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 Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:07 pm
2.VI
~ Destruction ~ midnight_medea  Lien was sure she must look a mess, the white bottoms of he Ao Doi covered in ash from the halls and the outside, the rest of her smeared with dust from the library. Despite this she was thankful that she had managed to find her way out of the confusing maze of books. The Pantheon was truely a magnificent place, despite the state of dissarray it seemed to be in.
She wandered through the ash and the debris into what seemed to be a living area. There were couches, a huge, empty hearth. Looking around her she could only imagine how beautiful itmust have been once. Like many things in this building. Smiling to herself Lien walked over to one of the couches by the hearth and took a seat, not caring that it might make her even dirtier. It was time for a well earned rest, she decided.
Enjoying the silence she opened the large volume of death she had been carrying and started to look at some of the finer details. Waiting for Cosine to emerge from her hiding and tell her exactly what it all meant.Ivynian 
"It isn't really as awful as all that, is it?" The voice echoed from nearer the stairs, where a thing like a man towered, leaned against the relief-sculptures along the outside of the stair. The shadows seemed a part of him, and he of them, still and almost shapeless except for lines like tatters in the crust of the earth glowing from where skin must be. "It's just ash....or does anything that leaves a mark on your clothes qualify as being dirty? Paints, chalk, conte or pastel? Snow? "midnight_medea Lien jumped a little at the voice that came from nowhere and looked up at him with her dark eyes. He reminded her of the demons in folk tales and caused her heart to race a little with fear. When Cosine twitched within her she knew he must be someone important. Someone she recognised. Could this be the cause of all she had seen. The god of gods that Nergal had told her of.
"Anything that leaves a mark I imagine." She said, unable to tear her eyes away. "Though snow, surely that just makes them wet?" Ivynian
"I suppose that would be a matter of the clothe. Suede discolours with water. But it is tanned skin." He made no move to come closer or go farther. "Your assumption is correct. "midnight_medea "True." Lien said, watching his form from the nice distance at which he stood. Her assumption? Heh, so he could read her thoughts. Not that she was really that supprised.
"Then, my lord," she stood, placing the book on the chair and bowing deeply. "I have a question for you. Though I have no offering in return for an answer." She breathed in, suddenly feeling a little more nervous than before. Cosine was nervous, she could feel it and that troubled her. Ivynian
"The world would be a poorer place if never a question was answered that wasn't first made tribute for. " He chuckled, the sound vibrating along the stone of the floor, " "You may at least ask. I do not promise you will like or dislike any answers I have to give. "midnight_medea Lien smiled at his chuckle, it was a dangerous noise she thought, like a small tremor that could easily turn into a full blown quake. She thought of what Coalan had said and looked back up at him.
"Any answer will be a good one." She said with a slight shrug. "At least I would have made an attempt to gain some knowledge. I wish to know who or what Arctang is. A longing to find this, thing, person, whatever it is has been nudging at me since I bonded with the gem. It seems important to my goddess." Ivynian
"Your sibling, child, your blessed twin and fellow deity of Numbers." "Arctang has also found a host, though has not been presented to me. You are in luck, though, the form remains mortal, so will be less strange for your meeting. Perhaps as hosts you may bond, and feel less strange for the kinship already instilled by your gods."midnight_medea "My twin?"
Cosine stirred and observed the destroyer tentatively. She did not trust him and she did not wish to be part of this conversation. They would have figured it out in the end. They did not need to converse with destruction.
Small bits of memory began to creep in, blurry and distant. He had a host, that was a good sign, a very good sign indeed. They just had to find him.Lien smiled at Cosine's relief and bowed her head to destruction.
"Thank you." She said thinking that it was very good news. She would have someone to go through this with.
She paused for a moment and realised that this might be her only chance to speak with the god whilst she was still alive.
"May I ask why you have made the world as it is? Also, is it true that when Cosine takes me over I will have no soul?" She knew she might be pushing her luck, but he seemed like a reasonable enough god. Ivynian "This world?” He laughed, full and deep so that the walls hummed. “My reign covers much, much more then this feeble planet. This is but one world among countless, a single instance in time and place. And what besides my coming to power has forced the recognition of mortal kind? They came only when called to the pantheon, to Creation. Only the hosts came. But now they come here, they come to the eyries of wind or shadow, to dream’s halls, to Bark and Bone, they come, Lien. They seek again the true powers, the only left, for help or salvation, for strength or revenge, good or ill, in the time of my power. The True Gods are recognized. “
"You will serve her as she wishes. Not that you will have no soul, no girl. You misunderstand. You are not possessed; you are fuel. Your soul is paid to rebirth the goddess. If she chooses to merge with you in the process, or to burn all of you with no remains but shadows and indents of a letters from the first page on the rest of notebook, then that is ultimately her choice. Maybe she will consult you. “
"That makes some sense, I suppose." She shrugged and lookd down at the book she carried. As he went on she turned her eye back up to him and raised an eyebrow.
"So if she chooses to destroy me then that is it? I am nothing?"Ivynian "Correct, Lien. Though perhaps you can strike up some sort of convincing argument for yourself and your continued usefulness.“ The answer was quirked, amused by his own answer. As though this were the most natural sort of conversation in the world, and not at all potentially upsetting. midnight_medea Lien smirkd a little and looked away, off across the ash covered room. Beg for her life, this was sounding more and more like a sentence on death row.
"Well, she could use some backbone." She said, turning her eyes back to him. "I mean, look. Here I am in front of the god who could answer all her questions and she is hiding. I find it slightly insulting that she is going to waste me on hiding in libraries all day long." Ivynian "Hope your goddess is a merciful one, with 'arguements' like that, “ Though it didn't sound chastising at all. "You cannot force anything, really, on her. You would likely find Socratic Debate a great deal more effective then plain insult. Though....personality-wise, perhaps she may have fallen so far in meekness to become an enabling shadow that needs the will of others to guide her hand. “ The creature/Man shrugged, "These things are had to determine with only powder and mana left, and then cold stone, barely speaking.“ midnight_medea Lien opened her mouth to speak though nothing came out. Instead she felt her body grow numb, distant. She was fading and it was an odd experience.
"Maybe I just have nothing to say to you." Cosine said, her eyes turning to the god she both feared and respected. "Either of you. If you have nothing important to say, then say nothing." She smirked a little and folded her arms. "Is that such a bad thing? Oh and I would be careful with your choice of words my Lord. She is a simple creature. I do not think she would know 'Socratic debate' ."
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:10 pm
2. VII
~ The Book ~ midnight_medea (NO POSTING. THABARA AND MEDEA ONLY )Lien walked from the pantheon feeling tired and mentally exhausted. She had met some interesting people and learned some interesting things. So much that her mind was having trouble trying to digest it all.
"Thank you for waiting." She said as she walked back across the ash strewn floor to Nergal.
"I met him, Destruction, and ... I found some interesting things." Thabara Nergal rose quietly from where he had been sitting on the remnants of a wall - just where Lien had left him hours ago when she'd gone inside - and slightly inclined his head in a greeting while he absently brushed the ash off his coat with one hand.
"It was no bother," he said with a small, polite smile. Given, it had been late morning when they'd arrived at the black temple, and by now the sun was starting to set, but that had been all the more reason for him to wait. To let her head back alone, in darkness - no way. "Patience is a virtue, they say.. Besides, I met a fine young man - a 'host' such as you - and there are always the voices of the dead for me to listen to. I was not bored."
So, she'd met Destruction.. If she'd had any illusions still left about her fate, they were probably shattered now.
Nergal eyed the dark building she'd come from warily, feeling a sharp stab of guilt. To present himself before his Lord was overdue, and there were answers he needed.. wanted.. But not now. Not now. I do not feel ready yet to face Him.
"Then.. did you find out more about 'Arctang'?" midnight_medea Lien smiled and hugged the book to her chest.
"I did." She said with a nod, looking up at the fading light that filtered through the ash and dust. "He is Cosine's twin brother. And has a host too."
Lien looked at the death god and smirked a little.
"So it looks like myself and my goddess will be doing some searching. Oh, Cosine led me to the library too. I found something for you." Thabara
A twin brother..? No small wonder then that Cosine had been so insistent about finding out more about this 'Arctang', even if she apparently remembered barely more than his name - their ties must have been close, at least before the fading. "If he already found himself a host, I believe it is inevitable that you will run into each other sooner or later," he said reassuringly.
"Something.. for me?" Nergal asked slightly perplexed upon Lien's other announcement, giving the heavy tome the Asian woman was cradling against her chest a second look now.midnight_medea Lien nodded and smiled, heaving up the huge book sothat he could look at it.
"Cosine said it was some kind of record. Like, a list of the dead. It seems she was something of an accountant or ... clerk. There are records of everything in the library." Thabara
"A list of the dead.." Nergal reached out to trace the edge of the ancient leather cover gingerly. It must have been one record among countless, he assumed, as even a tome this big would only be able to hold a small fraction of all that had been his.
"An accountant or clerk.." Nergal nodded slightly. "It does not seem so unlikely - I would imagine quite a few of the Pantheon required your Lady's services. Not that I could name any domains right now, but surely I can not have been the only one."
He eyed the book once more. "Would you like me to carry this for you? It seems quite heavy."midnight_medea Lien smiled and nodded.
"Yes, there were many, many books. Oh and she spoke, through me." She said, handing the book to him with a nod of her head and a smile of thanks.
"I met ... a young girl. Caolan. Cosine spoke to her through my mouth. It was a strange feeling. As though I was watching the world from within myself."
A troubled look crossed her features and she looked up to the blue god.
"Does that mean I will be dying soon?" She asked softly. Thabara "Caolan." The the usually subdued deity perked up visibly. "I know her, she is Hunt's daughter. She is well then, I take it?" He had been somewhat concerned about her fate ever since he'd left her wander off into the Pantheon alone, so he registered not without relief that there had apparently been no need to worry. She was a goddess in her own right after all - a child still, the full potential of her powers yet undeveloped, but at least not a pitiful half-thing such as those who had been reborn.
He cradled the ancient book against his chest and thought for a while before he answered Lien's troubled question. "I do not think so," he said gently. "The first time I had enough strength to wield control over my host's body was months before I finally made it my own." midnight_medea Lien nodded as he asked if the small goddess was well. Yes, she supposed she was, if in a bit of a quandry that seemed old for her young years.
"Yes, we had a rather interesting discussion on the subject of murder. It seems Destruction wishes for her to take a life."
She shrugged, there were few things that seemed strange now.
"I liked her. She was refreshing."
She smiled and listened to him. Months, well, she supposed that was better than nothing.
"It's funny." She said. "In movies, when people know they only have a few months to live they do all the crazy things they've always wanted to do. Here I am, knowing my time is limited and I am quite happy to spend it ambling along as I am." Thabara "Is that so..?" He must have requested a human sacrifice of her, then. Probably only natural considering Harmodius' current form and the young death deity's own domain. "I like her as well," he admitted with a small smile. The child's detached, matter-of-fact way to view of things was similar to his own, he felt.
"Perhaps all you have always wanted was to simply live your life in peace," he suggested. "To simply do as you please without the need to masquerade as someone you are not." midnight_medea Lien smiled and thought about his words for a moment.
"I think perhaps you are right. I think I have had enough of adventure." She looked up to the sky and breathed the dusty air deeply.
"I suppose we should get back home." She smiled. "And I think I am begining to like Cosine. She'd just frosty because she's shy. Maybe I can liven her up a little before I'm gone." Thabara
'Frosty because she is shy', hm? Now didn't that sound familiar? Nergal quietly smiled to himself; it seemed Cosine had a trait or two in common with him, and she (or perhaps her underlings) had worked for him in the past.. Chances were good they'd get along well, once the deity emerged to be more present.
"Does she treat you kindly?" he asked as he started to head back. Darkness was approaching quickly now that the sun had set, but it wouldn't be much of a problem - he could already see the first ghostly flame hover quietly in mid-air in some distance and he knew others would follow soon enough. He hastened his steps a little, hoping Lien would manage to keep up with his pace - but he did not wish for those small souls to venture so close to the Pantheon.midnight_medea Lien followed after him, fast to keep up with his pace.
"Um, kind enough. She is a little harsh sometimes, I believe that she thinks me stupid. And, true I am not the most academic of people but I am sure there are things she could learn from me and I from her."
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:11 pm
2. VIII . I
~ PERMISSION TO LAND 1/3 ~ An implanted god, a bodiless entity floating in the recesses of another's mind. one, two, san, shi, cinq, six, siete y otto, neun, zhen.Cosine counted to herself as Lien slept. She could see the young girl's dreams, fragmented puzzles of reality, worry and hopes. She tended to stay out of the girl's mind. It was not the most pleasant of places. She knew many thought her weak but that did not matter. She was far from it and Arctang had always told her that it did not matter what others thought. She could remember that much. Since Lien's meeting with destruction she could remember more and more about her twin. She could remember the sound of his voice and his kindness. She wanted him back badly and intended to search hard for this person that carried him. Even his teasing would be welcome. As she existed in the darkness another memory of that day came to her. The creepy young girl. Suffocation. She had spoken to her. For a few moments she had managed to gain control of the body. She pondered the logistics of this in the darkness and found she wanted to try again. Cosine concentrated hard, feeling herself spread throughout Lien's body from her toes to her fingertips, it felt odd but she knew she had succeeded as she flexed her fingers and toes. After years trapped within the stone it felt strange to exist again. To place one foot in front of the other, to feel the cold wooden floor beneath her feet. The Asian girl's lips formed a smile and Cosine moved to the kitchen, counting her steps happily as she did so. Four mugs. She mused, counting them and moving to note everything the kitchen and even the house contained. When Cosine saw an object it appeared to her in numbers. Height, weight, size, worth all there for her to analyse. In the silence of the early morning she reached for one of the mugs. One that would hold exactly three hundred millilitres. The volumes of water and grains of coffee she would need spun through her head. As she looked down at the cup something odd started to happen. Other numbers flowed through her mind. Dots, dashes. A call for help. In her mind, more numbers appeared spiralling out of control descending ascending. Feet, thousands of them, speed, velocity. She breathed deeply and move to the window. It was coming from somewhere out there and so she focused on the black sky. It was coming fast, the plane. Old, she could see its age in the numbers that were scrolling through her head. It was falling, no, attempting to land though there was nowhere around for it to touch down. It headed to the blackened forest and with a crunch of charred branches it disappeared into the centre, only noise telling where it had gone. After what seemed like an age the noise stopped and the numbers hit zero. Her hands trembled and the cup dropped to the floor as she could feel herself slipping away, back to the darkness. Hands gripped the counter as she swayed though she was not sure it was her making the effort. Lien breathed deeply and placed a hand on her chest. That had been terrifying. Like being trapped in a prison with no way out. She had thought for a moment that it might be the end. After Nergal had told her that she might have months. Taking a deep breath to clear her head she straightened up and looked to the window. The plane, she had to go and see if anyone survived. "dangerous." The weak voice of Cosine said softly. Lien ignored her and went to grab her coat. That crash had been nasty and she could not just leave the people out there. The smell of disturbed earth and broken wood made her wrinkle her nose as the made her way through the forest, towards the hulk of metal. Breathing deeply she looked up at it; numbers flew through her head though she knew she was still in control. 3, 30, 24, 2, 5, 6. They meant nothing though she knew they were not logical mechanical numbers, they were human. Swallowing, she looked for a way up, to check for survivors. There was nothing, things were too high. "Hello!" she called, silence greeting her for a moment. Then, as she listened she heard it ... crying ... a child, no, two children. Lien felt something inside of her twinge at the thought of the children being hurt. She had never been the maternal type, though children were a topic she had not allowed herself to think about too often. She looked over the plane once more and took another deep breath, grabbing a large stone. "Hello!!" She shouted, throwing the stone at the body of the plane. ****
The pain came like a steam roller pounding its way across her head. At first there had been darkness, nothing. Void of noise and sound. Then the cries had come, they were far away, impossible to reach she tried but her hands were tied and all she could see were visions of those who were lost. The void came once more as nothingness took over. Another noise, a low metallic bang. She was back again, the sound of crying louder, making her force her self closer to the surface. She would not drown in the darkness, she had not come this far for that. Slowly her eyes opened, the light that flowed through her lashes hurting her eyes and making the pain worse. Now the crying was loud, very loud and she remembered, her children. The loud metallic sound came once more. Waking her fully. “Gracie.” She said softly, placing her hand against her head and feeling the sticky dampness of blood. “Gracie, you okay?” “Maaaammy.” the snivelled reply cried, a wave of relief washed over Jessica Shaidey. That had been one hell of a landing. Slowly, she stood and waited for the cockpit to stop spinning. Once she felt stable she turned round and walked over to the passenger seats where her children sat. “Shhh, it’s okay.” she said, picking Caleb’s bunny from the floor and handing it to him to try and sooth him. The dull bang came again as she unbuckled him, followed by a voice. Jess looked to the noise and lifted Cay up to her hip, rubbing his back as she walked to Grace’s seat and helped her out. Another bang and a shout. Jess swallowed a wave of nausea and walked to the hold to release the cargo doors.
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:18 pm
2. VIII . II
~ PERMISSION TO LAND 3/3 ~ Lien stopped searching for the rocks as she heard the door start to open and ran round to the back. It seemed like an age she stood there waiting for the old machinery to jerk and reveal hopefully safe people on the other side. “Hello.” She called again. “Are you all okay?” From the dark interior of the plane a woman emerged, a woman and two small children, both with rusty hair and tear stained faces. The woman looked shell shocked and there appeared to be blood running down her face. “I think so.” She said softly, kissing the child she carried on the head and stepping down onto the charred land. “One of my engines failed, where are we?”Lien watched her and looked up to the hulk of a plane. “Um, I don’t know the name but I live nearby. I can take a look at your head for you, um, if you want.” The woman tilted her head to the side and held her arm out to help her pretty daughter down from the plane. “Um yes, thank you.” She said hesitantly, keeping her hand in her daughter’s. “Uh, my name is Jessica. This is Grace and Caleb.” She smiled a little, a pretty smile, Lien thought as she returned it. “I am Lien, come with me, the house is just though here.” Jess followed the short, asian girl through the charred trees to a house, a nice looking house, a home. She had not seen a home since the day of the eruption. When they had been forced to abandon theirs. “You live here? Alone?” She asked, taking in the size of it. The girl smiled and shook her head as she pushed the door open. “No, I live here with some friends. Well, kind of … I was lost and they took me in. But please come in so I can fix your head up. I am sure Echo would not mind.”Jess looked up at the house once more and nodded. She was not in the habit of trusting people, not since it all started, but her instincts said this would be fine. “Echo? That is an interesting name.” She said, urging Grace in the door and following with Caleb. Lien nodded and smiled. “I do not know if you are from this world and know its quirks but she is a goddess. Her domain is music.”Jess smirked and began to get the feeling she was still lying with her head on the control panel of her plane. Though, she had met plenty of interesting creatures, disturbed from their hiding by the world and its state. “A goddess? Here on the earth?” “Yes, strange I know. Believe me I still do not quite believe it.” Though soon you will be one. Jess smiled and looked around the cosy home, smiling as Grace spotted a kitten and started to stalk it. “Don’t touch anything Gracie. This isn’t our home.” She said, looking around the kitchen, her smile growing wider. “This house is lovely.” Lien nodded and gestured for her to take a seat. “It is, quite unlike anything I have known. How about you? Do you have a home you have come from. Or is the plane your home?” She asked as she went to get something to clean her wound and bandage it up. “I had a home, we had a home. Smaller than this, but just as cosy. It got badly damaged in an earthquake.” “Cat!” Caleb interrupted with a cry of delight as he too spotted one of the furry creatures. Jess smiled and set him down so that she could allow Lien to patch her up. “Echo, your friend. She likes cats?”Lien laughed and started to mop the blood up with a cloth. “Yes, well, I don’t think she minds them. Another inhabitant, I have yet to meet. He likes to collect them apparently. I am not complaining though. I love them.” She smiled softly and inspected the cut on the woman’s hairline. It was deep but not enough to need stitching. “Did you have pets, in your home?”Jess shook her head. “No, none, my husband and I were planning on getting a puppy when the … when Caleb got a little older. But um, the world went crazy and he had to go and fight. He, uh, didn’t come back.” She breathed deeply and looked down at the crucifix that hung round her neck. Lien felt awful now, as Jessica told her story. She had not meant to pry, though she knew few people in the world had a happy story to tell. Especially these days. “I’m sorry.” She replied, her voice softer than usual. She knew what it was to lose loved ones, but not like that. Not to be left with two children to take care of and no home. “Don’t be, it’s not your fault.” She said, looking up at her and smiling as the bandage was placed on her head. “I cannot tell you how relieved I am to have crash landed in a relative safe haven. Are there many people around here, like you and those you live with?”Lien nodded and smiled as the little boy cam wobbling up to her, holding out his rabbit and grinning. “Um, there are others, in the town. There is a shop, many live there, some are nice, some not so much. Though this is a good place to be. I have seen many towns, few have as many kind people as this one. Um, will you be staying long?” She asked, crouching down to hold her hand out to the gorgeous litte todler. “Well, I will need to fix my plane before we think about going elsewhere. So, I may have to search for a place for us to stay.” She watched Caleb with a smile and reached her hand out to ruffle his ginger hair.
“You could take one of the places in town. There are plenty of empty places that only need a bit of fixing up. I could help you if you want?” She offered ticking Caleb’s side and grinning as he giggled and laughed. Cosine watched the little creature warily from within and shrank back at the feeling of warmth she felt, Lien’s emotion she had no doubt. What use did numbers have for children. Especially mortal children. “You don’t have to.” Jess smiled, “I’m sure I can manage.” Lien shook her head and grinned. “No, I insist. It will be a good project for me.” Take my mind off the fact I am dying. She thought to herself. It felt good to be around her own kind. As much as she love Nergal and Echo it was depressing knowing they were just waiting for her to bite the dust. “Come and have a seat on the sofa. I’ll make you all some lunch.”
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Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2012 4:19 pm
2.IX
~ AFTER THE QUAKE ~ Surrounded but alone Lien sat, her hands cupped around a warm paper mug of coffee. She breathed its sweet, yet bitter scent in as she started idly out the window. The sky was a clear endless blue, peeking through the sky scrapers. Outside she knew the air to be cool and crisp. A perfect day to be enjoying an hour or two of nothing special in a world dominating coffee shop. She smiled as she stared across to the Tokyo Four Seasons and imagined what it might be like to stay in one of the rooms there. She had seen pictures of them of course. Large, expensive, all those little touches like free designer shampoo and hose mini fridges with tiny bottles of alcohol and chocolate. Nothing like the hotels she was used to. That she was positive of. Seedy inconspicuous places with rather different compliments on offer. Below, in the entrance to the large station, life went on. Families, friends, lovers, strangers all unaware of the solitary Vietnamese girl with her solitary coffee who watched them. She could be anyone, a business woman taking a break, a tourist or perhaps even a student. Far from home but having the time of her life as she studied and explored the beautiful country. She liked to invent stories for them too, the strangers, dialogues. Sometimes she imagined what it would be like in their world, their homes, their jobs. A couple, dressed for travel clearly having a discrete argument. Their body language was closed, their voices low so as not to cause a scene. 'Did you remember the tickets dear?' The woman would say that, as it would always be the man’s fault. 'I thought you had them' Said as he rummaged frantically in his hand luggage. 'No, I asked you to get them' A frown, the train journey ahead would be silent. A young couple, standing close, reluctant to leave each other. They gazed into each other’s eyes as they spoke, so unaware of anything but themselves. 'Call me when you get there.' 'I love you.' As they part slowly, hands lingering till the last moment trying to savour touch. The man looks back, smiling and giving a wave until he is forced to go through the barriers to the platform and out of sight. She watched them with envy. How simple their lives were, how filled with warmth and love. She longed for those simple moments, for an argument over nothing, for a lingering look. A kiss that was real and full of meaning. Her phone vibrated across the table, waking her from her daydream and demanding her attention. Sighing she picked it up and looked at the pink sparkly display. Nakamura. The last person she wanted to speak to. As she kept her eyes on the display, willing it to stop she had the oddest sensation. She was moving, swaying like a boat on a choppy sea, then, a jolt back and forth. He mug spilled, rolling to the floor, people cried out, crockery crashed and then, as if it had never started it was over. Lien picked her mug up and watched as people joked nervously. Living on the edge in the big city you never knew which quake would be your last. Yet as each one rolled through you ignored the fear and pressed on. Dabbing at the spilled coffee with your napkin as though you had been the one to knock it off the table. Someone had joined her. No, something. Not a form more a shadow. It was wispy, like she imagined a ghost would be. Though instead of smiokey grey it was green, a pale shade of bright green. "You're dreaming" it said matter of factly. Lien nodded and picked up some napkins to mop up the spilled coffee. "Never thought anything of it. Quakes, wars. All the crap that was going on in the world." She said, watching the form she knew to be Cosine. She knew now that she was dreaming. Remembering a time before. "How could you know? The gods were forgotten, you assumed it were just human cruelty."Lien could not see a face thought she knew she was smirking. She gave a soft laugh and looked out the window at the people below. Frozen in time. "You keep saying that, but people still believed. People went to church, to shrines, temples. Faith was still there." Cosine laughed. "No. That was not faith, that was habit. People doing what they thought they should. Many did not believe. They did not respect as they are beginning to do now. They did not understand the true power of the gods.""So you agree with Destruction. You think all this death is necessary?" She asked, looking up as the waitress brought her another complimentary cup of coffee. Cosine appeared to consider this for a while. "No." She said simply. "I am a goddess of humans, without them I am nothing. True, they needed a wake up call, but this ... this I am not so sure. If they die so do I." A silence fell between them, long but comfortable. Lien sipped her new coffee and watched the world whilst Cosine sat in silence. "I need you to help me Lien." She said after a long while. Her voice was unusually soft and even had a hint of kindness to it. "I need you to find Arctang, my brother.""How?" She asked, finishing her coffee and tilting her head to the side. "His host could be anywhere.""Ask, go to the Pantheon again, talk to people Lien. Anything. Just, I need to find him." There was a hint of desperation there. Something Lien herself could understand, if she knew her sister was living and close by she would not wait to track her down. "I will try." Lien said, turning her eyes back to the form and giving her a warm smile. "I will start in the morning. I will ask Echo now she is less busy."Cosine nodded her head and gave the aura of a smile. "Thank you Lien. Your kindness shall be rewarded." She said, her form growing weaker until she had gone. Leaving Lien to her dreams.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:44 am
2.X
~~ Sing For The Moment ~~
“Come ooon!” Grace cried, pulling on Lien’s hand and trying to drag her forwards to join the crowds. Jessica followed not far behind them carrying Caleb in one arm and a basket of food in the other. They were on their way to a concert and not just any concert.
Today was the day of Echo’s big debut. A day Lien knew she had been planning for a while and was rather nervous about. She had taken the decision to invite Jessica and her family along. It seemed the young mother was in need of something to make her smile, the kids deserved some fun too.
“I’m coming.” She laughed, a sound that was becoming more and more familiar to her. As they reached the charred park the four of them could not help but stop in their tracks. There were people, everywhere taking seats, talking, laughing and getting along.
Lien turned to Jessica and smiled.
“I didn’t know this many people even lived around here. Echo is going to be thrilled.” She laughed, grinning down at Grace and watching as the seats began to fill. “Come on Gracie, lets get a seat near the front.”
Jessica watched with a smile as the two of them charged off to the front of the rows of seating.
“Come on Cay.” She said, taking a deep breath. She had not been around this many people in a long time.
As the start of the concert drew near the tension among those who had come to watch grew. The low hum of talking seemed to give way to a silent anticipation, not even the sound of an obligatory crying child could be heard as Lady Echo took the stage.
Lien smiled as a collective gasp of awe eminated from the crowd. She looked truly breathtaking.
“Pretty.” Caleb grinned, pulling his fingers from his mouth and pointing up to the stage.
Grace nodded enthusiastically and bounced in her seat.
“She’s really your friend?” She asked Lien excitedly.
As Echo began to sing the silence returned. Her voice so beautiful that no one dared speak lest they spoil the moment. As the song built Lien noticed that people were beginning to sing along. They were enchanted, truly uplifted by the wonder of her song.
They were smiling, she turned in her seat a little, before her a sea of smiles and joy. Turning back she hugged Grace and leaned back in her chair, her eyes on Echo but her mind far away.
She was back in her bedroom at home, a studious pre-teen listening to the radio as she studied her English homework. She kicked her legs in time with the music and basked in the sunlight that flowed through the open window of the room she shared with her sister.
The Vietnamese pop tune faded and an English language song replaced it on the airways. Motown. Lien knew this because her sister was into that kind of music. And, as if it was a sign she came waltzing into the room, fresh out the shower in her bath robe. She grabbed her hairbrush off the table and started to mime into it, holding her hand out to Lien who looked up with a smile.
After being almost dragged off her bed she danced with her sister, singing in broken English and laughing as the song came to an end.
Happy times, so distant and so far away. She smiled sadly and looked up to Echo as the song drew to a close. Her memories, brought on by the music made her happy. So overwhelmingly happy.
The concert went on, the instrumental pieces just as pleasing. With some of the more upbeat numbers people moved from their seats and began to dance.
“Come on!” Grace laughed, hopping off Lien’s lap and grabbing onto her hand. Lien obliged with a grin and took both her hands. She did not even have to stoop much thanks to her short stature.
Jessica watched her daughter as her red curls shook with laughter and hugged Caleb tightly.
In her mind she could see a day that seemed like a lifetime ago. A week or so after Grace had been born. She had woken realising something was wrong.
The sun was up , the birds were singing and she had not been woken up by her newborn’s cries. That had her worried, in the paranoid way of a new mother. Sitting she looked across to the crib. She was not there. Smiling she flopped back down to the pillows and listened to the sound of music from the radio drifting up the stairs, soon accompanied by Kayne’s own brand of singing.
Smirking she eased herself up from the bed and grabbed her robe. The kitchen was filled with the smell of breakfast. Jessica leaned against the wall and watched her husband dance around with their tiny, precious daughter held against his shoulder with one hand as he flipped pancakes with the other.
The memory made her smile as she watched the goddess, happier times. She thought as a tear rolled down her cheek. Brought back to the present fully with Caleb laying his head on her shoulder she grinned.
“No sleeping baby.” She said, standing up and moving towards Grace and Lien so that she and Cay could join their dance.
Through Echo’s last haunting song the crowd fell silent again, awed by her talent and the love for them that radiated from the stage. Caleb stomped on the ground in his own little war dance that did not fit the tune. Jess laughed a little and looked to Lien. Lien laughed back and she could feel that their spirits had truly been uplifted.
As the song ended the whole crowd was on its feet, whooping and cheering, clapping. Whistling. Flowers were thrown and then a pause for silence as the goddess spoke.
Lien’s heart swelled with pride for her friend. She truly was a goddess, no one could deny that now.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:46 am
2.XI
~~ rest and relaxation ~~ midnight_medea It was a rather plesant day, if that was possible in the land of ash. The sky was a lighter shade of grey than usual and the air seemed lighter, less oppressive. Humming to herself Lien arranged some flowers in a vase. She had found them on her morning walk to see Jessica and the kids.
They had been poking up through the ash close to the forest and had amazed her. She thought that Echo might like them and that she deserved them for the performance she had put on at the concert a night or two before. It had been amazing, like nothing Lien had ever seen before. The people, they were actually happy. It almost seemed like the world was not falling down around them.
That, she decided, was a true power. Zero Dream  But true power had it's cost.
Echo had been resting, gathering her strength again. Seems like holding something this long had sapped her more than she had initially thought, but the goddess still regretted nothing.
At least for now she was taking it easy, sitting on the couch and sipping tea, a notebook open on her knees in which she wrote every now and then.midnight_medea Finishing with the arrangement she picked up the vase and carried it through to the livingroom.
"Morning." She said with a bright smile as she pleced the flowers on the coffee table. "That was an amazing concert."
She took a seat in one of the comfortable chairs and tucked her legs up under her.
"Truely, i have never seen anything like it in my life." Zero Dream "Thank you... I was hoping that you would appreciate it." The goddess said with a smile. To tell the truth, Lien had been one of her reasons to do this, one of her many inspirations, even if the young woman hadn't really noticed it. And while many would have let the fame rise to their head, it didn't seem so for Echo. If anything, the goddess seemed a little more... confident now, in her way of talking and in the way she looked at people, as if she only now had proved herself in their eyes.
"Oh, Lien, these are lovely..." The goddess' eyes went wide, one blue-streaked hand reaching to gently brush the petals as she leaned forward. "Where have you found them ?" Hopefully she hadn't paid too much for these... Echo would find a way to pay her back if she did. midnight_medea Lien smiled as she admired the flowers and leaned back into the comfortable chair.
"They were growing, by the forest." She replied simply. "I was visiting a friend of mine and noticed them on the way back."
She wondered if that meant that things were changing. She doubted it, but it was good to see these small rays of hope poking through the dark ash.
"It was amazing, seeing people so happy. My friend, her children were having so much fun, dancing around. She said she'd not seen them so happy since destruction took hold. You must be tired though. Is that why you haven't been around much?" Zero Dream These... These are been growing in the wild ? Amazing... completely amazing. She would have to tell the mother once she saw her again... It seemed like a miracle. A small, lovely miracle.
"I am glad they enjoyed themselves, also." That was a lovely thing to hear, actually - that the woman had made herself some friends in this world that was not initially her own. The children, especially, needed such happiness to be able to keep on going.
"I seem to have expended more energy than I thought I had, so yes, I am tired. However, I seem to be regaining my strength steadily... There's no need to worry." She said with a small smile. midnight_medea Lien smiled warmly and watched her friend just to make sure that she really was all right and not just saying it.
"That is good, though it seems like such a long time since we have been able to talk. Is much new for you?" She asked. Zero Dream "Yes, much too long..." The gentle goddess said with a smile, even if it was a bit sad. She shouldn't have just pushed everything and everyone aside just like that... but what was done was done, all she could do would be to make sure not to do it again. The goddess did seem well enough, even if she was obliviously tired. One blue hand went to pet Vertigo's head, the cat having taken residence in her lap.
"I think.. I think this isn't new, in the sense that it was always a part of me." Echo began, visibly in thought. "But new in the sense that I hadn't realized it until then. Does that even make any sense ?" midnight_medea Lien nodded and smiled.
"Yes, i think so." She said watching Echo and the cat on her lap. "Like, it was something you had known but forgotten. Something that needed to be unlocked. I mean, it makes sense. You are the goddess of music. It seems only natural that such a power should be yours."
Smiling still she looked to her hands in her lap, hands that would not be hers much longer and sighed.
"I wonder if my goddess has such healing, uplifiting gifts." Zero Dream "Yes, that would be it, I believe." And then, Echo felt silent for a moment. The worry was definitively visible on Lien's face... But what could she do ? They rarely ever talked about the deity that would eventually take her over. All the other knew was that Lien had, in fact, accepted her.
"Perhaps. Or perhaps she heals in a different way, helps the world with other things. We cannot all be the same, after all... Even within the same influence, each and every one is unique, in their own ways." Thoughts of Khiviance and Desiderio came to mind. The two sides of Love. "Just like everyone else. Are you two well, by the way ? I... I probably should have asked such before but." I was busy... no, no, that is not a reason. midnight_medea "Yes we are well." she said with a small smile and a shrug. "She is the goddess of numbers, Cosine. Though no one seems to recognise her name." Lien smirked a little and looked up at Echo. "Though, I am not suprised, she is shy, reserved. We met with Destruction and I was surprised. He is not the monster I would have assumed him to be." Zero Dream "Cosine, hmm..." Echo grew quiet for a moment and let her eyes close, and for a moment, did nothing but listen, just in case... but nothing came. "...Nothing comes to mind right now, but if you leave me some more time, perhaps I may remember something..."[
She perked, then, and glanced at her. "...You met Harmodius ? He... well. Destruction scares me. You are much braver than I am, I must admit." midnight_medea "It's okay." Lien said with a smile as Echo tried to remember if she knew her goddess or not. "She has a twin aparently, one that is newly joined with a host. I want to find them but I am not sure where to start looking."
She smirked and moved her hand as another furry companion jumped up to join her.
"Harmodious, he is terrifying, though ... he was rational." She said with a small shrug. We have no choice but to love him. Zero Dream "A twin, hmm ?" Echo peered at the small woman with an interested glance. "A rare thing. We are almost all related to one another in loose ways, some in more direct sibilings way, but this has to be the first time I heard of twins. Interesting..."
But then something stirred. A vague thought, something that subbornly refused to reveals itself as she spoke of relations.
Something's missing, the song said.
Something's missing...
Echo shook her head, doing her best to clear her mind. Not here, beside - there was little she could do about it right now. "Well, if you say that he has newly merged... The pantheon might be your best bet. Hosts sometimes flock there for answer or shelter, as mine did. At least... it used to be so. Right now, however, I am not quite sure..." She hadn't seen hosts in there since quite awhile... and she hadn't seen much of any recent hosts at all, beside Lien.
Terrifying... and rational. That sounded like him indeed, from what she had heard of others. Given that she had not gathered the courage to seek him out herself, it was all she had to base herself.
"If he was not rational, the world would be ashes by now." midnight_medea "I do not doubt it would be." She said with a small smile. "Though there must be a better way to get people to take notice of the gods. Better than destroying people's lives." she sighed and shook her head.
"I met a woman a few months ago. Her plane crashed not far from here. She had lost her husband and two children to this age. Two young children, one just a baby. I doubt she believes in much anymore. Let alone think of turning to gods. Destruction's logic is twisted."
She shrugged a little and sighed heavily.
"Maybe I will go to the pantheon. Searching will keep me busy whilst I wait to die." Zero Dream Again, this whole thing. Lucius had spoken to her about it - that this might be Destruction's way to have the mortals take notice of the gods. It made sense yet at the same time it didn't, to her. There where windows of opportunities, true... but at what price ?
"...That is horrible." Echo shook her head again, more softly. "I... I wish I could act more directly. But that kind of power is not mine to wield."
Her blue-stained hand ran into the starry pelt of Vertigo, who was still nested on her while purring softly, and she likewise sighed. She wanted to tell Lien that it wasn't like that... but she'd been lying and the other was right. No matter how one looked at it, she would "die". No matter what the goddess would chose, Lien as she existed now would cease to exist.
And no words she could say would change the situation any. midnight_medea "Ah no ... I." Lien paused and smirked a little her fingers stopping to scratch the kitty she had acquired under the chin. "I did not mean to make you feel bad. Just ... express concern I suppose."
A smile colors her lips and she looked back up to her friend, feeling a little guilty for causing the look of hopelessness that had settled on her features.
"Would you like some dinner? I can make you something if you like?" Zero Dream Somehow, the goddess managed a smile. Not quite as wide, warm, or true than usual, but it was a start.
"You have nothing to apologize for, as my bitter thoughts are my own and caused by myself. I still need to learn to deal with them."
Echo seemed to ponder this for a moment. "Dinner would be lovely, but only if I get to help this time." The little twinkle in her eyes was back. This was a good sign. "What do you have in mind ?" midnight_medea "Hmm I am not sure." She said with a smile, easing her lap warmer off and standing. "Of course you can help, I saw some spices the other day and we have some rice and things."
She chewed on her lip a moment whilst picking cat hairs off her clothes.
"I know, I will make you something from my home land. If I can remember how. Come on, I'll teach you." Zero Dream And, with those simple words, the goddess was thrilled. It was something just so easy to catch her attention and deviate her thoughts off less-desirable routes. "That would be lovely."
Echo stood, the cats following her as she made her way to the kitchen, not really bothering with the cat hairs herself. She hadn't really felt like getting dressed today, so her sun dress seemed almost out of place compared to her usual long sleeves and silks. Almost too simple, in fact. Thankfully, almost every mark and wound had long since faded... and what didn't melded with her patches of blue skin well enough for no-one but the goddess to notice. midnight_medea Lien smiled as Echo joined her and started to search for ingredients in the tidy kitchen.
"Do you like to cook?" She asked as she pulled out a pan and a bowl to wash the rice in. She would admit it had only recently become a skill she enjoyed. Nakamura's ownership had been useful for some things. With her own apartment she had actually got to use her own time how she wanted. Zero Dream The goddess perched herself on a nearby stool, peering like an attentive young student.
"I am not all that good at it... but I do enjoy it, yes. It is something quite new for me. New and interesting." After all, before, she had no need for food, or sleep. In her mortal shape, both activities where first needs, which eventually became pleasures. Foods of all colors and shapes, from many worlds and places, the same ingredients put to different uses to make different tastes... What was there not to be amazed ? midnight_medea "My mother taught my sister and I when we were children." She said with a warm smile as she placed the rice in a pan to cook and hunted out the spices. "I used to like it. Especially when we would go to my grandmother's. She used to teach us old recipes and lecture us on being good housewives."
She laughed a little and leaned back against the counter.
"Not that either of us had plans to be housewives, well I didn't I wanted to be a nurse." Zero Dream "I would make a rather horrible housewife, given my track record so far..." The goddess gave a low giggle, doing her best to be attentive and remember what blend of spices Lien was using. "Il'd never wanted to be anything else that I am. Is that odd ? I mean, it figures that in a sense, it does, but..." She let the thoughts stir in her mind for a moment, glancing at her friend with close interest, curious about what the other woman thought. "Even as deities, we are not perfect, after all." midnight_medea Lien smiled and turned to make them both some tea.
"I would too i think." She said, taking the precious tea leaves and using them sparingly in the decorated pot. "Isn't there another influence you think might be interesting to have?" She asked, turning back round to face the goddess. "I suppose it is always fun to imagine alternatives, even if they are not possible." Zero Dream The goddess pondered this for a moment, sapphire blue eyes following the woman as she moved, taking in the details of her every moves as she continued to prepare their dinner. Tea was something she was familiar with, but that did not lessen her curiosity any.
"Well, yes, sometimes... And I've often wished I was in a position to better influence things. But, in the end... ill'd still rather be me, I think. I cannot imagine myself being anything else than what I am. I am music, and music is me." midnight_medea Lien smiled as she handed Echo a cup of steaming tea and leaned back against the counter as the rice cooked.
"That is good." She said with a soft smile. "That you are happy with who you are. I suppose it would be worrying if their was a goddess who wasn't. Happy that is. Especially as we are supposed to look to you all for guidance."
She smiled and blew lightly on her tea.
"It must be a nice, secure feeling." Zero Dream "In a sense, it is, but, too much is just like not enough." Echo looked thoughtful, as she stirred her own tea with a spoon. "After all, we all faded once. This is a symbiotic relationship, at least this is how I feel about this. Mortals look for us for guidance, as we are immortals, living for ages and eons, the creators of almost all that surround them yet... yet, with no mortals, we are nothing at all. With no mortals to wish that we exist, we do not exist at all." She paused, and took a sip from the cup. This wasn't exactly fine porcelain, but it was good enough.
"Many forget this, I feel. I also feel like this would be a mistake. This may be natural curiosity, but I like mortals." She paused to take another sip, then rested the cup on the table. "I love watching them, hearing them laugh, listening to a young child take it's first step on a piano... There is an odd beauty in those notes, innocence that no one who actually knows how to play an instrument can really replicate. I was never able to play that way. I probably never will, but that is alright. I feel that there is a lot of things I have yet to learn, things only mortals can teach me."
"Was I always like this ? This is hard to tell. I have died, have been nothing for centuries... eons... ages. My essence scattered in the Void, most likely, until it was seen fit for me to live again. I remember little beyond what was woven so close to my own self that it remained. True memories are scarce but incredibly powerful - feelings remains stronger, because of what I am. So does sound. Sometimes I have to images but if I sit still and just listen, I will hear snippets of conversation as if it was a song. But beyond that ? Gone. Possibly forever. There may be yet things I will remember, there may not. I might..." She paused for now, apparently having to think hard for this one. "...have been the number one queen b***h of the metaverse, and I only remember my nice moments. This is insecurity, no matter if I want it or not." She smiled a bit, clearly intending to make the young girl laugh with that statement.
"So I've chosen to learn anew. From my host. From the people of this city, from my aoidei, from you. I was to be close to the mortal races - to learn, to understand, and probably due to a little bit of fear, one must admit. I doubt I'd be given a third chance if I fail now." She frowned a bit with realization. "But I must be boring you, am I ? I apologize. This old lady is rambling." She said with a wink. midnight_medea Lien listened intently to her friends words. She felt the same, so many of the gods seem to think that the mortals owed them something. Though without the believe of mortals what were they? Faded pieces of stone. continuing to listen she placed her mug on the counter and turned to stir the rice a little as it began to bubble and froth.
"I think your words make a lot of sense." She said with a smile and a small laugh at Echo's jokes. "And, it does not matter what you were before. Yes, the past shapes us and is solid, but it it just that, the past. The future is what we can change and shape. I think to learn from people is noble of a goddess. You are special Echo. I believe that, your kindness and intelligence." She smiled and turned back to face the songstress.
"I believe I have been given to Cosine to help her. She is shy, not confident, I truely believe i can help her to be like you. To see people, to try to understand them and to love them. To give her some strength so she can be the goddess she should be."
She reached for her tea once more and leaned on the counter again.
"Life is for living afterall, no matter what your situation. I know that well." Zero Dream "A past mostly forgotten is what shapes me. Shapes us. We just have to pick those broken pieces up and make something new from them. I believe there is much she will learn from you." She said with a smile, but quickly grew pensive as her eyes fluttered half-closed in thought.
Could she really promise something she was not sure she could fulfill ? She looked at Lien for a moment, and remembered exactly why she had to.
"...I will be there for Cosine, if she wishes me to be." The goddess announced, her voice soft. "If she has any need for me, I will be there. There may be hurt at first, of course, but I am a creature of emotion, and I do not know if I will be able to contain the pain. I will not pretend I can, but I will tell you this."
She rose one hand to gently touch the tip of Lien's hairs. How, she wished she could make the young woman see herself as she saw her - let her see how beautiful and important she was. "...My host, Zero, was young, Lien. Younger than you. Not even an adult yet, not even close to be, but grown used to act as such because it was what was expected of her. In her stay at the pantheon there was a goddess that took care of her. Her name is Beryl, the lady Wind. She cared for my host like a mother... I held out, as long as I could, and in the end... In the end I stole her away under her own eyes. I cannot blame Cosine for something I have done myself."
Her hand moved, to gently cup her cheek. "And if Beryl has found the strength to forgive me, and guide me when I could not stand on my own feet... Then I will find my own strength and do the same. This, Lien, is my promise to you. And to Cosine. To the both of you. I will not let either of you down if I am needed." midnight_medea Lien listened to her and smiled sadly. Yes, it would happen. She thought. As much as she liked to pretend that this time as a host would last forever.
"Thank you Echo." She said softly, looking down as she touched her hair. it reminded her of her mother. Or did it? Memories were so hazy now. "I have met few people as kind or as gentle as you are. Cosine is silent today, but ... I think she will have need for friends. I wish to ask my human friend to help her too. If she wants it. This is our destiny, it is not your fault that we are consumed. Not entirely."
She smiled alittle and reached for a fry pan as the rice seemed to be cooked.
"What does it feel like to be loved Echo?" She asked as she transfered rice to the pan. Zero Dream "But I still feel responsible." The goddess trailed on, letting go at last. "And so I take responsibility."
The goddess smiled, a bit enigmatically. "It depends what kind of love you are asking about. There are many. How do you feel, when I am with you ?" midnight_medea Lien smiled warmly.
"Like I am ten years old and back in my family home." She smirked and stirred the rice in the pan as it hissed with the heat. She thought how to put what she wanted to ask and started to measure the spices into the pan. It was funny, someone like her being embarassed to ask this.
"I mean, love, love. Not that of family or friends. The kind people write poetry and songs about." Zero Dream Ech paused for a moment, mulling the question in her head.
"...That is a very hard question. I honestly think that it is different for everyone. For me... It just makes me feel like everything is alright, and nothing will ever go wrong anymore. It makes me feel strong, really." She paused. "...We do have two deities of love, one who lives at the pantheon. He would probably be able to give you a much better answer than I. I sing about love - I don't really need to understand every aspect of it in the process." She said with a smile. midnight_medea Lien listened to her as she stirred her creation and smiled sadly.
"No, that is what I wished to know. A real answer, not that of some love god." She said, turning the heat down and reaching up to get two simple bowls.
"It makes me sad that I will never know that." She said softly, placing the bowls on the counter and turning back to her meal as a tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.
"I've known many, many men. But I'll never know what it's like to be held by someone and feel their warmth and love for me." She smirked and wiped her cheek. "You probably think I'm silly. Just, suddenly being surrounded by real people, people and gods who care deeply for each other. It reminds me what I have missed." Zero Dream "It is not silly." Echo said softly, one hand raising again to brush what was left of the water from her cheek. "And I am sorry for that, also, if only because it means that no-one bothered to look and see the true you." The same thing for Zero, actually... But Zero had been young, so young. How old did mortals to be before they felt to urge to love that one way, at any rate ? There had been Revei, but from Echo's perspective, that was honestly muddled and unable to truly understand - her own feelings of friendship for the dream god had overridden everything else.
She wished that Lien could find and feel it one day, but with her current situation, this did not seem a smart thing to advise - so she kept that to herself.
"Mortals can be cruel. Just like gods." midnight_medea "I think I have only just discovered the true me." She admitted, scooping her flavoured rice into the two bowls. "And yes, mortals can be so very cruel, and maybe it is that dark side to our nature that makes gods dark as they are."
She shrugged and handed Echo a bowland a spoon.
"I hope you like it. And, I have found other kids of love and warmth I suppose. All is not lost. Maybe one day Cosine will find the kind of love you have." This was something she hoped for the shy goddess within her. She did not want her to hide in the shadows of her books forever. Maybe there was a god out there who could draw her out.
"At the risk of changing the subject. You like children?" Zero Dream Echo only nodded in answer. That made sense. It took taking her out of that horrible world she had been trapped inside of for so long for the young woman to truly understand herself. The goddess was glad this happened.
"I love children." She said with a smile. "I haven't really been in company of any for a long time, but I do." After all, not only Beryl had taken a mothering attitude toward her host. She had done it herself, in despite of the odds. "They are adorable, I feel. Adorable and pure. We should think the way children do sometimes, and I would be sure it would be easier to short through some troubles !" She said with a laugh, before she tasted the dish.
Hmmm... "That is really good." midnight_medea "thank you." Lien said as she joined the blue goddess. "Well then, maybe I have an offer for you. You remember I told you about my friend. The woman who came to the concert with me. I said I would watch her two children for a while next week. She needs to go and find some things."
Lien smiled and scooped some rice into her spoon.
"I could bring them here. You could help me out if you like? They really are the cutest things." Zero Dream "That is a great idea !" Echo really looked excited by the idea. Hell, she was already thinking up lullabies... just in case they would be needed.
Heaven save the world if the goddess ever became a mother herself.
"I bet. How old are they ?" It would be hard for her to understand what numbers meant what age, but she could try. midnight_medea Lien smiled as Echo shared her enthusiasm for the babysitting task. Enthusiasm for children was not something she had ever thought she would find, though through her adopted family she was learning what it was to be a child again. How to laugh and have fun.
"Caleb, her son is two, and Grace, her daughter is five I think. She had the prettiest red curls. Both of them love to dance too so I am sure they would have a lot of fun with you." Zero Dream "I will have to find ways to amuse them then." Ah, dance. Of course Music loved to dance. Even if she hadn't done so in quite a long time indeed. She would probably get to do so with the young ones then. "What else do they like ?"
Oh, Echo seemed to already have plans to spoil them rotten. midnight_medea "Hmm let's see." Lien said, shifting excitedly. This was going to be a lot of fun she decided. "Grace is a typical girl, though they don't have much. She likes dressing up and things like that, colouring. Oh maybe they would like to paint, though i am not sure where we would find paints. Um, Cay likes to make noise,oh and he loves animals. Jessica got Grace one of those Floox creatures for christmas and he just loves it, and the cats when they came here." Zero Dream "Well, there is sure enough cats here to make them happy." Echo was certain of that, as she peered to one of the furry faces that had joined them, peering expectantly as if wanting a taste of the rice.
"Finding paints would be hard. We might be able to find her some kind of doll in good shape. What about this shop you talked about ? I am sure I can find something you can trade." No more of Lien giving up her belongings, this was her turn. "We might be able to find crayons... Maybe. I have alot of paper around the house."
That was an understatement. The goddess had enough blank notebooks to open a paper shop, thank to the resourcefulness of her aoidei. midnight_medea "Hmm, I might be able to find some." She said with a nod. "A doll too. I'm sure we could make a dress. I'm not the greatest sewer but I could give it a go."
She smirked and continued to eat for a little bit.
"I think they will really enjoy this. They need a day of fun, and their mum really could do with a break I think." Zero Dream "Yes, it would probably do her good." Having to take care of two young children, mostly alone, with the world as it was, must be quite something for the poor woman. "Ill'd be glad to allow her some rest. And if we can make the children happy as well, then all the better. Ill go see what I can find the afternoon... At worse, I am sure I have some dress that we could take fabric some somewhere. You will have to sew however, I am hopeless at that." The goddess laughed. "As I said, I am not very... domestic, I guess." midnight_medea "I am not great but I shall try." She smirked, finishing off her dinner and reaching for her tea. "I will clear this all up. You should go and put your feet up. Make sure you are rested properly. Thank you Echo, I enjoyed this. it's nice to have a good long chat every now and again I think." Zero Dream "Yes, it is. And I should probably do that, yes..." Normally she would have offered to help, but she had not quite recovered yet and she was getting a bit tired. "Wake me if i am napping too long, please ? So we still have time to go looking."
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:50 am
2.XII
Needle in a Haystack
Quest 1/5
All that glisters is not gold.
Often have you heard that told;
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms infold.
The Merchant of Venice. Act II scene 7. William Shakespeare.
You walk with confidence little one. As though the world is responsible for all of your misfortunes. There is arrogance in your step, if the world owes you, why should you be afraid.
For this arrogance, I admire you.
I have always been meek, creeping like a mouse, staying silent when I should have spoken.
I envy you.
But now you are mine, your mysterious beauty, your knowledge, passion and strength. I may pick and choose from your assets and maybe become a stronger goddess for it.
Together.
Now we walk without fear, to the realm of Harmodius. An honour and a trap I fear. How can we search for what we do not know. A needle in a haystack … so they say.
I watch you, my child, touching the key with your delicate fingers. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? So dangerous? Like these stairs we climb and the door that lies ahead. All brilliance comes at a price.
Look Lien, behold. Few, if any have gone before us. Have stood and admired these magnificent gates. I feel your heart rate increase. They are vast gates, shimmering as the diamonds catch the meagre light that guides us towards them. Moonstones compliment the diamonds and it is at this moment we realise that this quest is real. Your hands begin to tremble as mine would I think. Together we lift the key, you physically, my mind guiding you. Slipping it through the lock, fear building. Fear of the unknown within.
It turns effortlessly, the key, gliding in the lock with a magical ease. A series of clunks and a whirring like bird song and the doors begin to open, slowly yet effortlessly.
We move as one, you and I. Me urging your steps on the marble floor. Together we wait for them to open fully and when they do there is nothing but darkness. You swallow and hold your breath, waiting … not daring to step much further.
This silent darkness is brief though it seems to last an eternity. Before either of us can comment there is a flash of brilliant light and the scene before us unfolds as the torches die down, their flames dancing in the draft that slips through the doors.
The sight before us would be enough to turn the mind of the most honest man. We are struck senseless by the sheer size and contents of this wondrous hall. It is like a movie, you think and I smile at the images that engulf your mind. A blue genie and a duck swimming in gold, guardian monsters and curses.
For me there is only honour and awe. I cannot believe I have been chosen to witness this wonder. Riches stretch before us, riches of all kinds not just jewels and gold. Weapons, furniture, clothes. It is like an antique shop gone wild. The doors close slowly behind us and I feel your fear. Are we trapped, will we have to hope on a genie to allow us to escape?2/5 Onward child, onward.
The vastness cannot be comprehended or discribed. There is no surface that does not contain a treasure of some kind. My metholodicalmind calculates volume, mass and wealth. Probability even of our being able to sort through this and how long it will take. Men would spend their lives in here searching for their heart’s desire and die before they found it. Our feet move carefully down the marble stairs, we are tiny compared to this cavern.
Then it hits.
I must search it all. Millions of treasures fit for a world of queens and I must find one. Where to begin? There seems to be no order or method to these riches they just lay there. My logical mind doesnot like that. I know I will organise as I search. Place coins with coins, furniture where it should be. Divide and conquer the hoard.
You suggest to start at the back and work forwards. I like this idea and so we begin our journey. Picking our way through the small paths, and valleys in the mountains of treasure.3/5 A sword with a jewelled hilt, set in a scabbard of woven leather and cloth, intricate, woven with love and protection. As I carry it to the area I have designated for weapons I admire its beauty.
Fit for a queen? Queens have need of swords and this one is exceptional. I ease it from the scabbard and the blade sings of freedom. It is sharp, though does it speak of desire? I listen to what it has to say. No. it speaks of freedom, of strength and longing, though not true desire. Its manner is far too fair for that.
Onward, onward we go.
Furniture, possibly? I think as I carefully pick up a shard of reflective glass. I wonder what elegant mirror it may have belonged to, where did it hang. I see halls of gilded mirrors, definitely fit for a queen and turn the glass to you.
A painted woman stares back, her face white, eyes closed, lips scarlet and parted in a mocking picture of false pleasure and desire. It takes moments for me to realise it is you. Then I notice other things, bruises, cuts. The expression on your face twisted and ugly.
I wonder, could this mirror be a novelty fit for a queen? It would certainly be a powerful tool. I place it on my growing pile of furniture and note its location for later.
Sifting, searching, there are so many pointless items here proving that one man’s junk is another’s treasure. An elaborate box catches your eye. Surely that might be fit for Greed. It is covered in beautiful classical scenes. You think of a famous box, a source of the world’s fear and despair. Though they had long since escaped.
Still, I urge you to open it tentatively you can never be too careful after all. Inside, as the lid creaks back I see a beautiful crown. It shines like the stars in the dark interior. I lift it out and admire the its beauty. I see a young woman, betrayed and abandoned on an island. She has given everything in the name of desire and love. In true tradition that man has betrayed her. I place it next to us and reach for the second item.
A ball of string?
This is not familiar to me. It feels useful, powerful. I concentrate on its texture, it feels strong. Unbreakable? I see a maze, the young woman who wore the crown. This was hers I feel. I discard them both, back into the box. A crown is too obvious you say and I agree. Surely a goddess of Greed would have many.4/5 I curse who let this place get in such a state. Though now it is beginning to resemble a treasury fit for the god of gods. Everything has been counted, weighed and measured in the vast filing cabinets of my mind.
Now I am left with two options. Both, I sense of vast power though both very different. One is simpe. A crown of thorns. Not gold or silver, not jewelled or rare in its looks. Though the power …
When I hold it carefully in your hands I feel faith. Not of a few but millions. I feel desire, the desire to command these followers to show them the way and watch them bow to my rule. This is a crown of arrogance. Pain, there is also death. A martyr. This is a crown made for execution. Another kind of arrogance. That that causes ignorance..
“Arrogance is dangerous.” You say and I agree. “Love, power and devotion needs to be earned not forced.”
Your words are human. One who watched the great arrogant gods from afar. This crown is a lesson, you say. A warning not fit for a queen. Even if it is the queen of greed.5/5 So I am left with one, it looks simple. A beautiful golden belt, simple yet clearly made by and expert craftsman. A girdle they called them once, used to adorn women’s plain clothes. You look at the simple links of gold and run your fingers over the tarnished surface.
It is too mundane you say. No decoration, no jewels. Of course a mere mortal would covet its worth. But the goddess of greed?
A small smirk crosses my, no, your lips, controlled by me. You do not feel what I do. The desire that drips from it makes me feel weak. It is a thing I have never experienced, yet I know it is powerful. Able to enslave the mind of the most stubborn.
This desire is one you know well, my companion. Lust, want. The ability to be irresistible to anyone. What better gift for the goddess of greed?
An item that is beautiful and powerful, something that would bring people to their knees.
Again your concern breaks through my thoughts.
This is dangerous.
But, our quest was not to find something safe, but something she would want. This, is indeed a gift fit for a goddess.
Our work is done
I give you no room for argument, after all it is I who am in charge, if only for this task.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:54 am
2.XIII
~~ Spoils ~~ midnight_medea It was strange being within the walls of the Pantheon. There were so many people around, no, so many gods. It made sense but was a little surprising when she spent so much time with human company or just Echo and Nergal. She was begining to understand both Nergal and Cosine's agoraphobia where the home of the gods was concerned. You never know who you would run into and how nice they were going to be. So it was with hesitation that both she and Cosine climbed the stairs to the throne room. In her hands she carried a simple wooden box, inside it the item that they had chosen from the treasury. Niether Lien nor Cosine liked the item. The call from it was strong and Lien had had enough of false desire for one lifetime. She breathed deeply and looked up at the doors to the large hall. They were open and the place seemed to be empty, though as Lien knew that meant nothing. She stepped inside the ash ridden room and glanced around. "My Lord?" She said, a little nervous as her voice echoed in the rafters. Ivynian  “There are no jabberwocky within these walls, “ He sounded amused. The great voice seemed strange and incongruous with the shape of the youth that walked up the stairs behind her. Cutting off route between the exit of the room and her. “Do you return in success, ladies? “midnight_medea The man who appeared before them was much different than the terrifying god they had met before. If it was not for certain similarities and that he knew who they were Lien would not believe he was the same god. "We did Lord." She held out the box and took a step towards him. "I think you will find the treasury in much better order." Cosine piped up. "There were many things of interest but we both feel this." She lifted the lid to reveal the golden girdle. "Might satisfy greed." She smirked a little. "Or not as she must be the goddess whose appitites can never be sated."Ivynian “Satisfaction is a lie, and a very useful one to buy souls with, “ He looked in, drawing the girdle up on clawtips laquered red and dusted with gold. “What is dirty may be clean, what is gold may be seen. “ The dust of ages dripped like water from the piece and it lay shined and new wrought before the glimmered dark. A pretty thing, delicate enough to wrap finely and in contrast to dark velvets and simple elegance. He remembered it. “Well done. Take this servant, a gift in return for your hard work. Perhaps once it is grown again to itself it will aid you in such dreary work. It's name is Phirren. “ He offered out a strange figurine to her, a cat-lady's tchotchke holding a staff like a shaman's. Well, it was cute if nothing else?  midnight_medea Lien could almost feel herself holding her breath as he took the girdle out of the box. She watched as the dust fell from the tarnished accessory and smiled as it lay glimmering in his hands. it was beautiful enough for a queen. She thought. Cosine watched from within as he offered out the charm. "Thank you Lord." She said, a bow accompanying her words as she took the charm and looked at it with a smile. "Phirren." She mused. "I am sure I will need all the help I can get when I am reborn."Ivynian “By being with you, and your regard and interaction, it will wake again. Give it time, for they have long been sealed away. But they were loyal subjects, and devoted tribes to us all. “ He draped the belt over his arm. This will do well enough as a second gift of favor. Her halls are not well gilt to passed splendour, nor her wardrobe what it once was. And gold on black goes hand in hand. “You have worked hard, and earned a rest. I require no more of you, please, focus on yourselves. “
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:56 am
2.XIV
~~ Gamble ~~
此の勝負に負けたら「生キテユク資格モ無イ」
If I lose this fight 'I'm not fit to be alive' I was a ghost. Invisible, just as the man that stands on the corner with a sign that says ‘spare change please.’ I could have fallen at any time and not one person would offer to pick me up. I was surplus to requirements.
A doll, dressed and painted. Groomed to please.
Every afternoon I would get off at Shinjuku station, another face in an ocean of people. You would think I would stand out. Jolting along on the subway at four in the afternoon, dressed in stilletos, a low black evening dress slit to the thigh. Hair short and bobbed. A clown with blood red lips and false eyelashes, a witch with manicured nail art.
The salary men pretend I do not exist, though are happy to look down my dress. I wonder why. I am fourteen. I have nothing to show. They see the bruises on my arm, the marks on my neck. They know what I am and they all want a turn.
Women. They look through me, around me, down on me but never at me. I am the face that keeps them awake as their husbands ‘work late.’ When he plays tennis or golf but never takes his clubs or rackets. It is me he’s playing.
Amazing. It is not me they should fear. It is becoming me. A fate worse than one pig of a husband, imagine being condemned to several of them. Though perhaps they feel it is a disease, that by looking at me directly, touching me that they will become me. They will be dragged to the underworld with no way out.
I could jump. I would think, looking at the dull rails and closing my eyes to the breeze of an oncoming train. End my life as a mess of blood and bone. They would have to clean me up then. The government workers.
Would they notice me then?
No.
They would be far too busy calling friends and family to say they will be late. Breathing exasperation down the lines to people they take for granted every day.
As for me I would be swept away and dumped. There would be no one to mourn my passing. No one to organise a funeral or give a statement to the papers or the gruesome news crews who would film the spot where I met my end. By the next night there would be another doll in my place, sat on a leather seat in the club, chatting up business men and reclusive students.I was a ghost. Invisible in a sea of deities. So many of them, beautiful, terrifying and proud. Hundreds and thousands to bow down at their feet. None of them knew I was alive. How could I compete with them?
Maybe it was better to fade.
My brother got the charisma in our family. If there even was a family, I remember nothing but the distant memory of feelings. The brains, the drive to be himself and not think twice. Me, I weigh chance, calculate probability. I always think twice. The odds of risk taking are very rarely worth it.
I, Cosine was there to massage his ego. ‘Yes dear brother, it’s wonderful, what a brilliant idea.’ I hated him sometimes. Because I wanted to be him. Envy, a terrible, terrible thing.
And so I would hide in the library or my secluded temple absorbed by my records, listening to the theories of my fellow hermit like followers. There can’t have been many of them. Not like followers of Music and Underworld. The world uses number but how many think of it as a separate realm.
Still the jealousy plagues me. I am not beautiful as Echo, kind and loving as your friend Jessica, strong and cunning like you. So I despise you all. It consumes me, turning me cold and hateful.
Part of me is scared to be reborn, to leave this safe shell. I do not want to walk among the Pantheon to the whispers of ‘who?’. Even my own brother must have forgotten my existence. He is born into another yet he has not tried to find me.
We are not so different after all. I too have no one.You are wrong.
You have beauty and strength. In appearance I do not know. Though, what is appearance? There are many beauties in the world, they are not always worthy of such a gift. You pretend to be unkind, hateful, yet I know that is not true. You are a martyr.
I feel you too Cosine. You forget that.
You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and sieze the day.
Have you weighed the price of fear?
Have you tried to be kind and loving? You love your brother deeply. Why could you not love others so? Do not shy away. You are a deity just as needed as Music, just as powerful.
Why don’t we strike a deal.
I want you to live. Not to hide in the shadows. My life has been wasted by so many. Do not become one of them. Use my shell, my existence to be reborn as the goddess you always wished to be. You do not fully know what you were and so you do not need to worry about becoming that goddess. This is a clean slate, something that not many people get. You can be anything, anyone and more importantly you can prove your domain. All you need is drive Cosine, Strength. Don’t hide in fear, get out there, speak with mortals, win them to your cause. Make them love you and support you it cannot be that hard, hundreds of other gods have done it.
I refuse to let you fail.
Live,
Do this,
And I will give you my strength and passion to help you. I will teach you how to interact and make friends, to convince people of your cause.
Alone we drift in a sea of faces,
Together we could be something.Lyrics up the top from Shina Ringo's 'Gamble' my inspiration music for this RP
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:58 am
2.XV
~~ Knowledge ~~ Lien trudged up the steps of the Pantheon towards the tardis of a library. Cosine had been begging her for days to visit and so she oblidged like the good host she was. Sometimes. She had not been back to the hall of books since the day they had met Harmodius and Suffocation, though it occured to her that they might be able to do some research on their task. She could feel Cosine's excitement building in her as they reached the large doors. "Did you never do anything else with your time?" Lien asked as she pushed the doors open and stepped into the beautiful main hall. "What else is there?" The goddess answered simply. "Though, in truth I do not know what I used to do with my time. This place is so familiar I must have spent a good deal of time here."Lien nodded and wandered over to one of the towering bookshelves. "Makes sense I suppose." She said allowing her eyes to roam over the titles. "Afterall I imagine this place is full of numbers." "Exactly, and not full of people."Lien smirked and reached out to touch the spine of a book. "They are not all bad you know, though I suppose i cannot speak for gods." She said, pulling the book from its place. She gave a bit of a tug as it was wedged in tightly, causing half the row to come tumbling down to the floor. "Can you do anything without making a mess." XiaoRen  While speaking with Eddard, Gianfar had rearranged the books in a slow, organic way. Cells drifing from bone marrow to blood, coming to rest again where they fit. The activity gave his thoughts a separate channel to pour into, so that they did not flood from his mouth. It allowed his words to be succinct and clear, no more answer than Eddard wanted. But, by the end of their conversation it was clear - organic change would bring the library to order at evolutionary speeds. Perhaps by the next age it would be finished. The problem was the DNA itself. He decided to take them all down and start from scratch. He had spent the day pulling books from the shelves in the back and making piles of them. Seeing each was enough to catalogue it in his mind, but a list would be useful for others, so he had been keeping one.
Just as he went to search for more paper and ink, he heard books falling. I knew that stack looked precarious! But when he turned, the piles still undulated upward, leaning on each other. Nothing was fanned on the floor.
Then he heard a voice. Someone was in the library; he had been so absorbed he hadn’t noticed. He might as well tell them not to bother putting the books back. They might even help him keep taking them down.
By the front stacks he found her, looking annoyed with herself in that way only hosts could, as they argued with their gem. A gem he had not met!
“Hello,” he said brightly, still a little out of breath. His hair was tied up with a ribbon page marker, the silver waves curly with sweat and escaping to stick to his cheeks. The chocolate brown velvet robes were dust silvered and had come off one shoulder.
“You don’t have to put them back in order. They’re all coming down.”midnight_medea "Not everyone can be as perfect as you." Lien muttered, kneeling down and starting to make the books into a pile. She doubted they were in the correct order but with so many books in this place who was going to notice. "I would."Lien ignored her, so absorbed in her recovery task that the new voice made her jump and the books toppled to the floor once more. "Uh, hello." She said with a small smile as she took in the rather desheveled appearence of the man ... no, god before her. "Oh, all of them?" She glanced up at the endless shelves of books and straightened up, brushing the dust off of her red Ao doi. "That's one hell of a task. My name is Lien, um, sorry for interrupting you."Within her a feeling of familiarity stirred. "I recognise him." Cosine said softly. XiaoRen “Not an errant page left to a shelf, when I am finished. New order can only spring from absolute chaos. I am embracing the Zeitgeist, for once. If you are looking for something specific, I might be able to help you.” He said “might” in a jokingly dour tone. "I am Gianfar.” He dipped his head to her and held out a hand smudged with leather rot and gilding. His arm shook a little with fatigue.
Lien I is the host’s name. Who is the gem, I wonder?
“It is a pleasure to be interrupted. The most onerous tasks are imposed by our own personalities.” midnight_medea "Zeitgeist?" Lien asked as she picked up one of the books from the floor and brushed the dust from its spine. "Spirit of the time." Cosine muttered inside her head, watching the gentle looking god as she searched her mind for recognition. "Onerous?" Lien gave an apologetic smile as she questioned vocabulary once more. Sure she was fluent but she did not study the dictionary. " My vocabulary is not so good. Sorry.""Forgive my host." The goddess within piped up. "She is not as learned as you or I." A smile crossed the hosts lips for a moment. "I am Numbers, Cosine." XiaoRen “Onerous, a pain in the a**." He should apologize for speaking difficult English. Gianfar knew all of the Asian languages, but had instinctively answered in the language she’d used with him. He couldn’t place where she was from anyway: Lien was a Chinese name, but she wore a Vietnamese Ao Dai.
"I'm sorry I..." The meaning of the words that accompanied her sudden switch in tone sank in. “Cosine!”
The wary human girl had not even taken his hand to shake it. Now he flung his arms out, sleeves snapping, to grasp her shoulders. Numbers! Was this joy, this shock of recognition? He forgot Lien along with concern for her personal space.
“Arithmisi, Pi, Cheng Dawei...” Names, like wooden beads strung on dowel sliding and clicking together back into time. They had known each other in his first life, older than any of these mortal monikers, before names. Cosine had so few…she was usually taken for granted.
“Is it really you?”
When had they last met? He tried to conjure what they had been…compatriots, rivals, enemies? midnight_medea (( Sorry Xiao, my bad spelling and description. She's wearing an Ao Dai Red tunic, white trousers and minus the hat. hehe )) Lien laughed as he used a simpler tone and jumped as all of a sudden arms were flung out and her shoulders caught in his grasp. Well, he knew the goddess within then. The names meant nothing to a girl who had not been schooled further than elementary but to Cosine they meant everything. The goddess smiled and came forward once more. "It is I." She said softly, trying to remember who he was. "Though I am sorry, Gianfar. Your face, whilst familiar does not tell me your domain. For you to know me you must spend much time in these holy halls of words."XiaoRen The cold shock of recognition left him stunned. Names still dripping from his lips, formed but unvoiced, like an old man muttering to himself. It was a moment before he emerged with a shiver.
It was just a feeling to her, not a memory. Of course. Whatever they had been, the present was a clean slate. But what formulas and diagrams had been erased from it? Wouldn't they leave a ghost mark, as erased chalk did, under the clean white writings they tried to make now. It must be either a strong former set of bonds, or dangerous to have affected him so.
"Nono, the apology is mine." He realized he had nearly assaulted her and loosened his grip. "Good gracious...I'm sorry." He must seem like a spittle raving prophet, coming at her like that. "My domain is, I am Knowledge." He had a much longer list of names than she, and not nearly as many as the gods of Love and War. He didn't yet remember his First name, the one she would have known him by.
"I'm afraid that books tend to hold your gifts to men with no credit given, no names. Not this Library," he tapped his temple, "this one. I knew you in myself. It flashed up out of memory like a spear." Perhaps he should not be admitting it, when the memory was still just a fragment.
"Anyway, I haven't been in these particular Holy Halls much until yesterday. Though I will be, till they make sense." Awkward, he jerked an arm towards the door, a marionets motion of gallant gesture to a lady. He had trouble with coordination when his brain got going. "Join me...a coffee?" Knowledge ... The word opened up rivers in her memories though they were suffering from a drought. Mere trickles of rememberance. She could hear his kind words, maybe the kind a parent might say to a child. Though it was feint and fading like a ripple. "I ... I think I must have consulted you many times. I have my own section it seems, for my records." Lien smiled at his gesture and nodded. " Coffee sounds good." She said, feeling rather awed to be in the prescence of a god who did not try to use that fact. He reminded her of Echo in his gentle nature. "Do you need help with your organisation?" She asked as they walked. "Cosine seems to have a talent for it. We have just catalogued Lord Harmodius' treasury."XiaoRen Good, he hadn’t put her off. The tug of social anxiety loosened, puppet strings slack. He relaxed as they walked, his mind catching up with them in the present. “So you remember me, a little? Few of the gods remember anything of their pasts. Perhaps I should not be surprised. There was no more meticulous record keeper than you were.”
He did not need to consider her offer, “In which light, your help would be blessed.” What was a blessing but a gift from a god? Though the host was technically who he was talking to, the frame entirely mortal still. She was letting the goddess speak; they must be on good terms. He was being rude again. “Both of you,” he amended, but it sounded like a footnote.
“I know all the systems of ordering things that have been created,” if I could remember them, “but I am dreadful at inventing them. Dewey decimal hardly seems adequate for this Great Library.” Sitting over coffee and discussing the organization of the library would be decadent, much easier than physically moving the books. “Lien, would you be willing to stay and do grunt labor after listening to two deities go on about hierarchical tree structures and faceted systems for hours? Name your price.”
A dissonant chord, two notes struck a the same time. On the one hand pleasure, to have someone to work alongside him. The other, that unease again – Lord Harmodius’ Treasury. That would have been a prolonged task. She would have been much in His company, and she didn’t seem disturbed at all. midnight_medea Lien found she liked this new god. The nicest she had met within the walls of the Pantheon. He was a little like Nergal, only ... not quite as meticulous and particular. "i would be glad to help, and no price." She shrugged. "There is nothing I have any need for."Within her host Cosine thought about the library and all the millions of books that resided within its walls. He was right. The Dewy system, which she remembered feintly, was fine for mortal libraries. But ... the library of knowledge and the gods. "A separate subject cataloging system controlled by a central one maybe?" She suggested as her metholodical brain worked through possibilities. "Do you have computers here." Lien interjected. "That might help."Quote: “Computers…” Gianfar said slowly, the way a housewife would say “the oven…” realizing it was still on at home. Computers were libraries stored minute in silicon and gold. Connected, they were threads tangling the dubious collective intelligence of the masses into one matted cloth. He had mixed feelings about them. They should have been his angels, messengers and guardians, interface between Knowledge and those who sought. But they had made their debut into the mortal world late in the years of his Fading. He never learned how to use one. “Ah…well…they are useful servants. I had been thinking more along the lines of paper and Aoide, but, you are right. They might help. Are you proficient with them?” Of course she was, they spoke her language. He took them out the nearby front doors and down ash drifted stairs. The main shop neighbored. Shop…one could hardly call it that anymore. The Pantheon, the seat of Destruction. Past obsidian doors into musky air, the scent of Power. He walked a direct path through the irrelevant grandeur to their ultimate destination…the coffee maker. His hands pulled out canisters and poured water on instinct, no need for his brain to intervene. “A central, basic catalogue that branches into smaller domains…the tree.” That was the image Destruction, or whoever had made the Library, had chosen as decoration. The tree of Knowledge. He could ponder the uncomfortable hints later. “That sounds good. Cross-referencing every book to related subjects would make up for the necessary subjectivity of choosing categories. A computer could do that. But you know, I haven’t seen any around. Machines don’t like the dust.” He kept the espresso machine meticulously clean, lest it suffer. They were standing in the heart of Entropy. Technology was delicate and succumbed quickly. “Do you know where to get any?” Quote: Lien and Cosine pondered computers, did they know them. Lien knew of them, their uses and capabilities. She did not know, however how to use one properly. Maybe send an e-mail or surf the net. Not a catalogue, that seemed both intimidating and impossible. Cosine however was rather more optimistic. She had a vague memory of computers, huge machines that pumped out numbers. Then, later, people pumped numbers into them and pictures were created. Codes, pages, programmes that could do almost everything and anything. People became addicted to these small machines, glued to the growing screen. "If I had one ... I might remember what to do." She said as she made their way back out to the main lounge of the pantheon building. Where to get one though, that was a bigger conundrum. She did not remember seeing one in their travels ... however ... your friend. She said withing Lien's head. would she have one? Lien breathe deeply and looked up to Gianfar. "I um, I have a friend who is an engineer. She can fix almost anything. She might be able to make us one ... or, if we could find an abandoned, broken one she would be able to fix it. it can't be much different to radios and radars." Quote: “You say that with trepidation.” She had just complained at him for using large words. “You sound worried. Are you hesitant to ask her? It is a brilliant idea.” Knowing the kind of computer they needed was much simpler than knowing how to use it. “It doesn’t need to be able think fast or multitask…processing speed, yes that was it.” He tapped his fist into the open palm of his other hand. “It only needs memory, and a good constitution. Just like the rest of us, eh? The chances of us finding even even a mediocre reparable computer this close to His Throne are slim, but I have a friend as well.” Counting Revei I have two actually. “He is a dragon. I was going to ask him to help me with the grunt work, but he could go salvaging instead. He could be told what to look for. In the meantime we could be cataloguing and sorting.” He sipped his coffee and began to feel more hopeful about the entire procedure. In company, it would be, dare he say it, fun. “Do you have any Aoide? An extra pair of hands?” Quote: Lien shook her head and smiled as she sipped her coffee and watched him sift through his thoughts. "No, not nervous. Just unsure that we could find one. Though, if your dragon friend can help then there should be no problem." Inside of her Cosine was practically bursting with the thought of being useful and getting to do her favourite thing in the world. "I have no Aoide." She said softly, "Not yet." Though, perhaps she could ask Nergal or Echo to help her. They had several servants that might be of use. "I will have to see. Thank you though Gianfar. You have given me much to think about." She nodded to herself and looked up at the walls of books. "I suppose we had best get on." And with that Lien gave Gianfar a small wave and let the goddess guide he further into the maze of literature.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:05 am
2.XVI
~~ Enter the dragon ~~ Meepfur  He had to admit, he really could use an actual bed. His bed of furs was comfortable enough, but it just wasn't quite the same. He'd even settle for a couch! But when your only servant was a slender female pard, there was a limit to the size of furniture you could move. He was stuck with furs for now.
Zhijian sighed into the couch cushions before repositioning himself to stare up at the ceiling of the Pantheon's lower level. Yes, even a couch would do.midnight_medea Lien wandered back down the stairs from the library with a book in her hands. It had been a rather interesting trip yet again and although she knew that Cosine did not like the Pantheon much she had to admit it had its uses. She learned something every time she returned.
As she wandered down the stairs she did not think that anyone else might be in the lounge of the large building. The only god she had encountered there so far was Destruction. Meepfur Hmm? At the sound of footsteps on the stairs, Zhijian flicked an ear. Yes, there was definitely someone coming down the stairs - someone relatively light. Nose working with idle interest, he turned his head to peer sideways at whomever was coming. midnight_medea She finished her descent, walking intothe lounge where she had once met destruction. It was silent today, and empty, or so she thought before her eyes fell on the rather large blue creature that appeared to be asleep on a sofa.
Stumbling back she tripped over something metalic and fell to the floor. The metalic item rolled and clattered its way to a halt by a wall.
"Sorry." She said with a grimace. "I didn't mean to wake you." Meepfur His ears folded back as the whatever-it-was clattered against the floor, but he wasn't actually bothered - in fact, he laughed.
He didn't think he'd ever stop being amused by the startled reactions he got from mortals - and that was without even being in dragon form! Honestly. Without getting up, Zhijian stretched lazily, allowing himself a predatory grin. It was terribly sad that most mortals here would be hosts...if he played, he could only play so much. midnight_medea Lien smirked as he laughed and picked herself up of the floor. Well, at least someone around here had a sense of humour.
She watched him a moment as he stood and then moved herself to pick up the metal vase she had knocked over. Meepfur "You're lucky that was metal," he rumbled finally, rolling himself off the couch and onto all fours on the ashy floor. "I do not think our Lord would appreciate the breaking of his things." If dragons got angry, surely Destruction was to be feared just as much.
"Having met him I do not think I would like to face his anger." She smiled a little, not sure if he would want introductions "Um, my name is Lien, My goddess is numbers. I apologise once more for disturbing you."Meepfur "I am Zhijian, the Dragon King Ying Long." He strode forward and stood, looking over the small woman with bright eyes. He was not overly caught up in politeness, and didn't bother to accept or refuse or otherwise acknowledge her apology. "Numbers?"
The dragon considered for a moment, then shook his head. "I do not recall her." midnight_medea Lien raised an eyebrow as he said he was a dragon king and looked up at him. he did not seem as nice as Tian Yue. "I have met your brother, Tian Yue." She said with a smile. "A long time ago now though."Cosine smirked within her at his words. She really had done a good job of hiding from the world. "Few do recall me." She said. "I think I spent much time in the library."Meepfur Lien was very, very right - Zhijian was definitely not what anyone would call "nice." The Fangbridle was not civilized, not like Tian Yue.
"I do not like libraries." Frustrating, dusty, boring...they were for his scholarly brother, not for him. midnight_medea Within Lien the numbers goddess gave an inaudiable snort. Did not like libraries? What was there not to like.Lien smiled a little and nodded.
"I do not like them so much either. Boring if you ask me." She shrugged and looked around. "What do you like?" Meepfur What did he like? Such a droll question! Zhijian laughed again. "Food, treasure, fealty...the usual things a dragon would like." midnight_medea Lien smirked.
"Apologies. I haven't met many." She said, glancing off around the room for a moment. "Is there anywhere to get food in here?" She asked, turning her eyes back to him. Meepfur "The kitchen, of course," he answered. Numbers' host was rather dull, wasn't she? "Providing you like things packaged or cooked. " He certainly didn't, that much was clear from the way he looked at her. Being a host kept her from being on the menu, but she didn't know that. midnight_medea Lien gave a small snort of laughter and looked to the small kitchenette.
"Clearly." She said as she walked over to it. "And no one will care if I just help myself?" Meepfur "That's what it's there for." Zhijian wondered absently if this woman would be worth hunting even if she weren't a host - it would be just his luck she'd do something boring, like faint. He inspected his claws with a sigh. "Tell me, little Numberling...are you always so boring, or is your Goddess just contagious?" midnight_medea Lien looked up at the words that came from the self important dragon's mouth and a smirk slipped across her lips.
"You're hardly the most exhilerating god I have met." She said, leaning on the counter. "I didn't realise I was supposed to entertain? What would your highness like? A dance? A song? What do people usually do when in your own riviting prescence?" Meepfur He was a God, a Dragon King - he was allowed to be snarky. That priviledge did not normally extend to lesser beings, at least not when they were addressing him. Still, at least she was finally showing some kind of personality.
A smirk slid over his muzzle. With no more warning than that, he leapt onto the counter she leaned against, teeth bared with a growl. His tail lashed, and a chuckle slipped out. "I knew there had to be some spirit in there somewhere. Even Numbers would need a spark." midnight_medea Lien blinked and jumped a little as he jumped up onto the counter. She wondered if he would harm her, then realised she didn't particularly care. She was a dead woman anyway.
She smirked back at him, leaning back against the counter and looking up at him. He was a rather magnificent creature.
"Indeed, she is a rather pathetic goddess to play host to." She watched him again and stepped away from the counter to continue her search.
"And you, such a big bad kitty, yet you still feel the need to climb on kitchen counters. Interesting."
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:08 am
2.XVII
~~ Trickery ~~ midnight_medea Please don't post unless you are a part of this RP. The ashen banks of a rather murkey river might have seemed like a strange place to have a picnic. Not to one young woman and her small charge.
Lien had offered to look after Caleb for the morning and thought that the river bank was a perfectly fun place to spend a few hours colouring and playing games. The todler babbled away to himself as he scribbled on the faded old paper with his set of crayons that had seen better days.
Lien watched the red headed boy as she coloured a picture of her own, though her mind was elsewhere. Troubled by what was to come. Still, though she knew her time was almost up she was determined to spend it doing things she enjoyed and with the people she had come to love.mistalina13  This was Trickery's first time venturing away from the Pantheon since her rebirth, the last time she had been out was when her host had attempted to help her find some missing pieces. Tien felt a little more at ease with herself now she had a chance to speak with one of her brothers face to face. She hummed softly as she walked away from a section of ruined town toward the riverbank.
The water was tainted and murky but it still offered the gentle noise that calmed her down and helped her think. She scanned the riverbank looking for a good place to settle down for a break and she paused upon spotting the two their coloring.
The boy seemed to be nothing extraordinary, but there was something about the older girl...midnight_medea "Cat." Caleb grinned, pointing to the piece of paper he was using and a huge purple scribble in the middle.
Lien laughedand reached for another purple crayon.
"He needs ears." She smiled, draweing two triangles on the scribble and a long line for a tail. Caleb nodded and put the end of his crayon in his mouth as he watched her.
Sensing someone nearby Lien looked up and blinked. There was a woman stoodnot far away with hair as red as Caleb's.
"Hey." She said with a smile. Hoping that she was not hostile. mistalina13 It took Tien a moment to register that the girl spoke to her. "Hello." Well, who else would she be speaking to...given how barren this place seems. She smiled in return and headed toward the two on the bank. "What brings you out this day....?" Trickery hoped the girl would offer her name before she offered her own. midnight_medea Lien smiled as the woman responded and shifted to sit up, and cross her legs. "I know it's not the most beautiful place, but I can pretend i see clear water and green grass." She smirked a little and looked down to Caleb as he coloured away. She's one of us.The voice echoed inside her head and Lien looked the woman over again. A goddess."My name is Lien." She said with a smile. "What brings you here?"mistalina13 "My feet." Trickery grinned cheekily. "I am Tien, the Commedia Dell'Arte." She offered a little bow before squatting on the ground beside Lien. "There is an air of power about you, do you share your form with one of my kin by any chance?" midnight_medea Lien laughed a little at the woman's joke and watched her as she sat next to them. She seemed to have more of a carefree air about her than the others she had met. Tien, she had heard another mention that name. But who?
"My mother's name was Tien." She said as she placed her crayon in the battered box. "And I am bonded to Cosine, a goddess of numbers." mistalina13 Tien looked into Lien's eyes for a moment, as if she were trying to look past her to see Cosine. "A name I recall hearing...but I'm not sure if I saw her face. I hope she is kind to you none the less." Her smile still remained but it was a little fainter. midnight_medea "Someone else has mentioned your name to me." Lien sadi as she tried to remember who. Everything seemed a little blurry since she had arrived in this land. "It was The dragon lord. Tien Lung. He was looking for you." Cosine said as she watched the red haired goddess. "Or your host when she walked this land."Lien raised an eyebrow. "Yes, that's right. I met him when I arrived here. Um, I hope he found you, or you found him." mistalina13 "My host was lover to the Worldshield's host and the Worldshield himself for a time." Tien nodded. "We found each other, he was worried when my host had taken it upon herself to wander to try and help me recover what I had lost and was gone for a while..." midnight_medea Caleb was growing bored. He had already drawn and coloured his cat and the adults were just talking and being boring. He grinned to himself and scribbled some more on the paper. Maybe he would play a game, then they would play too. Hide and seek. That was fun. As they chatted away he pushed himself to his feet and started to toddle off towards some bushes. Lien, unknowing, smiled at Tien. "Good I am glad you found each other." She softly. It must be strange to break such bonds. She thought. "Areyou enjoying your re-birth?"mistalina13 "I am. Though I still find it odd not to hear Morgan's voice anymore, but it is for the best." For several people actually. Tien smiled again and her gaze turned to where the child was, or rather would have been, on the ground. "Oh my...where did the little one go?" midnight_medea "What?" Cosine asked, glancing down to the abandoned picture of multi-coloured scribble. "Crap." She muttered, standing up and glancing around. How far can a two year old have gotten.
"Cay!" She called, continuing to glance around for movement. "Ugh, can you help me find him. His name's Caleb."Caleb sat in a small thicket of bushes and grinned as he watched them start to look for him. What a great game.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:09 am
2.XVIII
~~ Taking a Break ~~ midnight_medea Lien rummaged through the cupboards of Echo's kitchen for some coffee. She found it finally behind the tea and pulled the package out. The Vietnamese were famous for coffee, though she doubted she could pull one of those off. No condensed milk or special glass and filter.
Humming to herself she made two mugs of the hot strong liquid and placed them on a tray with some rolls she had made the day before.
As she walked down to Nergal's rooms she could feel Cosine twitching. She wanted something, though Lien refused to ask what. If she wanted it bad enough she could ask.
Lien balanced the tray on one hand and reached up so that she could knock hard on the door. Thabara "Lien..?" It was Ishum who had opened the door for her, peering at the young Asian woman curiously. Once his gaze dropped and registered the tray however his reluctant smile quickly widened to a broad grin. "Oh, he'll love that," he beamed, "how very, very nice of you. What are you waiting for, c'mon in!" The aoide held the door wide open for her, motioning her impatiently to step in. "Careful to not step on that cat the-- Wait, let me get it out of the way for you," he added hastily, picking up a small gray-black kitten which seemed to have decided that now would be the perfect time to play with Lien's feet. "Maybe I should carry the tray for you," he offered with an apologetic smile, glancing at the half a dozen of cats which had nested on the staircase. "My Lord!" he called, once he'd closed the door behind the unexpected visitor, "There's someone here to see you! And she's brought coffee~!" "Echo?" Nergal's appearance at the top of the staircase was so immediate that he must have rushed; or perhaps he had already been lurking, magically lured out by the scent of coffee, just as Echo had jokingly said. "Oh," the deity quietly mouthed once he realized his mistake. He did not seem disappointed though, merely surprised. "That is unexpected. Welcome, Lien.. Cosine." He inclined his head in a polite greeting. "And Ishum," he added in sharper tone, "if you cannot get those hazardous creatures out of her way, I will." His expression grew distant for a moment, as if he was focusing on something else. It was not evident what it was that he was doing, the effect however, was remarkable: All of the cats who had been comfortably resting and lurking on the stairs suddenly perked up to stare at something invisible in their midst, their ears flattening back against their heads, most of them hissing. A moment later they were running and dive into hiding in all directions, their fur bristling, tails puffed up like bottle brushes. There was a small yelp of pain coming from Lien's side when the kitten Ishum had picked up buried its claws into his arm in a frantic effort to flee as well. "And that takes care of that," Nergal murmured, seeming rather pleased with himself. Cats were sensitive to the presence of ghosts, and most of them did not like them. It had put him off at first, but that innate fear did have its uses. "I will be waiting in the living room.""He likes you," Ishum whispered with a small, conspiratorial grin, "he was showing off. There, let me carry that for you.." He carefully took the tray from Lien's hands. If the tiny claw marks the kitten had left behind were bothering him, he did not show it. "Follow me," he said, going ahead. midnight_medea Lien smiled at Ishum and then at the kitten she was about to step on as she entered. So, this was the one responsible for all the furry felines. Not that she was conplaining, they kept her nice and warm at night.
At Nergal's appearence she smirked a little. Especially at his face as he realised she was not Echo. The unorthadox couple were far too cute, not that either would admit anything and she was too polite to pry. No matter how tempting.
She smiled back and watched as he managed to clear the building of cats. Poor babies. She thought as she watched them go.
Laughing at Ishum's words she stepped forwards.
"Are you all right?" She asked the Adiode as they walked through the rather lovely apartments. "They weren't bothering me. In fact I quite like having them around." she said in an equally as conspirital whisper. Thabara "You mean the scratches?" Ishum asked, puzzled that she would be concerned about him. "I'm fine, don't worry. I've had much worse than that." He shifted the tray to his right carefully so that he could show her his left lower arm. "See?" It was hard to see on his already pale skin, but if one looked closely it became apparent that it was covered with scars, over and over. Claw marks, bite marks most of them seemed to be. "Rough games with my bigger beasties," he explained with a small grin and winked. "So, you like cats, hm?" The fat red one was about to get kittens soon, so he made a mental note about that. "But it would have been bad if you tripped over one of them and broke your neck, so see, he was trying to be nice." He nudged the door to the living room open with his elbow and put down the the tray on the coffee table. "Do you need anything?" midnight_medea Lien nodded and looked at the little spots of blood on his arms. As he continued and showed her the other scars. "Bigger beasties?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and not daring to think what had made those marks. "You should put something on the fresh ones anyway. Unless you like the scars." She smiled and gave him a wink. "Great way to get girls ... or guys or ... yeah." She laughed a little, soo hard to know what to say around all these strange beings. "Ah, yes, breaking my neck, that would be unfortunate." She smirked wryly. "If I could kick you I would sometimes." Cosine muttered Lien ignored her, though she was pleased the goddess was begining to show some backbone. "Cats are my favourite animals. Something I am sure Cosine will change, but for now I am happy I get to enjoy them here." She missed her two cats, Pika and Leilei. Back in the real world. She had let them go before she escaped. "No, I'm fine. Thank you."She walked into the room and glanced around with a smile, hovering a little and waiting for Nergal to appear. This was just the kind of place she would imagine Nergal to live. Thabara "Perhaps. I do not.. object. It was a rather pleasant surprise." The smile Nergal offered her seemed hesitant, but definitely genuine. He picked up one of the cups, the ornaments dangling from his hair sticks clicking quietly against each other as he bent forward. He inhaled the scent with half-lidded eyes before he took a sip of the dark liquid, quite obviously enjoying it. "I am.. fine, I guess you could say. Only that I feel like I am spending way too much time.. waiting," he confessed with a wistful smile. Waiting for Illumin to return, for his powers to grow, for the right time to approach Echo, for his brother to join him.. "How are you?" he returned the question. midnight_medea "Waiting. I know what that feels like." She said with a small smile, reaching for her own cup of coffee and inhaling it deeply. "Though, I am trying to experience as much as I can whilst I do." She smiled and shrugged. "Cosine and I, I think we have come to an understanding."With the number's goddess' name there came a stirring and Lien knew she was replaced, at least only for a few moments she thought. Though soon, soon would be the day it would be permanent. "You knew me?" She asked, her voice a little deeper than Lien's, softer if that was possible, barely a whisper. Thabara "I should do this as well, perhaps." He released a deep breath which seemed to be half a sigh. "Though I fail to come up with what experiences to seek. I.. am quite unaccustomed to living.""Greetings, Numbers." The shift in Nergal's seated posture when the goddess started to speak was only a slight one, but immediately he seemed much more formal, regal. A God-King holding court instead of drinking coffee with a friend. He seemed to realize his reaction though, for a moment later he relaxed visibly. He did not wish to intimidate that newly reborn goddess, even less since he knew her to be shy. She had not come for an audience. "I did, that tome Lien brought me from the Pantheon's Library is proof. Listkeeper, counter of the dead. I did trust you, I must have if such a task was given to you. However, I do not remember.. But that means little. I had a wife, and did not know. And only recently I found out that I had-- have a brother as well. Did you find yours, Cosine? Your twin?" He bent slightly forward, his face clearly mirroring his curiosity. He was genuinely interested it seemed, not just trying to make small-talk. That he had found Ankou, that strong bond which existed between him and that other god who was almost, almost a complete stranger to him.. No wonder Cosine was longing so strongly to find her other self. midnight_medea Cosine bowed her head in greeting, or Lien's head as it was for now. Soon though, she thought, soon. "Greetings." She repeated, a small smile gracing the lips of her host. "I remember nothing. Only the library, I did not know I had a brother either, until Destruction informed me. Now I recall a little."She fell silent for a moment, as if these sentences had been stressful to speak. Her eyes turned down to her hands. "I have yet to find him. He is at the Pantheon, but ... I am nervous to go there. Too many gods."Thabara For a moment there, Nergal looked like he might either choke on the sip of coffee he'd just taken, or burst into laughter. He managed with some effort to do neither of those, but for a second or two the expression he bore was rather unique. "That really should not discourage you from going to meet your brother," he said mildly once he had managed to regain his composure. "However, I do empathize, to a certain extent. I never took up lodging within the Pantheon for a very similar reason." He looked down, partially to hide the smile playing on his lips. He didn't want the timid goddess to think he was making fun of her. "While the presence of so many of our kin does not make me.. 'nervous', it actually does a very good job at making me feel highly uncomfortable. A little.. out of place, perhaps." He peered up again, eyes glinting with mirth. For some reason Cosine's helpless explanation appeared to have stripped down all formality there had been between them, for he could only keep up the facade with an effort. "Ishum, however, comes and goes at the Pantheon as he pleases and is generally very well informed about the going ons within its walls. He should be able to tell you more or, at the very least, to unearth the information you need quite quickly." He shot a quick glance at the closed door to the hallway. If the beastmaster was eavesdropping again - as he usually did - he would no doubt be beaming with pride just now. "That should help keeping random encounters to a minimum," he added jokingly. midnight_medea Cosine watched the underworld god for a moment, trying to work out what was so amusing. There were too many gods and none of them to her taste. "Nervous was possibly the wrong word." She lied, what was it Lien was always saying about her standing up for herself. "I am merely uninterested in them." Her eyes moved up from her host's hands to him as she listened to him speak. Ishum. He would be the creature who greeted them. "He talks to much." She muttered remembering the easy banter between him and her host. Though she supposed the girl could not help herself. Easy was an occupational hazard for her, she imagined. A small smirk graced her lips at her cruel thoughts. "I will leave Lien to ask him. She likes those horrid feline creatures he brings to the house." She grimaced a little. Within her she could feel Lien trying to take control again. The struggle was exhausting but she was not ready to give up control just yet. "When you return to the underworld. May I resume aiding you?"Thabara "Is that so?" There was a hint of irony to his voice as he slightly quirked a brow. "I do hope then that my company is not quite as unenjoyable, as there seems to be a certain likeness between us. But perhaps I am simply assuming too much." An offer, but a retreat the same, trying to give the younger deity the room she seemed to require. Perhaps he had been assuming too much. In their detached ways that which seemed to unite them might just as well be what would keep them separated. We may be too similar.. It came with their domains, he figured. Yet he wasn't quite willing to give up on possibly having found someone he could relate to so early. With time perhaps.. He didn't know her at all yet. "That he does," Nergal admitted with a wry smile. "But it seems most everyone is at ease in his company, and he is far more sociable than I am.. So this trait of his is a bane and boon the same - he keeps me well informed, a necessity I have been neglecting before my fall, but at the price of occasionally dropping.. well, some interesting tidbits of gossip about me, I guess." He sighed. The deity only vaguely smiled at the obvious dislike his guest displayed for the cats. He wasn't much of a cat person either, but he had come to get used to their presence, and.. Well, Echo liked them. The only thing which occasionally put him off was when his powers unintentionally sent them hissing and running every so often, making him feel unwelcome in his own house. "Of course you may, it is a much appreciated offer. I will need all the help I can get I would assume." midnight_medea Cosine who was now Lien smiled a little and shook her head. There she went again speaking before she could think. "I did not mean to be so ... harsh." She said softly. "This state is confusing. I know what I like and what I do not. The subtle in betweens, my past. Everything else is lost for now."She sighed heavily, Lien picked at her nails. "I will feel better when I find Arctang. he always makes it right." her words were childish she felt, though they were true. He always knew what to do. At his agreement number looked up and a small grin lit her features, something like a child at christmas. "I would like to help you very much. I feel so useless stuck in this body."Thabara "I wonder.. if my own brother looks up to me like that?" Nergal contemplated with an uncertain smile. "We did not have a chance to talk much, unfortunately. The bond to his host is not very strong yet so he lacks.. control. It was very exhausting for him." As it was for me. But his sharing of strength with his sibling was something deeply private and did not belong here. "You must feel the effects as well, so please do not overexert your strength for my sake, Lady Cosine."He nodded slightly, appreciating Number's delight at his proposal. Given, a lot of time would pass before he would truly require her services.. "What about that other matter you mentioned to me," he asked rather abruptly, "the task the Crown assigned to you? Were you able to find an appropriate item?" midnight_medea Lien nodded. "For a shy goddess she doesn't know when to stop." She muttered slightly her fight winning out a moment as Cosine's strength began to weaken. She breathed deeply, not liking the feeling of being trapped inside herself. Though she did not feel sorry for Cosine, that was her choice. "We found something, though I do not like it. Nor does she I think. It seems dangerous." She reached for her coffee. "A golden item of clothing, one that can command desire."Thabara "Hm." Nergal tilted his head slightly as he contemplated what he had been told, absently reaching for one of the rolls to nibble on it. They were surprisingly good. His aoidei might be devoted and everything, but cooking or baking was definitely none of their skills. "Greed is a difficult one to please." He didn't bother with using honorifics in this case - she just wasn't worth it. "If it eases your conscience, it will be dangerous no more than she will be once she grows into her power again. She might despise the gift, offended for having been offered a crutch. Or love it, for it would enable her to gain what she wants sooner than her powers would allow." He shrugged. It was impossible to tell if the gift Cosine had chosen was right or wrong, and he very much suspected it would depend on Greed's mood. "I am curious though," he added, changing the topic not quite, but some. "The Crown's treasury must be quite impressive to sort through, and I'm sure you have cataloged a great deal of it until you were able to chose the gift. I compliment you for having achieved such a feat. But.. What I would like to know.. Did you come across anything you would have picked for me?" His tone was light, his face displaying open curiosity. He might be teasing her, possibly. midnight_medea Lien smiled and reached for one of the rolls herself. They were fresh and the smell made her stomach growl a little. "I have no doubt greed is a terrifying goddess." She mused, breaking off part of the bread and popping it in her mouth. "The treasury was huge, amazing even." She turned her eyes back up to his and took another sip of coffee. "And not all gold and riches. There were ordinary items, ones we might think useless and of no value. Cosine managed to organise it all, I helped her of course when she grew tired but it has given me an idea of her own strength and what her full power might be like."Lien placed the coffee back on the table and leaned back in the chair. "I found many beautiful ornaments that would look wonderful in your hair." She said with a smirk. "Though maybe Cos found something that would be of more value."Inwardly Cosine laughed. "That, Lord Underworld would be telling." She teased back, Lien's ease making her feel more comfortable around the god. "There are many things in that vault. Something for everyone I would venture. There was a box that felt like you, though maybe not yours." She smiled and shrugged. "Most items are best left there."Thabara "Hair ornaments?" Nergal lowered his gaze, smirking slightly as he absently rose his hand to have his fingertips lightly brush against the carved hair sticks he bore. "I see my little weakness has been spotted. Even the Judge of the Dead can't help but to indulge in vanity a little every now and then, I suppose.""The Underworld had its own vaults I think.." Nergal's eyes clouded over slightly as he tried to recover what little his memories would give away. "Walls of drawers, boxes, neatly stacked one upon another I think.. It wouldn't surprise me if you had a hand in this as well.. Funerary gifts, many of them, offerings (bribes) to win my favor.. But a great many of them were items handed over to me for safekeeping I think." He blinked, clarity returning to his gaze, and he bent forward to pick up the cup once more. A box that felt like me.. If it was his, it would be returned to him in due time, he had no doubt about it. However, the mention of it seemed to tug at the faint memories of the time before The Fading for some reason, something connected to his vaults and his extreme dislike for the goddess of Trickery. Thief.., a tiny, loathing voice in the back of his mind whispered. midnight_medea Lien smiled as she returned and allowed her eyes to wander around the nice livingroom.
"I would have slipped some out for you, though I would not have liked to face Destructions wrath for the sake of a couple of hairsticks I could probably have made myself." She smirked and looked back at Nergal. "The underworld would be a good place to hide things I think. Not many would venture there I imagine."
She chewed on her lip a little and allowed a comfortable silence to fall.
"You had animals down there too. Ishum, he mentioned beasts. Is it like a whole other world?" Thabara "Seeing as not many would have the skill and wit to cross my borders and then return to the world of the living unscathed.. Let alone to take something from my vaults.." Nergal's lips twitched into an ironic smile for a moment. "Yes, I would dare to claim the items stored there were quite safe." And yet.. There have been occasions in which the borders were breached.. His recollections were more than vague, feelings rather than true memories. Lien's next question made him still, gray eyes tinging dark with sadness. "It is.. was," he finally said, "similar, in a way, to Universe, who contains All; and Gaia, who is All the Worlds within Him. The Underworld would be.. Her echo, Her shadow. Her dark image in a mirror.. Limited, where She stretches endlessly underneath the sky. No sky there, no stars.." Nergal's voice was tinged with melancholy for but a moment. " Mountains and Rivers, but barren where She bears fruit. And yet.. contained within Her, somehow." Universe, Gaia, himself. Worlds within worlds within worlds, like a Russian nesting doll. "I wonder what became of the Tree.." he murmured absently to himself. Then he shook his head, trying to shake off the mists of the past. "The beasts were tools," he explained. "Guardians of the Gates, many of them. Mounts, some. There to instill fear, and rend, and cause suffering, the rest."He set down the cup, and folded his hands in his lap, his gaze as he looked at Lien quite solemn, earnest. "Lien, I seek advice," he said abruptly. "I am.. quite limited in my abilities to change, to imagine. I have always been. And now, bound to this mortal form.." He shook his head. "I have trouble.. defining what should be. The dead must be contained once more, that much is for sure. Order needs to be instilled once more. Beyond that.." He shrugged, and it pained him that he had no other way to express his helplessness. That he even was helpless. "If you had a hand in the remaking of my domain, what would you do?" midnight_medea Lien listened carefully as he spoke. She liked Nergal's voice, it was very smooth and soothing. The underworld. She tried to conjure what she knew of death, what happened after death. Jessica had told her about the christian hell and heaven. She had seen it in many movies. She personally believed she had lived in hell for a long time. Like a Buddhist hell of eternal punishment. A land of nothing seemed much nicer. No heaven no hell. Just a place to be. "Me?" She asked in surprise. "Um, I would ask someone rather more intelligent than myself." She smirked a little and looked down at her hands, contemplating. "I am not sure what you are asking, but, first I would secure these gates you speak of, I think. Then make a nice place for the dead to exist and be happy." She smiled a little, that was probably a very childish answer. "You would need a system. The underworld, like the upper cannot just be some free for all. There needs to be judgement, segregation and defined lines, rules, dimensions."Thabara "Morgan said something very similar, when I asked her.." And the answer was the same, not satisfying. Why was that? "But it is the opinion of the ones like you that I need. Of the mortals.""Rules, segregation, judgment - I had all that," he said, the tone and inflection of his voice changing slightly now that he was addressing the goddess. "Yet I failed and my domain crumbled to nothingness. Too set in my ways I have been, as I was told. Caught up in ritual. Unable to change. Now I.." He looked down, watching as his intertwined fingers tensed. "I need to change, or history will repeat itself. But.. it is hard. And I do not know where to."He looked up again, his expression slightly puzzled and curious. "So you would have a place to exist a and 'be happy' even for those like your father?" he inquired, his tone lighter now that he was speaking to Lien once more. "Surely there must be judgment?" The judging and passing of sentences upon the dead were engraved into his very being, it seemed, just like his need to contain and host all of them. midnight_medea Lien smirked a little and looked down at her hands once more.
"I did not think of that. It is hard to imagine you punishing people." She breathed deeply as she thought about things and chewed on her lip a little. How could things be different. What Cosine suggested made sense.
"I don't know Nergal." She said softly. "I am sorry. I mean, of course, bad people need punishment and the good need peace. Though ... maybe they did not have enough of it. The underworld seems a very bland place. How can people be satisfied with their death in such a barren place. Especially when we are told of heaven." Thabara "Is that so..?" Nergal raised his right hand, imagining it covered with a black glove, almost reaching up to his shoulder and fastened there. Long enough to reach into their entrails without dirtying himself with their filth. Black, because blood wouldn't show on it. "You would be surprised, I think."The knives and instruments to his right. Meticulously sorted by size and purpose. A gift from one of his dearest cousins, Suffering.He shook his head slightly. "People," he said, his voice sounding slightly strained, "are not supposed to be satisfied with their death. There was bliss for the righteous. Punishment for the wicked. You suggest there be something else for all others than to be stripped of their memories and wander the plains?" What was he, some sort of hotel with wellness and spa areas, trying to please everyone? Perhaps he should be offering massages as well? This was just like Desiderio and his ridiculous demands that lovers be re-united after death.. midnight_medea Lien watched the darkness that seemed to settle over him and turned her eyes away as he spoke. She liked Nergal very much when he was being normal. But as an arrogant god it seemed he had things to learn. Why do they think mortals gave up on them in the first place.
"If you think my opinion stupid why ask for it." She said, turning her eyes up to him, a flicker of her old fight lit behind her eyes. "You say the old way was no good, that you want a mortal opinion. I give you one and you act like it is stupid to consider that people might want a life after death."
She smirked a little and started to stand.
"I am not a goddess yet. All I know is what I have been taught and that what I have been taught gives people hope and makes them happy. You might be a god but gods are nothing without mortals. You should respect them more." Thabara "I am.. I.." He broke off, shutting his mouth to think, to figure out what the hell she was so angry for. It didn't take him too long, as he simply had done 'it' again - asking for a sincere opinion and then simply discarding it without honestly considering it for even a moment. He rose from his seat as well, his hands nervously busying themselves with smoothing out the folds in his pants before he looked at Lien one more. "I.. apologize," he finally said, sincerely. His words were coming slowly, hesitantly as he spoke on. "It is.. as if I know only one track to move upon, and to veer away from it is.. not easy." His words were strained, and a small, almost unnoticeable shiver went through his slender frame. "To.. change is not easy. Not for me."Too set in my ways indeed..His fingers curled, burying into the stiff fabric of his pants. 'Respect,' she had said. That was a first, something he could work with. "So.. Let me rephrase, carefully. My realm cannot, and never will be capable to, replace life. That simply is the order of things. After Life there come Ends, and beyond that, there is I. So, what you propose would be.." He paused, thinking over his next words with care. "To not only reward the righteous and punish the wicked, but also.. to offer the hope of something better for those who are suffering now? A chance for those who lived their lives unfulfilled?" He glanced at Lien, not sure if he had really grasped what she wanted of him, of his domain. But, at the very least, he was trying. midnight_medea Lien listened to him, hearing him out and took a deep breath. She needed to calm herself, only, it was getting hard. She could see the end in sight now. It was frightening knowing she would never be welcomed into Nergal's kingdom.
"Yes." She said softly. "Like me, people like me who have lived a life of hell already. Through no fault of their own. We think when people die they find peace, forfilment. I think that should be true. For children too. Not to become hungry ghosts, forever searching for what they missed. It seems so unfair." She frowned and swallowed. "Sorry." She said softly. "This topic is hard to think about at the moment. Too ... too close."
She could feel her throat tightening though she refused to break down in front of the god.
"I'm sorry Nergal, I'm not so helpful. You can't just do what we wanted you too I suppose. Life isn't life if everyone gets their way. Death should be the same." Thabara "The children.." His expression softened as she spoke of them, those smallest souls. "To offer hope. Consolation." He reached out, gently running a thumb along her eye to wipe away a tear which hadn't quite rolled yet. "Would that be.. a good first step?" midnight_medea Lien sniffed and looked up at him as he wiped the tear from her cheek. It was such a simple gesture but one she welcomed, relished even. A fatherly sort of gesture, caring and wanting nothing in return.
She nodded and breathed deeply.
"I think that would be fair." She managed a small smile and took another deep breath. "A good first step. Somewhere for the lost." Thabara Nergal hesitated at first, but then he stepped up to the woman, pulling her closer, allowing her to rest against his shoulder for comfort. There is no kindness within me. I do this merely because it seems.. the right thing to do. Few, mortals and immortals alike, had ever been allowed to be this close to him, permitted to touch him.. There was no way Lien would know, but Cosine.. maybe. Maybe. "Then.." Nergal paused, drawing a deep breath before he made a decision and spoke on. "Then it Shall Be." A slight tremor went through his slender frame and he couldn't help but wonder if Lien had an idea, any idea of just how much these words meant, what kind of impact they would have. He was changing, inevitably. He had learned of hope, and doubt, and care. But this.. This was the first step ever he had taken of consciously changing himself. "There shall be a grove," he whispered, "and within the grove shall be a glade. The soft light of eternal dusk, the gentle waters of a spring cascading down the rocks and gathering in a small pond. This is where the lost and the hurt and the children shall gather, until it is time to stand before my Throne and face Me and My Judgment. Remember it for me."midnight_medea Quote: Lien closed her eyes as he pulled her into an awkward sort of hug. Just as she would never know how unusual the gesture was for him. He would never know what it meant to her. To have this unconditional contact with another. ゛Thank you.゛ She said softly. ゛For everything.゛ She smiled and pulled back gently. ゛Before I am gone I wanted you to know that. That I appreciate all the guidance you have given me.゛ she stepped back and gave a small bow. ゛You are a good man. No, god. More noble than any man I have met.゛ Thabara Noble, hm? "You keep attributing me with qualities I do not possess," he chided softly, relieved and disappointed the same that she would pull away from him so quickly. "It is I who must thank you."The smile he offered her was tinged with regret. What had started out like a social call with light hearted conversation suddenly felt too much like a final good-bye. He had an inkling they would not meet again like this. "I am glad you chose to visit me today." And to have known you. Quote: Lien smirked a little at his words. "Relative nobility?" She suggested. he was a better man than most, no, almost all she had met. "I am glad I came too." She said with a soft smile, bowing her head a little. "Though I will not know it, I will miss you." She blinked away a few more tears and stepped close to him as she realised this seemed like a goodbye. "You both saved and destroyed me. A little poetic I think." She stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek lightly. "Goodbye Nergal, I hope we meet again."
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:11 am
2.XIXQuote: As she closed the door behind her she paused to take a deep, cleansing breath. Parting is such sweet sorrow. The words came to her as words do and she wondered who had said them. She did not like how that had felt like goodbye, how could it be? They lived in the same house. Suddenly the beautiful rooms seemed claustrophobic and heavy. Death was closing in and she was suddenly begining to realise that she could not fight it. Of course, she knew it would happen, but only now did she realise the truth. For months, she had been in a world of denial. Maybe it would be different for her. The goddess would not devour her whole, or even partially. She would be able to go on living this new life, a life with friends and people she could love and call family. She stood, at the top of the steps in an almost paralysed state, as if standing there could stop time. One step and it would start again. She would be propelled back onto the steep slope to the End and unlike others she knew there was nothing waiting for her once she got there. A soft miaow drew her attention to her right. She had moved now and so time and life would go on. On the step below her was a tiny kitten. Green with little lilac wings he must have managed to hide during Nergal's scare and only now deemed it fit to appear. "Hey there trouble." She smiled, crouching down to pick the little fellow up. Thabara "He's a brave one. Always among the first to return after Lord Nergal scares them off." Ishum stood at the bottom of the stairs, peering up at her. "I think that's why he never had much of a love for cats - they are not as obedient as he'd like them to be and don't know to leave him alone when he wants to be. A good thing if you ask me." He winked and smiled. "He's too much of a recluse, really. I'm glad you came to visit." The aoide leaned against the banister, one arm resting lightly on the wooden handrail. "So, how did it go? I know he can be quite.. awkward." He had seen her expression just before the cat had demanded her attention and it had him wonder if anything had.. happened. midnight_medea Lien looked up from her new friend as Ishum appeared and smiled.
"He does realise cats will only pester him more the more he pretends to hate them?" She asked, smirking and scratching the kitten under the chin. He rewarded her with a loud motor like purr.
"I am glad I came to visit too. I do not think I will see him again." She smiled sadly. "He wasn't awkard. A little frustrating and upsetting, but ... it was good to talk with him about some things." She fell into a wistful silence and stared off over his shoulder. After a moment she seemed to snap out of her thoughts and turned her eyes back to him.
"But enough of fate. It depresses me and I don't want to spend my days moping. What do you do for fun Ishum?" Thabara "Hah! I don't think he'll ever get the hang of it." Ishum grinned. "If you can come up with a name for the little fella, you can take him with you - he might stick around." He observed with a chuckle as the cat rubbed it's head against Lien's hand. "See? He likes you already. You seem to have quite a hand with the boys." He winked. Was he flirting? Perhaps. Was this wise, considering she was a host? Probably not. His good natured grin faded upon her next words though. So, she too would be gone soon. This.. just wasn't fair. "Yes, he tends to be that way," he said slowly. "If there ever was a god of Frustration - I don't remember actually - I'm pretty sure he was born from his line of the family." Big family. So many more hosts needed if they all were to be reborn. The aoide was quite glad when Lien chose to break the glum mood herself, latching all too willingly on the new topic. "Me?" he asked, blushing a little. Few people ever asked about him. Other aoidei sometimes, and Kish, and Rio.. But mostly he was simply accepted for what he was - servant, errand boy and beastmaster of the Underworld - and his presence taken for granted. "Well.. I do like animals and working with them. Well, anything with fur, really." He grinned and thought of Jinx for a moment. Nergal's face when he had surprised the two of them in the stables had been.. priceless. "Down from small rodents all the way up to the really big ones. Uhm, think bears, only bigger and nastier." Hey, there was nothing wrong with trying to impress her, now that she'd asked about him, was there? "I used to go out occasionally, but now that my Lord no longer sleeps, serving him has become pretty much a full time job again." He shrugged, his shining wings moving along with the motion. "Besides, around here, there aren't any bars or pubs left anyway." midnight_medea Lien grinned and stroked the soft fur on the kitten's head. He was adorable and she would have to choose the perfect name. At Ishum's words about boys she laughed and raised an eyebrow.
"You have no idea." She said in reply, hugging the cat to her chest and smiling. See, this was what she wanted, some normality. Someone who knew how to laugh.
She watched him as he spoke of Nergal and smiled more as he acted as though people never asked about him.
"Yes you." She laughed again and shook her head a little. To her none of the servants were really servants. Just as she did not believe herself a godded though she carried one. For now, they were equal.
"Big animals." she repeated, nodding to herself as she remembered the scars he had shown her earlier. "Seems we have a lot in common ... I used to work with the nasty too. Some big, most not." She realised what she had just said and bit her toungue for a moment to stop further crude comments. Not that he knew what she was talking about but still.
"Lets do something." She grinned, finding it a little amusing that in this world of gods and immortals they did usual things like go to the bar. "Shame there's no bars. I could do with a drink. But anything works. I want some real fun."
This RP begind in the same thread as another. I'm classing it as a different RP as it's not really linked to the first half and involves Lien going off with a different character.
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