Description: Eadni was freed from her prison within Jedah's domain; she was even allowed to flee back to her own world, if only the riverbanks of Metro City. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for her, there was a kindly young man exploring the city at the time by the name of Zappa. While she was eager to have a taste of the young man, it seems that even curses can become blessings...
Dear Diary,
I think that Las Vegas just isn't for me. All that pleasant company wasn't very pleasant! The sun got to me and I fainted, yet when I came to it seemed as if someone really took advantage of my state! Thankfully, a somewhat rough fellow must have protected me, but at the cost of his own well being! I really must send him flowers or something to show that I am very gracious! Especially as a tourist, things are oh so surprising. I will have to tell mother that while there were many nice women they only were interested for a night! I am not interested in such brief love, and continue to strive for my soulmate. I know she is out there somewhere, and I cannot simply settle until I find her! I've returned to Metro City on a less odd time, hoping their celebrations will have at the moment ceased and provided me a more realistic view of the city.
So Zappa would wander back to Metro City. Rather, he would, provided the bridge that stretched across would go the entire distance. "My, I guess they haven't had time to repair this section!" He decrees, scratching his head. "They must certainly be well-off if celebrations exist and cause such drastic changes... oh! Perhaps they are going for a leaning tower of Pisa motif?" He wonders aloud, standing a bit on and a bit off, hand over his eyes as he cranes forwards to try and observe a little closer the area about.
Hmm, everything does seem normal enough now!
Almost normal, maybe.
Zappa may notice a large piece of driftwood upon the shore. Or rather, it must be a small tree. It is nine feet long, knotted and bearing long limbs, it was an unnerving spectacle. One could almost see a face inside the deadwood, twisted into a visage of pain. Four long limbs to be drawn from the piece of wood, twisted in viney positions around the thin log. It might not even be worth noticing, if Zappa looked away again. If Zappa was even supernaturally sensitive, he might even pick up an aura of malevolence.
Of course, if he looks again, he would see that the driftwood would be gone, and an old woman would be in its place.
She would be clad in raggy robes of faded woad, barefoot, with a crimson shawl over her head. She was unarmed, and her features were craggy and all too lean. Hunched over, even on the ground, she couldn't be over 5 feet tall. She seemed hurt, as she writhes on the ground a bit, gingerly rising to her knees. Spit drools from the corner of her mouth, as she takes deep breathes. She turns her head slowly, facing towards Zappa with dim, grey eyes. There is a smile on her face.
"Hello there, young man~" Comes the soft coo.
Oh! Anything but! Zappa is not even the slightest bit supernaturally sensitive. Eyes look upon the large piece of driftwood and may see the tree, but to him it is just an UGLY and MISSHAPEN tree. Nothing special about it at all! It simply is a log near a bog. Glancing again, however, an old woman appears there instead. Even he may question himself, now. Did he faint again? No, as he glances skywards, the sun is in the same position! So he remains a bit confused. That is until the craggy woman writhes on the ground and seems to be in trouble.
"Ma'am, are you alright?" Zappa asks as he leisurely jogs over. "My goodness you seem far too exhausted! Did something happen? I shall alert the authorities at once..." He promises - but doesn't actually move. No, he does not alert the authorities quite yet. "Oh, Ma'am... are you alright? You seem to be at least a faint bit faint." He declares, observing her slightly as he kneels a bit to her as well.
Another set of eyes open, ones that Zappa has no control of and never will. Carefully they scan the area, but the most obvious source is right before him. A secondary being seems to 'sprout' from Zappa, sitting upon the shoulder of Zappa as he, unawares, kneels down. Like a throne, and yet, he does not feel the weight on him. Does not feel the pressure that should force him down.
Eyes narrow, slightly, in suspicion, of this woman before her. Hair drapes over S-ko's face, obscuring it.
Yes, closer young man.
As Zappa comes closer, the woman whimpers softly. "I'm... oh dear, come closer dearie~" She coos, as she digs her fingers into the soft mud of the riverbank. She keeps her head low, but prepares her pounce. "There is something you can do for me, young man..." She begins, as Zappa kneels down towards her, closer and closer. "I'm so hungry..." She continues, licking her lips a bit. She rises up, her crooked, knotted fingers rushing at Zappa as she moves with surprising agility. "And I think you would be just the sn-~"
Her dim eyes latch on to S-Ko.
Her crooked fingers recoil back, as she quickly looks over the young man who has come to her aid. She says something in the ancient tongue of the Sami. It roughly translates into a string of curses, but nothing quite as explicit from the old woman. Coming to a full stand now, she backs away from Zappa. "I am sorry, but it seems you already helping another" She quickly adds, lowering her head in respect. "I did not realize you were cursed~" She averts her eyes from S-Ko, trying to show submission. It would be Lord Dohma's sense of humor to send her back... and right in the presence of an angry spirit. "Please, do not heed me, I was just passing~" She hastily adds.
Hopefully, the cursed man wouldn't make things worse.
Closer to oblivion - if such a thing could be granted to him. As he draws closer, the unaware Zappa finds himself the prey. Not that he would know it. Anything but. He feels quite helpful, actually. Yet as she states such confusing things, his face clouds with emotion that mirrors the same as her words. Hands grow closer, as does older woman, and Zappa nods a few times in interest to assist her! It is not meant to be, it seems.
Especially not as S-ko's eyes narrow behind the mess of hair. Zappa's vision grows a bit blurry as the woman says such strange things, apologizing that she's helping another and... cursed?! "I.. I'm cursed? Oh no, no you must be wrong I just suffer from a little fainting spell! I'm just not sure what's... wrong?" As he tries to stand and follow, he begins to falter in the mud and crashes down.
S-ko's direction picks him back up, body oddly twisted and facing 'away', up until he twists completely over for his head to face the opposite way. "What were you interested in HIM anyways?" A voice asks, just as three straight-jacket laden ghosts appear before Eadni's path, "WHAT HELP DID YOU NEED???" The 'man' almost spits out, face hanging upside down.
It was too late.
Once the man begins to go limp, Eadni knew what was happening. She had dealt with the possessed before; she's even assisted a fewer possessers in the past. And what was happening was... bad. Almost instinctively, Eadni digs her hand into the mud. Her bony fingers intwine in the muck, an inticate symbol encircling herself. A protective circle, a ward. A dim, tan light erupts around her as the circle is complete. The barrier could stave off weaker spirits, drive them back. But this spirit... she has seen angry spirits like this before, possessors of incredible power.
The witch was in grave danger right now.
The hag herself was lacking in her materials, her own stachel, and her hut was far, far away now. Holding her hands before her, she stares at the S-Ko with a wrinkled grimace. "Stand down spirit" She growls in a commanding voice. "Or I'll be forced to enslave both you and your host!" She could almost make good on that promise. But already, the fact that there were OTHER spirits meant that... no, no. Those kinds of spirits were no longer present in the modern world. There wasn't enough hate, not enough spiritual force to bind so many. Raising her arms in the air, she chants aloud, twisting her limbs in intricate, impossible angles.
"Grandmother Earth, Let Open Your Womb"
"Grant Me Your Gifts, From Forgotten Tomb"
From the river, bubbles begin to erupt not far off the shore.
Immediately the witch recognizes her situation. A possessor that S-ko was, she had no doubt enslaved at least a human and three more. Yet there were more. A shadow at the feet of Zappa grows eyes, crawling free of the ground. A shadowy wraith with the vague representation of a canine, though it behaved heavily like the shadows it crawled from. Yet still Zappa did not move. S-ko slid off his form, through his form, before standing besides him, grasping his hair like a chain and pulling him along.
Already the ward begins to form before her, but S-ko, eyes blood red under the curtain of hair, would only stair at it impassively. Could she break it? Perhaps. The witch herself was backing away, drawing protective and preventative measures. It elicits no response from her as she steps forwards, dragging the mess of flesh and bone that was her possessed man behind her.
Instead, she holds out a palmed hand to the ground which responds, blood pooling up, bubbling, to reveal a handle. One that she grasps, the bisected razor dragging along the ground now with her in a display of her power. 'Insects' or whatever they were, writhed just beneath the ground.
Finally, she stops before the ward, the razor raised upwards and brought downwards, the swarm of spirits surrounding the witch as if to devour her. The blade, then, is brought down.
It may be enough to shred through the runed ward, revealing the witch alone.
"SPEAK. YOU KNOW OF ME. You must be FAMILIAR."
"I WANT REVENGE. VENGEANCE."
"But not against you."
As more and more spirits come, Eadni continues to weave her hands with unwavering focus.
A spirit to command other spirits. This was beyond a mere curse. Dogs, bound spirits, insect abominations; even the cursed blade was all part of an impressive collection. This was the sheer force of personality; these were all in service of the stronger spirit. Normally these would be the homes of ancients haunts, but all within a single victim... it was incredible. For a brief moment, Eadni really did weigh out if she could capture this spirit, and force her into service. When the razor blade comes down, this notion is dismissed as the ward is cleanly carved apart. A flash of energy comes, throwing up the mud of the riverbank up as the witch is driven out of her circle. "Interesting~" She responds, stumbling so far back that her heels reach the lapping waves of the river.
%Behind her, the surface of the water breaks.
Rising from the depths of the river, a decrepit skeleton drags itself upright. It is covered in slime, with weeds and silt wind around its shambling form. Its bones are hollowed out, with tiny holes peppering where the worms drove in. The lumbering abomination approaches beside Eadni. The witch reaches beside her, as S-ko declares herself.
She clutches one of the undead, and with a twist, wrenches off a skull.
"I am many things, spirit." She begins, as the skeleton beside her collapses into a heap. Behind her, more corpses drag themselves onto the shore; some shambling upon their legs, others dragging themselves through the mud. One seems to be pulling themselves with their hands, with their feet bond by a concrete block. The woman continues you, shaking the skull. "I was once known as Cloud, Moon, Death, Winter, Snake, Bird, Pelican, and even an Earth Goddess. I am a guardian between life and death. I am Forest Mother, Iron Tooth, and the Witch of the Iron Forest. I am able to commune and command the dead... but for you, I am content to commune." The woman's face turns up into a smile, revealing rows and rows of teeth under her lips. She raises up the skull, and chants again.
"Spirit's Voices Rise In Chorus,"
"Let The Forces Come And Hear Us"
Eadni's eyes roll back into her head, as she holds the skull above her in both hands. She begins to moan and mutter, chanting as the skull begins to erupt in light through its mouth and its eyes. "Awhaaaaa... Awhaaaa...." All spirits may find themselves to join in the murmuring, a compulsion that may affect lesser spirits. The bones themselves begin to mutter and moan, a chorus coming with her. "Awhaaaaa... Awhaaaa...." The trance continues, before she suddenly speaks aloud, her divination coming to a head.
"... S-Ko..."
The augury continues, as the witch sifts through the spiritual essences, her our essence swimming with the secrets of the spirits. "I sense... a grudge. Anger. True anger. And I sense... a well... Yes, you are not lying, you want revenge, I can feel it. Tell me, spirit, what do you want vengeance for? Family? Friends? Society..." The skull suddenly explodes in the woman's palms, the bone shards cutting deep into her skin. There is no blood, as she lowers her hand. Her eyes are no longer rolled back, but focused on the spiritual forces around her. The woman's expression was softening, as she whispers to the spirit.
"NO, this is about a lover, isn't it?"
The blade digs into the muddy ground before the two, Zappa's form writhing back and forth as it is dragged along by the spirit, eyes open wide and bugged out as if he has passed on. WIth the blade digging into the riverbank, S-ko releases it. Blood seeps off of it, though she does not need to direct it any longer. Eyes stare flatly towards Eadni as the witch falters for a step as the surface of the river is disturbed and then split, a form rising forwards - the decrepti skeleton, covered in slime and other bottom-dwelling bits that it now wears over itself. A witch she clearly is, corpses dragging itself forwards onto the shore, pulling themselves where they lack the ability to walk. Eadni's declaration continues. Commune and command. /Command/. Eyes behind ragged hair narrow, though it may not be apparent.
Nothing would command her again - nothing would dictate her fate. No matter the situation, it would be unlikely that S-ko would exist before she would suffer the same fate she did in life.
Chanting, the witch gets S-ko's attention again. "STOP." It does little to please her, the chant that begins from Eadni and continues, spirits murmiring. Instead of having her spirits join in, she banishes them, one by one - letting them instead be saved to be called for later if necessary. Though she has quite a few less skeletons than Eadni she is content with having less - only because she has a Zappa. The form writhes, head growing, swelling upwards to three times the normal size, "STOOOOP." It groans to the sky, mouth hanging open before slamming against the ground. The words that are her name cause her teeth to grind, however false they may be, with words that read her soul from the flowing energy. "NO. NO!"
"What I want is VENGEANCE. MEN. WOMEN. THey think they are BETTER. I'LL GET RID OF HIM AND EVERYONE LIKE HIM. EVER HER LIKE HIM. EVERYTHING."
"WHAT HE DID. THEY ALL WIL SUFFER!!!"
Eadni's not wrong - but what the lover did was worse than a simple spurning. It seems that her life was cut short by one that she considered a lover - and now S-ko is driven by an insatiable desire.
Sometimes, command had to be done from the shadows.
Spirits with strong personalities like S-Ko here were... difficult to subdue. While Eadni had skeletons in her corner, they were mere bones and earth; not even enough to be considered a threat. No, even as more of the bones comes, the witch only needed them for what they were; bone and earth. With the bound spirits gone, all that was left were mere bats fluttering overhead. HArdly enough to be noticed by the witch, who was relatively calm in the face of an enraged soul.
In fact, she lets loose a gentle chuckle.
"Would you like to make everything suffer?" She responds with a serious, soft tone. "Would you like to let whole villages of men, women, and children share in the misery you have been given? Do you want them to endure the pain you've endured? To you want everyone to learn just how much you've been hurt, to never forget how much you suffered, till it is seared into their very souls, where even HE can feel the flames of your agony?!" The woman wringes her hands, as she takes a step closer to the spirit and her host. "I know where there might be a place for you to let all the pain inside you to be released, where your suffering and agony might cease for a while." THe corners of the woman's mouth curl up higher, as the woman seems to grow taller, inch by inch.
"How do you feel about the Buddhists, my dear?"
A personality and a burning desire. One that could not be so easily quenched despite the time that had stretched on. Whatever she could be - if even a spirit - was also somewhat debatable. Yet she functioned like one, acted like one. That is all that is all that is necessary for her to be called one. As bats floated above over head, fluttering this way and that, S-ko's attention remained firmly upon Eadni.
Who then chuckled.
The seemingly faceless spirit stared at Eadni silently as she spoke, grabbing and pulling Zappa up and off of the ground, dragging him closer to the other without being threateningly close, keeping the zombie and corpse hybrid that her possessed target seemed to be in. As Eadni asks if she would like to make so many others share her pain.
A chance to be even, to instill in the flames of vengeance a torch of the memory of his act. "YES. YES." Came the response, loud and straightforwards as she declares her answer. Though her answer is a bit puzzling. "I HAVE NOT HEARD OF THEM." Comes the loud, almost growling response. S-ko seldome speaks, letting the puppet do so for her, as it lays underfoot.
"They are..."
Eadni was nearly six feet tall now, her limbs knotted and lithe. She sways as she slinks beside S-Ko, her voice coming into a conspiracy as she... as she wishes to know. "They believe in nothing, and they believe in no pain. They seperate themselves from the world, from desire. They abandon their families, their friends, their... lovers. They betray them, for a belief that it is the righteous, that it is them moving beyond pain. And when they are confronted on the pain they cause others? They... hahaha..." She laughs again, this time bitterly as she leans down to her host, motioning to it. "They declare that you should remove yourself from your attachment, and move on. Can you imagine that, my darling?~" She coos, a taste of disgust in her voice.
"They would want you to forget your pain."
The woman then points to the distance, far away to the west. "They lurk upon Mount Koya, across the ocean in the Island of Honshu. There they worship a man. A ghost, a spirit. It encourages them to abandon the ones they love, and to have the ones they love abandon their feelings." She voices disgust at this. "I hate those men, I loath them." She seeths with a light voice. "But I cannot destroy them alone. I need help, my darling. I need someone who understands why they are vile, why they deserve to suffer." She turns back to the spirit, her features growing craggy and hard.
"Do you understand now, darling?~"
A spirit, if that was the correct way to address her, S-ko would simply not move on. Believing in nothing would find her meaning empty - pointless. That she would - could even - be told to simply move on brought a surge of hatred. Fresh, like the blood that drips from the razor before her. Even though it has sheathed itself in no current blood, the spirit that the razor was tied to had a bloody history. Much like the rest of the ensemble.
"NEVER." Comes a single word.
"NEVER. NEVER NEVER NEVERNEVERNVERNVERNVER!" The growl doubles over itself, becoming difficult to tell where it starts or begins, a voice in unison as Eadni explains a mass in greater detail than S-ko can really understand. As Eadni motions down to her host, the words are silent from S-ko.
Until she grips the man by the neck and holds him above her like a fresh kill. It almost seems, to the naked eye, like he is floating. "THE LINK I HAVE MADE WILL NEVER BREAK!!" That declaration is quite clear, before Zappa is brought downwards, S-ko resting atop him once more.
"THEY'LL BE REMOVED. I UNDERSTAND ENTIRELY." The form, faceless, turns towards the ocean. "WE'LL GO." Even with Eadni growing close, even with Eadni obviously manipulating S-ko, she chooses to accept. That there can be men so blind as to preach, no, ANY so blind as to preach, would see.
Sometimes it was suitable to control, instead of command.
As S-Ko is swayed to Eadni's cause, the woman's tone grows deadly quiet, her tones soft in comparison to the rage of a woman scorned. "Yes we will, my darling, but there is a... complication. A concern" Eadni motions towards Zappa again. "It is your host. How long are you able to stay in control? You understand the need, but your companion..." She touches the tip of her far too long nose. "Will I need to find a way for him to be so understanding?"
Behind her, the river begins to rise, as something VERY large begins to rise from within it.
"CERTAINLY."
As S-ko states there is a complication, noting her host, S-ko sneers, though how much of it is straightforwards isn't quite clear immediately. "NOT AN ISSUE. AS LONG AS HIS WOUNDS ARE NOT GRIEVOUS, I WILL NOT REQUIRE REST." Is the declaration. For S-ko is the true host up until damage is done. Then she must be away. Until then, however, it is arguable if she can hold on forever. There is no 'forever' either.
"IF I AM NOT IN CONTROL, HE WILL BE UNABLE TO ACT. HE DOESN'T KNOW." She declares. "HE WILL BE WORTHLESS, BUT ALSO NOT A THREAT."
From the depths of the river, a hut rises.
The hut doors and windows are sealed, and water pours from the porch of the hut. The hut itself strides upon a pair of tarry pine tree trunks, the base branching into a set of birdlike feet. Tromping upon the muddy riverbank, it towers over the pair briefly, before lowering itself down to the ground, to allow its mistress to enter. Eadni bows to the duo, before gesturing towards her hut. "Fair enough, my dear. Come, darling, if you like, I can take you there. If you need to let out your anger..."
"Well, there are some of my children you can play with~"
As the hut rises, S-ko eyes it from behind the bangs.
"I WILL RIDE WITH - HOWEVER, IF YOU ARE TO DOUBLE-CROSS ME...."
There is no need to explain anything further. Vengeance is certainly all that needs to be proclaimed, there. The form of Zappa is thrown forth, S-ko dragged along simply by existance and the bond that is shared between them. As S-ko lands inside, she peers out - towards the distance.
"I WILL NOT EXPEND MY ENERGY. I WILL NEED IT."
It burns brightly, but for only so long.
Eadni would not need to double-cross her.
Climbing in after her new companion, she motions for her other 'minions' to follow. Some of the skeletons, dredged up from the depths of the river clamber in. They would prove useful in the weeks ahead until she can secure more materials. It would not take long to reach Japan; it may take several days to travel underthe floor of the ocean, due to the sheer depth; but if the weather cooperates, she could take the Alaskan detour to avoid the depths.
Even the witch enjoyed stepping out of her hut every so often.
Before she closes the door, however, some of the bats follow in. They were not her bats, she knew. They must be wayward spirits or... or something more. She does not interfere; why would she interfere now? There was not much she could expert from mere bats.
Which was enough, for the spies of Jedah.
Log created on 15:29:05 12/21/2015 by Eadni, and last modified on 19:08:10 12/24/2015.