series of astonishingly small shallots

 24 is a beautiful number. That's about the only thing I miss about 2024 so far. last year was full of slacking off, pining, and actions that were understandable in the moment but horrifying in hindsight. this year will be full of personal development, action, and... well, my predictions have run dry. I'll just let things unfold as they will, as long as there's at least a respectable amount of action and growth. 
  in terms of my beloved characters/story, I've begun defining what the numen were doing throughout their lives. Let me tell you my fresh-cut, organic, first rendition of Duma x Lusvega.

In the beginning, the numen were together. Briefly. They soon dispersed, mostly to sample the pleasures offered by human interaction and relationships.
Lusvega, the erudite, found herself fascinated immensely with quite literally everything. Philosophy, the mechanics of the natural world, the way humans mingled with and influenced one another, the flora and fauna that their lush world was filled to the brim with; what everything physical and metaphysical was composed of, how it all worked, and how the parts fit together. she was curious. if there was a question to be asked, she would be there asking it or figuring it out for herself. Thus, she kept busy for centuries, sampling and gorging herself on information and ideas.
Eventually, she gathered some disciples. Humans who could keep up with her intellectually, somewhat, and who she could learn from as well as with, even as she taught them all they wanted to know. Her kinship with humans did not stop there. She was well known, revered even, throughout sophic society as they recognized that her discoveries helped them. Countless developments and inventions could be credited to her.
And so it was all the more crushing when the curse befell her. Previously, she had been bathed in the glow of her blessing: genius. Now there was another side to the coin: misunderstood genius. No matter how Lusvega tried to approach them, the people misunderstood or outright feared anything she taught or produced. Her previous breakthroughs remained beloved cornerstones of civilization: agriculture, textiles, food safety, medicine... but nothing new would be accepted, not under the influence of her curse.

Meanwhile, Duma was her opposite. He spent centuries relaxing, sampling the pleasures of the world and exerting his incredible, boundless power as he saw fit. His path rarely crossed with Lusvega's, as the civilizations that sprang up around her tended to reject and revile the chaotic, wild magic that seemed to flow from Duma like a mountain spring. Preferring peace and praise, he avoided them as much as they did him.
He took human lovers, performed miracles, occasionally slept for years on end, and explored much of the planet. He did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, with little to no plan or care for what would come next. He truly lived in the moment. Lusvega indulged and caressed her mind, fulfilling its every desire, while Duma did the same for his body and emotions. Hedonistic is what he was. 
When the curse overtook him, he was no longer able to seek the company of humans. His power, once so glorious and wholesome, was now too much for anyone but him to endure. Living things, even the grass beneath his feet, became warped, sickly, and eventually dead after getting too close for too long. Frightened and dismayed by the change, he fled to the deepest depths of a mountain cavern and hid. One hundred years of sleep ensued. When he could sleep no more, he attempted meditation, or paced, or explored his terrible new home. Years continued to pass. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, and raced up to the world above, desperate for the touch of the sun on his skin, and for a reminder that he was not really the only living thing left. 

It was beautiful enough to freeze him where he stood. A forest had grown up around the base of the mountain, and birds sang in the trees above. Duma began, slowly, to walk, stepping gingerly and looking around at the world like he'd never seen such a place, though it would have been commonplace and nothing special previously. The path led him to the shores of a lake, where he fell to his knees and wept. Having cried himself out, he trudged over to the roots of a huge, beautiful oak tree and fell asleep.
When he awoke, it was dead. Gnarled, slimy, and oozing sap, with all the surrounding plants withered and gray as well. Not a single thing within fifty feet remained unscathed. Duma was horrified. dumbstruck. With an agonized sob, he sprang up and ran until he could no more, collapsing with a pitiful thud and not rising.
Lusvega, at this time, had decided to pay a visit to the other side of the world, away from the sophic civilizations who now rejected her. This put her very near Duma's mountain. Stopping by the lake for a drink, she noticed the ruined tree, as well as the faint trail of death and disease leading away from it. I have never seen such a thing before, she thought to herself. She followed, cautious and quiet, and discovered the fallen numen in a slowly spreading ring of rot. He did not stir as she approached, not even seeming to notice until she knelt beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

and THAT will be all for now! I'll finish in another post :) hehe