Bastet and Sekhmet: Requiem of a Dream (And The Beginning of a New Era)
Theme: Run This Town – Jay-Z, feat. Rihanna (E.S. Posthumus Orchestral Remix)
~The Start of the Dream~
Trinity laid her head on the floor and watched him, an arm under her head like a pillow. She offered a bit wider smile before she said anything. Her eyes were nearly tearing him apart. However, the apparent bareness of his chest was not missed in her vision even for a moment. "When you first came here, you served me out of a need for family. Why do you now?" The question sounded informal even though it was one of those sorts of questions one didn’t just casually ask.
Ioh could feel her eyes, and tried to keep his own from glowing. The look meant something serious, and so he sat there listening. There was an undershirt on him, but, being the color of his fur in that region of his body, it blended in. After pondering her question for a while, he replied. "Mer Bastet, when I first came, I cannot say that I had a good understanding of family." He pauses for a moment, then further elaborates. "You see, my first memories of a family, they were great, but… fractured." A frown came to his face, and, while his eyes looked to water up, he held back any tears. "After that, much of my time growing older was in wandering, and seeking. I knew the traditions of old, but, I lost my parents and family – my first teachers -, so could not fully mature to my proper station." He would omit what that station might be, even though, being a Son of Sekhmet could permeate a noble lineage of some sort regardless. He then continues, "And one day, I met a family of cats, but they are of this new breed. The one that humans played a hand in making. There was maybe one or two old cats. I’m not sure. I never really could get a good scent of them to ever be certain. But, old or new breed, they knew of Bastet, possibly from human worship, and passed it off as old cat traditions." He shrugs, "But regardless, it was a family that eventually rejected the old ways for the new. And who rejected me for who I was, and what they did not want to be." He sighs, finding this to be more of a confession, but adds at the end, "I suppose I came here looking for new hope, and I believe I have found it."
Trinity hmmed softly, tilting her head to the side at his words. Her tail curled up and wrapped around one of his legs in comfort. "I understand that loss," she confided and she said in her ethereal tinged voice, "My sister is all I have and she…, she still ceases to understand our mother’s lessons. It’s a lonely life Khared like us live." She understood his station better than before but she was learning so much more about him as their time together grew more and more with each passing night. "You are not the child I thought you were Ioh," she said as her eyes sparkle with a mixture of pride and maybe even embarrassment for her miscalculation. Her head canted, allowing her hair to touch the ground and slid over her exposed skin. "Many are rejecting the old ways. Though with that hope my mer, we can revitalize even our human bred brothers and sisters. So you serve this family now for your hope?" she asks. Her eyes touched his for the first time since last night. Swirling pools of sky colored the jewels that twinkled when they met his.
Ioh shook his head to the question. "No. Well, at first, I was curious. But now, I know." He paused, looking at Trinity, smiling, but holding a slight blush as he added, "I know that it is now your hope that I yearn for. You have the pools of that liquid substance that can fill this earthen vessel, despite having been broken."
Trinity smiled at his compliment, though no embarrassment or blush was to be found her eyes as they widened with surprise and flattery. She tightened her tail’s grip on his leg and reached out. "I feel that since you came to me, my resolve has tripled. I want to build a world for our race, for you." She confessed, then, and looked away, biting the corner of her lower lip before her eyes darted back up. "A slippery slope we have discovered Saew Mer," she cooed.
Ioh purred soft at her tail’s grip on his leg. Yet he blinked at her confession, then smiled. "I am flattered, mer Bastet. I hope we can build this new world for our kind. Auspicium Felinum Melioris Aevi." He said, then reiterated in the more common tongue, "A hope for a better age for cats."
Trinity laughed softly, the sound more like a melody than anything. "It will be." Her words held a note of promise. Reaching out, she touched the top of his hand and took his eyes in hers. She was an addict, knowing that she would fall into them. The glowing hues of present company seemed to call to her and she couldn’t resist. "You are no longer the submissive quiet creature I met." She said with a faint smile on her lips.
Ioh smiled, blushing a bit, then chuckled. "A son of Sekhmet must know how to approach a daughter of Bast before…." His eyes looked into hers and he would feel that flow of her fluid blue eyes into his earthen tone forest eyes of hazel. His breath became much like a sigh of wind that might flow through the trees, making that shushing sound that often gave a forest that silent sound of peace.
Trinity had let her breath sigh in unison with his. It was so tempting to sit here with him and just be one with the world they had, in private moments in their own heads. But she broke the connection and sat up. Her body leaned toward his so that she was on her knees before him. Her hand touched the side of his face and she closed the gap to place a kiss tenderly on his cheek. Her lips moved to his ear to whisper, "Tomorrow Saew Mer, come find me. I am growing to look forward to these moments" She confessed with her soft lips as she grazed the skin on his ear so that he could feel the soft smile that came to her lips.
Ioh could almost hear the river of running water before the connection was dropped. He blinked and then refocused back to the ‘real’ world to see her sit up, leaning into him as her hand touched his face. He purred as she came in close to kiss. Refocusing again as she spoke to him, he nodded, "I will, and I am too, Trinity, mer Bastet." He murred in the natural notion of the term and returned the kiss, parting a smile himself before releasing. "I…," he paused, then closed his eyes, and continued on to say, "I shall see you tomorrow. Bonus noctis."
Trinity chuckled softly. Her body very nearly pressed upon him, fingers trailed down his face and cupped under his chin. Her hair was in his face as she brushed against him before she pulled away and admired him for a moment. "Was that what you intended to say?" She asked with a hint of playfulness in her tone. He had paused when trying to speak and so she reasoned he was again holding back. She had let herself enjoy for a moment his warmth and watched him expectantly.
Ioh smiled and blushed. He knew he couldn’t get much past Trinity. So he nodded, "You perceive correct, mer Bastet. But, I hold back for good cause, for both of us, until it is time." He winked, keeping his answer somewhat cryptic.
Trinity laughed softly and nodded. "What is time?" She asked playfuly and sounding oddly just as cryptic. "It could all end tomorrow saew mer. And then nothing would have been spoken or shown beyond your own fear." Her words, as always, were spoken in her rhyming and almost philosophical way. She sounded sad but amused, and touched his cheek again before she rose. "Goodnight my mer," she whispered before moving away and into the darkness to rest.
~Return of the Bastet~
Ioh landed on the roof – well, nearly stumbled -, as he looked for her. Seeing her up on the usual corner of the parking lot, he called out. "Trinity?" He looked dumbfounded. "It is you, isn’t it?"
Trinity smiled faintly as she continued to stare down at the caged area. Her arms folded under her breasts. It was as though she had never left, like she had been there waiting this whole time. "Of course it’s me, saew," she says in her soft ethereal tones, distant and yet there. She didn’t turn right away and was taking her time.
Ioh looked at her curious. His instincts told him to trust her answer, but his eyes are trying to perceive, and his mind trying to process. He shakes his head, flustered and murrs, approaching her closer, "It’s been… a while. Where have you been? What have you been doing? Why did you go? Why did you…," he paused on the last part, closing his eyes for a moment, not wanting to ask, not certain he really wanted to know, but was still curious.
Trinity stood there. The wind slid through her hair and dragged over her tail. She sighed softly, turning on the pad of her pawed foot. Her bright blue eyes came over him. She smiled softly. "It is good to see you," she said softly, and had let her emotions slide over her for the briefest of moments. Though they faded, just for the moment to attend to his questions. Her lips were pursed as she thought over the proper response. If anything, she was still as meticulous as ever. "The wastelands of Egypt. Studying." She paused, having reached up and tapped her lower lip with the pad of her index finger.
Ioh blinked. "Studying?" He murred for a moment. The emotions of not seeing her for so long boiling, and the answer at first not seeming satisfying. "You disappeared for all that time, without saying anything, and you went half way around the world just to study, in the wastelands?" He shook his head, clearly not understanding. "Now why would you go to the wastelands of Egy-…" He suddenly pauses as he gets an epiphany moment, then blinks, "Oh."
Trinity crossed her arms again, reaching up to play with the beads on her neck. The wind pushed strands of hair over her face. Slowly she stepped down. Moving toward him in a slow slinking movement, her hips moved from side to side as her tail grazed the ground. Stopping just in front of him, having bit her lower lip, she nodded. Her eyes closed for the moment. "I know," she whispered, "Forgive me? I knew that if I had told you I was leaving, you would want to come with me." Smiling faintly, Trinity opened her bright eyes and locked them on him. "Was I wrong?" Her head tilted slightly to the side.
Ioh watched her turn and then step down to meet him. Her motions were as graceful as ever. In some ways, making his attempts these past few months in her place seemed clumsy. Yet, he understood her biting of her lower lip. Even if she kept a poker face otherwise, he had a sense that she had some nervousness too about her. He calmed himself and stilled his tail to listen to her. Silent. And he then bowed his head as she asked him her question. "No, you’re not wrong, I would have gone with you in a heartbeat, if not faster."
Trinity for the slightest of seconds shifted her eyes. A small smile drifted over her lips. Slowly reaching up to cup the side of his face, she ran the back of her hand down it. "And if I left, and if you left, then what would remain of our mehwet?" She asked in the manner like she used to speak to him – as a teacher would to a favorite student. She wanted him to understand it. To know why she had taken off without word. "I have watched you." She said as though reassuring him, letting him know that she had not just abandoned him. Her tail swayed slowly as her eyes met his again – piercing and calculating.
Ioh glimpsed her smile for that moment, but still murred as he tried to contain himself and listen. His chest would ebb and flow a bit as he tried to maintain deep breaths. When she cupped his face, as she had done many times before, he felt himself calming to her touch. He had let out a sigh. "The mehwet would have left too. Wandered. Strayed." He bowed his head, starting to feel shame for some of his emotions, but then, as his mind mulled them over, he hears her other words. "You what?" He looked up at her both curious and surprised.
Trinity watched him with interest. Her brow knitted slightly. "Watched you," she repeats, "For the last few weeks. I wanted to see, to know that somehow I had made the right choice leaving them to you." Her eyes closed. She did not say what she had thought or observed. Her hand stayed firmly in place on his cheek. "You have kept them together, kept them strong. I could not have chosen a better kai-saew." Trinity sighed and closed her eyes. The warmth of her breath washed over his skin. "Do you hate me?" She asked, letting her hand drop from his face and crossed her arms again as she lowered her eyes. Her ears flattened in probably the only sign of submission she had ever shown. However small it was, it was there. Clearly, she felt some guilt despite her best efforts.
Ioh blinked again as she said that she watched him. But he listens to her, trying to understand. His eyes closed at the continued touch to his cheek. He nuzzled her cheek a bit as he shook his head. "No." He simply replied to her question. He then canted his head as her hand moved away. He then noticed her flattening ears. In all the time he had known her, he could not remember seeing them like so. A question itches on him now, and he looks at her, "Are you… , will you be…, you’re not going to leave again…, are you?"
Trinity’s ears did not stay flattened for long. perking up as he spoke to better hear him. She shifted and lost all trace of submissiveness. Not that there was much to go off of, but the power she exumed could only be suppressed for so long before her instinct to be dominant would take over. Her bright eyes raised and the familiar gaze fell on his. An eyebrow raised in thought, just slightly. She spoke then in her quiet voice, "That depends on you. This is your mehwet now. I may still hold you-," she paused, her lips perked slightly at the pleasant thought that she did in fact still have some hold on him. Her eyes scaned his face. "But not them. It is your choice. Should you want me to lead with you, I am here. Should you prefer I stay as your consul and nothing more, I am here. I will not take the leadership that you have earned. But regrettably…, you understand." Her gaze powerful showed again as though she had never left. Her eyes locked on his in their intensity. "I cannot take orders from another. Your suggestions, should you want me to follow you, are taken and considered. But my own nature will not let me follow." Her brow knitted in hope that he understood. She was a dominant female and it was not something she could suppress.
Ioh listened to her, and noted her change. His eyes looked into hers and saw what he once saw months ago. And her voice held sway to him in its soft strength. Resonating was ‘You’re mehwet now. I may hold you,’ then to the choices. He murred and looked away, then paces over to the ledge where he, and she, often stood. "I understand. but it is… difficult. A lot has changed since last. I still feel you, and I know your presence is there." He sighed and looked out to the city, somewhat distant, then says, "Do you know how many times I have looked over this dusty, hazy horizon, pondering where you’ve gone, what you’ve been up to, and, when I have been uncertain of myself, wondering what you would have done, and wondering if what I have done would have been approved by you, my mer?"
Trinity kept her head held high as he moved around and away from her. Her back kept to his as he turned away, out toward the city and spoke. Words danced into her ears. Her eyes closed as she let her thoughts swirl around what he had to say. She could not help but smile as he spoke, and called her by a familiar name that she had not heard in so long. He might sense her demeanor, might understand that she had been alone for all those months. "Yes," she said softly. The smile faded slightly. "I do. The power I hold, I know when my mehwet think of me, remember me, dream even." She says the last bit hoping he would understand the significance. She turned slowly and quietly to approach his back. One hand reached out to caress down his shoulder and arm in a faint, tender touch. "When you first came to me, you would have never spoken in like to me, of all cats," she says, laughing gently, and shook her head. "I am proud of what you have become. But please, I beg you to understand." Her hand gripped his upper arm. "That you could not have achieved that growth in my shadow."
Ioh felt her hand upon his shoulder. His eyes close as he listened, and perceived what she told him. He nods, "I understand. I sometimes wonder what could have come if you were here. That silly curiosity of a cat, you know." He turns around to look to her. "Mer?"
Trinity closed her eyes at his curiosities. She smiled almost bitterly and close her eyes again. "Then the mehwet would have stayed as still as it was when it was mine. I know my own limits. I do not accept change well. I’m too old, too set in my vision. In the dreams of my own golden age." Her eyes fluttered open when he turned, her hand sliding over his back and rested on his chest, palm against his heart. She smiled faintly and looked into his eyes. "Yes, shemes?"
Ioh looked to her and smiled, particularly at the golden age mention. He could feel her hand on his chest, and his heart pounded as she touched him. "I would ask what it is you would like to do then, within this mehwet. Though you speak as if it is no longer yours. Truth is, it still is and can be. If you wish to be a counselor, then you are in good company with Amara. I think she sometimes gets tired of having to listen to this tom speak and stumble about as he tries to manage this family. And I am certain she has missed you as well." Looking into her eyes, feeling his green glow begin to come up, he wanted to enter into that world shared between them. He would hold back for now as he continued, "But, for me, this is about choice, and what you want to do, my mer. Yes, I lead, but I also try to let my cats follow their path as well. And likewise will I hold with you on this. And so I ask, what is it what you see yourself doing in this mehwet, where does your heart and mind guide you to go?"
Trinity’s eyes began to glow as well, mimicking his. Out of all the ones she imprinted on in her time, he was still the only to share this with her. She held back, breaking the eye contact by closing her eyes. Any other way would seem submissive and she was always very careful with that. She smiled a bit more at the mention of Amara. Trinity’s brow knitted softly in thought. When she finally opened her eyes to meet him again, the glow within them would be contained as she resisted the urge – the temptation to allow herself to fall into him like she used to. "I would think my wants are clear, ser." Her hand slowly raised, caressing his chest. Her fingers slid over his neck and cupped his chin. "I am here, before you, asking you what you want of me. It is not my way to do such things, but you, I make the exception for you. I am here. Whatever it is you want of me. To have me lead beside you or simply stay in the shadows to whisper wisdom. I am here, and it is your place to decide. Cats become stray far too easily, you must always give them leadership. Remember that or else the mehwet will not withstand."
Ioh listened to Trinity and nodded. He understood all of what she said to be true about her, and about the mehwet. He ponders a bit, and he could see the glow in her eyes. "While you would make a good counselor, I find it hard to see you in just that role. While it is a leadership role, as you well know. It isn’t…, it isn’t you, my mer." He paused for a moment, feeling her touch on him. He knew where his heart stood on this. "Mer Bastet, you are a leader, and I know and, from leading the Noctis as I have, have a better understanding of your care and pride for the mehwet. In some ways, you are a Mother, like Bastet herself to the First Mehwet of long ago." He smirked slightly, "I try my best to be paternal, and both you, and Sekhmet in me urges me to do my best in that." He smiled, eyes glowing as the vision shows itself, and he looked to Trinity. "You are Bastet, and I cannot take away your lot and place in life. I would want you to rule beside me, as both Sekhmet and Bastet once ruled side by side in the Old Kingdom."
Trinity softly smiled. In that slightest movement of her lips, she reached up toward her ears. Her eyes softened at his words. "And that is that what you want, ser? To lead together as a Father and Mother would?" she asked. her words clipped and yet soft, and curious. A soft yearning in her face to know that what he said, what he asked for was really what he wanted. Her fingertips caressed his face and she shifted so that she was closer to him. The same level of closness that in the past she had always shared with him. Her feet were almost against his – her chest, and her face. "I would not hate you if you said no. You stepped into my place, my paws, and walked a path I could not have dreamed of. You have done so well and I trust you, and your judgement." She was speaking in a near-whisper now.
Ioh listened to her and nodded again. "You are Bastet and I am Sekhmet. It is natural that we… come together, my mer." He purred as he said this.
~Epilogue~
It has been a few months since Ioh can remember last speaking with Trinity. After the loss of their home in Chamber City, the mehwet, the Custos Noctis had moved on to find a new place in the world.
It has been a long, hard search – an exodus for these cat people, and remnant of refugee hybrids that followed the Noctis out of the city after the Fall. The world outside of the gates of Chamber was not inviting. But that was expected.
This world is hostile to cat people and the hybrids, regardless that those among them were created by humans, and share in the human DNA that was forced upon them by those human scientists that grafted them so. The same human scientists and their apprentices that gained samples of DNA that helped make possible their experiments from the blood spilt a few centuries ago in a secret genocide that was well covered up, particularly since the cat people they slaughtered were already a mystery to a world that has long since denied their existence.
But that is another story, of a previous tragedy. The wounds of that one are not as open and fresh as what happened in Chamber City. The struggle for freedom under tyranny cost many lives, both human and non. The heroes, lost and unsung, will at least be remembered by the survivors that travel as wandering nomads after the escape of the final madness of the Fall. And maybe these heroes will have their song sung one day. But for today, the focus of many is on their new home. What exactly is this home? It is still a mystery to unlock and to further understand. But for now, it is just home.
In the night, coming up to the surface, Ioh finds himself looking up to the moon and sighs, holding to the memory of his mer Bastet, once again lost or hidden to him. Where she is now, only moon may know. Yet, under that moon, Ioh can’t help but have a feeling that Trinity may still be out there in the night, watching him and looking over the mehwet of the Custos Noctis even now….
Posted by Iohannes Crispien II on 2011-03-22 16:06:00
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