Forums » General Roleplay » Harsh Day In The Desert (Open)

Laelu smiled sadly and poked at the fire with a twig. "It was wonderful, I was never alone and I was always happy.." She pulled the lizard from the fire and carefully tore it in half, tossing part of it to Ahmet. "But families hardly ever stay together forever.. The ones that do are lucky." She took a bite of the lizard meat and chewed quietly. "I haven't seen my family in nearly six years, so I only have the memories of them to keep me going.." She took another bite and stayed quiet for a few minutes.

"My family is the other 99 Anubites. They're my brothers and friends, some of them anyways. My father is technically Anubis, making my grandparents Osiris and Isis, but I've never seen Anubis, no regular anubite has. We seem him once when we become Guardian Anubites, if we live that long, and never again after that," Nomti said with a sigh. "Well, at least you have your memories. Enjoy them , make them last and never forget."

Laelu finished off the lizard meat and curled up, using part of her tail as a pillow. "Sometimes the memories aren't good ones though.." She stared into the fire. "Sometimes I wish I could change the way things ended up.. but then I wonder if it would be really worth it, even if I change the past it doesn't mean that things will get any better.." She yawned and closed her eyes.

"Well, what did happen with you and your family?" Nomti asked after a few minutes of silence. He looked to make sure Ahmet hadn't wandered off and then looked back at Laelu.

Laelu kept her eyes closed and sighed. "Six years ago, during the last lamia and human war, our village was at the center of it. And back then I was a rather stupid kid, so I ended up getting captured by the humans." She covered her face with her arm. "And when my older sisters and mother came to my rescue, the humans set off some explosives, killing many of them and injuring my mother severely. So as punishment I was exiled to the other side of the desert." She kept her arm over her face, hiding the tears streaming from her eyes.

Although he couldn't see it, Nomti definitely heard it. Ahmet let out a concerned moan; he had heard it too. Nomti stood up and moved to her side and he began gently stroking her hair.
"Hey, it's alright," he whispered and lifted her chin up, a reassuring smile on his face. "Anubites cant feel sadness of their own, but that of others hurts us as if it were. I feel your pain, but it's over, there's nothing you can do anymore," Nomti swallowed his fear and held Laelu to his furred chest, gently rocking back and forth.

Laelu blushed and hid her face with her hands. "T-thanks.. sorry for being such a crybaby." She forced a smile and wiped her eyes, trying to cheer up and keep from embarrassing herself any further.

"It's alright," Nomti smiled a little. "Mortals, even ones such as yourself, need to experience emotions. It's what helps you to survive. I only truly feel fear, happiness and rage. They are the only things necessary for Anubites to live and to fight. It's what sets the mortals apart from the embodiments," Nomti continued holding on to Laelu and heard a worried moan from behind.. He turned his head to see Ahmet, looking at them curiously. "No, I don't get to eat her either. She's just sad." Ahmet returned this with a noise that sounded like he understood and wandered back to his previous position. "He was once human, so he understands what you're feeling, just not why or how."

Laelu looked at Ahmet and then at Nomti. "I see.. Wanna know something interesting?" She hugged Nomti and pulled away. "In all reality, the war was pretty stupid. After all, lamias need humans in order to survive, well technically they only need them to reproduce." She quickly avoided talking about that little detail any further. "And the humans could've benefited greatly from the lamia, as most have various skills the humans don't have. So it really was stupid to fight each other to begin with." She looked up at the sky.

"I've never actually taken part in a war, it's not our job unless it's absolutely necessary, but I've seen too many bodies get carried through the border and into the pyramids. Ahmet was actually the first soldier I helped to mummify, that's why he's the one who comes when I summon him. It's still too many bodies for the humans own good, or for the good of anyone. Egypt is crumbling simply from their losses against the Lamia, and it's not good for anyone," Nomti lay down and looked up at the sky again. "The tent is for you if you want it."

Laelu frowned, she had no idea her kind caused so much trouble for everyone and that made her feel a little guilty. "I wish there was a way to bring peace to everyone, things would be much easier if we helped each other instead of fighting each other." She slithered into the tent and curled up, using her tail as a pillow once more.

"Indeed. One good thing that came out of that fight I lost against the wadjets is no more mummifying dead soldiers. Ahmet was really gruesome when he came in, hardly enough of his organs left to put into the burial urns," Nomti gagged. "It was not a pretty sight," he heard the mummy moan in protest a little ways off. "Oh, you're beautiful now," Nomti rolled his eyes. "Good night Laelu."

Laelu yawned and closed her eyes. "Good night, Nomti, Ahmet." She quickly fell asleep, still tired from everything that happened. She began to dream, the good and bad memories surfacing making it bitter-sweet.

Nomti quickly fell asleep too, being very tired after the days events. The young anubite had only one short dream, featuring Anubis himself, well, his head.
"I thought you were scared of snakes?" the disembodied head said with a calm smile and Nomti bowed. "Your fear of them is disrespectful to me, you know that, right?"
"Yes, Anubis," he said without looking up.
"Your name means strength, and yet you are scared of mere snakes, but not this one, a lamia of all creatures. They have caused the deaths of so many humans, Osiris and I are tiring of it all. Why her?"
"Well, she's helping me," Nomti answered nervously.
"Rise, child. Is that the real reason, or is it because the three emotions you mentioned earlier are not the only ones you feel? I did not grant you with three simple emotions. You pity her, you are feeling compassion and empathy too." Nomti rose as he said this.
"Yes, Anubis," he answered, looking at the head.
"So why is it this Lamia you've chosen not to be afraid of?"
"Because she was more scared of me than I was of her."
"You're taking advantage of her fear?"
"No! That's not what I meant! I-I just feel bad for her. She is helping me and after what I originally put her through, I need to be friendly to her."
"Ah, so it is pity. Here, take these," two amulets i the shape of a jackals head appeared in front of Nomti. "They'll help you on your quest for the wadjet wings, one for each of you." That was the last thing Anubis said before Nomti drifted back into deep sleep again.

Laelu stretched a bit, curling into a more comfortable position. "Mother.." She murmured in her sleep, tears forming in her eyes. She was dreaming of the last time she saw her mother, bloody and torn from the war that by all means could've been avoided. Missing an arm and some of her tail, her mother glared at her from within her memory. There was no love in those eyes, only hatred and contempt.

Nomti was awoken by foul breath and a bony hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see Ahemt almost on top of him, moaning worriedly.
"Ugh, your breath his horrible, get off of me," he pushed the mummy away, accidentally knocking an arm off. "Sorry, I'll fix that later. What's wrong?" Ahmet picked up his arm and pointed it in the direction of Laelu before trying to jam it back on. Nomti saw the tears on the Lamia's aface and moved to her side again, gently wiping them away, his furry hands quickly absorbing the tears. He didn't want to wake her up, knowing how bad it was for someone to wake up during nightmares, he having caused and been in several, and he just sat there, gently stroking her back, listening to her quiet sobs and Ahmet's irritated groans.

Laelu was still just a kid in the dream, teary eyed and scratched up. "I'm sorry.." She sniffled and her mother knocked her to the ground. "Sorry won't bring your sisters or my arm back. You foolish girl, did you ever think of how your actions would bring us pain?" Her mothered hissed and slapped her in the face with the remainders of her tail. "I was only trying to help!" She lay on the ground sobbing and she suddenly awoke from the dream. "H-huh..?" She rubbed her eyes for a moment before noticing Nomti. "Something wrong?" She asked sleepily.

"You were having a nightmare. Ahmet got worried, he heard you crying and woke me up," Nomti said with a small smile.

Laelu rubbed her eyes again. "Nightmare..?" She tilted her head, she had already forgotten the dream, which was probably a good thing. "Hm whatever it was, I'm fine now. Sorry for worrying you." She smiled a bit.

Nomti looked back to where he was sleeping and saw the two amulets he had been gifted and picked them both up, giving one to Laelu. "Anubis visited me. He gave me these; I don't know what they do but he said they would help. Anyways, it's still pretty early in the morning. We can still get some sleep," he said and lay down next to Laelu, quickly passing out again.