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Who shall wear the starry crown

Cobbles glisten in the evening rain, leaf litter blocking the gutters and causing unshod feet to slip. Ragged men stagger home from the workhouses, brushed aside by the clicking wheels of the hansom cabs. Horses duck their heads, snorting plumes of wet, straw scented heat as the human traffic pushes past them and always, everywhere, above it and beyond it all, is the stink of the river Avon as its turgid flow seeps beneath the bridges. The river itself remains a dark, indifferent consciousness that allows anyone to stand by its weir and stare into the silent currents.

Re: Who shall wear the starry crown

Postby Christine Daye » Wed Feb 21, 2018 3:56 pm

Christine shrugs, a little helplessly.

"...I don't know about avoiding past mistakes... the things I see... or hear... they're fragments... glimmers and glimpses and glances and... oh... perhaps I am just making the same mistakes again... theme and variations... moonlight slanting through stained glass... he broke her heart... and can I forgive? Can I not forgive? ...for sure it was secrets that tore them apart... and... oh... "

She looks puzzled at her own questions, sings softly.

"I loved you once, I loved you twice
I loved you in my previous lives
I know your voice, I know your eyes
You haunt me through my dreams at night
Oh my love, we'll meet again
We always do in the end
Our two souls destined to be
You and I until eternity

We live on and on and on, death is weak and we are strong
On and on and on, time is weak and we are strong

And I see you and you see me
Your eyes are like a raging sea
I know it's you, I know it's true
I gazed into them once in a dream
Oh my love, come take my hand
Like you did in my dreamland
You feel the immortality
It's you and I until eternity..."


She tilts her head, considering.

"...yet second chances are so valuable... and I seem to need so many of them..."

Her voice trails off into a gentle hum, then she shakes herself awake again.

"What does the Universe say nowadays?"

She laughs.

"Everything... and nothing... and all the things in between... that you and I are little things... in the millennia that were... or are yet to be... yet at this moment... we are precious... because no one else is here... speaking these words... looking at these stars... feeling the touch of the breeze... the sound of the water... this moment will never be again... and we are here to witness it... and it makes me... it makes me... glad and sad and hopeful all at the same time... and despite everything... I keep my name..."

Another soft chuckle, then she sings again:

"But hey, don't listen to me
This wasn't meant to be no sad song.
We've heard too much of that before.
Right now I only want to be here with you.
Till the morning dew comes falling.
I want to take you to the island.
And trace your footprints in the sand.
And in the evening when the sun goes down
We'll dance to the sound of the ocean..."
Christine Daye - Malkavian neonate, harper and mezzo-soprano


Courteous, Acclaimed

Favoured by Antigone, Ashwin Major

Last night she came to me, my dead love came in

((OOC - Sarah Callaghan, sorcha.ni@gmail.com))
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Re: Who shall wear the starry crown

Postby annabelle » Wed Feb 21, 2018 5:51 pm

"She loved ye... Eleshiba loved ye n' ye tore her apart!"
Eric's voice echoing in her head and a confused expression crosses her features. Sorrow for Christine gripping her bones with cruelty.

When Christine starts her song something odd passes in the Ventrue's eyes to be replaced by nothing. For the first time she shuts out the Malkavian's music. There is a deliberate disconnection of senses, a push, Christine's voice echoing like under the sea. Unable to hear the words or to feel anything. Stone cold and unmoved.

When the songs are over, the guards go down slightly and she whispers "Eleshiba... Is she one of your Trinity?"
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Re: Who shall wear the starry crown

Postby Christine Daye » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:00 pm

Christine smiles, her gaze distant.

"Elisheba... she was a singer too, did you know? Nyx taught her the lyre... so close to my own harp... and Elisheba soon surpassed her teacher... her prophesies came through song... Mr Lunaris says that I have many of her characteristics..."

She hums quietly, absently.

"... it seems that the older our kind get, the more names... the more titles we accumulate... think of the Lord of Lions.... He Who Slaughtered the Sacred Bull... The Babylonian.... Lord of Hounds... The Black Mage...The Red Hawk .... The White Horse... even a young thing like myself... Songbird... hmmmm..."

She looks over at Helen with a gentle smile.

"...even you have different names, eh Lady Sinnet? So many names... but here and now, my name is Christine Daye... "
Christine Daye - Malkavian neonate, harper and mezzo-soprano


Courteous, Acclaimed

Favoured by Antigone, Ashwin Major

Last night she came to me, my dead love came in

((OOC - Sarah Callaghan, sorcha.ni@gmail.com))
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Re: Who shall wear the starry crown

Postby annabelle » Thu Feb 22, 2018 5:22 pm

Helen nods.

What a strange world.

"Annabelle, Helen, Anna, nobody, doesn't matter, all that matters, all that truly exist is that Amber gold ball of diamond light that the Abomination, according to Anax, showed me. That deep entity that propably is colourless or an illusion or not. Doesn't need a name. It's there, it was there and it will be there somewhere somehow.

Is such a relief to think about it. Nothing matters except this manifestation of existence. Raw life. Any other trauma of our bodies or our minds a small moment in millenia as you said."

She sighs softly like she is experiencing a dark relief.
Princess Helen Palaiologos
Deputy Sherriff of Aquae Sulis
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Re: Who shall wear the starry crown

Postby Christine Daye » Fri Feb 23, 2018 9:51 am

"...a wise man once told me, once upon a time... once upon a dream... when I was lost and drowning and could see no way through... he told me that Life drops terrible hints..."

She smiles at the memory fondly, hand gently touching the base of her throat.

"...he said that it is our shared curse, this connectedness to a greater pattern, to the weave of the universe. It’s our shared curse, that these things won’t leave us alone. Dreams aren’t much. It’s not dreams. It’s beauty. Metaphor. Love. Mainly love. Love’s the big hint life can’t stop dropping, the biggest beguilement of all..."

And it is only now that I'm starting to grasp the slightest edge of the truth of it...

"...the pattern of the universe... it is the song in my soul... the blood in my veins... the dreams in my sleep... the rock in the stream... the waves on the shore... the wind in the trees... all these and so many more... we are the songs the Universe sings to understand itself... but what do I know?"

She catches herself, laughs long and low, amused by her own thought processes.

"...a madwoman with a harp... poor, poor Cassandra..."

She smiles, humming softly.

"...do you think that we shall see the Abombination again...? ...strange... to see beauty and cruelty so closely aligned... but it is not the first, nor the last time... remember the deck of the Astra? Were you there?"
Christine Daye - Malkavian neonate, harper and mezzo-soprano


Courteous, Acclaimed

Favoured by Antigone, Ashwin Major

Last night she came to me, my dead love came in

((OOC - Sarah Callaghan, sorcha.ni@gmail.com))
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Re: Who shall wear the starry crown

Postby annabelle » Sat Feb 24, 2018 11:43 am

“What you describe me is…foreign and wonderful and peculiar and it feels that you are in tune with something I am not and I can only assume…Because Christine…”

And then she smiles softly with hints of humour.

“…I am just a lost neonate without a harp…so I wouldn’t be able to understand the full meaning of your words nor sing about them.”

"...do you think that we shall see the Abomination again...? ...strange... to see beauty and cruelty so closely aligned... but it is not the first, nor the last time... remember the deck of the Astra? Were you there?"

Helen whispers and just stares at the stars looking for something “The stars will tell….I remember the deck, many things happened in this deck but…are you referring to something in particular?”
Princess Helen Palaiologos
Deputy Sherriff of Aquae Sulis
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(contact email: annalaiologos@gmail.com)
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Re: Who shall wear the starry crown

Postby Christine Daye » Sat Feb 24, 2018 1:18 pm

Christine laughs.

"And now it is time to take your role, and tell you, like you tell me... that you see more... understand more... than you give yourself credit for... perhaps... one day... I think that you will see... you will understand..."

She hums a moment.

"...I... I could let you hear... hear the Universe as I hear it... you have the ability to share memories, yes? But... I do have to warn you... you run the risk of contracting my madness for a little while... "

She shrugs, leaving it to Helen to determine if it's worth the cost.

"...ah yes... not something in particular... someone.... the beautiful dancer... your dance partner in the ballroom... beauty and cruelty... to play for such exquisite grace... it was thrilling! ... even coloured with the darkness of his depravities... but then... sometimes I wonder... I have a taste for such things... exquisite agony..."

Her voice trails away, and she shakes her head, humming.

...and nothing else matters...
Christine Daye - Malkavian neonate, harper and mezzo-soprano


Courteous, Acclaimed

Favoured by Antigone, Ashwin Major

Last night she came to me, my dead love came in

((OOC - Sarah Callaghan, sorcha.ni@gmail.com))
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Christine Daye
 
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Re: Who shall wear the starry crown

Postby annabelle » Sat Feb 24, 2018 3:12 pm

Helen’s eyes leave the stars and focus on Christine “I can feel but I cannot understand.”. Her statement simple and precise.

“…I have a taste for such things... exquisite agony..."

Helen smiles with nostalgia to her friend. “I understand your taste, I never had a real taste…mmmm….maybe a tiny one...but I feel the pull, like a summoning spell, a dark song that guides your step even if your mind is telling you to run away. I don’t remember him much, I was dancing for myself that day and he was the wind that encouraged my movements, a skilful wind nethertheless. His depravity is…shallow or at least with whoever is not his dead Childe, I have no idea nor I want to know. I am not sure how to explain it….It feels to me agony cannot be exquisite if it doesn’t dig deep into your soul. This one seems to swim in the swallow waters of cruelty, the safe ones, the ones of denial, distraction and shallow waters. There is no substance and the agony is temporary and physical so it will never be deep enough. The…so called abomination, on the other hand is a mystery, like he can dig through your soul to the truths of the universe and then it stops being physical and it elevates to something cosmical. But then it cannot be personal either, and both hold different manifestations of this depravity and cruelty…

…..In any care, glad to know you won’t judge me if I ever decide to take a unconventional lover.” And with that she snorts and chuckles.

Upon Christine’s offer Helen beams in excitement and claps her hands “Madness? I can use some more madness, please do, I want to hear what you hear…” and with that she stands up a little bit, enough to be able to look Christine’s beautiful eyes and without a second thought she dives into her mind….
Princess Helen Palaiologos
Deputy Sherriff of Aquae Sulis
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Re: Who shall wear the starry crown

Postby Christine Daye » Sat Feb 24, 2018 5:27 pm

Surrender my sweet gift to you. Yet still
to you alone, my love, I will submit.
No greater feeling in this world than it.


Christine smiles serenely at her friend. No, she would not judge.

(But still, there is a part of her that is so very glad that the Trinity had been found before she met the dancer... thank God for her strength-giver, her joy-bringer!)

Christine's eyes are dark, the remembered colour of the daylight sky during a storm. For a moment, as Helen dives in, she resists. But then, with a gasp, she yields, opens her mind to the Ventrue. Lets Helen hear...

It starts gently. Christine is calm, is shielding her friend. The music is soft, distant, like in another room. Strings and brass, melodic, smooth. Then, as Helen acclimatises, the music gets louder, louder, and louder still. Until it's like she's standing in the middle of the orchestra as they play.

The music swells, piling instrument on instrument, deep bass tones felt in the pit of the stomach, rather than heard. Piercing trebles, flutes, piccolos, high and aching, up in the very top of her head. Swirling, soaring strings, fast and controlled, sweeping through runs while the brass calls out in tones of command. All sensations are washed away, sight, touch, smell. There's only the music, deep and intense and overpowering.

And this is with Christine calm. The music is loud, complicated, beats and cross rhythms, polyphony so intricate that it's impossible to pick out a single melody, a single thread. It buffets Helen with a physical force, bewildering and drowning her in noise. It's impossible to think. It's impossible to feel. Shutting the sound out is impossible. The only possibility is to let it sweep through you, let it take you where it will, lost in a dark and vast and uncomprehending sea.

It could be terrifying. Perhaps it is to Helen - certainly it is like nothing she'll ever have experienced before. The sheer intensity of it. Dizzying. Stunning. Overpowering. Drowning her in sound, wave after wave of it. Relentless. Implacable. Achingly beautiful. Deeply visceral. Impossible for her to understand.

But this is with Christine calm. The music is overwhelming, but not frantic. All-encompassing, but not terrifying. Unbelievablely complicated, but not mind-breaking.

Then, Christine starts to sing, and the music in her head changes, swirling and whirling and settling. Still unbelievablely loud (not a physical loudness, but a mental one). But now it bends to her voice, and she yields to it, and as she sings, the music joins her and she joins it, until they are one and the same, one glorious, magical whole. She doesn't know where she ends or where the music begins, but none of it matters. The only thing that matters is that she is part of this. Part of the song of the Universe. It spills from her lips in joyful song.

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee; He is the righteous Saviour, and He shall speak peace unto the heathen."


((https://youtu.be/dGkn91ywbsU))
Christine Daye - Malkavian neonate, harper and mezzo-soprano


Courteous, Acclaimed

Favoured by Antigone, Ashwin Major

Last night she came to me, my dead love came in

((OOC - Sarah Callaghan, sorcha.ni@gmail.com))
User avatar
Christine Daye
 
Posts: 908
Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2016 1:00 pm


Re: Who shall wear the starry crown

Postby annabelle » Sat Feb 24, 2018 6:47 pm

It feels like free falling into something that is not the sea, nor the sky, nor the river, nor….And then Helen allows the music to strip her from her thoughts, calm despite the force. And she cannot see Christine there, she can only see that entity which is not an entity, is a divine language. And she just lie there unmoving, without a thought, on top of the solid wet grass that seems to sing along with her blood like a flute, like the whole world is singing a song along with this Trinity. Like they were muted all along and she is hearing their cosmic voices for the first time.

And she just lie there, like a stone, humbled, unmoving and silent. She has been deaf all along. After a while the only word she can mutter is a Thank you.
Princess Helen Palaiologos
Deputy Sherriff of Aquae Sulis
«Μένεα πνέων»

(contact email: annalaiologos@gmail.com)
User avatar
annabelle
 
Posts: 437
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2017 10:34 am
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