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+---- Thread: pop cult crucifixion (/showthread.php?tid=12523)
pop cult crucifixion - Warringkingdoms - 08-18-2020
/tl;dr at the end
/tw: allusion to strangling in paragraph 20
A cup of tea sat on the table, its origins unknown.
Rin stared down at the tea, watching her reflection in the dull gray depths. The reflection gazed back, stoic, blank even. The steam typical of freshly-made tea had long since dissipated, leaving the room uncomfortably warm.
“You’re stalling.”
Rin turned her head and fixed a glare on the Skyborne. “I’m not the one who put everyone in this mess,” she replied, furrowing her brows.
The Skyborne flicked their tail, a smirk crossing their face. “You haven’t even considered the option of sacrifice?”
“I could never.” Rin shook her head and turned away from them, starting to walk away. Did they really think she was so callous as to trade one life for another? Did they really think she hadn’t learned?
She heard the flapping of wings, followed by the Skyborne weaving around her. “Do you really believe that?” they asked, leaning in until their snout was inches away from her muzzle. “Do you even know what you are?”
Focusing on the far wall, Rin teleported out of the Skyborne’s circling pattern- only to find them right in front of her when she appeared. Gritting her teeth, she snapped, “It doesn’t matter. You’re wasting your time.”
Looming over her, they bared their fangs in a grin that made her fur instinctively bristle. Tapping their claws against the floor, they asked casually, “Just out of curiosity... do you believe that Playerone is a goddess?”
Rin remained silent, though the question echoed through her mind, searching for an answer. Depends on how you define goddess, but does it matter? This has nothing to do with Playerone.
Seemingly taking her silence as confirmation, the Skyborne leaned back slightly, inspecting one forelimb. “You don’t really believe she is, do you?” With a low chuckle, they commented, “Sure, she’s powerful, but you wouldn’t worship her… no one would, really. She doesn’t have any influence. Generations in the future, they won’t remember her.”
And they accuse me of stalling? “You’re full of it,” Rin growled, baring her teeth back. This god had the nerve to act like Play would be forgotten, when they themselves would fade from history within the next few months... the moment they were slain, Elysium would have no further need to recall them. “Of course she has influence- of course they’ll remember her, what are you-”
“I think they’ll remember you,” they interrupted, leaning down to her level and meeting her gaze directly. “They’ll remember you, more than anyone else who ever lived here. If anyone will be recalled as a god...” Their voice echoed, growing louder and louder, circling her in an untraceable pattern- swirling, stirring, maddening.
Finally, the air was silent. Rin shook her head, her teeth clenching still harder. “I could never believe what you’re trying to imply,” she declared, lashing her tail. A mortal who had forever been plagued by the meddling of self-proclaimed gods, being worshiped as one? It could never happen.
“And yet you know exactly what I’m implying.” Smirking, they waved a clawed forelimb, and a prism of mist appeared before her- its surface reflecting… no, that wasn’t her soul. No, that mass of emerald flame, orbited by smaller lights- silver, golden, white, crimson, black, blue, gray- that couldn’t be her. The power radiating from it was far too much to belong to her.
“I’ve never seen a mortal absorb a god’s soul. It’s just a hunch, but I’d guess you’re a bit closer to us than you want to admit.”
With a hiss, Rin slammed a paw into the prism, shattering it into wisps of fog. Even as the moisture settled into her paw, however, she couldn’t dismiss the thought the Skyborne had planted. As if reading her mind, they leaned in, a glint in their eyes. “I’d say this power has gone to your head… you didn’t even consider? You genuinely thought Elysium could love you without some sort of divine influence? Even after what you let happen to Youngblood and Thorntree?”
She thought she could see a sabertooth’s skull and wolf’s pelt rippling within the last vestiges of mist, their voices creeping into her ears. It should have been simple. She recoiled back. All you had to do was learn from your mistakes. All you had to do was PROTECT THEM. Cries of pain echoed over the Skyborne’s laughter.
No. “Shut up,” she growled, turning away and closing her eye. It’s just a dream. You won’t be manipulated like this. Rubbing at her temple with one paw, though, she couldn’t quite ignore the heat building underneath her bandages.
Behind her, she heard a snicker. “You’ve got them on puppet strings, you know that?” Their voice shifted, until she could hear them in front of her. “Better be careful not to garrote yourself with them...” The tone and timbre of their words warped in and out, each demand coming from a different voice.
“Will you believe?” came a polar bear’s growl,
“Or will you deny?” crowed a vampire,
“The truth is in your face,” hissed a rainbow serpent,
“They have no reason to believe,” murmured a seal point,
“And yet they do,” spat a sand cat,
“They have faith in you.”
Clenching her teeth, Rin swatted at them with one paw, her claws just barely glancing off of the Skyborne’s scales. Despite the smoke rising from her wounds, the doubt rising within her head… she couldn’t give them the satisfaction. They would say anything to try and dissuade her- there was no way any of this was true.
Or is it?
Could they love her without any sort of supernatural influence? Could they love her, based solely on who she was? A failure of a leader, of a clanmate, of a person… was it possible they had been blinded to the truth by divine power?
Squeezing her eye shut, she dug her claws into the floor. Of course not. If she’d had divine power, she could’ve saved them all. But you could’ve saved them already, couldn’t you have? You let this happen. You were the one who refused to leave-
“-the one who was too stubborn to consider that maybe, just maybe, the problem was you all along,” the Skyborne growled, their voice weaving in and out of her thoughts. As Rin opened her eye, staring down at the ground, she saw their forelimbs settle down just a bit too close to her own paws. “Of course, that wouldn’t suit your little narrative of being the poor, put-upon victim-”
Too close.
Rin swiped upwards at the Skyborne’s neck, her claws coming within a hair of their exposed throat-
[font=trebuchet ms]-and then she was on her back, staring at the ceiling.
“...Can’t let me break your precious immersion, can you?” she mumbled, her eye wandering over to the window, and the dark skies beyond it. Truthfully, she hadn’t expected that maneuver to work- if anything, she’d predicted the Skyborne would simply teleport away, rather than ending the dream there. Maybe they had stopped finding it fun by that point?
Lucky me.
With a sigh, Rin rolled onto her side and curled up. Someday, she had to remind herself, this would all be over and done with. As soon as they were dead, she wouldn’t have to deal with their intrusions anymore.
It was cold comfort, but it was something.
/tl;dr: Rin has a weird dream where the Skyborne tries to manipulate her, preying upon her doubts about the nature of divinity, dissing other Elysites, and generally attacking her character (as per usual)
/don't feel the need to reply to this, this is really just kind of ish and is more for character development purposes than anything else