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[muertaofthedead]

Muerta perked up. Few living beings could see the Mirlu, aside from when they are close to death or occasionally when they take certain drugs. She rarely had the chance to explain her role in the order of the universe.

“It is very simple,” she said, “Living beings have a certain energy. When a living being is close to dying, we collect what is left of their life energy and bring it to Hel to keep her fed. She could be called a dragon, whose many eyes make suns seem small. If she is left underfed, she could devour a universe.”

“The Mirlu are important for maintaining life in universes. We exist to protect the living and keep balance. Do you have some connection to death? You must to see yourself in such a way!” Muerta said excitedly.

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“You see your reflection in myself, a Mirlu. Usually we are unseen, but those close to death and immortals can see. The form we take in front of them is their perception of Death. We may also be called death collectors, gods of death, grim reapers, and such. But you see yourself. This means you think of yourself as Death,” Muerta gave a bit of a giggle. The situation was odd to her, but she was a bit charmed by this immortal as well.

“What could possibly cause this? What sort of creature are you Avent Epta?”

voidamphibian:

Again, more questions than answers floated through Avent’s mind. So a Mirlu was some kind of spirit whose appearance depended on who looked at them, and… wait. Death? She was–?! The goddess gasped and instinctively moved a few feet back. Her gills shifted this way and that in a clear display of stress and confusion.

“I– I am…” She looked down at her own hands, as if they had suddenly become strange and foreign to her. “I… truthfully, I do not know. No one has ever been able to tell me that.” Swallowing a lump in her throat, she looked back up to where Muerta was.

“What… about you? When you say ‘gods of death’, what, er, what does that… mean?”

[muertaofthedead]

oil painting on wood panel

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Purple by Mesozord

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“You see your reflection in myself, a Mirlu. Usually we are unseen, but those close to death and immortals can see. The form we take in front of them is their perception of Death. We may also be called death collectors, gods of death, grim reapers, and such. But you see yourself. This means you think of yourself as Death,” Muerta gave a bit of a giggle. The situation was odd to her, but she was a bit charmed by this immortal as well.

“What could possibly cause this? What sort of creature are you Avent Epta?”

muertaofthedead​:

Muerta finally broke into laughter, but smiled rather softly at Avent Epta afterwards. She decided to voluntarily shift her form into her human disguise, a relatively short woman with a mostly shaven head, dark skin with intricate tattoos running along every part of her body, and a very slim but muscular physique.

“I am called Muerta by most, and not a copy of any creature alive! Please forgive the joke though. It is just…unusual that a Mirlu would take the form of the one gazing upon it,” Muerta said. It was not her first time introducing herself to an immortal, and she had no reason to be afraid to reveal her secrets. “Why do you think this of yourself?”

voidamphibian:

The other’s laughter caused Avent to grimace. She rarely ever laughed herself, but she was pretty sure she didn’t sound like that. So the two of them weren’t identical after all… this entity was just really good at copying her.

When Muerta shapeshifted into a human, that was both comforting and confusing to the goddess. At least she didn’t have to look at her uncanny reflection again… but if this was some kind of human sorceress, wouldn’t they want to take revenge on her or something?

Wait. A Mirlu? That didn’t sound like any word she had ever heard.

“Why… what… what do you mean?” She blinked. “What do I think of myself, according to you?”

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[muertaofthedead]

Muerta finally broke into laughter, but smiled rather softly at Avent Epta afterwards. She decided to voluntarily shift her form into her human disguise, a relatively short woman with a mostly shaven head, dark skin with intricate tattoos running along every part of her body, and a very slim but muscular physique.

“I am called Muerta by most, and not a copy of any creature alive! Please forgive the joke though. It is just...unusual that a Mirlu would take the form of the one gazing upon it,” Muerta said. It was not her first time introducing herself to an immortal, and she had no reason to be afraid to reveal her secrets. “Why do you think this of yourself?”

muertaofthedead​:

Muerta couldn’t hide a small laugh. Hurt me, she thought, does this creature have no concern for its own life? But even amused and hardly hiding it anymore, she again repeated the words of this strange immortal.

“I– I can hear you. Who… er, could you tell me who you are? I promise I will not harm you.”

Muerta truly did want to know the answer to these first. She had never had a chance at a prank like this before, and this wasn’t an immortal like Muerta had seen before. This being, whoever she was, had been born an immortal, the rarest form of immortality. To boot, the immortal also saw herself as the true face of Death. What, Muerta pondered, could have made you think of yourself in such a way?

voidamphibian:

Admittedly, Avent had hoped the other entity would drop the act by now. But they didn’t seem to care how much they were unnerving her, and she was a bit taken aback by their talent for mimicry. So much so… that she found herself answering her own question and taking some reassurance from her own words when spoken by the other’s tongue.

They already seemed to know a lot about her, so what harm could there be in telling them who she was?

“I… I am Avent Epta. The, er, only inhabitant of this realm – t-the realm between words, I mean. You are not the first to make your way here from outside, but…” She swallowed. “I m-must say… I do not know what to think of you. Are you… truly another me? A copy of myself?”

[muertaofthedead]

[muertaofthedead]

Dissection of Nervous System, History of the Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1898

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Muerta couldn’t hide a small laugh. Hurt me, she thought, does this creature have no concern for its own life? But even amused and hardly hiding it anymore, she again repeated the words of this strange immortal.

“I-- I can hear you. Who... er, could you tell me who you are? I promise I will not harm you.”

Muerta truly did want to know the answer to these first. She had never had a chance at a prank like this before, and this wasn’t an immortal like Muerta had seen before. This being, whoever she was, had been born an immortal, the rarest form of immortality. To boot, the immortal also saw herself as the true face of Death. What, Muerta pondered, could have made you think of yourself in such a way?

muertaofthedead​:

Muerta sensed the form her body had taken in the gaze of the mysteriously beautiful being before her. She struggled to contain her laughter at the situation, for this was a rare opportunity to play a prank. She imitated the body language of the salamander-like immortal, including the gaze of pure confusion and bafflement. Then she copied the voice saying

“Er… h-hello? Can you… hear me?

voidamphibian:

The fact that her doppelgänger began to copy her as if they were one another’s reflections actually freaked Avent out more than when they’d still moved independently from each other. What kind of eldritch entity was she dealing with?!

“I– I can hear you,” she stammered. “Who… er, could you tell me who you are? I promise I will not harm you…”

Well, not unless they harmed her first, and even then it was a big maybe. Avent’s patience had become incredibly strong over the past millennia, to the point where very few things could drive her to anger or violence… even in self-defense. At times, she even felt like she deserved some of it.

[muertaofthedead]

Muerta sensed the form her body had taken in the gaze of the mysteriously beautiful being before her. She struggled to contain her laughter at the situation, for this was a rare opportunity to play a prank. She imitated the body language of the salamander-like immortal, including the gaze of pure confusion and bafflement. Then she copied the voice saying

“Er... h-hello? Can you... hear me?

@muertaofthedead | Plotted Starter

What… who or what was she looking at?

Avent knew that this entity, whatever they were, must have come in through a portal she’d left open, but she had no idea where they could have come from. The last time she’d checked any of the worlds she knew and still visited, which were only a dozen or so out of thousands she’d seen in her life, none of them had been home to anything like this.

Not that the entity looked particularly unsettling – quite the opposite. It was like Avent was gazing into a mirror, with her reflection having a will of its own.

“Er… h-hello? Can you… hear me?”

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Without missing a beat, Muerta said “I am thinking, we should go to some place together! Perhaps another time we can meet up at somewhere else. This home is lovely, but I am interested in what type of person you are, friend.”

She stared at Avent, waiting for an answer, hoping for a chance to see the beautiful goddess more than just this once. Muerta couldn’t quite place what it was, whether it was fascination or something else entirely, but she certainly wanted to be closer to Av.

muertaofthedead:

“What language was this name? I cannot say it is one where I have lived. I assume it is dead, yes?” Muerta enquired.

She hoped to learn as much as she could about the strange person before her. There was something about her that seemed ethereally beautiful to Muerta, something captivating and warm. She let her true thoughts slip out for just a moment saying under her own breath “such a beautiful one, wow” in her native tongue.

voidamphibian:

“It is… dead, yes.” Something about the way Avent said that gave a slight implication that there was more to the statement than just confirming what Muerta had asked. Because, well… there was more to it.

People often looked up to her with a mix of awe and fear, or just outright fascination because of her sheer power. She was surprised, but also worried to find a trace of that same look in Muerta’s eyes. That kind of admiration was not what she wanted, especially not from a bringer of death.

She blinked as a phrase she couldn’t hope to understand spilled from the other’s lips. It was too quiet and foreign to be intelligible, but Avent wanted to be polite, and so she said, “M-my apologies, but I did not quite hear you.”

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“What language was this name? I cannot say it is one where I have lived. I assume it is dead, yes?” Muerta enquired.

She hoped to learn as much as she could about the strange person before her. There was something about her that seemed ethereally beautiful to Muerta, something captivating and warm. She let her true thoughts slip out for just a moment saying under her own breath “such a beautiful one, wow” in her native tongue.

muertaofthedead:

Muerta thought for a moment, rubbing her lips with her thumb as she considered what traits seemed most prominent in Avent. Her flames, she thought, were pretty impressive. Her purple coloration and her axolotl-like appearance were also notable.

“I would say you would be called,” she said and then paused to think it over one more time to be sure it was fitting. “Yes, you would be ‘Mulhi Toka,’ for you are like a salamander and you create purple fire.”

Muerta smiled, prideful in coming up with what felt like a good name for a new friend.

voidamphibian:

She blinked, the appendages on the sides of her head stirring slightly as she mulled over the nickname. “Mulhi Toka…” she repeated, her pronunciation surprisingly accurate to the original – not perfect by any means, but Avent seemed to have a grasp on making many different sounds.

Looking back at Muerta, she found herself smiling. “I must admit I do like the sound of that name. My current one, Avent Epta… it has a somewhat similar meaning to the one you gave. Thank you very much, Muerta.”

Even though she still didn’t fully trust the shapeshifting stranger, she had to admit her company was surprisingly pleasant.

[muertaofthedead]

‘good-and-evil’

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The patreon postcard for this month is a watercolor. Look forward to some watercolor stickers in the future too!

You can see the full image on my patreon

[muertaofthedead]

Muerta thought for a moment, rubbing her lips with her thumb as she considered what traits seemed most prominent in Avent. Her flames, she thought, were pretty impressive. Her purple colouration and her axolotl-like appearance were also notable.

“I would say you would be called,” she said and then paused to think it over one more time to be sure it was fitting. “Yes, you would be ‘Mulhi Toka,’ for you are like a salamander and you create purple fire.”

Muerta smiled, prideful in coming up with what felt like a good name for a new friend.

muertaofthedead:

“To give you a nickname then, that is alright for you yes?” Muerta asked a bit oddly enthusiastically.

“The long gone way of my people was to tell another by a nickname, not by a given name. I do not remember my own given name. I remember to my people I was “Chamang Ko.” When they became gone, I was then and ever called Muerta, as my people were the Muertiv,” she explained, “So to me it would be wonderful to have a nickname for a creature as you are.”

voidamphibian:

Avent blinked. Nicknames and other monikers were nothing new to her, but this may be the first time she’d ever been asked for permission to give her one. Muerta really was a… strange being.

“I– I suppose there is no harm in that. The name I gave is merely one I was given a long time ago, too. I never received a true one.” Forming out of nothingness in a place devoid of any other life had that kind of effect. Everything she knew about herself, she’d either had to find out from experience or learn from others.

“What… what would you call me, then?” She didn’t want to pry by asking what Chamang Ko might mean, instead choosing to encourage Muerta’s decision as she was actually kind of curious about the answer.

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