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Lucent The Summer Palace...
Lucent More at ease than with Kai now, Lucent walks into Birds' room as she writes the poems. He watches it for a moment, even as his entrance warms the living room, then... "May I interrupt you for a moment, Birds?"
Birds "Yes, of course. Please make yourself comfortable." She indicates a couch. After scribbling out the end of a line, she joins him there.
Lucent sits on the couch, a wave of his hand to two figures at the doorstep, making them step back. He would take some time there indeed. "I trust the poems have been going well...?" First thing he does is look around the room... "and... do you have any more of those pastries here?"
Birds opens a box on a nearby table and gives him one. "Oh yes, the poems have been going excellently! How is your speech? Can I hear it?"
Lucent He picks one happilly, "Well, of course! I can recite it here, though I do hope it sounds more impressive when I am addressing the Chayan crowd! Is it safe for me to read the poems, too?"
Lucent "Sorry for not talking to you before, but... I have been busy. After what Kai talked of you, however... I had to come."
Birds "The poems are ...persuasive... but it takes several to get the full effect."
Birds also takes a pastry. "It's been very busy for us all. What did Kai say that brought you here?"
Lucent "She said that you are what holds the group together. And keeps them from being... well, darker. Not those exact words, but... well, I am finding it hard to talk to them. It was easier with Kai, she seems to be the one that has not... lost something, you know? Then I wondered about you."
Lucent "I am looking for people to trust, honestly... I mean, I trust Kai with all my men's lives. But I am not sure she should trust herself."
Birds "Hm."
Birds "When I was young, I trusted too many people, and that went badly for me."
Birds "I do try to remind the rest of us that we have some purpose apart from our self-aggrendizement... but on the other hand I'm not sure anymore that I need to."
Birds remembers something. "Hard to talk to? Because Cerin is like a hound of war and Thirteen is the centre of a world and Zahara's vendetta burns so bright you can see it in her eyes?"
Lucent finishes a pastry... "Hmmm, delicious!" He says as he greedily go pick more on the box, and wonders which to reply first. "Zahara's... vendetta? Well, you are mostly right on the others, but, on Zahara... well, she is the Empress. Unnaproachable. I would just feel even younger were I to talk to her... something just feels off there. I did not notice a vendetta..."
Birds "It has gotten a bit better."
Birds "Let me tell you a secret! We forget sometimes, but we are all still people."
Lucent grins. "What was it before, however? And... well, they do seem to forget. Our talk the other day shows me their self-aggrandizement is still... well, huge on their list."
Lucent "I shudder to think what it was like before..."
Birds chuckles. "Aggrandizement is part of what we are, though. If you could not look at me and say, 'My speech today will be unsurpassed in mortal memory,' I would worry that your skills or confidence had grown insufficient."
Lucent "Well... I suppose you are right! I am just getting used to this. I believe since the Equation, and upon coming here, I have been always more aware there are bigger things than me, than any of you are. Being with the Circle does make me feel able to go and fight any of them, too."
Birds "Doesn't all that humility chafe?"
Lucent "Well, true. It has not done much for you or Kai, however."
Birds "Oh, we're as mad as the rest of them. A year ago, I would dream of rebuilding the faith of Creation, but would I actually have done it?"
Lucent "Ah, yes... the Faith Eclipitic. I need to read that as well, sometime. I assume it gives the Sun its proper worship as our creator, right?"
Birds nods. "Of course. The first principle of the faith is the transmission of truth."
Lucent "Can you give me a overview of it? I believe the Circle is the central figure of it?"
Birds "Simply put, the Faith explains that we, as the reborn Deliberative, are the best examples of correct action, and the proper avenues of worship; it is our responsibility to assure that the gods all receive their right share."
Birds "This means that we will need to reexamine the Immaculate festival calendar and the distribution of shrines; incidental worship should be directed to us as representatives of the Sun."
Lucent joins his hands in front of his face, leaning his face into them slightly, "Hmmm. I believe I agree with that... I would have to see if the Sun is given proper respect, but I do believe those ideals. We have to keep the Gods in line. This whole crisis shows what happens when we do not."
Birds nods again.
Birds "What did you mean, that comment about Kai?"
Lucent picks one of the Poems, apparently not replying Birds, "Your skill is able to write in those poems a hidden message, right? Do you believe that, in time, you will be able to imprint a hidden message that remains hidden even in the mind of the reader, waiting for a certain trigger?"
Birds "I have been studying variations on the hidden-message technique. It's certainly possible!"
Lucent "Now, suppose you are a First Age Solar," He says, letting the poem fall on the table, "Betraying the greatest force in Creation. That you have made plans so great and long-term ones that they account for the betrayal of gods, and to exist after death. If you had accounted for it... and had a transcendent understanding greater than we dream of now... what sort of safeguards would you create against yourself?"
Birds "I am not wise enough to have an answer for that, but I see what you are suggesting."
Lucent "I am sure I know less about his betrayal than the rest of you do. But the little I know... well, suggest the Equation was too overt. Our enemies are crafty, Birds. For that reason, much as I would trust Kai with my life, I have no idea wether she should trust herself."
Birds "For my part, I think that we all understand one thing - if any of us betrays our mutual trust, then our destruction is mutually assured. We are too dangerous to each other."
Lucent "Oh yes. We are one of the few on our own level in this game. However, one other is on the other side. One who knows this." He picks another pastry, relaxing a little as he munches on it... "Mayhaps I am just too scared of all our enemies, but..."
Tags: (:tags Summer Palace, Faith Ecliptic, Sol Invictus, Solar Deliberative, First and Forsaken Lion :)
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