Lion Head Mesa retrograde

looking for @Ramesses , Akh has decided to enter his bad boy arc fully and idk where it came from

Click, click, click, click

His nails were a steady rhythm across the stone of the floor. His tail bobbed behind him.

Akashingo mourned.

Pharoah was mourning, held aloft only by drink and sorrow. It would have been easy to take his kingdom from beneath his feet, if he had the military mind his mother had been famous for. Or the domineering attitude of his father. In his dreams, they called to him, they demanded his revenge. But Akhtar was a priest.

He knew how to sway a populace. And to do so, you had to start from the top. So, here he was, politely stopping outside of Pharoah’s quarters and giving a soft hum, to tell the monarch he had come.

Pharoah. I have come from my morning prayers.

Are you decent? Ready? Looking for betrayal from every corner? What will you do?

:o

at times his moments felt electric.
this was not one of them. akashingo lay shrouded in mourning and their godhead sat in his throne, veiled by the day's hangover. but he had invited no lovers to his bed. he had barely eaten.
it was an exhausted and flatly glittering stare turned to the priest.
"holy one," ramesses greeted in a monotone, not descending from his plinth. "please tell me that the gods have granted you a finer vision for akashingo than the maladies that plague us now."

He did not come down from his holy mountain.

Instead, he sprawled drunkenly across it. Akhtar’s mouth twitched, and he dipped his head in mock mourning, wishing to hide the way his mouth wanted to curl in disgust. This man was a king, he should act like it.

No matter.

No matter at all.

The Queen will await you when Osiris takes you. The other gods will not reveal their hands, and I get no impressions other than surface level shock. He closed his eyes.

The only one to reveal anything is Isis. She is worried. In her stead, I am sent. Half lies, half truths, either way, he would guide this sinking ship or die trying.

My king, you should retire to your rooms, rest. Akashingo needs you strong. He demurred.

pharaoh remained impassive as akhtar spoke, rousing himself only to snort at the priest's suggestion. "i cannot sleep. the gods have taken that from me as well." 
so it was the queen of Osiris, Isis, Iset, who had seen fit to plague him with something surely yet unsaid. he must order a sacrifice.
"what is Her revelation?" he asked, hoping for even a single word to hold within proverbial fists. his dulled lapis gaze sharpened slowly as he stared at the hem.

Akhtar’s brain was wildly spinning. He let his eyes fall closed again, raising his head towards the ceiling, even lifting an ear.

What could he say?

A murmur. He shocked himself out of his trance, eyes going wild and wide. That was not the voice of his conquerors, the gods brought by odious kings and treasonous commanders.

He took a deep breath, feeling it turn to ice in his lungs.

Blood. He said a moment later, shaking himself.

Isis wishes for blood.

"blood."
ramesses at last came down and began to pace. "She commands blood. does She require a sacrifice of beast or of wolf?" he turned to face akhtar.
the man was consumed by the gods. he could not answer. ramesses must command this for himself.
he thought of jawahir's children.

He laid his eyes upon Pharoah’s gold white pelage.

She wishes for your own.

She does not say. Akhtar’s eyes closed, though he could still feel the chain of a god wrapping through his entire body.

Blood for the blood gods, blood for those you’ve lost. The hissspit of a serpent in the ears of a priest.

I..I will require animals. Live. We will see if she wants prey, His eyes never left Ramesses, or predator.

You will garner your blood.

ramesses breathed.
"then you will have it." he straightened before the priest.
"does Isis require me for the bloodshed itself?" he asked, wondering if this was a task easily passed to fellahin or if the goddess would be moved to further wrath if he took that step.