Post by Nephthys on May 2, 2017 3:43:07 GMT -5
Hestia was a wanderer - and if anybody knew a thing or two about walking on the wild side, it was her. She'd had no choice but to be an outsider - ever since the day she fled from Greece and its patriarchal, domineering ways, she'd been shunned by every civilised sphinx who did not wish to be immediately drained of wealth and/or blood.
But it wasn't out of pure evil - although she'd like her enemies to think so - that she did these things. Sustenance was so hard to come by... When Hestia was still a peasant she became a vampire by choice, believing that the over-crowded streets were more full with blood than food for mortals. To be undead, therefore, seemed to be the clearest path to survival... And to rob from the unjust, was a way to clear her conscience of the misdeeds she had to commit daily, to quench her unrelenting thirst for blood.
But the mossy markings on her body were more than just a coincidence to her... The bounty of the earth was a source of hope and inspiration, and had been from her earliest days. Why, if it had not been for fate having other plans, (and her thirst for vengeance upon every wealthy man) she might have ended up a huntress. Or... Something else. Something that didn't require rules and regulations... something that embraced female empowerment and celebrated the sheer abundance of nature, upon which no conditions were placed. All should give thanks to this - all should show gratitude. That was what Hestia believed, in her secret heart; but it would take one further event to push her conscious mind towards realising this in full.
The late-spring sun blazed down over Ahket, as a seemingly tame Beltane day began. A May pole was erected and the cubs danced around it, frolicking like butterflies. So sickening, so innocent... Hestia wanted more. She did not fit in here, a thief, a killer, among other things... I suppose I shall have to celebrate alone she pondered, again.
Outside the city walls of Ahket she skulked, lost yet determined as she strode towards the Nile. Once there, she followed the river's path until Ahket and all its constraints seemed a distant dream.
... And now, she was in a different kind of dream. A dream of drinking, dancing, fire and music. A dream that was nearly as wild as her untameable soul. As Hestia paced closer to the mysterious females, a strange sense came upon her, like she was coming home at last.
And when she was offered a silver chalice with red liquid inside - despite her best efforts to go unnoticed - she drank from it deeply, as she hadn't fed for three days; with any luck, it would be blood and the odd females would be vampires also. It would explain their strange ways, and why Hestia felt a peculiar affinity with them.
But no, it was not blood, it was... Wine. Wine sweetened with honey, so delicious it could be fit for the goddess herself. Hestia drank deeply again. Blood it was not, but it was something intoxicatingly good in any case.
Her head began to swim with strange thoughts, her thundering heart-beat becoming indistinguishable from the thundering drums all around her, encouraging the revelry that would put even Dionysus to shame.
Truly, it felt as though she could devour every Sphinx here, what with their rosy faces, and the emptiness caused by thirst inside her - that was, if their madness didn't devour her first.
In order to survive, one has to embrace the very thing which they feel is threatening them. And Hestia wasn't just going to embrace the threat. She was going to become the threat.
Having grown up in Greece, Hestia knew of Pan, the nymphs, Dionysus and wild, drunken revelry. To participate though, would be something different, something... Unique to her. To what she was, what she had become, and who she would be. Her beastly vampire senses were taking over now, and she knew she would put on a show that no one would forget.
As the music slowly crawled, humming, inducing a meditative state, Hestia swayed her body, stalking, almost crawling towards the females. She was not concerned about how odd she looked. She knew they wouldn't judge her, as she allowed the music to take over her soul completely.
As she rolled about slowly, sensually, covering her body in dust by the Nile, she was portraying her young self, a victim, an unwanted female, imprisoned and enslaved by the patriarchy and her tyrant father. Then, a single beat of a drum marked the next phase of her life. Her adolescent rebellious side, that which had caused her to run away and begin a new life for herself in Khemet. She sprung to her feet, kicking up the dust that had once coated her pelt. A great mist of dust enveloped her, but her pure green, almost demonic eyes shone through at all times, relentless, displaying her great determination of spirit. She then grasped a log from the burning fire in the centre as the third phase of her life was marked by the increase in tempo of the drums. At this point, she did not care who, or what, got burned - remarkably similar to her own attitude at this point in her life, when she first decided to become a vampire. She swung the flames around her in wild abandon, the bright orange almost indistinguishable from her red hair that flew all around her head as she danced, like a fiery burning halo. She growled up at the heavens, screaming, laughing, as if desperately questioning the universe why she had been made this way. Why should such an innocent life turn to the darkness, to be shunned and cast aside forever more... But no. Not now. Now who she was, who she truly was, would be out in the open for all to see.
A goose of pure white had unwittingly strolled into the revelry. It squawked and flapped, panicked and bemused. Hestia did not pause her wild leaping and dancing for a second - simply included it in her routine, when she pounced on the bird, and pierced its neck with her teeth. The once blood red wine that had filled her mouth and throat, dizzying her senses, had no been replaced by real blood. She drank deep, moaning in pleasure as the animal's blood filled her stomach. When she'd had her fill, she threw her paws up in the air, covered in blood, blood around her mouth, her eyes glowing so bright green, the epitome of an unbounded creature of nature. A wild animal, a beast.
"A sacrifice to the great mother!" She announced, holding the bird up for all to see. "May its life-blood stain this soil and grant prosperity and fertility, abundant life and sustenance for all!"
All about her was the joyous colours of red and green - red blood, red wine, her red hair, the red fire... and the green of the vines, the wildlife, her pelt, the many flowers that adorned these strange females - these wonderful females, who accepted her for who she was.
It felt like every one here was her foe, her friend, her guardians and her lovers, liberators, and her next meal... All at once. Never before had Hestia felt so saturated with the entire spectrum of emotions that it was possible for one Sphinx to have towards another.
But overall, she had never felt so welcomed, so unconditionally accepted as her past self, present self, and future self...
Hestia continued her dance, swaying, rolling, jumping, leaping, all in time with the drums. Laughing and shrieking with wild abandon - never before had she felt so free. There was not so much a lust for blood now as there was for the god and the goddess - every wild impulse, the vampiric energy, normally shunned and confined to the shadows, came to light in this glorious celebration of life and death, both the seen and the unseen. It all culminated in this stunning revelation, hitting Hestia like a lightening bolt: I want to be like them, she suddenly thought. I want to be free. All that I am, light and dark, all my vampiric powers... I want these to be used in service of the god and goddess. I want these to be celebrated, in the open. I want to be wild. I don't want to hide anymore.
And in her heart and body and soul, Hestia realised that this was all she had ever wanted in life.
Fanta from PI! 
