ORIGIN - Sightseeing

The first thing Ananke did upon being carried into Leo was scramble down to push her paws into the sand. It wasn't with a sense of awe, even, or reverence. Nor did the white rabbit even spare anything past a single glance for the glittering expanse of the bay and its windswept isles.

Instead, with studious disapproval, she pressed her paws down and called upon her magic.

"...This place is filthy," she whispered, after a long moment, in horror. She'd tried to purge an area around them--to cleanse it, to get rid of the stench and leave it only for Mother's glory--but the infestation of chaotic life in this place was just too disgustingly strong. It swarmed at her feet, lapping at her claws, threatening to crawl though her fur onto her skin and-

"UP!" she squeaked in alarm, turning and scrambling to reach up for Elysium's hands again. She'd wanted to cleanse this beach but now--now--now that she could feel its crawling filth--she wanted nothing to damn do with it.

@Elysium

It must have been a strange sight to see a marbled, angelic figure holding a rabbit in its hands stepping out the mouth of the tunnel and into the wide space of the bay. Unlike Ananke, it did feel a little awed by the expanse of glittering water-- awe that was interrupted as, momentarily, Elysium thought it had dropped her again.

Slowly, she crouched by the priestess. Filthy? it wondered with a quiet blink. The sand did seem to be clinging itself to Ananke's fur-- was that what she meant, or was it the smell alone? Elysium registered the salt-smell as filth-stench as its gaze lifted again to look at light playing off the surface of the water.

"Uh--" the Drone croaked with alarm, but it certainly wasted no time in lifting Ananke up and out of the sand. It craned its neck briefly to make sure there were no chaotic monsters nipping at her feet on the bay, and then carefully began to preen damp granules from the rabbit's fur.

It did not particularly care that they were standing in filth that Ananke had just fled from. They were a protector: that was their job, wasn't it? They'd have to grin and bear it for the betterment of their siblings, yes. Still-- "how can we clean it?" It asked softly. "There is... so much of it."

A beat. "Are you... all right?"

@Ananke

The thrill of alarm pulsed through the link for a moment, overpowering any other thoughts Ananke might have had. Disgusting--disordered--DISORDER-

She shuddered and turned, kicking sand off her paws as she peered back down at the beach. "It's full of... gross things," she confided. Her mind hummed with imagery. Insects. Bits of dirt. Detritus. Rotted leaf-bits.

Things that Mother's snow kept at bay by virtue of sheer cold. This place, though--Leo--was warm; and it was full of life and rot.

"I'm all right," she added, a confirmation, with a glance up at Elysium. And she took a breath, then, steadying herself, before fluffing out her fur. Paws frantically combed over whiskers, and it was only after an intense few moments of grooming that she finally settled and looked out properly. "It's--very large," she offered at last, in a way admitting that she hadn't quite expected it. In others' visions, in their memories, the scale hadn't been quite so... large. Perhaps because they were only images and echoes--or perhaps because Ananke was far smaller than they. She peered up at the distant sea stacks, eyes narrowing a little against a brush of tropical air. "It's warm," she added, a second observation of the obvious.

She felt obliged to leave the exploration to Elysium, who would be the one having to do all the walking--but, oddly, a surge of protectiveness struck her all the same. Despite her diminuitive size, and Elysium's role of guardian, Ananke felt like she--with the age and magic--should be protecting the angelic being, instead.

"Where would you like to go?" she asked, a little primly--and it was an invitation for Elysium to tae the lead. Ananke--she made it clear through the link--would accompany, and observe, but mostly she'd be watching out for danger. Elysium might be made for fighting it--but Ananke was damn good at seeing it coming, and that's just what she'd do.

@Elysium

Ananke's alarm, her disgust, shook Elysium. Briefly, it debated turning and leaving to return to the comfort of Ursa and the mother, but it's duties as a Guardian outweighed it. It stood fast, letting the rabbit shake herself clean and dusting the grains of sand from its palm so that she had a safe, clean(ish) place to lounge on.

There was still discomfort lingering like a brick in its belly, however-- especially as Ananke showed all the dirt and rot and Chaos lingering around. It emitted a sort of strangled grunt in response to the rabbit's few statements, for a time only looking between her and the expanse of water.

"It's warm," it eventually parroted. It wondered, for a time, the difference between hot and warm, but quickly decided that warm was almost pleasant: comfortable, but not in the same way that the cold was comfortable.

Once again, it blinked down at Ananke at her question. It could feel the wariness; the need to look out for danger, and its face just barely contorted-- a miniscule twinge of muscle. "I wanted to see the water," Elysium admitted softly. It looked beautiful; it stared with quiet wonderment at its frothing waves and the way it marred the sand where it touched.

A beat. "How do we... make it cleaner, here?"

@Ananke

"There's... only Mother's magic," she murmured, eyeing the sand again. It took her a moment to gain the courage to try again. And were she the rabbit of many cycles ago, she might have simply fled the cave--but no; she was a Priestess now. She was here to bear Mother's power: her proxy, her word.

She took a breath and scrambled back down again, trying to ignore the sensation of prickling fur and wet unknown beneath her paws. "I will try," she assured Elysium primly. Along with that was a sense of dismissal: not at all rude, but an assurance that Elysium could, in fact, go and see the water.

Ananke would be fine; she'd be right behind them.

She buried her paws in the sand, wincing at the sensation of it. It wasn't that she could sense the bacteria in the sand--but she imagined it. It wasn't snow, cold and pristine. It was... warm and wet and unknown, and therefore disgusting. She took a breath, and aimed to fix that.

It took, this time; Magicka flickered out, searing the substrate with Order and obliterating all that had once lived there. The radius wasn't large--a couple meters, perhaps--but it was enough for her to take a breath and settle her paws back beneath her, relieved and satisfied. "There," she said, and--head held high--moved to hop up alongside Elysium. The implication that she'd stay on her own four paws was fairly clear now; but now that things were clean, she was ready to explore.

@Elysium