PRP A Dream Within a Dream (Aisa and Heidla)

[Boozver]

It wasn't only the huge experience that changed Heidla so drastically. Nor was it her suddenly growing up. But all those new people she met, all those new ideas she came across made her suddenly realise that the world was far larger than the walls of the Death Library could accommodate. She had always been an avid reader, and she read a lot about other races and other worlds, but having been forced to face all those things she read about in the comfortable and cold solitude of her study room on the Isle of Death made quieter and probably easier to deal with, but at the same time isolated her from her own experience of her previous self. Never in her life she felt she needed guidance before, with all the ordinary clansmen bowing to the vast wisdom of her priesthood, and the order of priestesses being organized so neatly that no shadow of doubt could appear in her mind.

Now her life suspiciously looked like a very bad example of a trance experience, and Heidla was looking desperately for a guiding figure in this dream of hers. Looking in the very literal sense - she was granted an audience with the person she both dreaded and admired. Heart fluttering in her chest, she was waiting to meet the Protector of her Clan, the Light and Heir of Death, and was feeling uneasy, the natural state in front of the head of all priestesses. Would her superior accept her ideas?

She heard a rustling noise behind her back and hastened to turn and, without even raising her eyes, whispered anxiously: "My Lady Aisa......"

random artist

I wonder if instead of talking they could play a game, a sort of shent (as in Tad Williams) or chess or table RP game with a map and moving characters and by moving their respective figures they could share bits of thoughts and feelings?

 

[revenant aria]

Aisa did not like being in the position for comfort. However, this was a new reluctant learning experience .. as trying as it was, Connie pointed out to her, there was no other time like this one when comfort was necessary to the clans. Aisa had to struggle, to think along the lines of Connie would, when this priestess requested for an audience.

However, it was marginally easier than others as Aisa had a slightly softer spot for those of the Death Clan. Especially, a priestess. Heidla was a younger priestess, her blue robes swirling as she faced Aisa in a breathless manner. Aisa's voice was not nearly as curt, her eyes lowering to Heidla's anxious ones.

"You .. called?"

boozver

UMM WE COULD XD I would be really vague though because I dont know much table games. Aisa would try to respond to Heidla although she probably wouldn't share much of her own thoughts/feelings (aisa is a private person!) ~ *u*

 

[Boozver]

"Highness",Heidla signed, not knowing how to start.

The priestesses seldom used many words in conversation, especially among themselves. And even those naturally inclined to chat, like Heidla was, seemed to find their tongues tied when facing one of their superiors. Besides, there was a sort of understanding when no words were needed between the priestesses; ideas were shared by slow movements and weaving of emotions into the air. Since childhood one was taught to keep a meaningful silence, and communicate without words. It was liberating at the same time as it was limiting, one would share a trance experience easier than a gossip, but now Heidla realized helplessly she would not be able to express to the Heir the confusion she felt in her mind.

She resorted to the easiest subterfuge today: she took up a deck of ancient cards that some of the priestesses used as a tool in their guidance session. The cards in the deck depicted ancient runes, but there were just eight of them. Each turn one of the players asked a question, while the other took one of the cards and by reading its meaning answered the question. Each of the players had two opportunities to ask their question.

Heidla doubted whether the Protector of Death could possibly have any questions to share with her, but still she decided to try her luck. At least, there was a chance she would get her answers.

"Shall we play, Highness?" she prompted.

Random Artist

The mechanics are easy. If Aisa agrees to playing it, Heidla would put beside them a scroll with eight descriptions (first row here: http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/meanings.html; when one player asks a question, the other rolls one 8-sided dice, and adapts the meaning of the rune to the question. I don't know whether Aisa would ask something or just skip her turn, but that might be a curious way to play out their conversation. If you don't like it, just let me know - or Aisa might not want to play any games

 

[revenant aria]

"Play?"

Aisa glanced at the deck of cards, what humans would term something similar to 'tarot.' ".. I suppose." She took a seat, on a stool-like chair, leaving her hair and feathers free of the chair with backings. More than once, Aisa's long locks had been caught in such infernal contraptions.

"I suppose, you'll start?"

Her tone was trying, recalling the last time she had played games .. it had been quite a far time ago, indeed. Possibly before the hunter's lair.

boozver

UMMM there's a lot of runes so, I dont think an 8-sided dice can get them all? there are 24 runes? O_O sorry I dont really understand the mechanics of this game ;; MAYBE DO AN EXAMPLE AND I WILL~

 

[Boozver]

"Ummm...." Heidla's hands trembled. There was something in the air of the Defender that appalled her senses, something that felt dark and mad and dangerous, and yet she felt exultant and elated. It is true that loyalty to her clan ran in her veins, but there was more to it: whenever she was close to Aisa, she felt that she was ready to die for her. As if it were needed.

She smiled, and asked in a low voice: "I should lay it out to refresh the meaning of the cards in my head".

So there are eight of them, the pack of one of the ancient priestesses that was known in the human world by the name of Freya - or at least that's what some of the manuscripts mention. She spent in the human world quite a long time, both harvesting fear and studying the human way of life; she also developed those runes - as depicted on the cards.

1 - Fehu: Possessions won or earned, luck, abundance, sign of hope and plenty, success and happiness, fertility and foresight. If it comes reversed, it implies loss, failure, greed, atrophy, cowardice, stupidity, bondage.

"I wonder if we won't be getting it reversed for every question", Heidla gave a small and sad smile. "No-one knows how the cards work, if they communicate with our own feelings, then there'll be always loss and impotence and failure in our minds".

She laid out the second card -

2 - Uruz: Physical strength and speed, untamed potential, bringing a time of great energy and health, the shaping of power and pattern, formulation of the self. When reversed, it brings weakness, obsession, misdirected force, domination by others, sickness and violence.

and with a muffed exclamation: "Is it always all reversed now?!" - the third....

3. Thurisaz: Reactive force, directed force of destruction and defense, conflict, catharsis, purging, cleansing fire. When reversed, warns about danger, defenselessness, compulsion, betrayal, dullness.

and the fourth:
4. Ansuz - A revealing message or insight, communication, inspiration, enthusiass, speech, true vision, power of words, blessing. When reversed, implies misunderstanding, delusion, manipulation by others.


"It seems that these were conceived in hard times as well, my Lady", Heidla said with restraint. "Whichever description I read, it is all about destruction and deceipt".

She laid out the rest of the cards:

5. Raidho. Travel, physical or in a trance state, evolution, change of place or setting. Seeing a larger perspective, dance of life. Reversed Raidho brings crisis, rigidity, stasis, injustice, irrationality, delusion, possibly a death.


6. Kenaz. Vision, revelation, knowledge, creativity, inspiration, fire of transformation and regeneration, ability to create your own reality, the power of light. Kenaz in eversed position: disease, instability, lack of creativity, exposure, loss of illusion and false hope.

7. Gifts, both in the sense of sacrifice and of generosity, indicating balance. All matters in relation to exchanges, including contracts, personal relationships and partnerships. Gebo in reversed position: greed, loneliness, dependence, over-sacrifice, toll.

8. Wunjo: joy, comfort, harmony, glory, spiritual reward, but also the possibility of going "over the top". Wunjo Reversed: sorrow, strife, alienation, intoxication, possession by higher forces, impractical enthusiasm.

"Sounds not exactly promising. I should try the first question, Highness, just to see if it works now". Heidla closed her eyes and asked in a clear voice: "What state I am in?" Then, her eyes still closed, she took one of the cards.

Random Artist

 

[Boozver]

It was a reversed Uruz. Heidla signed: "Well, true... I am obsessed with my past, and I am too obtuse to go forward. That is what makes me weak - as if I needed the cards to tell me that! And yes, ignorance! I feel it all the time, that all my knowledge is useless and twisted, that whatever I remember about this world, these creatures, our past, is somehow misshaped. I feel in the shadow all the time".

"Now, it is my question to you, Highness. Why have we ended up here?"

The question was stupid and direct, and deep in her heart Heidla knew that every horseman kept asking it, and knew that there was no answer to it. Still, she could not help voicing it out. She hoped her superior, their pride and hope, would know.

Random Artist

So, I put the meaning of the cards out. It is the first row, Freya's row, that's why there are just 8 - and also to make it simpler. We throw two dices: the first for the rune, the second for its position. If odd - it is reversed. Sorry for all the complications, but I really wanted to make it fun smile

 

[revenant aria]

"Why have we ended up here? All paths lead to the same end. Perhaps, fate decided we needed some reconnecting. They break. They're retied-- and then they break once again. Again, retied in a different and shorter knot.." Aisa answered the young priestess, her finger lazily drawing a card.

Her other hand pushed down an approaching yawn, evidently, the red-blossomed priestess had little sleep the previous night.

She lowered her eyes on the card she picked up. Her fingers dropped it back, against the table. What a insulting card, humoring them. Nothing had been won, there was only loss. "Fehu seems largely inaccurate at the moment."

Boozver

1 - Fehu: Possessions won or earned, luck, abundance, sign of hope and plenty, success and happiness, fertility and foresight. If it comes reversed, it implies loss, failure, greed, atrophy, cowardice, stupidity, bondage.

SORRY I AM SO LATE ;;;

 

[Boozver]

A Fehu... Interesting. It also chimed well with Heidla's recently developed feelings. Hopeful - wasn't she getting hopeful after all?

"Still, it is also a sign of hope, and that's what troubles me most, Highness. In the last days I met so many horsemen of other clans - and they do not appeal to me. Morever, they seem so self-centred, so preoccupied with themselves, so - annoyingly blind, so engrossed in their petty issues!" Heidla sounded distressed. "I cannot help wondering whether they are still able to see the path, whether their lives are still guided by principle, whether we were not - after all - too weak to see the truth?"

She paused for a moment, and then picked a card for herself. "A reversed rune - sacrifice and loss, as dictated by greed and miscalculation and blindness...."

"And I also met Halloween dwellers who were... different. In terms of fear - weaker, yes, but in terms of resolution, and will, and mind, - stronger, and more perceptive, and caring, and ready to protect and fight for what they esteem high!"

"I was wondering, my Lady, if most of the horsemen really believed in the common cause, or if everyone was just calculating their personal gain, and wasn't that the reason of our downfall? And also, if Halloween creatures would not be a better material for us, the Order of Death? Can we - and should we - convert them? Wouldn't they turn a more comprehensive ear to our words?" She looked questioningly at the Heir.

Random Artist

Gebo in reversed position: greed, loneliness, dependence, over-sacrifice, toll.

 

[revenant aria]

Aisa leaned back in her chair, two legs lifting while the other two tipped. She pressed the card she picked up against her lips, sealing what unknown sound may have fallen from her lips as Heidla continued onto her distress and complaints of halloween. Contemplating thoughts on halloween was a pasttime that Aisa had never done, leaving most of that to Connie. ".. What path would you be referring to, Heidla? The broken path of our former glory-- or the path to cooperation with Halloween? I recall seeing all the clan members on both .. I believe?" Aisa tipped her head questioningly, recalling those weren't the only two paths.

Many other paths existed.. although they all led to the same end.

"You forget Heidla .. the order of death, as you call it, does not exist anymore. We are the Lost Clan. You can attempt this conversion, if you wish, although not to Death. I have no words to offer to the halloween students and I'm not quiiiiiittteee sure if you do either." She punctuated the word, extending it in a playful manner, her gaze focusing on an invisible point in the grey sky.

"They have their own little merry convictions-- How can you, who knows nothing of their tumultuous lives, hope to persuade them? You in your little death world, a wise world it was, has little appeal to thiiiiiis world. Unless you wish to garner the appeal of sympathy." Disdain clung to her last word, implicating that was a taboo. Lost Clan did not need sympathy.

Halloween was turning out to be a cute world, as Aisa was slowly growing to see. She was starting to see the appeal of it, at it's minimal potential.

boozver

 

[Boozver]

Heidla signed. The words of the Heir rang in her head. She was right - and anyway, what else could the Heir of their Clan be? They were no longer the Clan, and it seemed to the priestess that the bonds were breaking fast, faster than she expected it to be.

"I know", she answered humbly. "I have nothing to tell them - I actually have nothing to tell myself. And I don't seek sympathy", her voice became darker. Sympathy - that was a word for the poor and the helpless, nothing a horseman could align himself with. Still, was that mild hope that she felt when talking to some of the Halloweeners a sort of sympathy? Was the curious approach and warmth that some of them showed to her, a sympathy as well? She felt helpless, and then decided to speak it out. "But I feel a liking towards them. Are we to deny that feeling? Should we shun them? I have never needed company of my kin - but here I do enjoy talking to them, getting to know them better. Should I snap out of it? Am I in the wrong, Highness?"

Almost mechanically, she got another card. Was it mocking her? Uruz - a symbol of strength, a key to understanding self. What could be more ironic....

random artist

So sorry! I thought I have answered ages ago!!!!