+5 banish an area of bad omens

Esca had slowly been scouting the lands in which her clan now resided. It seemed so different to the home she had grown up in, yet also familiar. The sea smelt the same. But this place, this densely packed and hot place was unlike anything she had ever encounter before. The air was close and heavy. It had a strange twang to it, a scent that she couldn't place. The kind of scent that seemed to settle on her tongue and stifle all other flavours.

"Ah’fhalmna... Ahf' ah fahf agl? / Great Mother... What is this place?"

It did not take long for her skin to become damp and itchy with sweat. Her dark fur deepened further from sweat-slick. She couldn't shake an uncomfortable feeling of unease as she explored. A feeling that things weren't right. Weren't the way the gods intended. The kind of sensation that made her feel nauseous and gave her a headache. The same feeling she got from her dreamish stumbles from the dream realm to the realm of darkness. Perhaps here, the veil between the mortal realm and the supernatural realms was thinner.

There was a certain anxiety that came with the suspicions of the sinister meddlings of Az'legheya and their evil spirits. A paranoia that things could go very wrong, should they not be banished back to their realm. Esca swallowed hard, rubbing her damp brow with a paw. She would have to come back here, perhaps. Perform a cleansing ritual in the jungle lands closest to the beach. But for now, she guessed she could attempt to ward them off with some simple spells and incantations. The sea-witch considered for a moment, before setting to work.

She felt around for a break in the forest floor, and when her pads touched the dirt, she began to mark it with her claw. The movements were slow, careful. She was working from muscle memory, and she had to get the protective symbols correct.

pearl diver

dive, dive deeper

code by corvus

Dragomir had been wandering the lands of Amaryllis generally at night, but the nocturnal schedule he had been upholding had become cumbersome. Sure, his best work was done under the stars by invoking Gods and Goddesses who dwell in darkness... but there are just as many powerful deities that reign over their realm of day.

He glided through the vegetation on silent paws, following a game trail in hopes of perhaps finding a herd. His stomach gnawed gently at him, reminding him that his last meal had been some time ago. Still, it was nothing urgent - and when he traversed deeper within the wood... the atmosphere around him shifted.

A foreboding feeling encompassed him, and suddenly he felt as though eyes peered through the darkest shadows. He felt on edge, ears parted and brow furrowed. Something evil had happened here, or perhaps someone evil was near. By spirit or by mortal flesh, he couldn't be sure... but he was now on highest alert.

As he moved, he came across a rather curious sight. He dipped behind some vegetation to mask himself as his icy gaze fell upon a rather beautiful woman scrawling upon the forest floor. Was she the reason for this feeling of atrocity? Was it a curse she was performing?

As the thought of the woman laying a curse over the land crossed his mind, Drago decided he needed to act. From the brush he stepped coldly and with great confidence as his half mane flowed with the gentle drift of the wind. "Stop what you are doing now! Why do you curse this place? Explain yourself, Witch." He commanded with deep bass vocals. His thick Romanian accent hard to miss. His eyes darkened under a serious scowl as he moved to stand in front of her.

@Esca

Art by Tyrannidae - Code by Corvus

+5 banish bad omens

Esca attempted to conjure the shaped she etched into her minds eye. Swirls and lines and patterns that seems to echo the outlines of the sea. If one were to look upon it at the right angle, they may see a sun, or perhaps the moon. Crashing waves. Deep depths and streams of fish. But the image would only be fleeting, for the sketch was not meant for mortal consideration.

Usually the R'luai'nafh was keen of hearing. It came with the territory, both of being blind and of being a leader. But the task at hand took all of her attention, and the sudden booming voice that rattled her ear drums nearly sent her scattering. "FUCK!" She yelled, startling and stumbling back. For a moment, for a very real moment, Esca felt fear. Fear that somehow, the Liar Snake had made their way through from the realm of darkness. That they had come to destroy her and the mortal realm. It took moments for her ears to recognise that he spoke the common tongue, not the language of the gods. Then fear made way for anger.

It wasn't being called a witch that offended her. She had been called it before, and it wasn't an entirely dishonest description. After all, one lions witch is another lions shaman. But the mere implication that she would have such a hand in demonic work such as cursing? "Mgvulgtlagln? Curse? I do no such thing, Shugnah uh'enyth." There was a distant, rolling rumble in her voice, like the sound of waves heard from atop a tall chalky cliff. A thrumming and beating. A spite that the priestess rarely exhibited. She was, after all, a pacifist. But to be accused of laying curses?

Her paws attempted to feel out her marks, paws delicately seeking out the ridges in the earth left by her paws. If she hurried, maybe she'd be able to complete her ritual and offer this place a little more protection until she was able to do a full cleansing ritual. If this Shithead didn't disrupt her any further

pearl diver

dive, dive deeper

code by corvus

The woman exclaimed profanities as Dragomir emerged from the shadows and commanded her to stop her diabolical schemes. She looked innocent enough, even rather pretty... but her ghostly eyes caught his attention - eyes that seemed to see into a realm just out of reach to everyone else. Still, those eyes held a very real fear in them for several moments before her anger washed over her with far more ferocity.

Dragomir stood tall and steadfast before the witch, though - even in her anger - she never looked straight at him. The white of her eyes made sense now. Blindness. Feverently, she denied having been involved in such things as curses, but still there were words she used that he did not recognize as the common tongue. His eyes narrowed in further suspicion... was she trying to disguise a hex meant for him, something to soothe his distrust?

His father's teachings had been wholly detailed. He knew not to simply trust the words spit into the air... he needed to watch actions, and listen closely to the energy around them. "Am I meant to simply take your word, then?" He scoffed in disbelief. Perhaps he was not listening close enough to the faint hint of positive energy beginning to bloom from her blessings, blinded himself by his own bias and hubris.

His scowl darkened further as she felt around along the earth's soil to find the place where she had left off. Frustrating persistence was all he saw, and with a paw he would attempt to destroy the strange etchings she had drawn. "Cease your dark magic at once! I will not allow you to corrupt this place!"

It was clear she hadn't finished whatever spell she had been casting, but she was close. He hoped that any damage he managed to do would be enough to null her influence and settle the ever growing ominous atmosphere around them. With the almost tangible darkness around them was going to take a lot of cleansing to get this place back to it's rightful state...

@Esca

Art by Tyrannidae - Code by Corvus

Esca, though usually shy and quiet, seemed to come alive when sshe was angered. And right now, she was rightfully pissed off. Curses and dark magic were a matter of Ovh'allu and of the realm of darkness. Not the skills of a R'luai'nafh of the C'tefhtor. Not for a champion of the Mother and all of her children. It was downright offensive to even consider such a thing. "My word? Do you think, nk’wasi, that I am a liar?" There was a tint of upset layered under the anger of her words. Because, Esca hoped that she gave of kind and trustful vibes. Thats what she aimed for at least.

His paw batted hers away as she ruined her protective runes. Esca gasped, and a stifling feeling settled on her. As if the weight of the ocean laid upon her. A suffocating, hot feeling. A feeling of bad omens. The feeling of bad spirits. Her heart thrummed in her chest. "ah'fhalmna c' hafh... / great mother help us..." She said, very quietly. "You fool... I do no 'black magic'..." The sounds of the rainforest seemed suddenly very loud, yet distant and unreachable. The hairs of her neck stood on end, and her breath came in uncomfortable little gasps. Panic seemed just moments away. Esca felt fear.

"I am a holy woman. I am try to -" there was a brief pause in her voice, one that was filled with a scream of a bird. Esca hoped it was a bird. But she couldn't help but feel that it was the echos of Aeznsu’ entering the mortal realm. "-rid this place of evil..." Her voice was so very quiet, so very careful. For she did not want to summon the evil spirits to them.

pearl diver

dive, dive deeper

code by corvus

("My word? Do you think, nk'wasi, that I am a liar?")

Dragomir stood fast, growling darkly as he responded to her next few words while devastating the runes she had drawn upon the ground. "What is there to convince me of the contrary?" He asked viciously, but when he was done and looked up at the blind woman he saw the intense fear that was beginning to grip her.

His mind - which until this point had thought he was acting benevolently - stopped in it's tracks. His mind tried to backtrack, and he began to question himself and second... and even a third time. Confusion fogged his common sense at this moment as he listened to her quiet mumblings.

It was then he noticed that she seemed to switch gears. She began to behave like a small animal being hunted from the brush. Panic was just brimming the threshold, her voice a hushed whisper, breath coming in shallow gasps and she paused at the mere cry of a bird, listening intently for her hunter's steady progression.

He could not deny the fear she was emitting... he could practically slice into it with a claw, it was such a heavy aura. "A holy w-" He stuttered, unable to help his own heightened senses as he too began listening for some unseen hunter. "So... you're not the source of the darkness in this place?" He whispered as well, unsure now what to believe. If she was not the cause... then what was?

@Esca

Art by Tyrannidae - Code by Corvus