It is an hour before dawn, and Aurora tosses restlessly in her bed. Dark dreams of depravity and perversity haunt her sleep.. images that would disturb her waking mind if she could remember them. Perhaps fortunately for her sanity, she does not remember the details - but only the sense of utter, kinky sexuality behind them, and the fact that in those dreams she was not just a willing participant, but eagerly sought them out.

The priestess wakes with a start, struggling to sit up in her bed, as she is tangled in the sheets that are almost in knots around her. "What is happening to me?" she asks to no one in particular as this is the fourth night in a row she's waken up in such a state. And she doesn't just mean her linens either - as she looks down at her naked body, and the way her breasts are swollen, with nipples almost sore from how aroused they are.

She decides she needs to get out of the room - normally she'd just make her prayers in her room - but she needs the sky and wind about her this morning. She slips into one of her robes and heads out of her room, to one of the stairwells, and sneaks up to the roof of the dorm.

She props the door slightly to be sure she can get back in, and then steps away to the northern corner of the building. There she lets the robe fall from her body, and pool around her ankles. She stands there naked as dawn approaches in the east, but she can still see stars off to the north.

"Skadhi... please.. hear the prayers of one who bears your mark. I am.. troubled, and confused. My mind no longer seems to be my own. I try to honor my vows to you, but I seem to continuously be betrayed by my body, and the magicks within me. I need your guidance, once again, Lady of Storms."

"Your Patron hears you, my child."

I had watched this one for some time, her deep sense of faith to an Old God was quite refreshing. The Old Gods knew how to celebrate. I was sure their regime was much more in line with my own goals than that of Shaddai. Still, I knew some conversing and conversion needed to be done. I would do things right, however, where my predecessors had failed in their old and stale conventions. My new Gospel would be for a new era.

I imagined she would have taken solace if her dreams had been my doing, or the doing of one of the others who unwittingly created my Paradise, but it was not so. I was the answer to her buried desires, not their cause. Nevertheless, I was also an answer to a prayer. Slowly I descended, my skin glowing softly and my body equally exposed as that of the priestess. My wings flapped powerfully. "The Queen of Winter and Mountains, of bows and skiing, she is an Old God, one whose reverence has fallen. Even at her prime she was not a strong voice in her pantheon. I am sure, Sacred Priestess, that she treasures your faith."

I decided a little more reverence for the Old Goddess was in order, and so I recited some of her words to prove myself versed, "As she spake to Nóatún who hated the Mountains; 'Sleep I could not on the sea beds, for the screeching of the bird. That gull wakes me when from the wide sea he comes each morning.' What is a Priestess of Skaði doing amongst the seas, I wonder?"

Aurora looks up in surprise at the vision before her - she had not expected any kind of answer, let alone a visitation by beautiful, nude angel. She knows what they are - but angels are not creatures of her faith - so it confuses her.

Still - even if there is some hesitation in her acceptance, hearing the ancient Nordic names an words, rather than the modernization she uses for those around her calls to her deeply, resonating with the Priestess' inner faith - which still burns brightly, even if she herself is not aware of that fact.

She quivers as her body seems to respond to the beautiful angel's presence though - her nipples growing dark and sore with arousal, and her clitoris swells and itches, begging for attention.

"My people... sought to learn whether they would be welcome to return, and to learn how the world has changed since our isolation. I was chosen as both our eyes, and words - as I was chosen by Skadhi to lead her faith. But... since I've come here... everything has changed. I.. find myself .. without control. My gift from Her.. seems to be changing and growing, sometimes out of my own control. I do not know if I have displeased her, and this is punishment, or if it is something else."

"Perhaps because you sleep like Nóatún, among sea beds?" I posed the interesting thought, though a wave of my hand indicated my lack of faith in this. Instead, I gave a contemplative pause, "Or, perhaps we have come to a time where the pantheons of the past no longer need fear one another. After all, I, a divine messenger of Shaddai, stand before you, Priestess of Skaði. Your patron is wise, and in a place like this, simply a microcosm of a changing universe, perhaps she knows of the wisdom brought to you by a new sort of order. A unity of all that is good."

I realized I sort of glossed over her particular problems, so I tried to backtrack a little, "Perhaps the solution is not to seek to control that which your Patron blesses you with? Perhaps it growing out of control is exactly what your Patron has in mind for you?" I smiled, ever so gently, "I am Altima, be not afraid." Classic Angel introduction, "I find you perhaps at the will of Skaði, to bring to you a new idea. A new doctrine for a raw and wanting universe. We can no longer afford to fight one another, nor ourselves. Skaði's place has been forgotten, and such is a tragedy."

"What I offer is freedom from your fears, from the concerns of self-control that separate you from the perfect moments of carnal bliss where you are basked in true divinity. Would your Patron give you such feelings, such loss of control, without wanting you to experience something? Would mine?" I asked delicately. This was, after all, where I lost some people, "Skaði knows you, Sacred Priestess. She cherishes you. Would she not guide you gently in the way she feels best? Surely this is what your wavering control is. And in the true unanimity of lust and sensation, notions of good and evil, of sea and snow, these become unimportant. Even angels and demons can become united in pursuit of bliss. Skaði has seen the power, and has guided you toward it. Is this not so?"

Aurora stares at the angel, trying to follow her logic and reasoning.

Parts of it make sense to the priestess.. but other parts confuse her even further.

That Skadhi cherishes her, she is sure of. That her Goddess would try to guide her and help her, she believes without question. She can even understand the idea that she is not meant to control her Goddess' power, but to be a vessel through which it can grow beyond Aurora.. perhaps in some way restoring Skadhi's power and presence. Like a crucible in which something stronger can be forged.

But this talk of lust.. and bliss, Aurora does not understand. Angels and demons? Could this really be what Skadhi is guiding her to?

"I.. don't understand. Of what use is bliss, or lust? If there is a purpose in such acts.. please tell me what it is, for I do not see them. And I wish to understand. If good and evil are no longer important.. than what is? Surely we are meant for more than just pleasure."

"You were meant for more than good and evil," I shook my head lightly, watching her with analytic eyes, "Accomplishment, exploring what it means to be human. Divinities all want that for their young ones. To explore this magnificent universe and be the best Skaði has to offer. And unity is born from the bliss I speak of. Struggle against one another, it is all meaningless. You can be free to reach for the impossible dreams when good and evil no longer linger on your heart."

I decided a little demonstration would help and looked up, taking a deep breath, "O, Love of Mine, descend and show the Priestess of Skaði that greater things exist than good and evil? Life, sweet priestess, does not need to be a battlefield. It can be the cradle of innovation. See with your eyes, but believe with your heart, that a better way exists."

((OOC: Did you want to wait and see if Jezebel comes back - or did you want to continue on our own?))

((She said she'd be back, but let's proceed onward until she arrives.))

Aurora just watches the angel, and considers her words.

Part of what the angel says is obvious, and makes clear sense to the priestess. Exploring the universe, and what it means to be human, and what all is possible. Of course those are worthy goals -- knowledge, comprehension, always attempting to take that next step further, to accomplish something that a person thought was beyond their own abilities.

But isn't that, in some sense, what 'goodness' means?

And Unity born of bliss? Unity with what?

And the struggle of good and evil is meaningless??? But isn't that the argument of evil? That it does not need to be fought against? Don't they say that for evil to triumph, all it needs is for good people to do nothing? That seems to be what the angel is implying.

But an angel can't be evil, can they?

So does that mean that what the angel is saying is 'good', and what she has always believed is wrong?
If so, does that mean that Aurora has been doing 'evil' by fighting the lusts and desires that she has been feeling?
Would the 'good' thing to do be to surrender to the pleasures and desires, to offer herself up to the lusts of her goddess?
Is that why she is here, not just to be her goddess' voice and hands, but to be her sex and womb - to provide and experience pleasure in her name?

Aurora is silent as she contemplates all these ideas, but her face is an open book - and Altima can read her expressions so clearly, that she might as well be hearing the priestess' every thought.

"Please.. show me.. this better way. I wish.. to understand."