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Curiosity met the Cat [ Jadd ]

Started by SanctifiedSavage, September 03, 2019, 11:44:39 PM

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SanctifiedSavage

Things had to happen frequently to both draw her attention and to be of note to the jungle spirit. It wasn't like she noted every change in the small path that picked its way through her territory. Nature was change. Trees fell, animals died, and the people that prayed to her had such short lives. She knew them by their family name. How they felt when they came to her shrine. Familiar scents and feelings that she recognized over the course of generations.

So, when something new moved in the area, Lupuna didn't think anything of it at first. New things were fleeting and few. Sometimes travelers would stay at her shrine a night or two. Campers would sit near one of her many lakes or rivers. Sometimes even monsters roamed into her territory, but the passage of time or a well-meaning hunter would put an end to that.

Except this visitor didn't go away. Set up in one of the old temples and drew the attention of the people, who eventually started leaving him gifts. Lupuna couldn't understand why. They were familiar people to her. Families she'd felt for centuries. Generations. They'd not forgotten about her, mind, but they seemed drawn to this new... thing.

In turn, Lupuna was. Anything that drew such notice should surely be investigated.

The jungle spirit didn't sense any sort of animosity or dark intent. This wasn't something that needed to be exercised from her territory... So, while fat rain drops pattered across the jungle canopy and on the run down temple stones, she picked her way through the thick underbrush. Approaching from a different angle than the small path that had been made from those seeking to make offerings. She wanted to see who, or what, it was for herself. While Lupuna could just... appear in the temple... the spirit had learned over her very long, long life that others didn't take so kindly to her just appearing next to them.

Besides, it was far more in her nature to observe, first, before she approached.


JaddWard

The ruins in question were ancient, perhaps it had been a temple, or maybe it had been an estate for someone important. There was a clear border to the area, that had once been outlined by pillars roughly every ten feet. Sadly, all but two of them were now nothing but mounds of rubble. The interior of the border was lacking much foliage at all, even before the very obvious clearing work that had been done. No trees had grown on the inside of the pillars, an oddity for this deep into the dense Kishahn jungle- that was unless one were to dig a little less than a foot into the dirt and find the stone floor this open area once housed, now buried thanks to centuries of erosion.

This area enclosed in the pillars was maybe a hundred feet long by thirty feet wide, the center of which had a cooking pit, complete with a spit, a few places to sit around the fire pit, and a stone table off to the side which seemed meticulously scrubbed, probably used for preparing meals. At one of the far ends of the clearing sat a large, smooth stone slab. The fact that the slab of stone didn't resemble any of the other stone around, and the almost entirely faded rut in the dirt, told the story that the slab had been rolled here. And was perfect for sunning on when the rain parted, though it had inadvertently become an offering table- used by natives, usually hunters, of the forest to beg protection and favor from the mythical Rakshasa of Kishahn.

They never stayed, unlike at the shrine of the Nature Spirit. The myths that circled spoke of a fearsome beast that favored his privacy, and he would surely kill any intruder on the temple he was reclaiming- but with the right gift, one might curry his favor. And fortune followed those that were graced by his demonic inspiration. Maybe two or three times a week, the slab would be covered with offerings of food, spices, alcohols, coffee, precious stones, all manner of random things.

But the thing that truly dominated the clearing, was the temple itself. The structure took up almost the entire width of the clearing, standing nearly twenty feet tall, it sat on the opposite side of clearing from the slab. The entrance to this temple was set in the center, almost half as tall as the temple itself, and wide enough to fit a horse into. Because of the way the clearing sat, the sun almost never penetrated into the temple, and to the natives, it seemed like a dark veil hung over the entrance way, as unnatural as it was demonic. It didn't help that the entrance was 'guarded' by two ancient stone cats, square jawed and mouths agape, maybe snarling, maybe roaring. The two cats were completely untouched by the erosion of time. If one built up the bravery to simple approach the entrance to the temple with a torch, they'd find that there was a short hallway, about five feet deep that ended in a simple cloth curtain.

Indra was set inside, lounging in a chair he'd made from carved wood and vines, reading a book by candlelight. He'd gotten up early, smelled the rain in the air, and decided to just have a lazy day. Eventually he'd go outside to try and coax some life into the firepit, kebab some of the wild vegetables he'd scavenged for yesterday, maybe soak some of the dried meat he'd gotten from an offering in honey for an hour or so and kebab that as well. But right now, he was getting to his favorite part in one of his favorite books. The main character was in a tiff with his second, and it was effecting the rest of their five man band, soon they'd start quipping and knacking at each other. And even though Indra had read it a hundred times, it never failed to make him chuckle in the moment, the sign of a well written novel.

He was completely unaware of the observer, she smelled like the jungle itself, if perhaps a bit cleaner, so his uncannily precise nose couldn't pick her out from the foliage like it could a human approaching his abode.

SanctifiedSavage

Lupuna settled outside the temple walls, watching and waiting. Eternally patient. The rain was calm and quiet, drawing rivulets down the leaves and stone. The jungle was generally a wet place, anyway. Humid and warm.

While the sun climbed higher in the sky, she inevitably encroached farther into the old temple proper. Aware that the guest was present, but unconcerned. Not exactly thinking of the space as theirs anyway. No one owned the jungle. Everyone was a guest.

Lupuna curiously examined the subtle changes from the last time she'd had cause or curiosity to visit. The shifted stone, the grown vegetation, the worn pillars. Things had changed, obviously, and though she saw the place as new, it was also very familiar. Even with the addition of a stranger. Eventually, she knelt next to the odd fire pit. It was the newest thing, at least to her.

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