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Most people who are out and about in the park tend to leisure enjoy the green pause of nature in the middle of a steel city. They do it by relaxing on the grassy fields, they do it by jogging, by taking in the slightly fresher air. But one of the people in the park today stands out, by trying not to stand out, as she's currently perched on a high tree branch, keeping to a crouched position. Bend knees, hands holding on to the branch, almost like she's ready to spring away should the need arise.
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Eshu doesn't exactly fit in. He's young and black, and wearing a very long multicolored shirt that hangs loosely, and he carries with him a staff carved in the shape of a snake, with certain elements of metal set into its frame. He walks through the park looking for something, and what he find is a young woman in a tree. This intrigues the trickster, and so he approaches, looking up, and raises his staff half in greeting and half simply pointing, "Do you seek to fly, child? To be an owl hunting the rodent? To stalk these woods from your position of excellence?"
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Laura has a perfect vantage to see all in her immediate surrounding of the park, and so she easily spots Eshu coming her way. She tenses a bit, but also looks curiously at his snake shaped staff. That is a very unusual accessory, she hadn't seen the likes of it before. "I am better than the owl," she replies the question at surprisingly face value, "I also hunt during the day." She continues to study the staff, and looks like she might want to ask something, though she keeps silent for now.
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Lifting the staff to tap it lightly to his forehead, and then extend it towards the woman, Eshu performs his version of a salute. "I am Abeo, and I too hunt both in night and during the day." He flashes a grin, bright white teeth and full lips making it the sort of grin that often draws attention, "But simply hunting during the day does not alone make one better then the owl; brother owl, he watches with a keenness few can match, and he kills without hesitation. Do you these things, child? People often dismiss the owl as a curiosity, not recognizing that it is a high predator, yet you declare yourself better. Are you better a predator then that our brother?"
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Laura nods in appreciation as Eshu explains he is also a hunter, she can respect that quality. "I kill without hesitation," she says firmly, "and I too am keen." She shifts a little and drops down to ground level, inches away from Eshu, standing up straight as she looks him over. She does barely stand at 5'1", so she's not fearsome for her size, but there is something about the way she carries herself. A sense of danger about her, "I am one of the most dangerous predators," she somehow manages to assert flatly, without bravado.
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Beneath the tree, there is one, and then there is three. Each Abeo stan there staring up at Laura, smiling and tilting their heads. They are different each: the posture and position is different in each of these, though they in all way seem separate and independant. "Have you met the lion, child? The lion sits for most of its day and waits, relaxing and ready, and then when it hunts there is few things that can match its ferocity. Have you seen the water buffalo, or the rhino?" This … these … men seem unconcerned by danger. Each taps fingers upon snake-staf thoughtfully, "But if you are a predator beyond these the gods set on the world as challenge to man, then congratulations. Are your teeth more pointed? Your claws sharper? Your speed greater? Your strength mightier? I have been long from the world, child, so call me ignorant and I will take no offense. How are you so great a hunter?"
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Laura seems unfazed finding three Abeo's suddenly where before there was one. She stares at the speaking Abeo directly, listening to his questions, eventually starting only to the most direct questions in the end. "My claws are sharpest, my efficency the deadliest. The lion, the buffalo, the rhino…all living creatures, all do what they will. I am a weapon, my purpose is to kill. Nothing more." She does sound a little bit better, lately having come to reflect on her purpose quite a bit, now that she is free from the hands of her handlers.
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Tilting his head, curious, one of the Eshu's throws his staff against the tree. The others no longer have staves at all. THey stand, watching, in different postures, but where the staff hit the wood, it shifts into flesh and is soon a quite large snake wrapped around the tree and climbing it. "If that is your purpose, child, then who directs it— if the distinction between you and these great animals is that they do what they will, and presumably, you do not?" wonders the man, even as the brightly colored snake with scales that rise out and are not flat against its skin curls around and climbs the tree towards Laura. "You speak so you can not be merely/ a weapon. You are a child with a soul. You are not one of mine, no, but you have the soul nonetheless. There is choice in you. The sword has neither will nor responsibility: do you seek to cast off choice and be simply that?"
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"I am a weapon," Laura acknowledges Eshu's question, "a weapon is aimed at a target, then it kills," she stays quiet on who directs her these days, as that is a question that is rather open ended for her as well. A recent run in with Logan had also brought up the question of whether there is more to life. She turns to look up at the snake created out of thin air, which now climbs the tree she was perched on moments ago. "Is that your pet?" She asks Eshu, not looking scared in the least. If she can even sense fear, or any other emotion, the girl has been rather expressionless thus far. "I never have choice. I am told what to do. I speak because you asked a question." She does tilt her head slightly towards her left shoulder, in thought, as if there was something about his remark she considered.
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Stepping forward, one of the three reaches out to grasp the snake, and it solidifies into a staff— much smaller then it was as a snake— in his hand. "A weapon does not kill, child. A weapon is used to kill. There is a crucial difference. This?" He lifts the staff up a moment and gestures around, "It is called the Sanctity of Deceit. It is no pet, but sometimes it is a companion. The god Ogun forged it when I told him a story, and I took it from him with another story." He shrugs slightly, "Bah. Certainly you have a choice. That choice may not be one you wish to make: that choice may be to die instead of acting, but every act is a choice. I will tell you a secret." He smiles, his grin bright with white teeth on his dark features, "Tonight, child, you meet a god. A god of balance and chance and change. I tell you now: you have a choice." He waves the staff, and the other two of him vanish as dust on the wind, "I come here to answer for the slavery of my people. You are not one of mine. But if you have been told you have no will and must simply obey? You are not unlike my people. Choice is yours if only you grasp it. And if anyone would force you, I tell you remember these words: Eshu, lord of the crossroads, hear me. Say these words and I will come, for I, child, am Eshu. I am god of the crossroads and balance."
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Laura looks on with a deadpan expression as Eshu simply takes the snake and makes it back into a staff. "Were you testing me now? Did you want me to kill the snake? To flee from it?" Laura asks inquisitively, finding the experience rather weird on a whole. She is, however, quite used to being tested regularly, so that's the only explanation immediately apparent to her. When he mentions the fate of his people that he wishes to avenge, Laura states dryly, "a weapon enslaves no one, a weapon kills, as directed." Still, just like Logan, he also seems to advocate there's more than just killing as she's told. And at the moment she has no one to obey and follow, even if that is the only life she really understands. "You are a god?" She seems surprised, the concept perhaps foreign to her. "Why would a god want to help me?"
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