lucetilogs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who: [Bad username or site: salvationfound title= @ livejournal.com] and [Bad username or site: halgitamilf title= @ livejournal.com]
What: Bringing Svala back from the ruins. With pretty wings!
When: A day after this
Where: The Ruins
Summary: Kratos just can't stay away from Svala. :|
Rating: PG?

Scorching desert air whipped across his face as Kratos flew towards the ruins. He'd never flown such a long distance ever since he came to this world; he had forgotten what a rush it was to fly with only the mana on his back to support him. It was one of the only things he liked about being an angel.

He had brought all of the necessities with him - food, water, even a blanket for the night, enough for two - in a small backpack that he carried on his arm. He needed his back to be free so that he could feel the subtle changes in the wind. His angel wings were sensitive enough to feel such things. The Filial wings were sensitive as well, but they were not meant for flying. Kratos regarded them as useless.

A day after he talked to Svala, he finally saw the ruins in the distance, though he couldn't see her figure just yet. Kratos began to descend through the air, calculating how slow he would have to fly in order to land smoothly on the sand. He only hoped that Svala would be finished soon. Kratos rather preferred to wait outside and not get hopelessly lost in the ruins while trying to find her.

Once he landed, he allowed his wings to stay out for a moment longer as he knelt to recover. The flight to the ruins took more out of him than he thought it would, yet he'd only need a few moments of rest. The way back would be a little harder and he knew it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Her inspection complete and her worry successfully laid to rest, Svala brushes the sand and dust from Kratos' shoulders before leading him over to a corner of the room where she'd set up a camp of sorts; a fire, bedding, books, a lantern and a few other provisions. "I am prepared to pack and leave in a matter of minutes, but perhaps it would be wise for us to stay the night and leave in the morning."

"Considering your eagerness to explore these ruins has yet to be satiated, it does seem to be the wisest decision." Kratos replied as he set his own bag by the makeshift camp she made for herself. He wasn't about to mention that flying here had worn him out a little.

"Have you found anything of interest thus far?" He asked as he lowered himself by the fire. If she wanted to explore, he would rather they gather information first.

"Great interest." A spark lit in her eyes and Svala knelt beside the fire upon her blanket, across from Kratos. She reached for her stack of notes -all loose paper, of course, since writing her observations in the journal would be pure idiocy- and rifled through them, setting a few sheets aside. "The markings along the walls are all variations of this spiral pattern."

Laying a page flat beneath the sunlight for him to examine, Svala showed the sketches of some of the symbols adorning the walls and her observations of what they could mean. "I researched spirals and their meanings; the most common theme among cultures is continuity, infinite movement, everlasting. It is a simple association; when you turn a spiral-" and Svala turned the page in a circle to demonstrate her point, "-the spiral does not begin, nor does it end. It is eternal, unending."

Sitting back on her heels, Svala gestured. "Seeing as this is a temple, one can safely assume its primary function was for worship, or as a monument to greatness. It certainly is impressive. The spiral motif must also be a tribute for whatever this structure was built, whether it be a kingdom, an organization, an individual or...a god."

Kratos maneuvered himself so that he was closer, taking a good look at the spiral patterns on the page. It made sense; the spiral had always been a symbol of eternity, of something never ending. Whatever it was that they worshiped must've had a great impact on them.

"It is something that they thought would last forever, considering the symbol. It does, indeed, show that they thought very highly of whatever it was, enough to cause worship." He laced his fingers together and pondered the meaning of all of this. "But this temple has been abandoned for quite some time, and it looks as if most of the monuments have been removed from this area. What happened?"

"I do not know." Svala folded her arms, looking just a little irate at the fact that most of the material she could have researched was clearly removed long before her arrival. "It is quite obvious that these ruins had been investigated prior to my arrival, though I cannot gauge how long. However, if they were being investigated...by whom? The logical explanation is the Malnosso, but that begets the question of what culture worshiped here."

Shifting her weight to make herself more comfortable, Svala noted the sun slowly sinking beyond the horizon beyond the window nearby. "Naturally, the first theory suggests the Filial...but there are also rooms dedicated to what can only be ritualistic sacrifice."

Again, Svala looked irritated. Again, she looked...

...cute.

Kratos felt himself mentally hit his head against one of the ruin walls at that thought. Outwardly, he simply sighed and looked out the window to watch the sun set, causing the floor and themselves to be lit with darker colors.

"If it was the Filial themselves who worshiped these... gods, what would they use for sacrifice? Was there any indication towards such? And whoever was researching these ruins obviously had some resources with them, considering the laptops we had found on our first visit." He paused, and then continued on. "It seems that even they abandoned their research."

"Humans." Svala gathered up her papers, organizing them again and straightening them with a few upright taps against the stone. "Or something remarkably akin to them; there were several rooms filled with bones, corpses."

Svala lifted her eyes to seek out his, expression a mixture of anxiety, determination and revelation. "Not quite the peace-loving society we believe them to be, if indeed the Filial are responsible for this temple."

"If it was the Filial, of course." He looked back at her, expression unreadable as always. "More research would be required to learn what exactly built this temple and if humans truly were used as sacrifices. It is strange to think that the Malnosso, or if it's even them, would fashion us after the Filial if they're capable of such a thing as ritualistic sacrifice."

Kratos watched her straighten the papers and gather them together, lost in his own thoughts, before he spoke again. "Often times when a race sacrifices something to their god, it is by means of fear. Perhaps they were both awed and terrified by whatever they worshiped."

"Or they are ignorant," Svala murmured, "or...greedy." She fell into a thoughtful, melancholy silence as she slid the papers between the pages of a thick book, smoothing the dog eared pages and shutting it with a dull thump.

"There are many explanations as to why a culture would submerge themselves so blindly into a flawed practice; tradition, greed, ignorance, honor, fear, hatred, even love...there is no way to know, other than...to ask."

"Yes, that would be the best choice." Kratos crossed his arms and gazed into the fire, a frown coming over his face. "...If there were any Filial left within the village. The traitors took them all away for reasons unknown."

"They were empty." Svala didn't like even being near them; it was like talking to a doll, the vibes they gave off. She'd hated it, and always sent one of the boys to do the shopping, if she could help it. "They would have been of no help."

As the last rays of sunlight died beyond the dunes, Svala stood and rummaged through her things, removing the down blankets she knew she'd be needing later that night, when the cold really began to creep in. "We should rest. We have a long journey ahead of us, of which I am certain you are aware."

"Indeed." However, Kratos wasn't preparing to rest. Instead, he continued to gaze out the window and at the stars that were starting to appear in the sky. He still liked to believe that he didn't need sleep, even if it won out over him in the end.

Svala laid out enough bedding for two, Kratos. "...you as well."

Kratos caught a glance of her expression. That was a familiar look to him, and it caused him to lift a hand to his face. "I will. Soon."

Svala was usually the pushy type, but subtly, and only when she had to be. Recognizing that as one of the times where flexibility would be more useful than rigidity, Svala acquiesced with a nod and slid into her own blankets, carefully tucking them beneath herself and burrowing down. Being small and in cold places sucked.

'Soon', for him, would be quite a while. He stayed where he was and watched the stars for a little longer, always awed by how different their placements were compared to the ones in his world. It certainly passed the time for him, to count these new stars and figure out what sorts of constellations laid within them.

A few hours later, his eyes finally began to grow heavy. And so, Kratos took a long look at where Svala was sleeping. She had set up enough bedding for two, so he should probably take up her offer.

...While staying as far away as possible. Another person's warmth while sleeping was always a discomfort for him - it took a while to get used to Anna's when she was still with him. Nevertheless, Kratos took the blanket from his own bag and settled himself down on the bedding. He hated admitting defeat to his own bodily needs, and the frown on his face showed that, but there was no fighting this.

Edited 2009-04-28 04:09 (UTC)

Meanwhile, Svala was unconsciously curling up in the blankets in an attempt to keep some warmth; the stone of the temple trapped some of the heat during the day, but come the middle of the night it had usually all bled out into the surrounding air. Additionally, she couldn't keep a fire going due to lack of burnables. The bedding she usually surrounded herself with split in two, combined with her own rather small and thin build didn't make for a warm night.

Kratos could tell that Svala was cold, but this blanket would be enough to last them for the night. It was only natural to be cold outside, after all, and what didn't kill someone made them stronger.

Heartless, yes, but Kratos wasn't about to do anything about it. Instead, he found himself drifting off.

Svala hadn't had a bed mate -or someone that slept near her- since Sigmund was a toddler and climbed into bed with her. Before that, several years since her husband had died. She was more than accustomed to sleeping alone, although she wasn't very accustomed to sleeping in uncomfortable conditions; being Empress meant that you were always warm and never sleeping on the ground, after all. Luceti was an amazing experience, and Svala liked to think that she was becoming less pampered as time passed.

However, as the night wore on, she unconsciously scooted closer and closer to Kratos, instinctively seeking the warmth and company of another person until she was at his side, her hand on his. Once their skin touched she stilled, and stopped shivering. If Kratos was awake, he'd feel light, dreamy emotions, along with heavy feelings of regret, loss and maybe some fear. Someone was having a nightmare.

The touch and warmth of her hand on his soon roused him from his own sleep, although he knew what it was before he was fully awake. Instinctively, he tensed. Someone sleeping by his side and holding his hand was something he'd only experienced several years ago, with Anna and Lloyd when he was a toddler. Though his own hand gripped at the sheets for a second in a period of discomfort, he slowly relaxed his hold. It was all right. Svala was only sleeping, after all.

Through the haziness in his mind that came with few hours of sleep, he made out the emotions that was clearly coming from the sleeping woman beside him. Despite the dreamy aspects that made them seem surreal, they weren't at all pleasant. With a couple of hard blinks to wake himself up a little more, he slowly sat up and looked down at her, not bothering to move his hand from hers and the other reached out to touch her shoulder. "Svala."

Svala shifted slightly closer and murmured, "Devante..." The fear, regret and loss vanished and replaced themselves with comfort and calm.

Devante?

That must've been someone she cared for in the past, if her feelings passed over such a name. As long as she was calm now... Kratos settled himself down again and stared up at the large ceiling of the ruins. He'd found in his time here that once someone woke him up, it was hard to get himself to sleep again.

It was quite annoying.

Meanwhile, Svala was comfortably asleep, and could now technically be called out on snuggling.

Kratos wasn't about to wake her up just to do that. She'd probably look at him funny and then go right back to sleep.

There was nothing he could do about it, and he knew that she was relying on him for warmth and comfort, and so he didn't move. Instead, he continued to stare at the ceiling until his eyes closed and he drifted once more. It may have been a few hours or a few minutes; Kratos couldn't tell anymore.

Sometime during the night, Svala had rolled away from Kratos and left ample space between them again. So when the sunlight began to creep over the ground from the windows across the room, bringing the desert heat with it, Svala roused from sleep and sat up, rubbing her eyes. She'd never get used to this "waking drowsy" business; her lunaglyph had always provided her with ample energy at home, so she only slept several hours or so. Here, it seemed she needed the full eight hours, something that irritated her a bit.

Glancing to her side, she noted that she was noticeably closer to Kratos than from when she'd started out and flushed. Hopefully she hadn't done anything embarrassing during the night, like snuggle or talk. Stretching, she slipped out from beneath her blankets and began to fold up her bedding.