Second of Sun's Dawn (OTA)

[blindwatchersees]

Who: Sheogorath and YOU?
What: Celebrating Sheogorath's Summoning Day
When: Februrary 2nd
Where: Not sure yet
Warnings: Probably some mentions of violence and blood, more to be added as they occur


What is unusual, when Sheogorath is involved? With him, there's very little that could be considered unheard-of behavior. That being said, sometimes he does things that seem more meant to draw attention than others. For example, right now, he's sitting in the middle of the atrium, cross-legged, with a plate sitting in front of him. Sitting on the plate, in turn, is a picture of a cupcake, scribbled with ballpoint pen on the back of a receipt from a Bric-a-Brac. He's muttering to himself, frequently shifting into different voices, as if he's trying to fill the role of an entire room.

Comments

[blindwatchersees]

"Hmm. I'd be wary about the arcade if I were you, love. There are powerful traps in there, as I found out when I went there with Erin Peters."

[abhorrently]

"Traps? I've been in there plenty of times, and I've found no traps."

[blindwatchersees]

"You have to look down. The circles, love! The circles are deadly dangerous!"

[abhorrently]

"Perhaps I'm just stronger and better than the circles, then. They've never affected me even once."

[blindwatchersees]

"I would guess it has something to do with mortal nature, but I've seen it happen to... wait. WAIT! Oh, I get it! The circles only affect cats!" He practically leaps to his feet in excitement over the realization.

[abhorrently]

"That would explain a great deal. Someone taking caution to catproof the machines, so they wouldn't sneak into them and get stuck."

It makes as much sense as anything else on this ship.

[blindwatchersees]

"Well, in that case, I suppose you'll be in no danger if we go to the arcades for a little fun. I'll let you lead the way, love. That's usually how summoning days go."

[abhorrently]

That's her cue to link her arm with his, and start guiding.

"Sand Dollars, the fromagerie, and then we'll set up in the arcade. That way when we want to indulge, it'll all be at hand. I know they have a cheddar from Waterdeep that's actually quite good."

This is more like it, rather than the walks in the Village, with him and her both stressed. This is far more joyful.

[blindwatchersees]

He lets out a happy sigh, one tinged by an air of very relatable tiredness.

"I could go for a good cheddar. Oh, and maybe some emmentaler. A nice, sweet, nutty emmentaler."

[abhorrently]

"We'll get both, naturally, and at least one other. Three always seems to be a significant number in ways, and there's bound to be something that will spontaneously catch your eye. Now as for the games - do you prefer more luck, or actual skill?"

[blindwatchersees]

"Why not a bit of both. Definitely have to have a couple rounds of skee-ball. Have you ever rattled around in a skee-ball machine? It's a lovely time." He lets out a hearty laugh, before his expression softens to something more contemplative.

"I don't want to trouble you for anything, but being as self-interested as the best mortals, I'm going to ask- at some point, and I don't care how you go about it, do you think you could give me a bit of prayer? It'd make things a little less lonely in here, I think."

[abhorrently]

Her expression softens, and she pauses in their walk to look at him in the eyes.

"Do trouble me. Whenever you like. Do ask me such things. You ask for nothing I am not glad to give."

Things she can give. Things that are attainable. Requests, not orders. She's still adjusting to it herself, but she knows she'd do nearly anything for him. If a bit of regular prayer would make him happier, then she'll give it with joy in her heart. He's allowed to presume, to press on their connection - that he doesn't still feels odd, the sensation of looking over and finding a cat one didn't notice sitting nearby and calmly waiting to be offered a bit of breakfast.

He's allowed to ask, because she knows he won't demand more than she's capable of.

[blindwatchersees]

He stops, and absolutely beams at her. He makes a motion to take her hands in his, though the motion gives her the option to pull away if she's uncomfortable with the contact.

"Fever, love... I can only say it would have been wonderful for you to have known me as I am earlier in your life? The way we talk, the things we talk about... I think that, even in the darkest parts of ourselves, the parts most saturated in suffering, we are better off for having known one another as we known one another now."

[abhorrently]

She smiles back, pressing her hands in his gladly.

"And yet, if not now, I would not have had the freedom to know you as I do. It would not have been allowed, and I might not have looked to understand you the same."

He knows what she means by that.

"If I didn't know you, I would be so much less certain of myself."

In her mind, there is color, fragments of things she knows. The bright laughter of friends around a fire, the caustic shouting of a family who can't decide whether to stay or keep running, the smell of hot metal and leather when fighting back to back with another. Birdsong and the welcome cool touch of a river after an exhausting fight. Magic prickling on her skin, rosewater on her tongue, the sparking joy when caught in a rainstorm. Desperation and frustration when it seems like one's back is against the wall. The blows of the Mistress of Pain. A friendly touch, a corrosive hatred, a slit throat because she did not like their eyes. Blood red that flows into the red of magic projectiles that don't miss. The soft, warm weight of a friend asleep on her chest. The music he recalled the day they met.

Ever shifting, ever changing. Things beloved and hated alike, no one settled feeling within it. As she thinks the words, she says them aloud, infusing them with the love that settles over it all.

"Hail Sheogorath, the Prince of Madness, the Lord of the Never-there, sovereign of the Shivering Isles and of all who would defy pure reason, pure order. Hail he who exists in the hearts of all mortals. For he is of the metamorphosis, the caterpillar reborn into the butterfly, with wings to soar over all walls. He whose blood I carry in and out of my veins."

If he can trick reality by its own rules, she can claim some small portion of this on a technicality. She may look it in the eye and ask if anything she says is untrue. The amber dagger at her back, the blood he had her drink. It counts enough to swear by it, to bend the rules in a more appealing direction.

"Hail the Madgod, on this and all other days."

[blindwatchersees]

Without a word, he hugs her, in the most open, sincere, heartfelt embrace anyone could possibly give. He's trembling with emotion, tears streaming down his cheeks.

[abhorrently]

It catches her off guard, but she finds her arms returning it, tightly wrapping around him. She has to breathe in, breathe out - the emotions rising in her are too much, too much, straining at the bars of her ribcage, and impulse has her bowing her head, burying it in his shoulder and shutting her eyes to just breathe him in.

It is the feeling of being wrapped in a heavy blanket after walking through the snow, hot drink in hand. The painful, warm tingling in fingertips as they remember how to be dexterous again. Comfort extended to the weary.

[blindwatchersees]

"Thank you," he whispers, not yet pulling away. There's so much in those two words.

And then he says another three.

[abhorrently]

Her response is also three words, barely breathed and more felt in a heartbeat, for the great and terrible fear that it would all be ripped away, that something would rise up and claw its way from her skin. And yet, and yet, even if it hurts hurts hurts, she feels it. Breathes, trying to be steady.

(Invisible, unknown to her, in the darkest depths, sodden with guilt - a little girl cries and cries until she forgets how to do it anymore.)

For one moment, at least, she forgets to think about what is and isn't deserved. She simply feels all that she does, and lets it take up space. So much fear. But so much more than that.