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.)

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[brave_kreyu]

Akatan's eyes widen at the sight of his wings. The owl is a symbol of death, of mourning, and with that fire in his eyes, he's utterly terrifying.

He tries to scrabble backwards, away, does what so many do when they are out of other options. He BEGS. "Please, have mercy. Please."

[27_53]

"Have mercy?!"

He shouts, a flock of nearby nesting birds startled and screeching as they leave their roost in the grass and seek safer ground. His growl is quickly broken by a laugh, and Skellig is shaking his head watching as Akatan tries to crawl away, begging before him.

"Have mercy on you, the one who tried to strike down my mate--" He hauls back and spits on Akatan's retreating form, stalking after him. "You tried and failed, by the way...you would ask that the owl have mercy on you?"

[brave_kreyu]

"Please. I'll give you anything you want, anything!" He's even more desperate now.

Yesterday, Akatan would have sneered at Skellig confirming what everyone already knew. That he was bedding the witch, had taken her for his own. But this is not yesterday.

[27_53]

"There is no mercy to be had, for you."

And Skellig is kneeling now, suddenly at Akatan's side, one hand firmly resting atop his chest. He could listen for the sound of his prey's heartbeat, but there is no need to, not with how close he is and how hard the man's heart is hammering in his chest, so very close to those talons.

"I have walked alongside many men on their path to greet Death," he continues, leaning his face in closer. "But I will grant you no such honor." That hand is pressed harder into his chest, talons just barely tipping the surface of his chest. "No, you Akatan...I will leave you to meet Death alone."

And then without further preamble, Skellig reaches his other hand up and grasps Akatan's jaw in one hand, swiftly snapping his head and severing his spinal cord, breaking his neck.

Mercy is to be found in a quick death.

[brave_kreyu]

Akatan goes alone to meet Death, his body an empty shell. The crocodiles are restless, hungry. If he leaves the body here, no one will ever find any identifiable piece of him.

He has had his revenge, but he will pay the price for it. Kreyu's blood, her karma, still sings in his veins, will keep him going long enough to get back to Taweret. But what has done here has little Light in it, if any at all, and so much Dark.

[27_53]

Skellig grasps the shoulder of Akatan's corpse, talons digging tight as he lifts it from the earth and drags it through the dirt and grass to bring it just a few feet closer to the river.

"An offering."

He bows his head and then lets the body crumple where it falls, turning on his heel and walking away, not looking back. He contemplates flying the distance, but he needs to calm down - he pauses briefly, collapsing near a field of taller grass, vomiting up a mouthful of bile and blood as the world spins around him, Darkness threatening. But he finds Her heartbeat again, amid the noise, and dons the amulet again before he makes it back into the village.

If anyone is awake at this hour, they do not see him. It is easy enough to shift attention, change directions. He isn't exactly sure how he gets to Taweret's home, but he does.

The embedded arrow in the wall is left for the morning. For now, he knocks lightly. (She will know it is him. He is so very tired.)

[brave_kreyu]

"Skellig," Taweret greets him as she unbars and opens the door. "Come in, sit a moment." Taweret has poured him a mug of beer.

There's also a bowl of water and some clean rags. "May I help you clean up?" She doesn't ask what he did, won't. Sometimes, it is better not to know.

Kreyu's heart beats steadily, her breathing easy. She's recovering faster than a human would, it seems. Or maybe he just poured THAT MUCH light into her.

[27_53]

Without making a sound, he drops himself into the offered chair, nodding his consent as he reaches for the beer mug. His eyes fall to Kreyu's form in the bed, watching intensely as her chest rises and falls.

Satisfied (for now), he drinks.

He is suddenly very thirsty. After several swallows, and once Taweret has started to clean the dust off of his arms, he feels himself start to shake, the adrenaline wearing off. His breathing quickens to a silent pant, mouth firmly closed.

He clenches his hand into a fist.

"It is done," he grits out after a moment. Part of him knows he does not NEED to say it, because he would not be back here if Akatan was still alive. "I left him for the crocodiles."

[brave_kreyu]

Taweret pours him some more beer. "Neatly done. I would almost think you had trained in Her darker mysteries."

"I would have needed to dose him with a very particular tea to disable him enough to allow me to give him to the river."

Her expression takes on a touch of dark humor. "One I had made only twice before." She works on cleaning him up some more. "It was not for Kreyu alone that I visited that night," she confesses.

[27_53]

Skellig huffs a laugh under his breath.

"I cannot say I would cast blame upon you," he mutters quietly - his body still trembles, but his voice is steadier as she works to rid him of the grime and blood that coats his skin. His tone is wry and amused. "A stranger arrives in the heat of the day, and allows your valued apprentice to lay claim to him? I would be worried also."

Even with Kreyu's blood and Karma still coursing through his veins, there is so much Dark in his body that he is in a great deal of discomfort, as she touches him. He works to hide it, but he is truly sore.

(The black eyes are fading, as are the marks on his skin, the bruises and scratches from the fights. But some wounds take longer.)

[brave_kreyu]

"I thought you might understand," Taweret replies. "But I could tell, from her reactions to you while mostly asleep, that you were not a threat that I needed to protect her from."

"You are in pain, dear. Is it a physical thing, or something else?"

[27_53]

For a long moment, Skellig does not answer her.

(If she were not paying such close attention to him as she works to cleanse his skin of the mess he's made of it, she might have thought perhaps he had drifted off where he sits beside her.)




"Something else," he murmurs, voice faltering slightly as he speaks. "I am by nature a healer."

His stomach twists at the vision and sound of Akatan's neck snapping beneath his grasp, as it replays in his mind.

"And while I would gladly defend those I care for as I have tonight, it is...against my nature. I am left physically pained by wounds that will take longer to heal." Mental trauma, is what he isn't saying. "I fear tonight will be sleepless."

Not that he had INTENDED on sleeping, with Kreyu still recovering in the bed. His plan is to sit on the floor at her side, hand in hers.

[brave_kreyu]

"I can give you something to help you sleep," she offers. "And it will help you both if you are in bed with Kreyu, I feel."

"A bit of a tight fit, but given how she clings to you, I'm sure you'll manage."

[27_53]

Briefly, he hesitates - though it is in regards to him joining Kreyu in the bed, not the offer of something to help him sleep - but he nods.

"I would take it." A grateful smile, faint but at least he's trying, some Light seeping back into his soul. "And I think your words are true. It would help us both."

Fitting their bodies together will not be a challenge.

He drains off the rest of his beer as she finishes working the water and rag over everywhere it is decent for her to do so - not that he would care otherwise in this moment, given how utterly drained of physical energy he is feeling.

A wave of fear rises out of the Dark, his voice suddenly small.

"She was so very far gone," he whispers, looking to the bed, at Kreyu's sleeping form. "I nearly lost hold of her."

[brave_kreyu]

She works on the concoction to help him sleep.

"But you did not," Taweret says, attempting to offer some comfort. "The nightmare did not become waking truth, WILL not."

This tea is far less bitter than what Kreyu drank what might feel like a lifetime ago, when she hands it to him.

[27_53]

"No, it will not." Skellig cocks his head slightly to the side and listens closely to Kreyu's body. "She is...stable."

Healing better than he had expected, actually. Taking the tea from her, he allows the warmth seeping into his hands from the mug to ground him (briefly, he is reminded of the feeling of Kreyu's blood coating his hands, how hot it was on his skin) and bring him back to the present, to this space.

Where they are both safe.

He drinks readily - even if it was bitter and he had to choke it down, he is so very done with this day.

[brave_kreyu]

Taweret smiles softly. "Sleep well dear."

Kreyu's body is warm, familiar, as he crawls into bed. She turns a little, reaches out to him, even if she doesn't wake. Some part of her KNOWS he is there, wants to be as close as she can.

[27_53]

Skellig is grateful for the familiar in this moment, in this space. And it is not long after he has curled up carefully around her, and drawn the blanket up to cover them both that he is asleep, the combination of exhaustion and just whatever was in that tea helping to make it solid and soundless.

He does not dream, and it is a blessing.

[brave_kreyu]

He wakes, many, MANY hours later to his body tangled up with Kreyu's. She sleeps still, breathing deep and even.

He can hear Taweret snoring quietly in her chair. Heqet and her child have gone, must have recovered enough while he was asleep to go home.

[27_53]

As he wakes, he initially tries to extend his senses to beyond the walls of Taweret's home but everything is so very, very wrong and off-kilter, suddenly nauseating - so he quickly pulls himself back into the space of just one room, focus sharpening to simply Kreyu's heartbeat.

It will take awhile before he can do anything more than listen to just her.

He knows Kreyu is still asleep (and Taweret as well) so he does not speak, simply curls up and reaches a hand to place upon her chest. He can hear her heart, but he needs to feel it, too. Ensure this isn't some illusion, that he hasn't lost her to Death after all.

[brave_kreyu]

Her heart is strong under his hand, the most real thing in the world right now. As he feels it under his hand, her heart speeds up, headed toward waking.

Her eyes are violet when they open. "Skellig," she says, voice raspy. She's so HUNGRY. Hungry as she hasn't been since she last incarnated. She'll need to hunt large prey, SOON.

[27_53]

The relief that washes over him when she wakes and speaks his name is nearly palpable, and he presses his hand firmer against her chest.

"Kreyu, my love. I'm right here."

[brave_kreyu]

She puts her hand over his on her heart. "I should have died," she says quietly. "You must have paid dearly to keep me." There's concern in her eyes for him, for his well being.

"I have not been this ravenous since I last incarnated. I will need to hunt soon, for far larger prey than this area can provide."

[27_53]

"I am not hurt," he says quickly, noticing the look in her eyes.

When she mentions hunting prey, his expression shifts slightly, but it is moreso concern for her trying to let that part of her soul out so soon. But he understands hunger. He glances at Taweret.

"She sleeps, and would likely protest if we left without waking her," he adds. "But I'm sure she would understand."

She still might protest Kreyu getting out of bed anytime soon, but it is what it is.

[brave_kreyu]

"Can wait, until morning," Kreyu decides. The sun is setting, now. "The great singers in the sea, the whales, one of those would be best."

"My mate's ears can help me find my prey." She looks pleased at that.