Storkie writing/art thread

[eidolon.]

ᚹᚱᛁᛏᛁᚾᚷ ᛏᚺᚱᛖᚨᛞ

Main thread/storage can be found here^^

Storkatten, often shortened to Storkies, are a magical breed of fantasy felines. Descended from Freya's own mythical mounts, Storkies are chock-full of magic and potential. They're quite powerful and loyal companions. While some may choose to live in colonies out in the wild, others may choose the companionship of humans. Many Storkies also possess magical abilities, though require the usage of runes to unlock them.

✎Index✎

What is one of your "core" memories | detailed | Aegir
Stargazing | abstract | Aegir, Iblis
What is your colony's relationship with death and the afterlife/storkie 500 entry | detailed | Kori, Madok
Sunset | abstract | Aegir, Iblis
icon idk where to put | Madok

[eidolon.]

Aegir

Aegir padded into the main hall within the Räv colony, shaking out some of the rain from his long fur. A pair of vakter nodded respectfully as he passed them, planning on heading right back to his room to take a nap - sure he was the leader, but he needed breaks too sometimes. Besides, the border patrol he'd just taken had been a long one. He only managed to get about half way across the room before a trio of the fraction's ungar tumbled into his legs, running around him in excited circles. He wished he had that sort of energy. "Aegir, Aegir!" one of the little ones chirped. "Can you tell us a story?"
The leader sighed and resigned to his fate, subtly leading the kittens to a pile of pillows in a corner of the room that he promptly flopped down upon. "A story, eh? How's about I tell you 'bout the time I saw the lady of the woods?" That shut the ungar up. Aegir took a breath, and began to recall the memory.


It had been a long day, especially for a cat as young as himself. The young trainee stumbled through the woods, twigs pulling at his fur and leaves smacking him in the face. Aegir let out an irritated huff but carried on nonetheless. Some of his denmates had been talking about rumours of there being some sort of deity out in Skogen’s woods. None of them had believed it, thinking they were nothing but myths, but Aegir believed. The legends foretold that some sort of forest guardian, the Lady Of the Woods as she’d been dubbed, resided deep in the thickest of forests in a lake clearing; and he was going to find it.

He pressed on and on through the woods until a faint glow appeared up ahead, just past the underbrush. Aegir hurried forwards with a renewed sense of energy before skidding to a halt at the sight before him.

A brilliant blue mist shrouded a lake of the clearest blue, lilies sprouted across nearly the entirety of the lake bank. The moon itself had seemed to cast a beam across the clearing, giving it a hauntingly beautiful glow. That wasn’t what caught Aegir’s attention though, no; that title belonged to the creature standing in the middle of the lake. It had the appearance of a deer, though much larger and with an unnatural white colouring to its fur. Vines and flowers wound across its body in a sort of tapestry, and a golden crown of antlers rested atop its head. The lady of the woods. The deity had turned her head towards him at some point, giving him a curious glance. Aegir’s first instinct was to bow, so he did just that. The deer quirked her lips in what almost seemed like a smile and with that, she vanished into the very mist surrounding the lake.


“...And that was that. She wasn’t a myth at all, eh?” The kittens had grown sleepy during his tale, but had tried to hang on to every word. Aegir chuckled and flagged one of the drottningar over to take the little ones back to the nursery. “Mm, good times those were. It’s gettin’ late though. You three should get some rest, and I’ll tell you more stories tomorrow.”

words - 554

[eidolon.]

Aegir | Iblis

Tonight was a seemingly peaceful one. The day had been eventful, what with a pair of ungar having completed the writes of passage to become a läkare and jagare respectively, but by now most of the fraction’s cats had retreated back to their dens, exhausted by the day’s celebrations. The night was left silent aside from the occasional rustle of leaves in the wind or an owl’s hoot. It was surprisingly warm for the season; a perfect night to stay out.

Iblis padded out of his den with a small, weary sigh, raising his muzzle up to face the wind as it swirled around his fur. Those bad dreams he’d been having recently were only getting worse and worse each night that passed, tonight’s dream waking him up all together. The storkie flicked an ear and, quietly as his heavy steps would allow him to, made his way out of Räv’s main camp and out into the fraction’s territory.

Iblis’ steps were muffled by the grass underfoot, the cat’s wanderings semi-consciously taking him to a private clearing he’d found a few nights prior. There was a small break in the seemingly never ending treeline there that let you see the sky above. It was nice. He pushed his way through the ferns that lined the cleaning, planning on going to the small bed of moss he’d made for himself there only to see it occupied by the last storkie he expected to see.

“Aegir?” he mumbled tiredly, eyes blinking in case he was just seeing things. The leader startled and turned his head towards Iblis in surprise, his face a mix of curiosity and apology. “Iblis. What’re you doin’ here?”

The larger of the two lazily walked over and flopped himself down a few paces away from Aegir. “Could ask you the same thing,” Iblis sighed, pausing before adding “Couldn’t sleep,” a few moments later. The pair fell into silence after that, a sort of quiet mutual understanding between them. A good few minutes passed by before Aegir spoke up once more in an uncharacteristically small voice. “The stars have meanin’s, y’know.” He raised a paw to the stars that sparkled above the clearing, pointing to a cluster. “You see those ones there? That’s Ursa Major. Meant to be a big great bear. There’s a story attached to it too, there’s stories for all of ‘em. Forgot what Ursa’s was though,” he shrugged and dropped the paw back down.

“Didn’t take you for the type to know about constellations,” Iblis scoffed good-naturedly but remained quiet after that, silently listening as Aegir explained about the different star clusters that dappled the sky in bright flecks of white. It was strangely intimate in a way neither cat had experienced before, laying together under the stars as the moon cast them both in a soft glow. Iblis had shifted his way into the nest at some point, the leader having scooched across to give him more room. If anyone asked, Iblis would just say it was because he felt cold. Truth be told though… the touch was nice. Comforting.

He nuzzled his chin under Aegir’s to rest his head atop the other cat’s chest, earning him a low chuckle and the tiniest of purrs from the other. “...Hey. Aegir,” he muttered after a while, voice muffled from the fur against his mouth. At a hum from the other he continued. “Thank you. For humouring me, I mean. Helped get my mind off of things.” Aegir responded with a lick to the other’s head and a louder purr (and if it flustered Iblis, then nobody aside from the moon and the stars needed to know). “Ain’t gotta thank me for that. ‘S nice spendin’ time with you.”

Iblis returned the purr and curled his fluffy tail around Aegir’s. No words needed to be shared between them both for them to know Iblis’ silent ‘thank yous’ that he still tried to get across despite them not being needed. Aegir drifted off soon after that, breaths levelling out as sleep overtook him. Iblis finally got to really look at him then. Instead of the fraction’s powerful leader, Aegir was no more than a storkatt like himself. One that he trusted enough to allow seeing him asleep away from camp - that considered him a friend. A faint smile made its way onto Iblis’ muzzle alongside a faint blush. He finally allowed himself to close his eyes then, falling asleep to the sound of soft breaths and the gentle rustling of leaves.

He didn’t have any more nightmares that night.

words - 764

[eidolon.]

Kori | Madok

Kori sat perched atop one of the large stones that bordered the main camp that the Rådjur faction called home, the height of it allowing them to survey their beloved home. The wind swirled around their long fur in a small sort of vortex; a small trick they tended to pull with their magic whenever they felt bored. Moments like these - watching the storkies he led mingling about and content - were what they lived for. The leader breathed out a sigh and curled their tail daintily around their paws when the sudden sound of wingbeats from behind startled them into turning their head. The sight they were met with was… definitely not what they were expecting.

A storkie with vivid indigo fur and bone-like markings landed before them, standing with an air of confidence few creatures had. The strangest thing about them was the first thing that your eyes were drawn to; two pairs of large wings, one of the two covering this strange storkie’s eyes as if it were a blindfold. The stranger tucked their wings in, cleared their throat and began to speak.

”I am the angel of the death paragon. This… colony that you cats have here. It intrigues me. The so-called paragon sat themselves down and regarded Kori with a strange curiosity. Kori opened their mouth to speak up but the other cat beat them to the punch. ”Tell me, mortal. How do you ‘Skogen’ cats fare with death and the afterlife?” The smaller of the two blinked in confusion, trying to take in all of this rapid-fire information. Still, it was for the best that this storkie decided to come to their faction instead of one of the other two; Aegir would have likely teased the paragon half to death, and Eyja would have just gone on the offensive.

”...Death and the afterlife, you say? We have a few beliefs tied to that. You might want to settle down though, this may take a while.” Kori raised their head up to the heavens and closed their eyes, wind gently flowing around the pair. ”I can’t speak fully for the other factions in our colony, but here in Rådjur at least, our beliefs are somewhat akin to the norse beliefs of old. We believe that when a storkie dies they will get sent up to Stjärnorna; the stars.”

“There, they’ll be able to have a life - afterlife I suppose? - of luxury with whatever they please. If they enjoyed fighting, their afterlife will be filled with endless sparring and drinks. If they were an artist, they’ll be surrounded by all the muses and supplies they could ever want. You get the idea.” Kori waved the sentence off with their paw and turned back towards the paragon. ”Then of course there’s Runstenen, where the leaders go to get the blessings of our ancestors, though that’s just a rumour in most cat’s eyes. Was there anything else you wanted to know?”

The winged storkie hummed as they mulled things over for a moment. ”Mm… What about you leaders? Do you feel any different?” The paragon flicked a wing towards the necklace that rested against Kori’s chest. ”Surely you have a deeper connection to death, no?”

The leader flicked an ear and stayed silent for a few moments, lost in thought. Once, they would have been able to shoot back an answer easily, but now…

”It differs for all three of us. I myself have come to terms with my mortality by now. When the time comes for me to join my ancestors, I will do so gladly. I’ve lived a fulfilling life and have no worries about inevitably becoming one with the earth once more. Aegir is the youngest of us three, still in that phase where you think you’re untouchable. I’m sure he’s thought about things more now that he’s adopted a kit of his own, but he chooses not to ponder about death and the afterlife unless he really has to.”

“Eyja though… She’s taken things the worst of us all. She was one of the original storkatter that came to form this colony, did you know? She was young and foolish at the time and nearly perished in battle. One of the paragons - life I believe - took pity on her and offered her immortality, which she took in a heartbeat. She always feared death, you see. Never had the foresight to realise the burden immortality would bring. Things were great for her at first; she raised her faction, got herself a wife and had a happy life.” Kori paused to sigh. They never liked this next part of the tale, especially after how many times the stoic leader had sobbed to them about how she wanted nothing more than to take back that fateful decision.

”It was her wife first. Eyja had to watch her grow ill and perish. Then it was all her friends that grew old without her. Soon enough the faction’s kits had grown all the way up into elders and yet Eyja could do nothing but watch the generations pass by without her. It’s her worst regret to this day.”

The paragon gave Kori a simple nod, standing up and flaring their wings behind them. ”I believe that’s enough to satiate my curiosity. Thank you. Don’t be surprised if you see me around again some time. With that parting sentence, the storkie leapt into the air and soared into the sky until they were nothing more than a black prick against the horizon.

Kori shook their head and turned their attention to their faction once more, the cats below them none the wiser about their strange visitor. Still, part of the leader hoped that they would see that paragon once more.

words - 980

[eidolon.]

Aegir | Iblis
kindly ignore the janky background ty

[eidolon.]

Madok
no place else to put this😭