Potential joining thread!
Tagging leadership for visibility,
@Toula @Senmut
A silent traveler. A looming shadow. He seeks only one simple thing: a place to belong. A place in which he will not be judged for what he lacks, but embraced for what he has.
When the place of sands comes to view, he halts, sniffing at what appears to be a strongly marked border. Someone lived here, but how would they take to a mute giant straying so near?
Pacing slowly, he watches to see who might emerge from the distance, if anyone at all.
a crocodile watched.
frostweave eyes observed the approach of a silent stranger, one who did not call nor shout.
khusobek slid from his perch. his ruddy form slowly grew larger as he drew close to the walking figure. hard shoulders highlighted by his saunter, the mazoi addressed the stranger.
"this is the dominion of queen toula, She of the Red Land and Serpent. what is it you wish?"
and khusobek did not hide his slow, intense perusal of the other. a spy? an assassin? why had he not called?
Few moments to wait. Someone soon came, questioning his presence.
Staring back blankly, he hiked up a forepaw and forced it back down into the ground, spraying a cloud of sand. Stay? He wanted to say, a curious gaze with a tilted head.
Could these people make use of him here? Or was he unwanted, like everywhere else?
there was a gesture but no words were forthcoming. khusobek sensed the ability was not present, and this was only for his own experience with guardians and servants alike who had been muted by his pharaoh's order and had their sentence carried out by the crocodile himself.
but enough reminiscing. khusobek straightened, backed some steps, and flagged his tail. a growl announced his intentions for a testing spar. those with no voice served best as protectors, for they could be everywhere and their ears heard all while the mouth could not pass it on.
and with the appearance of a fourth prince, the mazoi's instinctual knowledge of increased danger to those royal had doubled his own patrols outside the queen's door.
Posture shifting, tone changing, they demanded a spar. A test for his skill, which the mute beast was willing to fulfill.
Straightening his posture, he stomped a quick paw, gesturing that he was ready. He was always ready.
a lash of tail.
khusobek struck. the other had greater largesse of body, but the guardian was honed.
he aimed his teeth for the other's left shoulder, tilting his own weight back upon hinds.
Before he realized, and could maneuver himself out of the way, teeth took hold of his shoulder. He made no soundly remarks, but was now far more in–tune with the spar taking place.
Jerking his head sideways, his teeth snapped, eagerly searching for a hold upon their scruff in order to drag them off. And if that wasn't successful, he would make easy work in simply shaking them away.
khusobek narrowly missed the brunt of that bite. the teeth glinted upon him, and he felt himself brushed off as if he were no more than chaff.
skin stinging, the crocodile circled and feinted for one of the other's massive forepaws, hoping to drag the man off-balance.
He was ready this time. So when they moved for a forepaw, he shrunk away, snapping his teeth outward in defiance.
Ears fallen flat over his head, a small snarl escapes him. Slowly circling, he waits to see how they might act next. What part of him would they aim for? And all the while, he is looking for weaknesses of his own.
"by Set's beak, you are like a bear!" khusobek called out, laughter lacing his words.
the snarl was answered with one of his own. the mazoi launched himself bodily at the man, chest to chest.
A bear! He had never been referred to as such a thing. For a moment, he knew not whether to take it an insult or compliment.
But, alas, there were more pressing matters to pay mind to.
This warrior did not permit much rest between them, rushing forward once again.
Chest aiming for chest, he made a bold move, exposing his belly to possible impact while lifting his forelimbs to intercede. If not first winded, he may grab them in a bear‐hug of sorts, using what strength his weight offered to force them sideways and off balance. An ironic move, really, considering what he'd been called just moments prior.
almost prophetically was khusobek easily grabbed, easily caught, twisted; his shoulder thudded to the dirt and he called off the spar with a shout.
"big man! large man! we have a queen and you need a name," the mazoi shot cheerily at the bearwolf, dust sliding from his back as he thrust out his paw in a gesture of companionship.
A thud, then a whirl of sand. They announced his victory, to which the muted beast reacted not.
But when they spoke, he inched closer with an air of curiosity. Things this one spoke of were of nothing he'd heard before. It drew him in further.
Accepting of the gesture, he stood tall, shaking out his own, riled fur. Proceed to observe the other in wonder, he did, wondering what might come next. Good things, he hoped.
"a name, first." the crocodile studied the brave and gigantic creature.
"nahkt? He who is Mighty?"
"irynefer? He who Belongs to Goodness?"
"amunet? He Who is Hidden?"
after each of these, khusobek paused, for the finding of a name was a moment of magick for one's ka, and he was humbled to be its part.
A name. A luxury he had never before been afforded.
Options were given, by this warrior. It was certain by the beast that he was truly a man of honor, for who else could bestow a gift such as this!
A lifted paw, then a single stop. The first of three names would be his. Nahkt. He who is mighty.
"nakht. very well, nakht. welcome to akashingo. senmut is our prince. toula is our queen. you answer to them both as guardian. you and i both are mazoi. protectors. i do not think you will be denied entry."
he set off, gesturing that nakht follow into the long shadow of the great mesa and its strength.
little escaped the eye of the watchers, who filtered to senmut arrival of a new one.
he met the pair just outside the entrance to the downward mazes; he looked at the silent khusobek and the new man. "who is he?" senmut asked of the crocodile, though his eyes remained upon the stranger.
He is allowed his new name, then given instruction. But before much sense of it is made, another comes to address them.
Nahkt is just as confused as the other seems to be, unknowing of this individual and what part they place in this place of sands.
He can only wait to see what might happen, and how this fellow mazoi will choose to address their company, for he will then follow suit.
"prince senmut."
his voice was a low roll. attuned to the royalty before them. "this is nakht. he does not speak and i am not certain what he understands of words. but he is quick and very strong."
would his acceptance of the stranger ring true for senmut?
sen out!
it was in senmut's nature to be suspicious, and so he was of this nakht, touched without speech.
he looked as deeply into the other's eyes as a moment allowed, then straightened. "i expect you to tell me if this changes, mazoi." they could not have spies among them, but neither would senmut turn away such intense strength.
"see to it he is given food and rest," and with that, the prince turned away.
Senmut. The prince spoken of prior.
Nahkt had little time before their departure, but still was quick to offer a bow of respect. A show that he knew their place here, and of how it differed from his own, as a mazoi.
Once they had gone, the dark furred beast looked to the other, unsure of how to proceed.
wanna fade or keep going? im good either way! <3
"he is always that way," khusobek grunted with amusement. "come. we will have you bathed and given meat. the other mazoi are legend, zaahira, and bayek, who is also medjay. but i am rambling, nakht. you will learn all this as you go."
and with that, he proceeded to lead the large guardian below the mesa, into the cooler causeways and halls of redstone, to the wellspring and store-rooms and air filled with the scent of crushed flowers.
Perhaps fade here and have a new, updated thread?
He was to be bathed and fed. Luxuries he'd never before had. Or so, as he considered them to be.
A list of others was bestowed as they walked, others like him. Mazoi, and another title, medjay. These would all be remembered well. And with them, more would he come to know.