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BESIDE THE WATERFALL - MIDMORNING
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Sammi was prepared. She had set herself up in a properly mystical looking lotus position inside a circle she had carved herself. The symbols inside were meaningless (if you asked any 'official' mage) but they looked mystical, and the real thing never looks as real as an enthusiastic fake anyway. She'd even set up crystals, and a few candles. Lit, even though it was midmorning, and the sun rendered any light they were producing moot. For Sammi, it was all about mood, and spectacle. It just needed to -seem- real, and that would work better than anything truly authentic ever would.
Xochi slithers towards the pool of the waterfall, uncertain of herself in the moment of actually going forward with this ritual. It feels strangely selfish, but yet she has still gathered the reagents that Sammi had indicated what feels so long ago now. The old coatl is only wearing a loose sash over one shoulder, and the bag carrying her things as she approaches Sammi and the ritual circle, giving her a gentle smile. "It feels as though there has been one thing after another preventing us from fulfilling this ritual, but here we are, hm? Good morning, Sammi."
Sammi: "Everything always happens when it is supposed to. That's what I was told. Wait until the Stars are Right" She inclines her head a little to Xochi "There are little spots for each item. Just place them, and describe each, out loud, and then join me on the other side of the circle..uh, I don't know how a lotus position works for you, but..whatever feels the same. It's about the mood more than anything else"
Xochi nods, and reaches into her satchel, taking out the first ingredients one by one and placing them. "That which walked upon six legs, the remnants of Erika's time spent upon four legs, a being who stood on two and then four legs which were not her own. A Essence of youth... eggs, fresh from the Market this morning. The Essence of regret that I shall lose, a symbol of love that I failed to recognize, and never gave time to grow. And finally... The Essence of what I desire most. Feathers, gifted from friends, and of my own, my desire for flight, ever denied...." She finishes placing the items, then takes a deep breath, closing her satchel and crossing the threshhold of the circle to join Sammi, curling her tail up beneath her into a position of prayer and meditation.
Sammi: "Okay" Sammi focuses, before she takes a breath in "Xochi looks back, to what she lost, to the times, and years that were taken, a life not lived. Loves not found" Her hair drifts out around her, like caught up on invisible wires of energy "Xochi. This is the moment. Regret is the fuel" Her voice starts taking on odd intonations as she stretches out her hand "We dispel the regret, to gain the power to remake what was lost" The circle glowed, as all the 'offerings' vanished, one, by one "Now. XochiCoatl. Close your eyes, and make your wish"
Xochi swallows, feeling the butterflies in her stomach as the power of the moment surrounds her. She closes her eyes, and takes another breath, "I wish... to shed my regrets like old skin, to let the pain of the past fall away... to be able to live again in Respite... without being haunted by the past."
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A MOMENT FROZEN - [ ]
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Narrator: The world grayed out, leaving everything in simple shades of grey, except Xochi herself, even Sammi was greyed out, left back sitting in her lotus position. The waterfall behind her immobile, the spray hanging in the air, even the sky was left as a grey void, with not a sun, or a moon to be seen. 'Interesting Wording' A voice comes from behind her, smoothly delivered, with an accent that was oddly familiar, like something she had heard a long time ago, that tiny touch of sibilance to it...
Xochi shudders at the new voice in her mind, something about it making her wish to recoil. She slowly opens her eyes, at first worried it might break whatever Sammi is doing, but Sammi is motionless... the world is motionless. "...what is this?"
Narrator: Moving around in the frozen world was an equally faded serpent, almost looking like it was made of paper, with each sheaf forming it's scales, and the face being covered in a paper mask, with a crude face carved into it, showing a smiling visage "Your wish, a Metaphor" They wave their hand vaguely in the air "A way for your mortal brain to process what is happening right now.." There's a wry chuckle "Though now is Per Haps a little bit of a way oflooking at things. This is all happening in the mom ent"
Xochi watches this serpent, unnerved and yet finding herself unable to look away as slithers about. If there is fear in her, she does a remarkable job of holding it back. She is not, after all, afraid of death... "What is happening... meaning the wish. What, or who, then, are you? The... the power which Sammi has summoned?"
Otiax: "That is a view pointthat I can work with" They extend their hand out "Now, the Queen that never wasto be, wouldyou like to takeback some, of what was stolen?" There was no expression, the mask smiles, unmoving, the world around them, unchanging. "Reme mber, the choice is always yours. You must always put your Body in the Water yourself"
Xochi lifts a hand to her chest, "The Queen that never was..." She shakes her head, "I have no desire to rule, only to... to take back some of what was stolen, yes." She seems hesistant again, the selfishness of the act still weighing upon her. "To be rid of all these regrets..." She sighs, looking back up to the snake, "My choice, yes. But what is the price?"
Otiax: "From here? No Cost. The rit ual is comp lete. The Die has been cast. Youmer ely chose where they fall" There is some further traces of amusement "You may not wi-sh to ru le, but the title still st ands. You are one that was to lead, and pro tect her people, and no long er" The paper fingers stretch "You mere ly wish to re gain some of what was yours. You need not take it all"
Xochi closes her eyes once again, "Perhaps that is yet another regret... that I could not be what I should have been to my people... Ahhhh. But I have come this far. Even... just a bit of that pain, gone, that which was taken restored, may be enough to give me peace." She outstretches her arm as she speaks, bringing it closer to Otiax's hand.
Otiax reaches forward, and doesn't quite make contact. They have said their piece, and are clearly waiting for Xochi to make the final 'decision'
Xochi wavers, hesitating one last time... but then takes their hand.
Narrator: The world faded.....
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A MOMENT UNFULFILLED - [THEN]
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Narrator: The world fades back in, and Xochi is in a grey, but very familiar setting. It's her old bedroom, back when she was very young. The serpent wasn't to be seen, though their voice still filled the room, like soft velvet "The day that you finally became a full adult, when you should have become properly free. I don't know if you remember this, but it was also the day that your guard had chosen to go against what he had been taught to do, and bid you a chance at freedom, even if it would put you at risk. So Roman-tic"
Xochi glances around the old room... her lavishly appointed prison, "I... do not remember, no. I did not know, or did not realize."
Otiax: "Well, it's quite simple real ly" There's another little shift of the scene, but this time only to the window, where there was already a rope there "While you moped in your bed, your loyal guard had given you the escape" Xochi could notice now there was movement, though really it was just the shaking of a lump of depressed bedding that was, presumably, her younger self "All you had to do was..open the window, but you didn't" There was a pause, and the voice felt like it crept closer, almost to her ear "Now, all you mu st do, it choose again. Choose Bet-ter"
Xochi slithers forward, around the bed, looking at her old self. "I had given up. This was the day I broke... I would never be a Queen, I was not being groomed to rule. They meant to keep me here. Forever. Until I died. But to escape, to know freedom this early in my life..." She does not consider all the fears of what her return might have meant, nor those who might have taken advantage of her, used her for their own goals. Freedom was just an alluring myth... one she didn't realize until years later from another, wholly unexpected source. There is much less hesitation this time, as she moves to the window, looking down over the courtyard. She nods, forcing it open.
Otiax: "Excellent Decision" There's another chuckle, this one, well, notably less friendly. Xochi would look on, as 'She', or her younger self at least, looked up at the window swinging open, and once she reached the window, noticed the rope..and climbed down! Freedom! "Truly amazing, what a simple little act-ion can do. A young soul, free at last. It really brings a tear to your eye. Does it not?" Otiax was back in the room, the paper they were made of looking considerably more worn, and tattered.
Xochi smiles, watching herself descend along the rope, her hope renewed, her fire rekindled, the day that broke her spirit and started much of her pain, changed. "Then... she shall be free. ...what becomes of me?"
Otiax: "Ah. Well. My Queen, that never was, here we come to..perhaps, the crux of the issue. There can on.ly be one of a soul, or equiv-ilant in the waking lands at a time, and Xochicoatl is.., will be, use-ful" Everything was fading, but not away, rather it was like black ink was pouring in from the roof "The deal, was for your regrets to be shed, to remake wh.at lost" The figure was wavering, the form becoming a floating cloak, the mask falling away from their face, and being caught as the ink soaked into the ground, forming a lake "You, my lit tle serpent, are the shed reg-rets, the lost years" She's slowly seeing that the room is gone, and she's sitting on a large rock, forming out of a vast pool of the inky blackness. Everything hasn't quite come into focus just yet "You have spok-en much of your wish to self sac rifice..shall we put that to the te-st?"
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A MOMENT DIVIDED - [NOW]
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Xochi spins in place in the room, only to feel wholly uneasy as she finds herself upon the rock, glancing out into the black sea. "W-wait, what do you... mean?" Her heart sinks. Was she a fool to trust this... entity? "...I have never feared self sacrifice for the sake of others... a penance for the crimes committed by my bloodline... but is it so wrong to wish for my own happiness as well?" She calls out into the void... "Is it?"
Narrator: Splash Things are more in focus now, and indeed, the rock was in a black sea, above a moonless sky, covered in stars. She's not even alone, as beside her, looking really quite haggard, was Sammi! She grabbed to Xochi's arm "Xochi..I..screwed up" Splash "This..I..Shouldn't" Otiax, now floating above the ocean, visible despite the lack of light, tchs "Now Now, No Spoilingmy..fun" There's a flick of a boney finger, and Sammi is already being pulled away "Xochi..The..water..You Do Not Recognize the Bodies! Rem" And she's gone, swallowed (Splash) into the darkness..what's that splashing though? Oh....it's the stars...one by one, falling, landing in the water, and each landing created another shape, drifting about on top.. "So, let me tell you a story.." The voice rasped out....
Xochi cries out, "Sammi!?" She reaches for her, trying to pull her back, but is too late. She feels dread filling her, as she turns back towards the voice, watching in horror at the pool and the stars falling into it, as she listens to the voice's story.
Otiax: "The Moon, the nurturer, the carer. The Sun, the Harsh Mistress. Familiar? I would imagine so, but..there was always a third, the canvass on which the world was drawn, that which everything else struggled from, to escape from, but which they would always fall back to in time. The Sun and Moon didn't like this" All the time, the stars fell, and the shapes..no..the bodies..rose out of the darkness, floating around the little island, bobbing gently about "So they called on all their greatest warriors, to agree to shackles themselves, to keep them..keep..ME at bay" There was no face, but the smile could be felt, in Xochi's bones "The brave souls became the stars in the sky, all your ancestors" They waved a hand up, at the stars twinkling from the sky, before pointing at one "But..they needed a lynchpin, a soul in the living world, willing to bear their burdens..." They stopped, and chuckled "Or..not, because that soul was broken, by years of neglect, yearning for only the smallest hint of freedom" They track their finger down, as the star lands, and another body rises out "The lynchpin gone, then everything else comes Tumbling Down, Tumb-ling Down"
Otiax motions down to the 'Sea' "Come now, view what you have wrought, Do You Recognize Any of the Bodies in the Water?"
Narrator: The bodies..are stirring a little, almost as if turning to Xochi, waiting for an answer.
Xochi raises a hand over her mouth in shock, forcing herself to look out over the bodies. She doesn't recognize any of them, not by sight. But in her heart she knows them all. "Ancestors... F-Father?"
Narrator: The wraith above doesn't respond. They've done all they needed to do, and so, ..why make any actions? Xochi had identfied what the Bodies were, as they slowly emerged unto the rocks, out of the dark water, long serpentine bodies, which was when the truly awful truth of it was visible, the darkness wasn't water, it was..simply more coiling, dark flesh, slowly unwinding over the rock, consuming the last bit of dry land Xochi had.
Narrator: None of the bodies could talk, just stare at her as they emerged to envelop her. The elderly guards she could dimly remember taking her away from important meetings, grandparents, and great grandparents, only seen in paintings..her Father, taking her by the arm, and pulling her back down into the masses, Atzkin, eyes blank as he drags her further underneath....
Xochi tries to rise above the slithering mass of darkness, recoiling away, only to back into more of the figures behind her. What choice does she have? She screams. Tears flowing freely as she struggles to pull away, unwilling or unable to fight them. She cries out while her head is still free, held up above the masses, "Sammi! Sammi! This isn't what I wanted! I- I'm-"
Narrator: Sadly, Sammi was having her own problems, and couldn't answer..there was nothing left, to prevent Xochi being dragged under the writhing mass of bodies, which would boil for a moment, before going still, save for the occasional little Splash As one more star fell from the sky. They say there are countless stars in the sky and indeed, above there are still far too many to count, but there are many, many less than before. Soon, there well may be none at all....
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BY THE LAKESIDE
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Narrator: In the middle of the ritual circle, a figure stirs, groaning before stretching out her feline limbs, and looking around "What the hell?" She slowly stood up "The Waking World?" Truly, it was a dream come true....
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RESPITE CITY GATES
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Xochicoatl approaches the gates of this new town with a smirk. Her wings flap at her sides, vibrant and full of vigor as she stretches the eager young muscles. The air smells wonderful, the freedom of having finally made her way this far, away from the estate that kept her prisoner, and now the young Coatl has found herself a new home.