[SE] mud-ify your expectations

I didn't come here to make friends
We were born to be suburban legends

For someone who has spent very little time outside of Stormbreak, Aithne has made herself right at home in King's End.

It's not a place she can see herself settling down. After all, there's not much here. There's that Wrenzoak Refuge place, but it's strange there, where magic and shifts don't work. The House of Midnight sounds nice enough - in fact, it's where she's headed now - but everything else just seems boring and quaint. And, at this particular juncture, covered in mud. Memory mud, to be exact.

Grumbling audibly to herself, Aithne skirts a patch of mud, giving the stuff a wide berth. It doesn't seem dangerous, really, but it is annoying, and her clothes are dirty enough from all of her travel without adding to it. But just as she moves away from one puddle, another takes its place, and she steps right into the creature (?) or substance (?) or however one would classify the murk and grime.

Aithne swears loudly and unapologetically, earning more than a few scandalized stares. She just wants to explore. She doesn't want to turn into a mud monster.

When you hold me, it holds me together
And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever

Aithne

Melita

yes, yes, I am wild
I am the wind that makes breathing hard

Figuring she’d have a chance to stop by and pester Sunjata for something, the demigod snorted when she’d rounded yet another corner and found, you guessed it, more mud. Persistent little bitches, she’d give it credit for that, but all in all, an irritating thing to witness over and over again. She had half a thought to make them all multiple levels of target practice. Could be a good way to utilize and strive for some precision and accuracy.

While mulling this over though, she could hear muttering in the distance - someone else was nearby, swearing up and down, and the Honeybee glanced over to find she recognized the girl. From the duck duck goose game ages ago, some Ancient’s name she didn’t recall. “Hey,” she waved, already grabbing hold of her staff, and rushing it downwards to hit at a pocket of muck near her feet . It groaned, then burst into more fragments, so that she rolled her eyes, then beat it again for good measure. “You all right?” she called back out, after flicking the grime off her weapon.

I am the ocean and the battered shore
I will be the passion of thunder, a howl of fury

I didn't come here to make friends
We were born to be suburban legends

A voice calls out, and Aithne glances up. The redhead who approaches carries a staff and looks familiar - they fought a Void creature together once, Aithne thinks, and then the woman ran the duck duck goose game that Aithne had dragged Soren to. The girl grimaces as the redhead smacks at the mud with her staff, rolling her eyes as the creature-substance rolls off to pester someone else. "Annoyed, but otherwise fine," she says, disgust dripping from her voice. "Thanks."

She watches the mud as it squirms, then dismisses it entirely. "You're, uhhhh - Melita, right?" she says, tilting her head to one side. Her horns catch the dim light, glittering faintly in the gloom. "That duck, duck, goose game was fun. You do shit like that often?" A new puddle of muck creeps closer, and Aithne stomps her boot at it, though the motion does little to dissuade it from coming closer.

When you hold me, it holds me together
And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever

Aithne

Melita

yes, yes, I am wild
I am the wind that makes breathing hard

She nodded at the acceptance of nothing, shrugging it off as she went to pester the next round of mud down the street. Skipping over, she alternated in thought between trying another magical proportion, or continue beating the shit out of it. The decision pulsed through her as the water incantations flew unbidden through the wild magic, dousing the next grime creature over and decimating it into tiny, fractured pieces and droplets.

Pretending like that was a normal thing to do, she glanced back as the younger Ancient continued to address her. “Oh, yeah. Aithne?” Her brows furrowed, hoping she recalled correctly through the maelstrom and chaos. “I do! Well, Ludo stuff. I didn’t do much during Deepfrost except for snowball fights.” Maybe they could do mud sledding or racing or fights though, which would be kinda hilarious and stupid.

I am the ocean and the battered shore
I will be the passion of thunder, a howl of fury

I didn't come here to make friends
We were born to be suburban legends

Aithne follows lightly as Melita continues on to the next puddle. Suddenly, water doused the mud, sending it slipping this way and that in fractured pieces, startling a snort of glee from the Ancient. Pleased that Melita seems to remember her, the girl flicks her tail with annoyance as she finds herself the unwitting captive of still more mud. Kicking at the puddle, she delights when the mud almost seems to make a screeching, keening sort of noise and rolls out of her way - though it doesn't stay there for long, already seeking its next victim.

Snowball fights do not sound like Aithne's idea of fun, and she wrinkles her nose at the thought of all that wet cold against her skin. It was one thing when she was an Accepted up in Stormbreak, but these days... not so much. "Ludo stuff, huh?" she muses as she walks along a thin line of dry ground. "Sounds like fun. Got anything planned this season?" A mud fight could be amusing, if messy, particularly given that the memory mud seems to have a mind of its own.

When you hold me, it holds me together
And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever

Aithne

Melita

yes, yes, I am wild
I am the wind that makes breathing hard

Melita hummed while she worked on her destruction, alternating between magic and her staff; bruising and beating the mud into submission when it threatened to come anywhere near her feet. Each one seemed to be a poor, slow learner though, so it looked a bit like a version of whack-a-mole as mud burst and skyrocketed in multiple directions while her weapon angled downward on muscled and honed demolition.

She could hear the other musing though, and the question was quite a spark to the demigod’s mind – grin forming again as she glanced back over her shoulder. “Welllll, I was thinking Flowerbirth themed, y’know, so,” she paused momentarily to swing at some grime stuck on a rock, watching as it peeled away, slipped, and disappeared. “There could always be a scavenger hunt,” themed either impossible or very Ludo oriented bullshit, “or a tag variant, orrrrr an egg toss!” But then, there was always Ghost in the Graveyard…and she supposed they could easily do that in King’s End…

I am the ocean and the battered shore
I will be the passion of thunder, a howl of fury

I didn't come here to make friends
We were born to be suburban legends

Magic and mayhem seems to follow the redhead as she skips along, demolishing any of the mud in her way. Aithne follows along, slinking with a catlike grace between mud puddles. Every once in a while, she pauses to toe at some of the muck and mire, but when it attempts to climb into her boots, she hurriedly shakes it off and goes on her way.

Laughing gleefully at Melita's musings (it occurs to Aithne that she could easily have followed Ludo, if she hadn't been drawn to Dygra), the girl hops onto a nearby bench, stretching her arms out to either side as she walks down it like a tightrope, tail flicking behind her. "I was gonna say water balloons, but an egg toss sounds more fun," she commented. Messier, perhaps, but what's life without a little mess?

Aithne hops down from her bench. "Well, whatever you do, sign me up!" she says. A little chaos never hurt anyone, after all, and Mel's particular brand of chaotic calls to Aithne.

When you hold me, it holds me together
And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever

Aithne

Melita

yes, yes, I am wild
I am the wind that makes breathing hard

She took half a moment to consider the options, resting the staff on her shoulder as she kicked at one particular mud blob and sent it flying. It skittered over the edge of someone’s stoop before inevitably falling apart, and she tapped her chin, pondering over the circumstances. “I’ve done water balloons before,” she mentioned, but didn’t clarify where - some Karen in Stormbreak probably still held a grudge over her, and several others’ efforts, to unleash chaos in the plaza. “Gotta change it up every so often, y’know,” like it was an ordinary circumstance. Maybe an egg toss in combination with ghost in the graveyard…could egg the people found? She’d work on it.

But she gave another grin at Aithne’s readiness for more chaos – something they should all adhere too, honestly. “I’ll let you know! Do you live around here?” pointing to the variety of houses all in a row, in case she should have to send letters and messages to get ahold of the girl.

I am the ocean and the battered shore
I will be the passion of thunder, a howl of fury

I didn't come here to make friends
We were born to be suburban legends

Had Melita mentioned Stormbreak, it might have had one of two effects: it would either have soured Aithne's mood to think of home, or driven her to further admiration to think of Melita wreaking havoc on her former home. But given the demigod's silence on the matter, Aithne merely continues to walk alongside, hopping and skipping over and between mud puddles.

"Not yet," she says, eyeing the houses nearby with a critical eye. "I'm working on it, though." Having decided to stay in the Grounds for now, she's been saving up to purchase a home in the area. Of course, having a house is one thing, and decorating it to her standards is another. Something else she's working on. "But I'm staying in the Temple for now." She can usually be found here or in the Climb, unless some errant thought takes her wandering, which does happen from time to time.

When you hold me, it holds me together
And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever

Aithne

Melita

yes, yes, I am wild
I am the wind that makes breathing hard

Wielding her staff in a sudden maelstrom, due to a portion of the maneuvering grime nearing her feet, she beat it into submission with nothing more than the swift mannerism. It burst at the seams and flickered in all directions, then she happily hummed, vigilant for her favored violence. She didn’t give the houses much of a glance to be honest, quite content with her own and the random back and forth she and Iskra had been making depending on the season – all whim and caprice. “Ohhhh the Grounds, gotcha.” She wrinkled her nose, but only because of the circumstances long, long ago – difficult to ever really set back into place, even if Danta and his crew had taken over, changed it into something else.

Made sense, given she was Ancient. Maybe there were limitations the Honeybee had never thought of or considered; more focused on the opportunities presented to her in bedlam and chaos. Pondering, she eventually turned her head over her shoulder, glancing at the girl. “So what brought you over here then?”

I am the ocean and the battered shore
I will be the passion of thunder, a howl of fury

I didn't come here to make friends
We were born to be suburban legends

Not me forgetting where we were, oops.

Aithne's attention is focused on some moving speck in the distance, so she misses the wrinkling of Mel's nose that might betray some dislike of the Grounds and, therefore, draw out more questions. "Mmhmm," she hums noncommittally, not turning her attention back to the demigod until she'd determined that the movement belonged to some bird or other taking flight.

Then she shrugs, all casual-like, dark eyes the only thing about her countenance that betrays the depths of her wanderlust. "Just exploring," she says. "I may want to settle in the Grounds, but that doesn't mean I never want to leave, you know?" Growing up with restrictive parents and a more restrictive lifestyle will do that do you, she supposes. "So I just sort of hop on a skyship every now and then and end up wherever the wind takes us. Except Halo - gotta stay away from the cold, you know."

When you hold me, it holds me together
And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever

Aithne

Melita

yes, yes, I am wild
I am the wind that makes breathing hard

Kicking at a few rocks and watching them fumble down the street lane, she listened, not so much quiet but clear indications she was striving regardless. Exploring was an understandable feat; they’d all done so the moment the barrier had come down, going and maneuvering outward as fast as they could. The ones that stayed and strayed behind mostly revolved around the Ascended, making their own world, a crucial habitat and humanity for their shared interests. Then there’d been the war.

So nowadays, the fact that there were so many options meant others could come and go as they pleased. “Cool. Sounds like a good plan.” She grinned, eyes pinpointing in the direction of various regions, going back and forth. “You’d probably like Torchline. Pretty good, sunny weather most of the time.” Not to deter or sway her from anywhere in particular, but the option and notions were there. “Any place you’ve liked over others?”

I am the ocean and the battered shore
I will be the passion of thunder, a howl of fury

I didn't come here to make friends
We were born to be suburban legends

Aithne wanders alongside, roaming this way and that as she finds her own rocks to kick or hop over or inspect. Some of the prettier ones inevitably make their way into her pockets. All the while, the girl avoids the mud like the plague, loathe to get involved with the sticky substance any more than she has to.

"Oh, Torchline's nice," she says with a shrug. "All warm, and the people are so free, you know?" If there were more Ancients around, perhaps she'd have chosen the sunny region to settle in rather than the Grounds, but the Grounds had been so clearly demarcated as Ancient land now that there seemed to be no option for Aithne but to go there. "The Climb's my favorite, but that's probably cliche for an Ancient," she admits, though her tone implies that she cares not in the slightest.

It's nice, this camaraderie, and Aithne enjoys it for as long as Melita lingers. And when they inevitably part, it's with a spring in her step that Aithne goes back to exploring.

fin

When you hold me, it holds me together
And you kiss me in a way that's gonna screw me up forever

Aithne