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 Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 7:22 pm
Good call there - and Xun Jiang was quick to follow, through not taking flight again. There would be no need to do so unless they went back downward - he had not felt the earth shift and move from up there, and mountains this big had to be rock solid.
"What I saw of the temple-like structure looked promising." The dragon started to explain, careful to keep track of what his tail was doing as he walked, the appendage ever moving. He certainly did not want to knock Glyph or Tien down. "I did not go inside... The doors are too narrow. But from what I saw out of the holes... It does look like they kept at least some of their sick there. I saw bookshelves, too. Some still had books in them."
In a way, Ankou was glad the others decided to leave them alone, and a small nod to Glyph would betray that. It... was certainly better handled without an audience, and he was thankful that the others seemed to understand that they needed their space right now.
Did not stop his cheek from stringing, but it was progress.
"...I do not really remember what happened." He admitted. "I remember running... But..." How had ended up in the soul path in the first place ? Nope. He figured either the lack of energy or the stress on his mind had made him blank out a little more literally. "Whatever did drag me under... I fell asleep there." Well, it had to be involuntary. Like hell he would leave Gungnir behind like that after all the trouble the spear had given him.
The idea of him ending up stuck was... well. Entirely unwarranted. He had the soul paths, he could world-walk - he had as many ways out the Underworld as was possible to have. "I am fine." He assured her. He felt better than he had felt in a long time, actually, and gently, carefully, reaching out to caress her cheek. "I never meant to worry you, love. I think... It just had to happen at this point." He had been so worn, so exhausted. Something had needed to break, but thankfully it had ended up quite beneficial.
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 7:31 pm
 Yes, leaving them alone a while seemed to be the best course of action.
She followed after Glyph and Xun, the later's tail almost knocking into her legs a couple of times. "That does sound promising. I did not have much luck, mostly empty buildings. The only place that did look promising the roof was caved it and it did not look safe enough to go inside."
"We should go check the place that Xun found, once Ankou and Cosine have rejoined us, maybe?"
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 8:11 pm
 Used to walking with Xun on two or four legs, Glyph moved along at the other's hip, where a tail swat would have to be deliberate if it were to happen.
"The temple, hm? That is worth a look... do you see to whom the temple was dedicated?" It was a mild point of interest for him, to see who the people of Birnam had worshipped and if, by chance, he knew that god.
"I didn't have luck either... I tried searching for mass graves and medical dumps but only found a few shallow graves and plenty of bones - nothing useful." He replied, glancing over his shoulder at Tien's question, "Mmn... Xun? How far is it? I think we should give them some time but I don't think we should waste it either. The rain could last for hours... and if the temple still has books... I'd rather not let the water damage them any further."
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 8:19 pm
Cosine nodded. Of course it was not his fault, she knew, as all of them did that when these things happened there was nothing you could do to stop it. She reached up and gently rested her hand on the cheek she had slapped.
"I'm sorry. I really am. This journey, it's put me on edge. You told me you were struggling, and when you disappeared my mind went to forge." She smirked a little. "I'm sorry I hit you, everyone seemed to be making a joke of things and it made me angry. I shouldn't give way to emotions like that. You look good."
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 8:48 pm
"Not too far by flight." The dragon pondered out loud, pausing to peer downward into the city. "By foot... We will have to go all the way back down the path, then deep within the town... That would definitively take much longer. I can go alone and shift to get inside. It might be worth trying to explore what Tien found, too..."
Would Glyph let him ? Not bloody likely. Still, the likelihood of getting Glyph to actually get his feet off the ground was about as high as having Forest agree to have him go alone. Xun Jiang had a very good experience in trying - and failing - to actually get Forest to fly.
"This place is full of death and devastation. It makes it easy to think the worst..." He thought so, at least. Truth was, he was so used to such scenes that they did not truly bother him anymore. It was the circle of life, the balance of all things. As there were amazing joy... There had to be catastrophes to counter them.
"Well... I figure we will not have to worry about me struggling anymore." Not this badly, at any rate. He still had to figure things out, but that would come with them.
"Should we go back now ?" He offered. It had been more or less a test of awareness, but he had sent some part of his awareness to trail Glyph, Xun and Tien - and while it was a great deal more spotty to do so without spirits to act as his eyes and ears, he knew exactly where the three deities were, and what they were talking about.
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:01 pm
No, she was not used to walking around with dragons at all. After she had enough of trying to dodge Lifewater's twitchy tail she sped up her pace.
"I could go with you...?" Tien glanced sideways at Xun. He would understand how she was going to manage it, whereas Glyph would not. She left the decision to Glyph, as he was the impromptu leader of this little expedition.
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 11:00 pm
"I am not flying." Glyph responded dryly, digging his toes into the earth just at the thought, "My roots remain in the earth as they should." While his response was terse, it wasn't hard to guess the god had trouble with flying. It wasn't heights - heights he was perfectly okay with - it was the flying, of being disconnected and fully immersed in the aerial realm. He spanned them, connected them, he didn't enter them!
"We should walk. It will give them time to sort themselves out without us getting too far away." Never mind that Cosine and Ankou could both fly. "A good walk in the rain would be nice. Besides---- I'd rather not be struck by lightning." He gestured at the flashes above the city and the rolling thunder that followed soon after.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 8:18 am
(( this is Medea ... stolen Ceeda's comp and am too lazy to log out.))
Cosine studied him a moment and nodded. As a deity there would be things he would need to get used to, though, he was now better equipped than any of them should they run into disaster.
Was she ready to get back? Yes, of course she was ready. She wanted to find forge more than ever now.
"Yes." She replied, reaching for his hand and giving it a squeeze. There would be plenty of time to discuss evolution when they returned to the Pantheon.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 1:30 pm
And that was exactly the answer Ti Lung had expected, and his lack of surprise at said answer was utterly obvious.
He would admit that Glyph had a point with the lightning... And well, walking in the rain was something he enjoyed, anyway. He could always spread a wing to shelter Tien from the brunt of it if it started to bother her too badly.
Gad they been alone, he might have teased his lover about it, but as it was, the Dragon King simply nodded. "We can head back toward the path... If they are not done we will likely hear them before we get too close."
He smiled at her, then reached up with his free hand to guide a wet lock of hair away from his eyes. "Actually... They are coming back this way." He said, his smile impish. "We can just wait for them at the path going down to the city."
He did not mention how he knew this, however, but he squeezed her hand lightly and began to walk toward the path. It was strange, peaceful, and... oddly silent. Everything seemed a little more... real now that he was not always distracted by something.
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:10 pm
Tien should have expected as much, Glyph was a tree after all. Being already drenched there was little the rain could do to bother her anymore. She glanced up a the sky, watching a lightning flash. Alright, maybe Forest did have a point about that, it would be pretty dangerous.
Hopefully Ankou and Cosine had sorted themselves out because she was curious to see this temple place Xun had found.
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Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:13 pm
Glyph nodded, glad Xun had not pressed the point too far - they'd argued about the topic before.
When they decided they'd actually take the path, Glyph eyed Xun, "Then why're you heading this way, hm?" He laughed though, and backtracked past Ankou and Cosine, leaving a bit of distance between his group and the couple, waving as they moved by.
The road lead back down and around into the city and when they were back in it proper, he stood just out form under an overhang so he could still feel the rain on his head, "Which way, Xun?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:06 pm
Cosine watched as they backtracked past them and smirked a little.
"They seem to be giving us quite a wide berth." She hoped that was not because of the drama they had caused. "What are they looking for?" She asked Ankou, tugging on his hand as she walked towards the rest of the group. He seemed to be in tune with them, somehow.
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Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 4:40 pm
"Hm..." Once arrived to the town proper, the dragon had to take a moment to actually find where the temple was. Really, orienting himself from the air was so much easier than this ! Sadly for Tien, this did not make the dragon's tail be any more still. On the contrary... It only seemed to be gaining even more of a life of it's own while it's owner was distracted.
"...Follow these little streets down there." He nodded toward the left. "Then go back to the main path that we are on... There is some large rubble in the way that blocks our way, so it will probably save time to just avoid it rather than try to scale it. Then, the main path should lead us exactly to the temple-like building."
So he hoped, at least.
A wide berth, indeed. Smart deities. Cosine was quite scary when she did happen to be angry... Or so he thought, at least.
Even he knew better than to mention that, however, so he simply let out a low chuckle. Really, he was glad for the rain now. The cold water made the throbbing on his cheek a bit easier to ignore.
Cosine probably packed one mean sucker punch, and she probably did not even know that. He knew better than to say that, either.
"Xun got close to the temple but could not go inside." Ankou elaborated. "...That's what I got out of that, at least. Also something about a potentially unstable building..." He should probably check that out himself. A roof caving in would mean nothing for him if he simply went intangible in time.
He seemed in no hurry to catch up - in fact, he found himself wondering when the others would notice they were following.
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 5:53 pm
Tien been paying more attention to their surroundings than actually focusing on keeping up, so yet again she found herself dodging Xun's tail which seemed to have a mind of its own at the moment. Rather than try and get past it, she let the pair get farther ahead of her.
There. Now no risk of tripping.
She would probably be the first to hear Ankou and Cosine catching up.
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:11 am
Glyph nodded and followed Xun's lead through the alleys and sidestreets. Rain gushed off the roofs, sweeping with it the dust and the grit that settled between storms to reveal carved, beautiful tops to the buildings that left Glyph wondering at the beauty of the city in its prime. He was not one to sequester himself in the warren of buildings and streets - even now he was mildly uncomfortable - but he would not deny the aesthetics of the place.
Back on the main road, the wisdom of detouring became obvious as the blockage proved to be a crumbled, fallen tower across the street, unstable in the rain and shifting, grinding, as they passed by. Other buildings showed signs of seismic damage as well, cracked walls, shifted foundations... some were even collapsed like a house of cards, "I wonder what caused this..." Glyph murmured as he walked.
"Did you get the story from the spirits before you took a nap, Ankou?" He asked, turning back to see the couple trailing after them.
It wasn't long before the temple loomed out of the mist and rain, still mostly intact. It had either been more soundly built then the rest of the city or it was outside whatever boundary had caused the collapse of the tower - Glyph was inclined to believe the former.
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