I can play guitar again! *does a little dance* My hand's healed up
enough that it won't be cut open by the strings, and I can get back
to playing "One Step Closer", by Linkin Park. Honestly, every time I
play Hybrid Theory it's either a song Squall would sing (in his head,
I just can't see Shiver's son singing outloud...) or one Seifer
would.
I mean, "Forfeit the game, before somebody else takes you out of the
frame, and puts your name to shame, cover up your face, the pace is
to fast you just won't last" ? I swear to god, that sounds like
something Seifer would say in mid-battle (especially with some of his
dialogue: "Kneel before me!" *grins*)
I'd like to say Bai-bai, before these notes turn into me analysing
"Crawling" (*hums* Squall song, Squall song...), and not just "Points
of Authority".
Shiva
Chapter Two: Setting the Stage
Li Xiang
"If it ain't Rainy-Day. What are you doing here freaky?"
Raine ignored Nathaniel's taunt. It wasn't all that hard to do,
actually. She'd only been ignoring him since she'd met the fourteen
year old, eight months ago.
She had never actually thought eight months could be a long time, but
seeing as she hadn't been human until eight months ago, there was
reason for that. The Deities she'd known all her life had never done
so much in such a short amount of time before. What most humans did
in a day or so, the Guardian Forces stretched out over months. When
you have eternal life, there's no reason to do a hell of a lot in one
day. Of course, human's lives were much, much shorter, so they did
much, much more in a day.
Like doing the housework, farming, cooking, sewing, fixing things,
building things, fishing, hiking, and all sorts of other things. Even
now, eight months after arriving in Winhill with Darla and Eve, Raine
was finding new things to explore. It was rather exciting.
As for right now, Darla had sent Eve away for the next couple weeks.
The twenty year old was doing business of some sort or another in
Deling City. Raine had almost begged to go with the older woman--
that was where Laguna had been the last time she'd checked in on
him-- but both Darla and Eve had agreed that the trip-- to be done on
foot-- was to dangerous for the "little girl". So Raine had gotten
stuck in Winhill, doing menial tasks for Darla.
Which included shopping for various items Darla didn't have.
And that explained why Raine was out, but not why Nathaniel was
"tormenting" her. The fourteen year old boy had seen Raine and it was
hate on first sight. Of course, Raine had a special spot in her heart
for the boy-- the one that went 'As soon as I'm Shiva again, you are
_so_ dead'.
Nathaniel was convinced she was a monster in disguise-- she'd
accidentally frozen his feet to the ground once, only a week into
knowing him. Not to mention the time when she'd knocked him into a
mud puddle and laughed at him. That was only three days ago; it would
explain why he was out to get her right now.
Raine had, over the last few months, managed to reign in her power--
she couldn't consciously control it's actions as a human. If she got
angry enough with someone-- Nathaniel, for example-- her power would
lash out without her wanting it too. She had been very dangerous for
the first six months of her stay in Winhill, but now she'd downgraded
her status to "slightly dangerous". The former goddess believed she
needed a bit more practice before she managed to keep her power fully
under wraps.
She didn't want to accidentally hurt Laguna when she finally met up
with him.
"She's ignoring you, man," the voice came from the door of a dusty
old truck. A truck that hadn't been there the day before, _both_
Raine and Nathaniel knew. Almost of one mind, they turned to face it.
A man-- maybe nineteen or twenty-- poked his head out the window. He
looked sleep tusselled, his eyes only just cracking open under the
reddish brown hair as he grinned at them.
"Hey there kiddies. Name's Kireian. Would either of you tell me where
I am?"
"Just outside Winhill," Raine refused to let her frown show. There
was something about this man. A shadow hovering over him, like Fate
and Destiny decided to both take their shots at him. Dammit all! Not
for the first time, she wished to be Shiva, with full access to her
powers. She'd at least be able to understand this feeling then. As it
was, it was just a faint tickling at the back of her neck.
"Winhill, eh?" Kireian scrubbed at the stubble gathering at his chin,
"Haven't been here in years."
"You've been here before?" Nathaniel spoke this time. He didn't seem
as uneasy as Raine did, but then, it could have something to do with
the fact that Raine used to be the queen of ice.
"Was born here," Kireian pushed his door open, dropping out of the
cab. Both Raine and Nathaniel _stared_ at him.
He stood about six feet tall, and although thin, he was corded
muscle-- like an athlete. His hair was of medium length-- falling to
about his chin, most of it pulled back into a small, tight ponytail
in back, although the hair that framed his face was to short to pull
back that way, and just hung free. His bangs, while tussled, were
wild, sticking up in almost any direction. He wore a pair of dusty
old jeans, of which sported wide holes at the knees, tucked old
leather work boots, and a tight black t-shirt.
A hunters knife was in a special sheath in each boot, an additional
blade seen through the holes in his jeans. There were two swords
strapped at opposite angles across his back, as well as a six inch
dagger hanging at his left hip. There were other weapons-- like the
semi automatic machine gun attached to his right thigh, or the flail
that was strapped between the swords-- but they didn't call to Raine.
To eyes that had once been that of a goddess, the blades seemed to
_glow_ with power. Either magical, or that of the lives they had
taken.
There was a tentative brush against her mind, and Raine's expression
instantly shifted from shocked awe, to smooth, icy control. The
tentative reaching out was beginning to leave her mind, apparently
finding nothing of interest, when she called out to it.
/Carbuncle./
The Guardian Force shifted, instantly from warily searching for
enemies, to on guard instantly. There were few that could recognize
it when a Guardian Force sifted through recent thoughts, and fewer
still that could recognize _which_ GF had done so.
/Who are you?/
Kireian shifted uncomfortably. He could feel his partner's
communication, but didn't know what she was saying. He turned his
gaze to the two in front of him, trying to figure out just which one
she was talking too. Nathaniel had a confused look on his face, and
had backed a few steps away when the weapons had come out. For a
moment, he thought it was the boy who was speaking with Carbuncle,
then he looked at Raine.
The girl's face had closed off, not even her eyes showing emotion.
She seemed to be trapped within her own mind.
Raine didn't really know how to respond. She didn't know if she
should save Raine, or Shiva... or how to say it. Just eight months
ago it would have been easy-- "Shiva"-- with her learning how to be
human, she wanted to say something else, along with her name, but...
would that scare the younger GF?
/... it's Shiva./
Carbuncle let out a snort of disbelief, /Shiva's a goddess! You're
human!/
/And if you hadn't been gone for the last two decades,/ Raine's
mental "voice" was had seemingly deemed it nessecary to add a touch
of sarcasm, /You'd know that I was Shiva. Hyne! You're the only one
aside from Diablos-chama who doesn't know!/
There was silence for a moment and then, /You're right. You're Shiva.
I don't know anyone else who'd call _Diablos_ "-chama"... Why are you
human?/
/Because,/ the girl stated simply, /Why did you let this man control
you?/
/Kireian's nice,/ Carbuncle was suddenly overly cheerful, /And he's a
demon hunter, although, there's not many Demons around, and there are
more monsters, so I guess he's a monster hunter right now, and he
saves all these travelers who keep getting themselves attacked,
because he's really nice, and--/
/You're babbling. And he's staring at me./
/Oh, I guess I've been talking to long./ Carbuncle withdrew from
Raine's mind, and returned to the back of Kireian's. A comforting
brush against her "host's" mind, and she settled down for a bit of a
nap. Keeping up a mental conversation with someone who's head you
weren't currently living in, was hard work-- especially when you're
currently in someone else's mind.
Kireian let out a sigh of relief. He knew that some people had the
ability to pull GFs out of someone else, and had been worried for a
moment that this young girl would take Carbuncle from him. She was
really his only companion when he was out on the road. Raine's face
seemed to thaw out as she came back from within her own mind, and
gave Kireian an assessing look.
"You're a demon hunter?"
Kireian started. Well, yeah, that's what his family line had done for
generations, hunt demons-- trying to get at the ever elusive Diablos,
the Demon God-- but no one had called him a demon hunter since the
day he'd partnered with Carbuncle.
"Did Carbuncle tell you that?"
"In mid ramble," Raine's voice was smooth, flowing like ice. While
normally, this wouldn't bother him, it was the fact that there were
paths of ice stretching out from beneath the girl's feet, and the air
around her seemed to be getting thick with snowflakes. Nathaniel had
backed away from her, frightened, knowing what was happening.
When the first few snowflakes touched her skin, Raine started out of
her anger. Her early warning system had gone off again, and she
whirled on one heel, "I'm going home." She knew, very well, that the
demon hunters had been created, originally, by Pandemonia in a fit of
rage. The wind goddess had gotten mad at Diablos, about a century
before he vanished, and decided that if she was going to get rid of
Shiva's adoptive father, she'd have the humans do it.
Shiva had never liked that-- the most annoying of the mortal clans
given this task was the Somata Clan. They had gone so far as to
attack Shiva herself when she'd been visiting one of Diablos' mortal
realms. The goddess that been young then-- having just been given
control over her full abilities at that point-- and she had not been
able to control them very well. Shiva had almost killed everyone in
the realm-- Diablos and herself included. All because one of the
Somata Clan had gotten into Diablos' realm-- somehow, they weren't
sure how, exactly-- and tried to kill him.
But that didn't matter. It was unlikely this Kireian was of the
Somata line, yet he was still a demon hunter. They just got on her
nerves.
Raine rubbed her forehead irritably and stalked into Darla's home.
The old woman looked up from where she'd been fixing one of the
neighbour's clothing-- Darla had always been Winhill's premier
seamstress, "Problems with Nate, Rainy?"
"And some Kireian guy," the dark haired girl snorted, dropping the
sewing supplies on the table, and rummaging around in the bag to pull
out a small pack of cards. She exited the room, not noticing Darla's
nerveless hands.
The nearly fifty year old woman's face crinkled with a frown as she
stood, "Kireian's... returned?"
---
Raine dropped down onto her bed, and shuffled through the cards she'd
bought. The game wasn't all that popular she'd found, but she liked
the idea of it. As she pulled the package apart, the cards fell into
her lap. Face up, on top, was an ice dragon card. Whoever had
designed the game had decided that modifying existing monsters into
fictional characters, or even creating his own, would give him more
leeway with powers and abilities.
So the ice dragon was really a blue dragon, with a slight facelift.
The rest of the cards were done similarly, including the spell cards.
Cure was "standard magic", but instead of following with a Cura or
Curaga, there was "Cure x3" and "Cure x5". As well, Life was known as
"Revive", and Full-Life, was "Resurrection".
Raine had a modest collection of cards, and adding the ice dragon,
thunderbird and skeleton player cards she'd gotten this time around,
along with the five item and spell cards, it was only brought up to
twenty eight. Even though the game wasn't popular, Raine knew it was
only a matter of time; int he six and a half months since it had come
out, most of the kids in Winhill _knew_ how to play, even if they
didn't have their own deck, or just didn't play.
The only card player in Winhill better than she was, was Nathaniel.
Another reason to violently dislike him. Shaking the most annoying
one from her mind, Raine shuffled the cards, then tucked the deck
into it's pocket.
Raine was, as almost always, wearing her sturdy black leather belt.
Darla had made, out of scraps of fabric, a pouch for her cards, to
clip to said belt. After the third time the pouch had ripped, Darla had gone to the town's weapon smith, and asked for any leather left
over from making sheaths, scabbards or holsters.
The man had gone one step further and offered to make the pouch
himself. He was bored, seeing as his customer level had dropped over
the past few months, as the various soldiers on leave returned to
work. They'd been ridding Winhill of the monsters that plagued the
town, while visiting their families. With no one coming to him to fix
weapons or broken holsters, he'd gone back to being a fisherman, as
always, on his off days. He'd finished the leather pouch in just over
one day. It wasn't made of just leather scraps, but it was nicely
done, and-- he'd told Raine when Darla wasn't around-- would easily
carry a switchblade, for protection, if she wasn't carrying the cards
around in it. The only time it ever came off her belt, was when she
pulled the belt out of her pants, to change them.
Tugging on her "work" boots, Raine stood to leave. Her jacket lay
draped over a chair, but it was warm enough for her to go about
without it. Darting down the stairs, she shot past Darla and out the
door, calling over her shoulder, "Going to the fields! Bye Darla!"
The old woman had simply nodded at the girl's passing; it would be
easier to deal with Kireian if Raine wasn't home then.
Raine pounded the ground as she came out of the seamstress' home.
With skill borne of practice, the young Leonhart blew around
obstacles and people alike, out and into the fields. She always felt
better out in them; no one but the farmers were ever there
She fell on her back, as she came to the very edge of the fields. A
large weeping willow tree towered over her head. Nice, quiet, and
relaxing. "Her" willow tree reminded her of the calm Shiva had had in
her quarters, in Eden's palace. Nothing bothered her here.
Quite frankly, she was bored. Until she'd become human, Raine had
never truly understood what it meant to be bored. Humans did so much,
everyday, that when a break in the pattern happened, and there was
less to do than the day before, they were bored.
Without Eve around to help, Raine had nothing to do. Sure, there was
bickering with Nathaniel, but even that got tiresome, day-in,
day-out. There was no one to play cards with, either. Everyone knew
she'd win, and unless someone else got new cards, and decided to
challenge her, they'd refuse to play her. It was depressing, really.
A low growl caught Raine's attention, and she slit her eyes open.
Shimmering blue eyes that quickly snapped all the way open, when they
caught sight of what was standing over her. For the first time since
before she'd been granted full control of her abilities, and went
from "Shiva, Odin's Daughter" to "Shiva, Goddess of Ice", Raine let
herself scream.
"Oh Shit!!!"
End
enough that it won't be cut open by the strings, and I can get back
to playing "One Step Closer", by Linkin Park. Honestly, every time I
play Hybrid Theory it's either a song Squall would sing (in his head,
I just can't see Shiver's son singing outloud...) or one Seifer
would.
I mean, "Forfeit the game, before somebody else takes you out of the
frame, and puts your name to shame, cover up your face, the pace is
to fast you just won't last" ? I swear to god, that sounds like
something Seifer would say in mid-battle (especially with some of his
dialogue: "Kneel before me!" *grins*)
I'd like to say Bai-bai, before these notes turn into me analysing
"Crawling" (*hums* Squall song, Squall song...), and not just "Points
of Authority".
Shiva
Chapter Two: Setting the Stage
Li Xiang
"If it ain't Rainy-Day. What are you doing here freaky?"
Raine ignored Nathaniel's taunt. It wasn't all that hard to do,
actually. She'd only been ignoring him since she'd met the fourteen
year old, eight months ago.
She had never actually thought eight months could be a long time, but
seeing as she hadn't been human until eight months ago, there was
reason for that. The Deities she'd known all her life had never done
so much in such a short amount of time before. What most humans did
in a day or so, the Guardian Forces stretched out over months. When
you have eternal life, there's no reason to do a hell of a lot in one
day. Of course, human's lives were much, much shorter, so they did
much, much more in a day.
Like doing the housework, farming, cooking, sewing, fixing things,
building things, fishing, hiking, and all sorts of other things. Even
now, eight months after arriving in Winhill with Darla and Eve, Raine
was finding new things to explore. It was rather exciting.
As for right now, Darla had sent Eve away for the next couple weeks.
The twenty year old was doing business of some sort or another in
Deling City. Raine had almost begged to go with the older woman--
that was where Laguna had been the last time she'd checked in on
him-- but both Darla and Eve had agreed that the trip-- to be done on
foot-- was to dangerous for the "little girl". So Raine had gotten
stuck in Winhill, doing menial tasks for Darla.
Which included shopping for various items Darla didn't have.
And that explained why Raine was out, but not why Nathaniel was
"tormenting" her. The fourteen year old boy had seen Raine and it was
hate on first sight. Of course, Raine had a special spot in her heart
for the boy-- the one that went 'As soon as I'm Shiva again, you are
_so_ dead'.
Nathaniel was convinced she was a monster in disguise-- she'd
accidentally frozen his feet to the ground once, only a week into
knowing him. Not to mention the time when she'd knocked him into a
mud puddle and laughed at him. That was only three days ago; it would
explain why he was out to get her right now.
Raine had, over the last few months, managed to reign in her power--
she couldn't consciously control it's actions as a human. If she got
angry enough with someone-- Nathaniel, for example-- her power would
lash out without her wanting it too. She had been very dangerous for
the first six months of her stay in Winhill, but now she'd downgraded
her status to "slightly dangerous". The former goddess believed she
needed a bit more practice before she managed to keep her power fully
under wraps.
She didn't want to accidentally hurt Laguna when she finally met up
with him.
"She's ignoring you, man," the voice came from the door of a dusty
old truck. A truck that hadn't been there the day before, _both_
Raine and Nathaniel knew. Almost of one mind, they turned to face it.
A man-- maybe nineteen or twenty-- poked his head out the window. He
looked sleep tusselled, his eyes only just cracking open under the
reddish brown hair as he grinned at them.
"Hey there kiddies. Name's Kireian. Would either of you tell me where
I am?"
"Just outside Winhill," Raine refused to let her frown show. There
was something about this man. A shadow hovering over him, like Fate
and Destiny decided to both take their shots at him. Dammit all! Not
for the first time, she wished to be Shiva, with full access to her
powers. She'd at least be able to understand this feeling then. As it
was, it was just a faint tickling at the back of her neck.
"Winhill, eh?" Kireian scrubbed at the stubble gathering at his chin,
"Haven't been here in years."
"You've been here before?" Nathaniel spoke this time. He didn't seem
as uneasy as Raine did, but then, it could have something to do with
the fact that Raine used to be the queen of ice.
"Was born here," Kireian pushed his door open, dropping out of the
cab. Both Raine and Nathaniel _stared_ at him.
He stood about six feet tall, and although thin, he was corded
muscle-- like an athlete. His hair was of medium length-- falling to
about his chin, most of it pulled back into a small, tight ponytail
in back, although the hair that framed his face was to short to pull
back that way, and just hung free. His bangs, while tussled, were
wild, sticking up in almost any direction. He wore a pair of dusty
old jeans, of which sported wide holes at the knees, tucked old
leather work boots, and a tight black t-shirt.
A hunters knife was in a special sheath in each boot, an additional
blade seen through the holes in his jeans. There were two swords
strapped at opposite angles across his back, as well as a six inch
dagger hanging at his left hip. There were other weapons-- like the
semi automatic machine gun attached to his right thigh, or the flail
that was strapped between the swords-- but they didn't call to Raine.
To eyes that had once been that of a goddess, the blades seemed to
_glow_ with power. Either magical, or that of the lives they had
taken.
There was a tentative brush against her mind, and Raine's expression
instantly shifted from shocked awe, to smooth, icy control. The
tentative reaching out was beginning to leave her mind, apparently
finding nothing of interest, when she called out to it.
/Carbuncle./
The Guardian Force shifted, instantly from warily searching for
enemies, to on guard instantly. There were few that could recognize
it when a Guardian Force sifted through recent thoughts, and fewer
still that could recognize _which_ GF had done so.
/Who are you?/
Kireian shifted uncomfortably. He could feel his partner's
communication, but didn't know what she was saying. He turned his
gaze to the two in front of him, trying to figure out just which one
she was talking too. Nathaniel had a confused look on his face, and
had backed a few steps away when the weapons had come out. For a
moment, he thought it was the boy who was speaking with Carbuncle,
then he looked at Raine.
The girl's face had closed off, not even her eyes showing emotion.
She seemed to be trapped within her own mind.
Raine didn't really know how to respond. She didn't know if she
should save Raine, or Shiva... or how to say it. Just eight months
ago it would have been easy-- "Shiva"-- with her learning how to be
human, she wanted to say something else, along with her name, but...
would that scare the younger GF?
/... it's Shiva./
Carbuncle let out a snort of disbelief, /Shiva's a goddess! You're
human!/
/And if you hadn't been gone for the last two decades,/ Raine's
mental "voice" was had seemingly deemed it nessecary to add a touch
of sarcasm, /You'd know that I was Shiva. Hyne! You're the only one
aside from Diablos-chama who doesn't know!/
There was silence for a moment and then, /You're right. You're Shiva.
I don't know anyone else who'd call _Diablos_ "-chama"... Why are you
human?/
/Because,/ the girl stated simply, /Why did you let this man control
you?/
/Kireian's nice,/ Carbuncle was suddenly overly cheerful, /And he's a
demon hunter, although, there's not many Demons around, and there are
more monsters, so I guess he's a monster hunter right now, and he
saves all these travelers who keep getting themselves attacked,
because he's really nice, and--/
/You're babbling. And he's staring at me./
/Oh, I guess I've been talking to long./ Carbuncle withdrew from
Raine's mind, and returned to the back of Kireian's. A comforting
brush against her "host's" mind, and she settled down for a bit of a
nap. Keeping up a mental conversation with someone who's head you
weren't currently living in, was hard work-- especially when you're
currently in someone else's mind.
Kireian let out a sigh of relief. He knew that some people had the
ability to pull GFs out of someone else, and had been worried for a
moment that this young girl would take Carbuncle from him. She was
really his only companion when he was out on the road. Raine's face
seemed to thaw out as she came back from within her own mind, and
gave Kireian an assessing look.
"You're a demon hunter?"
Kireian started. Well, yeah, that's what his family line had done for
generations, hunt demons-- trying to get at the ever elusive Diablos,
the Demon God-- but no one had called him a demon hunter since the
day he'd partnered with Carbuncle.
"Did Carbuncle tell you that?"
"In mid ramble," Raine's voice was smooth, flowing like ice. While
normally, this wouldn't bother him, it was the fact that there were
paths of ice stretching out from beneath the girl's feet, and the air
around her seemed to be getting thick with snowflakes. Nathaniel had
backed away from her, frightened, knowing what was happening.
When the first few snowflakes touched her skin, Raine started out of
her anger. Her early warning system had gone off again, and she
whirled on one heel, "I'm going home." She knew, very well, that the
demon hunters had been created, originally, by Pandemonia in a fit of
rage. The wind goddess had gotten mad at Diablos, about a century
before he vanished, and decided that if she was going to get rid of
Shiva's adoptive father, she'd have the humans do it.
Shiva had never liked that-- the most annoying of the mortal clans
given this task was the Somata Clan. They had gone so far as to
attack Shiva herself when she'd been visiting one of Diablos' mortal
realms. The goddess that been young then-- having just been given
control over her full abilities at that point-- and she had not been
able to control them very well. Shiva had almost killed everyone in
the realm-- Diablos and herself included. All because one of the
Somata Clan had gotten into Diablos' realm-- somehow, they weren't
sure how, exactly-- and tried to kill him.
But that didn't matter. It was unlikely this Kireian was of the
Somata line, yet he was still a demon hunter. They just got on her
nerves.
Raine rubbed her forehead irritably and stalked into Darla's home.
The old woman looked up from where she'd been fixing one of the
neighbour's clothing-- Darla had always been Winhill's premier
seamstress, "Problems with Nate, Rainy?"
"And some Kireian guy," the dark haired girl snorted, dropping the
sewing supplies on the table, and rummaging around in the bag to pull
out a small pack of cards. She exited the room, not noticing Darla's
nerveless hands.
The nearly fifty year old woman's face crinkled with a frown as she
stood, "Kireian's... returned?"
---
Raine dropped down onto her bed, and shuffled through the cards she'd
bought. The game wasn't all that popular she'd found, but she liked
the idea of it. As she pulled the package apart, the cards fell into
her lap. Face up, on top, was an ice dragon card. Whoever had
designed the game had decided that modifying existing monsters into
fictional characters, or even creating his own, would give him more
leeway with powers and abilities.
So the ice dragon was really a blue dragon, with a slight facelift.
The rest of the cards were done similarly, including the spell cards.
Cure was "standard magic", but instead of following with a Cura or
Curaga, there was "Cure x3" and "Cure x5". As well, Life was known as
"Revive", and Full-Life, was "Resurrection".
Raine had a modest collection of cards, and adding the ice dragon,
thunderbird and skeleton player cards she'd gotten this time around,
along with the five item and spell cards, it was only brought up to
twenty eight. Even though the game wasn't popular, Raine knew it was
only a matter of time; int he six and a half months since it had come
out, most of the kids in Winhill _knew_ how to play, even if they
didn't have their own deck, or just didn't play.
The only card player in Winhill better than she was, was Nathaniel.
Another reason to violently dislike him. Shaking the most annoying
one from her mind, Raine shuffled the cards, then tucked the deck
into it's pocket.
Raine was, as almost always, wearing her sturdy black leather belt.
Darla had made, out of scraps of fabric, a pouch for her cards, to
clip to said belt. After the third time the pouch had ripped, Darla had gone to the town's weapon smith, and asked for any leather left
over from making sheaths, scabbards or holsters.
The man had gone one step further and offered to make the pouch
himself. He was bored, seeing as his customer level had dropped over
the past few months, as the various soldiers on leave returned to
work. They'd been ridding Winhill of the monsters that plagued the
town, while visiting their families. With no one coming to him to fix
weapons or broken holsters, he'd gone back to being a fisherman, as
always, on his off days. He'd finished the leather pouch in just over
one day. It wasn't made of just leather scraps, but it was nicely
done, and-- he'd told Raine when Darla wasn't around-- would easily
carry a switchblade, for protection, if she wasn't carrying the cards
around in it. The only time it ever came off her belt, was when she
pulled the belt out of her pants, to change them.
Tugging on her "work" boots, Raine stood to leave. Her jacket lay
draped over a chair, but it was warm enough for her to go about
without it. Darting down the stairs, she shot past Darla and out the
door, calling over her shoulder, "Going to the fields! Bye Darla!"
The old woman had simply nodded at the girl's passing; it would be
easier to deal with Kireian if Raine wasn't home then.
Raine pounded the ground as she came out of the seamstress' home.
With skill borne of practice, the young Leonhart blew around
obstacles and people alike, out and into the fields. She always felt
better out in them; no one but the farmers were ever there
She fell on her back, as she came to the very edge of the fields. A
large weeping willow tree towered over her head. Nice, quiet, and
relaxing. "Her" willow tree reminded her of the calm Shiva had had in
her quarters, in Eden's palace. Nothing bothered her here.
Quite frankly, she was bored. Until she'd become human, Raine had
never truly understood what it meant to be bored. Humans did so much,
everyday, that when a break in the pattern happened, and there was
less to do than the day before, they were bored.
Without Eve around to help, Raine had nothing to do. Sure, there was
bickering with Nathaniel, but even that got tiresome, day-in,
day-out. There was no one to play cards with, either. Everyone knew
she'd win, and unless someone else got new cards, and decided to
challenge her, they'd refuse to play her. It was depressing, really.
A low growl caught Raine's attention, and she slit her eyes open.
Shimmering blue eyes that quickly snapped all the way open, when they
caught sight of what was standing over her. For the first time since
before she'd been granted full control of her abilities, and went
from "Shiva, Odin's Daughter" to "Shiva, Goddess of Ice", Raine let
herself scream.
"Oh Shit!!!"
End