[God Quest] kickstart my heart

// and i love vermont, but it's the season of the sticks and i
saw your mom, she forgot that i existed //

He is bold to say the least. Why, you ask? Because for the first time since the war ended, Sunjata arrives to Frey’s shrine with no blindfold. Of course, anxiety rages rampantly in his gut, but based off of recent events he feels as though this is something he can do (with a little help), and it is far better to do it alone where he can come to terms with the sight of them on his own time. And perhaps, less judgement of the thin bottle in his pocket.

Needless to say, the Flood doesn’t want an audience. And it helps with the storms outside raging in clouds of swirling blacks and greys, monsoon like waves lapping against the surface he can only barely see from here. Luckily, he has the multitude of bright colors to let his grey gaze focus on, splashing through them with each step as he reaches the shrine and sets down peaches and cherries atop the shrine.

He bows his head, eyes landing somewhere at the bottom of the shrine instead of hidden away or closed, taking a moment to retrieve the silver flask from his pocket because despite how much he wants to do this on his own, he needs a bit of liquid courage if only to keep the edge of it off. One healthy swig of his favored sweet whiskey and he reaches out to place it on their shrine, unsure if Frey even drinks but deciding to add it to the list of offerings anyway. “Frey, I have finished the quest you gave me.” His accented voice rumbles into the abyss of dull roars of crashing waves and the distant cries of gulls.

---

Turning in his quest received here: come what may which should be for a healing downpour magic where it heals allies hit by it and damages enemies and based off of jata’s impossible thing leveling which we’ve talked about should bump it to upgraded :3 (oh and if they can reveal to him all of his fancy goodies that would be SUPER NEAT) THANK YOU LOVE YOU

• Practice using his magic to create a pseudo rainstorm.
  ― {Training} (SE) a bottle of dreams
  
• Use his magic while in Frey's Breath
  ― the ocean breathes salty, won't you carry it in?
  
• Experience some healing water (either someone else's magic, the Halo hot springs, or the TL one, or if we have any others...I forget).
  ― {se} drop tea leaves on the floor Torchline Fountain
  

the flood

// and it's half my fault, but i just like to play the victim //

Frey is not unaware of what Sunjata wears and what he chooses not to wear. Though the deity would have understood if the blindfold persisted, indeed if it remained in place for the rest of their interactions, there is a sudden blossoming warmth around the Flood which radiates joy as much as sexual reverie and love, heralding Frey's arrival.

"You know what I love about you, grey-eyes?" Frey wonders, appearing at first as a banana boa, slinking across the rocks. "No matter how comparatively easy your task..you always take your time and do it right." Snakes aren't known to purr nor do they have shoulders, but the deity's words are somehow still accompanied with a warm throaty sound and the rolling of their shoulders.

Curling around the Flood's ankles, the snake winds its way up his torso, wrapping around Sunjata's broad shoulders. "Tell me..how have you been feeling lately?"

Frey

// and i love vermont, but it's the season of the sticks and i
saw your mom, she forgot that i existed //

There’s the bolstering warmth of the alcohol that does little to fog his mind these days, but it’s nothing compared to the warmth that blooms around the Flood that always comes alongside Frey’s appearance. There’s a hitch in his throat, as if anticipating the first sight of his deity since his personal tragedy struck, only to find a beautiful yellow snake, slithering along the rainbow rocks. It’s a blessing in all the ways Sunjata can’t articulate, settling in as the weight of the snake winds its way around him, his hands lifting to run calloused fingers along Frey’s smooth scales, the praise bolstering the navy blue feathers that sprout along his shoulders and tattooed neck, flaring with appreciation.

“I aim to please.” Sunjata responds easily, having learned early on that it was best to take ones time and make sure the pieces were correct rather than having to redo it multiple times over and over again to get the right result.

As for how he’s feeling, there’s a soft little hum that slips from him. “Good, actually. Surprisingly so.” Considering the last few times they’d met. The reconnection with Hotaru doing wonders to his mental health as of late. “I have decided to fix up King’s End a bit more and I intend to rule it, now that it’s livable.”

the flood

// and it's half my fault, but i just like to play the victim //

"And I'm sure you've never had any complaints." The serpent agrees knowingly. Sunjata is tall enough that he can wear the boa with ease, and for the time being, Frey remains in yellow and white scales. "I am glad to hear it." Torchline's unseasonal weather rages around them, and though rain mists from the clouds overhead, it's pleasantly warm and fragrant thanks to Frey's presence.

Beginning to wind their way back down Sunjata's body, Frey parts from him and shifts as the Flood must have known they eventually would, though for the time behind they remain behind Sunjata. Taking a moment so that their demigod might feel the full effects of their humanly presence, the deity eventually stretches their arms above their head before moving to stand shoulder to shoulder, gazing outward toward the horizon.

"A funny thing has happened, while you have been attending to your grief." They comment, a smile curling at the corner of their mouth. "Of all those who have worked on becoming faster or stronger...you have managed to accomplish something that no one else has." They murmur, and if their body is a touch more curvacious when last Sunjata gazes upon them, if their hair is perhaps lighter, so be it.

"In taking your time, you have beaten them all. Surely you must have felt it"

Frey

// and i love vermont, but it's the season of the sticks and i
saw your mom, she forgot that i existed //

A soft snort slips from him in confirmation, head tilting lightly into the fragrant, warm air despite the terrible weather Torchline faces. “None that I’m aware of.” None said to his face, at the very least. But he draws silent, using the bolstering help from Frey to not let anxiety eat at his insides as he feels the snake slide down his body. He knows it’s coming, and he prepares for it, only to be infinitely more thankful as Frey allows him to take his time growing accustomed to the shift.

Of course, confusion flares instead at the words that slip from his deity’s lips, shoulder to shoulder with them, finding it in him to look over at them as the words do much to bolster any part of his brain that might focus harder on finding Nate within their appearance. Now, though, it seems they’ve shifted again, a mixture of Lusea, Nate, and Hotaru – lighter, longer hair, scars and tattoos that mimic Nate, and that same bronze complexion from Lusea that is just different enough he doesn’t feel his stomach drop back into his grief.

“I have felt… Better physically, as of late. I don’t get run down as easily, and I’ve noticed an increase in strength even though I haven’t been focusing on it.” All quiet admissions that he’d truly believed were just his mind playing tricks on him as it always had, before the scarred corner of his lip twitches up in a small amused smile. “Have I been healing more than just old wounds…?” Healing his ability to understand just how strong he is, even if he still isn’t aware of the dramatic change just yet, but simply coming to terms with the fact that he is strong and powerful.

the flood

// and it's half my fault, but i just like to play the victim //

"Mhmm." Frey agrees, nodding to encourage Sunjata to continue. The conclusion the Flood draws has the deity grinning in a way that perfectly combines all of Sunjata's loves; it's a pirate smile that's as cunning as it is flirtatious and genuine. "You should put that on a postcard." They say, eyebrows bobbing.

"It's more than all that though, isn't it?" Reaching out, they run their fingertips down Sunjata's arm. Water trickles down their palm, inviting floral patterns to blossom as lightning streaks out in heartbeat bursts from his scars. "Haven't you felt...more?" Softly, they reach for his hand and though it defies all that they are in this form, their touch is warm and bright and full of nothing but love. Tugging him toward the open waters, they look at him over their shoulder and grin crookedly.

"Let's see what you can really do, grey eyes."

Frey

// and i love vermont, but it's the season of the sticks and i
saw your mom, she forgot that i existed //

“I might.” He isn’t that arrogant these days to actually go through with the idea, but the thought is amusing all the same. It’s nothing compared to the probing that occurs as Frey reaches out, distracted as he is by the smile that greets him, a fluttering sensation in the pit of his stomach that blooms into something of bewilderment, something he’s unused to these days.

Steel eyes trail the path Frey’s fingertips take down his arm, watching the water that blooms in a floral tattoo-like pattern across his skin, the lightning scars flaring with a pale blue light as he suddenly grows overwhelmed, letting go of the walls that he’d kept himself from prodding at too much when he had felt stronger. “I…” He trails off in yet another uncharacteristic gasp of sound, tugged along as he is toward the open waters, the feathers flattening on his shoulders as he feels everything surge into him like the crashing of the waves that greet them.

He dashes with Frey, a huff of a laugh leaving him as any restraint seems to be cut free, digging deep into him to reach for those shiny and new sensations. At first, the rain that he’d tried so hard to morph into rain begins, dropping along the surface of the water with a refreshing feel, only for him to tug a little harder and watch as a moving current of water surrounds both his deity and himself, a shield of the see through liquid, glimmering in the dim overcast light of the day. It drops as he plucks another string, facing away from Frey only to watch as he creates an explosive wave, seeing it travel down, knocking over a few of the half hazard set trinkets left behind for Frey at their shrine. “Oh shit, sorry.” He laughs far freer than he has before in Caido, he thinks, turning to Frey with a surprisingly boyish grin. It takes a mere second before he feels that additional thread within him, one more familiar than the others in his years as an Attuned, and he plucks that one to shift into scaley, serpent like hydra, three heads with varying vision almost enough to spur on a headache until he gets used to it, peering down at Frey with so much adoration and love and surprise that it almost hurts.

How? He asks, incapable of stopping himself. One head lowers toward Frey, the other winding around them similarly to how they had wrapped around him not long before. And how do I make you a shrine in King’s End? He asks with another, soft mental laugh, anything to thank the god he curls around.

the flood

// and it's half my fault, but i just like to play the victim //

Tilting their head back to admire the shield stretching out to block the wind from howling around them, Frey is equally as pleased to watch the Flood drop the barrier in order to send out an energetic percussive wave. Despite the power in it, the deity is unmoved as one might expect, though as the trinkets are knocked off their shrine, they frown somewhat before shrugging. "I prefer this." They say encouragingly, before stepping back that Sunjata might really get a feel for what he could do.

"How?" Frey repeats, gazing up at the three-headed monstrosity towering above them. "Because you've earned it, Sunjata. You. Not Ronin, not Remi, not Noah, or even Phoebe. You have earned this." Whatever the others might try and hold over his head, whatever past indiscretions they might want to dig up, this was something none could take from him. Sunjata was the first.

"I suppose if you're going to rule there a shrine isn't such a bad thing...." They say thoughtfully; not normally one to bother with such things, given the work Sunjata had put into growing the land into something habitable, the deity was more than happy to oblige.

---

To build a Frey Shrine Sunjata must

Decide where it will go and
1. Consecrate the ground in a way Sex Frey would approve of
2. Consecrate the ground in a way Nature Frey would approve of
3. Gather earth, wind, fire, and water from the four quadrants of Caido
4. In a PQ, build the shrine however you'd like incorporating the 4 elements.

Frey

// and i love vermont, but it's the season of the sticks and i
saw your mom, she forgot that i existed //

Encouragement is all that the Flood finds he needs – while also subconsciously feeling as though he’s lived up to his namesake in a traditional sense. The hydra focuses on of its heads on his deity, meeting their gaze head on – noticing one eye is grey while the other is the stark vibrant blue of Nate’s – and feels a heartbreaking sentimentality bloom in the wake of the words Frey says. All this time he’s been working on himself, trying to better himself, trying to be who he wanted to be.

And here he is, like another figurative rebirth. Gone is the pain and the worry, the feeling of atonement. In its place sits pride, understanding, comfort. So much so that he draws closer to Frey, shifting into his own scaled snake to wind around their broad shoulders, boldly. Thank you, Frey... Thank you. His accented voice rumbles through the bond toward them, embracing with it every sense of pride and wonder, happiness so strong it’s like a stream of sunlight through the otherwise dull Torchline weather.

I can certainly do that. He hums as the quest requirements are said, as all the wonder starts to meld into himself, as he starts to feel free of his past for the first time… Well, ever. It tempers him, a comfort that he hadn't known he'd needed until it was here. Like getting a rotting piece cut out and feeling infinitely better for it.

the flood

// and it's half my fault, but i just like to play the victim //

"There's no need for a demonstration of it, but a rather fitting benefit of your new body is its ability to be struck down and return with twice the strength." Hydras were terrifying in that way, but the similarity to Sunjata's past few years felt like the sort of thing worth noting. "Just when they think they've got you, bang, you come right back." Grinning proudly, Frey extends their arms and spreads their feet slightly to better ground themselves amidst the rainbow stones and splashing waves for Sunjata to climb at his leisure.

"You're welcome gray-eyes. I trust you'll make the most of all of this, mmm?" They raise their eyebrows as a pulse of warmth which has nothing to do with heat, flows outward. Sunjata had ever been creative with his abilities before, and Frey had absolutely no doubt that the Flood would continue to do so.

"Oh, and you're also immortal now. Just don't drown." They grin, raising a shoulder to give the serpent a suggestive shake. Of all the immortality clauses, this was perhaps the most iron-clad given Sunjata's abilities.

Chuckling under their breath, Frey moves back toward the water's edge and sits down with their legs extended into the sea and their back upon a flat rock. Even in his current form, Sunjata will feel the sensual touch of the waves as they lap up the god's thighs and between their legs. Humming contentedly, Frey closes their eyes and stretches their arms wide to either side of their body, gripping the earth as the waves continue to move against them.

Frey

// and i love vermont, but it's the season of the sticks and i
saw your mom, she forgot that i existed //

The information over the new shift is gladly taken, as each of the heads of the hydra offer as close to a smile as they can – ending up a bit more like baring teeth, but the intention is there with the feeling along the Attuned bond. It feels almost unstoppable, wondering what it might be like to see through double the amount of heads situated on his shoulders than he is right now. But it’s both dizzying and electrifying, something to test later when his emotions perhaps aren’t so full, easily shifting to the snake to curl about Frey’s shoulders instead.

Of course I will. He answers easily, settling in comfortably – at least until the immortality is mentioned, something he wasn’t sure he wanted, but one he can’t fault Frey from giving. At least the caveat is a simple one to both avoid and accomplish, if the need ever arose (a thought he hopes he never has to have again, but that ends up being like a broken record given the trajectory of his life).

Regardless, it’s good to know, and something that he’ll need to figure out how to break to Hotaru. A thought that comes later as he settles into the water with Frey, lapping up the touch of the waves, eventually shifting back to himself to enjoy it to the fullest along the multicolored rocks.

FIN <333

the flood

// and it's half my fault, but i just like to play the victim //