HOME FIRES MISTS LIFEBLOOD SPOKES
maya - Saturday, February 06, 1999, 1:20 AM
-------------------------------------------
Maya(#977POcew56)
Maya is dressed differently than you've ever seen her. She wears a long,
white, gownlike robe of pure white chiffon, and gloves of red chiffon that
reach her elbows. Her face is painted with different symbols, and almost
vinelike patterns on the skin. They stand out stark against the paleness of
her skin, like the patterns on fine china. She is barefoot, and around her
neck she wears a beaded necklace with a simple silver triangle at the
bottom. Her hair is unbound, completely, and falls well past her waist.
Hanging from the red satin cords there, a chalice dangles, and she looks
medieval, and unearthly..and so beautiful...and her Third Eye is visible,
a deep blue spot on her forehead.
A few days have passed since Maya kissed you gently and pushed you out the
door into the world outside, sky lightening. Something has you on edge all
night..not unpleasantly. As if you were readying yourself for a big date.
Something makes you close up early, cancelling the last appointemtn.
Adrius frowns to himself, shaking his head slowly as he deals with the last
of the paperwork he intends on doing. He gives Meena the okay to head home
early, then takes care of some personal business, getting out of his suit
in favor of something more appropriate for the evening.
The sun sets, and pacing falls into place far too easily. Then, at about
eight, you feel it. She said you'd know, and you do: a sure and steady
sense of where she is, and that she wants you. You could be blindfolded and
get there.
Adrius heads out of the house at the first sign of that sense, heading
directly for his car, and letting the sensation guide him to where he needs
to go.
She's at the house. The door is open and waiting, unusually. No answer if
you call.
Adrius doesn't even bother with calling - you likely know he's near as it
is. He closes the door behind him, and continues letting that sense lead
him further in, licking his lips as his mouth goes dry with anticipation.
The airlock. You've never been inside its environs. There's a small note on
the lock: "We Have Heaven." That's all.
Adrius blinks once, looking at the note, then at the keypad. He frowns,
trying to make sense of it - first checking to see if the numbers are also
lettered like a phone's are.
They aren't. Standard 0-9.
Adrius hmms softly. "I didn't take you for the kind who gave tests,
Maya..." First, time to try the obvious, and see if it's already open.
It isn't. A part of you, inclined unreasonably to be more charitable,
reminds you: she DOES have enemies...and she does think you're brilliant.
Adrius smiles faintly. Never hurts to try the obvious. That possibility
scratched off, he goes about puzzling the clue with the numbers.
We have heaven. Heaven. perfection....what's the number of perfection? 777!
Adrius considers the clue for a couple minutes, before making a soft
'ahah' of victory. Praying that he's right, and that being wrong won't call
in unwanted attention, he punches '777' into the keypad.
A very soft *shush* of air into the airlock greets you as the door rolls
smoothly and soundlessly back. The note falls off the bottom of the keypad
onto the floor.
Adrius smiles in satisfaction, and softly steps through the airlock.
It cycles shut behind you. There's a pause, nothing seeming to happen. Then
the door in front opens into a normal room. Apparently the normal
programming put on hold?
Adrius doesn't question the programming, having expected to see another
input keypad. As the next door opens, he again silently steps throught.
Maya waits for you on the other side. The altar here is much, much, MUCH
more elaborate. A sweet but not overpowering smell of incense drifts
through the air...jasmine? Might be. It's rich. Three candles burn in the
still, controlled air, their flames only bending from upright when you
move. Her back is to you.
Adrius stops once he gets a sight of you, taking a moment to glance around
before his focus settles fully on you. Again, his lips go dry, a problem
quickly solved.
Maya turns slowly, holding out both hands to you in welcome. She looks a
lot different than you're used to seeing her.
Adrius is a lightly-built man, standing at five-foot-nine. His hair
is a mix of both blond and brown strands, worn short and neat. His eyes are
a soft blue in color, and attentive of details. Occasionally, he wears a
pair of light-brown-rimmed glasses with thin frames, but usually only when
working. He keeps his face clean-shaven. All in all, his looks aren't the
most appealing, but likewise are not wholly undesirable, especially for a
man who seems to be in his late-twenties to early-thirties.
Adrius is dressed casually in a light blue, long-sleeved button-up
shirt, and slacks of a slightly darker blue color. On his feet are a pair
of well-worn brown leather shoes.
Adrius slowly smiles, ever so faintly. He's stunned, to put it mildly, not
moving right away - merely looking toward you. It's a good few moments
before he steps forward slowly, gently taking your hands.
Maya is unrushed, serene, letting you take your time. There's still time to
back away, if you want to, but you know deep down that you're going to die
and be reborn in the truest Joesph Campbell sense tonight.
Adrius very gently squeezes both your hands, smiling. There's no hint of
him even considering turning back now, even with the perils he may be able
to see on the horizon.
Maya takes in a deep, unnecessary breath. "There are always words to say,
at a time like this..but behind the words is the meaning. Remember."
Maya's voice is soft, almost hushed, the voice of someone imparting a great
secret.
Adrius nods slowly. "I will remember," he replies very softly. He's
slightly nervous, but it's the nerves of excitement.
Maya looks you over carefully, seriously. "Hear now the words of my Sire's
Twice-Great Grandsire. He was a Prophet, Healer, Warrior, and Mystic
Wanderer. He showed us the way to overcome the Beast. Hear now the words of
the Granchilde of Caine. Hear now the words of Saulot."
Maya squeezes your hands and lets go, shoulders straightening.
Adrius licks his lips again, and nods, his attention as close as it's ever
been. He squeezes back, then lowers his hands to his sides as the contact
parts.
Maya begins to speak, but in different tones than you have ever heard her.
Even her accent is slightly archaic. "Listen, Childer of my Childer's
Great-Grandchilder. These words are for you, and your Blood-friends, and no
others. By them you remember me. By them you will know the Truth as I know
it. Hearken, Childer, and learn!"
Maya walks around you, slowly, clockwise. "In the first days was your
Sire's Sire, Caine, who killed for Love and was cursed. He yet wanders the
world, my beloved Grandsire. Then came the Making: Of Yrad, the Strong. Of
Zylle, the Lovely, Bride of the Forefather. Of Enoch, the Secret-Keeper and
Lawgiver. These Caine made of the Children of Seth who most loved him."
Adrius stays where he is, though turning his head slowly to follow you,
turning back the other way as you move behind him.
Maya continues, her expression remote. "And each of the Three chose and
Embraced their Childer: each in Pride, the last Sin of the Forefather, but
also in Love."
Maya recites now, quickly, her words ringing. "Yrad in Strength: the
Beast-Clan, the Learned Clan, The Silent-Walking Clan, The Shaping Clan.
Enoch in Secrets: the Moon-clan, the Wanderer Clan, the Night Clan, the
Death Clan. Zylle in beauty: the Kingship Clan, the Secret Clan, the Rose
Clan. And they sired also, combining their Bloods the Serpent Clan and the
Nightmare Clan, and others who founded no Clans at all, some of whom did
not in obediance to Caine, some because the Crone devoured them."
Maya's posture is...different. Perceptibly, to you...you've seen this kind
of change before, but it's impossible to think where and understand what
she's saying to you.
Adrius tilts his head very slightly, reading the body language but not
fully understanding its import. Something to learn now and understand
later, he tells himself.
Maya looks you over once more. "The City grew, Enoch in its Prime. Seth's
Children and Caine's Childer lived side by side. I was one of them, born
outside the City, large were my flocks. I wandered, singing, knowing the
City as one knows the clouds. And one day a Vision came upon me: and I knew
the seeds of my doom were laid in that City, a tree so vast its roots were
beyond my comprehension. And I fell to the ground and wept, as the Vision
passed."
Maya comes to a stop in front of you. "And as I lay there weeping, evening
fell. And a soft voice bade me rise. "Child of Seth, come. Surely there is
nothing such that it cannot be lessened by sharing?" So it was that the
lovely Zylle came to me in the evening light. And she dried my tears. For a
full turn of the seasons we walked together each night. And she marveled at
me, though then I knew it not."
Maya closes her eyes. "After a time, she went away, and when she returned
she brought a man with her, whose eyes were as thunder. And we spoke, and
he wept blood tears. 'Surely,' he said, 'one so like to my brother has not
been born upon this world. I cannot let you do this.' But Zylle won him
with words, and then bore me into her Embrace while he held me and sobbed
as a newborn."
Maya continues. "I was called Youngest Brother, and brought into the City.
There I met my brethren and cousins, and was content. Yet the Hunger gnawed
at me, and I was unhappy. My Grandsire, seeing this, raised me above the
others, as he should not have done. Yet the Second Sight had survived my
Becoming, and I could often see true into the hearts of others."
Maybe that's why you were chosen...your gift for perception and insight?
The long history of the line perpetuated?
Adrius raises his eyebrows slightly at the description of the embrace. The
point of the choice is not lost on him, either, even if he's too modest to
admit it.
Maya goes on, eyes reopening. "I wandered away finally from the City, and
such things I underwent as I will not now tell. Yet, in the end, I gained
some small wisdom, which I pass now to you:"
Maya stands straight, and takes your hands. "Kmow you are made to be
unmade. You are the white lamb, the gentle sacrifice. You are the greatest
part of the bounty of Caine, and on your shoulders shall be his greatest
Sin." She squeezes your hands. "For alone among the Childer of Caine I have
asked my Creator for forgiveness, and I have been visted by the worst of
the Adversary's demons."
Adrius again closes his hands around yours, still silent.
Maya's hands are cold, and her face too white for her normal demeanor, you
now realize. Not like her. But somehow fitting.
Maya's eyes seem to glow now, with an odd power. "Open your Eye! See the
world truly! and know that what you do now goes on to heal another
generation. My Childer, know that I see much I have not revealed. When my
time is past, still my Truth shall live on in you, passed Sire to Childe,
and you have but to examine your heart in the Light of your opened Eyes to
see it."
Adrius's own eyes open a touch wider, mildly startled by the glow, though
far from unnerved.
Maya releases your hands and reaches to the Chalice at her waist. She turns
to the altar, passing it first through air and then dipping it in a bowl of
water, saying something in a language you've never heard before. Then she
turns back to you, and slits her wrist with one fang.
Adrius takes in a very slow, deep breath as you pierce your skin.
Maya holds her wrist over the Chalice for what seems like forever, as blood
flows into its bowl. She holds her gaze level with yours, third Eye clear
and prominent.
Adrius's gaze alternates with your eyes and the Blood flowing into the
Chalice.
Maya finally licks her wrist, the white of her robe unstained and the
gloves stained only around the open wrist area. She holds the Chalice
forward. "You have heard the secrets. Now, choose. Walk freely away in
peace, or join in the search for redemption for a sin not your own."
Adrius looks to your gaze, then to the blood. Allowing a moment to make his
final decision, he then steps forward. "I will join in the search," he says
softly.
Maya gives you the Chalice, Eye now moving in shade from deep blue to a
white glow, almost as if there was a jewel there, and a light gleaming on
the other side.
Adrius very carefully wraps his hands about the Chalice. He looks to your
eyes for another long moment, and smiles very faintly, before turning his
attention downward. With a soft gathering of a breath, he lifts the Chalice
to his lips, and drinks, slowly.
The sweet rush is even sweeter this time. It's as if something in you
cleaves to Maya...is this what marriage is like? The surge of vitality, the
tingling sensation...all of that is secondary this time.
Adrius closes his eyes as he drinks of the Vitae, not slowing, but also not
speeding up. Once the Chalice is emptied, he lowers it, eyes still closed,
the new sensations still hazed by confusion as he accustoms himself to the
feeling. Slowly, his eyes flutter open again.
Maya watches you, smiling softly. The light dims to a tolerable level, as
she takes you into her arms and holds you for a long, long moment. No
words, only the gentleness of her arms.
Adrius smiles back, just as silently, and gently wraps his arms about you,
still holding the Chalice in one hand.
Maya feels slight and fragile to you, the sense of protectiveness reaching
a new, almost breathtaking level.
Adrius very gently kisses the side of your face, and holds you quietly, not
wanting to let go.
Maya finally pulls back a little.
Adrius reluctantly unfolds his arms from around you.
Maya looks up at you. "The Children of Seth you shall not call servants.
For until you called Caine Forefather, you were of Seth yourselves. Call
them rather Bloodfriends, and honor them beyond all others. Mark well the
Threefold drinking of the Blood, and let none Embrace these friends.
Protect them from those who would hinder and hurt them, and let them know
the sweet and the bitter of the Existance you have chosen. Honor the love
they will come to bear you, and never presume upon it, my Childer. Never
becomes as gods to them, for that is Abomination and the way of the Beast."
Adrius nods very slowly, still quiet.
Maya finishes softly. "But if ever one of us is gifted with the love of a
mortal without Command or Awe, without compulsion, a Love given freely, t
hen that Love shall be as gentle rain to even the lowliest of us. And
though we shall not Embrace it, it will feed us as we supped at the tables
of the Gods, it will satisfy our deepest thirst."
Maya reaches up and strokes your face. "So said Saulot, and so will we
obey. Until the Basalt Throne is once more the Seat of Caine, and the first
part of us slake his thirst."
Adrius smiles at your words warmly, and a little wider at your touch.
Maya leans up to your ear. "It used to be that the Lineage was recited at
this time. But I will not do that, for my Ancestors live on in me." She
blinks at herself, a little startled, but then gives you one of her impish
grins. "And it's less than important, anyway."
Adrius's smile broadens at your grin, and he nods.
You say, "Our Bloods are one, now. You have heard the words. Be silent, but
never forget."
Adrius nods once more. "I shall speak to none of this. Nor shall I ever
forget." His words are softspoken, full of gratitude and determination -
not just the forced dedication of the Blood.
Maya caresses your cheek again, the ritual words said, leaving only the
intensity of her regard to convey her feelings.
Adrius smiles warmly again, this time laying his hand atop yours, letting
the contact speak all that needs to be said.
HOME FIRES MISTS LIFEBLOOD SPOKES