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Post by Argus on Jul 17, 2017 14:44:52 GMT -5
There wasn't much left for him to do in the other places. He wanted to feel the water around him. The only reason he found this climb bearable was because he was surrounded by ice and ice was made of water. He loved the water. But the wind made his climb dangerous and slippery. More than once on his climb upward he almost toppled down because he placed his paw in a slightly unstable crevice or hold. Finally, he reached the top. Panting he clawed onto the top of the mountain into a wide clearing. He shook out his fur sending fluffs of snowflakes scattering into the wind. He bowed his head. Goddess Sheba, bless me with your presence. Please hear me out.
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Post by Cascade on Jul 17, 2017 16:04:25 GMT -5
The clearing that made way for Sheba's cave was unseasonably warm. Flowers even poked up between the sparse snow, and it looked more like a spring scene that had been given a light dusting than the dead of winter that it truly was. Within the cave, a loud and unfeminine snore reverberated. At Earendil's call, the snore was cut off abruptly.
"Wha...?" Sheba, the White Wolf, shuffled out of her cave, blinking in the daylight. The fur of one cheek stuck up at an odd angle, as she had been interrupted in the middle of a very long and satisfying nap. "Oh, it's you," she said casually, yawning, as though the two had met before.
"Don't tell me...Earandil, right?" She grinned and searched the expression on his face, usually wolves were at least somewhat surprised. "Did I get it right? Holy crap, that was a complete guess." She laughed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and giving the mortal wolf a hearty slap on the back with one paw as she walked past. "Kidding, kidding, I'm a mind-reader. No, that part wasn't a joke, I really am."
Choosing a comfortable patch of grass with few rocks, Sheba flopped unceremoniously onto the ground, where she beckoned for the newcomer to join her. "So. Why don't you tell me why you're here?"
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Post by Argus on Jul 17, 2017 16:10:07 GMT -5
He had figured she would know his name. She was called a god for a reason, right? His face remained impassive. He was slightly taken aback at her manner but was hid his face and blanked his mind. No reason for her to read his mind if his mind was empty. He wanted this meeting short and simple like everything else he did. A darkness crossed his face and he frowned. Almost everything.
Wiping his mind of those thoughts he figured he might as well be nice. "So nice to meet you. Yeah, my name's Earendil but can you guess what it means?" He intentionally thought about rainbows when asking this. "Either way I'm here for a power. I'd like a power that involves water. I know that you can choose to give me anything you want to though including nothing."
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Post by Cascade on Jul 17, 2017 17:33:15 GMT -5
Sheba raised an eyebrow at the wolf as she felt him try to scrub his mind of all thought. She had to admit that reading someone's mind could be an...uncomfortable experience for the recipient. Who wants another being to creep into their deepest, darkest, most hidden self and take a peek just for the fun of it? Luckily for him Sheba didn't take it too far. She wasn't so pious as Taboo that she wouldn't look at all, but she wasn't as malevolent as Geist that she would ever try to truly violate someone by digging deep into their mind.
She chuckled at his question and totally ignored his request for a power—at least, for the moment. "Let me guess...your mother was an ear of corn, and your father was a sprig of dill?"
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Post by Argus on Jul 17, 2017 18:05:21 GMT -5
"Why yes. How'd you guess? They were both from a roaming tribe of Sikh. Quite a forbidden love." The wolf didn't change his facial expression as he joked but he did roll his shoulders a little. He wasn't a big fan of beating around the bush. When he decided to do or say something he usually did so immediately after he decided to do. He didn't say anything about the dance though. Just kept thinking about rainbows. Rainbows and water. "Nice place you have up here on the mountain. He sat down and started playing with the ice. Although, you certainly could make it a tad more, oh I don't know, climbable. "I'm afraid I'm not a someone who jokes so any further jokes might be ignored completely. Just a fair warning.."
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Post by Cascade on Jul 20, 2017 17:39:43 GMT -5
Sheba chuckled. For such a serious wolf, she was glad he could at least take a joke. Emphasis on a joke, as he proceeded to rebuke her. Who did this wolf think he was, giving her a warning? That was an audacious move, one which practically begged for retaliation. So she turned him pink. With a flash of white light that bloomed from no determinate source, Earendil was momentarily blinded—as though he had come out into the sunlight from a very dark cave. This was, mercifully temporary, only a couple of seconds. Sheba liked her fun, but she wasn't that kind of wolf. As the light faded and his sight returned, Eardendil would find himself transformed. His body was just the same size and shape as it had always been, but his fur had changed drastically. Gone was the deep, oceanic blue, and in its place...pink. Specifically, a light pastel pink, with daisy-yellow polka dots on his torso and spring green polka dots up and down his legs. And, the piece de resistance—two blushing fuschia spots on each cheek. It was a riot, like he had been infected by a disease called whimsy, and Sheba doubled over laughing at her handywork. So what if she was hundreds of years old? She was a puppy at heart, and screwing with mortals never got boring. "Oh—" she sputtered between bouts of laughter, "Oh you look simply darling." The white wolf snorted. "You shouldn't have tempted me—this is one joke you can't ignore."Sheba hopped back and forth on her front paws in giddiness at her own creation. Of course she wasn't just gonna leave him like this, but he didn't know that yet. She would make him sweat first. |
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Post by Argus on Jul 20, 2017 18:28:47 GMT -5
Earendil grumbled. He hated the color pink. After grumbling a tad more he sat down and looked at the wolf. "Satisfied, are you? Now that the jokes are over can I please have my fur back?" He looked at her. He really hated the color pink. Made him sick to his stomach. Give me the blasted quest already so I can get it over with. He was silently cursing the white wolves in his mind. "You know what Sheba I think I'll become good just so I whenever I want something which requires a white wolf I can request your sister.
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Post by Cascade on Jul 20, 2017 18:43:55 GMT -5
Aww, that was no fun. He barely even reacted—where was the fun in messing with people if you didn't get to see them squirm a little? Although she could tell it got under his skin, so much so that he was acting like a little brat. And she hadn't even thought about making him go on a quest, but now that he mentioned it...
"Well aren't you just a bucket of sunshine, sunshine?" She said, "You know I've given out a lot of powers in my day, and I can tell you I've seen all kinds of approaches to the request. 'Pouty' is not the most successful method."
She laughed heartily when he threatened to switch side, as if it would get one over on her. "My little mortal...my sister lives but a stone's throw away from this cave. Do you think it would be that easy? I could teleport over there right now and say 'Don't give anything to Earendil—oh, what does he look like? Trust me, you can't miss him.'" The white wolf grinned widely at him, teeth gleaming in the sunlight.
"Well I was going to turn you right back. But now I think you could stand to lighten up a little. So why not keep that fur for a little while? At least until you've accomplished my task." She reached over with her paw and tauntingly stroked his cheek in the shape of a heart, "You are so serious, you could stand to lighten up. Go back down the mountain and find love. Anyone who will love you looking like this is a keeper. And when you've found it, real love, come back to me and I will not only return you to normal, I'll give you whatever water power you want. Fail, and I'll probably let you off the hook...but you won't be getting a power from me or my sister. Have fun!"
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Post by Argus on Jul 20, 2017 18:51:36 GMT -5
He smiled. Why would he do that? Why'd it have to be pink. I'd be okay with any other color. Really I would but nope. It's pink. You know what though miss joker why don't I just go drown myself? That would make things so much better. I've heard you've got this nice refreshing pond I could dunk my head in. Or failing that I could just throw myself off this cliff. I have zero interest in love. And you know what I'd do anything to ruin your fun after you did this to me." He went off to find the pond.
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Post by Cascade on Jul 20, 2017 19:01:39 GMT -5
Sheba shrugged at the tantrum. Personally, she would deal with being pink for a couple weeks rather than literally die but she supposed some wolves just couldn't see the forest for the trees. If his sense of masculinity was so fragile, he probably wasn't long for this world anyway. It was no skin off her teeth.
"I can promise you that drowning is a thousand times more painful than being pink," she warned. But she made no move to stop him. A wolf who would actually be driven to the brink of suicide just for being pink for five minutes...well, it was something she almost wanted to see. Gleefully she watched him approach the pond, like watching a soap opera in slow motion, although doubting very much he would actually go through with it.
"If you die like this you'll be a pink ghost for eternity," she pointed out.
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Post by Argus on Jul 20, 2017 19:09:10 GMT -5
He noticed her look of glee. He wanted to ruin her fun not make it more interesting for her. Jerk.He wasn't going to be her joke. He left the edge of the water and picked up some ice. He wasn't planning on being a ghost either way. He looked at her coldly. "Ghosts can technically appear to be any color they want to be." He looked at the mountain and sat down. I'm not going to do your quest and I'm not leaving until I have blue fur again. You can kill me or change your quest. Either way, I don't give a flying fig."
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Post by Cascade on Jul 20, 2017 19:23:13 GMT -5
Sheba raised an eyebrow at his bold claim. He arrogantly thought he knew more about ghosts than she did, and he was wrong once again. Ghosts had the same appearance they had at death, just more translucent. If he had fantasies of a color-changing afterlife, he was going to be sorely disappointed.
Once again he sat and tried giving orders to her, as if she was a misbehaving pup instead of...well, a white wolf. Foolish thing. It was this arrogance that got him into this predicament in the first place. And to think, he could have been traipsing down the mountain with a brand new power right now if he had simply chosen respect over his ego. Sheba liked to think that she was a reasonable person. She could appreciate that not every wolf had the exact same personality a she did. But she did expect mortals to toe the line in the face of an immortal. With power beyond their wildest dreams, who in their right mind would demand something of her? And yet here he was, making demands.
"No." She said simply. "You'll find that I don't have to do anything for you." With that, her body slowly turned see-through, fading away more and more until there was no trace of her left. A sharp pain would hit Earendil in the moment that she disappeared, but would pass quickly. He would be hit by a coughing fit and would cough up a small chunk of ice—a reminder of what he could have had.
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Post by Argus on Jul 20, 2017 19:49:04 GMT -5
When she was gone he simply shrugged. Didn't matter either way. Looking at the long drop to the bottom he took a deep breath. He refused to live his life this way. He still had a choice of which way he was going to die. He wanted to die in water but technically ice was water. One way or the other it wouldn't make a difference. He'd just have to pick one. He sat and tried to think of a way to settle things. He realized he was just stalling because he didn't want to die. But he didn't want to live pink either. "Hey Sheba, you still there? I'm sorry. But I really don't want a mate or love. If you insist then I'll do it just to get rid of this fur but if there's any other way please let me know."
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Post by Cascade on Jul 20, 2017 21:22:48 GMT -5
There was no response. Sheba was long gone to parts unknown, not in any way shape or form going to be manipulated by a mortal, especially one who would stoop so low as to threaten to kill himself over a prank. She had told him everything he needed to know, laying out clearly exactly what he needed to do to fix his predicament. If the ledge was that much more inviting to him then she wouldn't be around to see it. Sheba was an easy-going wolf until her buttons were pushed, and she wasn't going to give this one a negotiation after how he had behaved.
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Post by Argus on Jul 21, 2017 3:40:51 GMT -5
Of course, she wouldn't make it easy. Realizing he wasn't going to get any help here he thought bombs away. He jumped off the ledge and half slipped and half fell till he found another ledge. Even though the mountain was covered in ice the friction he was creating made his paws feel like they were on fire. Once they had cooled down he did the same thing over again. The only difference was he landed on the ground instead of another ledge. He came out of it with only a few sprained toes, broken claws, and scratches all over his body. He might have a slight limp for a while but would be fine otherwise. He might not be actively trying to end his life anymore but he was more reckless than usual.
He left the mountain to try and hide his new- most likely permanent- fur color. Mud should do to hide the polka dots but he didn't know how he'd hide the blasted pink. He didn't have very many plans that ended with him having his beautiful normal fur back. Most of them didn't end well but he would see if he could at the very least force himself to try and fulfill the ridiculous quest. In reality, he'd have preferred to receive nothing. He'd have rathered drank poison than do this stupid thing. He didn't want love, didn't believe in the sappy stuff. He left the mountain range to go find some tar and take a bath in it. At least then he wouldn't look like someone threw up pink goo on him.
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