Meddlesome Gods: The Call of the Eighth God - Rajani's Test
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The day of Rajani is a chain of varying events one after the other. Why they happened has no rhyme or reason to them. When she starts one thing, another interrupts then another interrupts that. It is endless interruptions. EVerything she has tried to do is partly done or just started. It is quite exasperating. At some point Rajani gets the feeling that she needs to go to the temple in the mountains once more.
At first the day made no sense. Constant interruptions were just ... not how her days worked! Her father wasn't throwing her into the deep end of courtly affairs and then having her sink or swim.
Yet today was very much a "sink" day as one crisis interfered with another in an endless succession. It didn't make any sense!
Until the feeling of having to go to the temple.
"Echo!" she growls as she finally steps into the temple, this time brought here by her bodyguard, though they have agreed to wait outside. "You summoned me. Couldn't you just call me instead of making my day terrible!?"
"Now, my darling granddaughter, where is the fun in doing that?" As expected, Echo looks exactly what Rajani desires physically. PErhaps not so much in behavior. She walks through the temple to this time sit upon Larthin's shrine. He really does what she wants. Such is the way of Echo. "Besides, Princess of Luminat, I called you for a reason. I don't imagine I need to tell you what that reason is?" The God laughs here.
Rajani tries to calm herself. Find her centre. But annoyance, attraction to Echo's form (if not, as inferred, her behaviour), fear, and the sudden realization that the sunbeam that's lighting her mother's shrine just so is really quite beautiful take her out of the moment.
Which is probably for the best. That jarring distraction of the sunbeam is likely what derails Echo's attempt to throw her off-balance.
Torn away from the sunbeam she turns her gaze toward Echo once again and feels that thrill she doesn't quite understand deep in her belly, understanding only that she likes that feeling and hates herself for liking it.
"You're here to test me."
She says it that bluntly. That straightforwardly.
"You're done toying with me and you want instead to see if you can break me. Am I close?"
"Why would I want to break you?" questions the God who has shown, repeatedly, that she takes some sort of pleasure in messing with people. He just does what he wants. "I told you that I would test you to see if it is worth my time to stop being a secret." He just gives an amused look over before adding, "Besides, there is no fun in breaking someone who reacts as easily as you do. The Santuan Prince, though, he was a fun one to break, just a little. I wonder if he will be able to be as certain as he was of his little pet now. It never hurts to assure he understands what a good little thing she is with her loyalty. You should find someone like that." It is really difficult to tell if Echo is being a hateful God or trying to encourage mortals. Her words imply both.
<FS3> Rajani rolls Intimidation+Presence: Great Success. (7 7 5 2 1 8 7 3)
"I don't know. Why do you want to break me?" Rajani is trembling with fear. And something else she can't understand but both wants and is repulsed by. Still, she's standing. Facing Echo. And not cowering. Surely that's a point in her favour, even if she is flirting with the idea of running as fast as her legs can carry her from the scene. "And I don't want a servant who does things for me. I'm very used to doing things for myself."
She switches to the Mystic Tongue as she speaks.
- The only reason I am entertaining you,* she continues in that tongue, *is because if I don't, you'll do worse things to more people until I do.*
She sighs and braces herself, trying very hard to look threatening to the god and likely failing utterly.
"Do what you plan. Get this over with. Then I can go back and undo the harm you've caused."
Perhaps make the harm *disappear*...?
"You seem to think I have bad intentions, Child of Mataya." Echo really is random on how he addresses people. She is a chaotic person so it makes sense. "You're a princess now, Rajani. You should be considering servants to aid you. Appearances and all. As Xenia said, the people look to you for leadership." Echo was, apparently, listening at the promotion of MAtaya's Acolytes. Finally the God stands, perhaps a mild show of respect to Rajani for her boldness. "I just want to be entertained. Whether the world burns or not." As she passes her hand over Rajani's face he says, "I react to what your soul tells me it needs, you know. Or what is needed to be done for things to not stand still. Let the test begin." A world 'standing still' is definitely not what a chaotic God wants. As Echo's hand falls back to his side Rajani will feel herself getting dizzy and swaying on her feet before starting to crumple to the ground. There must be something about Rajani that has earned enough of Echo's respect for she catches Rajani before she can hit the ground and lays her down.
As Echo gets close, Rajani's breath, for the brief moments she remains conscious, goes ragged, her face flushing invisibly behind her pigment as those insistent, unfamiliar sensations course through her body, bringing it to tingling life. Her eyes widen as the hand closes in on her face, shrinking away even as something inside her wants to press forward. To be touched by him. To feel her caress on the cheek.
Which of course isn't what happens. Instead she spins to the floor and knows no more.
There's a small mercy in not realizing she's been caught up in the arms of her immediate object of desire. Echo can be spared the embarrassment of Rajani moaning at her touch. Or he can be disappointed at not receiving it. They are chaos personified, after all.
What registers for Rajani is a blinding light. That is all she sees for a little while before it starts to fade away and she finds herself in the middle of a small war. Luminat and Santua, unsurprisingly, have decided to solve a dispute they were having with a mini-War. It has gone way to far, though, as it seems to be the end of it and Kalem has just taken JAden's life and stands over him. Around Jaden's body are the bodies of all the people Rajani loved. Her new siblings, her step parents, her adopted parents, everyone she has had feelings even a little for. On some level she knows the scene can't be real but on a stronger level her mind thinks it is real. To Rajani Kalem look, staring at her. The Santuan King is not known to be a gentle one. There is a reason Santua Kingdom is considered 'evil'. They seek to solve things by any means they deem necessary. They are the people who decided to take a darker path to appeasing the Gods and stoppng the time rewinds. The opposite of Luminat.
Rajani stares around herself in shock, at her dead new family, her dead 'real' family as she's come to refer to her foster parents in her thoughts, concealed where they reside in shame. And then the servitors. The people who kept the mansion running smoothly. Who gave her the freshest bread when she pestered them in the pre-dawn mornings as they laboured to prepare for the coming day. The ostler who always made sure her favourite was ready to go. Even her bodyguard. All lying in broken heaps around her.
She clutches tightly at her spear. Wait, that wasn't there just a moment before? No matter. She has a spear in her hand. She's always had a spear in her hand. And now she has hatred in her heart and in her eye. She holds the spear out before her, two handed, shuffling toward Kalem, ready to add his blood to the floor.
She's wordless as she does so, not trusting herself to speak. She's just an angry black shadow in a hall of bloodstained light. Coming for Kalem.
The 'passive' Queen of Choisi appears at Rajani's side and capture's the arm of the princess to stop her. "Is that really what you should be doing, Princess Rajani?" asks Missiah, water dripping from her as it always does. She is never dry, after all. No matter the weather, no matter the year. That is part of the price she pays for her very powerful water magic. "Is that the kind of person your mother would want you to be? She never tried to kill Larthin for killing mortals." These moments are why the Choisi Kingdom has such faith in their queen, despite the fact she does everything on a whim and never seems to prepare for anything. She might appear a failure Queen at first blush but there is a reason the whimsical Missiah reigns, she has siblings after all both older and younger than her, over her Kingdom, with an impulsive fist.
Missiah has no idea how close she came to disappearing. Startling the angry princess around whom things that REALLY tick her off tend to vanish, never to be seen again, isn't exactly what one would hold up as an example of wisdom. Yet ...
She's not disappeared. So there's that. She instead has the fury-twisted face of the peculiar black-skinned woman, the black-skinned woman armed with a spear, it should be noted, directed her way.
"HE KILLED THEM ALL!" she shouts, aggrieved, her hands tightening on the haft of her spear. "HE DESERVES TO..."
The green eyes glow with power. Power building up like nothing ever seen before coming from this little woman. The eyes get directed at Kalem.
"...disappear." She whispers.
But then she freezes. She stops. The madness lurking behind her dark power makes its presence known, encouraging her to take it up. Why not disappear Kalem. And then when his family comes for vengeance, disappear them. And then when the people rise up against her in fear, disappear them. The world would be hers in short order if only she ...
"No..."
Strangled voice as she says that. As she bottles the rage in her heart and keeps it in there as a balled-up black stone. She calms herself, straightening herself, putting up her spear and facing Kalem.
"Finish what you started you murderer!" she snarls, tossing the spear to one side and spreading her arms. "What's one more death among so many stopped?"
Because she did. She stopped the chain that would end in the end of all civilization as her madness runs unchecked.
"Show the world how brave you are. Strike down this unarmed young woman!"
"Why would I kill the one I wanted?" asks the Santuan King, "Such petty words do not work on me." He wipes a little blood off his face before continuing, "It is well known the kind of person I am. I don't need people to think me 'brave'." He frowns, "Though, now I have lost interest in you. So weak. You take the cowardly route to solve your issues. Kill or die. Such a weak heart. Jaden knew what he would face when /he/ started the war with me. He wasn't willing to part with his precious daughter to keep peace between the kingdoms." Closer Kalem moves, his every step confident the way he holds himself is regal and arrogant. When he stands in front of Rajani, "Am I in the wrong for retaliating against him for starting the war because I would not compromise nor change my mind to what I wanted from him for the continued peace between us? You decided my death was deserved by foolish emotions. IF you think death is the only way. I will not hesitate to grant you it." The Santuan King does not bow to anyone nor does bravados work on him. Missiah still stays at Rajani side, nothing seems to cause her to move. She is the one kingdom that none of the others go against because she does not work against any of them. So, when she lifts her hand to Kalem he stops steaking but still holds his sword at the ready. She says, gentler but no less harsh, "Rajani, some actions are taken that are to be despised. Kalem's kingdom often does them, that is who they are. We try to change them, grdually, but not to force it on them. Your death will destroy the faith your people still hold and will send your kingdom into chaos. The death of Kalem will release the hold he has on them to keep them in control. His death will cause far more deaths to happen because his people do his bidding out of loyalty not fear." Both seem to be placing a heavy decision on Rajani.
the hold he has on his kingdom*
"That's what this was about?!" Rajani looks around at the bloodshed and carnage. "You risked the destruction of all civilization..." Wait, what?! "...and the stain on your soul of all these murders just because you wished to dip ... that! ..." She gestures vaguely in the direction of the Santuan King's nethers. "... in me?!"
The eyes are lighting up again, brilliant green and white in the black, black face.
"Tell me," Rajani hisses as *she* starts to stalk toward Kalem, reversing predator and prey, "why I shouldn't just make you disappear. Why I shouldn't make your whole kingdom disappear, forgotten even in the memory of humanity?"
Rage is twisting her face.
"Tell me why you risk all of that just to be with ... this."
Her hand sweeps down over her body.
"And all without even asking me."
The King gives Rajani a scornful look, "Where is your head? Up your ass? I have no interest in a child like you. I prefer women with experience. Is that the only kind of 'want' you know of?" The Santuan King is not easily intimidated. He doesn't flinch nor react to her attempt to threaten him, "You do not know much, Child." He slides his gaze over Rajani, "I have no interest in your body. You act as if I am the only one who is wrong in this situation. I retaliated as I have always done so when someone decides to start a war. Away the king turns, "I've no interest in obtaining you now. A princess who decides death is the only route is useless and aa waste of my time. You are so focused on yourself you are ignoring your people." The king's hand waves and should Rajani she would see those from Luminat looking at /her/ with fear not at Kalem, who is the one who took the live of their ruler and his family. The people of Santua stare at Rajani like /she/ is a monster. They do not show fear but it is clear they think she is the monster not their king. "They are scared of /you/, Princess. They are angry at me but they do not fear me. I am true to myself. They are aware my people are the ones I fight for, no matter what I do. You stand for you and your emotions. Not, you, not your family. Yourself."
should Rajani look*
Not your people*
Rajani's soul is rocked by the accusation (largely because it is likely striking uncomfortably close to the truth). None of it shows on her face. In this regard, at least, she is the princess she was trying to become. The people look to her for leadership. For how to behave.
"Not only are you stubborn like a goat," she sneers at the back of Kalem, "not to mention the smell, you have the patience of one too."
Rajani, with an outward calm she is *NOT* feeling within, crosses her arms and draws herself to the tallest she can draw herself. (Against the king it's not that tall.)
"You feel you can trample around and put people to trial, but the reverse is not the case? You are a mewling little creature behind all that bluster. You feel the right to judge, but not to be judged. You run away from judgement with high sounding words. You are not worthy of any princess anywhere. Go back to your experienced harlots. They're all your kind deserve. My people deserve a king who takes as well as delivers."
A turn back and a laugh is given, "You call going straight to execution a 'trial', Child? Did I run after you saw what I did? No. Did I deny what I did? No. Did I claim I was in the right? No. Did I go to kill you when you offered your life as a 'defenseless' person? No. I claimed I did what I do and what /I/ always do. You are no leader. Your own people fear you. You will not have their loyalty only their fear which will lead to an uprising and you will be replaced. I lead with an iron fist but not fear." He stares at Rajani and says, bluntly, "I am not the one who is scared, Child. You are the one who came in judging I was in the wrong because I killed your family. /Your/ family started it. I finished it. When you can speak as a real leader you can say I am worthless." Towards Missiah his head tilts, "She is a Queen that allies with no kingdom, except her own, but helps them all. Do you see her deciding without information I am a 'horrible' person? Do you see her childishly resorting to names even though her face shows disapproval of my actions? She took the time to know me, to know Jaden, to know Elena. She does not need to approve or like any of our decisions to be able to put her feelings aside and think of her people. You listen to no one and just assume you know you are 'righteous' and that means, to you, that you are the one acting correctly." Kalem might be a merciless leader but like Missiah he is showing just why he is a revered king, why he rules over any of his siblings. Again the king turns to start walking away, "I will reserve deciding if you need to be put to death because you are young and someone who has not experienced life as it truly is due to being a sheltered Child of Gods. You, Princess, have time to grow and learn. To become the leader you are suppose to be." He pause, "Or you will fail and prove you are no Queen. Either way, you will become something. I also have no interest in displeasing the Gods. They are a headache to deal with when angry. Archbishop Ozymandias did not join today war because, while he is Archbishop, he serves the clergy and the people of the Seat of the Gods. Had your adopted brother joined he also would not have lost his life. Or should I have called him your half-brother since you have the same mother. It is of no import. Both terms are, technically, correct."
Rajani just stands impassive, as far as any can read, while Kalem stabs ever more uncomfortably close to the truth of her. Inwardly she squalls like a child, and rages with madness that is always hovering just at the edge of her conscious mind. Outwardly she is a statue.
"Is that it? Are you quite done?"
The calm in her voice is unnatural. Inhuman, even.
"Had I been asked I might even have said yes. For all the reasons you gave. I was not asked, however. You tried to take. And when my family quite naturally refused, you killed them."
She turns her back on Kalem, walking calmly to the throne where her father once sat, pausing to look at it before turning around.
"The answer now, for now and ever, is 'no', Kalem. You are not the king for my people. You never will be while I am their ruler."
She turns to face, then, her people. Those who look upon her with fear.
"And if you," she says, addressing those worthies, "genuinely fear me, this is your chance now. If any of you feels you have a greater claim on this throne than I do, on grounds of morality or competence, speak now and I shall hand the kingdom over to you. But only if I hear one voice. If I hear more than one, then there is no unity and I remain. Make your choice. Do I sit, or does another sit in my stead?"
The king just shakes his head and says nothing further. He is dismissing the princess who put her pride first over her people. Off both he, his people, and Missiah leave as Rajani's people claim her their Queen. The problem is obviously though. They are saying it out of fear. There is no confidence in their claims of her as their Queen. Forced willingness is what she got. If she was hoping it was a yes out of loyalty and belief.. it is not what she seemed to want. The 'scene' starts to fade, leaving Rajani to think on whether her actions were the right way to go. As Rajani awakens on the floor of the temple Echo shakes her head a little, "You let your emotions cloud your judgement, Little Princess. You should learn to control your actions. Luckily, you have time. You are not very old." The God doesn't indicate whether Rajani passed Echo's test, if there is even a way too. "You seem to now have a lot to think about. So, I'll take my leave." There is no stopping a God from doing as they want. So, off Echo goes whether Rajani agrees with it or not.
Rajani stares bewildered around her, as the temple returns to her sight, curled up on the floor, disoriented as a new reality forms itself around her for the second time.
"What do people expect!?" she exclaims, with more than a hint of self-pity in her voice. "I've been princess for less time than most people have spent eating breakfasts!"
She sits up on the floor, pulling her legs in closely to herself, resting her head against the knees, cheek down, rocking.
"All these people saying I'm no princess. OF COURSE I'M NOT! It's like complaining a toddler isn't a master of the blade! It's ridiculous!"
The temple is empty, of course, of Echo's presence, but Rajani rages on nonetheless, stung by the accusations that bear more than a little truth to them, but also by the injustice of the judgement behind them.
"What's next?" she says, now burying her face in her knees, to hide the tears now spilling. "Blame me for picking up the wrong fucking fork again? Because a five year old knows better ... A five year old who has FIVE MORE YEARS KNOWLEDGE than me!?"
Yes, the cutlery was a scarring experience apparently.
And then the thought, the dangerous thought, seeps into her mind from the back.
She can make things disappear.
She can make people disappear.
The madness that drives her power whispers. You. Are a thing. You. Are a person...