[SRP] Eternal Life (Arimathras x Lucivar)

[Epine de Rose]

"Divine sacrifice."

 

[Epine de Rose]

It had never been his intention to be found - the lion had been deliberately difficult to find and had kept himself isolated from the others as he observed them. He had come to learn their mannerisms, adapt to the nuances of their language, and ultimately gain enough of an understanding of what it was to be one of those who lived on the surface. Unfortunately, on this occasion it seemed that he had underestimated those who lived here, or at least one particular individual who he had intended to meet much, much later.

In fact, he'd underestimated her so much that he didn't even the individual in question had deposited herself beside him. Actually she had chosen to deposit herself behind him (some how), without even the slightest sound. Had she been born with a coat like his, his society would have marveled at how truly gifted the lioness was. She could have given lessons, taught the phantoms best practice, and yet...

"They are the wrong colour," she stated in a conversational tone, making herself comfortable as she lay down beside him and promptly furled her wings against her sides.

He was silent in reply, simply turning his ruby gaze towards her as if to assess the situation he now found himself in. Phantoms were not accustomed to surprises, more often than not they were the surprises. Everything they did was planned, every decision or act taken was done very deliberately, and now he had been foiled. Bizarrely it hadn't even been in a malicious fashion; the lioness had simply taken a seat and seemed to be starting a conversation as though he were no different than any other individual here.

...She was going to draw attention to him.

"Unless your kind have decided to branch out and make franchises for specific colours, in which case, I might need to raise some concerns," she mused.

Lucivar could do nothing more than blink as the green eyes finally turned to meet his and the warm, and rather out of place smile, greeted him. If she knew what he was, then she should have been afraid surely? Could it have been that Metis knew more, that he knew there was something greater to those that Destati had found in the world beyond their world? Already a remarkable disconnect existed between the Al-Siq norms and this particular individual.

"I'm sure there are many of you but if you're branching out then it's rather like trying to throw dust into the wind, it'll not get very far," she shook her head. "You can't swarm a swarm, you know?"

"We have not branched out..." he said finally, if only to finally place something into his own court. If this female continued to lead the conversation then he was going to be up the creek without a paddle, he was already positively reeling from the fact that she wasn't afraid. Quite frankly that should have made his duties easier, it should have been less effort to get close to her... Except she knew what he was and what he was meant to do, she might well have even seen it so she wasn't naive.

Was she?

"So are we just here to observe?" she turned her gaze back to the meandering lions of the Blue province, he'd selected one little town, not far from the borders. It wouldn't have been a stretch to get here from that fabled, forbidden province, but he was rather out of his way and based on the explanations she had received from Destati, they didn't leave their warrens unless they were ready to attack.

He didn't know how to reply to that.

"Sightseeing?"

Still no reply.

"Star crossed lovers?"

He at least afforded a raised brow at that particular motion and she shrugged her shoulders. If he wasn't going to be forthcoming with information than she had free reign to make it up, that was how this worked.

"Or, are we up to no good and you were just -"

"You appeared out of nowhere," he interrupted.

"Not nowhere, I appeared behind you."

"From nowhere."

"Oh, well not nowhere, I was somewhere before I came to say hello," she corrected him, thoroughly amused that it seemed all Al-Siq males all adopted the same, exasperated expressions, when they encountered someone like her.

"Perhaps," Lucivar elected to be reasonably diplomatic, choosing not to dispute further. After all, the lioness seemed to have an answer for everything at the moment and he knew when to derail a conversation in that respect. "That does not explain how though, there is no space behind me," he stated plainly, a point which the white lioness seemed to concede as she glanced over her shoulder to inspect the region behind him. Sure enough, Lucivar had positioned himself with his back to a wall, with enough of an overhang to allow him to remain perfectly unnoticed. Credit where it was due, his ability to 'disappear' in broad daylight was impressive.

Could they all do that?

"Magic," she said finally and shrugged. It was the truth, she was gifted with unnatural abilities and as a consequence, no normal lion could fathom them. Unfortunately, there would be none who ever could fathom them either, no mortal could ever wield power in the forms she did, no matter how hard they might try.

"Magic..."

"Mhm," she smiled a little more and waved her paw. "I'm not entirely normal, if you hadn't noticed," she pointed out. "Wings aren't really standard in these parts and supposedly, neither are you or I colour wise."

She paused.

"Except that's not really true," she mused and tilted her head to the side. "There's more of you than others here would like the world to know, and there's more white lions in existence, but they live caged lives, hidden from view, so that you don't hurt them."

"Pardon?"

"To prolong their lives, they need to be hidden," she shrugged. "Just like you."

"Hidden where?"

"Well that would be telling," Arimathras wagged the toe of her paw and sighed. "But just like you, the world doesn't need to know they're here or they find that they expire very quickly," she pointed out. "Not so different in that respect."

"We are not trapped," Lucivar elected to dispute this claim as it was true, the phantoms could wander as they saw fit, they just opted to keep to their own for their own safety. After all, phantoms didn't care for surprises, they probably wouldn't even appreciate them if they were nice ones.

"I suppose it might depend on your definition of trapped then," she mused. "But in order to preserve your lives, in order to preserve theirs, you both have to take measures to do so."

In a way, Lucivar could see how she might be right, but not enough to entirely unseat him. Truth be told, he was more intrigued by what the Al-Siq appeared to be hiding somewhere - so there were more, that might explain why their slumbering deity had yet to make his return. While they had made striking progress, it seemed that the Al-Siq had taken counter measures to slow it.

...Perhaps there was use in keeping this one around for longer than planned, he would just have to work on gaining her trust. He wasn't over confident, but her willingness to simply talk and exist in his presence seemed to indicate that she might be open to the possibility...if he played his cards right.

"You, however, do not seemed to have problems walking around in broad daylights," he observed.

"Well," Arimathras cast her gaze to the side and raised a brow. "I would say I'm at a bit of an advantage in the grand scheme of things," she pointed out. "I can run in the blink of an eye, take flight if I must... and more importantly," she shook her head. "Death is merely a setback for my kind, more often than not, it's not eternal," she murmured.

"I'm not sure I understand..."

And he didn't.

"Something to ponder then," she suggested and pursed her lips. "But I think I might leave you for a time, if I stay any longer, people are going to start to realise you're here," she pointed out.

"And that would do me no favours, would it?" Lucivar murmured slowly, the slow realisation drawing upon him that the lioness might very well have led him down a rabbit hole. He had deviated from his initial plans, but perhaps this wasn't a bad thing. She might live for longer than Metis might care, but Lucivar might acquire information of far greater importance.

...If death was nothing more than a set back for this 'being', then he really did need to investigate these creatures in far greater detail. More importantly, he needed to work out where the Al-Siq were stowing their caged birds; then, and only then, would he return with the news Metis wanted (though whether that included the destruction of this particular lioness remained to be seen)...

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