[i][/i][centre][h1][color=darkorange]𝔖   𝔢   𝔦   𝔥   𝔡   𝔥   𝔞   𝔯   𝔞[/color][/h1]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/blySEUB.png[/img]
[hider=Seihdhara of the Red Hair | The Crimson Goddess]
Goddess of [i]Martial Combat[/i]
5 Might and 20 Freepoints[/hider][img]https://i.imgur.com/o5T6T0Q.png[/img][/centre]
[indent][sub]Time: The Day the Gods Came[/sub][/indent]

[colour=wheat][i]"FUCK-!"[/i][/colour]

It was the first Seihdhara had heard Meatchops speak, and it surprised her so much that she stopped throwing rocks at the impassive old ogre. In truth, she had swept the little Meatchops up on a whim. She had registered, in a distant sort of way, that she was a god and entirely capable of taking care of herself. But Seihdhara had been [i]so certain[/i] that the newborn godling was distressed, in need of a strong shoulder to lean upon even for a few moments - and so, acting on impulse so natural that it did away with thought, she had brought Meatchops close. After all, of what use was her strength - ample enough for self-protection - if she did not use it for whoever seemed in need? 
But Meatchops did not seem pleased at all - in fact, she seemed positively upset! And she clawed and tore and bit at Seihdhara's sun-kissed skin, and she ripped it open so that a furious crimson rose, seething with heat and aglow, bloomed from her back and shoulder and throat. And Seihdhara knew not what she had done for Meatchops to hurt her thus, but she pouted in the general direction of the little god as she scrambled rather spritely away. [color=darkorange][i]'Meatchops!'[/i][/color] Seihdhara called, hurt and glum at the thought that she might have scared her off or that she did not... [i]like her[/i]. The Crimson Goddess kept her eye on the gnarly goddess for a little bit more, watching the defiance and hostility in her stance and words - and then the apologies that followed. Seihdhara laughed suddenly and bent her knees slightly, as if preparing for some godly rough and tumble. [color=darkorange][i]'Oh I see! - if you need to get it out of your system the-'[/i][/color] but she did not have the opportunity to finish her words or leap at Meatchops as she planned, for just then the statuesque Ugly Old Ogre turned on the warrior goddess - and it provided no answers to her (perhaps ill-put) requests, but sought only to punish and reprimand.

[color=lightblue][b]"I will teach you to respect your elder."[/b][/color]

Seihdhara looked up and stood straight, defiant yet surprised - for she had not thought that her request was disrespectful. Perhaps throwing stuff at him had been a tad bit [i]cheeky[/i] of her - but what kind of door-opening god felt bothered or threatened by a few rocks? They were only meant to draw his attention to the fact that he had left half of her behind! Yet before she could respond to him now that his focus was on her, he flicked his wrist, and all about her was blinding light and furious heat. She looked down at the source of the light and heat - her shortened flame-red hair whipping about her fitfully -, and she yelped slightly as she realised that she was trapped and her arms paralysed. Strange letters in a language unknown to her (if they were indeed letters and if it was a language at all, that is) appeared all about her naked form, slithering here and there like so many snakes bent on tying her down and suffocating her. And there was a stench of death. 

She growled involuntarily, for she found that she could not speak a word, and there came to her memories of another place and another time when a different, but equally bitter and tyrannical, old man had taken her and locked her away too. The seals slithering across her skin seemed suddenly distant, and Seihdhara extended her sight and saw the singular sighing maw that was the Ugly Old Ogre's well of sight. Her eyes locked on his despite the pain and paralysis, and in the darkness of his neverending pupil was a room in which she sat staring out from an impossible height at her children oh so far below; who in turn stared piningly and unknowingly upward, with a nostalgia whose source they could not quite fathom - only that they longed oh so much for something up there. And her gaze had held in it no less yearning than theirs. Why, there is no pain that could compare to that found in the gaze of a mother severed from her children. By no choice her own had she been locked up then, and for no fault that she could fathom - only that she had loved and lived fully and without holding back. If respect would teach her to live and love otherwise, then [i]that Ugly Old Fucking Ogre could take its respect and shove it down the big fat hole in its dumb little face![/i]

As if reading her thoughts and seeing the fire of rebellion yet in her gaze, the cage suddenly contorted in strange and unnatural ways, and the invisible barrier she was trapped in pressed down on her, simmering and burning. And light bent and attacked her eyes, and her tresses of fiery crimson hair - short as they were - became trapped and entangled. She held until she thought she could hold no more, defied until she thought she had come to the end of defiance and struggled until the word and action became meaningless (why her very life, by the very act of holding onto it, was in itself struggle and resistance even if all else fell away). Through all this, she could hear a strange sort of jabbering coming from a not too distant place, and - against the will that held her in this cage - she turned her eyes towards the sound and gazed numbly at the clicking and jabbering thing. She found that she knew it to be a god, and found that she knew it to be Eurysthenes, and she found that she knew that it was doubtlessly riddling her something, but what this riddle was and why - of all times - it would choose to riddle her then she could not say. But perhaps that was the true riddle: not what it now jabbered but the one its actions spoke.

[indent][i]Confused and confusing. Actionless when action is called for. You guide all to lose their way. What are you?[/i][/indent]
And then, even as Seihdhara struggled with all that she was, the voice of the Ugly Old Ogre sounded again and his gaze and her gaze were once again locked in silent battle. [color=lightblue][i]'The fortitude of your frame, the blood in your hair and flesh, the very air that you breathe. [b]I[/b] gave you all of this! Before I brought you here, you were nothing but a worthless echo, a formless shadow, doomed and trapped in the Beyond. Such a waste.'[/i][/color] If she could, Seihdhara would have smiled, and then she would have laughed. Not derisively or unkindly, but simply because that was - well, a funny and odd thing to say. Not even the veiled lady had tried to claim that - in fact, she had been fairly truthful all things considered. She had not had any pretensions to powers beyond her; she had not claimed that she created Seihdhara or any of the other gods, or that she had given them strength or anything of the sort. She had found them, opened the door for them, and let them through. It was true that she had been powerful, but to Seihdhara's mind that was only because they had been in her world. And this here was no different. But that the Old Ogre should ascribe to himself acts that Seihdhara knew, with certainty, were not his made her suspicious. Only one who was overcompensating for something would need to do that. In other words, the Old Ogre was bullshitting her. Why he would do that - seeing as his power was clearly greater than hers or any of the other gathered gods - she did not know. In fact, she did not really [i]want[/i] to know. He could bullshit all he wanted, so long as he opened the door and brought the rest of her through.

A sudden ripping at her hair pulled her from her thoughts, and she screamed inwardly as she felt a few tufts come loose. Almost as soon as her hair was desecrated, the prison shattered all about her and Seihdhara fell back limply. She landed heavily on her back, her head smashing against the tiles, and did not move. But even with her gaze turned upward, she could still see the unblinking gaze of the Ugly Old Ogre. The dumb twerp had an almost triumphal look in its eye! Idiot! But despite herself, Seihdhara admired one who, when wielding power over others wielded it with mercy. BUT WHAT WAS THE POINT OF MERCY IF HE WAS A STUPID UGLY OLD OGRE WHO PUNISHED THE INNOCENT (stone throwing aside, because that is hardly a crime against [i]a bloody god[/i])! FUCKER! And she would have told him as much were she not yet suffering from his assault.

Slowly but surely the Old Ogre's eye disappeared from her sight and she could now see the endless expanses of darkness above and Melantha, that goddess made of darkness and encased in it, rising up to it. Seihdhara had heard Melantha's question to the Old Ogre even though she had been fighting to keep the hole-in-all-things open at the time. [i]Why[/i]. That had been the ask, and the answer had been no more assuaging than was the one to Seihdhara's own - forcefully rock-backed - ask. And it was clearly not out of a lack for answers that the Old Ogre refused to respond - for he had opened the doors before and could do so easily again - but out of some bitterness, or to spite them, or out of stubbornness, or maybe because it was cruel like that. Or maybe, like another old man she had loved and who had loved her too, that was simply how it expressed its love. A misguided and alienating way to do it, no doubt, but love nonetheless. Seihdhara loosed a frustrated sigh and frowned, her lips forming an exaggerated pout. [i][color=darkorange]'Stupid old man. Stupid Old Ogre!'[/color][/i] But her own words were hardly registered for immediately in their wake there erupted a volcano of explosive bellowing that caused her to sit up on her elbows and look to its source.

[b][color=f26522]"YOU. WHY HAVE YOU BROUGHT US HERE? I WANT OUT OF THIS MISERABLE PLACE! I WANT TO ROAM AND LET THE FLAMES ENGULF THE WORLD! THERE IS NOTHING FOR ME HERE!"[/color][/b] Brief silence followed the brave shouts (except for that weird Narzhak's incessant cackling), and then Seihdhara's own laughter joined Narzhak's cackles.
[color=darkorange][i]'That's my boyo! You tell that dumb old thing, Danglydong![/i][/color] She cheered, though her voice did not come out quite as loud as she was expecting. It was clear that the effects of whatever the Old Ogre had done to her had not completely faded. Before the Old Ogre could provide Danglydong with an answer, however, the strange water spirit - no, god, for she had learned quickly - that had been dashing hither and thither approached the furious fire god and spoke with the calmness of waves gently kissing and stroking the shore. The sound brought forth the memory of sand between her toes and the waves coming in gently before receding, then coming in again - seductive, unassuming, inconspicuous, alluring...safe - and slowly, oh so slowly, pulling you deeper and deeper in so that before you knew it you were knee deep in and knew not how or when you got so far. Aye, the lure of the sea had always gotten Seihdhara into trouble.

[colour=lightseagreen][b]"Can't you see? We have been brought here to create!"[/b][/colour] The sirenesque Ashalla said and pointed with a watery tendril towards the Old Ogre's crystal spheres. [colour=lightseagreen][b]"Look at that Sphere over there. I feel it is much greater than this place here. There we can exercise our might!"[/b][/colour] And then the siren was suddenly beside one of those spheres. [colour=lightseagreen][b]"Come! We have a world to create!"[/b][/colour] she called, and Seihdhara sensed immediately that she was not only calling to Danglydong, but to all the gathered gods also. Considering whether to jump up and go after the siren, Seihdhara pressed her lips together and returned to her back. If past experience had taught her anything, it was that following the sea was [i]a bad idea[/i]. Smiling mischievously to herself, she was on the verge of leaping up and giving chase to the siren when she realised that a pool of fiery ichor had been growing about her from Meatchops previous assault on her. Grimacing as she poked at the rather vicious injuries, she willed the wounds to close but found that, oddly, she had no power. She found this so strange that it took her a while to notice that something was crawling through her hair and was slowly making its way down her face, down her neck, and suddenly stopped on her stomach. Seihdhara leaned up and looked at the stone crab, and it stared back at her, seemingly wide-eyed and surprised to find itself face to face with this fiery giantess.

[color=darkorange][i]'Well Kels, you naughty little crab! You're brave - I'll give you that!'[/i][/color] She giggled before picking him up slightly, planting a kiss on his back, and placing him on the ground beside her. Realising he was now in a pool of her hot quintessence, she quickly picked him back up and tried to wipe it off him, before placing him down further off and away from all the icky ichor. She looked at him, smiling a broad, hearty smile that flashed teeth and seemed on the verge of erupting into a peal of laughter. But this time, she managed to withhold it. She kept her eye on the naughty little crab as he continued on his way, and found herself thinking that it was a bit odd for a crab to be walking backwards - was it not?

[color=c0783b]”Thought you were a goner for a moment there.”[/color] Seihdhara looked up at the speaker, and found that it was the traveller god. [color=c0783b]”But glad you are fine, rare to see anything like you in this sea of sticks-in-the-mud and sycophants.”[/color] And so saying, Urhu extended a helping hand to Seihdhara. The warrior goddess looked at her hand wide-eyed, then she grinned from ear to ear before grabbing the extended hand and pulling the other goddess towards her.
[color=darkorange][i]'Rhu-rhu!'[/i][/color] She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Urhu in a tremendous (somewhat bloody) bear hug. [color=darkorange][i]'That stupid Old Ogre, did you see what he did! And it was all his fault anyway, bringing only half of me through!'[/i][/color] She leapt up and set Urhu back on her feet, feeling power surge through her and her cut up throat and shoulder and back begin to seal up. Grabbing Urhu's hands in her own, the excitable goddess continued - [color=darkorange][i]'You're a traveller Rhu-rhu. You can open up the doors, right? You can bring the rest of me through, can't you? And my hair - look at it, all cut up and ugly and dead. And you know what, I didn't like those purple bits at the start - but after a while they really grew on me! We have to bring them through! What do you say? Is there a way?'[/i][/color]

[indent][hider=Summary]Seihdhara is confused by Chopsticks' attack on her, but then reckons that what Chopsticks really needs is some good ol' fashioned rough and tumble to get all the stress out.
Unfortunately, the Old Ogre decides to try his luck at breaking Seihdhara (like so many before him, it seems!) It's hardly a fair fight in Turn 0, the coward!
Seihdhara goes down memory lane while the sadist tortures her.
When he's done with her, she lies down on her back and observes the others for a bit.
Some crab scuttles over her, so she gives the cutey a kiss. FIRST KISS CONFIRMED.
Urhu comes over and Seihdhara gets excited at the prospect that she could open the door and bring the rest of her through.

There was no way to interact with Li'Kalla without making it feel contrived, but it must happen![/hider][/indent]