Can't help but love them

[aestrix]

Raezenoth has sent his manifested form to sleep. He doesn't need it to sleep, it could (and has) gone years and years without such, but sometimes it's nice to not have a body. To go back to how he was in the beginning - a whisper on the wind, a swirl of desert sands, the rustle of the sparse grass. All of his domain, instead of split and splintered and crammed into flesh for the convenience of having hands. Anywhere in it, instead of forced to move at his (admittedly considerable, for a god) top speed. He isn't sorry to have a manifested form, isn't sorry to walk among mortals and call them friend. But he is a god. He doesn't always have to have a body. So he doesn't.

He tidies up his domain. He finds people who need things, who want things, and slips in items that would let them get what they need, and then what they want, by their own power. He's very accustomed to this, he's had a lot of practice, but he tries to outdo himself every chance he gets. Tries to inspire his followers to a little bit more of that stubborn brilliance he loves in mortals so. Tries to help them improve. The mortals make the god, after all. It is the greatest irony, he thinks.

He is the wind, and the ground, and the water beneath it, and he is all of the little things that help people without snatching away their ability to help themselves. It's nice. Quiet. Soothing, after his recent near-mistake involving deleting slavery from existence.

He'll have a visitor soon. He'll wake his body up for that, it's bound to be interesting if nothing else.

Comments

[aestrix]

"Yes, please."

[greatcomposure]

"I also brought a copy of the spell catalogue if you want to look through it yourself," she says.

[aestrix]

"I believe I would, thank you."

[greatcomposure]

Cordelia digs out the catalogue and hands it to him.

[aestrix]

"Thank you. Do you want me to actively lead you around my domain, or leave you to your own devices?"

[greatcomposure]

"I think a guided tour would probably be more informative."

[aestrix]

"Very well." He motions to the book in his hands, and it - disintegrates into sand and is blown away. That's. Possibly freaky.

"Follow me?" he offers, floating off of the bed and landing neatly.

[greatcomposure]

If he wants to disintegrate his spell catalogue, that's his business.

Cordelia follows him.

"If you want a copy of the introductory book on spellcasting, I can provide one of those as well," she adds.

[aestrix]

"I would appreciate that," says Raezenoth.

He walks, instead of flying. To be polite. Walk walk, walk walk.

The desert outside is - less harsh than one might expect. It's hot, and there's a lot of desert out there, but it's varied. There's a large sandstone rock over there. There are shrubs, small cacti, sparse grasses - even the occasional slightly dead looking tree. There's a small almost-mountain behind them, with the cave in it, and more large rocks that likely could hold caves of their own. They follow a dinky, hard to see path that picks its way through the terrain.

"There is a town nearby with one of my temples," he says, as he walks. "It was the fifth to be founded in my domain. It's rather old. I have a certain fondness for it - the first settlers there were clever and figured out farming underground near the aquifers. I liked their ingenuity. So I built a temple underground and helped harden the sand to sandstone so they could expand it further. And they have."

Is that pride? That sounds like pride. (It is pride.)

[greatcomposure]

(Cordelia provides a copy of INTRODUCTION TO SPELLCASTING before they start. Presumably the disintegration that ensues is some kind of storage method.)

"Humans will do that," she says. "My home planet is a desert, and not nearly this habitable, and we've managed nicely there for hundreds of years."

[aestrix]

(Yep, this one gets disintegrated, too.)

"I like that humans do that. I am sorry that your desert is not as habitable, but I'm glad you've managed."

[greatcomposure]

"We live mostly underground. It's not possible to go out comfortably on the surface without special equipment. That's one of the things I appreciate about the planet I live on now - it has an outdoors."

[aestrix]

"I think I would hate living only underground. I like the sky."

[greatcomposure]

"I like the sky too."

[aestrix]

She gets a friendly swirl of air around her for her trouble. It's cool and without sand. Refreshing, actually.

"I picked flight as my power for a number of reasons. Not the least of which being, as my acolyte likes to put it; 'I wanted to fly.' And it's true, I did."

[greatcomposure]

"It sounds like fun," Cordelia acknowledges.

[aestrix]

"It is." He demonstrates by floating off of the ground and ahead at walking speed. Then he lands neatly and resumes walking. "It was interesting, to fly with my manifested form for the first time. I still enjoy it. It's different than being the wind."

[greatcomposure]

"Yes, I imagine it would be. I've piloted flying vehicles, but I doubt that's the same thing either."

[aestrix]

"Probably. Though I haven't piloted flying vehicles." He tilts his head. "I might like to."

[greatcomposure]

"I'm sure that's something you could do if you visited our world. It would be more challenging, but not impossible, to bring one of those vehicles here - but you don't have the means to take care of them effectively, so it would only work for so long."

[aestrix]

"It seems a pity to create something that will let you fly only to let it fall into disrepair," says Raezenoth. "So I think I would prefer to do it while visiting."

[greatcomposure]

"It might also be possible to provide you with the means to take care of it effectively, but that would be a longer-term project by far and might require the cooperation of other people in your world."

[aestrix]

"I believe I would like that, as well."

[greatcomposure]

"I'll make a note of it when I get home."

[aestrix]

"Thank you." Walk, walk.

There is a town, up ahead. It is set into one of the larger sandstone outcroppings, with little pleasant buildings outside in the open. There are fountains, and lots of little plants, and the place has a neat, if eclectic, layout. It is rather cute.