fandomhighdorms | 2nd Floor Common Room, Thursday afternoon

"Give me a second," Karla said. She called in thirteen different-colored bangles, and stacked them on the air, leaving several inches between each bangle. "These are the thirteen Jewel ranks," she explained. "The Lightest, and therefore, the weakest is the White." She touched the top bangle. "The Darkest and correspondingly strongest is the Black. I am here," she said, touching the ninth bangle, "and will descend to here," she said, pointing to the twelfth.

"Inside each member of the Blood is a column much like this, we call it our 'inner web.' Each level represents a different Jewel we can wear and a measure of strength. Now, what I did during my Birthright Ceremony--and will do at the Offering to the Darkness--is I went inside myself, found that web, and tried to descend as far as I could." She held her fist over the top of the blankets and opened her hand. Her hourglass pendant dangled from it's chain, looped around one of her fingers. It stopped at the level of the Sapphire. "At the end of the Ceremony, I came away with the Sapphire, as that was the furthest I could descend. When I make the Offering, I will try again, to see how far I can go." She slowly let the chain fall, until the hourglass hit the second-to-last bangle. "During the Offering, a witch can descend up to three levels from her Birthright Jewel. Some go down only a rank or two, others haven't the strength to descend even a single rank." With a flick, the bangles vanished, and Karla put back on her Hourglass pendant. "Make sense to the layman?"

"I....suppose," he said. "Seems awfully complicated. So...the darker you are, the more power you have? That seems...well, what do you do with the power? It's all in how you use it, right?"

He looked at the pendant (or at least in that general area) as she put it back on. "Are these...Offering things...dangerous?"

"True, and a White-Jeweled witch with skill and subtlety can usually outwit a Red-Jeweled witch who only knows how to blast with power. Well, unless she gets in the way of a blast. Then the outcome is more uncertain. But, yes, Darkness equals strength. Our Jewels can use more energy, store more energy, and the energy is correspondingly more powerful." Karla shrugged, a little puzzled by Jack'a reaction. "Why do you ask?"

"And, yes, the Offering is safe. One of the safer things we do, actually. It's a communion with the self, delving down within oneself to see how far you can go. At least, I think so. Offerings are very private, so we tend not to talk about them much."

"Well, where I come from, dark usually means bad," he said. "You don't want to be in a dark alley. Religious people talk about darkness in the soul. So...hearing the light doesn't have power kinda sounds like...wrong. I mean, the light's supposed to banish the dark."

Jack hadn't spent all that time in church sleeping, just most of it. "But that's just me, and I don't come from a world with talking unicorns and Widow's Weeds, so, hey, just saying."

"So this is safe. Good."

Karla gaped at him. "Why would the Darkness be wrong? We...well, we don't worship it, exactly, but the Darkness is a very important part of who we are, as Blood. This Light worship is..." stupid "odd. We have reason to care for the Darkness. What reason have you to care for the Light?"

"I dunno, because the dark is the bad guy? He's the one who tried to took over and was thrown out and now dark is bad and light is good. Wait." He paused. "Where does blood come in?"

[We really should sell tickets if they ever get into a catfight]

"Who is this dark man you speak of?" Karla asked, confused. Though, Jack might not be the best person to engage in theoretical and philosophical debates with, she admitted. He still had trouble grasping the 'witch' thing sometimes.

"My people. We are the Blood. It's because of how we stopped being landens, and gained Craft. It involves a dragon." She waved that away, impatiently. "Tell me more about this dark man," she ordered.

For the record? Karla's creation myths are strictly greater than yours.

[Too true.]

Edited 2009-06-09 17:49 (UTC)

"Okay, I'm-a start by saying I haven't been to church in a while, so... I might be a bit fuzzy on stuff. Here goes."

He stood up for this; he needed to pace, and the tantalizing view of Karla's legs (and how!) didn't help.

"Here goes. In the beginning was God. He created the world in a week, made light and dark, land, seas, fish, birds, cows, trees, waterfalls, gold, platipusses, and possibly gremlins." He hoped not. "So God took some stuff and made a Man. Well, the Man was lonely, so God took one of the guy's ribs and made Woman. That's...that's Adam and Eve. So they had this place, the Garden of Eden. No war, no violence, just the first two humans and a bunch of animals and plants and food everywhere and they just ran around naked, see? Cuz they didn't know they were naked or anything was bad." Pace pace pace.

"So God put this tree. Knowledge tree. Said don't eat it, it's bad. So...a snake told Eve to eat the apple, she did, gave it to Adam to eat, he did, and now they're both fucked, because they now knew that they were naked and naked was bad. Not sure I agree, but whatever. So God got mad, kicked them out, and now we have wars and starving. That's the short version."

The Mulletboy version, not to be confused with the Modern Mulletboy version, which featured a soundtrack by Rush and other awesome bands.

"During this time, I think, I don't remember, there was this guy, Lucifer. He wasn't happy with the way God ran Heaven, so he tried to take it over. I dunno, maybe he was drunk or something. So... there was a War. And he lost, and he was cast down into hell, and he's damn bitter. And he's the dark man, the guy who tempts people away from the light."

[This shoulda been broken up, because I can see SO many places for interruption, but still. :D Lemme know if you want this more bite-sized?]

[The answer now, is yes. Because LJ was a little bitch and ate my whole comment! I don't suppose you got a response or anything that I could just c/p?]

[um, I don't have a response yet, cuz I'm too busy thinking of how I don't want to go to work RIGHT NOW because this is more interesting. Please feel free to do whatever: respond to it as a whole, respond to portions in separate comments, ~~to cast Fireball at Jack~~ whatever works for you. I should be available through phone e-mail tonight (last night was busy, tonight may be the same) if you want to ask more questions or get some pings in. Just...have fun with it. Because now I fleeeee!]

"Wait. Your God is male?" Karla sounded scandalized. "And he made the world in a week? That's...highly doubtful. At best. And he made a male first? Why? And, then, because the male was lonely, that's why he made females? To be a convenience?" Arguing Abrahamic religions to a witch from a matriarchal society isn't going to go well. "And the female came from the male? This God of yours is aware of how things usually work isn't he?"

"And so he lets them run around this garden, and do whatever they want, but then he specifically creates a tree for them not to eat from?! Your God is a moron. Like, an absolute moron. Of course they're going to eat the fruit. That's what human nature does! Either he's incredibly short-sighted, or he wanted them to eat it and is just a cock. Wait--so, we have two people, who were running around naked, but weren't interested in sex? Are you sure you're telling the story right? I mean...babies! Or was this God of yours going to keep popping over to yank out people's ribs--which, by the way, is both barbaric and highly innefficient."

"So, this other guy, Lucifer, challenged God because he wasn't happy with the way God was running things? And this makes him bad. I think it makes him the first smart person you've mentioned yet! This God is painfully stupid--Lucifer was probably looking for a way to get God to stop fucking up. But he's bad because he lost? If God is aligned with Light, and Lucifer is with Dark, I'm still not sure why Light is supposed to be better. I mean...seriously? And what does Hell have to do with anything so far?"

Incredulous Karla is incredulous.

"Yeah, God's a he. And Man came first, and then Woman, and...listen, this is the way it is in the Bible, so don't yell at me for this because I wasn't there!"

There were no mention of mullets in the Bible.

"It's supposed to be true. And a parable metaphor thing! And Lucifer was the snake so when he ruined everything he was cast down into the pits of hell where he'd never see the light and there's levels and it's deep and there's fire!" Someone hadn't really been paying attention to what was in the Bible and what was in Dante's Inferno. Not that he'd read it, but overheard learned people talk about it.

"Yeah. So this angel challenged God, and he lost, and then he was a demon. And a snake. Why are you rooting for the bad guy?" he asked, standing with all due huffiness at someone who is standing, in air, above him. Jack's lucky if he's at Karla's navel or shoulders, trying to look all imposing....right.

[sorry for the longass delay. WORK. WAS. HELLISH.]

"I haven't heard anything yet that makes him bad, other than challenging this 'God,' who I happen to think was a moron anyway. And, yes, Hell is a dark Realm, but there's certainly light. And not much fire. It's not a happy place, but it's no place of torture, either. And what's so bad about being a snake? In Kaeleer, they're generally considered animals of wisdom and learning."

"Well...they are the animal on the medical thing," he said, thinking of the snake-and-staff symbol. "But that's the way it is. There's the god guy and the bad guy, and if you---wait, you've been to Hell?"

Jack was beginning to look (up) at Karla in a different light.

[the mun has been to Hell. And back. It's only an hour drive, just outside Ann Arbor.]

"Of course," she said casually. "I had to go through Hell to get to Fandom. The High Lord says that Hell connects to many different Realms. And he would know, being the High Lord of Hell and all."

"Wait. So...you know Lucifer?!"

He had to sit down at that. More like collapse gracelessly in a chair, but still the same principle.

Karla snorted. "No, I've never met anyone named that. The High Lord's name is Saetan. Saetan Daemon SaDiablo, to be precise. He's my best friend's guardian."

(Why yes, it is pronounced 'Satan.' And though Karla's never met a Lucifer, Saetan's son's name is Lucivar. Though they haven't met yet, either.)

"You know the Prince of Hell Satan?! Are you a devil worshiper or something?!"

[wtf, canon, wtf? :P And this is so different from where I thought this was going.]

"Am I a what?!" Karla asked. "Devils? Why would I worship them? Why would knowing the High Lord make me worship anything?"

Incredulous Karla is back to being incredulous.

"And you're getting his titles wrong," she said crossly. "He's the High Lord of Hell. He's Prince of the Darkness."

[Canon is awesome. Saetan's probably the sweetest guy in the books. And, no, I didn't expect our canon to be going anywhere near here. But it's hilarious.]

Edited 2009-06-10 19:22 (UTC)

Jack just facepalmed, because it was breaking his brain. "I think my head is going to explode."

[remind me to get your canon? it sounds interesting. :P ]

"I'm still not sure what your problem is," she sniffed. "Or what your stupid God has to do with my High Lord."

[Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop. Warning: sex, violence, dark themes. Also, extra awesome, with awesome-sauce on top.]

"I'm not sure what your High Lord has to do with my God!" Okay, facedoublepalm now.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU ALL FREAKED OUT?" Karla yelled.

"I DON'T KNOW!" he shouted back, standing up and stalking towards her. If Karla didn't move back, she would most certainly find her personal space invaded. "HOW DID WE START THIS?"

Karla stood her ground, glaring down at Jack. "Don't try to intimidate me, Jack Burton," she warned quietly. "That is a fight you cannot win."

2nd Floor Common Room, Thursday afternoon

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