< Anathema | Logs | Jade Rolled >
Elora is in the house!
Bishop is in the house, too. Also, he is smoking an extravagant carved-bone churchwarden pipe. Very Gandalfy.
venus{A} is in Autumn's arms, and thus presumably in the house as well.
Autumn{v} is in the house, not letting Venus go. His scarves are tickling her while he waits for Elora to do her thing!
Elora "What just happened. What."
Cobra bites her thumb nervously, and decides to let Serpent handle this one. She grasps her pendant, and...
Bishop Of Strife "I was opening discussions with one Peleps Deled, and these others decided to jump in and start beating him."
Serpent emerges from the swirl of satins looking annoyed.
Elora "Discussions."
Bishop Of Strife "Yes."
Autumn{v} "Your 'discussions' involved beating him."
Bishop Of Strife puffs and shrugs. "Yes, but my beatings are constructive. You were just beating."
venus{A} squirms, trying not to giggle and disrupt the proceedings.
Autumn{v} "When I walked in, you were already fighting; All I tried was to make it end FAST, lest the whole village falls on us. And ny beatings can reveal secrets. Yours' can only spill blood."
Elora "Okay then. Itemize for me, please, all of the things that you 'constructed'."
Serpent "For the record, the beating wasn't my idea, but I was under no misapprehension that anything else was going on."
Bishop Of Strife sighs. "I didn't get a chance to be constructive. I was just greeting him. With my fist."
Cathak Cathuria There is a quiet knock on the door.
Elora "Okay."
Bishop Of Strife lifts his palms to the sky. "It was just a casual chat, really, I don't see what all the fuss is about. I mean, I'm a people person. People like me!"
Serpent fishes a flask out of his pocket and tosses it at Elora as he goes to answer the door.
Elora "Everyone be completely quiet."
Elora catches and takes a huge swig. "Good man."
Serpent "Shall I answer it?"
Autumn{v} puts a hand over venus' mouth. And increases the tickling.
venus{A} twitches, trying to grab the scarves and turning an interesting shade of red
Elora "Please do."
Serpent opens the door a bit and sticks his head out. "Yes hello?"
venus{A} can't help it, and collapses into helpless laughter, though muffled by Autumn's hand over her mouth
Cathak Cathuria A rather unprepossessing Dragon-Blooded stands outside, a quizzical look on his face.
Cathak Cathuria "Deled says you folks are in need of...education."
Elora "Why is that?" Elora asks innocently.
Serpent "How helpful of him. Would you like to arrange an appointment? Allow me to fetch my social calendar." Serpent slams the door in the man's face and slide-tackles his backpack on the other side of the room, hoping that his calendar will conveniently be expelled by the impact. It isn't.
Autumn{v} "Education? Great, I love to learn!" He nods, letting venus down.
venus{A} skulks off to an unoccupied corner of the room to catch her breath after reluctantly deciding not to kick Autumn in the shin.
Serpent fishes it out of the disarray. "I have a free afternoon next month."
Cathak Cathuria There is another quiet knock on the door,.
Serpent reopens the door. "I have found it!"
Cathak Cathuria "Is there anybody less rude I can talk to?"
Bishop Of Strife sets down his pipe and stands up.
Elora "Oh no you don't!"
Serpent laughs and laughs.
Serpent "Please come in. Care for a drink?"
Elora slips in front of the Bishop cleverly and says "Hi. What can I do for you?"
Bishop Of Strife 's metal-clad arm extends, pointing accusingly at the obnoxious door-knocker, and his mouth opens to boom! ...and stop. Damn you, Elora. Damn you.
Autumn{v} goes for the door... "Hello. What was that about education?"
Serpent takes a seat at the bar and pours everyone a nice cool glass of juice.
Cathak Cathuria nods politely to Serpent as he enters. "Whatever you're having will be fine." He turns to Elora. "As a matter of fact, I came to do something for you."
Elora double-checks with her brain that he said "for" and not "to" before warily responding.
Serpent carries the try of drinks over to the centre of the room. There are colour-coded glasses, and one black one. For guests.
Elora "....aaaaaand... what would... THAT be?"
Cathak Cathuria "You folks surprised us a little bit when you showed up here. Most of the visitors we get here have already been to one of the other villages, since ours is the central one."
Serpent takes the green glass.
Cathak Cathuria scratches his head. "Actually, we're not really sure how you got past them."
Elora moves to pick up her glass, but she's already holding the flask! Oh no, what to do.
Cathak Cathuria "Anyway."
Serpent makes a pouring motion. There's room at the top.
Cathak Cathuria "Usually, people here already know all about the Sea of Mind. In fact, they come to try to get into it."
Cathak Cathuria "So we don't have to explain to them what's going on."
venus{A} takes her purple glass and sips at it cautiously, watching the goings on.
Cathak Cathuria "Apparently you folks are different."
Cathak Cathuria "You don't know about it. You don't seem all that interested in it. And the mortals keep saying you're all crazy."
Cathak Cathuria "So I thought I'd tell you a little bit about what we're like and what our little gathering here is about."
Bishop Of Strife "Well, let's not rule anything out."
Autumn{v} "We don't know about it, that's right. And we cannot be interested in something we don't know. So please, tell us about this... Sea of Mind. We might be very interested."
Serpent pulls a little rug out from under a delzahn (that's like an ottoman) and sits crosslegged on it, watching the new guy and sipping his juice.
Elora "Sounds good. Bishop, pull up chairs for everyone."
Bishop Of Strife moves around the room, collecting chairs. He's very quiet about it, too. Even docile.
Bishop Of Strife moves around the room, collecting chairs. He's very quiet about it, too. Even docile.
Cathak Cathuria "Interested?"
Bishop Of Strife gestures at a chair. "Sit, won't you?"
Cathak Cathuria "Thank you."
Cathak Cathuria does.
Elora "Alright. Go on."
Cathak Cathuria "All right."
Cathak Cathuria "The Sea of Mind's got a lot of history that I won't trouble you with now."
Elora sits down. She drinks enough of her glass to make room, then empties the rest of the flask into it.
Cathak Cathuria "Suffice to say that Cevis Ghandarva gathered us here many years ago to create a better world."
Bishop Of Strife "Did it work?"
Cathak Cathuria "Here, the spirit of the Witches gives us the food and goods we need, and we may live in peace and seclusion, supporting each other as we can...but the Sea is greater than that."
Cathak Cathuria "Yes."
Elora nods.
Autumn{v} hmmms
Cathak Cathuria "To you, it seems we walk among you. To you, it seems that we have bodies in Creation, that we use as any man."
Cathak Cathuria "But in truth we live on another plane, far removed from the one you tread, in the city of the blessed, Atsiluth Eternal."
venus{A} "But.. that doesn't make any sense. How can you live in two places at once?"
Cathak Cathuria "We do not live in Creation."
Elora thinks for a moment, then pokes Cathuria squarely in the forehead.
Cathak Cathuria gives Elora a look. "It SEEMS as though we do, perhaps, but it is merely an illusion."
Cathak Cathuria "My body here will die, and decay, and vanish."
Cathak Cathuria "But I will live forever in the Sea."
Serpent scratches his ear. =They think we're crazy?=
Elora "Hmmm. Okay. Can I see your hand for a second?"
Cathak Cathuria extends it.
Cathak Cathuria "Unfortunately, mortals may only enter the Sea on the sufferance of an Exalt."'
Cathak Cathuria "But...for some reason...I seem to suspect that you may be more than merely human."
Bishop Of Strife "Don't be silly."
Serpent "Heavens no. Mere mere mere."
Elora bites Cathuria's hand, although not that hard.
Cathak Cathuria "I wish you wouldn't bite my hand."
Bishop Of Strife "Are you capable of suffering, while you are in this Sea of Mind?"
Cathak Cathuria "Not in any way I do not approve of."
Bishop Of Strife "I don't like it here."
Elora looks to see if he's bleeding.
Elora (STRIKE THAT SORRRRRY)
Cathak Cathuria "I appreciate your assurances of mereness. However, your behavior, and your demeanor towards the Dragon-Blooded, and the reports from those mortals who are not in the Sea that you knocked the Creation-bound form of Peleps Deled unconscious, somewhat suggest otherwise."
Elora "Welllll.... Why do you care?"
Cathak Cathuria "We are rather carefully secluded, here in the forest. The only people who come here come for the promises of paradise that the Sea can offer."
Elora sips her cup again.
Cathak Cathuria "If you know nothing of the Sea, why HAVE you come?"
Serpent "We're mapmakers as well as travelling players."
Serpent "Is there anything worth mapping here?"
Cathak Cathuria raises an eyebrow at Elora. "Surely you must be joking. Do I need a special reason to be concerned about unannounced Exalts arriving unexpectedly in my home and behaving in all manner of unexpected and dangerous ways?"
Elora "Well... You... can't actually be affected by anything we do, up to and including burning the village down. Right?"
Elora looks from side to side.
Serpent says this in the tone of a polite suggestion.
Elora "I'm not going to burn your village down or anything."
Cathak Cathuria To Serpent: "I don't believe you."
Bishop Of Strife "I might."
Cathak Cathuria "I can't, no."
Serpent "Oh. Pity. Autumn, what've you got?"
Elora "So... yes! You do need a special reason." Elora nods, pleased with herself.
Cathak Cathuria "Some of the mortals might be, though. And we DO try to take care of them and protect them."
Bishop Of Strife "Then why on earth would you be concerned? You are filled with nonsense!"
Elora "Why don't you let them into your weird Sea then?"
Cathak Cathuria "We generally do, but they need to be in the company of an Exalt at all times, and that can be diffiicult if they want to go about their daily lives."
Cathak Cathuria "Some choose not to take that step immediately."
Elora thinks for a moment.
Cathak Cathuria "Your friend seems extremely violent and dangerous. At the very least, I'd like to be sure he isn't going to kill all my Creation-bound brothers and sisters."
Elora "Oh, don't worry." Elora makes an "oh, silly" hand gesture. "He's not my friend."
Bishop Of Strife "Well, we'll try to keep her under control."
Bishop Of Strife looks at Elora, looking genuinely hurt.
Elora feels guilty immediately, and makes a hopefully convincing "sorry, that was a bad joke" face.
Bishop Of Strife crosses his arms.
Autumn{v} listens to it all, pondering... "Say, what is your name?"
Cathak Cathuria "Cathak Cathuria."
venus{A} just sips her juice and looks confused, and wonders why the hell they're even there in the first place.
Autumn{v} "Alright. See, Carthuria, you are right. We are not mere mortals. We are poweful beings, and we came to test this Sea of Mind. To learn everything we can about your people... and see if you are worthy of your gift! This is why my violent friend knocked this Deled!"
Bishop Of Strife "Well, truth be told, I beat him because it looked like fun."
Cathak Cathuria "The fact that you're all constantly contradicting each other worries me as well."
Autumn{v} facepalms
Cathak Cathuria "Do you see why we're all a little concerned here?"
Bishop Of Strife "No."
Cathak Cathuria "What kind of powerful beings are you, exactly?"
Bishop Of Strife "The ill-tempered kind."
Cathak Cathuria "Well, that's more of a description of your feelings than an actual answer to my question."
Elora closes her eyes and counts backwards from five.
venus{A} "Ahlat's my father" Venus volunteers, hoping he'll think the others are also god-blooded
Bishop Of Strife "Actually, to be more specific..." He gestures first at Autumn. "He's the horny kind." To Serpent. "He's ... actually, I don't know about him." To Elora. "She's the kind that's in charge." To Venus. "...well, yes, you heard her."
Autumn{v} poses. "I'm actually the smooth ladykiller type."
Elora Under her breath: "Three... two... one." Out loud: "Alright then. Everyone be quiet except for our honored guest."
Elora waits a moment, and, seeing that everyone has indeed quieted as requested, allows herself to smile for three seconds.
Elora "Great! Okay. Cathuria, I will be honest with you."
Cathak Cathuria nods.
Elora "Even though the Bishop" -- she indicates helpfully with one hand -- "is not consistently bound by... normal standards of propriety, he is under my employ, and I have no interest in destroying your -- extremely lovely, I would note -- village."
Elora "We are really here on a matter tangentially related to your own strange utopia... thingy." Elora finds herself to have run out of eloquence.
Cathak Cathuria "Oh?"
Serpent nods politely. He has poured his drink out into his hand, and is sculpting it, like a potter throwing clay, to make a rippling, watery jar.
Bishop Of Strife resumes smoking!
Elora "We are here in the employ of a certain Mnemon Delana." She pauses and waits for a reaction to this statement.
venus{A} sips, and finds her cup has run dry.
Serpent notices and pours her some more.
venus{A} smiles her thanks, and resumes sipping! Quietly.
Serpent "Take this jar as a gift from her and bring it to your master."
Cathak Cathuria does not apparently react to this, although he glances over at Serpent with some interest, and takes the jar, examining it carefully.
venus{A} examines the jar as well, though from afar.
Cathak Cathuria "I don't know who that is, I'm afraid, and that also doesn't clarify what kind of beings you ARE. Apparently you've got powers I've never seen."
Serpent It's just a jar. Made out of juice.
Elora "Hmmm... that's funny, given that Delana is Peleps Deled's employer."
Bishop Of Strife exhales, rising from his seat and cracking his knuckles.
Bishop Of Strife "Perhaps I can explain."
Serpent reaches for another flask.
venus{A} sets down her cup and watches Bishop
Bishop Of Strife is across the room in two strides, spear in hand, and begins to use it like a giant pen, raking the point over the floor to carve alien characters in a complex equation.
Cathak Cathuria "Hm. Well, I wasn't aware Deled was employed by anybody in specific."
Elora "Now that is interesting. Why, indeed, would you not be aware of such an important fact?"
Cathak Cathuria "I'm not sure. It does seem a little odd."
Cathak Cathuria "What...is he writing?'
venus{A} "Math, probably."
Bishop Of Strife "As you can see, quintrilateral planes emanate from these origin points, and they converge here!" He raps the spearpoint on the floor, causing a two-foot-wide circle to crumble to dust. "Now, raising this to the power of Alif gives us a Numerator of Transcendent Perfection. And, as we all know, a Numerator of Transcendent Perfection can only lead us in one direction!"
venus{A} gives Cathak Cathuria? a look like 'don't ask me, i have no idea what he's saying either.'
Serpent "We did tell you, actually." He indicates Venus. "Ahlat is her father, &c."
Bishop Of Strife continues, writing at a fevered pitch, a small cloud of splinters building up in the air. "Given that set A is composed of all elements X, such that X is greater than or equal to the Zayn-root of The Numerator of Transcendent Perfection, but less than or equal to this village..." Tapping the spearpoint twice on a symbol, he extends a hand triumphantly. "We see that two plus two equals threve. And THAT is why we are
Bishop Of Strife "And THAT is why we are here!"
Cathak Cathuria "I...I didn't really understand any of that."
Bishop Of Strife looks at Cathak curiously. "But I spelled it out so clearly."
Cathak Cathuria "I..."
Cathak Cathuria "While I am impressed with your work, I'm not sure I can let you slide based on your equations."
Bishop Of Strife "My calculations are utterly flawless."
Cathak Cathuria "So what Gods are you the various sons and daughters of, then?"
Bishop Of Strife "She Who Lives In Her Name!"
Cathak Cathuria "I...see."
Cathak Cathuria "All of you?"
Autumn{v} "Venus."
Bishop Of Strife "No, just me. And that one." He points at Elora.
Autumn{v} "Which is not that one. Not venus. Venus." He nods. Only the Maidens know how he can capitalize words in speech.
Serpent "My abilities descend from Ali of the Last Whisper."
Cathak Cathuria 's eyes do widen at that.
Cathak Cathuria seems a little abstracted for a moment.
Serpent pokes Cathuria. "Are you okay there? You look a little sick."
Cathak Cathuria "Hm? Yes. I'm all right."
Cathak Cathuria "So. We have a raksha, a demon, a God-blood, and a Sidereal, and you're here for something involving Peleps Deled's secret employer."
Cathak Cathuria "Can you be any more specific?"
Bishop Of Strife "Can we? Certainly."
Elora sighs.
venus{A} "What is the Sea of Mind? Is it a spell?"
Cathak Cathuria "I told you. It's another plane of existence."
venus{A} "Is it like Heaven?"
Elora "Look." She gets a bit of an edge on her expression, now. "We're here to check up on Deled's expenditures, because they're getting out of hand. Not that I'm clear why he needs expenditures in the FIRST place, here."
Cathak Cathuria "I don't know. What is Heaven like?'
venus{A} "It's... another plane sort of. I guess."
Cathak Cathuria "Well, you'd have to talk to Deled about that, and unfortunately, you can't right now, because you snuck into his house and beat him unconscious."
Serpent "Yeah, um."
Serpent "About that."
Serpent "Don't let him speak for a day or so."
Cathak Cathuria "Why not?"
Serpent "Because his voice is full of poison."
Cathak Cathuria "Oh."
venus{A} "I'm trying to figure out what Heaven IS like, actually." she continues, pausing to let the others talk, then resuming where she left off.
Cathak Cathuria "That sounds unpleasant."
Elora waves one hand. "We don't need to speak to him, we just need access to his stores of records."
Serpent "It does cause some discomfort."
Cathak Cathuria "Surely you could simply ask your Sidereal friend about it?"
venus{A} "I tried that. I thought you might know more, since you know about how other planes work."
Autumn{v} "... I am not a Sidereal. I'm a child of Venus." He nods. "As in, she is my mother."
Cathak Cathuria "Well, since I don't know anything about this employment or anything, I don't know anything about any records either. Whatever it is, he hasn't mentioned that to me."
Elora nods.
Elora "Well, in that case..."
Cathak Cathuria "Either way, surely you've seen the inside of Heaven."
venus{A} "What's that got to do with what it is?"
venus{A} "I've seen the inside of lots of things, but that doesn't mean anything."
Elora pauses in mid-sentence. "What do you want to know about Heaven, anyway?"
Bishop Of Strife interjects. "Why are we talking to this man? He seems to have no intention of being useful."
Cathak Cathuria "I'm just trying to compare Heaven to the Sea, for this lady's benefit."
Bishop Of Strife stands up, his posture explaining clearly his intention: violence, with a side of defenestration.
venus{A} sighs.
Elora "Bishop, please don't kill the polite man."
venus{A} "Maybe you guys should go look at Deled's records, and I can talk to Cathak Cathuria for a bit?"
Elora After a second: "It won't 'take,' anyway."
Elora "Hmmm, yes. That sounds like a good plan."
Bishop Of Strife sighs. "I wasn't going to kill him. Or even beat him. Just throw him out."
Cathak Cathuria "Well, I can't just let you walk into Deled's house, especially since you broke into his house originally."
Serpent "I imagined you would, uh, let us in."
Elora "Ah. That is unfortunate. I suppose we'll be having to report back rather negatively to Delana, then. I do not expect she will be pleased." She pauses. "If you could give us a little time to prepare to depart your village?"
Cathak Cathuria "Certainly."
Cathak Cathuria "Of course you understand that your doors may be watched, though."
Elora "Of course." Elora smiles.
Cathak Cathuria "Thank you for your time. Please call upon me if you need anything."
Elora nods. "Don't forget your jar on the way out!"
Cathak Cathuria smiles and takes the jar out with him.
Elora As soon as he's out, Elora slumps against the door. "Please tell me you guys accomplished SOMETHING in Deled's house besides getting us a stern talking-to from Captain Politeness out there."
Serpent "Autumn was poking around upstairs, weren't you?"
Cathak Cathuria There is a polite knock on the door
venus{A} goes to answer it
Cathak Cathuria is there again.
Cathak Cathuria "I'm sorry. I forgot to mention."
venus{A} "Yes?"
Cathak Cathuria "If any of you ARE interested in exploring the Sea of Mind, please let us know. We welcome new members."
venus{A} "Can you leave once you've joined?"
Cathak Cathuria "I do not know."
Cathak Cathuria "Nobody has ever tried."
Cathak Cathuria "You need not remain in this village, though."
Serpent makes a face at Cathuria when he's not looking. =Hey boss, I'm going to take a nap. And work on my kung fu. Please knock loudly in you need me.=
Serpent does so.
venus{A} "So... what happens if someone joins that you want to get rid of?"
venus{A} "So... what happens if someone joins that you want to get rid of?"
Cathak Cathuria "How would that happen/'
venus{A} looks at him like he's crazy. "Oh. I don't know. Hypothetically." she glances back at her companions, "If things didn't work out so well."
Cathak Cathuria "You cannot suffer. You cannot hurt another. What could you do to harm us?"
venus{A} shrugs. "Talk a whole lot."
Elora "Piss in your oatmeal?"
Cathak Cathuria "If you want to find out, the door is open to you."
Elora "I'll pass for now, but I'll let you know if I change my mind."
venus{A} nods
Cathak Cathuria "Thanks. Have a nice night."
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