Γ 3

[silk_for_calde]

[VOICE POST]
It has been two weeks since I arrived here, and finally I feel as though I'm starting to understand this place. More or less. I don't know whether I am more surprised by the differences between this city and Viron, or the similarities; finding the rare and often distorted commonalities is shocking since most things around me are so alien. It doesn't help that things are so inconsistent here, due to what I am given to understand is the will of the city's gods. Ours were rarely so involved, at least now; once, of course, it was more common for men to converse with them, but these days very few live who have done so.
Certainly there are some redeeming qualities, here; for one thing if I do not watch myself, I shall get fat before I return to my own whorl. And I must confess the amount of information available, with the use of this computer-glass, is a thrill. I have heard there is a library, as well, though I have yet to visit it myself. I have always liked to read, though I probably should not do as much as I have been, having lost my glasses.

So, I am curious, city-- what is it that surprised you most about this place, other than your sudden arrival in it?
[/VOICE]

[ooc: phwee, may be a little slow on tagging but i will get back to you i swear ^^ ♥]

Comments

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

Just be careful around the shelves; they like to play games sometimes.

[silk_for_calde]

Who likes to play games?

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

The books and the shelves. The Library itself; it apparently has some semblance of sentience.

[silk_for_calde]

Really? That is very odd; I shall be on my guard. It almost makes sense in a way; a library is a great collection of knowledge, after all, as are we.

How have you been, Raven? It has been a while since we've spoken; I've been shut up trying to make sense of things here.

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it almost feels right for the Library to be like a living thing.

I've been as well as this City will allow. How about you?


[ooc: She's lying, she's not been alright, but ... she's okay now? ;;;]

[silk_for_calde]

I'm rather excited to see it, I must admit.

I have been well-- busy learning what I can about this place. Some of it would be quite welcome at home. I feel a little guilty every time I draw water at the sink, remembering that we will need to dig new wells at the manteion; and, well... Everything in the kitchen is much more convenient than I am accustomed to. Not having to light the stove every morning. Fresh coffee grounds each day. I'm not accustomed to this sort of luxury!

[ooc: REPOST COS I PHAIL x_x aww ;_; poor Raven! here, be amused at Silk's childlike fascination with simple technology! >_>; hee]

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

... "Count your blessings", huh? It's a good lesson to keep in mind, here and anywhere.

Although I prefer tea, personally.

[ooc: NO WORRIES &hearts! It works, 8D]

[silk_for_calde]

I like tea as well, but I have always found that a strong cup of coffee made it much easier to clear my head before services. Or, now, before trying my luck with the mechanism that toasts bread. Or reading through the network. Or considering the holy mysteries of computers.

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I'd call a toaster or a computer a holy mystery. Just another one of those little things I've taken for granted, I suppose.

But I agree with you on the Network.

[silk_for_calde]

The toaster's mysteries are not particularly holy, just unfamiliar. The computer... well. It is so much like a Sacred Window, I must admit I am still rather in awe of it. Although the Windows were always empty, unless a god manifested.

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

You used them to communicate with your gods?

[silk_for_calde]

It would be more accurate to say that the gods use them to communicate with us. They speak in many other ways, of course; through sacrifices, through omens, through the Chrasmologic Writings. Sometimes they speak through people, although I believe that is rare. Sometimes they enlighten us, which is quite different from possession. That, too, is rare, and rather difficult to explain.
Theophanies, though, are perhaps the clearest way in which a god can speak to us. When we sacrifice we ask them to appear if they so will. There are colors-- called the Holy Hues-- before they arrive and after; the god or goddess shows himself or herself in the Window and speaks through it. Only those who have preserved their anipotence can see them, although everyone may see the colors and hear the god's voice.

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

Animal sacrifices? Or human...?

-- I'm sorry, "anipotence"?

[silk_for_calde]

Yes, animals. Different animals are sacred to different gods, but some (lambs, for example,) are an appropriate sacrifice for most.

One may see the gods when they grace the Window, or one may be blessed by children of the body; but not both. That is the sort of answer we are taught to give, at the Schola, since being more precise would be... improper. I have always thought of it as a small, symbolic, personal sacrifice we make to show the gods we are serious in our devotion; and it helps us in our tasks, that we are not distracted by matters of the flesh.

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

You have to remain celibate, in other words. I see. That's, again, surprisingly similar to a faith we have on Earth, which also depicts the lamb as a sacrificial animal. The concepts are very close even if they go by different names.

[silk_for_calde]

Really? How curious. I shall have to learn more about your Earth if I can. I do find it fascinating... I must admit I wonder, sometimes, if your whorl is what we call the Short-sun whorl.

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

It is. Another reason to visit the Library... provided that it is in a cooperative mood.

Why is it called the Short-Sun whorl? The name is almost ... ominous.

[silk_for_calde]

Indeed. Hopefully it can be convinced to behave.

It does sound a little strange, I suppose, if you aren't accustomed to it. It is short in terms of shape, though, not duration. This whorl has a short sun, too-- round and traveling across the sky. The sun I am used to-- the sun beneath which I have lived all my life-- is a long line between us and the skylands, and it does not move.

[unkindnessof.livejournal.com]

Ah. For a minute there, I'd assumed the "short" to indicate the lifespan of that world. Our skies look pretty much like the skies here, with the sun and the moon and the stars as they are.

[silk_for_calde]

I suspect that most whorls are like that; no one else seems surprised by the sky here. It was a shock seeing it the first night, but I rather like it.