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 Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:05 am
 It was dangerous to be out here.
Cool water lapped quietly at his feet, dragging him out farther into the ocean. He could walk the bottom if he willed, watching as the fish swam through him, and whatever else lurked beneath the deep, dark surface. He'd never ventured to the ocean before.
The gusts and gales were enough to make his ruin in seconds. There would be no escape from this plague. If there was no air, no wind, Aranthos would be tied down by nothing. Free to go whatever way he chose in any fashion. Like now, as there was no blow to be seen or her of.
It was his one chance to venture to depths of the ocean that no one had ever experienced before. Where the light faded into nothingness and it was dark everday. For surely, the water was a giant shadow, or it seemed that way. For he could not see the bottom from the high cliffs, and he knew not of the laws of Physics.
Yet, if he came up and the wind was blowing again, that would leave him there for many ages to come, if he lived long enough to realize his mistake in surfacing.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:19 am
It was late, dark and relatively peaceful. For once. It seemed that everywhere he went these days there were giggling foals or mares or guffawing stallion and worse annoyances still. Oh they fled at the sight of him readily enough but still, it was good not to have to make the effort of running at them so they kept running for a good while.
Large hooves left their prints in the wet sand and the stallion's tail dragged along behind him, its bone spike ending leaving a snaking trail in his wake.
Water lapped up over his hooves and the draconic Nequus smiled at its cool kiss. A swim or at least a deep wade would be rather nice thinking on it. He'd have to find fresh water later on to rid himself of saltiness but that was later, this was now, and right now he felt like going deeper to cool off.
Having reached a decision, the brown Reya walked into the water.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:28 am
And in doing so, passed straight through Aranthos.
The male pinned his ears in annoyance and watched as the strangle male Reya waded farther out. He'd no doubt get that chill he was looking for, even if it had been brief.
If it was anything, it was annoying to Aranthos, but here was a wonderful chance to do in the world what he'd failed at in life. Sure, he may be dead, but the living could still hear him, when he decided to talk. All it took was one individual, and he could snake away at them with careful words until they did his bidding.
Whatever that was. He wasn't quite sure yet, to be truthful.
"Well, aren't you strange," he hissed between his teeth, eyeing that long and boned tail. What he wouldn't have given to have a bludgeoun like that to clamp his brothers' mouths shut permanately.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:54 am
A shudder ran through the brown stallion's body and the odd Reya felt suddenly colder than the water ought to have been able to make him. Probably just his imagination; what could possibly-
-And then the voice came out of nowhere.
The spined-stallion gave a snort of surprise and spun about. Nobody there. This really was getting weird now; sudden chills and now apparently ownerless voices. Up to just past his knees in cold water, the odd Reya raised his tail out of the water ready to strike, set his ears back a little and turned in a slow circle.
Still nothing there and a quick glance confirmed that there was nothing above either.
The amberish-eyed Nequus gave another snort, this one being more one of derision than surprise. Keep it cool; he had no reason to go into a panic yet. "My goodness," he said dryly, "your ability to state the blindingly bloody obvious astounds me. Who, what and where are you, if I might ask?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:17 am
"Oh," the Reya said with a dark chuckle. "Let's try another one then. That weapon on the end of your tail is completely useless." He wasn't going to tell the other he couldn't do anything to hurt him, either.
Oh damn. One of those questions again. You'd think he'd get tired of answering it, but the question was so simple every time.
"Dead," he said with a smirk, though the other probably couldn't see it. There were only two that he knew of that could see him. Then again, only two couldn't. So, fifty fifty was not altogether bad? He wondered if the odds would stay this way, or change as he terrified whatever he could stumble over.
"And right in front of you," though voices of the dead did not travel like normal ones. They required air to travel. Come to think of it, it was a marvel anyone could hear him at all! Maybe, everybody had just a bit of magic in them, or they were already half dead anyway, and he just kind of sparked than inner age.
It was strange to watch them stumble, as if they were blind. Still, he loved it, it gave him a feeling of power and dominance, even if he could not force it on them.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:34 pm
"Oh, I see." The tail dropped back into the water with a splash. Dead? He didn't think dead Nequus hung around in the world... Perhaps this was some kind of magic. Well it had to be really; either a live thing with such skills playing a trick on him or there was some more subtle magic at play that was allowing him to converse with a dead thing.
"Well I suppose that explains a lot," the spined Reya went on, wondering silently if the whatever it was had power to hurt him. He still couldn't see-
…Was that? …No, he didn't think he could see the owner of the voice. For a moment he'd thought that a beam of moonlight had broken slightly as though shining through something but the effect had passed before he'd been able to decide if it was a trick of his eyes, his mind or if he really had just seen a hint of what he was speaking to.
Could it hurt him? The question was still bobbing about slowly in his head in the same unhurried manner as a petal floating down a slow river. No sense jumping to conclusions. If it could, why would it anyway? He hadn't done anything save walk out here. Maybe that was enough reason to a dead Nequus though; he'd never met one before so he couldn't exactly say.
"You still haven't answered the who part," the brown Reya stallion pointed out. "Unless you were using dead as a proper noun that is," he added as an after thought.
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:30 am
For such a meat eating and bloodthirsty creature, this one was. . . a trifle normal. Fear, interest, caution, haughtiness.
Interesting.
"Hah," he had no use for nouns, and certainly nothing proper. "Who is not important." It used to be, so, so important. Kings, Queens, rulers, masters. All of it was run through with a fine toothed skull. Now, it was all a big joke, and yet he still found himself fighting for the power that he once held as if it did matter.
"Tell me," he said with a step further in the water, the earthly substance hindering him not at all. "Do have compunctions about eating the flesh of others?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:23 am
Could it tell if he was lying? His general reply to such a question would be a straight 'of course not, flesh is delicious.' But this was no normal creature he was speaking to and, if it could see into his mind, it would probably be best to be wholly truthful rather than partially truthful. He still didn’t know if whatever it was could hurt him or not.
"I don't eat sentient things," Ignatius said eventually. "Not out of any real moral objection, it's just good sense. Sentient things tend to have people who like them and would want to avenge them. If I'd killed another Nequus in a fight I suppose I might though, no sense wasting good food and their friends and relations would be after me then in any case which removes my main reason for not eating 'people'." The scaled stallion gave a sneer of dislike on the last word, expressing in face and in the emphasis he put on the word that he didn't feel that all sentient things deserved the term people.
"Why do you ask?" the spined Reya asked after a moment, his tail swishing lightly at the water as he continued to scan his surroundings, hoping for a glance of the thing that was speaking to him.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:09 am
So honest, so blunt.
Aranthos grinned. He would have killed for this kind of truth during his day and age. But no, it had been filled with backstabbing, hatred, rape, and blood.
War was such a fickle thing - and it seemed the Katilenuck were determined to keep it alive. A cackle came to his lips, though it was barely audible against the crash of the waves.
"We're all curious, even in death." Except, now, he could afford to be. For a moment his mind considering going back, but he paused and shook his head. It would be a fools errand. What could he do there?
"If you haven't seen me yet, you won't," he said with a bob of his head. Lucky the b*****d could even hear him. What was with that?
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:25 am
Ignatius gave a snort of acknowledgement and gave up his scanning. The voice would have to be enough information for him if his eyes would be no good. "Ah, curiosity," he said with a smirk. "I think I have that little trait to thank for the odd conversation I get, when curiosity outweighs fear of disgust." Bloody idiots, torn between running and staying. Still, those idiots were better than the idiot stallion who decided to test their strength against the freak to impress whatever mare they were courting.
This creature on the other hoof wasn't afraid of him a bit which was at once refreshing and a little disconcerting; he was used to getting an advantage in any given interaction thanks to his intimidating appearance. Now it seemed that not only was he not at an advantage, he was at a disadvantage thanks to his inability to see the dead thing and the fact that he still didn’t know if it could hurt him or not. Still, if the owner of the voice was already dead what did he have left to fear? Not an odd looking Reya for starters.
"Are you going to tell me anything else about yourself then?" Ignatius asked after a moment, bringing his tail around to scratch at an itch on his flank with the bone tip. "I mean, thus far I know that your are something with a male-sounding voice that is dead." Not a lot to go on; knowing more would be nice; if he knew more he could come up with a vague mental image of what the dead creature might look like.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:37 am
Typically Aranthos answered nothing unless it was asked. Then he answered what little he could, and moved on. Yet, this one was interesting, and had delved out much of his inner being, even if it was mostly through expression and response.
One learned to look for it.
"Male, black, Reya," he paused to think. "But I have the tail of the Jala." That seemed good enough on appearances. No need to sit their drawling about his boring appearances.
"But alas, you'll have to be a seer to know my past, its not one to discuss in small terms." It was a vivid, image filled background and he had not the story-telling skills to say it.
The wind began to stir behind him and he frowned. "Farewell and Good Luck." To what he was wishing luck to, it didn't matter, but he'd be back to visit this one again.
Afterall, true evil and ambition lay trapped beneath something wholly innocent.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:45 am
Ignatius nodded as the other Reya, apparently, spoke. It was nice to have a vague idea of what he was talking to and he hadn't expected an in depth history in any case. He didn't intend to reveal that much of himself so why should he expect it of another? That would be a bit hypocritical of him and hypocrisy was something he preferred to avoid... Eh?
Ignatius blinked at the farewell and nodded his head reflexively. "Right, goodbye then." That had been somewhat abrupt but then everything about this encounter had been pretty abrupt. The scaled Reya remained perfectly still, listening intently for some sign of whether or not the dead Reya had left. Not being able to see people was very confusing.
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