Del Sol Valley – Omar’s Realm
Omar
Omar took a deep breath before peering at himself in the mirror. “I will achieve my aims. I am in perfect control of my faculties. The things I desire are reasonable, and I deserve them.” He wanted to go through his affirmations a tenth time, but he knew everyone was waiting upstairs.
Heading back to his guests, he took his customary seat at the head of the table trying to ignore his sister taking up the exact same position at the opposite end.
“So,” Elmyra began as if she were opening the meal. “The little cretin disappeared with The Owl and has already ascended.”
Omar took an annoyed sip of nectar. By rights, he should be the one to begin the conversation. Even if he forced everyone to attend these dinners, he was still the host.
“It was very flashy,” Sol observed in that pleasant tone of hers. The one that said, “I’m not a threat, you’re a threat,” and which anyone who spent even a second with her would know was a lie. Perhaps that falsehood was how she kept her sham marriage to Nyx afloat.
“And tricky,” Nyx sighed, but her eyes sparkled in a way that belied her sullen tone. The the two goddesses winked at each other.
Definitely a sham marriage, Omar decided. Gods were not meant for long-term relationships and he should know. He was the most pious out of all of them and he’d never managed it.
“It was tacky,” Omar insisted. “A demonstration of how little she knows about our politics and—”
“And have you seen the new painting in the Library of Magic?” his sister taunted, “They’ve replaced B’Ollithiranon with Alice, and she’s positively glowing.”
“Will Alice be joining us, then?” Sol asked, “She could take up B’Ollithiranon’s old seat. Or Somnus’s.” The Goddess of Sound smiled demurely as if she were making an innocent observation.
“No,” Omar hissed with a vehemence he’d meant to keep under wraps. He quickly smoothed out his tone, “We don’t seat that reprobate and charlatan. He is no more a god than that beast Phobos is.”
“Do you mean the God of Death’s most ardent follower?” Elmyra asked sweetly. “You can be forgiven for failing, brother. The Fates were involved, so it was going to be their outcome no matter what.”
“Yes, Jimena did fail,” Omar sneered, “Tell us, sister, what is it like to have such a disappointing offspring? Skilled with the hunt and yet she couldn’t bring that animal to heel?”
“So the God of Death likes to fuck the things that belong to her,” she snapped, “You and she have that in common.”
“I—” Omar never finished his statement, his attention caught by the Goddess of Reason calmly getting up from the table and listening for something in the air.
Suddenly, she dropped to her knees, her magic a swirl of chaos around her. Molecule by molecule, something began to form, its movements harsh and desperate.
Sulis rose gracefully as the mass of energy solidified into one of her followers. The girl turned for just a second, her mouth opened to let out a keening sound that set Omar’s teeth on edge and twisted his stomach.
She reformed wrong.
The gods fought not to show their horror, but it was to no avail. Whatever had happened to Transmutation Magic all those centuries ago, it threw Sulis’s power out of whack. Once, the goddess could change a speck of dust into a mountain. Now, she transmuted things into horrors.
“Sulis, please,” Nyx’s voice was small and desperate.
But the goddess didn’t hear, or if she did, she didn’t care. She kept whispering, and her follower began to squirm, skin peeling back until she was flayed open. The goddess whispered a last unintelligible word, and the mortal’s heart burst, sending a spray of plasma everywhere.
Sulis never flinched.
Calmly, as if nothing had happened, she gave them a placid look before retaking her seat at the table.
Omar knew what others whispered about him, that he was power-hungry and a monster. But monsters didn’t maintain order; they were agents of chaos and bloodshed like Sulis or Phobos.
“Um, excuse me, sir.” His head acolyte coughed delicately to get his attention.
“Yes, Eliza, what is it?”
“Here,” she said, handing him a slip of paper.
He read the note: L. Faba requests an audience to discuss The Owl of Undoing.
No, Omar thought as he sat down to resume his meal, he was not a monster; he was a savior. He would find a way to destroy The Owl of Undoing, and the other gods would thank him for it.
Credits
Builds
Flying Saucer by ehaught58
Poses
Emotions by Simmerberlin
Male Stand Poses 5 by Natalia-Auditore
Male Stand Poses 4 by Natalia-Auditore
Dastardly Poses by Sewer Sims
Magic Girl 2 Pose pack by Natalia-Auditore
Situational Talking Poses by SomethingWickedSims
Shadow Ghost Face by Zaneida & The Sims 4
Werewolf Posepack 2 by Natalia-Auditore
Werewolf vs. Human Poses by Natalia-Auditore
Werewolf Costume by Natalia-Auditore
Torches Posepack by Natalia-Auditore
Parent & Kid Poses 2 by ratboysims
This is Capoeira by Quiddity-Jones
Parkour Life by Quiddity-Jones
Pose Request #111 by sciophobis
I’m Sorry Poses by sciophobis
Better At Climbing by amelylina
Oof—okay, I think I figured out how to arrange BBD comments in an efficient way. By character! It’s such a character-based story already, this should help keep track of things.
Damn, William is quite out of sorts today: passed out AND called out, by Vlad of all people. Serves him right for calling Valeria ‘honey.’ In his defense, I don’t know how I feel about Valeria having a sword. I legit don’t.
B’Ostomarathon, just tell us what the shadow critter is and what the heck you did. Better yet, Discord, tell us what B’Irkensandalson did while Alice is still grappling with the upside-down graveyard and summon the nice shadow lady so she can clarify her role in the God of Death’s realm and say “oh, my bad” to William. Her top is pretty sweet ngl.
I’m with Mikel on Anastasia’s character development. She’s thriving! Not necessarily because she’s out of survival mode; whether she enjoys being her own boss or needs to be distracted by applied problem solving and learning new things, I’m not entirely sure. Or maybe being in space finally got her far away enough from Shitty!Bernard. Props also to Mikel for boundaries! (How The Martian is this going to get? Is Donald Glover going to show up?)
Alice seems particularly contrarian towards Vlad today. I hope she reflects on that soon—it’s not the guy’s fault he’s not going through as many changes as you are right now, and is already used to watching his friends blow up, just take the snacks and admit you’re in charge. Except not of the snacks. Vlad is in charge of the snacks.
Just like with Caleb in the previous chapter, I can’t fault Omar for going through his affirmations; what I can fault him for is being a self-absorbed butthead and putting so much stock into being able to “read people well” that he ends up considering his own biased interpretations as objective fact. It’s a good theme for 2021! Elmyra, too—how long has she been riling him up like this?!
Sulis. Oh my god. Love. Love. Stealing that move for the next time I have to teach Calc I.
Lastly: Mmmm! Pancakes!
Me, finally replying a thousand years later. If you pull a Sulis while teaching a Calc class, I will need you to invite me to said class immediately. Oh, I like the replying by character! In fact, just making that comment froze me in my tracks! It’s not that I didn’t know characters figured heavily in BBD, but I’ve really been struggling with some chapters. Lately, I think because I was obsessing too much over the plot. When I just focus on the characters, everything comes easier, and the chapters write themselves (okay, that’s a bold statement even from myself, so I’ma walk that back. I find writing the chapters easier).
Um, yes, William is a bit of a mess, but like, shouldn’t Valeria have a sword. It feels right to me. Mostly because I’m too afraid to take it away from her.
ANASTASIA COMING FROM THE BACK FOR A WIN. Whew, homegirl has come a long way, and I am starting to really enjoy writing her part of the story. I will have some more shitty Bernard stuff coming later, but I have faith that he will get his (is this my plug for a crossover where the Best Bernard comes and kicks his ass?). LOL, how The Martian is this going to get? Oh, you just wait.
Vladislaus Straud, Snack Boss. It has a nice ring to it. Yeah, Alice has a habit of externalizing her emotions, and I don’t think she is 100% clear on its effect on others. It might be a little while before she pulls her head out of her own ass. Maybe she should call Caleb’s therapist.
I cannot wait to see your take on Omar and Elmyra by the end of season one, and that is literally all I can say without spoilers.