Sandbox Hearts, Part Six

HollyhockGod: Where were we when last we finished? I think Edith had just created a personal champion and got the heart-wind that Alan asked her for.

HollyhockGod: Alan's mission was a technical failure, but he survived a dragon-attack and can console himself with all that gold he brought home.

* Sarck is now known as Viktor.

* Laurelynne has joined #forum-nobilis.

* Mode change "+o Laurelynne" for channel #forum-nobilis by ChanServ.

HollyhockGod: Viktor should arrive shortly with the heart of St. Helens.

HollyhockGod: Laurelynne and Adeline, along with her glass heart, are on the boat home.

Viktor: give me a sec before bringing forth the god of Boring

HollyhockGod: All right.

HollyhockGod: Who should get home first?

HollyhockGod: Laurel, I guess.

Laurelynne: I did finish first, after all.

Viktor: Ok, well, Viktor is registered already, crapses. whatever.

Viktor: I'll do it later

HollyhockGod: So, what will you do with your prizes once you arrive back at Shatterthread?

Laurelynne: Make the offering of the heart to Raemiel, and try to think of something to do with Adeline.

HollyhockGod: A starlit hand reaches down from the sky and takes the glass heart from your hand.

Alan: Alan can put her to work as a coat rack for the Halls of Fate.

HollyhockGod: "Pretty," says Raemiel.

Laurelynne: I could use a hat check girl for the Theatrum.

* Viktor is now known as ViktorWalters.

HollyhockGod: "Do you think it's practical- to possess sensitivity, even when it creates a vulnerability to pain?"

Laurelynne: "Perhaps not, but it certainly is poetic."

HollyhockGod: Raemiel doesn't answer.

HollyhockGod: Viktor, will you arrive next?

ViktorWalters: Of course

ViktorWalters: Returning a Dragon Slayer has always fit his style

ViktorWalters: (has it? I don't actually think so, nevermind)

HollyhockGod: (It totally hasn't.)

HollyhockGod: Raemiel reaches down once more and takes the burning heart from your hand.

Laurelynne: No, but returning to absolutely no fanfare does suit him.

ViktorWalters: There we go.

HollyhockGod: "Passionate," says Raemiel.

Alan: I don't suppose anyone would've noticed Viktor's return, or did he sneak back in?

ViktorWalters: I came in with no fanfare, so unless you auto-detect my entrance

HollyhockGod: "Do you think it's wise, to burn so? after all, fire burns as well as thaws."

* Scurve has joined #forum-nobilis.

Razzen: (It's busy in here today)

HollyhockGod: Hi!

Alan: (Too busy. Change places!)

HollyhockGod: (Isn't life wonderful, for awarding us these many surprises?)

ViktorWalters: "I was not aware that burning was a concious choice. Either way, it is not wiser to burn or not to, in my opinion. I would assume it would be what is burning that connotes the amount of wisdom."

ViktorWalters: "Or what the flame is applied to."

HollyhockGod: "…"

HollyhockGod: "Please go about your business, child."

HollyhockGod: Edith, I guess you have the other two pieces.

Edith: I guess.

ViktorWalters: Viktor was fully prepared to go on a long, boring, existential tirade on fire and burning, but ok.

HollyhockGod: Raemiel reaches down a third time, and the jar of wind and the shiny pure heart fly up into the stars.

Laurelynne: (Twice he was speechless, although I think for different reasons.)

HollyhockGod: "Simple and clean."

HollyhockGod: "Tell me, is it better to be one thing well, or many things less so?"

ViktorWalters: (You know, Raemiel is beginning to take on the appearance of a more benevolent King of The Cosmos, from Katamari Damacy)

Alan: (Or so you think)

* foxatee has signed off IRC ("There are too many heroes already in the world and yet only one Rincewind, and I owe it to the world to keep that one alive").

ViktorWalters: (Loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaadddddiiing)

HollyhockGod: (Stars… moons… hopes… dreams….)

Edith: "I'd think one thing well, because you never hear about odd-job men doing exceptional things. But then, I wouldn't know. I can only pray and hope that one day I do."

Alan: (Yuyu is going to eat my foot at this rate)

OShuva: (fingers crossed)

HollyhockGod: Raemiel smiles. "Edith, being an odd-job woman is the one thing you're very good at."

HollyhockGod: "In any case, all is ready now."

HollyhockGod: "My Sovereigns have performed adequately! Thus, I shall perform this ancient ritual of protection!"

HollyhockGod: Your Imperator stretches himself into a sitting position (as much as you can when you hang in the stars) and carefully sets the three hearts over the North Star, Gemma, and Gienah, then removes the heart-wind from the jar and uses it to tie each of them together.

HollyhockGod: I assume you're all paying attention to this?

Edith: Oh yes.

Laurelynne: Naturally.

Alan: Probably not, but it's possible.

ViktorWalters: Of course

ViktorWalters: (Damn being slow on the draw)

HollyhockGod: I don't doubt the Halls of Fate are the best place to view the stars, so Alan should be able to watch easily.

HollyhockGod: Any, Raemiel begins a long, slow chanting song in the True Tongue, and the stars slowly begin to shift positions and form a set of mystic circles.

HollyhockGod: "Pure, burning, and pained. The saint, the crusader, and the lover. These are the aspects of the guardian."

HollyhockGod: "Let the warden come forth. You who will watch over those I set in my heart, come now before me!"

ViktorWalters: (Shivering Isles-esque)

HollyhockGod: There is a very long pause, as the Looms halt and time on the island stops.

HollyhockGod: Each of you, standing in the Halls of Fate, take a second to look around and see that all of the inhabitants are frozen in place beneath you.

HollyhockGod: Then, softly at first, you hear the sound of feet climbing slowly up the stairs leading to the Looms.

HollyhockGod: Then the sound grows louder, as the newcomer approaches.

HollyhockGod: The great doors open on their own accord to allow Adeline inside.

Laurelynne: Interesting.

Alan: (That name sounds familiar)

HollyhockGod: Her eyes are unreadable but filled with a new purpose, and she walks high on her toes as though some force was pulling her into the air.

HollyhockGod: (Razzen, would you remind him while I type this?)

Alan: (I reminded myself)

Laurelynne: (It was a good idea to have her tag along after all.)

HollyhockGod: Raemiel speaks, and you look up to the sky once more to see that, while your heads were turned, the three hearts have been bound together into a single heart like a burning white jewel:

ViktorWalters: (Aw, sad, I thought we'd suddenly have the super hero turned into a magical guardian)

HollyhockGod: "Will you accept these three burdens? Will you become a warden of my house and holdings, and defend them so long as the stars hang above you?"

Laurelynne: (So, magical girl transformation sequence?)

Alan: (Alan would sooner make a black hole suddenly manifest and suck them all into oblivion than allow that.)

HollyhockGod: Adeline has no words, but she holds both hands up to Raemiel as though pleading.

ViktorWalters: (And 3… 2… 1… a hentai has been made about our Chancel, including tentacles. That's what happens when you mention magical girls)

HollyhockGod: "Child," says Raemiel, "take back your heart." And he reaches down from the sky and plunges the heart into her chest.

HollyhockGod: There is a sudden, painful sound as her chest opens and Adeline begins to burn away from the inside.

HollyhockGod: Then, the world carefully realigns itself.

HollyhockGod: Adeline is gone.

HollyhockGod: Raemiel has also returned to quiescence.

HollyhockGod: In Adeline's place on the stone floor stands the figure of a woman, about nine feet tall.

HollyhockGod: Her flesh and clothing have been carved, it would seem, from white marble, but she moves and breathes with the grace of a living creature.

HollyhockGod: She turns to the four of you and descends onto one knee.

Scurve: (Bye folks, thanks for letting me sit in.)

* Scurve has left #forum-nobilis.

* Panzeh has signed off IRC ("ChatZilla 0.9.78.1 [Firefox 2.0.0.4/2007051502]").

HollyhockGod: "My strength, my passion, and my single-heartedness are at your service as a defender of this sacred place."

HollyhockGod: "All that remains to be done is to give me a new name."

ViktorWalters: (Mina Whitearrow!)

Alan: Alan at this point will probably decide to get back to work. Name giving isn't his forte, and she seems potty trained.

Laurelynne: Kalla Alexa. Beautiful defender.

ViktorWalters: That sounds good.

HollyhockGod: Edith, your thoughts? You kind of have the deciding vote.

Edith: Kalla Alexa sounds good. I'm inclined to agree with Laurel, who does this kind of thing best.

Laurelynne: You should give her her cognomen though.

* HollyhockGod goes to find out what that means, and finds that it means the third name in the Roman naming scheme, by which the person is addressed.

Edith: Something associated with Galatea? She is milk-white marble, after all.

Laurelynne: And she is now a daughter of the stars as well.

Edith: Shall we go with that, then?

HollyhockGod: Kalla Alexa Galatea?

Laurelynne: It is written.

ViktorWalters: Viktor approves!

HollyhockGod: And Razzen dies as we mix Latin and Greek.

Edith: Oops.

Razzen: Galatea is Greek.

Razzen: Oh, I see what you mean.

HollyhockGod: "It's a good name," says Kalla Alexa Galatea. "Now I will go and set myself to watching the harbors for all those who might come to harm this place."

HollyhockGod: And so she does.

HollyhockGod: Story complete.

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