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The Circle (Creative Blather)
Feb. 1st, 2016 11:34 pmIn the twilight, you see the little gryphon, mask resting on her face, walking through a little known path in the woods. Though the shift hasn't happened, there's a certain air about her, ever shifting, from bright bursts of energy to quiet contemplation to a certain gentle strength and confidence that, though Vanadis carried it on occasion, never had been seen by anyone in the case of the bird. She comes into a clearing, winds howling in a vortex around it as if a tightly contained hurricane.
The voice comes from the mask, ever calm, ever soothing. "Are you sure, love? Are we really doing this?"
She looks around, sighing a bit and shaking the tension out of her wings, the softly painted wood, feathers and other decorations concealing any emotion her face might normally show. She takes slow, hesitant strides, devoid of confidence, until she stands within the middle of it. First, there is dead silence. Then, a mirthful chuckle, and a few more words from the mask.
"We're doing this."
In an instant, the winged humanoid's aura explodes into the air, taking form. This time, hir wing folds and membranes are a pale off-white, contrasting brilliantly with hir dark teal hide, a distinct reddish sheen in the roots beneath the dye, and also within hir eyes. This time sie appears brighter, larger, in fact absolutely monstrous, nearly the size of a small elephant. And within a split second... sie is gone.
----
Next thing sie knows, sie is human of about 6 feet; maybe half a foot taller than the little gryphon, though built almost as lean, mask affixed to that flat face instead. The trees are radiant shades of gold, the sky a nebulous red, and the circle filled with people in similar masks. Sie didn't know, truly, what sie was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. It reminded hir of a pagan circle, intended for a ritual of unfamiliar consequence. Sie'd been here before, but only seen it alone. And the people, well, none of the other masks immediately looked familiar, but sie began to recognize people. Half were strangers, half were old friends, some still in contact, some long gone by virtue of little more than a gentle fade.
By now sie could recognize a few words. Iluvia didn't know them, but Vanadis had absorbed just a few into hir being, and through the means of a shared body, sie had shared the knowledge too. This was a prayer of some sort, a show of faith, in what sie couldn't quite understand. Two streams of consciousness intertwined in the being's mind. One saw the barest grasp of the worship of a shared being, as if everyone in that circle were to merge through their words. To the other, it may as well have been something in Klingon.
One face after another became clear to hir, and in their words she could feel the emotions they were feeling. Finally, sie stood gazing into the eyes of another person, and though the mask didn't catch hir eyes, the ritual allowed her to see through as if it didn't exist. The person wearing it had hir eyes, hir hair, hir build, hir body, but sie could read the differences in a single blink. This person was far younger, less bold, less headstrong, though still full of future potential. A lost puppy following a loving group like a family. Like Iluvia had been even a few years ago.
Sie looked around and realized no two masks were the same, and for the most part, no two people even came close. Everyone had built their own, found their own. To match that realization, a voice that seemed to resonate with the vortex itself came through hir body double's mask.
"This is what you needed to see. This is why I brought you here."
And sie realized in an instant what that meant. For tonight, sie belonged here. As a visitor, as a friend, as a witness. Not as a part of the ritual.
Sie shared the experience a little while longer, learning their desires, their inclinations, their words, oddly content that within this ritual, sie hirself was an open book, becoming a link in the chain by the incantations of others.
----
Sie found hirself flying home that night, shifting between a full-sized beast and something not quite so intimidating to other species in a bid to better learn to control the shifts.
And in doing so sie thought to hirself about what she'd seen and heard. Sie was never truly a part of that circle, though sie knew their ways and their rituals, and the truth was... that may very well have been a good thing. These were the old ways of an established coven, and little would manifest to change that. Iluvia was a spirit of change, and though she didn't have the strength to manifest it on her own beyond a small scale, that in turn drew the attention of the being within that mask. And now both knew enough of the incantation to create their own. Deliberately.
The voice comes from the mask, ever calm, ever soothing. "Are you sure, love? Are we really doing this?"
She looks around, sighing a bit and shaking the tension out of her wings, the softly painted wood, feathers and other decorations concealing any emotion her face might normally show. She takes slow, hesitant strides, devoid of confidence, until she stands within the middle of it. First, there is dead silence. Then, a mirthful chuckle, and a few more words from the mask.
"We're doing this."
In an instant, the winged humanoid's aura explodes into the air, taking form. This time, hir wing folds and membranes are a pale off-white, contrasting brilliantly with hir dark teal hide, a distinct reddish sheen in the roots beneath the dye, and also within hir eyes. This time sie appears brighter, larger, in fact absolutely monstrous, nearly the size of a small elephant. And within a split second... sie is gone.
----
Next thing sie knows, sie is human of about 6 feet; maybe half a foot taller than the little gryphon, though built almost as lean, mask affixed to that flat face instead. The trees are radiant shades of gold, the sky a nebulous red, and the circle filled with people in similar masks. Sie didn't know, truly, what sie was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. It reminded hir of a pagan circle, intended for a ritual of unfamiliar consequence. Sie'd been here before, but only seen it alone. And the people, well, none of the other masks immediately looked familiar, but sie began to recognize people. Half were strangers, half were old friends, some still in contact, some long gone by virtue of little more than a gentle fade.
By now sie could recognize a few words. Iluvia didn't know them, but Vanadis had absorbed just a few into hir being, and through the means of a shared body, sie had shared the knowledge too. This was a prayer of some sort, a show of faith, in what sie couldn't quite understand. Two streams of consciousness intertwined in the being's mind. One saw the barest grasp of the worship of a shared being, as if everyone in that circle were to merge through their words. To the other, it may as well have been something in Klingon.
One face after another became clear to hir, and in their words she could feel the emotions they were feeling. Finally, sie stood gazing into the eyes of another person, and though the mask didn't catch hir eyes, the ritual allowed her to see through as if it didn't exist. The person wearing it had hir eyes, hir hair, hir build, hir body, but sie could read the differences in a single blink. This person was far younger, less bold, less headstrong, though still full of future potential. A lost puppy following a loving group like a family. Like Iluvia had been even a few years ago.
Sie looked around and realized no two masks were the same, and for the most part, no two people even came close. Everyone had built their own, found their own. To match that realization, a voice that seemed to resonate with the vortex itself came through hir body double's mask.
"This is what you needed to see. This is why I brought you here."
And sie realized in an instant what that meant. For tonight, sie belonged here. As a visitor, as a friend, as a witness. Not as a part of the ritual.
Sie shared the experience a little while longer, learning their desires, their inclinations, their words, oddly content that within this ritual, sie hirself was an open book, becoming a link in the chain by the incantations of others.
----
Sie found hirself flying home that night, shifting between a full-sized beast and something not quite so intimidating to other species in a bid to better learn to control the shifts.
And in doing so sie thought to hirself about what she'd seen and heard. Sie was never truly a part of that circle, though sie knew their ways and their rituals, and the truth was... that may very well have been a good thing. These were the old ways of an established coven, and little would manifest to change that. Iluvia was a spirit of change, and though she didn't have the strength to manifest it on her own beyond a small scale, that in turn drew the attention of the being within that mask. And now both knew enough of the incantation to create their own. Deliberately.
