Scene #5712: Shrines Of The Fallen

Owner	Pose
Carna	Back before everything happened, back when Tamamo was still at home, and had not yet vanished, she had a dream. A nightmare about dead gods being dumped into an abyss to rot for eternity. Somewhere in that dream, one particular shrine to a fox spirit, mixed up within all the other shrines and temples of Japanese culture, seemed to call out to her. To draw her dream-self towards it. Might one of the gods still be living after all, and in need of aid? But does she answer the call? Does she risk going down into that darkness? Can she stomach being surrounded by the ruins of worship, where it feels as though any of these god-tombs might erupt with the nightmare limbs of slain deities to pull her inside, and make her be dead with them too? Is rescuing someone else from that same fate worth that risk to her? Well, it's only a dream. And she can't be hurt in dreams. Right?
Tamamo no Mae	It was a rough rest, her Master wasn't near her tonight and the day was long, so she opted to just pass out on the futon, the fox-servant's eyes shut tightly as she squirms in her bed, in the throes of this 'dream'. Eyes open, but not in the real world but to this Abyss. "Mikon?" comes her curious noise, ears perked as she looks around her surroundings, slowly moving forward... wherever forward leads her. "Master? Husband?" she calls out, getting no response from a voice she wishes she heard. There was a noise that responded, a call towards her. Her ears perk up high and she's off like a rocket towards it, "Why does this voice sound in pain.." she whispers to herself, heading into the darkness, looking for that voice, that shrine in the midst of all the broken shrines and temples. "If this voice is in trouble, maybe... maybe Master will like me more for doing good, and maybe I'll get one of my tails back." Pleasing someone... and a personal reward was motivation enough for the Caster to continue on through the ruins, shuddering at the sight. If she could save one, then that would make this worth it, right?
Carna	Tamamo floats over temple after temple, shrine after shrine, obelisk after monument after stone marker. There is a 'river' of ash-stained mud that may have once been a collection of sacred waterfalls and forest pools, now turned to sludge, with hints of twisted-together bodies poking through the lumpy surface. But other than that, most of it is without moisture, without life, without anything other than decay and abandonment. Loneliness, despair, and rage echo around this slope leading down into utter black. The further she goes, it seems like what she seeks is only a little bit further ahead, but she never quite arrives. The cries for help, no matter how much clearer they become, are no more than a half-heard noise that she must strain to pick out. The draw, the pull of this Abyss, helps her descend. But will it be so helpful in returning? Down there... A spark of light, so dim that it could be a trick of the imagination. A mere speck of a patch of slightly-less-black. However, that is where the calls are coming from. Is that it? Should she continue, or turn back while there is still time, while she still has strength to fight past this netherworld's pull? ...And maybe extinguish the last hope of one who has waited for so long for their one chance at rescue, in the process?
Tamamo no Mae	Tamamo's face is turned to a frown. The fallen temples... shrines. Monument, marker and obelisk. The once, possibly pure river and waterfalls and pools, all turned to body graveyards and sludge, Tamamo's body cries out to help them. "I'm an evil fox... but... this is... this is too much. THis is beyond Tamamo's doing." Tamamo's face turns into a more determined expression... the feelings of despair and rage... Tamamo knows them... and why. They may not have been her gods, but if her shrine was destroyed like this, she would feel the same way. She continues to float, heading towards the darkness more, this Abyss, the pulling of this entity helping her along... "Mikon?" did her eyes trick her? Did something flash? The voices she tries to pick out from the noises of abandonment and loneliness..."Tamamo's coming." she promises, "Tamamo will rescue you and get the praise and help rebuild!" She tries to release herself to the pull, only to try and direct herself to the speck. "Tamamo needs to go there, Master will be overjoyed at Tamamo doing a good thing!" she comments, a bit selfishly. "Tamamo's coming!"
Carna	Closer, closer, closer... Eventually, that small pin point of slightly-less-black, that might have been missed by less sharp vision against that backdrop of darkness, let alone tracked down, becomes more substantial. More clearly not an illusion, but actual light, however dismal and weak. The dessicated, eyeless husk of a cat spirit of some kind, a nekomata maybe, might be caught in a glimpse, sitting hunched inside of its own toppled shrine, watching the Caster pass. That light is... Very dim, but seems to surround a half-crushed pagoda that lies outside the mouth of a divine cave that was sent falling whole-sale, along with the mountain it was attached to, into this pitch. Oddly, though the 'sky' and everything below is made of darkness, seeing down here is possible without an additional light source. Like it is not just dark, but a physical blackness smothering everything. It also grows thicker the further down she goes, but it seems she need not go much deeper. The shrine of her homeland, frozen in time, frozen in a state of ruin, seems to be limned in a pale light. Like that of the Moon. Compared to the death and destruction all around, that is practically the same as a shining lighthouse on a moonless night sea.
Tamamo no Mae	Tamamo's eyes focus on this light, only to take a glance at the husk of a cat spirit. She shudders and dives down more, she had to get there. "Mikon..." comes a worried noise, that pagoda, it wasn't too familiar, but still, the damage to it made Tamamo's heart sink, such beauty only to be destroyed like this, a mockery of what it stood for. She moves to try and land into that cave, to take in the damaged area... the light that shines, however pale, in this night. "Is this... my shrine?" she whispers, memories coming to her, "My shrine, where people worshipped me?" she shakes her head, "Tamamo's here. Let me help you... I want to fix you up so we can be that beacon in this horrid place, a beacon of light and care..."
Carna	As Tamamo comes closer, whispering and calling to the voice, it is much more distinct. It is not HER shrine, though it is from Japan and styled in a very similar manner. The smell of fox, even if musty and decayed, is present. A wavering, crackly voice struggles to say, "...oh good... ...you heard... ...my call.." There is a pause as though the very act of speaking is draining. "...I thought... ...you might... ...leave me here..." Another pause of several seconds. "...the same... ...as everyone... ...else..." "...I am... ...Zenko no Tama... ...what... ...is your name...?" Another fox spirit perhaps? She sounds so weak. And so ancient.
Tamamo no Mae	Tamamo's ears perk up, first things first... it's not her shrine. Second, the smell of another fox... third, the wavering and cracking voice. "I ... couldn't leave another divine being in such a wretched state." Tamamo replies back, "I'm so sorry this happened to you. I... am Tamamo no Mae. Where... are you Zenko no Tama. Let me find you, let me help you." she comments, making her way more and more into the shrine ruins. "I promise to be of assistance for you." Tamamo's tail twitches behind her, following her nose, trying to find the smell of fox around, hoping to find the stronger scent, if not even a spiritual sense...
Carna	The inside of the pagoda is confined, small, though perhaps that is due to it being half-crushed from its fall. It is also much darker inside than outside, though of course not as dark as that impenetrable blackness below and above... That Abyss. However, in her searching, Tamamo may detect another presence, however indistinct. A figure or outline near the far end, where a small altar sits, cracked and toppled. "...I thought... ...that the only gods left alive... ...were the gods of death... ...and the spawn of Orcus..." another pause, where the rattling of dead air through dry lungs is far more audible up close. "...we who are tethered to the Moon... ...dangle over the precipice... ...dead bait... ...over the jaws..." another pause, another struggling breath for something that no longer needs air, except for the purpose of speaking. "...of the Abyss..." A longer delay as the shape at the foot of the altar becomes more distinct. A humanoid figure, splayed out on the floor, her miko robes nearly worn to non-existence by countless ages.
Tamamo no Mae	Tamamo's searching, though small and short, has her ears perked up. Another presence... at least, it's faint. She looks around a bit more, head looking left... right... straight ahead, falling on the toppled altar, the faint outline of a form on top of it catching her eyes. "No, I'm still alive and well." best not tell her that you're a Servant, Tamamo... though the rattling makes her a bit uncomfortably nervous. "Orcus? That's a name I'm not familiar with." Tamamo's tail twitches a bit, moving forward some, with that form taking more shape, she looks at the humanoid figure, those miko robes tattered to near nothings... She approaches closer and closer until she's but an arms length away. Everything in her mind is telling her to step back but personal duty keeps her going forward. "Where... are we and better yet, how does Tamamo help you get back. These are the questions that need immediate answers to... this whole world is... unfamiliar territory."
Carna	"...where...?" Zenko asks wearily and with a hint of confusion. The long wispy strands extending from the back of the figure's skull, that may have once been a full mane of snowy white, are like cobwebs contrasted against Tamamo's own hair. "...Lumiere... ...at the edge of the Abyss... ...near Terra Luna..." Fingers that are merely bones twitch suddenly. "...how could you not know... ...unless... ...you are not real...!" The dead fox spirit turns her head with great effort, twitching and shaking and rattling around, revealing no flesh on her skull, just a human-like face with pronounced canines. "...this is just a dream... ...and you are more Abyss-spawn... ...trying to trick me...!" The dead spirits pushes herself up onto boney palms slowly, with will alone, no muscle or flesh to aid her. "...You will not take me...! ...I will never give in to your tricks...! ...How long will you torment me... ...You monsters..." She sits up in a kneeling position, and from there starts working up onto her feet as a black flame boils up around her, licking at her skeleton, and oozing death and menace when she starts staggering towards Tamamo, arms outstretched. "...Leave me...! ...You have hurt us enough already...!"
Tamamo no Mae	Tamamo briefly considers the question when Zenko repeats it, "Lumiere? Ta... ooh... I heard someone talk about this place..." she nods, but when she starts to get up and turn her head, she backs up just a bit, "Tamamo doesn't wanna fight you, or trick you.." ... at least this time, she thinks, "Tamamo really doesn't want to trick you! I did not know where this place was!" there's a flick of her wrist and her Noble Phantasm, the Eightfold Blessings of Amaterasu, hopefully gets willed into existance, the mirror hopefully hovering in her hand. "How have I hurt you!? Who's this we? Tamamo wants to know, if you can just calm down, Zenko! Tamamo is here to help, not harm!"
Carna	"...NO...!" she lets out, wheezing too hard from trying to force air into each of her shouts to do more than give single words now. "...YOU..." She stops when she sees the mirror, her boney fingers going to the sides of her head. "...LIE...!" The aura about her dissolve as she falls to her knees and crawls back to her altar to curl up beside it. "...Always... ...lying to me... ...always... ...abandoning me..." The pagoda starts to be pulled deeper into the Abyss. The gravitational force causing the entire slope to seem to slide further, to contract space, even though nothing has actually moved. Tamamo, her life still burning bright, floats and falls back and away, like a bubble, compared to everything else that has the grip of this abominal voice wound deep into its very core. "...no one can save me... ...they all abandoned me... ...but I won't give in... ...Zenko will never surrender..." mixed with dry echoes of sobs is the repeating word, 'Never' over and over until the bubble of light that is Tamamo floats back to the edge of the slope. And then she is awake again, in her home, with the sound of the other spirit's voice stills rasping in her ears. Something was done to the gods of Lumiere. They died, and then they were abandoned. But it seems some are still dangling by a thread. And even if they are on the verge of giving up, it might still be possible to save them.
Tamamo no Mae	"I'm not LYING!" Tamamo says back in force, but when that aura of hate and malice dissolves and she crawls back, her mirror dissapears as well. "I can save you. Tamamo will save you, Zenko. I promise." she frowns a bit at this, thinking... before flailing some as the pagoda starts to move once more, "Oh great!" she yells out, reaching out for Zenko, "I'll be back for you! I promise, this I swear to you!" she calls out as she falls and floats away from the pagoda. Tamamo wakes up with a startle, gasping for breath, yelling out "ZENKO!" eyes wide open, looking around and around, panting hard. "No... no, this isn't right. Tamamo wants to..." she looks around, her Master wasn't here... she pulls the blanket up to her chest, frowning, "C... can Tamamo really save you?" there's a pause, "Tamamo can... Tamamo just needs to go to Lumiere..." there's a snap of her fingers and some magic gets herself dressed again. "Ufufufu, Tamamo has to admire Zenko's spirit though, it hangs on and begs for saving." she gives a firm nod, "Just you wait, Zenko, Tamamo will get you and bring you back to your glory." and with a start, she's heading out of My Room... and towards her teleportation pad, time to go find Lumiere.