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Post by Incapability on Apr 25, 2007 15:23:10 GMT 9.5
Mab was once again cursing the abominable state of the path leading to Anoeth. It had been 30 years, and still Idath had not managed to take time out of his oh so busy schedule to have it cleaned. She had torn her dress at least ten times, and she had certainly not planned on looking dishevelled and out of breath when she knocked onto his door.
But once he let her in, she decided not to give him a piece of her mind, his disturbingly amused expression (he was the Lord of Death, for crying out loud! He had to look grave and gloomy!) told her that she would get a dismissive reply at best, and open mockery at worst.
"Mab. So we meet again." She rushed past him in her usual manner, mumbling "Indeed we do.", while glancing around to get a glimpse of the cauldron. "Is there anything I can help you with, dearest?", he asked, clearly amused by her looking around in vain. "Don't belittle me, Idath. I don't have time for small-talk." He smirked. She felt agressions boil up at an alarming rate but decided that it might be better to play nice as long as she still wanted favours from him. "I need you to gaze into that fabulous cauldron of yours, Idath. I need you to find a follower of the Old Ways, someone with leadership qualities." He raised his eyebrows until they almost disappeared beneath his helmet. "Is that all, Mab?" He stept aside and let her join him in front of the cauldron that had appeared from behind his cloak. The mist inside was swirling, forming a picture for a second, and then swirled again. "Uh oh." "What do you mean, Uh oh?" "This might turn out to be more difficult than I thought. There definitely is someone in there. But he was gone before I could see his face." "Keep trying!" "Oh, I will, don't worry. I must admit that I'm intrigued now." And to himself: "Come out of your hiding place, little saviour of Britain. Come out and play ..."
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Post by Tosca on Apr 25, 2007 17:24:11 GMT 9.5
Mab cast a most irritated glance at the irksome face of Idath as he craned to look into his cauldron beside her. She was sure he was teasing her; not only was it fairly unlikely for someone to avoid a gaze they were unaware of, but also, it was just like him. The crooked smile that crept so easily, so lazily, across his face did nothing to convince her that he was doing his best. She supposed she should have kept him in favour.
While Idath was occupied with the fog of his inscrutable cauldron, or at least seemingly, Mab took a moment to study his face. He wasn't a youthful figure, but there were no signs of age-old-weariness clouding his eyes; rather they gleamed with a sardonic amusement, the same predatorial, feral red as ever.
"Well, my love," Idath mused, beginning to straighten up, though his eyes still rested upon the turbulent waters. As always, Mab bristled at the familiarity, but did not interrupt him. "I think I understand the situation. You'll have to keep Uther and his men occupied for quite some time."
"Why?" Mab snapped, her eyes almost developing an angry red sheen themselves. "If we wait much longer, Britain will already be in ruins. Do you want it to be passed straight into the Christians' murderous hands?"
"I really don't care one way or the other." Idath shrugged nonchalantly. "What will be, will be. I cannot see the saviour you wish for so dearly with any clarity - I think it has something to do with the fact that he doesn't exist."
"What?" Mab spat, growing far too frustrated to remember that a policy of impatience rarely worked where the Lord of Death was concerned.
Idath's crooked smile touched the corners of his mouth, and with a definite sense of the enjoyment this whole situation was providing, he added, "Yet. He's not yet born. And I assume you will once more take the matter of creating a life into your own hands. Of course, it would help your cause greatly if his mother was a being of great power... not to mention his father." His eyes twinkled ever more teasingly, the inhuman red putting Mab firmly in mind of the Great Dragon. His gaze was met with a penetrating wall of ice as he smiled indulgently down upon his once-lover.
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Post by himiko on Apr 26, 2007 7:07:56 GMT 9.5
Mab glared icily at Idath, knowing that he was thoroughly enjoying teasing her, and not entirely sure whether or not he was being serious about the saviour for Britain she had been hoping to find not being born yet.
"Father?" she said coolly, arching an eyebrow, "Perhaps you hadn't noticed, Idath, I tend to find fathers rather unneccessary to the process of creating a child." Idath nodded to concede the point. Mab would have been pleased, had he not spoiled it by continuing.
"Of course, but you were a great deal stronger then. Not to mention that I would have thought it rather takes the fun out of the whole process." Mab met this comment with an even icier stare.
If Idath was right about this champion being not yet born, then that presented Mab with problems that she hadn't yet foreseen. She had planned on keeping Uther and his men occupied, but her plan had involved months, rather than years. To wait for a child to be born, to wait for them to grow, it would be at least 16 years before there was any realistic chance of them being able to claim the throne, probably longer. Even Uther couldn't be put off that long. Not unless he was even more stupid than Mab had estimated, which was highly unlikely. In 16 years, she and her people could hae faded and vanished into nothingness. Not that Idath would care- he was the lord of Death itself. Humans would never stop fearing him, even if he was diminished by the loss of the Old Ways, how could his losses ever become as great as hers?
"And what do you suggest I do whilst I wait for years for this unborn child to grow up? Hand the country to Uther and tell him to give it back in sixteen years time? More to the point," she snapped, "If you cannot see this champion properly in your cauldron, then how do you know that he ever will be born?"
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Post by Tosca on Apr 26, 2007 7:55:57 GMT 9.5
Idath shrugged slowly and nonchalantly; he wasn't going to divulge his advice if she doubted it before she'd heard it, nor offer any explanations to remedy the predicament. That was, Mab thought in frustration, assuming the predicament actually existed. Idath tended to be rather prone to missing the gravity of a given situation - why should he care if the world fell into Christian rule and she faded away like the evanescing of the morning mist?
But he damn well should care, a voice in Mab's head piped up vehemently. He, just like the rest of the world, had cared once, and now that careless smile spoke of perfect indifference. Mab had developed a great hatred for indifference, and was rapidly developing a great hatred for Idath's careless smile.
Although he seemed to understand, and worse, to enjoy, the fact that her blood was beginning to simmer in her veins, he didn't bask in her irritation for that long. "I have perfect faith that you'll devise something. You usually do."
Mab narrowed her eyes. She suspected it was a slight against her earlier failures, but still, there were ways she could go about keeping Uther at bay - arrange a distraction, trap him somewhere, if not dispose of him completely. She still had power enough to organize that... but it irked her that it had taken Idath to remind her - quite unintentionally - that she also had perfect faith in her own abilities. But there were complications. There was Merlin for a start, and the biggest hurdle - the people's belief, which was falling day by day. Confident as she was in her own magic, Mab still had doubts. Fairy magic was powerful, but nothing that couldn't be overriden by circumstance. She knew that better than anyone.
She had come to Idath for a simple solution. Perhaps it had been wishful thinking, all matters taken into account.
"Take a look, my dear." Idath said unexpectedly, gesturing with mock regality towards the cauldron. "Maybe you'll see something to put your mind at ease. You never know, you might even be pleasantly surprised."
Sincerely doubting it, Mab shot Idath a glacial look, and approached the troubled waters herself.
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Post by mirandafan on Apr 26, 2007 23:21:10 GMT 9.5
Bubbles emmited around her reflection, a pair of eyes agianst blackness. "I don't see anything." Idath came close behind her. "Look closer." Mab glared towards him out the corner of her eyes. Heat hit bare skin. The bubbles caused small spats of flame like water. She dare not come closer. Glaring in again, she caught just a simmering glimpse of something she was sure she'd conjured up herself in sheer will. Idath saw it too. He seemed surprised.
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Post by Tosca on Apr 26, 2007 23:57:21 GMT 9.5
omg YAY, a new poster.
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Post by himiko on Apr 27, 2007 2:55:13 GMT 9.5
yay for new writers! -- The images flickered for a moment, shuddering slightly with the ripples of the liquid within the cauldron, before the surface grew still. Mist still swirled over the images, but not quite enough to obscure Mab's view. The last time she had gazed into the cauldron, it had shown her a clear scene, of an event about to take place. This time, it was nowhere near so clear. The images faded and changed rapidly. She saw Uther and his knights- and Merlin- riding through the land, in search of the grail or returning from the search, she didn't know. The image changed again, to show Uther sitting upon a throne, wearing a crown of gold, lines in his face and hair marking him as an old man. Around him lay dead bodies, of all the mortals who had opposed him- the Duke of Cornwall, Merlin... She snarled at the image, but didn't look away. The image changed yet again, to another image of Uther as he was now, a young man. He appeared to be asleep, but Mab saw that his chest did not rise and fall with breath, but lay still. Merlin stod beside the prince's body, staring uncertainly down at it. The scene surprised her, but still she didn't look away. The next image was that of a figure, cloaked in shadows, unclear, just as Idath had described. Mab could make nothing out about the figure, except for the crown they wore, and the symbol of the Old Ways around their neck. Throughout it all, she heard the screams and wails of a newborn child. The images began to repeat themselves, and Mab continued to stare, trying to make sense of them all. She felt Idath put an arm around her waist, and pull her gently away from the cauldron. "Do not gaze into the cauldron too long, Mab. People have been known to go mad from doing so." Mab stepped away from him, blinking to clear her gaze. "It's a good thing I'm not human, then," she retorted, but made no move to go back towards the cauldron. She stared at it from a distance instead. "Why was it so unclear?" "The future is not yet defined, Mab. There are many different ways that the future of Britain could yet unfold, and when the future is undefined, the cauldron will always be unclear." Idath informed her, "Those are futures that might be. The question is, my love, which one - or maybe more- of these fates will you choose?"
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Post by Incapability on Apr 27, 2007 4:12:24 GMT 9.5
Yay for new posters indeed!
-----
Mab fell silent at this, and in her mind, the images replayed, each one leaving her more frustrated than the last. It would not do to leave Uther on the throne until he would eventually die of old age, she and her people would fade away long before then. And Merlin, Merlin dead at his feet. She refused to think it at first, but some small part of her knew that she did not want him dead. That she wanted him alive with all her might. She'd have killed him long since had it been otherwise. And Uther dead, soon, killed by Merlin's own hands even? No, that would not do either, not as long as Melin still refused to claim what she had decided should be rightfully his. It would not do to dispose of Uther before the new king was ready to claim the throne. As for the third image ... what had it all been about? An unknown champion, raised in the Old Ways, a ruler, dark yet powerful. And those cries. What did they mean? Was he being born right at this moment? Or did they just assure her that he would be born, one day?
Would that day be soon enough?
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Post by himiko on Apr 27, 2007 4:58:17 GMT 9.5
"You said he wasn't born yet," Mab stated. Idath nodded wordlessly, not, Mab noticed with irritation, that he bothered to explain to her how he knew this. "Well, then, all-knowing Lord of Winter," she said, rather more sharply than was probably wise, "Do you know when he will be born?" Idath raised an eyebrow at her, and that grin that irritated her so returned to his face.
He shrugged elaborately, "I'm afraid, my dear, that I don't know." Gritting her teeth, knowing that Idath was being deliberately teasing and unhelpful, Mab turned away and went to leave. Idath sighed, and called after her retreating form.
"From what I've seen, he's not born yet, nor is he close to birth." Mab turned to face him. He continued, "Judging by the mistiness of the images, I'd say he's not conceived yet, either. His birth is no certainty yet. Neither is Merlin's death," he added as an afterthought, carefully watching her expression. Mab glared back at him, wishing that he wasn't quite so observant when it came to her weaknesses.
"If he's not born yet, if he's not even conceived, how am I supposed to find him or bring about his conception?" she demanded.
Idath shrugged again, that accursed smile lingering on his face, "I reiterate what I said earlier. Perhaps you should take the matter of creating a life into your own hands?"
"And how do you suggest I do that?" Mab snapped, knowing that after creating Merlin, she no longer had the strength to create another life, not on her own, and she highly doubted that her sister would suddenly decide to help her. Idath just smiled for a moment.
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Post by Tosca on Apr 27, 2007 20:05:38 GMT 9.5
It was Idath's accursed smile that stopped her from prompting him further. She'd be damned if she humiliated herself any more - and she had a feeling she wouldn't appreciate where he was heading with his line of thought anyway. Irritated almost beyond measure by the whole trip down to Anoeth, Mab took a decisive step back, considering leaving that very second.
Idath gave her another cheerful smile, not seeming particularly ruffled. Noting her annoyance with his lack of response, he eventually asked, "You really want me to dictate your actions to you, Queen Mab?"
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Post by Incapability on Apr 27, 2007 20:26:45 GMT 9.5
She pulled herself up into a dignified posture - noting with irritation that he was still several heads taller than her - and replied icily. "I don't recall accepting dictations from anyone, thank you very much."
He was still grinning like an idiot, and Mab reckoned that he hadn't had this much fun in decades. "Ah. Good. And besides, you've always been a rather smart girl. I hadn't actually expected that I would have to spell it out for you."
Mab was fuming. How dare he belittle her!
"Come come now, Mab. You might not like this, but you're not stupid. You knew where this was going from the first second."
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Post by Tosca on Apr 27, 2007 23:10:04 GMT 9.5
Mab glowered, as if she could eviscerate Idath and his wretched nonchalance by her gaze alone. She couldn't deny the accusation without belittling her intelligence herself, and Idath was doing a good enough job for the two of them.
"And," Idath continued smugly, "You'd have vanished by now if you really didn't like the sound of it."
Mab, who had just been considering vanishing from the spot, gritted her teeth. She couldn't very well disappear now unless she wanted to look extremely petty, which, admittedly, was exactly what she was feeling.
Idath knew this of course, and held out a hand that could be either a gesture of farewell or of beckoning. "Feel free." He offered unhelpfully.
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Post by Incapability on Apr 28, 2007 2:31:17 GMT 9.5
"To do what?", she snapped in a thoughtless and desperate attempt to get the better of him just once. "To give you the allforsaken smack you've been crying for ever since I set my foot into your castle?"
He wouldn't have it. In mock hurt, he placed his hand on his chest and lowered his head. "Why, Queen Mab, had I known how little you appreciate my advice, I would have kept it to myself."
"You better had!", she said haughtily and turned on her heel to use this practical opportunity to leave.
He watched her retreat for a few seconds, but before she passed the gate, her called after her.
"Too bad. This would be your only chance, you know."
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Post by himiko on Apr 28, 2007 3:40:26 GMT 9.5
With a hiss of irritation, Mab turned back to face Idath.
"Only chance to do what?" she snapped, glaring at Idath's smug smile. Mab was used to being feared and worshipped, or at the very least treated with some sort of respect. Idath's teasing irritated her beyond all belief, and she hated the way he somehow always succeeded in making her feel a complete fool.
"To create your champion, of course," he replied, "You know you aren't strong enough to create one using your magic alone anymore." Mab raised an eyebrow.
"Even if I should wish to "create" a champion for Britain, Idath, why should it bother you one way or another if I don't? You've already made it quite clear that you don't care what happens to the Old Ways. Quite honestly, I don't see why I should fulfill your lust under the guise of asking you for help." Idath gave a small smile and nodded his head.
"A fair point, Mab. Although," he added in a manner that suggested that he was reminiscing, "You never used to see it like that." Mab's glare grew more pronounced. If Idath carried on, then Lord of Death or not, immortal or not, she would have to hit him.
"Then my tastes have obviously improved," she replied coolly. Now it was Idath's turn to raise an eyebrow. Swiftly vanishing, she appeared behind him wordlessly, something she knew irritated him almost as much as his easy, mocking smile irritated her. She moved towards Idath, who turned partially to face her as she spoke.
"Let's consider another problem, shall we. Even if I agreed- I said if!" Mab snapped, as Idath's smile grew more pronounced, "Then there would still be no guarantee that a child would come about from it." Idath turned to face her fully, and his voice held a curious mixture of amusement and disappointment.
"Does the thought of me really repulse you that much, Mab?"
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Post by Tosca on Apr 28, 2007 4:59:49 GMT 9.5
In the few brief moment where Mab pondered what to say, Idath studied her wordlessly. Time had hardened her, as it had him, but unlike Idath, Mab had grown bitter and darker under its weight, and a lot colder. All that her mind was engaged in, Idath noted a touch glumly, were plans and plots, and how they might come to fruition. There was little spontenaiety, and no light-heartedness, left in her. Idath was saddened slightly, but as always, his face showed nothing of that.
Mab considered the question, and realized she couldn't answer; the man deserved an honest reply at least, and indeed, she could give no other. It wasn't Idath that repulsed her, and he must know that. It was more the thought of pausing for a moment, the thought of weakening, lest everything she had striven for should crumble to dust around her. And affection, passion, desire, were all weaknesses; Mab knew that better than any. Yet she doubted she could lie with Idath and prevent the emergence of any of those emotions.
"You're right, I guess." Idath interrupted her before she could answer, and though it was a provocation, he seemed no longer to be amused, "Borne of practicality and ambition, the act would be thoroughly... empty."
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