[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/893273948526108742/895548868941463633/RuinaTokenNormal.png[/img][/center]

[center][h1][i][color=#a6cb99]Ruin[/color] gives a gift[/i][/h1][/center]

[center]Location: The Divine Palace
Interacting with: Ea Nebel.
Mentions: Iqelis, Homura
Important note: This posts takes place before the beginning of Cycle VI[/center]
[hr]

Not too long after the ceremony had been finished, Ruina approached Ea Nebel. With a nod, she would move to speak plainly. For a few moments Ruina internally grappled with what exactly she should say now that Ea Nebel was fully divine. Was ‘sister’ appropriate? Cousin? Newborn?  Perhaps just her name would be for the best. [color=#a6cb99]”Greetings, Ea Nebel. I would have words with you if you would have time. Would you care to walk with me for a bit so that we may speak?”[/color]

Ea Nebel laughed lightly. As Ruina mentioned walking with her, she held up an armoured hand and gestured to the palace at large, indicating that she had plans to wander the palace for a bit. Ruina’s tail was neutral at this point, resting casually behind her.

[colour=gainsboro]“That sounds wonderful, Ruina. It feels good to stretch my legs like normal again.”[/colour] Her step was buoyant under her gown, and she held a fistful of the fabric to keep it out of the way of her shoes. [colour=gainsboro]“This palace is beautiful, and there are things I’m curious about.”[/colour] Her smile dimmed, just slightly, as she turned back to glance at the grand high doors of the Monarch’s throne room. [colour=gainsboro]“Things we should consider elsewhere.”[/colour]

Ruina nodded at Ea Nebel’s reply, noting the slight shift in smile. Something she was curious about? Interesting. The dimming smile hinted that this something was potentially the beginnings of something larger. Things were indeed best discussed elsewhere, and with that Ruina would place a hand gently upon Ea Nebel’s back for a moment as she began to walk down one of the many twisting corridors of The Divine Palace before speaking briefly. [color=#a6cb99]”Come then. I shall show you to what is currently my favorite room. I found it not long after my birth into this world, and it is quite nice to relax within, at least personally. You may ask me all manner of questions as we walk and when we are there.”[/color]

With that said, Ruina would begin to lead Ea Nebel towards the greener room with the stream that she had found [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5304053]some time ago[/url] and met the monarch in briefly. As she walked, Ruina allowed her tail to trail behind her a bit more lazily than she usually did, an accommodation for Ea Nebel to have a few moments more to trace her movements in the maze of halls and rooms that made up the palace, were she still dizzy from her ordeal.

[colour=gainsboro]“I think… things are more clear to me now. I have my answers. I just wish I knew what the questions were.”[/colour] She stared out of a window as they passed, watching a field of blue zinnia ripple in a wind that came from nowhere, its borders lined with peony. [colour=gainsboro]“I’m sorry, Ruina. For my words. It was not my place to say such things.”[/colour]

At Ea Nebels first statement Ruina would give a hum of understanding before speaking. [color=#a6cb99]”I believe I understand. Like a veil or shadow that has been lifted from your mind, yes? I have had similar experiences at least once when I rid myself of my sister's influence, though that is itself a far cry from your ascension, but regardless I believe I understand somewhat. Before I mastered my suit I consistently found my nerves aching and burning, and it always felt a bit uncomfortable, but now it is truly an extension of myself. It and I are one. I would like to believe that this is similar to what you are feeling.”[/color]

Grief tugged her sleeves, feeling fabric between her fingers. Whatever she murmured to herself or unseen listeners was inaudible. Still, her apology had given Ruina pause, allowing Ea Nebel time to come and stand beside her in full. After a few moments of contemplation, she would speak once more, but not before laying an assuring hand upon Ea Nebel’s shoulder. In her enormous shadow, Ea Nebel’s height was reduced to the lankiness of a girl. [color=#a6cb99]”I cannot be angry at you. You spoke as your heart felt. That being said, I would share a viewpoint when we arrive so that it has an inkling of privacy.”[/color]

[colour=gainsboro]“...Thank you. You’re patient. I will be patient also.”[/colour]

Ruina began to lead Ea Nebel once more, and a few moments later they arrived at the room Ruina had mentioned. A soft murmur came from the stream, and stones covered with soft moss greeted them. Ruina moved to sit gently upon one of the larger stones, her tail curling around it firmly as she crossed her legs. Gesturing for Ea Nebel to make herself comfortable within the room, Ruina spoke up briefly. [color=#a6cb99]”Please, make yourself comfortable. I find this room to be quite excellent for that purpose.”[/color] With that said, she waited for Ea Nebel to do as she pleased, which was to laugh once more.

[colour=gainsboro]“It’s… delightful. I don’t know why I expected anything different. It’s like the forest I stole for my own courtyard.”[/colour] She smiled and sat directly on the little rolling hills of moss, sprawling even, her gown a gleaming spill of black ink. 

As Ea Nebel was now comfortable, Ruina would begin to explain the viewpoint that she had mentioned before. [color=#a6cb99]”To explain, as I said I would, something that I have noted is that Iqelis seems to take his job quite seriously. Overly so, in fact. From what I have seen he would take any stumbling or wound to anyone to mean that it is time for their doom to be at hand, even if he would be the one to actually push this doom into motion rather than anything else, like I found him attempting to do to Homura before I interrupted him. Thus I would propose the perspective I hold: Iqelis takes his job [i]too[/i] seriously. For all I can tell he sees an end to everyone and everything and is overly eager to see things to that end, not realizing that once everything has met their doom then there would be no more to judge. To phrase it another way, I look at myself...”[/color]

Ruina would take a moment to hold aloft an orb of pure destruction she produced from nothing, crimson red and swirling with raw power. Studying it, she would continue speaking. [color=#a6cb99]”If I were to just start destroying everything, not only would I be the enemy of everyone, there would come a time where there is nothing left to destroy. One could argue that I would have fulfilled my purpose as the goddess of destruction, but would I not have also served in enabling the destruction of myself? If there is nothing left to destroy then I am also destroyed, and if I remain then not all is destroyed, and so on and so forth. Thus I use my destructive capability with a large amount of restraint through my tests, lest I find myself the enemy of myself. It is this lack of restraint that fuels my distrust of Iqelis. It seems he does not know when to stop, and seemingly will not stop or hesitate when things might be better suited to a less violent hand.”[/color]

Dismissing the orb of destruction, Ruina would lower her hand to her lap before posing a question. [color=#a6cb99]”Does that make sense? It is a strange concept that I do not feel like I am able to entirely properly explain, but I would hope that you can grasp the meaning I intend.”[/color]

Ea Nebel’s head had drifted down to a tussock of cool green feathermoss, and when she shrugged, it was with her eyes closed, her back on the ground, lying down like a pale moss herself. [colour=gainsboro]“Thank you for taking the time to explain- It does make sense. You are wrong, but it does make sense.”[/colour] She opened her eyes but didn’t move them, looking up to the dappling light of the ceiling somewhere above. [colour=gainsboro]“I understand my father better than I understand you, Ruina. But I think I [i]do[/i] understand you, at least enough. You are a judge. A destroyer, a warrior. A maker of swords. A tester of strength. You take to your task with a firm hand. You have hard eyes.”[/colour] She met those green snake-eyes with her own, just for a moment. [colour=gainsboro]“I don’t think my father is any of those things. Not under the skin. Iqelis is a god of Time.”[/colour] She inhaled, and spoke softly, lyrically, with rhythm.

[colour=gainsboro]“My father is a sea that reflects no stars, a sea to which all the Creator’s imperial rivers flow. A sink to His source. My father’s role is not to make the waters come- they come anyway, always, in the end. Every living thing finds its grave. He doesn’t take his [i]task[/i] seriously- I don’t think he [i]has[/i] a task. Not like you. Or- my mother. Or me. He is a different sort of god- He is a glorifier, a monument, an embodiment of the path of Time. He is joyful. He is a dancer on the surface of the sea.”[/colour] She lifted her hand, and a leaf fell, spinning, twirling in place atop the tip of her long, straight middle finger. [colour=gainsboro]“A dance for all of us. You, me. Galbar. The Monarch of All. All our rivers open to his sea. It’s the Flow.”[/colour] The leaf burned away, leaving a blackened skeleton of veins, glowing hot at the tips. [colour=gainsboro]“He’s not eager to destroy. He’s mad with passion- passion for the dance. Only he has Seen the Flow- who could possibly contain that Sight? What Eye could withstand it? If you were the only goddess in all the world to See the ultimate truth, wouldn’t you try to show us all? Would you not dance?”[/colour] Suddenly, she laughed a third time, and this time not softly; loudly, shaking, buckling together as the leaf crumbled. [colour=gainsboro]“Maybe I’m mad too. Ahah! I know my sisters are. But why wouldn’t we be? Ahahahaha… Oh, never mind. It’s too hard to explain.”[/colour] She sighed happily, catching her breath. She rubbed her teary eyes, black as pearls.

[colour=gainsboro]“...He has always restrained himself, for me. I know that Time will Flow for me, so there is never a need for my father to remind me, as he has reminded others. Be patient with him, Ruina. Please. He is only a fly, dancing on the end of Time. There’s no need to be afraid, so long as you do not forget. [i]Memento mori.[/i]”[/colour]

As Ea Nebel explained things from a more sympathetic view of Iqelis, Ruina did, truly, pause to listen. To be told she was wrong so abruptly stung a bit, but the explanation that followed carried with it perhaps a few grains of truth. In light of this, Ruina saw fit to make a new observation, one that shared a grain of her own history on the subject she broached.

Touching the scar upon her face as she spoke, Ruina explained something that had come to mind. [color=#a6cb99]”But what if this dance were not to be for all of us? What if some of us were to reject that fate and persist even beyond the time where we were fated to die? I have done so once before with a large degree of luck involved, and I would choose to do so again. My life is mine, and it is my choice as to how it ends, even if it does not end at all, is it not?”[/color]

A knuckly hand touched the folded shell plating Ruina’s shin. [colour=gainsboro]“A clock doesn’t stop ticking when it strikes midnight, Ruina. We are all small in the face of eternity. Even our family… Things end. A flame only shines as its fuel disappears. A river cannot flow without a sink. You are alive, now, with me. Time passes for both of us. The clock will keep ticking forever. We will not.”[/colour] Ea Nebel had been staring out into the unmoving fronds of a tall fern, looking for things that weren’t there. [colour=gainsboro]“But there is no appointed moment. Not for us. Not even for mortals… Your life is not [i]fated[/i] to end in any one place, in any one way, in any one season. It is yours, Ruina. So is your death. If you are resolute, then you can choose the hour. And I know you are.”[/colour] She smiled, but didn’t look up again. [colour=gainsboro]“I hope it’s a long time from now.”[/colour]

At the sudden touch upon her shin Ruina’s head snapped downward at speeds that would shatter the neck of any mortal, but when she saw that it was just Ea Nebel’s hand her gaze relaxed and she paid it no heed. Turning her focus to what Ea Nebel had said Ruina let out a hum as she found herself lacking a meaningful reply. Ea Nebel promptly hummed back.

A thought come to mind. Ruina spoke up, and made an offer to the newly forged deity. [color=#a6cb99]”I hope so too, if it happens at all… But something that comes to mind: Your dagger is a gift from Iqelis, correct? I would bring forward an offer of another gift: I offer you a weapon of my own make, something which cannot be taken from you by your father should he decide to deprive you of his gift in a fit of rage. Something that will allow you to choose the hour, or lack thereof, of your demise under your own power rather than the whims of any else. Accept or decline, I judge you not, but my offer stands regardless.”[/color]

Ea Nebel looked up, frowning even as she smiled. [colour=gainsboro]“But I-”[/colour] She shook her head. [colour=gainsboro]“No, there’s no need for that. I trust my father. I [i]will[/i] trust him, no matter what the Monarch puts between us. It would feel like I’m betraying him.”[/colour] She gripped something hidden in her sleeve, as if for comfort. [colour=gainsboro]“Thank you. I know your work is without equal.”[/colour]

Ruina nodded at Ea Nebel’s reply before giving her own. She was disappointed but understanding of where Ea Nebel was coming from. [color=#a6cb99]”Very well. I shall allow the offer to stand for a time in the chance that events conspire to change your mind.”[/color]

She nodded. Then she sat up, crossing her legs. [colour=gainsboro]“There’s something else, too. Something you, I think, should know, more than anyone. When I knelt before the Monarch’s throne, I heard a memory, echoing from the tiles. It was a memory of death. I tried to reach it, but I couldn’t, not while He was watching. It wasn’t her real grave. All I heard was… Ao-Yurin, the old water-god. She died there, alone with him.”[/colour] Her voice became low, deep. [colour=gainsboro]“It was a memory of betrayal. I think He killed her, Ruina.”[/colour]

Ruina let out a hum as Ea Nebel described what she had seen. Blinking gently, Ruina had to actually take a moment to recall Ao-Yurin. She had hardly seen them before their death, though granted it might’ve been due to the fact that she did subject Ao-Yurin’s oceans to the first and only test to actually occur. Perhaps they had rather disliked that… Ruina would never know. Still, the news was troubling, and after a few moments of contemplation Ruina spoke up. [color=#a6cb99]”That… Is an interesting observation. I was never aware of the circumstances of their passing, merely that it happened. To learn that it happened at His hand is concerning indeed.”[/color]

[colour=gainsboro]“My uncle- Voligan, that is- told me the story. He was witness to it. The Monarch summoned him, Sala, and Yoliyachicoztl, the Lady Heat, to where Ao-Yurin lay dying at the feet of His throne. The salting of the seas had poisoned her, and Sala was called for her comfort… Then all three were dismissed, and Ao-Yurin was left to die.”[/colour] Ea Nebel frowned. [colour=gainsboro]“The Emperor charged Sala with deicide. He refused to acknowledge anything my uncle said to the contrary. I don’t doubt that she was poisoned, and that the Sun sees further than any of us… but now Sala lives on in guilt and debt to her father, and, just like Iqelis, loyal heirs were called to witness her humiliation. And this I know, also: it was not poison alone that destroyed the Wellspring.”[/colour]

Ruina fell silent as she pondered over the news that had been delivered. It was quite troubling to hear that He had laid one of His own children low, and to think that He could perhaps choose to end any of them on a whim? It was with that thought that Ruina decided something: If He made an attempt to end her life, she would not go down without a fight. The lack of individuality and formless nothingness that made up her existence before being separated was not something that she was willing to return to. Taking a breath, Ruina spoke up again. [color=#a6cb99]”I will keep this information in mind for the future, and I thank you for sharing it.”[/color]

Ea Nebel nodded. There was a pause then, a long one. And once it was done Ruina held up her armor-clad hand and studied the suit that made up most of her body before asking an interesting question. [color=#a6cb99]”If I might ask… Have you ever seen visions of my sister? I have a morbid sense of curiosity since we are speaking of endings and death.”[/color]

All of a sudden, the light little laugh was back; weaker now, but here. [colour=gainsboro]“Aha! That curiosity- it hit me the moment I first laid eyes on you. That was why I touched you, when we met… You didn’t like that, but I couldn’t help it.”[/colour] By the sound of it, morbidity was nothing but a joke for Grief. Or, perhaps, a dance. [colour=gainsboro]“I saw her first death, and her true death, and what became of her flesh each time… Painful memories. Very painful. They fascinated me. She was raw and hungry and alive and… free, in a way. Blind hate, a hate like a sun, hate without limits. Except for you, of course. You stopped her.”[/colour] Her fingertips lay lightly on the grey shell of Ruina’s shin.

[colour=gainsboro]“I saw you, of course. You were always there. There was wild, terrible envy around you. Desperation, lack… an animal feeling, hard to describe. You were whole and complete, and she- it- was only an embryo. A whisper of what she would have been. She stole the seed of hatred from you; you crushed her, and it was over. I saw nothing that you didn’t live through. I can only borrow old memories, but you saw it all with your own green eyes.”[/colour] She looked up and searched them again.

As Ea Nebel searched Ruina’s eyes, she would find them to be a bit softer than their usual hardiness. Iron rather than steel, as it were. Once Ea Nebel explained what she had seen, Ruina paused for a moment to think and compare things to what she knew. In truth Ruina had not wanted to kill her sister, but the crime that she had committed in jealousy and hate could not go without an answer. Still, what was done was done, to contemplate what could have been for eternity was somewhat… wasteful.

At Ea Nebel’s further touching of her suit Ruina stopped to contemplate something else for a moment. Her fascination with it was certainly something, and perhaps that was a topic that deserved further exploration. Speaking up, Ruina would pose a question. [color=#a6cb99]”You seem to be quite interested in touching my suit, might I ask why? Is it mere curiosity or did you have something else you wished to gain from it?”[/color]

[colour=gainsboro]“Oh? I just touch things. Bones. Knives. Rocks, and things. Sometimes I catch a memory, sometimes I don’t. I like weapons. Yours is the best.”[/colour] There was nothing more to it.

Ruina smiled slightly as Ea Nebel complemented her suit. She didn’t have the heart to tell her that each time she had touched her suit Ruina had to stop a reflexive instinct from jabbing a spike outward into her fingers. It was a measure to maximize her own survivability. Send out a spike at an incoming attack and destroy the offender before it was able to do anything. That being said, perhaps there was a solution to her problem and a favor to be gained?

Holding aloft her hand, Ruina willed the suit to shift and change, growing a thicker layer of bone plate upon the back of her hand. Once the growth was finished, Ruina willed it to detach. 

[colour=gainsboro]“Oh-!”[/colour]

With a slight grunt as she felt the chunk of hard bone detach from herself, Ruina studied her hand for a moment as things regenerated. There would be no gift giving that damaged her suit, after all.

Once things were back as they were, Ruina took to shaping the chunk of bone into an oval before examining it once more and nodding to herself. Holding out the chunk of bone, Ruina spoke calmly. [color=#a6cb99]”Then as a gift to welcome you to being a full deity, I shall give unto you a rare thing: A fragment of my suit, shed willingly. Take good care of it, and beware what tricks it may do. My sister left at least one small fragment of herself within this already, and I do not know if there may be more.”[/color]

Ea Nebel’s hands were leather-gloved now, and still, pressed together at the wrist to steady their tremble. She took the flake in her fingertips, as though it were an eggshell. Her arm tensed, and she paused, frowned, tensed it again; when the gloves still refused to melt away, she held the fragment in one hand and pulled off the other with her teeth, finally exposing her long, bony fingers and grey skin to the surface of the shell. It lay there, motionless but alive, alive and changing; like a coral it grew, spiking up and withering away, a densely textured web of pits and spines wrapping itself around her middle finger, between the knuckles, three segments of wild bio-metallic filigree ending in a needle-blade over her fingernail, connected by a thin hinged wire to a band on her slender wrist. It had not softened even slightly as it moved. She bent her finger, which had been held very still, and found that the ornament added no weight at all to her hand, nor restricted her movement even slightly. 

The needle then retracted at some unseen signal, disappearing without so much as a twitch of a muscle. Immediately her black glove returned, thicker than ever. She shook it until it dissolved into angry blowflies and rolled over her hand to admire the grey bone on grey skin, forming strange textures on her finger as her blood-diamond ring sparkled beside it. Her gaze had not left it once since it had detached from Ruina’s hand. [colour=gainsboro]“I… I don’t know what to say…”[/colour]

Ruina watched with an intense curiosity as the piece of bone shaped itself around Ea Nebel’s finger, waiting to see if the new goddess cried out in pain or fear as something she didn’t appreciate happened, but when all that came was admiration she relaxed some. Things were going to be alright, then. Good.

At the mention of lacking something to say, Ruina smiled slightly before rising to her feet. Stretching a bit, she spoke gently. [color=#a6cb99]”I am glad that you appreciate your gift, and that is enough of a thanks. Unfortunately I feel it is time for me to depart. I have been rather lacking with the tests I am supposed to be administering, and it is time for me to correct this lack of tests and trials. If you wish for anything in this last moment I encourage you to speak your mind, I will answer or abide as I can.”[/color]

But Ea Nebel did not speak. She only rose on her two feet, and embraced her cousin in a flurry of black silk and joyful tears.

Ruina could not help but smile gently as she was embraced, and returned the hug softly. Her tail even wrapped itself around Ea Nebel, however briefly. Unfortunately their time was cut short, as Ruina’s divine senses picked up on strange fluctuations of divine power within the palace that headed for the throne room of The Monarch of All. Almost instantly the kindness from her face vanished and she looked up towards the door to the room. Something was wrong.

Stepping back and grasping Ea Nebel’s shoulders firmly, Ruina issued a cautionary command to Ea Nebel. [color=#a6cb99]”Something is wrong… Very wrong. I will go investigate, and I urge you to hide yourself. Someone has come with violence on their mind, and I would rather not have your first test as a full divine be combat against another.”[/color]

Leaving essentially no time to respond, Ruina darted out of the room and began to head towards the throne room

[hider=Vigor expenditure]
Running total goes here
[/hider]

[hider=A belatedly concluded encounter]
Following Ea Nebel’s ascension, Ruina invites her to wander the solar palace and chat, which is happily accepted. They head to Ruina’s personal room. Nebby apologises for some harsh words earlier and is forgiven. She has also acquired some fuzzy answers to unknown questions, and Ruina shares her own perspective on achieving full godhood by destroying her ravenous sister spirit.

They lie around in Ruina’s very comfy lounge and Ruina shares her various thoughts on Iqelis, his role, and its relation to her own, as a goddess who destroys to test, and not just for the sake of it. She has (justifiable!) concerns over his inclination, as she understands it, to blow things up just to see more doom happen. Ea Nebel addresses exactly none of her concern, and instead delivers a poetic explanation of her own, much weirder, spiritual outlook on Iqelis. She adds that Iqelis was never a threat to her once she accepted her doom, and urges Ruina to handle him with patience, even pity.

They go back and forth a little on matters of death and fate. Ruina still doesn’t trust Iqelis… at all, really, and offers Ea Nebel a new weapon with which to defend herself in case her father turns against her. The offer is politely declined. 

Ea Nebel takes the opportunity to change the topic: while she was in the throne room, she absorbed a fuzzy glimpse of Ao-Yurin’s last moments. She can’t figure out what exactly went on, since this isn’t Ao-Yurin’s final resting place or memorial, but she knows that the Monarch finished her off while she was alone with him. She shares what Voligan told her of her last moments with Sala, and once again suspects the Monarch of reading Machiavelli. Ruina keeps thanks her, but keeps her feelings on the matter close to her chest.

Ruina does get curious about Ea Nebel’s memory-harvesting, though, and asks her if she ever saw anything from her dark unborn twin. She did, and relays some primitive memories of limitless hunger and hatred and envy while touching Ruina’s exoskeleton, which she has been doing pretty much non-stop this whole time. 

Ruina asks why. Grief says I dunno, I just like touching stuff, and your stuff is the coolest stuff. Ruina follows up by peeling off a still-living fragment of the exoskeleton and giving it to Ea Nebel in place of her earlier offer; it settles on her hand as an ornamental(?) finger-guard. Ever the starry-eyed dork, Ea Nebel is speechless with delight. 

Ruina warns that the fragment may yet have hidden hazards or crumbs of her twin, and Grief’s living clothing also seems pointedly unhappy with it, but it all goes over her head. Ruina says that it’s probably time to go, and gets a hug as a goodbye.

A few moments after the hug begins, Ruina senses the coming of some strange divine being that marches towards the throne room, and runs off to participate in the cycle post after urging Ea Nebel to remain hidden lest she get immediately deleted by whoever or whatever (Homura) is assaulting the palace.

[/hider]