Gentle things

[Lovely]

July 8, 2006
1pm
Forest outside of Telus

Lily was still freshly returned to the newly restored world, her memories jumbled and confusing at times as her old ones overlapped with new ones and now and then she had memories she was certain did not belong to her. Things were sorting themselves out more and more, settling between what was before and what was now. She was aware of what had transpired and so for her it was easier to sort the memories into proper placement, though the emotions had not been wiped away.. it had only been two weeks since her 'rebirth'. With a sigh she moved about the forest, visiting and tending to her flock - all the living things that had been in her care before her demise and the destruction.. the ripple. Some were gone now lost to the shifts and others were new, the keeper lovingly watched over them all. Her petite form moved quietly like a whisper, a tiny breeze following her and lifting her light slip of a skirt. The thin nearly sheer material was all that she required to cover her, she was fae after all.

The surge of the ripple had caught him in it, but he did not succumb. Saved in his full, true nature, though tossed and tumbled into confusion with his thoughts and memories, Raziel... keeper of Vengeance... found himself again unexpectedly within the realms of man. Rather, lost within it, trying to remember his ways home before too much more time passed. Each day here was a seeming eternity at the palace and he did remember his queen was waiting. His queen? He'd done as he was asked, returned the Faerie waif to her far-too-green glade as Alkonost has commanded and had been home, but he was here again now... for what purpose? He sniffed the air, smelling things that reminded him of... something... at first too sweet to tolerate, then something else enticing. Fitting he should have her find him, now - lost and wandering in a daze. He'd returned... here... why? Razi smelled the air again. "Someone with a compassionate nature... keen on making others feel better... unity of spirit and all that vomity goodness..," Razi confessed to the air with a sigh. "My brother... damn him. Oh wait, I can't," he laughed, the tremor of it shaking a few branches in his wake.

She came slipping through the branches of a thick patch of bushes and stepped into the over grown path before him. A small rabbit held in her hands, which she set down and watched it hop off before turning her attention to the dark one. His pressence had drawn her to find him, wandering and lost in her forest. "Should Lily be afraid of Raziel's brother?" She asked, looking around to see if something similar to Raziel lurked close by, despite his description to the contrary.

The voice, though it rumbled the stones, held an airy song-like quality, slick and quiet. "Let us see.. Hmm, only at the dinner table if we're both there... other than that...?" The large horned man shrugged, pulling his one great wing back to lay flat from his shoulder. "He's cruelty free and reeks of the pungent aroma of 'kindness'. I should rather think you would enjoy his company."

She couldn't help watching him in his darkly handsome stance, biing her lip softly and wishing she did not feel the way she did in regards to him, she spoke in her softly sweet tone. "Will we be having dinner together often?" Her smile peaked out a little for him, she remembered him as not always the vicious creature he so often appeared as. "Is Raziel's brother.. lost? Should Lily seek him?"

"He doesn't care for my method of preparation, so i shouldn't think so. All living creatures earn his sympathy... ooooo... isn't that so noble? I could retch.. and although I've demanded that he make himself so, he is not 'lost' as far as his person... not as much as I'd like. He's here... again... found, I'm afraid, but if you keep him away from me... I might almost be... 'happy'."

"Why would Lily do this for you? Keep him away from you?" She looked up at his form, which towered over her slender delicate looking one.

"Consider him a present... from me to you. In exchange for your service, I shant eat you.. though I may desire a little taste. He is my opposite, you'll know him when he appears. Find those you guard, little nymph... and you'll find him keeping them warm, waiting for you."

She regarded him curiously, she did not understand what he meant by a taste and was certain whatever it meant could not be pleasant. "You are a strange creature Raziel.. a mystery to me.. and I am sure I am happy not to understand you." She stepped back on bare feet that barely brushed the ground. "I shall take my leave of you now." Lily bowed slightly and blew a soft kiss in his direction, like a tiny sparkle it 'sailed' towards him and she turned to venture deeper into the forest.

The fairy fire she blew toward him was swept up in his palm as his one dark wing rose and shifted a strong, chilling gust along the path she took and his tail flailed to grapple her. "You shall not... not yet," he cautioned, moving after her.

Her gaze swung back towards him as her form twisted, knocked by the gust of wind and then the tail which moved as if to grab at her. "What is this?" She asked him. "Why do you keep me from leaving?"

[Lovely]

"This...," he crumbled the fairy fire as dust from his palm. "Does not saite me. I have a thirst, nymph. Quench it."

"I am certain I don't know how.. and that.." She pointed to the sparkle of dust that he showed her. "..is all I have to give you." Her eyes shifted up his chest to his face, a growing unease settling about her.

It was more than that that he took, however, his form being larger than Fae and larger than human still. He was a creature borne of the very darkness of Gods and the sullied desires of men, a Nephilim, fallen to govern here with quaking tremors of anger and madness that drove the murderous senses, sending the creatures here to do unspeakable acts. His hunger for such vile activities was well saited when he left her alone in her clearing, the promised interaction of another sort putting him off. He found the approaching scent as distasteful as the wretched and broken fairy he now abandoned. "Well now, that's just perfect," he grimaced as his tow-headed 'twin' came nearer. Taking his leave, one disgusted Razi called back through a tremor in the earth. "Are you certain that's not the keeper of the Lust, small one?"

It was much like it had been in her memories of the first time he'd found her -though for him this was his first 'taste' of her. He did not seem to recall the first or the times after that but he certainly claimed his pleasure as if she were his to do so with. Raziel also did not seem to remember his claims and promises of love for her, he was brutal, rough, and cold in taking his pleasure from her. Leaving her torn and broken, hurting as she curled and healed herself he departed. She heard his call as she pulled herself together, mending what he'd ripped. Strangely she couldn't help smiling a bit and shruging as she whispered back "lust makes many lose themselves.. does it not?"

"A fair voice that speaks to itself. It's a pleasant surprise in a not so pleasant wood, m'lady," spoke a softer, gentler voice. Much as the tone of Raziel, it carried over the earth and leaves, more with the sound of rain than Raziel's thunder. "Are you here alone?"

Her head lifted in wonder and she worried for a moment that Raziel was playing tricks with her. "It appears I am.. or rather now I am not.. and I assure you, this wood is pleasant.. though some of it's visitors are far from that."

"And more fair still that she speaks honestly and openly to one she has never met. I can be on my way if I intrude. It has been a long time since I have come this way... it is not what I remember."

"I am not one for the tricks and riddles that some prefer." She smiled softly, brushing her fingers over the leaves of a branch near to her. "It is not what I remember either.. You are welcome -always welcome where I am- "

The branch was not what it seemed, but the edge of a cloak that shifted as he turned and stood before her. He was a fair man with Raziel's features, yet his hair was lighter than Lily's, cascading over his shoulders and fading into the moonlight that seemed to cling to him like water. He stood no taller than a man, though a tall man and gaunt, drawn, yet pleasant as he was in manner and voice. "Your invitation finds me well, m'lady. I offer you the same should you travel through my lands someday. I was told I would find one here, but not told how fair and lovely.... what is your name?"

She took him in as he turned and 'appeared' so close to her. Her eyes showing the startle and recognition, followed by confusion as she studied him -So like Raziel yet so different. For a moment a glimmer of fear crossed her sweet face as she half expected it to be Razi and for him to pounce upon her. Despite all of that her eyes held an amazing warmth and compassion. "I am called Lily." She gave him her name as a soft melody whispered into a breeze that drifted warmly past him.

[Lovely]

"I've scared you. I am sorry for that," he said, reaching to calm her with a fluttering touch, shifting the wisps from her eyes. "I've known no name here that's been spoken in thousands of years, but its meaning, as close to what you speak, means Solace. Might I give you such grace if it were needed, yet that light you already hold, Lily. This is your land and I am your guest. I thank you for your welcome."

She gave a slight nod of her head. "It is not you that frightens me.. but someone with features much like yous.. only very dark. I apologise for such a mistake to think for a moment you are something which you are not." The wind stirred around them, a gentle caress and warmer greeting being offered. "It is not my land.. it does not belong to me.. rather I belong to it."

He chuckled and shook his head, his smile revealing a lighter man still. "Raziel... No, we are far from the same, though we are well known to each other. We are cousins and I understand now why you fear. He doesn't care for me any more than I care for him. Your apologies are not needed."

She found his smile quite pleasing and it tugged a brighter one from her for a moment. Her head shook and her eyes lowered when she spoke again. "I am afraid the apology is very needed.. for thinking you would do as he had.. such terrible things." She shook her head, sighing out a soft breeze. "He has been known to visit this area.. frequently.. and though it seems we have come to some understanding, I can not assume he would not play such games or find delight in forcing his sort of pleasure.. Forgive me for mistaking you for such a creature, even if he is cousin to you."

He appeared disturbed by her words and the image planted of what his cousin had done in seeking such delight. "What sort of understanding does cruelty and vengeance know, I wonder. The apology should rather fall on him for forcing any to suffer what games he prefers. Perhaps there is some grace yet I may hold for you for having been so pained."

"The understanding of one who keeps the lost." She murmured softly, wondering if Raziel even realized how close they were. Thoese who knew or sought him, were often the same lost souls she guided or protected, how easy was it to get lost upon a path of cruelty and vengence? Lily motioned to herself, with a gentle motion. "I heal from his cruelty.. probably far better than some of the creatures who have had the misfortune of crossing his path."

"While that is a relief, there are others whose call went unheard, those I could not hear beneath his roar," he sighed.

"You can not answer every call.. sometimes they come too many at once.. and other times they are so soft beneath a roar like his.." Her own voice was soft as she reassured him, though a part of her had wished that someone would have heard and stopped Razi, or tended to her when he'd left her a torn heap on the forest floor when finished with her. This most recent meeting had been mild when compared to others.

He shook his head. "It's this place, the things that feed here. My passage here is narrow and not oft enough for the calls to reach beyond it or him, even those who cry loud. Though I've been called here now by at least one voice," he grinned gently.