Ghost in the Graveyard - RPLOG
Participants
Date
8/6/478
Log
The heat of the evening is ameliorated by the shade trees and the shadows cast by the lovely memorials at the Southern end of the old cemetery. There, near the Southern wall is a beautiful statue of fine stone and exquisite crystals. It depicts a beautiful Creator woman wearing an oversized bird skull mask and wearing a beautiful robe looking lovingly down at what seems to be a being shrouded in burial clothes held in her arms. Beautiful onyx wings spread behind her. The scene is lovely, if a little sad.
Thelergramor heads into the graveyard, smiling softly as he leads Cara along... He tells her: "So, the statue is up ahead, as you'll see in a moment. It's quite nice, really..." The wolf nods, continues walking up, pulling his hood down as he arrives at the statue, looking up at it almost reverently.
Cara follows along with the normally humorous wolf, "Still, after learning about that incident that occurred at Manor Descrato in her name." She stays silent for a moment before she speaks as the duo walk along, "I don't want her to have more followers if that's what they will do. If she just bothered to keep them from hurting others, then maybe I could understand why someone would make this." At this point, she steps slightly closer to the statue and stares it with deep loathing, "Admittedly nice statue."
Shizuko makes her way through the graveyard, following behind Thel and Cara with smooth, quiet steps. She was always curious to see Freeswords moving with such purpose. "Oooh," the older leopardess says when she spots the statue. "That is pretty. What is it? And hello, Thel."
The setting sun glitters of the statue's onyx wings. There is distant birdsong. It really is a fine evening. Coming closer, one can read the inscription on the statue. It is a beautiful poem about the inevitablity of death and a word of comfort to the living.
Thelergramor has read it several times, so feels no inclination to do so now. He takes his gaze from the statue and smiles at Shizuko. "Hello. It's a statue built for Pyrrha. Beautiful, isn't it?" And here's Thel completely unprepared! Not having a proper offering, the wolf just fishes through his pockets, finding he has nothing worth anything... instead he sets a few crowns at the base of the statue... Wishing he actually had something more appropriate here...
Theler turns away from it and back to the other two, still smiling. "I wouldn't worry too much about that sort of thing happening again, Cara. More or less an isolated case, really."
Thelergramor spends 40 Crown for RP reasons.
Cara looks at the inscription for a moment and sighs, "Still, I have to make sure that it doesn't happen again. After all, I don't want anyone else to have to wake up and come to the realization that their loved ones are dead. However," The rather upset feline brings out an oddly shaped bone and places it in front of the statue, "I have to be sure." @r @r She proceeds to send her attention to the new arrival and jumps from the surprise, "Ack! I wasn't expecting anyone else here."
Shizuko quietly chuckles, then gives Cara a smile; the leopardess' tail swishes back and forth, and then she kneels in front of the statue, peering at the inscription. "It is very nice. Touching, even. Although I don't know if..." she trails off, and her ear flicks. "Well. If nobody had told me it was here to remind people of Pyrrha's love and the mercy of the eternal rest, I would never have guessed." She smiles.
"You would not?" comes a curious female voice from behind the statue and a figure dressed identically to the statue, save the face is only a grinning skull. The form runs a boney finger over the visage of the statue, standing a few feet above the ground. "Am I not beautiful?" she asks, rather dreamily. Her attention eventually comes to rest on the trio before the statue. "You have called me," she says, "and I am come."
Thelergramor nods at Shizuko and goes to say something, before he hears a familiar voice. The wolf immediate turns and kneels in supplication, head bowed as he answers her, still not sure why he chooses to do so for her when he won't for anyone else. "You are beautiful, yes... I didn't expect you to come, my lady." The wolf really didn't think she'd show up this time... Is pleasantly surprised.
Cara glares directly at her bony visage, "So, I think we have a good idea on why I'm here personally." She takes a few steps away from the Lady of Bones while she crosses her arms, "I have a few questions for you. First off, why did you want a statue here in Firmament?"
Shizuko perks her ears and looks up at the spirit, smiles, then bows her head; the leopardess remains kneeling in front of the statue. "Mother," she greets. "-I- knew it, and of course you are beautiful. I only worry that others would not recognize it."
Pyrrha frowns at Cara. Well, she does not actually frown, but there is a sense of distaste and disapproval in her skeletal grin. "And why shouldn't I have a statue here, little meat puppet?" she glowers, "Why shouldn't I be honored in my rightful domain!" Her blazing eyes cool a bit when Shizuko and Thelergramor bow. "Ah," she sighs, looking first at the wolf, "The sycophant. I yet doubt your sincerity, but perhaps you will make a disciple someday." She then holds out a skeletal hand and lays it gently on Shizuko's head. "But you, Daughter, you love me, do you not?" There is a hint of manic desperation under that purring, cooing voice. "And soon, soon I will have a true church built to honor me as stood in days your people are too young to have forgotten," she says wistfully, "It has been so long. . ."
Thelergramor just nods slowly, still bowed before the bony spirit. He says nothing, though letting himself smile a bit at potentially somedy being a disciple. For now he stays quiet, not yet offering to prove his sincerity.
Cara brings her hands to her hips and asks, "Okay, why should you deserve that by this point? If you were here the entire time, then you should have heard the entire conversation. I believe the incident involving your dedicants actively murdering others in your name ring a bell?" At this point, she continues to glare at her and sighs. "It's like you never bothered to learn why most don't like you."
Shizuko nods her head. "Yes. I do love you," she replies, her tone warm. She looks up, then over to Cara. "Mother has dealt with many problems over the years, Cara."
The sky seems to darken and the form of Pyrrha swells larger as she glides ominously toward Cara. "You DARE!" hisses the Spirit, "You DARE call on me to insult me? I AM PYRRHA! I am the Lady Death! All will one day come under my wing and into my kingdom! And there I will keep them safe! Safe from pain and from fear and from lies!" The spirit's skeletal eye sockets glow with blue fire as her words rise to a shriek!
But then, as suddenly as it came, her rage vanishes and she is suddenly back beside Shizuko. "I do the world a great service," she purrs, "And my children will love me!"
Thelergramor makes no comment on the Lady's anger; he'd be annoyed if someone called him up to accuse him of stuff too. He makes no commenton that, only looking up at her and saying: "You do and I love you for it." Despite her not accepting him yet. Still, hasn't stopped him from making offerings and such... Sycophantism isn't inaccurate, still brown nosing as it were.
Cara raises an eye brow and snickers for a moment, "Err, are you so sure about that? You seem to be getting awfully insecure in front of me, a mortal who happens to be a phoenix dedicant." At this point, her expression switches to that of indifference, "I did have another reason to call you. I want to stop interfering the lives of others who don't seek you out. Seriously, stop trying to be an overprotective parent and stop trying to get everyone's attention."
Shizuko rises up to her feet to stand next to the skeletal spirit; she scowls to (not quite) match that of the Queen of Bone's, and the leopardess' hand moves towards the hilt of the falchion slung across her back. As Pyrrha's anger fades, though, Shizuko lets her own growl trail off; she sighs then, and puts an arm around the skeletal woman's shoulders. "We do, Mother. We do. Do not fret, my lady; Cara is young and hot tempered, and she does not understand." She pauses, then looks over at Cara. "Being a phoenix does not save you. Yes, you heal quickly , but you can still be cut down in battle, you will still grow old, and can grow sick and frail like any other Being. In time, you will come to appreciate Mother's devotion to her duty." She pauses, her tail curling from side to side. "Do you have friends, Cara? Family? People you love? A sibling? And has someone near and dear to your heart asked you to break the rules for them? To abandon your duty, to look the other way when they cheated or came to steal from the manor you were set to guard?" she asks, her tone lower. "And if they did flagrantly break the law, and you refused to look away, did your own family, your loved ones, call you a monster and shun you and cast you out of your home, your country? Mother has been wronged, Cara. Betrayed by blood. It is the worst thing that could happen to anyone."
Pyrrha is suddenly looming immediately over Cara and takes the sniggering feline's jaw gently, but firmly in a boney grip. "Everyone seeks me out eventually, little meat puppet," she hisses, madness evident in her eyes, "Everyone! You think your little trick of rising from the ashes will save you forever? Because it won't! Nothing will keep you from my house forever, and when you are old and feeble and ill you will beg for me!" The spirit leans in close, her grip like iron. She whispers something in Cara's ear, then withdraws and turns to Shizuko. The Spirit runs a finger along the feline's jaw and leans forward to give her a sort of kiss on the forehead, then turns her back on all three beings to float back toward the statue. The offerings at the base float up into her hands.
Thelergramor turns a scowl on Cara, only rising up and turning toward her. "You forget who you're talking to?" The wolf eyes her for a few moments, then turns to Pyrrha as she seems to be departing. "I apologize for bringing her before you, Lady, forgive me." He adds with what sounds like sincerity, watching her with the same look of reverence he gave to the statue before.
Cara quickly shifts her steely-eyed gaze over to the snow leopard and lowers her head, "You don't have to get violent with me. In case you didn't know, my parents are dead and they've been dead for the last seven years of my life. I've seen death quite a bit throughout my death. Death from illness due to Red Fever. Death in battle to protect others and it was my fault that they died." Her ears furl downward and she sighs, "I'm also pretty sure that they would have preferred death to eternal servitude to this pest of a spirit. And another thing to note, she sent her skeletons to kill me when I didn't even do anything to wrong her at the time, so why should I respect her at all?"
Shizuko lets out a long, sad sigh. "Be well, Mother," she says quietly, then turns to look at Cara, eyes narrowed. "People like you have the audacity to -summon- her, the Queen of Bones, and then insult her to her face. And you wonder why she has such a poor reaction to people..." she gives her head a little shake. "If people would give her the proper respect she deserves, there would be none of this mess." Her tail flicks. "You ask why she should be respected? Because -she- is the one who stood up to the spirits that lost their way, who began discarding their laws and duties. -She- sticks to her duty, despite being hated and feared and misunderstood. Through all of the long, cold, lonely nights, She still focused first on her job instead of what was convenient, and it is this war her own siblings wage that has made things such a pain."
"Yes, child," Pyrrha hisses, "And I came for them all. You do not understand. I do not steal the dying. They. Are. Mine. I will see you again, foolish puppet. Once." There is a sudden wind and a wet tearing sound and the Spirit is gone, along with the offerings, leaving the beings alone in the quiet twilight.
Thelergramor rubs his muzzle quietly, then rubs his hands together before pocketing them. He looks over to Shizuko and smiles. "Guess we sort of have something in common, then." And then turns to Cara, smile diminishing. "You should respect her because she -is- the Queen of Bones, and none avoid her forever." He then falls quiet, peers around, then starts leaving, after kneeling before the statue once more.
Cara glares at the shrine and sighs, "Honestly, I wish I knew why she sent those skeletons after me though." Then she immediately turns to the annoyed wolf, "Didn't she send skeletons to kill you too? Or was that all just a misunderstanding and it was perfectly normal for her to send skeletons to kill others." At this point, she yells out, "I was mad at her because she tried to kill us indirectly, okay!" At that point, she glares at the statue and speaks, "Really, what the heck was that back there when we were riding back from Mossy Stone?" After a moment of silence, she begins walking away. "I've got to stop getting so emotional."
Shizuko crosses her arms and watches Cara and Thel, then shakes her head. She doesn't even try to answer for the mindless, restless dead; but her gaze remains fixed on Cara's back until the tigress breaks line of sight, and then she finds her own way back into the city.
