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Post by Althea on Jun 21, 2017 13:33:21 GMT -6
Set after Darkness of the UnknownThere was something ironic about being more sore than actually tired. Healing Drei had been fun at first, but rapidly got boring, and she had never actually found a comfortable way to remain immobile that didn't involve dirtying herself too much with the ground. That would be very unbecoming for her. ...And she liked the dress. Even Althea had SOME fashion sense apparently, sometimes. What she wouldn't give for the ability to magic up some chairs. Or a throne! Almost as blasphemous of an idea as it was silly, maybe, but that would've been a classy as hell way to do things. Unfortunately, whatever she was capable of, the spirit possessing Althea's body was NOT capable of summoning thrones, real or otherwise, so for now her knees were kinda sore and her back felt like an 80 year old woman. Which was actually ironic 'cuz she was more like a few thousand - yeah anyways. On the bright side, even if it took like fifty posts days of boringness, Drei seemed to be more or less recovered, at least as far as she could tell. She wasn't an expert on human bits. But he was moving and capable of talking again so she assumed that everything was fine. And THAT meant that she had other, more important tasks at hand. Like trying to keep this dimensional rift from widening. What Drei didn't know COULD kill him, unfortunately, and the last thing she wanted to do was accidentally leave a passageway open for the... less friendly denizens of the Nether. She had enough on her conscience already without accidentally unleashing any life-scouring plagues on Elibe. Kinda already did that admittedly, but it wasn't EXACTLY her fault that time, sorta. This time it would be, though. And well, Althea apparently liked this place. Not the village. f**k THIS place. But Elibe in general. Ereshkigal was a bit mixed on the subject but she didn't have anything against the trees and dirt, at least, and humans weren't THAT bad, just a bit short sighted and dense usually. As far as she knew. Which... wasn't much. Admittedly. The spirit of darkness sighed, half giggling as she raised one hand and started focusing on one of the closer rifts to stabilize and repair it. A slow and grueling process, same as everything else since showing up at this godforsaken shithole of a village. Weren't rebirths and resurrections supposed to be exciting full of people happy to see you and stuff? Instead she'd just gotten into a couple short fights, some of them arguments, and spent the rest of the time trying to fix everything broken 'round these parts. Not very ladylike if you asked her. Not that anyone had.
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Post by Drei on Jun 21, 2017 20:44:03 GMT -6
Drei wasn't sure how to broach the sea of questions swimming in his head. Too many to actually articulate any individually. So he would suffice for simply watching. Initially. After the extensively drawn out process of what felt like a life time mending his injuries with the aid of Not! Althea, who was gracious enough to tend his injuries, Drei finally found the ability to speak comfortably. Not that it was very noticeable at first. How quiet he was traditionally, only emphasized now as the shaman quietly clasped palms together in silent thought. He cautiously let his throat go tense and taut so he could feel out the full extend of his recovery. When he felt no pain, only slightly silly, he knew he was in a far better place.
He could stand even! Well. Partially. The faint echo of the knife wounds still rang through his mind even once the job was over and the damage restored. The young sacaen imagined that for some time he'd have to get over a distaste of anything with a pointy tip. That aside..how about questions! Instead of focusing on murder blades. The shaman looked in quiet wonder as the individual evidently sharing a mind, or occupying a body, or possessing, or even the alternate personality maybe(more likely?) that resembled or was housed within Althea began to tend the aetherical scars upon the land. Closing reality's injuries after mending his own? He didn't know one could have such stamina or preservation. Something to keep in mind and observe later. Drei quietly leaned back and quietly began to experiment his own magical reserves. Quietly tapping the conduits and letting small minute streams of nearly trivial quantities of magic exude from his pale digits.
"So what exactly...happened earlier? Not that I'm ungrateful for the way in which events unfolded, obviously, but I do not believe even the most clairvoyant of individuals could've foreseen what you did."
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Post by Althea on Jun 21, 2017 21:32:33 GMT -6
What exactly happened, indeed?
It was a fair question. One that she could ask as well as he. Ereshkigal certainly had a better understanding than Drei, perhaps, but there were questions of her own to pose. She had never done anything of the sort before, obviously, only reasoned that it was possible based on the circumstances. But to be perfectly honest she wasn't certain that she COULD explain it very well, at least not as Althea probably good with a bunch of bullshit made-up words about quantum superpositioning and spirit-shell interfacing. The worst part was that now SHE could think of words like that too, but she had no idea what the hell they were supposed to mean.
So the short term silence as she pondered Drei's question was less ponderous deliberation as a minor bit of panic as Ereshkigal did her best to actually come up with an answer that didn't sound stupid. None really came to mind. Guess they were doing this the hard way. She was still half focused on the stabilization but there were more than enough brainmeats left to talk and converse at least. "Yeah, you better not be ungrateful." That... had sounded better in her head. Hmm. Eh, it was still true. "Well. Which, uh, part are you referring to specifically? Perhaps I could better answer you then." She didn't really think that 'I magic real good' and 'I'm borrowing your friend's body' would either really be super effective answers, or really help much with the whole fear and majesty angle, so at this point all she could really think to do was try to narrow it down to the point that she could handle it. Althea's big dumb brain had to be good for SOMETHING, after all.
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Post by Drei on Jun 22, 2017 19:31:42 GMT -6
Drei was slowly expanding his palms. Dancing shadows writhed and squirmed betwixt pale digits which birthed the origin point, and as Drei curved or tilted his hand and maneuvered his fingers in ways which prompted them to dance and wiggle about while slowly taking on more shape and mass. He was happy to see that he wasn't so broken that he was unable to utilize and channel the nether. He cocked his head a bit and looked up to the pale haired female with a pivot of his visage and a quizzical gaze. The question she asked was not a poor one certainly. The context of his precise intent was no doubt a valid tidbit that would ease her actual process of formulating an answer. So, how best to put it?
"Well. All of it to be entirely honest. Precisely so? The sudden surge in magic for one. I've never seen you. Er...Althea, wield such power. I've never seen anyone wield it. Especially not as casually as you do. Then there's well. You. I'm unsure what to make of the sudden identity switch and unsure if this is a result of some unknown personality development or perhaps something else. All I know is you look like Althea to a degree with a few noticeable differences, and speak similarly but differently enough in tone and emotion to tell the difference myself. Ontop of this you go by another name. Then er...there's...well. Actually I guess that is it. Huh. I didn't think I could summarize my questions so easily. "
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Post by Althea on Jun 23, 2017 17:47:36 GMT -6
"Oh I'm just that awesome," she responded without bothering with such things as critical thinking or planning, with the absolute belief of a lifetime of strength. Not attached were the less pleasant feelings she felt about her strength, that wasn't something she would be confiding in Drei on demand, but Ereshkigal was rather confident in her abilities... admittedly a bit less so in this half-ass body but it'd have to do. "You and Althea are only human. I have no idea how you people even magic at all when you can kill yourself doing it. It's kind of impressive, honestly. Althea does a lot better on control than I do." Eresh giggled at the thought before remembering she was supposed to be focusing on stabilizing the gateways, concentrating for a moment on further closing the nearest one, a gushing gap that was rapidly leaving a pool behind in the crater it had been widening.
"To answer the other main question... I guess you could say I'm like an edgy guardian angel for Althea? We met a few months back when I saved her butt from a bunch of monsters. For the most part I'd just been along for the ride while she did her thing, I'd had enough of fighting, but this was the only way I could think of to keep her alive and honor her desire to save you two knuckleheads." The spirit spoke without any malice whatsoever despite the occasionally harsh words, almost light hearted in her factual approach to honesty. "This is still Althea's body, I'm just borrowing it until she wakes up again. I'd HOPE it still looks like her, haha."
Yeah... speaking of that, she actually had no idea how to turn this all off. Althea wasn't waking up and she wasn't exactly a master of body swapping so Ereshkigal had no idea what the safest way TO wake Althea up was. She also wasn't sure whether she should try to be sitting at the time, if she should wait until they were back to the safety of the inn, or... what.
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Post by Drei on Jun 24, 2017 17:21:58 GMT -6
"You and Althea are only human."
Right. Drei couldn't really stop himself from repeating the "only human" part faintly upon hushed breath with soft words carrying his curiosity. Drei's palms lightly pressing closed as he began to play with his magic absently. Much as a sculptor might a mound of clay while speaking to a friend with ample supply in palm to indulge in absent interactions. The pale haired sacaen shaman listened with far more intent to every other word she spoke after that single phrase. Was she..invulnerable? He couldn't be sure. However he could fall back on the etiquette of conversation when in loss.
"So...your saying that utilizing magic beyond your reservoirs of power would not cause fatal harm to you? That...is such a..strange concept to try and acknowledge as applicable to any individual. The ramifications of acknowledging it is also slightly frightening. The notions of limitless power."
At this point the magic between his palm once they parted started to take palpable shape. A spherical mass. Small extensions like legs starting to take shape. Little mandibles extending from a tiny bubble that protruded much like a head. Drei wasn't gazing down at it though but instead was speaking to the pale haired guardian angel. "So your sharing her body effectively? Though I er...am glad she had you to save her. And um..us. " He paused for a moment in brief quiet before looking up and speaking once more as eight tiny black orbs faintly shaped in the finer details of the dark mass his magic was forming. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you er...find your way into Althea? Or..protecting her I suppose."
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Post by Althea on Jul 9, 2017 23:38:11 GMT -6
Ereshkigal shrugged. She didn't really know how to explain any better for the confused Drei. Honestly, she wasn't even sure what he was talking about, dude used some pretty big words and she wasn't familiar with all of them. "I'unno. Never found the upper limit." "...Never will, now," she added after the brief pause, her words flavored with a light dose of salt. So much of herself had been lost that she would never be able to access that kind of power again - though after a few moments of thought, the spirit realized that... didn't actually feel as bad as she had kind of thought it would. At-least no one would be fighting any wars over her now. That was, well, she didn't really know what that was. Good? Maybe? Ereshkigal wasn't sure if it was a worthwhile trade-off, but at least she wasn't gonna have a tantrum about it. THAT would just be unladylike.
Nothing drove home the lesson that it was easier to destroy than to create than trying to fix the consequences of getting carried away - rending spacial walls in the area had been easy enough, but putting everything back together was a little more involved. And while she didn't have any particular long range magic sensing powers, she WAS kinda sorta attuned to dark magic in the vicinity, on account of EVERYTHING IN THE VICINITY BEING DARK MAGIC, so whatever dopey stuff Drei was doing was definitely noticeable and drawing attention away from her primary focus. As were the questions. She wasn't really sure what to prioritize, but went for the talkey options first since that would, in theory, go over better.
Sharing Althea's body? Well... close enough. Ereshkigal didn't care to try to correct him. Not least because she wasn't sure how to. It didn't sound quite right, at any rate, but accurate enough to pain the broader picture, and that was gooooood enough for her. "Fortune or fate. Whichever you prefer. She gets really snippy about the second one for some reason." Eris didn't care all that much about fate either, but Althea straight up hated it for whatever reason. "She needed help and no one else was left." At least that was the impression she had gotten. At the time, she had just been the fading fragments of who she had been, and to be entirely honest, the spirit wasn't entirely sure what had happened either. She just remembered hearing Althea's cry - getting some sense of the situation and person - and deciding, either on a whim or at the dictation of fate, to go all in. It had been a really stupid idea even by her standards. But it had worked out.
That said, whatever Drei was doing was getting very distracting, so rather than continue with her responses Ereshkigal turned to him and - frowned? - in some degree of confusion. "What ARE you doing?" Some kind of dark magic in his hands, she didn't really know why, he wasn't attacking her.
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Post by Drei on Aug 15, 2017 19:22:58 GMT -6
She spoke with such a definitive nature. As if her words contained closure and permanence in them. He assumed then, she wasn't big on aspirations of changing the future? Though, a unique case with far more that he did not know. Perhaps it was apt for her to. She knew her far better than he would. Which concluded his sentiments on that particular circumstance and conversation. It seemed like an old wound. Best not to prod at those. He of all people understand that notion. Which left him with..
What ARE you doing?
"I'm um..ah..I..don't know..."
A rare circumstance, even for himself, speaking before thinking like that. His tone had shifted into a hesitance as he became distracted by the events that took root within his own palm. The tendrils of his own magic quietly feeding into the palm sized spider that now configured. Limbs thick for its body size, and the texture to it far more complex than the simple solidified ruin magics he'd traditionally taken stock in. Drei had started acting on instinct and less on cognitive thought. He hadn't thought to himself at any point, "I'm going to make a magic spider now". He'd just started toying with his magic as normal. True, his mindset and outlook into practical applications had drifted slightly over the past days int theoretical based on a tome he'd been poking around reading, but that was different still wasn't it?
At this point the magic he'd been simply toying with was now a large, shadowy tarantula of sorts. Mandibles twitching and clicking as the creature briefly lowered its body into the Sacaen's palm. Bristles along its abdomen and the hairs covering its limbs created a rough texture against his soft skin before it started to pivot and adjust. As if it was trying to keep its body specifically against his flesh while turning around. The dark sable orbs mounted upon its head drank in everything before it started to move further on the boy's palm. Inching to the top of his bridged fingers, and then down to his wrist. A very slight hop brought it back to the center of his palm.
Now. Drei wasn't afraid of spiders. In-fact he found them generally ignorable. They just wanted to catch bugs and make webs. That didn't encroach on him. Seeing this did unnerve him a little however. He felt his stomach tighten, especially when it jumped. The Pale haired shaman muttered as he glanced towards Ereshkigal.
"Don't mind me..just..making shadowy murder spiders over here apparently.."
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Post by Althea on Aug 22, 2017 13:27:09 GMT -6
Well, at least she wasn't the only one here who was confused and disoriented!
Glad to see that her eternal optimism was entirely intact and not at all tainted by Althea's relentless sarcasm - f**k - Ereshkigal grinned at Drei's uncertain response, not mockingly at him so much as a sort of emotional joy at having something to focus on and identify with that could help stabilize her emotions and... uncertainty with the world around her. The Nether pulsing through the universe around them was warmly familiar, the sea of shadow she had been submerged in for centuries, perhaps millennia. But the rest of the world was... alien. She didn't know anyone here. She didn't know how the world worked. Hell, she had barely been allowed to leave the citadel at all in the world she HAD known, so she certainly wasn't in any position to find much familiarity here.
Well, Drei's little derpfest helped, because that WAS something she had done long ago. "Heh, that's a blast from the past." Her focus on repairing the fabric of space-time irreparably ruined by her own lack of perseverance, Ereshkigal left her work behind to approach her male counterpart, still smiling. "Used to play around with stuff like that back at the temple based on creatures I'd read about. Trying to replicate scenes. Heroes and villains, hunters and monsters. Waking dreams." Her smile was still there, but not quite as genuine and open now as she continued to speak, slowly morphing into something more wistful as she tried to remember what she could of her fragmented past. So much was gone. So much of herself. So much of who or what she had been. But the parts she could remember shined all the brighter in the focus they gave.
"I would make some but -"
In a rare moment of self awareness, Ereshkigal actually had the common sense to guiltily glance around her, seeing the pillars and tides of Nether warping the obliterated village around them as reality and the Nether continued to waver, fusing and separating amidst the inchoate shadow. "Well, I... probably... shouldn't be using any more dark magic in this area for... a while."
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Post by Drei on Aug 22, 2017 21:58:58 GMT -6
At this point the palm sized spider leapt out of Drei's palm. It's legs skirting the ground with shadowy wisps trailing behind it. It didn't skitter very far before turning in place and swiftly moving a few feet in another direction. As if the tiny creature had little thoughts capable beyond "I'm going this way for a few seconds!" before its mind froze entirely and restarted the process in another direction. Drei hadn't answered at first. Simply observing the strange habits of it before the spider turned and hopped once. The ashen haired male gazed up towards Althea/Ereshkigal now with a lingering expression of curiosity. "I didn't realize such was possible utilizing the nether to be honest. Until...well...now. I'd heard of rituals to conjure actual creatures. But not something of this caliber or well..composition might be the better word."
At this point he was starting to slowly get a grasp of her persona. At-least a proper firstsecond impression. He shifted as he tried to take in what she was saying though. That this was something not only possible but for some, normal. At-least at one point in time. So..by her descriptions a fair number of things could indeed be summoned. The Shaman quietly extended his hands and let the nether guide his will as he reached out the the creature. Trying to will it backwards. The scurrying erratic spider turned and hoped twice, halting abruptly after as if confused and then skittered on up the shamans palm. He lifted it quietly as the creature moved by his direct will. Him trying to quietly urge it to rest atop his head. The tingling weight as its eight limbs pressed down upon tufts of silvery ashen bangs was certainly strange, and despite being under his control the shivers down his spine did not cease. The Shaman closed his palms slowly and quietly began to speak in a much more thoughtful tone as his eyes swept along to look towards the scene caused prior by the snowy haired female.
"I do not believe I've seen many wield magic of any school with so much power that it could sunder reality."
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Post by Althea on Aug 25, 2017 11:11:40 GMT -6
"The Nether could be likened to a building block of creation," Ereshkigal returned, almost a little too quickly as her tone and visage alike brightened and her speech sped up slightly, belying her interest in the subject. "At its core it is pure energy - raw potential - that can be used for good or evil, creation or destruction." The matter of actually fixing her earlier overkill was lost entirely to the Arum in her fascination with the subject. "Yes, it can be used as a weapon," she continued somewhat dismissively with a limp wave of the hand as if to hurl the thought aside, "but to think of it solely as a weapon is to miss the possibility it offers!"
Ha... deja vu all over again. She remembered her impassioned speeches. Her ideals of a world where her abilities could be used for good. For peace. She hadn't been as fond of the idea of being used as a (demi)human battery, but beyond that she would have been happy to lend her abilities to peaceful purposes.
It just happened that all people wanted from her were the more obviously destructive ones.
Her demeanor dimmed slightly as the unwanted memories returned, Ereshkigal's excitement dissipating slightly as she spoke back up. This time, as much in response to Drei's comment as her own failed ideals. "But this is... all I'm good for. And phenomenal cosmic power's not as much fun as it sounds." Spreading and raising her - Althea's arms - "literally a shadow of my former self. Dead, no friends, missing most of what made me worth killing in the first place, and all I got was this lousy story." The wry half-smile creeping to her face kept it from coming across as too despondent, but not by much.
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Post by Drei on Aug 25, 2017 21:00:00 GMT -6
The Nether as building blocks? He'd...never imagined that. It...did seem to fit though didn't it? The Shaman extended his left arm quietly. The mere implication that the construct should move at his will guiding it as the spider then skittered along the length of his arm and down to rest atop pale knuckles. The snowy haired boy tilting his head and looking on with interest. Drei listened with far more visible vested interest in the conversation. Actually lowering the visual facade that was his expressionless mask so he could better focus. His gaze averting to the spider as he visibly put together her implications and sentiments. All this time he'd imagined the nether as simply a "evil soulsucking blob of edge," of sorts. Where had he heard that phrase before? Ironically, the last time he'd heard anyone speak of the nether as something beyond just an entity of vile foulness, was Althea.
The shaman's tone was faint as he spoke in a voice laden with thought. "I don't think I've ever heard the Nether referred to as anything like that before. I didn't try to look at it from such an external standpoint. Your...perception of it and description is certainly more ideal than what most would believe it to be. Until now I would've hardly thought it possible. And yet..."
As his voice trailed off the shaman quietly lifted his palms. Betwixt them pulsed the essence of darkest perversions to nature. Yet if his snowy haired companion were to be believed, was it not the thing they considered a perverse manifestation of darkness that was essential to nature as well? Cliche though it was to associate so simply, but men did not begrudge night-time as nature just because crops could not grow and plants gain nutrients. So perhaps, it was with magic? As he slowly fed more energy into the leaping spider it began to grow. Enlarging to the size now of a common puppy. The Shaman's gaze fell upon the spider after halting the flow of magic and quietly noting the brief well of fatigue rising up.
"I suppose there is certainly cause to support the sentiment. At-least if recent events and claims are to be believed. "
Drei's gaze shifted back towards Ereshkigal when she started speaking of all she was good for. The male's head pivoting to the side with visible uncertainty and confusion on his expression. He tried to comprehend and process what she meant. Though he obviously couldn't relate entirely he could feel some semblance of empathy. Terrible recollections dredging up.
"I did not think much of my story. No family. No friends. All dead with me left to view their corpses. Except I didn't have power. I didn't have the power to fight it then, and I don't think the power I have now was enough to fight it. But...I'd say my story got a bit better. I've gotten to meet interesting people. Althea. You. A few others worth note. Sometimes I regret that my story didn't end. Then there are others where I'm glad it's still being written. At-least...as far as I can tell..stories won't always be good. It can take a few chapters or even editions to a cycle to really take the narative somewhere. If I can though, I don't see why someone exceptional like you could not."
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Post by Althea on Sept 11, 2017 21:16:18 GMT -6
It was hard not to feel the flattery take effect in her body and thoughts. She didn't think she had said anything particularly profound, but Drei seemed happy about it nonetheless. Then again, her kind had never had the apparent... distrust of the Nether than humans had, according to Althea. Ereshkigal had experience with about three humans so far and two of them WERE dark mages and the other was cool with it, so she didn't know for sure. "Matter, energy, liquid, life, emotion - the Nether can become anything, do anything." Her expression darkened slightly as she continued. "Althea said that... humans don't care for it much these days. That it's feared and hated. There's not much research about it these days apparently. Is that true?"
While their stories certainly weren't the same, it sounded a bit like they had been written by the same author. Admittedly Ereshkigal had not exactly had a bunch of people to share her sob story with so far and didn't particularly want to, but she could at least empathize with his words strongly. And the worst was perhaps the simplest part. "There's... more than one kind of power. I didn't have the, uh, courage to face - well," she trailed off, caught between switching the subject or continuing the admission and failing to really do either, "I think it's more about how you use your abilities and the decisions you make than just... strength. But, uh, I'm not a shining example of good judgment, so..." Ereshkigal trailed off again, giggling awkwardly in her less mature, girlish tones compared to Althea's flat statements.
She didn't know what to say or do about the idea of an ongoing story, though. Ereshkigal hadn't exactly expected to be kinda-sorta resurrected, ish, not really. She wasn't even sure if she qualified as alive right now, considering she was just borrowing Althea's body until she figured out how to give it back. But it did sound... nice to think that not everything was over for her, at least not yet, despite all that had happened. She just didn't know what to do with whatever was left of time, or of her. She'd never really had much of a choice in the matter. No one cared what she thought. Only what she did for them. If nothing else. The Arum priestess thought, looking down at her - Althea's - hands for a moment. That she didn't want that to be true again. She wanted to be free this time. She just didn't really know what that meant.
"...Well," she added quietly, unconsciously steering the conversation away from herself, "I'm glad Althea has you as a friend."
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Post by Drei on Sept 11, 2017 22:06:56 GMT -6
Drei let his palm shift as he recalled the spider mentally. Folding his still very stiff legs over one another as he shifted himself and tried to adjust. The arachnid's multiple legs shifting as they pushed against his skin with a greater weight when it crawled along his body. Though a construct of the nether it acted with the very same life and emotion that Ereshkigal spoke of. Small nuances in its gestures and shifts and mannerisms that depicted an almost intelligent sentience to it. Yet it was entirely subservient to him. He quietly listened to the pale haired female speak, talking about it before he nodded in agreement. Even if he wasn't entirely sure exactly how to utilize it in the ways of which she spoke. The Shaman's hand rested quietly atop the spider which shuddered for a moment and then seemed to turn about and adjust its body against his knee while settling its legs. As if getting comfortable.
He paused before thinking of how best to answer her question. In the midst of his pondering he found himself caught off guard by her compliment. Drei didn't....know how to react. He had an almost dumbfounded look on his face, one of the rare glimpses of pure emotional reaction. His lips parted slightly as if his intent to speak was on the precipice of reality before he quietly closed them again. The shaman was able to quickly throw up that passive mask of his he instinctively hid behind before pressing his heels together under his legs as he sat, hand pushing quietly with a softer pressure against the shadow spider. "I uh..thanks.." It was a soft mutter at best but he simply had no idea how to react. The Shaman gazed up at her before nodding quietly.
"I'm glad I met her. She's helped me. A-lot."
He paused, blinking and glancing to the spider before glancing back up. Choosing to continue the thought.
"I'm glad I got to meet you as well."
He quickly shut his eyes and tried to focus inwards. Instantly shifting his mind-set from the fairly embarrassing sentiment while doing his absolute best to hide the absolutely terrifying awkward exchange of sentiments. The very faint flushed coloration to his cheeks something he couldn't hide as well as he liked. At best he could ignore it. His self conscious nature caused him to feel the shift in heat rushing to his neck, ears and cheeks. Instead perhaps, focus on what he'd wanted to say before. Answering her question.
Drei looked to the spider before speaking again. As if talking about it as well.
"It was always, more or less that way in the immediate time period. My father's entire life, his father's, and such. As long as people have been afraid of anything they deem frightening, or unholy"The word was almost spit from pale lips before he continued. "People have judged the nether. I confess that there has always been a direct correlation to the number of practitioners who have either been corrupted by its power or, more directly influenced. A lot of youth with the talent are...treated poorly. You can only imagine the number of children that would believe that you can raise the dead or..summon monsters simply because you can warp a shadow. Or the number of villages that will turn you away if you display any proclivity for the dark arts. It only got worse when Lycia's monster problem arose. They seemed to have an affinity to dark magic, and aversion to light magic. So by that nature naturally any who use dark magic were to blame. Then there's the incident with Hargus. Now people speak of far more ghastly things. Red eyed shadow men who can raise the dead or consume souls. Powers to turn man into beast, and all other things. Humanity's always been creative, but that seems to get worse when they lean towards terror and paranoia. "
He paused quietly and gestured so far as to pet the top of the shadowy spider. The small orbs that were its eyes made no indication as to appreciation or aversion, but the shift in its body against his palm indicated a comfort.
"The world is a scary place...but people make it worse. They direct their fears at what they don't understand and hate and blame it for the worlds troubles. Then innocent people get hurt or die because of it. Almost all knowledge coveted about the nether is destroyed if found by the wrong people or exploited if found by the others. Which only makes it worse. It's...a spiraling situation. "
Drei paused. Giving himself time to process the entire verbal monstrosity he'd segued into and quietly let his head slump a bit. His eyes closing as he sighed and tried to internally compose himself. The heated emotion flaring in every facet of his body wouldn't do him any good if he just sat there mewling like a hungry cat.
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Post by Althea on Nov 13, 2017 5:46:58 GMT -6
Admittedly. The Nether had not brought her a great deal of positive events in life. Betrayed and slaughtered for her power over it, watching her people be flayed apart by it, and feeling herself be consumed in no small part by the darkness had given Ereshkigal plenty of reason to distrust the unending darkness that lurked outside Elibe. She didn't see it that way, though, not even enough to actually consider it seriously. For her, those had been more unfortunate aspects of a life marred by misery; the Nether had instead been a welcome refuge within the gilded cage she had called home. Something so natural, so beautiful, so full of potential, that she could no more call it enemy than she could call herself foe. It was imperfect, to be sure, and potentially dangerous in the wrong hands - but then what wasn't?
Nonetheless the spirit stood silently, respectfully, in Althea's body as the human dark mage explained his take on the realities of the world they lived in. As he spoke of the darkness, not of magic, but in the hearts of men. The fear of things they did not understand. Ereshkigal could not pretend to fully understand it. Not out of some imagined superiority. She was aware of her lacking perspective, in life and in death. Butshe had always wondered, dreamed, of being able to interact with and understand the hearts of others. The people she was supposed to be working for, who she beseeched the Goddess for blessings upon. And now, thousands of years late, she finally realized that... maybe she didn't understand people as well as she had thought. Her ideals faced with the remorseless reality that Drei revealed.
Probably didn't hurt that she'd been murdered by someone abusing dark magic, either, to really show the vapid fool of a girl she had been just how thoroughly it could be used for evil.
"I... I see," she lied, trying to think of some response, something nice to say, in the wake of Drei's explanation. No fancy speeches to be found here, that was certain. Though she was grateful for the honesty nonetheless. She had been no queen, but Ereshkigal was all too accustomed to the honeyed lies of courtiers and handmaidens whose livelihoods depended on them not speaking the ugly truth. "But-" Uncharacteristically for her, almost enough so for the not typically self aware young woman to notice herself, she spoke with less certainty in her voice than she would have liked. "-People can also make it better, can't they? There are - bad people," and something dark surfaced on the edges of her tone as examples came to mind, "but there are good ones, too. Certainly there must be those who understand that-"
Ereshkigal broke off. Understood what? She wasn't sure where she had been going with that, where she could go with that. She didn't even understand this strange new world enough to have much of an opinion on it yet, much less be bandying about fanciful solutions to all of humanity's problems. She hardly even knew that much about humans in the first place. "I don't know. I'm sorry," she added absentmindedly, "I suppose I... don't know enough about your kind to be entitled to much of an opinion."
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