"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
She finally returns to the Jungle. Part of her hates to admit that this is not the first place she ran to after the realm of the death relinquished her back to the living. She had ridden a wave of electric to the Tundra and cracked the sky open looking for him. She had to know that what Vanquish told her was true. Kratos had to be alive, had to be in the Tundra waiting for her. Fuming because she followed the call despite his instructions, and probably fuming because she succeeded where he did not.
Vanquish had been right, and she begins to believe that what he said about Lagertha is true also. That she is safe and sound in the Jungle. Changed as she was changed certainly (how do you see the end of the world and not live differently after that)? So she doesn’t tear into the Jungle on her return, though she does ride a wave of electric from the north of Beqanna to the south. It is endlessly faster than walking, this little trick she discovered as she tumbled out of the sky and toward the beach.
She’s not sure she’d have survived that fall. Probably, as others had, but perhaps not. In the end, it doesn’t matter though. She fell, staring at the earth and uncertain what to do when the electric materialized for her, an endless slide across Beqanna and anywhere she wanted to go.
She slips into the Jungle on her own two feet though, seeking out the general first. Scorch next, because she knows she ought to see their Queen that she had left so suddenly. They had never really finished their last conversation. She moves deeper into the Jungle, looking for the gray General, hoping Vanquish was correct. Lagertha had to be here.
Of course Lagertha was safe and sound in the Jungle; more than a little perturbed by Gail’s inane stance on life and the the fucking chomping creatures that seemed to eat everything in sight - but alive. And sporting a lovely reminder of her time in the otherworld/dreamland/she hasn’t quite rationalized what happened to her yet. It takes more than dream creatures to kill her. She is Immortal, after all - though just how that will keep her from death is unclear at the moment.
She failed. She’s never failed like that before. It was to be expected, of course - she wasn’t a talker, she was a doer. She wasn’t Rhy.
Myrina came back with a souvenir from the otherworld too, and so Lagertha knows that she was either eaten by the creatures or never made it into the wormholes. They should probably have a chat soon as well. But Rhy - Rhy she needed to find. Mostly to find out how her experience was, and then to tease about Kratos, and then to talk about… other things. All that got side-tracked, however, when Lagertha awoke in the depths of the Jungle and started to think too much about her failure, dwelling too much on what may or may not have happened.
There is a crashing sound that draws closer, and so rather than be caught by surprise (and knowing that she could defend herself if any true trouble came along), Lagertha calls out to the source. Any equine would be a sister, and a sister would be welcome right about now.
Rhy came back with so many sourvenir’s. More than she wanted, truthfully. Being half dead might have it’s perks, though she wasn’t entirely sure yet. She hadn’t figured much of it out, other than the part where she could be invisible, or just a shadow of her real self. Which, she thinks, at least in that form might make her live longer, because ghosts can’t die again. Though she has no idea if that will translate into making her living self live longer though.
She hears the call. She’s not entirely surprised that someone can hear her coming. Today, she’s crashing through the Jungle in a way she doesn’t usually, but she’s too worried to care. Too worried to slip through the Jungle quietly as she normally does. And she knows that call. She breaks into a gallop, or as much of a gallop as anyone can manage in a Jungle, until she nearly crashes into Lagertha.
“You’re alright,” she says, a smile finally splitting her face. Thank god, Vanquish had been right. She can’t imagine losing Lagertha. Rhy doesn’t have that many friends, truthfully. Plenty of sisters, but only a few that really count as her friends. And Lagertha more than anyone else knows her the best.
Of course alright in this context means mostly just being alive. Along with being part dead, Rhy had found her dead parents in the afterlife, had a burned scar from the ice monster (of course ice could burn the electric girl), had visions of her sister and Kratos and Lagertha all dead. She could only imagine what Lagertha came back with. Scars and stories and visions of the monsters at the end of the world. The only thing Rhy never saw. She heard them, of course she heard them. That impossible static. But she never saw them. “What happened? How’d you get back?”
this will never end, ‘cause i want more, more, give me more
The relief is not one-sided; it is the General’s job to protect the rest of her sisters, and even though Rhy is both Bloodrider and Ambassador and a badass lion, Lagertha still thinks of her as someone to be protected. But in the back of her head, Lagertha knew that if she had survived the chomping fiends, then Rhy, if she had been in the same place, would have as well.
They are Amazons. They are fierce. They are survivors.
Nevertheless, it is good to actually touch Rhy, to know for sure that she is alive. That place, the cosmos - the creatures - the grayness and the grating - if it weren’t for the onyx crown of thorns on her left hind leg, she might eventually convince herself it was all a crazy dream. But this is Beqanna and magic is rampant. Anything is possible. Lagertha reaches out to touch her, ever so slightly, in what might be most caring and gentle moment Rhy has ever seen from her. Her nose brushes against Rhy’s gold and white skin and she inhales briefly. Yes. Solid flesh and bone. Good. A wry smile twists her lips and then the normal Lagertha returns. “Takes more than some weird ass aliens and a dumb, stubborn bitch to kill me. Come on now, Rhy. I’m Lagertha.”
She pauses and tilts her head to fully examine her friend. “You must have convinced Gail, if you thought I was dead. That’s where I failed… but no surprise there. Words are your forte, not mine. I would have made her move, but she impaled herself on my thorns… stupid. Just stupid.” Lagertha scoffs and rolls her eyes. She didn’t understand Gail and her actions didn’t make any sense to the General. “And then there were those things that ate the world and ate me and Gail, and I woke up here. Alone. What about you? What happened in your… mission. Did Kratos finish?
Ah… Kratos. There was another thing to ask her about. If she read the two of them correctly, she was going to be Auntie Lagertha eventually
06-30-2015, 09:51 AM (This post was last modified: 06-30-2015, 09:53 AM by Rhy.)
and when I breathed, my breath was lightning
She can’t help but laugh at Lagertha’s first comment. Lagertha is about the last horse in the world Rhy ever worries about. But still, she’s also one of the last horses Rhy ever wants to loose, and in that world that still feels something like a dream, anyone could have been lost. No matter what they were, no matter how powerful, Carnage could have left them there. And that would have been the end, really and truly the end. They both know this, of course. They both know that the mouths that ate the world could have been the last thing they ever saw.
For a brief moment, Rhy thought Gail would let them stay there, would let them face the end of the world. For a brief moment, she thought she was going to die. And in some ways, she came to peace with it, though she wasn’t any more ready to die than Lagertha or Kratos or any of the others there. “I don’t think words helped much either. Gail just decided she didn’t want me to die there, though I admit, I was expecting death. She admits. Lagertha had her moment of kind and gentle, something that possibly shocked Rhy more than space had, and so in return, Rhy is more open and honest than she usually is (which is saying something, the girl is not a closed book after all).
“No, Kratos didn’t make it back with Gail either, though he’s safe and sound and furious in the Tundra. Well, technically, none of us did. Gail tried, but Beqanna wouldn’t let her. Truthfully, I think Gail wanted to die. I think that’s probably why she impaled herself.” Gail was almost dead already. She was just waiting to make it official. “We all got shunted off to the realm of the dead. Beqanna’s dead. I nearly died there myself. Well, actually, I sort of did.” She flickers out of view then, going completely invisible (though she has discovered that she can take a semi-corporeal form as well). A nearby rock lifts into the air, though Rhy herself hasn’t actually moved. She launches it through the trees till it smacks into one with a thud, and then flickers back into view. Mostly solid, not entirely this time. Gray flecks her coat, reminders of her near death experience.
“I found my parents there, in the realm of the dead. I haven’t seen them since I was a child, and now they are gone. Though I guess not really. I know where they are, and I know they are happy. But still. Vanquish found me there as well. He’s the one who got me back. Literally threw me through a seam in the realms. It was sort of hilarious, considering.” She falls silent then, having told all that mattered. Her parents were dead. Vanquish had saved her life. And at least, everyone was all right. Physically, because scars were nothing in the long run. Emotionally, well, how could she ever be the same?
this will never end, ‘cause i want more, more, give me more
Lagertha listens quietly as Rhy describes her own misadventures in Carnage dreamland, but it isn’t until she says that she thinks she actually died there that Lagertha snorts softly in alarm. Clearly Rhy isn’t dead, but when she flickers out of sight and a rock to the right of them levitates and is then hurled through the air it is a bit… startling. The iron lady processes it all as Rhy returns to reality, and Lagertha has to ask, “So what else can you do? Or is the better question what can’t you do?”
She is almost a teensy bit jealous. Almost.
“Sorry about your parents…” She’s never known what it’s like to have two loving parents, but she can imagine that knowing them, and then missing them, and then finding out in a very bizarre way that they’re dead is not exactly the way to go. “... at least you know they’re happy. And together. If I saw mine, she’d probably yell at me or something.” Lagertha chuckles and shrugs. The only message she’d ever gotten from the crazy old hag had been from Quark’s Strange little girl. And that message had been a simple ‘don’t fuck up’ sort of thing. Commanding, but not very endearing. Lagertha, however, had taken it to heart, though she isn’t sure how things are going at the moment. They seem to be rather stagnant because of forces outside her control.
But there is always change on the horizon. So she continues to look to it.
That chuckle turns into a broad laugh at the idea of Rhy riding on Vanquish and somehow being tossed through some portal… in either form, it was preposterous and hilarious and all too Beqanna-y. The chuckle hides her relief that Rhy is all right. As they die off, she gets a mischeivous look her dark eyes. “So… do tell me about Kratos. Should I expect a brood of lightning babies any time soon?”
07-08-2015, 09:41 AM (This post was last modified: 07-09-2015, 09:15 AM by Kyra.)
and when I breathed, my breath was lightning
She sort of died. It’s an important difference. In her ghost form, her coat is flecked with gray (in some places more gray than gold, really). The effects of slowly dying were not lost on her, were not completely reversed when she made her way back to the land of the living. Though at the same time, while she’s sort of dead sometimes, she’s also figured out she’ll actually live longer. Partial immortality, at least. She doesn’t think she’s entirely immortal, since she’s still slightly alive. She’s not entirely sure how it will affect her, truthfully. Mortal when living, immortal when a ghost. She’d guessing maybe there will be a weird middle ground where she lives longer but not forever. Though maybe she’s just wrong. She doesn’t exactly know how this works.
She can’t help but laugh slightly at Lagertha’s question. “Truthfully, I have no idea. Discovered I can surf on lightning when I was falling between realms. Had no idea.” She can’t help but wonder what life would have been like if there had really been someone to train her. Riagan had tried, but he had no traits of his own. He didn’t know how to relate, not really. She was still discovering new things. There’s plenty she can’t do, of course. But she gets the point. There’s a lot she can do as well.
“Oh, and apparently I have a brother. They told me about him. Still haven’t found him. Leander, if you ever meet a boy that looks like me.” The whole thing was mind boggling, and she would probably always be reeling from that trip. Even if just a little bit. Lagertha mentions her own parents, but Rhy doesn’t know much of Lagertha’s history. She should remedy that someday, though she doesn’t like to pry either. Still, she feels guilty to know so little, really, about her friend.
But Lagertha changes the topic before Rhy can decide how much asking is actually just annoying prying. She asks about Kratos, and Rhy grins slightly. Obviously the cat is out of the bag, though really, she figured that ship sailed long ago. Every time he cracked open the sky above the Jungle, she assumed everyone knew who had come to call. “He was the first horse I could actually touch.” She admits. She’s never told anyone that before. In truth, he’s the only horse she can really touch, at least as herself completely and truly. She can turn off the electric now, and others are no longer in danger. But with him, she doesn’t have to. “I don’t know about soon. The Jungle seems to keep me rather busy. I’m sure you know the feeling. But eventually, I suspect.”
