[h2][center][color=f7941d][u]Kalmar[/u][/color] & [u]Hermes[/u][/center][/h2] [hr] The afternoon sun beamed down on the scene, blanketing Kalmar in a sheet of warmth. The God laid happily by a hunting dog and a discarded quiver of arrows, an unstrung bow leaning against the oak tree that’s roots served as his pillow. In the distance he could hear the gentle trickle of a brooke cutting through the endless grasslands, and if his eyes weren’t closed in contentment, he would be witnessing mighty herds of elk running across an infinite stretch of green that eventually met a cloudless blue sky. It was perfection. Kalmar himself had found satisfaction, his stomach was full and warm with the most recent hunt, as well as the most recent brew. His skin was kissed by the sun, his nose was fancied by the aroma on the winds, and his ears were delighted with the summer buzzings of beetles, and the quaint popping of cloudlings. He cracked an eye open, [i]Cloudlings?[/i] Suddenly Kalmar felt a rush as his true eyes opened, and there he was, right where he had fallen asleep. A tiny cloudling rested on his nose, and in the skies he saw Arryn chasing a blurry figure, who just so happened to be screaming, “AAAAAAAAAH!” Kalmar growled in annoyance as he rose to his feet, brushing off the creature that had landed on his nose. There was no time to contemplate what he had just experienced, as there was a disturbance in the area. With a frown, he took flight and sped toward it. [color=f7941d]“Who are you!?”[/color] He shouted out to the blurry figure as he came near. The figured whizzed around Kalmar at a blinding speed before finally stopping all at once right in front of him. The figure turned out to be an alabaster colored woman with a black spiral imprinted on her forehead. She studied Kalmar for a brief second before letting out a big cheshire smile, “I’m Hermes!” The tiny cloudling from before floated up to the woman and disappeared inside her knotted hair, “and that’s Poppler.” Kalmar crossed his arms. [color=f7941d]”Arryn! To me!”[/color] The bird responded immediately, flying close and perching himself on Kalmar’s shoulder. He studied Hermes with some degree of wariness. She had not been present at the Architect’s hall. [color=f7941d]”Who created you?”[/color] he asked her. “God made me,” Hermes reached forward with one of her arms, and extended a friendly finger, pointing towards Kalmar’s cheek, “poke?” [color=f7941d]”Which god?”[/color] Kalmar asked, before he saw the approaching finger and moved back slightly, just out of her reach. [color=f7941d]”What are you doing?”[/color] he demanded. “Saying hi,” Hermes answered, “Li’Kal…” she muttered the rest of the name, “taught me.” Li’Kalla… the rain goddess? And this… ‘poke’ was a way of saying hello? How strange… he had only just been taught that the handshake was the gesture to say hello? That meant there were multiple ways. Why must communication be so needlessly complicated? [color=f7941d]”I see,”[/color] he said. Then, completely stonefaced, he moved forward and lightly poked Hermes on the cheek. Hermes smirked and poked Kalmar on his cheek before letting her hand fall back to her sides, “The deed is done.” [color=f7941d]”So what brings you here?”[/color] Kalmar questioned. He nudged Arryn off his shoulder, and the bird began to fly in circles around the two. Hermes slowly began to float back down to the ground, “well, I’m out here exploring and experiencing, what are you doing out here?” Her sandals touched the ground below. Kalmar landed on the ground with her as Arryn circled overhead. [color=f7941d]”I built this land,”[/color] he explained, gesturing at their surroundings. Then he frowned. [color=f7941d]”You did not answer my question. Which god created you?”[/color] Hermes kicked the dirt idly, “K’nell-- I like it. It’s very pretty, but where’s all the grass?” So her master was K’nell, Kalmar realized. K’nell, the god of dreams… and he had just experienced a dream. He wondered if her appearance here was connected. Kalmar shrugged. [color=f7941d]”I have not created any yet. Some birds planted trees on the southern tip, and Phystene’s aura has caused some grass and flowers to grow, but right now the continent remains mostly barren.”[/color] “Oh,” Hermes kicked the ground, staring at her sandals, “well..” She looked up at Kalmar, “wanna race?” Kalmar’s eyebrows raised. A race? This was the first proper challenge had received since he arrived here. And from a mortal, no less! He could not bring himself to refuse. [color=f7941d]”To where?”[/color] he asked her. Hermes looked around the barren landscape and then shrugged, “the other side?” [color=f7941d]”And back,”[/color] Kalmar said. He aimed his bow skyward and loosed an arrow. [color=f7941d]”We start when the arrow hits the ground.”[/color] Then the arrow struck the ground , and Kalmar began to run. With little warning or fanfare, Hermes suddenly turned into a blur. The wind cracked and a sonic boom erupted around where she stood as she rocketed forward. In mere moments she quickly caught up to Kalmar and zipped past, leaving nothing but dirt, dust and a small scar on the ground in her wake. Kalmar’s falcon, Arryn, followed in pursuit of them both. Kalmar’s eyebrows raised once more, and he began to redouble his efforts. He had underestimated her. Yet even now as he employed his full speed, she was still somewhat faster than him. Had she been specifically created with speed in mind? But although he appeared to be losing, he did not give in, and continued onward. Perhaps she would tire. Looking forward, Kalmar noticed something rather odd, instead of slowing down, she seemed to slowly get faster, her entire body a blur of white against the land that now whizzed passed the two. He had spent so much interest in this peculiar lady, that time flew right by and before he knew it, he was spinning on his heel, having reached the coast. Hermes had stopped at the coast, just as quickly as she had ran, only to turn on her heel, and erupt into her whirlwind sprint, sound clapping behind her. It was at that exact moment that Kalmar’s sharp eyes noticed that after turning, her legs barely moved, and rather it was her sandals that seemed to propel her forward, but before he could study them further she was a blur once again. So it was the sandals, then? Kalmar would have to ask about that when they stopped, but obviously now was not the time. He continued the race, the land continuing to zip by, until finally the lake once again came within sight. As Kalmar reached the finish, the dust was clearing and there stood a smiling Hermes, “I liked it!” Kalmar nodded. To lose to a mortal, when he himself was a god… he couldn’t help but feel as though his pride was wounded, but that was no reason not to accept defeat gracefully. [color=f7941d]”And how fast can you run without this sandals?”[/color] he asked her. “I don’t know, I never take them off,” Hermes cheerfully replied, “God gave them to me.” [color=f7941d]”Why do you call him God?”[/color] Kalmar questioned. [color=f7941d]”That almost makes it sound like you believe he is the only god.”[/color] Hermes shrugged, “I dunno -- because he loves me, he loves all his creations, and I love him for lovin’ me.” “What do you call the person who made you?” Hermes pondered, reaching in her hair in search of Poppler. Kalmar shrugged. [color=f7941d]”The people who made me were my mother and my father. The one who brought me here was the Architect. Though I suppose what you call your own creator is up to either you or him.”[/color] Hermes plopped onto the ground and looked up at Kalmar, squinting past the glare of Heliopolis, “I like that idea.” She paused, “but-- but could you tell me about mother and father and the Architect?” Kalmar blinked in surprise, and thought carefully about how he should choose his next words. [color=f7941d]”With most species, two creatures, male and female, come together and create another life, which carries on their traits. The male is the father, the female is the mother. They then protect this new creature and teach it to provide for itself, so it can survive when they are gone.”[/color] He said, hoping that was sufficient to answer the first part of her question. [color=f7941d]”The Architect is different. I know little about him, other than that he created the very basics of this world. He brought us here - me, your master, Li’Kalla, Phystene, and all the other gods, so that we could build the rest for him. He is the source of most of our power, and the strongest being in this world.”[/color] Hermes pondered all the new information closely, “so your mother and father, your makers, are in a different place because the architect moved you? We can go see them, I can run really fast -- OH! Do you see them when you sleep?” [color=f7941d]”No. They died long before I came here, and I barely remember what they look like.”[/color] Kalmar said without emotion. The mortal squirmed in place for a while, “what’s… died?” Kalmar’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. Had her creator truly made her so ignorant about the world, and the natural cycle of life? Had K’nell hoped to spare her the moment of realization, or did he simply not care? One scenario was foolish, while the other was careless, and Kalmar was not sure which was worse. [color=f7941d]”’Died’ means they have stopped living,”[/color] he told her. [color=f7941d]”All living things eventually die. You, me, your creator, the Architect… there will come a day when we all die. But we must resist this fact, and continue living. If we all lay down and accept our fates, there will be no life, only nothing - stagnation.”[/color] He spoke the last word with distaste. “Oh! I know that,” Hermes lit up, “it’s my purpose to live, to experience. I’m very much alive and experiencing, and I like it.” She pursed her lips and looked off to the side and then back at Kalmar, “do you want to do something?” Kalmar shrugged. [color=f7941d]”Do you know how to hunt?”[/color] “I don’t even know what that is,” Hermes grinned, “let’s do it!” [i]”Zzt!”[/i] [color=f7941d]”Hunting is when you track and kill another animal for food. For most creatures, it is a necessary part of survival.”[/color] Kalmar told her, before looking around. There was very little to hunt, in truth. There were some birds to the south, and some fish in the lake. There might be creatures in the other lands, and he knew there were animals back on his Hunting Grounds, but those would all take time to travel to. The lake was closest. [color=f7941d]”We will hunt fish.”[/color] And with that he took flight, gesturing for her to follow. He flew over to the island in the middle of his lake, landed, and he stared out at the clear water, thinking. Then, he focused, and conjured forth an artifact. It was a spear. A strong but light wooden shaft, with a thin yet sharp tip of white bone. Its special quality was that it would not be slowed or obstructed by liquid, and would not create a splash. In short; it faced absolutely no resistance from water. [color=f7941d]”If we are to hunt fish, it seems to me that this will be the best method. The alternative is to use our hands,”[/color] he explained as he stepped toward the edge of the island. Unlike the shores of the lake, there were no shallows surrounding the island, so he did not even need to step into the water. He stared down at the clear water, staring intently at one of the fish. When it came close enough, he thrust the spear downward, impaling it, and pulled it out. Due to the spear’s enchantment, there was virtually no disturbance. Kalmar looked upon the fish at the end of his spear, still wriggling for life. It was maybe six or seven inches in length. [color=f7941d]”When you kill an animal, it must be eaten or used in some way,”[/color] he told her, as he pulled the fish off the spear. He tossed it into the air, and Arryn swooped down to grab it, catching it before it even hit the ground. Arryn then landed with the fish, and began to rapidly peck away at it. [color=f7941d]”Otherwise, the animal dies for nothing.”[/color] Kalmar handed Hermes the spear. [color=f7941d]”Try to repeat what I just did.”[/color] Hermes took the spear, her brow furrowed. She looked at the water as Poppler began to spin around her. She looked back at Kalmar, then the spear, then the water, then Kalmar, then Poppler, then back at the water. A fish swam by her and she plunged the spear into the water, her eyes closing at the last second. Slowly she pulled the spear back out, her eyes closed but being able to feel something wriggling on the far end of the tool. Hermes was breathing heavily. “I did it.” She announced, her eyes still closed as she held out the spear to Kalmar. [color=f7941d]”Well done,”[/color] Kalmar said as he took the spear and examined the fish at the end of it. It was roughly the same size as the one he had caught. He pulled the fish off and then handed it back to her, along with the spear. [color=f7941d]You can keep the spear,”[/color] he told her. [color=f7941d]”Consider it a reward for besting me in the race. And remember: do not let the fish go to waste.”[/color] Arryn, who had rapidly devoured the first fish and yet somehow still seemed to have room for more, looked up at the second fish hungrily. Hermes opened her eyes and smiled wide, “I won't!” She paused and then suddenly poked Kalmar's cheek with her free hand, “thank you.” Kalmar nodded once again. [color=f7941d]”It is my duty to teach mortals to hunt, and to ensure they will have the means to do so. You may be on your way… although…”[/color] he paused. [color=f7941d]”I leave you with a warning. Some gods are not so constructive. There are some who may seek only to destroy. If you meet a god named Orvus, it would be best to avoid him.”[/color] Hermes listened carefully, nodding along, “I will, I'll be careful.” She held up the spear, “and I'll never waste a fish.” [hr] [hider=Summary] Kalmar has a pleasant, relaxing dream before he is awakened by Poppler and Hermes. They exchanged greetings, before Hermes challenges Kalmar to a race. Then this happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw1k20DpHfA And then this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwYQsZuh2CM After the race is concluded, Hermes then asks Kalmar about death, about the Architect, and also where babies come from. Kalmar answers all of her questions to the best of his ability, and then offers to teach her how to fish. He creates a magical spear, uses it to spear a fish, and then gives it Hermes and instructs her do the same. She succeeds, and Kalmar allows her to keep the spear. Before they part ways, Kalmar warns her about Orvus, and tells her to avoid him. [/hider] [hider=Expenses] [b][u]Kalmar[/u][/b] -1 MP to create Spear of Fishing. (+1 to Fishing Portfolio) [u]Portfolios in Progress[/u] -Fishing (3/5) [b]Remaining MP:[/b] 0 [b]Remaining FP:[/b] 0 (K'nell has not expended any MP or FP in this post.) [/hider]