds.” The god closed the door behind him with a click, leaving the soldier alone to heal.

A week passed. Tion spent most of it on the beach, building sandcastles with a vengeance. Throwing himself into a task helped him keep his focus, and gave him an excuse to check the earth for signs of tremors. One hundred and sixty sand sculptures later, he still hadn’t found anything. The god tried to invite the island’s other inhabitants to join him, but they were content to just watch. Most of them were Intensity instincts, the majority over forty. They stared at him as he dug, seated under palm trees or along the row of cabin porches dubbed Intense City, muttering quietly to themselves.

The weather stayed nice, always sunny and warm, yet never too hot or muggy. The food was sublime too. Intensity kept him supplied with copious amounts of juice, which somehow was always icy cold in its glass. He had no idea where they got their supplies from, but Thomas' toes! they had taste.

I could get used to this, he found himself thinking. A short vacation couldn’t hurt.

[+Sorana she/her]

Sagitta jogged along the beach, concentrated on keeping her breathing deep and even. Her pace couldn't be called fast, but she was a lot faster than a few days before and felt a grim satisfaction at that thought alone. She would a few more weeks to get to her usual condition, but she was making progress and that was all that was neccessary for now. As soon as possible she had started to move, to train, intent to get back into shape.

Tion was building sandcastles and while she had greeted him now and then, she had mostly kept her distance, unsure what to make of him and his behaviour. The place was strange, the weather always nice, the food better than anything she had eaten before, but it also filled her with a certain restlessness. It was peaceful, so peaceful she was nearly waiting for something bad to happen to her, for robbers to show up, for an earthquake - a threat, any threat. She had spent years sleeping with one eye open, and now she was here, spending time at a beach, beneath a beautiful sky.

Turning a corner she discover Tion on the beach again, a glass of juice in his hand. She slowed her steps, noted the newst addition to his collection of castles and then changed her course, moved towards him. They would have to leave at one point, if they wanted to find out what was going on. And while she would like to spend more time here, train her instinct, duty called for her, urged her to get going. She wasn't a soldier to waste her time on a beach. She could use the minutes she had with Intensity, but the world outside was more important.

"Tion." she greeted him, still not sure if he expected some kind of honor word. "How are you doing?"

Edited April 29, 2020 by Sorana

[Archer he/him]

“You’re standing in the way,” Tion said, without looking up from the moat he was digging. “Move a few steps to my right, your left.”

He finished circling his latest sandcastle, then pressed his body to the ground in front of it like he was doing a push-up. The god squinted, looking over its walls at another similar sculpture of his, ten meters up the beach. “Needed to go a little back, I think,” he murmured.

The god stood up. “Your energy is messing me up. Come on, let’s go somewhere where you’ll be useful.” His finger pointed towards the treeline, deeper into the island, away from the main buildings. “I need to gather some ingredients, after most of my supply was… lost. If you help me carry plants, I’ll let you taste a few of the tasty ones.”

With no other explanation, he began walking. When he passed the sandcastle he had been studying, he very deliberately stomped on it, crushing it to dust. That surprised the crab that had sought refuge in it. The tiny orange crustacean scurried away, dipping out of sight below some driftwood. Tion watched it with amusement, then looked back to the jogging soldier.

“Sagitta,” he said, the slightest hint of awkwardness in his voice. “After you, after your, when you nearly died. I realized that you never gave me some important information. Because I never asked. So walk and talk, I’d like to know. What is your last name? I may know someone in your lineage, if you tell who your family is. Do you have kids? Siblings? Any ancestors of note, both famous and infamous? It’s high time we got caught up.”

[+Sorana she/her]

Sagitta watched him, talk to the sandcastle, wondered how a sandcastle was supposed to move one way or the other. She remained where she was, only realizing when he got up and pointed at the forest, that he had been talking to her all the time. Confused by his words she followed him without really understanding why, or what he was referring to. Something about her energy and that she disturbed him? It wasn't as if she was doing anything at all.

Still she followed him towards the wood, discarded his words as confusing and decided to ignore them for now. He could explain if he wanted to and if not, then it hadn't been important. The way he adressed her again, this time by her name made her reconsider. So he had been talking to the sandcastle. Probably there was something magical about them, some hidden function that would allow him to use one as a cart.

"My full name is Sagitta T'Sora." She replied. "I don't have kids, and I doubt I will have any." Most likely she would be burried somewhere before it ever came to that. "I've got two brothers and a sister, as well as my parents. Several uncles and aunts, cousins -" She gave a sligh shurg. "My mother and sister are at home, looking after the family business and my father's holdings. It's not much, but we can live of it easily. My father and brothers are in the army as well. I -" don't know if they are still alive. Swallowing she looked down to the ground. "They probably burried something of me weeks ago and spoke my name." Falling silent she grit her teeth against the knot in her throat. She should have contacted her, somehow, should have remembered. She had been so focused at getting some water, some food, she had forgotten to ask Price about a way to let them know she was alive.

"Maybe I don't carry that name anymore." She said quietly, pictured the new inscription in the family crypt. "I am nothing but a ghost, forgotten by most, remembered only by a few flowers until they as well are lost to oblivion. They have filled my spot, gave my tent away. It's been so long, I have been crossed out weeks ago." Nothing but a shadow, lost in the night. Dread filled her chest when she suddenly could see it all, her comrades her friends, leaving a flower behind and then moving on. That was what you did, when you grieved. Sooner or later, you moved on. The only humans that knew that she existed, she hadn't seen both Price and Zura in a long time. A ghost. Lost in her thoughts she wrapped her arms around herself and quietly followed him, unable to delete the picture of her grave from her inner eye.

[Archer he/him]

As Sagitta spoke, Tion divided his attention between listening to her and navigating through the trees they came to. The initial flora was sparse enough, ferns, crawling vines, and thin brown trees that only partially blocked the light. He picked his way through between the plants, stepping carefully to avoid crushing the tiny flowers and moss growths he was on the look-out for.

Then he stopped, finally processing what she was saying. “T’Sora. You are the first of your kin I have met, I think. Which means you have the opportunity to make a first impression on their behalf! And you’ve definitely brought honour to your family name through your actions. I am proud of you. And appreciate your assistance.” He gave his best reassuring smile. She looked like she needed a hug, but the god resisted the urge. There was still a decent chance she’d punch him if he tried something like that.

She was in a bad place, mostly because of him. With luck, Intensity would stop her caring about such things soon enough. He was good at that. Once he sucked enough drive from her, they could leave and do some proper therapy. But that was a problem for another day. For now, I’m doing what’s best for the both of us. Hopefully.

Tion cautiously crept forward a few more steps to peer down upon a sunken rock. A line of minute mushrooms was growing on its underside, the grey of their skin making them blend in nearly perfectly with their surroundings. Dexterously, he scraped his finger along overtop of them, making them fall out into his palm.

“Here,” he said, offering some to Sagitta. He picked up about half of the collection on the end of his pinky and sucked it. “Tastes like hot sauce, but in a good way. Clears out the sinuses.”

“We all face tough realities sometimes. There’s a lot to worry about, especially now. Best to focus on the concerning things which you can control right now. And if that’s nothing, well, plan for the day when you will be able to make a difference. Or build yourself up and improve your ability to effect the change you’re looking for. You’ll return home eventually. When you do, you can right this unjust situation.”

[+Sorana she/her]

Sagitta looked at the mushrooms, and then with a quick motion shook her head. "No, thank you." she declined, readied herself for his ire. He hadn't really liked it the last time she had spoken, she had disagreed and she suspected that declining something would be far worse. "I need to keep my wits around." she explained and took a step back, unconciously shifted her weight a little to make sure her footing was good and strong.

"But to follow your advice." she continued, hoped that she might placate him. "I am training, try to get back in shape. I hope we'll be here long enough that Intensity can show me a few things about my instinct." Intensity. When had she started to accept the fact that she was around gods so easily. "But I can't forget. If I forget, then I do them wrong. It's the only thing I can do for them. As long as I remember, they won't be forgotten."

Drawing herself up she looked into his eyes. "I trust you, when you say that I will return home eventually, but in the end - this is more important. I could have left, have fulfilled my bargain with Price and returned home, but I am here. Because I think, that something needs to be done. Something needs to be checked out or prevented. I have no idea what is going on, but that's fine as well. I am a sword, a weapon. I don't need to know details. As long as I know what I'm fighting for, for whom I'm fighting -"

She looked away from him, holding the mushrooms. "It's who I am." she added more quietly. "I can fight for Ta'e'ilo accompaning you, helping you on your journey. Because I think that in the end, you don't work towards the destruction of this world either."

[Archer he/him]

You stake your identity, your legacy, your life on this nation of yours. You think it permanent. It’s not. In time it will fade away, become absorbed into other cultures. The collective memory of Ta'e'ilo will wither away into myth, then die off altogether.  

Tion shrugged and licked the rest of the mushroom himself. They were a little overripe, but they made his nostrils flair better than any smelling salt could. He breathed the sensation in deeply.

There is nothing you can do that will have a lasting impact. Once you’re gone, all your sacrifices become in vain. The people you fought for die off. The world you tried to shape resets or evolves on its own. The memories you made vanish. Better to have lived a happy life than to struggle for the ultimate prize of nothing.

“You imply a contradiction,” the god mused, inching forward through the ferns again, eyes fixed on the undergrowth. “You say you are a fighter, a soldier, a bringer of death, and yet, you also claim not to promote destruction. Is not violence the root of all hardship and loss in this realm? How can you have it both ways?”

The greatest thing you’ve done in the course of your short existence is stab me. I will carry that scar for a while, and its memory for longer. Meaningful interactions with one of the ten creatures of permanence in this world are the only way to truly leave a mark. So I commend you, Sagitta. You have already done better with your life than most of your countrymen ever will. It is a shame that it amounts to so little.

Tion turned over a small stone with his foot. A tiny snake slithered out from under it, brown and green markings on its back. Seeing nothing else under it, he picked up the rock and threw it into the canopy. In the brief rustle of leaves that followed, two birds suddenly took flight from where they had been hiding, headed north. Tion watched them with interest. “It is good to have a strong sense of duty. I commend it. Just, keep the bigger picture at the forefront of your mind. Don’t let yourself get distracted.” 

You have no time to waste. Maybe this was a bad plan. But then, what else would she do? Tion's thoughts were confused. He renewed his search for more mushrooms to take his mind off things. 

[+Sorana she/her]

Sagitta frowned at his words, stayed quiet while she considered them. A contradiction. Was it a contradiction that she'd killed to protect? She hadn't thought about it before, had never questioned her orders, or the righteousness of her actions.

"I don't think so." She replied slowly after a while, still trying to sort her thoughts. "I don't start a war for the sake of fighting and I don't fight for the sake of killing." She brushed a loose strand back behind her ear. "But if I step in, when someone else tries to hurt a helpless person, someone who can't defend themselves, then it might result in the same, but the reason is different." The strand fell back into her face and she sighed, lifted her hands and quickly unbraided her hair. Better to have it all open, than that one loose strand annoying her endlessly.

"And I don't think that violence is the root of all hardship. Of a lot of hardship - yes, but of all?" she shook her head and leaned against a tree, observed him looking for something. More mushrooms, or maybe the plants he'd spoken about. "A lot of hardship is caused by hunger, by a storm ruining this years harvest, or by a flood carrying whole settlements away. Or by an earthquake, like the one that destroyed all the homes we visited days, weeks, ago." It still felt weird to speak about weeks. Weeks she had lost so easily, without even noticing. "Sicknesses both of the brain and the body -" she stopped listing things, her eyes turned upward towards the leaves as if she could find the point of her words written there.

"I think that a lot of violence is a result of hardship, and therefore causing further hardship. It's a circle, but to blame everything that goes wrong on violence, I just don't see that." Falling silent again she finally gave up when she realized that had agreed to his words in a way.

"The world is too complicated to blame it all on one reason." she ended, although it sounded a bit lame to her own ears. Here she was, lecturing a god about the world he had helped to create. Somehow that was incredibly wrong. Hoping to cover up on the fact that she hadn't really thought about the whole matter, she added a last question.

"What is the bigger picture?" she asked him, without leaving her tree. She would have helped with collecting what he needed, but if he didn't tell her what it was - there were so many plants around that she had no idea which of them he might have some use for.

[Archer he/him]

Tion took note of Sagitta’s awkward stiffness. He had turned to the trees now, craning his neck back to gape at the clusters of leaves near their tops. “Give me a boost, will you?” he asked, grasping the trunk of one spindly tree with his hands and kicking up his legs for the soldier to boost. “I’m looking for nests. Specifically the ones with those little blue eggs in them.”

Through grunts, Tion continued the conversation as he squirmed upwards. “I’ll make you a trade: a secret for a secret. Do you bake? I met a man like you not so long ago, a war camp’s chef. He made a fabulous soup. You remind me a bit of him. Anyway, the magic of cooking is you take a bunch of ordinary ingredients, stuff that doesn’t necessarily taste good on its own, and you combine them into something delicious. Gah, there’s ants up here. Heads up!”

The god wiped his hand against his leg, sending a rain of tiny ant corpses down below him. He had gotten up at least three meters, using the stubby branches up there as handholds. He had to half-shout to remain audible. “This world is full of ingredients! Some are edible. Others are poisonous. Others you can’t consume at all! But why let that stop you? If you combine enough raw materials the right way, they’ll make something cool. The key is to keep experimenting to see what you’ll get. If you keep it up long enough, you start to unlock the hidden features of your everyday environment! The secret to life, the grand bigger picture is-”

He pulled himself up with one arm to the apex of the tree, where a small pile of twisted branches marked the home of a sea bird. With his free hand, Tion delicately plucked a single turquoise egg from its hiding spot, then stuck it in his mouth for safekeeping. He had to climb down in silence, then continue once his boots hit ground.

“If you want to learn everything, you have to try everything. Right now? I’m trying something new. Hopefully this quest of ours, or whatever we’re doing, will reveal a few more details about how this continent ticks. Now, someone like you is going to have to specialize. You don’t have the luxury of time, like I do. But I tell you this, everyone can be a chef if they set their mind to it. You and I are gathering ingredients that may prove useful later on.” He wrapped the egg in a fern he ripped from the ground so he could tenderly place it in his side pocket. “Understand? The bigger picture is that I’m trying to collect a solid repertoire of information and hacks. I don’t know what I’ll do with them. Did the man who invented bread know what he’d get by combining flour, yeast, and water for the first time? No! Same goes for me, for us. We won’t know what we’re accomplishing until it’s done.”

Tion smiled, seemingly in an excellent mood now. “That’s your lesson for the day. Ponder that, turn it into poetry, I don't care. Though like I said, you owe me a secret now. I hope it’s juicy.”

[+Sorana she/her]

Sagitta walked over to him, reached out for his leg and feet and gave him a strong push, easily sending him up several meters. The god continued to climb up, until he reached what he had been looking for. An egg. She covered her annoyance about the way he escaped her questions and instead returned to resting her back against another tree, watched him climb down in silence, the egg in his mouth. At least he had stopped talking about some pilosophical things she didn't really understand.

She stayed where she was, her eyes moving through the forest. She perked up when she saw a bright red plant and squat down next to it, took a closer look. It had collected water within it's colorful petals and several insects were there, drinking greedily. She watched them crawl down, cover their bodies in the yellow pollen on their way to the water, drink and then crawl outside again. Tentatively she poked one of the petals with her finger, surprised to find it thick and strong, with a nearly wax like covering.

When she heard Tion's boots hit the ground again she stood up again, her attention back on him. It sounded a little, as if Tion himself didn't know what he was doing, what was going on. He had no idea what he was working towards. The thought nearly frightened her, made her skin crawl unpleasantly. She had assumed that he knew what to do, that he had a plan and that he, of course, knew what was going on. But he didn't.

"I never agreed to your trade." she stated, although she would reply anyway. It didn't matter if they traded or not. If he wanted to know something, she would tell him.

"I don't like to fight." she replied after a while, again looking at the beautiful plant offering water. It was the truth, as plain as any and it wasn't something she had spoken about before. "I'm tired of war, of killing and I certainly don't want to go back and watch a horde of riders attack my unit, me. I have nightmares, of those that I lost, of those that I gutted with my own hands."

"When you wield a sword as long as mine, you always have some distance between yourself and the enemy. A little space. But then, sometimes they are too close and you have to switch to your knife. And then, you can see their eyes widen when you push the knife into their body. Smell the sweat and blood on their body. You can see how their faces twist in anger, confusion, pain and fury, the fear and overall the will to live. And yet you don't step back, instead you try to drive you knife into their bodies again and again, feel their warm blood run over your hands, smell the stink of their intestines and watch as their eyes glaze over, see how their skin pales. And then, when their bodies go limp, or when they can't fight you anymore, you let them slide, get back to your feet, and ignore their screams, for help, for death. Instead you pick up your sword and leave them behind, rush back into battle ignoring the wounds they inflicted on you. Because if you stop, if you start to think about what you do -" she trailed of.

"I'm tired of it all." she concluded with a weary sigh, looked down at her hands. They were clean, no sign of the lives she had taken remained on them. She could feel strands of her hair falling around her face, knew that none of the cloths wore hinted at a soldier. It was like a mask, like a costume, but then her body, her muscles betrayed her easily. There was no hiding her occupation, no matter how hard she tried.

[Archer he/him]

“That’s an interesting plant you got there,” Tion said softly, churning out words to calm the tone more than to convey any information. “It’s called a broméliad. The red leaves make it very visible to bugs. They come and spread its pollen or drink its nectar. Larger animals avoid it. In forests like these, red means… Anyway, interesting choice! There’s a pink subspecies you might see around here too. They’re a little smaller, closer to the ground.”

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “You could give it up, you know. Walking away is always an option. With your shoulders, you’d make a good craftswoman. Could switch from knifing nomads to carving wood. But I won’t lie to you, it’s a hard transition.”

“You’ve no doubt met the other residents of this island. Many of them were like you once: they had a hard edge to them and too much on their mind. A thirst for adventure brought them here. Yet, over time, the master of this domain has eroded their gruff exteriors, made them more affable.” Tion dipped his pinky into the water that pooled in the flower’s leaves. It tasted stale, so he spit it out. “Bleh. Anyway, it’s a good system. They get some rest, sustaining themselves on the roots and vegetables that grow here for a few months, then eventually, Intensity gets the meat he needs to feed his birds. A single human can feed this island’s flock for a week, if rationed correctly. If you’re really tired of all this, that route is available to you. I’m told that joining the herd is incredibly pleasant. I tried to do it once, but there were… complications.”

The god clapped his hands together. "But for now, how's about helping me find the feces of a tortoise? They should be little black pellets, stacked in a mound. Come on, we're burning daylight." He stepped away, crashing through the undergrowth, trying to drag Sagitta along for an afternoon of ingredient collection. 

[+Sorana she/her]

Sagitta followed him throug hthe undergrowth, eyes sweeping left and right when she looked for little black pellets. "Over there." she pointed slightly to their left and changed course, headed over to a smaller tree. Next to it on the ground, was a mound of little black pellets. She kept her distance, only gestured towards it. "Something like that?" she asked him and stepped a little aside so that he could pass her.

Walk away. It was nearly sad how little he knew her. One moment her talked about her sense of duty and the next, he told her to simply walk away? She suppressed a short, misserable laugh. She wouldn't walk away. It wasn't an option for her. As she had told him before - she was who she was. And she had no intention to join a herd, and loose it all. She was going to fight, no matter how hard it was, how much she hated the feeling of blood on her hands. Because there were other ways to fight. Like Price who served and did it his way.

"Who is Last?"

She asked Tion, watched his face closely for any hints that he might keep the answer from her. "What do you know about him?"

[Archer he/him]

Tion scampered towards the spot where Sagitta had found the excrement, happily crouching to insect it. “Who is Last?” came the question.

A hint of confusion flashed across his brow. Last for what?

"What do you know about him?"

His reaching hand paused in midair, hovering above where the turtle had passed what looked to be a meal of berries and fern leaves. He looked to Sagitta, trying to figure out what she meant. The way she asked the question made him suspect that Last was more than just a person she’d bumped into on the island. “I’m afraid I don’t know who you’re talking about. It’s not a very common name, I think I’d remember if I’d met anyone who went by it.”

He breathed in deeply, inhaling the scent of his prize. It smelled fresh. The god began collecting it onto some cloth, nonchalantly thinking out loud. “If he’s someone of significance, it’s possible that he’s using a pseudonym. Describe him for me? His appearance, mannerisms, I might be able to narrow down his identity for you.”

Without warning, his forearms developed goosebumps. He paused once more, entertaining an unpleasant thought. What if my other half is speaking to her? 

[+Sorana she/her]

"He -" she started and then fell silent, tried to remember details, how he had looked, his body and face. He. Was she so sure that it had been a man, and not a woman. Her brow furrowed when she tried to remember, realized that the whole figure was clad in fog and shadows.

"I actually don't know." she finally stated and continued to frown. "They contacted me on our journey north. I kind of assumed they were a man, but thinking about it, I can't really pinpoint why." she watched him, squatted next to the feces and collecting them, using cloth to carry them somewhere else. "They asked about the gods I'd met, how they behaved, if they were able to use their powers. They told me, that they were trying to protect the world, to stop it from being destroyed."

She made a vague gesture with one of her hands. "Asked me to help them, to tell them if something was off." Shrugging she leaned against a tree again. "I have no idea what they expect me to do." she elaborated honestly. "It's not as if I know how things are supposed to be, lest alone if something changed. I mean even I know, that this hole in the ground wasn't something natural - but then - if they were able to contact me while asleep I have a hard time to believe that they'll miss something as large, as violent as that earthquake?"

"I'm sorry. I just thought you would know who they are."

[Archer he/him]

Tion’s hand clenched into a fist. Tiny bits of tortoise poop squeezed out of the bottom as his knuckles whitened. A whispered swear word was all he could say as he processed what she’d told him. The urge to lash out verbally, to tell how stupid it was to keep this from him, how dangerous this could be. Deep breaths. In. Out. Release the tension.

“You aren’t to leave my side until we find out who Last is,” he commanded. “I need to get my eyes on him. Can you call him? Do you have link, some sort of signal?”

Tion began to pace, mind awash with possibilities. It could be a hallucination of a memory, brought on by the trauma. Just a fever dream she had. Or it’s my Dark Side, trying to throw me off. Or it knows something about her that I don’t. Something you could only see with…

“Magic. You might be marked. We need to go to the beach, now.” He held out his feces-stained hand to pull her along, then realized what he’d done and lowered it sheepishly. “I put some wards there. Shrines of tiny stone, what do you call them? Sandcastles. They’ll dampen the magic on you, come on.”

[+Sorana she/her]

"I can't call them." She shook her head, stepped past him, back towards the shore. "There is no link, or signal or anything the like." Walking through the wood, she tried to remember where they had come from and in the end went with what was right. She should be able to see the shore soon, and if she couldn't - then she probably should turn around and change direction.

"I don't think they marked me." but her voice wasn't sure of the fact. Maybe he had marked her and she hadn't noticed? She had no idea what kind of magic there was, if she was supposed to be able to sense it or not. "We shook hands and then they vanished again - that's it. Nothing else happened." And yet she found herself walking quickly, eyes searching for the beach. Marked by Last. The thought sent a shivver along her spine. Who was he? And why had she agreed so readily - angrily she shook her head. She knew why. Because he had appeared like a god and you didn't dismiss a god. You didn't even discuss with them. You did what they wanted you to do. That she'd even bargained, that she'd changed the words a little, it had felt daring at the time.

"Do you think he marked me?" she asked, hand reaching out for a sword that wasn't there. She had left it in the chest, didn't want for her only good weapon to erode away, but now she regretted it deeply. Without her weapon she felt naked, helpless. Quickly she lowered her hand again. If it was magic, a sword wouldn't help her anyway. Against magic - looking over her shoulder to Tion she realized that he might be her only chance.

[Archer he/him]

“I don’t know what I don’t know, so let’s just go,” Tion called, parkouring his way through the forest. He mostly ran, robe flowing in the wind, but occasionally pushed off a rock or stuck out his hand to spin around a tree when he needed to change direction. The reaching thorns of crawling vines bit as his clothes and ripped his skin, but he kept going. “I have a very bad feeling about all of this!”

In minutes, he burst out onto the sandy beach that had been his sandpit for the past week. He checked over his shoulder to make sure Sagitta wasn’t far behind, then looked across the beachfront to see… nothing. Where dozens of immaculate sandcastles had been constructed lay only mounds of flattened earth. It was as if the tide had beaten them down, but the god had made sure to build them far enough away from the water to avoid that. He starting running again, zig-zagging from site to site.

That was when he saw them. Ten members of Intensity’s herd, shambling along the beach in the same direction. They had formed a fire-line of sorts and were very intentionally wandering up to each of his creations and stomping them underfoot. As he observed them, a middle-aged woman faceplanted into a sandcastle, smashing it flat. When she rolled onto her back to get up, she caught sight of him. “Oi! Oi! Oi! Oioioioioioioioi!” she squealed excitedly. En masse, the entire group turned and locked eyes on Tion.

“Change of plans, Sagitta! These are useless now and they took days to arrange. I think we need to check out. Fast. Where’s your stuff?” The group began walking towards them. They were slow, but persistent. “I don’t feel like finding out what they want with us. Hope you’ve caught your breath, let’s move.”

[+Sorana she/her]

"The hut!" she replied and without waiting for him started to run towards it. She had avoided the herd so far, their eyes and fallen in faces had appeared to be creepy. She was unsure how and why Intensity didn't do anything, but again who was she to understand a god. What she understood though, was the fact that Tion had set up the castles as some kind of defense, and now they were gone, destroyed.

She was breathing hard, a stale taste in her mouth, but she forced her legs onward, wondered again just how many days she had spent lying in that bed. Her whole body was weak, she should have been able to run for hours, especially if she used her instinct to help her. Another step, and another one. Sagitta gritt her teeth, forced herself to go on. She hadn't survived by giving up the moment it became difficult.

When she arrived at the hut, she reached out for the wall, leaned against it for a moment, tried to catch her breath. Dark spots danced in front of her eyes while she rang for air, her side aching. The chest. Slowly she stepped inside, sat down on the bed, glad for it's quiet, wordless support. She leaned over, reached out for it, and tried to open the lid. It moved a little, but she wasn't able to lift it all.

"It's locked. Did you see a key around here?"

[AonEne he/him]

Quote

A few weeks before: 

Negation stepped out of the shop, one arm heavy with a bag full of food supplies, into a slap of cold wind. He stopped in place for a moment, startled, but it died down after a second, and he started walking down the street. He avoided the gazes of the people who lived here; he wasn’t certain of the population’s size and whether or not they’d recognize a new face. 

After some time he reached the corner he’d left Izzy and Infinity on. They were still there, and he leaned against the wall next to them, setting down the bag. Gati had been considering his next move for a while on the ride to this city, and finally he’d chosen it. The odd feeling of his Power sloshing inside him, growing and lessening in every moment that passed, made his previous plan teeter dangerously on the verge of unviable. 

“Could you please send her to one of the spaces you make with Reality?” he asked the other goddess politely, gesturing just slightly at Izzy. He heard the girl’s quick intake of breath, and went on before she could ask why. “I thought I might be better suited to protecting her right now than anonymity, but with the state of things I don’t think that’s the case. Ideally, she can stay in there without being harmed until you bring her back out, correct?” 

@Blessing of Potency