|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 11:07 am
The day was coming to a beautiful end. The sun touched the distant horizon and painted the cliffs, and the seemingly endless sea of grass beneath it, in vivid hues of gold and orange. Insects, finally seeing the end of the oppressive afternoon heat, were tentatively beginning to start up their nighttime concert, and all around, a sort of calm began to spread as both creatures of the day and of the night found a brief moment in time where they all could rest. And all of this was completely lost on the pale, dark-winged lioness that was currently scaling said cliffs, one focused jump after another. Yes, she could fly, but she didn't feel like it right now. Sorenna had had a rotten day, and it felt briefly satisfactory to pound her paws against something. She wasn't so pathetic that she would actually start swiping at the rock, but some good, traditional climbing - claws out, scraping and straining, just felt better right now than a breezy flight. She paused for a moment to send a hateful glare at the world at large, at the same time scanning the horizon for something she knew she still wouldn't find. With a small growl of frustration, the Goddess turned her back on the setting sun and resumed her climbing. Nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing! She could feel them out there - the desperate, the rage-filled, the hateful - she could feel their dark wishes like sweet, teasing caresses against her pelt, but not one single desire was strong enough to pull her. So many dark hearts out there, and not one creature with enough need for Vengeance to give her even so much as a direction to go in. A rotten day indeed. Sorenna blinked, her wings automatically unfurling to steady her as she came to an abrupt halt. She remained stock still except for her head, that she slowly raised and lowered while she tried to get another whiff of the unusual scent that had brought her up short. Ah, there it was again. Was that... sandalwood? Sorenna scowled and threw a quick look around her surroundings.What in all creation could smell like sandalwood around here?"What the..?" She muttered to herself. Still, as a distraction from her empty idleness, investigating a weird scent was as good as any. Not like she had anything better to do, anyway. Also... there was some sort of feeling to this scent... something that made the tips of her pinions bristle, somehow. With another frown, she picked up the trail and begun to follow it.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 5:32 pm
It had been a very long day.
Li had spent much of his day galloping through the sky. Where many of the gods had wings, he ran on whisps of clouds that appeared under his paws, allowing him to both cloak himself behind the fluffy white formations and to run across the sky the way a preybeast would along the ground. While he could travel great distances at great speed, it was exhausting none the less. Finding prides that merited a visit was difficult. The smell of blood drove him away and unfortunately, there were far too many prides that smelled heavy of it. Sometimes this was due to his having paid a visit after a hunt. It was one of many reasons that he would frequently return to the same location. Perhaps another part of it was he quietly hoped those that were violent would eventually settle into a more peaceful way of life.
Those that he considered, he would have to double back and settle on a way to test them. So many groups involved multiple species or species in which he had no form to take to walk among them. It was unfortunate...
As the sun had begun to set, he decided it was time to rest his paws. The small god, perhaps the smallest in the god's domain, often took to higher elevations for his rest. Few mortals dared the dangerous climbs and shifting stones. As for gods, he'd not yet met a hostile divine being so he had very little fear of them.
Which might not have been a good idea.
The god laid out under a small knotted tree, his back pressed against the tangled roots and a paw draped over his eyes. For the moment, he was completely unaware of the pale female tracking his scent.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 2:37 am
The closer she got to the summit, the stronger the scent of sandalwood got. When Sorenna turned the final bend in the road and came upon the flat area and the gnarled little tree, the air was heavy with it. And she realised she had found it's source. For a while, the Goddess just stood there, studying the resting form of the diminutive God before her. He had to be a God, even though she couldn't see any wings on him. Not all Gods always chose to show their wings, after all, and some didn't even have any. But even if he hadn't had that kinda telltale horn, or the mixture of scales and fur on him, or any of his other physical peculiarities, Sorenna guessed that she still would have known him for what he was. She tilted her head to the side with a frown and stepped a little further into the heavy sandalwood scent (Which she definitely didn't like, by the way. It drowned out all other scents around it and made the inside of her nose itch). She was pretty sure she hadn't seen anything like this particular God before, yet something about the air around him seemed vaguely familiar. Familiar and unpleasant. He seemed as if he could be sleeping, but Sorenna didn't care. "Hey, you," she said, "Who are you?" She didn't raise her voice above normal conversation level, but her words still came out kinda clipped and harsh. Not because she was feeling any particular aggression towards him, at least not yet, but because Sorenna never bothered herself with politeness.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 5:33 pm
Li, who was used to a gentle nudge to wake him, roused with a shout. He brought his paws up over his eyes and cringed his hooves in close to protect his belly. There had been very few times when he'd been startled in waking and each and every one of them had ended very, very badly. "Not the eyes!" He pleaded, still lost in the middle ground between sleep and reasonable waking.
After a moment his paws sank down. No crows, no claws, no talons or beaks...
He slowly peeked around his paws, his eyes round as saucers, and stared at the strange, unfamiliar creature in front of him. Gods he knew. Courage, civility, egotism, and surf. Those he knew. This one he didn't. She didn't look particularly friendly but on the other paw, she hadn't immediately let into him either. There was something distinctly familiar in her eyes too... something very similar to Maua's eyes but...different.
"Oh.... hi, s-sorry." He rolled over onto his side then sat himself upright. His mane, a terrible mess now, flopped all over onto one side of his neck. "I'm not used to..." And she was talking. He snapped his mouth shut and sat upright a little straighter.
Straight to the point then. "Oh, I'm Li Wei. God of peace... you're..." He waved a paw, "...I've not met you yet. Is this your mountain?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 4:02 am
Sorenna's maw twisted into a grin that knew no relation to neither joy nor kindness, and her red eyes narrowed. "Ah-haaaa..." she drawled, nodding to herself. "Peace. Of course. I thought there was something... familiar about you." She couldn't be bothered to try to recall details, but she could swear she had run into the God of Peace in the past, only he had looked different then. If she wasn't mistaken, she'd always found him... well... if not amusing, then at least distracting. And distracting would do just fine. All that flailing and cowering he'd just been doing had certainly tickled some nerve in her, just now. She gave him another once-over, opting to ignore his question for the moment, while she sat herself down and draped her tail across her paws, the black-tufted tip the only thing that betrayed her interest as it kept moving back and forth almost as if she was stalking something. "So, you've been reincarnated again, have you?" She snorted, "For the life of me I can't understand why Mkodi would keep letting you be reborn as something so frail and tiny every time. But there you have it. I do suppose I should introduce myself, then." She gave him a very slight nod and let her white fangs glitter in another kinda-sorta-not-really-a-smile. "I am Sor'en na kai'i. If that's too much of a mouthful you can address me as Sorenna. My domain is Vengeance." The last word came out as something a bit too hoarse not to be a growl, but she continued almost nonchalantly. "And no, this is not my mountain. I just happened to be passing through. I prefer to wander... like you, if I remember things right. Are you still doing those... charity-rounds... things? Or am I thinking of someone else?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 12:23 am
Familiar?
The god tilted his head slightly and his brow creased. He'd not met this lioness before, not that he could remember. Not in this life, at least. He knew now that gods were able to reincarnate or pass their domains along. That he'd learned from Mut, not from personal recollection. There were gods even that were able to remember their past lives, according to Mut. Whenever he tried there was only darkness, blood, a split earth, and birds... so many birds. Angry, hungry eyes. Talons and beaks coated in blood, dark feathers blotting out the sun. The thought sent a cold stone into the pit of his gut.
No, he couldn't remember her. But apparently, she knew him well enough. Comical as any attempts to stand taller were, he straightened his shoulders and raised his head up as he regarded the other god with a more solemn pair of eyes.
"Well...", he started carefully, not knowing the exact temperament of this one. She reminded him, somewhat, of Mawa. She had been a little hostile as well but the goddess had quickly grown content with the peaceful aura that he gave out. Standing beside this lioness made him feel much smaller, more helpless in a way. Perhaps she had an aura like his. "Peace... isn't a big thing. Nor is it really a strong thing. It's always being broken. It's always being driven away. I suppose it's fitting for me to be small and... well.. apparently broken often."
He chuckled. "Blessings, yes. That's my task. Mkodi herself must think I do a decent job if she sees fit to bring me back."
He offered a polite smile. "And you? What's your task?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
