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The Unity of Earth and Death
Sibatti
Mamba dur NayaAmidst vibrant flora and trees
Sib and Lin decide to eschew a big wedding in favor of eloping, feeling that they had no connection to the traditions around the Rite of Unity. Omei grants them the honor of performing a small, intimate ceremony. In all actuality, both Sib and Lin have strong connections to both earth (in the sense of Sib's Mhun heritage) and death, so perhaps the tradition means more to them than they might think!
I want to take a moment to be ultra sappy and send the absolute most love and gratitude to @Lin and Omei for just how perfect this moment was, given that several real-life years and countless hours of RP have shaped this story (seriously, this has roots as far back as 2010!). It could not have been more appropriate that She unified two mortals who, ultimately, came together because of nightmares and dreams.
Overlooking a landbridge.
The trek downhill is a steep one, making it perilous to the inattentive as they head toward a wide landbridge over a flowing river below. The grass grows thick and red, overshadowed by large trees that cluster together to force specific paths through the forest. Enormous mushrooms spot the landscape in different patterns that display their poisonous nature. Giant purple ferns grow at the base of the trees, hiding their roots from view as their fronds spread out to provide shelter to passing animals. An immense, three-eyed rojalli presides here, his musculature fitfully twitching. Lunar brilliance and chaotic light blaze about the form of Omei, the Imago. Lin the Rojalli is here. He wields a lit dark cigarette imprinted with raven feathers in his left hand.
You see exits leading south and down.
Lin rides right on through without a care in the world, so excited that Omei simply blends in with the unnatural trees. Just a moment later, he doubles back, dumbfounded.
Lin gracefully hops off of an immense, three-eyed rojalli.
Omei's arms fold, the bracelets which festoon Her wrists clicking softly together. Her claws curl across Her arms, and She surveys Lin and you both, Her eyes full of the same green-red panoply which marks the overlook.
Lin just thought:
"How perfect. She truly is like the moon."
Omei, the Imago asks in a smooth, masculine tone, "I have chosen this place, unless Death or Earth shall disagree?"
You have emoted: Sibatti follows behind Lin on the rojalli, descending from its back moments after he does. Some traces of the forests have been carried with on the journey, which either fall from or are picked off her form. Her eyes are more awake than usual, taking in the vibrant, violet-and-red scenery before her. "Location is insignificant to me, if I am being honest. It is wherever we are, together, that counts most."
With a broad sweep of Her claw, gold and brass jangling and shining upon Her, Omei sweeps open the skies, banishing away the press of the canopy until the sunset stands revealed.
With you in tow, Lin hurtles down from his outsized beast and is quick to take a knee, his joyous smile putting a crack in his display of deferential piety. Neither are dressed any differently for the occasion, with Lin even lacking a shirt, the entire occasion taking a slapdash, spur-of-the-moment character. "Mother Omei - 'marriage' doesn't really... mean anything to us. It is a social game our kind don't play. Because of this, we are mercifully free of the need to plan, to save money, to throw a party, or even to invite guests, should we wish."
Lin the Rojalli says, "This is beauty, and is as good as place as I could ask for."
(dur Naya): Lin says, "I know that this is sudden, but... Esry and I will be united. If you want to come, it is happening, oh, right now."
(dur Naya): Pilar says, "Oh!"
(dur Naya): Mahar says, "I'm coming!"
(dur Naya): Pilar says, "Where are you both?"
You draw a circle in the air with a wand of portals, and a fiery outline appears.
You draw a circle in the air with a wand of portals, and a fiery outline appears.
(dur Naya): Lin says, "I know it is unusual. We did not intend on a normal 'wedding.' Come! We're at the Seer's Wood."
A fiery portal opens in the air before you.
Pilar steps in through a fiery portal.
She is preceded by a soothing and woodsy smell that is complemented by a floral scent.
Mahar steps in through a fiery portal.
Motes of lavender and pink shine upon Omei's porphyrous lips. Her smile grows, amusedly crooked. "Not by tradition, then," She remarks. "Very well." Reaching to Her side, She draws an evershifting dagger of opaline bone from some hidden sheath, letting its strangeness swim in the twilight dim. "Have you, among these new arrivals," She asks Lin and you, without looking to any of the four mortals, "A Messenger?"
You think:
Messenger?
Pilar arrives through the portal looking quite excited. When she catches sight of Omei, the small faun bends at the waist in respect but says nothing.
In explanation, Omei, the Imago asks, "They hold the blade. Or do we not have a blade...?"
You have emoted: Sibatti exchanges a glance with Lin. "Did we need a blade after all?"
Lin huffs out an embarrassed laugh beneath his breath. He can't help it - his face is turning reddish around the edges. "We'd... we'd dallied on this, and the dagger I made for Esry, it... it didn't survive the passing days, my Imago."
Omei snorts, Her expression some composite of amused and long-suffering. "Instinct left you little room for preparation. Though the years pass in plenty, Rojalli, some qualities of yours scarce change." She holds up an evershifting dagger of opaline bone, violescent light playing over its edges. "I'll use Mine, then."
You have emoted: The corners of Sibatti's lips quirk up in a smile at Lin's embarrassment, but he would feel the reassuring squeeze of her hand clasped with his own.
Pilar just thought:
A serene voice whispers in the faun's mind, one similar yet so much unlike her own, "...Your sisters marry..."
Pilar just thought:
"...Our Hunter's libations should bless and sweeten their union..."
This doesn't do anything to lessen Lin's embarrassment, but it also does little to diminish the growing smile on his face. It overwhelms him so much that he simply must beam it at Pilar and Mahar. "Please, my Imago, it would honor us." He squeezes your hand back so tightly it's a wonder it doesn't bruise.
"It's beyond question that it would honor you," Omei avers, turning for a moment from those gathered. When She circles back round, the dusk has transformed Her - eerie green-gold glitters in Her eyes, turning Her face to a sort of vernal fire. Her teeth bare into a grin. "The question which faces your Unifier, My sweet ones, is whether you ought to be permitted such an honor." An easy stride carries Her forward, and She lifts an evershifting dagger of opaline bone, catching Lin's chin by it and tilting it upward to meet Her empty gaze.
In a low growl, Omei, the Imago says to Lin, "Beg Me, Rojalli, penitent, Jaziri girl. Beg Me for My sanction. Plead as piteously as you know to."
Pilar's gaze drifts from Omei to Lin expectantly.
You have emoted: Releasing Lin's hand so as to free it, Sibatti tucks her hands into a folded pair, hovering low near the plunging neckline of her dark dress. She views the exchange with an unsurprised air.
Little gets Lin's attention like something sharp at his throat. Where he can respond to any threat with dismissal, outrage, or even violence, the threat to his most vulnerable region hits something deep in his cortex, firing off instincts that belong to a beast, not a human. His shivery breath jumps along the blade, disturbing Omei's fur. "Omei," he chokes out, ears flattening to his skull, "I-- I -shouldn't- be permitted such honor. I will never feel that I am her equal. If I'm to beg for anything--" and here, his throat pulses as he swallows, inadvertently inviting the blade to push infinitesimally into his flesh, "Please... pl-- please. By all the mercy You've to bear. Give me this chance to serve her, until I am dust."
"She is my demon... my- my queen," Lin whispers, for the air has gone from his voice.
Lin just thought:
[A memory, once considered lost, returns to him-- her?-- him. Kneeling on the edge of a bridge, sharing the water from a fearful river, growing intoxicated in Her garden. The two creatures that walked the world then could scarcely be said to exist in any recognizable form, but it was still them, brought together by Omei all those decades ago.].
Omei's expression, save for the slight suggestion of a sneer, is unchanging throughout Lin's choked contention. She reaches wordlessly for his left hand, lifts it up - and swings Her dagger in a blinding sweep of bone.
Blood splatters across the grass, and strips of flayed skin drift down afterward, borne lifelessly upon the wind - the broken remains of a scarlet kiss, shredded to naught and gone.
Omei's claws close around Lin's captured hand, and violet fire burns for a brief, intense moment in the chamber of Her palms. When at last Her fingers unclasp, they reveal his hand anew - and renewed. Reaching into the air to reclaim Her dagger, She takes it from Lin's throat, hesitating there to examine him.
It's far, far from the first time Lin has had his palms laid open, but something different in this cut has shaken him, brought a sting of tears to his eyes. There's a cryptic note in his gaze as he meets Omei's eyes: relief? Sorrow? Apology? And truth be told, he's getting that frayed-nerve look, the wide eyes that suggest his emotions are getting the best of him, and then some.
You have emoted: Her silhouette rimmed by Omei's violet glow briefly, Sibatti would otherwise blend into the darkness of the setting, as still as she is, observant and dispassionate.
Blood carried on the wind sends a few droplets splattering across Pilar's face as she watches silently, meriting the action with only the slightest wince. With just a corner of her silken sleeve, she wipes the bit of wetness from her cheeks and brow, taking care not to get it in her eyes.
Omei's head tilts to one side - She extends the very smallest of nods to Lin, even as She pauses to wipe Her bloodied dagger clean against the sanguine grass. Now, She steps on, Her claws a whisper amidst the blades, and pauses before you. Her sightless sockets take you in, all the way from the butterfly, to the dark dress, and down at last to the ground, along your Teshen-scribed legs. Then, in a hiss as quick as a lightning flash, the bone blade is at your throat, and She's peering forward, tail a slow predator's flick.
You think:
[There is a river that would suck you in if you let it. A phantom eland that would leap into it without a care. A brief flirt with destruction, and the high of near-death that came with it].
You think:
[She's never really left that feeling].
Omei, the Imago asks you in muted Mhun syllables, "And you, so changed since olden times, wearing Mhun marks so openly, embodying such destruction... why? Why should /you/ enjoy such an honor as Unity? What makes you deserving, Watcher, dur Naya, My beautiful nightmare made of old and remade you?"
You have emoted: A pair of eyes meet Omei in a deadened look, a third one glowing brightly green and quivering in its vertical slit. Unclasping both hands, Sibatti offers up both wrists in front of her - over the years and incarnations of form, manacle scars yet persist - deliberately included, perhaps, with her remade self. "Because my lover is the dream in which I drown myself, Goddess. If I ever find the end of the Wild Hunt, it will be by her hand."
Lin fights the urge to cradle his hand against his chest, leaving it upturned and partially curled, quivering with remembered pain. His eyes focus with rare intensity where the knife ends and your throat begins. His composure is admirable, but it's a wonder he can see anything, filled as his eyes are with unspilt tears.
Omei's response to you is a tilt of Her head. She smiles, genuinely impressed by whatever She sees, there, in your features. Then, the dagger lowering in silence, She grants you a nod and takes momentary hold of your wrists, Her midnight claws resting in place of shackles once worn. Warm and reassuring, they rest there - "Simply spoken, and yet with conviction," She assures you - and then She steps back, relinquishing the wrists, the better to regard Lin and you alike.
Pilar just thought:
A glowing warmth of admiration, love, and respect floods the little faun from within.
You have emoted:
Upon the liberation of her space, Sibatti's hands pinch at two spots the gauze of her black veil, lifting it up and overhead, to drape from her horns gracefully. When her hands drop, one of them extends outward to Lin.
"Death and Earth," Omei addresses Lin and you in turn, "Grant Me the offering of your hands." The wind whips at Her, fur and loincloth a tumult amidst grassy whispers. Moths flock amidst the trees, their glow illuminating the dim environs.
Eldritch light flickers over the red-green landscape, tinging it yet more ethereal. The glimmers of blood are set softly glowing, their color bright and violescent. She, Herself, is threaded through by the light of the Dreamworld, coursing and unpredictable in a rainbow show of chaotic sovereignty.
Lin throws back the shoulder of his ancient cloak, taking your hand, the two joined like slow dancers. Where you is beatific and well-composed, he looks always a stone's throw away from weeping, beholden to the emotions that have always moved him fiercely, too large to be contained. "Yes, Omei," he whispers, enchanted by your eyes.
A raw, violet glow dances across the horizon, wreathing the stars in a murky haze high above.
You have emoted: Sibatti takes one step closer to Lin, holding his hand together with hers. Her left hand raises, palm-up into the air just to one side of her heart, claws poised in a hand gesture that almost seems significant in how still she holds them.
Omei reaches forth with one long claw, Her fingers embracing you and Lin's clasped hands. Lifting them, She slips Her knife forward - a cut so swift and impossible that it's scarcely noticeable before Her hand falls. There, hidden from sight, visible but for blossoming droplets, She has left two cuts - one across your palm, the other along Lin's own. Blood rises from Her dagger in a sharp, immediate purge, violet fire turning it to mere, pinkish steam as She sheathes it once more.
Tinges of impossible light play through the blades of grass, turning the shadows of the canopies to dancing hands and the moths to strange, lost flickers of flame.
Pilar smiles softly as she watches quietly, placing a hand over her heart.
Omei, the Imago says, "Death and Earth - you have prevailed upon your Unifier. Let your blood mingle, your lips lock, and may the Unity that has taken place over My wood be a blessing and renewal to all who bear witness to its fulfillment. You both may kiss."
Mahar's eyes never truly settle on anyone in particular, always shifting as though he's trying to drink in every tiny detail of this moment, committing it to memory.
Lin's eyes shutter closed, mere slivers of thick black lashes, face exultant as he gasps more in surprise than pain. He seems to expect it coming, and on instinct squeezes your hand with renewed vigor, his blood mingling with your own, the excesses exploring the contours of their respective wrists and forearms. "Esry," he whispers, turning his head downward and inward, breathing heavily, his tail having sprung to life, as if trying to avoid the pervasive lights and glamors.
A sudden rumbling seizes the continent of Sapience, shuddering briefly as the earth heaves against itself in a fitful tremor.
You have emoted: Sibatti's hand squeezes back, the sharp tips of her claws worrying flesh, and she dips her face into and against Lin's own. Nose to nose, eyes closed, and a gentle nudge of one of her spiraling horns against a spiraling one of Lin's own. Her own tail finds the ropy tail twitching behind him and tames it, much like a constrictor slowly coiling around, a brief shudder of colorful feathers precluding a descent to the chaotic grass.
Omei has offered to join you and Lin together in the sacred Rite of Unity. You must UNITY COMMIT to agree.
You give your consent for Omei to officialize your union.
An immense breath floods from Omei- Her work done, Her dagger cleansed and sheathed, She steps out of immediate distance, and out of the Unifier's role, slumping to the grass with a laugh of delight and gazing up at Lin and you with an eager, crescent smile turning Her midnight features to a shining, lunar daze.
You think:
May the earth forever tremble in our wake, desert girl.
Lin just thought:
May even our throats have teeth - and may our bellies yearn to be full.
Lin's hand flutters to your jawline, his fingers splayed across the breadth of your head, cupping you lovingly as the two share a deep, languid kiss. The act is emulated in their clutching hands, played out in grasping fingers, and mimicked further below as their tails couple and part in seemingly endless dance. He is the one to call it quits first, laughing softly against your mouth, parting with a playful nip of your lip. It takes a while for the spell to wear off, for him to remember there's anyone else present, and watching.
Inelegant patterns of green light dance across the horizon in a show of brilliance before quickly fading away.
Lin just thought:
"Did our kiss cause a leyline...?"
Pilar blinks back tears as she watches, this time using a corner of her silken sleeves to dab at the corners of her eyes.
Omei brings Her claws together in sharp, alacritous applause, letting the sound sing forth like thunderclaps from the hilltop to echo across the wood - in turn, driving moths upward from the branches and toward the night sky.
Moths in all manner of rose-and-gold hues arise from the Morgun, celebratory strains of otherworldly music singing forth from the depths of the woods.
(Duiran): Fenfil says, "Ummm, did anyone else see those lights?"
You have emoted: Equally, it is a while before Sibatti is able to draw her gaze away from Lin, but it eventually does - finding Omei's exuberant form a joyous thing in its own. "Beautiful emotion. Thank You so .. much."
(Duiran): You say, "Did I ever."
Omei's lunar smile shines upward from the ground, even as She lies back to stargaze, claws caught aback Her head.
Still sniffling, Pilar reaches into the breast of her crimson robes to produce a goat-hide drinking skin overflowing with sweetened goat's milk. Without a second thought, she uncaps the vessel and pours out the milk onto the ground while happy sobs wrack through her, "I am so glad I could be here for this! Spirits bless you!"
Omei, the Imago says to you, "It was My honor - one I might have begged for, Myself, had it not been so freely and so... honorably offered to Me. Long, winding, and dark has our shared road been, Watcher. I am glad to be a source of respite upon it, at long last."
The milk pours as if it has no end until Pilar finally turns it upwards and has a long drink for herself, her cheeks wet with tears.
Pilar sips from a goat-hide drinking skin overflowing with sweetened goat's milk.
Mahar watches Pilar pour the milk with the evident expression of someone who doesn't fully understand what is happening, and is concerned he's supposed to be doing something.
With marked reluctance, Lin extricates his hand from your, slinking up to Omei. "What You did for me, I can't..." He gazes down at his hand. Where once his tattoo had neatly terminated into a blazing, lurid kiss, there is now only dark and unbroken skin. "I trust one day You'll call me back to the Dreaming, and when it comes... I would unite with You, too."
You have emoted: Leaving Lin and Omei to share a moment together, Sibatti steps toward Pilar and Mahar both, reaching out to envelop both of them in an arm each.
Pilar falls easily into your embrace and holds you tight around the middle, exclaiming in heavily accented common, "I am so happy and proud!"
Omei's eyebrows rise at this confession from Lin. Her chin angles back, and She considers him for a few moments. "It has been a while since a mortal has said so to Me," She remarks, a glimmer of silver amusement there in Her rainbow gaze. "But know this, beyond doubt, My Rojalli-".
Omei, the Imago smiles and says, "You shall see the Dreaming again."
Mahar doesn't hesitate to reciprocate the embrace, one arm wrapping around your back. The other presses against Pilar, making a small hum of agreement with her statement.
It's an affirmation that could come close to the sheer joy of Lin's unity, threatening to bring back that helpless and overwhelmed smile. On the spur of the moment, he stoops down and kisses Omei, right on the divine cheek, just a peck, and then he hurries over to his family, completing the circle by wrapping his long arms around you, Pilar, and Mahar alike, squeezing them with unnecessary verve.
As Lin retreats from Omei, She smiles after his steps and toward the gathering. Slowly, one small whisper of wings at a time, and then in fews and dozens, She melts away, the last moth flitting skyward with the outline of pinkish lips upon its wing.
I want to take a moment to be ultra sappy and send the absolute most love and gratitude to @Lin and Omei for just how perfect this moment was, given that several real-life years and countless hours of RP have shaped this story (seriously, this has roots as far back as 2010!). It could not have been more appropriate that She unified two mortals who, ultimately, came together because of nightmares and dreams.
Overlooking a landbridge.
The trek downhill is a steep one, making it perilous to the inattentive as they head toward a wide landbridge over a flowing river below. The grass grows thick and red, overshadowed by large trees that cluster together to force specific paths through the forest. Enormous mushrooms spot the landscape in different patterns that display their poisonous nature. Giant purple ferns grow at the base of the trees, hiding their roots from view as their fronds spread out to provide shelter to passing animals. An immense, three-eyed rojalli presides here, his musculature fitfully twitching. Lunar brilliance and chaotic light blaze about the form of Omei, the Imago. Lin the Rojalli is here. He wields a lit dark cigarette imprinted with raven feathers in his left hand.
You see exits leading south and down.
Lin rides right on through without a care in the world, so excited that Omei simply blends in with the unnatural trees. Just a moment later, he doubles back, dumbfounded.
Lin gracefully hops off of an immense, three-eyed rojalli.
Omei's arms fold, the bracelets which festoon Her wrists clicking softly together. Her claws curl across Her arms, and She surveys Lin and you both, Her eyes full of the same green-red panoply which marks the overlook.
Lin just thought:
"How perfect. She truly is like the moon."
Omei, the Imago asks in a smooth, masculine tone, "I have chosen this place, unless Death or Earth shall disagree?"
You have emoted: Sibatti follows behind Lin on the rojalli, descending from its back moments after he does. Some traces of the forests have been carried with on the journey, which either fall from or are picked off her form. Her eyes are more awake than usual, taking in the vibrant, violet-and-red scenery before her. "Location is insignificant to me, if I am being honest. It is wherever we are, together, that counts most."
With a broad sweep of Her claw, gold and brass jangling and shining upon Her, Omei sweeps open the skies, banishing away the press of the canopy until the sunset stands revealed.
With you in tow, Lin hurtles down from his outsized beast and is quick to take a knee, his joyous smile putting a crack in his display of deferential piety. Neither are dressed any differently for the occasion, with Lin even lacking a shirt, the entire occasion taking a slapdash, spur-of-the-moment character. "Mother Omei - 'marriage' doesn't really... mean anything to us. It is a social game our kind don't play. Because of this, we are mercifully free of the need to plan, to save money, to throw a party, or even to invite guests, should we wish."
Lin the Rojalli says, "This is beauty, and is as good as place as I could ask for."
(dur Naya): Lin says, "I know that this is sudden, but... Esry and I will be united. If you want to come, it is happening, oh, right now."
(dur Naya): Pilar says, "Oh!"
(dur Naya): Mahar says, "I'm coming!"
(dur Naya): Pilar says, "Where are you both?"
You draw a circle in the air with a wand of portals, and a fiery outline appears.
You draw a circle in the air with a wand of portals, and a fiery outline appears.
(dur Naya): Lin says, "I know it is unusual. We did not intend on a normal 'wedding.' Come! We're at the Seer's Wood."
A fiery portal opens in the air before you.
Pilar steps in through a fiery portal.
She is preceded by a soothing and woodsy smell that is complemented by a floral scent.
Mahar steps in through a fiery portal.
Motes of lavender and pink shine upon Omei's porphyrous lips. Her smile grows, amusedly crooked. "Not by tradition, then," She remarks. "Very well." Reaching to Her side, She draws an evershifting dagger of opaline bone from some hidden sheath, letting its strangeness swim in the twilight dim. "Have you, among these new arrivals," She asks Lin and you, without looking to any of the four mortals, "A Messenger?"
You think:
Messenger?
Pilar arrives through the portal looking quite excited. When she catches sight of Omei, the small faun bends at the waist in respect but says nothing.
In explanation, Omei, the Imago asks, "They hold the blade. Or do we not have a blade...?"
You have emoted: Sibatti exchanges a glance with Lin. "Did we need a blade after all?"
Lin huffs out an embarrassed laugh beneath his breath. He can't help it - his face is turning reddish around the edges. "We'd... we'd dallied on this, and the dagger I made for Esry, it... it didn't survive the passing days, my Imago."
Omei snorts, Her expression some composite of amused and long-suffering. "Instinct left you little room for preparation. Though the years pass in plenty, Rojalli, some qualities of yours scarce change." She holds up an evershifting dagger of opaline bone, violescent light playing over its edges. "I'll use Mine, then."
You have emoted: The corners of Sibatti's lips quirk up in a smile at Lin's embarrassment, but he would feel the reassuring squeeze of her hand clasped with his own.
Pilar just thought:
A serene voice whispers in the faun's mind, one similar yet so much unlike her own, "...Your sisters marry..."
Pilar just thought:
"...Our Hunter's libations should bless and sweeten their union..."
This doesn't do anything to lessen Lin's embarrassment, but it also does little to diminish the growing smile on his face. It overwhelms him so much that he simply must beam it at Pilar and Mahar. "Please, my Imago, it would honor us." He squeezes your hand back so tightly it's a wonder it doesn't bruise.
"It's beyond question that it would honor you," Omei avers, turning for a moment from those gathered. When She circles back round, the dusk has transformed Her - eerie green-gold glitters in Her eyes, turning Her face to a sort of vernal fire. Her teeth bare into a grin. "The question which faces your Unifier, My sweet ones, is whether you ought to be permitted such an honor." An easy stride carries Her forward, and She lifts an evershifting dagger of opaline bone, catching Lin's chin by it and tilting it upward to meet Her empty gaze.
In a low growl, Omei, the Imago says to Lin, "Beg Me, Rojalli, penitent, Jaziri girl. Beg Me for My sanction. Plead as piteously as you know to."
Pilar's gaze drifts from Omei to Lin expectantly.
You have emoted: Releasing Lin's hand so as to free it, Sibatti tucks her hands into a folded pair, hovering low near the plunging neckline of her dark dress. She views the exchange with an unsurprised air.
Little gets Lin's attention like something sharp at his throat. Where he can respond to any threat with dismissal, outrage, or even violence, the threat to his most vulnerable region hits something deep in his cortex, firing off instincts that belong to a beast, not a human. His shivery breath jumps along the blade, disturbing Omei's fur. "Omei," he chokes out, ears flattening to his skull, "I-- I -shouldn't- be permitted such honor. I will never feel that I am her equal. If I'm to beg for anything--" and here, his throat pulses as he swallows, inadvertently inviting the blade to push infinitesimally into his flesh, "Please... pl-- please. By all the mercy You've to bear. Give me this chance to serve her, until I am dust."
"She is my demon... my- my queen," Lin whispers, for the air has gone from his voice.
Lin just thought:
[A memory, once considered lost, returns to him-- her?-- him. Kneeling on the edge of a bridge, sharing the water from a fearful river, growing intoxicated in Her garden. The two creatures that walked the world then could scarcely be said to exist in any recognizable form, but it was still them, brought together by Omei all those decades ago.].
Omei's expression, save for the slight suggestion of a sneer, is unchanging throughout Lin's choked contention. She reaches wordlessly for his left hand, lifts it up - and swings Her dagger in a blinding sweep of bone.
Blood splatters across the grass, and strips of flayed skin drift down afterward, borne lifelessly upon the wind - the broken remains of a scarlet kiss, shredded to naught and gone.
Omei's claws close around Lin's captured hand, and violet fire burns for a brief, intense moment in the chamber of Her palms. When at last Her fingers unclasp, they reveal his hand anew - and renewed. Reaching into the air to reclaim Her dagger, She takes it from Lin's throat, hesitating there to examine him.
It's far, far from the first time Lin has had his palms laid open, but something different in this cut has shaken him, brought a sting of tears to his eyes. There's a cryptic note in his gaze as he meets Omei's eyes: relief? Sorrow? Apology? And truth be told, he's getting that frayed-nerve look, the wide eyes that suggest his emotions are getting the best of him, and then some.
You have emoted: Her silhouette rimmed by Omei's violet glow briefly, Sibatti would otherwise blend into the darkness of the setting, as still as she is, observant and dispassionate.
Blood carried on the wind sends a few droplets splattering across Pilar's face as she watches silently, meriting the action with only the slightest wince. With just a corner of her silken sleeve, she wipes the bit of wetness from her cheeks and brow, taking care not to get it in her eyes.
Omei's head tilts to one side - She extends the very smallest of nods to Lin, even as She pauses to wipe Her bloodied dagger clean against the sanguine grass. Now, She steps on, Her claws a whisper amidst the blades, and pauses before you. Her sightless sockets take you in, all the way from the butterfly, to the dark dress, and down at last to the ground, along your Teshen-scribed legs. Then, in a hiss as quick as a lightning flash, the bone blade is at your throat, and She's peering forward, tail a slow predator's flick.
You think:
[There is a river that would suck you in if you let it. A phantom eland that would leap into it without a care. A brief flirt with destruction, and the high of near-death that came with it].
You think:
[She's never really left that feeling].
Omei, the Imago asks you in muted Mhun syllables, "And you, so changed since olden times, wearing Mhun marks so openly, embodying such destruction... why? Why should /you/ enjoy such an honor as Unity? What makes you deserving, Watcher, dur Naya, My beautiful nightmare made of old and remade you?"
You have emoted: A pair of eyes meet Omei in a deadened look, a third one glowing brightly green and quivering in its vertical slit. Unclasping both hands, Sibatti offers up both wrists in front of her - over the years and incarnations of form, manacle scars yet persist - deliberately included, perhaps, with her remade self. "Because my lover is the dream in which I drown myself, Goddess. If I ever find the end of the Wild Hunt, it will be by her hand."
Lin fights the urge to cradle his hand against his chest, leaving it upturned and partially curled, quivering with remembered pain. His eyes focus with rare intensity where the knife ends and your throat begins. His composure is admirable, but it's a wonder he can see anything, filled as his eyes are with unspilt tears.
Omei's response to you is a tilt of Her head. She smiles, genuinely impressed by whatever She sees, there, in your features. Then, the dagger lowering in silence, She grants you a nod and takes momentary hold of your wrists, Her midnight claws resting in place of shackles once worn. Warm and reassuring, they rest there - "Simply spoken, and yet with conviction," She assures you - and then She steps back, relinquishing the wrists, the better to regard Lin and you alike.
Pilar just thought:
A glowing warmth of admiration, love, and respect floods the little faun from within.
You have emoted:
Upon the liberation of her space, Sibatti's hands pinch at two spots the gauze of her black veil, lifting it up and overhead, to drape from her horns gracefully. When her hands drop, one of them extends outward to Lin.
"Death and Earth," Omei addresses Lin and you in turn, "Grant Me the offering of your hands." The wind whips at Her, fur and loincloth a tumult amidst grassy whispers. Moths flock amidst the trees, their glow illuminating the dim environs.
Eldritch light flickers over the red-green landscape, tinging it yet more ethereal. The glimmers of blood are set softly glowing, their color bright and violescent. She, Herself, is threaded through by the light of the Dreamworld, coursing and unpredictable in a rainbow show of chaotic sovereignty.
Lin throws back the shoulder of his ancient cloak, taking your hand, the two joined like slow dancers. Where you is beatific and well-composed, he looks always a stone's throw away from weeping, beholden to the emotions that have always moved him fiercely, too large to be contained. "Yes, Omei," he whispers, enchanted by your eyes.
A raw, violet glow dances across the horizon, wreathing the stars in a murky haze high above.
You have emoted: Sibatti takes one step closer to Lin, holding his hand together with hers. Her left hand raises, palm-up into the air just to one side of her heart, claws poised in a hand gesture that almost seems significant in how still she holds them.
Omei reaches forth with one long claw, Her fingers embracing you and Lin's clasped hands. Lifting them, She slips Her knife forward - a cut so swift and impossible that it's scarcely noticeable before Her hand falls. There, hidden from sight, visible but for blossoming droplets, She has left two cuts - one across your palm, the other along Lin's own. Blood rises from Her dagger in a sharp, immediate purge, violet fire turning it to mere, pinkish steam as She sheathes it once more.
Tinges of impossible light play through the blades of grass, turning the shadows of the canopies to dancing hands and the moths to strange, lost flickers of flame.
Pilar smiles softly as she watches quietly, placing a hand over her heart.
Omei, the Imago says, "Death and Earth - you have prevailed upon your Unifier. Let your blood mingle, your lips lock, and may the Unity that has taken place over My wood be a blessing and renewal to all who bear witness to its fulfillment. You both may kiss."
Mahar's eyes never truly settle on anyone in particular, always shifting as though he's trying to drink in every tiny detail of this moment, committing it to memory.
Lin's eyes shutter closed, mere slivers of thick black lashes, face exultant as he gasps more in surprise than pain. He seems to expect it coming, and on instinct squeezes your hand with renewed vigor, his blood mingling with your own, the excesses exploring the contours of their respective wrists and forearms. "Esry," he whispers, turning his head downward and inward, breathing heavily, his tail having sprung to life, as if trying to avoid the pervasive lights and glamors.
A sudden rumbling seizes the continent of Sapience, shuddering briefly as the earth heaves against itself in a fitful tremor.
You have emoted: Sibatti's hand squeezes back, the sharp tips of her claws worrying flesh, and she dips her face into and against Lin's own. Nose to nose, eyes closed, and a gentle nudge of one of her spiraling horns against a spiraling one of Lin's own. Her own tail finds the ropy tail twitching behind him and tames it, much like a constrictor slowly coiling around, a brief shudder of colorful feathers precluding a descent to the chaotic grass.
Omei has offered to join you and Lin together in the sacred Rite of Unity. You must UNITY COMMIT to agree.
You give your consent for Omei to officialize your union.
An immense breath floods from Omei- Her work done, Her dagger cleansed and sheathed, She steps out of immediate distance, and out of the Unifier's role, slumping to the grass with a laugh of delight and gazing up at Lin and you with an eager, crescent smile turning Her midnight features to a shining, lunar daze.
You think:
May the earth forever tremble in our wake, desert girl.
Lin just thought:
May even our throats have teeth - and may our bellies yearn to be full.
Lin's hand flutters to your jawline, his fingers splayed across the breadth of your head, cupping you lovingly as the two share a deep, languid kiss. The act is emulated in their clutching hands, played out in grasping fingers, and mimicked further below as their tails couple and part in seemingly endless dance. He is the one to call it quits first, laughing softly against your mouth, parting with a playful nip of your lip. It takes a while for the spell to wear off, for him to remember there's anyone else present, and watching.
Inelegant patterns of green light dance across the horizon in a show of brilliance before quickly fading away.
Lin just thought:
"Did our kiss cause a leyline...?"
Pilar blinks back tears as she watches, this time using a corner of her silken sleeves to dab at the corners of her eyes.
Omei brings Her claws together in sharp, alacritous applause, letting the sound sing forth like thunderclaps from the hilltop to echo across the wood - in turn, driving moths upward from the branches and toward the night sky.
Moths in all manner of rose-and-gold hues arise from the Morgun, celebratory strains of otherworldly music singing forth from the depths of the woods.
(Duiran): Fenfil says, "Ummm, did anyone else see those lights?"
You have emoted: Equally, it is a while before Sibatti is able to draw her gaze away from Lin, but it eventually does - finding Omei's exuberant form a joyous thing in its own. "Beautiful emotion. Thank You so .. much."
(Duiran): You say, "Did I ever."
Omei's lunar smile shines upward from the ground, even as She lies back to stargaze, claws caught aback Her head.
Still sniffling, Pilar reaches into the breast of her crimson robes to produce a goat-hide drinking skin overflowing with sweetened goat's milk. Without a second thought, she uncaps the vessel and pours out the milk onto the ground while happy sobs wrack through her, "I am so glad I could be here for this! Spirits bless you!"
Omei, the Imago says to you, "It was My honor - one I might have begged for, Myself, had it not been so freely and so... honorably offered to Me. Long, winding, and dark has our shared road been, Watcher. I am glad to be a source of respite upon it, at long last."
The milk pours as if it has no end until Pilar finally turns it upwards and has a long drink for herself, her cheeks wet with tears.
Pilar sips from a goat-hide drinking skin overflowing with sweetened goat's milk.
Mahar watches Pilar pour the milk with the evident expression of someone who doesn't fully understand what is happening, and is concerned he's supposed to be doing something.
With marked reluctance, Lin extricates his hand from your, slinking up to Omei. "What You did for me, I can't..." He gazes down at his hand. Where once his tattoo had neatly terminated into a blazing, lurid kiss, there is now only dark and unbroken skin. "I trust one day You'll call me back to the Dreaming, and when it comes... I would unite with You, too."
You have emoted: Leaving Lin and Omei to share a moment together, Sibatti steps toward Pilar and Mahar both, reaching out to envelop both of them in an arm each.
Pilar falls easily into your embrace and holds you tight around the middle, exclaiming in heavily accented common, "I am so happy and proud!"
Omei's eyebrows rise at this confession from Lin. Her chin angles back, and She considers him for a few moments. "It has been a while since a mortal has said so to Me," She remarks, a glimmer of silver amusement there in Her rainbow gaze. "But know this, beyond doubt, My Rojalli-".
Omei, the Imago smiles and says, "You shall see the Dreaming again."
Mahar doesn't hesitate to reciprocate the embrace, one arm wrapping around your back. The other presses against Pilar, making a small hum of agreement with her statement.
It's an affirmation that could come close to the sheer joy of Lin's unity, threatening to bring back that helpless and overwhelmed smile. On the spur of the moment, he stoops down and kisses Omei, right on the divine cheek, just a peck, and then he hurries over to his family, completing the circle by wrapping his long arms around you, Pilar, and Mahar alike, squeezing them with unnecessary verve.
As Lin retreats from Omei, She smiles after his steps and toward the gathering. Slowly, one small whisper of wings at a time, and then in fews and dozens, She melts away, the last moth flitting skyward with the outline of pinkish lips upon its wing.
8
Comments
To @Sibatti: I've made my feelings on the scene more than clear in our chats, but let me publicly say thank you. I reread the old "Lin and Her Demon" logs and it's almost impossible to imagine them ending up here! This is one of my all time favorite stories.