|
Post by WoDBerlin on Nov 22, 2007 21:00:42 GMT 1
The second floor of the Library is not much more than a large attic, refurnished mostly to act like a number of bedrooms. Most of the rooms have shelves and sometimes just piles of books just lying around wating to be sorted out. There is also a bathroom and a shower up here.
|
|
Kasiya
Cliath
Treads the Darkest Path
Woof.
Posts: 598
|
Post by Kasiya on Nov 22, 2007 21:04:38 GMT 1
Continuing his conversation with Anna:
Kasiya doesn't take his eyes off her:
"Please do not lie to me."
I can't help you if you won't let me.
|
|
Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
|
Post by Anna on Nov 22, 2007 21:25:43 GMT 1
Go ahead. Tell him you have monsters under your bed, little girl. Anna gritted her teeth, apparently fighting down anger at some unseen entity. She still didn't turn around. "I don't know what they are," she said.
Yes you do. You know because we know. And we know you.
"I dont," she said, raising her voice a little. "They change. They're not dead. I don't know what they are."
She finally stopped her staring at Kasiya and then said quietly: "Just go away..." But she wasn't really talking to him.
|
|
Kasiya
Cliath
Treads the Darkest Path
Woof.
Posts: 598
|
Post by Kasiya on Nov 22, 2007 21:32:52 GMT 1
Full of sincerity, Kasiya might be the only one Anna has ever met who understands what it is like to endure the compulsions and influences of otherworldly beings.
"Then tell me what you know about them. What they do, what they look and sound and smell like. What they say. If you ask for help you weaken their hold on you."
Ancestors, 'she comes from a tainted line and it haunts her'.
Kasiya knows that none of the dead are near, save for Friedrich, sat downstairs enjoying the sensation of others eating.
|
|
Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
|
Post by Anna on Nov 22, 2007 21:47:33 GMT 1
"They know me," she said. "They... show me things that they have seen. Ugly, terrible, deformed things."
No kid, we don't show you these things. The Wyrm shows you these things. You've been gifted.
Anna ignored them. Once she'd started, it was easy to keep talking. "Sometimes, things that have happened," she said. "Like really horrible things. They relive them all the time. They like it." She looked back up at Kasiya. "I'm not like them." Keep telling yourself that.
|
|
Kasiya
Cliath
Treads the Darkest Path
Woof.
Posts: 598
|
Post by Kasiya on Nov 22, 2007 22:15:43 GMT 1
He knows that if her ancestors are with her than they will hear everything he says and that what passes next will rile them up, but it needs saying.
"Then listen to me and I will tell you what you face. I won't dress it up in mysticism like I would for any other Garou."
You need the truth.
"You commune with your dead ancestors, tainted by the Wyrm and fallen. You are not like them. The things they show you sicken you rather than exciting you. All they have is memory and voice, they are long dead, slain and defeated by true warriors of Gaia like you and I.
They have only so much power over you as you allow them. Your will and strength of mind give you the choice to refuse them. In your service to Gaia you will see things as bad as what they show you and you will bring it to an end. Your own deeds will protect you, the knowlege of the good that you have done, as we will do tonight, seeking out your pack and releasing the ghosts of the restless dead."
|
|
Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
|
Post by Anna on Nov 22, 2007 22:37:39 GMT 1
LIES! We will show you TRUTH!
Anna's eyes glazed over momentarily, and suddenly, she wasn't really there. She was staring at Kasiya, but her eyes couldn't really see him. She was standing in front of a massive black temple of dark, green-veined marble. The air was so heavy with sulfur and monoxides, that she was now having trouble breathing. There is no balance. There is no escape. That is your fate.
|
|
Kasiya
Cliath
Treads the Darkest Path
Woof.
Posts: 598
|
Post by Kasiya on Nov 23, 2007 6:41:17 GMT 1
Kasiya knows the signs of a vision, and knows better than to disturb it just yet. He waits for her to play out whatever her ancesors have inflicted upon her, contemplating giving her a good hard slap to snap her out of it, but holding off for now.
He takes the time to observe her reactions in subliminal body language, gauging her state of mind within the vision, deciding to try to influence the vision. He leans close:
"You are not alone in this."
|
|
Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
|
Post by Anna on Nov 23, 2007 9:38:54 GMT 1
"I am not really here. This is not real."
I think you're too preoccupied with what's real. But this is quite real. We have seen it. One day, so will you. They pulled her inside, and she choked on the heavy air in the temple. She could hardly see, because a heavy mist obscured the light almost completely. But it was enough to make out the impossibly intricate twisted spiral inlaid into the marble floor. She wanted to turn around and run, but she couldn't really control this much.
Suddenly, she remembered Kasiya. Maybe his voice did manage to get through to her. "Get me out of here," she pleaded.
Get yourself out cub. If we're only dead memories and voices in your head, go ahead and get yourself out.
'All they have is memory and voice, they are long dead, slain and defeated by true warriors of Gaia like you and I.'
LIES! LIES! You can never defeat us. You tear one down, and twelve others take his place. We are you. We made you.
|
|
Kasiya
Cliath
Treads the Darkest Path
Woof.
Posts: 598
|
Post by Kasiya on Nov 23, 2007 18:54:08 GMT 1
Kasiya hears her plea.
Still close, his voice calm and sure of her abilities:
"This is in your mind, a vision from your ancestors, but your mind. You have control of your own domain. Will yourself back to me."
There are no magic words, no mystical tricks, this is just another fight, Cub. Win it.
He places his hand on hers, squeezing tightly to remind her where her body is, to bring her back to it.
|
|
Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
|
Post by Anna on Nov 23, 2007 19:53:50 GMT 1
'This is in your mind, a vision from your ancestors, but your mind. You have control of your own domain.'
Anna stared at the black labyrinth. But she wasn't here. She was at the Caern. She was safe. She closed her eyes, but she could still see it. This wasn't real. In her head, she was singing the song again.
Are you going to sing your little lullabies and pretend we aren't here now?
"Yes."
Are you going to listen to his lies over us, your family. Your real family.
"Yes."
Have it your way then. But we'll always be here. Remember that.
And they let go. She started to fall through the ground that slowly became a black bottomless pit, that slowly turned back into the dark musty bedroom that smelt of old books.
|
|
Kasiya
Cliath
Treads the Darkest Path
Woof.
Posts: 598
|
Post by Kasiya on Nov 24, 2007 10:16:41 GMT 1
Seeing consciousness return to the Cub, Kasiya feels a surge of relief.
"Well done. What did they show you this time?"
His approval is evident at the Cub's ability to fight the influence of her tainted ancestors, and a plan is forming in his mind of a way to help her. One involving Danny and her Pack. Of course, they would need to find the pack first.
|
|
Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
|
Post by Anna on Nov 24, 2007 12:08:50 GMT 1
"They call it the Black Spiral," she said, sounding surprised at herself for knowing that. "It's a labyrinth, somewhere, in a marble temple in another realm. I don't know how to get there."
Sure, they could probably show her, but they had fallen silent for now. Anna didn't question that. She didn't want to describe it much more than that. The memory of the vision was too sickening. "It marks something important to them," she continued. "Like a rite of passage."
|
|
Kasiya
Cliath
Treads the Darkest Path
Woof.
Posts: 598
|
Post by Kasiya on Nov 24, 2007 12:26:07 GMT 1
All Garou know of the black spiral, of how it destroyed the White Howlers. It is not something the Cub should even see the memory of.
"Hmph. I'll be giving you your Rite of Passage, and it'll be nothing like the Black Spiral."
It will be worse.
"Put it from you for now. Strengthen your mind and resolve your path. Decide for yourself what you will be and don't let them or anyone else tell you otherwise. Even me. We have work to do now, and you won't learn by listening to me. You'll learn by doing what you must and asking me what you need to know as you need it. Any questions before we go find the others?"
Kasiya is already forming the shape of the black wolf in his mind, ready to take his favourite shape. He will be relieved to stop being cold and suffering the dull senses of the humans.
|
|
Anna
Garou
Der Wahnsinn ist nur eine schmale Br?cke
Posts: 672
|
Post by Anna on Nov 24, 2007 13:15:55 GMT 1
Anna looked surprised when he mentioned her own Rites of Passage. Nobody had ever said anything about that before, although they had always loomed ahead in the distant future. She looked thoughtful for a few seconds and then shook her head. He was right. She had resolved not to dwell on their memories. Long ago, she had convinced herself that they weren't real. Just like the ghosts, they were the fabricated visions of her mind. Now she knew they were real, but unlike the ghosts, she had to keep fighting them off.
"We can go now," she said. The children were waiting.
|
|