It didn’t take much to make Casey a happy man. Waking up next to a steady boyfriend was one thing that always made him happy. It had been a while since he had an actual relationship, something he could call “steady”. Whether that bled over to being so-called “exclusive” didn’t matter to him much. They were just labels that men put on things to define their thinking, instead of going with their natures, their guts.
The clouds started rolling in. He didn’t remember anything about a storm coming in. As he headed down the road, suddenly a lightning strike hit the ground a few yards in front of him. He jumped in shock, losing control of the bike. It toppled and he skidded across the road, dragging him by his leg under the bike with it.
Casey kept his head up, skidding along the road into a ditch where it settled to a stop. His leg was bent to an awkward position, the asphalt tearing skin, then muscle almost down to the bone. The pain was bad, but he’d had worse, much worse. He lay his head down for a minute to catch his breath, and then tried to sit up to push the bike off of his leg.
Something lifted the bike for him. He watched as the bike went up in the air, and then settled down on the road, staying upright without the kickstand down. He turned his head to see who was doing this.
A man with dark hair and eyes, dressed in surplus combat fatigues, stood just off to his left. “Thekan-kse” he said. “I have found you.”
He spoke in Croatoan, his native tongue. The language of his Goddess. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded.
“I am Hino.”
Casey ignored the pain of how his leg reset itself and stared at Hino. He’d never seen him, though Soniac had described him enough. This was not the god of thunder he expected. He expected something, well, bigger.
“I have received your offerings. These have awakened me.”
“I’m…sorry.”
“Where is my consort.”
“Your consort?“
A red-winged blackbird sat on Hino’s shoulder and bounced, communicating, “Soniac, the mother goddess, like what the wolf says.”
“Great Hino, I don’t know.” Hino lifted Casey straight up by the wind and held him suspended in the air. He could still move his arms and legs, but he couldn’t bend down. “I don’t know!”
“She is not in the Earth, I cannot see Her. I have torn up the Earth and set the seas to wash things away. I cannot find Her under the Black Greasy Stone.”
Casey took a breath and tried to be calm. “Great Hino, I do not know. She left me during a war, and an Angel of Fire came and told me that I had–”
The wind was taken right out of his lungs and he gasped for air. “You make too much noise.” Hino came in close and looked at him so they were eye to eye. Casey didn’t realize that the man effortlessly hovered before him.
“This world is full of noise. Even the sky has noise made by men.”
Casey was still gasping, turning red. Hino calmly looked at him. Suddenly, Casey was able to take a deep breath, filling his lungs with air. Casey watched as Hino shimmered, like Aerem did, and the dark vestige fell away, like water. Before him was the god that Soniac had described – long white hair and white beard, blue skin, blazing blue eyes, and wings that could encompass both of them if he folded them around him.
“I do not want your stories, Black Fox. I do not want your reasons or excuses. I want my Consort. I will accept your offerings and the offerings of your lodge until Her return to me.”
Casey opened his mouth to speak: “But I’m working on it—“. He said the words. But he didn’t hear himself saying them. Hino smiled, and it was a creepy, scary thing to see him smile.
The next thing he knew, he was unceremoniously dropped to the ground, landing hard on his bad leg. The god went straight up into the sky, setting off a loud boom. The bike toppled over, barely missing him as it fell.
He looked around, and muttered to himself – making no noise. Bastard. That fucking bastard. How long was he going to be without a voice? Until they found Soniac? That could be years!
His leg had mostly healed. He examined the bike, which was tougher than it looked. He righted it, and it started up.
He needed to find Soniac sooner now. Only one creature knew where She was. And they had killed it.
Words: 715
Comments: This came out slightly better. This is temporary, and it’s definitely not going to last as long as the search for Soniac will. Somebody could make an offering (or two) and talk Hino into giving back Casey’s voice. Or Jach could persuade Hino if I didn’t want to RP it out (i.e. dealing with the usual disdain of the PC’s versus gods). Or Hino could just decide to randomly give it back to him.