asgardeventide | 011 - video; (day 130)

[Perhaps it's not best to ask, but, in a way, Regina has gone out on a limb to do this on purpose. Dressed in a white robe and stepping back into a perfect clearing in the park, passing a bubbling cauldron, ironically. She has left out a strip of cloth for certain things. At least three times, she carries what could be dried herbs or leaves, even tree bark. Passing a tree, she sniffs it.

But more importantly, she's managed to make an altar. It's easier when a druid and bard are present. Her methods are old world and Regina's been practicing this for nearly twenty years.

In the soil she draws "\|/".]

Invocation. Awen.

With something smokey in a bowl, she holds it in front of her, her face hidden by the white robes.]

Before battle or feasts, we recite incantations. They've been nearly lost for almost 300 hundred years, nearly erased by Roman rule. Under countless shifts of power in Cymru. An offering. To Lugus, the god of light. Perhaps he will listen, to me, his humble servant. If he sees to it in his infinite wisdom. And may the souls of the fallen find their way to the Otherworld. Or not.

[She takes in a breath, going into deep thought, clearing her head, to listen nothing more than the silence the park provides. In a deep tone, she bows her head down towards the altar and speaks-]

I beseech the very divine, the divine Maponos Avernatis
By means of this offering.

Quicken us, those by the magic of the underworld spirits!

Lucios, Floros Nigrinos the invoker,
Aemilios Paterinos, Claudios Legitumos, Caelios Pelignos,
Claudios Pelignos, Marcios Victorinos, Asiaticos son of Aedillos.
And it is the destiny of the Victor to which they shall be destined!

the center when he sows it,
Shall be whole,
I right the wrong blindly!

By Lugus I prepare them.
By Lugus I prepare them.
By Lugus I prepare them.

By the light!

[ooc; fun fact: this is an actual invocation from the Chamalières Tablet invoking the god Lugus and Manponos. If you want to hear the actual invocation, Eluveitie did it on one of their albums, which, by the way, has several incantations from Gaulish tablets.]

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[He's considerate enough to wait until Regina finishes her chanting to speak but even then - he isn't sure if she's done....He knows diddly squat about these things but he wants to know more because holy hell this is actually pretty interesting.]

Is that it?

[Really not the best way to ask though.]

And what do you mean by that?

[And suddenly he is painfully aware of how that sounded. Cue the wincing.]

Sorry that was - that was rude. I mean your...uh, ritual? I kinda didn't want to interrupt but I wasn't sure how to...ask if you were finished.

[Why so awkward.]

This has been something I've been working on since dawn. If you are asking if it is done, yes. For now. It will be done each time the morning rises until the darkness ceases.

Praying for light. [He nods, even if he's decidedly not a believer in any sort of religion it makes sense.]

Couldn't hurt.

Asking for help never hurts, yes.

So how does that all work? I mean, what does what?

[Of course the real question is just hovering in the wings of this one. Was that supposed to be magic? But right now he's fishing to see if that's the direction he can take.

It is like any other prayer to a higher being. It is a call for help and assistance against the darkness and send souls of the dead to their rightful place. To ensure that their death from the hold of darkness is a swift, painless one.

It was said that light defeats them, so it was right to call the god of light to bring more light and aid the trouble. If you do not believe in gods or the like, that is fine. Prayers and rituals are sometimes all anyone ever has. It strengthens. And if Lugus sees fit with the proper rituals, he will bless us with more light and the dead will be ushered to the Otherworld.

It would work better if there was a full moon, but I have no seen one for quite some time. But I believe in Lugus, my faith. The ways of my people.

We're not eating. Or... or battling.

Well, I'm glad youth is staying out harm's way, but it would be nice if they weren't oblivious. Boy, what do you think others have been doing for three nights?

Running. Screaming.

You're safer in the houses.

Until they break through the windows.

There are people who aren't going to let that happen.

[ so much more mumbled - ]

Not all of them have what they need here.

[ Arthur's only just left Morgana's room, having eaten and spoken with Mithian shortly, when he catches Regina's feed near halfway through. 'Lugus, the god of light.' He goes to his room and sits down on the edge of his bed to watch in silence, two fingers pressed over his lips.

She'd told him of her practises, of her life with the Druids. This must be one of their customs, one of the many things about her people that his father made him to believe is evil. Arthur's accepted magic, grown to fight for it, but this is ... this is something different. This isn't a spell or an enchantment, not some creature summoned from the depths of a cavern to plague his people.

Just a prayer. A cry of faith, beseeching those above for help in a time of need. How many have died for something so simple? Something so innocuous and pure?

Watching feel like an intrusion, like he shouldn't have the right to view something this sacred after all that he's done, all that he's allowed to pass. It leaves a sour taste in his mouth, a hollow burning in his chest, and if Arthur had any illusions of finding sleep before this, they're certainly dispelled now. He can't bring himself to say anything to her, so once her invocation is over, he buries his face in his hands and forces himself to breathe for a moment before getting back up to find somewhere else to be.

If the god Lugus is listening, Arthur will not be among those touched by his light. ]

You live to fight or you fight to live. Light pushes them back.

Li... how sure are you?

Someone familiar with their own kind said so days ago.

011 - video; (day 130)

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