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Oh look at that! This is not what I meant to do :DDDDD
I was going to do things ya'll, introduce characters, then this happened.
This takes place after the cast is mostly dead, yep afterlife stuff. Inspired by @quibble-auk and her exploration of the dead in her last blurb. Her's is way more informative than mine, maybe this is ok.
I guess I'll try again later with those introductions hehe
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On the edge.
Along the drifting walking souls.
Winged and crowned.
Dancing fluttering figures who spoke of ages past.
Beyond the veil was the We.
Coo did not join them, she had no want for their unknown presence or what was beyond, not without her husband. Who she knew would probably never be comfortable past his port anyway, even if he could walk past the veil. That's what she told herself, that he had a nest of mechs his heart had long ago claimed as his own, his spark.
She was only allowed into the barrier of Primus’s lands because of her husband’s heart. His warm selfless heart.
A heart Primus had seemingly taken as his own, restricting her lover to his bounds. Coo was not claimed in such a way, hence why her eyes burned with rage and the newly bloomed soul in her skin flickered and flushed.
She stalked, long twirling twists of light throbbing from her chest as she glared at the barrier. Angry.
Coo could feel the call ring out again, an ache much like the itching of her wings when she had been alive. The need to catch the air and ride it till she reached the edge of the dawn. Now it was worse, a different strain of longing that battled the need to lay with her husband and be content to be with his family. Her Family. Not a flock of brothers buried in ash, or the bones of a sire who has been dead so long she didn’t even believe he had ever had a heart to begin with. No sign of a ribcage to be seen.
Dying in her sleep did not steal her family that Cometeater had gifted away, it had given her even more. Theremin and his flare, the familiar sight of Dropmix. One she had mourned and weeped for, when his own death had struck her. Now he was strong and bright, his mate a delight that made Coo feel as if she was not actually a beast. Much like Comet’s love did.
Yes she had left her dear children with her passing, though who she knew would fare well. For they were her brood. Their father, the male who survived odds lesser creatures would not have. Her heart only ached for her newer brothers, who had not yet died. Jeopardy with his nerves, the twins and their bickering.
By all means she should be content to wait for them, thankful for the arms who held her.
Her husband, seeing him lean and strong once again. Dropmix and his lessons, Theremin and his musical voice. The place she was given by the strange god she never worshiped nor cared to.
Yet she ached.
Yet she stomped and roared, screamed and clawed at her own body in death as the itching to fly chewed at her. Flying in the arena to playfully fight Dropmix or glide with her ever gentle mate didn’t sate her needs for long. Things grew too easy, the call crooning in her ear. Cometeater had not felt the need to run to that call, he may have not heard it to the skull splitting intensity that Coo herself felt. But he told her to go. Firm hands that she had trusted with every ounce of her being clasped on her shoulders.
“Coo, go. I will be here. Follow that creature and find out what they want.”
He had never tried to follow The Teacher. A haunting spectre that slid between the billowing curtains of the afterlife and stood next to the Primes as if they were companions. Cometeater spoke of the tall wispy deity as if she unnerved him. Saying she smelt of change, uncertainty. Many times the pretenders had caught the thing standing upon the stands of the grand Gladiatorial arena of the Afterlife. Her head a swooping curve of stone, body lithe and robed in garbs of light. She made Coo think of old priestesses, statues of gods.
Both had felt her gaze. Even with no eyes to speak of, the head of the creature tilted as if she could stare down at them from where they sat amongst the crowd. The very air had shifted when The Teacher had first stared piercingly down at them. Buzzing and fuzzing along the edges their bodies had frozen, her gaze a weight of such incredible force neither could even blink. Let loose a habit like breath to sooth themselves of the sheer intensity of the being who watched them.
Coo had felt her eyes water, Cometeater had later told her it felt as if every part of himself was being read.Dizzingly the slats of their vision narrowed until only that comet was crisp and clear. Within their chests, the bloom of their souls billowed, as if knowing her. Their skulls humming, fingers twitching.
Coo swore she felt the brush of breath along her face.
The Teacher was a giant in comparison to the inhabitants of the afterlife, but not to Liege Maximo, who had been smiling like a proud cat. Talking to the otherworldly beast and freeing the pretenders from the pins sticking them to the stone.
For The Teacher had looked away.
Neither pretender had wished to go near her after that, not really.
She would appear and meander through the world as if a stray cat, slipping through cracks.
Through the cracks and past the bend of the only world Coo’s husband could walk.
So now Coo stood.
Knowing if she truly wished for the hunger to cease she would need to slip away and follow the stranger.
But leave her love behind.
“You hesitate?”
Jumping she snapped backward, gasping at the unfamiliar voice almost painfully.
She had been standing in silence, mulling and trembling. Ready to turn around and go back. Like she had so many times.
Breaking her silence was a voice that sifted through the air as if sand, soothingly soft, but sending ripples into her very bones. Dipping below and down the scale of deepness before flitting back. Tall and towering stood the creature who haunted Coo’s thoughts during the many hours spent staring at the edge. Coo couldn’t even bring herself to hiss, or fluff up, as the deity stood there. The Comet’s tail flowing and flashing in quick whips as if in a breeze, making Coo wonder how close she truly was to the veil.
How close was she to touching that dawn.
“What?” It’s all she could muster, a creeping shake in her vocal cords.
The Teacher, which had been a whispered nickname seemingly among the dead, only stared. Or it felt like she did, blank stone muzzle unmoving. Craters that could have been eyes, chips making the slight impression of a mouth that never once opened. Coo waited within the silence, which the beast of light seemed to allow. The very air was muffled and almost buzzing from her presence, though Coo would admit it wasn’t unpleasant, but the heavy gaze did everything to ruin any comfort that came from it.
For a long moment the creature stood silently, then it seemed to understand something. “You hesitate, creature.” She walked forward with no sound, making Coo stumble back. The long neck of the Comet twisting down to get closer with every step. Before stopping, leaving Coo panting and uncomfortably close to the beast whose glow tingles and flickered with light. Blindingly beautiful light, making Coo’s breath catch as she was enveloped in the glow.
Expressionless, The Teacher sat. Close.
Coo chose to speak then, “ I do…” The ache rang, pulsating in her bones making her head turn from the deity who watched her, her eyes burning with the intensity to feel what wind caressed The Comet. Silence that was open and comforting in itself made her jaw unhinge again, the tears overflowing as the emotion grew beyond what she could hold.
“Odd animal, what is past this place?” She felt her breath hitch, to which the said animal quietly seemed to mull over. Tears ran slow tracks, and the creature spoke. “All things, little one. Bright horrible things, dark slow things. Twisting suns, dancing stars, wars and famine. Birth and decay, hearts and gaping holes, things you are made of.” Voice echoing within the air as if it was not made to exist within the space, drew Coo in like a warm bulb. Making her itch ease, she couldn't help but want to see what the animal described. Read their books, touch their Dawns. A thousand Dawns. She could almost feel them on her fingertips, she wondered what parts of herself she would come across.
“Spaces among my disciples who share your making, and Walk.”
That made Coo flinch back, the beautiful sights and cravings almost nauseating now, striking a hot rotten nerve.
“Share…There are..” Words failed, a deep seated repulsion squirmed inside of her. A low shifting timbre of the deity’s voice rumbled in response, ever even, “Yes, but you knew that. Little child, you know more than you will allow yourself to ever acknowledge. Hence why you stand here, why you crave.”
Coo did not want to think about the idea of her and Cometeater having a people beyond this fence, she knew of her parents. It was fine to leave them in the ash, forgetting. Hating them passively along the edge of her mind, allowing them to rot where she won’t have to smell them. She had a new beginning, nothing mattered before Comeater.
Nothing.
“Why can’t I just-,” It had all felt so right, she lamented within her mind. Her rest is so perfect, why can’t she just be happy?
“Why do you do this to me!? I don’t- I don’t want what’s-” She gestured sharply with a hand, grinding her teeth, the coo of her namesake punctuating the throb of her long dead heart. “I don’t want them! Never! I have everything, you awful thing, I have what I need and none of it is them!” Coo was seething as the old rage billowed, her pink armor no longer visible as her true flesh made itself apparent. Layered and other worldly, glowing brilliantly. The Comet watched passively, as if uncaring and undisturbed by the pretender and her deep seated grief. Coo stood panting, shaking as the tears continued. Unwelcome truths nudging her when she was answered with that same silence.
Until The Comet was sure she was finished.
“I do nothing to you. I am only telling you why you so deeply wish to Walk.” The Teacher stood up then, Coo no longer in her halo of light, making her blink and tremble. Suddenly regretting her outburst as the itch began to grind along her bones.
“Wait-”
The Comet said not a word to her, not glancing back before continuing on past the pretender.
“Please! Tell me why-” She scrambled after the tall creature who she could feel in her heart, would be the only one to ease the ache.
Coo could only whimper with hurt as the being slipped once more away, entering another world that Coo could not gain the courage to enter.
The echoing almost taunting strains of The Teacher’s answer rang in her ears as she rubbed her eyes and sobbed.
“But you knew that.”
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If this makes no sense I can only apologize-
