Hoping For Calm, *Open*

[Sinkah-Ra Osiris]

Yesterday had been a rather eventful day; so much so, that the usually nocturnal by instinct Sinkah had been driven out of sleeping, and into a spiral of thought. Her mind wouldn't let her think, and thus, Sinkah turned to walking. Now, she wasn't a follower of Horus, nor was she a fan of birds. But the bluffs that Horus was blessed with possessing seemed to draw Sinkah, all through her childhood. She used to love coming up here with the old Osirian Priest whom had been given her charge, and sit on the bluffs for hours. She'd never seen Horus himself, but she never really cared about him. Maybe that would change if she met him.

Sinkah sat herself down at the edge of the brittle bluffs, dangling her feet over the edge as she stared over the miles of forest below, her tail wrapped around her waist casually, like a belt. She let out a faint sigh, shifting her eyes to the sky. Should she talk to Osiris, and tell him of her existence? Should she tell him about the new traveler, Isper, and his new claim on her? Should she sit and hope for the best, and not speak a word to anyone?

Sinkah flopped herself backwards, back against the ground as she placed her palms on her stomach. Gods help her, couldn't they grant her some wisdom?

[Astarte Massri]

It had been prevented for a good while, there being much to see, more to bother, and birds to chase when she got desperate. But atop the wind swept grasses of the bluffs, it had hit, and hit hard. Astarte was bored, and this often led to dire consequences, for her, and for those she was around. Luckily the only one around her was the camel she was sitting on. It had been a bit of a task to get a camel of all animals out as far as she had, but she was on her way home, and she hated any other pack animal. The woman had taken off her long cream robe, the fabric that wrapped into it folded and beneath her to provide some form of comfort in the saddle.

It was strange to see her without it, the gray vest over her torso sleeveless and with a high collar. Her stomach was bare, the breeze cooling her down finally. Her legs were covered by a long wrap that reached her ankles, it being a deep blue with patterns across it. The whole thing slit up her side to her hip where it tied, her open thigh covered by a wrapping of thinner fabric for modesty's sake.

With a wide yawn she leaned back, the camel grunting at her angrily. Apparently he didn't much enjoy being ridden so far. "Oh shut up," she scowled, the camel shaking her before he continued on. She thought the argument was settled until she was nearly thrown from her saddle as the camel abruptly knelt down on his forelegs, back end soon following as he settled in the tall grass.

"Oh you fowl beast!" Astarte growled, standing in the saddle before she was tossed, the mammal shaking her off. "I hate you," she spat, kicking softly into the hump. All the camel did was grunt and take up munching on the grasses.

[Sinkah-Ra Osiris]

Sinkah shut her eyes, hoping the whirling thoughts within her mind would cease. Unfortunately, they didn't. It'd been a long time since she'd had this much to think about and consider.

"Oh you foul beast! I hate you!"

Sinkah's brow raised at the vicinity of this voice, wondering if it was directed at her. She rolled herself up to a seat, then up into a stance as she let her tail swish back and forth. Was this other female poor at controlling her tongue as well as her beast?

Nefti, her Arabian horse, had been left to graze a few feet away, spotted the camel's actions as he glanced up. How DARE that camel toss off a female?! The male humans were just fine, but the females were delicate! Enraged, Nefti charged at full gallop up the hill of the bluffs, eyes set on the ill-mannered camel that had thrown a female off his back. He stopped short between the girl and the camel, and reares up, casting a threatening whinny at the infidel camel, as if to say "You ill-mannered ruffian, I will defend the honor of this maiden!" He thumped his front hooves down onto the ground as hard as he could, to send a faint vibration through the ground. He glared hate at the camel, whom backed away, and started to trot off away from the psycho horse.

Satisfied that the women were safe from the evil hearted camel, he gave a faint snort, and turned his muzzle to snuffle at the new female, as if to greet her.

"I could have told you he was going to do that..." Sinkah commented, an amused smirk on her face. "He's quite the lady's horse."

[Astarte Massri]

Astarte brushed herself off and stood as the horse stamped and her silly camel cantered off. Perfect, she was without camel in the middle of a kingdom she barely knew, with a crazy horse in the area. But as the other woman made her presence known she turned, eyebrow raised. "That's all well and good, but I'll have to chase him down now. Atem is mean, but good natured when he eats," she sighed, turning her head back to see the camel reappear in the distance, chewing again.

A hand on her hip she leaned slightly when she stood, her once graceful Greek body destroyed and turned tan and casual. Though she had her moments of regal posture. In the middle of a grass bluff where the wind whipped into her hair about her face was not the place for it. "I'm Astarte Massri, who might you be?" she asked curiously, still vaguely looking over for her camel. It seemed he was more willing to eat some of the wheat grass than trot on back over to the crazy horse.

[Sinkah-Ra Osiris]

(Psst. It's WHIPPED, not wiped. Wiped is what you do with toilet paper. ^.~)

Again, someone who had no clue whom she was. Sinkah could hardly believe that she was that underspoken of. She let her tail lash about in full view, the scorpion whip a dangerous and formidable weapon. She raised her nose into the air as she mounted her hands across her chest, her hair blowing about behind her.

"I am the glorified daughter of the Great Osiris, Sinkah-Ra. I am the scorpion half-goddess that roams these lands as great as all, and free as none. Within my tail holds the liquid wrath of a thousand summer suns, able to burn away the skin off a rotting corpse! Bow down and worship my glory!"

Sinkah held herself importantly as Nefti moved to keep himself between the women and the camel. "He thinks that camel of yours is a threat to us. He won't let you near him, now. I can take you wherever on his back; you can buy an Arabian anywhere these days. They eat less."

[Astarte Massri]

((I normally get the two mixed up in spellings. Just like hoped and hopped.))

Perhaps if she had known Astarte's true origins she'd have understood why many of the lesser half-gods and half-goddesses of Egypt weren't on the top of her buddy list. But at the order to bow she couldn't stop her eyebrow from arching up in mock amusement. Bow? She bowed to no one, she was Greek, no servant of hers.

"Right, pleasure," she nodded, not conceding into a bow. "And a camel is a threat? He's a camel. All he does is eat, sleep, and spit," she frowned, an annoyed and bored look over her face as she looked at the horse. He wasn't her favorite in the least. She never did like other pack animals. Atem was angry most of the time and irritable, but a good camel all the same. Plus her things were on that camel. She wasn't about to let a crazy horse keep her from her things.


"That's all well and good but I prefer my camel. I hate horses," she frowned, making to walk around the horse. It was true, she hated horses. Of course, anyone who's only experience meeting one had been the present crazy horse and a previous horse with a rider attempting to kill her, wouldn't appreciate the beasts either.

[Sinkah-Ra Osiris]

Sinkah's eyebrows raised at the audacity of the female before her. She ignored the command to bow, and furthermore, showed distaste for her prized horse. Sinkah's obvious displeasure with the female clearly showed on her face as she looked down her nose to the girl.

"Camels are smelly, slow, stupid, and lack personality. Horses are fast, smart, eat far less, and don't have a phallus sticking out of their back. Horses have personalities, and will defend you to the death. Camels, well, run off when a stallion bears his hooves. As for you, it's obvious that you have no clue about respect nor heedence to sense when it comes to superior beings."

Sinkah quickly raised her tail, and fired a quick blast of the Sulfuric Acid at the girl, intentionally striking the patch of grass just before her feet. The grasses hissed and smoked as the one foot patch sizzled and shrank, smelling of burning wheat. After a moment, a hole of bubbling soil remained in the spot.

"Dare cross me again, and I won't miss."

[Astarte Massri]

"They're easier to ride in sand, horse hooves just sink," she informed, frowning at the hole of dirt. Well she wasn't very nice, not at all. But that same mischievous grin crossed Astarte's lips. "That's all well and good, but half-god to half-god, I'm just trying to get home," she shrugged.

"Now if you'd kindly ask your lovely horse to back off I'll go get my smelly old camel and be off. Never much liked the bluffs, not enough people to play with," her smile held all the mischief she wasn't saying. Perhaps it was her impression at work. She was always good at fooling the minds of many without them so much as noticing their actions until afterwards. It was always her talents to sway the actions of people to do rash and foolish things.

But she wasn't even in her home kingdom, now wasn't the time to play with a half-goddess that spit acid out of a scorpion tail that just so happened to be attached to her backside. But Astarte wasn't one to sweat the details.

[Sinkah-Ra Osiris]

Sarcasm; Sinkah hated sarcasm. She could smell it a mile away, and this insubordinate woman was daring to do it smiling! Sinkah sneered at the girl, ignoring her comments about everything else after the sarcastic lovely horse comment. This female dared to question not only her horse, but her superiority, and she dared to be sarcastic before her glory.

"You insolent female, I shall ensure your camel be made into soup, your riches be liquidated unto the sands of the poor, your clothing be torn off and raffled for, and your body be sold to the lands of min to suckle helplessly on the phallus of the men who pay! Shame will be unto your name!"

Sinkah glared at her as if she were a rotting fruit on the desert sands, and spat at her feet as she strode towards Nefti, whom was eying the camel and Astarte carefully. The females didn't seem to get along, and his precious mistress was showing distaste for Astarte. He'd chase her off of she came close.

"I'm afraid you'll have to walk back!" she sneered, and fired a second spew of acid at the camel in vengeance...

[Astarte Massri]

Well, that had been a new one for the mischief maker. The words meant nothing, it was the shot at her camel that did it for her. Though the camel side stepped the shot, snorting towards the woman and cantering off on his way to wait for Astarte, it was the action that forced the snap somewhere in the Greek's mind.

"I dare say you are a spiteful wench. You Egyptian half-gods may have your ways with words, but we Greeks have other ways. If I may be sold as some whore, may worse come to you by your own means. May you do something far worse than foolish before the day is done," she growled, walking off to her camel. If she didn't get to him he'd very well trot off with all her things.

Of course perhaps to the woman her words meant nothing, but beneath them was the intent and the persuasion that held far more venom. She had once in her youth tricked even Zeus, that the reasoning behind her cast off in human form to the sands of Egypt. But it was all up to the will of the one she influenced as to what the damage done by the person was. Apollo was always a silly one to influence. Though a war normally almost broke out.

"Atem, here camel," she whistled, the lazy beast lifting his head from the ground and shaking as he stood. "Now let's get going on home, deserts are more comfortable, aren't they?" she muttered to the camel, patting him before lifting herself up onto his back. He shook for a moment before starting on his way again, Astarte checking through the saddle bags to check for her things. All were still there. Wonderful.

[Sinkah-Ra Osiris]

Luckily for the fate of Astarte, Sinkah had completely tuned out the female's ranting. If she had, Astarte would likely be meeting her maker with a toxic level of Sulphuric Acid burning through her flesh, devouring her muscles and tendons into a fine mist of blood. Her ignorance of the speech likely saved Astarte's life, as well as her potently bad aim.

"I'm sorry you had to defend that street rat, Nefti. She wasn't worth your energy." Nefti gave a faint chortle, swishing his tail faintly. He swung his head towards the girl. It was most certainly just a personality clash, but Sinkah wasn't anyone to be convinced otherwise. His head shifted to turn back to Sinkah, but caught the familiar shifting tail of a lion eying the camel and his rider. Nefti gave a warning chortle, and pawed his hoof at the ground.

"Hmm?" Sinkah exclaimed, glancing off in the direction Nefti was looking. Her eyes widened slightly. No matter who the person was, they didn't ever deserve to become a lion's meal. Sinkah dashed after her, followed closely by Nefti, whom was prancing like a stallion after a rogue male.

"KYAHHHHH!" she shouted, running at a dead bolt towards the lion. Be she a bitch, Sinkah had a heart. "ASTARTE, RUN!"

[Astarte Massri]

The woman was quickly forgotten by Astarte, she having very little interest in remembering anyone aside from her family. She found it served no use. But it seemed her life couldn't go without another meeting of the Scorpion Tail. She was screaming about something, but it had proven useless as Astarte neither ran, nor paid too much attention until the approaching predator was spotted by her trusty camel. Smelly, perhaps, but stupid he was not.

The camel stood his ground, his rider perched strangely. As the other woman screamed at her she made her move as the lion did, a blade coming from her hip to strike at the beast as she swung out of her saddle. It growled and made a leap for her, Astarte rolling beneath it and rolling to a crouch. Atem snorted and stamped his softer hooves. They may have had a less dangerous hoof, but they had all the strength to knock out a beast, same as a horse.

"Who runs from a beast?" she smiled, a curious action for someone staring down a lion with nothing but a blade the length of her forearm. But the secret was in her eyes, her influence working even on beasts. The lion would do something foolish to cause his own end, she could feel her whims working themselves on the beast.

[Sinkah-Ra Osiris]

Not paying any attention to Astarte, Sinkah lashed out her tail towards the lion whom had been struck by the blade, and despite Astarte's stare at the lion, she stung the hungry beast at full injection. The acid began to work immediately, and the lion roared out in pain as his organs began to dissolve into soup. A sick-smelling smoke hissed from every orifice, and soon the thin wiry fur on his flesh turned a sickening black before his flesh began to vanish with a gut wrenching stench that leaked over the grasslands.

Sinkah, confident the enemy had been vanquished and the arrogant female had been saved, ceased her injection of the acid. But, such an attack didn't come at a cost - and because she was only a half god, her form couldn't quite handle such rapid loss of the liquid. It was as if she'd lost the same amount blood. Promptly, Sinkah fainted.

Nefti galloped over, giving the sizzling mass of dead lion goop a wide birth, and halted affront her mistress. He unsettlingly whinnied, shaking her mane. 'Come on,' he thought, 'come on Astarte, put her on my back, she needs a doctor!' of course, it only came out as angered whinnies, and hooves on the ground.

[Astarte Massri]

Well that had been unnecessary. If she wanted to stare down a lion Astarte believed she had all the bloody well reason to. She scowled at the attack, a strange expression to see on her face. "Too full of herself. This is what she gets," she spat, almost climbing up onto Atem's back. Unfortunately the camel grunted and tilted so that she slipped right back down to the ground, her feet flat on the grasslands.

At the whinnies and the stomps of the horse she groaned and slumped her shoulders as she bent to lift the woman up onto her shoulder before lying her over the horse. It took a moment to get her steadied. Of course it wasn't the most regal of positions, but Astarte barely knew this woman, the woman hated her, and had threatened her with her little tail of hers. She could live with it. "Go on, take her to a doctor or wherever you take a sick person," she motioned, waving the horse off before she climbed on her camel. It seemed the horse planned to do just that, and Atem planned to follow.

"Oh why do you hate me you horrid camel," she groaned, slumping in the saddle, the pack animal simply following along with the horse. He could actually keep pace with the animal pretty easily. Strange considering most though a camel was slow and lazy.

[Sinkah-Ra Osiris]

(IS it knickered?)

Nefti knickered faintly at the girl, nuzzling her chest in thanks. He glanced over at the camel; he'd probably follow her until he knew Sinkah was fine, seeing as she might've just saved their lives. He snorted faintly, but wasn't going to bother chasing him off. There was no sense now, not with Sinkah needing help. But, what failed him, was where she should be taken. Where could one take a half-goddess who needed...whatever she needed? An ordinary doctor for the humans wouldn't do - they wouldn't know WHAT to do.

Nefti turned his head to Astarte, as if to question where he should take her. Should he take her to Osiris himself, or?...