In to the Grey Halls
tb2 - Monday, March 15, 2021, 8:30 PM
<OOC> Delilah says, "OKay, let's get on with it, we'll see if he gets back in time for his turn. :P"
<OOC> Delilah will provide a catcher-upper.
<OOC> Delilah says, "It's just occured to me that Ashes has been posting the logs."
<OOC> Delilah says, "http://www.tenebraemush.net/index.php?title=Be_at_Peace"
<OOC> Delilah says, "That was so much easier than a spam brick. :D"
<OOC> Ashes nods. She does post logs!
<OOC> Ashes says, "So... not my pose?" <OOC> Donna says, "You closed out the last, I think a scenepose is the ideal opener." <OOC> Delilah can do this! <OOC> Ashes says, "Okay!" GAME: Whirlpool has awarded you 80 XP for being online!
The Ashen Arvek has completed her sacred task. Five have surrendered the trappings of life, shedding all possessions down to their very skins, and been cleansed in the cold waters of the stream and lay upon a barren rock; and now they cross back, over to the shore where they started. Among the flowers, Mahuikaa waits for those who must journey to the Grey Halls, apparently choosing the path among the flowers as the best place for the portal she must conjure. She waits, while the living don the robes of the dead; aside from the crowns of flowers, only Delilah has anything else, in the four manacles on her wrists and ankles. Once it seems like all is in readiness, Mahuikaa wordlessly holds up the cube. She turns it over in her hands until the bone colored side is on top. her forefinger touches its center and pushes, until it depresses with a soft, almost whispered click; and then the cube tumbles from the aged Sith's hand, landing in the middle of the path. Above it, the air tears itself open as a wreath of gray, warmthless flames erupts into being, with pale mist obscuring the other side. With the portal summoned, Mahuikaa turns without a word and meanders back to the cottage, leaving the portal for the five who must traverse it.
<OOC> Delilah Suggests we let Ashes go next and then any order is good. <OOC> Ashes nods! Posing! Ashes, the Mourner Ashlee Ciaradh, the one stillborn who lives in between the light and the darkness stares at the portal. A single finger was placed upon her lip before she crossed the streams. They must not speak, not here, not this side.
She's in no danger of that. Chippen, her oversized centipede familiar that currently is tightly encircling her neck like a leggy choker, has paralytic poison. When he took her last words, he took a bite, and while he didn't inject much it was enough to swell her tongue and numb it thorougly.
She couldn't speak now if she wanted to. When she can, she'll know she, everyone, has crossed over. Wordlessly she moves her hand, making the marks of Vardama's blessing around the portal then takes her last breath. A gesture, follow me.
She halts, mid step, and looks at Elyanna, then Donna. She extends a hand to each for them to take. Altogether at one, yes. That would be best. <OOC> Ashes says, "at once, FIX" Elyanna's eyes widen some to the kiss. She wasn't expecting that, clear from the knit of her brow, but she doesn't protest, nor overtly respond. She doesn't know the ritual, and this could be normal. Still, it throws the mix askew a touch, something that demands a proper conversation once this is settled.
The red woman makes the return trip in contemplative silence, yet trying to allay her baggage that the immediate task can be managed without distraction.
Her eyes seek the Sith woman, observing her introduction with the cube and the formation of the portal, steel pools glittering in it's light before she looks to Ashes, their guide and accepts her hand without hesitation. Following the blessing, Donna has been utterly without words. It's clear that Ashes' response, as well as her sister's unburdened secret, has eased a long-tightened knot in her heart... but there's something haunting about the entire order of the day; escaping death for the both of them, only to walk in Vardama's halls of their own free will.
Thus it's why she takes the priestess' hand with a nod, then wraps her free arm around Delilah's shoulders. If something is going to take Delilah this time, it's going to have to pit its strength against hers. <OOC> Ashes says, "I pinged Merek again, but no response"
As her twin's arm rests on her shoulders, Delilah wraps hers around Donna's waist in kind, leaning against Donna in wordless, sisterly affection. She takes Merek's hand with her other arm, as together the group approach the portal, that waits before them, grey and misty and, in a way, oddly tranquil, despite the silently blazing flames that do not burn. Stepping through the mists brings a flash of cold, almost searing in its suddenness, but it is gone just as quickly. Trudging through the mists might seem to take forever; or perhaps it was only a moment. Presently, the mists part; and together the group of travellers enter into a hall of grey stone. The roof is collapsed, but despite the roof being vacant there is, inexplicably, no sky either. What should be above simply is not. Knee-deep water fills the floor of the hall, shimmering and cool; and overgrown along its sides are trees, with grey bark and black leaves. At the far end of the hall is a stand with a silver bell; but other than this, all is still. All is silent, broken occasionally by a whisper, a shout, or a child's laughter, each gone again almost as quickly as they come.
<OOC> Ashes is posing, thinking... <OOC> Delilah is now getting yoinked for dinner. But will return! <OOC> Ashes says, "what's Bethany's last name?" <OOC> Donna says, "Alenthor, IIRC." The mists are known, their touch like an old friend's, the first sensation Ashlee ever knew buried deep in her memories. Underneath them all it stirs, resettling the foundation of her life. The flames lick over her. The cold, a shock, but she does not flinch, even if the chill lingers in the marking of the bones across her body.
Each step she takes makes a small splash in the water. Her robe drags through it, leaving a small wake behind her, as the wet soaks up to her knees. Her eyes are on the trees, seeking something which doesn't seem to be there. A marking? A bird? A squirrel? It's unclear. The noises are ignored, even if one of them is familiar.
A glint among the grey draws her over. The ashen Arvec walks towards the tree. One of the branches among the many is different, silver, like the bell. Small and short, it bifurcates and has five leaves, also silver but tarnished dark. Ash breaks it off, it snaps easily like the dead twig it is, she holds it carefully as she approaches the bell.
"We each ring the bell, say her name, and hope our voice brings her. If she will not come, we may have to go further in." Ashlee has her voice again. Her words are still monotone, and she speaks in quiet reverent tones, "That will be harder."
>Ding< "Bethany Alenthor." <OOC> Elyanna says, "do we ding with ur finger or using a branch from the tree?" <OOC> Ashes says, "I'll hand you the branch, but the branch is mostly for coming bcak." The transition sets the hobkin's frame to a certain tension, the slip between realms more lingering than her last jaunt with the Mourner, though there to much more... verdant environs.
Elyanna casts her gaze about to the various breaks in the silence, though after some seconds, she stops, coming to reconcile the sound with the peculiars of their current location. The chill of the place, of the water she wades through brings a shiver, but her Arvek upbringing draws rein on her responses, and keeps her moving in Ashes's wake. She listens, watches assimilating the rote though the ephemeral possibilties are left to the wayside. She accepts the branch with due care, and in the wake of her friend's example...
>Ding!< "Bethany Alenthor."
That done, the branch is returned. <OOC> Delilah returns! <OOC> Delilah will wait for Donna though! The step from the world of the living to that of the dead is... more of a shock than Donna expected. One doesn't really grasp how *loud* the living world is, until one crosses over into the world of the dead. No birds claiming territory, no rabbits screaming as they become food for the hawks, no wind whispering secrets through the swaying leaves... The silence very nearly falls like a hammer.
And it's not a silence she really wishes to break. If speaking Bethany's name alone might have the power to summon her, *what* could happen if she voices her fears?
But she watches closely, as Ashes and Elyanna ring the bell... Then guides Delilah up to the bell, and after taking a long, steadying intake of breath, she reaches out to pick it up.
>Ding!< "Bethany Alenthor."
She can only hope that if it's Delilah who ends up summoning her, Bethany's talkativeness is a good thing.
The Golden Sorceress tugs backwards on Donna, just for a second, as they pass through the mists and the brief stab of cold, but leaning on her twin she manages to step forwards, and end up in the flooded hall with everyone else. She walks with Donna to stand before the bell, water sloshing around her legs as she moves; she goes carefully, so as not to offer any greater disturbace than necessary, but really what can the living do but live, even in this place? She takes the branch from her sister, and lingers for a moment, looking at the little bell. >Ding!< "Bethany Alenthor." Gingerly, she sets down the branch before the bell, and turns her head upwards to gaze about herself in the ensuing silence. The waters become still. It is cool, in this place, but not cold. Somewhere, a child cries. A rope snaps taught and feet kick in the air. A breath leaves an aged man's lungs. "She is not here," speaks a voice, quiet but deafeaning; standing in the water is a woman of orcish bearing, green skin beneath a diaphanous white robe, stabding with her hands clasped before her. "Bethany is... elsewhere." She tilts her head, and gazes at each of the living in turn. "You were expected to join her, but you did not," she adds, gazing briefly at Delilah. "Why do you seek Bethany Alenthor?"
You paged Delilah with 'is this the Feiu of the Tears?' Delilah pages: We'll say it's part of it. <OOC> Ashes says, "it's tricky........... just a moment." <OOC> Donna says, "No worries! :3" Ashlee Ciaradh picks up the branch, holds it clasped between her hands and low against her belly. The slight pressure pulling on her funerary robes, wrinkling the cloth. She returns the gaze of, she suspects, the aspect of her Goddess Vardama that she calls on the most. She speaks, carefully, in monotone though with reverence in her own way.
"Feiu of the Tears, you know how she was sent to you, why Delilah was to follow, and why she is not here." The Mourner hesistates, struggling to pull the best phrasing together. Speaking was never her strong suit, and to her Goddess' fragment, it causes even more reluctance in her. Best, to be direct.
"The events would leave her restless. I... we want to fix it for her. So she's at peace." That has an effect on the landscape.
Knowing someone from beyond was expecting you sooner is a mixed bag. Discovering there's a definate plot against your life lets you know you're getting somewhere, though there's that mortality thing. Finding out you've somehow thwarted it, and in so doing, tinkled in your enemy's champagne, is in contrast a solid win, though missing the fine details mostly means the plan is still in play.
Troubling.
Elyanna gazes wide eyed at the Oruch woman, spirit, or....
Avatar.
Swallowing, becase that suddenly became important, Elyanna listens to the framing of Ashes's answer and turns new eyes on what stands before them. She does not speak until spoken to, she has no such grace here, but, at the pause in the ashen Arvek's words, the carmine fingers of the halfbreed alight at the small of her back. <OOC> Delilah says, "Donna, still with us? :3" <OOC> Elyanna blinkblink <OOC> Donna is posing, I promise. <OOC> Delilah says, "Okay! Just making sure. :3" Whirlpool has arrived. <OOC> Elyanna cracks the whip in welcome! It's hard to know what to *expect* from the Grey Halls, beyond 'it will be nothing at all like the material world.' With the background noise of their surroundings being, it would seem, 'the sounds of people making their last sound,' Donna may be forgiven for being on edge.
Sudden Oruch, however, makes her start... though no fists are raised. Not here. Instead, she simply squeezes just a bit more on her sister's shoulders, and tries to keep her eyes focused on the newcomer's knees.
Knees are safe to look at when your guide is addressing a bit of the divine, right?
Delilah, for her part, keeps her eyes more or less in the same place as Donna does, and has gone uncharacteristically quiet. Apparently, when one is faced with a divine representative of the Goddess of the Dead, telling you that you were 'expected', it's hard to come up with an answer. The Orcish Woman clasps her hands in front of her, regarding Ashes with soft gray eyes. She moves forwards, and the water does not swirl about her as it does around the travellers, but remains utterly, soundlessly still. "Brave," whispers the woman. "Bethany Alenthor is not ready to go before Verdama. She was expected to go at the same time as Delilah Valethor. She still could, if you were ready." She stands in front of the golden sorceress, and reaches out one hand to cup her chin and lift her gaze, so she can look into those soft blue eyes. "but you aren't ready, are you?" "Bethany is in torment," she whispers, moving past Donna and Elyanna to stand before Ashes once again. She holds Ashes' chin in kind, looking into her eyes. "Torment of her own making," she adds. "But you would understand that, Mourner. And so perhaps you can help. It is Delilah who must ease her pain... but it will be you who must tell her how." "Are you ready?"
<OOC> Ashes says, "working on the pose" Whirlpool has partially disconnected. You paged Delilah with 'Do.... you need me to come up with a how?' <OOC> Ashes says, "I will add a little more to this pose as necessary, but for the moment..." Delilah pages: Not yet. Ash's head is lifted. She feels the fingers gently on her chin, cold. She looks back into those eyes which can see through to her soul and know her better than anyone. She feels herself judged in this moment, and the stillness of the grave embracing her. The cold water seeps up her funeral dress, which clings to her legs. No fear. She's at peace. She's home.
Ashes presses against the warm touch in the small of her back. Is her body cold, is she as dead as she was born? In the in-between, what is her essence? Will the Feiu of the Tears bring her along or send her back once again? Her fingers tighten on the silver branch, her eyes drop for a moment to ensure there are still five leaves, even if one seems darker than the others. What is the measure of a life, and how long can one be that was cut short before the first day.
Ashlee will stay if her Goddess asks her, and return if that is her wish. She looks deep into her desires and can't tell which outcome she would prefer.
The warm touch lingers in her awareness... the cold one draws her to her duty.
"I am. I accept." She's waiting for Delilah.
Elyanna's eyes narrow slightly as she contemplates that, gazing sidelong toward the sisters, hand still at Ashes's back.
The half-Arvek turns back toward the Divine agent, muddling through the possibilities. The answer Ashes gives, for reasons she doesn't understand, sends a chill along her spine, and her eyes immediately flit to her friend. What does that mean? There's a moment, when the Oruch lays a hand on her sister, that Donna honestly contemplates punching a spirit serivtor of Death.
She immediately reconsiders, but can't help but wonder what would have happened afterward?
Instead, she simply tightens her grip on Delilah, not looking the woman in the eyes but trying to radiate 'no, she's not ready, so hands off' energy without... being impolite about it?
Questions for later. <OOC> Ashes says, "Delilah?" <OOC> Delilah says, "Oh geeze, I totally missed Donna's pose." <OOC> Delilah says, "Sorry. One moment."
Delilah practically shrinks into Donna; but with her chin cupped and her gaze lifted, she has no choice but to look up into the eyes of the divine, and just kind of freezes, holding her breath like her lungs won't work. The Orcish woman walks past Elyanna, brushing her fingers over her shoulder, and coming to a stop in front of Donna. You are alike in your differences," she observes, "And you differ in your likenesses. Balanced... but only together. Without her, you are nothing, and everything." Water fills a set of lungs. A howl of agony rises with billowing smoke. An axe harshly falls. Poison, willingly and fatefully swallowed. "Bethany awaits." Existence shifts around the travellers; and the journey, most of the way, is like passing through an oil painting that's gotten wet, except when it isn't, and it is like lightning being pulled harshly over a rasp instead, and then the living ones arrive. It is the city streets, in Alexandria, but everything is dark; the lights are dark, and it is silent, as no souls are present here. There are no people, birds, or rats. The buildings are without form, somehow; they lack windows or doors, and an open alleyway yawns open, wheezing smoke into the one person kneeling in front of it. Bethany stares into the alleyway, bereft of all she might've been seen with before. Hair hangs unkempt about her shoulders, and her bare skin seems at odds with the darkness. "Nothing," she whispers. "Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing." She takes a breath, and repeats her chant; and again, and again. "Nothing," she whispers. "Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing." Delilah remains close to her sister; instinctively, she shifts to stand behind her, peering over one shoulder at the soul of Bethany. So far, she hasn't noticed the pistol clutched in her own fingers.
<OOC> Delilah says, "Sorry about the wait everyone!" <OOC> Ashes says, "no worries" <OOC> Ashes is.... um... she'll do something. <OOC> Delilah says, "Don't feel compelled to figure it out all in your next pose. :3" You paged (Whirlpool, Delilah) with 'Can... Ashes be oddly semi-transparent, like her skeleton tattoo sunk into her bones and is visible through her flesh, sorta? or would that be too strange?' You paged (Whirlpool, Delilah) with 'other thought is it's simply gone here.' From afar, to (Whirlpool, Ashes): Delilah Is fine with it! To (Whirlpool, Ashes), Delilah pages: Whichever way you prefer. Ashes was stillborn, so I feel like she might have a different relationship with this place than most of the living might. <OOC> Ashes says, "working!" <OOC> Ashes says, "I.... hope it's good." The alleyway looms wide, smoke wafting forth, the beginning and end of this. Ashlee knows it, the memories of how she and Elyanna examined it minutely. The cold stone against her back when she laid where Bethany fell and tried to envision what happened.
Unnecessary now. The woman who can answer that is here. She needs only to be asked.
Ashes turns and hands her silver branch to Elyanna, meeting the noble hob's eyes. It's a moment of strange recognition, the ashen Arvec's skeleton tattoo is gone, her features fully revealed and oddly familiar. Elyanna has seen that face before, almost...
And then the Mourner turns and approaches Bethany, silently, like a ghost. No. Not like. Her real skeleton is a dim glow shining through flesh that is mists and a dress that is cobwebs. She kneels beside Bethany, rests a hand on her shoulder, takes her chin. In the breath between chants Ashes turns her head towards herself and echoes the with Bethany.
"Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing."
Then.
"Speak through me. Use me. Free yourself. Show us what happened." <OOC> Ashes says, "FIX 'mantra' fell out" <OOC> Donna says, "Very nice. :3" <OOC> Ashes says, "thanks." How often does one get touched by Divinity, really?
The contact thrills the half-Arvek's spirit in overlapping shades of mortal judgement, and animal terror, and it sets her rational mind on the back foot for some moments, even stilling her 'breathing' at the enormity of Death itself being so casual... so close to hand.
By the time Elyanna's regained her equillibrium, or, better said, she can see it from where she is, the group has arrived in the narrows of the Lady Alenthor's singular Perdition.
She imagines her own accomodations will be no more welcoming.
The Blarite scion turns then, to Delilah, the shadow in Bethany's mind, and the key to her trancendance. Then, there is the movement beside her, under her lingering touch, telling her that Ashes is turning to face her and so she reorients to meet the woman breathing beneath the memento mori, awareness beyond her ken yet unable to pierce her own veils stir in recognition of those features. The truth is lost to a vague, gnawing ache, a splinter in her mind as she almost automatically accepts the branch. She can but nod, then, and pivots on a heel and edge back to stand beside the Sisters Valethor.
To. support.
To witness. To be addressed by the... avatar? Spirit? Goddess? ...is its own special kind of horrifying, in its way. To have the being remark on the special strangeness of her and her twin... unsettling.
To move without moving, through the background hum of a death with every heartbeat and into a ghostly recreation of the place that started it all...
Privately, Donna is quite relieved to have surrendered decision-makin to Ashes, because the brawler knows that she would have foundered the moment she set foot here. And then Ashes steps forward, apparently shedding her mortality to communicate with the dead soul... Donna has no words. No *idea.*
She does, however, intend to find a bar when they return, and drink it. <OOC> Ashes says, "ooooh very nice!" <OOC> Elyanna sighs, "Ah, Castiel" <OOC> Donna says, "Transmet, actually. XD" <OOC> Donna says, "'First, I am going to find a bar, and drink it.'" <OOC> Elyanna says, "ahh" Merek has arrived. <OOC> Merek says, "hey" <OOC> Delilah says, "Merek!" <OOC> Elyanna says, "The hell's wrong with you?" "I found a liquor store." "And?" "And I DRANK it!"" <OOC> Ashes says, "Another fav of mine, from somewhere else is 'He would be at the docks, first thing in the morning to meet the boat, if he had to be up all night drinking to do so.'" <OOC> Merek says, "sorry i missed it" <OOC> Merek :( <OOC> Delilah says, "We'll be pausing soon I'm sure, but we did bring you along don't worry. And this sequence is by no means finished." <OOC> Merek says, "Can I get the log so I can pose?" <OOC> Delilah humms, is Ashes' logger up? <OOC> Merek says, "no" Huh? (Type "help" for help.) <OOC> Elyanna says, "hoboy, one min" <OOC> Delilah says, "RL is frustrating me for a moment, but Elyanna if you can catch him up, that'd be awesome. :3" <OOC> Donna says, "Yeah Merek do not worry about having missed much. We're still where we ought to be, which is nowhere near where anyone *wants* to be. :D" <OOC> Elyanna says, "will do. ok, i have to drop these in chunks so no body do anything till i give the all done" The Ashen Arvek has completed her sacred task. Five have surrendered the trappings of life, shedding all possessions down to their very skins, and been cleansed in the cold waters of the stream and lay upon a barren rock; and now they cross back, over to the shore where they started. Among the flowers, Mahuikaa waits for those who must journey to the Grey Halls, apparently choosing the path among the flowers as the best place for the portal she must conjure. She waits, while the living don the robes of the dead; aside from the crowns of flowers, only Delilah has anything else, in the four manacles on her wrists and ankles.
Once it seems like all is in readiness, Mahuikaa wordlessly holds up the cube. She turns it over in her hands until the bone colored side is on top. her forefinger touches its center and pushes, until it depresses with a soft, almost whispered click; and then the cube tumbles from the aged Sith's hand, landing in the middle of the path. Above it, the air tears itself open as a wreath of gray, warmthless flames erupts into being, with pale mist obscuring the other side.
With the portal summoned, Mahuikaa turns without a word and meanders back to the cottage, leaving the portal for the five who must traverse it.
Ashes, the Mourner Ashlee Ciaradh, the one stillborn who lives in between the light and the darkness stares at the portal. A single finger was placed upon her lip before she crossed the streams. They must not speak, not here, not this side.
She's in no danger of that. Chippen, her oversized centipede familiar that currently is tightly encircling her neck like a leggy choker, has paralytic poison. When he took her last words, he took a bite, and while he didn't inject much it was enough to swell her tongue and numb it thorougly.
She couldn't speak now if she wanted to. When she can, she'll know she, everyone, has crossed over. Wordlessly she moves her hand, making the marks of Vardama's blessing around the portal then takes her last breath. A gesture, follow me.
She halts, mid step, and looks at Elyanna, then Donna. She extends a hand to each for them to take. Altogether at one, yes. That would be best.
Elyanna's eyes widen some to the kiss. She wasn't expecting that, clear from the knit of her brow, but she doesn't protest, nor overtly respond. She doesn't know the ritual, and this could be normal. Still, it throws the mix askew a touch, something that demands a proper conversation once this is settled.
The red woman makes the return trip in contemplative silence, yet trying to allay her baggage that the immediate task can be managed without distraction.
Her eyes seek the Sith woman, observing her introduction with the cube and the formation of the portal, steel pools glittering in it's light before she looks to Ashes, their guide and accepts her hand without hesitation. <OOC> Elyanna says, "damnit" <OOC> Elyanna says, "messed tht up" The Ashen Arvek has completed her sacred task. Five have surrendered the trappings of life, shedding all possessions down to their very skins, and been cleansed in the cold waters of the stream and lay upon a barren rock; and now they cross back, over to the shore where they started. Among the flowers, Mahuikaa waits for those who must journey to the Grey Halls, apparently choosing the path among the flowers as the best place for the portal she must conjure. She waits, while the living don the robes of the dead; aside from the crowns of flowers, only Delilah has anything else, in the four manacles on her wrists and ankles.
Once it seems like all is in readiness, Mahuikaa wordlessly holds up the cube. She turns it over in her hands until the bone colored side is on top. her forefinger touches its center and pushes, until it depresses with a soft, almost whispered click; and then the cube tumbles from the aged Sith's hand, landing in the middle of the path. Above it, the air tears itself open as a wreath of gray, warmthless flames erupts into being, with pale mist obscuring the other side.
With the portal summoned, Mahuikaa turns without a word and meanders back to the cottage, leaving the portal for the five who must traverse it.
Ashes, the Mourner Ashlee Ciaradh, the one stillborn who lives in between the light and the darkness stares at the portal. A single finger was placed upon her lip before she crossed the streams. They must not speak, not here, not this side.
She's in no danger of that. Chippen, her oversized centipede familiar that currently is tightly encircling her neck like a leggy choker, has paralytic poison. When he took her last words, he took a bite, and while he didn't inject much it was enough to swell her tongue and numb it thorougly.
She couldn't speak now if she wanted to. When she can, she'll know she, everyone, has crossed over. Wordlessly she moves her hand, making the marks of Vardama's blessing around the portal then takes her last breath. A gesture, follow me.
She halts, mid step, and looks at Elyanna, then Donna. She extends a hand to each for them to take. Altogether at one, yes. That would be best.
Elyanna's eyes widen some to the kiss. She wasn't expecting that, clear from the knit of her brow, but she doesn't protest, nor overtly respond. She doesn't know the ritual, and this could be normal. Still, it throws the mix askew a touch, something that demands a proper conversation once this is settled.
The red woman makes the return trip in contemplative silence, yet trying to allay her baggage that the immediate task can be managed without distraction.
Her eyes seek the Sith woman, observing her introduction with the cube and the formation of the portal, steel pools glittering in it's light before she looks to Ashes, their guide and accepts her hand without hesitation.
Following the blessing, Donna has been utterly without words. It's clear that Ashes' response, as well as her sister's unburdened secret, has eased a long-tightened knot in her heart... but there's something haunting about the entire order of the day; escaping death for the both of them, only to walk in Vardama's halls of their own free will.
Thus it's why she takes the priestess' hand with a nod, then wraps her free arm around Delilah's shoulders. If something is going to take Delilah this time, it's going to have to pit its strength against hers.
As her twin's arm rests on her shoulders, Delilah wraps hers around Donna's waist in kind, leaning against Donna in wordless, sisterly affection. She takes Merek's hand with her other arm, as together the group approach the portal, that waits before them, grey and misty and, in a way, oddly tranquil, despite the silently blazing flames that do not burn.
Stepping through the mists brings a flash of cold, almost searing in its suddenness, but it is gone just as quickly.
Trudging through the mists might seem to take forever; or perhaps it was only a moment. Presently, the mists part; and together the group of travellers enter into a hall of grey stone. The roof is collapsed, but despite the roof being vacant there is, inexplicably, no sky either. What should be above simply is not. Knee-deep water fills the floor of the hall, shimmering and cool; and overgrown along its sides are trees, with grey bark and black leaves.
At the far end of the hall is a stand with a silver bell; but other than this, all is still. All is silent, broken occasionally by a whisper, a shout, or a child's laughter, each gone again almost as quickly as they come.
The mists are known, their touch like an old friend's, the first sensation Ashlee ever knew buried deep in her memories. Underneath them all it stirs, resettling the foundation of her life. The flames lick over her. The cold, a shock, but she does not flinch, even if the chill lingers in the marking of the bones across her body.
Each step she takes makes a small splash in the water. Her robe drags through it, leaving a small wake behind her, as the wet soaks up to her knees. Her eyes are on the trees, seeking something which doesn't seem to be there. A marking? A bird? A squirrel? It's unclear. The noises are ignored, even if one of them is familiar.
A glint among the grey draws her over. The ashen Arvec walks towards the tree. One of the branches among the many is different, silver, like the bell. Small and short, it bifurcates and has five leaves, also silver but tarnished dark. Ash breaks it off, it snaps easily like the dead twig it is, she holds it carefully as she approaches the bell.
"We each ring the bell, say her name, and hope our voice brings her. If she will not come, we may have to go further in." Ashlee has her voice again. Her words are still monotone, and she speaks in quiet reverent tones, "That will be harder."
>Ding< "Bethany Alenthor." <OOC> Elyanna says, "ok that's the first part" <OOC> Merek says, "Also will people be retroactively able to respond to what I'm doing?" <OOC> Merek says, "Because it's semi important." The transition sets the hobkin's frame to a certain tension, the slip between realms more lingering than her last jaunt with the Mourner, though there to much more... verdant environs.
Elyanna casts her gaze about to the various breaks in the silence, though after some seconds, she stops, coming to reconcile the sound with the peculiars of their current location. The chill of the place, of the water she wades through brings a shiver, but her Arvek upbringing draws rein on her responses, and keeps her moving in Ashes's wake. She listens, watches assimilating the rote though the ephemeral possibilties are left to the wayside. She accepts the branch with due care, and in the wake of her friend's example...
>Ding!< "Bethany Alenthor."
That done, the branch is returned.
The step from the world of the living to that of the dead is... more of a shock than Donna expected. One doesn't really grasp how *loud* the living world is, until one crosses over into the world of the dead. No birds claiming territory, no rabbits screaming as they become food for the hawks, no wind whispering secrets through the swaying leaves... The silence very nearly falls like a hammer.
And it's not a silence she really wishes to break. If speaking Bethany's name alone might have the power to summon her, *what* could happen if she voices her fears?
But she watches closely, as Ashes and Elyanna ring the bell... Then guides Delilah up to the bell, and after taking a long, steadying intake of breath, she reaches out to pick it up.
>Ding!< "Bethany Alenthor."
She can only hope that if it's Delilah who ends up summoning her, Bethany's talkativeness is a good thing.
The Golden Sorceress tugs backwards on Donna, just for a second, as they pass through the mists and the brief stab of cold, but leaning on her twin she manages to step forwards, and end up in the flooded hall with everyone else. She walks with Donna to stand before the bell, water sloshing around her legs as she moves; she goes carefully, so as not to offer any greater disturbace than necessary, but really what can the living do but live, even in this place? She takes the branch from her sister, and lingers for a moment, looking at the little bell.
>Ding!< "Bethany Alenthor."
Gingerly, she sets down the branch before the bell, and turns her head upwards to gaze about herself in the ensuing silence.
The waters become still.
It is cool, in this place, but not cold.
Somewhere, a child cries.
A rope snaps taught and feet kick in the air.
A breath leaves an aged man's lungs.
"She is not here," speaks a voice, quiet but deafeaning; standing in the water is a woman of orcish bearing, green skin beneath a diaphanous white robe, stabding with her hands clasped before her. "Bethany is... elsewhere." She tilts her head, and gazes at each of the living in turn. "You were expected to join her, but you did not," she adds, gazing briefly at Delilah. "Why do you seek Bethany Alenthor?"
Ashlee Ciaradh picks up the branch, holds it clasped between her hands and low against her belly. The slight pressure pulling on her funerary robes, wrinkling the cloth. She returns the gaze of, she suspects, the aspect of her Goddess Vardama that she calls on the most. She speaks, carefully, in monotone though with reverence in her own way.
"Feiu of the Tears, you know how she was sent to you, why Delilah was to follow, and why she is not here." The Mourner hesistates, struggling to pull the best phrasing together. Speaking was never her strong suit, and to her Goddess' fragment, it causes even more reluctance in her. Best, to be direct.
"The events would leave her restless. I... we want to fix it for her. So she's at peace."
That has an effect on the landscape.
Knowing someone from beyond was expecting you sooner is a mixed bag. Discovering there's a definate plot against your life lets you know you're getting somewhere, though there's that mortality thing. Finding out you've somehow thwarted it, and in so doing, tinkled in your enemy's champagne, is in contrast a solid win, though missing the fine details mostly means the plan is still in play.
Troubling.
Elyanna gazes wide eyed at the Oruch woman, spirit, or....
Avatar.
Swallowing, becase that suddenly became important, Elyanna listens to the framing of Ashes's answer and turns new eyes on what stands before them. She does not speak until spoken to, she has no such grace here, but, at the pause in the ashen Arvek's words, the carmine fingers of the halfbreed alight at the small of her back. <OOC> Merek says, "Is that the finish?" <OOC> Delilah says, "No there's more." <OOC> Elyanna says, "this and one more block" It's hard to know what to *expect* from the Grey Halls, beyond 'it will be nothing at all like the material world.' With the background noise of their surroundings being, it would seem, 'the sounds of people making their last sound,' Donna may be forgiven for being on edge.
Sudden Oruch, however, makes her start... though no fists are raised. Not here. Instead, she simply squeezes just a bit more on her sister's shoulders, and tries to keep her eyes focused on the newcomer's knees.
Knees are safe to look at when your guide is addressing a bit of the divine, right?
Delilah, for her part, keeps her eyes more or less in the same place as Donna does, and has gone uncharacteristically quiet. Apparently, when one is faced with a divine representative of the Goddess of the Dead, telling you that you were 'expected', it's hard to come up with an answer.
The Orcish Woman clasps her hands in front of her, regarding Ashes with soft gray eyes. She moves forwards, and the water does not swirl about her as it does around the travellers, but remains utterly, soundlessly still. "Brave," whispers the woman. "Bethany Alenthor is not ready to go before Verdama. She was expected to go at the same time as Delilah Valethor. She still could, if you were ready." She stands in front of the golden sorceress, and reaches out one hand to cup her chin and lift her gaze, so she can look into those soft blue eyes. "but you aren't ready, are you?"
"Bethany is in torment," she whispers, moving past Donna and Elyanna to stand before Ashes once again. She holds Ashes' chin in kind, looking into her eyes. "Torment of her own making," she adds. "But you would understand that, Mourner. And so perhaps you can help. It is Delilah who must ease her pain... but it will be you who must tell her how."
"Are you ready?"
Ash's head is lifted. She feels the fingers gently on her chin, cold. She looks back into those eyes which can see through to her soul and know her better than anyone. She feels herself judged in this moment, and the stillness of the grave embracing her. The cold water seeps up her funeral dress, which clings to her legs. No fear. She's at peace. She's home.
Ashes presses against the warm touch in the small of her back. Is her body cold, is she as dead as she was born? In the in-between, what is her essence? Will the Feiu of the Tears bring her along or send her back once again? Her fingers tighten on the silver branch, her eyes drop for a moment to ensure there are still five leaves, even if one seems darker than the others. What is the measure of a life, and how long can one be that was cut short before the first day.
Ashlee will stay if her Goddess asks her, and return if that is her wish. She looks deep into her desires and can't tell which outcome she would prefer.
The warm touch lingers in her awareness... the cold one draws her to her duty.
"I am. I accept."
She's waiting for Delilah.
Elyanna's eyes narrow slightly as she contemplates that, gazing sidelong toward the sisters, hand still at Ashes's back.
The half-Arvek turns back toward the Divine agent, muddling through the possibilities. The answer Ashes gives, for reasons she doesn't understand, sends a chill along her spine, and her eyes immediately flit to her friend. What does that mean?
There's a moment, when the Oruch lays a hand on her sister, that Donna honestly contemplates punching a spirit serivtor of Death.
She immediately reconsiders, but can't help but wonder what would have happened afterward?
Instead, she simply tightens her grip on Delilah, not looking the woman in the eyes but trying to radiate 'no, she's not ready, so hands off' energy without... being impolite about it?
Questions for later.
Delilah practically shrinks into Donna; but with her chin cupped and her gaze lifted, she has no choice but to look up into the eyes of the divine, and just kind of freezes, holding her breath like her lungs won't work.
The Orcish woman walks past Elyanna, brushing her fingers over her shoulder, and coming to a stop in front of Donna. You are alike in your differences," she observes, "And you differ in your likenesses. Balanced... but only together. Without her, you are nothing, and everything."
Water fills a set of lungs.
A howl of agony rises with billowing smoke.
An axe harshly falls.
Poison, willingly and fatefully swallowed.
"Bethany awaits."
Existence shifts around the travellers; and the journey, most of the way, is like passing through an oil painting that's gotten wet, except when it isn't, and it is like lightning being pulled harshly over a rasp instead, and then the living ones arrive.
It is the city streets, in Alexandria, but everything is dark; the lights are dark, and it is silent, as no souls are present here. There are no people, birds, or rats. The buildings are without form, somehow; they lack windows or doors, and an open alleyway yawns open, wheezing smoke into the one person kneeling in front of it. Bethany stares into the alleyway, bereft of all she might've been seen with before. Hair hangs unkempt about her shoulders, and her bare skin seems at odds with the darkness.
"Nothing," she whispers. "Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing." She takes a breath, and repeats her chant; and again, and again. "Nothing," she whispers. "Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing."
Delilah remains close to her sister; instinctively, she shifts to stand behind her, peering over one shoulder at the soul of Bethany. So far, she hasn't noticed the pistol clutched in her own fingers.
The alleyway looms wide, smoke wafting forth, the beginning and end of this. Ashlee knows it, the memories of how she and Elyanna examined it minutely. The cold stone against her back when she laid where Bethany fell and tried to envision what happened.
Unnecessary now. The woman who can answer that is here. She needs only to be asked.
Ashes turns and hands her silver branch to Elyanna, meeting the noble hob's eyes. It's a moment of strange recognition, the ashen Arvec's skeleton tattoo is gone, her features fully revealed and oddly familiar. Elyanna has seen that face before, almost...
And then the Mourner turns and approaches Bethany, silently, like a ghost. No. Not like. Her real skeleton is a dim glow shining through flesh that is mists and a dress that is cobwebs. She kneels beside Bethany, rests a hand on her shoulder, takes her chin. In the breath between chants Ashes turns her head towards herself and echoes the with Bethany.
"Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing."
Then.
"Speak through me. Use me. Free yourself. Show us what happened."
How often does one get touched by Divinity, really?
The contact thrills the half-Arvek's spirit in overlapping shades of mortal judgement, and animal terror, and it sets her rational mind on the back foot for some moments, even stilling her 'breathing' at the enormity of Death itself being so casual... so close to hand.
By the time Elyanna's regained her equillibrium, or, better said, she can see it from where she is, the group has arrived in the narrows of the Lady Alenthor's singular Perdition.
She imagines her own accomodations will be no more welcoming.
The Blarite scion turns then, to Delilah, the shadow in Bethany's mind, and the key to her trancendance. Then, there is the movement beside her, under her lingering touch, telling her that Ashes is turning to face her and so she reorients to meet the woman breathing beneath the memento mori, awareness beyond her ken yet unable to pierce her own veils stir in recognition of those features. The truth is lost to a vague, gnawing ache, a splinter in her mind as she almost automatically accepts the branch. She can but nod, then, and pivots on a heel and edge back to stand beside the Sisters Valethor.
To support.
To witness.
To be addressed by the... avatar? Spirit? Goddess? ...is its own special kind of horrifying, in its way. To have the being remark on the special strangeness of her and her twin... unsettling.
To move without moving, through the background hum of a death with every heartbeat and into a ghostly recreation of the place that started it all...
Privately, Donna is quite relieved to have surrendered decision-makin to Ashes, because the brawler knows that she would have foundered the moment she set foot here. And then Ashes steps forward, apparently shedding her mortality to communicate with the dead soul... Donna has no words. No *idea.*
She does, however, intend to find a bar when they return, and drink it. <OOC> Elyanna says, "all done" <OOC> Merek says, "Alright, can I pose a few things for people to react to retroactively?" <OOC> Merek says, "in my pose, as a summary?" <OOC> Merek says, "Since it's important." You paged Delilah with 'I'd prefer not retconning things' From afar, Delilah agrees. <OOC> Delilah would raaaaather not do anything retroactive, that just leads to brain-hurties. Just say Merek's been quiet up until now, or whatever excuse you like best. But definitely give your input now. :3 <OOC> Merek says, "There. Are things he had to have cast before we got in." <OOC> Merek says, "And facts about him in the spirit world." <OOC> Merek says, "That would've been obvious." <OOC> Merek says, "is all" <OOC> Ashes says, "Mahuikaa handled the casting in the scene-set, so, assume whatever you were doing she did, or her artifact did, so it wasn't necessary for you to cast." <OOC> Ashes says, "you were planning to do" <OOC> Merek :/ <OOC> Merek says, "Can I just reference that he cast it before we entered?" <OOC> Delilah wouldn't worry about spells too much, but if you wanna reference something, go ahead. But, if there are things that would've been obvious, just mention them now. Don't sweat it. I'm going to be off on Thursday again, and if you're all around there's going to be plenty more scene then.
Merek would take the time to spellwork before everyone came in, nodding a bit while he brings about the Planar Adaptation to the party. Then he walks along and into the place, trying his best to mask his presence while he walks along. The man rings that bell, then he speaks, "Merek," then he adds another name. One that's not really comprehensible to people.
Eventually, they make their way to where Bethany was at, he doesn't speak to the man, he's using all of his will to keep masked something important. Eventually, he does think that it's time to consider, and he nods. The black-golden wings of an angel extend from him, though a little bit elongated above the fact he only has an arm to speak of. There's a look to Ashlee while he awaits the woman to ask her questions, then nods a bit to Elyanna, Delilah, and Donna.
<OOC> Ashes says, "..." <OOC> Merek says, "Why are you ...'ing?" <OOC> Ashes says, "Merek, we're asking for Bethany, not ourselves or our angel" <OOC> Merek says, "I know?" <OOC> Ashes says, "and there's no man" <OOC> Ashes says, "unless you summoned yourself" <OOC> Ashes says, "there's Vardama's avatar and Bethany" <OOC> Merek says, "It's HIS wings." <OOC> Donna says, "Nuno." <OOC> Donna says, "Ashes means 'speak to the man' is at issue, when you're the only male in the scene presently." <OOC> Donna says, "We don't know what that refers to." <OOC> Donna says, "That's all! :3" <OOC> Merek says, "That was stating he didn't speak to the 'old man' earlier." <OOC> Donna says, "Which old man, though?" <OOC> Ashes says, "Merek, I'm your friend, please don't take this the wrong way" <OOC> Ashes says, "we've been at this 5 and a half hours, and were about to stop" <OOC> Ashes says, "The pose has things in it I've seen a hundred times." <OOC> Ashes says, "I suggest we break at Donna's endpose, it's a decent cliff hanger. You can re-read the log and come up with a really good pose for when the next session starts." <OOC> Ashes says, "The only 'men' that have appeared in the log, besides you, were voices of people dying and weren't anything that could be interacted with" <OOC> Merek says, "oh the oruch woman idk why I put man." <OOC> Donna says, "Aha!" <OOC> Ashes says, "so perhaps what's where that came from." <OOC> Donna says, "That makes sense." <OOC> Delilah says, "Right! Fix later, then." <OOC> Ashes says, "it's near on a quarter to 3am" <OOC> Delilah will give one more pose and then we shall pause. <OOC> Ashes says, "ok." <OOC> Merek says, "I apologize about that." <OOC> Donna says, "S'okay. And yeah it's pretty late, but Merek? Thank you for coming all the same. It's okay that you missed the bulk of the scene, there's plenty more to go. :3" <OOC> Donna says, "It's late, things get confused, and rushing makes more confusion happen." <OOC> Donna says, "There's no pressure. :3" <OOC> Elyanna >squish!< <OOC> Merek says, "Can I be in the log still?" <OOC> Merek says, "Actually, I'll just put this."
Merek would take the time to spellwork before everyone came in, nodding a bit while he brings about the Planar Adaptation to the party. Then he walks along and into the place, trying his best to mask his presence while he walks along. The man rings that bell, then he speaks, "Merek," then he adds another name. One that's not really comprehensible to people.
Eventually, they make their way to where Bethany was at, he doesn't speak to the oruch woman avatar. He is using all of his magic to keep his pact hidden from people, it's not something he couldn't take with him.
<OOC> Delilah says, "Yes, not to worry. And like I said, if everyone's free on Thursday we'll do more, and I don't work so we can start earlier." <OOC> Merek says, "That better?" <OOC> Donna says, "That does track better, yes. :3" <OOC> Delilah says, "is fine!" <OOC> Merek says, "I still could've sworn we came upon an old man, but I also don't have a working pair of glasses anymore. <.<" <OOC> Donna gah! Also the background noise of the plane is the last utterance of people around the world. So instead of a chirping bird, you heard an old man's last breath, etc. <OOC> Merek says, "Old man's last breath is the NPC of the year." You paged (Delilah, Donna) with 'are you sure we can't cut it at Donna's?' <OOC> Elyanna says, "sounds like a grindcore album" Donna pages: So I found a thing I wish I'd known about sooner, because I would have agitated for every Vardaman to carry at least one as standard gear. You paged Donna with 'Thanatopticon?' To (Donna, Ashes), Delilah pages: I have stuff I don't want to forget. >.< Donna pages: Cemetery Guns. <OOC> Merek says, "I apologize again, I just misread something was all." You paged Donna with 'okay I'm distracted' To (Donna, Ashes), Delilah pages: And I want to leave you all with something to chew on. <OOC> Donna says, "S'okay, it happens. :3" Donna pages: So take a matchlock gun. Whirlpool has reconnected. You paged Donna with 'It shoots out cemetaries? I'm on.' <OOC> Merek says, "Whirly I thought an old man's last breath was an NPC we met and misposed." Donna pages: Take away the trigger assembly and handle, replace with a long spike to jam into the earth and allow the gun to rotate on. <OOC> Merek :( Donna pages: Attack the hammer to tripwires laid out over the grave in an arc. It's to deter/punish graverobbers. You paged Donna with 'oooo... oh that is very cool. real thing? I'll go read about it.' Donna pages: Yus! "Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing." Bethany repeats her muttered chant over and over again, until Ashes sits beside her and rests a hand on her shoulder.
Bethany recoils as if struck, and flattens herself against the wall behind her, almost stumbling into the smokey darkness. "Who... who?!" she gasps. "Never met... don't know... I HAVE NOTHING!" She screams; a plaintive, terrified sound. "I am nothing! I did nothing! I mean nothing! I *have* nothing!" She sucks in a breath, and turns to face the other travellers. "But... but you!" she gasps, pointing at Delilah. "I rememb--" The gun in Delilah's hand snaps up, levelled at Bethany. "What the--??" gasps the sorceress, even as the gun fires. >BANG< the bullet rips into Bethany's chest, blowing clean through the other side and leaving a little cloud of red mist on either side of her. >BANG< almost immediately, another shot rings out, blasting a hole in Bethany's shoulder. "But I'm not--" >BANG< a third bullet leaves a grizly hole in Bethany's sternum, against the golden sorceress' wide-eyed protests. >BANG< a hole appears where Bethany's right eye used to be; Delilah grabs the gun with her free hand, trying to wrestle it out of her grip. >BANG< the bullet rips along the side of Bethany's face, tearing away her cheek and leaving teeth exposed. "STOP!" screams Delilah, "STOP STOP!!" >BANG< a bullet shatters Bethany's skull, cleaving chunks away on the side and leaving her brain exposed. >BANG< A bullet hits the noblewoman in the elbow, severing her arm beneath that point and leaving the forearm on the ground, with fingers twitching. "STOP!" screams Delilah, her voice rising to a pitched squeal, "I din't do this I DIDN'T DO THIS! I didn't!!" >BANG< the bullet catches Bethany in the neck and she finally falls over backwards, landing with a wet sound on her back; and the pistol finally tumbles from Delilah's grasp, as the sorceress staggers backwards and collapses to her knees. "But you wanted to," gurgles Bethany. "And maybe I wanted you to."
<OOC> Delilah says, "And on that note, we shall pause." <OOC> Ashes says, "Wow." <OOC> Delilah says, "Welcome to torment." <OOC> Donna says, "G'lord woman, Cronenberg would applaud. o.o" <OOC> Merek says, "D:" <OOC> Merek says, "guns" <OOC> Donna says, "Guns & Ghosts." <OOC> Merek says, "Brb, let me talk to the Old Man's Last Breath, it might be able to help us." <OOC> Merek bottles it. <OOC> Donna snrk. <OOC> Merek says, "I'm still not sure how I mistook an old man's last breath as HIM being the avatar." <OOC> Donna says, "Speed-reading, does it all the time. XD" <OOC> Ashes says, "There was a lot to read and skimming would do it." <OOC> Delilah sagenods. <OOC> Ashes says, "hence why I suggested, more time" <OOC> Donna says, "You just latch onto the words that stand out and build the narrative around them. :3" <OOC> Ashes says, "anyhow, that was worth waiting an hour for. Nice pose Delilah." <OOC> Merek says, "I reject your reality." <OOC> Merek says, "Yes, was nice!" <OOC> Elyanna says, "next time i color code them" <OOC> Delilah says, "Thank you Ashes! :3" <OOC> Elyanna says, "was nice d :)" GAME: You nominated Elyanna for good roleplay. GAME: You nominated Donna for good roleplay. <OOC> Delilah says, "Thank you. :3" GAME: You nominated Delilah for good roleplay. <OOC> Merek says, "I need to look more into what would happen if you take a living blood pact into the spirit world of waiting." <OOC> Ashes says, "You want your own scene for that?" <OOC> Elyanna says, "probably nothing unless vardama wants it to" <OOC> Merek says, "Nah, just curious how it'd affect Merek since, you know, blood pacts want to keep your soul." <OOC> Ashes says, "I'm seriously considering having ash hand you your leaf, saying you chose a different path from us, next scene. If some GM wanted to run that for you, and you don't get to come back." <OOC> Ashes says, "Something cooler happens" <OOC> Ashes says, "although it's probably like Elyanna says, not someplace a thing that wants your soul can get it unless Vardama lets it in, and she wouldn't" <OOC> Ashes says, "stopping log"