[center] [color=violet][h1][b][u]Cadien[/u][/b][/h1][/color] & [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/357353496057610242/564662374775259137/crimsonred.png?width=240&height=301[/img][/center] [hr] At first it came in slowly and was an itching surprise rather than an annoyance... but then it just never stopped. Worst still, Cadien could hear every prayer intoned in her exact voice. “Cadien! It’s me again, your favorite Diana. Listen, you should really start thinking about a much more classy wardrobe fitting for a gentleman. I have some ide-” “Cadien! It’s Diana. I’d bother someone else about this, dear, I really would, but Illyd Dyll doesn’t have so many contacts you see. Anyways, Illyd Dyll has holed himself up away from the rest of his realm and I need a large quantity of bees-” “Cadien! I found a rabbit today, it looked quite displeased with life and I couldn’t help but think that-” “Cadien. Illyd is still holed away, so in all due apologies I must INSIST you bring over a good bundle of poison ivy and the means to form some imps-” “Cadien. I was thinking about that wardrobe again and perhaps you’d like to try dark dyed and itchy wool?” “I also noticed -- this is Diana, by the by -- that you could really use a... Well quite frankly, dear, you’re hideous and there is no excuse for a god of perfection to be hideous.” “Speaking of hideous constructions, Cadien. I am privy to the idea that you change me back to my previous and much more acceptable appearance. This has gone on quite long enough, don’t you think?” The next prayer seemed to just be a racket from Diana’s old band as well as some colorful insults. Had it been any other being, Cadien could have simply tuned it out or ignored it. But Diana had received a permanent blessing from him, even if she would not call it that. She had a connection to him, and blocking out her messages proved to be considerably more difficult than it would have been otherwise. Not that such an act wasn’t possible, but it was rather tedious to do when he was attempting to hear the prayers of thousands of other mortals and bench-press a boulder at the same time. Not just tedious. It was aggravating. [color=violet]“Hmm… this cannot stand…”[/color] Cadien finally grunted, launching the boulder he was lifting up into the air and out toward the sea. It crashed down into the water with a massive splash. The God of Perfection rose to his feet, dusted himself off, and approached his portal. One leap across Antiquity later, and he was standing before the portal to Illyd’s realm. With a shake of his head, he stepped through. The valley was blustery with rain-swollen wind. Dark clouds loomed above, sending down pillars of electricity here and there. In the distance the creek raged with the freshwater, and the copse was cut off from the realm with a dark wall of stormy wind. Further down and near the slopes of one of the mountains that formed the valley was a beaten up mansion that seemed to just be surviving the pounding of the storm. Cadien took a single step forward and then came to a sudden stop. “Oh dear,” he said quite suddenly. “I appear to have forgotten something.” And so, the Lord of Perfection spun about and walked right back into Antiquity. [hr] He returned minutes later with a jar of bees fresh from Artifex’s realm. [color=violet]“Right then,”[/color] he said, and began his approach to the rather dark and dreary mansion. The stepping stone path was aggravatingly unaligned and lead not to the center of the slanted stairs but to the side of them, making wonder to why they were even there. In fact, most of the exterior seemed mismatched or disproportioned in just the right way to be a huge annoyance to the skeptic eye. The door, thankfully, had a doorknob. Unfortunately, however, it seemed to have screwed off its mount when Cadien went to turn it -- releasing the latch just enough for the stormy wind to bust it open with a large slam, leaving Cadien alone before the dimly lit maw of the mansion, a jar of bees in one hand and a broken doorknob in the other. [color=violet]“This house is poorly built,”[/color] Cadien remarked, tossing the doorknob aside and stepping inside. Inside the wind could be heard pushing the supports of the house into creaks and moans.Only now and again was there a source of light, be it from an unfortunate crack in the wall, a nearly finished candle, or from slips between the boarded up windows (that were oddly enough hiding what seemed to be perfectly fine and artiful stained glass from the inside). The flicker of one of the candles brought Cadien’s attention to a glimmer that seemed to catch the light. The flames danced in Diana’s eyes as she stood in the shadow of the god. Slowly her cheshire grin stretched across her face, catching more of the light on her pearlesque teeth. “Did you bring it?” [color=violet]“Bring what?”[/color] Cadien asked innocently. “Oh Cadien, you cannot lead me to believe that you are that ignorant,” Diana’s smile seemed to grow as she laid eyes on the jar. [color=violet]“Ah,”[/color] mock understanding seemed to dawn on Cadien’s face. [color=violet]“Right. The poison ivy. I’m afraid I did not.”[/color] “The bees, dear, the bees.” Diana corrected and held out her hands. Cadien shook his head. [color=violet]“I have not brought you any bees, I am sorry to say.”[/color] Diana narrowed her eyes, seeming to sulk in the shadows, “I think it might be best if you just leave.” [color=violet]“Hm. That’s rather disappointing. I thought you invited me here to discuss my wardrobe?”[/color] She crossed her arms, “I invited you over in hopes of good company, but here you snuck over with the desire to simply disrupt and disappoint.” She paused, “How do I know if you’d even care for my advice if this is how you deign to treat me? You shouldn’t promise a lady just for your own sick gain, dear Cadien.” Cadien shrugged. [color=violet]“I have made no promises. Anyhow, there was another matter you wished to discuss as well, was there? Something about… hm… what was it again?”[/color] “Don’t pretend that you actually want to talk to me,” Diana said a little quieter than normal, “It isn’t exactly the most flattering look for you, Cadien.” She cleared her throat, “I wager you’re simply here to find a way to silence myself, no?” [color=violet]“Perhaps I simply came to admire your newfound beauty?”[/color] Cadien asked. [color=violet]“But yes, if you could perhaps reduce the frequency of your messages, that would be ideal. I am a busy man.”[/color] “I doubt it Cadien, I truly do,” Diana’s voice was hard before she waved a hand, “Don’t worry, I won’t bother you again, persecution for trying to make a friend isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.” [color=violet]“And what precisely is a friend to you?”[/color] Cadien asked her. [color=violet]“In the brief time I have encountered you-”[/color] “Someone who doesn’t come over just to humiliate myself,” Diana shouted, “You understand I’m trapped here, that I have nothing? You’re the only name I really know, didn’t know I’d be damned for knowing it. Was there anything else, Cadien, or do you need help twisting the dagger?” Cadien frowned. [color=violet]“In the brief time I have known you,”[/color] he continued, [color=violet]“you have insulted me, you have laughed at the misfortune of poor Illyd, you have been so intolerable that he left his own realm, all while having a simply dreadful taste in both music and fashion. So, I ask again. What is a friend to you?”[/color] “I suppose a simple yes to my last question was in order,” Diana flinched. There was a pregnant pause, “Are you enjoying yourself?” [color=violet]“I am not,”[/color] Cadien confessed. [color=violet]“I suppose that must bring you [i]some[/i] joy?”[/color] “Don’t pretend to be my friend,” Diana said with a hint of sadness before walking past Cadien and up to a chair that had been hiding in a dusty corner. The lady plopped into it, the uneven legs nearly splaying outwards from the sudden weight. [color=violet]“I make no such pretension,”[/color] said Cadien. [color=violet]“But nonetheless, you said it yourself: I am the only name that you know.”[/color] “I’d rather be alone than subjected to your endless judgement,” Diana said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but there may have been an auxiliary glimmer under one of her eyes. “You can leave now, I guess just take the bees with you.” [color=violet]“You see this as judgement, when it is in fact an experiment,”[/color] Cadien remarked. [color=violet]“So bear with it a while longer, and I will no longer plague your life.”[/color] “I said go!” Diana stood up, her tears free now, “I am not an experiment, you don’t have my consent to be here, and most of all I find your attitude towards this disturbing. I only wonder who else may just be an object to you -- get out!” Cadien shrugged, and began walking toward the door. “One final question,” he said, stopping at the threshold. [color=violet“What is perfection, to you?”[/color] “You getting the fuck out of my house!” Diana screamed. “What in the--” A warm voice like a babbling stream came from the swinging door to the outside. Illyd Dyll stared at the scene in shock, “Cadien buddy, what’s going on here?” He ushered with his hands, motioning a shocked Cadien out of the house. [color=violet]“An error, on my part, I think,”[/color] said Cadien after a moment. He snapped his fingers, and in that moment, the curse he imparted on Diana was undone. He was silent for several long moments, and then looked back at the house. [color=violet]“Forgive me,”[/color] he said, though it was unclear who precisely he was saying it to. He turned back to Illyd. [color=violet]“I sought to learn more about Diana and her nature. In the process, I fear I only made myself seem insufferable,”[/color] he sighed, falling into a sitting position on the uneven steps. [color=violet]“I do not understand lesser minds, Illyd.”[/color] Illyd put a hand on Cadien’s back and sat down next to him, “We all make mistakes, good buddy.” The god of Agriculture looked uncomfortable, “But ye... well ye know. Ye didn’t touch her did ye? She is a living being, Cadien.” Cadien winced, recalling his first interaction with Gibbou. [color=violet]“I did not lay a finger on her, no. Nor would I ever do so,”[/color] He said to the god. [color=violet]“Still, I conducted myself in a way that I think any other deity would find… petty, and immature.”[/color] Illyd let out a sigh, “Oh boy.” He paused, “Cadien, ye... ye can’t just do that, good buddy. What if ye.” He thought for a moment, “Well listen here, I’ll give Diana a really nice week, yeah I will, and maybe after some time if she is open to it -- ye can come back and make things right? No need to fret, good buddy, I know this isn’t normally ye.” [color=violet]“Do not feel compelled to subject yourself to her on my behalf,”[/color] Cadien spoke ruefully. [color=violet]“This is solely on my shoulders. I did not intend to make your situation worse than it already was, so I apologize for my shortsightedness.”[/color] “No harm done... to me at least,” Illyd gave a reassuring smile, “But listen, it’s no trouble at all -- but maybe ye should take yer mind off of this for a while.” [color=violet]“It’s a strange thing,”[/color] Cadien mused. [color=violet]“When I first met her she was insufferable, and our meeting ended with her trying to strike me. Then she bombarded me with inane prayers, messages, and insults. I came here expecting further attempts at abuse, yet when we met she was civil, and it was I who was the insufferable one.”[/color] He sighed. [color=violet]“She is no divine, Illyd. I cannot regard her as an equal, like some of our other kind might, and I fear I may never understand her. Or those like her.”[/color] “Sounds to me like ye got some things ye need to work on, good buddy,” Illyd rubbed the back of his neck, “But ye know, nobody is perfect.. And I know- I know that’s not what ye want to hear, but ye gotta accept some fault before ye can bring it back up to par, ye know? If ye can’t level with someone who is a fragment of divinity, then imagine how that will affect ye relations with the mortals who’s very lives depend on ye understandin’ ‘em?” [color=violet]“And what of you?”[/color] Cadien asked him. [color=violet]“How have your own attempts to understand her gone?”[/color] “Patiently,” Illyd nodded, “Patiently.” [color=violet]“Has your patience yielded any results?”[/color] “I’m not really comfortable talking about her behind her back, especially after today, ye know? But I can safely say that as far as my concerns about the other gods finding themselves in this situation I am in, I think as long as they approach it with a level head and don’t give in to the temptations of anger or depression, they should be alright -- assumin’ their fragment is as benign as Diana, here.” Illyd slapped his knees and stood up “All we can do is stay strong for Galbar, yeah?” Cadien rose to his feet. [color=violet]“Indeed,”[/color] he nodded, before sighing. [color=violet]“My apologies again. In addition to stirring up Diana, I have also subjected you to my personal anxieties.”[/color] “Nyah it’s what friends ‘r for,” Illyd smiled and clapped Cadien on the shoulder, “I’d say come by anytime but just give it a bit for the water to simmer down -- but if ye be needin’ me I can always meet ye somewhere else.” [color=violet]“You would be welcome to visit me in my realm,”[/color] Cadien nodded. [color=violet]“If I am not… otherwise occupied, I mean.”[/color] “Look at ye, romancin’ it up,” Illyd chuckled as he led the god to the fissure to Antiquity, “Well good on ye.” [color=violet]“Do give this to Diana,”[/color] Cadien said, holding out the jar of bees. [color=violet]“I had intended to give it to her in the end, but… well, I botched that, as you saw.”[/color] Wrapping his hands around the jar, Illyd raised a brow, “Cadien, ye know we have plenty o’ bees in the valley, ye? Wouldn’t be much of a God of Agriculture without a lotta bees.” [color=violet]“Tell that to Diana, then,”[/color] Cadien shrugged. [color=violet]“Perhaps bring her some poison ivy too.”[/color] And on that note he stepped through the portal. “Aha, you got it, friend,” Illyd gave a concerned look but waved goodbye all the same. [hr] [hider=Post Summary] Diana has been bombarding Cadien’s inbox with spam messages. Eventually he has enough and decides to go there personally to engage in some counter-trolling. She asked for a jar of bees and some poison ivy, so he shows up only with a jar of bees, but pretends to have no intention of giving it to her. Diana gets pissed off and asks him to leave, but Cadien remains in an attempt to learn more about her. She becomes increasingly sad and enraged at his presence, until eventually Illyd shows up and escorts Cadien out. In the end, his attempts at bothering Diana have only served to make him feel guilty. Cadien apologizes to Illyd for his behaviour, and attempts to explain the situation somewhat, revealing that he doesn’t see anything less than a divine as an equal. Illyd is forgiving, and offers to help Cadien patch things up with Diana, but at the same time also says he has some things to work on. Cadien does not disagree. They part ways on decent enough terms, with Cadien requesting that Illyd give Diana the jar of bees on his behalf. [/hider]