nextgen_misc (nextgen_misc) wrote in marvel_nextgen,
@ 2009-12-23 23:22:00

Entry tags:

antaeus, inactive - chris pym, inactive - dream catcher, inactive - lyta braddock-worthington, inactive - moira hrimharisdottir, inactive - molly hayes, plot-"waking up the pride", rachel summers, team - x-men, tsunami

A Choice and A Chosen One
On the other side of a portal in the woods... there is a small empty cave, connected to a tunnel, descending deep into the earth. As the end of the tunnel comes closer, light grows brighter. The end of the tunnel opens into a cavern that seems simply too big to exist and not be known. The air is warm and humid, and there's light at the top of the cavern, like a miniature sun, but it doesn't burn the eyes to look at it. It seems to pulse and thrum with a gentle life of it's own, keeping life sustained here.

Those among the X-Men who have seen the Savage Land will feel much the same here. There are vast tracts of jungle, threaded through by areas of plain, with sandy shores along a huge lake that takes up it's own fair share of the cavern. At the center of the cave wall furthest from the tunnel's exit however, lies a village with dozens of huts, and smaller caves carved into the wall. These are all dwarfed by a ziggurat, rising up to an ornate platform. The base of the temple, and each ascending tier, are packed to the brim with bodies, arms and voices raised. Some are singing songs of celebration, some are arguing with one another. At the top however, lays Chris, still unconscious, body dressed in tribal finery that would leave her classified as indecent back in New York. Surrounding her are Elder Shadow and the honor guard that accompanied him.

By the time the X-Men could be within sight range of the individuals, the elder's voice rings out, magic carrying it to every mind in the cavern willing to listen. "My brothers and sisters, I speak to you, as ever, as the servant of your will! The spirits and our people's will have provided for us! We have brought the chosen one into our midst, and the time of alignment for the Ritual of Transformation is at hand. Although one of our kind was brutalized, and their blood perverted for the humans' science, we will not be like them. We will not rise and spill blood. We will make them as our own. They will hear nature's voices once again, and we will rise to live in peace with them!"

Another voice, that male with the moss and mud caked onto him, also carries, as if piggybacking on the magic the elder was using. "Even though there are those among us who feel the Ritual of Cleansing would be more justified, for the horrors the pink apes commit upon our mother... the greater voice of the people will be upheld.."

Elder Shadow wheels around, baring his teeth against the druid. "Cracked Claw, you are our most gifted life-weaver in three generations, and yet your mouth brings nothing but disasters and poison. You will stay your voice. The Ritual of Cleansing is an embarrassment in our people's history, and we will not speak of it."

"But Elder Shadow, they--"

The old male takes a hard step towards the younger, arching his back. "You wish to challenge my place as our people's guardian, kitten?" He does not yell, but his voice speaks with the force of a thundercloud, looking at Cracked Claw with shame and disappointment.

"...no, Elder Shadow. Your voice is the people's voice." His ears flatten, as he lowers his body towards the stones of the temple, before taking his place in a ring around the altar Chris is laid upon.

The elder turns his face out to the crowd. "If there are any who should speak against the great Transformation... now is the time to speak."

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	dream_catcher 2009-12-24 04:17 pm UTC (link)
	Lucas looks at Cait first, "Please, let her go. I can't order anything, but I'm asking. They won't negotiate and having a hostage won't serve any purpose except to aggravate the situation. We're better off showing them we can be the bigger people." Its all he can do regarding the captive, before he steps forward to the edge of the cat people's ring. "I object!" (Reply to this)(Thread)

	_tsunami_ 2009-12-25 10:14 pm UTC (link)
	"Fine," Cait said and released the bonds holding the cat-girl. She didn't think it was a good idea, but she did it anyway. She kept the water nearby, ready to reform the bonds. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	marvel_girl 2009-12-26 12:18 am UTC (link)
	Rachel kept a web of telekinetic energy about her, ready to cast off if necessary. Something about this did not feel right at all... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	princess_mutt 2009-12-26 03:47 am UTC (link)
	Moira doesn't raise the debate about the captive; she trusts Lucas's judgement. She's not the happiest of campers, though. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sandcastlegod 2009-12-26 03:49 am UTC (link)
	Corey is uncharacteristically silent and angry-looking. He keeps his stance good and ready, eyes locked on checking on Chris. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lytaworthington 2009-12-26 04:26 am UTC (link)
	Lyta's standing with the rest of the group, her arms folded, a stern look on her face. No. This didn't fell right at all. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	princessbruiser 2009-12-26 04:28 am UTC (link)
	All Molly wants to do right now is get her friend back. And if it means standing here while Lucas tries something that'll hopefully work...than she'll just have to do that. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

nextgen_misc
2009-12-26 04:40 am UTC (link)

The crowds are already murmuring nervously, but not displaying any aggression, as Golden Eyes lowers her head gratefully as she is released, then holds out a hand to Cait expectantly.

"My tools, please. It would be unseemly for one of the honor guard to attend the great ritual without them." She gestures to the bow and arrows.

"Golden Eyes! Leave it be for now. Your honor is without question. You may take your place." Elder Shadow's voice cries down at them again.

"Humans... you have come to speak out against our ritual. Even if you are outsiders, and not of our blood, your ties to our Chosen One deem that you may approach." He raises a hand, and the crowds part for the X-Men.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dream_catcher
2009-12-26 04:46 am UTC (link)

Lucas nods gratefully to Cait. "Easy everyone, there doesn't need to be any bloodshed here. There's been too much of that already it sounds like, and too much ill will on both sides."

He steps forward, lowering his head a little to acknowledge Elder Shadow's position.

"Elder Shadow, I cannot speak on behalf of humanity, they have given me no such right to their voice. But I am a shaman - a priest of the First Nations and of the Cheyenne people of Earth, they and their spirits have given me official right to speak on their behalf, so it is for them I give my voice in this matter. Will you acknowledge my right to speak on behalf of my people?"

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

nextgen_misc
2009-12-26 06:19 am UTC (link)

Members of the honor guard seem to bristle, and Cracked Claw seems ready to attack, but a gesture from Elder Shadow stills them again. An attendant is seen re-equipping Golden Eyes as she takes her place, however.

"Your right to speak is fair, so long as you give your name to our people." He beckons the X-Men to begin the ascent up the ziggurat. "But you will hear our grounds as well."

The old male murmurs, and his fur seems to bristle momentarily, energies swirling around him as the sky darkens above the temple and images begin to form upon it, like tribal paintings. "Our people once lived on the surface as do the humans, and the primal spirits nourished us, granting us a slowness of life that the humans could not comprehend. Eventually their numbers and presence grew to be a danger to us, and we withdrew to this sanctuary, sealing it away from the outside world. We have lived in balance, our small numbers sustaining themselves with what our land and water provides. Once a generation, we grant a scout the right to venture to the surface and survey humanity, in hopes of the day they would seem ready to accept us."

One level below the one the honor guard and Chris are on, a male of middle age stands. He leans heavily on one leg, supported by a crutch, and seemingly malnourished. Elder Shadow continues.

"Although it has always been our regret that the humans make war with one another... it is more tragic that they seem to make war on the world." Images of various industrial expansions and pollutants swirl across the tapestry in the sky. "They know nothing of the primal spirits any longer. Nothing of the world's breath and pulse. They gouge it for metals that sparkle... blacken the sky... and slaughter races to their end for adornments or to fatten themselves."

He sighs heavily. "Worst of all to our hopes was how they treat you... the 'mutants', for the imagined crime of being different. Many said no further scouting should even be made, but Swiftpad, the scout you see before us," he gestures to the hobbled one "--was not convinced. He begged me to let him proceed with his task, and I relented. He was taken by humans who live for nothing more than scraps of paper with imagined value. His blood was taken, to create pitiful beasts, and it is only through chance that he escaped to return to us."

A collective mix of hisses and growls swells from the crowd, but Elder Shadow silences them.

"We cannot stand by while our mother is bled slowly, and the humans will never accept guidance from those so different. Our only hope, the world's only hope, is to change. To unify." He pauses, seemingly sad to say the next words. "To be transformed."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dream_catcher
2009-12-26 06:37 am UTC (link)

Lucas steps into the cat people's midst. Perhaps dangerous, but its a show of trust. Then he sits, crosslegged so he could not be ready to fight and arm himself even if he wished to.

"Thank you Elder Shadow. I wish we had met under different circumstances where we might have had a better sense of one another. I see much that is good here, though you have made yourselves our enemy. This makes me sad, but it is so.
When the white men first came into my people's land, many of the people of the land thought there was food enough for everyone, for the herds were great. But some of the tribes knew of the tales from the East. They said the white men would destroy our land and the herds and the wolves and all else if they did not fight. And so they would not talk, they would not ask, they fought. And for the act of our neighbors, the Cheyenne too suffered. The white man's soldiers did not want to see us, they wanted to see savages. For if you can make every man the same in your eyes, then it is easy to kill them and never question if what you have done is right or wrong.
And then the white men came with settlers, and still they did not see the Cheyenne. They saw a thing that was not like them. We would not bow before their God, and we asked if their God was good, why do his servants shoot buffalo they will never eat from trains, just to shoot them? Why do his servants kill the wolves even far away from their sheep and cows? Why do they grow so much and not share their food? This did not seem right.
And they told us that their God was good, and their way was good. And they sent their preachers and soldiers to make the Cheyenne and others of the plains good. They took friends and family away from their lands, away from their family and friends, because their way was just and holy and good. And because in their eyes, we had committed great evils. And they were right, and they were just, and they were holy because they were more powerful than we, and could declare themselves right and hear no word in response if they did not wish to.
I have dedicated my life to the ancient medicine. To the healer's path. And first it is to healing the hearts and wounds of my people. The wounds inflicted because someone who was powerful wanted to either see us killed for our sins against their ways and values, or those who sought to make us men like them, right and just and good. And who took friends from friends, and family from family.
You make me sad, Elder Shadow, and all of you. Because you are powerful, and just, and right... and angry, because human's ways are not yours, you declare yourself justified. You found one that in many ways was like you, and now seek to make her 'good' in your eyes. But she is my friend. So now I can only imagine how my ancestors felt when their friends were taken. Chris has a mother, a father, friends so close that they may be family - but because she shares a form with you, you believe you are right in making her a thing like you.
And like the white men who believed they were justified, you point to mother Gaea and what has been done to her, and call it a crime against all the tribes of men, seeing them not as individuals, but as a whole, just as the people who took our land did not see the Cheyenne, did not see the First Nations... they saw savages. You are strong, and so you take what you wish. Your ways were offended, so you take what you wish. You do not care what her will is, you do not ask. You take, you blame, you destroy, and when you see a thing like you that you can make good in your eyes, you claim yourself holy and justified.

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dream_catcher
2009-12-26 06:38 am UTC (link)

You claim that no humans now listen to the primal spirits and acknowledge them. But what am I? I am a man. I am a shaman, I am a priest. The earth is my mother, the sky is my father, the wolf and cat and raven are my brothers and sisters. I mourn for my people even as I seek to heal their wounds. I listen to my mother, my father, the spirits of my brothers and sisters, and through this, seek, every day, to become good.
Tell me the names of the people who hurt your fellow, and I will call them bad men. I will acknowledge that they harmed you, and will not stand in your way. And those who war on you for your differences, who drove you out of your lands... for this I am as sad as the day the white men killed the herds and built his railroads and mined for gold and killed and moved my people. But the actions of those men are not the actions of everyone. I said that I cannot speak for mankind... because I do not wish their actions to speak for me.
And when you say you despise how they treat us for being mutants, likewise, I despise how you were treated because of your differences. I do not like how my people were treated. But just because they would not see us as different people does not mean that I cannot judge each man by his deeds, and those that are good, I call brother, no matter what form they take. I am in love with a girl born of partly Irish descent. That many of the people who thinned the herds and took our land were Irish does not diminish my love. The wolf is my brother as surely today as he was when the world was young.
And in another time and place, I would like to have called you brothers and sisters, for we share much in common. But I cannot. Because today you entered my lands without asking, because you did not see me, or us - you saw a thing you wanted, and could make 'good'. You took my friend from me, and asked neither me or her what their will was. She is not the chosen one. If she was, then time and events, or perhaps /asking/ would have brought her to you. If it is meant to rain, it rains. If the sun is meant to shine, it shines. If father sky and mother Earth wish a thing to be, it is. But you trespassed, you took, you violated.
In another time and place, I wish I could have called you brothers and sisters, for we have much to learn from each other and much in common. But today you took my friend, my sister, a thing very like me, which I thought was already good, and blessed for who she was, who she wished to be. I cannot bring myself to fight you, for already, your people grow violent and call for blood, because of the actions of only certain men. Today, in your fervor to do what you believe is right - a belief borne of terrible suffering and wrongs done in the past, you become what you claim to despise.
Last, I wish I could call you brothers and sisters, for there is much good here. But you cannot see past your hate to see me. I return your sister to you with no ill will from my side, Elder Shadow, and /beg/ you on behalf of the spirits we both claim to serve to return my friend and sister to me, and come to her and ask what she wishes. That you have so much wonder and truth and good here... and yet did not do so. You are not my brother today, much as I weep that it cannot be so. Because you took my friend from me to make her 'good', and despite being so like humans today, you claim the elder spirits we both follow make you justified. You do not see me, Elder Shadow, you have not seen my deeds and judged me or humans by them. But today I have seen your deeds, and you make me sad."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dream_catcher
2009-12-26 06:58 am UTC (link)

Lucas quiets at last, looking about. "You asked my name. I am Lucas Moonstar, shaman of the Cheyenne and of the First Nations. I am a child of mother Earth and father Sky. Any here who truly believe in the path set before them by our father and mother, I welcome your help to begin healing. But not while you hold my friend. Please, help return her, that you may ask her if she wishes to undergo your ritual. Surely anyone who follows the primal order must understand that to do so against her will is neither natural, nor right. Some of you must see this."

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	marvel_girl 2009-12-28 10:53 pm UTC (link)
	Rachel was reasonably certain that was the most she'd ever heard Lucas say and was definitely sure she hadn't followed all of it. Maybe they wouldn't have to fight fifty-seven million cat people? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

nextgen_misc
2009-12-29 04:02 am UTC (link)

The crowd audibly murmurs amongst themselves, a few seeming shaken, and another few shouting aggression back towards Lucas.

Elder Shadow however, is passive. After a few minutes' silent contemplation, he shakes his head and raises his arms to silence the crowd.

"Would that it were that simple, Lucas Moonstar. It is my fate as Shaman of our race to be tied to the collective will of our people, and I sense that the greater number of them still wish to proceed. I cannot go against the will of those I have sworn to protect. Your race and ours shall become one." He positions himself adjacent to Chris' sleeping form.

"Honor guard, hold them at bay. The time is now." There is a flash from the miniature sun in the sky, light surrounding the altar, as energies begin to swirl.

Cracked Claw, faster than any of the others, advances with a gleam in his eye. However, Elder Shadow raises an arm in front of him, giving him an intense gaze that seemingly cows the younger male, who stays at his side.

The crowd scatters as the honor guard descends upon the X-Men.

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dream_catcher
2009-12-29 04:08 am UTC (link)

"Then I am sorry, Elder Shadow. I wished there to be no violence between us, but I cannot permit that." he says sadly.

And then, despite his vulnerable position, he closes his eyes, and projects his mind outward, getting a feel for the spirits of the cat people, asking the primal spirits how to put an end to this, if they truly wish for peace instead of violence, that their people might again find the natural path.

And then he projects his mind towards Chris, either trusting the X-Men to protect him, or that enough of the cat people will be swayed, and realize he's not fighting to protect him, or perhaps just willing to put everything on the line for his beliefs.

Either way, he's not fighting.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	_tsunami_ 2009-12-29 04:24 am UTC (link)
	Cait pulled some water out of the warm humid air and had it ready to use. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	marvel_girl 2009-12-29 04:24 am UTC (link)
	"Awww, crap," Rachel muttered. Fortunately, when it came to fighting, she'd had plenty of training, a vast chunk of it on how to react instinctively. She threw up both hands and concentrated on pushing with her mind, to slow down the oncoming wave of guards. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	lytaworthington 2009-12-29 04:25 am UTC (link)
	Lyta took to the air, ready to strike if need be. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	princessbruiser 2009-12-29 04:26 am UTC (link)
	"Well..." Molly held up her fists in a stance of self-defense. "This....sucks." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	princess_mutt 2009-12-29 06:38 am UTC (link)
	Moira steps closer to Lucas, seeing that he's doing Something, and focuses on watching out for him. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sandcastlegod 2009-12-29 06:39 am UTC (link)
	Corey just digs his feet into the ground and tries to get a handle on the situation. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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