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 Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 8:16 pm
Shiana stooped down before one of Music's shrines. The Goddess had many: some known to her, some planned. Some unplanned, as she suspected this one was. Its centerpiece was a battered guitar, possibly damaged in Gehenna by the scorch marks and cracks in the casing, the broken strings - and yet vines curled around it, coaxed into using the instrument as a trellis by some gentle soul. Scraps of sheet music were rolled up and pressed into the coils of vine, and below it were left the tender offerings of a populace crying out to their now-distant Lady. Flowers. Stones. Even fruits - even a cupcake. Shiana gathered it all, scooping it into her basket - all save the cupcake, which she ate herself, gingerly. Best for it to sustain someone, when the Lady herself was not present to enjoy. And she was a little hungry. The basket was filled to the brim now. Nobody had asked her to go around and collect these tokens, but she felt it would be useful. Needful. Some small way she could offer her support to her Lady. With a small sigh, the Asari turned towards home. She would bring these to the only God now in residence there - the Lord Lament, whom she had seen only a few times before. Wherever he might be. Zero Dream If any of this needs tweaking let me know and I shall tweak <3333
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Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 8:47 pm
 Akakios did return back to what had once been home, every now and then. It was not though any want to see it again than his sense of responsibility - someone had to care for his mother's matters while she was gone, and the aoidei could not handle everything.
But what had once been a set of rooms full of light and sound was now too silent, and these halls were just as haunted for him as they had been for Echo - he simply dealt with the shadows differently.
Akakios wasd finishing up with Concerto when Shianna came - and the aoide would simply retire when it happened. "Shianna." He nodded, turning to face her completely. They did not know each other all that well - she had come around, her and the harpy, when he had already started to withdraw.
But she was precious to his mother, and that was certainly enough. "How have you been ?" The basket, full again. He was not surprised - but he was glad that the asari took the time to do this.
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Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 7:41 pm
Shiana attempted to bow, but the basket kind of got in the way, so she sank down on one knee instead. "Lord Lament," she said, her head bowed. "I am well enough," she murmured. "I have brought the tokens left on the Lady's behalf, if you would receive them in her stead?" She held the basket up as best she could. It was rather heavy, especially to hold up just by her fingertips in ceremonial fashion. She wanted desperately to ask for word, but who was she to demand answers from a god? Zero Dream the gem is in the basket; touching it feels mischievous~ cheerful too~
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Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 11:27 am
The basket was quickly retrieved before it could tumble down or, even worse, that Shiana might harm herself. There was no need for such ceremony, and he wondered where the asari had picked up such a thing - his mother certainly was not big on elaborate rituals that would only have served to distance herself from mortals.
"I would, thank you." The woman had not spoken, but the questions were clear in her face. At first he had determined to say nothing, let his mother explain what had happened as she would be comfortable to do so upon her return. But as Music's absence lengthened...
"Would you stay for tea ? If you are not busy ?" He peered into the basket with open curiosity - something within seemed familiar in some way, though he did not see it quite yet.
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Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 5:49 pm
"I... would, thank you," she said, surprised; she relaxed a bit. She always stood on ceremony before her betters, be they divine or mortal, and meeting new gods only increased her formality. Not that the Lord was new to her, but they had never truly interacted one-on-one like this before. Though, really, she should have known, given the Lady. "To be honest, I've just been keeping myself busy, but the shrines fill up so quickly, and it takes a while to visit all of them," she admitted, standing up, though her body language still spoke of her anxiety. "Sometimes I find new ones..."
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Posted: Fri May 03, 2013 2:26 pm
"It does not surprise me." His mother was more beloved than she thought - but then, it was so easy to be blind to the obvious when pain had hold on one's mind.
He would lead Shiana deeper toward the garden, where they could sit and not be disturbed. An aoidei was waiting here, a woman with the lower body of a snake, green hair, and multicolored scales - an odd comparison with the god she served, yes, but Lament's all the same, "Tasia, could you get us some tea ?"
The naga nodded and left, and Akakios sat on one of the benches, carefully scooping up layers of silk and black lace to do so neatly. The asari was welcome to either sit beside him or on the bench right in front - either way, she would easily be able to reach for the small table there.
The basket was pulled in his lap and he would carefully inspect what was within. Mostly the usual, but one of the stones definitively was a little different than the rest of them. He would pluck it out and hold it up - it shimmered in a rather lovely way in the sunlight that came down though the open area, but more important was what could not be seen.
This was no normal gem, and Lament knew this. He knew this because he had handled another gem, once, the one that now sat in his lover's tight. The divine essence within seemed quite cheerful, which surprised him.
Perhaps trying to tell him the one needed was right there ? He would watch Shiana though his veil for a moment, but it would be hard for her to tell what exactly the god was thinking. "I know that you wonder where my mother has gone. I wanted her to explain it herself, in whatever depths she would be comfortable with... But I do not think she has meant to be gone this long."
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Posted: Fri May 03, 2013 5:49 pm
The garden was lovely. Shiana took the bench across from Akakios, reaching down to brush her fingers over the leaves of the closest plant she could reach. At his question, though, she looked startled, then chastened. "I... not so much where, exactly, but to know - to pray that she is well," she murmured. "Truth be told, it is best that I don't know where, or else Alcyone will pry it from me and try to follow." She smiled, wryly. Her excitable companion was doubtless well-known among Music's ranks now. The harpy was so loud that it was pretty much unavoidable. But there was a buried anguish in her smile - that the Lady, who had become Shiana's world since the asari had lost everything she'd ever known, might never return. A fear of being wounded again - and all those losses that Shiana had never openly mourned. Those unsung laments were sealed within her, beneath her demure and pleasant exterior.
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Posted: Fri May 03, 2013 6:12 pm
Of course he know of that pain, of those things she had never allowed herself to properly feel - it would be hard for him not to know, as she was looking upon half of Sorrow itself.
"She is well, now." This much Akakios could easily said. "And when she returns, she will be better. The darker days will be behind..." He paused. "Both of us, really." His mother's pain had been his in turn, as he tried anything in his power to try and ease and yet simply could not - to say nothing about his own feeling upon his father's vanishing.
Heartbreak was not among the things he could easily fix.
"To tell you the truth, I do not even know where she went." So there was little hint of harpy prodding. There was the slightest curve to his lips, an amused smile at the thought. "So we should all be safe, hopefully."
The tea would come, and Tasia would then excuse herself. Akakios would then let the stone down on the tray, freeing his hand to pour the tea. So the stone would sit there... in easy reach. Tempting, perhaps.
It was as much practical as it was a test to see if Shiana was the one.
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Posted: Fri May 03, 2013 11:06 pm
"Ah-" Shiana paused as the tea was placed before then, and she smiled a bit at the sight of the warm steam rising. "I am glad to know that, Lord. If the Lady is on a journey of healing, I will pray for her renewal." Pray to whom, exactly, she wasn't sure - maybe simply to the Lady herself. There was a click as Akakios put something down on the tea tray - something bright, shining - or no, not shining at all? Shiana's smile turned into a look of vague confusion as she leaned forward, focusing on the object. Ah - of course, it was a stone, something opalescent. She tested it, moving her head to one side, then the other and watching the colors change- And then, aware of how odd her behavior must seem, she blushed purple and looked over at Akakios. "An unusual stone, is it not? Was it in the basket...?" She didn't remember picking up such a thing, though she'd collected so many items that it was natural to not remember them all individually.
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Posted: Sat May 04, 2013 6:09 am
That seemed to satisfy Shiana, and that was good. He really did not wish to go into details at all if it could be helped - because on one hand, it was for Echo to explain... And on the other, he had little want to poke at his own feelings. He would likely be angry, as he always was now when he talked of Underworld - and this was not something the Asari deserved to be on the brunt end of.
That, and there was something else to focus on. Shiana's reaction to the stone was telltale - the god inside was calling and she was answering in her own way. The stone had not taken while it could, earlier, when the Asari had first picked it up to put it in the basket, so he would have to explain. Again.
Someone really needed to tell those gems that there was irony in him trying to explain the process. "Yes, it was in the basket." He paused to sip on his tea, but then decided to put the cup aside to allow it to cool some. "And if in intrigues you so, then... It is likely meant to be yours."
Lament paused again, thinking his words carefully. When Asedri had come to him, Tajne had already done most of the explanations. Such was not the case here. "Has my mother ever told you about how gods return to life ?"
A good way to start.
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Posted: Sat May 04, 2013 10:37 am
"Mine?" Shiana looked confused. Well, surely he could give her whatever he wanted; his authority was no less than his Lady mother's. And yet it would seem rude to just reach out and grab it just because she found the lenticular colorshift interesting. And his next question seemed so utterly unrelated that it only increased her confusion. "No, Lord... she did not mention." And it had never occurred to Shiana to ask. Gods were eternal; they simply were. Weren't they?
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Posted: Sat May 04, 2013 11:49 am
Not quite. Once yes, and now again, but there was a vast length of time, ages upon which only one god had lived and breathed.
"Once upon a time, there were gods of all kind, for all things. They lived, breathed... But eventually, the mortals stopped to believe. Not only a few isolated cases, but a wide-spread loss of faith. Not all of them did stop believing, but those who remained were not enough. The gods died, faded into nothing, one by one. All save one." It sounded like a lament of it's own, but there was truth in the words he spoke.
"The first and last god, Creation and Destruction, eventually found a way to return his lost sons and daughters to life. Gems. Gems, formed from the very essence of the fallen influences. Infinite potential, but no life. No spark. That spark, that life comes from an outside source - mortals who take on the stones and see the deity to life once more... Hopefully better than they were before. My mother was among the first few to come back to life in such a way."
Him, well, he was a completely different case, and that would only serve to confuse the poor Asari further. "This gem is no normal gem, and I believe you were the one who found it for a reason."
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Posted: Sat May 04, 2013 12:41 pm
When Akakios was done speaking, Shiana took a deep breath, looking down at the odd stone again. "So... that might be a god? Like the Lady - your mother?" It seemed incomprehensible. It was just a rock, after all. Surely divine power could not be contained in such a profoundly physical vessel, however beautiful it might be - and, truly, this particular stone was only beautiful for the odd colors it possessed. Its shape was lumpy and unremarkable. It seemed wholly unsuited to the role the god suggested. She looked up at Akakios, her expression unreadable. "Take on the stones... in what way? Are these 'gems' like eggs, embryos? Do they require caretakers?" What a bizarre concept.
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Posted: Sat May 04, 2013 1:45 pm
"Yes, I am certain. Though I would not be able to tell you who... or of what." As far as he knew, it was impossible to tell influence from stone alone.
This was the part that might be a little dicey. Some reacted strongly against the process, and some were intrigued by it. There was no saying what reaction Shiana would have until she heard of it. "There is one mortal, more fitted for the god than any other in all that exist. Should that person decide to do this, then the gem will sink into the skin wherever it is placed... To bring a god back to life means to give one's life up in turn. To influence the god, either willingly or unwillingly, to better him or her."
"Though that is honestly where my knowledge ends." He would admit. "And you will have to forgive me if I do not demonstrate... I was made in a completely different way." When two gods really, really loved each other...
Well, he was certain that Shiana was smart enough to know how that went.
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Posted: Sat May 04, 2013 2:47 pm
"... So the gem is like a seed," Shiana said quietly. "And the mortal body is like... the pot, and the soil. And you think that I might be the... the pot for this seed?" She pointed one slightly trembling hand at the stone laying so innocently on the tea tray. She didn't know what to think, if this revelation were marvelous or unspeakably cruel. Mostly, she just felt dazed, as if reality had dissolved itself into a dream and she hadn't noticed the transition. "What happens if I accept? Hypothetically." She gave the gem long, hard look. The colors seemed to shift again under her gaze.
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