The meeting room was empty aside from a single woman. A large wooden rocking chair had been lugged up at her request, up to this place where she could see all of Genil. The landscape stretched on for miles, beautiful and eternal but her eyes were not on it. She didn’t look to the sky or feel the wind sweeping across her naked shoulders, protected only by strands of red locks shot through with copper. She didn’t hear the movement of the citizens of Genil beneath her, the sound of a squabble between shop owners over a rock through a window. Absorbed in something, someone far more precious than everyday life, the woman’s sapphire eyes burned with an intensity she had never felt. He was weak now and was getting weaker by the day and she knew that if this little one died, he would leave this world in her arms and she, herself, would be gone from it only seconds after. Crystal rocked forward as a stream of tears flowed continuously from her eyes, dripping on to the strapless bodice of her dress as they plummeted from her chin. She didn’t know what to do, so she rocked. She rocked and she sang a song with no words in a low hum, her voice surprisingly melodious. Nothing mattered as much as him, nothing could ever matter as much as her own Eytan.
The jewel-toned eyes of the Elder searched the baby in her arms for an answer as tears fell continuously, if only he could speak and tell her what he needed from her. She remembered the first moment he’d been placed in her arms after he’d been freed from her body, sobbing in a way that had caused her to cry with joy. The pain in her entire body had evaporated instantly. It was irrelevant. For that moment, only he had existed and she had been struck with a sense of awe unlike any other. This is what Cameron had tried to give her so many long years ago, the feeling that she had completed the circle of the world, had connected herself with nature and with someone else so strongly that the bond could never be unraveled. He was her son, her child, her soul in another’s body and she’d held him as if she’d never let him go. Crystal knew now that she would never be able to do just that, he was hers and she, his. Others around her had been shocked at the lush head of hair, of curls the same color as hers and the tiny fox ears his father had given him. Now, they made her smile softly and think of Fedafyr for only an instant. She thanked him silently and cursed him in the same breath. He had given her the only thing in this world that could break her heart and yet, Eytan was the only thing that could ever make her whole. Wrapped in a light blanket, a weave of threads intricate and unusual, the child slept peacefully in her arms and she wracked her brain for an answer. The blanket flowed down Crystal’s knees and drug along the floor with each rock of the exquisitely carved rockers of the chair.
The Elder was frantic in her own right as others searched the city and branched out into others for even so much as a hint of someone to heal the half-demon child of their own Crystal Dinaia. It was a labor of love that showed that the city was once again returning to its full glory. The people were growing to love the government again and Genil was attempting to forget the past. People asked her about Morrigan’s whereabouts, as well as Nuki, the sweet girl hadn’t even been sited since before the war. Rumors hinted that Lumen was dead or something even worse and Kro had reported that she no longer considered herself one of them, resigning her title. There were only eleven left, but she prayed that they would all return to the forgiveness that Genil was extending. It was okay to return, burnt, bloodied, broken, and shamed. She didn’t bother to wipe her cheeks, keeping her hands and arms wrapped around the baby in her lap as her head rested against the back of the rocker. She was so tired and yet, she couldn’t sleep. Eytan had cried as any other child would and she had fed him each time he needed it. Out of the womb, he was healthy and robust but now, he was fading. The lack of tears was what terrified her, she longed to see the piercing green eyes open up and hear him begin to sob. Crystal prayed for it.
She rocked, not unlike the motion she’d employed the night Morrigan and Fedafyr had fought in her room, the scar on her wrist minor compared to the damage that her friend had suffered. Despite what had happened, she couldn’t love the child in her arms any less. He may have been half of a misunderstood and cursed demon, but Eytan was half of her as well. She held him close, squeezing him a little too much and he stirred, a soft whimper escaping the baby’s lips before he settled back into his energy preserving sleep. Her hair stuck to her wet cheeks in clumps and she bit her own lip to keep from whimpering along with her child and waited as time slipped away, ticking away the hours of the days of his life and hers in the same instant. Crystal wouldn’t hesitate to end her life if her son was taken from her by fate but she pushed the though from her mind. The men she had sent would find someone before time was gone, he would find the damned goddess or someone or she, herself, would venture to the Mystic Forest, to the lair of the child’s father and demand that he save his offspring, if not for her sake, for the sake of not knowing the future and what Eytan could mean. Crystal choked back a sob as the clock ticked, the seconds falling far too fast
"The white city fell without her. Peace revolved around her, but when the mother left her children, they destroyed one another... She'll never forget that she left--she'll wear the chains of the martyr as she pulls the world's weight behind her, still thinking she's not doing enough." Morrigan Aensland
Morrigan Aensland stared at those doors with a disdain for them--for hindering her way when she had such precious cargo, but didn't they always? Her wing swung out, forming a black hand that grasped the handle and pulled the door open for her, swinging it shut in her wake. Inside, the stained glass windows threw a pattern over the floor of the main hall as Morrigan stood. She could not save herself from the soft, shaken breaths of her excitement. There are five of us back. Soon, we'll stare at each other across that marble table... Her heels clicked along the hard floor, leading her to the ascending stairs to the second floor room in which Crystal must have sat. Not unlike her, Morrigan held something precious, but the idea that Crystal would not have room to welcome home one of them in her anguish had dodged through Morrigan's perceptions. She held Nuki close, carrying her as if it were just yesterday that she had fallen and twisted her ankle, though this time with a lot less scolding of how stupid she was. Morrigan slid up the stairs, taking each step like it lead her to Heaven and breathing as she moved.
"I've missed you..." She had said it nearing the door, but again she whispered it into Nuki's hair. "My reasons for living, you're both here again... I've missed you so, Nuki." When she had blacked out that faithful day, she had thought Nuki had to have been kidnapped, or worse, killed and run off with. The idea had caused Morrigan nights of sitting up, haunted eyes staring at the horizon as she screamed her curses at the town and her own kind... How could they all have been so foolish--they, as elders, should have been ready for this attack, and yet, nobody would take a moment to prepare. She had been just as guilty of not working; She had all but disappeared from the scene. Hidden away, only coming out to drink and be yelled at. She had argued so violently with them when they called her a spoiled brat for hiding in her room. But she had been. Spoiled. Elitist. Not worth the time they had spent... but they had gotten no more done than if she had been there; and she stayed. She tried to protect the palace, stretched out across it like some hero that couldn't stand to lose... and still, she lost.
The window was broken, the bed snapped in two. There wasn't any blood, but the mirror was cracked straight down the middle, with fissures that spidered out to the side. Her clothes had been strewn about and torn, and she could see them there still, laughing at the destruction. The glass cracked beneath her heels as she slowly moved toward the window. No signs of it being opened, just broken--the pieces were lay strewn on the grass beneath her window, three stories down. Morrigan lost herself there. Some days, she couldn't take it, and the bed became more destroyed, the wall taking damage that it had not suffered beforehand. But equal to her destruction was the time she spent putting Crystal's room back together. She made it perfect--exactly the way it was. Her room remained ashambles, and time dragged the sanity from her mind. The light left her eyes, she stared out that window and waited, but nothing came, and she found herself arguing with herself in the mirror.
It happened so suddenly. One day, she looked in the mirror and her face had split. The cracks made one side seem to smile that ridiculous grin she used to use, and the other side held a white streak in her hair, the stress having drained the color from that portion of her hair.
The door loomed up before them, and her wing struck out again, pulling the door open gently. Before her sat Crystal, the rocking chair moving back and forth. Red hair spilled over the back of it as she rocked, the babe out in the morning sun in hopes of dragging some energy from it into him. Morrigan stepped in, and whispered Crystal's name. In her voice was the disbelief that she felt, as if the whole world would crack into a million pieces and she would wake from her dream, still beside that broken bed with nobody to share her life with.
Re: Welcome to HomeThose blue eyes did not gaze upon the Council's Palace, for she was too busy keeping herself close to Morrigan. Her hands tightened around the woman's back, and she pressed her face into the upper chest of Morrigan. Her lower lip curled upward and between her teeth, and she began to gnaw at the plump flesh. Tears ran down her cheeks, so much compressed emotion resided within this child. She did not make a sound for her throat burned. She did not speak for she did not know what to say. All she knew was that she was home and that there was always the possibility that she would not be accepted by her fellow Elders. Morrigan had embraced her, and she felt the woman's compassion. That succubus--that woman who was supposed to be a dark jewel in a palace of ivory--shone with a light of love for a child.
Love, where is love in a forest of darkness? Kika, that once robust fiery sprite, sat disheartened at Nuki's side. Flames that would have penetrated the darkness did not, for she was connected with the girl; God, was that girl depressed. Her knees were drawn to her chest, her lower back pressed against the base of a tree. The harshness of the exterior of the tree dug into her back, but she ignored it. Deep within the forest, creatures roared, but she had become numb to the sounds of the forest. Now she only became frightened if a twig snapped, only if she could hear the whisper of breath passing through lips--especially at that whisper. Her fingers interlaced around those thin legs, and she imagined Morrigan's arms wrapping around her shoulders...
How she wished that Morrigan had ventured into the Mystic Forest to find her pathetic form resting at the base of a tree--tired and lonely. Nuki thought that Morrigan had been dead, and now she knew that the woman was alive. Her lip fell from her teeth, the corners of her mouth turned upward to form a smile. Lashes rose, and she watched the stairs over Morrigan's shoulder fade into the distance. Those steps were lulling--up-and-down. Cool air passed through her lips as she listened to the words of Morrigan, those sweet words that welcomed her home. Those words that gave her courage, maybe she could face the world again. Possibly she could stand out in the crowd and voice why she had left, explain to the people that she had been scared and fled Genil.
The masses of Genil did not matter to Nuki right at this moment, though. Morrigan's "reason for living" had been Nuki. How foolish Nuki felt for not believing in Morrigan, but now she knew. She knew that Morrigan would never die and leave her to suffer. If the people of Genil did not accept her, she would turn the other cheek and turn to Morri and find the love she wished she had. Doors swung open, the sensitive ears of Nuki picking up the sounds of a creaking rocking chair. "Look who came home," Morrigan spoke as she entered the room, and now Nuki's head turned to look over her shoulder. There Crystal sat, and for a moment Nuki did not notice the babe. Kika's observant eyes fell upon half-god. The aura of flames surrounding the sprite flared, and at that moment Nuki's big blues fell on the weakening child.
"How much have I missed...?" questioned Nuki, her heart descending once more into the depths of depression.Edited by: Juggling Jester at: 7/10/07 2:03 am
Re: Welcome to Home
The sound of voices reached her ears and Crystal closed her eyes, tears trickling from beneath her eyelids. For a moment, despite the warmth and sluggish movements in her arms, it was more than a decade earlier. The Council was just gathering for a meeting, most of them smiling, some of them drinking strong coffee as if it was the fluid that ran through their veins. Morrigan was goofing off, arguing with someone else again. Apparently, someone had been absent from a few meetings and she was taunting them about not being in Genil recently. She didn’t hear the flood of answers and angry mutters toward the youngest Elder. Nuki was a little late, always so kind and caring about her appearance toward others, and asked what she had missed up until now. Crystal wanted to answer that she hadn’t missed much, that the meeting hadn’t yet started, but her lips wouldn’t move. She felt immobilized for a long, long moment before she opened her eyes, the images of Morrigan and Nuki swimming before her. No… No, this wasn’t the past.
Crystal rose slowly to her full height, the knit blanket falling around her feet and on the floor as she moved toward the table. She said nothing and her eyes were empty for the moment aside from the continuous tears that she was powerless to stop. A carrier sat on the table as the sunlight glinted off of it. It was there that she placed Eytan with a soft, almost heartbroken smile before turning toward the others that stood in the room. The dress that she wore was loose still, cream colored with an empire waist, the skirt of it flowing all around her. As she stood directly in front of the pair, Nuki cradled in Morrigan’s arms, she could feel her own breath coming in shallow drags. She dove forward, her arms outstretched as far as they could go in an attempt to wrap herself around them both, to hold them closer than reality allowed. She hugged them both, not caring about injuries or discomfort for now, she just needed to know that they weren’t ghosts or death omens. The tears continued to flow for so many reasons, for fear that things would change yet again, for sadness because she couldn’t help her own child, for the happiness that welled up so deep inside her despite the circumstances.
“Welcome home, both of you.” All of the air in her body escaped her in a single breath, a sigh of relief.
“Finally. I’ve been longing to say those words for so many years.” Crystal took a step back, balancing herself with one hand on the table. With the other hand, she drug her wrist across her eyes to wipe away the tears violently, wishing to never feel them escape again. “You’ve missed nothing important Nuki, nothing at all. I’m so glad to see you again, are you hurt? Is there anything I can do?And Morrigan--” The Elder’s eyes were desperate, full of apologies and thank yous that she simply couldn’t voice. If she started to speak them now, they would pour on into eternity with no end. “Morrigan.” Her name was said like the final words of a prayer as Crystal felt her footing get unstable again. She settled herself in a chair at the table for in a few moments, she would feel her tired legs go out and she’d be seated on the floor. Still weak from the birth and from a week of sleeping very few hours night, she couldn’t rely on her body just yet. Her strength had always come from them, from her love for the Council, the twelve people that had been her family when she was utterly alone. Maybe with Morrigan and Nuki, she could find the will to keep searching for a cure to the mysterious illness before time itself ran out.
"The white city fell without her. Peace revolved around her, but when the mother left her children, they destroyed one another... She'll never forget that she left--she'll wear the chains of the martyr as she pulls the world's weight behind her, still thinking she's not doing enough." Morrigan Aensland
Re: Welcome to Home
Morrigan wondered how much it would hurt that Crystal brushed over things so quickly, not yet ready to tell everyone her secrets and her fears. She worried for the pain it would cause both parties--Nuki, so vulnerable and alone, and Crystal, nearly losing her mind with grief. She sent a smile Nuki's way to tell her that everything would be explained, that all would be told in no time so that she knew what home was again, but for now, she just held her. "From the Mystic Forest, she came..." The words were whispered as she coddled the young woman trapped forever in her childlike body. Morrigan knew the words would peg up questions and fears in both of them, but she could not skimp the truth. Honesty, I suppose, is all we have left... it's how we'll rebuild. It's how we'll recreate. It's all.. about... finding the way home... She was a stone statuette, her face dry and her hair gently moving in the soft, but warm, breeze coming from the window. Her eyepatch seemed more an accessory than a hindrance nowadays, and somehow, she felt, it liberated her from the bonds of servitude that had been placed upon her as a ward of the darkness. Perhaps it was not eleven light and one dark... perhaps it just was twelve. Only twelve people. Had not Koltana been easily swayed? Moreso than she? Using evil to beat evil--so Morrigan was no less or more dark than he. Not at all.
Her smile was forthcoming, and without chains on the corners of her lips that seemed to weigh them in the other direction. Her gaze slowly moved to the child as it hiccupped in its bed and closed its tired eyes again. "Now is a time for questions to be answered, I think.. and answers to be found... Integrity will save us all, right, Crystal?" The words were a spin on some of the speeches Crystal had scolded her with when Morrigan lied about her whereabouts. Especially in those last, few scattered months. The succubus once again pulled Nuki up close and placed her cheek lightly against that hair, "But we should relax... All of us, and the baby. We've the bathing room with the common tup downstairs... I think, it would be best we made ourselves comfortable..." The room was the only thing Morrigan had been able to convince the other elders of in their desire for architectural perfection. A huge bath, very elaborately designed and filled with good minerals for the body and mind--the cleansing properties would do Nuki's wounds good.
Morrigan closed the distance and leaned close to Crystal as she sat in the chair. "Have you considered asking that goddess? Or, maybe or maybe not less dangerous, asking Kentaro's goddess for her answer?" Morrigan stood up straight again, and smiled, "What do you think, Nuki? Shall we all bathe?"
Re: Welcome to HomeCompassion washed through the room, and it felt wonderful. Warmth ebbed through the body of the adolescent, her throat tightening not from sadness but from happiness. Crystal was weak, yet she made her way toward Morrigan and embraced the succubus and child. No longer would the tears be kept within their fleshy cages, and so Nuki joined Crystal in an emotional escape. Tears flowed freely down her ample cheeks, and she hicked as the green maned succubus placed her cheek atop her head. This love... Love from the two people of the Council who she felt really understood her. She had always been the child, yet she was thought of as the sixth Elder. The Eldest now was with child, and would this child replace Nuki in Crystal's eyes? Nuki shivered, No, I must not think such things...
Kika fluttered above Eytan, her eyes wide and curious. The child was obviously Crystal's, but there were features which did not match that of a common humanoid. "You haven't missed much," commented the new mother. Nuki's mandibles dimpled as her jaw tightened at that sentence. "You haven't missed much, Nuki" was what Morri or Crystal would say when she entered a meeting. She knew she had missed something then, possibly a speech being made by her comrades. Had she been on time, listened to them... Maybe she this was would not of happened. Had her opinion been present earlier on in the meetings, there was a possibility that she could have swayed the Council to her own side. Now she was being held, as if she were a babe--but she did not care. She wanted to be loved, she had been lonely for five years.
These emotions, so many colliding. They did not agree with one another; she was paranoid; she felt comfortable; she felt at home; she felt alone. Temples beneath matted brown hair throbbed, and she pressed herself more into Morrigan's body. The lids of her eyes were barely open, and from those slits she looked at Eytan and then to Crystal. "Integrity will save us all," said Morrigan... Could Nuki be completely honest with her friends? The Mystic Forest had corrupted the poor girl, and deep within the shell of Nuki sat an amber haired beauty that wished to rejoice at returning to her home. Externally, Nuki showed no signs of her peppy personality.
From Morrigan's lips came a suggestion of a bath, and it was odd to Nuki how alien that sounded. Was that hilarious to Nuki! Before being in the Mystic Forest, she had prided herself on being prime-and-proper, and now her she was a child of the wilderness. Her head fell back and her jaw dropped, a raspy laugh escaping the portal from which her voice escaped. "Yes,' she said through sobs of laughter. "A bath sounds wonderful." Possibly the Nuki that once was would come back soon, but one would have to wait to see that day.Edited by: Juggling Jester at: 7/12/07 9:30 pm
Re: Welcome to Home
Questions raced through Crystal’s mind, speeding bullets that desired the truth and nothing more. They were blocked by emotion, however, the sad-happy combination that prevented anything from making sense. Delighted and horrified. Elated and yet, so defeated. It was enough to bring tears to her eyes again as she gathered the baby up, her eyes landing on his porcelain face, full of pride, love, and fear. The same expression was there as she attempted a smile at the pair, questions could wait until the steam had loosened them all up. She went first down the long staircase toward the lower floors, her feet almost soundless against the marble. Thoughts flew through her head, about the Mystic Forest, first and foremost. What had protected this poor child from Fedafyr in the time she had spent there? A bit of anger welled up in her suddenly, knowing that if he had harmed Nuki she would have never forgiven him. Though the side of him that hurt women was something he couldn’t control, she couldn’t entirely push it out of her mind as if it didn’t exist. It did. Crystal bit her lip, Morrigan’s phrase echoing in her mind, integrity. Perhaps this day would be the one that she finally told the entire story of what had been going on for the past years, from the moment she had come across the fallen God, soaked to the bone from the water of the Genil river. He’d looked so very innocent and yet, this creature had turned her entire life around in ways she couldn’t even explain.
Crystal hadn’t used the bath area here in quite some time, memories of the times she’d held conversations back in the days where they’d all been together and they’d all been happy plagued her. It was amazing that so much had changed in slightly more than a decade. As she entered the large room, she set the baby down and knelt to check him. He seemed fine for the time and she moved away, beginning to undress with little embarrassment in front of the other two. Her body, for the time being, was still a bit on the full side, an extra twenty or thirty pounds added to her usually extremely thin frame. The water had been running for some time now but she couldn’t remember precisely when it had been turned on after the war. She was thankful for the medicinal smell that rose to greet her, familiar and missed greatly. Steam billowed up as she eased her body into the bath, still a bit aching from the week before and the lack of sleep she’d gotten. Crystal’s eyes closed for a moment until something rose to her mind. That goddess… Morrigan had meant Shi. Approaching the goddess would have been a bit dangerous, yes, but at least she knew Shi to be stable. This other goddess, this Fuliteach, seemingly lived off of the blood of fugitives, and Crystal couldn’t even imagine approaching a being like that. The fear of this unknown force in her city once again was raw, but she hadn’t broached the subject with Kentaro much, he seemed to believe in her too fiercely for that.
The water rushed over her sore feet and legs but she remained silent, unable to find the courage to speak first. They both deserved answers, but she would wait for the questions to appear first. She simply couldn’t bring herself to begin blurting out how much she had missed them, somehow, some sense of pride still remained in her, something that told her to stay strong for everyone else, to be the leader, to be the mother. Sighing softly, she tucked her hands behind her head as she relaxed and opened her eyes to gaze at Morrigan and Nuki.
"The white city fell without her. Peace revolved around her, but when the mother left her children, they destroyed one another... She'll never forget that she left--she'll wear the chains of the martyr as she pulls the world's weight behind her, still thinking she's not doing enough." Morrigan Aensland
Re: Welcome to Home
The bathroom looked the same as they had left it, almost, except for some cracks in the walls and sculptures that sat around it. As Crystal undressed, Morrigan carefully set Nuki to the ground and began helping her out of her dress so that she had to move as little as possible with her many little cuts. She carefully folded the dress and set it aside, muttering about buying Nuki something completely new and beautiful to suit the younger-looking elder. She ran her hands through Nuki's hair lightly, careful not to tug too hard at any tangles that she encountered, and then she lifted the younger girl up and gently set her into the bath. Unable to resist, Morrigan moved over to the little fox babe and pressed her nose up against his as Eytan stared through heavy eyelashes at her. She mumbled some sort of gibberish which illicited the smallest of tired giggles from the babe before he went back into his hibernation, careful to hold onto as much strength as possible.
Morrigan slipped out of the clothes she was wearing, pealing the close-fitting pieces from her skin with her back turned to the other two, careful of her sexual nature, even somewhat ashamed of it in present company. Her violet nails pulled the strands of her green hair up between the halo that would have been both headwings had they both been there, and pinned it up with a quick-twisted hairstick before moving herself back toward the tub and slipping into the almost opaque-with-herbal-remedies bathtub. She set about carefully working the grease and tangles out of Nuki's hair as she looked across the younger elder toward Crystal. Morrigan's eyes screamed for Crystal to explain the babe and the situation that Nuki returned home to, to not isolate the younger one in a lack of knowledge.
At the same time, though, Morrigan was calm and collected as she spoke of less imperitive subjects to break the icy wall that had placed itself between everyone in their first days back, "When we're done, your hair will shine like the beautiful spun gold it used to. I've waited a long time to sit with you again--and to see the two of you at the same time gives me an unprecedented amount of hope for our future. Did you see the fashion statement in my hair?" Morrigan gestured with her green eye toward the white streak that lined the left side of her scalp, "Apparently my body decided that if I was going to worry so much, it would manifest it to warn me. It happened about two months after you disappeared."
Re: Welcome to Home
“I didn’t want to disappear.” Crystal’s voice broke out of her silence, reaching out with almost youthful fear. She felt like she was curled up in her mother’s lap again, listening to the sound of crashing thunder outside the windows of their two story home, wondering when it would stop, praying that nothing would happen. It was terrible to feel young and afraid and for a moment she did. Her eyes were closed again, the water caressing her legs, stomach, arms, and hands clenched beneath the water. She knew now that the words had started, that they would continue and never end until her voice was hoarse. Crystal would spill out the thoughts that consumed her mind, haunting her dreams and poking at her at the least expected times. Why had these things happened to her? Why couldn’t she have just lived the normal, simple life that she had created here? Life had become so complicated and she couldn’t quite bring herself to blame herself entirely.
“The.. The entire council was fighting all the time. I couldn’t do anything but stand back and watch and somehow cause more fights trying to fix it all. The others stopped listening, I stopped trying to shout loud enough to reach them. For some stupid reason, I thought I could fix it by myself if I just stopped the few that had found their way in from coming in. I killed a few, heartlessly. I didn’t care if they had families back in the Dark cities. I thought I was doing the right thing by protecting what little I could in Genil. I had no idea… I had no.. no idea.” Crystal unclenched the fists that had grown tight, her knuckles white, and crossed her arms around herself.
“I.. I was an idiot. The fox-demon that kept raping and killing our women that we spoke of in our meetings, I began to be able to track his movements. I thought that was because I was simply smarter than him, but no, he let me see him because he didn’t fear me in the least. I wasn’t an opponent, I was prey, simply put. It was only then I began to realize that we had met before, and that the dreams I’d been receiving were straight from him. I thought that he’d murdered the wife of an innocent man and not only did my actions become more crass, they took on a personal edge with no justification. I don’t know what made me lose sight of my true goals, but somehow…I did. Imagine, me, in leather and daggers, thinking that I had a vendetta to pursue.” The night of Crystal surrounded by the trees of the Mystic forest, returned and she struggled to breath regularly. She didn’t want to return to the place in her mind where fear of Fedafyr, the very father of her child, played an utter and complete role.
“I got bitten by a snake after following Fedafyr to his lair and being unable to find an entrance. When I woke up, I was in a world that you simply wouldn’t believe. A blood spattered journal, secrets of the past, and the smell of death consumed the entire place. I don’t want to worry you both with details because it really is so far in the past. Needless to say, I discovered parts of what had happened in the tragic story that ruined four lives. I didn’t truly understand. When I escaped the place, I still had the opinion that the fox demon was a monster with nothing to redeem him. I was terrified of him.” Crystal’s words were jumbled at times, coming out with such a ferocity that they blended together, sentences continuing on longer until she reach the end of them breathlessly.
“Home, god, I had wanted to be home for two years and I came back mistakenly thinking that Genil was safe and unharmed. It had been gutted, destroyed, ripped apart from the very core and .. I couldn’t find any of you. Guilt, god the guilt was so strong. I had deserted you all in the hours that you needed me most. I feared that you had all perished and I wished for the same fate myself. The people who lived here looked at me with the same disgust I felt for myself, so I boarded myself up inside my own mind, inside my own home. I stayed there, god, until the beginning of this year, with few exceptions. In my few escapades, I tried to convince myself that I was someone else and that none of this had ever happened. Somehow, fate always found me and set me straight, usually in the form of a fallen Goddess named Shi. It was from her I learned the truth of what had really happened between Fedafyr, Merin, and Paris. He.. He wasn‘t a monster, just.. Someone caught in an unfortunate circumstance, forced to do something he didn‘t want to do. That knowledge scared me because I believed it, and I felt it inside. Who was I if I couldn’t hate someone who posed a threat to my city? To my family? To my friends? I lost sight of who I truly was when I lost that prejudice.” Her words grew hurried, rushed, flooding out of her lips.
“I attempted to set things straight with the Council, I didn’t know that anyone but Morrigan was even alive, but I wanted to try with anything that was left in me. I wanted to try with the last bit of sanity that I was clinging to. Then, somehow, I betrayed you all again…” Crystal’s eyes touched on the sleeping child in the carrier and they glistened for a moment before focusing on the other women in the bath. “He came to me in the dead of night and I still don’t know the reason. Somehow, I saw something different, something so damn near humanity that it made me ache inside. I thought with only passion, with only my heart and somehow, this child came from the union. I thank whatever being that decides our fates for giving me him. I'm sorry that I wasn't here to stop it all from happening Nuki, if maybe I'd been there... I’m sorry that my selfishness took so much away from you Morrigan,” Her eyes were unable to keep looking at her friends, her comrades and Crystal shook for a moment, the pent up thoughts in her head now swirling in the air like swarms of insects. It was as if the world faded from around her for a moment until she heard herself sniff, her body trembling again as the tears leaked from her eyes and hit the water, making their own miniature rainstorm.
“I… am s-so sorry I can’t t-take it back and now, I’m going to lose the o-only thing I have that made it slightly.. Slightly worthwhile. All of those years of fear and pain were for n-nothing if I lose him.”
"The white city fell without her. Peace revolved around her, but when the mother left her children, they destroyed one another... She'll never forget that she left--she'll wear the chains of the martyr as she pulls the world's weight behind her, still thinking she's not doing enough." Morrigan Aensland
Re: Welcome to HomeSteam rose from the liquid's warm surface, and it enticed the body of Nuki as Morrigan submerged her flesh into a weightless state. Warmth flooded over her young body, pulling from her a layer of dirt and grime that was not only physical but emotional. All seemed clearer now, brighter then when she had first saw Morrigan and Crystal. A smile played over her lips as Morri's fingers worked through her distraught hair; Kika fluttered about the water, her petite feet playing about the surface of her natural enemy. Tangled knots of hair floated in the water, their new found buoyancy hindered only by barbed weeds that had found there way into the once beautiful mane. Nuki's hair "would shine like the beautiful spun gold" after the succubus' digits had done their work, and oh did Nuki wish to gain back the grace she had held. I was a child, her eyes fell toward the ripples of the water. Once a child, always a child, disgrace burned her eyes, and her lids clamped down tightly.
Disgrace, how could she cry for herself? She had been through much, but to gaze upon Crystal and Morrigan would bring her from selfish thoughts. Morrigan stood behind her, had pointed out the strand of white amongst a green jungle, and that's when she saw (or did not see) a missing wing. Her lips trembled and she turned her head back to face the water, because to look upon that sight, that horrible sight of a scar that would last a second lifetime, brought nausea to the youngling. Now Crystal, she appeared to be stressed. The weight of the world, the weight of worries, had fallen upon her shoulders and now she was with babe. Most of what had happened to Crystal could not be physically seen, it had been for the most part an emotional engagement. Now was the time for Nuki to listen, she would speak latter, tell the two of her own story... But first, Crystal must speak. She listened as the Eldest Elder spoke, her voice wavering at times. Fighting amongst friends. One trying to fix a whole. Discovery. Loss. Death. Monster. Life? Yes, life. Life had ensued all of these monstrosities.
Eytan, the little babe that Crystal and Morrigan loved so. Nuki now knew the other half of which the demonling had come, from the Mystic Forest. From that deep and dark place, that place which Nuki had spent five years running and hiding from the being known as Fedafyr. Those soft hazel eyes hid her thoughts, though the muscle beneath her flesh tensed. That's a monster! That monster got into the Palace through Crystal...
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
How long had it been since Nuki prayed to a false god? Centuries. And now that prayer came to mind as she looked upon the sleeping babe. That wee child; that monster. Nuki's eyes pulled sluggishly away from Eytan and to Crystal as she let herself sink further into the water, the warmth that it once possessed beginning to lessen. Those years of fear and pain would be nothing if Crystal lost him, and inwardly Nuki sneered and cried. One side of her wanted to embrace both the child and Crystal, but another wanted smother the babe to save Crystal. She was being ripped apart within, but externally she showed no signs of chaos. "Crystal," she moved forward in the water, her hands reaching down to grasp those of the woman before her, bringing them to the skin of the water. "You will not lose the child," (yes you will) "because Morri and I are here for you both." With those final words Nuki closed her eyes, tilted her head, and wore a smile--a childish, warm gesture. She appeared to be the Nuki that the woman had come to love, but was she?Edited by: Juggling Jester at: 7/21/07 11:21 am
Re: Welcome to Home
Time washed away the sins and fears into the murky, herbal water. It cleansed the wounds, but not the heart. Had Morrigan been able to be inside Nuki's head at that moment, she might have recoiled from the madness that had woven its way beneath the red-brown lockes, but she was fooled.. and was happy to be near Nuki again, even so. The hair turned back to its vibrant color, the dirt and leaves getting sucked into the cleaning system as it pulled water out and jetted newly cleaned water back in. Morrigan stared at Crystal, and after the flood of emotion had washed out of her, had nothing to say. The same thing had been heard before--the same jist that rang in the air right now. Everything was going to break apart.
"I believe it would be safest to approach the woman goddess with whom you seem to share an affiliation. She has not yet harmed you, though I cannot say why. I doubt she wants the child to die..." Morrigan was calm, no more fears or horror stories to tell. She was home, and everything that had happened to her, she wore in plain sight. Her missing head wing, her missing eye... the scars on her back of the hand that had tried so desperately to pull her spine from the flesh it was encased in. No emotional trauma had occured that Morrigan couldn't deal with in the open--the truth was, for Morrigan, things had been all about here. The people who called her a traitor were the closest thing she had to emotional trauma--the loss that everyone felt. That deep-seated longing that said she wanted her home back, and here she was.
Hatred... was beyond her. She'd forgotten it for now. Perhaps, someday, she would find it again, but had she kept it around, she would have gone mad inside this town, where so many deserved her hate. More coarse even than the ones from the darker cities, she'd felt the sting of a rock thrown by a child walking down these streets, and learned not to bother turning around, for the truth in the lie that rested in the culprits heart would disarm her, and she'd find herself angry again, "I suppose I do have something to confess, though..." It was time to come clean... time to tell all, or how could she expect and ask for all to be told back, "I still go to the dark city.... Nureese... as I did before the war. I've a part... of a family there... but more than that... I do not feel guilt for it. They nursed me to health when I lost my eye--nursed my mind to health when I thought of what the people of these white cobblestone roads kept saying of me."
Traitor. Creature. Filth. The accusations all ran together in quick succession of one another. When one accused her, they all had. At that time, she'd fought back at first, tried to argue with their madness with logic, but they were blind and deaf, and only angry. They needed someone to hate, and finally, the color left her eyes and she just waited for the hatred to wash over her--like it was her due as she stared out the palace window, waiting for anyone to come home and save her. How weak she'd felt. How weak she'd been. "I hid myself.. in the dark.. because I don't belong in the light. I no longer belong in either world, but in a small place where in-between is possible. There's a shadow called the Ikki! Ikki! Night Club, where Seren is host... a friend since he got here, he had found the white city too clean, and he did not like scaring people.. so he found.. a place that his person would not frighten others. Unlike most, he was not banned from Genil... contrary, he walked out for the good of it... and Lukavai... Lukavai is one such as me.. in all the ways you can be such as me. Trying to follow some light moral agenda while stuck in a body that feeds from the dark. But... I went there.. for another reason." She trailed off, pressing her arms around Nuki to pull her close and bury her face in her now-clean but damp hair.
The cage In her purple leather and with the smell of blood all over the bars. She was at the top, sitting on the top of the box as if she liked the disgusting attention. But she didn't care who watched, as long as she felt the bones crack, as long as she felt the skulls crush.... as long as she knew they'd never wake up again. Never.
"There was a cage... a cage Seren set up that he gave to me. Truthfully, I believe it was the only apology he had for what had happened when I came in and overturned his benches in my rage the night I was first called a traitor by the people I nearly died for. He didn't need to apologize, but he felt he was part of it... but cities don't separate us. Being from Genil means your nice and calm and good is as foolish a remark as saying being from Nureese means your cruel and unfeeling. By the same token that they turned on me, hatred festering.. by the same token that they still steal from each other, greed locked beneath their breath... Genil is a place, not a virtue! and Nureese is a place... and I killed them. A lot of them. I baited them into that cage with me, and I drank away even their immortal souls. I buried them in dumpsters.. and nobody questioned it, because the filth find their way there every day of their lives in Nureese... and more than that, those who aren't filth find their way there."
Morrigan slipped under the water a minute, and then came back up, standing in it with her now-soaked hair clinging to her alabaster skin. Her nude profile ended at the curve of her ass, where the murky water claimed her figure, grasping each crevice and curve as if it were a jewel. "So my confession. Unlike you, though," Her eyes looked down, the deep greens holding a spark that had not been there in ages, "I don't regret anything I've done. For immortals, regret is something that we cannot abide, or we'll die. You should learn that. What you did wasn't betrayal--it was what you felt at the time. Everyone searches for themselves in different ways... it's the choice to face it--the choice to be strong when everyone else thinks they know who you are. The choice to be greedy to save what you can of your family and life... these things, because they are made with other people in mind, make you a good person. Someone you should be proud of." She sat down on the edge of the tub as the water ran down her body, and brushed her fingers over Nuki's hair, "The fact that you love unconditionally someone in the world makes you a person... the fact that you care about everyone, even those that you hate, makes you good. I've no need to be good, but I need to be a person. What do you need?"
The warmth of family was enough to quell the tears, for now. The touch of Nuki’s hands against her own had ended the onslaught of tears, soon after, Morrigan’s reasoning through her cloud of emotions hit home. She would ask the Goddess in the only way she knew how, proudly, though she shuddered to think that Shi would simply turn away from her and the dying babe. She’d spent her entire life thinking that the gods were lifeless, heartless, but they merely had souls different than her own. She was beginning to notice that about a lot of people in her life. Perhaps many of the scrapes she had gotten herself into with Morrigan were just here trying to force her will upon the succubus, trying to impose her own thoughts and morals upon someone who was raised and taught an entirely different system. It hadn’t occurred to her that people should think differently than she did and that made her wonder if the way she thought was wrong. Wrong? No. It wasn’t wrong, it was just different. Someone along the line had to believe in good, in love, in compassion, in justice, though she recognized this was only the person she had become after three centuries of being proven wrong.
Nuki… Crystal gazed at her even as Morrigan spoke, telling of her ill deeds. She wore a smile that almost seemed like the lips of a painting on mask, making a shiver pass through Crystal’s naked body. Gooseflesh rose on her arms as she gazed at the woman-child but she pushed the thought away hotly. There was nothing wrong with Nuki aside the after effects of fear and loneliness. Hadn’t she gone through much the same thing after coming back to the shattered city? Hadn’t she locked herself in her own mind’s fortress, afraid to come near the windows for what might be lurking in the shadows? The situation didn’t sit well with the Elder but she refused to let herself be anything but glad to see them both, no matter what sins were washed away by the water. The past must be the past in order for the future to move forward. Crystal drew herself upward and pulled the carrier closer to her, leaving the small infant out of it. He opened his eyes groggily and she stared into them, a smile crossing her lips, loving and full of maternal pride.
Slowly, she removed the layers of clothing that surrounded him, his flesh nearly cold even know in the summer morning. Holding him close to her, she slid back into the water fully, holding him so that only the medicinal herbs made their way into his lungs. It will all be okay soon, little one. Your godmother will fix it, I promise. It was strange to already see a smile cross his tiny face, leading her to realize that this child must grow faster than regular human children. His origins still amazed her, as well as the fact that she had survived through his birth. Was this tiny thing really a half-god? She brushed a hand over his tiny ear and as if testing herself and her trust, moved closer to Nuki, stationing herself next to Morrigan in the water. They were both cuddling something precious to them, but even if they had switched bundles, Crystal would have still had the same feelings coursing through her body. She loved them all, Morrigan, Nuki, Eytan, with the same vicious emotion, something she would die for if it ever came down to that.
Before she could answer Morrigan, the woman rose out of the water and Crystal handed her child to Nuki, trustingly. They were both standing, naked, and she assumed that if Kentaro walked in right now, he’d see more of them than they both preferred. But as for now, she felt comfortable, the water running down her thighs though she barely noticed it. She felt as if she was fighting a battle that she simply couldn’t win but she’d still try. In the depths of her soul, she didn’t want to lose Morrigan to that city again, couldn’t stand to not see her on a daily basis and her heart scrambled to make that so though she knew it could never be. “I need you. I need you and Nuki and Eytan and Kentaro and Koltana and Sherah and Lumen and I need all of you. I don’t care about goodness or guilt or fear or compassion or unconditional love but the twelve of us together made up the only family I’ve ever known. Dysfunctional and hard headed, but loving in the purest way. I need all of you to still love me the same way that I’ve always loved you, even when I was yelling for you to get your feet off the table and telling Nuki that being late was acceptable if she didn’t want to know the truth coldly. I just need you guys to live my life, nothing more and I won’t accept anything less.”
"The white city fell without her. Peace revolved around her, but when the mother left her children, they destroyed one another... She'll never forget that she left--she'll wear the chains of the martyr as she pulls the world's weight behind her, still thinking she's not doing enough." Morrigan Aensland
Re: Welcome to HomeHow could it be that even during the time that Nuki left the Council for, fear of her life, these two held their unwavering love for her? Not just for her, but for all those who fled in fear. Morri had stayed to battle, wishing to become a martyr for a broken cause. Crystal had fled, the ridicule of the people of a city she had created too much for her to bear. Nuki had run, scared of what laid on the other side of a closed door. Now she sat in a steam bath with the two women she deemed family--if only the rest of the Council were here to witness this. The bond was unbreakable; a war, five years, sadness, loss could not break the chain of their friendship. "... the fact that you care about everyone, even those that hate you, makes you good." Fragile digits curled into their fleshy home, forming two small balls of skin. Nails dug into the flesh of Nuki's palms, and she shook her head shallowly back and forth.
Morri--a creature born of darkness--was not what she appeared to be. Those born of the White City showed less compassion than the being before her, and how could she care about those people? They had driven Crystal out of the city. They despised the very woman that stayed to protect their sorry asses. How? No, Nuki would not care for these people. These people who came to this city after they--the Council--had built it up. There had been Twelve, now Nuki only saw three. Why should they get their compassion? Her jaws ached, and a vein was protruding, throbbing, at her temple. Teeth ground together, small ivory flakes falling onto the pink of her tongue. But then the water began to move, began to fall from flesh and rejoin in the pool below, the very sound snapping Nuki from her thoughts. Crystal had rose.
Now both women stood, the succubus behind her and Crystal before her. Nuki, Morrigan... the Council had made up the only family Crystal had ever known. Now she was with child. A child that she held in her arms. A child that she was bringing closer to Nuki. A child that Nuki feared. A child that she was now extending toward Nuki... Oh Lord. Deep within Nuki did not want to bear the child; mountains of gooseflesh rose. Whispers spoke deep within her to Take the child. Nothing is wrong. Take the babe. All is well. Take it. She blinked and reached out fluidly, her eyes wide--what was oblivion of the mind appeared to be happiness in the trust Crystal was showing. Eytan's cold body connected with that warm flesh of a teen who had been tortured by his father, but did it respond? No.
Nuki was now hip deep in the water, beads of water reflecting light as they ran down her abdomen and curved inward toward her bellybutton. The cool air pressed against her body, and she inhaled. Those locks of red were Crystal's, but those elongated ears were those of evil. Thoughts clashed in her mind. This is Crystal's child.Are you dense? This is the child of a monster!But he, Eytan, looks like Crystal...Eytan? Don't give it a name. It looks like Crystal because it wants to trick everyone, Love. Whose voice was that? Who spoke to her... It had been so long since she heard those deep vocals. Outwardly she smiled at the child, her rosy oracles reflecting the light of the bathing room as they lifted to meet Crystal's gaze. "He's beautiful, like his mother."
But it was her turn to speak, and she would do so with veracity. She turned to Morrigan and extended her arms, wanting her to take the child. "Morri, you are purer than the purest born of Genil. These people, these... They came here searching for a home, and we gave it to them." She shook, "they are the monsters."Edited by: Juggling Jester at: 7/28/07 2:58 pm
Re: Welcome to Home She's got a smile that it seems to me reminds me of childhood memories, where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky....
Morrigan leaned down, her hands reaching out.. and for a moment, Nuki could have heaved a sigh of relief as the image was that the succubus was taking Eytan from her, but instead, she lifted Nuki from the water and pulled her close instead, "Are they now, My Love?" Was her answer, a soft spoken breath into her hair as she rocked Nuki and Eytan began to fall asleep from the motion, a small hiccup in his breath, "I suppose that's true--fear creates monsters. It's the way of life, and they know it as well as we do.." She ran her fingers idly through the damp, dripping hair as he held Nuki in her bare lap and tried to think of words that mattered so that she could make everything all right, "You're still scared, aren't you? The forest, it held more than twigs and branches for you..." As Morrigan breathed in, she drew in the flashes, the soft colors of hate and sadness, of fear and loss, "You may never get over it, Nuki, but don't let it dig its claws in and make you a part of the angry mob that would kill an innocent to justify their fear."
Now and then, when I see her face she takes me away to that special place, and if I stare too long, I'd probably break down and cry.
She reached back calmly and pulled up a towel to carefully dry Nuki's hair as she hummed a soft, loving tune into the air, She kept her best friend and the closest thing she had to a little sister close, Eytan's green eyes closed, and he snored a little bit. Morrigan reached forward and took him carefully from Nuki, relieving her of the burden that moment and holding him close for the briefest of seconds, "He'll face hatred like me. The same--Genil won't accept him after this war. It's an unfair world that won't give a chance to someone because they are born on the other side of the fence." One hand lifted, and her wing extended, black fingers grasping the carrier basket and pulling it to herself so that she could set Eytan's sleeping form inside it, tucking him in with her wings as she finished drying Nuki in front of her.
She's got eyes of the bluest skies, as if they thought of rain. I'd hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain...
Morrigan smiled at Nuki, lifting the smallest elder off her lap to settle her softly onto the cement so that she could stand. She dragged the towel through her hair, and her wings flared out, wrapping around her and creating a soft, elegant white shirt with a pair of deep purple spandex pants, leaving her feet bare for the time. Her wet hair fell straight down, clinging to her face and framing it as the dampness added weight. She leaned down again, lifting Nuki up from her seated position, smiling into those pretty lavender-brown eyes, "Now, shall we get you a new dress, or do you feel more like pants?"
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