[thetis]

(OOC- THIS IS NOT YOUR RITE OF PASSAGE)
(tw-child abuse)
Oh what she had lost in the war. Everything had been taken away from her, her dignity, her eye, her pride. Her sense of safety. (and in some ways her religion). Adriel was there, to plant seeds of doubt in her mind, to make her wish, just maybe, that she had gone with him to begin with. They could be happy togeather. Perhaps Adriel would respect her, wouldn’t find children to replace her with. She gives a wistful sigh as she walks through the valley on the day after their return. She couldn’t live without Anamelech. She would never have to either, one day, one sad day when her love died, Thetis would gain her knowledge.  She had to keep her status to get there though.

She had to keep her rank, and she knew, any of these children could take it from her. Children whose parents had caused a war. Her tongue rolls over her teeth as she stands by the tar.  It was time that they learned their fate. It was time they all learned how cruel life was.

No one else in the valley could be trusted to do this, just her.

“CHILDREN” she calls. “MY CHILDREN I NEED TO SEE YOU.”

She would take them in only now, when betrayal was high. But she would never let them forget their birthright as traitors.   “Did you miss me while I was gone?” she asks, smiling coyly at them as she settles sitting down, tail wagging slightly.  Would they notice the giant boiled burn where she used to have an eye.

Would they bring it up?

“Hannah and Ezekiel are gone.” She tells them. “They turned tail on us, they and their heathen friends tried to kill us.” She watches them, what would they think, would they cry, mourn the loss of the only people who could ever love them?

“GET IN A LINE” she barks, standing up, pacing in front of them. They were all about to witness her fury, in a way that only one of them got too before. She had nothing to lose here, she was sure that Ana would respect her idea. Anamelech loved her after all, more than anyone else. More than these dirty children.

It would not be fun being the children of tyrants, she wonders if they know that, now they didn’t have to just appease Gigantea and avoid her jaws, but they also had to never disappoint her. She was a harder judge than Gigantea after all. There was no Mercy to Thetis. Anamelech didn’t teach her that. The valley didn’t teach her that. The war didn’t teach her that.  She goes to the first child, nudging them towards the tar with her nose. “I’m going to baptize you.” She tells them, tongue licking over her gums and teeth. “You will no longer be children of heathens, but, you will also never forget where you came from”
As she was burned by fire, by the red dragon, they would be burned by tar.

[Feizin]

S

he heard the calling, and she definitely knew who it was as well. Wounds had long since healed, no scars were left behind on her body and she was safe, as safe as she ever could be. She groaned lightly, and shifted her now almost grown body toward the tree and scuffed lightly. She wasn't going to show. She knew too well what that tone of voice meant, she knew too well what Thetis could could, who she was underneath it all - could she fault her for it? She was a god to be, and possibly god soon enough, but she seemed smitten with something ungodly, something Fei feared.

"Feizin? She turned and saw to her horror the slave named Leocor. She knew little of him actually, but she knew enough. First and foremost he was a heathen, filthy, dirty and impure. She took a step away from him and her hackles rose. He looked - hurt. "Wasn't that Thetis calling? For you and your siblings?" She knew this man had been deemed heathen for his unholy actions against Thetis, scarred by her siblings to mark this transition and since then he had tried his darnest to gain back favors of the gods, prove his worth - It was completely lost on her how much they were alike.

"I didn't hear any calling." Deflected. She didn't want to go, didn't want the misplaced anger and fury that awaited with it.

He sighed. "Feizin, yo- you know her temper. If you don't go.." She froze slightly before letting her muscles release. He was right of course and now he was a witness to her defy, if he chose he could tell on her and that would be a fate worse than going. She gave up and left the slave behind, who for whatever reason followed her like an escort and it made her wary. She had a huge distaste for slaves and having one wandering around her behind her was bad enough. She almost told him off, but civil as she was, she left him be. He could "escort" her then.

She arrived as the first, and Leocor stood a few inches away from her and looked in her general direction before giving her a nod of good luck, but misinterpreted it as a bad sign and showed her teeth at him and snapped at his maw. He looked shocked at her as he took several steps back, before looking at Thetis and he wondered. What did they teach these children and what would become of them? He hurried away.

She was alone with her. Fei looked at her with her red eyes, and while she had thought she would feel fear, she did not. She felt nothing of that sort, she was ready, ready to face the adult who had hurt her when she was mere months old, but she was large now, closing in on the one year mark she had reached full height, not impressive by much, but she had grown in and suddenly Thetis wasn't a big scary monster anymore. Thetis was god-to-be.

Old fights were forgotten.

"Thetis." She did see the missing eye. But this was Oukoku-kai! This was the land of scars and blood, and Feizin's respect for Thetis grew with the visible scar. "I forgot to tell you something." She made sure her siblings had not arrived, looked around and was satisfied to see they were still alone. "I respect you Thetis. One day, when I am older I will show you my respect. Properly." One day Thetis I will fight you - one day she would spar her, not for honor, glory or the victory, but for her hard earned respect.

“Did you miss me while I was gone?” Fei didn't fear anymore. She watched her calmly, the rage of the white bubbling at the surface.

"You are the white seour, of course we did." She tilt her head curiously, not understanding this question the least. It was a given, right?

“Hannah and Ezekiel are gone.”

A memory

Distant and faint

strangled in its darkest corner of her mind.

"Who?" Who was Hannah and Ezekiel? For she did not know.

Not anymore.

“They turned tail on us, they and their heathen friends tried to kill us.” She curled her lips.

"Harming the seour is a crime." A horrible crime indeed, even more so if they tried to harm their gods, but even gods-to-be had a certain right to stay protected. Everyone knew that. “GET IN A LINE” The voice, the howling and barking madness had returned and Fei knew she was supposed to fear it out of experience, but it had gone numb and patiently she got up front and stood in the front of the line and watched her god-to-be with admiration. A puppet, a forgetful puppet.

“I’m going to baptize you. You will no longer be children of heathens, but, you will also never forget where you came from” She curled her tail slightly, she knew what baptizing was, she had studied carefully, and she felt some confusion. She thought the rite of passage was supposed to be like a baptizing but something made them special for the god-to-be and she didn't question it. She blinked at her and watched, waited, almost knew what was about to happen but fear wasn't part of it anymore.

She had forgotten her parent's names, she had forgotten she once had been born of heathens, and she was a puppet in the making.

She couldn't burn easily.

[Ashtaroth]

   For all her stalling, Feizin is still the first to arrive-- if only because Ashtar made certain to locate at least once sibling, and drag them along. Lotus, Ninkilim, Raphael-- any would do. There is safety in numbers, and she is the oldest sister that cares to admit her heritage. They were born of traitors. They were born for the Rosa.
   A young woman's lungs inflate to capacity, and she breathes out, at length, approaching Thetis with a sibling at her side. She seats herself beside Feizin, even before the order is presented. She can see the scar. The Seour has never called them her children before.
   "Did you miss me while I was gone?"
   "Of course, White Seour." This is a lie, but what she wants to hear. She wents them to reply in unison, perfect little mockingbirds, to be preened for pleasure, and beheaded for their meat. The news is no surprise; she assumed their parents had gone. She assumes Virra and Yonina and any other death they didn't witness will be killed as a traitor if they are discovered. They should be.
   She will not die for heathens.
   Ashtaroth knows what is happening. She's told she is clever; a bright child. She sees the loss of Thetis's eye, and she knows what the Seour intends. She has always seen their beauty as a threat, especially now that hers has been stolen. Brown eyes show nothing. Aching body building muscle, shoulders set, paws pinned. A statuesque girl, staring down her death.
   She looks to Feizin, the firstborn, that has tasted Thetis's rage before. "After you, sister."
   It is only a slight reprieve, as she was next from the womb. At least she will take satisfaction in seeing the oldest sibling go first.

[Lotus]

A thorn defends the rose
harming only those
who would steal the blossom.
--Chinese proverb

Lotus hummed lightly as she worked beside a little bubbling streaming. She was trying to put something special together for Mistress Gigantea and the White Seour for their return to the Valley. The absence of both her guardians and biological parents had disturbed the young girl, stirring unfamiliar feelings of anxiety. They were going to war after all, there would be no guarantee that they would return; any of them. But Lotus desperately hoped they'd return safely even going so far as to pray to the gods each night before she went to sleep. 

“CHILDREN” Lotus froze in the midst of her work, was that Thetis? Did that mean they'd returned and that the War was finally over? But her gift wasn't finished yet.. She frowned down in disappointment at the jumbled mess, hating the thought of leaving it out in the open for someone to come across.  “MY CHILDREN I NEED TO SEE YOU.” Lotus sighed softly and looked around for a nice spot to hide her work and found one just beneath a prickly bush. Carefully as she could she pushed the unfinished piece beneath the bush and hurried towards Thetis's call, eager to see the White Seour and Mistress Gigantea. 

She wasn't the first to arrive or even the second, her big sisters having beaten her to their destination. She gave Fei a soft, knowing smile as she took a seat beside Ashtaroth. “Did you miss me while I was gone?” What an odd question, Lotus thought, why wouldn't they?? "Oh yes, White Seour, I missed you very much." Which wasn't exactly a lie, just a slight stretching of the truth. She noticed the blemished that marred Thetis's face, the eye that was no longer there. It left a boiled, gaping socket that was hard to look at but she couldn't look away from the horrific scar. 

“Hannah and Ezekiel are gone.” She tells them. “They turned tail on us, they and their heathen friends tried to kill us.” Lotus blinks repeatedly as she struggles to process the information. Mot-Hanna and Ezekiel. They had betrayed the Valley? Her chest begins to feel tight, her breath coming in shallow gasps as she struggles to get some sort of control over her emotions. There had to be some sort of mistake, there had- “GET IN A LINE." The young girl, usually so calm and collected jumps at the shout. Her heart pounds like a frightened rabbit. “I’m going to baptize you.” The word holds no meaning for her, the order falling on deaf ears as Lotus attempts to understand the information she's been given. She was the child of traitors and tyrants.. 

“You will no longer be children of heathens, but, you will also never forget where you came from." Lotus looked up from her paws, wide ruby eyes watery and hopeful as she sets them upon Thetis. A second chance? The slate wiped clean for all of them? She wanted to throw herself upon the White Seours paws and praise her grace. The White Seour did love them. She had to. Right? At least someone loved and wanted Lotus... more than Hanna had at least. 

So then why did it feel like her heart was shattering inside of her chest. This final act of rejection from her mother was too much for Lotus. She could feel herself beginning to shut down, her emotions becoming more and more distant as her head filled with dark clouds. She was good enough for the White Rose. Why should she care if Hanna left her behind? SHE SHOULDN'T. For the first time[and perhaps the last time] in her life she lets her emotions get the best of her. She pushed herself forward until she stood beside Fei, staring at the bubbling tar pit. 

"I want to go first."