Chapter 2: The Mother [Nats Rumble]
Apr 10, 2023 16:47:17 GMT -5
Mongo the Destroyer, bloodiedfox, and 2 more like this
Post by Technical Perfection on Apr 10, 2023 16:47:17 GMT -5
Elsewhere, A time like every other time.
The woods seem to be getting darker with every step I take. Every step is punctuated with the cracking sound of another loose branch beneath my foot. The low, purple mist that hangs in the air like a thick soup leaves me near blinded when combined with the heavy concentration of trees. I am forced to navigate on instinct alone, following the cawing from my avian allies, relying on them to be my guide. Though this is my home, my terrain, I am forced to wonder if my direction is aimless. No. It cannot be. I am heading in the correct direction as the direction I am head in must be innately correct. I press on.
The words of the Maiden fill my head. She seemed uncertain, vague on certain key points. I understand that as one aspect, she lacks the knowledge of the other two and this prevents her from knowing the complete picture. But then I am no longer convinced that I know the who story either. That nagging thought, that black shadow in the back of my mind grows, casting a leaden pall over my every thought. Something, something is missing. Something important. Maybe once I have spoken to the other two all of my questions can be answered. To take a holistic look at my situation. Why, as the Maiden suggested, is my mind not as ordered as I considered it? Why can I not grasp whatever it may be, I so desperately need to? Why would I not understand the full explanation? I am a Goddess, my mastery of all that falls within my ordained portfolio of responsibilities should be infinite. The sun rises, the sun sets. The moon waxes, the moon wanes. A mortal is born, a mortal dies. The Gods should know everything that they need to know and nothing they do not.
Shouldn’t they?
Doubt besets me. It is an uncomfortable sensation, warping the very realm around me. Trees twist and bend, blocking my path. The mist intensifies into a thick fog, impenetrable to my sight. Think, Goddess, think. You are in your own realm. Your own demense. Your own doubt, Natasha, is what is slowing your progress. When you have talked to the Mother, she who has provided you your greatest victories, she who smiles over every battlefield and grants boons to those who show courage in the face of adversity, you will have learned two third of the knowledge you seek.
Presumably.
That word. While the purest form of the Maiden is allowed to lecture me on not channelling her effervescent and permanently enamoured personality enough, for not realising that she is an integral part of who I am, that’s perfectly acceptable. She is what she is. But when that word left her lips… I gave pause for a second… I was worried, even for the briefest of seconds what I would do if I could not find the answers I sought. The trees creaked. I breathed in deeply. I stopped and sat down. I stared into the fog to look for some hint, some glimmer of whether I should even bother continuing my journey. The fog… The fog looked BACK. The fog looked back at me. Out of the corner of my eye I spied a raven. It flew amongst the dense branches with not an inconsiderable level of skill, often breaking through the branches, causing them to crack with a distant sound.
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.”
No. No. No. I shook my head. I will not under any circumstances allow my own realm to make fun of me. Indecision, inaction, self doubt? That is not who I am. This is not WHAT I am. I am not the Goddess of Doubt. Fate, Destiny, Certainty. THESE are my purview. The fog sat heavy but navigating through obfuscating smoke is one of my skills. And these branches that guard my path? I am not one to let obstacles stand between me and my goals. And my goal at present is to go and meet the Mother. When I set my mind to something there is nothing that will stand in my path. However many enemies stand against me. Whatever the odds. Whatever the personal cost. I reached down to my belt and in one smooth motion I drew my claideb and I began to swing.
The fog began to lift, returning to its natural background miasma. With swift strikes I cleared a path, low hanging branches falling to my sword like ears of wheat to a farmer’s scythe. I stepped forward with a new found confidence flowing through my veins, defeated foliage falling in my wake. Nearly forty mighty trees gave their branches to my determined attacks. Nothing shall stand in my way. Finally, after spending an amount of time that given the nature of my realm is not important I reached another clearing. As I expected, given my last encounter within my lands, a log cabin stood. Again, a corvid stood proudly atop the chimney stack. I had conquered my doubt. I had conquered my woodland. I was ready to face what was inside. I pounded on the door and awaited the response.
“Enter!”
Bill Scott BJJ Shore Academy, Point Pleasant, NJ, April 15th, 2023.
The gym was deserted. No fighters training. No instructors leading their inexperienced charges through basic drills. No muscle bound and grizzled warriors sculpting their physiques amongst the gym equipment. An almost eerie quiet. Yet not one I was not used to. I had an agreement with Mr Scott that I could use the facilities in the small hours of the morning. He had a ring set up, largely for confined space mixed martial arts bouts, the style that was so popular in Japan. In the middle of the ring I spied her. A deep midnight blue corset, fitted carefully so it would not restrict movements in a fight. Tight figure hugging leather pants. A thick streak of blue running through her jet black hair.
“Welcome, Goddess,” she began, turning to face me and dropping naturally into a loose fighting stance, “Welcome to my corner of your realm. And where I have primacy I have but one rule. Here…”
She paused and smirked.
“We fight.”
I slid into the ring under the bottom rope at pace. Forced to roll to a side, I avoided the Mother’s boot as it crashed down onto the mat, narrowly avoiding my head being crushed. I rolled to my feet and threw a punch but the Mother weaved out of the way. She seized my flailing arm about the wrist and twisted locking my arm tight but I rolled forward, reversing the pressure placed upon it. The eternal warrior grimaced for a second before stepping into me. Allowing a moment’s respite from the pressure and struck me full force in the face with her forearm. I released her arm and responded in kind, crashing my radius bone across the bridge of her nose. In a flurry of action we exchanged meaty forearm smashes before simultaneously backing away.
“Good,” came the surprisingly calm response, “Now, why are you here?”
“I came for answers,” I replied, the nature of my journey emblazoned in my mind after the incident in the forest rather crystallized my thoughts,“I want to know why I am unable to discern something and I believe that consulting with the three can provide me with the information that I am unable to access.”
“Certainty. Never doubt, Goddess. The fight,” she extended her leg out, catching me in the stomach with the flat of her boot and sending my reeling backwards towards the ropes, “Is all that matters.”
Rebounding back towards the Mother, I ducked, anticipating her raised arm. I could swear she smiled as I rushed past her, building my own momentum. On my return I leapt into the air, straightening my body out mid flight but she merely flattened herself to mat level causing my body to go sailing over hers and land in a crumpled heap beyond. We both returned quickly to our feet and squared up.
“I have been warned before about treating everything as a fight,” I spoke, annunciating each word carefully.
“Oh, you were listening to that avatar of Lugh?” came the calm, if not a little arch response. Why should part of me not know my history?”
“He showed me that there is more to winning a battle than the fight itself,” I retorted.
“He showed you nothing other than how easy you are to trick. You should not have accepted that wager for he turned what would have been a glorious battle into a sporting contest,” that arch overtone gave way to outright scorn. I doubted The Mother had a point here. Instead, I saw the lack of perspective.
“Tricked by the God of Trickery. It is his nature to do as such,” I mused.
“In a fight you would have beaten him. You must make everything a battle,” she spoke curtly now, as if she was telling me off.
“Everything?” I asked.
Another boot to my stomach doubled me over. The Mother locked my head tight under one armpit, placed my loose arm over her shoulders and fell backwards, throwing me backwards over her.
“Everything.” I could tell by her tone she could not be more certain. I rolled away and stood once more. I understand her perspective and yet I realise that it is skewed by her nature. But she is right. Whoever faces me, be it an opponent or forty, I stand proud and tall on the battlefield and it is my responsibility to make every situation in my life as bloody a battle as I can. It is part of who I am…
Part of who I am…
Part of who I am…
I got back to my feet. The Mother carefully approached, cutting through the cool air with a lightning fast roundhouse kick. I felt the crack against the side of my skull and laughed a little. The Mother looked at me, quizzically and threw another kick.
“You fight because you have to,” I chuckled as I spoke, “I fight…”
Another kick rattled against my cranium. And yet I barely felt the effects.
“Because I LOVE it.”I felt the Maiden’s warmth flow trough me
“Passion without discipline will fail!” she fired back, kicking me again. Each strike had a little less power behind it. Or at least that was what I felt.
“Discipline without passion, likewise,” I replied, “Go ahead. Finish me off.”[/font]
“No! We must fight forever!” What a specific refutation. Something clicked. This is suspicions confirmed.
“You cannot do it. You physically cannot finish me.”
She kicked me again. I shook my head disapprovingly, closing the distance between us. My hand shot out and grasped her firmly around the throat. I lifted her body into the air and sat down, driving her back into the canvas beside me.
“You are but a part of me. And you shall remain in this dojo, practising, honing your craft. The ways of war, the art of combat. And you cannot feel you are being unfairly kept here for too long, as I have already been reprimanded for calling upon too often,” I smiled, “You can feel glad that you have taught me an important lesson today.”
“Fight me!” she screamed.
“I must leave. The Crone awaits.”
“FIGHT ME!” Louder still. The very walls of the dojo shook.
I stood up and walked towards the exit. Filled with a new sense of purpose. With the knowledge that having two thirds of the perspective I sought had made me stronger. To be able to tap into my own power rather than acting on instinct. Is that the missing piece of the puzzle. The Crone, the end of all things. After her there will be no more doubt. It has been a good lesson. One last howl of defiance hung in the air as I left this realm.
“LET ME FIGHT!”
The woods seem to be getting darker with every step I take. Every step is punctuated with the cracking sound of another loose branch beneath my foot. The low, purple mist that hangs in the air like a thick soup leaves me near blinded when combined with the heavy concentration of trees. I am forced to navigate on instinct alone, following the cawing from my avian allies, relying on them to be my guide. Though this is my home, my terrain, I am forced to wonder if my direction is aimless. No. It cannot be. I am heading in the correct direction as the direction I am head in must be innately correct. I press on.
The words of the Maiden fill my head. She seemed uncertain, vague on certain key points. I understand that as one aspect, she lacks the knowledge of the other two and this prevents her from knowing the complete picture. But then I am no longer convinced that I know the who story either. That nagging thought, that black shadow in the back of my mind grows, casting a leaden pall over my every thought. Something, something is missing. Something important. Maybe once I have spoken to the other two all of my questions can be answered. To take a holistic look at my situation. Why, as the Maiden suggested, is my mind not as ordered as I considered it? Why can I not grasp whatever it may be, I so desperately need to? Why would I not understand the full explanation? I am a Goddess, my mastery of all that falls within my ordained portfolio of responsibilities should be infinite. The sun rises, the sun sets. The moon waxes, the moon wanes. A mortal is born, a mortal dies. The Gods should know everything that they need to know and nothing they do not.
Shouldn’t they?
Doubt besets me. It is an uncomfortable sensation, warping the very realm around me. Trees twist and bend, blocking my path. The mist intensifies into a thick fog, impenetrable to my sight. Think, Goddess, think. You are in your own realm. Your own demense. Your own doubt, Natasha, is what is slowing your progress. When you have talked to the Mother, she who has provided you your greatest victories, she who smiles over every battlefield and grants boons to those who show courage in the face of adversity, you will have learned two third of the knowledge you seek.
Presumably.
That word. While the purest form of the Maiden is allowed to lecture me on not channelling her effervescent and permanently enamoured personality enough, for not realising that she is an integral part of who I am, that’s perfectly acceptable. She is what she is. But when that word left her lips… I gave pause for a second… I was worried, even for the briefest of seconds what I would do if I could not find the answers I sought. The trees creaked. I breathed in deeply. I stopped and sat down. I stared into the fog to look for some hint, some glimmer of whether I should even bother continuing my journey. The fog… The fog looked BACK. The fog looked back at me. Out of the corner of my eye I spied a raven. It flew amongst the dense branches with not an inconsiderable level of skill, often breaking through the branches, causing them to crack with a distant sound.
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.”
No. No. No. I shook my head. I will not under any circumstances allow my own realm to make fun of me. Indecision, inaction, self doubt? That is not who I am. This is not WHAT I am. I am not the Goddess of Doubt. Fate, Destiny, Certainty. THESE are my purview. The fog sat heavy but navigating through obfuscating smoke is one of my skills. And these branches that guard my path? I am not one to let obstacles stand between me and my goals. And my goal at present is to go and meet the Mother. When I set my mind to something there is nothing that will stand in my path. However many enemies stand against me. Whatever the odds. Whatever the personal cost. I reached down to my belt and in one smooth motion I drew my claideb and I began to swing.
The fog began to lift, returning to its natural background miasma. With swift strikes I cleared a path, low hanging branches falling to my sword like ears of wheat to a farmer’s scythe. I stepped forward with a new found confidence flowing through my veins, defeated foliage falling in my wake. Nearly forty mighty trees gave their branches to my determined attacks. Nothing shall stand in my way. Finally, after spending an amount of time that given the nature of my realm is not important I reached another clearing. As I expected, given my last encounter within my lands, a log cabin stood. Again, a corvid stood proudly atop the chimney stack. I had conquered my doubt. I had conquered my woodland. I was ready to face what was inside. I pounded on the door and awaited the response.
“Enter!”
Bill Scott BJJ Shore Academy, Point Pleasant, NJ, April 15th, 2023.
The gym was deserted. No fighters training. No instructors leading their inexperienced charges through basic drills. No muscle bound and grizzled warriors sculpting their physiques amongst the gym equipment. An almost eerie quiet. Yet not one I was not used to. I had an agreement with Mr Scott that I could use the facilities in the small hours of the morning. He had a ring set up, largely for confined space mixed martial arts bouts, the style that was so popular in Japan. In the middle of the ring I spied her. A deep midnight blue corset, fitted carefully so it would not restrict movements in a fight. Tight figure hugging leather pants. A thick streak of blue running through her jet black hair.
“Welcome, Goddess,” she began, turning to face me and dropping naturally into a loose fighting stance, “Welcome to my corner of your realm. And where I have primacy I have but one rule. Here…”
She paused and smirked.
“We fight.”
I slid into the ring under the bottom rope at pace. Forced to roll to a side, I avoided the Mother’s boot as it crashed down onto the mat, narrowly avoiding my head being crushed. I rolled to my feet and threw a punch but the Mother weaved out of the way. She seized my flailing arm about the wrist and twisted locking my arm tight but I rolled forward, reversing the pressure placed upon it. The eternal warrior grimaced for a second before stepping into me. Allowing a moment’s respite from the pressure and struck me full force in the face with her forearm. I released her arm and responded in kind, crashing my radius bone across the bridge of her nose. In a flurry of action we exchanged meaty forearm smashes before simultaneously backing away.
“Good,” came the surprisingly calm response, “Now, why are you here?”
“I came for answers,” I replied, the nature of my journey emblazoned in my mind after the incident in the forest rather crystallized my thoughts,“I want to know why I am unable to discern something and I believe that consulting with the three can provide me with the information that I am unable to access.”
“Certainty. Never doubt, Goddess. The fight,” she extended her leg out, catching me in the stomach with the flat of her boot and sending my reeling backwards towards the ropes, “Is all that matters.”
Rebounding back towards the Mother, I ducked, anticipating her raised arm. I could swear she smiled as I rushed past her, building my own momentum. On my return I leapt into the air, straightening my body out mid flight but she merely flattened herself to mat level causing my body to go sailing over hers and land in a crumpled heap beyond. We both returned quickly to our feet and squared up.
“I have been warned before about treating everything as a fight,” I spoke, annunciating each word carefully.
“Oh, you were listening to that avatar of Lugh?” came the calm, if not a little arch response. Why should part of me not know my history?”
“He showed me that there is more to winning a battle than the fight itself,” I retorted.
“He showed you nothing other than how easy you are to trick. You should not have accepted that wager for he turned what would have been a glorious battle into a sporting contest,” that arch overtone gave way to outright scorn. I doubted The Mother had a point here. Instead, I saw the lack of perspective.
“Tricked by the God of Trickery. It is his nature to do as such,” I mused.
“In a fight you would have beaten him. You must make everything a battle,” she spoke curtly now, as if she was telling me off.
“Everything?” I asked.
Another boot to my stomach doubled me over. The Mother locked my head tight under one armpit, placed my loose arm over her shoulders and fell backwards, throwing me backwards over her.
“Everything.” I could tell by her tone she could not be more certain. I rolled away and stood once more. I understand her perspective and yet I realise that it is skewed by her nature. But she is right. Whoever faces me, be it an opponent or forty, I stand proud and tall on the battlefield and it is my responsibility to make every situation in my life as bloody a battle as I can. It is part of who I am…
Part of who I am…
Part of who I am…
I got back to my feet. The Mother carefully approached, cutting through the cool air with a lightning fast roundhouse kick. I felt the crack against the side of my skull and laughed a little. The Mother looked at me, quizzically and threw another kick.
“You fight because you have to,” I chuckled as I spoke, “I fight…”
Another kick rattled against my cranium. And yet I barely felt the effects.
“Because I LOVE it.”I felt the Maiden’s warmth flow trough me
“Passion without discipline will fail!” she fired back, kicking me again. Each strike had a little less power behind it. Or at least that was what I felt.
“Discipline without passion, likewise,” I replied, “Go ahead. Finish me off.”[/font]
“No! We must fight forever!” What a specific refutation. Something clicked. This is suspicions confirmed.
“You cannot do it. You physically cannot finish me.”
She kicked me again. I shook my head disapprovingly, closing the distance between us. My hand shot out and grasped her firmly around the throat. I lifted her body into the air and sat down, driving her back into the canvas beside me.
“You are but a part of me. And you shall remain in this dojo, practising, honing your craft. The ways of war, the art of combat. And you cannot feel you are being unfairly kept here for too long, as I have already been reprimanded for calling upon too often,” I smiled, “You can feel glad that you have taught me an important lesson today.”
“Fight me!” she screamed.
“I must leave. The Crone awaits.”
“FIGHT ME!” Louder still. The very walls of the dojo shook.
I stood up and walked towards the exit. Filled with a new sense of purpose. With the knowledge that having two thirds of the perspective I sought had made me stronger. To be able to tap into my own power rather than acting on instinct. Is that the missing piece of the puzzle. The Crone, the end of all things. After her there will be no more doubt. It has been a good lesson. One last howl of defiance hung in the air as I left this realm.
“LET ME FIGHT!”
