The world trembled. It shook with the ire of a disgruntled god, one whose power exceeded those Novus was most familiar with. Only Tempus could take hold of the courts as if they were mere playthings at his whim, and while the nations certainly felt his indignation, it seemed the hub of it all was exactly where Avdotya found herself: the Summit. Boulders were sent tumbling into spaces that once granted entry - and more importantly, escape - for the very beings Tempus had invited to his gathering of greats. They were their nation's supposed figureheads, kings and queens of their realms, and now they were trapped like vermin, suddenly forced to scramble to dig themselves out while they cursed their gods. Their tongues dripped with only a fool's irreverence, each word burning hot as they spilled from their lips... as if their scorn somehow had an effect on the almighty. Avdotya let slip a quiet chuckle from outside of their prison. Let them drown in their impiety.
It wasn't long before visiting citizens leapt to the aid of their sovereigns, buzzing around the rubble not far from where she stood within the trees; they called on those with magic to step forward, to lend their command of any shred of dirt and help their leaders. They wanted to utilize god-given magic, talents that were granted to the denizens of Novus by the very beings so many of them had held in contept. The viper laughed once more at the thought of the irony, standing idly by as she toyed with the soil below. Her creations came and went with the wind, small and meaningless yet pointedly calculated. She could help them if the desire truly struck her, but she saw no value in wasting her efforts here.
If it were up to her, she would have stripped them all of any gift they had ever been granted by the deities. These were gods they were challenging, not simple creatures playing politics at court. They could smite any single one of them in the blink of a celestial eye and yet there stood simple commoners chastising them for their inaction- as if they were Novus' damned babysitters. She nearly hissed her displeasure from under her breath. The woman had experienced more than her share of injustice at the hands of Zolin and the Court of Day, but not for a moment did she presume to lay blame on Solis' golden shoulders. In fact, it was her fierce devotion to the sun god that drove her to break away from the boy king's chains and run the blade of her spear across his very throat... and here she was, with everything she ever could have wanted.
And so, Avdotya continued to watch from afar with a thick lather of smugness upon her face. Perhaps this was what it felt like to be the sort of god Solis had been accused of.
You’re playing my game now-- @anyone!!
06-26-2018, 11:32 PM
Played by
Odeen [PM] Posts: 175 — Threads: 29 Signos: 1,315
And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder
One of the four beasts saying, 'Come and see.' and I saw.
Raymond was not so absorbed in the act of attempting to free the regimes that he was blind to what happened around him. One does not survive long with tunnel vision, and the red stallion tended more toward the tactician's view of the world: each person was a piece on a map, pushing or pulling as was its wont, and if he had a particular knack for spotting danger in the mental model it was only because he'd earned more than his fair share of stripes by missing it in the past.
Avdotya stood out from the others not because of her strength, but because in a sea of activity she seemed content to resist the current. She watched with stubborn smugness as others did what they could, judged them for their heart. These things Raymond noticed, and without a word to his allies he broke from the rubble like a cat on the hunt, his movements swift and sure.
If he had been able to read minds, Raymond might have approached with venom in his eyes rather than his default patient intrigue. He was no fan of religion, or the deeply religious, for the evils they would do - and the good they would not do - simply for the desire to project their own insecurities on the entities they followed. He was accountable only to himself and held others to the same standards, regardless of the god they did or did not follow.
Perhaps it was folly to oppose someone that vastly outstripped you in strength, but in Raymond's mind the simple act of dissenting against tyranny, however it could be managed, was worth the pain.
The red stallion's tail affected its customary languid arc, the claw of a panther poised in easy repose for the moment it was called to strike, and the smile on his face was both confident and complicated. He neither broadcast fear nor hatred for her inaction - but he did have questions. "You seem cheerful," the red stallion said, "I'd love it if you let me in on the joke."
@Avdotya
and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around
She saw him peel away from his benevolent crew of would-be saviours to meet her. The burning amber of her eyes followed him as he did, rolling just so in their sockets while her angled head kept still in where she had held it. She’d intrigued him- piqued his interest enough to tempt him closer the way a dangerous twinkle in the shadows would lure a curious passerby... and the closer he got, the more toxic her smile became.
Avdotya studied the stallion when he reached her, admiring the very weaponized appearance of his leonine tail. What a fortunate adaptation, she thought. A mere flick of it and he could draw the blood of his enemies if he so pleased. It was no spear, of course, but such a trait would surely suit anyone well. Then she realized: she had forgotten his question. ”Forgive me,” she drawled, ”but I am no comedian. I’m afraid I’d simply make a fool of myself if I were to indulge you.” There was a sharpness in her tone, one she presumed Raymond would catch if he listened closely.
Hiding her character was never much concern to the Davke mare. Her name had been spat from the lips of many; dare she say, she’d even earned some sliver of notoriety across Novus for her act of betrayal. Avdotya had given up her anonymity the very moment she agreed to step up as Regent back when Maxence adorned himself with Solterra’s crown and she’d since lost all desire to feign who she was.
Raymond would know soon enough.
”You approach me for more than just jokes.” The viper came out blunt, suddenly unwilling to dance around why he’d abandoned his efforts for but a lowly stranger in the woods. ”Perhaps you wonder why I stand by and watch? Why I do not break sweat for my Queen?” Her gaze wandered to the group of horses still working fruitlessly to tear down Tempus’ wall, gradually coming back to Raymond with a questioning look upon her face. ”Or am I putting words in your mouth?”
And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder
One of the four beasts saying,
'Come and see.' and I saw.
***
Raymond did not recognize her for who she was or what she had done in the past and in other lands. He did not wonder why Avdotya was unwilling to help rescue the regimes. The available options were too few to dwell on: either she didn't want to free them, or she couldn't.
He allowed her to reply without interruption. One can learn much from the free-flowing thoughts of an individual on a tear, and she seemed appropriately enthused by her own position. As much energy as Calliope and the others poured into shifting a blockage not meant to be moved, she put into the bludgeoning venom of her words - and he could respect that. Passion was important, however rarely people were to find kindred spirits. Passion kept Raymond moving forward when it would have been far easier to sit still, to go to seed in the shady occupation to which his own defiant actions had predisposed him. Passion set Avdotya's eyes alight - but what of the quality of the kindling?
The dark mare's words had no effect on his smile. His tail swayed slowly like the pendulum on a grandfather clock, counting out time as a matter of habit rather than a measure of haste. Like a grandfather clock, Raymond had time, and when Avdotya finished speaking he offered her its measure in a brief but palpable silence. Then,
"Oh, it's not that at all," he replied, tilting his head with his brow knowingly furrowed. "It's just that, at first glance, I never would have pegged you as a fan of slavery."
These words came as jovially and shamelessly as the first. There was a certain cavalier attitude about the way he said it, an unshakeable confidence that however deeply she read an accusation into his conversational tone he was no more frightened of her bite than he was of the sunrise.
He liked to live dangerously.
***
Raymond
And at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
When the man comes around.
Slavery. The word slipped so easily from his mouth, yet it dropped like a bomb inside her mind. Her breath grew heavy and hot as it was expelled, as if the burning ire Raymond had just created was now coming to life. Slavery was far from a simple topic to anyone, but to Avdotya - a mare who had once been a slave herself - it was perhaps one of the only topics she ever held close to her blackened heart... and to be falsely accused of supporting such a thing (jokingly or not), it was comparable to stirring a hornet’s nest; but Avdotya was far more than the blindly aggressive hornet, she was a weapon made from flesh and bone, strong enough to not only withstand Solis’ unforgiving deserts, but to thrive within them. She had faced a tyrant boy king, slit his throat in his very chambers while the bodies of his guards littered the marbled floor; she had brought down a bear whose only purpose had ever been to kill; the halls of a gods-damned Capitol had burned at her hooves.
What were the words of a paltry fool?
Nothing.
”You dare accuse me of supporting slavery?” She grasped at the shaft of her spear using her telekinesis, not yet drawing it, but holding it firmly in her grip as it quivered with anticipation. She should have cut his tongue from his vile mouth and fed it to Feliks for the filth he spewed. But oh, how unfortunate it was that they stood in the middle of a Summit, a meeting with the world's eyes upon it - or, perhaps, it was the best stage to perform on? Regardless, the Davke held herself back, if only for a moment.
By now Avdotya had turned to face the red stallion head on, her body squared and tense like a viper ready to strike. ”Do not speak to me of slavery when you do not know who I am.” She hissed, ears laid flat against her head. Her fiery eyes had long since grown alight with waiting fury, now he need only push the right button to loose her animosity.
Raymond. and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around
Oh, Raymond hadn't been joking, however much he might smile, and he certainly wasn't intending to make her happy by speaking so boldly. He'd simply used the information afforded him by the mare's own actions and taken a gamble that she would be unbalanced by his words. Judging by the way the mare's sinews and telekenesis seemed to have wound themselves up as tightly as bowstrings, he'd struck a nerve.
Unfazed by her rage, he pressed on, taking advantage of her momentary restraint. "I don't need to know who you are," he riposted. His tail had stopped swaying - the only outward sign that he was prepared to defend himself should she betray the Summit's peace.
"You refused to help free the regimes, which might just have meant you didn't think you would be able to - but I saw you laughing, too. That seems more like you don't think anyone could manage it. If I were to hazard a guess from that, you're a religious sort, are you not?" All this was said with a scientist's observational intrigue - impartial, informative, empirical - and he did not pause long enough to let her affirm or deny the assumption.
"If you are religious, and believe mortals should abandon their own principles in the face of divine will, how do you not support slavery? If you believe that it's folly for us to support one another by trying to shift that rockslide, because the power of the gods is so much greater than ours, then what are you but a slave who's forgotten the weight of her own shackles?" He tilted his head and leaned forward slightly, slate-grey eyes cold and incisive. Neither her spear nor her anger frightened him; he'd come to terms a long time ago with the reality that he could die at any moment. The trick to surviving was always having an exit strategy.
"Or am I putting words in your mouth?" he echoed in conclusion.
Sometimes the best place to stand happened to be right in front of the dragon's nose.
Avdotya’s ire sizzled beneath every inch of skin, begging to be loosed upon him to wipe that pompous smile from his face. That yearning only swelled with every word he spoke, but she gradually began to realize that Raymond was a man best beaten verbally - her spear, however, remained firmly at the ready. ”My, my,” she hissed, ”all that from a simple chuckle?” While he was correct in her piety, she saw only the folly in the rest of his statement. Solis spare my sanity, she drawled in her mind.
She exhaled a swath of hot breath, then straightened herself. ”Very well. I’ll indulge you.” She could play to his approach; fight logic with logic. ”If I support slavery by being a patron of one of Novus’ deities, so does any other man, woman and child loyal to the regimes trapped behind those stones. Their word is supposed law, their beliefs dictate those the nation’s...” Avdotya paused for a moment, recalling Zolin and his horrific behaviour, ” their actions are capable of bringing war to these lands.” Her ears were flat, her eyes still burning as hot as they had when she was ready to jump for his throat. She had witnessed the reign of a king who had (among countless other atrocities) brought an ancient Solterran tribe to its end- he murdered en masse and no one put a single hoof forward to end his rule.
It took a gods-damned slave to escape her chains to dim his toxic flame.
”You speak to a former slave- a girl who was taken from her family and used as plaything by a King who had no business toying with the lives of others.” Her tone became more and more aggressive with every word. Whether it was towards him or the dead boy king, Avdotya did not care, she merely knew she was angry. ”It was Solis who granted me my command of the earth. That was how I gained my freedom, not by the action of any mortal being.” She had stepped closer to him while she spoke, closing whatever gap there once was between them.
”So perhaps, before you try to tell me that supporting a deity equates to supporting slavery, you should look a little further into the history of these lands.” Oh, how she still wished to drive the tip of her spear through his ignorant head.
I'll be a stone, I'll be the hunter,
The tower that casts a shade
***
Raymond listened patiently, his expression inscrutable. If anything had an effect on him - and, generally speaking, the thought of slavery usually would - it didn't show. Her jab at regime loyalty buried itself point-first in the straw backing of whatever target had been painted around his own ideology.
He'd never bent the knee to Florentine. He'd never put on any airs that he cared at all about the struggles she and Asterion faced as members of Terrastella's regime, except to think that they were perhaps venturing too far into the deep end of a pool given the fact they weren't the most proficient of swimmers. What loyalty the rest of those horses had to their leaders was neither Raymond's business nor his concern. All that mattered was that Tempus had spoken, and they - the mortals - should not suffer such violence in silence.
The red stallion's head tilted quizzically as Avdotya recounted her childhood as a slave, the acquisition of her power and her subsequent bid for freedom, and it was only respect for her plight that restrained him from scoffing at the idea that she actually waited for a leg up from a deity before managing to escape in the first place. It was not in Raymond's nature to punish a victim, however much he disagreed with their ideology, but it was in his nature to....
"So Solis gave you a gift, and you put it to good use. But if you ever did something he didn't like, or if he simply became bored of you, what would stop him from taking that gift away? From turning it against you for his own amusement? You didn't earn your freedom; you simply traded one master for another."
Raymond's voice came bright and conversational from his throat, but there was iron woven into those words. "The difference between your god - any god - and government are clear. Sovereigns take their right to rule from the people. A sovereign that ignores the welfare of its people will one day answer to its people, either through education, compulsion, or murder." He fixed her with a hard look.
Avdotya was not the only one of them who had ended the reign of a king. His eyes said as much, though he knew nothing of her history or that of Solterra.
"A god, on the other hand, maintains their power by fiat, because a god cannot be made to answer for the suffering of mere mortals. We are as dust on the wind to them, gone in the blink of an eye. Favor today may be loathing tomorrow, and you would be better served seeing to your own interests than hoping for clemency from a being that can't even understand how valuable you are."
He settled back on his haunches, the remnants of his smile painting his face with hard shadows. His was a life lived without mercy - from on high or anywhere else - and he was not standing here before Avdotya by the grace of her god or any other. If a god had blessed him with extraordinary luck, it had done so with as little care and attention as could possibly be managed, and Raymond had little patience for the notion.
"I don't need to look into the history of this land or any other to figure that out. Keep your beliefs if they comfort you, obey your god if your hearts beat as one, but do not stand aside and laugh at those that value their own morals above the fickle whims of an all-powerful deity. And do not think for a moment that silk chains are any softer than steel once they start strangling you."
***
Raymond
And at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
When the man comes around.
@Avdotya
aut viam inveniam aut faciam
07-10-2018, 05:35 PM - This post was last modified: 07-10-2018, 05:40 PM by Raymond
She nearly laughed at the suggestion of Solis simply leaving her high and dry after all he had invested in her; however, she knew in the back of her mind that it was always a possibility. It was a possibility that Avdotya had no qualms with handling should the need ever arise, and the oh-so subtle smirk that weaved itself upon her lips made that quite clear. ”Then so be it.” She snarled. She had faced this world alone once before and if she had to do it again, then she would bring it to its damned knees.
But that was not the case - not yet, and she firmly believed not ever. She was a true child of the sun, born and raised under its brutal hand and eternally loyal to its every fibre. If that was what made her a slave, she would wear those pretty silken shackles until the threads were nothing more than a frayed mess of fabric at her ankles. But to mistake her loyalty for blind following was, frankly, insulting. ”My devotion to Solis does not determine my actions. I have seen my desires through, accomplished things that most could only dream to achieve - I know my worth and that does not change regardless of any God.” Her tone was fierce, for her mind was not made up of a deity’s decisions. Her own morals may have fallen in line with many of Solis' own, but that was simply a product of being raised as a Davke.
What Raymond said next was what truly coaxed the laughter that sparked their interaction to bubble up from her throat once again. She stepped forward, finally closing the space between them and very well bringing the pair chest to chest; the viper wanted to ensure that he felt the heat of Solis in her breath as she reached up to whisper in his ear. ”Here’s the thing, stranger,” Avdotya began, pausing just long enough to fit in a crooked smile, ”do not think for a moment that I give a fuck about others and their values.” Her face fell flat, suddenly void of any emotion it had previously held.
It was at this moment that the Davke queen excused herself from their conversation, brushing past him just enough for their barrels to touch, granted he didn’t step away. And so she disappeared into the evening, bidding Raymond farewell with nothing more than a particularly sharp flick of her cropped tail.
Avdotya drew near enough that Raymond could feel the electric quality of her restrained fury like a current through a closed circuit. Her hot breath painted his ear with words that perhaps she hoped would shake him. Do not think for a moment that I give a fuck about others and their values.
They did shake him, though far from the way she probably intended. The sharp angles of his face blossomed into a grin and he threw back his head slightly in a genuine, full-bodied laugh - as though she had whispered flirtatious nothings into his ear, rather than a hissed rebuke.
Raymond had not wasted a fraction of a heartbeat thinking that Avdotya cared for anyone but herself (or that she cared to cultivate such a perception, in fact). If she did care, would she have been gloating smugly in the corner as though she'd placed the boulders herself?
Of course not.
But debates are not won against fanatics in a single bout, and if the dark mare fancied herself the victor by accusing him of presumptions he never held, then he would grant her the sound night's sleep as a consolation prize for making it so long without once trying to stab him with that spear of hers. "I wouldn't dream of it, my friend," he replied over his shoulder, still either unable or unwilling to contain his mirth. Avdotya's smile had died with her last retort; Raymond's did not, for anything heavy enough to be taken seriously deserved more than a little laughter, and laughter weighs far more heavily on the mind than a frown.
Let her stalk away, thinking herself the victor in a court of public opinion that entirely lacked a public capable of holding an opinion. They would meet again; Raymond was certain of it.
Raymond. "he's an outlaw loose and runnin'," came the whisper from each lip
"and he's here to do some business with the big iron on his hip."
