Aspasia - Africa (Part III) - 6/7/2009
"You don't want to end up like the poor Akhud now do you?"
The breaking and involuntary screams startle Aspasia, and she stops shocked, all but cradling the knife in her hands as she spins about to look at her two companions. Horrified is not an expression the Amazon has been seen to display, but that is what shows on her face and is evident in her body language.
She has done this thing to them. Then she feels it, through the bond with her child. Strange though, perhaps an effect of this place. She could sense where Inali is in relation her, even blind. But now? Aspasia the presence of three where her daughter sits. Three and one of those revels in the pain, embraces it.
She lifts the knife as if to toss it away, and checks that initial response.
Crumpled in a heap, she moves her vitae to heal her shattered spine. "It's alright, Mother." Inali speaks slowly, deliberately, to try and mitigate the pain in her voice. "Nothing that won't heal."
Pray that is the case, or I will rend this Man into pieces that the Maenaids would weep from joy to see.
*And build them an altar of his bones, so that my childe is healed.*
Raising up from the ground, Aspasia moves gracefully and slowly, this time to interpose herself between the two and Zagreus, protectively. "Your knowledge. How to do this without breaking the clan? And what price do you set for it."
Aspasia stills.
The man regards Aspasia for a long moment. Finally, he speaks "I have no illusions that while a dashingly handsome and charming sort, I make enemies where ever I go. So, let us say, a major debt from you and either of the two who survive, to be used to help me out of a jam I may find myself in?"
*Unwise* Murmurs the Amazon’s beast. *How will you sate the blood hunger on one to whom you are debted?*
Aspasia does not look at her companions. "I will not make promises in their name. For my part - agreed, if your knowledge succeeds in helping me in this purpose." She gestures with a nod of her head toward the knife in her hands.
If he thinks the constraints of society will bind me when this done. Then he knows not what rides the body of Exodus’ sire. If I leave society behind, then so will I leave their system of barter.
*Then again, you are different than she. Perhaps that will be enough. But what for the pain they will suffer? *
The Amazon looks over her shoulder, the tone of her voice softer, "Jack? Inali?" Remorse for their pain colors the expression in her eyes. I have no right to call on them for this. But, if it is the only way, do I have a choice?
"And either of the two who survive..." Inali repeats the phrasing, pain from the wound placing a strain on her voice. "You know I love you, Mother, Unetsi. I will agree to it."
Jack scowls but remains silent.
While she offers a small prayer to Apollo, Aspasia is careful not to make direct eye contact with Jack. That much she can do. She will not attempt to influence him in this.
Zagreus laughs and presses his luck, "Come now, Captain Jack Sparrow. There are rules to these things, and you must agree as well. But I will make it easier on you. If you agree, I will give you a piece of information...free and true...which may just help you save your Spear and Chapel when it needs it most. Or it may lead to the most unfortunate and painful of truths, which the Covenant may also need most."
"Tres bien. I agree, if only to avoid any more of your pathetic jokes."
*Relief*
The Cherokee laugh as her bones and vertebrae knit back together. It is cut short as she winces in pain when the movement jars her body. Aspasia hears her say, "Jack, would you mind holding off on the charming wit until after my shattered bones heal?"
The man smirks and speaks, "Pay attention Mon Capitane. This will become important later. He used Warcrow to do it. And if Warcrow is the root...then if that root is pulled up then you have a way to undo it."
He turns to Aspasia, she meets his gaze, eyes patient. "You must be the one to break the knife...that is obvious as it was given to you and your last attempt did not hurt you while it hurt them. But the knife is not a knife.”
“It looks like a knife...it acts like a knife in some ways, but it is also an idea. It is the idea that a sire has rights in perpetuity over their childer, and it is through that idea that the Unholy uses it to leach the humanitas of her childer. It is the concept that the Clan is stronger than any other tie...that dint of being of Gangrel blood makes for a promise stronger than any others.”
She absorbs his words, listening intently, making no interruption.
"So the first step is that you must be willing to destroy those concepts. Then, here in this place, you must strike down that concept and never let it take hold in your mind again.”
To put aside what? That my childer are my childer? That my clan is my clan?… No… no…
"Once you do that...the metaphorical will become real and no matter how painful you must make the two as one."
Inali looks up at the man, her eyes like blue fire. From her position, she feels the conflict in The Amazon. She gingerly gets on her feet, and stands in front of her sire.
Taking Aspasia's hands in hers, Inali says softly, "It is not as alien as it sounds, Mother. In truth, while you hold a great responsibility for your children, you impose that responsibility on yourself because you love us. We are yours, yes, but we are yours because you put your heart into us when you made us."
She leans her forehead against her mother's. "I know you don't remember the night you created me, Mother. But I do. And what I remember is the love that poured into me, embraced me like I had never felt. And I gave you that same love back because I was meant to be yours. You don't feel that you have a right to destroy us if we warrant it; you want to be the one to take that burden because you love us."
The Cherokee allows her eyes to show Aspasia how deeply she feels for the Greek. "As for the clan? Mother, I have always felt that I am your daughter first, and a Gangrel second."
While Inali speaks, Zagreus hums some odd tune, discordant to the Amazon’s ears.
Aspasia stares into her daughter's gaze.
Is it as easy as that?
A memory, precious as a golden coin, plays in her mind. The blue eyes are replaced by another color, another pair, like a ghostly overlay only Aspasia can see.
"So you've made a decision then... between the Warrior-protector and the Gangrel-mother then?" His voice almost carries a note of playfulness to her ears.
"Those are aspects of who I am, Raven." Aspasia pauses, "What others see in me. What they want to see, or need to see."
She runs a hand across her lower lip. "I do not think that is what I am in your eyes." The woman glances down then up, her grey-green gaze is steady.
"If so, I would rather it otherwise."
"What you are to me has nothing to do with how anyone else sees you. What you are to others should not be your chiefest concern either..." Raven’s eyes seek hers again.
"What should matter is what you are to yourself- let everything else blow away. Be what you will, Aspasia..." Her name comes from his lips like a prayer this time.
Listening to the tone of his voice, a hopeful expression softens the lines of the Amazon’s face and warmth shines from her eyes.
The Amazon runs her tongue across teeth and lips, almost as if tasting the truth of the words. After a moment, she nods, backs away from her child with a nod.
The woman traces the fingers of her free hand across her lower lip, pondering.
But what is that, my love? There is a void left by so many dead. How do I abandon duty? How do I turn my back on the clan when it has so long been the reason for my rising each night?
*Conflict. Uncertainty.*
And she hears his voice, so clear is the murmuring in her ear, "Bent but not broken, as a reed to the wind, I bend and the storm flows around me, through me, and is gone. In its place, only love remains."
Love and nothing else.
Yes.
Not duty.
Love is not possession, and I do not need to possess my line as the Unholy has tried to do with hers. I will not drain them, condemn them as she has.
I do not have to place the Clan first in order to hold love for it in my heart, or the echoes of it from mortality long past.
Her gaze drops down to the knife in her other hand and Aspasia straightens up. She looks at Jack, her words however are directed at the Zagreus. "So how does this work? Assuming that I can make this commitment." There is an odd tone in her voice at the end of the statement. "What do the Moirae demand?"
Raven’s voice is again what she hears, echoes from memory, "It is not for me to tell you the way, only to point out the path. To tell you directly would be as if to try to dictate to Fate, change history... or the future."
The breaking and involuntary screams startle Aspasia, and she stops shocked, all but cradling the knife in her hands as she spins about to look at her two companions. Horrified is not an expression the Amazon has been seen to display, but that is what shows on her face and is evident in her body language.
She has done this thing to them. Then she feels it, through the bond with her child. Strange though, perhaps an effect of this place. She could sense where Inali is in relation her, even blind. But now? Aspasia the presence of three where her daughter sits. Three and one of those revels in the pain, embraces it.
She lifts the knife as if to toss it away, and checks that initial response.
Crumpled in a heap, she moves her vitae to heal her shattered spine. "It's alright, Mother." Inali speaks slowly, deliberately, to try and mitigate the pain in her voice. "Nothing that won't heal."
Pray that is the case, or I will rend this Man into pieces that the Maenaids would weep from joy to see.
*And build them an altar of his bones, so that my childe is healed.*
Raising up from the ground, Aspasia moves gracefully and slowly, this time to interpose herself between the two and Zagreus, protectively. "Your knowledge. How to do this without breaking the clan? And what price do you set for it."
Aspasia stills.
The man regards Aspasia for a long moment. Finally, he speaks "I have no illusions that while a dashingly handsome and charming sort, I make enemies where ever I go. So, let us say, a major debt from you and either of the two who survive, to be used to help me out of a jam I may find myself in?"
*Unwise* Murmurs the Amazon’s beast. *How will you sate the blood hunger on one to whom you are debted?*
Aspasia does not look at her companions. "I will not make promises in their name. For my part - agreed, if your knowledge succeeds in helping me in this purpose." She gestures with a nod of her head toward the knife in her hands.
If he thinks the constraints of society will bind me when this done. Then he knows not what rides the body of Exodus’ sire. If I leave society behind, then so will I leave their system of barter.
*Then again, you are different than she. Perhaps that will be enough. But what for the pain they will suffer? *
The Amazon looks over her shoulder, the tone of her voice softer, "Jack? Inali?" Remorse for their pain colors the expression in her eyes. I have no right to call on them for this. But, if it is the only way, do I have a choice?
"And either of the two who survive..." Inali repeats the phrasing, pain from the wound placing a strain on her voice. "You know I love you, Mother, Unetsi. I will agree to it."
Jack scowls but remains silent.
While she offers a small prayer to Apollo, Aspasia is careful not to make direct eye contact with Jack. That much she can do. She will not attempt to influence him in this.
Zagreus laughs and presses his luck, "Come now, Captain Jack Sparrow. There are rules to these things, and you must agree as well. But I will make it easier on you. If you agree, I will give you a piece of information...free and true...which may just help you save your Spear and Chapel when it needs it most. Or it may lead to the most unfortunate and painful of truths, which the Covenant may also need most."
"Tres bien. I agree, if only to avoid any more of your pathetic jokes."
*Relief*
The Cherokee laugh as her bones and vertebrae knit back together. It is cut short as she winces in pain when the movement jars her body. Aspasia hears her say, "Jack, would you mind holding off on the charming wit until after my shattered bones heal?"
The man smirks and speaks, "Pay attention Mon Capitane. This will become important later. He used Warcrow to do it. And if Warcrow is the root...then if that root is pulled up then you have a way to undo it."
He turns to Aspasia, she meets his gaze, eyes patient. "You must be the one to break the knife...that is obvious as it was given to you and your last attempt did not hurt you while it hurt them. But the knife is not a knife.”
“It looks like a knife...it acts like a knife in some ways, but it is also an idea. It is the idea that a sire has rights in perpetuity over their childer, and it is through that idea that the Unholy uses it to leach the humanitas of her childer. It is the concept that the Clan is stronger than any other tie...that dint of being of Gangrel blood makes for a promise stronger than any others.”
She absorbs his words, listening intently, making no interruption.
"So the first step is that you must be willing to destroy those concepts. Then, here in this place, you must strike down that concept and never let it take hold in your mind again.”
To put aside what? That my childer are my childer? That my clan is my clan?… No… no…
"Once you do that...the metaphorical will become real and no matter how painful you must make the two as one."
Inali looks up at the man, her eyes like blue fire. From her position, she feels the conflict in The Amazon. She gingerly gets on her feet, and stands in front of her sire.
Taking Aspasia's hands in hers, Inali says softly, "It is not as alien as it sounds, Mother. In truth, while you hold a great responsibility for your children, you impose that responsibility on yourself because you love us. We are yours, yes, but we are yours because you put your heart into us when you made us."
She leans her forehead against her mother's. "I know you don't remember the night you created me, Mother. But I do. And what I remember is the love that poured into me, embraced me like I had never felt. And I gave you that same love back because I was meant to be yours. You don't feel that you have a right to destroy us if we warrant it; you want to be the one to take that burden because you love us."
The Cherokee allows her eyes to show Aspasia how deeply she feels for the Greek. "As for the clan? Mother, I have always felt that I am your daughter first, and a Gangrel second."
While Inali speaks, Zagreus hums some odd tune, discordant to the Amazon’s ears.
Aspasia stares into her daughter's gaze.
Is it as easy as that?
A memory, precious as a golden coin, plays in her mind. The blue eyes are replaced by another color, another pair, like a ghostly overlay only Aspasia can see.
"So you've made a decision then... between the Warrior-protector and the Gangrel-mother then?" His voice almost carries a note of playfulness to her ears.
"Those are aspects of who I am, Raven." Aspasia pauses, "What others see in me. What they want to see, or need to see."
She runs a hand across her lower lip. "I do not think that is what I am in your eyes." The woman glances down then up, her grey-green gaze is steady.
"If so, I would rather it otherwise."
"What you are to me has nothing to do with how anyone else sees you. What you are to others should not be your chiefest concern either..." Raven’s eyes seek hers again.
"What should matter is what you are to yourself- let everything else blow away. Be what you will, Aspasia..." Her name comes from his lips like a prayer this time.
Listening to the tone of his voice, a hopeful expression softens the lines of the Amazon’s face and warmth shines from her eyes.
The Amazon runs her tongue across teeth and lips, almost as if tasting the truth of the words. After a moment, she nods, backs away from her child with a nod.
The woman traces the fingers of her free hand across her lower lip, pondering.
But what is that, my love? There is a void left by so many dead. How do I abandon duty? How do I turn my back on the clan when it has so long been the reason for my rising each night?
*Conflict. Uncertainty.*
And she hears his voice, so clear is the murmuring in her ear, "Bent but not broken, as a reed to the wind, I bend and the storm flows around me, through me, and is gone. In its place, only love remains."
Love and nothing else.
Yes.
Not duty.
Love is not possession, and I do not need to possess my line as the Unholy has tried to do with hers. I will not drain them, condemn them as she has.
I do not have to place the Clan first in order to hold love for it in my heart, or the echoes of it from mortality long past.
Her gaze drops down to the knife in her other hand and Aspasia straightens up. She looks at Jack, her words however are directed at the Zagreus. "So how does this work? Assuming that I can make this commitment." There is an odd tone in her voice at the end of the statement. "What do the Moirae demand?"
Raven’s voice is again what she hears, echoes from memory, "It is not for me to tell you the way, only to point out the path. To tell you directly would be as if to try to dictate to Fate, change history... or the future."