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 Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 11:53 am
 Alais had been on her own for only a couple of days now. And it was...odd. But needed. She had someplace to find, and where her mother was going...just wasn't it anymore. So, she'd said farewell, and started off in search of the odd, watery place in her dreams. And they'd been showing her something else lately...she never could quite make out what it was, except for the fact it was most certainly a death...most likely a murder. It was driving her NUTS. Usually, her visions were so clear, so vivid...But this one was foggy. Perhaps...perhaps she had to meet someone first? Or perhaps it was further in the past or future than her visions had ever showed her before?
She sighed and shook her head as she settled under a tree, seeking its sparse shade to escape the noon-day heat outside the shade. Alais did look forward to once she found the place her visions had started pulling her to...it never was quite so hot and bright as the savanna. Fleance slept restlessly, tossing and turnings as nightmares of his past haunted him. However... It was a past he didn't quite remember. It had simply gotten fainter in his death and rebirth, and the dozens of others before it. For a god to be upset, it was a pretty big deal. He moaned in his sleep, tossing, but in his dream, fleeing and calling out for his family. His cry was loud, but his words indistinct. The adolescent immortal's lip drew up in a snarl, and finally, he was ripped from his nightmare. Fleance gathered his feet clumsily and just wanted to get away from the place of his sleep, though he already was distanced from his dream. Panting, he realized he was in the waking world, and for the time being, safe again. He drew in a heavy sigh and shook his head, bead clacking against his skull and with a good tremor, he sneezed, ashes shooting from his lungs in a large puff of smoke. He hacked a little, and took time now to take in his surroundings. He'd been alone as he settled in for sleep, and he wanted to make sure it was still the case.
The god stood in all his glory, though younger, he stood larger than the average Firekin male, and his wings only added to his appearance. They wafted in the breeze as smoke, and the feathers rustled and shone. Ashes were strewn around his paws just by his presence, but he never noticed them. Instead, his dull, ruddy eyes were sharp and fixed on what seemed to be an adolescent lioness just settled down for a rest. He'd undoubtedly woken her, and he wondered if he would have time to teleport or fly away before he was noticed. Alais realized rather quickly she wasn't alone when the sounds of restless sleep reached her. She was familiar with the signs of a nightmare...her mother had had them often enough. What surprised her, however, was not only the size of her 'company'...but the fact he was most certainly NOT mortal. No mortal lion could have wings...and once he woke, she knew a lion would die if they had as much dust in them as the male sneezed out. He also seemed vaguely familiar...That got her the most, seeing as she KNEW she'd never met him.
"Are you all right? Seemed like a rather bad nightmare you were having." She hoped it wasn't something from the not-mortal's past...She'd had her fill of seeing others have nightmares like that. At least her own nightmares weren't of her OWN past.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 11:59 am
 At the voice, he started. His wings tensed, as though he would take off, but instead Fleance groaned on the inside. It was too late for him to make his escape now. And then she asked about his nightmare... He rolled his head to look over his shoulder at her, keeping silent. He didn't interact much with mortals, no. He didn't see much point in it, as they tended to outlive him, as peculiar as that sounded. But after that, even, he'd have no recollection of them at all. So what was the point? A heavy sigh escaped him, ashes on his breath. "Uhm... Yeah. They happen all the time." He held his distance away from her, wondering how he could feign an emergency and escape cordially. But it was a calm day on the open plains, sunny sky and not horribly hot. The setting did nothing to assuage his paranoia, especially that which his dream left him with.
His tail stirred the ground, painting it with ashes that were picked up by his steps. Another sigh. He couldn't really just scare her away either... He wasn't scary in the least except maybe to his reflection. He looked at her again. She was small, compared to him at least, and something about her seemed concerned. Any feelings mortals had for or about him just rolled off of his exterior. Alais frowned a bit...It wasn't a large one, but it was certainly there, coupled with a look of concern in her ice-colored eyes. Well that was no good. And it looked as if he didn't much like her company. That certainly wouldn't do! It wasn't good to keep nightmares in, not at all! And the nagging feeling of him being FAMILIAR somehow kept poking her in the back of her brain. It was getting rather annoying!
"Would you mind sharing? Perhaps telling another will lift some of the burden off your own heart. And I'm rather good at keeping secrets." She was...her own brothers had no idea that Alais knew the secret of who their father was...what had happened to their mother. Not even their mother knew Alais had Seen that. Fleance shook his head, as though trying to be rid of flies, again, his bead smacking his temple and his ears flopping, their studs like coal and reflecting little light. With a puff of air, he blew his forelock from his eyes and then fixed them on her. I suppose there's really no harm in it, he thought. But where to begin? 'I have a younger and half-brother who has some vendetta unknown to myself against me that causes him to kill me time and time again, rebirth after rebirth, after rebirth? I seldom make it to adulthood because of him, and he kills everyone I know and love. I hide behind my big brother and sister and rely on them to take care of me and themselves?' That didn't sound quite as godly as anyone could have hoped. He cleared his throat, as if to speak... And then sighed.
"Even if you had loose lips, I don't think it would bother me who would know. Mortals don't tend to think of the ashes anyway, they fear the fire." He shrugged, his domain suited him nicely, but not many worshipped him exclusively. "I have nightmares of my past lives. However many there are, a couple, dozens, hundreds, I wouldn't remember. I don't know how the majority of them end, though I can blame most of them on someone related to me." He paused for a second, thinking more of it and finding himself disgusted. "I'm constantly scared of my little brother. How's that for godly? The nightmares... Well this one at least, might have been the last time..." He shuddered and could continue no further, he left it up to her to figure he was referring to the cause of his last death.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:01 pm
Godly? Ah....so he wasn't just not-mortal, he was a god! Of ashes? Well now, how odd. But interesting. She herself had seen ashes before, when her family had come across the remnants of a brush-fire. Odd thing ash was...like dust, but yet not. The remnants of something once alive. Her mother had once said that ashes made the best fertilizer for new things to grow in. "You should care a little more...Ashes have a purpose in the world, and just because others do not care, doesn't mean you shouldn't." Poor thing...she couldn't help but feel a little motherly toward him, despite the fact they probably weren't too far in age physically. "That sounds horrible, though. I was rather hoping your nightmare wasn't of something in the past..." She sighed...and then it clicked.
There were differences, of course...but he was the one dying in her odd visions lately. Her eyes widened a bit with the realization. "Well now..." She sat up. "Now I know why I was prompted to talk to you. I don't generally interfere in others' lives...but I do believe you've been in my dreams lately." Once is a coincidence.
He shrugged. It was a fact of life for the god, he could control elements better than his dreams. And better his nightmare be of something from the past than a herald of darkness in his future. Though that too was inevitable. When the note of interest entered her voice, he looked at her warily. It didn't sound too promising. He stared at her, his expression bluntly spelling out what he felt. He was uncomfortable in that someone had dreamt of him, but he thought longer. Perhaps she was a 'seer'? Spawn of mortal and immortal, or one of the mortals that the gift came to by other means. He'd heard of those, and how their powers varied. Heck, maybe he had even sired some in past lives. He wouldn't know.
Hesitantly, he took a step towards her, his paws touching the earth and the grass and leaving ash and dust in his wake. "...What happened to me?" His question was sad and somber, childlike almost in the god's innocence, but he was far too well versed in life and death and conflict to be pure. He was soot, not snow.
Alais took his expression in stride, used to others outside her family looking at her similarly. They oft found her 'odd' or 'creepy' when dreams came into the equation. "Well...you died. The dream wasn't very vivid for once...perhaps it was farther in the past than those I've had before. But...I know you died, and there was another there." Perhaps his brother...the one who kept killing him. That made her...rather sad now. It was different, when he was only sharing things verbally. But her Seeing it...that made her a little bit more involved somehow.
"I'm sorry it was nothing good. But...when I dream in visions, I cannot control what I see." She was a tool, of sorts, for the memories and things-to-be that flowed through her. Not that she minded. The spirits governing such things gave her the ability for a reason. She just had to figure it out.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:04 pm
He died. Well, obviously. To him at least, it was common for a god to die and be reborn. Especially common for it to happen to Fleance. He tried to shrug it off. "I don't really mind that you've seen it. It doesn't matter." Of course, he didn't quite remember it. Or any of his passings, really, nor did he know the number that had taken place. As for the other, the mention sent chills down his spine. There was only one lion he could definitively accuse, and he'd be right for more than one occasion.
Without looking at her, he tilted his head, wondering why she'd even had a dream of him, much less one of his deaths. However, it would do no good to ask.
Alais frowned and nodded. "Perhaps, there is a reason for me meeting you. A reason I dreamt of you, then met you." Her frown turned to a calm smile. Maybe there was a key for him in the memories he could not remember. Something to help him. Of course...that was just speculation. And a bit of hope. He seemed like such a nice god, despite what he'd been through. Certainly, his manners could use a little work, but not everyone had the advantage of her upbringing.
Fleance looked at her curiously. Could she really help him? True, he was oblivious to what he needed help with. His only goal was to kill his brother in any way possible, and ideally, keep him that way. Unfortunately, he had no idea where to start. He hardly even could remember what his brother looked like. His stare turned more intense. Is that what she was talking about? Helping Fleance find him? Or if not that, anything would really be helpful.
Maybe... He could use her. The second he'd completed that thought, he realized and was disgusted with himself. That's something... He would think. But if she offered, there was no harm, no foul, right?
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:05 pm
Alais tilted her head, curious. "Perhaps I am to help you, if you need it." How she could help, she wasn't sure. But perhaps he would know. "I'm afraid I do not know how much help I could be, but...to die over and over again, by the claws of your own family..." She shook her head. "That just isn't right." And she just couldn't stand by! She was a lady...but ladies had ethical standards! And she would hold herself to them FIRMLY. Sometimes, help was needed. Sometimes, one could not stand alone on their paws.
Fleance sidled up beside her, his mass towering over the adolescent. He looked at her sideways. "...I'd fancy that, quite a bit, actually. As soon as you or I can think of a way to benefit from your gift." He pretended not to have heard her pity. He got enough from himself as is. He straightened himself to stand at his full height. Still by far not the biggest god, much less for his age, but he still managed to tower over any full grown mortal. Maybe if he had something... Anything! He could be another step closer to finding that demon spawn of a brother. But then again, who really knew? Perhaps he was already dead. His brother had never died (to his own knowledge) and old age had claimed him. His domain was a very real one, fearsome too, but not thought of often, unless in times of great disaster. But if faith was not feeding him, his hatred alone probably was. And that alone was cause enough to keep looking.
Alais was well aware of how much larger than she the god was. But he'd not given her a reason to fear him, so she smiled up at him. "I shall think of ways I might help." Perhaps...if she could find some way to witness the memories he forgot, the ones of the details of his death...perhaps they would give some clue. "There must be something."
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:06 pm
He looked down at her, his expression calm, but his eyes pleading, searching. "What do you see in your dreams? The future or the past? Can you look for someone? How much control do you have?" He tilted his head, bead and tuft nearly brushing against Alais. Oh if gods had the gifts of their children... Then he wouldn't be in this spot. He wouldn't be forced to rely on a mortal for assistance. And what if her life ran out before he could find his brother? This was far too much trouble, but the ends justified the means. "I have seen both. The spirits have taken me into the past, far past even my mother's birth. And they have taken me into the future...though never very far. The farthest they have taken me is that I know one day, I will have cubs. And at least one of them shall inherit the gift the spirits gave me." She'd not seen the cub grow...she only knew the cub would live. "I...cannot control it. I tried once, and I woke with a most vicious headache." She did not want to anger the spirits again by trying to hard. "But sometimes...if I fall asleep with a thought in my mind, a strong one...the spirits will let visions related to that thought flow through me." He nodded as she spoke. How prosperous, both past and present. And for her to have a cub with the same gift! Perhaps he could take this line under his wing. Though, it was unfortunate that she couldn't predict her visions. But if the power of suggestion was a good driving force, perhaps by lingering, that too would influence the dreams. Of course that would be no real issue for him. He had all the time in the world, until he found his brother, or vice-versa. And as it would likely take Fleance a while to find his evil counterpart as he continued on the move, and just as long still to extract the clues. Thankfully, Alais seemed like a good friend to have, even if only for her talents, but for her kind heart, too.The end.
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