OOM: All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness?

[brave_kreyu]

(OOC: Warning for explicit adult content, mention of noncon/rape, slavery)

Is it a dream? A glimpse of a universe that might have been? A story untold?

Something called Skellig out here, to a road scratched in the earth between the desert and the land irrigated by the river. The sun overhead is like a hammer, the heat murderous. His coat...he can't remember WHAT happened to his coat. In this heat the coat would be as strange as his wings to human eyes in any case.

There are two small mud-brick houses up ahead, then more road, and a mud-brick wall encircling a small village of mud-brick houses.

He needs a drink, desperately.

He hears footsteps coming toward him, the heat haze breaks to reveal a woman. (Except she can't be a woman, no one human has that much Light inside them, that much power.)

"Even one touched by the gods should not be walking about this time of day," her voice is all concern, all worry. She's wearing a white linen kilt around her waist, and nothing at all above it except a necklace of blue clay beads. She's lovely. (And she feels familiar? Why?)

She offers a hand to him, seemingly not concerned in the slightest about his wings.

Comments

[brave_kreyu]

Her fingers do brush his feathers, though she tries to be careful. And if her heart is beating jack rabbit fast, it's not from fear. She touches his hands very gently with her own. "Now, we start with a fold like this.." she explains, her voice low, calm.

She walks his hands through the steps, slow and careful. "And then tuck that there and it should stay put."

She lets go of his hands, comes back around. She's smiling at him, still.

[27_53]

Between the two of them, the folds are managed and once they finish he is at least clothed in something entirely more suitable for not only the climate, but the time period. (He is sensing that this is...either much further 'back' than he can ever recall being, or that he has drifted very, very far off course.) It is unsettling, but no longer standing bare in front of her helps slightly.

Keeping his gaze on her face, he nods.

"Thank you."

A strand of her hair falls into her face; automatically, he moves a hand to reach for her hair to brush it back, tuck it behind one ear (it is a motion that his muscle memory feels as if he has done dozens of times before, which he does not understand) but he pauses before his fingers actually make contact.

Why is that so familiar?

"Sorry, I--" he shakes his head, confusion painting his features. "My mind feels as if it is playing me for a fool."

[brave_kreyu]

He's VERY far back in time, before the last Ice Age, in fact.

"It's alright. I, I wouldn't have minded." She flushes. "I kept having to fight the urge to, to preen your wings, the whole time I was behind you. Like a bird preens its mate."

"I should REMEMBER, if we'd met before, even if I had died between then and now. It's the nature of my kind."

[27_53]

"It is just strange," he says. "But perhaps it is because we are similar, and there are not any others like me that I have found."

He's still not fully sure of what is going on, but he knows he has to adapt to survive it, even if it is perhaps simply madness, or a hallucination...

"We should try again, the shifting?"

[brave_kreyu]

"None?" Her expression turns slightly sad. "It's lonely, being the only one of your kind somewhere." For all her beauty, for all that the village respects her power, they FEAR her too. She's been so very lonely.

"Yes," Kreyu replies. "If that doesn't work, I'll need to get you to somewhere you won't bake to death with something covering your wings."

[27_53]

"It was very close, earlier."

Settling with the amulet in his hand, he looks over her body once more (a flush briefly colors the tips of his ears and his cheeks) before closing his eyes.

Hair, first. Then his complexion, skin darkening, an added tan from the sun kissing the way over his flesh. Then the wings flickering briefly before they are concealed from view.

When he thinks he has it, he does need her help, however, to knot the cord for the amulet. His hands ache. And it is tricky, with his fingers.

[brave_kreyu]

She moves close to knot the cord around his neck. She has to stand on tiptoe a little bit, spread her wings for balance. (She's close enough that he can feel her body heat.)

"There," she says, satisfied. The amulet was plain, before, now it bears the image of an owl. "It looks good to me, but you might want to check your reflection in something."

She bends down to rummage in the chest again, brings out a hand sized polished bronze disk. What passes for a mirror around these parts.

[27_53]

It will suffice.

He catches the glimpse of himself in the reflection and works to study it. This is unlike anything he has ever imagined himself looking like. But it will work to conceal him from harm or any other issues that may arise.

The lack of wings is unsettling, but it is not what bothers him the most.

Skellig looks to her.

"If I have died...I have come back without some of my abilities," he offers. "Things are just...off."

[brave_kreyu]

"Off how?" she asks, concerned. And the back of her mind is already turning over the issues with his hands, how she might help.

[27_53]

"Typically when I fly, I can sense directions...north, south, the winds...everything has a way point. I can just...feel it."

He shakes his head, hands her back the 'mirror'.

"I cannot. I don't know why."

[brave_kreyu]

"I wonder.." She huffs. "I know a technique that might help."

She pulls a fabric hanging off of the wall, tosses it on the floor.

She settles herself on the fabric she put down, which should at least show him how to sit with the kilt on without flashing anyone.

"Would you sit with me, for a while?"

[27_53]

As she moves to sit on the floor, Skellig carefully watches her (how can he take his eyes off of her, with the way she moves with such ease and fluidity) settle on the fabric.

And then he follows.

And while the ache in his knees and the rest of his body is not the worst it has ever been - it is not with ease that he lowers himself to the ground, mimics her position as he takes his place across from her. It is obvious that his body is tired, and it is not merely from the heat of the day having done a number on him.

[brave_kreyu]

There is concern in her eyes at his movements, but that is a problem for later.

"It helps, to be seated on the Earth." An explanation and an unspoken apology for his pain being necessary.

She offers both wrists to him. "Being what I am, I am tied into Karma, into the fabric of the world. I'm hoping you can use my pulse to find that fabric, or find the one you knew before."

"Please put a finger on each of my wrists, press enough to feel the pulse there, if you can." There ARE other places where the pulse can be readily detected, but they are more intimate. "Then just relax, focus on what you feel beneath your fingers."

Karma flows through the world, through Kreyu, through him, through everything. Ley lines like veins in the body. Warmth, Life, Emotion, the sound of her heart is the world's heart.

[27_53]

Sitting with her, he takes hold of her wrists and allows his fingertips to press as instructed. The first thing that he notices is her heartbeat, and she will be able to feel the way that his surges as the rhythm becomes easily sensed by his mind.

Karma and Light colliding between their bodies, in this space where it pools around them.

It is nearly a palpable crackle of electricity that runs over his skin as he reaches, allows his mind to sense her, fall into line.

(It takes much less effort that he expects - as if he's done this before...)

Skellig visibly relaxes - substantially - with his hands remaining on her wrists, as things slide, waver, and start to fall into some semblance of order in his confused and jumbled mind. He still does not know where he is, how he came to be here, or why he is here.

"Kreyu."

It is the second time he has spoken her name, and it is different off his tongue. Fond, almost.

[brave_kreyu]

Her breath catches and her pulse races when he says her name like that. She WANTS that, so much. The almost fondness a craved balm for a lonely heart and a body aching with want. If he looks at the right time he'll see it in her eyes, naked and plain as day.

It's harder to shove those wants back down than it has ever been before. "Skellig." He might notice her tongue giving his name the lightest touch of those feelings, despite herself.

[27_53]

Something in the background noise of whatever 'reality' this is tugs at his senses when he notices the look in her eyes, the desire and want that she's projecting in her gaze.

Skellig cocks his head slightly when he realizes it is an echo.
Of what exactly, he is not sure. Past? Present? Future?

"Kreyu," he repeats. It is softer. Familiar. He barely notices that he is moving his hands from her wrists, one falling to her waist as he shifts his bodyweight to change how he is sitting, the other moving to cup her jawline, pulling her in to him, taking the initiative to bring her close for a kiss.

[brave_kreyu]

It's the easiest thing in the world to let him bring her close for a kiss. Her heart is hammering so fast, but she has at least kissed men before. She's gentle when she kisses him back, careful, unsure of her reception. It...may become obvious to Skellig that she doesn't have a lot of experience in this area.

[27_53]

He keeps the kiss gentle, chaste - not pushing, simply testing the 'waters', trying to trigger his senses to find something familiar to grip onto.

Part of his mind is screaming at him that this is a horrible idea, that he has no idea who this magic being is, no clue of the powers she may hold. She could be trying to trap him, use him for wicked things, she's already convinced him to wear an amulet and shift his appearance...

The other part of his mind simply does not care, and if this is the afterlife? He'll take it.

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu is eager, if a bit clumsy. He may be being gentle, chaste, but she's never felt anything this good before.

The human distress scream has a very distinct pitch, and when that scream comes from a child it tends to cut through a LOT of interference.

Skellig might hear the noise of a dozen armed men outside on the road, depending on how his hearing is working right now.

Kreyu breaks away from him, rises to her feet, shoves her wings away.

[27_53]

She is merely a half a step ahead of him, and he rises to his feet quickly (as he can) to follow her. With his hearing still sharp, he can tell that there is a group outside, but he is inwardly wondering why he simply did not hear them sooner.

Distraction?

Fearful still about his wings possibly becoming visible (he touches the amulet at his neck, confirms to himself it is still there) he does linger and follow her lead, but he will not let her stray far from him. The urge to protect her is still deep rooted in his mind, despite not knowing just how powerful she may be.

[brave_kreyu]

The village is a poor one, there's not much loot to interest bandits, except the people.

Skellig can practically HEAR the wheels turn in their minds as Kreyu appears. She's young, she's pretty, a much more valuable prize to sell than some farmer.

"Try not to leave a mark on that one that will show, I want as much as we can get for her," the apparent leader snaps at his underlings while motioning toward Kreyu.

Kreyu spits a string of syllables and throws a small ball of fire at one of the bandits who is trying to carry off a child.

[27_53]

Without his wings at his disposal, he is slower, but he is still not slow. Quite to the contrary, especially when he hears what the 'leader' says about Kreyu.

(She will be able to sense the way white-hot rage flares within him, as the words register in his mind.)

He might not be able to sling fire, but he can still throw a stiff right hook. Which he does once he closes the distance between himself and the band of armed men, before making an effort to lunge for another, with the intent of stealing a weapon if he can get his hands on one.

[brave_kreyu]

Skellig is a fair bit taller than anyone else here, and these men are not trained fighters. The blow to the face is enough to stun the man, take him off his feet. After that, it's easy enough for Skellig to twist an arm, wrench a blade out of a man's hand.

One of the bandits in the back of the crowd has a bow. It's made more for duck hunting than hunting humans, but that doesn't mean its harmless. Kreyu lunges to knock a child out of the arrows path, takes the shot in the shoulder.

She's bleeding and he shouldn't be able to smell her blood from here but he CAN. So much power in it, welling up with every beat of her heart, so much Light. (Does it smell sweet, or is that an echo of before or yet to come?)

She throws more fire at a bandit, kills this one.

[27_53]

With the knife in his hand, it is easy enough to wound the man he stole it from and force him to his knees, put the edge of the blade to his throat and prepare to strike him down -- and then the arrow pierces her shoulder, and Skellig's attention snaps immediately to Kreyu, focus narrowing with a deadly precision.

fire and the bite of metal

The man at his knees is abandoned and Skellig takes the first step towards Kreyu.
But then she throws more fire, and kills the one nearest her.

So his movement twists and he turns, and stalks towards the one with the bow.

(He is reloading the weapon, nocking an arrow with unsteady hands - but he is no true fighter, just a scumbag - before he moves to fire it, aiming it square at Skellig's rapidly advancing form. His fingers release the bowstring and the arrow flies free with a rush of air.)

Skellig drops the knife to the sand and in the same movement - it's too quick to be natural or human, but who would believe any of them, if they live to tell the tale - lifts his hand, catching the arrow mid-flight, barehanded before it strikes his chest.

Never breaking his stride towards his prey.

[brave_kreyu]

The smartest bandits are already running like the scavengers they are, not willing to fight such fearsome predators.

The man with the bow is frozen in terror. Skellig looks human to his eyes, but he's approaching like a monster in a horror movie, inescapable death.