OOM All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness -Part Nine

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu has gathered plenty of henna and even woad, a blue dye, for some experiments with designs on Skellig's skin.

"The blue would look lovely on you, I think," she remarks. "Your fairer skin would show it off quite well. Though I am far more experienced in applying henna."

She's gathered bits and pieces of designs to look at for inspiration. Celtic style knots, viking style abstract patterns and stylized beasts, the mandala and floral type designs he's admired on her, and more.

Comments

[brave_kreyu]

"Mhm. I can see that. Or perhaps she took his hands in hers, showed him how to touch her to bring her pleasure."

"She asked him if he would be hers, would be her mate and her intermediary with the humans. He became the first shaman, the first to learn the mysteries of the forest, spirits, and magic."

[27_53]

"This story has many similarities to another story that I have 'heard' before," he muses playfully, teasing her just a little bit. "Though I do not know if I have ever been considered a 'shaman' before, in my history."

He entangles their fingers.

"I'm sure he had much to learn," he says. "Both in bringing the goddess pleasure, and the ways of the forest. He must have been grateful to have such a strong and knowledgeable teacher."

[brave_kreyu]

"The similarities caught my attention," she admits. "Prompted me to wonder if we might make use of the tale to make a forest more fertile," her tone is playful, but it is an experiment she would be quite willing to try.

She squeezes his fingers gently. "The stories don't speak of that," she tells him, voice soft. "Most say he became a god once he had trained others in the knowledge to perform his duties as an intermediary."

[27_53]

"I do quite enjoy spending time in forests," Skellig admits. "I would not mind if our travels took us to visit some, and if we could find ways to help improve it...through ritual or other activities...I would like that."

He smirks.

"Perhaps as part of our celebrations, to prepare for our public announcement? Or afterwards. Either...I would not mind." His smirk softens into a smile. "I would go anywhere you asked me to, so long as you are with me."

[brave_kreyu]

"I was thinking of a trial run tomorrow," she admits. "There's a suitable section of forest in our territory, easily reachable by air by quite difficult to access by water."

"And I would go anywhere you asked me to, Skellig, so long as you were with me."

[27_53]

The prospect of an 'adventure' is exciting to him, as is the idea of performing another ritual - as he has gotten a great deal of pleasure from the last ones they have done together, and he knows she has also.

Plus, another chance at flight!

"Would you like to try another design on me, since this one seems to be settling well on my skin?" He asks, glancing at his chest. "Give you something else to toy with tomorrow, and might keep us from getting up to trouble tonight?"

[brave_kreyu]

"I would," she says, smiling. He knows his dragon well! "Would you like it on your chest or your stomach?" She's pondering a stylized bird of prey.

"There are versions of the tale where the god is the God of the Hunt and the first shaman is a woman, if you would prefer that," she offers.

[27_53]

"I think I could manage to lie still long enough for you to put one on my stomach," Skellig says. "I am not that ticklish."

Only slightly.

"Plus, I know I will enjoy you tracing the lines later."

He stretches his body out slightly, shifting his position to give her better access to his stomach.

"Is there a spring where the young man might watch the goddess bathe?"

[brave_kreyu]

She smiles, already contemplating tracing the lines on his chest tomorrow.

She plots out the rough design in charcoal. "There is," she tells him. "And enough forest outside of it for him to wander a bit before he reaches the spring, to fit the tale. It was a lovely walk, the last time I made the journey."

"I suspect you will feel the story, as you did with the other ritual. Perhaps more strongly, since there is a resonance there with your own life."

[27_53]

"Getting caught up into it as I did with the other is a bit more of a concern," he says. "Because you are right, this one... even just listening to the retelling, I felt a much stronger connection than I have felt when comapred with some of the other tales you have shared with me."

Her hands on his stomach as she works to sketch the lines out in charcoal are a pleasant feeling, and he has to work to remind himself - calm - save his energy for tomorrow and their ritual.

He also wants to see what she would do with the dye upon his skin; he peers at it, interested.

"Bird?"

[brave_kreyu]

"We do not have to use that story, if you are uneasy about it," she assures him. "Or do the ritual at all."

"A bird, yes," she tells him. "I am not sure if it is meant to be a hawk, an eagle, or a falcon. It may be meant to suggest all three."

[27_53]

"Just another way to make it clear exactly which goddess I am claimed by," he muses. "I like it."

He shrugs his shoulders lightly.

"We can see how it plays out tomorrow. I would like to adventure regardless, get in some flight, see more of the territory. If it works to practice the ritual without it drawing me in too closely, then we can do it."

[brave_kreyu]

She chuckles. "I had not thought of that. I was thinking of your wings, of your ability to float on air."

"That sounds like a good plan," she agrees as she finishes the lines. "Just need to let them sit now, carefully."

[27_53]

"Carefully," he echoes. "Which will require us to behave. "

His sigh might be just the SLIGHTEST bit dramatic, as he settles his body back into the nest, allowing himself to get comfortable (and making room for her to curl up at his side that she did not paint on) and relax.

He is quiet for a moment, but then circles back to the story of the foundling.

"I have often wondered my origins," he admits. "Even Before, I do not think I ever really knew how I came to be."

[brave_kreyu]

She chuckles at his dramatics, then curls up at his side.

"Perhaps you are like my kind, without parents," Kreyu muses. "Though even we must wonder WHY we come to be. Why our souls are kindled by Karma, why our bodies are born from the elements of the world."

[27_53]

"Interestingly enough, it is not a question I have ever thought to ask of Death, in the times I have walked with those destined to meet Them," he muses. "Perhaps it is my mind protecting itself in some way - the answer is one of those that we are not meant to know."

That's not to say that he doesn't still wonder the how (or why) he came to be as he is.

[brave_kreyu]

"Perhaps," Kreyu agrees. "Or Death did not wish for you to ask that question and is powerful enough to nudge your mind a little."

"The first thing I remember is opening my eyes," she offers. She doesn't ask what the earliest thing HE remembers is, as Before has proven to be QUITE unpleasant.

[27_53]

"That is more likely situation, I suspect. I rarely have any true control, in those moments."

Skellig is quiet a moment longer, simply soaking in the closeness, the intimacy of her body next to his as they converse. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he allows his fingertips to stroke her upper arm.

"It was raining," he says softly. "Not a storm, not a driving rain. Steady, though. I don't remember if I was wet. I don't think I was. I remember hearing it, though. And the smell, as it mixed with the dirt."

[brave_kreyu]

"I am fond of that scent as well," she tells him, snuggles close. "And the sound of rain, provided I am not getting soaked to the skin."

She idly preens the feathers near his shoulder. "I tasted lightning and storm with my first breath, the wind was howling and lightning tore the sky open. My scales do not mind the rain, but I was frozen with wonder and terror at the world around me."

[27_53]

"I know it has not rained much yet, I know it is not the right season. But if it does...I would like to take time to listen to it, sheltered, you curled up within my arms..."

A small shiver runs down his spine as she works her fingers to preen his feathers, but it does not spark any other 'desires' yet.

"Your entry sounds much more...wild and raw."

[brave_kreyu]

"Listening to the rain curled up in your arms sounds like a lovely way to pass the time."

"Raw and wild to match how raw and wild I was, perhaps." Her smile turns slightly rueful. "I was even more feral then than I was when I was recovering from that arrow wound."

She likes the shiver down his spine, but she's careful not to work him up too much.

[27_53]

"Your feral nature is not to be trifled with," he admits. "And while I would hope to never have to watch you go through such an injury again...I know there is the possibility of it. It does not scare me, the thought. I would stand with you as I did before, help you in any way I can."

He RESPECTS the raw and feral nature - as he should.

[brave_kreyu]

"I am glad you were not with me in those days," she says quietly. "To my eternal shame and regret, I did not know that humans were different from any other animal, and I hungered." She can't bear to look at Skellig when she speaks those words.

[27_53]

Skellig presses his lips to her hair, inhales the scent of her. It is a moment before he speaks, but not more than appropriate for the gravity of her statement.

"What matters is that you do feel that shame, that regret. I know there are others who would not, after such an incident." He holds her a little closer. "And now you are able to work to heal those scars."

[brave_kreyu]

"Thank you, love," she says, voice quiet. "I don't know that they will ever heal completely."

"They had survived the dreadful storm, the wreck of their ship, only to wash up on the tiny island of volcanic rock on which I was first incarnated. It seems to me still a cruel fate."

"Elihu might be right in that they would have probably died anyway of thirst, starvation, or exposure, but even so..."