#vanathithreads

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

OPEN STARTER @ blood sweat & bears

Now that Destarin was back under the control of the Courts - or that was how Vanathi saw it - she had decided it was time to make the most of it until her father - or anyone sent by him - caught a glimpse of her and came to take her back. She was going to have fun. She probably wouldn’t be able to find her baker’s boy before then, but the least she could do was make as many friends as possible, get drunk, and pass out in interesting places. 

She placed two mugs of beer down in front of the other and smiled brightly. “This round is on me, next one you’re paying for, I’m not rich, just a grocer,” they said with a wink. 

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

Vanathi grinned. “Good, very good, I’d be horrible if I were to be less.” And she’d been less, more contained, more fitting in the image of the Vaanii, more fitting as a daughter of her father’s and grandfather’s house. But she did not intend to be so when she was free as a bird. She could be her own person and shine, as brightly as she’d wished to. Without having to let her light be diminished by others. 

They laughed even harder. And with a grin still on their face put five snack cucumbers in a little paper bag while thinking about where each would fit, the mischief in her eyes apparent. She was not one to judge those who would rather have snack cucumbers than men, she’d have men, but she also wouldn’t mind having a snack cucumber wielding lady at her bedside. “Sometimes,” she said, with a wiggle of her eyebrows. “I’d rather take my pleasure from a snack cucumber.” She winked at Vee, even if she knew that would lead nowhere. It was too fun to flirt with people.

"I'm not asking you to be less, and fuck anyone who does," Veda argued vehemently. Her friend was over the top in all of the best ways and she'd never want to see her diminish her light. She just thought Vanathi was light enough as it was and couldn't imagine her being even more over the top than she already was.

An unladylike snort left the tavern owner at the continued innuendo, shaking her head slightly even as she chuckled. "I'm not entirely certain how many would fit, m'dear. And I have no interest in discovering such a thing. Who needs snack cucumbers when you can have men?"

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

@zayaeze

This time of year, Vanathi was most grateful to have been named the Vaanii, to have been able to fight alongside those who had died for the same thing she had died for. But also those who had died alongside her grandfather. A moment to remember the lives lost. The first years she’d done it, she’d felt horrible, remembering all the people she hadn’t been able to save, and how unfair it was that she got to survive while they perished. 

Now, she was glad she was alive to remember them. 

She’d left many offerings where she could, made food, written letters. 

Now she was tired but content. Taking a seat at the edge of town, opening a bag of food to nibble on she noted another figure nearby coming out of the forest. Her eyes instantly caught on - beautiful - and she smiled. “Hello! I have not seen you before, I think, are you coming to visit Destarin, settling down? Or do you have a nice little hut in the forest?”

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

CLOSED STARTER for @tajhanasaha

Vanathi was known to make crude jokes. It was her way to root out those who didn’t fit with her view of the world. She wished to make everything a little bit lighter, preferably by making jokes about sex and so forth. 

But there were those that made the Vaanii wish to be a little less, and bit more comfortable and suave, as if this was the way she could win the hearts of others. As if portraying the powerful ally her father wanted her to be would make her seem more grown-up. Despite how badly she wanted the years of her life back that she’d given to the court, to dying, to being resurrected. 

She took a deep breath and sat down at a table in the teashop. Tea was not her chosen drink, but Tajhana was her chosen company, and having chosen the time perfectly, the place was currently dealing with its afternoon slow. And she leaned over the table eyeing the establishment’s owner hoping she would soon come to her and offer her a tea.

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

@valentinstjohn

Mansions and castles and palaces weren't anything new to Vanathi, perhaps she'd even grown to dislike them rather than to enjoy their splendour like she once had. In her opinion, those with horrible taste usually occupied those spaces.

She had a whole box of produce with her, order by someone around this part of town, but she hadn't exactly paid ample attention to the directions, nor had she written it down. Leaving her, rather annoyingly, to just knock on doors and ask around. Surely someone had need of veggies and fruits.

The box in her hands, she knocked on the big door with her feet. Hard enough to kick it in should it accidentally be locked.

This place could come straight from one of those steamy novels she used to read on long trips.

"Hello! Anyone home?"

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

OPEN STARTER for anyone location ; Kosmos / the grocerer

If anyone had told Vanathi the Vaanii two years ago that she'd be selling fruits and vegetables in a magic grocer shop, she would've laughed. Not just laughed, but probably laughed so hard she'd kicked a chair - or perhaps a table - over in her effort to calm herself and to enjoy how ridiculous that sounded.

Now, it wasn't even that ridiculous, she loved the work.

It was much better than getting killed every month, and then resurrected. Nobody would ever understand the pain of having to take a five hour steaming hot bath just to feel like yourself again... or well, possibly a lot of people did. If not: they were missing out.

She placed a new load of freshly conjured purple potatoes in their little crate and greeted the unsuspected bystander. Her toothy smile meant to draw them in, even if at times it seemed like she wanted to hit you over the head with a Withering Watermelon.

"Would you like to sample some of our recently harvested snack cucumbers?"

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

@dxmergues

Vanathi felt some freedom to do whatever she liked now that she had completely her tasks as someone who'd survived. Though she couldn't help continuing the offerings, even if it was a little much. Her plate at the cafe was doubled, one she would later throw into the fire for the ghosts of those who had passed, while she was absent-mindedly eating from the other.

With a content sigh she watched the busy cafe. All tables were taken, people were seated next to strangers, and there was a run of the mill of rumours and stories.

But for once, she didn't feel like she needed to hear about them. "I am kindly wishing for it to snow, but I suppose that might not be normal weather in Destarin," she noted to the person sitting next to her. "I'd organise a snow fight."

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

CLOSED STARTER for @leopold--dawson Location: the docks

Oh lo and behold: there was no running away from the courts.

Not that the Vaanii had ever really thought that she would be able to get away from her former employers, or thought they didn't know exactly where she was. And of course, at the times she had been paying attention, she'd learned that Destarin was still on everyone's maps: figureatively and literally. And it would have to be... domesticated at some point.

But there went her wish to settle down with some baker boy and start her own brood of children - who she would teach to fight and go explore the seas with.

She sighed as she planted herself firmly beside Leopold, perhaps not so much a friend as a contact, though Vanathi was quick to consider anyone a friend, and those who brought the best gossip simply had a soft spot in her heart.

"You must tell me of new gossip, Leopold, my dear. My heart is empty and heavy with life's woos."

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

Vanathi, still slightly lost in thought, nodded. The experience so vivid she could barely believe she was the only one who’d gone through it. She gritted her teeth as she made sense of the stream of images that had flicked by. “They were like fixed moments in time, all passing by my eyes one after the other. I saw things that I feel like I’ve seen before, and things that were similar. Moments of blood and guts and death, and moments of drink and company and merrymaking.” 

They shrugged. “I don’t think I saw a baker's boy anywhere in there,” Vanathi admitted. “Though it was all going very fast. I can’t say what was past and future, but it left me mostly… excited.”

She sighed. “Probably not,” she agreed. Though there was of course another way she could be saved, the distress and danger didn’t have to be that big. Just to be swept off her feet would be enough. 

The Vaanii smiled at the offering of a sympathetic smile, it was rare for her to talk about her status as a demi-god at all, to speak of their past. “You assume they’re going to be angry and jealous?” She took a deep breath. “I want to hide for a while,” she said. “To be someone else, it’s probably wrong, to wish I could pretend, but I do enjoy being someone else.” 

She thought, anything that had stood out to her. She tapped a finger to her chin. “There was a dragon, and a soldier before the flames that I did not know,” she said. “I also saw a huge crocodile, moving through the harbour at great speed.” She shrugged, that was all that had stood out to her. 

Tajhana could not tell what Vanathi had seen, if she had seen anything, or how it had come to her. Certain teas were designed to focus in certain areas, to be more easily consumed, but one could never tell how a person would take to them, and love was an especially complex sort of future to seek. People could have many, or none, and some could be positively heart breaking.

When Vanathi seemed to disappear into herself for a moment Tajhana simply waited, patient until Vanathi spoke once more and seemed to find her mind in the teashop again. "I can't say if how you saw things is how I do," she answered with a light rising and falling of her shoulders. "What did you see?"

"I am not sure a bakers boy would have much ability to save you, were you to be a damsel in distress," Tajhana commented. Tajhana herself did not think she would be able to do that kind of thing. She had no magic or strength, she had survived by isolation and usefulness alone.

Tajhana offered a small sympathetic smile. "I think that is a fair way to feel," she offered in an attempt to comfort. "All you love will likely die regardless of status, would it be easier to watch someone die who could not fathom the meaning of what you are? Who would be angry and jealous?" Tajhana posed the question if only for Vanathi to perhaps process some of her feelings, to see them from another light.

"Did you see anything that stood out to you?" Tajhana then asked of Vanathi's vision.

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

Vanathi was certain she’d get her chance to meet Zaya’s other half, though what he looked like reamined a mystery to her, perhaps she’d have to look for those who seemed to have animal-like qualities to them. Which… well, there were plenty of those. Merely calling Zaya’s name might give her the answers. She liked a challenge regardless. And Zaya clearly was a challenge all on her own, much firmer in her responses than most of the people Vanathi knew, she actually loved the directness. It didn’t leave her fishing, she hated when too many words were spilled, they were often useless. “I am,” she agreed. “And I’ll call him your odiokaokan from now on,” she concluded. Intending to look for this human who worked at a tavern. 

“I look forward to visiting you some day,” the Vaanii said, genuinely. “And if you ever need some gossip, I work at the grocer: at Kormos.”

end.

It felt equally as strange hearing someone use her words as it did when they didn't, like it just didn't feel the same as home, but Zaya appreciated the effort and allowed the thought to simply remain a sad one in her mind. "He is likely at work," Zaya shrugged, not intending to lead the person to their home regardless. Even if she liked them Zaya also liked their privacy and the fact most did not know where they lived, it meant that he could be pandok as he liked without scaring people as well.

"I could," Zaya responded, only because she was technically correct even if Zaya didn't personally see much of a point to that sort of communication. They were the sort of people who thrived in community and experiences, their retellings were done by word not by hand as it seemed was done here. It felt almost contrary to her nature and so she simply would not but she also didn't feel a constant desire to explain herself, even fighting to make it known how she was connected to Yazi was concerted effort on her part that she didn't think she should need to do.

"Creature isn't a word I like either," she responded, her eyes flickering away as she had been headed home when the woman spoke to her. "You really are a gossip," Zaya asserted, once more not meaning it as an insult but the questions were beginning to feel overwhelming. "I keep him looking human, it is for the best," she answered, not wishing to say what Yazi was beyond this for fear he would be called a creature again. "He works at a tavern, you might find him there."

"I will go home now," Zaya informed her, not half so polite as the kingdom's in these continents were as to gently request or announce her leave. "If you wish to see me in town I work at the flower shop."

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

Vanathi tried out the words on her tongue. “Idajia okaon,” she said, and then “odiokaokan.” They rolled off nicely, far better than ‘familiar’. She leaned forward, armoured by this idea of mind and heart, of love and truths. If only she could find her baker’s boy and pretend they carried the other half of her heart. “That’s… beautiful actually, way cooler than familiar, I get why you’re annoyed if people compare the two, sounds like a very bad comparison. I must meet this odiokaokan of yours, if he is the other half of you, then I haven’t properly met you until I meet him.” Why couldn’t she have been born in a place like that? Instead of at the mercy of her grandfather’s bloody legend. 

She nodded, this was probably beyond her understanding as well, but she could understand how cultures could mean different experiences. She smiled. “You still write them?” they asked. She tried to imagine her own father being happy for her, she hoped that with time he’d be only annoyed at her choices, no longer enraged. 

“Frowning is very bad. People should frown less,” she decided. She crossed her arms in interest, her smile filled with the richness of gossip. “What did you say he was? A creature of some kind? Does he walk around the town as a creature too? Or just as a human?” 

"We say we are 'idajia okaon' and they are our 'odiokaokan.' Here it is like...," Zaya frowned trying to explain a concept that had taken her a while to understand because it was not the same for her back home. "Your truths are your mind and your love is your heart? For us they are the same. Your mind and heart are the same but half because someone else has the other half, so when you meet someone who has the other half you get um like tied together?" Zaya could feel her tongue twisting over analogies she didn't half understand. "So when we are alone we are only a half, then when we find them we are whole. He is my whole."

"Yes, but it is different for me," Zaya insisted. The difference being she knew the significance of what Yazi was to her, where as Yazi could not because he had not grown up with that understanding instilled. "My family understands and is happy for me," she further persisted in the difference, though she did not continue to ask on the other woman's own adventures since the answer had not made sense to her.

Baths. She wasn't sure having never seen or used one, not a common topic to arise. "Frowning is definitely bad," Zaya agreed instead. "He is of his kind, he will keep his wrinkles now by the time I match him." At least, Zaya chose to believe this.

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

Vanathi looked back at the cup, then to Tajhana, then the cup. They thought about it for a moment, but given everything they’d been through… it wouldn’t be that big a risk to try and see their future. If it was much of one. 

So she took a sip, relishing in the delicious taste for a moment, before awaiting the future to roll before her eyes. And then it hit her all at once, images that quickly passed before her eyes, some she could make sense of, some not at all. It was, in fact, overwhelming. It was also much tamer than she’d braced herself for. Not too many images of blood and gore and guts. More so meetings and people and drink. The things she did enjoy. However, no baker’s boy either, or maybe it went all too quickly to find him. 

She sucked in a breath when the images disappeared and she was back in the teashop with Tajhana. “You… see this type of thing always?” she asked.

Vanathi chuckled. “Maybe,” she admitted. “I kind of want to be the damsel in distress for once,” she added. “But you’re right, I would also like some acknowledgement. Maybe I ask too much of my sweet baker’s boy.” But she could envision them, had been dreaming of them for years now. An escape, a way out, a different life. Yet she was also not ready to give up on her past memories. To bury the Vaanii. 

“I… not poor memories, no,” they stated. “I’ve simply seen too many of them perish, even the ones I grew close to. I’ve always felt indebted to them. They would die while I remain, and they’d know the outcome, and still accept it. I’m afraid of being with someone who’d know what I am, and accept that, and fear their life would be one day snuffed out for association with me. So I wish to escape it all.” As she’d been doing. Hiding in plain sight in Destarin.

"Drinking should be all you need do, it should come on quickly," she assured her. It may not end up making much sense and could, frequently, be overwhelming, especially if one had a long life and, in truth, with the Vaanii's powers there was potentially she could only even see up until her next death. Variables. Always. It was hard to move through them.

The narrowed eyes seemed a curious response to her words, watching as they eventually relaxed. "The appeal of a bakers boy, in concept, would be that you don't wish for them to see you as you are, even if you would hope to not be challenged. It would be hard to have both, to be able to be so unquestionable while also being unacknowledged."

Tajhana looked at the cooling glass of tea, ready for Vanathi's consumption. "Have you considered a soldier of some kind might be more fitting? Able to acknowledge who you are and respect your opinions without wanting to use what you can do? Or do you have poor memories of being around them?" Tajhana asked for clarity.

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

Vanathi tapped her chin as she mulled it over, trying to find a word that would explain that bond better. It sounded more like she and her creature were equals, but she did have the power to control his form. “What is the word you use for it?” They asked.

The Vaanii nodded, she could imagine being sad if one had to leave behind not just all they’d ever known but also end up being the only of their kind. Like the dragons in the children stories that Vanathi would burn through on a daily basis when she had been young. “You do not miss your family?” She shook her head. “I’ve travelled much further than this continent,” she said. “Visited many places most haven’t heard of, plenty of islands and countries in search of… new alliances.” Or to kill old ones.

She beamed back at her, glad to have found someone who took skin care just as seriously. Perhaps when she ran out of her current cream she might ask the other what she was using. “My father has very good skin, my mother prepared his baths and always chided him for frowning.” She chuckled. “Maybe it is because he has scales? Or perhaps you haven’t found the right cream yet for him?” 

"It is this worlds closest term, but if he is mine, I am his, he just cannot do that sort of magic," she insisted. Familiar seemed an odd word to her, used in two ways but holding similar lines of thought. Zaya had wondered if she had grown up on this continent if she would have considered Yazi a 'familiar,' less than herself, and it made her stomach churn. Did witches here not fathom if something was aware enough to bond with them then they clearly should not have been witch and familiar but equal?

Nosey thing. Zaya wondered who she would tell. It didn't matter, she just sort of wondered. "I came to this continent when I was a young girl, to find Yazi, where I am from most find their 'familiars' very early but I could not find mine, so I came to search for him. I could go back but Yazi would not find any of his kind there, he would be sad," she insisted, though there were many reasons. "Have you always been on this continent?"

Zaya smiled when the girl shared she took care of herself, that her mother had too. No wonder she was so beautiful. "My mother was the same, the most beautiful woman. My father less so, but he had a lot of responsibilities that lined his face because of who he is," she reasoned. "Yazi is the same, lines on his face from who he is. No matter how much I try to take care of him they appear across his brow and on his scales."

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

Vanathi chuckled, making a gesture with her hand and then bobbing her head. "Oh Tannas, you sweet man, I'll hear no such thing, I'll pretend it was especially made for me even if you repeat to me a million times it wasn't," she decided. Then took the glass in hand and twirled it a little, before bringing it to her lips. She threw back half of the drink in one go, not realising how thirsty she was - not necessarily for anything liquid but for anything new - and breathed out a happy breath.

"This is delicious, and it combines so well with the food." She licked her lips, still the bright big smile on her face. "Is it a secret recipe, or would you be willing to share it with me?" she asked, her eyes filled with mischief. She took a sip, savouring the taste, and then returned to her food. "You, my friendly dwelf friend, have a gift!"

"I did no such thing," returned the dwelf with a roll of his eyes and an indignant sniff, "Ain't nothing special. Just a lil' something," he mumbled and grumbled. "Go on and drink now, a'fore it runs off on ya."

He took up a dingy scrap of cloth and rubbed his hands on it before his attention was momentarily called away by another patron down the bar requesting another ale, which was promptly provided, sliding it down the bar top to them. Attention back to Vanathi, Tannas only looked at them from the edge of his vision as he rubbed at a spot on the bar with the cloth, "How's it?"

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

A familiar that could be changed form at the witch's request. She wondered what that was like. To have your own creature always at your fingertips. If she had one, she'd change it into a horse or a dragon and use it to fly and ride places she'd never been before. "What is the term you use in your world?" she asked, eyes still flashing in interest. "What is your world?" Having grown up at court, she did get into contact with other countries and nations and places, but it was usually fleeting and boring, people seemed intent on staying diplomatic, while Vanathi wanted to hear it all.

Her eyes were slightly filled with tears. It did sound bigger than 'familiar' could encompass. The fact that she would remain here for the sake of the one she was bonded with, because else he'd be sad, that was beautiful. How great would it have been if anyone could've noticed that doing her secret missions for years made her sad, and thus told her father that she shouldn't do those anymore? Instead of having to resort to running away. "He's very lucky to have you to watch out for his feelings," she noted. "But that's huge! You left your own home to find your... other half! How old were you?" Vanathi would've given everything to be that adventurous when she was younger, to have been able to explore more than just court.

"Oh yes, I've been to a few islands nearby, but not far, and usually only for some diplomatic mission."

Vanathi nodded in understanding. Her father had been the same, and her brothers too, they tried to take care of their skin, but they would often be too concentrated on their duties. Her mother had always told her that the rules were different for them.

"He must be so jealous of your skin, it looks so soft."

"It is this worlds closest term, but if he is mine, I am his, he just cannot do that sort of magic," she insisted. Familiar seemed an odd word to her, used in two ways but holding similar lines of thought. Zaya had wondered if she had grown up on this continent if she would have considered Yazi a 'familiar,' less than herself, and it made her stomach churn. Did witches here not fathom if something was aware enough to bond with them then they clearly should not have been witch and familiar but equal?

Nosey thing. Zaya wondered who she would tell. It didn't matter, she just sort of wondered. "I came to this continent when I was a young girl, to find Yazi, where I am from most find their 'familiars' very early but I could not find mine, so I came to search for him. I could go back but Yazi would not find any of his kind there, he would be sad," she insisted, though there were many reasons. "Have you always been on this continent?"

Zaya smiled when the girl shared she took care of herself, that her mother had too. No wonder she was so beautiful. "My mother was the same, the most beautiful woman. My father less so, but he had a lot of responsibilities that lined his face because of who he is," she reasoned. "Yazi is the same, lines on his face from who he is. No matter how much I try to take care of him they appear across his brow and on his scales."

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

Vanathi's eyes widened a bit - a bit too much, she was one for theatrics - and she gazed into the tea. She blew another breathe at the tea and then smiled back up at Tajhana. "I've always wanted to have a moment to be a seer," she said. Which meant she wished to look through Tajhana's eyes, to experience something that wasn't her deadly and deadening power. She certainly wouldn't mind to have more of Tajhana than this, but she understood that she was being being rejected... understood, but it hadn't yet completely sunk in.

"I do like that. How do I do that?" she asked, both her hands grasping around the mug. She shook her shoulders at the warmth.

She slightly narrowed her eyes, though of course, she should not be surprised anyone knowing of her background who was in fact a seer. Her narrowed eyes soon disappeared, as she focussed on a display of contemplation. "In a way I do," she admitted. "At least from those in higher positions, I do not wish to be recognised or have to explain my decisions."

Tajhana smiled, if only because she believed Vanathi would certainly be so generous with her words and simply happy she wasn't putting all of her eggs into Tajhana's basket. If Tajhana's lack of a desire for a lasting relationship was not already apparent she had forseen if they tried her lack of a desire for children would also eventually arise as a problem. Vanathi was fated for someone better, who, even if they couldn't carry a child or give her one to carry, would desire a family with the sweet woman.

"Our tea should allow you to have your own vision, not many people are open to it though," she admitted. It was hard to convince them too, she always tried. Tajhana felt people were more likely to believe with their own eyes than with hers, even if she could see more paths, determine chaos a little better, it didn't always result in people believing it. Not until they saw it for themselves.

As for her potential gender indifferent bakers boy... "You will but I can already tell your great love will be so much more than a kind hearted baker. Do you stay away from those who are like where you came from?" Tajhana asked.