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 Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:40 pm
Syrie  The trek to Nergal's shared home was a blessedly short one from the Pantheon; Endiovar had to push himself to keep moving when what he and his tortured body wanted were to lay down and rest in the rooms promised him by HarmodiusDestruction. Xedre's sharp eyes watched and observed but the spiderine Aoide did not speak -- he seemed quite well contented to allow the new godling his sphere - something for which Endiovar was quite thankful.
'Even if I cannot leave tonight....I must see Nergal.' Blond brows knit together in a frown -- with the maps and Xedre and the slim journal that he'd found with Idhren, did he really need to borrow Priya? Did he need to impose upon Underworld yet again for aid? Endiovar looked over to the silent Aoide trailing a few steps behind him and pursed his lips. Even with Xedre's assistance, he needed Nergal and Priya.
They had been to the Forest. They would know how to pack, what to pack...they would know the best way to get there -- priceless information. Priceless. Perhaps he would only need the white-furred Aoide for a short while...
With these thoughts clattering around in the blond's tired brain, Endiovar came to rest on Nergal's doorstep. He rapped on the door smartly; not liking the sharp sounds made when his knuckles made contact with the wooden barrier but unable and unwilling to silence the necessary sound.Thabara His demand for admission was answered soon thereafter - the door opening a crack and a pair of familiar golden cat eyes peering curiously outside. They seemed to cloud over with puzzlement for a moment for a moment, as the aoide apparently tried to place the unknown visitor's strangely familiar features, but then they widened with sudden understanding and the door was pulled fully open at once. "Lord Silence," Priya whispered breathlessly and bowed deeply. "Welcome. My Lord is currently out on an errand, but he should return home soon enough. If you've got the time to spare..?" Syrie The sound of feet padding, a soft click and then a barely perceptible creak heralded the appearance of Priya (by way of golden cat-eyes and then body). Endiovar watched the feline Aoide's expression as she puzzled over just whom he was - and likely why he seemed familiar. But of course Priya would recognize him; she had known what would happen, had she not?
"Thank you, Priya--" 'I will wait. Time is short, but for this I have it.'; His hair dipped into his eyes when he nodded assent; Endiovar would wait for Nergal...and in the meantime, he could visit with the white-furred catgirl. He wondered briefly if Xedre would be as welcome as he himself, but the borrowed Aoide was like a shadow; silent behind him. If she had any quarrel with his coming along, Endiovar would explain. Thabara Priya didn't mind Xedre's presence it seemed.. Or if she did, at the very least said nothing of it as she guided the strange pair towards the living room, merely casting curious glances at both of them every now and then, her tail never quite ceasing to swish left and right as she moved. Nergal's so called 'living' room hadn't changed at all since Silence had last been here.. If anything, there had been more books amassed on the shelves. Apart from that it still seemed strangely empty, impersonal. "If there's something I can offer to you and your companion.. a tea, a coffee, something to read while you wait?" She pointed Endiovar towards one of the armchairs, quickly fluffing up the cushions after having given him a thoughtful look, before she bade him to sit down. She didn't assign a seat to the strange aoide. Not out of mindlessness, really, she rather figured it would be hard to use normal furniture with that built of his, and that he would want to tend to his Lord. Syrie Endiovar's eyes roamed as Priya brought them into the living room; that very little had changed since his host had come to ask help was somewhat amusing and brought a slight hint of a smile to the godling's face.
"Perhaps water." The armchair looked comfortable and problematic all at once -- he had been standing a good while by that time and did need a rest, but his back. After a moment's hesitation he gingerly settled into the proffered chair, inclining his head in thanks rather than speaking. The gossamer wings that had burst from his back twitched a little bit, disrupting the air behind him and causing his bound muscles and flesh a stab of discomfort.
'Such is the price I pay for carelessness. My Lord was right -- I should have been more careful.' Thoughts for himself, not for Priya nor Xedre -- neither Aoide needed to know these things, though Xedre had likely heard some of the gentle chastisement he'd received from Destruction. Thabara Priya beamed, the expression on her face one of almost child-like happiness at seeing her gift appreciated. She nodded slightly - once only, that was enough - and slipped out into the hallway to greet her master, leaving Endiovar and Xedre to their own devices for the time being. Soon enough voices could be heard from downstairs: Priya's of course, apparently reporting of their guest. That of a male not Nergal, interfering curiously but then apparently being shushed down. Another guest perhaps. Another aoide, more likely. And then of course Underworld's own voice, quietly giving commands and assigning tasks. Nergal entered the room not much later, his attire in stark contrast to the one he had borne the last time Colin Endiovar had visited, the look of it decidedly formal. Clean lines, dark, muted colors. His hair was strictly pulled back, part of it secured in a bun with two very simple, unadorned sticks of bone. He had been out to do business it seemed. Nergal's gaze rested on the strange aoide for a moment, his features displaying mild curiosity before he acknowledged Xedre's presence with a simple nod and went on to focus his attention on his guest. "Greetings, Silence," he said, inclining his head politely. "It is a pleasure to see you."Syrie The Aoide's pleased expression brought another soft smile to the blond's face as he watched her exit the room to greet her master -- Truely, Priya was an exemplary servant and companion. Nergal was very lucky to have one such as she in his court.
Voices. Sounds. Intonations. Modulation and pitch -- syllables muffled by wood and insulation, wallpaper and paint. He heard them, but did not revel in them; sound was not abhorrent to Endiovar, merely not his...thing. But words carried meaning when one could not see, and so he listened for tell-tale footsteps, for the soft creak of flooring under a man's weight and was able to straighten properly by the time Nergal came into the room.
"Underworld, the pleasure is mine--" 'You look very well. An elegant dip of his head, clipped only by the twinge in his back as his wings shifted. "My apologies--" 'I came unannounced, but I could do no less.' The closeness, the history that had been felt ever so faintly while still trapped in his gem was more pronounced now -- yes, they had once been comrades, perhaps even friends. The warmth his host had felt seeped into that long slumbering sensation and made it seem far more recent than it really had been. Thabara "There is no need to apologize, Lord Endiovar. Your presence is welcome in my House." Always. True, it was custom to announce one's coming, but it was not yet the time again to reign and hold court and he hardly was busy. As long as he could trust his aoidei to judge whom to allow into his house and whose presence was not wanted, he was more than willing to ignore the breach of protocol. He motioned Endiovar to sit, and did the same, reaching for a glass and the decanter to pour himself some of the water. If he had taken notice of the small salve jar, it was politely ignored. "What brings you here, Silence?" Nergal inquired once the other seemed settled in his seat. Considering the circumstances, this hardly was a social call. "If I can be of assistance in any way.." Syrie Resettling into the chair took a moment and the godling was much relieved when Nergal busied himself with the water; he would not have minded Underworld being privy to his injuries save that it would inevitably lead to questions that would take up time...and that was the one very precious commodity that he felt slipping between his fingers all too rapidly.
"And you mine--" 'Once it has become habitable.' Silver-and-gold curls fell into Endiovar's eyes and he brushed them back carelessly with the back of one hand before responding. "I feel...pulled. To the Forest." 'Priya mentioned you'd been there previously. I must go.' "I had hoped for your aid - I don't know what waits there, but..." 'Time grows so short. Desperately something calls to me there...and I cannot do this alone in my current state...' Thabara "I see." The request was of little surprise, as Priya had told him of course of how intrigued Lord Silence had been by the worn map. "I should have realized - even the voices of the dead were muffled in that place..""Name what you need," information, assistance, supplies, "and it shall be yours." Syrie The tilt of Endiovar's lithe body, the dancer's body he'd "inherited" from Colin, was one of gratitude and relief. Though Nergal had spoken before in such a manner, he had worried that perhaps something would keep him from offering assistance -- one never knew what might happen to change things. He felt a surge of gratitude for one that had likely been an old companion and friend...and seemed to be falling into that role yet again.
"It is Mine."'At least, I feel that it is - else it should not call to me so.' "I dreamt of nothing but it since this body became mine." He pursed his lips together and quickly thought about what he might need for the trip...and the journal. "I found this, in the Pantheon library..." Endiovar offered the slim, worn volume to Nergal and drew his shoulders together a bit.
'I know not what I will need for this trip..it is in this that I hope you can aid me most...' "You have been, you know." Thabara Nergal quietly accepted the worn journal, skimming the pages with interest before he handed it back. He hadn't read any of it, but he had noticed the writing grew more and more disorderly and jumbled as the count of pages increased, that the handwriting had moved from neat and elegant to frantic and shaky. It did, in a weird way, explain the strange sense of urgency Silence seemed to emit, and Underworld felt strongly reminded of his own frantic hunt for the origin of the voice.. Endenis' voice. "Do you have a means of transportation? There were roads leading close to the forest, in a roundabout way, but not too damaged. So if you could get your hands on a.." He bit his tongue just before he could actually say 'chariot' - really, one would have thought he had managed to adjust by now.. "On a car, that would probably be most convenient. All I can offer would be the old-fashioned way: On horseback."Syrie Silence remained still in his seat while Nergal gave the slim volume a quick perusal; yes - this was why he was pushing his newly won body to it's limits, why he was ignoring the need for rest and healing.
'I must go there, this...I believe this journal is key to understanding...' Or it seemed that way. Endiovar sighed slightly and supressed a smile at the unspoken archaic transportation that nearly came from the other god's lips.
"I have access to a car." 'Another "gift" from my host, as it were.' Though the dancer had not owned a car of his own and had preferred to bike in or walk where he needed, he had friends he could easily borrow a vehicle from -- and though Endiovar was not Colin and did not look precisely like the blond that had played host to his entrapped soul...it was close enough that he could fool them.
If he were careful.
"How...long did it take for you to reach the ruins?" Quite possibly that was not precisely where he would need to go, but it was very likely close enough for him to plan going there -- the forest, his forest, would tell him the rest of what he needed, once there. Thabara "About two weeks, on horseback, using the shortest route I was able to find. However.." He moved to rise and fetch he map, only to find Priya was already holding it out for him. A smile crossed his features, surprised but grateful. "Thank you."Nergal spread out the map on the coffee table, carefully moving tray and glasses aside beforehand to not knock them over by accident. "This was the route we used to get there," he said, trailing the markings with the tip of his finger. "However, I would take the route we chose for our way back. It may seem the roundabout way at first, but as the roads are mostly intact it would actually be faster if you are to use a car. There is an unmarked junction here, with a road that leads all the way to the border of the forest and then cuts off rather suddenly, as if the construction had been discontinued for some reason." Perhaps the construction workers had been simply too spooked by the eerie quietness and timelessness of the forest, perhaps there had been.. other.. reasons.. He made a mental note to research this, some day. "If you need to rest - there are good spots along the way here, here and here." Nergal pointed out the locations in quick succession. It was strange and amusing the same to see him act so eager to help with this, and if someone were to point this out to him none would have been surprised of it more than the Judge of the Dead himself. It had never quite occurred to him that he actually did enjoy traveling a great deal. "Walk straight to the east from where the road breaks off and you'll come across another, much, much older road - paved and lined with the remnants of lanterns and columns and wellsprings for travelers. An ancient procession road perhaps.. It only led to the Mausoleum for me, but if that forest truly is yours.." The godling's voice trailed off. What else was hidden within its boundaries, he wondered, things and places that were not for him. "Priya will pack everything you'll need. And.. I think it may be best if she accompanies you." Syrie As Nergal spoke, Endiovar focused in; this was important to him and the other man's experience would likely serve to make his journey that much smoother. That had been the point of coming to speak with Underworld, after all.
"I see..." Silence leaned forward, the tightness in his back forgotten momentarily; he was committing to memory what the other was saying and showing him. A road cut-off at the border of his Forest? Something tickled lightly at the misty edges of thought...yes, he knew that, or had....but the knowledge, the dawning of memory refused him and he dismissed it as something for later.
Focusing on today - on here and now - as opposed to the past that was held away from him was something that Endiovar had quickly learned worked better for him; far, far better than dwelling on what once was and would not Be again. He had changed.
They all had.
Sharp fingers pointing at the map brought the curly-haired man out of his thoughts and refocused him on the task at hand, though one other thing distracted him slightly and brought an amused comment from his lips. "I think, old friend, that you enjoyed your jaunt into my forest." Endiovar's lips curved into a smile - the information was invaluable, but more interesting to him was Nergal's warning response to travel. 'The Forest...is mine, I am almost certain...We shall see what it holds for me...' Thabara Nergal looked up, seeming a little surprised, but quickly his lips pulled into a smile. "I think I did, yes. I would like to return there some day.." There was something wistful in the expression of the young god. Once his realm had been remade.. Would he actually have the time and chances still to leave for other places? Or would he be too busy once more, bound by his duties and responsibilities? "I plan to stay within the vicinity of this city for the next few weeks, so her services should not be required. Also, there's still Ishum and the hounds for my protection." Waiting, waiting.. Waiting still. For things to happen, for Illumin to finally to return from that strange place he had gone to as he was his only lead to Panacea's whereabouts. The face Priya made and the way she rolled her eyes spoke volumes about what she thought of the "protection" the beastmaster and his hounds would be able to offer - but she did not protest against her assignment. For some reason she'd grown rather fond of the quiet master of Silence quickly. He seemed vulnerable so soon after his rebirth, and she did not know anything of Xedre's abilities. She'd feel better if she were to accompany him, if she'd be able to personally make sure he arrived safely at that forest which seemed to mean so much to him. "It will be a pleasure to serve you," she said, bowing her head, "even if only temporary. I will come for you once I've got everything packed and ready. Do you.. still live at your host's place, or have you found a new lodging for yourself?" Syrie A warmth spread across Endiovar's skin; it pleased him that someone he held in such regard would wish to return to a place that was his (very likely his, to say the least). The newly morphed God of Silence smiled and dipped his head; 'You are most welcome there, as you might wish.'
He listened attentively to what Nergal said and watched the other man's body language intently -- nothing rang false in face or frame; he could (and would) accept Priya's aid on the trip, at Underworld's behest. That would place him in the capable hands of not one, but two Aoide...supposing that Xedre would follow him into the forest - though Destruction had loaned him the spiderine creature and he had no true thoughts that the other would follow him.
"I would be most appreciative." Silence gave the white feline a quiet smile; he very much approved of Priya - just the right amount of reverence, irreverence and strength for a proper servant.
"Ah, yes--" Another nod; Endiovar had recently procured rooms at the Pantheon, courtesy of Lord Destruction, but he was as yet staying in his host's apartment. 'For a short while longer, I live there.' Suddenly, the blond felt immensely tired. His body had been taxed beyond what it should have been, and yet he would press further. It was Xedre's body-language, caught from the corner of his eye, that told him he would not be permitted to continue. Priya had said she would gather what was needed and fetch him -- that meant it was time to go rest.
"I thank you again--" 'And while I would stay, I am grown quite weary and should retire...'"By your leave, Old friend." It felt rude to drop by only to get a favor, but...he would make it up to the God of the Underworld and his retinue at a later date...just as he would repay his Lord Destruction for his favors when he was better suited to do so.
With good-byes and promises (from Priya) to come by the apartment to collect the God of Silence in the morning, Endiovar and Xedre left Nergal's dwelling and made their way back towards the Pantheon proper, with the intent of starting home from there.
Speaking with Lord Harmodius and then Nergal and Priya had been fairly easy, and yet Endiovar was quite taxed from just this. As a matter of fact, Xedre ended up half-carrying his temporary 'master' back to his host's apartment so that he and the ice sprite, Piallo, could tend to the wing-torn wounds in his back with the salve that Priya had so generously 'offered' that he take with him.
Despite his exhaustion, Endiovar could not be deterred. There was no time....
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:41 pm
...// Solo - As the World Falls Down:: Quest Post IV
Dreaming in black and white...
Dreaming in color...
Endiovar tossed and turned and arched, struggling against the sheets as he slept a most fitful sleep. The god of Silence was stuck...stuck in a dreamscape built from those things most pressing to him -- the voice calling to him from deep inside the Forest...and Destruction.
Harmodius.
In the forest, two bodies press together; clutching at skin and cloth and silken hair and roughened bark. Eyes shine brightly in the low lighting, moon-kiss'd but still so dark. A gasp of breath, fingers pushing-pulling flesh and bone for the joining. One large, one small -- an illicit tryst in a world where sound is swallowed the way hungry lovers kiss.
Silence rolled in his sleep, pressing his face against the pillow to stifle a moan he would never know he'd made.
The dream deepened.
One pulls away from that heated embrace - all that's needed is an answer. Simple yes, simple no. But the smaller makes not a sound, chest rising and falling in rapid jerks; trembling arms slide up, around the other's neck, pulling them back. Drown in me, the motion says.
Wings twitching over bound, feverish skin, Endiovar's sweat slowly soaked the bed. His fingers dug into the blankets and the whole of his body shuddered.
The fever spread.
A voice called out, jerking the two straining bodies from their tryst --the two looked up to find a statue watching them, one hand out-stretched...pleading.
In a blink, the world fell apart and the two were thrown about like rag-dolls, separated only to touch briefly. The statue continued to reach for him, reach for salvation...pleading, crying. It was dying; the marble cracked and blood seeped from the fissures.
He screamed without a voice as the ground was torn from beneath him, as the statue and his shadowy lover were swallowed by the void, by Nothing...
Despite the terror his dream-self was feeling, Endiovar did not awaken. He tossed and turned as the fever raged in his body, twisting his dreams and holding him hostage in an unending sea of nightmares...it would be hours before anyone came into the bedroom to see to him; there was simply too much preparation for the Aoide to have simply stayed behind to care for him and Piallo...well, the ice spirit required sleep.
And so, the God of Silence found Hell bound in fever dreams yet again.Closed eyes in the dark
Whispering when no one's around
The night sky looks like blue
My touch does not affect you
I wait for them to follow me
Like sugarplums, like sugar drops
I wait for them to conquer me again
I can't say yes, I can't say no to you
We bring our stories with us
We light a candle for beauty's sake
Are you feeling the bliss
I am, Darling, I am
I wait for them to follow me
With sugarplums, with sugardrops
I wait for them to follow me again
I can't say yes, I can't say no to you
I wait for them to conquer me again
I can't say yes, I can't say no to you
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:42 pm
...// Solo - Processional Road :: Quest Post V
As promised, Priya came to fetch Endiovar from Colin's apartment the next morning. Unfortunately, only Piallo answered the door when she came calling -- his master was unfit to go. The god of Silence was laying in bed with a fever that caused him to thrash and moan while Xedre and the Ice Sprite tried taking care of him without causing further harm. The feline Aoide was appalled and volunteered to fetch whatever they might need, she offered to call for her master, but Xedre refused that sort of help.
Friends or not, it would not do to have the elder god seeing Endiovar in such a weakened, vulnerable state.
It took two days of nearly constant care (and restraint as each time the god of Silence began feeling remotely well he tried to leave) for the small party to actually start on their journey. Priya came each day to see if they were able to go, and each time they simply spent time getting things ready. It was, however, decided that once they were on their way, Piallo would stay behind with Xedre and move things from the apartment to the Pantheon -- as the spiderine Aoide could cross the scorched land leading to the imposing building whereas he could not (unless packed in an ice-chest!)
The days spent unwell and all but chained to bed had given the others ample time to prepare for the trip, so it was a very small thing to get Endiovar ready and to set off.
Hopefully, they would find what they were looking for in time.
***
Days were born and days died while they were on the road. Mostly things were uneventful - the feline Aoide cared for his wounds and made certain they both ate and slept some (Endiovar didn't need sleep for sleep's sake, but rather for his tortured body's sake). Luckily, there were no repeat fevers like the ones he'd been having - Silence was on the mend.
Mostly, the trip out to the Forest was intensely boring for the Aoide and the morphic godling. What had been a two-week trip for Nergal and Priya last time shortened itself to a four day drive with plenty stops to rest and stretch their aching legs and stiff bodies. There was little to say during the trip; Silence was not a talkative sort and Priya was constantly checking the map and staring out the window, ears back as she worried about her Master.
Ishum was not exactly the best of defenders...what if Nergal needed her?
Even as quickly as they made it to the point in the forest where vehicular travel was nigh impossible, it took more time than Endiovar wanted. He was impatient -- the closer they got to the Forest, the more he felt drawn. Driven. Called and sought after. It was maddening, like an itch just under the skin...
***
The car's engine gave one last rumble and kicked off, the vibration under their feet fading quickly to distant memories that wouldn't be remembered. Endiovar sighed and pushed his hair back tiredly. It had been a long trip to get here...and 'here' wasn't all that impressive. Broken stone paving. Mossy, mushroom covered trees with leaves that moved without a sound. Priya's door swung open, a heavy motion that produced no sound - as though this overgrown and dusky forest-world devoured such things.
Endiovar felt the pull even more strongly -- and not just that, he felt something more being here. Carefully he too vacated the car, shutting the weighty door with only a soft click though he'd put some force into seeing that it didn't pop open later.
Not that he could see any woodland creatures about. Just trees. Moss. Quiet, green growing things. Sweet Silence.
The blond breathed deeply, eyes half shut as he moved towards the broken path. "The Processional...yes..." Memories tickled at his senses but all for naught. Endiovar had since learned that such things either blossomed on their own or didn't come to him at all - the past was past, not his to reclaim. All that he could do was take hold of the here, the now...and of course, the future.
Priya gathered their gear from the trunk of the small car while Silence gazed into the deep dark of the forest. It was a creepy place for her...all sounds created as she moved and worked were changed...never mind that the Forest didn't make a sound itself. Her fur stood up on end slightly; unsettling place!
Her companion felt much, much differently - that was apparent. His wings relaxed and canted back for the first time since they had come into this world. Peace filled him, as did a sense of belonging and of ownership. Oh yes, this was his...but something was different - changed and missing.
The lanterns were cracked, empty. Moss hung heavy on the few lines that still stood after all this time; the stones were cracked, crumbled and pushed around at crazy angles from lack of a proper caretaker. Thick tree-roots had burrowed under them and caused damage in many places. It would make their going a little slow, but would not deter the pair much while they were on foot.
With another soft sigh, the God of Silence returned to the car and to Priya, taking a smaller pack that he carried on one shoulder by it's strap -- Xedre had padded it thickly and fashioned the bag so that he could carry it without too much pain to his tortured body. Priya had a larger pack for they did not know how long this would take and she had wanted to be prepared.
"Let us be off. There is daylight still..."'And I wish to ease this unsettling feeling that creeps up to diminish my joy at finding what was once Mine.' The warm,settled feelings that flowed into the morphed god were tempered and twisted with the gut-wrenching sensation that something was wrong.
Why else would someone call to him?
So enveloped in these thoughts was he that until the Aoide called his name sharply he did not notice the Forest around them. Three steps into the ruinous Processional road and things had changed. Even broken, the lanterns were glowing with a warming light and all around Endiovar were delicate little lights; sylphs of sound and silence and light dancing - welcoming the familiar feel of Silence's magic.
Welcoming the return of their Lord.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:43 pm
...// Solo - A Vast and Endless Sea :: Quest Post VI
Wings outstretched and relaxed, Endiovar followed the glimmering sylphs deeper into the Forest. A voiceless wind rustled the leaves overhead and caused the low lighting to flicker, the shadows to dance -- here, Silence was finding a strange sort of peace...and Priya more and more unease and discomfiture. The forest had been creepy enough when she'd been here last with Nergal; now that it was sighing and breathing and strangely alive, it was even worse for some reason.
'Priya--' Silence looked back at his Aoide companion with a gentle smile, 'There is nothing here that would cause harm.' Whether or not this was true was wholly unknown to the God of Silence and his companion, he simply felt that there was nothing near them that wished to cause harm. This was not to say that Things didn't exist within the boundaries of this Silent Forest (there were a great many horrors for one to come into contact with) but they were not Near.
Not this place. Not the Processional Road. It was Forbidden. It always had been.
Delicate wings fluttered across Endiovar's field of vision as one of the brighter creatures came to whisper into his ear; Secrets. Hush and murmur and faerie whispers.
"We are...closer. To...it." Whatever 'it' was that was calling so strongly to him. The slim volume from the Pantheon library seemed to burn against his skin - a trick of his mind, or something else? Endiovar couldn't tell, he was too distracted with thoughts and curiosities. Fleeting slivers of memory danced across the expanse of his mind; like the sylphs guiding them, they did not touch long enough for him to grasp anything solid.
It didn't bother him. What was once, was no more. Lord Harmodius' current state was more than enough proof to that. The most that the God of Silence could hope for was to regain his lost power and make due this time around.
***
"Lord Silence?" Priya questioned the nearly mute man moving before her, his steps slow and deliberate on the broken-cobbled path. She needed to check his bandages and re-salve the wounds. They should pause -- the Processional Road was not a short one; it seemed to the Aoide that they had been walking for at least an hour.
Endiovar halted and turned to look at his companion, his forehead beaded lightly with sweat from the strain of the walk. In her features, he read what she wanted to say - the hush of the Forest had quieted her words as effectively as if he had taken them from her. "Yes, of course." His gaze shifted from Priya to one of the sylphs - a conversation occured the space of mere seconds before the creature zipped away from the blond's curly haired head to whirl and zig-zag across the darkening backdrop of heavy, mossy trees.
"We are nearly there Priya--"'Our journey is nearly done. I would continue, for the voice compels me so -- but we cannot afford to be impractical. Haste is seldom a virtue, and too often it has caused it's share of problems. We will pause here for a moment.'
At the very least, he needed the short rest provided by allowing the feline Aoide to bathe his wounds and re-bandage his chest. More and more he was healing the gashes in his flesh; the pain was not so acute now and whatever the salve that his companion used actually was, it worked. Perhaps, he thought to himself, perhaps he would be well enough to see his Lord and repay His kindness shortly after their return from the Forest?
Blond curls swayed much like leaves as a noiseless breeze stroked across his skin. Endiovar sighed softly and looked farther down the path, jade eyes peering into the dimly lit gloom. He could see nothing but trees and the path, though something in his belly said they were nearly there. The call - the voiceless voice calling to him, beseeching his help, was much more urgent - but disturbingly faint.
"Onward, Priya." 'Whatever time we had is no more. I feel it, I hear it.'.
His tone brooked no argument - Priya simply gathered their things quickly and followed Endiovar along the path again; their footfalls making naught a sound as they hurried towards what they hoped would be the clearing.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:44 pm
...// Solo - Tick Tock, Tick Tock :: Quest Post VII
Statuary. Standing so still and cracked with their features blurred and rendered indistinct by an age's growth of ivy, moss and other flora. The tiny sylphs danced around each piece of marble in turn, giggling and laughing and weaving a bit of magic here and there for some purpose the God of Silence didn't quite grasp.
Though he were in fact that Lord of the Forest, the little creatures were not going to tell him what he wanted to know...namely, where the one calling to him was. Or what it was. Endiovar's jade colored eyes scoured the area once, twice over...but he saw nothing save those over-grown statues.
The statues-- In his dream, the statue had been reaching for him, had it not?
One step, then another. Then another. Endiovar moved until he was standing before one of the statues. A woman. Bearing a lyre or something very like one. He felt energy trickling off the marbled surface, but knew - deep inside - that this was not what he sought.
It did however confirm something: His dream had been telling him something...and whomever or whatever had been calling to him since his rebirth was here. Imprisoned inside a marble shell much as he had been imprisoned inside the gem Colin had allowed into his flesh. 'But why? Why would one be trapped in marble in this Forest?' Had that been one of his practices of old? Or something done as a strange sort of...tribute to the God of Silence without his direct involvement?
Each time Endiovar discovered something, it served to bring more and more questions. Unfortunately, there were only two places he could think of to seek knowledge and neither was readily available to him at the moment. The Library...and Harmodius.
Wings twitched and shifted as the 'mute swan' turned and moved to the next statue. It felt much the same as the first, so he went to a third -- the fourth statue was a slender male bound with chains to the weather-worn and crumbling marble pedestal that held it aloft. It was here that he paused, lips pursed. There was no voice calling to him, marbled hand outstretched imploringly or blood pouring from cracks...but something told him that this one - this reliquary statue - was the one that he sought.
Endiovar reached up to touch the statue with long, questing fingers even as he turned his head to address Priya.
"Priya...I believe the one I seek is in thi--" Words died on Endiovar's lips and his entire body went absolutely rigid in shock and pain and terror. His fingertips had just brushed against the cool stone as the shock wave from Destruction's encounter with Samyaza the Grigori struck all of the world. Even here did he feel the effects, as did Priya and the small sylphs.
As did the statuary. First small cracks appeared in the sightless shell, then small pieces fell onto the grassy cobbles, onto Endiovar's hands and into his hair. The young morph-god was too busy leaning on the pedestal, wheezing in pain and a dazed sort of shock to notice that the statue was crumbling. Slowly, slowly, but by the time Silence had regained his wits about him, the pieces were falling aside in larger chunks and one could see that there was indeed someone inside.
The...person inside the statue did not so much as flutter their lashes. It was as though they were a living statue themselves, hidden inside of a marbled prison. Endiovar did not recognize the sharp-featured creature, but he felt a connection. His stomach was rolling and his head ached from the backlash of that energy wave, yet he still stared at the chained 'statue'. His fingers reached out to touch the crumbling marble, long digits pulling at the weakened material to tear it from...whomever this was.
Priya wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered -- the wave had affected her as well, knocking her to her knees and causing the fine fur on her body to bristle and stand on end. When she saw what the blond god of Silence was busy doing, however, she hurried to his side to help. Quite honestly, the faster they finished, the faster they could leave this place...and the faster she could return to Nergal.
With that wave of energy the Aoide was even more convinced that there was something wrong with her Master.
"Priya...we must hurry--" Words spoken not because he thought she needed them but because her body language said plainly that she would be comforted by sound...and even the crumbling of the marbled shell under their industrious hands was rendered mostly silent by the innate magic of the forest.
Slyphs zipped and darted around the pair as they worked to free the man trapped in the marble. They were behaving erratically, expending a good amount of energy before...bursting into a shower of smoke and glittering faerie dust. Endiovar's eyes went wide and he was distracted from lowering the insensate body to the ground; a question - wordless - was directed at one of the now-frantic creatures.
"They're...dying--" 'The wave, it's thrown them into a sort of...nova syndrome. They're expending all their magic energy and dying...' Utterly flabbergasted, Silence looked down at the slender man in his arms - he was wholly nude save for a pair of broken manacles and was very frail looking indeed. Sparkles of glitter-dust felt onto the supine form and his chest began rising and falling, much to Priya's relief. Exploding fairies and another 'un-dead, dead' body would have been too much when paired with the foreboding feelings that skittered along her spine continuously.
"He's alive...I think." Priya's tone suggested that she would like to leave - they had their 'prize', could they please go home.
Endiovar fully understood her apprehension. He too wanted to hurry back...but it would take too long to walk back to the car and then drive home. Another sylph exploded near him; another had settled onto the now empty pedestal and was industriously making what had to be a cocoon...though it looked like marble -- was that how this man had ended up a statue? Most likely.
"We need to return. Quickly." More of a conversation was had with some of the remaining sylphs -- after a few moments, the god of Silence turned to Priya and nodded. "They will send us to the apartment - it is safer that way, and he needs to be put to bed." Plus, Xedre and Piallo were there...he could entrust his new charge to their capable care; or simply to Piallo's care, if nothing else.
She nodded and pulled her ears close to her head; the whole trip had been strange and unsettling. It wasn't entirely Endiovar's fault either - from nearly the start the feline Aoide had felt an undercurrent of something else that was wholly unrelated. And now the wave. "Then, we should go. I am ready."
Endiovar turned again to the sylphs and tightened his grip on the man in his arms, nodding to the fey creatures that had surrounded them while they spoke. "My thanks--" 'You have served well, I will not forget this.'
There was a loud crack of magic, smoke - an audible pop and the trio was gone from the Silent Forest; heading blindly towards a scenario they could never have imagined...
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:45 pm
...// Solo - A Rushed Hello :: Quest Post VIII
Magic. Untamed and perhaps even unstable (likely in thanks to the Wave of energy sent out previously) magic. This was what the trio was relying upon to come back home. Colin's apartment. Only, it wasn't home for any of them.
Once, the apartment had housed two strange and star-cross'd lovers...now it housed ghosts, memories and the skeletal trappings of a life.
Endiovar watched the magic swirling around them and waited for it to dissipate before moving. Wilder magic like that - the tiny supernova that signaled the end of so many fey lives - could do irreparable damage if one were not careful. But he had precious cargo -- the slim man in his arms stirred as the last of the magic licked at his dusty, stained cheek -- and he had Priya to worry about.
Neither would move without his say for he knew better than they the creatures that dwelt in his Forest. Even if he didn't remember everything.
"Priya...thank you--" 'For coming with me, for aiding me. Return to your master now...see to Nergal as only you can.' Pretty words spoken-but-not-spoken. Endiovar leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to the Aoide's forehead in a sort of blessing and in thanks. He knew she could not afford to stay with them longer; something had upset her and she feared for her Master. They would keep her no longer--
"Master! Master~!" Piallo appeared and came dashing from the freezer portion of the refrigerator, his icy arms flailing just a little bit. "We were moving things--" "Something rocked the Ether--" "There's a wall around the Pantheon!!" As excitable as the ice-sprite could be normally, he was doubly - no, triply so then. So worked up was he that the man in his master's arms went almost wholly unnoticed until he moaned.
"Oh, who's that? Is that what you found in the forest?" Strange looking sort. Naked save for chains. Interesting, but not nearly interesting enough to keep Piallo from fussing at Endiovar about the Pantheon and the goings on since he'd left.
"Quiet, Piallo." The morph-god sighed a little bit and looked down at the man in his arms -- he looked to be fairly normal, all things considered. Wings. Chains. Pointy ears. Who knew what he would prove to be; it didn't matter though. Endiovar would take the man to his bed and lay him there to rest. To heal as he himself had once healed in that same bed.
Surprise marked his face when, upon entering the mostly barren bedroom, the Drider Aoide, Xedre, was still there. So, Harmodius' loaned servant was yet with him? Excellent. Endiovar felt much better with two to care for his new charge. "Come." 'He is hurt, we must help him.' It was when the curly-haired godling leaned over to place the man on the bed that Piallo made another discovery -- one that was interesting enough to temporarily blot out the Big News.
"Master - your back!" They had cut open his shirt to let the wings out while his back healed; Piallo was seeing skin through the neatly done tears in the fabric. "You've healed!" Oh, there were scars, to be certain...but it seemed that a trip "home" hadn't been the only parting gift the wee creatures had granted the God of Silence.
"It still pulls,but...yes." He felt that his flesh had knit together...that perhaps he could pull his wings into himself again - not so they would burst out as they had the first time, but so that they were not so much in the way...so one could see and reach through them. Interesting. Definitely something to think about later. So much would have to be processed later.
Xedre slipped off to fetch bandages and medicines for the wounded man and Endiovar glanced at a clock yet on what was likely an empty nightstand. Two days had passed for them while traversing the Ether via magic. Two days instead of weeks -- but still two days lost. He worried his lower lip with his teeth, green eyes going slightly cloudy as his brain clicked and whirred and tried to process a little bit of what the Ice Sprite had told him.
"Nng..." The form on the bed stirred. Xedre had returned and was bathing the man; sometimes, it was frightening how quietly he moved...but mostly the fact that the Aoide worked so quietly, so efficiently was comforting to Endiovar. Perhaps it was the Drider's actions that stirred him, or perhaps it was simply that whatever spell had held him living-but-not for so long was wearing off. They would find out, eventually.
"No...words--" Raspy. Hoarse. A voice that had gone unused for years came from the man's lips with the ease of a rusted submarine hatch opening after hundreds of years left in the damp. His dark brows knit together - pain or hard thoughts causing a change in the heretofore slack expression.
Endiovar put a hand to the man's forehead, gently smoothing back his hair; a motion that quieted their 'guest' at least temporarily. "Rest without worry, child." No words? Silence was certain this was the one that had been calling to him...so...perhaps the man meant him. Was he not "without-words" most of the time? It had to be so. "We will speak later. Rest--"
Slowly eyes cracked open, revealing blue-grey irises surrounded by long lashes and a gleam that was wholly unwell. "Hue-- " The man rasped and tried to sit up though Xedre held him down gently and easily. "--waited..." And then he passed out and went limp again.
"Hue...?" Was that his name? 'Hue waited'; a queer statement, if there ever was one! Before Endiovar could contemplate this development, Piallo was in his face, insisting on showing his master the Wall, the Pantheon...everything.
A quick check around the apartment to assure himself that there was enough to care for the wounded man, a quick shower and a change of clothes later and Endiovar was ready to go back out. He had to see first-hand what the Ice-sprite was babbling about. Piallo would stay behind with the Drider. There was no need to take them all along. None at all.
Besides, someone had to console Whisp. It chirped so sadly because he would only spare enough time for a few short pets in greeting rather than the long affection-session it seemed to want.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:46 pm
...// Solo - Under the Weight of Your Wings
Tick tock. Tick tock.
Upside down. Backwards clock.
Ticking ticking ticking. Time moved syrup slow and tornado fast in the wilderness of the mind.
Hue dreamed.
He dreamed of spiders eating his flesh, of freezing to death...of crows trying to peck him to death. He dreamed of a Voice that soothed everything.
But that wasn't important. What was important...was that for the first time in centuries...
Hue dreamed
***
He'd gone to the Pantheon. He'd seen - or rather, not seen what Piallo was talking about. There was indeed a wall of some sorts there, blotting out the building that housed Harmodius and several of the other gods from his searching eyes. There was an unsettling feeling in the air all around - not just near the Pantheon's location either. Both on the way to the Pantheon, and now that he was making the trek back to the apartment, he'd felt it.
And he'd seen it too. In the people he'd passed along the way. Some buildings had even been looted; in many places, there were blood-stains on the streets, the sidewalks. People - those that were up and moving about - had this blank, lost look in their eyes as they went about their business. Bodies spoke plainly of loss, of uncertainty - of pain, fear and apprehension. But despite all of this, they were trying to continue on; live their lives with some semblance of normalcy.
Humans really were incredible. Tiny, violent lives...yet they held on so fiercely. Even when they didn't know what was going on.
Though he had almost expected it, Endiovar was still surprised to find no children near the park. There were no kids screaming happily while running around the play-ground at all. Colin had come to this park sometimes...to sit on one of the benches and watch the children playing so carelessly, so happily. Now, the bars were mangled... twisted as though from a great weight. A thin layer of dust and rotting leaves covered the flat surfaces - days had passed since anything living had played here.
There was sorrow everywhere he looked. Defeat. Endiovar was depressed by what he saw, what he read in people.
'All this happened while I was away...incredible. So many changes...and my Lord unreachable...' He desperately wished he knew what had happened...what had caused such a change in the world.
But with the Pantheon locked away from him as it were...he had no choice, but to wait and see.
'Harmodius...what has happened?' Silence received no answers that afternoon. Nor were there answers when he returned to Colin's apartment that evening. Only a sick man, a spiderine Aoide, an ice-spirit and a feather-brained fluffball.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:47 pm
...// Solo - A Slow-motion Strangulation (Sloth)
He heard it. The clarion-call of an unseen horn. It woke him from a deep slumber and had him sluggishly sitting up, rubbing at his eyes with heavy hands. The energy felt sapped from his limbs and when no immediate answer presented itself to the sleepy god, Endiovar fell back against the couch to sleep more.
Whisp, the Idle Thought, chirped softly and twitched it's ear before snuggling deeper into the small pile of pillows and blankets next to the couch that Piallo had set out earlier that night for it.
***
Morning came and went - Endiovar slept on past the noon hours, rousing only once or twice to use the bathroom, get something to drink and check on the man sleeping in his bed. Xedre had settled into a nest of blankets and pillows beside the bed but did not stir beyond cracking open one eye to peer at the curly haired god.
None in the apartment seemed willing to rouse themselves; it was as though a heavy blanket had fallen over them. Limbs were weighted by invisible lead bars and even Endiovar found it difficult to force himself to rise and do even the most necessary of tasks. Piallo would not come from the freezer and Whisp simply slept. Perhaps the Drider Aoide would have sluggishly obeyed a command from Silence, but doing so required effort that he was unable to summon.
Laying on the couch with one hand shielding his eyes, Endiovar reflected that this must have something to do with the Pantheon being cut-off; with that wave of energy...but he could surmise no further. Even thoughts were exhausting; they led nowhere and after a few moments fell into a void as complete as the wall Samyaza had made.
***
Three days.
After three days of a half-life, Endiovar roused himself. He forced his body to stretch, to bend and move; sluggish blood moved through his veins, strengthening muscles that had almost forgotten how to tense and release- how to work.
It wasn't easy. Thoughts like grey clouds, feelings of depression and despair, weighted him down; heavy raiments of sorrow and apathy draped each limb and twined about his chest. Even breathing was difficult for the god - he shuddered to imagine what the trumpet's call had done to mortals.
Endiovar checked to see that Whisp, Piallo, Xedre and Hue still lived. Xedre roused himself with effort and set himself to tasks given him by Silence. Food and fresh bedding for Hue required both men; one supporting the other as they struggled to complete such basic acts.
After, instead of resettling on the couch, the blond godling resituated himself on the balcony with food and hot tea. His half-closed eyes sought the sky over where he knew the Pantheon to be and when he saw nothing, he sighed and slumped his shoulders. Until he could see something over that area - a bird flying, a meteor...anything - he could do naught but wait.
On the balcony under the haze of the setting sun, Endiovar fell into that shallow state of sleep where the edges of reality and un-reality met, blurred and crossed in strange ways.
Poignant pain and searing heat...confusion and hurt and fear crashed over his senses; dream or reality? He could not have known...
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:48 pm
...// Solo - Starlight (Sloth)
Deep in dreams, Endiovar walked lightly through a place that no longer existed for him..
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ages ago, down a dimly lit path, he had walked side-by-side with a beautiful youth. Delicate features, translucent skin...absolutely perfect and pure in every way.
Softest of silk slid about her fey frame as they walked; the delicate, watery blue complimenting her dark hair and bright eyes. Her hips moved under the fabric as they moved, but there was no sound. Not from the slide of satin over skin, nor the steady fall of their gilded sandals upon the stones, nor their lips. Words and sounds were utterly un-needed here. A breeze caressed her cheek and then danced through the trees, the leaves moving and causing the light and shadows dappling their skin to jump and move.
'Do not be afraid--' He inclined his head to her, ever so slightly and allowed the sound of the leaves rustling for her pleasure; something that caused her lips to part and curve into a gentle smile. She had spoken not a word since arriving, yet he always knew her wants...somehow.
That was his way...
***
Gleaming blue-black metal stands, wrought not with magic but with the hands of craftsmen that had devoted entire lives to perfect their craft, waited atop marble pillars. A very important piece was missing from each post: the lanterns.
In the center of a circle ringed by marble and metal, a different youth danced silently while blood flowed from several shallow wounds made by a practiced hand using a ceremonial blade and her eyes had been removed as per custom.
Slowly, glimmering lights crept up, around the girl; warm lights that wept for such beauty being marred so callously. They drank delicately of her unsullied blood, drunk on sorrow they bound themselves to her. On and on she danced - distracting the beings that had come to console her, to join with her in such a fashion, from the hooded figures creeping up behind them.
Whoosh-snap. Whoosh-snap. Whoosh-snap.
So it went. One by one, the little creatures, the warm little lights, were trapped in ornate, hand-wrought lanterns and then hung upon the waiting posts.
Once all thirteen posts were filled, he came forward.
Glittering white, deepest of red. Gold and platinum and frothy, light silk clothed his elegant form. Silence moved onto the blood stained dais and reached out to draw the sacrificial girl into his arms, he brought her wrist - where blood flowed freely - to his already rouged lips and stained them further.
The glow around the lamps brightened, colors shifting.
Blood painted his bare-chest in pinks and reds, his white cape drank the color into itself and was edged in red. The woman-child swooned in his arms and he lifted her as though she were his bride.
'Spirits bound to this my devote child, now bind yourselves to me by our shared blood. Know thy master--'...
***
Back and forth, too and fro did Endiovar's dreams go. When he woke, he stared blankly up at the stars in the sky; his thoughts vague, fuzzy. It took a few moments before Endiovar could pull his mind away from the fading dreams and back to the reality of now.
'Starlight? How long has it been since I settled into this place? Hours...or days?' One long-fingered hand reached up and pushed at the unruly curls he had "inherited" from his host and he sighed again; there was no telling unless he had a calendar and while the pull on his limbs had lessened some, he still found it difficult to summon the [wont to rise and do anything.
'Such dreams...or were those memories from days of Glory long faded and ashen?' It would have required a mind much more agile than Endiovar's currently was - so he merely banished the strange dream-scapes to the back of his thoughts where he may one day pull them forth again and dwell upon what they meant. The hand that had been at his hair dropped back into his lap and Silence's eyes flickered slowly shut.
To sleep more...it was a blessing, was it not? He was about to slip back into his half-dreaming state when a voice he had not heard in a good while prodded his conscious; goading and bullying him into shaking off this uncharacteristic mental and physical apathy.
"Get your a** up - get moving! I didn't give over my body so you could lay around like a lump when He might need you!"
Colin had lain dormant within Silence's psyche until now - the only reason he was still around was because Endiovar had promised to keep him tucked away until their "agreement" had been met...but with the godling so indisposed and the Pantheon closed to them, he couldn't help but speak up again though the effort had him curling back into that small place where he had been 'sleeping', exhausted.
Good thing too, because with how worn Endiovar was from the trek to find Hue, he'd fallen prey to Sloth in a very strong way - but no more. Colin was right. He would get up and do something.
'My thanks again, Colin...Please rest as I rest. In the morn, we will start again. You have my word.'
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:49 pm
...// Solo - Madness Caught Another Victim (Envy)
Despite Endiovar's best intentions, the most that he could rouse himself to do under the 'banner' of sloth was keep himself, Xedre, Hue, Piallo and the Idle Thought - Whisp - fed and not completely filthy. It had been difficult, to say the least, but Silence was a man of his word...and bound by his word, he'd done his best to rise above the lingering malaise of the first Trumpet.
At the very least, he had been trying rather than laying around dreaming of the past (that mattered...and yet didn't matter) or just dreaming - though he did sometimes dream the most interesting things...
'That boy...how interesting, I wonder where he came from...' A passing thought as he set to cleaning the apartment. It had been late (or early, depending) when the chains of the lingering stupor had broken from him and another 'note' felt. The effects he would be touched by were unknown to him so far, though Endiovar found himself gazing at objects that were not his from time to time; a feeling of longing welling up in his breast.
Cleaning might have seemed utterly useless as he was set to move the rest of his meager belongings out and into the Pantheon...but he wasn't quite ready to return to the place where his Lord held court. There were a thousand tiny excuses that he could come up with, but the truth was he was frightened. What could the god of Silence do to help when Harmodius, the Elder God - Destruction, couldn't help himself?
Fear kept him at the apartment. Longing to be near his Lord kept him wavering back and forth, fighting with himself.
The truth of the matter was that Hue, the Aoide that he and Priya had rescued from the broken-relic of his Forest, wasn't well enough to either travel with them or to be alone. He'd just gotten to the point where he could sit up, sip some broth and talk with Endiovar, Piallo and Xedre...
...That is, if an apparently half-crazed Aoide's croaky sounding utterances could truely be considered "talk".
***
"Words. No words. Master had no words - still no words. Don't need 'em. Still and quiet, too quiet in there. Master likes quiet, but we don't - do we? No, no...not any more..." On and on Hue rambled once he refound his voice. Years of being sequestered in the forest; of having his entire being frozen and held tightly be that ancient wilder magic had snapped something inside him and nothing could shut him up.
Except Endiovar stealing his voice.
And that - as Xedre, Piallo and the god himself found out - sent the Aoide into a complete and utter frenzy. He needed to talk himself out. He would talk himself out...it would just be where no one could hear him. Rather than stealing the Aoide's voice, his 'master' simply figured out how to put a wall of 'mute' around the fellow. That way he could talk all he wanted, hear himself talking...and not drive the rest of them bat-s**t insane (which he had been doing).
Of course, from time to time one or more of them would go and speak with him, let him hear a voice other than his own - interact and re-familiarize the bat-winged man with the chain collar yet around his throat with other sounds.
He liked that. Hue wanted attention and affection and just to be able to be heard. After so long, being heard and being near Endiovar were pretty much all he could have wanted. Until Envy draped silken cloth about them all and seeped into his very being. Then he found himself growing tired of his own company and reaching out for the others; jealous that they could touch and be near Silence when he - who had been trapped for so long - could not.
"Gluttonous, wicked...Lord is mine, let me return to your side, Master!" Hue touched the steel around his neck and sighed a bit, fingers digging into the metal until his knuckles were white from the strain and Endiovar noticed something was wrong.
Insubstantial wings fluffed as the curly-haired godling dropped the sound-shield he'd put up around the Aoide and went to him. His expressive hands reached out to soothe, to calm. 'Rest easy, Hue.' Though his 'rescued' companion visibly relaxed, he did not release his white-knuckled grasp on the metal collar until Endiovar spoke
"Calm yourself. There is nothing to be upset over." In the hush that followed those words, Hue finally relaxed fully and returned to resting upon Colin's bed. Silence supposed that had he been trapped in a half-state for so long; had he suffered what the Aoide had suffered, he might wish to hear comforting sounds and be near those that held the promise of succor.
Deft hands patted blankets and hair and gently reassured the bat-winged male that all was well and that he should rest - recover. Jade eyes flicked away to look towards where he could hear Xedre - the Drider was quietly moving about the apartment. In that moment, Endiovar felt jealousy surging up -- how easily the creature moved about! How close he had been to Harmodius...
'No - it is not my nature to feel such as this. I must remember, I must stay focused lest I allow myself to fall into such a trap again.' The memory of his host's voice, drifting back up from the deep depths of his sub-conscious helped Endiovar keep from falling prey too deeply to the Week's wicked effects though he could not always help his reactions. Difficult to resist the tidal force that washed over them all ceaselessly.
Oh! How he hated that Trumpet's strident call! Would that he could silence it as effectively as he could Hue's excited babbling once they started!
Even if it were possible to do so, the golden-haired man was too frazzled, too busy and distracted by caring for the Aoide, speaking with Xedre and worrying about Harmodius (ah, but he did envy those free to go to the Eldest God where he himself was duty-bound to remain in the confines of his host's apartment!) to do more than muse in passing over whether doing so would have any sort of positive effect at all.
Surely, those obnoxious tones that tore across his nerves were not the cause, but rather an effect; part of a bigger problem that he was not yet fully aware of.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:51 pm
...// Solo - Hard Parting (Envy)
Rain was falling when I woke up today
Making liquid shadows on the walls
I watch your dreams flutter across your face
Why am I always going away?
A sharp rapping on the apartment door jerked Endiovar out of his quiet contemplation of the steadily falling rain outside his window. He'd been daydreaming again - about life as Colin had known it; about Adrian and about Illario. The noise had broken his reverie and brought him back to his senses.
Piallo peeked his head out of the icebox and gave his master a quizzical look -- should they open the door? Did he really want to deal with the shadows of the Week playing across the mortal's hearts and souls and minds? After all, the last two times that someone had come to their door it had been jealous, zealous mortals wanting to take things...to see what they had that might be worth having for themselves. In the end, none were so bold as to try; either Endiovar himself or one of his retinue were able to "convince" the interlopers to go swiftly on their way to seek easier quarry.
'I will answer, Piallo.' Silence rose from his chair and straightened the baggy cargo-pants he wore. His host's clothing choices proved to be poor ones for a reborn God, but as he was unwilling to go and seek new things with which to clothe himself he worked with what he had available. Proper clothing would come later, when he had more time...or inclination to actually get things, rather than simply wonting after them with a sigh. Movement and thought came slowly under the trumpet's effect; he did his best. At the very least, he was better off than the mortals - even Piallo and the Aoide were not so well equipped as he.
Endiovar opened the door slowly; reborn god or not, he was wary of who might be at the door in these trying times. "Yes, can I help you?" Jade eyes took in the disheveled and damp brunette standing before him - it was one of Colin's friends...the one that had let him borrow his small car for the trip to the Forest of Silence. A car that had yet to be returned. It was no wonder the young man had appeared on his - Colin's doorstep. Even so, Endiovar could not be certain that the car was Jarod's reason for being there...nor could he make any assumptions as to the other man's frame of mind.
"Jarod...hi - I didn't know you were coming."
His eyes were narrowed and dark, his clothes soaked, stained and worn. The entire air of the young man was that of disquiet and agitation - disturbing to the God of Silence on several levels. Jarod took in the appearance of his friend and frowned, reaching up with one hand to tug at the ponytail tied at the base of his neck. "Yeah...hey, Colin....you look...different."
Jarod's muscles tensed as he leaned in a little bit as though he wanted to push past Colin/Endiovar and tear through the apartment. See what his friend may have been hiding, see what he had. Things - they all wanted them and they all craved them...Jarod was no different. But the Week was waring with his naturally giving nature. "So, we haven't seen you in uh, a while. And things are like, crazy...you know--"
Ah, that's right...this was Jarod, as his memories so helpfully supplied - a close friend from the dance studio. Or he had been, once. Now it was rather obvious that there was something not-right about the man at his door. The influence of Destruction's trumpets - the heralds of the End - were etched so clearly in this man, especially for one such as Silence. He didn't need to hear the odd inflections in Jarod's voice to know, he just needed to see the way he fidgeted and shifted his weight, the craning of his head to see past Endiovar's body...all sorts of unspoken tell-tales that he wasn't the same person that Colin had once known.
No mortals were. Even the immortals weren't entirely the same. None could escape - how could they?
Endiovar pulled his lips into a smile that while not entirely truthful, was at least genuine enough that it wasn't a lie. "Ah, yes. I've had quite a strange time of it recently..." By leaving it vague, he could intimate that both he and Jarod shared the same trials and tribulations and that this was the reason for his physical changes. At the least his wings weren't currently visible and his pointed ears covered by the curly mop of hair that graced his head. Of course, his features were sharper now also, but there wasn't much he could do about that save to hope that Jarod would simply take his vauge words as a reasonable answer as to it.
"Yes, I'm quite aware of how crazy things have become recently...the End is coming." His lips pursed and he stepped back to allow Jarod into the apartment. Hue was there, and Piallo. If he needed to get rough with the young man, he would do so without feeling too badly - such were the times. "Come in Jarod. If you like, I can fill you in as much as I know..." Also, he wanted to see just why his host's former friend had come by - hopefully it was just for the car or to visit an old friend.
"The End?" Jarod's eye ticked and he drew his shoulders in as he slipped past Silence to move into the apartment. His eyes darted everywhere at once, raping the apartment with his eyes even as he shoved his twitching fingers into his pockets. "What do you mean, the End? And why do you know about it?" As far as Jarod was concerned, this was still Colin Hargrove - why would his dancer friend know anything about how ******** up the world had become?
"Yes." Endiovar shut the door behind them, locking it as an after-thought; he then went into the kitchen. "Jarod, would you like a cup of coffee? Tea?" Perhaps it would help the mortal to relax with him a bit. Under the circumstances - all of them - a little relaxation was quite called for.
Jarod's mumbled reply to the affirmative was met with the soft clank of china and the sharp scent of steeping tea. Not coffee - at the last moment he felt that a delicious rooibos tea would be much better for the both of them than a cup of steaming hot caffeine that would simply jack up their heart-rates and the like. Not a good thing to do when they were already being a tad off.
"Ah, so Jarod, have you been taking care of yourself? I know that things recently haven't been so good all around." Silence gently lead his host's old friend to the couch with a cup of tea for them both. "Come, sit and we'll have a talk..."
***
Hours had passed as the two spoke and went back and forth; first just talking and then arguing and fighting and then talking again. It was hard for a mortal to take the things crossed Endiovar's lips - it was hard for immortals, but Silence laid things out as gently as he could...explaining as much as he was able, having learned much second hand.
The one thing that he could not answer was whether or not the Gods would be able to help stop the End.
Frustrating, even for Endiovar. It would have been quite nice to know and he would have happily shared that information with his host's mortal friend if he had it.
A short sigh and the mortal pressed his hands to his face; Piallo and Hue had long since prepared a meal, served it and cleared it. Servants. Colin had servants. No, not Colin anymore, but this sharp-featured God that had taken over his friend, taken his car (and left it who-knows-where...not that it mattered now)...and was now sitting on the couch, gazing out at the water-droplets coursing down the glass.
"I don't know what to believe or think now...but I guess I have no choice, huh?"
"You have a choice, there is always a choice. But you should believe our Master. He is wise and gracious." Hue spoke from the kitchen, his hands holding several plates that had just been washed to be put away. Jarod's gaze shifted over to him and he slipped back into the kitchen so that he could avoid being watched. It still made him uncomfortable. Jarod made him uncomfortable - even after all the time he's spent in the apartment with them, he was a mostly unknown element and that worried the Aoide.
"Your master might be wise and gracious or whatever, but he took my friend's body and shi-stuff...and he's now throwing out doom-and-gloom End-of-the-World crap and you want me to believe him? Believe there's some big-a** egg or whatever where a monster is incubating like some vile, poisonous fetus? That's a little hard to take, y'know?"
Hue and Piallo bristled at the man's tone and words, but Endiovar extended his power to close around the two gently, letting them know that he should just leave it alone - Jarod's anger and frustration was understandable, healthy and quite founded. He felt no anger at the incredulous response to their long discussion.
"Believe as you will, Jarod. Even if you chose to not believe in all I have said, believe at least that there is reason for the changes happening to All. And know that I will extend as much help to you as is possible."
Jarod nodded and darted his eyes about again; he was less agitated than when he had arrived - hours in Silence's presence had done his weary soul some good.
"Yeah, so uh...I should get going -- I have shi-stuff that I need to get done..." Even as he spoke, his eyes sought out the bits of Colin left in the man sitting so regally before him. Calm and quiet, Jarod could now remember why he had come - to see Colin. To tell him...to confess...but now that wasn't an option. Colin was gone.
It was hard. But in a way, this was the last good-bye.
One that would only go one-way.
"Certainly. I will see you out." Endiovar rose to his feet and smiled gently at his host's friend and reached out to help him to his feet, to guide him back to the door. It was quite hard for the young man...he could tell. Just the way he moved and looked at him - at Colin in him. Jarod had been in love with Colin at one time.
"You were a good friend Jarod. Please take care of yourself out there."
Out the door, shoulders hunched into the wind blowing dampness across the land. It wasn't raining but the leaves held dew that dropped and splattered onto his arms, his legs and his face. Good cover to hide the slow, hot tears.
They wouldn't last though. Not out in the Changed World. A world changed by Gehenna.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:52 pm
...//Solo - Driving Blind
Streetlights. An endless parade of streetlights that stretched into infinity as though mocking the mortals; pretending there were no boundaries to the days, to the hours that were left. It was a vicious lie - deep in the bones of man and beast and god alike there was a feeling of impending doom. A trap sprung; cage door slamming shut and blocking out light, air, life. Slow-motion strangulation falling from one to the other; a chain reaction set on a stage of weeks rather than moments.
Time moved on and people changed for the worse...it would come to a head, but the mortals knew not when. Even the Gods did not know as well as they should need to. Tragedy rolling down a hill, gathering force from the energies pressed upon it. At the end, there would be so much pain, so much loss...
So many screams....
Rain flattened curly hair to a shapely skull; colors all muted and drained of vivid life by the darkness. Darkness that called to mind the Shadow Goddess he had yet to meet formally - thoughts like that were fleeting, however. Endiovar had little use for things he could not touch presently. Xedre...Hue...even Piallo - these he could touch and speak with, should he choose to. Nevermind that he was holding himself rigidly in check; only giving in to the wonts and desires of the Weeks when he had no other recourse.
Walking in the chilling rain should have cooled his flushed skin but instead the dribbling water sliding across his skin proved to be distractingly erotic. In retrospect Endiovar realized that in leaving Colin's apartment...he'd likely done a very dangerous thing to himself; even if he were mostly in control of his senses and body...mortals very likely were not.
And yet he continued walking - searching out something that remained elusive and always out of his grasp. A thought? A memory? Perhaps the wanderlust had been caused by the unfulfilled promise to his sleeping host? Whatever it was, he didn't know or understand it's nature...nor did he really wish too. Some things were better left untouched and alone...some things required being left alone and would resist any attempts at being drawn forth.
If he were meant to find out, to know...it would come to him without being forced. Probably.
Several hours and attempts by others to drag him down into the gutter to rut and the God of Silence was quite finished with his sojourn. No purpose had been served by the wandering save to drive into his brain and body that there could be no doubts regarding the nature of this Week. He had seen mortals locked in heated embraces in alleyways, doorways...in the streets. They were utterly headless of the rain falling on them or people watching...nothing seemed to exist save for the rush of coupling. Feral heat had taken over the city; the world. Some did it for pleasure and some in exchange for more than just that. It was no business of his so he ignored it as much as possible and made his way back towards the apartment; rain still falling...a gentle dance of water over already soaked skin...the soft drumming sound like so much white noise in the background.
Endiovar's thoughts were muddled, he wasn't paying as much attention as he should have been; a pair of hands - big but too smooth to belong to anyone that worked for a living - grabbed him from the darkness just past the gate leading into his apartment complex. He didn't even have time to cry out before a mouth came crashing down over his own; the taste familiar and different all at once.
'Adrian? I...it must be. He returned? For Colin, no doubt...but such painfully bad timing...' The God of Silence put his hands up to his attacker's chest, pushing at the wall of mortal flesh that had pushed him back against the scratchy mortar wall in a manner that was quite painful. Flesh scraped away as the actor pushed and shoved, grinding his bulkier body against Endiovar's slighter one.
Small clips of memories - Colin's happier memories from when he and the actor had been together, secretive and quiet - flitted through his mind and drained some of the resistance from his body. Resisting was so difficult...he had been resisting since the start, fighting the sweetly seductive lure of Lust; spending time locked away, alone with his hands...with a small handful of vivid memories and the echoing ghosts of his host's past lovers.
It had been enough, then. But this was now. Adrian's mouth, so insistently slanting across his own, big hands rough on his skin, pulling here and pushing there. The unmistakable sound of tearing cloth gave way to a gasp as needles of cold rain struck skin that had been exposed only to the dampness of his shirt. One of the actor's thighs was between his - when had that happened? Where were the hands that had been pushing at Adrian's chest? The arms so rigid and locked against the mortal's wont and will?
Twined around the actor's neck, Endiovar's arms held the other man in a clutch as desperate as those of the mortals he had stepped past while walking. His fingers tangled in thick, damp hair of their own volition. Mind and body were separated, distant from each other and the sun and moon.
It wasn't right, with this mortal--
He couldn't summon the will stop it--
Didn't really want to--
His last thoughts before surrendering himself to the heat quickening his blood and the hands - so insistent and heavy - were of a different set of hands...light but so steady, so sure against his back...and a different sort of heat searing through him.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:53 pm
...//Solo - What I Want (Greed)
After the uninvited appearance of one of his host's former friends and lovers, Endiovar spent a few days quietly alone save for the recuperating Hue. Piallo and Xedre could be counted upon to go out into the Gehenna-twisted, half-broken world to fetch anything that the godling wanted or needed and he didn't quite trust himself to go out.
Envy had shifted into lust and lust into greed. The covetous feelings that he and the others had been subject to had deepened and morphed into something more -- much as Colin's flesh had been changed and in some ways expanded by the introduction of his gem/consciousness - and were morphing yet again in twisted ways that were frightening and somewhat horrifying. Xedre had informed him previously that, to his recollection, that week's herald had fallen under the banner of Lust and the next to come was Greed. Sometimes, Endiovar wondered at the spiderine Aoide's knowledge, but then he could suppose that with Xedre being part of Harmodius' retinue, knowledge would only be logical.
Silence mulled this over; he did not feel the effects nearly so much as the mortals did, but he certainly did feel them - how horrible was it then for those not buffered as he was? Obviously they were going to be dangerous during these weeks, to themselves and to those around them. It was something to think about and more than something to know.
This was why he had asked to know what the order of the weeks were. Knowing was half the battle, or some such thing, wasn't it? Endiovar had just wanted to know so that he could contemplate a plan of action for himself and for those under his care. Such thoughts came but with great difficulty; in his present state the influences of the Trumpet's call were strong enough to drive him to the point of distraction. Already there was the bedding of his host's past lover and the smaller altercations with Colin's old friends. Trying times indeed and Endiovar was not certain he would be able to properly deal with such things.
What he wanted, more than the insistent pull of the Weeks, was for Harmodius to return -- he wanted all that it entailed. Creation. Destruction. Sanity for the waking (and non-waking) worlds. A cessation of the chaos and confusion that the Grigori had instigated by removing His Name. Balance over All.
Such a dangerous thing to have done, removing His Name. Knowing, in fragments and small parts, what had happened didn't make it any easier to deal with. No, indeed it only made him yearn to know more - to know the whole of it. The wanting poured over him, sucking greedily at memories made more recently and wisps of those from the past but to no avail. It didn't help, it only made the gnawing, biting, hunger to know worse.
Greed. Oh vicious mistress, harlot! b***h! She was stroking his spirit - he knew she must be enjoying this. Nebula's Master. Poor thing, poor twisted kitten...devoured and changed for Greed. Beautiful b***h. Endiovar grit his teeth and slowly brought his heart rate back down, brought his body to a calmer state; just thinking about Greed and the Things he Wanted (as much as it would have benefited All to have Harmodius back, he couldn't afford to be thinking about it just then) brought Silence into a sort of quiet frenzy.
So he shoved it down and schooled himself into a zen sort of state. Oh Weeks, oh Greed! Oh all that was to come! Endiovar shivered and closed his eyes and senses to the world; he could do very little as things stood and it was best if he pulled back from everything as much as he could.
There was little enough safe to do but wait.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:56 pm
...//Solo - Carnival of Rust(Greed/War)
Inactivity bred discontent. Sealing himself from everything sounded a good idea until one put it into practice. As days stretched, endless, from one to the other, Endiovar found the more he tried to hold himself apart from the turmoil sliding through All that Was, the less he was able. Silence could not close himself off from the others, whispering ragged things - swears, prayers or otherwise - into the darkened spaces; things spoken to nothing were things spoken to him. Well did Endiovar know the Secrets: things done in the darkness and in the quiet...that was where he held court, in the deep black, the silence.
Words not spoken, actions not called to light...the dark, the wicked--
--the negative side of Silence; brought before his own eyes and flung at him in thousands of ways like pinprick fangs, filled with venom. Lust to Greed to...the anger building and burning up from outside within.
Standing outside the apartment, Silence ignored the pleas dropping from the mouths of his servants. Pale feet resting on the hard edge of the balcony so that the roughness dug into the soles of his feet Endiovar stood with eyes closed & his back to the world; wings unfurled into that deep darkness as though tendrils to seek all that went Unsaid. Universe all around, and Night pulsing with emotions and anguish and a hundred-thousand Things that begged to be let free but couldn't be. The bonds that held them so dear unto Silence were also the ones that cut and tore and were razor-wire to translucent skin -- sharpness and secrets too far gone to be relinquished in these times. Oh no, their Secrets he would keep: within the span of his wings, his arms, his heart. Until they were let to light, spoken aloud or haphazardly read in the clumsy body-language sometimes utilized by mortals.
Xedre watched with only the slightest interest, Hue watched with the opposite: panicked that his God would disappear as he had so many ages ago.
No worry was neccessary; Endi didn't plan on going anywhere - not really, definitely not on purpose. He tasted a bit of the disassociation from form that they all must have known at one point, but pulled back into himself as the sounds of the night, of the worlds, of All came crashing back into him. The rape of silence; noise and sound raked down his back and bit into his flesh like starved men into yielding fruit. He turned, face to the night - the lights from fire and lantern looking nothing so much as a carnival from better times.
Over this ocean of dark and lights, sparkling as though to match the glory of the heavens above, green eyes watched. In the light of day, it was different: ugly. A carnival yes, but of rust and rot, bones and gore. Daybreak would shed light on the greed-turned-violent; on bodies broken or left for dust and ash...Daybreak would bring with it a screaming clarion, an assault for not only the Sachem Aphonic, but for All.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:57 pm
...//PRP - Shadow of the Day (War)
Syrie It had taken time - time that he just knew they didn't have - to get to this point. Endiovar's sandal-clad feet stirred the ashen dust as he moved towards the entrance to the Pantheon. The building looked even more tarnished than before...a function of it's True Master being...out? What had happened still eluded the curly-haired god. Xedre did not know, of course...but he had shared some information - some ideas as to what precisely was going on.
Silence did not want to believe what he felt in his bones.
He moved on solemnly, two Aoide trailing after him. Xedre because it was long past time to return him to his True lord's side, and Hue because he would not leave his Master's side now that he'd found him. One small blessing was that the winged Aoide had finally grown quiet enough to not drive everyone crazy and though he walked with a slight hitch as his muscles were yet weak, he was otherwise fine.
'Remember, Hue. Whatever I do, you must not interfere.' That had been the deal. Endiovar trusted that his Aoide would obey his wishes in this; the man was so very eager to please - tripping over himself like an overly-exuberant puppy sometimes. A nod received and the godling continued, through the doors and inward.
Past the couches, past the statuary...closer and closer to the Dais. His throne.
Harmodius was not there, but to the side - not more than a few steps away and in plain sight - there was a thing: glistening, vile and disgusting. Alive. It looked like it were breathing...was this? No, there was no way that could be Harmodius -- but whom or what it was...he did not know. And worse, there was no one to answer his questions and give him answers; to explain what precisely was going on. Always before he had been able to turn to the Twin Crown for guidance, comfort...if not Him, then Nergal. No longer, it seemed. Frustration beget irritation which beget anger which had to be pushed aside lest he take it out on the Aoide that had accompanied him.
The weeks were hard and left a bitter taste in his mouth - answers were needed, so he spoke. "Harmodius? My Lord?" He turned to look at Xedre, wishing that the Aoide could tell him what was going on. 'Do you have any knowledge of this, Xedre?'
Ivynian  the Aoide quirked his head, did not follow up from the bottom of the dais stair. "There is no mouth to answer you, Lord Silence. That is....a cocoon. " The Aoide worried his forelegs together in his discomfort. "I .....do not believe that is our Crown, Harmodius, any longer. Destruction is gone. That sickness, the burning, that was the sign of this. What emerges from that will be something else, with other purpose then the Crown."
Syrie No mouth with which to answer, indeed - but his unspoken question, the horror he felt in his bones at even having to ask - had been answered and found entirely warranted. That was not their Lord...but it was something that had once been. Endiovar's brows knit together and his wings shuddered and tucked up against his back tightly. Xedre did not move nearer, but he did, eyes locked on the glistening thing that held what was left (if that were apt) of Harmodius.
'Off chasing shadows and nothing, only to return to...His side, but without Him.' Closer and closer, soft sandaled feet made only the slightest of sounds on the floor -- here a blood stain, there a stain from something unidentifiable -- until he was close enough to reach his hand out. Close enough to touch -- if he dared.
He hesitated a moment - if something happened...but no, Endiovar shook his head and placed his fingers against the cocoon's surface, muscles tensed as though it might tear his arm from hsi body. Which, for all he knew, it would.
Ivynian The surface of the thing under his hand was smooth, carapace hard. The nearby exposed flesh seemed like it may be less solid or dry. In proximity, he could perceive the in-and-out of a simulation of breath from the flesh. No tendrils snaked out, or maws opened in to draw him inexorably away into the unknown innards. It felt alive, if such a word could be said of touching any egg or casing that house a growing thing. His hand remained whole, uneaten by invisible acid or unmade by unseen power. It was a living stillness, stark in its presentation of it.
Syrie Memories - or flashbacks, if it were more pleasing - of various Alien movies skittered through Endiovar's head courtesy of his brain; long moments passed before he could process that yes, he still had a hand and no...he wasn't going to be eaten by the cocoon. Slim fingers crept along the surface wonderingly - this wasn't Harmodius, but it held part of him - it was alive, it breathed.
Could it hear? Could it feel? Was it aware? So many questions, but no one with answers. The curly-haired godling moved slowly about the pod, both hands now moving over the surface - here it was less a shell, there it was more so. "There is nothing so beautiful as utter silence..." He murmured, the irony of his words not escaping him.
Endiovar came around again to where he had started, expression one of soulful sadness and loss; he leaned his head forward, forehead and curls resting upon that hard surface. After a moment he turned his head to look more closely at the exposed area, fingers once again questing to feel. He could not talk with this....thing, but he could touch...and though it made his chest tight to think that his Lord had been replaced by such a strange shell...he could not help but be compelled to interact with it as he could.
Silence spoke volumes when words could not - and they definitely could not speak to the pod.
Hue wrung his hands and wanted to rush to his Master, pull him away...but he dared not; whatever strange communion Endiovar was having with that thing, it was not his place to interfere.
Ivynian "We were told to await the coming of the Dragon Kings. One should bear back the manacles, and was long, long away. One was sent to gather them all and never returned. Then another sent to do the same. We were to wait, if he was not able or was away. I do not know what has happened to the others. There were four of us. They may have fallen to the wave. " Xedre eyed the simpering uncertainty and indecision in Hue and screwed up his own nose. He stilled his forelegs on the ground. "The End is in that wrapping. It is growing and will hatch. That was why the manacles were needed. Lord Silence, I do not know if the dragons have come back here, but it should be seen to that they are made aware of this. I do not mean to command you. you may have other business, but please release me to see to it. "
Syrie The Dragon Kings? Ah, yes...he'd spoken to one of them before he'd taken over Colin's body. Tian Yue, that had been his name. No doubt he would want to know anything that Xedre had to offer - about this strange "egg", about the End...about the manacles that could help in some way.
Endiovar was motionless for a long moment, slowing his breathing to match that of the cocoon that held the End. "I understand Xedre--" 'You have been of immeasurable help to me since our Lord bid you aid me...go. Do what you must...but find me also.' The god of Silence looked back over his shoulder, past the distortion his wings caused to look at the two Aoide standing, watching.
"I will aid you as I can. Find me here, or in my rooms, if you have need of me."
Hue's fluttering uncertainty was irritating after the cool efficiency of Xedre, but Endiovar didn't trouble himself with that. Anything other 'business' he may have had would be pushed aside -- this was far more important.
Ivynian "Silence is gracious and merciful. " Xedre bent, bowing at his bipedal waist while his forelegs splayed to lower his arachnine half. He had no words for Hue, nor feelings, so he said nothing to that one and backed from the room. The first woudl be to check for the others, then to try to find the Kings himself. One at least had formal quarters, he recalled, there at the complex. It was a start.
Syrie The blond inclined his head elegantly; the pale spider ignored the bat-winged Aoide completely - something that Endiovar felt too was correct and right. Hue had once been worthy to be at his side...but currently the slim-hipped man was not. Once the spider had left, he turned again to the cocoon, fingers pressing into the surface as though he were willing it to give him some sort of notice.
Wings spread out behind him, Silence closed his eyes and slowed his breathing again to match that of his 'companion'. 'My Lord....' There was stillness, but there was sound and he did not want that. How to hear something that cannot speak when other sounds tickled the ears and moved one's attention away from it's focus?
Once, twice - a strange sort of internal click and he blanketed the throne room in Silence. Within that vacuum he tried to listen...or even to speak to the cocoon. Eyes closed, forehead touching the hardened outside, he strained his senses for anything.
Dragons...dragons everywhere, but not a one complete; should the spider roam the complex, he would have been quite likely to run into at least two of the Kings - Zhijan and Yu (in Fragment's flesh) had chosen to stake out the Pantheon. Both roamed a bit, but stayed close.
Ivynian It was difficult, left to immediate independent device, to consider a starting point. There had been queer goings-on, told in the map of the room. The floor was pocked in places and one of the doors was eaten into by some force. The window nearest the wall was broken out. He started there, more for lack then drive, tracing his fingers on the stone frame outside the housing of metal. There were shapes in the open beyond. How the lava beds would be construed as more welcoming then the couches, he did not know, but there were some who preferred out-of-doors. Maybe they were there when it happened. There were many mouths in that place, he should not waste time in discovering the right ones. Xedre moved from the window to the door and out again to examine some of the blotches. _ _ _ _ _ Whatever lay wrapped within did not seem to suffer or worry to be descried. It was still, soundless, even for the push against the softer membrane against the inner linings. Nothing reached out, thought or otherwise, to touch against the inner pressure of the paled hands or forehead.
Syrie It seemed that the curly-haired godling could not reach whatever was gestating inside the cocoon; Xedre had of course been correct in saying that there were no mouths with which to speak...but he had hoped against hope that there might be another way to reach the broken Elder God.
Silence pressed his face, his fingers against the grotesque shell and shuddered slightly. His feelings or those of his host that lingered with Colin's soul inside him - it did not matter any more: grief pulled at his insides and brought him low. His legs slowly folded under him and a few moments had Endiovar kneeling beside the pod, leaning against it with his wings drawn close.
'There...must be a way. I will not - I cannot - accept this' He looked up at the looming shell; there had to be something he could do...and he would find it.
***
Fragment lay sprawled on the ground, tail twitching. He was edgy from the Week's influence though he had returned not but a few hours before then from a Hunt; he did so like to go out and bait humans and others into fighting with him...so that he might tear them from "throat to thatch". Yu was not much pleased with his host's choices - but allowing him this violent and bloody sport assured that the beast did not give him much of a fight when he wanted control.
A strange set of scents had wafted over from the throne room - someone was coming to view the pod again. Fragment snorted and ignored it until a pallid creature came out. The beast lifted it's head and skinned it's lips back from it's teeth as though to laugh -- a spider!. Old, yes old...strong...tainted heavily with the scent of the Alpha...and others. Weaker ones.
He did not speak, but simply watched to see what this creature would do.
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