[Open] And Did the Countenance Divine

[graveling]

Who: Angel and You
What: Properly priesting, or trying to at least
When: July
Where: Yes!
Warning(s): None yet

1. I will not cease from mental fight [Temple Matters]
With Degas on his sabbatical, Angel is taking on the full mantle of Priest of the Mothers. He’s wearing the brown robes of a priest and the green stole with braided knotwork patterns similar to Celtic designs along it, even though doing so makes him feel a little like a child in their father’s shoes.

Still, he’s here if you need guidance or blessing, trying to fill the role.


2. Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand [Milk and Honey]
As he’s trying to fill the role of full-time priest, Angel’s still in his robes as he brings products from Kasprak farm into town. Vegetables and fruits, eggs and goat’s milk. And, of course, honey, in small glass jars all with a wax stamp on top–a bee with a pair of stylized feathered wings.

He’s visiting stores and restaurants, but if you catch him on the carriage Arcadia’s pulling, you might get tossed a ripe tomato or offered a melon. There’s plenty to go around.


3. Till we have built Jerusalem [A Day Off]
Sometimes, it’s all a bit much. Angel occasionally runs away from his duties. Never on days when there are services planned, never when he’s scheduled for something. But when restlessness strikes, Angel’s feet take him to the wild parts of the island. Paradesium, Lockwood Forest near Elsie’s Tree, and even nosing around the cave near Tawny Beach, though it’s been caved in since he and River had their adventure. He isn’t wearing his robes, he hasn’t combed his hair, he might be up a tree or sitting on a rock, and he surely isn’t expecting company.

But still, if you approach, there’s a sheepish little nod and a wave.


4. In England's green and pleasant land [Wildcard]
[find me on discord at darkersolstice to plot]

Comments

[hadnoright]

She shrugs a shoulder. "Fair enough. When I feel like that I turn into a wolf."

Sometimes the best cure for being too up in her head is just to just get out of it. Can't even talk as a wolf anymore, makes it easy to avoid complicated conversations.

[graveling]

"What, like a werewolf? That'd explain the bloodlust thing, too, I guess."

It isn't sure if werewolves exist in the world it came from, quite. But it knows myths about them are.

[hadnoright]

"Not quite. But sort of. I'm about as close as you'll get to a werewolf, back home. But the actual wolf shape's new." Well, relatively speaking. It's been over a year now, but she's been a 'werewolf' far longer. "And is just a normal wolf. If kind of huge sometimes."

[graveling]

"Big fluffy puppy?" He says that in such a flat deadpan, as if he is absolutely in no way imagining fluffy puppy cuddles in the least.

No one must ever know that the corpse desires fluffy puppy cuddles.

[hadnoright]

Daisy cocks her head. "You want a demonstration?"

[graveling]

"Kinda, yeah. Unless you mean that as a veiled threat kind of a deal."

Angel breaks out one of his awkward smiles for her.

[hadnoright]

"Usually my threats are obvious." Usually. With Daisy it's either the whole act or the whole truth, she's not great at the subtleties between.

What happens next is... hard to really describe. There's a weird dream logic to the way Daisy changes from one form to the next. One moment, there's Daisy, the next, there's a blonde wolf, and the in-between doesn't really exist.

[graveling]

"Oh!" He stares. Okay, yes, he's always staring, given the givens. But then he reaches out with a hand hopefully.

[hadnoright]

Daisy... can't talk like this, anymore, which is a problem she keeps forgetting about until she's actively in wolf form. But she's always tolerated touch better in this shape than others so... she'll chance it. There's a quiet huff of air from her snout and she sort of nods, but mostly just doesn't move further away.

[graveling]

Angel brushes a hand along the back of her neck and her shoulder, looking at her with nothing short of awe.

Animals don't like him. Even the animals at Kasprak farm mostly just tolerate him (beside maybe one of the chickens). So he doesn't often get to interact with soft furry warm things. He touches her like she's spun glass, still subconsciously waiting for her to be spooked away by everything he is.

[hadnoright]

She doesn't behave like a real wolf or even a dog, of course—even as animalistic in nature as she can be, she's still too much a person first. But despite an initial flash of tension at the first touch, she does relax and she does stay relaxed.

She's not entirely sure what to make of Angel's reaction, but she still can't speak, so all she can do is tilt her head a bit.

[graveling]

When she doesn't immediately reject him, he leans in to press his face into the fur of her neck and closes his eyes. He can't smell her fur, but he can feel warmth and it is a gift he never dreamed of.

[hadnoright]

She still only half understands the reaction (do people really want to stuff their face in a wolf that much?) but she lets Angel have this. Just relaxes and breathes.

[graveling]

"Thank you. I'm sorry." It's after several minutes. He lets go and stands up.

[hadnoright]

Daisy huffs air out of her nose in a way that's probably meant to communicate... something, before giving up and turning back into her human-enough shape so she has a working mouth again.

"It's fine. Would've probably bit you if I got fed up."

[graveling]

"I'm sure you could have given me a little warning before that point, if we reached it." There's vague amusement in his tone of voice. "Anyway, won't happen again, et cetera."

[hadnoright]

"Could have," she agrees, without necessarily agreeing that she would have. "Is that— just a thing people want to do?"

[graveling]

“Fuck do I know if ‘people’ want to. I just never got any chance to before. For some reason, animals think I’m rotten.”

There’s no edge to the playful self-deprecation.

[hadnoright]

"Ah." Okay, now it makes sense. "Yeah, they don't like me much either. These days anyway."

Puts off too much of a killer predator vibe.