|
|
t h e . w a y w a r d - e v e n t
s
| |
On the surface,
an Elysium of unsurpassed splendor. Beneath, something sinister lurks...
Voracia Far below, the competetive clash of elements Water and Earth echo applause up the face of the cliff which buttresses the shadow of deeper hue against the night, that of the Great Hall. Deeper, save for one, solitary beacon standing in stark opposition to the smooth obsidian face— An open window, flickering softly with element Fire, content to nestle in her stony niche. She gently strokes her prey of oak and cedar, now greedy, now subdued, fickle in each passing moment, spurred by the whimsical influence of the fourth in the elemental quartet, Wind. Gliding up and up, swift and rush, she travels up one granite face exchanges for the second to find the aperture and in— Curtains reach to oaken door but moored again they fall. Fireside table, a volume perched upon the edge succumbs and strikes the pile of deep crimson throw, and there the wind splits wide and reads fluttering pages of strategy, of battles won, of seeking the High Ground and of placing men properly to kill or save other men. And quickasthat the book is finished and closed. And the wind retreats once more, drawing the heavy oaken door to a close, where it shudders wistfully against it hinges. And the curtains chase after, again thwarted by their tether. And the tendrils of silken onyx locks rush forward, longing to spill and plummet down the face of flesh above which they cling as they have done for centuries--but only words near breathless give chase, accepted and lifted high on invisible wings, fulfilling the yearning silence and measure of time with solace of tears. The voice whispers in distant melody: Long afloat on shipless oceans
"Sail to me, Sail to me,
Let me enfold you" Did I dream you dreamed about
me? I am puzzled as a newborn child
She stands silhouette above the precipice, a bird, an open cage, and fear. “...but that the dread
of nothing after death, Crimson dew plummets into the void. A single ray of light, untold feet from inconstant terrain beneath, a centerpoint eye for the otherwise solid bulwark of the Great Hall—and as its pupil, a woman stands stung by the salt in her eyes, a mixture of the distant surf and tears—stands upon the breathless brink, aroused with passion and crying out to God to hold her hand. ----------------- **Tim Buckley/Larry Beckett Lyrics copyright 1968 Third Story Music Inc. [BMI] Voracia Have fun. /OOC ------------------ Gwynhala *the coterie moves purposefully through a maze of twisty little passages, all different, charting its course by the dying light of tallows placed strategically at the mouth of each conspiring portal. a million possibilities yield inexorably to a single conclusion. the final turn taken, they stand before the sealed oaken door of the TEA ROOM* "Well this is it. Maybe we will find some answers inside. Maybe we will be able to find out where those extra chess boards are and they will help us find out what is going on here." (David) "I hope the door is not locked." (Gwynhala) *it is not. they shove aside the door and enter.* *the hall is filled with wisps of white mist swaying to and fro almost as if alive. a cold wind blows up the staircase - no - strike that. directly across, and 10 feet away an agitated curtained window opens to darkness, to sound and smell of sea. a shadowy figure can be seen there, form obscured. the shadowy figure seems to be trying to attract your attention - no - strike that as well. she leans impossibly forward, facing with whole being whatever lies without, singing, softly, with the unmistakable voice of VORACIA* "Long afloat on shipless
oceans *her song finishes. then, without hesitation or notice of sudden audience, her fancy shifts to iambic prose - a subtle mockery of hamlet, recited with an artless art reminding any mortal that the best plays are tragedies.* “...but that the dread of nothing after death, the new discovered country from whose bourne no penitence be learned, murders the will and makes us rather die to passions had than kindle others that we might dream of." *gwynhala replies* "...but answer made it none; yet once methought it lifted up its head and did address itself to motion, like as it would speak; but even then the morning **** (OOC: grrr....rooster) crew loud, and at the sound it shrunk in haste away" *a short pause, that the words might settle on her ears, if she will have them* "Dear Lady, I fear for your safety. It may be dawn soon in this place. Please come within." Voracia "...'Tis very strange." A low, basso howl in coursing current of gale over breach of constancy; she stands, immobile, gazing out upon the sea. Gwynhala *DEAR LADY, I FEAR FOR YOUR SAFETY. DAWN MAY COME SOON. PLEASE COME WITHIN." Voracia And in the darkness she whispers to the darkness from the darkness. "...you see not the rift before you, caught up in words meaningless, placing stock in words...words, words, words...all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death..." And across the sea, the frightening sphere of (!!!light!!!) moon extends a tentative step upon the waters, testing them for worthiness to cast its pale reflection. In the crescent effort, the eyes adjust to take in the outline of her face, her shades pushed up into ther hair, eyes peering forward beyond the abyss. "I hear you, pater." Gwynhala "With words you condemn words, child. My faith is not in words. You call me Pater, so you must know that at least. You speak the words of a prophetess, but your gift of tongues serves its divine purpose only when another is gifted to interpret. Behold the the moon. We are cursed by the sun, but not by the moon, yet they shine with the same light. The meaning of that is not in words." Voracia She extends her arms to the airy regions as the moon catches fast the flecks within her eyes, luminescent shards of gold immersed in deep pools of liquid cobalt. Even in the darkness, the revealed spheres entice and dance asplendour--and almost as the thoughts are formed, she averts her gaze to the lee side of silhouette. A deep breath. "Can no one understand the significance of this precipice? In their isolated quarters of the mind, they draw blood and suffering that only leaves a shadow of a mark within this realm, so as not to be believed---but this... We observe the impossibility. It is here..." Palms face down as though to place them on the heads of children. After all this time... ...the Window." Gwynhala "How many years have you walked the earth, child? And in that time have you never considered why thinking a thing and doing it are the same sin? 'God said, let there be light - and there was light'. A word - logos - is the same as an action to God. And an image - just another kind of word." *his brief reverie on divine light and the power of words complete, gwynhala considers voracia's claim* "In this place I have lost track of what is real and what is not. I came upon you - and this window - searching for illusory chessboards. The sea, the moon, the precipice, seem real as anything I have seen tonight. I trust in your vision, Lady. If this is where you would drive a stake through the heart of perception and call it 'truth', I will join you." "What next - do we jump, or go within?' Stormcaller "I will just look around and see if there is anything of use in this room while Gwynhala does his thing with Miss Voracia there. I do hope they come in soon though for I think it is past time for the sun to come up." "Ah now this is interesting." David is now standing at the bookcase where he sees a book titledThe Death of RavnosDavid takes the book down and goes over to a chair to read through it "I guess I will wait on Gwynhala to come back inside before we go on to the chess boards. So I guess I will read this while I wait." Within the book David discovers that the Eastern Vampires, called Kuei-Jin, and the Technomages were the ones that are proported to be responsible for the death of Ravnos. ------------------ Gwynhala Stormcaller (At the window looking out) "Oh my God that is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. These are the kinds of scenes that make you not miss the sun and daylight quite so much." David looks out the window to try to see Gwynhala and Voracia. Again he hears the etheral song only this time it has a male accompanyment. (Yelled to those on the ledge) "You two might want to come inside. I don't know how things work in this Hall but I am pretty sure that the sun is due to come up sometime soon. I know the view is great but it isn't worth burning for." ------------------ Elijah Robert Marks "What's going on?" ------------------ Stormcaller "What's going on?" David hears a voice behind him and very quickly turns around to see Elijah. "So someone finally decided to follow us. Well it seems that Voracia and Gwynhala have found a view that is simply to die for. I have tried to get those two to come inside but they seem to be practicing for a musical and I don't think they can hear me." "Any suggestions." ------------------ Gwynhala LOL. Please go on without us. I asked the lady a question, and in time sequence I'm still waiting for her answer. So I think anything you do will happen in parallel. Look for chess boards, or the Tall Man's phone number, or a copy of "Dido and Aeneas" if you happen to be Brujah - it's a lovely story about Carthage. Great town, Carthage...was. Then the bloody Romans came and by 400 AD or so when the Vandals wiped it out it was pretty much just one big expendable den of iniquity. "thinke not but I honor thee, that thus in person goe with thee to hunt" End OOC. Stormcaller (To Elijah) "Oh well, they are old enough to take care of themselves I guess. Lets see if we can find anything of use in this room. Maybe there will be a book that will help us." ------------------ Elijah Robert Marks "David, let me ask you a question. When you came to this room, did you first go through a maze of hallways to find it? And did you find it only because you could see the lights of the candles?" ------------------ Stormcaller "Why, did you not come through the same maze?" ------------------ Elijah Robert Marks ------------------ Sudsaroo Sorry to spook you like that. I just wanted to be a part of this little search of yours. I followed you David, and the candles. Sorry to put on such a spectacle back there. *Amber looks to the windows* What's going on here? -Amber Elijah Robert Marks ------------------ Stormcaller "Well I guess it's good to see you though that whole episode with the arm was a bit extreme. Though I guess being a veteran of as many wars as I have seen I should be used to such things. But anyway, your help will be most welcome if you can help us with this mystery." Turns to Elijah "So you are saying that you didn't walk through a maze in order to get here." Walks to door and looks out "When I look out that door I see up until the first turning in the maze that we negotiated to get here and the candle that was used to mark it." "What do you see when you look out the door." ------------------ Vash Gaaaaaaaah! How did you get ahead of me? *Vash scratches his head as he peers down the hallway. He turns back, shrugging* Ehh... I must of taken the long route. *Vash bows to Amber* Sorry 'bout earlier... I just get a little unhinged when, what I thought was a normal woman wacks her arm off and leaves it laying on the counter. (OOC The Roman's sacked carthage around 146 B.C. Of course the Ventrue, Toredor and Malkavians sent it down the drain earlier then that. Vandals attacked it in the 5th century and finally the Arabs destroyed it in 698 AD... no word if the Arabs were named "Ahab" It's so hard to find decent info about so long ago :P /OOC) Elijah Robert Marks "I saw that the first time I got here... without the candles, of course. I didn't see it when I came back here with Altiriel... I saw the same maze you all did. But he was leading the way most of the way. Now, I see the hallway again. But you don't. "Interesting." ------------------ Stormcaller "Okay, it seems that the person that is the first to see the hallway is the one that establishes the way it looks to those that follow closely. It seems that in this case at least the perception does shape the reality. I wonder why you see a different hallway than the rest of us do." Vash walks up "Well hello Vash, welcome to the party. Pull up a chair, find a chess board, solve the mystery that is the Hall. Well I guess we could all work on those last two but welcome anyway." ------------------
|
