[PRP] - Bloody Hyde and Seek - Hyde and Bloody Mary

[Bardess Ookami]

It felt so good to be of use to her children, but a Goddess' work was never done. She had finished putting that golden scaled daughter in her grave, and was now contented. Still, her children needed her. So Mary walked the dark woods, hooves still caked with blood slick mud from digging the grave. Her dark mirror floated silently beside her, awaiting the appearance of the next to receive her special attentions. As always, she was alert. looking for a child who had not yet seen her.  

[Sabin Duvert]

A strange-off-tune humming filtered through the trees. It was late afternoon, and the orange light of the dipping sun cast a dappled pattern across the forest floor. There was a chill in the air characteristic of a clear day in late fall, and leaves crunched underfoot as he walked.

Hyde didn't care that he was making a great deal of noise as he strolled through the woods. He breathed in deep lungfulls of air and his eyes roamed hungrilly around the trees, taking in the trees that curved and clawed towards the sky.

This was not his home. He was very, very far from it. Jekyll thought that he could trick him, carry him far away from damage that he could cause back home. But the sea voyage had only given him more and more strength. Jekyll was meek, nervous, and had not the constitution for a long sea voyage. Hyde himself had little patience for the confined spaces that he had been subject to. But now, NOW, he was free. Free again to roam and covet and take. A whole new world of freedom, with that insufferable voice in his head barely a whisper.

It wasn't home. The tall, crowded buildings had been replaced by trees. The cloying scent of burning coal replaced by a crispness and clarity of air that brought with it many scents that were much more easy to decipher.

And so, with a stride of a man in absolutely no hurry, savoring the moment, the freedom that he had, and delighting in letting his depraved mind wander at the possibilities, Hyde walked through the woods as if he possessed them and everything within.  

[Bardess Ookami]

Mary spotted him with a grin. He was not what she expected from her children, for one thing, he was male, but it was not for her to prejudge. Those who could appreciate her efforts should be offered the chance to worship.

With that thought in mind, Mary send her mirror on ahead as she stepped carefully, keeping herself and her passage as silent as possible. The mirror swing around to come to a rest before him, just as she came up enough behind that he would see her over his shoulder should he look into the mirror. It was an angle she knew well.

How would this child react, and what did he need? Those were questions she was eager to answer. Her work was never done.  

[Sabin Duvert]

What was this?

Hyde narrowed his eyes as a familiar object - and yet all together out of place in the woods of this world - floated before him. A mirror. It was a thing he had seen before many times back home. Something he delighted in. Sometimes, when it wasn't even him in control, he could terrify Jekyll with these devices. It could see into a man's soul they said.

And yet, today his reflection was not alone. He didn't start, he didn't shout out in fear or confusion. Instead, his eyes locked with the mare in the mirror and a twisted smile stretched across his face.

"Why hellloooo...." He drug out in a whispery growl that spoke of danger tinged with dark amusement.

Only then did his eye flick behind him to see the mare in the flesh, his head turning slightly to better see.  

[Bardess Ookami]

She gave a small blink. Well, this was certainly a first. She had never gotten that reaction before. Still, interesting. She tilted her head ever so slightly, letting her hair brush the blood on her hooves.

"And who are you?" She asked, intrigued.  

[Sabin Duvert]

Hyde was absolutely unabashed by first the mare's surprise and then her direct question.

He sidled directly up to her, a smug grin plastered across his face. As he got close, he drew a deep lungful of air through his nostrils, picking up her scent. Remembering it.

"A brave one, are we?" He chuckled in his deep, velvet-wrapped-sandpaper voice. "So deep in the forest filled with such monsters as only the imagination can conjure."

He flicked his tail, looking pleased with himself as he glanced at the dried blood on her pelt. "Or do we fancy ourselves a monster as well?"

He tilted his head back, as if pondering whether or not to answer her question, letting her wonder for a moment longer. Before, finally, he grinned again and leaning in to whisper right by her ear, drawing out his name in a hissing growl. "They call me Hyde."  

[Bardess Ookami]

Surprised, she laughed. She actually laughed. She hadn't laughed since... well... since she was mortal. at least, not that kind of a laugh. The few times she had laughed since... well... they had been at those feathered freaks who fancied themselves heroes.

"Monster, Hyde?" she all but purred herself, amused. She flicked back an ear. "No mere monster, I assure you," she told him. How would he react when he found out the truth, that she was a Goddess? Or perhaps, was he a God himself? That would explain how he could make her smile, and the lack of terror and awe others instinctively felt in her presence.

She was intrigued. A first since... the incident.  

[Sabin Duvert]

Hyde inspected this odd mare with an intense eye. The twisted smile never left his face as he strode around her until once more he was face to face with her.

"Yes, Monster. And let my name be ingrained in your mind. Try as you might, it shall never escape you. Like a feasting worm it shall burry itself deep inside and not be rooted out."

"Now, lovely. Miss "More than Monster." Your name? You seem unafraid of me - of the budding evening and taking a risk." Her bravado stirred him, stoked the fire burning within and bated the baying hounds in his mind.

"Do you embrace the night? Do you live? Do you let life fill you to the brim until you must shout it to the night and all the lesser small-minded fools that scurry about their business unawares of the life that they are ignoring!?"  

[Bardess Ookami]

She watched him, unconcerned as he circled her. She had already had her crucible and come out of it a Goddess. Why should he make her nervous? Why indeed?

"Why would I try to escape your name?" she asked, watching him. "Why should I fear you? What is there for a Goddess to fear at all? I am Mary, Mary Spector, Dark Goddess. Also known by the people as Bloody Mary. I have had my trial by fire and loam, and I lead others down the needed path. You do not seem to be one of my children, nor an idiot. You are the first I have met, I think that is neither. It is... intriguing."  

[Sabin Duvert]

"Mary, Mary.... Goddess, you say?" He responded with a bemused quirk, his eyes seeming to devour her all the more hungrily as he continued his inspection.
"Most ... stallion or mare... has cause to fear ME. They are frightened by the untamed - by the wild, by the predator. They cling to sanity in a dark world that tears at it. They fear the dark, the madness lest it tear them away from their protective little delusions.
You may be a goddess, my dear, but I run with the devil himself by my side."

"And now - I may be many things, but an idiot, I am not." His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Those that have made that mistake have regretted it." There seemed to be a particular venom in those words. "They may fear my ideas, my freedom... but do not mistake my brilliant madness for stupidity."  

[Bardess Ookami]

"I said, as I recall, that you were NOT an idiot. I acknowledged what is so plain to see. And I have no reason to fear the dark, the wild, or you. You intrigue me, Hyde. This is... a most... interesting encounter."

She considered. "Run with the Devil?" She mused. "I would be honored to meet him."  

[Sabin Duvert]

"Not you, perhaps, but others have underestimated me." He trailed off, eyes flicking to matted blood that still flecked his fur. He hadn't washed it off - instead, bore it like a badge of honor.

"But no fear, my dear? That seems... foolish. Or perhaps you just know how to live. To let loose of all concerns and worries. To live with your impusle and damn the consequences or any that might try to stop you.

"And so, sweetness, perhaps you shall. Perhaps you shall... IF he calls your name, whispers in your ear, do you listen for it, savor those moments and follow his call... or do you balk and resist. Come with me - let your desire fill your soul and take whatever you desire. And let them forever remember our names.

Why lurk in these lonesome woods when there is surely much more out there?  

[Bardess Ookami]

She listened to his voice and felt it roll over her like thunder. Who or what was he that he could move a Goddess so? Was it the aid of the Devil, surely one of the strongest of Gods? When she had been mortal, she had feared the devil. What of it now? Now she was closer to being akin, and had no reason to fear. But was it the devil, or was it Hyde himself that moved her, without any other aid. What was he, exactly? A God like herself or... She blinked at the possibility... Could he be as she had been, a mortal with the potential to become a God? Was he already immortal or did he need an awakening. More.. was she his awakening?

Oh yes, she liked that thought. She would bring him into Godhood with her, if he were not already there, and who then could stop them? Such power, so many more children they could help, so many lesser beings to raise on high. "Take whatever I desire?" she all but purred. How would he react if she followed his advice? What would be his response... if she tried to take him?  

[Sabin Duvert]

The smile spread wider over Hyde's face, his eyes burning with a dark passion.

"YES!" He crowed, "Do you live your life behind the bars of hesitance and what is 'expected' or do you run free?"

"Come with me," He hissed, eyes twinkling. "Feel ALIVE!"

 

[Bardess Ookami]

Come with him? Where ever he led. She blinked, and realized that as a Goddess she had responsibilities, and would eventually have to attend to her children again. But she had worked so hard recently, and perhaps he WAS her responsibility, if she was to be his awakening. "The only expectations that shape my life are my own," she assured him, nearly purring. Yes, she would follow his lead for the time, perhaps the most pleasant thing required of her since ascension, and certainly better then anything before it.