OOM: All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness? -Part Two

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu intended to dance in the sky with Skellig the very next day, but events have conspired to prevent that from occurring. A raid on the village by former soldiers meant many wounded to heal and much damage to fix. Akatan's sister, Neferet, has a definite crush, an infatuation, with Skellig. She hasn't done anything but look and exchange some friendly words, but it still makes her brother FURIOUS.

For all that Euripedes was from a different time and place, a line he had Medea speak in the play of the same name still rings true: "I would rather stand three times in the line of battle than once bear a child." Even with Kreyu's magic, with Taweret's skill, childbirth is incredibly dangerous. There are reasons why Taweret's goddess image of She Who Is Great has elements of the hippo, the lion, and the crocodile, a fearsome appearance to drive off the many threats facing a woman giving birth. The second birth in a week began this morning and was still going on when the sun began to set. Not a good sign.

Skellig, trying to burn off nervous energy while Kreyu was working, happened across a few of the village men drinking. They said things about Kreyu they should not have said. That he was FEEDING on Kreyu, drinking her blood. There...may have been a fight. At least they don't think he's a demon anymore, you can't give a demon a black eye in a brawl with your fists!

It is truly night now, and Skellig can hear Kreyu's tired footsteps on the road...

(OOC: Warning for explicit adult content starting around tag 194.)

Comments

[27_53]

Skellig had done his best throughout the course of the day to not interfere with Kreyu's duties in assisting Taweret, avoiding 'listening' as much as possible - though he had told her, that if there was a need for his skills, to call for him and he would come to their aid. As much as he might be allowed to assist as a man, in a space sacred to women.

He has had a nap, tidied up their space, fetched water to replenish their supply, cleaned linens (and his kilt) before he had decided to go for a walk.

It was during that walk that he had heard the rumor once more, filtered down the alleyways, through hushed voices and glanced, nervous looks. He tried to ignore it, until he had inadvertently encountered men who had been heavy with their drink, who felt as if they needed to prove a point.

If it had not been for the one who kicked him in the knee (from behind!), he would have better been able to avoid the blow from the other that struck him in the face, caught unaware and left with a black eye. He'd retaliated, of course, briefly - but once they had seemed satisfied that Skellig was 'not a demon' once he had bled, they had parted ways...



After he had returned to the hut outside the wall, he had taken time to wash his face and hands - wrapping a strip of cloth around his bloodied knuckles. He cannot see his own eye, but he knows it is swollen and darkening.

He has prepared a simple plate of flatbreads, split and stuffed with cheeses, some other items that will not go bad no matter how long she takes tonight. At one point, he contemplates going to her, bringing her a meal, but then he hears her weary footsteps along the road.

So he's sitting at the table when she returns, the fire having been well-tended throughout the day, a mug of beer (half-drunk, and it might be his second or third) resting beside his wrapped hand and an empty one waiting for her at her place.

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu is utterly exhausted when she walks through the door. The birthing bed nearly became a deathbed today, and she's feeling every tense hour that has passed in her body.

"Skellig, didn't think you'd still be awake," she says as she shuts the door behind her. She pulls up the energy for a smile of greeting.

[27_53]

"I am...nocturnal, by nature." He shrugs one shoulder, feathers rustling as his wing adjusts against his back. (The amulet rests safely within the reach of his fingertips on the table, but he'd shed it shortly after returning 'home'.) "And I would not have slept while a partner is working, either."

Regardless of the line of work.

"I also figured you would be hungry," he adds, lifting his mug to his lips as he looks up at her - that black eye becoming very evident in the firelight.

[brave_kreyu]

The surge of adrenaline at the sight of his black eye utterly banishes her fatigue for a moment, white hot rage flooding her system.

"Who hurt you?" she snarls, the sound too loud, too deep, too DRAGON to belong in a human throat. The unspoken meaning is clear 'Who do I need to kill?'

[27_53]

Skellig has faced (and will face) many monsters over his lifetime (lifetimes?) so his reaction remains rather 'cool', compared to the surge of white-hot rage that ripples off of her like a wildfire.

He finishes his swallow of beer, then reaches for her mug and the jug, to pour one for her. She will notice his knuckles, wrapped but bloodied - faint pinpricks of red soaking through the linen fabric - as he pours more beer.

"I am not hurt," he reassures her. "This was just...a discussion."

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu shuts her eyes, takes a deep breath and holds it. Her eyes are violet when she opens them again, but her voice has returned to normal.

"Had I just walked through the door with a black eye and bloodied knuckles, would you say the same? Would it still be a discussion?"

[27_53]

"It would not."

Skellig pushes the mug over to the seat nearest him - he has arranged the chairs so they would sit on either side of a corner, versus across from each other, and his is turned backwards to allow him to straddle it with his wings free - and taps the tabletop, motioning for her to sit.

"I would seek the names of who dared to lay hands on my lover, and I would then seek to tear them limb from limb."

[brave_kreyu]

She takes the free chair, reaches for his hand. "Just so, my love."

"I, I will not do them further harm, if you would grant them such unearned mercy."

[27_53]

"They are not worth your energy," he scoffs, shaking his head. "The three of them were drunk, and spreading rumors of...nonsense. I had heard them earlier, and had worked to avoid them as I walked, but..." Another shrug, and he places his hand into hers.

"Fate, perhaps, that I seemed to quell their lies after they caused me to bleed."

[brave_kreyu]

She frowns at that. "Odd, that your bleeding would quell their lies. What lies were these drunken fools spreading?"

[27_53]

"Not only that I am a demon..." he lifts a hand and brushes his fingertips over her neck, where the remains of the bruise he'd left the night prior linger. "But that I am apparently causing you harm by...feeding on your blood, to fuel my power."

It should be obvious from his tone that Skellig was (and still is) unimpressed with this lie. Sharing Karma and Light to benefit both of them is one thing. A sentient being simply taking, feeding off of another...absolutely not.

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu scowls. "If they believed you a demon, it wouldn't be that much of a jump to make. According to the stories, demons feed on the life energy of people in various ways." She rolls her eyes. "Sex and blood are the two that crop up most often."

[27_53]

"Sex was not discussed," he says, voice wry. "Perhaps they felt it wise not to bring me to greater annoyance with their ramblings."

He points at his own eye, where aside from the clearly-evident bruising, his skin is otherwise only marred by a small split at the corner of his eyebrow, which has scabbed over. "We sparred briefly. This one caught me off guard - once I was made to bleed, they seemed to suddenly think that I was no demon? I did not understand their logic, but I did not question it once we parted ways."

[brave_kreyu]

"I've never heard a tale of someone defeating a demon by punching it, so perhaps they thought a demon couldn't be harmed by such things?"

She sighs. "Still foolish."

"I think I have enough energy left to heal you," she offers.

[27_53]

"Should we leave it - at least in appearance?"

Skellig offers an explanation, and also an alternative if she would not feel comfortable with leaving him fully untouched:

"Perhaps you could take away the pain of it, but leave the mark - give them more reason to believe I am no demon, but just a man?"

[brave_kreyu]

"I could do that," she replies.

She touches his cheek, his bloody knuckles, takes away the pain.

"Thank you for taking care of things in my absence, Skellig." "I should eat, and then rest."

She drinks some of her beer. "But, I would fly with you, when next we are both awake in the early morning." She flushes. "And fly. I haven't entirely stopped thinking about courting you in the air since the idea first popped into my head."

[27_53]

"And I would fly with you," he says, lifting his mug once more, a faint smirk to his expression. "The thought has also kept me company, during quiet moments of the day."

Skellig draws the plate closer to her, puts food in front of her - he has already eaten himself, lightly, but he will still join her to break bread no matter the hour.

"Once we have both rested." He looks at her, looks her over - he can see the fatigue in her features, the exhaustion in her expression. He sighs quietly, tearing a piece of flatbread with his hands. "I gather today was...difficult. I would hear of it, if you would wish to speak."

[brave_kreyu]

She smiles briefly before she starts to eat.

"Difficult is one word for it. Heqet and her child both nearly perished." She eats a little of the bread. "She labored and labored, but the babe would not come forth. Taweret realized the babe was in the wrong position to be born, backwards, but she could not get him turned the right way."

Kreyu drinks. "I had to change the shape of my limbs, change my joints, while they were inside of Heqet, to get him positioned the right way, unwrap the birth cord from around his neck."

[27_53]

Considering the image she has put into his mind, Skellig is mildly grateful that he was not asked to assist - though he would have, if called upon, there are just some instances where he would be of little use - but he keeps that thought to himself.

"It is good that you are the one who Taweret has chosen to mentor," he says honestly. "I know that not all can know of your abilities, and I doubt in the moment Heqet likely even noticed. But without your presence, the outcome would have likely been much different."

For one or both of them.
(And for Kreyu, and Taweret - and himself - if there had been death.)

[brave_kreyu]

"Taweret told me after Heqet was asleep that they would both have died without my help," Kreyu says, voice quiet. "So many women die, either during birth or shortly thereafter."

[27_53]

Something in her words triggers a different image to flash through his mind, a split second of a memory - his hands, gnarled fingers grasping carefully an infant, too small and so very fragile, her heartbeat not right - that vanishes as quickly as it came, lost to the haze as he is still unable to focus.

"You will change that," he offers, reaching a hand over to cover one of hers.

[brave_kreyu]

"I hope so," she says. She's glad of his hand over hers, of his company. She laughs weakly. "I feel like I could sleep sitting up right here."

[27_53]

"I will not have you do that," he says firmly (yet teasing) as he lifts her hand briefly to his lips, kissing her knuckles. "Eat a bit more, and I will ensure the fire will last."

And then he rises from the chair, leaving her to do just that - add a small amount of fuel to the coals. He also takes a moment to prepare a fresh rag and basin of water, should she wish to wipe the dust from the road and the day from her skin, setting it on the far side of the table. And he busies himself with the bed, making sure it is tidy and ready for them to sleep.

(He fully intends on both of them simply sleeping, also. She is exhausted, and he is simply tired from the day.)

Once he's satisfied, he returns to the table - to finish off his beer.

[brave_kreyu]

She does manage to eat a bit more.

"Thank you, love," she says. She takes off her kilt, starts wiping away the dust and the day from her skin.

She only just finishes that before another wave of exhaustion hits her. Even standing up again from the chair where she had sat down to clean her legs off feels like a herculean effort.

She wobbles a little as she forces herself to stand.

[27_53]

The sound Skellig makes is something of a tsk as she wobbles, and he is at her side perhaps a touch faster than a human would be, guiding one arm around her back beneath her arms, and another under her knees as he lifts her from the ground.

"I would have helped you to wash," he chides lightly, though there's no real 'heat' behind his words as he easily carries her to the bed, placing her on the mattress carefully.