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| A Fish is a Fish Even if it Comes From a Sacred Lake | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 7 2011, 06:18 PM (340 Views) | |
| Dextra | Jun 7 2011, 06:18 PM Post #1 |
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First, she lost her donkey. Then, during the search for the stubborn animal, she herself had gotten lost. By the time she found the damn animal it was already early evening. By the time she found a familiar landmark, the freaking sun was setting. And what was she doing now? Fishing. freaking fishing, with barely any light and a grouchy donkey baying only a few feet off. Nevada sat with here eyes on the water, willing the fish to bite at her hook. Irritation for the days events was seeping from her pores, having lost a whole day of travel. She had been hoping to be in Madrid by night fall, early the next morning at the latest. But of course that would be too easy. So now she had to take at least half a day to get back to the main road and then another half to get to the actual city. She sighed with exasperation and rubbed at her temples and then her eyes, leaning back on her stone seat. The fishing rod gave a jerk and Nevada lunged forward and latched onto the pole, yanking backwards with a grunt. The fish flung itself in the other direction, fighting against the line that held it, jerking from one side to the other. Nevada went with it, letting up slack and then yanking backwards once again, finally succeeding in pulling the fish out of the lake. "Ha!" she grinned and examined her catch, the scales on the foot long trout glittering yellow in the final evening light. Unhooking the squirming animal, Nevada put it out of its air-lacking misery before pulling out her hunting knife and cleaning the fish, disposing of the innards in the lake and rinsing off her knife. She knew quite well what lake she was at and how sacred it was considered. She was not, however, going to risk the possibility of a rouge bear coming at her just to keep the river from having more fish in it than it already did. Fish in hand, Nevada strolled to her camp site, eying the clouds that were slowly creeping into the yellow-orange sky. She grimaced, her nostrils flaring at the slight smell of moisture in the air. Rain was the last thing she needed now. Quickening her pace, Nevada entered the small, circular clearing surrounded by trees with thickly knit branches. The site had obviously been used as a camp ground before, a scorched patch of earth surrounded by various stones acting as a fire pit, and a log pulled to the side of the site to act as a seat. Nevada now approached the already fire filled pit, picking up a stick she had sharpened and skewering the fish on it, wedging the stick between the rocks so the fish could cook without her help. Sighing, Nevada went to making up her campsite, placing her bedroll under the best cover and removing her cloak. Shaking out her tail, Nevada then went to work on Hephaestus' saddle, drawing it, and the goods it carried, off of the tired donkey and placing them close to the tree he was tied to. All the while the anthos ears twitched, picking up the sounds of movement among the trees and bushes of the vast Erth'netora Forest. Birds fluttered, small mammals scuttled, probably even the occasional predator veered around her campsite. She wasn't worried, however; she doubted anything else could surprise her today. |
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| MidnightShadow | Jun 11 2011, 12:38 PM Post #2 |
And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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The visit to Sphynx days prior had led to an interest in exploring the Erth'netora - she hadn't, after all, really walked through it with the intent of finding something new and exciting since she'd been a goddess and it had bordered her elemental kingdom. For most the forest was a terrifying place - one could get lost quite easily, it was difficult to navigate due to the sheer amount of growth, and there were tales and rumours that travellers had spread that suggested there were terrifying creatures inhabiting its depths - but for a shapeshifter it was just another place, a different one with a different atmosphere. Shadow had made camp near the Nevale Lake after having spotted it from above, as a falcon. In some ways she was glad to be outside of the Sotoan belief system and, indeed, outside of any religious system that existed within Elenlond. It meant that when she visited these supposedly sacred places, she did so without any presuppositions, without any feelings of fear or apprehension for what the future would possibly hold if she walked inside sacred waters. As such, when she had stripped herself naked and slipped into the cool waters to bathe, she hadn't felt awkward or shamed, but when she'd stepped out she hadn't felt healed, either. Upon finding a desired campsite, the shapeshifter had built a small fire, pushed a fallen tree with some difficulty to the ring of stones she had erected, and skinned and cooked a hare that she had killed as she'd prowled the forest as a cougar. Once eaten, she had darted off into the trees once again to see what else there was in this forest - to see if the supposed rumours were true. By the time she was returning it was dusk. Shadow had taken the form of a chickadee as she came spiralling down from the sky, towards her campsite, mentally remembered because she had honed her memory and tracking skills in her youth as a means of self-preservation. As she circled towards the ground, however, the shapeshifter found that there was someone inhabiting her camp, cooking on the smouldering fire she had left behind. Taking to the trees, Shadow returned to her human state and approached slowly, one hand curled firmly around the hilt of one of her eight daggers, resting against her hips and along the belts that hung from her waist. When she finally located the anthro, she had thought of transforming back into something more intimidating, but had decided against it - she wasn't really looking for a fight today. Coming into the other's full vicinity, Shadow paused to lean her shoulder against a tree, using words rather than action. "Fishing in the lake, were we?" Evidently, the swordspell had noticed the fish. "Some might say you've crossed two boundaries today." She was referring first to fishing in the lake, and second to taking control of a campsite, though the latter was perhaps more forgivable considering it had probably appeared abandoned. Shadow grinned. |
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| Dextra | Jun 11 2011, 08:36 PM Post #3 |
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The odd thing was, Nevada smelled the newcomer before she heard her. The smell was a distinct one, one she remembered from her days living with her grandparents, only stronger. It was that mix between scale and skin, fur and hair, claws and nails, that smell of someone who could embody an animal as easily as they could walk or speak. Nevada couldn't remember the last time she smelled that smell, or if she had ever had it this strong before. She was almost relieved to hear the sound of footsteps, human footsteps, approaching up behind her, instead of paws. Humans you could reason with. Even a human in an animal shape was harder to communicate with. She did know that humans could be just as if not more dangerous than animals, but it was a start. She pretended not to hear the intruder until the footsteps stopped, and when that happened she moved slowly. She leaned over as if to adjust something on the removed saddle, grabbing up her staff in the process. Straightening, Nevada kept her eyes on Hephaestus, running her hands over his coat as if to smooth it and checking his legs without looking at the shapeshifter. Nevada almost wished she could have noticed the visitor sooner so she could have taken up her hat and cloak to hide her anthropomorphic features. no use worrying about that now, she supposed. Ears twitching, Nevada made to look busy fixing Hephaestus's halter as the woman (she could tell now) spoke. She didn't sound threatening, at least not by her voice, for all Nevada knew she had a bow and arrow pointed at her. Duke brayed as his master turned to look at the woman, her tail flicking when she noticed the woman's hand one on of the knives that hung from her belt. The new comer had somehow managed the task of being shorter than Nevada herself, with dark brown hair and intense green eyes that looked like they wouldn't change expression even if she was killing someone. And she was grinning, Nevada wasn't sure what to make of that. For all the anthro knew, she could have been absolutely insane. Her instincts didn't agree, thankfully. They were more intent on the idea that she was a force to be feared, but not right at this instance. "Well I'm quite aware of that first boundary." Nevada stated after she had looked the woman over, moving her eyes back to her face. "In fact, I am well aware I could loose my head for it. But I'm sure you will agree that when you've been scrambling through the forest all day playing hide and seek with a donkey you really don't care where your food comes from anymore." Nevada stood and stretched, her staff hanging loosely in her hand. Studying the newcomer once again with a slightly questioning look. "Now that second boundary, I don't believe I'm aware of it. Mind enlightening me?" Edited by Dextra, Jun 12 2011, 06:57 AM.
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| MidnightShadow | Jun 14 2011, 08:14 PM Post #4 |
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And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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"That only applies if you believe in the gods, and since I have a propensity not to I thus do not fear what wrath may come for fishing in it." For those who had once walked the earth as deities, it was hard to believe that Elenlond had any - they, those from Mianor, had not, after all, ever seen those gods, and each country seemed to have its own religious system that conflicted to some degree with all of the others. If there was a core set of gods and goddesses that oversaw the land, the Mianorite gods had not had the privilege of meeting them - likely because of the conflicting nature of the two magicks that each land possessed - and so could not attest to their existence. As one of Mianor's Fallen, it was even harder for Shadow to believe that there had been something beyond the coming of her and her companions. The anthropomorphic characteristics of the other didn't bother the shapeshifter as she advanced towards the camp, though they may have disconcerted others. She had seen it all in her travels, from regular people with regular jobs to those who looked distorted and maimed; that didn't mean she was always accepting of others' appearances and didn't judge based on them, of course, but there was a fellow kinship with the woman currently inhabiting her camp, whether some form of beast or not. It was because of those bestial ties that she found there to be a common link between them. Green eyes strayed to the donkey upon whom tender care had been administered, fake and distracted though it had been (and Shadow had noticed that it was the sort of love one gave for the sake of keeping up appearances). It was a skill the swordspell had picked up years ago, honed through the constant need to observe and evaluate others, until she had finally understood the differences between one who was genuinely performing an action and those who were doing it in the hopes of pretending that they hadn't noticed that something was amiss. "When one sets up a campsite, they don't typically expect to have visitors coming to it and making themselves at home - I imagine some would consider it rude. Something like barging into another person's house and doing the same thing, though not to the same degree, I suppose." The words were spoken lightly, conveying that she wasn't really offended that the other had invaded her site. Taking a seat on the log, Shadow crossed one leg over the other and folded her arms across her chest. "How does one lose their donkey?" She assumed, of course, that the game of hide and seek had really been a game of 'Where the hell did my animal go?'. |
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| Dextra | Jun 25 2011, 09:00 PM Post #5 |
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Nevada wasn't surprised by the woman's disbelief in the gods, she seemed way to serious for something so undefined. Somehow, she almost seemed above the gods, like she knew something that everyone else did not. "You don't seem to be the type to fear much." The statement was more of an observation than anything else. Nevada had always found that an open ended observation, one that could be taken either way, was an easy way to start a conversation with someone, especially when you are trying to make a sale. Offending someone with a knife, multiple knives in fact, was not on her to-do list at the moment. Though the newcomer didn't seem hostile, that could change in an instant. It was a habit to be aware of the person she was talking to, and to get to know them as well as possible beforehand. On the woman before her Nevada had zip, a gut feeling an a few feet between them. One thing she was relieved about was that the woman didn't seem disturbed by her ears or tail. She probably wouldn't be, considering she could change into however many animal forms with ease. Of the multiple people who had found out about Nevada's anthropomorphic features, very few of them had not gasped or screamed. Even fewer had ever talked to her again. She had learned to keep them hidden. The world had taught her a lot, and not always being gentle about it. Being observed as she went through the motions made her more cautious. This woman wouldn't miss much, she knew that for certain. She was also certain that she had been right in thinking that this campsite was much to convenient. She had pretty much made herself at home without an invitation, even if she hadn't been aware that the site was being used by someone else. Grinning despite herself at the inquiry. Nevada turned to stare at her donkey. "Well, generally said donkey has to step on your foot, and then, generally, the donkey has to wander off while you're making sure your foot isn't broken." Nevada leaned her staff on the log the traveler was now sitting on and went to rummage around in one of her bags. "In this kind of forest it can be quite hard to find a donkey on a mission, especially one as stubborn as mine." Finding what she was looking for, Nevada pulled out a small, lumpy sack and headed over to where she had tethered Hephaestus. Running her hands through his short mane and over his long ears, Nevada was lost in thought for a moment before she realized why she had come over here. Squatting and putting the sack on the ground, she spoke again as she unwrapped the contents from the canvas cloth. "There is no stopping this guy when he gets a whiff of apples. He would run through a pack of angry dogs if it meant getting one." The donkey brayed happily when he saw the contents of the bag, a small pile of juicy sweet apples. Nevada scratched the animals forehead affectionately before heading back over to the fire. "I'm sorry for taking over your campsite, it looked abandoned when I got here." Nevada knelt and poked at the fish before detaching it's stick from where it was wedged between the stones of the fire pit. Taking out her hunting knife and retrieving the metal plate she had pulled from her packs earlier, she cut the fish in half and pulled the top half off of the spit, placing it on the plate. Scooting over without standing, Nevada held the plate out to the traveler, grinning slightly. "It isn't gourmet, but it's certainly better than nothing, and I doubt you've eaten." |
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| MidnightShadow | Jun 30 2011, 05:16 PM Post #6 |
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And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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"Nah, not so much. Things lose their scare factor after you've seen them a million times and they haven't been able to kill you yet. Fear of death or dismemberment is the root of most other fears, I think, and if you fear neither of those to any large degree... I think one can safely assume that you don't really fear much at all." As the other's story came together Shadow nodded absently, understanding, of course, that creatures could be very stubborn when they felt so inclined, especially when they wanted something. And once they had satiated themselves, they were off to do as they pleased, unaware that their master might be quite irritated by their transgression or, worse, their disappearance. At the same time it was hard to fault the donkey entirely, however, as the master, knowing what the creature was like, should have realized that leaving it out of her sight - even for just a moment - was enough to have it straying far, far away. No wonder the campsite had appeared to be so appealing to her. "Not a worry," Shadow said, waiving away her apology easily. "I was only teasing. Had you been some sort of psychotic murderer or hostile, I probably would mind, but then I figure that I could deal with it anyhow." The undertone to her words was transparent: move with any sort of intention to harm and she would defend herself. While Shadow herself may not have been afraid of much, she herself was particularly terrifying when angered or threatened. Shadow took the fish and smiled gratefully, pulling it towards herself. "As a matter of fact I haven't, actually. I was more enraptured by exploring the forest, which I haven't visited in some time, to see if anything had changed. Apparently one of the towns that it used to harbour is gone now, which I find mildly curious. But perhaps that is not such a bad thing... I heard that it was a really strange place to visit." The shapeshifter sniffed the fish and smiled: it smelled delicious. And it was definitely better than some of the meals she had enjoyed while on the road, when food was scarce and one had to survive on almost nothing - unless nothing was to be had. "My name's Shadow, by the way," she said after swallowing a morsel; it was as delicious as it smelled. She paused, thinking for a long moment. One didn't often see people out here and it was even rarer to cross paths with them, whether directly or indirectly. "Why the Erth'netora? What I mean is, why are you even travelling through here, on the back roads? Most people would no doubt prefer the main ones if they had a particular destination in mind." Edited by MidnightShadow, Jul 22 2011, 05:59 PM.
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| Dextra | Jul 8 2011, 12:17 PM Post #7 |
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Nevada chuckled. "Why am I convinced that you're talking from experience?" It was true. Nevada had been around all sorts of people, but none had given off the feeling that this woman was. The feeling that she had walked through hell and back and it hadn't fazed them in the least swarmed the woman like a cloud. Nevada didn't fool herself, if this woman was half as adept at fighting as she seemed, the anthro didn't stand a chance if they got into a fight. Nevada understood that if this woman got serious about something, anything was possible. She also understood what the woman was thinking about her donkey, and agreed with her completely. She shouldn't have taken her eyes off her strong-minded donkey, even if she did risk her foot. As if in response Hephaestus whinnied and shook his head, making his ears flop against his head. She couldn't help herself but laugh. "Well, in my line of work being a psychotic murderer would not be very good for buisness." The tone the traveler used was obvious, and Nevada resisted the urge to shudder, continuing to grin slightly instead. She didn't intend to threaten the woman at all, he just intended to cohabit in this isolated environment. She studied the area, watching at the last bits of sunlight before cloud took over the orange sky dancing across the surface of the lake. A fish broke through the gassy surface to flop around in the air and then splash back into the water, creating a explosion of water particles and ripples along the surface. Nevada's ears twitched as her ears picked up the sound around them, wind running through the trees, the crash of the water, an owl waking up earlier than intended. She turned back to the traveling woman after a moment, bowing her head in thanks. "I appreciate you letting me stay." The fish she dug her teeth into was hot and tender, melting in her mouth and making it hard to stay irritated at the events that had partaken that day. Maybe she should camp around Nevale Lake more often, if the fish was this good. She studied the woman sitting before her as she spoke and examined her fish. At least she wasn't wrinkling her nose at her offer. She knew this woman was a shape shifter, but she didn't know why someone would willingly explore this forest. it was huge, and other than the few roads that past through it's depths leading to Madrid and various villages, majorly uncharted. "Were you looking for something? Or just following your 'animal instincts'?" She smirked, digging her teeth back into her fish and taking another bite, savoring the taste. chewing and then swallowing, she continued. "You sound like you've done this before?" "Nevada, pleasure to meet you." Nevada said through the final bit of her mouthful. She saw the wheels turning in Shadows head, but she didn't pry. Taking up her staff, she shifted the coals in the pit to allow more air to flow.The flames thriving again, she turned her attention back to Shadow. Nevada shrugged at the inquiry. "I wanted to get to Madrid as quickly as possible, and the main roads tend to take the longest. Thugs generally don't stalk less populated roads." She thought for a moment, picking some fish scales off her lips before continuing. "These roads are generally a lot more interesting to walk. They might not be as well worn, but I much rather look at ever changing scenery that sky and tree lines." |
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| MidnightShadow | Jul 23 2011, 12:21 PM Post #8 |
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And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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"Because I am." The words were said plainly even as Shadow looked, for a brief moment, tired and grim. It quickly passed, however, as the conversation took a turn in a different direction, away from a truth that she wasn't particularly fond of sharing, mostly because the truth relied on remembering the events that had preceded it. She wasn't entirely sure what sort of business the anthropomorphic creature was in but, by the sounds of it, it was some sort of business or merchant practice; the hunch would be later confirmed by the other's words, which seemed to suggest it all the more (not many people worried about thugs unless they happened to have something valuable upon their person). Shadow nodded her head at the other's gratitude. "Thank you for the fish." The fish was finished quickly, partially because she was hungry, partially because adaptability had told her that if you didn't eat fast, you didn't eat at all - and, ignoring all of that, it really was quite delicious. She chuckled at the other's play on words. "I don't really care to stay in one place, no," Shadow replied. "And I'm never really looking for much, just wherever my "animal instincts" take me. Generally speaking that's into trouble or some sort of ugly mess that I may or may not want to be involved in." But, of course, there were times when she actively involved herself in those messes because it was the right thing to do. But that hadn't been her reality for several months now, not since the end of Andromalius's conquest. Where politics were concerned Shadow did not get involved because she simply didn't understand them. The shapeshifter made no mention of her particular interest in the area, especially Soto. As a former goddess this had been her domain, a place that she had come to know very well. Going through it as a nobody - so to speak, as some people did actually recognize her on occasion - was thrilling because it was no longer a place she had to protect. There was a reason to go exploring now, a drive. "I guess that makes sense," she replied following Nevada's explanation. It was true that thugs did inhabit the main roads, but one could also hire guards if they had the money, and if what Nevada had said was any indication, she must have to be a target for robbery to be a potential victim of it. But Shadow wasn't about to question that decision as she herself was guilty of avoiding the most-used paths or the busiest areas for the sake of the less-used, more obscure ones. Generally speaking they were, as Nevada had implied, much more interesting. That was also how adventure was had. "And what place is it, exactly, that you're heading for?" |
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| Dextra | Jul 28 2011, 09:11 PM Post #9 |
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The words Shadow spoke startled Nevada, but not to the extent that she showed it. Instead she gave Shadow a questioning look before she turned her attention back to her supper. She didn't intend to pry, especially considering that her gut had been giving her the right impression. This woman's past wasn't really her concern unless the traveler really wanted to share, which she doubted. Shadow seemed like the type to keep to herself, unless you made her mad. When she was mad Nevada expected she would be a terror. If there was one thing that Nevada was sure of about her temporary companion, it was that she had a complicated past that she had no intention of sharing, at least not until they got to know each other. "No problem at all. Food tastes better when you have company." Taking a bite of her fish, Nevada watched as the shapeshifter devoured her portion. It wasn't something she hadn't seen before, and it was certainly intriguing to watch, but it was not a practice that the merchant intended to participate in. She continued to gnaw on her fish, getting all the flesh off of the bones that she could as she listened to Shadow. The sun had pretty much set now, and shadows danced across the water and the forest surrounding it. Polishing off her trout, Nevada stood and went to her packs, retrieving two apples. "Your instincts seem to be out to get you, or at least the people who cross you. Any reason why you might get into trouble so much? Should I be avoiding you for fear of being attacked by someone?" Nevada smirked and tossed the apple at the shapeshifter that sat on the log, having no doubt she would catch it. Sticking her own apple in her mouth, the anthro picked up some firewood she had found earlier and took it over to the fire. placing the wood to allow for the most air flow, the merchant stuffed some leaves into the center of the coals, hoping to make it catch faster. "So," Satisfied with how the fire was catching, Nevada leaned back on her hands, her legs crossed in front of her. "What do you do? Other than travel I mean." This seemed like safe neutral territory to start a conversation from. If there was one thing the anthro had learned in her trade, it was making conversation never hurt. Even if she wasn't going to share camp with this woman, Shadow intrigued her. Meeting a shapeshifter was uncommon, even with the amount of traveling Nevada did. And Shadow was odd, so unlike most of the people she dealt with on a daily basis. She couldn't have asked for a better bunk mate. The apple gave a satisfying crunch as the anthro bit into it. She could understand why Hephaestus loved the sweet fruit so much, and couldn't help but laugh when he gave a bray of indignation. "Don't complain! You got a whole bag full!" She shook her head. Nevada loved her donkey dearly, but sometimes he could be such a glutton. She thought a moment, taking another bite from her apple before replying to Shadows question. "Well first I'm headed for Madrid, then I'll probably travel in the general direction of Kinaldi." She turned her attention from the dark, clouded sky to Shadow. "And you? What brought you to the Erth'netora Forest?" |
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| MidnightShadow | Aug 2 2011, 03:21 PM Post #10 |
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And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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"I believe in justice and righteousness, and when one confronts the world as it stands, there are a whole lot of people out there who deserve to die. Understandably, that generally leads to trouble, as it were. You may want to avoid me if you're concerned about being ambushed or assaulted here - I've gathered myself a following of people who hate me and to travel with me is to be always on edge, a knife beneath the tips of your fingers. If you can't handle that, you or I ought to move on, for I cannot - and will not - guarantee your safety. To do so would be to offer every single person I meet an empty promise." Her mood and the words that she spoke were like the ebbing of a tide, the grim seriousness coming and going, replaced in the interim by a more playful side that was still, underlying it, mellow. As if those eyes had seen more in the world than they had ever really intended to. But to discover those secrets Nevada would have to implore further, and to do so would mean prying into a history that Shadow didn't often share - at least, not of her own accord. The past no longer made her angry or distressed, though - she could share it, but it came with the apathy of one who had lost touch with it long ago, whose life was really only limited to reality, to the here and now. Much like one who experiences depersonalization and derealization, she had severed herself from her past and was now a spectator of it, no longer the participant she had once been. She caught the apple with ease. "I'm a bit of a mercenary, a bit of a hero and an anti-hero, involve myself in all sorts of ventures that may or not require my assistance. I have no defined occupation and I don't wish to have one - I go where I will and if I find something, excellent. If not, I move on. I've really only ever had one real occupation and that history's doors were closed years ago, by my own hand." Today it seemed that Shadow's stint as one of the Mianorite deities to come to Elenlond was a little-known history, one of the originals to arrive on this world's shores with a host if immigrants who needed a new place to call home. The history books told of these events, of course. They spoke of them and offered the names of the nine who had come here first, but, despite their youth, those tomes seemed to have degraded into dust, forgotten and unwanted. Likely, suppressed by the countries and powers that be because it was a history that they did not wish to honour. What had taken place in the span of just over a century was not what had happened at all. "And you are a merchant...?" She said those words with a lilt to her voice, intonation that suggested less a statement of fact and more a question. "So from one way all the way across to another? That's a lot of travelling, to go through the Erth'netora to go to Madrid, only to go back through that forest a second time to head for Kinaldi. Where do you hail from?" It wasn't senseless travel, but Shadow had to wonder where she'd initially come from if she was willing to travel to one side and then again to the other. It seemed unlikely that the anthro had come originally from Kinaldi - perhaps somewhere else in Morrim, then? - but the question became where then. Orl'Kabbar was unsafe for a merchant, and most of Morrim besides was populated by farms and estates. Ashoka seemed like an even unlikelier option, but anything was possible. She bit into the apple and savoured its juicy flavour. "Truthfully, I have no reason. It was something to do." Her green eyes settled on the fire in front of them, watching the flames dance, the firelight's image reflected in the pupils of her eyes. "I rarely have a reason for the things that I do." |
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| Dextra | Aug 10 2011, 12:22 PM Post #11 |
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She laughed. She couldn't help it. This older woman was just so serious about such a thing. Nevada would never ask someone to protect or take care of her, she had her pride after all. "Shadow," Controlling her giggling, the anthro turned her cloudy eyes on the woman sharing her fire, a smile pulling at the sides of her mouth. "I would never ask that of you, first off. For a second, I can take care of myself. I just prefer to stay out of situations where I have to." Taking up her staff she poked the fire to allow more airflow, then sat back on the ground and dug her teeth into the fruits flesh. "I didn't live in the mountains for the majority of my life to be some city-drunk, thin-skin." Unlike a lot of young woman from Morrim, Nevada had spent her youth with her grandparents learning the practical stuff you needed to know when you lived in such an unforgiving place. Even when she had lived with her parents, she had been more interested in helping her father with the horses and learning the practicalities of cooking and sewing from her mother, instead of all the dainty stuff most young woman learned along with the cooking and useful things. Taking another bite of her apple, Nevada thought over the woman's words. She knew she had a history, and she knew she wouldn't give her any information unless she pried. Nevada didn't mind not knowing about Shadows past. The likelihood of them ever meeting again was unlikely. Of course, if she was given the opportunity, she wasn't going to pass it up. "To make that many enemies in such a short time. You must never stop moving for long." She was similar of course, only ever stopping in towns and cities a few days at a time. Of course, she avoided making enemies. The merchant nodded. "That would explain the enemies." She uttered, once again eying the fire that danced in front of her eyes. Ears turning to flatten against the back of her head, Nevada was slightly confused by Shadows words. She knew people ended employments everyday, but to think that this woman had had a steady employment at one point was odd considering where she was now. Turning her questioning look on the older woman, the anthro spoke. "Was this occupation ended out of personal preference? Or out of necessity?" "Yep, merchant and trader." The anthro smiled proudly, her ears once again turning back to their regular position of attention. "Been so for 2 years now, and I'm still alive, so I must be doing something right." She turned to look up at the stars, the ceiling that she had been content with for the last few years. She had loved the world she had shared with her family, but she just couldn't get over how beautiful the rest of Soare was. She didn't think she could ever be content with leaving the road. Even if she was old, delirious and crippled, the road was her home now. Soare was her oyster, her treasure trove, and she intended to find ever single pearl. Heaphastus brayed in the background, gnawing on some grass nearby. "Well I grew up in Morrim, but I travel all over Soare now." She thought for a moment, sorting out how many times she had circled the towns and cities of the twilight lands. "I was heading to Madrid from Reine. Before Reine I was in Eldahar." The merchant traveled all over, hitting her regular root of towns between all of the capital cities that she traveled to. When she was in Ashoka she had a little more guess work to do, considering how much the tribes tended to move every year. Traveling through sands searching for human camps was her donkeys least favorite part of the year, but it was also one of her most prosperous. Nodding, the anthro understood the woman's words. When she had started out as a merchant, she had not known where to go or how even to go about finding places to trade in, and had wandered aimlessly from town to town before she had settled into her new routine and role as a traveling merchant. "So you have no family, than?" Nevada asked curiously, wondering why Shadow would continue to wander if she did. Somehow, she didn't seem the type to like to settle. |
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| MidnightShadow | Aug 17 2011, 06:44 PM Post #12 |
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And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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Nevada's laughter broke the sombre atmosphere, effectively dissolved it into nothingness, though Shadow herself neither smiled nor grinned. Her eyes, however, roamed the camp, and it was apparent that she wasn't upset—to the contrary, she was content, her eyes suggesting that there might have been a smile had she not suppressed it. Of course, she also hadn't been suggesting that she actually protect Nevada—she'd merely been stating that, if someone came to this forest with the intent of killing the ex-goddess, there was no guarantee that she'd be able to protect or even save the anthro's life in the process. But she let that slide, merely nodding her head in recognition. "Both." In hindsight she'd sacrificed her status as a goddess at the right time, falling before the inevitable happened and all of the Mianorite deities were thrown from power by this world's indigenous magic. "I left it because I wanted to leave it, because I grew tired of being riveted to one place, to one particular belief, to one set of laws that, though created by my hand, were laws that, eventually, I didn't agree with anymore. It became agonizing to be surrounded by the people I was, by the life that I had stepped into, knowingly or unknowingly, I don't really know. But, in the end, I wasn't the only one who fell—all the rest fell too, and now our legends are fairytales, the remnants of our story housed in old tomes buried deep within libraries. I don't mind so much, though—it makes it easier to blend in with the crowds and, essentially, be forgotten." There was enough evidence in her cryptic explanation to give Nevada hints about what Shadow had been and easily where she had come from, though if the woman was uncertain or only had a hunch, she could just as easily visit one of the larger libraries in any one of the present countries and discover the secrets to that identity. Most, naturally, no longer recognized Shadow or those who had come with her from Mianor. Many Mianorites had died upon arriving on Elenlond's soils, many more had survived into obscurity, and the hybrids—those who were half-Elenlondian, half-Mianorite—in hiding, not doubt. At least, that was Shadow's speculation on the matter. But it was a chapter in her life that was closed now, left behind but not forgotten. "You must if you haven't given up yet." Shadow laughed quietly, finished her apple as the other woman relayed her route and the shapeshifter beside her mentally put the picture together. "To have grown up in Morrim and not been subjected to slavery or indentured work... A lucky break, I would say. I wonder if it's doing better now, since Isra returned to her post and Nero joined her on the throne? Or have you been back since then?" She would have liked to know how Morrim was doing, being so far out of the loop. From the end of Andromalius' conquest onwards, the shapeshifter hadn't given the country much thought, and her conversations with Sphynx days previous had been concentrated almost solely on Soto and Ashoka. Morrim, it almost seemed, had receded into the background. "Do you ever go down to Angkar? Or is that a journey better left untouched? I know sea travelling can be a gamble, even in the best of weather." There was a long pause following Nevada's question, Shadow's green eyes now staring intently at the fire, a flicker of pain passing through them and just barely touching her lips. Family... Even when she'd been married she hadn't known what family really was, her relationship with Alex almost doomed from its inception. But, more than anything, she considered her mother and her father to be family, and they'd been gone for over sixteen years. "No. Mum and dad are dead. Been so since I was young. They were murdered. I lost my husband this past year, as well, but I suppose that doesn't really count since we drifted apart not long after our marriage. I suppose you could say Drium, my current interest, is like family, but I won't count on it until I know he's not going to disappear. And I'm fairly certain most people don't consider demons family, anyhow." Another long silence, punctuated only by the crackling of the flames. Finally, she glanced towards her companion and said, "Are you an anomaly? I mean, within your family? I assume that you're the only merchant, though it wouldn't be the first time that I was wrong." |
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| Dextra | Aug 27 2011, 01:51 PM Post #13 |
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The anthro was satisfied with Shadows silence. Calming down a little, but still smiling, she leaned back on her hands and stared at the fire. She hadn't really been expecting anything, this woman was self-sufficient and wasn't going to go out on a limb to protect people she had only just met. Nevada could respect that. Besides, it wasn't like she had been lying about being able to protect herself. Her grandparents had taught her how to survive in their mountain home, and those skills had transferred into her current life of travel and sales. She had her bow and her staff, and, if need be, her knife. She wasn't invulnerable of course, but she presumed herself better off than a few merchants she knew. "Sounds like quite a position of power." Nevada murmured, sipping from one of her water skins before offering it to her companion. Something in the back of her mind was bugging her, but she couldn't figure out what. Shadows previous work had obviously been one with a lot of influence, more than Nevada could even comprehend, but what was it? Yanking a chunk of apple off with her teeth, she chewed fast, staring into the flames. This was going to bug her until she figured it out. Shadow had been powerful, had created rules. A queen maybe, or law enforcement? No, other than the problems with Morrim, no kingdoms had fallen or been in trouble lately. And then there was that air that the shapeshifter had about her, like she was ages older than she looked. With a suddenness that almost made her drop her apple, an unlikely thought shoved it's way into her mind. Her thoughts turned to the stories her grandfather had told her so many years ago, the ones about how gods from another world came bearing that worlds patrons. The world had apparently been dying, and the gods had decided to take this world as their own, saving their people. Those gods had eventually lost all power and fallen, supposedly now walking the earth as mortals. She openly stared at Shadow now, who seemed occupied by the fire in front of her. It was far fetched, but somehow, it fit the traveler. The air of age and knowledge just didn't fit the young age that Shadow was. "Godly power, perhaps?" Shadow could think she was crazy, but better to ask than not know. Looking back at the fire, Nevada gave a humorless chuckle. "Very lucky indeed. Considering I lived out of the way of civilization, up in the mountains with my grandparents for the majority of my life, it's kind of to be expected." The young merchant smiled slightly, fond memories of her father, brother, and grandparents flowing through her mind and making her more at ease. She had learned how to fight, how to defend and live. She had always felt sorry for Morrimian women who were bound to their home and their husbands, with no real freedom of their own. She would have gone mad if that had been her. She sighed. "No I've been back." She thought for a moment, going back over the information she had picked up on the road. "It's pretty solitary and proud, as usual, but it seems to be recovering from all of the trouble it had been in. Though there is still a little conflict among the gossips over the relationship of the Empress and emperor, and about how thin the military reserves are stretched, but they're dealing." Nevada shrugged. She was to fond of Morrim, mainly over it's traditions, but she had no understanding why people couldn't just see that the royalty was doing what they had to. Nevada's nose wrinkled and she grimaced. "If I didn't have to get on a boat to get to it, sure I would do business in Angkar. As it is, though, I stay away from it." The anthro didn't like to say she was afraid of traveling by ship, because she really wasn't. It was more that she hated the giant floating buckets people called ships. They were damp, the trips were always bumpy, and she couldn't be on one for five minutes without losing all of the food she had eaten within the last 24 hours. All in all, the trips were much to long and uncomfortable for her to think that any prophet she would make on the Islands to be worth it. Not quite sure what to say to Shadows reply, Nevada stayed quiet. Shadow didn't sound offended, but she hadn't really expected to get the amount of details the shapeshifter had given. Taking up her staff again, she shifted some of the scorched wood. Her ears swiveled for a moment, picking up the sounds of Hephaestus shifting on his hooves, birds and squirrels shifting in the trees, mice and raccoons running through the brush. She snorted with Shadows inquiry, glancing at her before turning her face up to the sky, watching clouds move past. "In more ways than one. My father is a farmer, and the last time I saw my brother he was splitting his time between working the farm with dad and working at a horse ranch. They know how to do business, but I'm the only so called merchant in my family." She stretched her back and shoulders a minute, her tail twitching. "My grandparents live up in the mountains and are mainly self sufficient, rarely coming down to stalk up on some supplies." She turned her face to smirk at Shadow, a flicker of dark humor flickering through her eyes. "I'm also the only one with permanent furry appendages, if you were wondering." |
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| MidnightShadow | Aug 30 2011, 05:19 PM Post #14 |
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And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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"Water." It was a single word, Shadow's green eyes sliding to stare at Nevada for a long moment as her lips twitched with a smile. The stories, though largely forgotten now, it seemed, would tell of a young woman who had come here in her mid-teens and who had presided over the southwestern half of Soare, in and around Soto's coast and mid-interior and its southwestern island. They would tell of a girl who had been married to the God of Light, his own kingdom bordering hers. However, those stories also told of the fall of those same gods but, compared to most of her brethren, the girl-turned-young-woman had stepped down. There were reports, founded or unfounded—none could say for certain—that she had stood out on a rock during a windy day, the waves crashing up all around her, and with the might of one who could no longer stand her place in society, had cast the gold ring into the ocean. And they also said that, when that ring touched the turbulent waters, it became the hippocampus and the Great Beast, once a guardian over its charge, plunged into the ocean, never to be seen again. Shadow thought it made a nice bedtime story when it was told right. It surprised her how much Soare had forgotten in only five short years, though she supposed that the Forgetting had truly occurred when the gods had begun to fall, roughly thirty years ago, if her reckoning was right. And while she had the appearance of a woman in her mid-twenties, the shapeshifter didn't know if she ought to classify herself as being older than she was—the time distortion hadn't really altered her in any profound ways, but that wasn't to say that she hadn't aged (mentally), even as an immortal. But to think that the countries could have reasserted themselves so quickly and that the existence of ten deities could have been erased from the historical record—save in the historical tomes and dusty scrolls which only the scholars of the earth would ever want to try and read—was puzzling if one were putting it kindly. It only went to show, however, how much perceived damage Elenlond's inhabitants had experienced and how much they'd yearned to take their lands back. That thought brought more questions forward that, she assumed, didn't have answers. "I'd prefer to think of myself more as a Swordspell, I suppose you could say," Shadow continued, leaving Nevada to make the connections herself, to ask questions where she would and if she wanted to. There was a wealth of information out there, but to be speaking to one of Mianor's only known remaining fallen deities—who had come to Elenlond as a god, of course, for Shadow knew of Mianorite deities who had fallen before Mianor's implosion—was a much faster, much more informative means of gathering information. And Shadow had no qualms answering questions—one merely had to ask the right ones. "A magic user governed by the use of standard weaponry, as well. Half-and-half, a hybrid." Through and through, she thought, standing to hurl her apple core into the woods before she re-seated herself and accepted the flask. She drank deeply and quickly, passing it back with only a relatively small amount of water taken. It pleased her to think that Morrim was, at least, recovering, albeit slowly. Whether it would recover to its full potential remained to be seen, but with two rulers on the throne and a real, concerted effort to repair the damage done by Andromalius, it seemed at least likely that it would regain most of its former glory. With Ashoka bolstering its military and the murders taking place in Soto, now seemed as good a time as any to improve national security. Shadow laughed. "I was wondering, though that wasn't what I was referring to. I wasn't aware that that could happen though. If nobody else in your family has your traits, then where do they come from?" Now the shapeshifter was curious. Her eyes, which prior to that point had been staring into the fire or the surrounding flora, depending on what caught her interest, were now rooted on Nevada again. That such an anomaly—a real anomaly, Shadow would argue, considering how family lines tended to run—existed beside her was probably as interesting to her as Shadow seemed to be to Nevada. |
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| Dextra | Sep 14 2011, 09:11 AM Post #15 |
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Blinking, Nevada was initially confused by Shadows statement. Water? What about it? Turning back to stare at the fire, the anthro tried to work out what the traveler had meant. Shadow didn't seem like the type to suddenly state something at random. She would have a purpose to her speech, or at least that's what Nevada thought. Gnawing on the flesh of her apple, the merchant tried to unravel what the woman had meant. She certainly hadn't denied the fact that she was a god, or at least a fallen god. Nor had she scoffed at any of Nevada's thoughts so far. Thinking back, the young woman tried to remember the mystical and amazing stories her grandfather had made sound so real. She chuckled slightly, realizing that they actually probably were real. She remembered that there had been both gods and goddesses when the powers of Mianor had come to Elenlond. How many had there been? Six? No, there had been ten. One for each of the elements, as well as life and death, day and night, chaos and order. How she remembered all this she didn't know, but thinking back on it now, whenever her grandfather had told her a story of the old gods, she had always given him her full attention, sitting on the edge of her seat as she absorbed every single detail he gave her. She had thought the stories magnificent, epic, and above all, astonishing. When she had been young, the gods of Morian had been the people she looked up to, despite their fall from power. Wait, she thought her mind suddenly kicking into gear, hadn't there been one god at least that had willingly given up there power? There had been! The goddess of water, the one who had taken charge of Soto's coast. Nevada snapped her fingers, a large grin appearing on her face. So that's what Shadow was. Turning, the anthro openly studied her companion. She didn't hold the gods of Morian in such high regard as she had when she was a child, but to be in the presence of one was slightly shocking. Shadow wasn't what Nevada would have thought a god would be like at all. "You don't strike me as the godly type." The anthro said nonchalantly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world she could have said. She wouldn't expect the shapeshifter to give her a straight answer, but she just had toput it out in the open that she cracked - or at least she thought that she had cracked - what the traveler had been. Nodding, the anthro nipped off some of the remaining flesh from her apple. Listening to what Shadow had to say, she wasn't surprised she had enemies. She was probably a better fighter than most assassins. Nevada chuckled, tossing her apple core behind her to where Hephaestus stood. As he greedily crunched the last bits of fruit from the ground, the merchant spoke. "It's no wonder I didn't hear you sneak up on me. At first I just thought I was going deaf." She grinned her ears twitching. "Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I don't feel so bad." She took a swig from her water skin. "So the magic you use, does it just revolve around water, or do you have some other spells up your sleeve?" She grinned at the woman. Now that she knew what Shadow could do, she was pleased that her instincts had told her so early to be wary of her, or at least her temper. Seeing the slightly pleased expression cross the womans face as she told her about how Morrim was recovering reinforced Nevada's previous notions of Shadow being a goddess. She cared about the world she lived in. Many people didn't, not as long as the trouble didn't come their way. Once again the anthro chuckled, sipping again at her water skin. Nevada sighed and leaned back on her hands, casting her eyes up at the sky for a moment before bringing them back down to the dancing flames. "Well my grandparents are both animagus, so was my mother. My dad was human, and somehow my brother ended up fully human as well." She grinned ruefully. "Guess whatever decides those things had different plans for me. I like what I am though, I can learn a lot more about a person just by smelling them or looking at them than a normal human being." She looked over at Shadow, who was now staring at her with a surprising intensity. She smiled and raised an eyebrow, her tail flicking around in the dust behind her. "And you? Where do your animal roots come from?" |
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| MidnightShadow | Sep 18 2011, 05:55 PM Post #16 |
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And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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Shadow laughed quietly, genuinely, amused that Nevada could think, act, and speak so easily. How many others would have faced a fallen goddess and been so at ease? How many others would have been so open with what they were thinking, not even pausing, it seemed, before verbalizing those thoughts? It was at that moment that the shapeshifter decided that she was rather fond of the anthro and would carry this meeting beyond the clearing's borders. If she ever saw her again, she'd consider Nevada a friend. "I'm not. It's ultimately why I gave it up for mortality, a lack of glory, and an unknown status—blending back into the background, if you will. I only ended up there because I was training to be a priestess under the previous goddess, but when she vanished without a trace... I was chosen. In Mianor, deities ascended and descended quickly and seamlessly, while here... Well I'm not sure how it really works here, if there are a pantheon of stable gods or not, but people don't just come and go. You can't replace someone who has fallen here, but there you could." Such foreign concepts. And yet... they were a part of her reality, something that she had slipped into comfortably, not really noticing the differences until they came up in conversation like this. It provoked a response in her, lit a desire that pushed her to want to know more about the world that she had helped to colonize. And without that world, without it allowing her magic to shift and transform so that it fit the roots of this world as opposed to the old world, she would likely not have survived. A lack of contact with the one element that kept her going would simply have left her cold and dead, a shell of her former self. "You're not dealing with anything, really. Just a regular person in a regular world—I'm not special anymore. There are only remnants of that power in my blood now and none of it is particularly useful. Sure, I may not age anymore, but that's really all it's good for. And I've heard immortality is a rather dreary thing to have because while you don't age, everyone else does around you. But I suppose it's a small price to pay, considering how much worse it could be. "My affinity is mostly to water-based magicks—I can only call on what already exists in the world and cannot create any of it from scratch. I've dabbled a bit in light and earth magic, but I can't do anything substantial. I could, however, drown a city if I really wanted to. The large resource volume would be the only obstacle." Shadow paused. She was grinning, but only because she knew she'd never do such a thing unless there were no other options. As if to punctuate the point, she called on the water from the Navale Lake. It wove its way through the trees, becoming a small watery dragon as it drew closer, the shape becoming clearer and more defined the closer it came. It darted by Nevada's cheek, whizzing from behind her head, leaving a watery streak as its wing touched it, droplets bursting apart before reforming quickly. The dragon landed upon Shadow's knee and she leaned back, looking down at it. "And you? Are you gifted with magic?" The shapeshifter ran her fingers over the back of her watery creation, its body shifting and responding to her caresses. It had no life of its own and was animated strictly through Shadow's own will and where she directed the particles, but it was still nice to think, for a time, that she could have a companion other than her pegasus. She listened attentively to Nevada, her strokes becoming absent. So there were blood relatives. It made more sense now, took away some of the ambiguity. As far as Shadow knew, a parent had to have the traits that the child had in order to pass them on, in order for the child to express them. She might have started questioning it had Nevada not proven it. Though how the animagi blood in her had transformed into the manifestation of an anthro was still an interesting question and one that Shadow would have liked to find an answer to. "Nothing that I have is as complicated as yours. My dad was a shapeshifter and my mom was a human. People have told me that I look a lot like my father, but I have my mother's personality. I also inherited his ability to shapeshift. It's neither a fascinating story nor an interesting one. If I had children I suppose they might be animagi, the blood being diluted. But I don't think we'll ever know." Shadow laughed. No, she had no intention of ever having children and sometimes wished that she was barren. Even if she'd wanted to, there was simply no time in her life to do so. And no desire, either. |
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| Dextra | Sep 21 2011, 09:13 AM Post #17 |
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The anthro supposed that had been an odd thing to say. Shadow was probably used to people who recognized her falling at her feet and begging her blessing. Yeah, the anthro thought, like that would happen. Nevada grinned, her tail flicking back in forth in the dust. She had complete and utter respect for the woman in from of her, but she wasn't a goddess anymore. You don't worship a former king, why worship a former god? Shadow didn't even seem to want to be worshiped. She had said so herself, she wanted to be in the background. Besides, she was not getting any vibes to told her to be wary of the woman. She could treat her as she did everyone else. "You were chosen?" Nevada shifted on the ground, crossing her legs in front of her, her tail curling at her side. "There was more than one of you training priestesses?" She supposed this wasn't so odd, churches and temples had more then one priest or priestess all the time. She supposed that the gods might be a bit more selective of those they allow into their service, but who was she to say? Gods probably didn't have the time to select their own worshipers. "Why did you choose the priesthood?" Nevada knew that she couldn't have done it, she wasn't sure why someone just as strong willed as her would choose that sort of life. Picking up her staff, Nevada once again poked at the fire, allowing more air to flow. "Just so you know, immortality isn't really that normal." She grinned at Shadow. She was just teasing, but it might be a soft spot, and she had no intention of poking Shadows soft spots like she was poking the fire. "I would have thought if you gave up god hood, everything godly would have disappeared, leaving you absolutely average." The anthro turned her eyes to stare at the fire, soaking in some of it's warmth. It was an odd concept, and it certainly wasn't the easiest to grasp. She listened as Shadow spoke, intrigued by the other womans words. She nodded, "That would make sense, considering the position you took. I'm glad you aren't easy to anger." She grinned slightly eyes locked on the floating shape as the water particles condensed and morphed into a dragon, the fire light refracting off of it's sides and making it sparkle. The anthro jumped when it darted around her face, her ears flattening against the back of her head involuntarily. The sight was hard to look away from, the former bucket of water have a sort of new life. She knew it wasn't alive, but it was hard to think otherwise as Shadow stroked it as if it were a cat. "No, magic isn't my thing." Shrugging, Nevada looked over her shoulder to where Hephaestus was. The donkey looked like he was asleep, laying down his legs tucked under him and his muzzle wedged under his back leg. No wonder he was so quiet. "I'm gifted in nothing but the bow and the staff, and even with those it took years of practice to get it right. Are your knives your only weapons?" She nodded towards the belts around her waist. Each knife that made it's home there seemed well used, well made, and well cared for. Nevada turned her face back to study Shadow as the older woman spoke. So she had a shape shifting father and a normal human mother. It seemed to be a pretty common occurrence, that parental combination. She grinned slightly when Shadow laughed again. It was a surprisingly nice sound, considering the rough and tumble nature that this woman had. "How did you know?" Nevada asked suddenly, staring into the flames. "I've always had my ears and tail, but I've never understood how a shapeshifter finds out they are a shapeshifter. It isn't something one usually thinks about." She turned to stare questioningly at the other woman, looking for an answer. |
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| MidnightShadow | Sep 28 2011, 09:03 PM Post #18 |
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And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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"Mianor was complicated. The system it operated under seemed to be that the world chose its gods and if those gods proved to be either power-driven or arrogant, they were deposed in favour of someone else. I can't really say what happened to the woman before me, but she seems to have faded from the foreground and altogether disappeared. I happened to be one of the few training to be a priestess at the time. Great Beasts, creatures that became the source of our power, chose who it was they wished to call their deity." She paused to consider why she'd decided on that profession. "I don't really know... It wasn't really a calling or anything. Something to do, I s'pose? I think it happened for a reason, though, because I went on to become a goddess, married a man who later become a god alongside me, watched my world implode, and came here and met people like you. I'm not sure things would have turned out that way had I decided to continue down my path as a swordspell, which I've resumed." She laughed quietly at Nevada's remark about the abnormality of immortality. For the people who lived in society and didn't know it, sure, it was strange. But for someone like Shadow who had been surrounded by immortals for a fair chunk of her life, it had become something commonplace. And while she wasn't particularly distressed by the fact that she couldn't die, it did make her wonder what her future would hold. "No, I think that would have been too simple, to lose it all. I imagine some people did. But others, like the Goddess Evona, retained some of their power, although she has retained it all. It is why Esiria is so far out of our reach. The mixing of Mianor's magic with Elenlond's, however, has produced interesting results, some of which are in the form of what I have, while others have experienced some... other... problems. Apparently, many of the hybrid children—the children of a Mianorite mother and an Elenlondian father or vice versa—have died out. But that's just a rumour and I can't say for certain. I'm neither so it doesn't really apply to me, but the transfer of my magic certainly does. The transition from one planet's to another's was almost seamless." Nevada's twitching made the shapshifter smile as she gently stroked her creation. The little creatures weren't real, but it was nice to pretend, sometimes. All of its movements were directed by the swordspell's mind, her thoughts dictating what it would do and when. That it had unnerved her companion didn't come as a surprise to Shadow—not only was Nevada a feline anthro, but she also, as she stated shortly thereafter, wasn't terribly interested in magic. Not as many were as there had seemed to be in the past, but it didn't affect Shadow one way or the other. "No, I have others. My knives are my primary weapons, though. I also own a bastard sword and a few other odds and ends, as well as some enchanted items that I received at my wedding. I've always liked bows, though. Wasn't really good with one, unfortunately. I'm slightly more accurate with my knives, but I tend not to throw them because I'd generally like to get them back." It took Shadow a second to realize what the anthro meant with her question. Her brow furrowed slightly, the gears in her mind turning quickly as she tried to make sense of the inquiry. With the continuation of Nevada's thought, however, she figured it out quickly enough. And it made sense, too. How many people had the opportunity to ask a shapeshifter how they'd known they were a shapeshifter? "It was almost like a tingling sensation, really. I was pretty young, but I remember being near a cliff that overlooked a vast boreal forest. I climbed the cliff and jumped off that cliff at a run. I knew I wasn't going to die and I remember being unafraid of what might await me below at the bottom, but when I gave in to the tingle, my body transformed and I became a hawk. I imagine most others know what they are when it happens, though, or they've seen it around them. My dad came from a tribe in one of the forests and had grown up with shapeshifters, so when his time came he already knew that was what would happen. I think it depends on your circumstances, though. I've always gone with my gut and it's never let me down. It would have been nice to have a little bit of forewarning, though, so that if I was going to end up getting myself killed, it could have been prevented. But you live and learn, right?" Shadow grinned over at Nevada. It almost surprised her how many questions the other woman had come up with in such a short span of time. |
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| Dextra | Oct 9 2011, 08:54 PM Post #19 |
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A frown creased Nevada's face as she thought over Shadows words. That didn't seem like the most productive way of worship to her. In her minds, gods were supposed to be a constant, something that only ever change very slowly as time passed. For a god to suddenly just be gone seemed counter productive. Her eyes twitched and she moved her eyes to the fire in front of her. "These Great Beasts," She mused, eyes on the strong flames that jumped and danced before her. "How did they become your power source? I'm presuming you don't mean normal animals, but I can't make much sense of it." She turned and gazed curiously at Shadow, her tail flicking back and forth in the dust. She sipped at her water skin as she listened to Shadows reasons. She supposed it was a reasonable thing to do if you didn't know what to do with your life. Being a priest or priestess was a calm, peaceful lifestyle where you didn't have to worry about anything. She just couldn't see this strong headed woman settling down for such a period of time. "You're married?" She asked, a shocked expression dancing accross her face before she gained her composure. She wasn't sure how to react, whether to laugh or stare in shock, so she went with the blank stare. The blank stare was always a good default. "Esiria..." She mused, turning her face up to the sky. She had never liked sailing, but the fact that such an unknown landmass was was only a day or two sail away was mind boggling. "It's strange." She started, eyes tracing a few constellations. "It's so close to part of our world, and yet we're completely cut off from it. I haven't known of anyone that has tried to reach it's borders." She remembered rumors she had heard of Esiria, the words that had made simply unseen territory seem like an eerie, dangerous world. With a goddess of chaos ruling it, she supposed it wouldn't be to far fetched. "How is it that one god can lose nothing while every other one loses something?" She didn't really expect an answer, she was more directing it straight at the sky that Shadow. Turning her face back down, Nevada grinned slightly at her companion. "You don't seem like the type to have to patience for long range combat." She had no doubt that if it was necessary, Shadow could do it, but the shorter woman seemed like the type to want to be in the thick of it. She poked at the fire, thinking over her next words. "But if you can't use a bow, and you don't throw your knives, how do you hunt? Or are you just on a strict diet of nuts and berries most of the time?" Nevada grinned at Shadow, hopping she didn't get smacked for the jest. As she listened to Shadow, her eyes curiously trained on the woman's face. Her expression fluxed between confused to understanding to thoughtful. Nevada supposed it was a pretty odd question, but she was curious. The few times she had watched her grandparents change, or even the vague memories she had of her mother shifting, she had always thought it completely mesmerizing, fluid. It was as natural to them as walking was to a normal human. When she was younger, she had sometimes wished she had been a shapeshifter instead on an anthro. Of course, things didn't work like that. She smiled slightly, the memory of when she first truly recognized what she was, and how she never wanted that to change flashed through her mind. Nevada chuckled. "That expression only actually works if you actually live." She grinned at Shadow, her ears swiveling when Hephaestus brayed loudly. She turned to look at her donkey, who shifted on his hooves and whinnied unhappily. "Oh don't be such a baby." Despite the statement, Nevada stood and walked over to Duke, rubbing his muzzle and patting his shoulder. Hephaestus brayed again and bit at her hip. "Oh stop that, it isn't like anything is going to eat you." Uniting him from the tree, she brought him over to the tree that Shadow had jumped from earlier, which was closer to both them and the water. Satisfied that he was in a much better position, Hephaestus huffed and shook his head, leaning down to nibble at some grass. "Sorry," Nevada apologized, flopping down on the log a foot away from Shadow. She shrugged. "He's almost the size of a horse and he's afraid of the dark." She grinned, studying the water creature still in Shadows lap. "So, any idea where you'll head next?" |
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| MidnightShadow | Oct 23 2011, 12:41 PM Post #20 |
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And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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"I didn't really understand it, to be honest. They were creatures that could exist in their natural forms—they were creatures that you tell your children that don't exist, like hippocampi, rocs, phoenixes, and so on and so forth—or as an object, such as a ring, a pendant, or a circlet. It was in their latter form that they typically granted their power, although, to my understanding, it could happen if they were in their animal forms once the initial fusion was made. When I threw my ring into the Sedokai Ocean, it became a hippocampus again and disappeared into the ocean's depths. Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like to go and find it, but I'm not sure that's possible anymore." Shadow laughed at the question. Though Dextra tried to hide her feelings on the matter, the shapeshifter could pick out that such a notion had startled her. "Was married," she said finally, her eyes averted as much to take away the spotlight from Nevada as it was to keep her own feelings at bay. "He left a while ago; he wasn't from this world. I don't really fault him for his choice and we drifted apart shortly after we were married. I guess that's why you don't marry someone when you're fourteen." Though she said that, she knew that a lot of girls were married anywhere from fourteen to eighteen years of age, but they usually had the good sense of their parents to help them find a marriage partner and there was generally a purpose. Shadow had had a purpose, yes—she'd loved Alex at the time—but there had been no counsel, and if she could have been warned of where their relationship would go after their marriage, she might have reconsidered. "It's complicated, but a mortal marrying a goddess and then becoming a god alongside her is really not a formula for marriage. "Evona was... different," Shadow said after a long pause, leaving Dextra to her thoughts. "Chaos is what it sounds like, and considering the world-hopping Evona did and her own personal discoveries, it didn't surprise me when the rest of us fell and she did not. She had already enveloped Esiria under her blanket of power, however, and even if the other deities residing there had managed to retain their power, she would still have consumed them. But she's never been a cruel goddess—far from it, actually. I always used to think of her as a mother figure. She was certainly one of the oldest deities." The comment about her combat preferences was passed over—Nevada was right, of course, and the swordspell saw no real reason to elaborate on the fact further—though her questions about hunting almost made Shadow laugh again. "Why, isn't it obvious?" Shadow asked, looking almost wounded. "I shapeshift into a particular predator, find my prey, and kill them. Why waste years learning skills that I'll never need when it takes but half a second to shapeshift?" Her eyes followed Nevada as the anthro went to her donkey to ease his frustration. She smiled at the thought of a donkey being terrified of the dark but waved the other's apology aside. Shadow, having a pegasus of her own, knew that animals needed certain care and attention, though she'd never known a donkey to be afraid of the dark. It takes all kinds, the shapeshifter thought. She mused only briefly on Nevada's question. "I don't know. I didn't really have any plans. Maybe down into Morrim. I haven't been there in a while and I'd like to see the country now that it's no longer falling apart. I could return to Angkar as well, but I'm not really sure I'm ready to go back there yet. Maybe we'll find each other again when you go back to Kinaldi." She laughed quietly and stretched, stifling a yawn. Gods, they'd been talking for hours! Glancing up at the starry night sky, she arched her eyebrows as she glanced at Nevada. "It's getting late and you have a ways to go before you find Madrid. Time to retire for the night?" She stood and stretched again, her knives rustling against her hips and thighs as she twisted her body a bit, turning her back entirely to the anthro. Dark eyes scanned the forest beyond. They would be safe for the night. |
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| Dextra | Dec 9 2011, 06:50 AM Post #21 |
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(( Sorry this took so long, and sorry it's so short!)) Nevada listened to what Shadow had to say about the beasts, her mind spinning with questions she supposed she might not get answered. It must have been some choice, to have to give up your powers like that. It was completely life altering. She supposed that is Shadow had already been losing her powers, it wouldn't have been that hard a decision, but it was still something she couldn't fathom. It was like her having to give up her anthro traits. A slight twinge of horror squeezed at her gut. Taking a breath, she turned her attention once again back to Shadow and her tale. It was embarrassing, the fact that she wasn't able to hide her shock. She supposed Shadow would be more in tune to it than some people, but it still made her ears twitch backwards for a time. "But weren't you not from this world as well?" Shadow made it sound as if she had lived here her whole life. She wasn't so concerned about Shadow seeing her surprise now, but it shocked her that Shadow had gotten married so young. It was also mind boggling to think that she had been a goddess even then. Nevada paused, mouth half open. "I never took you for the marrying young type." Maybe the calm, steady minded shape shifter that sat before her had been much more reckless when she was younger. "Hmm," staring into the slightly ebbing flames of the camp fire, Nevada thought over the swordspell's words. "I suppose chaos has to able to adapt, otherwise it wouldn't be chaos." She continued to think, ears twitching at the growing sounds of the night. An owl screeched overhead, the water of the lack beat softly against its bank. She thought of Evona, and her power of Esiria. She supposed that Esiria was completely out of reach. Even if it wasn't, she doubted anyone would take the risk of trying to visit. The anthro yawned, a grin appearing on her mouth as soon as she heard Shadows questions. "Maybe, but it can be useful to have those skills. You never struck me as someone who would do something halfway." Nevada grinned over her shoulder at the older woman as she re-tied Hephaestus to the tree closer to them. She supposed that if you had an ability that Shadow had, you really wouldn't have to learn how to use other tools. She supposed that she might not have practiced so hard with the staff or the bow is she had been a shapeshifter instead of an anthro. Nodding her understanding, Nevada moved back to where she had put her things. "Morrim might be a good place to start. I heard that they were in need of some helping hands." Pulling her bedroll off of her pack, she turned to grin at Shadow. "Aww, are you going to miss me, swordspell?" She was jesting, but even she was starting to feel how late it was getting. Already Hephaestus had dozed off, his head drooping and his shoulder leaned up against the tree. Nevada herself stifled a yawn. "Yes your right, some sleep would be good right now." She laid out her bedroll, and grabbed up her cloak, using it laying it down as a makeshift blanket and using her pack as a pillow. She strolled back over to the fire, moving the logs so that it would stay simple burning coals for a good part of the night. She stood and stretched, turning a curious eye on Shadow. "Should I expect to see you in the morning? I have a feeling you'll be gone by the time I wake up." |
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| MidnightShadow | Dec 18 2011, 03:15 PM Post #22 |
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And then she was gone, her hips swinging as the knives jostled her thighs, passing by guards with her head held high, a haughty smile upon her lips.
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((I think your idea of short and my idea of short are two very different things XD.)) "No, I was not." Or Mianor either, she thought, her expression clouding over briefly, distant, as if she were thinking back to another time and another place. But that was a neat little fact that most people didn't know about her, and it wasn't one she was prepared to flaunt, either. Part of it was because she could probably never go back to that place—she couldn't remember how she'd found Mianor in the first place, nor was there really any way for her to go back, even if she'd wanted to—and there was always Kaleth, a very real threat that she'd spent a good portion of her life avoiding. Perhaps now she could face off with him and actually win, but she dared not hold herself to that belief because as she'd grown stronger, so too had he. To think that she could win was to set herself up for failure. "But in Alex's case, he wasn't even from this time period," she continued after the pause. "I think he once told me he was from the future, and he had some odd things with him when he first came to Mianor. And, whether or not I was around, I think he'd always intended to go home someday. "Nah, me neither. Actually, I'd never thought I'd be the type to get married period, but youth breeds rash decisions and I suppose that was one of them. I don't really regret doing it because it wasn't as if I would have considered myself 'stuck,' as it were, in that situation. I mean, who am I to follow social norms and conventions, anyhow? If we'd gone our separate ways and he'd still be living here, I would have just feigned that the marriage had never happened. I'm not sure people would be really keen on regulating a former goddess, and a commoner at that. I have no parents to force me to care or remarry." There was a long pause on Shadow's part, filled by Nevada's voice. There wasn't much the shapeshifter could think of to say, not even to the comment about Morrim needing help. The country had needed help well before now and she had ignored it even then—she had no intention of getting involved now, either. She considered perhaps making a brief stop into the other country, but figured that, in the end, she'd probably venture west again, see if anything had changed on the coast, see what was being offered out there to her. After all, it had once been her sphere of influence and she still felt kinship ties to the land there, even if she was planning on making her home on one of the small islands just off the coast of Angkar and not somewhere in or around the Soto area. Shadow laughed at Nevada's query, cocking her head as a lopsided grin spread across her lips. "I might not miss you, per se, but I'll miss the conversation." She was, of course, only jesting, as she'd found that she quite liked the anthro, had a certain fondness towards her that she very rarely had towards others. But her words on meeting up with Nevada someday had definitely been genuine. Standing up, Shadow moved to a spot with a large gathering of underbrush and leaves, rummaging in it until it was to her satisfaction. Glancing over at Nevada, she did little more than grin for a long moment before she inclined her head a bit, a subtle yes to her question. "I wouldn't bet on it, but I suppose you can always hope?" She took the shape of a lynx then, her body morphing and transforming until she was standing on four paws. Hunkering down, she stretched out on her bed of leaves and laid her head across her arms, her ears forward as her green eyes closed. She rather enjoyed taking the form of a cat when she slept—much more comfortable than being human. But Nevada as right, of course. The following morning when she awoke to a smouldering fire, she would find that Shadow had gone. It was as if she'd never been there at all. |
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| Dextra | Jan 16 2012, 06:50 AM Post #23 |
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The anthro raised an eyebrow in question, but she decided another question wouldn't probably be for the best. It had been obvious that she had hit a soft spot, or at least something that Shadow didn't like to talk about. It was normal she supposed, everyone had their secrets. Nevada continued to listen silently, a slight anomaly for her. She turned Shadows words over in her head, trying to come up with a witty retort or something that could lighten the mood for her companion. "You have odd taste in men." Was all she could think of at this point, and she grinned at the slight stupidity of it. "Also odd ideals and an ego I see." Her grin widened at Shadows retorts to her questions. It really did make sense that a former goddess was one person who didn't need to always bend to the rules. Nevada supposed that as long as said woman didn't cause trouble, it wasn't that big a deal. Non the less she felt slightly sorry for Shadow, who didn't really have anyone to make her do anything. It certainly wasn't necessary, but it was at least nice to have that support if you wanted it. Nevada gaged the older womans reaction as she spoke. From what she saw, the news of Morrim didn't seem to surprise her. The anthro hadn't really expected surprise, or a reaction at all for that matter. Though Shadow would probably help anyone she came across by accident, she probably wouldn't purposefully go looking for trouble. She had her plans and she was going to stick to them, and Nevada could respect that. Feigned shock and appall crossed the younger womans face, and she gazed, shocked, at the shapeshifters face. She placed a hand over her heart and made a dramatic, injured noise pressing her ears to the back of her head. "I'm hurt, Shadow, truly." She snorted and let go of the charade, knowing somehow that Shadow was only teasing. "I will certainly also miss the conversation." Shaking herself, Nevada watched with drooping eyelids as Shadow rummaged and started to settle. It was only a momentary twinge of jealousy that this woman had no need for bedrolls or blankets, but the notion soon past and she smirked and Shadows comment. "Don't bet on it, shorty." She chuckled slightly and let out a yawn, only stopping for a moment to watch as the shapeshifter shifted and settled down to sleep. She herself flopped down on her roll with a muttered goodnight, zonked and asleep within seconds of getting comfortable. Her presumptions had been right of course. When she got up and surveyed the campsite, the older woman was gone and all that was left was a grazing Hephaestus and a smoldering fire. With a chuckle Nevada began to pack up her things. "Come on, Hephaestus, we've got a town to get to." ((Thanks for the great RP Shadow!)) |
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