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 Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:40 pm
Many of Duniya knew of the Divine Order. They all had varying thoughts of the religious body, but most held some measure of respect for them whether it was for their devotion to the Pantheon or for their willingness to cope with the unreliable Duniya gods. The Divine Order did not typically involve itself in the everyday affairs of its residents, but something about the uniqueness of the existence of the Tabula Rasa had intrigued the gods.
The Order contained the gods' messengers, and so, the Divine Order learned that they must interfere with these 'Tabula Rasa'—blank slates born out of Rasa. The particular reasons for the gods' interference was unknown, but no matter if Locke particularly agreed to it or not, the new manifests were to be brought to the Divine Order—specifically, Shakuni—immediately upon manifestation.
Shakuni herself was a deeply devout priestess of the Order. It was said that the gods had touched her themselves, and therefore she held a deep connection and affinity to the affairs of the gods. Shakuni was a leader in the Order and perhaps the most important messenger of them all. To be called to bring the Tabula Rasa to the gods meant that the Tabula Rasa held some deep significance. The certain significance was, as of currently, unknown, but one did not question the gods' wishes.
Another manifestation had arrived—Jaydon. It was time.
As routine before she had to present someone with the gods, Shakuni entered a meditative state where she could speak with her gods. No matter what, she kept alert for the sounds around her, to make sure she would not find herself surprised and to make sure she knew exactly when the manifestation would enter.
If the gods wished to meet all the manifestations, Shakuni would be the vessel which would allow that.
(( The gods have spoken through their faithful servant! They have decreed that all new manifestations are to be brought to the attention of the Divine Order and brought to Shakuni, their faithful messenger, as soon as possible.
This PRP thread is reserved for the manifestation Jaydon.
This introductory post is very similar to the ones of the other Tabula because the Divine Order and Shakuni have not been known very long; it gives you a chance to get to know them as well. ))
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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:22 pm
Jaydon's footsteps were tentative at best, barely more than a whisper as his sky blue eyes took in the glorious details of the temple. Awe didn't begin to cover what he felt as he worked up the nerve to enter, appreciating the exquisite detail in the carvings and the somewhat ominous mood coming from within.
'It's so...big...' The pale manifestation was dwarfed by the sheer, cavernous entrance, like little more than a single dancing star in a lonely sky. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought, each cautious step leading him away from the exit, from certain safety. At least he knew what lay outside waiting for him: this was something he still wasn't sure he was entirely prepared for. The fact that he'd been immediately taken to this strange place left Jaydon feeling more than a little unnerved, as though he were some great secret, or about to discover one.
That thought left a new sort of shiver. The idea of discovering what was waiting for him won out in the end, leaving his self-conscious doubts behind him as he entered a room filled with soft light, though he wasn't exactly sure where it originated from.
In fact, it took Jaydon several minutes to realize that his indecision had left him standing stock still as a dear running into a hunter, and just as wide-eyed. Caught between two very different instincts, he took several deep breaths and was able to start moving again, wondering what they had in store for him - whoever "they" were.
Then he finally noticed the mysterious woman half hidden in shadows. Swallowing thickly, he tried to find his voice. Curiosity was one thing, after all, but it would be rather rude to interrupt someone.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude," he began falteringly.
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Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2008 12:48 pm
"You are not intruding."
Shakuni had not looked up until the manifestation spoke, though she had sensed his presence and tracked his movement through the temple. Now she faced him and spread her hands, smiling slightly. Awe was a common reaction to the temple, as was fear, and Shakuni didn't particularly like the manifestations to be afraid. After all, the gods were generally not to be feared. "After all, you were summoned here," she went on. "I have been waiting for you. Please, come closer."
Her voice echoed in the temple and was easily audible even to someone standing as far away as Jaydon, but nonetheless she would prefer that she not have to speak quite so loudly.
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Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2008 2:06 pm
Jaydon returned the woman's slight smile with a small one of his own, a bit bashful but relieved he'd not interrupted anything important. There were, after all, certain rules of etiquette to observe...right? Did the Divine Order have different ones, or more extravagant? The mental merry-go-round of questions was sure to drive him a little batty if he thought on it for too long.
What probably invited him the most was not the fact that she had a similar appearance to other manifestations - the pale hair and sky blue eyes, but the way she'd opened her arms to him. If it had been more of a friendly, hug-imitating motion, he probably would have been more on edge. But this, paired with her soft voice, was more like an invitation to a very personal sanctum. If she believed he was worth inviting, why shouldn't he trust her and go forward?
"Oh," he said as he came closer, brow furrowed slightly in mild distress. "I hope you weren't waiting too long...why?" He tilted his head at this last question and studied her, suddenly interested in what she had to say. "Er, I mean, why was I summoned?" It sounded like a desire to know mixed with a bit of "why me?".
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:39 pm
Jaydon's hesitance didn't necessarily concern Shakuni, but she was nonetheless glad when he finally started to come closer. Fear and anxiety were not the best states of mind for meeting with gods, after all. Her smile widened and she inclined her head to Jaydon. "I am correct in assuming you are Jaydon," she said softly, looking him up and down. It wasn't necessarily a question, just a brief precaution in case someone had mistaken one Tabula for another. It wouldn't be difficult.
His questions she was more-than ready to answer. That was something she heard frequently. "The gods have requested that they meet all Tabula once they manifest," she answered. "You are one of the Tabula, and thus you have been summoned here."
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Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:20 pm
"Of course," Jaydon said with a slight crease between his brows, as though the question baffled him. "Who else would I be?" He'd meant the question quite innocently, never having referred to himself as anything else, but then it occured to him that he probably wasn't the only Tabula she'd run across, and flushed slightly. It was quite possible that she might think he was snubbing her, which was probably the last thing on his mind. If he ever got over his verbal stumbling, he'd even begin to realize that he was relaxing quite noticably from earlier, now that his curiosity had a hold on him.
He nodded at her explanation; this, at least, had been explained to him before he'd arrived. He was sort of hoping for a bit more detail, but maybe that wasn't really necessary as much as it was a preference. He was a Tabula, and there really wasn't much to go on other than that.
"Because I'm...different," he half explained with her, gesturing to the gaping hole where his heart should have been. He may be inquisitive, but he was also quick to pick up on some things. The odd looks thrown his way, for instance, on his way here. No longer so much that he was an oddity, but something new to a collection, worth inspecting discreetly, at a safe distance.
That's when he caught the gist of what Shakuni'd said. He blinked a few times, as though he wasn't quite sure he'd heard her completely right.
"The gods want to me....me?" Again, the baffled expression. Tabula or not, Jaydon couldn't wrap his head around the idea that he was worthy of meeting anyone of the Divine Order, nevermind just plain Divine. He swallowed thickly.
"How?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 10:56 am
Shakuni allowed her eyes to rest on the hole Jaydon was gesturing to. It was something that all Tabula had... something she had seen numerous times. Yet... it still unsettled her. It was proof, Locke had told her, that the Tabula were unique, that there was something special about the way Tabula were 'born'. She looked back up and held his gaze with her own. "Yes. You are different. But you are also the same. We are all children of the Gods; both you and I and everyone else. And the Gods have their own wishes; these we do not question." At his next question, Shakuni merely smiled and clapped her hands, causing the room to be plunged into darkness. Shakuni's eyes had half-closed, invisible in the darkness, as faint lights began to conglomerate around an impressive stone fountain that stood in the middle of the room. Her eyes opened quickly, and Shakuni's voice, imbued with something not her own, reverberated within the walls. "Tabula. It is time for you to choose your path."  (( There is a black light between the blue and green lights. ))
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 6:55 pm
That last little bit stuck like a bur to Jaydon: not question? How else were they to learn? Well, maybe some things were just accepted. That seemed to be what she was trying to tell him, anyway. Maybe if he stopped being so stubborn for a moment, he'd understand better.
The lights went out as he thought over this somewhat extravagant revolution, tossing everything into deep shadows, save for a fountain in the center of the room with several different colored lights. Jaydon blinked a couple times, phased but not afraid, thanks to Shakuni's reassurances from earlier. He looked over to her for some sort of sign as to what he was supposed to do, but she had disappeared, as well. When she spoke, her voice seemed to contain something....else. Something more, enough to fill the entire chamber with power. Swallowing thickly, he strode towards the lights, eyes resting on each in turn for a moment.
Some, like the black lights (how could lights be black, he wondered?), made him want to pull back almost at once, while others, like the white, were simply too bright, almost blinding. Some just seemed to sort of only half exist, as though while they were actually there, they were not there for him.
"This one, it's different," he said softly, indicating the pale blue lights. It reminded him of a crystal clear sky, crisp and cool, open and familiar. "It...it calls to me."
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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 5:31 pm
The blue light may have become more intense, but the effect was so subdued it was difficult to be sure. What was more evident was the manifestation of a tall man with a cloak that appeared to be nothing more than wisps of pale blue smoke surrounding him. His skin had a silver tinge and it shone under the blue light.
"Shoka."
His voice was barely more than a whisper, but it resounded throughout the room in the silence.
"Sorrow. It is this you desire?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2008 8:37 pm
The light had barely changed, little more than a puff of steamy breath right before it dissipates into the chill air. Jaydon's awe at the manifestation was so intense it gave him goose bumps: the man was beautiful in a cold, almost fragile sort of way, and yet...he didn't know how to place it, but some inner viewpoint on the world seemed to shift ever so slightly. He could see, could understand, the beauty in sorrow.
And yet, what the whispery voice asked of him, though a simple question, demanded much. Could he actually desire sorrow? Jaydon bit his lip, worrying at it as he gazed at the manifestation. In his mind, he knew that there were always at least two sides to everything, and the more he thought, the more he debated, different inflections pulling him in different directions until he felt as taut as a rubber band about to be snapped.
"...I..." A deep breath, a final thought. When he looked Shoka directly in the eye, his gaze was, perhaps, somewhat solemn.
"Yes."
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Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 11:10 am
Sitan's gaze wandered over the Tabula as he surveyed the room. He hoped that the boy could withstand the gravity of the choice; he knew gods themselves who had buckled under it.
But... something seemed to change, to move so subtly in the boy. There was a palpable tension in the room as Sitan waited for an answer, radiating from the boy. Sitan fleetingly thought that he should say something, but then the Tabula spoke.
Those bright eyes met and held his insubstantial grey ones; it surprised the god. He was not one who many people passed with heads held high, pride and hope intact. By the time they reached him, they were mostly broken; shells of former lives.
Sitan had not looked away. It was a new sensation for him, looking into someone's eyes, seeing them for more than dead flesh and rotting bones.
"Now that you have chosen a path to direct you, what is it you wish to do whilst walking the path of Shoka, Tabula? Shoka has many facets, young one, but I believe you have gained this understanding."
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 7:48 pm
Jaydon bit his lip at Sitan's question, and it was certainly a good one. His brows furrowed in a deep Vas he thought it over, carefully examining his own reaction for any sign of what to say. He was new to the concept of sorrow, and yet not, for he'd seen traces of its existence on the way to the temple; homeless children without family, hunger, traces of grief and regret. It stirred something deep within him beyond compassion or longing, something familiar. But it was as insubstantial. It had to be.
His eyes dropped for one split second as he mulled over the path that his choices were forming, then met the god's own again. He would simply be honest.
"I am not sure," he admitted. "There is much I could do, but it doesn't seem enough. I want to be strong, strong enough to carry the scars that sorrow may leave, but I don't... I..." He felt utterly flustered, as though he were blindfolded and the words he was searching for, just beyond reach, were actually in brail.
"I want to walk in silence, even solitude. Whether it makes me or breaks me." Silence and solitude - two ways to either destroy what strength you had against sorrow, for without support, could you learn to stand alone and move forward? Or would time for inflection help the griever to grow stronger, and not in brittle strength?
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Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 8:18 pm
"Solitude." If he had been a different god, Sitan might have smiled. How interesting these Tabula were! Fate was a strange thing. Even he did not know this was to happen; but it could be nothing but fate. This Tabula had chosen solitude. This strengthened Sitan's belief that there was a strange connection these Tabula had to the plane of Duniya. Something was different about Duniya, something that was evident by the thickening of the workings of fate in this plane.
Out of the smoke surrounding him, a small key formed in Sitan's palm, difficult to discern because it had the same, ethereal silver colour as his skin. It was small and contained no adornment save for a pale blue stone embedded in the bow of the key.
"For you."
Key of Solitude
Your character prefers to be alone.
Gain 1 XP: every time you perform an activity that could be done in a group alone.
Gain 3 XP: every time you reject an offer of being with others to be alone.
Buyoff: Do something important with others that could be done alone.
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Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:38 pm
If it was one thing Jaydon was not suspecting, it was a gift, and a key, to boot. It was barely discernable, but the pale, frosty blue gem in the center indicated that he was, in fact, not imagining things. It had a stark beauty about its simple features and the way silver gleamed against the god's pale skin, almost as thought they were subtly woven together. His footsteps were quiet and somewhat humble as he took the small treasure offered.
"Thank you," he said, looking the god eye-to-eye once more. Perhaps there was strength to be found, yet, in his own way.
...Jaydon could only wish to be worthy of his choice.
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Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:16 am
Sitan merely met the boy's gaze for a moment, before he began to fade and light returned to the room. Shakuni was visible now, standing where just moments before Sitan had been. She coughed, and shook her head slightly. She had never gotten quite used to the physical process of being a vessel of the gods. It was rather tiring.
She was happy to see that Jaydon had taken his key (she had realized by now that the Gods always seemed to gift the Tabula they called with some sort of key before departing) and that he appeared to handling his visit well.
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