|
|
Post by Elphora on Feb 12, 2018 3:58:52 GMT -6
Cardinal it will try to change; it will clamor for clarity word count: 437 | reference | for you, lovely one!
The insurmountable days following the Event were a blur. He recalled many things - delivering his personal account of events to Baram, sitting through a Council meeting detailing the return of half their armed forces from Torrine, returning to the great empty haven of his library - but even these memories seemed thin, translucent, false. Cardinal felt himself wavering on the edge of despair. The weight of the visions plagued his unconscious thoughts; He hadn't been able to sleep truly since returning from the Oasis, not without waking in a pool of his own cold sweat. The images the goddess had shown him existed in an eternal montage behind his eyelids, waiting only for his wariness to lapse so that they might drown him again. The screams... The victims, the children... Burning, burning... Antlers raking through the smoke, fire reigning down from above...Well, it was enough to drive a person to madness. It felt similar to grief. The gaping emptiness that wore the face of Depression was no stranger to him; He felt himself withdrawing from it, like pulling back his touch from scalding hot iron. The only relief he found in this wasteland of turmoil was thoughts of her. In the end it was Tari who persuaded him to make the journey. His companion had seen Cardinal this low before, and was determined, in her own way, that he not fall into old habits. At her unceasing insistence, the Councillor packed enough supplies for the small trip and made his way to the edge of Osulas, where the golden sand banks rolled against the old architecture carved from canyon walls. The desert stretched out and away from him, an endless ocean. Fear clenched painfully in his heart - He had made the short pilgrimage to see her many, many times, and yet somehow it was different now. Still, somewhere beyond the horizon was the little shrine, and in it he could feel that Nafisa would be there, and that she would be able to help him. Carried by the thin fragile thread of this hope, the weary stallion set out reluctantly into the desert. Dusk was falling as he finally reached the shrine. The sky bathed in a resplendent sunset, making all the world below it modest and plain by comparison. Feeling his heart quicken in his chest, Cardinal coughed some of the dry grains of sand from his throat and called out: "Nafisa, are you home?"A sudden devastating fear gripped him: What if she wasn't here? He wanted so very badly to be in her company again - The power of the longing almost stole his breath away. |
|
|
|
Post by silkeye on Feb 12, 2018 21:17:48 GMT -6
NAFISA There's fire in my woods, it burns me and nobody else word count: --- | reference |SORRY ITS SO SLOPPY HFVJDJD ➵➵➵ Her past days were equally as blurred, all she could be absolutely certain of was that the weapon was locked away in her bedroom. This holy weapon gifted to the seroran people was in her possession but she couldn’t deny the feeling of wrongness having it in her home. The mullah had been hollowed by the experience at God's Landing, her beliefs shaken, her drive was destroyed, and whatever hope she had was slowly fading. Medulla had to have been right, there still had to be change in Serora and Nafisa was the harbinger to this future but she was so unsure now. She had also seen a decline in patrons as the Goddess’s sudden reappearance had allowed many parishoners to ease themselves without the guidance of a mullah. This was both equally good and bad as she was more often alone with herself, not even being able to pray. Alya had seen her, and Nafisa could not even bare to stare at the celestial goddess. As she stood alone in her shrine she could barely even look at the imagery decorating her home but she could distract herself with trying to recall the events unfolding days before. It was hard to measure the impact of the previous days for her companions, Nicodemus returning to his trails and stories, renewed it seemed by Alyas return. However she often thought of Cardinal, where his duties had taken him, what he had to have seen and hopefully was equally as inspired by her return if she reached out to him. The night was creeping over slowly it seemed, another day without a visitor in sight and Nafisa began to go through the actions of closing before she heard his voice, gods it felt like dream. She turned to him and felt tears well up in her eyes, she wasn't sure why she was so emotional at the sight of him, she had seen him countless times before but now it seemed so different. “Cardinal I..” she paused trying to collect her thoughts “I’m so happy to see you” she smiled at him desperately holding back her tears. |
|
|
|
Post by Elphora on Feb 13, 2018 5:47:40 GMT -6
Cardinal it will try to change; it will clamor for clarity word count: 395 | reference | SLOPPY?! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ITS LOVELY
For the most part, the Folk were consumed with celebrating their patron deity's fateful return; The people rejoiced, their hearts full of love for the goddess that had been so sinfully denied to them. Cardinal had been unable to join in the general feeling of reverie. He had looked upon Alya's vessel and his mind had been consumed with terrible Truths - about the Gods, about their betrayals. Worst of all, about the kirins. More than anything he was afraid to run into one of Ignacio's revived children, terrified of what he might do. The anguish of it rattled his entire sense of purpose. How could he be a voice for the people, a Councillor, if a strange hatred burned in his heart for some of said people? For all these reasons he was desperate to see Nafisa. She had a calming way about her; He always felt like a better version of himself when she was near. More than this, he was desperate to see her because he missed her terribly. The sound of her lovely musical voice lifting in gentle reply to his call gave the Councillor a rush of elation. For a splendid moment his fear melted into relief, and his weary lips curved up into a smile as her golden form came into view. It was only then that he noticed the tears gathering like glittering crystals in her garnet eyes, and his stomach rolled anxiously. "Is everything alright?" Concerned, he hastily patted himself free of sand and dust with his teke before stepping beneath the small overhanging portico of the shrine. "I'm sorry - I should have come sooner, only... She's back, Fi, isn't she? She's really back," The words flowed out of him too-quickly - sometimes it all felt so surreal, the return of the goddess and the visions she had revealed. He could only imagine that the Mullah must have been truly overjoyed to have her patron back and in power, but there was a shadow of sadness to her beautiful features that he could not mistake. Another cough rattled unpleasantly in his lungs, and he turned his face aside so as not to be rude - His physical health had taken quite the toll for all his mental suffering, and from the straggled and disheveled appearance of his overlong mane and tail it was apparent that Cardinal was not quite himself. |
|
|
|
Post by silkeye on Feb 20, 2018 2:01:28 GMT -6
NAFISA There's fire in my woods, it burns me and nobody else word count: 345 | reference | Nafisa: im stupid and also i love u ➵➵➵ She tried to capture the words that swelled in her throat, unsure of how to even collect herself. “I missed you, how are you? I’m glad you’ve heard of her return but it pains me that I have so much work to do and I constantly fail her” the thoughts all seemed so overwhelming but she breathed in, swallowed whatever foolishness that was threatening to ruin their reunion. Nafisa shook her head “ I am grateful you’ve come to see me Cardinal” she nodded to his second statement, feigning her typical piousness “ we are eternally blessed by her return, I can only hope she will be by our sides when Aodh approaches our borders.” Her eyes traced his, truthfully she was finding it hard to speak about Alya while she observed his polite mannerisms and tired appearance, it might have seemed obvious she was staring and quickly drew her eyes away from his form for a moment. It did not go unnoticed that her usually clean cut and refined Cardinal was not quite here and it elicited a twist in her stomach; a feeling not totally new to her “ would you like to come sit with me? I can only imagine how tired you must be.” Nafisa turned and allowed Cardinal to follow her to her room, lifting the tapestry that separated her personal living quarters from the rest of the shrine. The mullah stepped quietly into the space and gestured for Cardinal to take a seat wherever he’d like, the room was comfortable; lined with pillows and atop a large rug that was adorned with imagery of Alya. Nafisa was ready to hear whatever Cardinal had to say, it had been so long since they had only each others company. Their equally tired demeanor seemed to ebb away slightly once they were alone together, of course they still wore their worries on their faces but as far as Nafisa could tell her heart seemed lighter with him near. She sat herself on a large cushion, tucking her legs underneath herself and relaxing her tense muscles. |
|
|
|
Post by Elphora on Mar 6, 2018 3:48:43 GMT -6
Cardinal it will try to change; it will clamor for clarity word count: 442 | reference | Cardi: makes dad groans every time he sits down n stands up
Already he was feeling more like his old self; The one who had yet to venture to the Oasis, perhaps even the one who had yet to lose his first wife. Nafisa had that effect on him - It was no wonder he had been longing for her company lately, pitiful though he seemed. She had somehow become very important to him, a cornerstone and a place of haven in what was increasingly a chaotic time. But beneath the surface, all that he had seen and endured persisted. All it took was a lapse of concentration, and the smell of burning hair would fill his nostrils, and the haunted look would reclaim his haggard expression. Nafisa brushed aside his concerns. In her tone was the usual piety, though to Cardinal it seemed strangely empty, as though she were reading the words from a script that had been written for her long ago. He chalked it up to his own abrupt appearance; It must have shocked her a little to see him this way. Feeling self-conscious, the stallion attempted to smooth down the wild disarray of his long mane, but only served to make it worse. "I would lo... I would really like that," He replied in relief to her invitation, stumbling a little over the words before following the priestess inside. He'd been in the interior of the shrine plenty of times now, perhaps as many times as she'd been inside his library; But never before had she invited him into her own quarters. Behind the relative privacy of a thick tapestry curtain was a small, intimate chamber that smelled pleasantly of the many candles decorating its surfaces. Dazed, he drank it all in with a strange look of reverence - The rich woven rugs, the plush patterned pillows, the sweeping cream linen curtains that sectioned off a wide bed- Distracted, Cardinal found a comfy pile of smaller pillows and - less elegantly than his companion - lowered into them with a weary sigh of pleasure. It felt safe here, in this little room with her; Safer than he had felt in a long while. "I've been missing you terribly," He said all of a sudden and without much thought - tired as he was, the words just slipped through. Looking suddenly embarrassed, Cardinal traced the figure of Alya stretched out in the rug nearest him with one hoof. "It took me a while, after what happened at the Oasis - when we came back I, I wasn't myself for a time. I'm not sure that I'm fully myself yet, still," The confession left his throat feeling raw, and he frowned at the four-winged goddess on the floor. |
|
