[log] The Pit [open]

[snowblindmods]

Characters: Anyone participating in the Pit event.
Location: A room.
Date: Day 330
Summary: You wake up in a room.
Warnings: general warnings; potential for morbid/suicidal thoughts; note specific warnings in subject line, please!

Comments

[sleight_of_fate]

[Rhys raises his eyebrows, trying to decide exactly how she means that.

Well, roundabout is roundabout.]

Hey, crows make great familiars. They're smart, they can fly, and they have better motor skills than the good old traditional witchy cat. Cats can't pick locks.

[HE IS COMPLETELY INNOCENT HERE.]

[motherserpent]

Really smart, yeah. I knew someone with a talking crow, actually.

[He was a dead god crammed into the form of a crow, but whatever. Details.]

[sleight_of_fate]

[Okay, this is getting painful. Rhys inhales, deciding to just come out with it.]

You, uh. You keep looking at me like you expect me to bite.

Is this a "I don't trust mages" thing, or "I don't like your religion" thing, or...is there something else I'm missing completely?

[motherserpent]

[She blows out a sign through her nose, brow furrowing. Politics.]

You were praying to the Morrigan that first time I saw you on the network.

[sleight_of_fate]

Yeah. Figured it was the best way to piss off whatever was hanging around in the school. Showiest ritual I know.

...it's kind of a holidays-only sort of thing otherwise. You know, not much cause to bring out the chainmail and belt of crow skulls in the normal course of things.

[He's joking, but it's the worst possible kind of joke. He knows it, but he's sort of lost the ability to care, lately.]

[motherserpent]

Well, yeah, you go into someone's temple and start praying to other gods, that's going to piss them off. I'm not saying the theory wasn't sound. Just -- why her? Of all the gods --

[That harsh note is back in her voice, that one that says she's somehow personally offended by that specific choice of deity.]

[sleight_of_fate]

[Rhys shrugs, a bit wearily. He knows exactly what Her domain is, and isn't particularly surprised at someone taking offense.]

I don't expect you to believe me, but actually, it wasn't my first choice. It's...complicated.

We don't always get a say in what Powers we get tangled up in.

[motherserpent]

[It's not the domain that's the problem. One of Tess's best friends is a death goddess.

She stares for a long moment, wishing that she could see the whole and the truth of him.]

You're fatebound?

[sleight_of_fate]

I don't know if it means the same thing in your world as mine. Clarify?

[motherserpent]

It's...kind of what it sounds like.

[She shrugs hopelessly. She doesn't have the words -- doesn't have the brain -- to accurately describe it in her present form.]

Like getting pulled into orbit.

[sleight_of_fate]

Then, yeah. Kinda. Born under a bad sign, I guess.

[He hesitates, then shrugs.]

I was dying. I got another chance, but it cost me. She was the one who was paying attention, so... That's what I got.

[motherserpent]

Ugh.

[Her body language is less sharp and wary, but the look on her face is still one of distaste.]

Sorry you got saddled with such a raging bitch, then.

[Better to die, maybe -- but people get scared when they're about to die. That's a given.]

[sleight_of_fate]

[His eyebrows rise, arms crossed over his chest. It wasn't his choice, but Tess is being a bit...extreme?

So his patron goddess is the deity of death, war, and magic. There's worse.]

That sounds like a pretty personal grudge.

[motherserpent]

Uh, yeah, that's probably because it is. She keeps trying to eat a friend of mine. Did eat a cute guy I met at a party. How do you think she --

Never mind. It doesn't matter here.

[sleight_of_fate]

Oh.

[Rhys is trying to summon some outrage, but he's having a hard time. He hates politics.]

Well, nice to meet someone whose would is actually worse than everyone tells me mine is.

[His tail wraps defensively around his leg.]

I don't even know if She's a deity. My world is fucked up when it comes to gods, but... There's Powers. Old ones, new ones, shit that comes from behind the mirror wall to fuck you up just by knowing it exists...

[Shrug.]

In my world, we create them, they use us. People like to believe in things, they just don't realize those things wake up, sometimes...

[motherserpent]

[Heyyy, so does she.

Tess blinks at him, taken aback. In all this talk with him, she's come closer and closer to the assumption that his world is her world, albeit probably an earlier date. Her thoughtful frown deepens as he speaks.]

She's...definitely a deity.

[She shakes her head.]

...What year are you from?

[sleight_of_fate]

2017. And I'm a City Boy, if you're curious.

[A little bit of his irritation fades, seeing her confusion.]

I mean, getting involved with Powers usually turns out badly, but... There's rules, at least. Ways to navigate.

[motherserpent]

You're right, it's not my world. It just...sounds a lot like it in some ways.

There are always rules and it's always complicated and everyone has a different take on how they think it works.

[sleight_of_fate]

[He plucks at his bracelets. He's still not sure where this is going, but he does know that he's tired, hungry, and stressed by the crowded room.]

I think that's true for any world.

[He shrugs, and looks down his hands.]

...Thanks for being honest with me, anyway. I appreciate it.

[motherserpent]

[Was she, though? Was she really? Tess shrugs in response to the gratitude.]

Sure. I've never been good at lying anyway.

[sleight_of_fate]

[She's been honest enough regarding her issue with Rhys, and that's all that concerns him. She's welcome to her secrets: Rhys has more than a few of his own and it's not his business.]

Yeah, it's a shitty habit to get into, trust me.

[He doesn't really feel like there's much more to get out of this conversation, so he gives her a weary smile, then turns to go find a spot to hide in again.]

[motherserpent]

[Tess just offers him a little smile as he goes, and a gesture that's almost a wave goodbye.]