☀ 04-003 ☀

[celestial_okami]

[Ammy is for once left alone with her thoughts, her memories not being replayed for the whole ship to hear and see for the moment. Instead she is pacing restlessly in a corridor, chewing on a tough piece of jerky as she tries to think. What she talked about with Riku has been bothering her ever since, and she's still trying to sort it out.]Maybe if

Comments

[canniballistic]

[Ammy + alone with thoughts probably = bad thing. Abel makes a face - does he really want to ask?]

Eh? Ammy, what's the matter?

[celestial_okami]

Riku asked if I could create more gods, since all of them were killed when they tried to flee the Celestial Plains on the Ark of Yamato. The other Brushgods and I are the only survivors, and they were created when I died.

I don't know if I have what I'd need to here on the ship. [Think think think, she chews on her jerky, her tail lashing as she paces more.]

[canniballistic]

Oh! You really think that something like that is possible?

Er, but, what would you need?

[celestial_okami]

I created fourteen gods before, restoring the Celestial beings should be simpler.

A source of running water to purify myself in. Or water and earth. Neither of which are readily available on this ship. [Chews on her jerky, frowning.] There might be another way, but I haven't tried them before and I'd need help.

[canniballistic]

This doesn't seem like a very safe experiment to be conducting, though. Even for a goddess. Couldn't it be dangerous to try something like that, here?

[celestial_okami]

Abel, it's not like I'm dropping cherry bombs around the ship. What could possibly happen? Riku was the one that wanted to know if I could do it anyway.

[canniballistic]

That doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea, you know...

You're talking about attempting to create life, Ammy. That's not something to be taken lightly.

[celestial_okami]

Abel, I do it all the time. When I create flowers and trees, what do you think that is? Every spring, summer and autumn I restore the earth, tend to crops and harvests. Who do you think nurtures the earth?

I do that. My children the younger brush gods did that while I lay in my stone tomb. Their powers were once mine, and they're mine again. It is a constant cycle, every season of every year has its place. When I bloomed the plants on the edge of that river they called the Nile I was creating life. When I grew that cherry tree in the Envirodome I was creating life.

I think I know what I'm doing. I've been tending to this for centuries, I'm just creating something different. When they called me the origin of all that is good and mother to us all, what did you think they meant?

[She sighs, looking away from the sphere for a moment then turning back.]Besides, there will be only myself and Ushiwaka on the Celestial Plains when I return. The last time I was there it was filled with life, I don't want to go back to it and see it desolate

[canniballistic]

That's different, Ammy. Plants are not the same. Flowers and thinking, feeling bodies are not the same.

If your celestial beings are at all like human beings, they need more than just water and sunlight. When you create a life that has the capability of becoming independent, you create more than just that.

...And I don't want to believe that you would willingly bring more innocent people into this prison.

When you return, I hope that you and he can rebuild the world that you lost so unfairly. With all of my heart. But in this place? Is this really what you would want to be the first thing your children see? The first that they would know of life?

[celestial_okami]

Ah, Abel, I know how children are. Besides, when gods are born they're born fully adult.

[She continues pacing, starting to look more and more like a caged animal.]

I will admit I had not thought of that. [She freezes, bristling as another roar practically deafens her, and the view spins out of focus as Ammy hurls the sphere at the wall.]

STOP THAT! I can't think listening to that anymore. Those battles were so long ago, but so help me...

[She's glaring fiercely at the sphere itself when it returns to its usual position and Ammy goes back to pacing.] Centuries later I still cannot escape the need to tear things apart whenever I hear that sound. Damned snake! I hear that enough in my dreams I don't need it following me down the hallways.

[canniballistic]

[His own memories have been at a quiet, indecipherable murmur for a while, now, and Abel had almost forgotten that they were still there.

At the sudden flare of sound, though, he nearly leaps back from the sphere, terrified. His heart is in his throat, but he catches his breath faster when he realizes what's just happened.]

Wh-What was that sound?

[celestial_okami]

That was Orochi, the eight-headed serpent that destroyed the Celestial Plains and cursed Kamiki Village. It was his poison that killed me, which led to me being sealed away for a hundred years.

[Ammy shakes, her fur still standing on end.]

[canniballistic]

I've never heard anything like it. It was terrible.

[He's still watching warily, drawing a blank on what to say as his mind tries to replay that noise against better judgement.]

[celestial_okami]

Try having eight of them roaring at you all at once. At least only one head spoke at a time, but it was bad enough. Fighting them was worse.

[Ugh, that battle had not been one of her best days. Too many things had gone wrong.]

[celestial_okami]

[After a little while the sphere flickers back on. Ammy's lips are pursed and she's giving her sphere a rather odd look.]

Abel, I think we need to talk. Or perhaps you should speak with the others. They seemed to have gotten confused about things again. Also I have some questions for you, and I think it would be easier for me if we could talk in person.

Would that be a problem for you?

[canniballistic]

[Abel is surprised to see her show back up, obviously. He's in one of many nondescript corridors, but he stops walking when he sees her image.]

...Ah, no, that isn't a problem. Where do you want to meet me?