The Pentacles of Passion: A Pagan Story

OOC: I'm redoing this thread without all my annoying bumps, lol. Nobody post in this thread unless you're bio is approved .

At this moment, I am more terrified than I have ever been in my life. Here I sit, with my comrades, only minutes away from perhaps the biggest battle of my military career. My heart is pounding, my hands are sweaty, my mouth is dry. God what I wouldn't give for a nice cold beer right now, heh. Hell, I'd even be happy with a cola. Anything to get rid of this feeling in my stomach. Operation Overlord is already in progress, and in less than five minutes, my comrades and I will march off this boat, onto the beaches of France, and into the oppressive fire of the Germans...

Let me tell you, I never would have guessed this fate for me a few years ago. If you told me that I would grow to become Sergeant Daniel McCloud of the United States Army Rangers, I would have scoffed. If you told me I'd be among the millions soldiers to participate in the Battle of Normandy, I would have laughed. But right now, at this very moment, laughter is the farthest thing from my mind...

What was it, almost three years ago? I was in my second year of college, and I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Hawaii for the Christmas vacation. I was a young writer, only months away from my twentieth birthday, with hopes of landing a job at one of the nation's large newspaper companies. But, those dreams were shattered. My uncle, a Navy Commander, was killed during Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. On that day, December 7th, 1941, I changed forever.

After the coming of the new year, I dropped out of college, and enlisted in the Army. I wanted to my revenge. Hah, that term seems so meaningless now... Revenge... I was so naive. Boot camp was not what I expected, but then my comrades and I experienced victory after victory over various German bases all over Europe. I felt proud to be a soldier. I wasn't here for revenge anymore, I was here for justice, for the betterment of mankind. I was doing something noble, something so beyond anything I thought I'd ever undertake.

The advanced training in England, and now the boat ride to possible doom... I hear the gunfire up ahead. This is it, we're approaching the beach... Time for the moment of truth...

"Hey Dave," I say, turning to my good friend. "You know, a hero is not a soldier who dies for his country!"

"Is that so?!" he called back as our boat stopped.

"Yeah! A hero is a soldier who makes the other poor bastards die for their country!"

"Amen to that!" he called back.

Almost immediately, bodies started to litter the ground as we rushed up the beach, dropping down when necessary. Gunfire, bombs going off, explosions in every direction. It seems like such a haze. I can barely register my feet moving underneath me... up to the city beyond the beach... No, Dave is in trouble... He's hurt... I run to him, but it's too late, he has no pulse... No, an ambush! They're everywhere... My skin, it burns... It hurts so bad... I'm staring up at the sky now, barely breathing... my lungs burns... Now I know how a fish feels when it is caught... They're... They're not done yet... I'm looking up the barrel of a rifle... Everything is turning red, I hear one last gunshot, and then silence... Everything is so dark now. Is it night? Has the battle ended?

Suddenly, I see a bright light in the distance... It comes closer, it's taking shape... I hear singing... a sweet, feminine voice calls out to me... Is she an angel?

"No, young hero," she responds. "I am Mother Gaia, spirit of the Earth. You have saved many lives in your recent past, and Lord Solaris of the Sun and Lady Luna of the Moon have deemed you worthy to hold the mantle of Spirit Guardian. Come with me, Daniel, come to the light, and begin your training..."

"Yes, Mother..." I respond, reached out to her. Her warmth overcomes me, and for the first time since I joined the war, I feel happy, comforted, safe.

The day I died was the day I was truly born.










"So, this is the spot..." Danny said quietly as he leaned against a tree, looking up at a house. He had shoulder length brown hair and deep blue eyes, and was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt. "This is where the girl I'm supposed to protect lives..." Sighing, Danny walked up to the house and rang the doorbell. He had no idea what story he was going to use as a basis for ringing the bell.

OOC: I need one female to play this girl. Where this house is in the world, I don't care, that's up to you. Obviously, somewhere that would have a tree across the street. The girl can already be pagan, or even a witch if you want, but at first Danny's going to keep his origin a secret. Please PM me your idea for the char first, however.

Nicole

It was the same dream again. Nicole was walking, alone, through a primeval forest. Around her, she heard birdsong and the wind rustling through the canopy above. She felt the soothing kiss of grass under her feet. She looked down at herself, saw that she was again naked, just as before. She looked to her left and right, seeing nothing unusual. But she knew that would change soon enough.

And it did. As usual, the grass was the first to go. She felt it turn crisp and dry under feet, watched as the dry aura radiated out from her feet. The breeze above turned hot, stifling, and carried with it a disagreeable metallic tang. The rapidly spreading drought slid over the grass, up the trunks of trees, and bark fell from them in great swaths, bursting into sand as it struck the rapidly drying ground. The birdsongs stopped, and then like a brightly colored rain the dead songbirds began to patter down into the red sand that now surrounded her. As the trees crumbed away completely, she felt that same horrible sensation of excitement and exhilaration, felt her own carnal desires rising as the land around her died.

She gasped as she woke, then sunk back into her pillow with a sigh. The dreams were getting worse; they were coming when she napped during the day now.

"Damnit," she muttered under her breath. She stood, then walked over to the bathroom to pee. Once her business was done, she looked at herself in the mirror. Same old Nicole, with short dark hair, tired green eyes, and the lithe, limber body of a dancer. She glanced down at the strange rash that had been slow to go away, the one that had looked so strangely like a star. Had it grown a little more red? She traced her finger over the quarter-sized mark that had appeared on the inner swell of her left breast and shivered as what felt like a slight electric jolt shot through her finger. She shrugged, then looked back at her reflection.

Weird. It wasn't exactly the same old Nicole, was it? Yeah, there was no denying it now. Her hair had grown at least two inches since yesterday.

"Nicole, babe," she said to herself, "If you can figure out what's making that stuff grow that fast, you'll clean up selling your fancy cure for baldness..." She shook her head, then pulled her dark hair back into a short ponytail and tied it with a band.

She saw that it was nearly 5:00 PM when she stepped back into the bedroom. HER bedroom now, just like the rest of this crazy big house she'd inherited, but it still didn't quite feel like her house. Probably wouldn't, until she finished cataloging all the books and other things downstairs that needed to be packaged up for the estate auction. Of course, the more she looked through her uncle's occult collection, the more she felt her old interests in it awakening. Maybe... maybe she wouldn't sell it off after all. At the very least, she'd keep the books and that weird statuette she cut her finger on early last week.

She was just finishing getting dressed (a stylish combination of jeans and black t-shirt) when the doorbell rang. "Must be another of the lawyers with more forms to sign," she thought to herself. She couldn't wait to get this all sorted out, taken care of... couldn't wait to be able to get back to her life. As she opened the door, she hoped this latest round of legal crap wouldn't take too long, unsuspecting that who waited on the stoop to greet her was far from a lawyer...

OOC: I'm going to use a name and a bit of past info for the uncle for this post, and then you can PM me with the specifics to correct it and then I'll edit.

IC:

Danny sighed as he awaited her to answer the door. He was actually having second thoughts about this girl. Never before had he ever even considered refusing a charge, but then again, this girl was nothing like his past subjects. Not even close. She was a very special case, and in all actuality, it was a very noble honor to be chosen by Mother Gaia for such a task.

He heard movement behind the door, and then as it opened, he found himself speechless for a moment. She was a beauty to be held, stunning, alurring, almost unearhly. A beauty that could possibly rival Mother Gaia and Lady Luna. Was this her natural beauty, or because of the conditions which brought him to her doorstep?

Finally pulling himself together, he spoke. "I'm sorry, I was expecting Arthur to answer. I haven't seen him with any visitors much as of late, other than those in our book club. Are you a relative?" seeing her look of despair at the thought of having to tell him her Uncle Arthur was dead, he eased her into it a bit. "Is... Is everything alright?"

Nicole

Nicole didn't recognize the man on the stoop, at least... she didn't think she recognized him. Looking at the man triggered something in her... a strange sense of deja vu. He was certainly cute enough, handsome even. Especially his eyes. They were an unearthly shade of blue, and when they locked with Nicole's she was momentarily held as if entranced.

He seemed to feel the same thing, as for a moment he just stared at her before he spoke.

"I... yeah. I'm Arthur's niece. And no. I'm afraid everything isn't alright." She bit her lip and leaned against the door frame for support.

"My... my uncle's dead. He died almost two weeks ago. The funeral... um... it was a few days ago..." She felt tears threatening to spill, but willed them back.

"Did you know him well?"

"Sort of..." Danny said, pretending to be sad. It was hard, because he knew where Arthur's soul had gone, and knew he was happy. "Normally we meet for three days at the beginning of each month for our book club. This month was his turn to host, and I was coming to ask him what day would be good to start..." Suddenly, realizing she seemed to be about to cry, he stepped forward and embraced her. "I'm so sorry about your uncle. He was a good man. Rest easy knowing he is in peace in the life after death. He's in a better place."

Nicole

Nicole stiffened as the man embraced her. She didn't know him, didn't know what he was up to. He could be anyone. Just because he said he was her uncle's friend didn't mean he wasn't lying. For a moment, she thought about fighting, about screaming, about pushing him away. But then, as he spoke to her, suddenly all her tears tore loose and she fell into his embrace, sobbing loudly.

She hadn't really cried for Uncle Arthur yet, and it was a long time in coming.

"It's okay to cry. It doesn't compromise your strength," he whispered into her ear as he held her, rubbing her back gently, reassuringly. He just stood there and let her cry into his shoulder, perfectly content with being her support.

OOC: I know, short post, but I see you're online and wanted to post before you left .

Nicole

Nicole continued crying for nearly a minute, sobbing with great, wet gasps and then, eventually, getting control of herself and finally pushing away from the strange man whom she'd just bawled all over. She smiled hesitantly and wiped at her eyes with the heal of her hand.

"Oh man... I'm... I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from," she said, color flushing her cheeks. "Um... well... I've blubbered all over your shirt. I suppose the least I can do is invite you in for some tea or something." She stepped aside, out of the doorway, inviting him into her uncle's... no... HER house.

"Okay, thank you," he said, walking into the house. He let her lead him to the kitchen, then smiled as she set the kettle on to boil. Sitting down at the little nook table, Danny looked up at Nicole. "So, did you know what kinds of things your uncle was into?"

Nicole

"I didn't really hang out with him much when he was alive," Nicole said as she handed Danny a mug. "Although I had been coming by to visit him more often. My... my parents died in a car crash last year, you see. Uncle Arthur was really the only person I had left to call family, and now that he's gone..." she sighed. "Is it horrible of me to be more depressed about being alone than I am about his death?"

"Not at all," he said, taking a sip of his tea. "It's natural to feel alone when your only living relative passes -- but just know, you are not alone. You are more than welcome to attend our book club meetings. I think Arthur would be happy knowing his neice was around those he considered dear friends," Danny said with a smile. Of course, he had never known Arthur and there was no club, and he had no idea how he was going to back up the stuff he was talking out his ass.

Nicole

Nicole smiled. "I... that's very nice of you, but I think I'll pass for now. I've got a lot of stuff to get organized with his estate here, and I have to decide if I'm gonna stay here or not. It's kind of a big place to live in all by yourself, but then again, I've never really had my own place before..." She paused, then shook her head.

"Where are my manners? I'm Nicole, by the way." She held out her hand to shake his.

"I'm Danny. Danny McCloud. Pleased to meet you," he smiled, shaking her hand. "If you like, I can stay and help out. It's the least I can do for the neice of Arthur."

Nicole

Nicole paused, narrowed her eyes, and sized up this stranger who claimed to be a good friend of her uncle. She was suddenly realizing that she didn't really know much about this guy. So far as she knew, he was some sort of con artist who'd just read about her Uncle's death in the paper and was here to try to scam her out of his riches.

"Ummm... well, I've pretty much got everything here under control, to tell the truth," she replied. "It'll take a while to get it all in order, sure, but I've got the time." She absently reached up to rub the hidden mark on her breast; it had started to itch something fierce, but managed to redirect her hand up to her head, as if to run it through her hair in thought.

"So, you say you were in Uncle Arthur's book club? What kind of books did you read?" She was hoping to find out how much he knew about her Uncle... to find out if he was legit or not.

He paused for a moment, then sighed. "Some may think the subject to be satanic, but it really isn't. Our club is based around pagan literature, writings of Wicca and teachings of Witchcraft..." he said, pretending to sound reluctant.

Nicole

"Yeah... I suppose that sounds about right," Nicole replied, an unexpected rush rising inside of her, not quite a shudder, but close. She couldn't help thinking back to the book she'd stumbled across in her Uncle's library the day after the funeral. She'd been taking a try at doing an inventory, hoping it'd take her mind off things. She'd found the book hidden in a secret compartment in the wall near her uncle's desk, and she'd spent nearly half the night flipping through its lurid pages, reading about ancient sex rites and fertility rituals and about succubi and spirits of lust. The pictures were especially eye catching, in a "Don't let your parents know you're looking at medieval porn" sort of way. She'd fallen asleep on the book, and that had been when she had her first dream. And when the strange mark on her breast had first appeared.

"I don't really know much about the subject, but my Uncle certainly did seem into it."

"That, he did," Danny said, then leaned forward a bit. "And you, Nicole? Interested in learning the ways of your uncle's faith?"

Nicole

Nicole felt almost like she was blushing, but at the same moment felt a strange chill of excitement rising within her.

"Well... I'm not sure. I admit I've looked through a few of his books, and some of them are... well, interesting. Assuming I was interested in learning more, what exactly would that entail?"

"Well," Danny said, thinking hard. "You could come to our book club, and together as a group we can all learn some new things about ourselves and the faith." Oh shit, how am I gonna back this up? I really should have thought this out a little more before coming here... he thought to himself, inwardly frowning.

Nicole

Nicole thought for a moment. She'd long since decided that Kevin was harmless. Harmless enough, in any case, and legit. But she wasn't sure she wanted to hook up with a whole room of his friends... of her Uncle's friends...

"Maybe some time, but for now, I think I'll pass," she said, and then snapped her fingers. "I know! You could help me look through my Uncle's library! Help me catalog it! I need to figure out if it's worth keeping or what... and if you're an expert on the topic, well... what do you say?"

"Sure," he said with a smile, silently sighing in relief. He didn't have to produce a club, and he did know a lot on the subject of paganism and wicca. "When should we start?"

Nicole

"Well... if you were coming by to chat with my Uncle and not just stopping for a moment... I was planning on starting early today. You're welcome to come with me to the library right now if you'd like?"

"Okay," he said with a smile. He knew she would expect him to know where the library was already, since the story he told her had him as a repeat visitor to the house. "Do you mind if I use your bathroom? I've never used the one here before, could you point me in the right direction?" Once he walked into the bathroom, Danny shifted to the Ethereal Plane, making him invisible to most human eyes. Given the fact that Nicole was not normal, he guessed she might still see him in Spirit Form, so he let himself sink through the floor, and then came up in the hallway around the corner, where she would not be able to see him. Moving incredibly fast through the walls, he found the library, smiled, and returned to the bathroom and the Material Plane. He walked out, making sure to flush the toilet and run the sink to back up his story, and then headed toward the library as if he'd been there plenty of times before.

Nicole

In the few moments to herself, Nicole had a bit to think over what she was doing. She barely knew this guy, and yet here she was, inviting him into her Uncle's... no, HER home, and asking him to look over some books to boot! He could be some sort of thief, for all she knew, but at the same time, for some reason, she felt it was safe to let him into her home... for some reason she couldn't quite comprehend.

He entered the library after finishing in the bathroom, and Nicole pointed to the pile of books on the desk. On the top of the pile was the strange book she'd had her... encounter... with a few days ago. Might as well see what he could tell her about it.

"These are the ones I'm not sure about... they seem old, but they're also a little, well, the one on top's kind of naughty, I guess. Not sure how much of a market there is for books like that, or even if I should bother trying to sell it off."

"Okay, hmmm..." he said, walking over to the table. He reached down, picked up the book, and inspected the covers. Then, he opened to book to a random page, yelped out, and threw the book back on the table. For a split second, it looked as if his palms had been burned, but then they looked completely normal again. "Damn paper cuts, hehe..." he laughed nervously.