Γ 2

[silk_for_calde]

[VOICE POST]
Today is Phaesday-- at least, it should be. I gather it's called by a different name, in this whorl. I have been here since Hieraxday, and spent Thelxday exploring this City, aided by the guide with which the Archive has provided me. And trying to understand what goes on in this glass, though that's proving rather difficult. Especially yesterday, with all the... pictures of cats? Certainly mysterious, as befits Thelxiepeia; though cats are Sphigx's. Perhaps it is not for me to understand. Perhaps being here is part of my task. I think for the moment I must accept my ignorance and trust in the Outsider. I do not know if the Nine can hear or aid me here (I've read that this place has its own gods, who appear in this glass as ours do in our windows,) but I feel certain the Outsider can, though I expect no aid in my task.

Eden, Raven, Ivy-- again, thank you for aiding me in understanding the situation. I hope I didn't inconvenience you too greatly with all my questions. And-- Raven, I hope you are well, after yesterday...

In any case, I find myself woefully in need of assistance. If there is no way to return to Viron, I shall need a place to stay and some means of employment. Though augurs are forbidden to beg, if anyone is willing to assist me I would be most grateful.

As I understand it, you do not practice augury here, or worship as we do in my whorl... which leaves me at a bit of a loss, since that is what I have studied in my whole life. The schola prepares us to teach and to pray, but to live, we depend upon our stipend from the Chapter and the goodwill of the people who attend manteion. I can write and read, and thankfully the language here seems to be close enough to Vironese that I understand most of you... I can sacrifice, of course, and read the signs in the offerings... I would teach, but I have always tended to the religious aspect of the children's instruction; I haven't Maytera Marble's knack for mathematics, or Maytera Mint's way with the young ones. Goodness, what would the Sibyls say to see this place? I do wish Maytera Marble was here; she knows more of the short-sun whorl than anyone I have ever met, and I can't help but wonder... Well, I've left my point behind, haven't I? I can maintain and to some extent repair Sacred Windows, though I don't believe there are any here. I had been maintaining the buildings on Sun Street, though I am not as adept at mending roofs as I would like to be, but the buildings here are rather different to begin with. I would like to think I am a quick study and would be happy to do whatever needs doing, to the best of my abilities...

As for living arrangements, I do not need much space. I brought nearly nothing with me, and had little at home to begin with. I am quiet and happy to help with the household chores, and to aid you in any way I can. I do not know what else to say to recommend myself and I fear I've spoken too long as it is!

May all the gods and the Outsider smile upon you.

Comments

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

Yeaah, you'll find those are necessary more often than not here.

They are. And they're staying there if I have anything to say about it. Thanks for understanding not being scared indulging them ... just, thanks.

[Voice]

[silk_for_calde]

People often think faith comes easily to augurs, but really, it may be harder for us than anyone; so perhaps being here will benefit me in the end. What do you call Sphigxday-- tomorrow?

You thank me too easily, Raven; I haven't done anything! Though, well, you're welcome; I will be happy to aid you, if ever I can.

[Voice]

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

An augur is a ... priest then? Faith isn't supposed to be easy. That's what I was taught anyway. Tomorrow is Saturday. And then it'll be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday again. Those are the names of our days on Earth... and as far as I can tell, it's used here too.

The same offer goes for you, Silk.

[Voice]

[silk_for_calde]

That seems to be the consensus, yes. A priest. Faith is difficult for anyone, and more difficult when you're the one expected to have answers! This past week has been salutary, as far as my faith goes... but, well, I don't want to confuse you further if I can help it.

Sphigxday, then Scylsday-- the first day of the week, the markets are closed and we hold public services in the manteion-- Molpsday, Tarsday, Hieraxday, Thelxday and Phaesday again... The sounds are almost similar, don't you think? Some of them, at least... how curious.

[Voice]

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

That almost sounds like Azar. I don't really mind. There's bound to be some culture-clash in a place like this; might as well take the opportunity to learn more, right?

You're right, they do. I wonder if their origins are also similar in some way. You mentioned them being named after your gods... I know that our days are named after the old Norse gods, with Sunday and Monday being named after the sun and the moon.

[Voice]

[silk_for_calde]

Wisely stated. Though I don't know if I understand the last week sufficiently to explain it. Last Phaesday, you see-- last Friday, I suppose I should say-- I was enlightened by a god called the Outsider, who charged me with a task-- to save my manteion. I have been trying since then to do so, and it has been an interesting journey.

How curious... I wonder if these gods are related to ours? Scylla does not rule the sun; Pas does, but Scylla is his oldest daughter. I am not certain what the moon is, though...

[Voice]

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

Think this is a detour then, or part of your journey? It's one of the many questions here; whether there is some reason we're pulled here or if it really is just random luck. Or unluck, as it were.

Maybe. There might be some literature in the Library that can help with that-- you don't have a moon? It's a satellite that orbits planets and reflects the sun's light at night. Though I guess it's entirely possible yours doesn't have a moon...

[Voice]

[silk_for_calde]

I'm not certain, yet. It is interesting, though; and if time will pause in the whorl (which, oddly, is not so hard to believe,) then nothing is lost by my being here. There could be... difficulties, if I were to disappear with no explanation, but if that's not how those around me will perceive it, I am not worried.

Is your whorl like this one, then? I mean the way the sun is. Ours is long, a band across the sky, and beyond it are the skylands. Though you can only really see them at night, when the shade passes over the sun and the light illuminates the skylands instead. There's some light from the skylands, but they don't move, so I don't think you would call them a moon.

[Voice]

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no kidding. A lot of people have missions or duties back home, I think, but ... well, no helping it here and now.

[a pause; she's considering that] ... yes, I guess it is. We have a sun and a moon and ... if I didn't know better, I could mistake this City for any other large city on Earth. Is "whorl" what you call your world?

[Voice] || ahahaha sorry he's so tldr. >_>

[silk_for_calde]

I believe it is; the people I have met here say world where I would say whorl, at any rate, and the sound is so close...

In my whorl, we sometimes speak of the short-sun whorl, which perhaps had a moon; I don't know much about it, unfortunately. The only people who remember it at all are chems, and many of them are in a state of decline, and cannot recall much. Though I met a woman-- her name was Mamelta-- who remembered it as well. She had been sleeping, deep underground, but woke when she was possessed. By Mucor, who I feared had possessed you; I drove her out of the woman and Mamelta led me on through a vast room full of people sleeping.
I traveled deep beneath the ground, and we came to a place Mamelta called the "belly of the whorl," which was very strange-- I climbed down a staircase and found a sort of great bubble of what can't have been glass. I could see a flat plane of rock-- shiprock, I guess, though I could not touch it-- and beyond it blackness, full of sparks, small and bright and distant. The sky here, nightside, looked a little like that... only not so big, nor so... empty.

[Voice] || it's okay 8D neither of us mind

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

Mucor... right, I remember you mentioning her. Is she a demon spirit?

It sounds like you caught a glimpse of outer space. But... from the belly of your world? As far as I know, space surrounds worlds- planets- not the other way around.

[Voice]

[silk_for_calde]

I'm not entirely certain what she is. She is a young woman who, I think, is somehow able to send her spirit forth from her body. She has spoken to me from nothingness-- from the air itself, it seemed-- and she has slipped into the bodies of others. I do not think she intends evil; but she does not see the whorl as most do. I thought her mad, when I first met her, but I am beginning to suspect she is more sane than I imagined.

I don't really know what I saw, or what to call it. Mamelta called it the whorl's belly, and she seemed to understand things much better than I. I think it does surround the whorl, somehow; beyond the whorl, though I don't know how that can be. I said before that I was enlightened; when the Outsider spoke to me, I saw the same thing-- blackness, deep and thick like fine velvet, touched with lights; deep beneath our feet.
I understood it, in a way, for that moment outside time; I remember that I knew so many things, but not what those things were.