WEEK FIVE MINGLE

[grigori]

nerak: week 5 mingle at your service

25 Remain

Waking up this morning will reveal some unfamiliar surroundings. While Camebit had an autumnal chill in the air, things are a little different, now - the air is frigid, and waking up is an adventure, considering you are swaddled to the nines and cozied right up to your roomie of the week (where you have one, anyways). Everything around you is made of ice and packed snow, fogged glass and porcelain, and it is freezing. Who thought this was a good idea? Even the brisk chill of Camebit in the skies above everything was more forgiving than this! This isn't a transition! Whose manager can you speak to..?

About that.



You have to trek out of the lodging, and over into the building made of actual wood and stone, to actually see your Watchers of the week. They're all dressed in their full cloaks again to combat the chill, even in this building, although both Rameel and Satariel are standing much closer to Yomiel than they usually do - much like they had in Ahnkeen, actually.

"Good morning and welcome to Nerak! If you've ever wondered what it was like to stay at an ice hotel, then you're in luck!" Rameel says with moderate flourish as they make sure to keep close to Yomiel—their daemon currently not found anywhere near them as they make the announcement. Looks like they're without their black box of musical wonders this morning.

While the other two Watchers press close, Yomiel's daemon has wrapped itself around their neck like a polecat scarf. Warm. Arm cradled gently against their chest, they pause to glance at Satariel before greeting everyone. "Try to be careful. The ice can get slippery, especially when you're all looking like that and leaving a mess everywhere you go." Whatever that means.

Satariel seems a little more subdued than usual but offers everyone a smile, daemon bear-shaped against their back, large head peering around at everyone while they take in the travelers that come to join them here in the hotel lobby. Their cloak is completely closed around them - not even the front of their dress can be seen, and they're clearly holding it tightly shut. "Please be nice to the hotel staff - if I catch any of you being rude to them, I'll kick you clear across the tundra before sticking you in their outdoor 'jail' for timeout. We're guests, but they're working hard to accommodate us, alright?"


With the new week, travelers will find that they no longer the adorable animal features they did in Camebit, but something much less cute. Injuries from their pasts have come back to haunt them, major or minor, and they cannot be healed. The good thing is that they don't seem to hurt or really take a toll on the travelers at all - at least, not until they're touched, and then both you the other will feel the pain from the moment the wound was inflicted. This effect lasts all week.

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Comments

[veraltwin]

[At some point during all of this Alisaie is going to stand and make her way to the front, arms folded. Normally she'd just speak from wherever she'd been sitting, but... haaaaaaaa. Taf is in his usual perch on her shoulders, but Alisaie's wrapped up in a heavy red sweater that, as with many of the others, seems to have a darker patch on her left side. Fun times over here.

Anyway.]

We did not have the opportunity to share last week what happened when Akira, Rin, van Zieks, and I were pulled from Ahnkeen. Given that the information we learned will undoubtedly be of importance, we would share it now.

The four of us were brought to a city of ruins, covered in soot and ash. We discovered a building that contained imagery of note, of which van Zieks took a photo. As we progressed through the ruins, we realized that the city had been destroyed by a volcano--its source was known as the Kiln, and it was to this mountain that we journeyed. We met with a young man who guided us and other living beings toward the peak, but as the Kiln "opened," our party was separated.

Anything more about the Kiln I will refer to Rin and Akira, as they remained above ground with our guide. van Zieks and I fell into a cavern below. We were able to see light in the distance, and when we emerged, it was into what we learned was called the Garden.

[She takes a moment to gather herself before continuing.]

Though it was called the Garden, in truth it was little more than a barren wasteland. Any life that had once flourished had been destroyed by a Calamity, "the end of Eden." van Zieks took a photo of this, as well; we are in possession of the images he captured still in spite of his passing.

In the Garden was a tree of impossible size, split in twain. Sitting beneath the tree we encountered an Angel--but not an Angel as they are known to us now. This Angel, called Uriel, was... much older than they, I believe.

Uriel said they had been protecting the Garden for millennia, waiting for "hope." When I questioned them further, they said they were waiting for hope "for every world you have known, will never know, and could never know" to end an Inquisition. We were unable to learn more about this Inquisition save that it is what brought forth the Calamities across innumerable worlds, but they and van Zieks spoke of the angels we know and what they may be. Uriel confirmed that which we already know: The angels that approach our number are not to be trusted.

Uriel bade us do something for them. [She pauses, lowering her chin to her hand to find the best words to describe it.] They said... "The Kingdom of Heaven is within each of us."

They asked us to find where it might be born anew.

[She'll let that sit for a moment, but before there can be any responses she's lifting a hand to forestall--SHE'S STILL NOT DONE YET.]

Uriel said that we would know when we had found the correct place. We must hold onto our hope that we will do so, and believe in that hope. They said that we must needs learn the worlds we travel and their stories, and to share our own amongst each other. By fostering the unity between our number, we will find a way to stop this Inquisition and the Calamities which destroy worlds. I think it safe to say that is why we have been split as we are, and why the angels seek to turn us against one another--but such theorizing will hold for now.

As we spoke with Uriel, a storm gathered and a trumpet sounded. At this time, Akira and Rin were returned to us, and Uriel said that the trumpet heralded the arrival of one known as the Lord Regent. They said that "he must not take you" and bade us to run.

The Lord Regent is a threat beyond all others we have faced thus far. He slew Uriel before us in a single strike, enraging the serpent that was his companion, and he sought to slay us as well. He swore that "the eyes of the Chariot" follow our every move and that we cannot leave his sight. I think it all but certain we will encounter him again.

Finally, 'twas he who was responsible for van Zieks' and mine own wounds. [Alisaie reaches to her right shoulder, touching where she'd been stabbed.] I feel it is important we are all aware--when he ran my shoulder through with his blade, his rage suggested that he had missed his actual target.

He was aiming for Taftosimi atop my shoulder, not me. Thus we may surmise... he knows what our daemons are.

[yueshen]

[ oh... this is so much. ]

Thank you for sharing all of this, Miss Alisaie. [ he glances to taf, sympathetically, at hearing the poor daemon got attacked. rip. ]

I wonder if this 'Lord Regent' is related to the 'Lucifer' who has been represented by the serpent - or so I have surmised, at least. [ catholics....

but. a little lighter, he offers her a smile, lifting a hand to gently press against his heart. the kingdom of heaven in all of us... ]

And... from this, it matches even along with our tasks, I think, doesn't it? Many of them have been to get to know each other - to share a secret, to speak with each other more. We ought to have some sort of time set aside, to speak with each other and share stories of our homes. I think it might be nice.

[aono]

I don't think so? There was like, an actual snake there too, along with Uriel and the Lord Regent. Lucifer might just be the snake.

-oh yeah! The snake didn't attack us until after Uriel was killed. That's probably important, yeah?

[yueshen]

Mm. The name "Lucifer" came up in research about the religion itself - as God's favorite angel, supposedly one full of pride. If I recall correctly, he started something of a revolution over knowledge and left the Heavens, creating a schism. That was why I thought so... but, to be quite honest, Rin, you would know it better than me.


Do you think Uriel's presence was protecting you all? May they rest in peace.

[greatdeduction]

"Lucifer" became the devil, in the religion of Christianity. He's a fallen angel who stands as a king of demons, evils, and his grand goal is to attempt to tempt every person to fall into sin, eventually dragging their souls into the eternal suffering of hell after they die.

To hear him mentioned in this context is disquieting...but perhaps this is not a "Lucifer" who became such a figure of evil?

[yueshen]

It is only evil from the point of view of those who see the knowledge as evil, isn't it?

Baraqiel once told me that you could consider both sides of this conflict as yin and yang - opposing, yet similar. From the point of view of this Lucifer, it could yet be the other way - that the god who refuses to allow his followers free will is the one who is truly evil.

[lefthandpath]

It's the Church leaders who says the Devil is Evil, in the first place.

[hello, my second dad was a heretic priest.]

[aono]

...

[Rin glances away at this talk.]

I...don't know about other worlds and other Lucifers. But the Lucifer from my world, he's a really scary guy. I met him once and it was like he could stare into my very soul. I don't think I'd want to meet him again if I could avoid it.

[aono]

No, it was more like...they were friends? They seemed okay with each other. And if they'd really been together for that long, then that might be why it attacked. Maybe it was out of grief?

[lefthandpath]

The Lord Regent might be an Archangel, like Uriel.

Uriel is... the Archangel of death, aren't they?

[looking over to Rin because i mean he's the one who's ACTUALLY Catholic, kinda.]

[afterword]

That would be Azrael who represents death, Uriel is better known as the Archangel of wisdom.

[ convenient Dokja has some archangel knowledge. ]

[lefthandpath]

Who would be the Lord Regent, then?

Michael...?

[aono]

...oh! Maybe the tree Uriel was protecting was the Tree of Knowledge then!

[aono]

[Me, rolling a 20 to see if Rin remembers this shit.]

Actually, there wasn't much talk about Uriel at all. In the Bible I read growing up, there were only three archangels: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. I'm sure other kinds of Christianity talk about them, but Catholics don't. Not in the stuff they preach on Sundays at least. I didn't really pay much attention beyond what I had to by being the son of a priest.

[lefthandpath]

Mm, I didn't really have a consistent sort of upbringing, so I just remember bits and pieces of things, mostly.

[escardos]

I thought Lilith was the snake?

[lefthandpath]

Who's Lilith?

[escardos]

I don’t remember!

[ my waver muse would kill him. ]

[aono]

[After rolling a 1 on if Rin would remember this-]

That's...Noah's wife, right?

[veraltwin]

[IT WAS SO MUCH, XIE LIAN.

Thankfully, Taf doesn't seem to have been cowed by the Lord Regent's attack--far from it. Though he puffed up a little bit when she mentioned him, her last words were punctuated by a small growl from the tiny cat. They'll fight him.]

I cannot say. The others may be able to provide more detail, but as I recall he was a being of golden light. Where my rapier touched him, he shed Dust.

Based on Uriel's words and their behavior, I would hazard to say he is not. It sounded as though the Lord Regent was of a higher standing than they, by my guess.

[BUT SHE SURE DOESN'T KNOW.]

You are correct that Uriel's words seem to align with the tasks the Watchers set us. Which makes me wonder if they are guided by their leaders in what to ask of us, or if that comes from elsewhere.

[yueshen]

[ taf is blessed. san lang makes a matching little noise. he is also ready to fight.

but! after listening to the others converse for a moment... ]

I see... I think that Rin and Allen may be on to something, about the 'archangels'. [ his rin and allen are so good and smart 10/10 we stan ] And that perhaps this Lord Regent may instead be related to this Inquisition, whatever that may be. A word like that would mean a questioning, wouldn't it? Perhaps something related to trying to find an understanding... perhaps an experiment?

Perhaps even related to this Magisterium, or whatever that might be - these are things we should look into.

All of that being said, I think that the words of this Uriel are, to say it a bit repetitively, wise. We should heed what he says. After all, the way to best end a conflict is through true unity.

[veraltwin]

That would seem more likely to me. It was clear to me that Uriel and the Lord Regent see things very differently.

[Some things are becoming a little clearer with their discussion, but so much of it is guesswork. Alisaie frowns, folding her arms as she speaks.]

Uriel stated that they had not been tasked with control of man's free will in eons, and the task they entrusted to us is wholly reliant on it. If what my brother told me was correct, the concept of "free will" was pertinent to the concepts Allen spoke of when last everybody met, yes?

["Everybody" because they... were off traipsing through the Garden of Eden while that meeting was going on...]

By contrast, the Lord Regent accused Uriel of "falling." I can only guess it was because of their conversation with us, given what followed. 'Tis quite possible that he is related to this Inquisition. I know not precisely what it entails, however, only that it is the Inquisition which leads to the Calamities we keep hearing about.

[bloodyromance]

[He listens to her story, and he doesn't seem to react too much. That is, until, "The Kingdom of Heaven rests in each and every one of you."

And then he has to stifle a laugh at the irony. He just covers his mouth because he's not going to laugh while Alisaie says her piece but after they're done he just...]

God, the irony of all this...

[veraltwin]

[Looks like there might be some good in you after all, buddy :) you just haven't figured it out yet]

[callalilies]

"The eyes of the Chariot"... chilling.

Thank for all of this, Alisaie, I know these journeys are not at all in any way easy.