Just buy the damn jewels! (Open!)

[Anonymous]

Noonday. The sun arched high in the rich blue sky of the desert, shining down on the citizens of Essyrn. Rich and poor gathered in the city of wonders, especially in the open air marketplace. Stalls and rugs of brightly colored fabrics lined the ancient streets, each merchant hawking their wares, the wares of kings. Jewelry, gold, silver, spices, incense that perfumed the air... anything to dazzle the visitors, have them give up their gold coin in order to live richly for a day.

At least, that was how Rashida saw it.

Her slim fingers placed each item, the spices in their hand-blown containers, the brooches, the silk fabrics, in each place on her stand of crimson fabric. Her copper skin gleamed with oil, and seductive eyes glanced from the top of a creme veil, though one could imagine she was smirking behind it. The sarong hung to her curves, gracefully exposing her midriff, yet the fabric split to allow glimpses of her long, oiled legs, delicate gold anklets and toe rings around each of them. Silver and gold was wrapped around her neck, earrings of snakes with emerald eyes hung from her lobes. It was all quite a show, and meant to attract customers.

A man approached her stall, his eyes gleaming with the sapphires that caught the sunlight. Rashida smouldered from above her veil, her voice slightly muffled. "I have everything that you desire," she cooed, her hands moving into mystical signs. "Everything that a man... could dream of." She brought out incense with the flick of her wrist, and lit it, making the air of her stall hazy with perfume.

The man's eyes were wide with the gold, and he looked at Rashida expectantly, almost at her mercy. "Do you have... rubies?"

Rashida gave a smile from beneath her veil, her eyes glinting mysteriously. "Of course," she whispered, and as her hand went to pluck the fat ruby...

It wasn't there.

Panic seized the inside of Rashida for a second, but she quickly fought it down, batting her eyelashes at the man. "I believe I have some inside my tent. Excuse me...." With a whirl of her sarong, she was gone, disappearing into her tent.

It was then that she ripped the veil from her face, better to start throwing spitting insults. "You worthless sack of fur! What in the god's great divine did you do with those rubies?!"

The recipient of her comments was currently lounging on a gorgeous rug, stretched out languorously. Though wearing long fabrics between the legs was more of a woman's style, the red fabric matched his obsidian fur quite nicely. As did the great big wolfish grin on his muzzle, silver fangs glinting as his eyes shown with mirth, ears perked ans swiveled as he followed his master's movements. "Why, I don't know Rashida," The high demon purred, mockingly, flicking his tail idly. "Maybe you... misplaced them?"

"Don't you dare give me that Akhenaten!" The merchant spit violently, her seductive glare gone with a twist of her mouth. "You had better cough those rubies up or I swear to the stars I will choke you with those necklaces!"

The high demon laughed, which sounded more like barking, his clawed hands holding his stomach as if Rashida had just told a very amusing joke. "Choke me? Why, Rashida, you tease!" His great hand pawed at the edge of her sarong, his muzzle still twisted in that amused grin. "My dear, I think the perspiration is ruining your complexion. You shouldn't get so worked up."

"Worked up? Worked UP? Oh by the great gods... I had to get stuck with you!" She pushed the demon's hand away from her, and began to tear the tent up, throw pillows and clothing and sandals sent flying as she looked for her rubies.

"Better hurry dear," Akhenaten sing-songed, folding his ears back as his eyes scanned her stall. "I think your customer is getting bored!"

Rashida cursed at the demon in something of her own tongue, and dashed back out of the stall, forgetting belatedly to replace her veil. It hung like a rag on the edge of her hood, as she smiled and tried to tidy her hair with a few quick strokes. "I'm sorry, we seem to have run out of rubies!" She tried to sound nice to the customer, ignoring the irritation that was building inside of her. "But could I perhaps interest you in something else?"

The man looked at Rashida strangely, but his eyes traveled downward, following the curve of her sarong as he glanced over her wares. He picked up a few items, but never seemed interesting in anything. Rashida could feel her smile straining at the corners of her lips, and she busied her hands with smoothing out her fabrics in order to not seem impatient. "Does anything at all appeal to you? I'm sure there must be something...." And yet the man continued to look. And look. And look. It was plucking at Rashida's last nerve, straining her willpower, because she could see other potential customers walking away, toward the empty stalls that weren't blocked by some fat, hairy, stupid--

"Where are your rubies?" The man asked again, and that did it. Rashida howled as she stood, eyes blazing with anger.

"Look, are you going to buy some damn jewelry or not?! I'm running a god damn business here, not some pay-by-the-hour sideshow, so if you don't want something, move your ass so other people can see what's in front of it!" Her hands clawed at the fabric of her stall, foam forming at the corners of her mouth. "Now buy something or stop staring!"

The man looked nothing less than horrified at Rashida's outburst. And he ran as if someone had lit him on fire. Rashida was still blowing steam out of her nostrils. But once the situation hit her, she groaned, holding her face in her hands as she sat back in the stall. "Why?" She muttered. "Oh, why?"

"Maybe because you're a bad merchant!" The demon pulled away at the curtains of her tent, a sway in his step. His grin was still huge on his muzzle, his tail curling around his distressed master, tickling her bare legs. "But just think: only everyone within a mile heard that outburst!"

For a second, Rashida was completely still. And then a scream tore out of her throat, matching the fury of a wild animal. She leapt upon the demon's broad back, her manicured nails clawing at his throat, grabbing the necklaces that he wore. "YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT! I'LL SEND YOU SO FAR BACK INTO HELL THAT YOU WON'T SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY FOR A MILLION YEARS!"

The demon seemed to think this was highly amusing, and simply danced about her stall, laughing as the mortal tried unsuccessfully to choke him or rip his ears from his skull.

A good day for a high demon indeed.

[Anonymous]

It was hot here, one could definitely say that...but not as hot as Hell itself. No, compared to that place, this was a frozen wasteland. He was surprised snow wasn't falling from the sky! But...it was good enough. The dry arid desert was at least a little reminiscent of his home realm. It was passable though. He hadn't been to a place like this in a long time. He had been travelling again, and just popped back here to see how the other half of reality was doing.

Next time, he wasn't going to be so careless with his knife.

This place was a lot more boring than the other desert he remembered. There was a nation. A great river, giant pyramids, half man half lion figures everywhere, ah, it had just been fantastic! This place was...different. It smelled different too. It smelled...just off. He had been gone a long time, he must have, that was the only real explanation for it. Gone were the familiar scents of his friends and and family. Gone were the sounds of worship and the giving of souls...gone was everything that he had liked...well...there was still milk and honey.

That was a definite bright side.

What one might call a man casually strolled through the busy market. He stood tall, taller than anyone there, and had a particularly odd look about him. It could have been the lion head, it could have been the fact he was covered in sandy coloured fur and had a long lion tail...it could have been that he wore nothing more than a simple styled kilt around his waist that went to his knees. It also could have been that he looked like he was built for war, with broad shoulders and a large muscular chest, arms like tree trunks just waiting to break anything that got in their way. He wore a special bandolier around his chest, the silver buckle clasping at the shoulder. The bandolier was special because of the weapon it held within the sheathe on his chest. The dagger hilt that could be seen was a marble colour, but the entire thing seemed to be made of metal. A small yellow topaz was embedded in the pommel.

He walked with confidence, but he had an almost relaxed air about him. He was not a stuck up person for the most part, not anymore. The old ways were gone, the Old Kingdom crumbled, and here he was to see what had arisen from the dust.

"YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT! I'LL SEND YOU SO FAR BACK INTO HELL THAT YOU WON'T SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY FOR A MILLION YEARS!" The immediate yell had him grasp the hilt of the dagger as he whirled to find the owner of the voice. How could they know?! So soon too! He hadn't given himself away somehow? Did they remember him? A spark of annoyance, curiosity and flattery was within those golden amber eyes of his as he came to search for the voice. It wasn't far away actually...it was...a woman. That was it. Just a simple woman from the desert...fighting...fighting...

Akhenaten?

His hand fell away from his dagger hilt as his long legs carried him quickly over the ground to the stall of the merchant woman. "Akhenaten!" The deep and booming voice purred as he regarded the jackal headed man with a grin that showed his row of sharp feline teeth. "You son of a celestial! I thought you had died!" The great demon cried out in joy as he snug around the table quickly to interrupt the two of them, taking the other high demon in a sudden crushing hug. "You old honey sucker, it's been far too long!"

[Anonymous]

Akhenaten was laughing up a storm as the mortal vainly attempted to make some mark on his dense, black fur. But if anything he was treating it like a huge game, wrapping his arms around Rashida and giving he girl a piggy back ride, even galloping like a horse and flinging his great tail about. "Isn't this fun Rashida?" He asked, barking, folding his ears back.

And then, he heard a voice. A voice that transported him back millenia and millenia, to a time where Rashida's people hadn't even crawled out of their holes yet, to where he was respected, revered, worshiped. Where he commanded souls, and laughed with the other gods...

"By the great pyramids!" His entire face lit up, ears perked and eyes wide with a joy that he had not felt in years, both of them like miniature suns. His tail beat the stall with enthusiasm, sending wares flying as he gazed upon the furry, lion face of his friend, his comrade.

He laughed even as his ribcage was being crushed, even as those paws wrapped around him so tight he thought he could never breathe again. He had little regard for Rashida still on his back as he returned his friend's hug, tears starting to stream down his muzzle.

"My dear friend Kethmelkezzet!" Akhenaten howled, and couldn't help but licking his friend's cheek. "Still taste like milk as always! I thought you were dead, gone and lost forever to that dusty place we kept the old gods in! By Ra's eyes am I happy to see you!"

Rashida was hanging on for dear life as lion paws wrapped around her torso, and she screeched. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!"

"Oh!" Regretfully Akhenaten broke their embrace, and picked the human up off his back, offering her scrunched-up face to Kethmelkezzet. "Meet Rashida Abdul!"

Rashida stared blankly at the lion-headed demon before her. And then looked almost horrified. "By the great gods... there's more of you?"

[Anonymous]

He remembered.

Of course, it was hard to forget someone like Kethmelkezzet! He was the Wielder of the Knife. Sure, Akhenaten was the God of the Underworld, he held a slightly more important job, but Keth was one who ruled over warfare, and of Knives. Just knives. He tried to expand to more weapons, and he got to sort of...sidle swords into there as well, but when you were called the Wielder of the Knife you sort of got typecasted. Not that he really minded of course.

Just like his friend, his own tail was swishing about a million miles per hour as he embraced his friend. After Akhen had gone though a little power trip, he had almost assuredly had died, but the being stood here before him, embraced tightly between his massive arms. He barely noticed that there was someone on his back that also had gotten caught up in the lion-hug. "And you my friend, still smell of pharohs and high priestesses!" The lion took a deep sniff of his friend and sighed happily. Just like the old days. "And the sands. A little dusty, old friend." Not that he minded, he probably had the same sort of smell. Almost..

Keth blinked as he heard a screech from Akhen's back, and stepped back when he broke the embrace. He tilted his head as he suddenly held out a young woman. "Oh, I'm sure there's only a few left." His voice had lowered from the roaring boom to a deep, low, almost sensual purr. He suddenly took her hand softly, raising it to his snout and touching his cold nose to it. "I am Kethmelkezzet, Wielder of the Knife. It is a pleasure to meet any concubine of the great Akhenaten."

[Anonymous]

There was no way that Akhenaten could forget his old friend! His heart, or at least that little warm spot inside of his chest, was still swelling at the feeling of being back in his friend's arms. When their Kingdom ended, he had seen them all... all of them, dead! Their bodies shriveled and broken, the light leaving their eyes, their powers lost to the winds... Akhen was so sure that Kethmelkezzet had gone with them, that not even his knife was powerful enough to protect him from the fates. Indeed, if the Lord of the Underworld hadn't knocked him back into the deepest layers of hell, Akhen would probably be dead.

"I smell dusty?" Akhen roared with laughter. "You, my friend, taste of it! I dare say that I've been more aired out than you have!" He did, however, seize his friend's waist, and gave it a good squeeze, even if his grip was nothing compared to the God of Knives. "I can see you haven't loss any of your mass, however! My, how I was always jealous of your figure!"

"Context, please?" Rashida begged, helpless to do anything in Akhen's grip but keep herself from falling. Staring at the other high demon, she realized that if she thought Akhen was big,  he had nothing on this guy. His fangs could crack her skull into tiny bits, and those arms could easily wrap around ten men, if not more.

She seemed bemused when he purred at her, and even... well, she guess that would be considered a kiss, even if it was from his nose, but at his words... Her face flushed in indignation, and she started struggling in Akhen's grip. "I am not his concubine! Akhen, tell him now or else I'm going to shove you back in that--"

"Easy, my dear!" Though Akhen was grinning like a bastard at Keth. "Oh, my, she isn't my concubine! I think she's a bit... eh, small for that sort of thing, if you know what I mean." He gave a rakish wink to his friend, which caused Rashida to shudder.

"No, no, this woman is the reason why I stand before you today." He gently placed Rashida back on the ground, his claws gently brushing out her sarong, even as she tried to swat his hands away. He simply smiled, and looked back at Keth. Gods, it still seemed like a dream, to see his best friend standing before him, as if their entire civilization was still around him! "When I had my little... eh, let's say when I demanded a raise, the Lord of the Underworld knocked me so far back I didn't even see the old gods wallowing in their misery! But then...." His eyes became mournful, his tail growing limp. "When I finally emerged after clawing through that darkness... I saw. Every one of them, destroyed. Lost souls... the throne of the Underworld, toppled over..." He stared at his hands, ears pinned against his skull, and he looked up. "I hid myself in my old temple, you know the one, using the last coverings of the Underworld I still had to shield myself from this reality. I thought... I thought you were gone. I thought everyone I knew was gone." And then, gently, he placed his hand on Rashida's shoulder. "She found the temple, and awoke me. I have been bound to her ever since."

Rashida obviously didn't hear this part of the story, because her mouth was slightly open, and perhaps tears shown in her eyes. But she quickly blinked them away, rubbing them against her sleeve. "Yeah, and I've been stuck with him for three years," she sniffed. "Makes all of my customers run away."

"I've helped you out too," Akhen whined, to which Rashida only scoffed. His attention turned back to his friend. "But... Keth, how did you survive? I didn't see you on that day! I searched though all the remnants of the gods to find you! Even my sons didn't make it! How... how did you escape?" He had let go of Rashida to approach his friend, running a hand down the smooth, golden fur of his arm. It had been too long.

And Rashida learned even more information that day. That Akhen had... sons? Part of her became worried. But another part... well, hell, she felt sorrow for the both of them. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like... as if Essyrn had been ripped below her feet, if she had been shoved into darkness with no hope of ever seeing the light again.

That didn't mean that Akhen wasn't annoying, however. That part still held true.

[Anonymous]

They had been so close, the two of them. It had been great fun, the jokes they had played on Thoth, the teasing they had done to Baast and Isis, even the games of war they declared on Horus and Osiris. While Keth had not believed his friend to be dead completely, he would have thought him captured, enslaved, or still locked away. It was never safe to return to the Old Kingdom, not to the old Hell. Things had changed, empires had risen and fallen, everything had become so...so very different.

But now things were a little bit the same! Ahken was alive. Alive and well none the less. He was free too, free and roaming the surface just as he was doing. Oh this was too great!

The great demon gave a small wriggle as his friend squeezed his waist, causing him to grin. "I may have been rolling in sand earlier, but that's none of your business. And your figure was always attracting the ladies! Never-mind my big bulky frame, always there to crush whatever might lay with me." Good for fighting, bad for fu-fornicating. Yes. That was a polite way of putting it...to himself...in his head.

Keth gave a rather boisterous laugh as she denied it, and Akhen agreed to the same thing. "You just have to be proper about it my friend! I've found a few that haven't minded, you must not be doing it right then." Granted, he had found mostly succubus and creatures a bit larger than this girl, but there was more than way to skin a cat. Funny how he didn't really find that offensive or in bad taste.

Keth listened rather intently, while his broad face showed little emotion, one could see it in his body language. His ears lay flat, at times his great hulking frame shifted slightly and took on a more...remorseful sort of appearance almost. His tail was definitely something that helped to tell the emotions in his body, from going wild, to laying still and limp at some parts, mostly when he mentioned all being dead and gone. He did perk up when he saw his friend joking with the mortal woman. That was good, he had found entertainment, to keep his mind busy.

"It is not a proud story my friend. Ra, Horus, and some of his sons, came with me to do battle against the Darkness in the Light. It was routine you know? We chase the darkness away, the sun shines, and the world worships us. But...we went in so many. I did not understand it...it was war. We were fighting...something else. Something new in the darkness." The large lion man shifted uncomfortably as he let a hand wander up to the blade at his chest. "I think it was new demons...ones who had come with the Northerners and the Westerners...I can't say for sure. It was war, and I was happy. There was blood singing to me everywhere, knives calling out their names to me, and great storms rolled in from who knows where. It was glorious...until we started falling." He drew the dagger from its sheathe and showed off the beautiful ornate weapon. It looked to have been made from light and darkness, the blade was black but it shined with a golden light somehow.

"I plunged her deep into reality itself Akhen. Further than I had ever dared. I knew the war was on their side...I begged the others to come with me, but they were foolish and thought we could win. As I felt the power of war seeping away, I stepped through my new wound in reality...and closed it up behind me. There..." He trailed off for a moment, and despite his size, despite everything he was, one could see a glimpse of fear in his eyes. "I found my way." He continued, shaking off everything and trying to appear once more as the tough imposing brute that he was. "And now I am here, back with my old friend, to enjoy once more the tastes of this mortal world!"

[Anonymous]

Images that Rashida didn't need filtered into her head as the demons joked about how to... go about the act of creation. She couldn't help as her eyes drifted downward on both of these figures. They were... uh, huge. And she had seen Akhenaten naked on at least one occasion. The physics... simply didn't work. Neither did the muzzle. Not to mention that the merchant had lost interest in such an activity after her sister used her body to corrupt the minds of men. Good men, at that. Men who were barely out of boyhood that were swayed by her charms, her curves... 'The devil hath made a woman out of you,' Rashida thought bitterly.

Plus, such a thing was bad for business. But the demons were on another subject, about the kingdom that they had both come form. Her eyes watched the body language of Kethmelkezzet, the way his ears would fold back, the reactions that his tail painted... ('Knocking over more of my wares,' she couldn't help but think.) Even if both of these beings before her were demons... They had hurt. And they cared for each-other.

Akhenaten saw all of his friend's reactions to his story, and he smiled at him, gently taking one of his huge hands. "My friend, do not be sad for me," he said, soothingly, deepening his voice, the same voice he used to bring the souls to the scale, to gently take their hearts as the Devourer eyed them greedily, lurking in the shadows. "The dark is my friend. Your pity is wasted upon me. I fear more for those who are trapped there, in that place that few can stand." His claws traced the very edge of the blade, lovingly, though he was careful to not touch the hilt, and drew his claws away after a few moments.

But his eyes turned mournful, and for a second they both flashed as setting suns, the end of an era. He could see the life span of the Old Kingdom before them, it seemed, and Keth's story filled in the vivid details. The gentle sway of his tail ceased all-together as Keth told the tale of his last battle, the grand stand... and how they were pushed back. Lips curled into a snarl at the mention of enemies from the North and West, his hands flexing. "Foreigners?" He growled. "New demons? And Osiris led you into battle? Why..." But he trailed off, wringing the empty air before him. He grew still, an obsidian statue, as he saw the fear in his friend's eyes. For a warrior of light... the darkness of reality could be a hell unto itself.

"Why didn't they go with you?" Akhenaten bleated, his voice soft, grieving. "By the suns... if they saw you retreating, of all gods, why didn't they save themselves? Those foreign devils weren't worth the amount of souls that we lost on that day!"

He realized belatedly that his tail was lashing, that something was pushing at his edges. He saw it in Rashida's wide eyes, the way that she swayed uncertainly on her feet.

So Akhenaten took a breath, and his fur relaxed, that smile playing upon his muzzle. "You are right, Kethmelkezzet. I am well, and so are you." He pushed back the curtains of Rashida's tent, revealing the contents of riches and luxuries and....

"Milk and honey. I think you deserve a meal after all those years without one."

Rashida groaned inwardly, and started to stack her wares.

"I hope I have money to support your expensive habits, Akhen," she grumbled, and sat at her stall, rearranging the incense and jewels to catch the eyes of travelers. "You already cost me one customer today."

Akhen poked his muzzle out of the tent, grinning wickedly. "But you didn't have any rubies!"

Rashida sighed in defeat. As if one high demon wasn't enough...

[Anonymous]

"Sometimes I just wish you would love the light as much as I." He told the other demon with a twinkle in his eye. They were odd friends, there was no doubt about that. The two of them were almost complete opposites. Once was dark as night, and the other as gold as the sun upon the dunes and sands. Each of them carried their own burdens and their own horrors...funny how they had become fast friends in the beginning. Perhaps it was because neither could really have the other domain. They were kept in balance properly at least.

"Ra was busy I assumed, he had his own battles with another who wanted to bring the light." At least that was how he had interpreted it. He couldn't have been sure by that really, but there was something that had occupied the head demon at the time. How great a battle it had been though, and that was perhaps what kept the fire in his veins going. Such a glorious battle, no matter who had won, still fed him to some degree.

Keth shook his head and sighed. "They didn't understand that war sometimes meant losing a battle. But they wanted to win the fight, and in turn, it cost them the battle and the war." In one swift movement, their bravado, their...wanton lust for power and belief that they were superior had cost them everything.

At the mention of milk and honey, Kethmelkezzet could only grin largely, for the first time in a while. His teeth bared and he laughed. "You won't see me arguing, friend Ahken! It has been too long since I have tasted such a thing, oh my tongue won't know what to think of it." He licked his lips just thinking about it. Oh milk and honey. He turned to Rashida though. "You will know my ever flowing gratitude, and it will be my promise that nothing shall ever harm you, and only fair weather shall find us." One had to make sure the mortals were happy after all.

"Perhaps you would care to join us, it has been a long time since I have seen a female, you could perhaps...show us a dance? I can already see your body is a sculpted temple, but those clothes are a little...in the way." He hinted at her with that same flowing purr that had filled his voice before. She was a beauty, and though he was sure that they would not be able to...fit in some regards...it did not mean he couldn't enjoy a show or two, right?

[Anonymous]

Even as they were entering the tent, Akhen couldn't help but snort at the mention of "light". "And you should pay homage to the darkness, but alas. I think we'll just have to agree to be different." But there was a playful smile to Akhen's jaws as he said it, a mirth in his eyes. It was such a good thing that they were different, in the end. After all, Akhen and Osiris... weren't exactly getting along in the end. Akhen had grown rather unhappy with the lot that the god had given him, and did he show that spectacularly! It was still that aspect of Keth's story that bugged Akhen though, his muzzle scrunched in concentration as he sat inside the tent, arranging the cushions around him, and pouring the milk and honey for his friend.

Rashida seemed highly amused by the god's words of promise, and grinned a little slyly. "Alas, if only you could promise wealth and fortune... Though if you could make the sun's beams flash upon my jewelery, I might replace you for Akhenaten." She smiled hugely at Akhen, who only rolled his eyes.

"You'd miss me, my dear Rashida," he whined, to which Rashida whistled innocently. But it was the next comment Kethmelkezzet that had Akhenaten howling with laughter, tilting his head up to the skies, while Rashida flushed in indignation. When she picked up a pillow and chucked it at the two demons, Akhen caught it and quickly shut the flap of their tent, still snickering like a hyena.

"Ah... my dear friend, while that comment was... highly amusing, but uh... Rashida is not that kind of mortal." He steamed milk in a small fire, and poured honey into it, giving the mixture to Keth. "Perhaps I'll explain later when she's... well, not currently cursing us to the high heavens and back, but let's say that subject is... touchy for her." He paused, and smirked. "She has quite a throw though, doesn't she? Now drink, my friend of knives, and tell me how much your mouth waters and your tastebuds sing to Isis!"

[Anonymous]

"When your spend your days with the sun chasing off the darkness, its hard to tell the thing you're sorry." He grinned in returned to his friend, that large, devilish grin of his. How long had it been since he had conversed with anything worth while? Too long. Too long had he gone without the feeling of the sun upon his face, and the smell of sand in his nostrils. Small wonder he had actually managed to keep his sanity, but the God of Knives never did anything easy, especially going insane. He still had his knife after all, and that was all he had needed in that...place.

"Mmm, something could be arranged, but the deal would definitely hold in my favour." She would have to give her soul to be rich, that was just the deal. But how would any of that go now? He supposed Akhen could help, he had a knack for soul exchange after all. Still, the woman was a tease after all, so he wouldn't be surprised if he ended up on the wrong end of the deal.

There was much confusion as the two of them reacted to his comment. Rashida seemed to became very angry, while Akhen laughed like a madman. He had said something that was funny now a days then. That must have been it. Oh he did so hope that words hadn't changed meaning over the last few thousand years. He ducked slightly as the pillow came flying at him, a bewildered expression on his face.

He frowned at his friend's comment, but gratefully took the mixture of milk and honey from him. "It smells as if hell itself decided to be kind and let forth a nurturing brew to us." He took up the cup and drank deep of it, his tongue lapping it up quickly and his eyes closing in satisfaction. "If there was one thing I missed as much as you my friend, it was this...and are you sure she is not that kind of mortal? She was dressed for it...and seemed not a bit embarrassed by such a thing. Besides, I only asked for a dance, it wasn't as if I wanted her to lay with me. I am a gentledemon after all." He had tact and class, to some degree. Twas better to woo than to...whatever was bad and rhymed with woo. Rape? Maybe. He took back to drinking his mixture.

"But enough of her then...what of you my friend? What have I missed?"

[Anonymous]

"Yes, I suppose that's true... But us in darkness are tired of it being chased away by your blinding light," he teased with his friend, grinning. By the stars Akhen had been missing conversations like these! Conversations about light and dark that meant something... Oh, he'd have to bring up souls soon! He wanted to talk about souls, so much! And he had to see the corruption in every mortal's heart before this... It was nice to look upon his friend and have to see nothing, not corruption, not death, not a beginning or an end. Though Rashida's soul was blessedly untainted, he could still see what would cause her demise... a demise that he couldn't think about himself.

Rashida just smirked at what Keth said about the deal, and went back to looking over her wares. "Ah, alas. As a merchant, I enjoy the deals where I come out on the right end of things. But I don't mind having the fair weather and protecting. It's always nice when I have plenty of things that thieves enjoy."

He gripped the cup gently in his two paws, breathing deeply, the scent just as good as the taste. He couldn't wipe the grin off his face as he stared at Kethmelkezzet before him. It really was a dream come true for him. Akhenaten figured he was going to be alone for the rest of his days, whatever they may be. "A nurturing brew with a friend I thought was dead," Akhen said, taking a great gulp himself and licking his chops. "If this is what heaven is like, then I ask to be taken there!"

When it came to Rashida, Akhenaten looked back out the tent flap, and back at Keth, smiling. "Ah, you do not know her yet. Every thing about her is designed to sell her wares. None of it is really real, except when she speaks to me. She doesn't lie, mind you, she simply lets these idiotic foreigners see what they want to see. If they want a sultry Essyrni woman, it's what she'll put on. When she's around her own people, she can be brutally honest." He lowers his voice a bit as he speaks. "But there's more behind it, why she's... well. I'll show you her family, once we're alone, and she's asleep."

Akhen always had a thing about certain mortals, souls that had emerged pure from an otherwise corrupted background. Rashida was one of those souls. And she had the fury of a hellcat.

When it came to him Akhen straightened, puffing out his chest, only to snort and slump, a bit undignified. "Ah, well, our Kingdom is gone, and this place is called Essyrn. It looks like the old Kingdom, a bit, but the demons they worship here..." His face scrunches up as if he just caught a whiff of something undead, and he looks around Rashida's wares, until he pulls out a carved ivory idol with... a lot of arms. "They have too many limbs. Rashida sells these, but she's not much of a follower... especially in recent years. And I haven't see any of these demons yet. Let's pray to Ra that we don't, eh?"

He pauses, scratching his chin as he thinks. "As for me... well, I feel like I've just gotten my wits about me. My powers haven't really come all back to me, however. I haven't tried sending a soul to the darkness..." He snorts. "I'm a weakling. I'm sure you're faring a lot better than I am."

[Anonymous]

"Weren't you just saying how much you hated the light? Heaven is supposed to be filled with light, no shadows anywhere, just light." How odd his friend could be sometimes! Not that he minded of course, it was good to see his friend, and it was good to know that despite everything he hadn't changed too much. Neither of them had...but it wasn't as if Keth was going to let the place he had been hiding out in change him. That would have been a death sentence, one that no one wanted to deal with.

Keth gave a rather rude smile as his gaze followed his friends. "So if I wanted to see a dancing girl, then she would become one." There was always logic to trap, and there were always loopholes to exploit. That's what being a God had been about! Well, being a demon posing as a god anyway. You wanted souls, you wanted power, you wanted all that you could get your hands on, and no matter what you were going to have it. "Oh, dark secrets in the dead of night, it appears you haven't changed." It wasn't an insult, the coy grin on his face and the wink said that he didn't mind his friend's behaviour at all.

"I have seen some statues and some...carvings of what some consider Gods. I can't say I'm all too...impressed by what I see. Remember when things were simple, and Gods were just humans with animal heads?" Keth sighed almost melodramatically as he lifted his brew to his mouth and actually drank it down, finishing the drink off rather quickly. "So you just follow her around now do you? Any adventures to be had? Anything of particular fun to do, besides to annoy the girl? Anything that I should of this world even?" That would be something. He should definitely get some more knowledge on the whole place, just in case.

[Anonymous]

Akhen snorted at this description, as if it was trivial, and waved him off. "Heaven is supposed to be what you desire, is it not? Thus, it should be dark, for I desire it to be so!" He grinned a familiar, toothy grin. Akhen was always one to try to find the dark in the light... but that was part of his duties, was it not? To find the darkness in the souls of men, to weigh their hearts against the feather...

Once again he barked with laughter as Keth made an observation. "Ah... I'm sure you can try with that logic, but for some reason I doubt that it would work for you!" He snickered, just as he caught the hazy figure of Rashida glaring at them through the tent covers.

"I'm not deaf!" She snapped. "And I'll die before I give any of you a lap dance!"

"Such a tease Rashida," Akhen cooed, folding his ears back and trying his best puppy dog look... Which got him a face full of incense ash instead. He just snorted and sneezed, blowing the stuff off his face.

"Yes, well, as you can see, she enjoys throwing things," Akhen snorted. "Good arm on her though. If she was in our time she would have made a fine chariot racer." But when Keth mentioned secrets, Akhen gave him a sly wink with the eye that blazed of a full sun. "Why of course! It's been forever since I've been able to! No friends, no lovers... Why, my life has been simply miserable before you came along, Kethmelkezzet!" And of course Akhen was being over dramatic, flinging his hands into the air and letting his voice become more of a deep, mournful howl. No one said that the God of Judgement wasn't prone to theatrics.

Akhen glanced back at the idol that was currently sneering at the both of them. "Yes, indeed. Just animal heads. And now they have arms like spiders and heads like elephants," He tutted, shaking his head. "At least these seem to be false idols... Or else they're locked away so deep into the Underworld that we shall have fortune to never come across them." So saying, his claws reached and grasped the idol, and turned its strange head away from both of them.

When it came to the world that they were in, Akhen paused, cocking his head, his ears perked as if to hear some far-distant sounds. He took his time in making another brew for the both of them, handing another cup of steam milk and honey to his friend, and grabbing a loaf of bread.

"There is much of this new world, God of Knives, more than I can understand..." His face was carefully constructed as he explained. "There is magic here, but it is not magic of the ways of yore. It is a new magic, a different magic, something that I have never come across before... And the people..." He shakes his head. "So many different people. And creatures. Horses with human torsos! Humans with the legs of a goat, or with the wings of a locus! Magic all around! It is so... so very different from the Old Kingdom."

He looks back at the figure of Rashida calling her wares out. "I follow her because I don't know of this world. This world called... Le'ranna. We travel all across, meeting new people, seeing more parts of this strange habitat... She wants money."

He gives a crooked grin to Keth. "I'm sure you know what I want, my friend. Now, do you think any of the other gods have survived?"

[Anonymous]

"While yes it is supposed to be like, but I don't think it works that way. Though I bet as a demon you wouldn't get in. Unless I burn away that darkness and sin of your soul." The knife God grinned at his friend as he thought about that. He wasn't sure he'd be able to do such at hing to another demon. At least to another high demon like Akhen anyway...but he wasn't sure his friend wanted to go to heaven anyway.

He let out a growling little laugh as his friend ended up with a face full of ash. This could work out for him actually...no matter what he said, the person who was getting into trouble was Akhen. This was pretty fun now that he thought of it! He could get used to that.

"I know Akhen, I know. When I am around, I light up the world don't I? Yes, you're lucky that I came along to brighten up what must be a dreary and dim existence." The Demon said with a rather cocky smile on his face. He could be dramatic too, and he had been one for such...theatrics too when he was posing as a God. Inspiring speeches, light flashing everywhere, knife raised to the sky as he declared war on an enemy...oh there had been some very fun fights out there.

The demon just gave a shrug of his shoulders at that. "You act like we wouldn't be able to take them. Two high demons with the Knife? I think it's them who should be worried." Of course, if they got into trouble, he could just open a rip in reality and go through there. Well...he wouldn't, he'd trip the God or Demon into that. He wasn't going into the abyssal void again...not after the last time. He took the cup of milk and honey from his friend and quickly drank some down. Ah yeah, that was good...that was very.

"I know...there are many...odd things around here. My powers are greater here, and I can't say I hate that." The demon really did enjoy everything being...easier here. It was like magic wanted them to use it, and he was okay that. He had been scared at first of using the power, just in case it was a demon corrupting him and giving him that power but...it felt more natural, which was both scary and exciting. What world had he returned to? He'd almost thought it was a different place but...here was Akhen...safe and sound.

Kethmelkezzet gave a sigh and a shake of his head. "No...I think that all of them are dead Akhen...if they aren't, they're probably...are so deep into hiding that we would not be able to find them." It would be nice to see some of them...Baast and Isis came to mind after all, but even seeing Horus would be nice. "I wonder if old Thoth survived...remember when we stole his book of the dead? Ahh...the fit he threw!"

[Anonymous]

Akhen laughed at his friend's suggestion, if perhaps a bit uncomfortably, scratching the back of his neck as he spoke. "Ah, that's a good one! Though I think there's too much darkness for you to ever burn!" He gave a wolfish grin as he spoke. "It might burn out whatever light is in you, and that would be a shame." He shrugged, and glanced back out of the tent flaps to the desert city below them, a hot breeze snaking its way around them. "Besides, I'm fine with being immortal. Humans are as good as any heaven I'll come across." As if he would have a chance to go to heaven. Kethmelkezzet might, but Akhenaten was damned.

He was helpless to do much else when Keth laughed other than brush the ash out of his muzzle, and scoff. "It doesn't happen often," he mumbled, in a voice that indicated anything but.

But just like that, they were back to joking. Akhen smirked at his own friend theatrics, before he leaned forward and gently grasped his huge paws. "You are my shining beacon of hope! Without you, my life would be filled with nothing but pain and misery!" He giggled, very undignified, as he said this, his tail once again thumping the rug of the tent. It was just too much fun to have his friend back!

"Good lord!" Rashida's voice drifted to them, in a sneer of disgust. "You two sound worse than a couple in puppy love! It's enough to make me vomit..."

"You were always such a cynic Rashida," Akhen cooed, and then waited for the next thing to be thrown at him. But all he received was a disgusted scoff from Rashida, who of course went back to haggling her wares.

He did pause at what Keth said, and looked back at the idol that was turned away from them. "Ah yes, your knife. But my powers are more suited for mortals, and you know that. I'm not a fighter. That was what Ammit the Destroyer was for," he said, and took a long sip of his milk drink. "I miss her sometimes. I know no one else liked her other than me, but she could be... nice. Extremely nice. And it was fun talking with her. Oh, she could think of the craziest things sometimes!" His eyes gained a faraway look, before he glanced back at Keth. "Well, anyways. I still don't want to meet these things on their own turf."

At the mention of power, one of Akhen's eyebrows raised. "Really? Yours have been greater?" He drew a bit closer to his friend, examining him curiously. "That's... an interesting trend." His had stayed about the same, if perhaps difficult to draw upon. But considering where he had been for the past few millennium... it was probably to be expected. And his powers were still sated very much in the ways of the old.

He did seem mournful when Keth mentioned that all of them were either dead or in hiding. He gazed back at his claws, flexing his hand absently. "I had hoped for better news, my dear friend. But I guess a demon like me shouldn't be getting his hopes up." But the mention of Thoth made him smile. "Oh yes, do I remember! We had him squawking for days about that ratty old scroll! And by the sun did he hate what we did with it!" He grinned devilishly as he remembered. Yeah... defacing a valuable relic was just part of the fun and games for them.

[Anonymous]

"Well if they keep making concoctions like this you may as well think of them as angels." The high demon said with a lionish laugh as he held the drink up to his lips. He did so enjoy the strange things that humans were able to create, all of them fuller and more delicious than the last. That brand of ingenuity was probably what survived them into this age. That and the fact they were like cockroaches and bunnies all mixed into one terrifying fertile combination.

"And that's why in your greatest hour of need I lept back into reality to join you!" His own tail was swishing about, no doubt messing something up behind him. He could feel it hitting all sorts of things but he didn't really care. This wasn't a time to worry about that sort of thing, this was a time to enjoy milk and honey, and Akhen too!

"Wasn't there an army of yours at some point though? Buncha jackal headed people running around..." He carefully tugged on his whiskers, cleaning them of some stray milk and honey as he thought about it. "Or that might just have been a story...it's been a while..." He still wasn't used to all this...normalcy, all this linear time and proper...everything. Red was red, up was up, sands were hot in the day and cold at night. Everything was as it should be.

Setting down his drink Keth gave a nod of his head. "They seem...easier to access. It used to be a lot of subtlety and great big boasts from the humans but...Now everything is different. My powers are more...pronounced it feels." Yes, that was what it was. Sure the knife had been his ultimate defence as well, and attack, but now it was so much more. He wasn't complaining of course...

"He should have seen it coming. He left it right there for all of us to see. Yeah, right in that locked chest and everything." He coughed, a little embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his neck.

[Anonymous]

Akhen gave a barking laugh at his comment, and raised his glass. "I might as well with your logic Keth! To the angels that give us this wonderful food so we may not have to lift a claw for ourselves!" He gently clinked his glass with Keth's, and drank the last of his mixture, coating his muzzle in the remains of his milk and honey. He gave a regretful sigh as he looked at the dregs of his cup, and licked his lips to get the last remaining drops from his short whiskers.

But with his friend going along with his joke-- so much like old times!-- Akhen gave a happy yip, and forgetting all such things as propriety and dignity, he leaned forward and gave his friend a sloppy wet lick on the nose. Outside, there were faint sounds of Rashida gagging.

And then she heard Keth's tail. Rashida gave a sound more akin to animal than human as she stuck her head in the tent, glaring at Keth. "Everything you break, you buy!" She snapped. "Demon or not, I don't have the money to pay for your clumsy tail!" And she snapped the tent flaps back in a huff.

Akhen simply whistled lowly, and grinned at Keth. "Well look at that, twenty minutes later and you already have a debt with Rashida! You, my friend, still retain that gift of getting in trouble with every lady that you know of." He smirked cockily. "You and Ba'ast, for instance..."

When Keth mentioned the army, Akhen looked a bit confused, until something rang in his ancient memory. "Ah, them! Oh Keth, that was back in the beginning of days, when Ra was still the overseer of the dead and had yet to be tricked by Isis to get her brother and lover Osiris onto the throne. They've long gone Keth, and even now they're so deep in the abyss I doubt I can recall them..." His voice trailed off and he looked almost thoughtful, his turquoise eyebrows knitting above his skull.

But he seemed interested in his friend's powers, and listened intently. "That... is certainly interesting," he said, his ears perked forward attentively. "Perhaps later, you can show me how your powers have... extended so, as you say." His eyes were gleaming as he said it. Oh, he couldn't have Keth's powers, nor would he dream of such a thing, but he loved seeing power. It was a demon thing after all.

Akhen reclined back, his tail folding over his lap as he thought back. "Ah... yes. That very obvious locked chest." He snorted. "You know he was only upset because was made him the ugly demon in the ninth hour of the night. Thoth may have written the world, but he couldn't write a joke to save his feathers... Or take one."

[Anonymous]

Wesheb sashayed her way through the market with a delightful sway in her furred hips. Now...someone who won't try to rip me off... Her lions's tail whiped by the face of a theif who thought that he's take a jewel or two out of the elaborately decorated sack she carried, and a snake's head popped out of the tuft to hiss at him. The thief, quite reasonably, moved on. Wesheb continued on, looking at the merchants, weighing them in her mind. No, he's too dirty...i'd hate to be seen on the same street as him... she would give me a bum price... he looks new; not going to take a chance, she...

"Rashida!" Wesheb purred her pleasure. "One of the few respectable merchants around here, anrent you? I have a nice selection for you: rubies! Some palace had a dozen of them! Belong to a queen, I would think..." Wesheb sighed at the thought of a queen, surrounded by ruby-tinted opulence. "Anyways, I thought you might put them to good use. I can trust you not to cheat me, although you do strike a hard bargain, at times..." She looked around warily. "Where is that rascal that stalks you? Is he up to something? He better not touch these rubies!" Her tail switched nervously as she eyed the tent flap. She heard voices coming from inside, and wondered what was going on in there.

[Anonymous]

"And for those who still know the value of a good knife." He clinked his glass in their toast, smiling as he did so. This was something that he hadn't done in a long time, but had dreamt of for....he wasn't even sure how many years it was. It was just good to be doing this...out in a world of light and friends, of milk and honey. Ahh...the milk and honey. He quickly finished off that cup just as his friend did, his large flat tongue coming out to collect any that had strayed onto his face.

Keth stared for a moment at his nose as his friend decided to throw all caution out into the wind and give him a big sloppy lick. "Ugh, jackal breath. I did not miss that one bit." The large demon wiped his nose off before he looked to his friend, diving in quickly to place a big rough cat lick up the side of the jackal's face. "Remember I've got the sharp tongue." That was at least a plus in his favour.

"And I don't have money to pay for anything so my good friend Akhen will spot me." He called back to her after she snapped the tent flaps back. Yeesh, she was just an angry little thing wasn't she? "Ba'ast and I were good friends thank you. Most of the time. And that thing with Isis was just a misunderstanding...and I thought Hathor was actually Ma'at who I was supposed to be meeting for a little game of...tip the scales." The former God looked incredibly pleased by his little pun as he giggled to himself.

"You know if someone heard that out of context, they'd think you were coming onto me Akhen." Keth was joking of course. While he didn't truly have a gender that he favoured, the two of them together was a little awkward sounding. Sure there had been a lot of flirting going on in ages gone by, but they were just that! Ages gone by.

"Do you hear something outside?" Someone was actually talking to Rashida. Someone who sounded like they were familiar with her. "My, I'd say that Rashida actually has herself a patron...fancy that. Do you have any particular way of annoying her when she has a customer?"

[Anonymous]

Akhen himself seemed blissfully content, watching as Keth drank the last of his beverage, licking the remaining droplets off his whiskers. A small smile graced his muzzle as he did so, conjuring a memory from long since past... By the stars, he missed the past. Back when this used to be common for them both. And now.. here they were. Two miss-placed demons in a world that they were unused to.

But now that there were two of them, the odds were better, were they not?

Akhen simply laughed when his friend made a face of dsigust, and he licked his chaps. "I think I smell wonderful~" He sing-songed, only to yelp as all of his hackles rose, feeling the sharpness of his friend's tongue. He touched his cheek and pouted. "Why must you cats have such a tongue? It makes you very undesirable."

Rashida only rolled her eyes at what Keth said. Of course Akhen would pay for it... which means that she would never see the money. She sighed and idly played with a container of spices on her stall, and lit another stick of incense swiftly, something that smelled like cinnamon. She tucked a few stands of her black hair back into her braid, but a voice caused her to look up.

She brightened somewhat art the visitor, straightening herself and smoothing out her robe. "Why, Wesheb!" Rashida said, crossing her arms and letting a pleasant smile take over her features. "And my, you come with a great supply!" She quickly reached and took one of the rubies for herself, bringing a small glass to her eye to examine it. "And such fine quality... If only you were here ten minutes ago. I lost a customer for not having these damn jewels..."

It was at the mention of Akhen that she paled, and stepped in front of the tent flap, trying to block the shapes of the two high demons. "He's... out, for the moment. So no worries. Now, about the cost..."

Akhen's ear perked as he heard voices, but for now his attention was on his friend. He snorted at his friend's joke, and stretched out on the carpet. "Ah, you were always one for such bad puns Keth. Unfortunately those knives don't give you a... sharp sense of humor." He gave his own rakish grin as he said this, but it was what Keth said next that had him snickering like a hyena.

"Oh Keth, you big tease!" He flipped his tail over his legs, and gently prodded Keth with his hind paw. "You know those days are long gone." True, they had flirted in the past... a bit... but half the time they were drunk and tired of chasing around Isis and Ba'ast. Nothing had ever come of it. It was mostly to amuse the lesser godlings that happened to be around.

When Keth mentioned the voices, Akhen's muzzle split into a huge toothy grin. "Oh, my friend, I thought you would never ask..." He looked back at Rashida, and then to Keth. "Now, do you want to be a merchant for a day?"

He knew what Keth's answer was going to be. It was always going to be a yes. So from the tent flat, Akhen's black, furred hands came out.. and snatched Rashida away, causing her to yelp and drop the ruby. He clamped his paw over Rashida's mouth and motioned for Keth to step out and greet the new customer.