Et In Arcadia Ego... Not

After a short time, once he has left Luke and co. well behind, Adonis will consider whether he has to pay serious attention to his wound.

You want to take it very easy, pack it with moss, and, oh yeah, that little voice says "NO MORE FIGHTING". Maybe it's not such a little voice, after all.

'Damn those little internal voices', thinks Adonis hypocritically, he didn't go looking for the fight, after all.

He packs it with good clean moss but he's wondering if it needs stitches.

Adonis continues on, a ridge or at most two away from the great, slow river that wends to the East. He passes many places that bear the signs of the influence of man (straight clearings, regularly placed mounds, the odd bit of stonework), but no evidence of current occupation.

Around mid-day, Adonis is feeling better. There is an inviting watering hole in a north-facing vale, or he could continue along the river. Adonis is sure the place has become greener, somehow, as he has moved further in.

That's nice! He's still aware of his hurt so accepts the watering hole's invitation for a drink and a short rest before continuing on his way. However, mindful of recent events and that slavers and others may wander widely, he'll take extra special care in approaching the place. It's people he's concerned with, furry animals of all sorts are OK.

The pond is clear, cool, and refreshing, and the place is restful and green. It feels very homelike to Adonis who finds that he is more at home here than he has been since he realized that he wasn't quite in Arden anymore. This place has the feel of the deep green-ness of nature that Adonis associates with Arden. He may not be so far afield as he once thought.

He pauses, gazing quizzically at the mere. If he were home, he would know, but can Arcadia be close to this place? It never used to be...mmm!

He's not really surprised, then, when his reverie is interrupted by a voice from a huge Live Oak. "I knew you'd come here," she says. Adonis sees a female form now, hidden in the branches of the great tree. He cannot see her clearly "Did they hurt you badly? Drink, it will help you heal." The voice is intensely familiar to Adonis.

He smiles, casting aside staff and rope as he walks forward. His head is still angled forward and down at the water but dark eyes look up from under dark eyebrows at the Lady of the Oak. It's hard to say if the look is bashful or the smile a leer. However, there's no hiding the air of joy in his step.

Adonis is a God of [comparatively] little brain but he'd never forget a woman...of any species. Without breaking stride, he dives into the pool with hardly a ripple. From her bough in her tree, she sees him glide under the water to erupt at the near edge. By the time he's standing, thigh-deep at the pool's edge under her Oak, water running from his naked form and dripping from his curly black locks, he's concluded that he can't recall her name and the circumstances of their last meeting. He is perplexed - and concerned.

When he speaks, there's no gasp of breathlessness in his voice. "No! Not badly! I thank you for asking, Lady, and for the use of your pool. My wound is superficial, though I fear it is but a symptom of a more serious malaise." He wipes his eyes, perhaps to better see the nymph.

Now he's under the tree, the sun is no longer in his eyes and he can see her more clearly.

Adonis sees only a silhouette, some trick of shadow keeping him from looking at her directly. Her shape is lovely and a part of your brain is screaming "it's HER", but another part is viciously suppressing any conscious knowledge. You know that when you see her, you'll know.

"How fare the seasons with you?" His eyes smile darkly.

"I miss them terribly. Mother says that they are a myth, but I remember. Are they returning?"

Adonis makes no reply, staring intently. He's trying to work out how the woman's laugh would sound...in a dream, perhaps.

Then, something about laughter and the way she says 'mother' causes both eyebrows to rise in unjulianic disbelief. "Sister?" he whispers, "d...d...Di..."

Her lithe and lovely form moves on the branch and Adonis notes that it does not sway at all as she dives off into the pond.

Adonis' eyes follows the girl off the branch but lose her as she enters the water. Fearful he might have lost her for good, he wades a few steps out, frantically searching for her form.

Seconds later, Adonis is grabbed from behind, her arms thrown over his shoulders. She is light as a feather and Adonis can almost imagine flying like this.

"I knew you weren't dead." says his sister's voice in his ear.

Bewildered but joyful, Adonis bites back the first words that come into his head and instead twists to kiss her on the lips before clasping her close in a fervent but gentle embrace. "I've missed you so much - I thought I'd never see you again!"

He releases her to hold her at arm's length; he can barely believe his senses. [How does she look in the sun? - btw, unlike her brother, Dione normally wears a simple loose white dress, sleeveless and thigh-length, not unlike a tennis dress, hence the casting.]

This is how she is dressed, then. She looks...different. There's nothing specific, but you think she looks less carefree than you recalled her being.

"It's delightful to see you, but how did you know I would come here?"

"Mother and I may have had our falling out, but I am a creature of these woods. Once I knew you were in them, I knew you'd come here."

Somewhere, deep inside, Adonis is bitterly crestfallen. Neither he nor Dione ever had a falling out with their mother, that and the myriad little indiscrepancies all fall into place - this is not Arcadia. But he lets none of this show on his face; no reason why her joy should be clouded too.

"Of course! How silly of me!" He hugs her again, a little less intensely but no less lovingly. "I've been gone too long." Letting her go, he gestures to the bank for her to lead the way to somewhere to sit. "You must tell me of all that has happened."

As she leads him by the hand, he looks her over carefully but covertly, noting any little differences from the sister he remembers.

Physically, she is identical. She moves the same, she looks the same, she smells the same. Her mannerisms are the same. And yet she has already mentioned more history and conflict than were ever in Dione's life.

She nods. "I will tell you, but you must tell me of your adventures.

Adonis smiles his acquiescence.

[Dione]
"I have had some myself, which was quite the thing, and I hope to have no more. I know this will be scary, but you must be careful about Mother. She isn't the same, and I think she is not safe to be with any more."

[Adonis]
The smile fades and one eyebrow rises.

"At first, Mother said you had abandoned us for our father's court and that you and I could not be gods anymore. I was afraid, and I thought she might sacrifice me, in your place, and I sat very still and when she came for me, I ran! I don't think she expected that.

"She chased me, and I found that I wanted to live. I didn't believe her when she said you were dead, that you hadn't ever really existed. I knew you were out there. That was before she... That was before.

"She hasn't come looking for me for a long time, and the seasons haven't changed. I think something is really wrong.

"I'm glad you're back."

There's a silence for a while as Adonis lets it all sink in, contemplating his reply. Then...

"I knew you would be...and it is wonderful to see you." <pause> "I have been with Pater but I could never abandon my sister, my mother, my home." He pauses again, licking his lips in concentration before sighing in a 'this is difficult to explain' sort of way and taking the plunge.

"Sister...you know there are many aspects to divinity, as there are facets to a jewel; just as you are sometimes the Lady in White, the Lady of Tears or She who Giggles Unseen, so I have my aspects. <deep breath> While I cannot know what has happened here out of my presence, I deem it likely that an aspect of me has died in this place. In another place, an aspect of you is no more and something inside me also died when that happened."

She looks both puzzled and apprehensive.

[Adonis]
"Not much time has passed for me since last I saw you...or an aspect of you, scarce two weeks, perhaps, no more than three, but in that time I have travelled with Pater to the End of the World and we have exacted revenge upon those who would destroy us. They have been taught a lesson. I cannot say the strife is ended but I believe we can breathe freely for a while. In doing so, I have discovered other aspects of myself that outweigh the death of the other - so one part dies while another is born, thus life goes on. It can be painful but it is nothing to be afraid of. I have looked into the Abyss of Death and seen Life rise up out of it, so know that I speak true."

Taking her hand, he smiles gently, "But fear not of us losing our divinity. Godhood is something within us. It cannot be taken away. I am not surprised to hear that you want to live; you are the very essence of Delight in Life and of course you would run to it and away from Death. Perhaps that is why you have been left alone, you proved your divinity by living. Innocence is dead, but Delight lives on!"

Something about his own words makes him stop in his tracks, thinking. "I wonder..." His brows crease as if he's considering a really difficult bit of algebra, though though his eyes are on the girl.

[Dione]
"I wonder...Is there a difference between being a 'Goddess' and being a 'Goddess of'?"

Adonis shrugs, mind apparently elsewhere. "You cannot have a foot without a leg, so every God must have an aspect. You are the Spirit of...Delight; I am the Spirit of...Creation. I make things live; you make them want to live. Mother is the Spirit of...well...Motherhood...personified; she nurtures...<vague encompassing gesture>...everything." Adonis is clearly struggling with some very troubled thoughts indeed.

Dione does not reply, although you're not sure she's convinced.

[FWIW, this is the problem in his head. Artemis, their mother, is literally the epitome of Motherhood. The idea of her deliberately setting out to destroy or drive away her children is absurd, it would be like Julian burning Arden or Jovian slaying his own dragon. He had been thinking that this Dione is a shadow echo of his sister, as his father has told him can happen - the 'real' Dione is dead, he saw her body and their mother's distress at her death.

But this girl seems *too* like his sister. Her powers seem truly deific; can she be more than a facet of the Goddess of Delight...the real thing? If she is real and her story is true, then their mother is mad and trying to overcome her is not only impossible due to the mismatch in powers but also insane as they wouldn't be destroying their mother but the very essence of Motherhood. So the only option would be to run. Of course, it is possible that Dione has merely misunderstood the events. If Artemis really wanted her daughter dead, she would be dead.

OTOH, if this girl is merely a facet of Dione, is she strong enough to take on the full aspect? Of course, he hasn't his father's prejudice against 'shadow' and 'reality' but it's still a daunting question. Innocence, once lost, can never be regained, but Delight may be more durable and the 'true' Arcadia will certainly be in need of her. But if she is real, then this must be Arcadia. That gives him an idea - perhaps it is possible to put these questions to the test?]

[GMs] [The only guidance we can offer here is Flora's comments on not knowing if Carl Corey was Corwin...]

[Indeed - but Adonis' problem is complicated by the fact it's not just a shadow-real dichotomy but also whether a 'shadow' of Dione could replace the original in Arcadia, Gods not being Amberites; and Adonis is hampered by a lack of thinking machinery and an even greater lack of experience - OTOH, I think the latter is about to get a hefty boost. :-0]

Adonis shakes his head to clear it. Then he looks up at his sister wearing a 'well maybe she knows the answer' expression.

"Lady, which would you prefer? To have me restore the seasons in this place, or come with me to find a new place where the seasons have stayed, albeit they misbehave?"

[Dione]
"Mother will kill us both if she can. I...I think she may be trying to replace us. And yet, I am afraid to leave here, even with you."

Adonis frowns. Dione afraid?

"Adonis, she may need to kill us to cure her madness. I can hear the land, and it is crying out..."

The frown deepens. Why should Nature be deranged? How can slaying her children heal the Mother?

[GMs] Are Gods perennials or annuals?

Wordlessly, Adonis stands. He stares intently at the pool and the overhanging oak grove. Then he turns slowly regarding everything about him carefully. When he's almost come full circle, he spreads out his arms, palms upward, turns his face to the sky, closing his eyes, and listens, breaths, smells...feels around him.

A carpenter knows his own tools and knows the wood he works. A swordsman knows how his sword feels in his hand and would know the feel of the grip a decade later even were the blade broken and rusted. Daeon has worked Arcadia for centuries, driving the rhythms of the year. If this is Arcadia, no matter how damaged, he will know.

This is not Arcadia. Something here is vastly wrong, out-of-control and dangerous. You feel rage and anguish and bleak despair. It makes you worried for the real Arcadia, if her shadows are thus.

He was already very worried about Arcadia. Now he needs to get back there even more urgently.

You also think you may have drawn the attention of...something angry.

Still standing cruciform, Adonis sings a few words from scripture pertaining to his sister, knowing she'll know the context:

"Every time that I'm feeling down
You pick me up and you spin me round;
Tell me where do we go...?
Tell me where...do we go...from here?"

Adonis, facing Dione, lowers his head and opens his eyes, fixing his sister with a burning stare. His voice seems to drop a couple of octaves and assumes an air of calm urgency. His is Big Brother. "This is not Arcadia! We must leave! Now!"

He moves forward to take her hand as she rises. Together they run in a direction she chooses, as per the song. To meet...

Running is not easy for Adonis, with his much abused side and he can feel the malicious presence, so like his mother but so not, at his back as they run. The river is to his right, but soon they leave it behind. Dione is concentrating on not getting deeper into the woods, but Adonis starts to think they are being herded rather than hunted.

As soon as he feels this, he will try to steer things to foil the godherd, [but I expect it's already too late, eh? Oh well, one can but try...].

[Perhaps it helped. who knows what worse fate awaited you if you hadn't?]

It is quite a shock when they run into the clearing. Across the swath of green they see two small beings, one male and one female, whom Adonis instantly recognizes as gods. They have sharp, cruel features as if they are the personification of a race who has very different ideas of what a god should do and should be. Quickly and silently, they display mouths full of sharp, sharp teeth.

Dione screams.

[You told me to avoid fighting but this looks like a fait accompli - I have absolutely no idea how quickly Daeon can change forms but the following assumes he can do so in seconds at need. If he can't, this is going to be a lot more difficult...not that it isn't already, of course.]

[GMs]
[The magic formula has a gigantic leap between time frames 1 and 2 (minutes vs. watches). We'll assume you want the minutes scale. I'm visualizing the change scene from An American Werewolf in London]

Normally, you cannot change in combat, but the creatures aren't attacking and you have the minutes you need to change. There's a risk, but a calculated one, that they'll attack while you're shifting. Luckily, they don't.

Adonis just knows the person to the rear, herding them, is the one he really doesn't want to face but if he can defeat both of these lesser two quickly then there's a good chance of freedom on the other side. One thing he doesn't want is for Dione to be picked off while he's otherwise engaged so he has no choice but to leave her to her own devices.

He points beyond to the far side of the glade. "Dione!" he murmers, "When Apophis gives you the moment, run for your life!" Adonis shortens his pace though still moving forward, heading instinctively to pass the evil godlings on the male's side, thereby providing an avenue for Dione to run past. [I think the US term is 'running interference'?]

In basketball you might be called for a moving pick. In combat, it's probably a good idea...

[As an aside, Dione has never liked Apophis, who is greedy and evil, OTOH, he's still her brother and has never intended her harm...]

As he advances, his body thickens and enlarges, skin darkening and thickening into black scales. A tail sprouts rapidly together with wicked claws, a row of dorsal spines and a pair of wings probably too feeble to let such a large creature fly. It's nowhere near as large as his brother's mount, perhaps twice mansized, but the overall resemblance is unmistakable.

The most shocking transformation occurs in the face: Adonis' hair vanishes and his head lengthens and distorts into something reptilian as his mouth opens to reveal his own wicked dentition. His expression darkens from Adonis' serene concentration into vicious evil. His black gaze tells those he's looking at that they're about to die...painfully.

Transformation complete, Apophis throws himself at the male godling, jaws agape, dripping smoking venom. Strangely, doing so exposes the open gash in his side to the goddessling.

Essentially, Apophis believes can definitely hold one godling and tries to use its bulk to shield Dione from the other as she runs past on the other side. If he'd aimed to pass the female's side, he could have protected his injury but he has a feeling the two godlings won't be able to resist an obvious weakness.

If either of the godlings make a dart for his sister, he'll use any method at his disposal to hold them back until she's in the clear.

Once she's past, he's going to throw all he's got at the godlings, seeking to kill or maim them quickly before 'mother' arrives. Just one decent bite on each and he's sure he'll win. The wings are useless for flight but somehow they baffle the senses and buffet unwary godlings going for that juicy open wound.

[But of course the *real* flaw in all this is that I've put everything back in the hands of the cards - bugger!]

You battle inconclusively for several minutes, soaking up the pain and watching them absorb damage that would kill a lesser being. Your wound screams abuse and drips Apophis blood onto the grassy sward.

Where, no doubt, it smokes, like his saliva.

After several inconclusive attacks, the children change tactics. The male is now trying to keep between you and the female, and the female is chanting. You do not feel that the pursuer is getting closer, in fact you wonder if she is chasing your sister.

Dione outran her once so let's she can do it again. With these two and his wound, there's not a lot her brother can do to help her.

In the distance, you think you hear the baying of hounds. You are not sure if it is in response to the chanting or not.

Even wounded, Apophis has faith in his ability to take this pair given time but he's not at all happy about the chanting. Obviously they're simply trying to tire him and let his wound do their work for him but Apophis is one mean specimen, not keen on fighting fair. Seeking a line of sight that the male can't obstruct, Apophis rears up, foreclaws akimbo, and roars down at the little male toothy thing.

Now the male godling may be expecting Apophis to breathe fire. OTOH he may know his dragons and have a fair idea of what's actually coming, but what he hopefully won't be expecting is Apophis spitting over his head, into the eyes of the girl thing.

It doesn't matter what [the godling] was expecting. He puts up his hands and the spit is stopped in mid-air as if his little hands were up where it is. It drips down between the two of you, sizzling in the air and smoking once it hits the ground.

[Well bugger!]

The godling laughs, coarsely, slowly, and heavily.

Apophis glares malevolently. If he was in better shape, he'd pounce and put an end to that laugh, but his wound is draining him and he's having trouble keeping himself together.

If this fails then Apophis is in a pretty dire way as he can't gain the upper hand and the vile creatures will be wise to his nasty surprise.

Direness happens. Life, like the brother-sister things, looks to be nasty, brutush, and short...

To add to Apophis' problems, the approaching baying hounds are almost certainly not his fathers'. Some of Adonis' worshippers would be expecting the arrival of the Wild Hunt.

If this is the case, he'll be forced to conserve what little strength he has left and throw a prayer to...[Mother? Er, that might be dangerous in these parts, the 'wrong' mother might be listening. Julian? Is hardly likely to come after his eldest son when he has 2 other kids in greater danger. Mmm! That leaves...]...the Unicorn!

Apophis prays to the diety-most-likely-to-evade-hunters-who-are-not-pure-at-heart.

Apophis has a pure heart - it just happens to be filled with pure greed. Which, of course, means he's not about to relinquish his grip on things if he can possibly help it. [OOC: If Apophis is sure praying to Unicorns is pointless, then he won't do it, but there's no one else he can turn to - dragons don't help each other and a knight in shining armour would probably get the wrong end of the stick.]

Since he has no options, he fights on until exhausted. If he can't bring down the boy, then the girl completes her chant and whatever happens happens.

If Apophis falls so exhausted he can't maintain his form, then he'll fall into whichever form has the lowest rest-energy. Since this place has no seasons, I've no idea who that would be. The moment transformation kicks in, the two gribblies will be all over him so it's probably a moot question anyway.

As you say, direness happens. Let's hope Dione evaded her mother.

The boygod does prevent you from interfering with the girlgod, who finishes her chant. She comes forward to where you have been circling and feinting and dodging with her brother. She reaches a hand out touches you, mindless of your counterattack. You bat her with your claws into a tree at the edge of the woods and her brother, as if on a string is also yanked with her. Your blow would have mauled almost anyone, and the crack against the back of the tree would have finished them, but this seems not to be the case. The two laugh, slowly and stupidly and fade from view.

Stupid indeed! They may laugh while they can but it's they who'll have to live with a God's deathcurse.

You feel as if a doom has been placed upon you and you consider switching forms.

Apophis does not change unless forced. He doesn't get much air time and he's going to make the most of this, painful though it is. His heart is filled with black rage and venom; he wants to make someone pay.

At the far end of the clearing you see what you've smelled and heard for so long. The pack of the hunt breaks in. Angular, thin dog-shapes that are dark, malevolent spirits in animal shapes. They bay and howl and sniff and every instinct in your body insists that you run!

Apophis, tired and hurt as he is, does not run. Dogs hunt by running their prey into the ground. Uninjured, Apophis could probably out-stamina the pack but in his current state it makes more sense to face them now rather than later, when he's exhausted. Were they natural, he could possibly convince them that killing him, while possible, is not worth the collateral. Seeing as they're supernatural, who knows?

Apophis is god enough to ignore his instincts. Just beyond the edge of the woods Apophis catches glimpses of a rider on an inequine steed. In a mockery of Kern, the form is tall and horned. He feels that the rider is waiting for him to flee to begin his hunt.

Apophis knows Kern well enough to associate implacability, inevitability and inhumanity with him. Things are bad.

Instinctively, Apophis moves forward to gain a little space. He knows how packs kill; they dart at the head to distract while others attack the flanks and rear, aiming for the hamstrings and other vital areas while wearing down the victim. Apophis, greedy in this as anything else, intends to sell himself as dearly as possible, using his tail to lash to either side, his wings to buffet flank attacks and relying on his dorsal spines keep them off his back. Anything that meets his teeth and claws will hopefully suffer.

Apophis attacks again and again, and the pack circles and keeps out of reach and eventually wears him down to the point where the form is untenable. A springtime form is required in this over-spring'ed valley, and so Adonis returns at last. Where there was one solitary wound, now there are a score, though none as bad as his bleeding side.

Adonis falls to his hands and knees and just breathes, awaiting the inevitable. Instead, he both hears and feels a clap, as if lightning had struck beside him. But there is no smell of ozone. He waits, unable to do more, unwilling to collapse to the ground, for the dogs, but they do not come. You feel as if a strong sentiment could knock you over at this point.

After a few breaths, he sees a white-robed leg in front of him and hears a familiar voice. "Well, fancy you being here, alive."

She waits for you to catch your breath and respond.

He doesn't!

Adonis breathes deeply several times, catching his breath at least once thanks to his wounds. Then slowly and carefully brings one foot forward and plants it under his head. Resting his arm on his knee, he shifts his weight back so he's kneeling on the other knee.

Someone very lacking in perception might be fooled into thinking he's ready to run. Others might notice his spare hand touched to the ground and realise it for what it is - the posture of an exhausted man seeking stability and rest.

And it also lets him look upward. He takes advantage of this by gazing into the woman's eyes. His smile is a trifle tortured. He has nothing to say so says nothing.

She looks familiar, yet not so. The physical form is similar, but there is nothing Daeon knows in her.

There is a sound of hooves in the distance, coming closer.

She turns her head and you have enough energy to look in that direction yourself. You see the graysteel of Morgenstern's forelegs and you hear the whinny. It does not sound nervous at all.

"Well met, Prince of the Gods," she says.

From his seat on Morgenstern's back, Julian looks down at Adonis and the goddess of the place. He says nothing. "Are you looking for something?" she asks him, almost teasingly.

Julian hasn't a teasing bone in his body. "I have come to take that which is mine."

"Your son has transgressed, but I could forgive him, for a price."

"Perhaps you will need to forgive me," says Julian. "As I was coming to this place, I came across two younglings partaking of roast lamb. They offended me. Offending me is a dangerous thing, lady, and they fared ill for it. I am afraid they did not survive the encounter." He doesn't sound very sorry.

Her face contorts for a moment, in grief and rage. Then she says, "Perhaps I will kill your son as well."

"Perhaps you will, madam. And perhaps in my wrath afterwards, I will slay you, and unmake this place, and your death shall be a true death from which you cannot be returned by your bond with this place." Julian seems remarkably undisturbed for a man who is proposing to start an apocalypse.

Her expression is a cross between anger and fear. Then she says, "I will bargain with you. The service of your steed for a thousand years and a day."

Julian smiles, chilly. "I doubt you could keep him so long. He knows only one master."

She looks crafty. "What else do you have? Arcadia? You could swear never to enter the great forest again. Both of you, of course."

"You know perfectly well that I cannot bind another by my oath. Such a bargain would be null and void."

She shrugs. "Poor father of gods, I shall have to kill your son, then. Not that it would be so bad to destroy this petty godling. His mother was a weak reed and he is a flawed child. Unless..."

A man with less aplomb would leap on that silence. Not so Julian.

"I will give him to you if you will lie with me and sire my children so that I may regain what is rightfully mine." She says it defiantly, almost as a challenge.

Julian does not answer immediately. When he does speak, it is slow and cutting. "I suspect your charms are a bit stale for my taste, madam, but if that is what you require, I shall provide that service in exchange for my son's life. But remember that I got another son on you, and will not succumb to such a bargain again."

That last, Adonis suspects, is meant for his ears as well.

"We have a bargain," she says.

Julian dismounts then, and strides over to where Adonis lies on the grass. He picks his son up effortlessly, looks him over, and makes something of a tsk noise before carrying him over and sitting him on Morgenstern's back. He speaks, low: "I shall send you back to Arden. You will stay there this time. Do you understand?"

The question seems rhetorical, as Julian does not wait for an answer. He moves to Morgenstern's head and whispers in one ear, stroking the horse's neck tenderly. Morgenstern snorts in answer, and turns back out of the glade, slowly enough not to jostle Adonis out of the saddle on his back.

If Adonis looks behind, he sees his father, standing in the grove with a woman who looks very much like his mother, but is not. Julian is looking after him, until Morgenstern bears him away into the forest.