IC INBOX ( KENOS ).

[redsoil]

█ To Commune with Set is to stand barefoot in an endless, scorching desert. The sun illuminates all, scalding the shadows themselves out from underneath whomever enters his dominion; the arch of gentle, distant, waves of sand mask the precarious chasms, towering dunes akin to mountains. The sense of vastness, timelessness, is of particular notice, lending itself to the alien, eldritch quality of his mind. There is a dark storm in the distance, and you know intimately that this divine being is far from benign. You cannot bargain with a force of nature. You can only survive it. COMPATIBLE WITH: Exalt, Iconoclast REPELLED BY: Advocate

♠

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[kenosnpcs]

Whether you wish for it or not, it is yours. Here, laid at your feet. It follows in your shadow cast by sun and moon alike.

[ every step he takes in Kenos, it will be with him.

but there is a quiet, soft, subtle ache at his words, his refusal to accept that love. it is natural, considering his position - and yet... ]

...Your heart yearns for what is beyond your reach. The world you long for is gone; I cannot offer you salvation, the restoration of Egypt.

I hope you will come to understand the Meridian cannot, either. Must you swallow honeyed lies and false hopes...?

[redsoil]

That's not -- I'm not a fool, Yima.

[ He doesn't look to Meridian because he thinks they're honest.

Honestly, he doesn't look to Zenith either - one side offers hope, the other offers acceptance. Neither option is very enticing to him, and it strangles him to think that he must decide between his nature and who he wants to be. He thinks of Anubis, and his promise. He thinks of Nephthys, awaiting him.

In his palms, he holds the ancient effigy of his nephew; blue faience and aged clay, fragile and naught but a memory. And he thinks, he wonders what he can do. What a powerless god like he can do, to restore his world. Hope or acceptance? ]

What happened, to bring you these convictions of yours? I have to ask. Why are you so certain of your way?

[kenosnpcs]

Not a fool, but a man whose heart may be misguided by fools.

[ there is no judgment behind these words. she does not fault him for where he stands, even if it aligned against her - against her beliefs. but all the same... ]

Your soul, like mine, like every other Bearer that walks Kenos, has passed through the Tree. It is through the Tree I find you, find what is left of the pieces of you, and make you whole again.

There is no making whole what has been broken. I have seen it; I have felt it.

[ her world, his world.

all of them. ]

[redsoil]

[ She really hits the nail on the head. In some way, she knows this so-called 'evil god' is astray, unmoored. He is in agony, turmoil that echoes and resonates within him and yearns to fold itself into her embrace. She is the mother he never really had, the one he wants to hide his face in the lap of and become small, to redo everything in his life with her guidance. Nut had never. Ra had said the gods were not meant for familial love, the way humans were. ]

The two sides of this battle are really not that different.

[ He sighs it, beyond dejected. Somewhere numb and quiet. ]

You're far too elusive with your words. You play into emotions over anything of substance. You give nothing away, hinting only at nebulous transactions and knowledge we aren't to know. What choice is there, really?

[ He'd pick her. In a heartbeat. His despair yearns for her comfort. ]

If I come, on my own, to see my choice as a mistake... will you still accept me?

[kenosnpcs]

Please listen, silly boy.

[ it's strange - surreal, perhaps; he might think himself seeing things, the impression of the dark-skinned woman whose smile is painted across his mind's eye with the fondness of a mother looking upon a beloved son.

that woman reaches as if to cradle him to her, and for but a moment - he might sincerely feel that she is there. it is warm; she smells of stars, and of home. ]

There is no mistake you could make that would see you beyond me.

[redsoil]

[ There is a shattered thing inside of him, a chasm of agonizing doubt and pain. Something has torn itself to pieces within him, left him mad and bereft and barely clinging to the scraps of sanity and motivation. Injuries are both ancient and new, and her touch in their Communion is both a balm and something he has likely never felt before.

It does, however, feel like the way he would reach out to his own child. The way he yearns to hold Anubis in his arms and kiss his small hands, his fat fingers and palms until his child giggles and coos and looks at him with his beautiful, dark eyes that knew no lies or pain. He wants to return to his wife and son, he wants to go back. He cannot.

If he chooses Yima, he knows he will embrace his despair and fall into her arms for comfort. It will be like -- it will be like running away. ]

Let me try, [ he asks of this strange woman, who will not loathe him for his decision. ] I don't think you're wrong, Yima. I truly do not.

[ He was not made for good things, he knows now. He is a god of war. Fighting is in his nature, as much as disorder is. ]

You have my faith. But, I must go to my punishment, and keep my promise. If I fail in that -- you will have me.

[kenosnpcs]

Long as it will take... and whatever becomes of you, I will wait.

I will wait for you.

[ the ghost of a sensation presses into his hair - the softness of a chaste and reassuring kiss, one that will leave him slowly finding a new rose blooming among those of stark red--

black as void, it shimmers with countless bright flecks across its petals - gleaming stars inside each petal as if it contained a universe inside it.

...and then, she is gone, leaving nothing but the lingering scent of home in her wake.

LOREMASTER NOTE: whenever Set reaches inside of himself for comfort, he will find himself temporarily pacified for short bursts of time each time he touches Yima's flower. a petal drops each time the flower is touched, and will die once all are expired. you may choose however many (within reason) you'd like and use them as you see fit! ]