[God Quest] Burn like gasoline

JUDE

you're like the sun, you wake me up

It's painfully ironic that his last day in Torchline is when he's finally finished his quest for Safrin. Sitting on the edge of the foundation of the shrine in the center of the lighthouse, Jude looks out through the glass to the ocean that stretches out seemingly endlessly.

"I did as you asked, Safrin. I learned...so much." Had she meant for that to happen? Could she have known the importance of the lessons she'd laid out before him? Looking down, Jude thumbs at the soft petal of one of the many roses he'd brought in offering - snowy white, as close to the moon and stars as he could manage. Their scent is already slowly filling the small space. "I'm leaving Torchline today. I thought for a few days that it means I'm failing it, or failing you. Like my parents did." Weighted judgement that only a scorned child can lay with such certainty.

Gently laying the flowers on the shrine, Jude's fingers skim over the navy blue ribbon that holds them clustered together. "But...well, it's silly to think you're only a goddess in Torchline, right? And I can be yours anywhere I go." He manages a tiny smile. This is the only thing that feels certain to him these days. "I think that matters more. To be loyal and faithful to my herald instead of just a leader, or a region." Jude doesn't believe the promises of man anymore - there is no faith left for anyone but her. Jude has to believe that kind of devotion is more meaningful, and that not running away when he may displease her is the only way to prove it to himself. To them both. "Do you agree?" I can't lose you too.

- - -

Jude is turning in his quest! Obtained here: Fall back to you

1. Use his words to help
- Speak until you’re heard - Compliments and praises Edmund to absolve him of guilt over previous absences/encourage him to “settle down” (be archived/become Support Char)

2. Use his words to hurt
- A sentimental noose - Insults Koa and is a general shitlord to try and get Koa to fuck off (and fails)

3. Use a lie to help
- All the stars have fallen asleep - Lies that he wants Hadama to accompany him back to mainland to give him a mental and physical break from patrolling and fretting, though Jude doesn’t want to remain with him or socialize

4. Complete a thread with someone else where he doesn't speak to understand the value of having a voice.
- Bite my Tongue, Bide my Time - Remains mute when encountering someone injured and realizes the importance of his voice in aiding others, and a lesson in selfishness for not speaking despite that

but you drain me out if I get too much

Safrin

Rather than appearing in a garish display of star shine and midnight winds scented with lavender, instead as the goddess steps into the corporeal world, she does so already knelt down, her arms winding around Jude's shoulders to draw him against her. "Of course I do." Safrin whispers into Jude's soft curls. Though she has it in her power to appear and feel as divine and supernatural as she wishes, for all her glamour and beauty, against Jude she'll feel wholly real and present.

Smoothing her fingers through his hair before letting her palms slide toward his cheeks in order to lift his face to hers. "My sweet boy." Whatever her thoughts regarding his parents—Harper the Desserter and Phoebe the NightenGhost—to have him forced to be without both so early in his young life had her galactic gaze softening with sadness.

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

JUDE

you're like the sun, you wake me up

Jude sinks into her arms like a stone before he can understand the truth of her arrival. He met her so late in life, too late, but she is grander in his mind than life and death combined. Countless whispered stories and distant, awed expressions from Harper and Maeve had brought him to her side long before his legs brought him here for the first time. But what is she to him now? And he to her?

Her celestial existence and demand for loyalty is a cruel array of perfection. He wants her to cradle him like this forever, maternal but incapable of dying or vanishing. He wants to find her traits in the world around him, so that lovers will never stray and friends will never break their promises. But he can’t trust them even if such virtuous people existed. Because they are cursed to be human. 

She is eternal. She is safe.

Her hands are a temperature he can’t describe as they tilt his face upward, and his eyes sting with tears the moment they meet hers. He is shameful and flawed and has nothing to offer her - but she calls him her sweet boy anyway. “Always,” his voice cracks as if he’s far younger than he is, cut open and pinned like a framed butterfly, hurting all over with the weight of her murmured comfort. 

“Give me a name,” he begs her, something as tangible as smoke and distant stars that will settle as a comforting lie of her favor across his shoulders. “I don’t want to be theirs anymore. I don’t want Quinn, or Steadman or Ansel.” Jude shouldn’t ask her for more than he’d quested for, but he wants to pretend he can be hers in a way more meaningful than devotion. “Let me start over.” He has nothing to offer her that her chosen can’t fulfill, but perhaps he can atone for the shame of his family line by starting a new one. A truly faithful one.

but you drain me out if I get too much

Safrin

"My sweet, sweet boy." She whispers gently, arms wrapping snuggly around him. Though her size remains fixed, the way she feels will begin to grow around Jude, as if her presence is such that it can fill every corner of the room so that in the end there is only the two of them.

Gazing down at him, Safrin's head tilts softly to the side, her galactic stare taking in the boy's haunted eyes, the faded spray of freckles, the tears beginning to shine beneath wonderfully long eyelashes. His request has the goddess humming thoughtfully even as her fingers continue to smooth through his curls, her thumbs pulsing softly on his temples.

"A name." She repeats, before a fond smile parts her perfectly painted lips. "A name will not tell you who you are, that I leave to you. As with Phoebe, and Maeve and Harper, this name will bind you to me. It will tell others what you are." A boy watched over by the stars. Always.

"Jude Astrovir. My sweet boy."

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

JUDE

you're like the sun, you wake me up

She is as infinite as her skies, and Jude stares into the echoes of it swirling in her eyes like an astronomer doomed to love what they can't touch. So to feel her hands and spirit in such an encompassing way is as close to divinity as humans must be able to get.

The thumbs at his temples are as weighted as a blade descending on both shoulders, anointing him tenderly. Just like that he can breathe again - the first time in years. "Thank you." It's guttural with pious fervor, nearly animal. His hands rise to lightly touch the backs of her wrists as if it might somehow let her feel the gravity of his gratitude.

Faint freckles gleam like inverted shadows of her stars beneath the shine of forgotten tears. Jude hesitantly draws one of her hands down his cheek, then the line of his neck, to where his pulse flutters in the hollow of his throat. Where he will wear her necklace soon, though it's utterly forgotten in this moment. The organ beneath that frail defense of bone is hers and hers alone now. "Mortal promises aren't worth anything," he disparages, starlight filling the holes of his weak spine, "so I won't make one. I'll show you instead." He'll commit anew to it every day as proof of his willingness. A choice made with every cycle of the moon, a daily renewal of vows. "If...if it's safe to call you down there." The insecurity returns the moment he blinks, though a part of him revels at the idea of doing so if only to reinforce to the Family on their own territory how they'd failed to kill his goddess.

but you drain me out if I get too much

Safrin

Safrin's eyes, filled with galaxies, softened as she gazed at him. She let her hand linger against his cheek, her thumb brushing gently over his skin. "Oh, my darling Jude," she whispered, her voice a gentle melody that seemed to fill the small space, resonating with the very air. "You need never fear for me. I am the stars above, the light that touches every shore. There is no place in this world where I cannot go."

Her smile, tender and knowing, curled her lips as she continued, "And I would not fear to walk into darkness if it meant you were there, calling me. My light is meant to shine, even in the shadows." Her fingers trailed down, brushing against the pulse at his throat, where the new name she had given him seemed to thrum with his heartbeat.

She glanced at Jude's empty hands, her gaze deepening as she spoke. With a soft hum, she lifted her other hand, and slowly, a necklace began to form in her palm. The chain was delicate, like woven threads of starlight, and at its center hung a pendant made of black glass, its surface smooth and glinting with an almost imperceptible light, like the cosmos held within. She placed it in his hand, her touch lingering over his fingers.

"This necklace will be our bond, Jude Astrovir. A Sonic Star," she said, her voice resonating with power. "Wherever you are, whatever dangers may surround you, with this I will always hear you." As would everyone else. The black glass would feel cool to the touch to everyone except for Jude, who would feel the warmth of her essence within it. Her eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint, and she added,

Leaning forward, she pressed her lips softly against his forehead once more, her kiss lingering as if to seal her promise. "You are mine, Jude. And I will protect what is mine. Always."

Drawing back, she gave him a smile full of warmth and starlight. "Now, go. Show the world who you are. Show them what it means to be mine." Her presence seemed to pulse, the air thick with her power, before slowly, the light that was her form began to fade. The warmth of her embrace lingered, and the cold weight of the necklace in his palm felt almost alive, thrumming with her energy, a reminder that she was never far.

And then, she was gone, leaving only the dim glow of the roses, their petals still shimmering faintly with the light of the stars.

---

Jude has received

Sonic Star | A necklace of black glass that allows the user to emit a sonic scream targeted at one individual within a 10ft radius. On a successful hit the opponent receives disadvantage on their next attack.

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

JUDE

you're like the sun, you wake me up

Every vowel is a thread of steel winding between frayed edges, every consonant a nova of faith so intense it burns away the rot and taint of terror and inadequacy festering inside. As dark as the stone she places in his palm, as if it has been collected and encased forever; a testament of both her power and this pivotal moment. Warm and heavy in his hand, he can scarcely look upon it. Every millisecond, any fraction of time so infinitesimal it cannot be equated, is too long to look away from her.

Her lips are warm against his brow, shaking a fractured exhale from his chest the moment she anoints him with her love in such a way. He cannot hold her any longer than she desires to be held, but her words are an earthquake that shake aftershocks through his marrow even after she has departed. Words could not have held enough meaning to have spoken them in the moment, but there is no regret to have been silent and awed as she shaped him anew with every word she saw fit to bestow.

No, no regret at all. Because the stone is heavy and alive between his fingers, and even her absence feels weighted and holy; there is no place she cannot go, and she will always hear him. So he presses the stone to his lips before he moves to wear it, lips curled in the brightest, easiest smile he's worn in years as he replies, "I will. For you, I will."

- Fin

but you drain me out if I get too much