ursanazyalensky

[ursanazyalensky]

"I might be an outlier. I do not enjoy the arts all that much. Something about being a god of war doesn't mix well with art." Even as a deity, he had not enjoyed it but his distaste and restless had grown in the years he'd been a demon. "I promise not to put it on blast in the local newspaper," he joked, crossing a finger over his heart to seal the promise.

He tried not to let his surprise show that Nari attended Absythia, knowing he rarely braved the club himself and he was a demon. "You were brave then. I only go there to pick Astrid up and I do not enjoy it," he replied, grimacing slightly. "Apparently being a priest makes me a target there for a lot of weird humans. Hopefully you had more fun... with Artus?" he guessed. Ursa may have been oblivious but he listened to the gossip that the underworld demon loved to share. "Is hiding under the tree's also on your bucket list?" the demon asked, looking around their surroundings.

“Yeah, you didn’t notice?” Nari replied, managing a faint laugh, “Why do I keep hearing everyone saying the same thing? Admittedly some of the usual actors were replaced, but…” He trailed off. He was mostly hoping some of the more inexperienced actors didn’t hear too many of the harsh reviews.

“No, you’re not,” Nari agreed with some gentle amusement, mostly because he actually felt young around Ursa, which was nice. “I think the sentiment of soulmate still stands anyway.” Nari replied, “oh— at Absynthia a little while ago, actually. It’s not somewhere I’d usually go but I’m trying to say yes to think I wouldn’t usually and have a little bit of a bucket list, I guess.” He smiled. At least the breeze coming through the trees was nice and distracting.

[ursanazyalensky]

The magic of the party was infecting people in different ways. Ursa had been amused until he felt a the urge to do the same. His own costume had been picked for a reason, hoping that people would want to avoid him. It had worked with varying success over the night but as he wandered back through the crowd, someone ran straight into him. He eyed the human in amusement,taking note of the cheese knife in the his hand.

As funny as it would be to see him stab a demon and realise it would do nothing, he went for the more diplomatic route. "Calm down, Achilles. The party is almost over, I think that means it is time for you to go home," he suggested. The old demon was amused how their costumes matched in that way. Achilles was always destined to fall and Charon would be there to take him to the underwood. "Did you bring your gold coin?" he asked, holding out his hand, waiting for the ferryman's payment.

Time is up | Ursa & Gabe

Where: Scarlet Boughs Winery

When: As the party is ending

Who: @ursanazyalensky

The sun was rising over the vineyards and the festival guests were leaving. Gabriel was however in no hurry to get to the portal. He had been restless for the better part of the night, convinced that there was something in the making, a battle, a chance to prove his worth. The incident at the vineyard maze had not been it, that was just a skirmish. He was yet to find his true foe.

He had walked around the estate, drunk on wine, looking for weapons for the better part of an hour without any luck. Finally, he found a knife used for opening cheese wheels (whatever the vampires used it for since they didn't eat cheese), and was heading back out when he ran straight into someone. Gabe didn't apologize, he simply eyed the other indignantly and sized them up as an opponent. He put his hands on his hips, one hand still clasping the knife, and proclaimed, "You're in my way."

[ursanazyalensky]

He had no reason to ask about what she had been up to, knowing Astrid would tell him if she wanted him to know. Now they were together again, it didn't matter so much. The voices started to sound like droning and he slowed their steps, letting them fall to the back of the group.

"I don't," he agreed, having known she would agree. It was rare that the fallen deity offered to do something troublesome so Astrid loved to encourage it. As they stepped to the side, the demon used shadows to mask them as they slipped down the hallway. It didn't sound like they were being followed so Ursa continued. "Have you had fun tonight, angel?" he asked, glancing at some of the old caskets in their path.

She had somethings she wanted to do this wine fest, and she knew she would find Ursa later after she had accomplished those tasks. She wasn't super satisfied with the results but there was no fixing that. Instead, she hung around the cellars, waiting for Ursa to reappear, thankfully doing so quickly and not making her wait too long.

She looped her arm around his and went along with the tour. It wasn't often he had something he wanted to do so of course she was going to go along with it, whether it turned out well or not. His interest in sneaking around was a pleasant surprise and she grinned up at him. "Do you even need to ask?" she hummed, tugging him away from the group into the dark hallway.

[ursanazyalensky]

The Restricted Cellar - 3

You turn a corner and come across the restricted wine cellar. You manage to enter and take in the rows and rows of wine in the space.

Scanning the different labels on the bottles, you see the names of familiar species like human, elf and even werewolf. Not surprising since blood volunteers are not uncommon. You come across the magical creature section of the cellar and see bottles of wine that were offered at the party today with bottles labelled dragon, dryad and unicorn.

You scan more rows of bottles and find some different ones labelled Eastern dragon, phoenix and siren. There are plenty more with magical creature names that are both familiar and not. You reach out to the bottle with the label of 'siren' and draw it out. As far as you know, sirens are merely creatures of legend and only exist in stories.

A sudden sound from outside alerts you of a guard's presence. With bottle in hand, you and your accomplice run out of the cellar before a guard can catch you!

It is too risky to try again and you do not return for the rest of the evening, but you managed to steal a bottle of 'siren' blood wine. What are you going to do with it?

[ursanazyalensky]

sneak away | astrid & ursa

for: @astrid-lundquist location: the wine cellars

He had lost Astrid at the beginning of the night, she seemed to have plans of her own so he wandered the festival to see what the vampire's had put on offer. The demon knew they would find each other again so he wasn't surprised to see her waiting for him when he approached the cellars. The tours were still running so he took her arm and pulled her along. "I know this will be boring but just humour me," he said, whispering against her ear.

The vampire at the front was droning on about types of grapes and fermentation, all dreadfully boring things which ad been expected. What the demon was more interested in was the secrets of that the cellar's contained. "Do you want to go exploring?" he asked, nodding towards a dark hall.

[ursanazyalensky]

He would leave Artus to decipher the meaning of below the surface. He could lead an elf to water but he couldn't make them swim, after all. In all truth, Ursa didn't know how many were in the city but he knew that there were a few. There was one in particular he thought might be more help to Artus but they had to be willing to share their secrets. "I'll do my best to continue to protect them. I hope your communities can come together, they might be able to help with your population issues," he added.

Ursa wasn't sure if it was true but he hoped that it would be true, maybe a demon had cursed their kind but Ursa had no clue. "Any time, Artus. I know it's tough with your father missing a lot, you're taking good strides to being a leader yourself."

Below the surface. Was there more architecture hidden underneath the city, or had the one they discovered been abandoned because they moved further from the city? With each answer came more questions, ones he thought he might be able to find the answers to. "Of course. I would not expect you to divulge those secrets, though I am grateful they have the support of someone as respectable as you." And he meant that completely. Ursa was strong, knowledgeable, and kind. He was a man Artus looked up to.

"Thank you. That means a lot, coming from you. I appreciate it."

[ursanazyalensky]

Ursa's 'Dionysus' Party' Look - Inspired by Charon the Ferryman

[ursanazyalensky]

As frustrating as the past few days had been, Ursa was glad for a break. These moments with Astrid made it worth it, even if he complained and got grumpy at everything. That was just his natural disposition at this point. If Astrid was going to get sick of it, she would have left by now.

The demon let out a groan, making sure to play up the dramatics. Mostly he was hoping to get into her head and force mistakes in her game. They both were trying to distract each other and so far, Astrid was doing a far better job at it. He watched her carefully, trying to figure out how she swung the ball since she was clearly better at the game.

"Truly dreadful," he complained, rolling his eyes. It seemed he would have to try harder. As they rounded the next corner, Ursa could see it was getting harder. The first hit of his ball got close but was still too far to make it in two. "You look very cute tonight, did I tell you that?" he asked, trying to distract her. As he tried to get her attention, a small shadow gave the ball a bump forward, setting it on path of the hole, making it look like two putts would do it.

Even though Ursa has acting much like his usual self - grumpy, going along with her plans even if he didn't like them, and being competitive - there was a relaxed nature to it that he hadn't had before. The mask he wore was no longer there and he felt more like the Ursa who had summoned her, happy for her company.

"Yes, 17. By the end, you'll never want to think about mini golf ever again," she replied with a sly grin. He also wouldn't be thinking about his stresses, and that was the entire point of this, though spending time together was a wonderful bonus.

"Now that would be dreadful," she teased in return as she set her ball in place. She tried to mimic his shot, managing to get it fairly close and also end up with a score of 2 for that hole. "Guess you'll need to try a little harder," she hummed, blowing him a kiss.

[ursanazyalensky]

"It's nice to meet you too," he replied. It was easier to push past any awkward pauses when just meeting someone. Besides, it was rather sweet to be worried at all. The city was full of sin and it was rare that anyone cared that he was a priest at all.

Astrid had a varied taste but he knew she admired the beautiful and the morbid parts of life so she would likely enjoy a gift like that. Or so he hoped. "Ah, that might have something to do with it," he chuckled, gently teasing the young woman. "Don't worry, I happen to agree that death isn't always a bad thing. It depends on what you believe but the world is still full of mysteries." The old demon had lived long enough to see empires rise and fall, death was just an inevitable part of life for most creatures. "These markets are good for that, they normally have something interesting to find."

She let out a relieved sigh, for one that she hadn't completely put her foot in her mouth, and secondly for the easy out. "Ursa. Very nice to meet you. I'm Ophelia. Phe to my friends."

She chuckled at his summation of those kinds of decor being 'slightly morbid'. He certainly wasn't wrong. Not many people thought of insects, drawn or taxidermized, as particularly pleasant. "Yes, I suppose they are. A little morbid, but no less fascinating for it. Though maybe that's the Undertaker part of me. Death doesn't have to be just bad things, you know? Oh, but I'm rambling." She chuckled, a little self-conscious. "And no, not shopping for anything specific. Just here to look about and see what I can find."

[ursanazyalensky]

"Aries," he greeted with a nod. There were only a few creatures left in this city that got close to his age but Aries was the only one that he tolerated, he would even say he liked him which was rare enough for the old demon.

It hadn't felt like a long time since he had last seen the other demon but he could have been mistaken. Time meant very little these days, only the changing of the seasons made it feel like the year was passing. It could have been a week or even a month since they'd last crossed paths but that was another thing that mattered little at their age.

Ursa didn't need to dignify the question with an answer, knowing the pointed look he gave the other demon would do. Cheating was not allowed inside the Punch Cage. Ursa might not have been a deity any more but after ruling over a domain of war and battles, he still appreciated a fair fight. "He might have gone better if you intervened before hand," he conceded. Though, he wasn't sure what use Aries would have for someone who could barely throw a punch.

"I am disappointed, this fight is meant to last three rounds but I don't think he'll survive the first," he sighed. The old demon was glad he hadn't given the man a slot at their Fright Night event. It was hard enough to watch tonight's fight and there was nothing at stake. A fight to the death would have ended up looking like a murder and would have been a pitiful affair. "I think you saved yourself some money. He has a death wish and people with death wishes do not make good fighters."

where: punch cage with: @ursanazyalensky

---

“Long time, no see,” Aries drawled as he slid into the seat beside the other demon. The words were casual, almost flippant—an understatement layered in centuries. Time didn’t pass the same for beings like them; it dragged, warped, and sometimes felt as though it had stopped altogether.

He cast a glance at Ursa, his expression unreadable. Despite the raucous energy in the Cage—the crowd roaring as fists flew and blood splattered—Aries felt a rare calm settle over him. That always happened in the presence of his own kind. Old. Ancient. Primordial. There was comfort in the reminder: he wasn’t the only relic left wandering the world.

In the ring, one of the fighters delivered a brutal blow to his opponent’s jaw. A spray of crimson misted the air, drawing a chorus of cheers. The injured man swayed, dazed but upright, managing a feeble counterstrike and one that left him wide open for another punishing hit.

Aries smiled faintly. “I should’ve placed a bet,” he murmured, amused. “My guy would’ve won.”

He turned his gaze back to Ursa, something flickering behind his eyes—curiosity, maybe, or mischief wearing a dignified mask. “I assume giving that poor bastard a little…encouragement would be considered cheating?”

[ursanazyalensky]

"Like all the things demonic, their domain is below the surface," he answered, allowing Artus to interpret that how he wished. The elf was asking him the right questions now and his lips quirked slightly into a smile. "I do," he answered. "But as you can imagine, I've promised to protect them so they'll have to feel safe enough to tell you." He believed Artus was a good leader, or he would be a good leader and better than his father.

"You're a good man, Artus. I think you'll be able to show them you're worth trusting with their secret."

"A variation?" He echoed. "And what about them changed to make them only partly still elves?" Was it a punishment for their loss, or perhaps due to their devotion to their cause? Artus's imagination took hold, trying to equate the deities influence on elves and how a demon's influence could have affected them. "I suppose they would. They likely trust demons more than they do anyone else, all things considered. Do you know any yourself?"

[ursanazyalensky]

The elf looked flustered just by him being there and he wasn't sure what was causing it. He was tempted to touch his forehead and see if he was burning up but Nari assured him that he was okay so he wouldn't question him. "There was dancing?" he asked, glancing back at the party. "All I saw was that god awful play. Sorry," he added, knowing he shouldn't insult the elves of the city.

Astrid's name brought a smile to the demon's face and he chuckled. "I suppose girlfriend does sound strange. I'm not exactly a boy." At this point, Ursa was millions of years older than her and most people in this city so 'boy' didn't quite feel right. "I would say soul mate but I'm not sure demon's have one. Where did you see Astrid?" he asked, curious as to where the two would have run into each other.

Nari exhaled with dread when Ursa approached. He had been really hoping his fellow council member would have just carried on his path and left him unnoticed, but that didn’t seem to be the case. As nice as Ursa had always seemed, he didn’t really want to be chatting to be a work colleague while feeling quite this… heated. “Oh—no, no mushrooms.” He breathed a faint laugh.

For God sakes did he need to kneel down in front of him like that? “Thank you, but… I just needed a bit of a breather from the dancing. I’m fine. What are you doing out here all alone? I met your— well, girlfriend doesn’t seem like a strong enough word—but, I met Astrid the other evening.”

[ursanazyalensky]

Richard Armitage at the 2025 BAFTAs

[ursanazyalensky]

He hummed as she spoke, pressing another kiss to her neck before he met her eye again. The pout didn't seem to be leaving her face, even when he was being affectionate which made him worry. All he wanted to do was keep kissing her until she was smiling again. "You did," he agreed, letting his hands drag down the length of her body.

"And I came here for you," he replied. Tilting his head to the side, he chuckled at her expression. "Is that not enough for you, Astrid?" he asked in a soft murmur. "You know how much I hate the theatre, you're going to have to keep my hands busy or I might strangle an actor."

He was in such a cheerful mood. It was odd, but it made her happy to see, even if she was still jealous of everyone taking up his time when he could have been here with her. Astrid didn't resist him, easily resting against his torso as he pulled her in, his lips sending shivers up her spine as they brushed against her neck. She wasn't mad at him, she could never be. If anyone else took his attention from her, though, they better update their will.

"I dressed up for you," she huffed, still pouting. Her fingers gripped his shirt lightly. "And we're matching and everything."

[ursanazyalensky]

When the play had started and Astrid had been distracted, Ursa needed to go for a walk to stop himself from loudly booing the actors. Or strangling the one that had a slight squeak in their voice. Instead, Ursa was trying to keep his spirit's up so he walked amongst the partygoers, watching with amusement as everyone seemed to be giving into the elf magic. From behind a tree, he caught sight of someone, almost like they were hiding or fighting with themselves so he stepped under the low hanging branches to investigate.

"Nari?" he called out, able to hear the elf whispering something to him. The two only really knew each other through the council but he never had a bad thing to say about the elf. He tended to appreciate the elf's kind, considering he once was one himself. "Are you alright? You didn't eat any strange mushrooms out here did you?" he teased gently, moving to kneel down beside them.

"You look handsome, you shouldn't be hiding it amongst the shadows, I think that's where I'm meant to hide."

Secret garden | @ursanazyalensky

Nari had been trying his very best to hide away, ever since he discovered he had accidentally, definitely been drinking the red drinks rather than the orange, and it had made him want to avoid absolutely everyone in his path. God knows what he would say or do otherwise and embarrass himself. Yes, it was much better to find a quiet spot away from the garden, tucked away beneath a large willow tree. He had been mostly successful, until he saw Ursa heading his way.

“Go away, go away, go away…” Nari whispered to himself, shrinking down against the tree trunk.

[ursanazyalensky]

Ursa had been reluctant about going to the elf event. He despised the theatre, finding it dull and a waste of time, which was saying something when he was millions of years old. Still, Astrid had gone to the trouble of finding them both outfits and she looked far too beautiful to waste the outfit on him, still he would have picked anywhere else. By the time they arrived and he started to complain, the young demon was pushing a drink in his hand to shut him up. Whatever was in the drink that Astrid had given him to lighten his mood had worked wonders.

He finished one red drink and picked up another, finding himself actually socialising with people. He chatted to a familiar elf, deciding he could pass along some tips on how to make the theatre show more interesting. While he had listened on with good humour, something told him those plans would not be implemented into the evenings show. A shame really.

When a member of the theatre troupe caught the elf's attention, he wandered back over to find his lover with a scowl on her face. "Why the long face, angel?" he asked, his brow furrowing. "Is it because I haven't told you how beautiful you look in the past five minutes?" he asked, gently teasing her. Still, his arms wrapped around her waist as he kissed her neck with a soft lingering kiss. "Because you do look beautiful."

midsummer nightmare

for @ursanazyalensky

She hadn't felt the need to dress too over the top for once, instead putting on a dress she had been wanting to wear for a while, something that was cute and floral and perfect for the event. Now, she was regretting her decision. Astrid was here being all cute, and yet Ursa was over there, talking to that damn elf. Sure, she didn't mind the Westwood, but not when he was keeping her Ursa from her.

Her foot was tapping unconsciously and arms crossing over her chest as she grabbed a new drink, taking big gulps instead of sipping. If only it would get her drunk, then she could forget everything. But no, instead she was staring daggers at Ursa and the actor, telling herself it was impolite to stab the host of the party.

Finally, Ursa turned and came over to her, though that didn't alleviate her soured mood. "Bored of your conversation already?" she asked in a huff.

[ursanazyalensky]

It had taken him a long time to get out of his slump after falling. In a way, his fall had also become his blessing. If it weren't for his run in with the deity Arjun, he might never have snapped out of his endless cycle of guilt. A thousand years was a long time to feel discontent for yourself but that thousand years was over.

He felt much lighter now that guilt had been shed. Everything felt better and brighter in the world so maybe being a demon suited him. "17?" he echoed with a sigh. That was a long time to endure the torture of Astrid's gloating but her cute smile made it feel worth it.

He tampered down his complaints as they walked to the next hole. This time he thought he got it in within two respectable shots and his smile was wider as he retrieved his ball. "Now don't mess up otherwise we'll be tied."

There had been a big difference in Ursa's attitude since Christmas, and she knew part of it was him finally giving in to everything, to his reality as a demon and to the love they shared. It made her want to do better for him in return.

"Don't worry, there are 17 more holes to go," she teased lightly, taking a step back as he took his next shot. Their competitiveness was coming out already as his shot rolled out and he had to take one more. She wrote it down as three, glad to give him the initial mulligan.

"Then let's just go to the next one. You can shoot first this time."