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BattleNymph
04-03-2007, 09:34 PM
Macha
Other Names: Mania, Mana, Mene, Minne.
Location: Ireland.
Description: One of the aspects of the triple Morrigu. Associated with ravens and crows. She is honored at Lughnassadh. Protectress in war as in peace. Goddess of war and death.
Rules Over: Cunning, sheer physical force, sexuality, fertility, dominance over males, childbirth, wisdom, overcoming enemies, past-lives:

Aefe sat staring blankly at the book open in the sunlight before her. The symbols and letters SHOULD have made sense to her but this morning the fog of exhaustion and the headache really had just stolen all meaning from them.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes before stealing a glance at the doorway. Evelyn had seemed either without knowledge of her night of partying or had not cared, preferring to leave her to her own folly.

She'd stopped the drug use as it interfered too much with what she was so determined to learn .....but... her knowledge of chemicals had translated well to her bartending skills. The party had been fun, although empty-seeming somehow. That emptiness puzzled her and she'd perhaps drank more than she'd intended to cover that strange lack. Well....she'd definitely drank more than she'd intended. Try as she might she couldn't quite remember how she'd gotten home.

She'd kept her eyes studiously away from the sunlight drenched window where she'd been set for her studying. Vindictive bitch.... Aefe grumbled under her breath. Come to think of it, Evelyn probably knew EXACTLY what she'd been doing and had done this on purpose.

A plaintive sound at the window drew her thoughts back from their ponderings and she reluctantly turned her eyes that way. A slight flutter and another sound, rather like a babies cry had her curiosity overwhelming her hangover and she moved to the window and peaked out.

A crow...rather a young one, best as she could tell. And half it's feathers were white. As she watched it uttered once again it's plaintive caw and fluttered a bit more, too weak to actually fly away.

"Poor thing. You're just a baby." Aefe muttered in sympathy. A quick look at the closed door and then she slipped out the ground floor window as the young crow fluttered across the well-manicured lawn a bit before coming to a panting halt. A short chase later, and Aefe held the shivering bird close to her chest as she snuck carefully back in through the window.

"I wonder if they have some cat food in the kitchen here? As I recall, white feathers means you're starving." And with a whispered prayer that the bird would be quiet, she moved to sneak out the door to the kitchen.

Origen
04-04-2007, 11:59 AM
An excellent story fragment, BN. I thought about it, and there was really nothing to add.

Let me know when you name him.

Origen
04-04-2007, 08:28 PM
Later, when the bird was fed, Aefe fell asleep on her book. And in a strange half-dream, she heard a little girl's sing-song voice recite:

Axe time, sword time
Ere the world falls.
Wind time, wolf time
Do you know more now, or not?

Now Garm howls loud
The fetters will burst,
and the wolf run free;

Much do I know,
and more than I can see:

Of the fate of the gods,
and the mighty in battle.

I know where Odin's eye is hidden,
Deep in the dark well of Mimir;
Mead from the pledge of Odin each morn
Does Mimir drink: would you know yet more?

Then to the gods crowed Gollinkambi,
He wakes the heroes in Odins hall;
And beneath the earth does another crow,
The rust-red bird at the bars of Hel.

Aefe shook herself awake. She'd read something like that, somewhere, but what she'd heard seemed truer, deeper, closer. She reached for a pen, and jotted down what she recalled. When she was finished, she looked up, and for a moment the crow turned it's head, and looked her straight in the eye. Then it turned its head, and went back to picking at the cat food Aefe had put in a dish.

hidufel
04-04-2007, 08:43 PM
oohhh creepy vibes! (and not in the oompa loompa variety either!)

BattleNymph
04-04-2007, 09:40 PM
“Muninn.” Aefe said to it. And then sat there a moment pondering why. “That’s your name… Muninn….memory.”

And then she sighed and looked at the wrinkled page of the book she'd fallen asleep on. "Cause Lord knows I need it."