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strangetrip2018-06-21 08:25 am
st_abby) wrote in strangetrip2018-06-21 08:25 am
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[EP] Temple Opening - OTA, Tag Vax or Pike
It had taken many months, effort from many residents, the summons of an other-planar entity, and even trade negotiations between worlds to raise the Madonna Inn's new temple on an unassuming expanse of grass adjacent to Building 2. It felt more than a bit surreal, to finally walk the finished handmade brick hallways and peer into the room-sized curved-arch alcoves, to be able to reach out and touch the engraved names of those that had departed as mysteriously as anybody arrived in this place. The Temple loomed benignly, profoundly quiet as dawn rose over the newly completed building and brought with it the summer solstice. Vax'ildan and Pike Trickfoot sat together in the common gathering area, chins high with their heads tipped back. They watched a long while in reverent silence as the kindling sunlight began to lighten, then brighten, then beam, gradually filling up the temple with something like grace through the metal mesh and skylight that made the roof.
"It's beautiful," Vax murmured at last, when the whole of the Temple had been poured full of the ambient light. Shapes of brightness and shadow dappled the heights of the walls without causing any kind of painful glare at eye-level. He didn't quite know how Percy and Lillith had done it, but they'd managed some trick of the roof and sub-roofs at exacting angles, neatly fitted panes of black and clear and amber glass making a rather soothing kaleidoscope mosaic on the ceiling overhead. It was an effect quite like sunlight filtered through tree branches, though with an intricate and artful geometric design. Nightfall would be beautiful, too, though in the opposite way - the exterior and interior lighting would set the Temple dramatically aglow, deepening the contrasting shadows. It was a perfect place for private reflection, or to speak to the gods where they might deign to listen.
"Are we supposed to do anything else before it's... You know. Holy, or whatever? Before we can open it properly?" Vax turned to look at Pike, a hint of unease still lingering in his expression. "I'm honestly not sure when it stops being a bunch of stones and becomes a sacred place."
"It has never been just a bunch of stones. Our intent has always been known, and that's what's important. This place has been holy since the day we broke ground," Pike smiled up at him, internally applauding his sense of timing. She'd just reached the end of her spell. For twenty-four hours straight, she'd been casting Hallow to slowly imbuing the land and structure with holy protections and powers. But it wasn't a flashy spell, after the initial incantation and prepping of materials, it had mostly been meditation.
"But I could use your and the Raven Queen's help to finish this spell?" Reaching over, she took one of his hand in hers then held the other one out to her side. Nodding, she encouraged him to do the same. After a heartbeat, though nothing could be seen, she felt Sarenrae take her open hand in a warm grasp. "Ready?"
Vax didn't take her hand straightaway, mostly because he was trying to figure out if she meant for him to take both of her hands or just the one, and he had no bloody idea what she was wanting from him to finish off her spell. He looked quizzically between her palms and his, and decided that one of the hands was definitely for him to take, but the other... Pike's muscles in her far hand had a funny kind of tension to them, very much as if she was grasping something solid, though all Vax could see was a thin shaft of golden light somehow slipped from the ingenious layers above... Oh.
Brown eyes gone a touch wide, he swallowed, black-gloved fingers fitting Pike's smaller hand under his. "Yeah," he agreed with a gentle rasp. He unfolded his other, open palm, glancing at it for a moment and wondering what it was he expected to happen. Telling himself to stop thinking about it. Opening himself to letting it happen, whatever 'it' may be.
Squeezing their joined hand in an attempt to encourage him, Pike took in a deep breath and gathered the last of the energy she needed. Releasing the rush of divine magic, the space filled with a swell of bright golden light that was accompanied by deep inky shadow in equal measure.
With the spell now in full effect, she could almost feel the building vibrating with the new essence. Beaming up at Vax, she couldn't help but smirk, "That was so cool."
"That's... Wow." As the holy energies became less visible, less distinctly tangible, and began to permeate the Temple in a more subtle way, they became a part of the Hallowed halls themselves. And as Vax smiled softly back at Pike, it was with the assurance that just for a moment there, in the casting, even for not having seen any more than the display of light and shadow... He knew he'd felt a cool, strong, gentle grip of slender fingers around his empty hand. "...What's say we go open the doors? This place is meant to be shared, after all."
******
Vax and Pike will each have a top-level. Come have your characters engage them as they explore the new space, find an alcove of particular interest, or just snark cynically at the whole thing if they're so inclined. Feel free to use the Temple as a staging ground for any scenes you like later!
"It's beautiful," Vax murmured at last, when the whole of the Temple had been poured full of the ambient light. Shapes of brightness and shadow dappled the heights of the walls without causing any kind of painful glare at eye-level. He didn't quite know how Percy and Lillith had done it, but they'd managed some trick of the roof and sub-roofs at exacting angles, neatly fitted panes of black and clear and amber glass making a rather soothing kaleidoscope mosaic on the ceiling overhead. It was an effect quite like sunlight filtered through tree branches, though with an intricate and artful geometric design. Nightfall would be beautiful, too, though in the opposite way - the exterior and interior lighting would set the Temple dramatically aglow, deepening the contrasting shadows. It was a perfect place for private reflection, or to speak to the gods where they might deign to listen.
"Are we supposed to do anything else before it's... You know. Holy, or whatever? Before we can open it properly?" Vax turned to look at Pike, a hint of unease still lingering in his expression. "I'm honestly not sure when it stops being a bunch of stones and becomes a sacred place."
"It has never been just a bunch of stones. Our intent has always been known, and that's what's important. This place has been holy since the day we broke ground," Pike smiled up at him, internally applauding his sense of timing. She'd just reached the end of her spell. For twenty-four hours straight, she'd been casting Hallow to slowly imbuing the land and structure with holy protections and powers. But it wasn't a flashy spell, after the initial incantation and prepping of materials, it had mostly been meditation.
"But I could use your and the Raven Queen's help to finish this spell?" Reaching over, she took one of his hand in hers then held the other one out to her side. Nodding, she encouraged him to do the same. After a heartbeat, though nothing could be seen, she felt Sarenrae take her open hand in a warm grasp. "Ready?"
Vax didn't take her hand straightaway, mostly because he was trying to figure out if she meant for him to take both of her hands or just the one, and he had no bloody idea what she was wanting from him to finish off her spell. He looked quizzically between her palms and his, and decided that one of the hands was definitely for him to take, but the other... Pike's muscles in her far hand had a funny kind of tension to them, very much as if she was grasping something solid, though all Vax could see was a thin shaft of golden light somehow slipped from the ingenious layers above... Oh.
Brown eyes gone a touch wide, he swallowed, black-gloved fingers fitting Pike's smaller hand under his. "Yeah," he agreed with a gentle rasp. He unfolded his other, open palm, glancing at it for a moment and wondering what it was he expected to happen. Telling himself to stop thinking about it. Opening himself to letting it happen, whatever 'it' may be.
Squeezing their joined hand in an attempt to encourage him, Pike took in a deep breath and gathered the last of the energy she needed. Releasing the rush of divine magic, the space filled with a swell of bright golden light that was accompanied by deep inky shadow in equal measure.
With the spell now in full effect, she could almost feel the building vibrating with the new essence. Beaming up at Vax, she couldn't help but smirk, "That was so cool."
"That's... Wow." As the holy energies became less visible, less distinctly tangible, and began to permeate the Temple in a more subtle way, they became a part of the Hallowed halls themselves. And as Vax smiled softly back at Pike, it was with the assurance that just for a moment there, in the casting, even for not having seen any more than the display of light and shadow... He knew he'd felt a cool, strong, gentle grip of slender fingers around his empty hand. "...What's say we go open the doors? This place is meant to be shared, after all."
******
Vax and Pike will each have a top-level. Come have your characters engage them as they explore the new space, find an alcove of particular interest, or just snark cynically at the whole thing if they're so inclined. Feel free to use the Temple as a staging ground for any scenes you like later!
Re: Vax & Vex
It made sense that she would want to shield herself now, potentially under the awesome, unflinching eye of a motherfucking god.
"I wondered a lot about that at first," he admitted after a beat. "Why would She answer me, of all those she must've heard before? Why throw in with us? But it's a different question when you turn it back around the other way. Even if you are a bit on the short side... Why not you, who is smart and brave and strong, who would fight His enemies, and who follows the unerring compass of her heart? What more could be needed, to be considered worthy?"
Re: Vax & Vex
This time she was glad he'd called her short though. What else was she going to say? That she barely knew anything about Pelor except he was the god of the sun, and patron of Whitestone? That she wasn't even sure who his enemies would be here? That she had no clue how to even start? That Vax, and Percy, believed she was a better person than she knew herself to be, and her heart wasn't the unerring guide to right and wrong they thought it was?
When Vax had made his deal with the Raven Queen, he'd been that uncertain. Vex had found books, done research, learned everything she could about the Raven bitch who had her brother by the balls, and who could undo the miracle of Vex's resurrection if he reneged or didn't live up to her expectations. If they'd been in Whitestone, she could have talked with Keeper Yennen, learning probably more than she needed to know. Or the library and temple in Vassalheim. From what little Scanlan had told them, it didn't sound like they'd had much time for that after she became Pelor's champion, but now, when all she had was time, she didn't have the resources she needed to learn more.
What was she supposed to do? Meditate? She laughed at the idea, wry, and only after realizing she'd gotten distracted by her own thoughts. "You've always found faith more easily than me." Vex's faith had always been in her brother, first and forever. In Trinket. And over time, the others she came to love as family.
Re: Vax & Vex
Vax thought about it for a beat longer, then shook his head. "No, I don't think it's been any easier for me than it would be for you," he decided. "Neither of us knows what to make of the gods, what it means to be chosen, what we're even supposed to do. What I think is different... Is that I'm more willing to make the leap, come what may."
The way he had seen it, he'd had to choose: run the risk of losing Vex forever, or offer the only thing he had in exchange. If he'd had faith back then, it wasn't in the Raven Queen. It was in her.
Re: Vax & Vex
"I'm not sure faith is supposed to be easy. Or service. At least not to a god. But you've long been the 'all leap, no look' one of us."
Re: Vax & Vex
Re: Vax & Vex
"Say hi to your Raven Queen, brother," she called back, "and don't forget to wash behind your ears."
Re: Vax & Vex