Carissa Asheton's Story

Walking on foot and holding a small golden harp, along with a very colorful dress. A woman bearing many marks of the Goddess of Life Edna walked through the gates of Hoffngard. The human female knows as Carissa Asheton drew plenty of attention, not only with the most eye catching dress, but many of her good deeds had her recognized by many people. She smiled and waved at the people as she passed them by.

However the question of who she was supposed to meet was the first thing on her mind. It would be hard to spot certain people inside a city. However a black carriage would pass by her. Such a strange thing in this city. Maybe calling out would help?

Clearing her throat for a bit, she wandered the streets once again. However before he called out she noticed the robes and mask belonging to the God Hazarmaveth. That must have been the person she needed to meet. She walked over to the figure and smiled. "My names Carissa! You must be part of the scouting team?"

Rey was taken aback to be suddenly addressed, with such an abrupt introduction no less. She steps to the direction of the voice nearly stumbling on her own feet to see where the voice came from, her green pupils dilated like a startled cat, not that it couldbe seen too well behind the mask. Regaining her composure, and realizing from her words that she was part of the scouting team... and from the cheerful demeanor she must be representing Edna.

"A-ah, yes," her voice cracking and husky. Realizing she was using her beastkin voice she quickly clears her throat and forces a voice that sounds more human by raising her pitch and suppressing the gravel of her natural voice. It was a technique she had picked up since living around humans and similar races who tend to not... growl. "You are... you are Edna's... follower? I am... Rey Jiharrrr- I-I mean Ji-ha-ra."

Pace your words, fool, she thinks to herself, embarrassed at her slip.

Carissa nodded at the mention of being Edna's follower. "Yup! I am the follower or hero of Edna. Pleased you meet you Jihara! Although...where are the other scouts? We seem to be a scouting pair and not a scouting team...They must be on their way so I guess we can wait a bit. We are in no real rush right?" She spoke. Ignoring Jihara's strange manner of speaking. It was her way of speaking, and it would be rude to say otherwise.

Of course since the others were not here, Carissa decided to idly strum her harp while thinking of a topic to pass the time. Should she start with music? Yeah, a bit of idle chat was always good."Oh! I was wondering if you liked music. Since we are here lets talk a bit, if the others don't arrive soon we can get a move on. But for now lets talk for a bit and not stand in silence awkwardly!"

Bashemath
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"I see it more upon each passing year," a woman's voice echoes mournfully through the alley. A figure shuffles quietly from a corner, dressed in what could only be described as rags. The lighting gave away only a glimmer of eyes and a few sets of smaller ones upon her shoulders. She kneels looking down at what remains, eaten away by the roaches, then sighs and looks towards the ground, crossing her arms against her chest. One of the animals on her back look up at Creep and stares. "They call this just life, how it is, but in reality it is just a slow yet painful death. Only a few can truly say they are happy, only few can say they are secure. And here, I am born into this sad and twisted world. The Creator has abandoned them, the old gods withdrawn by their squabble... this world... its people... were forsaken by no fault of their own. I cannot accept that this is life."

The woman spoke without filter, sad yet hopeful, compassionate, yet hints of a bitterness when speaking of the gods. Finally she turns her head to look over to Creep, shimmering streams of fluid running down her cheeks now visible. She was crying? She reaches out to him, tilting her head ever so slightly. "What ails you, bug keeper?"
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Rey Jihara
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"It... is not r...really a party with just us, no," she says, trying to pace herself with her pronunciations looking down at the ground. She shuffles her feet slightly, this had not been exactly what she expected her first duty to be like. She had expected something more grand, more glorious and honor worthy.

She was shaken once more, the human woman, Carissa, the only other to arrive so far wanted to talk. As she was, Rey was never too good at... communicating.

"Y-yes, I like music," she responds, fidgets with her fingers. "I hear music q... quite often, and would find it... strange, maybe bad, if I did not. Where I was from... music was more... function, but here it is... function, but also recreation. I find comfort in that. What is your music?"

She notices she is fidgeting with her hands and shoves them behind her back. She could not believe she was so nervous after thinking she was prepared for this.

"I love string instruments but the one I love the most and use is the harp. My harp here, Uhopsibri can change sizes making it easier to carry and perform with. When playing music on the street or just traveling I keep it in this hand held form, when at a concert I return it to its original size. I just find a certain charm with a harp, but of course a few backup instruments are always good. I find that trumpets and violins go really great with a harp while performing certain songs." Carissa energetically spoke as she showed Jihara the golden harp in her hands. Of course other than that she had no other items on her self.

Of course she noticed Jihara fumbling with her hands a bit, but she did not pay it too much attention. "So from where you came from music was for function? Was it to call upon enchantments or cast spells? Well, my harp can do the same thing but I primarily use it as recreational purposes so everyone can enjoy a bit of music. You see I don't fight at all, as you already know Edna dislikes violence, I dislike the same thing. As her disciple I want to do what I can, even though I may only have music people can become friendly with each other...Oh dear! I went off topic, my apologies! Um...So...anything cool you want to say?" Carissa chuckled a bit as she just realized she went way off track in their conversation.

Carissa was happy to hear another person that did not resort to violence unless absolute necessary. Of course she notice how every time Rey pronounced her R's she would almost purr them out. Like a kitty cat almost. Of course Rey would seem to look around, and Carissa herself looked around and noticed another cloaked figure.

Carissa smiled and waved at the figure as well. "Hey Rey, did anyone tell you you kinda sound like a cute kitty cat? Every time you pronounce your r's are pretty cute sounding. Sorry if it seems like an insult I just think that's unique of yours." She chuckled a bit. She honestly thought that was cute, almost like she was a humanoid cat person.

Kana Na-Ahn
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It was way too easy to find people who stood out. Kana approached the two who were waving at her, and greeted them. "Afternoon. Are you here for the Ichor?" It was vague enough as to not warrant unsolicited attention, but specific enough that if they were who Kana thought they were, they'd understand. She also made sure to keep her voice "normal" as possible, not giving off that it was made by malleable rocks that functioned similar to vocal chords, but not quite exactly. It was best to keep her elemental nature discreet until she knew that these two were non-hostile.

They were a peculiar group. A girl with a harp, and some type of humanoid cat. Both female. The cat looked dangerous enough, but the girl not so much. Kana hoped that the Ichor didn't spawn anything too aggressive, or that there weren't guardians. Until she tested the ball of energy, she knew Tir'Ish wouldn't get too close for fear of being destroyed. Until it was safe, she would be only with the blessing of the energy god and not with its fighting prowess.

Waiting for a response, Kana looked around from under her hood, looking for others who might be approaching.

Rey's eyes widen, hearing herself referred to as a... a kitty cat. She was letting her impediment out too much, she got too comfortable and let her guard down. Though she did not let down her outward composure, inside she was screaming. Carissa did not seem to care, but what of the others, what of the city? She knew of Beastkin reputation, and more often than not the rumors were true. With some strange looks from passing Hoffngard citizens she takes in a breath and bows to Carissa.

"I apologize for my poor speech," she says swiftly, before lowering her voice to near a whisper. "My kindrrred are not well received, for good rrreason."

With that, she rises and turns to Kana, who then confirms her assumption. She was, admittedly, taken aback by the party thus far. Not only all female but none that were the same race, let alone species so far. Her senses were too keen not to tell that Kana was earthen by origin, either that or she had rolled in the mud but she highly doubted that.

"Grrreetings... sorry... and yes, yes we are. I'm Rey Jihara, Ha-zar-mav-eth sent me."

Carissa covered her mouth when Ray apologized for her manner of speaking and immediately went to wave her hands and shake her head in disapproval. "No! No! No! No! I did not mean anything by that! I should apologize for bringing it up! I only thought you were cute sounding, and not bad sounding in any way! I am sorry for making you apologize!" She then bowed deeply.

After her apology, Carissa stood up straight and looked at the person they waved over. When she asked if they were here for the Ichor, she nodded in affirmation. "Hello there! Welcome to the scouting party! My names Carissa Asheton, hero to Edna. Pleased to meet you." She greeted with a friendly smile.

Kana nodded slightly. "Very well. I represent Tir'Ish Na-Ahn. It will be a pleasure to work with you, for a time. She looks around, adding "Do we wait for others? I understand that the nature of this Ichor is fairly unknown. What type of a group are we assembling?" Elementals may be resilient, but they're not immortal. If this small group got jumped, she wasn't sure all three would make it out alive.

"Also, how far of a travel is it? Have your gods indicated?" After a few questions were answered, Kana was ready to get started. Any mission for Tir'Ish was exciting, though she refused to betray her emotions in front of these two. She would let them ultimately take charge, just so long as she had a way to preform the experiment she was tasked with. In the end, that was all that mattered.

(Never mind me, just posting in the wrong area again.)

Creep

"What ails you, bug keeper?"

Creep looked up, drawn out of thought by the sudden voice of the figure that had approached him. Immediately his cockroaches senses danger, something they were quick to retreat from as all the bugs scurried from the corpse, leaving the alley much the same way they came only with the addition of circumnavigating the stranger. Creep himself took a couple steps back, purchasing some distance between him and the strange figure before him. He did not know why she approached him like so but a lot of things about this were definitely not normal to his sensibilities.

"Well for one thing this is the second time today that somebody's gone off at me with cryptic nonsense. I swear it's like people just get their kicks by trying to puzzle me."


He tried not to sound too defensive but it was hard with a pair of little eyes looking on at him. At this point he mostly just wanted out of this conversation as he mostly just found the whole conversation off-putting. Well, that and he was really suspicious of the figure being another deity trying to play mind games with him again.

"As much as I'd love to er, stay and chat I'll probably be on my way, My way being outta here more specifically."

As he had been backing up while talking with that said he slipped past the corner, vanishing from view. That is to say he didn't literally vanish but rather took off down the alley, hoping quite well he wasn't being pursued by something quite awful.


Just as he emerged from the alley way, coming to a slow he saw three women. Two were concealed in cloaks, one in a mask and the third was dressed in a colorful dress, likely expensive stuff given the vibrancy of the colors. He recognized the one person from the bar. It wasn't that strange to see this person again given how close the locations were but given the events just prior it was starting to get rather strange how often he was running into strange out of place people in Hoffngard.

"Hey, you bunch wouldn't happen to know that doomsday sayer over by the dead body now would 'ya?" He asked, wondering if there was some connection between these people and the other one. It wasn't much of an unusual question in itself but there was little involved in the topic that was usual for a place like Hoffngard. Even dead bodies weren't THAT usual though they were unpleasantly frequent in the river that ran down the middle of the city.

The avatar of Bashemath sighs and looks over at her... companions.

"Was I unclear? Perhaps I should try better next time," she says to essentially herself. "That one is special... and I will not let Xyr or the other gods use him."

"It is scouting for now, we intend to check Ertse'gart and see how far the Black Ichorr has spread and... if necessary... make contact," she responds as well as she could muster. "Hoffngarrrd sits on the edge, so from here, not long. I am shocked there arre no signs of it here."

With this said another person emerges, this one in a seeming hurry to get away from... something. It was a young man, tattered clothes and hat. A vagabond perhaps? She was not going to judge, but his scent was strange. In any case, it was clear immediately that he was likely not another sent to join them. She was also taken aback by this abruptness, not sure what to say in response to his mention of a doomsday sayer.

"I know nothing of such, I am Sublimatio Carro, um... under Ha-zar-mav-eth, nothing to do with... doomsday," she explains, trying to be as forthright to place herself away from such dark practices. It wouldn't be the first time members were mistaken as a dark cult, given their dress code and the whole... being associated with a god of the afterlife. She inspects him, shifting concerns. "But tell me... you spoke of a body... were you attacked? Are you okay? Do you requirre help?"

Tir'Ish Na-Ahn
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Tir'Ish watched as Kana quickly made contact with what seemed to be the scouting group. He (for he was still in the form of a man-monk) smiled, and kept hidden on the rooftop where he was perched. All was going well, and hopefully they would have some answers soon. The smile quickly faded, however, when the boy infested with insects suddenly made an appearance. Creep, thought Tir'Ish with just a hint of contempt. Creep was certainly no enemy of the Na-Ahns, but he was difficult to deal with sometimes. What is he panicking about, I wonder.

Tir'Ish decided to get in closer. Jumping from the roof and using a small amount of energy to keep his physical form intact, he took off running towards the group. He slowed down just in time to not be immediately noticed as an abnormality, and walked closer to be ready just in case Kana would be in danger. Keeping his eyes on them, Tir'Ish read their words by the intents given off. Dead bodies were bothersome, so-called "doomsday sayers" were often trouble, and Creep was usually a little rash.

Unless something threatening happened, Tir'Ish planned to stay his distance and watch. It has been a very long time since he fought, and he certainly wasn't eager to start back up.

Carrissa had no idea what the fine details were for this mission so she did not respond, of course it seemed that Rey knew where they were going. The strange person had not disclosed their name, but all she knew was that she served Tir'Ish Na-Ahn.

What got her attention however was a strange young man with tattered clothing who said something about...a dead body! "Doomsday sayer! Dead body! Oh my gosh..." Carissa covered her mouth as she broke away from the group to head to the alleyway. Of course this took precedence but there was no way she would just leave a dead person rotting in an alleyway, everyone deserved to be properly buried.

She was not going to just ignore this, and a doomsday sayer? Was that strange person the killer? She had to find out.

Creep

"I know nothing of such, I am Sublimatio Carro, um... under Ha-zar-mav-eth, nothing to do with... doomsday, But tell me... you spoke of a body... were you attacked? Are you okay? Do you requirre help?"

Hazarmaveth, he could of sworn he recognized that name. Eh. I'll remember that later. He cast the thought from his mind. He turned his attention back to the matter at hand.

"Oh, I'm fine. Not sure I can say the same of the poor guy down in the alley. He was dead by the time I came upon him. Probably a mugging from the look of it though I couldn't tell you for sure since I wasn't there long." He informed them of the situation.


"Zzsir, we are being watchzed." The ear wig informed him telepathically. He hadn't noticed this but bugs were far more canny when it came to spotting metaphorical flies on the wall. It was hard for someone to go anywhere in a place as dirty as this side of the city and not draw the attention of a mosquito or a flea.

He just took their word for it rather than ponder about the fact that they might see anyone looking at him as a potential stalker. Given that possibility he paid the potential danger little mind, keeping his focus on the group for the current time.


"Doomsday sayer! Dead body! Oh my gosh..." The pretty young blonde exclaimed. She certainly was a good looking lady. Creep definitely noted her pale unblemished skin and cute yet innocent looking face. She was the type of girl that was severely out of his league, both before and after his transcendence to godhood.

And just like that she was off, running down the alleyway he had just exited. "Whoa, hold on there!" He beckoned, deciding to follow after her. She looked rather inexperienced, naive even. He could only wonder if she had ever seen a body before, let alone one that had been partially eaten by roaches. The doomsday sayer was no good news either, this problem was only going to get worse before it was going to get better this way. Since he had a partial hand in how this was going down he felt the need to at least see it to as much of a conclusion as he's willing to follow up on.

Plus she was cute too. Cuties shouldn't be hanging around dead bodies and creeps like him.

---

Goddess of Love, Lust, and Sexuality
Fairy Glade

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The Goddess of Love, lay back, watching her guests, indulged themselves her power. Some danced, most coupled up. Soft moans, and whimpers of euphoria floated about the room, along with incenses and and scented oils permated the air adding to her already potent power. She smiled softly, playing the hair of her avatar, Ashika, whole lay back against her chest, having already indulged with the Goddess herself was still reeling.

Ai, however, while a smile touched her lips, was elsewhere. She was supposed to have gone to the meeting with her Brother's and Sister's but was much too wrapped up in what she had been doing with the avatar, the thought of the meeting bored her. Ai did not like to be bored, in fact, she abhored it. She chuckled to herself causing Ashika -still breathless- to look up at her.

Ai merely shook her head and Ashkia lay back, losing her eyes, a pleasant satisfied smile on her face. Ai went back to her musing.
She was rarely ever alled upon for such matters, surely her brothers and sisters cared little for her. After all, she was what distracted most of the mortals from the things they wanted them to do. Some where driven until love was involved, or lust in most cases. Some where smart but love made them stupid, some where dark but love made them kind. Love had many gifts but it was much like a virus, she knew, and and distracting one at that.

This always caused Ai to keep from these meetings, she did not want to sit there and be loathed, and the fear of such a thing, kept her distance, which was strange for such a sociable being.
She felt bad though now that the lust she'd placed on herself warn of.

She should go. She knew she should go, and so she would.

She walked passed her resting avatar, pressed a gentle kiss to the woman's lips before making her departure, Ashika just sighed, too love drunk to move.


It didn't take long for Ai to arrive in to where they all gathered, and decided to hide her apprehension in the only way she knew how.
Grandly.

She stepped through the great doors, her arms up, her hips cocked, the belt at them and the matching silks that cascaded down and around her legs in the deep blues of a twilight night sky, teased the bounties beneath them.It would have been considered a skirt what she wore, had it not been for the splits that rose to the belt. She smiled.

"Brothers! Sisters! Do forgive my tardiness." She said, "But have no fear, Love is here." She said with a light flirty giggle. She cared little for the so called blood ties that forced her to call them siblings. She flirted with anyone.

She dropped her arms and approached, her hips swaying teasingly, her hair, dark this day to match the dark blue she was wearing, flowing behind her, wisping like a spider's web in a soft breeze, she found herself a seat atop a table, she crossed her legs, with the split the rose up the sides of her silks being so high, it was that motion that kept her modest...somewhat.

"What did I miss?" She asked, her tone sing song. "Tell me everything." She said as if this was idle gossip and not something important. It must have been if she had been invited.

[Another accidental location post. Let's delete these.]

Kana Na-Ahn
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This was getting to be much more excitement than previously thought. Dead bodies, some bug man (the overwhelming present of so many insects was obvious to an earth elemental, though she didn't understand the nature of either the insects nor the man), something called a doomsday sayer, and an over-enthusiastic girl with a harp. And as she stood there, observing, she suddenly felt Tir'Ish come close. This meant there might be danger. Just great.

"Hold on!" she cried. If this creepy guy just ran from a dead body, why in all of the Terra would you run back toward said dead body. Death means that something killed something else. And killing usually is a bad thing.

As both the harp girl and the bug guy continued to run off - possibly not even hearing Kana - she looked briefly to where she felt the energy god watching. Then, to not give away her master's position, she continued to scan the crowd. Turning then to Rey, she asked "Do you want to follow? This is already all too weird, but we can't risk that mugger killing again." With a sigh, she watched the alley and waited for a response. One thing that kept elementals alive is the ability to be cautious. Fire elementals may be the worst at that point, but earth elementals excelled. She would only go into a dark alley if it was beneficial to her mission.

Rey took a moment to realize that Carissa had turned and ran in the completely opposite direction of danger, prompting her to yell something in a guttural dialect before rushing that way as well. As far as she knew she was the eldest member and thus held within her a lot of responsibility to the others... she didn't want to let anyone down.

"Yes," she responds quite abruptly before taking off at a breakneck pace after the two, yet somehow careful not to trip upon her own robes. A few guards active around the block look but don't get involved, after all, they weren't exactly screaming. Useless slobs. "Carrrissa, this is a really bad idea!"

The alley was dark, blocking out much of the sunlight, few who came here were either rats or desperate, the others were after something, rarely good. What was before them though was a lone figure, average height for a young woman, hunched over taking off her worn cloak and placing it over the dead man. Rey comes to a dead stop, her senses, her instincts sent into a frenzy, and a smell, sweet yet very foreign fills her nostrils.

"I did not mean to cause a disturbance," the woman says softly, running her hand through her hair and glancing at it. From what little light there was, she was a pale woman and with very long rusty red hair turning black near her scalp. "I came after the tragedy took place and found the sad one here."

"So, you just walk towards dangerr, not suspicious," Rey asks, skepticism in her tone and her guard up. "Speaking of which, Carrissa, that was-"

"The sad one did the same, he played no part in this man's death" she responds, turning her head slightly, the small creatures on her stare at Rey and the others with their beady eyes. She then proceeds to pet the creatures, their silhouettes now visible against her pale hand showing them as little more than a couple black ferrets. "Admittedly, I am the most suspicious one. Hah... I've certainly failed at being... comforting."