ORIGIN - On the edge of memory

Pages: 1 2

While her wanderings in Canis were interesting, the goose found that there wasn't really much to do in the smallest cave, and the bones scattered all over the ground had begun to make her uncomfortable. There was too much death constantly surrounding her, however long ago the death had occurred, and she sought brighter places, better caves to perhaps settle down or, well, find something to do.

As soon as she entered Orion, she caught sight of it. Sitting on a platform, a lone throne of stone that made something stir in her stomach, stood above the rubble of the ruined city. As she got closer, a white form came into view, stark against the gray-brown backdrop. She sped up her pace, curiosity driving her against a rolling feeling rising in her chest, filling the emptiness. Was that...regret? Fear? Anger? She couldn't tell. Perhaps it was all three. But someone was on the Throne and she was a curious goose.

She was close enough, eventually, to realize that this creature was a stag, a beautiful, clean, pure white stag, a pebble hovering in front of his face. She opened her bill to call something out, but then she froze as her eyes wandered up. Behind him, plastered to the Throne, impaled by spikes of diamonds, was the skeleton of a great winged lizard. Dread hollowed her her stomach and she stopped. Was this one of the bad creatures that Oliver had warned her about? Those that hurt just to hurt? She didn't know, she couldn't tell just from a glance, but that was certainly the message those bones sent to her.

Danger. Regardless, bravery and ignorance drew her onwards. She took a breath, set down her basket, and stepped up before the Throne, head tilted innocently, curiously. "Um..." she began, quietly. "Is this...yours?"

@Pride

Pride's ears swept forward at the steady sound of small and slapping feet. It did not take him long to pick out the other white shape now in Orion: diminuitive, but approaching nonetheless. Quietly he let the pebble settle to the ground, setting it aside; he was not so rude as to split his attention when faced with a new guest.

And as his gaze travelled over her, he judged her to indeed be new, unknown to him; her overall shape was the same as the only other goose he'd met, Blackberry, but her colors were wholly different--purer--and she lacked the monstrous deformities that the other had sported. She spoke before he could, and he glanced back at the Throne in some surprise. Silver eyes blinked, and then he was peering back at her.

"Oh, no--certainly not. It belonged to others, I think--long ago. Though those I am associated with use this area, and our King does claim it now, I do not think it is ours so much as history's." It was politely-stated, with some humor, and he offered an incline of his antlered head in somewhat-belated greeting. "I am Pride, of the Kingdom of the Seven--and you needn't fear the bones. They've stopped wandering about, now, at least." This, too, was said--as he glanced back at them--with humor, and he held friendly amusement in his face when he looked back at the goose.

"A chance encounter, then, or is there someone you are looking for? Perhaps I can help you with directions, though of course you are welcome to stay."

@Nameless

The longer she stared at the stag, the less the feeling bothered her. She didn't like it, rolling guilt and hatred trying to push their way to the top. Was it because of the Throne? Or perhaps the bones behind him? She pulled her attention away from it, though, and focused on him. His voice was soothing, calming, and it helped, at least, to keep her in the present. "Oh, a King? Somebody rules here? I'm sorry...I was unaware. I'd heard of a Kingdom in Eridanus, but not of one here. Who are the seven?" Her eyes glanced towards the bones behind him and she blinked uneasily. "Uh, they used to wander?" That was...a little concerning.

She shook herself out of it. They looked plastered to the Throne and she assumed there was quite the story to this, but considering she'd just walked up here out of nowhere, she didn't think it was her place to ask for it. "Oh, chance. I saw the Throne and thought I'd come to see. I just woke up and I'm not really sure what to do. I'm not really looking for anything, really."

@Pride

At first, his mind was paying full attention to her words. Categorizing her questions, a friendly attentiveness to him. Company was nice; the Throne area was all-too-often empty. Yet, something nagged at the back of his mind, the more she spoke: and eventually, a bubble rising to pop, it broke through to his conscious thought. He hesitated, distracted from the goose for a moment, wondering what it was that tugged at his subconscious.

Realization--recognition--dawned only slowly. Do I know that voice-? Uncertainty, confusion, slowly gave way--the further she spoke--to relative surety. It had changed, but-... she sounded like Blackberry. His brow furrowed, a little; already he was gathering up his magicka to look into her mind, but for now, he tried to give no sign of his suspicions. He wasn't entirely sure of himself, anyway. Maybe all geese just sounded like this-?

"Ahh--King Livius, of the Seven," Pride explained, but when he glanced back at the Throne, he didn't look so far that the goose slipped out of his peripheral vision. Could it be-? Could this be a trap? A trick? How is she white, if it is? He gathered himself, his mind, to try and answer her other questions. "The Seven are protectors against those who would bring harm. And, ahh, the bones have wandered only once. A... bit of mischief-making, I believe. May I ask your name-?" Pride went on, taking two slow steps toward the goose, his nostrils flaring some as he tried to pick out her scent. Would that be the same, too-? It cannot be her--can it? The claws, the teeth--the color-...? Where was Blackberry's gemstone?

But he could not remember, and--puzzled and suspicious--he watched her with slightly-furrowed brow. "Where did you awaken?"

@Nameless

The goose looked around, curiously. Where was the King? Should the King not be the one sitting on the Throne? But Pride did not offer any intelligence on where this Livius was, nor who or what they were, so she did not pry just yet. The Kingdom's description, however, caught her interest. Eyes widened slightly, sparkling. "Protectors? That's a wonderful goal!" Well, if he was being honest, which she had no reason to believe otherwise, then she had been wrong in her assumption. This was not one who harmed unless he had to. "Are there seven of you? Or just seven that started it?" The name seemed a little silly to her otherwise. Kingdom of Eridanus made sense, at least - a kingdom in Eridanus. She would have thought that a kingdom here, then, would be called Kingdom of Orion or something.

She opened her bill to respond to the bones and mischief thing when Pride suddenly took a step forward. She blinked and instinctively took a step back under his curious gaze. She adjusted herself a bit, tail flickering uncertainly. "My name? I don't have one. Not yet at least. I woke up in the tunnel between Canis and the desert-cave, Hydra. I met someone - Oliver - he said that I'm probably really old because I don't remember much from before I woke up." She stared up at him quizzically. He was acting a little weird. Was he smelling her? She supposed that in itself wasn't too weird, but he seemed to be taking special attention to it. And the way he was looking at her, like he knew her, put her on edge. "Uh, is something wrong?"

@Pride

Well, the taking scent hadn't been helpful. Blackberry had smelled of blood, usually--and feathers, of course--and this one smelled of feathers, but not blood, not overpowering sweet-metal stench. Pride shook himself, a little, still puzzled, and poured that magicka upward--welling it into his spell, into his mind, willing himself to peer into the goose's.

Confusion. Uneasiness-? He eavesdropped, for a moment, silently pensive, but nothing about her thoughts spoke of Blackberry or her past.

Pride fell silent, for a beat, then dismissed the magic; he shook himself and blinked, looking back at the Throne, briefly.

"Ah, no. It is rather a long story, though I'm happy to tell it, if you wish-? The short version is that the owner of those bones, up there, had some strange obsession with sins. She gathered up youngsters and named them after 'seven sins,' whatever that means; Pride and Envy, Lust and Greed, Gluttony, and so forth. I never saw Pride as a sin, myself, but..." He gave a little shrug, looking back to the goose with interest.

"It is only that your voice sounds familiar--nothing is wrong, exactly, no. But there is another goose around the caves--malformed, brown rather than white, and exceedingly vicious. Sadistic, even. She used to gather children and torment them; she killed innocents and raised their stones as new soldiers to serve her. There was a battle in Eridanus some cycles back in which they were driven off, if barely. She is still captive, there, awaiting trial. If you run into anyone with 'berry' at the end of their name, it is best to avoid them--that was their... rather dubious naming scheme, though I can hardly mock 'poor naming schemes' given my own," Pride added, with humor creeping into his tone.

The faintest trace of suspicion still lingered--not of the goose, herself, but of the idea that it might somehow be the same one. But perhaps geese all sounded similar-? Was it a species thing? Pride tried to think back of those he'd known who shared a type, but he could remember few. He'd never met another stag, before... He racked his brain, and then quickly gave up. He'd have to ensure that Blackberry was still being held captive--he'd avoided her cage, but he knew where it was. And he was in Eridanus almost daily.

That mental note tucked away, he turned his mind from all thought of her. It didn't matter, now; it was an offhand thing, something that could be dealt with another time. For now, he had his guest to attend to. "In any case, Orion has been safe enough, lately. You are free to remain here for as long as you wish; if you ever desire magical practice, that is my personal strong point," he added. He turned back away as he spoked, not in a dismissive way but as if in invitation, taking a few idle paces toward the Throne before turning, conversationally, back to the goose.

@Nameless

Pride would certainly find little else in the goose's head besides a polite interest in the conversation, specifically of the Kingdom, and a bit of confusion and nervousness at his piercing gaze. She never noticed his presence in her mind, and continued to listen, hoping that she hadn't done something wrong.

An interesting start to a Kingdom, from something that sounded dark and a little sinister in motives. She glanced at the bones again, trying to imagine them with flesh, but she could not, considering she had no idea what kind of creature it was. "Sin? Now why would she do that?" She shrugged. "I don't think Pride is necessarily bad thing either, or the others 'sins' really. We all have some measure of them, right?" She could certainly relate a little to whoever Envy was - all these other creatures, holding memories and lives they could remember, and she was wandering in the dark with the framework of a life but nothing to fill the emptiness.

She nodded, a little disturbed by this information of some sadistic goose running around. It seems there were a lot of geese running around the caves if she'd already heard about two others besides herself. Perhaps geese were superior to other creatures, but she couldn't really see how. Her face twisted with disgust at what Pride was describing and hoped to all that was good that she never ran into this terrible creature. Her emotions almost caused her to miss that one bit of information, but, unfortunately, she caught it and she froze. Berry. Tyr had looked into the stone's past and heard the names "Blackberry" and "Jayberry". Perhaps...perhaps it was just a coincidence! Because Blackberry and Jayberry lived a really long time ago, right? Yeah, it had to be that. She didn't want to open that can of worms, because if Blackberry was the same goose Pride was talking about...she didn't even want to think about how many of her theories about herself would instantly be shot down.

She relaxed and pushed the issue to the side for now. She'd address it later, perhaps ask someone else to look into the stone's past again...or maybe her own past, but that thought still scared her a bit. No, she'd figure it out. And this Kingdom seemed like a good place to start. "Thank you, I'm glad to hear it's safe here. I can't say I'd be any good at magic, I don't seem to have much of it myself, but if I'm not being too bold, would it be alright if I stayed with your Kingdom? At least for a little while. Protecting...sounds nice. And I'm not too keen on wandering alone for much longer."

@Pride

Pride shook his head, at the first question--rhetorical as it may have been--with dry amusement. "Ahh--that would be the long version. In summary--avarice of her own, a lust for power, a more self-destructive sort of pride, a wrath against those who had more... Though she did not see it, she carried all those so-called sins in her, and wanted nothing more than power and domination, at any cost."

He lifted a hind hoof, twisting his head back to scratch an itch that tickled behind one ear. He listened, as he did so, and when the goose was done talking, he set his hoof back down.

"Yes, of course you're welcome to stay. Orion hardly belongs to us, regardless. Or do you mean in an official capacity-?" he asked, and briefly studied the creature. It didn't look made for fighting; for all her fury, even Blackberry had never been a particularly dangerous combatant, he thought, and she'd had... spiky bits, pieces that didn't quite belong. And if this one didn't use magic, he wasn't sure how well she could protect. Pride tried to be as tactful as possible as he addressed this. "If as a defender, I could perhaps train you in magic use--shielding, and so forth," he offered, "but I am more than happy to try. You will, of course, need to find a name," he added, with cheerful good humor.

@Nameless

The goose paused for a moment, thinking. What would she be good for when it came to defending and protecting? She had little to no skill in magic, nor was she interested in learning much more, and she wasn't exactly physically strong enough to keep anyone safe. Not that she was interested in fighting anyone, anyways. She was nice and gentle, but that would only get her so far. She seemed to struggle with finding an answer for a moment. "Um, I can't say I'm very good at magic, unfortunately, but I guess I'd just like to be useful to someone." And being useful to a group dedicated to protecting and defending was noble, right? It would be the best use of her time.

But if he required her needing a name...she hesitated again. "Do I need one? I'm perfectly fine staying nameless at the moment. I wanted to find my own name instead of coming up with one on the spot." That might be a problem, if that was required of her. Oliver had told her that she didn't really need one, but perhaps he was wrong?

@Pride

Pride nodded, a little, at the first. "I think wanting to be useful--wanting to contribute to some greater whole--is true for so many of us. Not just the Seven; sort of a natural drive for many." His words held a tone of approval. It was a good thing, in his mind: the many working together for the betterment of the sum.

He peered at her quizzically as she asked about a name. The answer seemed rather obvious, to him, and he found himself wondering why her perspective might be so... damaged? But he gave it due consideration nonetheless, and a fairly respectful response. "Well, what are others to call you?" His tone was reasonable, but curious. "Remaining nameless is one thing, but running about literally calling you 'nameless' would be quite silly; and 'hey you' and 'goose!' would, I think, be both vague and rather rude." This last was said with good-natured amusement, and as he continued, he sounded as though he were outright joking.

"I do not mean to say, 'you must now select a permanent name for now and forever in order to stay in Orion.' I do, however, point out that to... interact with others regularly, we will need something to call you." He shrugged, a little--as best a stag could; it didn't matter to him all that much, but it certainly seemed a splinter of common sense.

@Nameless

Pages: 1 2