07.28.2020: Fire is the Cleanser
| Fire is the Cleanser | |
|---|---|
| Cleansing fire for Ahrouns and Nephandi alike | |
| IC Date | July 28, 2020 |
| IC Time | Whenever |
| Players | Ivy, Kurt, and Sheridan |
| Location | The Lost Kingdom |
| Spheres | Werewolf, Wyrm, Black Spiral Dancers |
Log
Ivy sits on a rocking chair outside the haunted mansion, a partial bottle of whiskey resting on the porch at her feet. She's moving slowly, the wood squeaking in the otherwise quiet as she flips slowly through a tattered magazine that looks like she found it on the ground.
And that big honking Ahroun seems to be everywhere but since it is the Lost Kingdom a Spiral showing up is more likely than one thinks. "The odds of that magazine not being burnt or the pages stuck together is pretty high." she says. Dressed in battered old blue jeans and a pink sports bra over a black mesh tank while wedge heeled hiking boots crunch gravel underfoot. Eying the whiskey bottle, Sheri grins and picks it up to take a swig.
Ivy looks up at the crunch of boots on gravel, smirking a little bit. "Both. But the real question is..." She holds it up by the corner and only a few of the pages open up freely. "What are the pages stuck together with?" Her lips purse in mock thought before she sighs and puts it down on the ground next to her chair. "Had enough of the office for one day?"
Sheridan grins, hair braided in low set pigtails while she keeps her eyes behind those black rimmed glasses she usually wears around the office. "You never know sometimes. I wouldn't try testing. Smells like someone with a bad gag reflex." she says with a grin. "Which actually sounds like the office sometimes," she adds with a smirk at the skinny blonde Mage. "But yeah, sometimes they gotta send a bitch home. Things like food and hygeine are still kinda important. Sleeping in a cave is one thing but creature comforts are nice too for a creature."
Ivy doesn't say anything about the bottle being taken, seems she doesn't mind sharing. "It's a...strange place. All buttoned up and shiny, with god knows what going on behind the doors. The need for the facade is...confusing I suppose." She laces her fingers over her middle, looking up and up, at the Spiral. "I'm surprised they don't have fancy apartments on campus.
"The veil is a pretty big deal. It's about the only thing we still agree on with the tight assed Gaians. We don't let others know what we're doing." The big blonde's nostrils flair as she leans over, almost looming atop Ivy as she sniffs. "Huh, kinfolk? Usually just smell Kurt's cum. But we both smell like that." she adds and grins. "We do however offer. And since you totally accepted the offer. If you didn't you might have had a rough time. Still. No blabbing unless its the office or here." she sounds almost threatening. "Don't want to disappoint Director Gray after all would we!"
Ivy arches an eyebrow, her head tilting as her hand lifts and she braces her temple slightly, looking up at Sheridan. "Okay. Just going to clear things up a little bit, presuming you want us to get along. At least on a passable level. First of all, don't talk to me like a child. Secondly, I accepted the offer because it pleased Kurt. And that's the only reason. I have not, nor will I ever, drink the kool-aid." She pauses to let out a sigh. "And third, or C, whichever works best for you. I think I know what discretion means, and I don't care to elaborate beyond that. And yes, kinfolk. I dug through the genetic ancestory of this body, found latent genes and turned them on. I can do things like that."
The Ahroun grins wide as Ivy talks herself up. "Good. Last thing I like is a crawly mewly slut. They bore the fucking shit out of me." The muscled woman states and stands straighter, rolling hips and getting those abdominals flexing while hands rise over head to get a more serpentine going. "The Kool-Aid's already drunk. It's the fun drugs we take after that." she points out with a wink. "Latent genes? Sounds like the lab jockeys back at Magadon." Ivy slides her hand down from her temple to rest her chin on it. "Whatever floats your boat." She reaches to pick her bottle back up taking a long drink herself. "I suppose so, but the approach is different. They're more machines, tests and probing. I'm more blood, entrails and beseeching the will of Lord Ba'ashkai for answers."
"The amount of pills and stuff they keep injecting me with. Just so they can try and fix ruined ovaries turned testicles. I can't pronounce half the hormones and steroids," Sheridan states with a chuckle. "And yeah, there's a lot that does float my boat. Hot blondes being mouthy at their betters..." Sheri arches her eyebrows. "Hot watching, hotter when the brat is put in her place. Think Director Gray gets off on it too. So definitely speak your mind. And I'm all for the blood and entrails. Gotta do somnething with the left overs. If you can make use of them, excellent."
Ivy shrugs lightly. "Why? Who says there's anything to fix? Father makes us all how he wants us to be." Her eyebrow lifts a little bit. "Betters? That's funny." She waves her hand lightly, "Though not why you're probably thinking. I just find it interesting that people have to tear other people down to lift themselves up rather than just become...more...on their own. But it's good, hearing you speak your mind, lets me know how we'll be interacting as time goes on."
"Well I'm not the one going out of my way to become a parent." Sheri states and shrugs her shoulders and even that seems to blend into the idkle dancing Sheridan is doing in front of the Nephandi. She does lean down again almost nose to nose with Ivy. "Well one thing you should know. You're not competition. Neither's Director Gray." the wolf adds a point of her fingernail against Ivy's sternum. "We fuck, we fuck. We don't, we don't. We'll still have all kinds of fun serving Director Gray." she further exclaims.
Ivy arches an eyebrow slightly, "Competition for what?" She gives Sheri a puzzled look, "For his attention? No, we're not competition." Her smile is amused as she replies to that. "And we won't be fucking. Mr. Gray marked me as his for a reason, and has already stated no other wolves. So you can just scratch that one off of any proverbial list." She lifts her other hand, flicking Sheri's off her chest. "So no touchy."
The flick gets a giggle out of the wolf and with that Sheridan moves to sit her ass down at the top of that stoop. "Probably not. But sometimes ass shaking will happen. Pack hunting is a team sport so I'll get what feels I can cop. We'll go pick out something nice to bring back for Director Gray. Someone nice we can home cook for him."
Ivy sighs softly, folding her fingers across her middle again. "You didn't answer the question...Competition for...what?" She shrugs to the rest. "I'm not going to get into it, there's no reason to." Her hand slides into her pocket and she pulls out her cellphone, typing on the screen. "I understand that in Wolf society kinfolk are low man on the totem pole, and I wouldn't have taken it on in other circumstances. But it would be best for the outcomes of our interactions if you remembered I'm Nephandi first, kinfolk second."
"Spirals generally aren't monogomous honey. So taking a mate. Feels really fucking weird to me when I see you and Director Gray going on about it. Kinda gives me a hard on to get balls deep between you two. Fucking both of you. Together or separate. That's a normal feeling for a lot of us. And yeah, you're a bad ass mage. That little thing you did to me in the office. Fucking hot. I wanna see you do that to prey." Sheridan says and beams a more manic looking grin at the mage. "Kinfolk, yeah they're a commodity. You, you're a fucking prize." The Ahroun is stitting at the steps up into the haunted manion while Ivy occupies a rocking chair and looks really unimpressed. Sheridan is probably talking a load of shit by the sounds of it as she wiggle her ass against the step in old tight bluejeans and a pink sports bra over a mesh tank, letting muscles strain and flex while she fidgets compulsively.
Ivy arches an eyebrow, crossing her bare legs to pick at the string on her shorts before sliding the phone back into her pocket. Looking over to Sheri, "Who said anything about monogomy? I've heard that word a lot lately, I'm not the one usually bringing it up." She shrugs a little. "I've never asked for it, wouldn't expect it, and it's laughable to think of demanding it. But hey, glad to hear we're in your spank bank. I guess." She reaches down to grab up the bottle of whiskey next to her feet for another drink. "I'm also not his mate, not that he's told me. I belong to him, but I suspect that's not the same thing." She shrugs and takes a long swallow.
Kurt grunts as he steps free of the Fun House naked save for a ritual loin cloth. He's carrying a bucket with a stick leaning out one side as he moves into the center of Kingdom on bare feet. The presence of bitch and beta make him tilts his head in their direction for a moment. A dry wheeze laugh, like the cackle of a hyena as he settles the bucket down. "Mate has certain connotations that will get a certain Ritemaster up my ass about reproducing, and since I know better, she is my bitch - and," he pauses some to sniff their direction with a sly smirk, "Now she can join us in the Hive without raising eyebrows." Then he's setting fire to whatever's in the bucket and pulling out the branch with cinders smoldering on the ends. "Time to be cleansed in Father's embers, Sheri-baby," he croons and beckons with a curl of his free index finger.
Sheridan pops right up to her feet. "You're still gonna cop shit not letting us fuck her." the Ahroun points out. "Raising eyebrows is putting that mildly but more bodies at a Moot is always fun." she looks over at Ivy with a grin and a wink. "Better put on a good show on the night. Gonna have a lot of people watching." she states before returning her attention to her Alpha. "Good clean dirty fun. Hopefully Green Dragon is running hot!" she says with a bounce in her writhing stance as she warms her hands at the fire like summer wasn't warm enough already in Prospect.
Ivy tilts her head to look over at him as he speaks, his attire getting an appraising once over. "If these Moots mean that sort of dress code, then I am allll for it." She grins, picking up the bottle for a drink. "Though I expect I'll need more of an education first. Wouldn't want to offend or anything." She glances to Sheridan and back to Kurt again. "There seems to be a surpreme amount of importance placed on who fucks who. A status thing? Or are you all just incredibly horny with no outlets?"
Kurt only gives a darker laugh in response, "Don't be pouty, it doesn't suit you, Sheri," he chuffs and chides with a twisted grin. "Eh, the other Elders decided that they wanted to make the sanctum of the Hive a cool kids only club. So rather than argue over Nephandus or not, she solved the problem handily," he says rather proudly of Ivy's transformation. "Extremely hot," he promises the Spiral even as he begins marking out in the dirt a cross of sorts, "Lay down, in the center please," he gestures to his packmate before looking up to make eye contact with the lovely Nephandus in question. "I'll get you as well Darling, just one at a time - but it is best you both know the cleansing fires before Moot," he suggests with a smile. A tilt of his head is given to Ivy and he chuckles, "Little bit of all of the above. Spiritual Renown is on the line for breeders, and docking it is on the line for Metis who get cocky enough to claim a Mate. Rest assured, every month Jackson hasn't put a pup in Goldie is a month Russ will be telling the spirits of his failure."
"It's outlets a lot of the time." Sheridan points out. "I blame the Gaian converts bringing their stodgy attitudes. And people being greedy with kinfolk empowered or not. Want me naked?" Sheridan asks as she heads for the circle, she does at least slip off those boots after a hop on each one to undo laces and tug them from feet. "The Loin Cloth is pretty standard at the hive. Not that clothes stay on for too long at a moot. Fighting, fucking, revering Father and the hive's totem. Hunting." she states all the fun things. "Even I cop flak for not pumping out litters. And I lost that ability in a fight. The sterility is the scar. But older wolves love harping on about grandkids." she says and barefooted lays down in the circle, there's a gravel angel and settles in a serpentine wriggling on the ground. "Cook me Director Gray!"
Ivy looks to the ritual marking that Kurt makes and her interest is almost tangible. The talk of fucking and breeding becomes of secondary attention for a moment before she pulls it back to look to Kurt with a grin. "I guess we won't be seeing him around for a while then?" Then she reaches down to tug off her boots; undoing the laces so she can drop them to the side, still perched on her toes afterwards due to the steel pin driven into her ankles. While Sheri takes her turn she peels out of her clothing, even if it isn't necessary, she seems intent on doing it in her skin.
Kurt nods offhandedly and grants that with a grunted, "Outlets," as a second to the main cause, "It's not just the converts, it's the Elders too, they got greedy in my formative years so now I get greedy," he explains with a shrug, "Vicious cycles are cyclical," he chuckles with a lack of care for his own vices. A nod is given to Sheri at the question of nudity, "It's better without them," he says as she squirms into place and makes a gravel angel. <<Father's fire hear the call, we seek to bring the vessel back to the start, to clear the corruption to make way for new and exciting means of taint,>> he growls in the guttural tones of the wolves themselves before blowing a breath of balefire over the branch to help it take on a sickly glow. When Sheri is ready, he brings the burning branch down across her front sweeping from tits to stomach to pelvis then down her thigh, and back up the other leg.
Once the ritual actually starts, Sheridan does her damndest to stay still but then just finds a rhythm with the burning branch while Kurt guides the cleansing in the First Tongue. So her body moves to meet the flame, and gets singed in the process, the blonde hissing like she's just had someone deep throat her. Almost a pleasant expression while her skin bubbles and blisters here and there as the fire does it's thing. A werewolf might bt able to handle fire but it still does a number. Even a masochist is still going to feel something. But a servant of the Wyrm is going to walk into it. A nice preview of what's to come for Ivy.
Ivy nods, setting her clothing aside. She pushes herself up onto her tip toes, then reaches for one of the supports for the porch to keep balanced on the balls of her feet. She waits, watching, listening as Kurt speaks in that gutteral language, looking from him to Sheridan as the ritual is inacted. She finds it all fascinating, her eyes widening slightly as the flame turns green and she inhales in surprise.
Kurt is diligent and his voice carries the presence of a proper Preacher. He chants to the spirits around them and brings in that cleansing flame until the very tainto f his packmate is stripped from her and cast away from her into the dirt around as visible black tar bits. As if the corruption took on actual form when it was torn from the Spiral shewolf. The bright green flames should very much draw a cry of anguish and pain out of her if he does it right. When it's done, the Elder sweats freely, his skin coated in slickness as he drips when he leans over Sheri to make sure she's still conscious. A nod given there, <<It will be to Father's glory that you re-taint yourself, go forth and extend his Will into this rotten world.>>
She's conscious. But maybe not quite looking as fetching for the burns and blisters where the fire licked her. Not her usualy hotness, just a hot mess. But it'll heal, it's cleansing. Not a battle wound. Before she sits herself up. She offers her own little prayer in the First Tongue. <<May Father guide me so I may fan the flames of his balefire with the flesh of my prey.>> she says in a rather solemn tone before she rolls herself to sit and then stand up. Smelling of smoke and burned flesh and hair among the other scents that never quite lifted from her that she came in with. Turning to Kurt, the Ahroun nods her head almost bowing to her elder Alpha, then rises and actually gives Ivy the same gesture. "I may talk shit. But I honor Father in all his forms. Be cleansed and renewed so our powers can grow and serve." she states and steps out of the circle to dance on the spot. Still in her homid form. She can shift and heal later.
Ivy steps down off the porch carefully, looking to Sheri with a small nod. And then off she goes, walking perched on her tip toes over to the marking, careful not to smudge the ash anymore than it is. She looks at Kurt with open adoration, and no little bit of excitement, at the upcoming enaction of the ritual. Then comes the fun part; laying down. She settles for crouching forward, bracing on her hands before she twists her hips to sit, then lays back on the cross, her arms outstretched as she looks up at him.
Kurt smiles when Sheridan pops up again, while the burns may be a bit distracting towards her normal beauty, the Elder still looks over her with a raking eye. A nod given to her prayer as he turns to thrust the branch into the bucket once more spilling out in a sudden pour of flame telling that the bucket is actually oil. Likely something made specifically for the ritual itself. Now he watches intently as his pet Mage turns to place herself on the altar he's made for the purpose of Cleansing. It is a bit unorthodox, but so is the Philodox. The Ritual begins again without hesitation. <<Unholy Father, we bring this worthy vessel to you to be made unworthy once more, refresh the being so the soul may find new torment and corruption in your name.>> He breathes that green Balefire over the branches again before turning them to paint over the pale flesh of the Widderslainte beneath him, callously raking out the Wyrm Taint and sending it into the dirt around her as he tears her down to make her anew.
Ivy may have lain down quite placidly, but as the green flame is drug over her skin she screams. At first her fists are clenched, muscles tight as she fights the instinct to pull away from the pain, and despite other moments this time there is no hint of pleasure in the agony for her. She screams until she has no air, and still her mouth remains open with a cry that has no sound. As the fire trails down her torso she arches, hard, her shoulders and hips the only contact her body keeps with the ground. Contorting hard enough that fresh blood begins to run from the pins in her ankles. And when her breath is drawn in and the second scream comes it isn't just Ivy's voice, it's all of Her voice. It's a cacophonous sound, and a chilling mixture of voices. Female, male, the old and the inhuman. And in the light of the green flame things seem to writhe underneath her skin.
Sheridan steps aside and letr Ivy take her place and while there and all burnt keeps on dancing. Even when you're not on the Spiral, Sheridan keeps on dancing, even subdued as it is while the ritual progresses. Father bade her to dance and dance Sheridan shall. The sound of Ivy's voice gets an inquisitively manic expression as she hears it, and just gets even more manic when things wiggle under the slim blonde woman's body.
Kurt tears away at the very essence that makes up the reincarnated Nephandus made into flesh. Of course his ritual likely rips at the very foundations of her soul being what she is and he smiles cruelly through the pain she experiences. It will be a new religious experience for her. When the contorting stops and the last bits of blackness are shaken from the cleansing branches he snuffs the torch-brush out into the bucket once more where he leaves it to burn off until it fizzles into nothingness. A growl comes and he looks at Sheridan pointedly, "You will have to learn eventually," he instructs, mostly because the last time he was cleansed he had a multi-person pack. A look down to Ivy once more and his head tilts, "Still with us, Darling?"
Ivy wails, her body twitching as the snakey tendrils slither underneath her skin, and again she runs out of air. When the flame is taken away she goes limp on the ground, her skin growing still again up the length of her body with a final few unpleasant pops from her throat. Her eyes are closed, and her mouth doesn't exactly form the word completely, but a low, hollow hiss of "Yesssss." makes it's way out. There's some twitches of fingers and toes here and there, but she doesn't seem to be up for hauling herself off the 'cross' like Sheridan was.
Kurt gives an approving and low growl to them both. "I am proud to be your Alpha, you preserve and sustain the name of the Father in ways that serve me well and bring the darkness to the light," he preaches on as he pulls out a cigarette and lights it from nowhere - fucking Elders and their pocket dimensions. "Make time for such this week then," he tells Sheridan before finally turning to the twitching, writhing blonde on the ground still. Bending down he plucks her up to her toes in one easy motion, "Up you go, Darlin," he drawls before putting the smoke to his lips again with one hand, the other probably propping Ivy up for a moment or two. "Now you will find that old corruptions bring a thrill again, but I encourage you to delve into new sins," he purrs.
Those tendrils wiggle and Sheri looks up to Kurt with a grin. "I think I see a bonus for you in bed Director Gray." She points out and giggles. When there's mostly twitches and their alpha picks Ivy up, Sheridan grins. "I will totally understand the no fucking her order if she has tentacles. I'd be greedy about that shit too and I'm sure she wouldn't appreciaate being sicced on every Asian girl in the office." she points out. And with that, Sheridan puts her innate abilities as a werewolf to work. There's a grunt and she's growing. Muscles and height both building as she stands well over six and a half feet. She might have looked like a fitness model in Homid, but in Hishu, she's down right She-Hulked out. Which allows her to begin healing all those burns while she's at it. Hard to sin when you still look like a hot mess.
Ivy does not sound happy as she's lifted up, and yup, she's going to need some balance as she finds her tip toes again. Her brow is furrowed and her arms end up going around her in a hug that does nothing to ease the ache inside. "Feels like...pattern burn." comes out on a husky groan. She almost bends over a little bit, then corrects that motion before she falls on her face again. "We will make father proud." She still manages, even if her voice is a strained whisper. Still long enough to collect her breath she turns to start picking her way back over towards the porch, heading for either that abandoned rocking chair or the bottle of whiskey. Maybe both.
Kurt grunts and chuckles at Sheri, "Tentacles, among other things, when you land yourself a flesh crafter, you'll be greedy too," he explains and then gives Ivy's bare ass a firm grip that leaves bruises behind, fingertips running over the runes carved into her hip. Eyes follow Sheri growing up past him as she goes to Hishu and starts to regenerate. He gives Ivy's marred flesh a brief touch, as if flaking away some of the singed flesh might help. "We will, and so long as we all have one another's backs - everyone else can kiss our asses," the Alpha snarls. "Our strength is in one another, trust is for suckers, but faith is what binds us. Father will be proud when we stand before him prepared to end him and then devour everything in flame," he preaches some more.
It does take shifting to stand over Kurt, even those heels she left on the dirt nearby wouldn't have put her over but then Shifting is fun and the excessively built blonde grins, fangs visible. "Father's flames will light up this world and the Umbra. And the Gaian's will howl in pain till they become enlightened and dance the Spiral."
Ivy totters slightly at the grip on her ass cheek, but she seems determined to get to that chair. One step and then another and she goes up to the porch and sits down reaching immediately for that bottle. She drains it. Drinking like it was water before dropping the glass off to the side. It's apparently hard to be bitchy currently, and mostly she just looks a little confused, her eyes distant as she focuses on the lingering pain. Her hand drops down and her fingers trail through the blood running from the pins, lifting to her forehead to draw a backwards sigil there and focus.
Kurt is standing in his ritual loin cloth, the smell of burnt flesh is fresh in the air and there is a bucket of oil with a still smoldering branch sticking out of it. The Philodox's tattooed and muscled form shifts slightly as he watches Ivy stalk off to the booze and the porch. The shewolf still near him regenerating earns a crooked smile, "In due time, sugar, we will get there together provided you don't burn out along the way," he croons. He's smoking his Marlboro Red and using his other hand to push away a shlick of sweat from his chest to be scattered onto the ground where he'd carved a cross into the dirt. The tar-like corruption is then set ablaze by regular old summoned fire with a snap, a rather bright and blazing bon fire for a few moments before disappearing and leaving a circle of black char.
