Alexandrea didn't have any idea what kind of negative energy Moment might have attached to her but it seemed like erring on the side of caution might be a good idea. Alex hadn't dabbled in Wicca for years so she took the upcoming week to do a lot of inner reflection as well as shopping. Jennifer had been a huge help in Zodiac's shop and Kira's place at the mall had had everything else that the blonde couldn't find in her usual haunts.
Not only did the Allurist do an actual thorough cleaning of Temple in preparation, she also did cleansing rituals on her self and the Triple Moon Temple. The altar that was used for the rituals with the fae was left alone but a new one that was consecrated to the Goddess was set up in the east by one of the bends in the Temple's steam. The over head lights were off in favour of flickering candle light from dozens of white and yellow candles. The scents of Lavender, Sage and Lemon Sweet Grass drifted around the scared place in smokey tendrils. Unmistakable but by no means overwhelming.
Twin black candles, anointed with Sandalwood oil and the smoke from Dragon's Blood incense, lay waiting on a silvery silk cloth that cover a closed wooden box that was heavily carved with ornate symbols of the Goddess. Alexandrea stood in front of the area where the protective circle would be cast and waited for Momento to arrive, clad only in a blood red hooded robe with nothing on below it. Whether or not the two Sisters of the DTM would work skyclad, or not, would be entirely up to the darker haired Vampiressi.
Momento pulled herself from the lull of the past few days, waiting on Alexandrea and the Full moon had been.. boring. She was impatient and she wanted it -now- but she had a lot of time to think and she’d used it. Pondering not just about this ritual, but also about the time with Serendipity and how things were going to go with the rest of her entire life. It had been that thinking about her world that had made her more impatient. Every thought seemed to make her feel like the world was closing in around her, making her claustrophobic with the feelings of so much negative energy suffocating her.
But tonight was the night. The moon hung full in the sky, illuminating the world in a beautiful glow, and that meant it was time to see what Alexandrea could do for her. Melody took her time getting there. She could have used celerity to get there, taken her car, taken the transit, but instead she walked the whole distance and the Temple was across the city from Autumns. But that gave her prep time to come to a set decision on what she really wanted from this. The vague answer had been that she really wanted to not feel like she was drowning, but the better answer was she was tired of letting someone get close to her and losing them. She found it so hard to trust in the first place and then when she lost them it had been a pain she wasn’t ready to bare. Sliver hurt worse then Req, but that was only because she figured Lizzie couldn’t handle the life of being a vampire. Sliver, though, had turned her and loved her and then.... Well, that was the question she couldn’t answer. Had he gotten sick of her? The city? The life? Was his kills not doing enough to sate his hunger? Was she not enough for him? She didn’t know and would likely never know. And that hurt her, Bad.
When she got to the temple she didn’t knock, she just entered, and was instantly hit with the smells of spell work. The only scent she could recognize was sage. It had a very specific smell and she’d burning it before, it was a cleansing herb, and that gave her the first hint that Alex really did know what she was doing. But the other smells were over her head. She couldn’t have named them if she wanted too. She followed the trail of scents towards Alex. When she saw the figure in a hooded robe she had a moment of what the **** and then brushed it aside. It made Alex look the part, of course, but Momento was dressed in jeans, boots, and a practical coat with a t shirt under it. Maybe she should have thought that through more, but she didn’t know if she had to look the part, she’d never done anything like this before. “Alexandrea,” she managed to say, looking just the slightest bit confused on what happened now that she was here.
The blonde's eyes were slightly closed and her lashes fluttered open all the way when Momento spoke her name. Alexandrea breathed in the scent of the smoke and closed her eyes one last time as she did so, fixing her center firmly in place before stepping forward towards her Sister of the Triple Moon. "Welcome, Momento. Please consider yourself warmly embraced."
Alex recalled that her friend preferred not to touch but sent a wave of positive energy to the other woman as she gave the Necromancer a gentle smile. "Please make yourself comfortable and step into the circle and place your offerings by the Altar to the Goddess when you are ready to begin. We have other robes, if you like. I like to work skyclad but you make the call. If you would like a robe, there are several in the chest by the demi fae Altar." The Allurist gestured towards the extra large wooden trunk.
"I do request you at least be bare footed however, I hope that won't trouble you?"
Momento shook her head slightly at Alex and then slipped off her shoes. She debated on the skyclad thing and then decided that she wasn’t sure she could do that. If something happened she couldn’t run around killing things like that. A purse of her lips as she weighed the options and the likelihood of it happening like that before she decided that a robe would make it feel more mystical to her rather then her mind being elsewhere. She slipped off to the trunk and grabbed a robe to put on.
Now, considering herself as ready as she’d ever be, she entered the circle. It was only the tiniest feeling of something... different. Like an energy she didn’t really understand, but that she figured came from the atmosphere that Alexandrea had set up. She glanced at her, but didn’t say anything as she stepped up to the Altar and placed the things she’d pulled from her pockets. The ring that bound her and Sliver, a scrap of fabric she’d cut from one of Lizzie’s shirts, a photo of her mother, and finally a piece of charred wood from the night Sliver had changed her and her sisters lives forever. Tiny little mementos that she’d kept and could carry without being suspicious.
After placing the items she turned to Alex and nodded her head, setting herself in the mindset she thought she needed to be. Set in her past, but looking for a better future. “I’m ready.”
The slight whisper of uncertainty seemed to cling to Momento at first but either Alexandea was mistaken that Momento seemed a bit uneasy to begin with, or the woman had adapted quickly. Alex suspected it was the later of the two. The taller brunette seemed to be a strong survivor and adjusting to something new was a skill most vampires had. The ones that managed to stay somewhat sane, at least. And this was a completely new experience for the Necromancer, Alexandrea was fairly certain of that. Anyone might be uncomfortable in the beginning.
The Allurist watched as Momento selected a robe from the chest and put it on, the silken folds falling around the woman's figure as if the garment had been made for her. Kira had stocked the Temple well. Alex nodded in approval, the blonde's face completely serious for once with no hint of a even a small smile. Her eyes shone warmly with kindness as she looked into Momento's for a few minutes, not probing into the other woman's mind at all but letting her sister vampire's vibrations flow into her own.
The blonde stepped over to stand beside Momento, and when the darker haired female announced she was ready, Alexandrea finally did smile. But it wasn't a cheerful one. Her eyes had watched her friend as Momento had set down what she had brought with her and Alex could tell that the items were of significant importance to the woman. Deeply so.
"Are you absolutely certain about doing this, Momento? And you do understand that by sacrificing the objects you have brought, that they will be gone... forever?"
"Please take a few minutes to look at them again? I do not want you to have any regrets, my friend. And once I have closed the circle, neither one of us should leave until all the ritual work is completed."
Momento listened carefully to the words that Alex was saying. She’d never have those pieces again, and yeah she hadn’t thought about that, but she’d already come to the conclusion that she had to get better. So could she let the past that had been holding her emotions, the few she had anyway, in lockdown and try to get back to the person she was before her life changed forever? She thought about her time as a vampire. About her turning. About how she’d loved that Lizzie came with her into this life, following her into the darkness without a second thought, just to protect her as always. Then she thought about the Broussards. How she’d willingly joined up with them for a brief moment with the only intention to learn about them and teach them that being a vampire wasn’t so horrible and that people could leave you alone. Not that they got that chance. The city in general had decided they were going to attack every one of them and kill them. For no other reason than simple misunderstandings about them in general. Sure they were a crime family, or whatever, but how was that any different than all the master vampires siring hordes of childer and growing their own family who did illegal deeds? It wasn’t. But that hadn’t mattered at all. They all died. Even herself who went down swinging so hard for a true cause she could stand behind. But she had gone down swinging and Sliver had been there at the end, even when they had a small fight about the situation. She was pretty sure that Sliver was just upset at the time because he knew she’d die.
Melody tipped up her chin and thought of Serendipity, who she’d taken up her cause too. Her friendship was second for a long time. Momento easily had set her sights on someone she could defend who was constantly being killed by Ty. Someone who if she offered her skills would accept the help and think nothing of it being for her own selfish reasons. Yeah. Mome had always blamed Ty for the Broussard thing and the chance to be in endless battle with them was something she’d already set herself to. Of course, that didn’t really matter in the end, either. It was easier to fight Ty then deal with Sliver not being around. It was easier to give friendship to someone for a reason to plan, fight, and stand against those who stood for everything she thought was wrong with vampires then to think about the love of her life not wanting her. But Serendipity was sincere in her worry. In her mannerisms. In her genuine way she really wanted to be Melody’s friend. And she’d done just about everything to push Seren away every time she tried. Even cutting off Janoric’s leg over nothing more than a hug from the woman. She was just enraged and well.. it just happened.
Looking at those bits that lay on that altar she nodded her head. “I’m fine with that. I want to be me again. I need it. Or I’m just going to rot in my own personal hell.” With a set of her shoulders and as much of a smile she could muster for Alex she spoke again. “Close the circle.”
With a slight wave of sadness, Alexandrea returned Momento’s small smile and tried to send reassuring energy to the woman. The blonde still had far too many of her own personal doubts to take the step that the Necromancer was ready to make. She wondered just how much more she could take before she might be doing a ritual such as this for her self but selfish thoughts went quickly by the the wayside as the Allurist’s focus became more centered on the task at hand. A certain kind of mindset that anyone who had ever cast a circle would know was as easy to slip into as a familiar old shirt, worn so often that it felt like a second skin.
“Let it be known that the circle is about to be cast. All who are within this circle may know perfect love and trust.” With just the two of them, she wasn't as formal as she might have been. The ritual was for Momento. Alexandrea’s gut said that It was appropriate for her in be inside it as it was cast.
Beginning in the East, Alex used a long taper she gave the life of fire to from one of the large white pillars that dotted the boundaries of the circle and lit the small brown candle that sat in a stone bowl of freshly gathered earth. “May the spirits of the East and the Element of Earth attend to us tonight, blessing our circle. Enter freely, harming none as you pass.”
Repeating the same words for each direction, the blonde made her way around the circle clockwise. Lighting different colour candles at each direction and summoning the elementals of Air, Fire and Water as the circle grew complete. Taking a glass dish of sea salt, Alexandrea retraced her steps, sprinkling the salt as she walked and reciting; “Blessings of the Night, Blessings of the Moon. Servants of Nox, we call to you. Join these two daughters of your Mistress and by my words now be bound not to harm us. This circle is now closed. And as is my will SO MOTE IT BE.”
The rhythmic chatting as the Allurist had walked the circle three times had only been broken by the quiet music of wind chimes ringing as a slight breeze of air rose up from the stream running through the temple and danced around the lofty ceilings along side the smoky clouds of incense.
“We may now begin.” Alex stated the words in a gentle voice but her tone was utterly flat, betraying no sign of any kind of feelings one way or the other from the usually very emotional Allurist.
The blonde turned to face Momento, reaching out her hand to her fellow sister of the Daughters of the Triple Moon and smiling softly.
“If you are ready to cast away all that is no longer needed for you to be who you wish to be...take my hand and we will start the fire together.” Alex’s chin nodded to the large black cauldron that stood on a tripod, ready to receive the offerings to the Goddess. Shaved wood kindling already lining the bottom of the pot with dried sweet grass and sage.
