Private A Quiet Refuge

PixelatedGlory · Jan 31, 2020

Erione's shrine at the edge of the woods wasn't particularly large. But it was peaceful. The simple wood planks and stone foundation were complemented by large colorful windows to let in light and an array of delightfully tinkling glass tubes windchimes to bring cheer to the ears.

Being winter still, the door was closed over to keep in the heat but it was left unlocked for anyone who might visit. The god himself had stepped out to visit someone but the lit and well-tended woodburning stove made it clear the shrine wasn't abandoned.

Various cushions remained splayed out across the floor around the central stone altar, topped with a huge shard of pink glass. Various cute artistic decorations and offerings adorned the interior wherever they had been left.

@lee

Lee · Jan 31, 2020

YE WEN

The dorm Wen shared with her roommate was cozy, but she needed time alone. She felt oddly pensive; her time on the islands had been uneventful as a whole, and she wondered as to how her home was doing. She felt separated from them; as though someone had taken a hot knife and sliced through her connections to her homeland, even though she could still visit in her sleep.

Wen opened a window, feeling the ends of her hair flit about her face as a breeze entered the room. It was winter, and a gentle chill shivered down her spine. She folded her cloak around her. How long would it take, she mused to herself, to wander away and be back before night fell?

Presently, Wen pulled her cloak around her frame and found herself morphing into a nightingale. She felt the wind, now slightly stronger, blow at her small body. Wen opened her wings, and, riding the wind, flew over the Academy's grounds and into the wild.

There, it was quiet. Her feet touched the ground and the bird became a girl, with a black cloak in the shape of wings falling around her shoulders. Upon closer inspection, one would notice the cloak was not truly black, but iridescent. She began to walk, slight frame and dark-coloured clothing hiding her amongst the mottled shadows and bark of the trees. Wen found herself lost in her thoughts, until a gentle chiming brought her out of them.

At the edge of the woods and where sunlight fell across the leaves and dappled the ground, was a small building. Glass hung from the walls, and large panels of the material functioned as windows to let light in. Through the windows, Wen could see a crackling fire, and various pillows and seats encircling a shard of glass. She felt herself strangely drawn to the place. It resembled places in her home somewhat, and a pang of nostalgia struck her then.

She stepped in. There was no sound, but for the quiet tinkling of windchimes outside, and the burning fire. Feeling oddly compelled to, the girl dug out a single nightingale feather from her pocket, and left it sitting lightly at the edge of the shard.

""
OOC: Just trying this out!

PixelatedGlory · Feb 1, 2020

If this had been a movie then perhaps the very instant she placed the feather on the altar Erione would have appeared to greet her.

His timing wasn't quite so good. For a moment there was no noticeable effect. After the door shut softly behind Wen there was little apparent activity. But it was warm and clearly intended to be comfortable.

And a few moments later, ripples began to cascade across the otherwise smooth surface the large piece of glass built into the altar. Like someone had just tossed a pebble into a placid lake. Then a beautiful, colorful array of tiny shards of glass sprayed out into a multicolored waterfall of glass. Which pieced itself together into a smiling, cheerful teenage boy wearing bright pink and black clothing. But mostly pink. It also looked a lot like he might have been dipped in a bin full of random pins and ribbons, based on the random collection of little adornments he'd pinned to his jacket.

"Hiya! Welcome to my shrine. I... don't think I've seen you before. Oh," he turned and picked up the feather to tuck in one of the unbuttoned holes in his shirt before turning back to his guest. "Thanks for the gift! It's really pretty."

Lee · Feb 1, 2020

YE WEN

The fire crackled and for a moment, it was the only sound Wen could hear. She wasn't sure if she should be disappointed or not; that the urge to leave something -- anything -- there had resulted in nothing. At best, something happened; at worst, one of her birds' feathers was left sitting awkwardly alone. She stood with her stare glued to the flickering flames; occasionally, light glinted off the glass scattered around the room and back into her eyes. She didn't want to sit. Something in her refused to sit. It felt wrong.

And then, a rainbow.

Much like the refraction of light through water, the sunlight spilling in through the windows caught the tiny glass shards and burst into a gently shifting rainbow on the ground. It didn't last for long; the glass formed a boy clad in pinks and blacks. Wen found herself taking a step back.

He was of gentle countenance, she felt, though he'd quite literally arisen from a pile of shards. Scattered upon his jacket were small knickknacks and a great manner of little things. In that room of glass and colour, Wen felt a little out of place. Her own garb was solemn; she wore her cloak, of course, around her shoulders; on her body was a deep blue shirt; her legs loose black trousers; and her feet dark cloth shoes. But somehow, she didn't feel unwelcome.

"Oh," said the girl, taking a single step back, "...it's a very beautiful shrine. I have certainly none like this." She finished lamely, but politely all the same.

A shrine, Wen realised, A shrine like my own. Was this boy one of the island's gods? She knew there were gods from all over different pantheons; perhaps this one was local, and so he had a shrine.

Something in his voice caused her lips to twitch up just momentarily, perhaps in acknowledgement of his thanks. "You're welcome. Would you like more? Here," her voice was quiet, but something about being in a shrine compelled her to reach into her pocket and produce, this time, a kingfisher's feather. "This one's pretty too."

""
OOC:

PixelatedGlory · Feb 1, 2020

Erione raised his hands up, palms outward as she seemed to be startled by his appearance. "I'm glad you like it in here. I dont have favorites between my shrines but this one is really cozy- oh, I'll accept it if you want but you really dont have to give me all your pretty feathers." She smiled at her and looked at the feather with a little bit of wonder. Was she some kind of bird person?

"Actually I was about to make myself some tea... if you were thinking of sticking around for a few minutes. Unless you came here to ask for my help with something?" He asked as he gestured to the somewhat battered tea kettle on a hook near the stove and began to make his way over there carefully.

Lee · Feb 1, 2020

YE WEN

The boy smiled, and Wen wondered if all boys were as outgoing as he was. Struck by momentary curiosity, Wen wondered how old he was -- he looked to be her age, but was he really? She brushed the thought aside, and nodded again in acknowledgement. She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, letting the heavy fabric soothe her. Combined with the fire's warmth, Wen felt as toasty as the shrine looked.

"No," she mused, staring at one of the wind chimes. She squinted, imagining herself fiddling with one. How would the sound change with material? "I guess I happened across your shrine by chance."

Wen stood awkwardly in front of the altar. She fiddled with her thumbs. She fiddled with her fingers. And then, seemingly having made up her mind to do something, she followed the boy silently to the kettle. Again, Wen wondered how old it was. If he was a god, why didn't he have a better kettle? Did he keep it out of sentiment? The silence dragged.

"Have I seen you before?" she said at last. "I'm Wen. Ye Wen."

""
OOC:

PixelatedGlory · Feb 2, 2020

Erione set the kettle to boil as he absentmindedly produced a ball of purple glass and began to work it into the form of a mug with his hands as they spoke. "It's awesome to meet you Ye Wen. Or Wen- which would you prefer? I'm Erione, the god this shrine was built to honor. I only have the one name but that just makes it easier to remember, right?"

Noticing the hesitation and general sense of anxiety coming from Wen he gestured to the many soft cushions on the floor. "Would you like to have a seat? I don't know how far you came to get here but at the very least I can make sure you're not hurting your feet by standing up on my account. And some fresh tea of course, if you do want some." Hoping to put her at ease about sitting he picked a cushion for himself and sat down on it as he formed a second layer of glass for what would soon be an insulated glass mug.

Lee · Feb 2, 2020

JIANG ZHENG QING

"Just Wen will do," said Wen almost immediately. "Ye is my surname." The barest hint of a smile lifted the corners of her lips. Maybe it was the shrine's atmosphere, or maybe it was Erione himself, that made the place feel warm. At his invitation, she sat, folding her legs across and in front of her. Her cloak, previously landing around her ankles, now draped around her and puddled onto the floor. Wen was careful not to pull it too tightly around her; she didn't want to activate it by accident.

She watched as he moulded the glass in his hands, wondering if it was hot. "Glass," the girl mused aloud, "Are you the god of it?" She'd never heard of a god of glass, not even in her own pantheon. But still, she openly admired the boy's workmanship. Her own domain wasn't outright full of crafting and hands-on making things. She could fashion instruments, of course, but that wasn't the focus of her powers. "Could you," she said, forgetting decorum for a moment, "Make me a flute?"

""
OOC:

IMAGE BY ANTHONY CANTIN ON UNSPLASH

PixelatedGlory · Feb 2, 2020

"Wen it is then," he replied cheerfully as he spotted her smile. Good. Seeing people find joy in his presence or domain literally made him happy. He gently set aside the newly crafted purple mug and had just started forming a new amount of orange glass when she mentioned a flute.

"You got it right on the first guess. But I guess it's pretty obvious from all the glass around me. Yes, I'm the Lumian god of glass... and I guess I'm an official Manta Carlos-ian god too, technically." He beamed with pride, thinking about how he'd managed to grow a following on the island.

But the flute thing. Now that was a funny bit of coincidence. "A flute? Are you a musician as well as a bird of many feathers Wen?" He joked and ran a fingertip across the feather stuck in his clothes. "Because I happen to have been practicing making flutes from my glass lately anyway. I'm not so great at playing them but... sure I can make one for you. If you take it from here though I have to warn you- I always know where my gifts are when they're appreciated". With that said though he began shaping the orange glass into a fairly basic flute shape.

Lee · Feb 2, 2020

YE WEN

Ah. Briefly, Wen wondered how he'd been able to become an official god. The purpose of her existence on the island was to spread word of her own pantheon, of which she had accomplished exactly nothing. Maybe she could get some pointers from Erione, once she was more familiar with him? Assuming of course, that they met further in the future. "Yes," she smiled then, small and close-lipped, and entirely genuine. "A musician of sorts, you could say that."

While waiting for Erione to finish the flute, she nodded. "That's okay. But doesn't it get tiring? To know, I mean -- you must've made a lot of things. Don't you get bombarded by information every time someone uses one, then?" She didn't know, of course, that Erione had been making flutes up until he'd said so. But the thought that she'd have a glass flute from a glass god was nice, especially if Erione was already used to making them. She wondered who he was making them for. "Don't worry. I can play."

""
OOC:

Search

Private A Quiet Refuge

PixelatedGlory

Mmm oderator

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

PixelatedGlory

Mmm oderator

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

PixelatedGlory

Mmm oderator

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

PixelatedGlory

Mmm oderator

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

PixelatedGlory

Mmm oderator

Lee

Perpatually asLeep