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 Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:45 am
The cubs were grown, and like she'd "promised" Ahai hadn't been able to get rid of her. She had never expected to enjoy his company as much as she did, but their constant competition with each other, the bickering, the outright fighting, the... other thing, all too much fun to just give up because the kiddos had grown. She had come back to their territory as she did whenever she wasn't doing her little patron thing for either the Dawnwalkers, or visiting old friends, or training on her own. As she laid sprawled out on her stomach like an ungraceful sphinx she held a skull balanced atop her paw, admiring the bleached look it had acquired.
Forget conventional sentimental keepsakes, like jewelry or an old carving on a cave wall, these old remains of murdered souls-- these were she and Ahai's trophies. Elly grinned maliciously at the skull then, finally placing a face to it.
"Oh, memories... Never thought I'd end up being the sentimental type." She smirked, tossing the skull back onto the massive, massive pile. A month's worth of skulls, the result of her competition with Ahai, the one that had led to all this. She only wished now that she had started collecting sooner.
Moving away from their stash she found her other hiding spot, retrieving one of her bones to savor for a bit. She always held onto her favorite bones out of the lot, enjoying the marrow, and cracking them open to get to it. They also made good tooth picks. Now where was that big blue dolt? She was bored, and Elly bored was never a healthy thing for others for long.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:01 am
For Mrost, the past few months had been little more than a haze. Ancient memories bleeding into the day to day as his thoughts still reeled from the reincarnation. He could not place a boundary around his past life and the others that had preceeded it. So many generals, so many battles, all of which left their mark in his mind. It would have been enough to drive any other creature insane, the crying of the dying orphans, the families rent asunder by the atrocities that were the hallmark of his domain. But for Mrost, this was who he was, WHAT he was and it reassured him like the gentle words of the mother he had never had.
He did not know exactly who he was, but at the same time knew exactly who he was, it was horribly confusing. He knew his opinions on things, knew exactly what he liked but at the same time, closer, nearer things like relationships confused him. He'd been wandering a long time, walking, feeling the ground pass beneath his feet, spooling out the miles behind him, remembering places and battles, letting things once again fall into place.
He made no effort to conceal himself, carrying himself with all the regal poise and pride of a great pridal king, despite his youth larger than a lion of his apparent age, clanking with the heavy armour strapped across his muscled form. A few had crossed him on his way, foolish rogues who had far too soon realised their mistake and not lived to regret their error.
Some familiar sense drew him on, into the terriotry of another of his kind, in plain sight, azure against the landscape, almost impossible to miss. But still he walked, if they wished to acknowledge his wanton intrusion, let them come.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:41 am
Just as she'd been about to pick one from her stash she felt the tug of another "magical" influence. Turning her head in that direction instead she wondered, just who exactly was that seeking her out? She hadn't seen Mrost in months... could it be? Her little "family" had certainly distracted her from the fact.
What would she say if it WAS Mrost? She had promised to bear cubs for him, this first litter was meant to be practice, but... now... after Ahai's display at Limbuko simply TALKING to her--
Oh crap... it WAS Mrost!
"Mrost...??" She asked, surprised, staring. He looked... smaller than she remembered, or was it her imagination? He also had-- wings?! And his entire appearance was different!
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:54 am
Mrost blinked. He hadn't encountered anyone who knew him by name since he'd reappeared on this plane, unaware how long had passed since his lingering death. This was more than a surprise and it made him seem to shake out of the dazed reverie he'd been wandering in, taking in the goddess before him with his steely blue gaze, jaw set in defiance of his chaotic thoughts. He rustled his plated wings uneasily, tilting his head.
He remembered her. He knew he did, as much as he remembered his own name. But the details were as out of focus as everything else. She was an ally, she was a...student? Yes. That sounded right. But a name remained. He smirked smugly, holding his head high.
"Long time no see Chamchela" he purred, using her full name just to test that he still recalled it correctly, it felt as thought he was dredging it up from aeons ago.
"Would say it feels like a lifetime since we last met. But it /has/ been one." his voice was a slightly lighter version of his usual low gravelly tones but was still unmistakably him. He lowered his head briefly in greeting.
"How have you been?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:21 am
Well, uncertainty or not, she couldn't hide the fact that it was good to see him again. She smirked back, drawing closer.
"Kept your memory more or less in tact I see."
Her mother had once told she and her siblings that rebirth could vary from god to god. She always started not recalling anything, and it came to her gradually as she grew "older", Elly wondered how she'd recall, or not, when or if she was reborn.
"I see that." She laughed a bit at the lifetime bit, nodding her head in return of his greeting. He was the only one she ever showed manners to. "I've been well, can't really complain. Liking my new found size and all."
There was something she was, ironically, figuratively dying to ask, but hadn't just yet.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:38 am
He lazily stretched himself, flexing his jet black claws and curling his tail, flicking his overlong tailtuft behind him, flexing his wings to their fullest, the feathers tattered, ragged and torn but still usable. If there was one thing that was to be said about rebirth it made you feel a couple of decades younger. The amount of energy Mrost felt that he had coiled in his muscles was incredible, compared to his almost weary attitude of before, he all but sparkled with danger. He /wanted/ to fight, wanted it so much he could taste it, ambition etched in his every line.
"My memory? Frankly, it's a ******** /mess/ at the moment." he snorted derisively. "I can't remember if I used to live at Storm Valley or nowhere, if my generals are alive or dead, if there were people depending on me or not. Too much, far too much. Every stupid little fight and its getting it all in order, getting it all organised that I need."
He smirked, having to look /up/ at her. "You've certainly grown into yourself. I'd wager your abilities are far more formidable to boot." he looked her over slooowly, taking in the perfect proportion that came with adulthood with all the intensity of an art critic admiring a new painting. "There is no finer weapon than a fully grown lioness." He nodded, looking back to her again "You showed such promise the last time I saw you, that much I remember. Tornados. Grand destruction."
He nodded his horned head, giving her a one eyed smile, the other slitted eye concealed by overlong slightly curled mane not yet fully grown. "I approve and only wish I could say the same damn thing. Reincarnation is more than a little.....irritating." he snorted. "I wouldn't wish reliving adolecence upon my worst enemy."
He reconsidered. "Well. ONE of my enemies. But not all."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:29 pm
"Hmm.... sounds like a bother... but you remember me? Think I can help you make sense of it?"
Did he remember the promise, then?
"Heh. That they are. Just tested them without my bracers for the first time a few months ago." She flexed a paw to show that she now bore them on all four paws, though it was as much because she liked the look of them as anything else. She moved to give him a quick look over, not fully circling, but getting a look at him overall. "It probably won't be long before you grow into your old size again. Kind of weird looking down."
She was sure she knew just who he meant that enemy was. Probably that brother of his.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 2:50 pm
Mrost nodded curtly. "Its what I was half hoping. Even seeing you has helped a great deal in terms of figuring out where I am time wise, your age is a nice estimation that I've been gone some time. Still, a huge help even without trying."
He eyed the bracers curiously, able to appreciate why she would opt for what looked like power limiters, with such volatile abilities she could cause a huge amount of damage in a simple training excercise. He smirked. "I've never been able to get over my paranoia to wear anything like that. The idea of being attacked while limited in such a way doesn't bear thinking about. War has too many enemies."
He flicked an ear in slight discomfort as he was looked over, suddenly hugely aware of how ungainly he looked. Mrost had never had a smooth growth to adulthood and it appeared on this occaision it was no exception. He only ever came into his own when he hit adulthood, his mane still sparse, his muscles still rangy and his fur dusty and grimy from his travels. "It's even weirder looking up, believe me. And inconvenient. I can't seem to go anywhere without rogues begging for me to tear out their throats for their insolence. Feels like I've eaten nothing but lion since I got back." he wrinkled his nose in disapproval.
"Either way. I apologise for my inconvenient abscence. Somehow or other I managed to kill my brother but the b*****d gave me a few parting gifts that eventually took me out after weeks of pain." he snorted. "It will be different this time. This time I will have an army, I swear it."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 3:33 pm
"Yes.... I've had cubs and seen them grow since I saw you last. That wasn't long after I came into my own."
She was glad to be of help so easily, but imagined she couldn't be of all that much help beyond that. She could tell him what she knew in what order of what had either been shared or experienced, but not anything beyond that.
"Seems I took after my grandfather in more ways than one." She replied dryly, expression purely droll as she let the words fall from her muzzle. Control had been a word she'd been hearing from a lot of people, Ahai excluded of course, lately, and she was more than ready to scream if she had to hear about her "lack of control" one more time. "I can only guess. Not very popular with mortal mothers I'd bet, in particular."
She stretched, still quite pleased with his appraisal of her final growth spurt, and glad that her training had paid off, but a growl immediately followed, claws digging into the ground. For Mrost to have died and for her to not have even known-- it frustrated her so! She had been living a "peaceful" life all the while after all.
"At least you can say you haven't lost your touch then. Not that much time has passed since I saw you last, maybe a year, and I've only heard of war touching two lands. The lions of the Dawnwalkers war, if you would call it that, against the vultures that claimed their temples-- I was there for that one... There was also the Firekin's civil war between the rebels and the traditionalists. I understand you had children there. The last I was near those lands they seemed to be thriving."
Oh, but the talk of an army, it made her blood stir to hear him speak so ambitiously, it was one thing she'd always admired about her teacher. Her eyes gleamed as she heard him speak, but she waited then to hear what he might say, if he might ask about the cubs she'd mentioned. Normally conversation was simply something to pass, and she didn't give it any serious thought, not when she knew she could speak so freely in her former teacher's presence, but either she was unsure of how he'd react or she had actually managed to mature some with age.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 3:52 pm
Mrost raised a brow slightly at the mention of cubs, a subtle smirk curving his features. "Cubs eh?" he wrinkled his nose slightly. "Hate the damn things personally. Wouldn't have them at all if they weren't a side effect of one of the few things I enjoy almost as much as fighting. To the victor and all that. Can proudly say I've never raised a damn one." he shrugged. "Still, an aid to getting a handle on where I stand."
There was still a challenge in his gaze as he eyed her. "I guess the question is, how much did they change you? There are two kinds of lioness in the world. Mothers and warriors. The mothers let their children be a noose about their neck, a way to hurt them more than mere weapons ever could. I see it all the time, sons snatched away, the mother a broken shell. The warriors know their children are a mere tool, a means to a greater more glorious end. I'd hope you were the latter and that it was your own decision." he nodded with riveted attention as she spoke of the more recent conflicts, ears perked, seeing the battles she described /feeling/ them in himself, noting them as recent, using them to orient himself slightly, get his bearings. It also allowed him to figure out the jumble of conflicts that had been the Firekin lands.
"I....have children there?" he blinked, in obvious surprise before a memory flitted to the fore tantalisingly, a tryst in the sands, yes, of course, in the cradle of warriors, the Firekin. He had never known the children but the fact war still flourished in those lands, he hoped in some small part was some side effect of his vested interest in the pride. He smirked toothily. "Its a pleasure to hear. And very heartening. I just hope my relatives never find themselves on the wrong side of a battle against me, I am /particularly/ vindictive to relatives. I blame my brother. Blood best spilled between blood.
However, he curbed the battlelust that was already rising too eagerly in him, eyes blazing as the recent battles raced though his mind, feeling the thudding of hearts and arenalin, the smell of blood. It was like a drug. He shook his head to dislodge the wildness. "I will not be so hasty and foolish again. It /will/ work." Still. He was curious. He turned his attention back. "These cubs. Mortal?"
Mortals to the blue god were prizes indeed.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 4:12 pm
He really, honestly, and truly didn't remember the promise she'd made to him, then. The question now became, should she chance letting it be or remind him...?
Not for want, she wasn't sure she could ever admit it, even to herself, but she was quite happy with the life she'd carved out for the time being, even knowing she'd outlive Ahai and the children. As a warrior she also understood that life moved on. None close to her had died yet but her domain-- it was often death itself for any unfortunate enough to be in it's path, and someone or something was always in it's path, be it prey, birds, insects, or larger manner of creatures. Death was only a partial stranger to her.
His question did not make her fidget physically, but somewhere inside of her it made her uneasy. She did not like that there had to be any question at all, and answered readily.
"Mrost, you of all should certainly know me better than that. I'm not my mother's daughter." She replied evenly. "If it has changed me at all it has only been to teach me a new level of control. Mortal children are so much more fragile than my siblings and I ever were." She replied, holding his eyes as she also answered his last question, wondering why he wanted to know. There was no denying that she was protective of the lot as cubs, as juveniles, but as adolescents and adults they were on their own. "They were raised to be warriors themselves... They were my children after all. Three... Two boys and a daughter. All seers... and they were turned loose as soon as they reached late adolescence and their training was finished." And she knew more. Since then she knew the relative direction that they'd each set out in.
She could see for herself what mention of those battles did to him, the effect it had as he soaked in the knowledge. The last time they'd spoken, when he'd first seen her into her adolescence he had reacted the same way after seeing the destruction her creations wrought. Now there were three more, living, breathing creations out on the loose bringing about an entirely new kind of havoc, and she was quite proud though not in the least bit worried.
"Yes... and grandchildren apparently."
She had taken interest at first out of jealousy, but as she and Ahai's competition continued and that competitive bond formed that jealousy became interest. Kadogo'moto and Hiashi'ikusa had been of particular interest. She wasn't entirely sure what the three girls were up to though, but the smallest, weakest boy had become quite a brute, with a good grasp on his powers. The oldest cub, the emotionless one, had also grown very well into his size, but their mother hadn't seemed to be up to much anymore.
~That's the difference between you and I, you stupid little--~
She'd thought to herself when she'd last looked in. HER children were not the end of her purpose. She would not simply be content to hold a ranking position in a military for the rest of her days. She continued to train and to better herself however she could. Once she'd mastered her powers she mastered herself physically, then she moved onto hunting, then parenthood, then precision and other such fine tuning, then her knowledge, there was always more to be learned.
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 4:30 pm
Mrost was unreadable as he listened to what she had to say, weighting up everything as far as he could. He had not forgotten the promise, quite the contrary, he recalled a great deal of the things recent close to his death, but saw no reason to press things. He had possessed little luck with godlings, as little luck as he had with any of those of his blood. There had to be some curse, some poison in his genetics which made his offspring fail before they began. Still. He could not shake the feeling that he was not being told the whole story, nor could he shake the furious dissapointment he felt at her for letting herself become as entangled with the filthy mortal world as he had become. His standards were double but they always had been.
"I value females most highly, but evidently they are most easily brought low by a few fleeting moments of /fun/. They are land far too easily conquered by an invading army so to speak. What sort of creature, what sort of /mortal/ did you let conquer /you/?" his voice was low, with a dangerous edge to it. He could not help but be somewhat bitter. He had watched some of the greatest warrioresses of his time be brought down by the ties of blood, showing horrible ties to the lives they had borne, weakened, debilitated by it. He used sex as a tool of domination, or furthering his ends, of meddling in relationships, and always left the female with more than they could handle. He'd never sire cubs from his greatest generals, their ends were higher, more noble and it was this attitude which stood in the way of him fully dealing with what he was hearing.
His tail lashed behind him, the blades glinting in the light, the only outward sign of his inner irritation.
"Mortals are useful but all too easily gained from other sources. As a female you permitted yourself to fall to /their/ level. Violated. And for what? I have scattered children myself, but I did not have to bear them in myself." he shuddered. In the few lives he had spent as a female, he had borne no cubs, too haughty, too obsessed with himself to permit it. No general high enough for him.
"Who then? Some rogue who took your fancy?" he could not keep the harshness out of his tone "You say I should know you, yet I find in many ways at the moment I do /not/. Either I have forgotten much. Or you have."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 4:49 pm
Elly was shocked to hear this coming from him, the one she'd held in such high regard. Initially she had considered it good practice when first learning she was pregnant, and granted of course her motives had changed in time, dare she even admit to herself that she herself had eventually forgotten her promise when Mrost had not returned-- but to hear him speak so lowly of her for it set her blood to boiling. She did nothing to bite back the snarl that came to her lips. That double-standard toting--!
"I may be, or have been, your student, Mrost, but no one controls me. No one tells me what I can or can't, should or shouldn't do with my body." She growled, certain that she didn't care for his words much less his tone, former teacher or not. She felt betrayed and humiliated, and that she did not take well. She wasn't about to apologize or ask for forgiveness for HER choices! "If you intend to talk down to me for having some of your so called 'fun' and bearing cubs from it then you'd best be able to boast both virginity and having no children of your own yourself. I don't listen to hypocrites." She warned then, tail lashing. Chamchela simply couldn't believe that this was happening like this!
Narrowing her eyes she drew back, staring at him long and hard, wary and ready for it should he lash out at her. She had never once known Mrost to be soft when it came to his ideals or wants, she would not expect it from him now.
"I've fallen, you say. If you mean to imply that I've gone soft--" A soft hiss, the word itself. "--then you're sorely mistaken. Indeed you have forgotten much, it seems, to think that I would be any less capable or any lower now than before, or that I would sit here and stand for having my merit as a warrior insulted."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 5:07 pm
Mrost smirked at the rage in her tone, the fury, it soothed his own anger, like stroking a ruffled cat. Rage meant he'd hit a raw nerve, and in many ways he hoped he had.
"I do not tell you what to do with your body. I never presumed to do so. My domain is not control. I am not a tyrant, I merely lead the horse to water, I cannot make it drink." he shrugged. "Nor am I talking down to you for it. I am merely saying that you have dissapointed me. Sorely. I don't care if you call me a hypocrite, or say that I must live up to what I preach. I set my own standards and you have fallen short of them on this occaision. As for hypocrisy, I would beg to differ. I have /never/ given myself up to /anyone/. Never set myself under another, to bear their offspring, not in all my lifetimes.
"You ask War to accept that you allowed yourself to be taken by a mortal. A lesser? A creature which could never best you in combat, never best you in lifespan, never best you in anything but that fleeting spark that makes them what they are?" he snorted, flicking his mane out of his face and sizing her levelly. "I cannot possibly accept that an individual would allow themselves to be conquered by anything less than an equal. There was no shame in the females who /I/ took. They were mortal, I was a god, they could neither object nor best me. And I say that not in arrogance, for if they /could/ best me, they would escape with nothing but my highest esteem. I asked you as an /equal/ before. A fellow god, and had you have defeated me? I would have declined and asked you to join me as a most honoured fellow rather than a means to an end."
He made no move to lash out, his tail slowing in its lashing to a steady wave, nevertheless bracing himself should she attack him for his words.
"There are many ways to become soft, Chamchela. And not all of them are obvious. Not all of them are physical. I do not accuse you of that either." he shrugged his shoulders with a clank of armour "Because how could I tell? But the fact is, for whatever reason, you permitted yourself to sink, to lower to mortality, to make yourself the b***h so to speak, of some smug inferior. Does that show a weakness? In my eyes it does."
He finally snarled, baring his fangs at her hiss, the insubordination beginning to rankle him.
"I will only be a hypocrite the day I lift my tail to a mortal. And if you cannot see the error in what you have done, then you are soft, you have become like them. If you had killed the cubs, redemption perhaps, but you coddled them and let them walk away, you gave some part of yourself to them. That is weakness."
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Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 5:39 pm
The dirt and mud colored goddess narrowed her eyes once more, glaring, but no growling or snarling or hissing this time, but dug her claws in and out of the dirt simply instead. For all that he said, for everything that he said she could not quell the rage that had built up inside of her. "I don't believe this" was all she kept thinking.
She stood straight, slowly coming out of her aggressive daze as she cooled down just a bit, realization sinking in. Oh, she was still beyond furious, still recoiling from the burns of his disappointment and therefore-- perceived rejection, but she wasn't the hot tempered cub, juvenile, or adolescent she used to be. If someone was going to leave she'd be damned if it was her that got walked out on again.
"Then don't accept it, War, but consider this. My children might have only been mortals, mongrels in your eyes, and maybe they did take some of the best of me with them, but if -I- needed to put together an army I know I could call on them as the best to lead at the fore front... loyally." She replied coldly, walking away from him back the way she'd come from. "Good luck with -your- army, have a nice ******** life."
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