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 Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 1:46 pm
 His choking breaths made Cosine jump a little. She had been so used to the silence. The wind in the trees, the sounds of the few animals that were scurrying about. His words were so soft she wondered if a mortal would have been able to hear them. She heard them, very clearly.
"Yes." She replied, shifting a little so she could look him fully in the eyes. Was the question from the Ankou she knew or Ankou from the past? Perhaps both? She smiled and reached across herself to place her free hand on his leg. "Yes, you're here." A wry smile. "At least I hope so."
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 2:17 pm
 It was fine. He was fine. He was not back there, not anymore.
The past was gone. There was nothing he could do about what he had seen.
Aside from not repeating it.
He forced his body to calm, the shakes to stop. "I... I am fine." He said, mostly for her sake.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 2:26 pm
"Yes you look it." She was of course being sarcastic. He looked well, like death warmed up. It was hard to know what to do. hot tea was usually something people drank to calm themselves, though Ankou did not drink or eat so it would not be very helpful. He did not sleep, though he needed to do something to relax and recharge himself.
"What ... what just happened?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 2:40 pm
Was it odd, that no matter how much he was on the receiving end of statements like these, that he never quite got used to it ?
Through... well, she had a point, even if compared to what had unfolded mere minutes ago... Well, fine sounded right.
There so many things in his mind now, old things, knowledge he had not known, things he did not understand. He needed time, time to understand it all.
"...I watched myself die." Well. That was an accurate description, without going into the details of what he had seen. He remembered, now, why there was a piece of him in the spear.
An act of desperation. He'd tried to save what he could, but he knew now that it had been for nothing. Nergal had faded, the Underworld crumbled, the valkyries' powers vanishing from them in the wake of all of it.
And Gungnir became wielderless, through he did not know the weapon's journey before that. Finally, he reached out to pick it up again.
The call, the flickers of memories from the spear, was gone. It was over. The cut on his finger closed up, mist hardening back into solidity to stop the flow.
It was over.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 2:50 pm
"The fading?"
She knew nothing herself. She had seen glimpses of what might have been, but they were not clear, just feelings, much like dejavu. She could understand perhaps why he had been so shaken by the whole thing.
"We should go inside perhaps? Is there anything I can do?"
As he picked Gungnir back up off the grass she released his hand and flexed hers. it ached a little from being squeezed so hard. She rubbed it, though she could imagine if she had been mortal, or even in the basic stages of evolution it probably would have been crushed.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:11 pm
"Yes." He nodded. That had been what it had been...
I will not let this go to this again.
I will not shackle myself in my own duty.
I will be... more than a role, more than a force.
I will be...
Me.
Whatever that was supposed to mean, well... He was not sure. Maybe he would never be sure. If life was a constant learning experience for mortals, why should it not be the same for them ?
He had never be afraid of change - he wasn't about to start now. "Yes... We should go inside." Really, this might be one of the few times she would see him sleep - truly sleep - since he'd grown last. Right now, he needed it.
He saw her rub her hand, through, and frowned. "Are you hurt... ?"
He had never meant... Never wanted to...
His hand came to rest on her's, gently, light - a little too light, even, as it seemed to shimmer, lose solidity, the cold leaking through in an attempt to numb the pain.
Ankou did not seem to notice - he was looking at her, and not to what the rest of him was doing. "I think... I need to rest." He felt so... off, and yet... better than before, in a way.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:22 pm
"Not really, it's just stiff." She felt exhausted herself, the day catching up at last and watching him go through those emotions had worn her out too. She smiled at him and glanced down at the soothing coolness on her hand. His hand seemed like it had become part of hers.
That was new.
"I found a nice room." She pushed herself up and held her hand out to him. "Some of the devotees here made it up earlier when I was ready to collapse. Anything that needs to be done can wait till morning." She breathed the night air in deeply. "You are sure everything is okay?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:40 pm
His own hand returned to normal as she moved away, through in her movement, she had moved right through his hand with ease, as if he hadn't been there at all.
"I will be fine... I just... need a moment. I need to rest." Both of them needed to rest, really. He took the offered hand, and follow her.
Something unseen had gone in motion, and not even Ankou himself knew it yet.
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