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 Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 2:40 pm
He'd been a good boy, for the most part, and had left his beloved to rest, serving as a living pillow. He did left his own eyes half-close as he reached out within instead of at his surroundings, their talk having made him curious. But... no, there wasn't much he could remember that he hadn't previously remembered. But then, most of his memories had emerged rather randomly, or with something triggering the remembrance.
So he turned to thought, instead, thinking up of things they hadn't discussed, with one coming to mind - names. It hadn't occurred to him, but they would ask them their names, wouldn't they ?
Hm.
Still, he was completely still, and by all apparences asleep if anyone had wandered this far. One crow had taken residence on his shoulder, nested in the angle of his neck. It was light, the sunrise, that made him open his eyes fully again.
"Cosine." He poked her slightly. "Cos... Darling... Wake up."
She had to see this.
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 2:53 pm
Cos was quite comfortable curled up next to Ankou. The air around her was neither warm nor cold, though she suspected that was because she was closer to being a full goddess now and such things as climate affected her differently. Like eating and for the most part sleeping.
As he poked her she shifted slightly and opened her eyes, blinking as they adjusted to the bright day light. She looked up to him and smirked as she spotted the bird perched on him.
"Looks like you made a new friend." Cosine reached out to stroke the crow gently. "Either that or it thinks you are a tree or a statue."
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:07 pm
"Perhaps a little bit of column A, and a little bit of column B." The crow seemed to recognize her, as well, and leaned into the stroking before cawing and finally taking off, probably to look for food.
"I was thinking, through - I know, I know, novel thought." He said, before she could go there. It was always easy to be lighter-hearted with her - where he didn't need to worry how one might interpret what he was saying. The fine cues of social interactions was complicated, but Cosine knew him inside out.
"Should we think up names ? I mean, they'll likely ask us who we are... I don't... usually talk to be people when I do this." He admitted, sheepish.
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:18 pm
Cosine watched the crow and gave him a squeeze before pulling back and stretching her legs out.
"That is a good idea. Names." She pondered that concept for a moment. "We could use our host's names? Or I don't know. i suppose I'd just choose one from someone I know. Maybe Grace? Or Jessica, they're nice names."
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Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 4:05 pm
"Hn." Adrian might sound foreign... But really, he did kind of look foreign, having seen the people that lived in the city. And well, it wasn't like there was any part of his host left to be bothered at the name-taking. "Adrian will work, I think... Through we'll have to say I came from the other continent before Gehenna took hold, most likely."
"Perhaps... Lured in far away from home by beauty unmatched..." He left a kiss on her forehead, light and teasing, before finally moving to stand and stretch a bit, once Cosine wasn't laying on him fully.
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:58 am
"Oh, I didn't even think of that." She laughed and pushed herself up off the damp ground. The sky was clearing to a beautiful blue. A perfect day. She thought as she brushed herself off and reached for her pack.
"I think in that case I will use Lien." His suggestion of how he came to be on the strange continent made her laugh. "Then you lost her and found me." She teased, grinning as she pulled the bag onto her back. It was easier to carry that way. "That is a good plan though, travelling before gehenna and we met. We've been struggling onwards ever since. Fighting for survival. It's all very dramatic." Though gehenna had been dramatic, epic in its disruption and destruction. "Right, I am ready."
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:22 am
"Tsh." He was smiling, through.
It felt good to be up and stretch his limbs again - a leftover mortal habit, perhaps, but his legs had definitively fallen asleep there.
Dramatic maybe, but perfectly believable, thanks to the events that had transpired.
"Alright, over there." The path started off to the side - they had some time before it got steeper, thankfully. He did wait for her to catch up, and reached to hold her hand when she did.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:43 am
Cosine followed after him, taking hold of his hand as they started on the path. It was rather steep and broken up but, if they took their time she was sure they would make it without any mishaps. She kept her eyes mostly on the ground where they were treading so that she could ensure good footing. They were lucky really that the weather was good. She imagined it could be quite trecherous otherwise.
"We should find somewhere like an inn or market. Somewhere the community meets, if they have such a place. A store? Ask where we can find shelter. As we're pretending to be mortals?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:55 am
"They do have an inn, from what I've seen." He passed in the town proper quickly, having taken in some details while doing so. He couldn't remember a market, but he might just have bypassed it. Really, he would have paid more attention if he'd known that they would be coming back like this.
Hn.
"We don't have any of their money, through." It occurred to him, suddenly. It wasn't usually important, but if they had to stay somewhere, as mortals... Hm.
He hopped down a steep rock first, then offered his arm for her to hold onto for stability. This wasn't exactly easy even for him, as he tended to simply fly over unstable terrain like thisÂ.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:58 am
Cosine leaned on him as she made her way over the rough patch and skidded a little on some loose rocks.
"Oops." She said as she held onto him tighter. "I didn't think about money, though perhaps we can barter? Around the pantheon people seem to trade off each other. Some food for some cloth, that kind of thing." Though did she really have anything tradable with her? maybe not, but they would figure something out.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:32 am
"Careful." He reminded her, gently. He had no want to see her tumble down the path, none at all.
...And really, he'd had no idea about that. Showed how much he paid attention, perhaps. "I am sure we can figure something out..."
He didn't have the habit to plan things too tightly, anyway.
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It had taken a few hours, but eventually they did made it down - the sun was high up in the sky, making it look like it might be about noon.
Ankou did pause for a moment, as if to make sure he hadn't shifted back out of disguise without noticing. "Are you ready ?" He asked Cosine.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:11 pm
"yes."
Cosine took a nice deep breath and took her first steps towards the edges of the town. Despite it being nearly midday the main street was deserted. Some of the shops were open. Signs stood outside advertising what little wares they had to sell. Others were clearly so damaged that their keepers had either moved on or perished during gehenna.
Cosine kept her hand in Ankou's as they walked along the deserted street. There were signs of life, laundry hanging on a line, plants on balconys. Perhaps people were just eating lunch or spending their time elsewhere.
"There, is that an inn do you think?" She asked, pointing to a large building. It had a sign outside advertising food. It was so large she was sure that it had many rooms.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:18 pm
The emptiness seemed strange - hadn't there been more people going out and about when he'd first passed through ? But maybe that had been later in the day. There had been no sky, back then, so he had no way to tell, at all.
"That is the building I was talking about." He nodded. It was the one that had stood out as an inn to him. "Do you want to go inside ?" He couldn't help but feel nervous at the prospect. Really, he'd never tried to pretend to be a mortal, interact with them like this. He barely stopped to interact with people at all, beside maybe to ask directions.
That and... there was something, a nagging feeling, in the back of his mind, that kept trying to grap at his attention. It felt like Lenneth, like Hrist, but... at the same time different. He was certain his valkyrie hadn't followed them, so what was going on ?
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:56 pm
There was a split curtain hanging over the entrance way. Cosine pushed it aside as she ducked, rather nervously into the doorway. Inside, the lighting was dim. They were in an entrance way that had a stone tiled floor. A step up and the floor was wooden, there were tables and chairs set out like a restaurant, though it was mostly empty. In one corner a family sat, they had been talking before Ankou and Cosine had entered, now they turned to face the strangers, watching them with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.
Cosine glanced back at Ankou and smiled a little. She stepped up onto the step.
"Shoes!"
The voice seemed to come from nowhere. It certainly hadn't come from the family or the old man asleep at the counter top.
"No shoes, you have to take them off."
A short woman emerged from a door behind the counter. She was dressed in a long skirt and top, her grey hair pinned up in an elaborate bun on top of her head. She looked both Ankou and Cosine over and put her hands on her hips.
"Leave your shoes there." she nagged, nodding to the entrance way in which they stood.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:07 pm
The first outburst did have Ankou all but still in surprise. Shoes ? What about shoes ?
Uh.
The glances themselves did little to bother him, really. He was used to being regarded with suspicion as he passed by, being forever the stranger no one knew as he passed through mortal towns.
"My apologies." He let his words draw out a bit, faking hesitation and slight unfamiliarity with the language. He was playing the part of a foreigner, after all, and he bent over to undo the laces of the black combat boots that had once belonged to his host. It seemed better not to argue, especially since they were trying to win over trust and information.
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