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 Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:52 pm
Eyes momentarily distracted by the things within the room, his blue eyes swung back to watch her move. He saw the bright smile on her face, a smile that hadn't been there in the breif time of their meeting. The placement of the smile made his heart ease a tad, she clearly loved what she made enough to smile like that.
"I'd love to catch a glimpse of what had you toiling all these years, cousin." Athrun said after a moment's pause, his eyes following her as she spun around to head yet deeper into the volcano she called home.
Further and further from the sky and the clean air.
Swishing his blood colored tail, Athrun passed a glance back towards the route to the surface before following Sanaa deep into the volcano. The lack of light this deep didn't bother the lonely god, for it was one thing to see with the eyes and another to see without them. Light wasn't a bother to him, whether it was there or it wasn't, all that mattered was whether or not his puff of mane covered the Eye on his bandanna.
With that covered he truely was blind as a bat.
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Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 10:09 pm
Sanaa smiled as she trotted downward, the path leveling out into a large room lit by a red glow. A pool of what could only be magma lay glowing sullenly acrossed the room, a good bit of rock flow stretching out before it. Sanaa turned right and into an alcove, diving head first into another pile of items. These seemed to be nothing more than scraps, left-overs from some large project.
The object the goddess pulled from the pile was obviously treasured, she handled it with such care. She walked back to where Athrun waited with what looked like a bundle of fur, setting it down before him.
The 'thing' looked much like a lion cub at first glance, though inspection proved that it was actually a fur cut and sewn to look like one, a few bits of odd metal poking out or exposed. Sanaa smiled like a proud mother as she reached to twist something sticking out of the cubs back, winding it till it was tight. When she released it, the cub-thing began to vibrate, making a soft, strangly-mechanical sound and a strange, echoing mew. It moved jerkily, walking acrossed the floor with uneven steps.
Sanaa's smile faded at the awkward way it moved, her expression turning into a slight frown. She glanced back at Athrun, her claws kneeding the stone floor. "Its a... cub." She said softly, grumbling. "Or, its supposed to be."
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Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 7:10 am
The way she held it denoted that it was quite the treasure to her, but as the lonely god watched her place it on the ground and crank it up, something unsettled in his stomach. As the father of two litters of cubs in his life, Athrun wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Whether it was amazing or whether it was horrifying.
Horror settled in as it mewled out a sound that was vaugly cub-like and began to move at a jerky gait across the stone floor.
Athrun's wings appeared again and fluffed out in what could be called fear, his paws slipping as he slid backwards a bit. To see something that wasn't alive move and make all the sounds that said it was alive shocked him, made something roll over in his stomach.
All the same, this was her creation, something she seemed proud of until she saw how it moved. Or at least how it presented itself. Slowly he smoothed his fluffed out wings back over his heiroglyphics and took a hesitant step towards it. The whiskers on his muzzle strained forward as he sniffed an inch or so from it.
"For... all that it's not... real... it moves better than one would imagine. I've never seen... anything... like it." Athrun picked in the air for a way to compliment her despite how unsettled he was. "You spent so long on this? I would fear it would take me until the rest of time to imagine something even close to this."
He sat back and smiled at her calmly, his emotions finally under control as he realized it was at least made of things from the land, aside from the metal that he knew but also knew was made with sheer force and strength. Sanaa had made something that no other had, something that no lion would think of. The very idea of it would make any lion uneasy, but it was also an incredible achievment. Something she could be very proud of.
After all, who could make a cub without having it be born and still get it to move and speak?
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 11:14 am
Sanaa watched the mechanical doll with a growing air of tension, her face twisting from an expression of displeasure to one of pure rage and frustration. The more it mewled and clanked along, the more it angered her till she finally burst forward and swatted it with her huge paw. It flew with a squeak to slam against the cave's wall, something inside it crunching and shattering before it fell to the floor.
For a moment more it jerkily moved, as though struggling to raise itself, its mews sickly and tortured before it slowed to a stop. Sanaa spun with a low, painful sound and all but flew back up the way they came, her great wings beating to add speed. The area where the doll lay was littered with feathers colored gold, silver, and bronze, as well as glittering rubies and diamonds. The feathers were obviously Sanaa's, ripped from her wings and used to build the cub she'd shown Athrun. The jewels though... it would be hard to guess what they were unless you knew Sanaa well and what happened when she bled. A few small diamonds glittered on the path where she'd fled, fittfully catching the pulsing light of the magma pool.
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Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:52 pm
If he'd flinched before, he really flinched now. The cub was hurled unceremoniously into the wall by it's very creator, destroyed before it had so much as made enough moves to assert it's abilities. Clearly if something had never been used before it took some time to rid the thing of the bugs that plagued it's system and abilities.
Sadness welled deep within his lonely, iced-over heart. The sky colored eyes behind the blindfold welled for a moment and then eased as he walked slowly forward to peer down at the forlorne object that had exploded upon the wall.
It had been made, obviously for her labors, out of things from her own body as well as things from the outside world. For all that it was mechanical and had no beating heart or blood or veins to speak if, in reality it was still created the way a creature was created. With things from both sides of it's creators. The feathers from Sanaa and things from the outside world.
A sigh spread from Athrun's chest out across the cavern floor, erupting from him in a puff of steam despite the warm temperature in the volcano. He could heal the living, make them whole again, at least mentally if it involved loneliness and abandonment. But something that he'd never seen made before, something made of metal and feathers and stones, that Athrun couldn't heal, couldn't fix and make better like magic.
One of the longer feathers on his large wings touched the small mechanical cub gently and he hung his head. Such waste, to throw away something you'd spent a century or more making merely because it wasn't entirely finished and perfect.
It's imperfection reminded him of his own soul, and so he felt his heart bleed ice for it, if only for a moment.
Then, without looking back at the discarded child, the lonely god followed where Sanaa had gone at a much slower pace, his wings folding to his back once more. As if to hide his own imperfection from the eyes of those that would see it.
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Posted: Tue May 27, 2008 11:06 am
The area was charged with emotion, heavy in the air to the point of bothering even a mortal that might enter the expansive cavern. The goddess paced before her workbench, many of her creations scattered from an angry sweep of her paw. Her face was dark with anger and frustration, as well as a deep note of shame.
She made no sign that she knew Athrun had followed her, but she must have heard him, because she spoke when he was within range. Her voice was low and rough. "I'm a failure, Athrun. As flawed as these useless objects I spend my lifetime toiling over. And for what? That they can rot away in piles around me while I strive to make more..." She growled low in her throat as she paced, her golden paw making a sharp thunk with every step.
Her words rang with ritual, like something she'd said often before. Obviously, this wasn't the first time she'd failed at this particular project.
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Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:40 am
Silence exuded from Athrun in waves as he watched the clearly upset lioness stalk back and forth. A twisted form of pacing that involved more anger than simple walking could ever bring. Slowly his tail swished back and forth, stirring dust into the air that would, in a few hours, settle on the ground and the creations haphazardly strewn across it.
He was thinking, attempting to piece together a string of words that might settle her anger and mind long enough for him to speak reason into her for her stalking. Truely he'd seen nothing like what she could make in his life. To have such talent and keep it bottled up inside a volcano, never to be shared with the eyes of those out on the savannah...
"Maybe it's time to take your creations and yourself beyond the walls of this home. You strive to make them for years, months, days, I'm sure for everything that you've accomplished there are souls out there who would be more than happy to see any of them, all of them." Athrun finally responded after a few minutes of hanging silence. "Creations are meant to be used, meant to be kept and loved like you loved them when you made them. One being can love as much as they want, but things fall through the cracks sometimes when they become excess. However, wouldn't it feel just as good to know that the things you created, the things you breathed life into, were loved by others as much as yourself?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:33 pm
Sanaa's steps slowed as he spoke, finally coming to a stop as she lifted green eyes to frown at him. His words had an undenyable logic to them.
"There was a time when the things I made were given homes, rather than collecting dust in my cavern... Back before I went into seclusion with my latest failed attempt." Just as quickly as her anger and shame had risen, they faded away under the pressure of her analytical mind, the cogs and wheels turning in thought. "Back then, my pride followers took and dispersed them... but since arising again, I have not seen hide nor hair of them or their children. I have a feeling they dispersed or expired... sadly."
Turning, she paced back along the bench again, but this time it was slowly, thoughtfully, and she unconciously straightened things as she went. "Perhaps its time I started looking for new followers and homes for my creations. I can see I've spent too long hiding in my mountain and lack of belief has left me weak. Yes, I know what needs to be done now."
Turning again, she bowed her head to Athrun, her jewelry tinkling gently. "Thank you, Brother, for bringing me enlightenment. I don't know how long I might have stayed here before realizing it for myself..." She looked around, her eyes taking inventory of her creations. "As thanks... take something." She smiled as she turned back, nodding. "Any thing you want, its yours. Start the rehoming with my good wishes."
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Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 8:28 pm
"I brought nothing that you wouldn't have discovered yourself with time. My presence merely sped the process up a tad so the world would be graced with your ingenuity that swifter." Athrun replied, holding his paws up a bit in a dismissive posture to show just how little he believed he'd helped her.
Certainly the god of lonelines was no authority on the ways of getting gods to come out of hiding or working. He could with mortals, help to ease pain and help them back into lives to live rather than bottling themselves up. That much Ath was capable of, but of helping a goddess to realize herself and what needed to be done to re-instate her realm upon the world once more? Athrun wasn't sure he could have done anything to sway her mind.
A nudge or two certainly, but nothing groundbreaking.
"As to your attempts, if you fail don't call them 'failures' or 'failed attempts'. If you view them as that then your mind blocks out all that you could learn from having suffered and labored for them for so long. With everything we do we learn something, with everything we see we experience. If you try your latest creation again after a few years, the odds are good that it would look much different than it does now because you've learned so much more." Athrun said slowly and carefully, "I need nothing from you my Sister, other than to see you and your creations alive once again in this world who so desperately needs the hands of creation to begin turning the wheel of time once more."
A sad smile spread over Athrun's muzzle and he bowed his head low before Sanaa, before one of his own kind. It wasn't something that would happen in the future, certainly not from the god who'd suffered so much at the claws and fangs of his own brothers and sisters for half his life.
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Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:06 pm
"I insist!" The goddess said as she reached into a pile and pulled something small and gleaming out. "This... yes, this calls to you, I can feel it. If nothing more, accept it as a token of friendship, a remembrance of our meeting."
Extending her paw, she held out a gold earring to him, a drop of bright orange amber at the end. It was a tad tarnished, a little dusty, and spoke heavily of age. It predated her seclusion, that much was obvious.
"Please?" She said softly, green eyes serious.
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:19 am
Silence exuded from Athrun for a long moment as he peered at the orange droplet. It looked a lot like his mate, his orange sunrise. Here it was being offered to him, it was almost as if that color was his saving grace anymore.
The god bowed his head before the other and folded his wings out to his sides, tilting them slightly in respect despite the awkward size.
"Truely you can be called the goddess of crafting, for your intuition on what belongs where still could be considered flawless. This once I'll accept my Sister, however I won't forget the gift. Trust in that I'll repay you once I find something of equal value." Athrun smiled finally, a true smile rather than the fake mask he often put up in front of others to make them stop worrying about him.
It wasn't often that the lonely god was offered anything, especially anything offered to him for something he'd done, though in this case he didn't consider himself as having done a thing for Sanaa.
Reaching a large paw out, the orange drop dissapeared within it and the bloodstained god bowed his head once again.
"It may be quite a while before I meet you again Sister, but I'll give you regards and not have to pray or wish for you to gain your followers once more, as I know very well you will without even having to think about it. For who on the savannah could create without a thought of the muse your countenance brings? So at that I say I'll have to leave, for there are things out there even now that call my name."
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:16 pm
Sanaa waved her paw to dismiss his need to repay her. She would not be looking for payment from him and if he happened to do her a favor some day, well... wasn't that what friends did, without counting the cost?
"You flatter me, Athrun, and its entirely unneeded. There is no need to soften me up any more." She teased him gently. She wasn't a master at the use of humor and her jokes often fell short of the mark... but at least this time it was tame.
Dropping her paw, she nodded solemnly as he spoke of leaving, turning to escort him to the entrance of her cave. "It was a pleasure to meet you and I'm glad you stopped by. I hope you'll come again soon, if nothing more than to talk, though I would love to make you some things. Good journeying, Brother." She murmured as she came to a stop, her wings gently fluffing.
She'd not forget him, even though he would be filed in her mind among hundreds of other things.
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 10:41 pm
Smirking in a ghostly manner, Athrun followed Sanaa silently to the entrance of the cave where he'd once come in what seemed like almost an eternity ago. Spending times with other gods could do that, could make him feel as if he'd been there with them for as long as he'd been alive.
In truth he hadn't.
The wind blew at his red mane and tugged the bangles on his ankles a bit, sending a gentle tinkling noise out on the wind and into the ears of some far off creature that would dismiss the noise as nothing of consequence.
"The next time I visit I hope to see a much different goddess standing before me." Athrun intoned slowly and smiled at her in a fatherly fashion, "I'll bring you a present next time as well. Maybe it'll be something you'd find you've never seen before."
Bowing his head to Sanaa once more, the lonely god turned to the edge of the volcano and spread his wings, letting the wind rush through the many snow colored feathers before he finally hefted his large self into the air with a rush of wind and took off.
Sanaa was one of the few gods in the world that Athrun could say he would trust blindly, however she was one of 'few'. It was something she'd earned with her stalwart love of her own realm and her quest to learn more and distribute her inventions out. Someday he hoped to see her work on others out on the savannah, hoped to see proof that her return had sparked intrest.
He was sure he would.
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