Blood

melody - Monday, March 15, 1999, 11:33 AM
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Tracy steps out part way and smiles as he sees you, "Ohhh, hello Melody."

You say, "Hey, hon. I hadn't seen you in a while, thought I'd drop by. Bad 
time?"

Tracy shake shis head, "No, not at all." he reaches out and gives you a 
brief hug. Whatever vestiges of shynes clung to him before are gone since 
your being there when he came back from being stuck between and you were 
there for him "Come on in"

Melody hugs you tightly and enters.

You go downstairs, into the basement apartment.

Tracy says, "Iris is sleeping. Her back has been giving her problems with 
the extra weight of bearing the baby"

You say, "She's getting closer. She needs to watch her posture, make sure 
she's not slipping into bad habits."

Tracy nods "I'll tr to help her with that. I gave her amassage and she was 
relaxed enough that she barely made it to the bed with my help before 
falling asleep" Tracy smiles fondly, "She is so beautiful"

Melody nods, beaming herself at your fondness as she sits down on the 
floor. "Is she doing her exercises?"

Tracy nods, "Mmmhmm. Those of which she feels comfortable with." Tracy 
smiles, "You know, hon, you needn't sit on the floor unless you are just 
mor ecomfortable there."

Melody blinks. "Oh. Actually, I am. It makes me feel more at home."

Tracy laughs softly, "Okay" he alights next to you, his flothing 
fluttering slightly as he does. He sort of...perches there. "How have you 
been?"

You say, "I've been all right. Took a little trip to visit some people over 
the weekend last week, old friends up in the midwest."

Tracy ohs softly, "Did everything go well?" he finally sits completely. His 
long legs are bent in angles a cat would be envious of attaining in such 
flexibility.

You say, "Oh, yeah. We Circled. I told them about a potential student I 
have. Things like that."

Tracy smiles, "A poential student?"
Tracy says, "Whom?"

Melody gestures a hand. "She's a student at the college. If she's worthy, 
you'll meet her soon enough. I'm still testing her resolve."

Tracy says, "Ahhhhhh. Wow, is she awakened or still Sleeping?"

You say, "Sleeping, still. But she has potential. I'm trying to see if 
she's strong enough to handle the initial Epiphany."

Tracy nods, "I remember my Mentor strung me along for a while. But then our 
methods are also far different from yours."

Melody nods. "She's passed one test. She can cut herself without flinching 
much." She grins. "It's a hard test. Most fail."

Tracy raises an eyebrow, "Hmmm. I honestly do not know if I could pass it 
myself."

Melody pulls a blade from her boot, where it'd been hidden. She offers it 
to you. "You can try, no shame if you can't."

Tracy takes the knife and nods, "Advantage I have is, I can heal myself..." 
Tracy starts to move his arm and frowns, "Damnit...sneaky little shits. I 
get still for amoment..." he jerks his arm free of something

Melody blinks.

Tracy flexes the fingers of his left arm as he passes th eknife into its 
hand. "Paradox. My arm is as real in th eumbra as it is in th ephysical 
world for a while. The Pattern spiders love making me part of their webs."

Melody winces. "Did I do that, asking you into the Circle?"

Tracy chuckles, "Hon, that is not the only Dimensional Paradox I have 
gained. It was just what caused th ebacklash." He cuts his rigth palm wiht 
the knife without a flinch, "Hmm. Not much pain really."

Melody smiles at you warmly. "I keep it sharp, so it doesn't hurt..but it 
is hard to actually make the cut the first time."

Tracy snorts, "Oh. Well. I've been hurt worse than this" he hands you the 
blade back handle first and reaches for a small aerosol can in his duster.

You say, "We all have. But to do it knowingly and with Will to yourself...
that's the hard part."

Tracy smiles, "True. But then I had full faith I coul heal myself too."

Melody nods. "For my first blood rite, I had patterns carved in my back. 
For three hours. That was hard enough. But to lift the knife and carve 
them in your own skin?"

Tracy sprays the mist upon the wound with a hiss from the bottle. Watching 
closely, little sparks of electricity that is a green-white can be seen.
Tracy's wound closes instantly before your eyes "Three hours? The pain 
must have been HORRIBLE. And the cold of loosing blood..."

You say, "When your priestess keeps you warm, you don't notice. It was an 
incredible high."

Tracy raises both eyebrows, "Keeping you warm and it was a high? Umm...do I 
want to know?"

Melody laughs!
You say, "Not that way. It was Mabon, not Beltane."

Tracy says, "What is Mabon?"

Melody thinks a moment. "Do you know anything about the Wheel of the Year?"

Tracy mmms, "Mentionings but very little."

Melody nods. "Right. Get me some paper and I'll explain."

Tracy hands you some loose paper after sorting out the schematics he has 
been writing on it

Melody grabs a pen and draws a large circle, which she divides into eights.

Tracy watches in facination, avid facination. Your nostrils catch the scent 
of jasmine near you as he looks over your shoulder.

You say, "All right. This is basic stuff, so I'm not revealing any 
secrets." She grins up at you. "But it'll help you understand things more 
deeply, maybe. Even suggest possible research areas."
Melody winks.

Tracy grins and blushes a bit, "I just love learninganything new."

You say, "Not a problem. OK. So the Wheel has eight major spokes. Each 
matches a direction, an element, a season, a way things are planted or 
hunted, and so on."

Tracy nods, tracing his chin wiht his fingertip thoughtfully

You say, "The fun part about the Wheel is you can start anywhere. Where 
would you like to start? What point?"

Tracy hmmms, "Let's start with Winter?"

Melody nods. "Yule. Winter Solstice. The time of greatest darkness." She 
labels the point Yule-North. "The earth time...the time of silence and 
contemplation. And the summoning of the Sun back."

Tracy nods, absorrbing this with fervor. Science always did tend to listen 
first to the old ways. At least in th ebeginning.

You say, "If you're interested, I can make this more real by letting you 
feel what it means."
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