- Invitation Status
- Looking for partners
- Writing Levels
- Adept
- Advanced
- Prestige
- Adaptable
- Preferred Character Gender
- Male
- Female
- Nonbinary
- Transgender
- Genres
- Basically anything as long as it has a good story line.
Her sudden retreat to her old self could mean many things and from what Darien seen in the time before, during and after the masquerade, he was rather confused as to which possibility he should believe. Rowena could have been playing around with him this whole time and all the signs she was giving away were just fake and she felt nothing towards him. That would mean, he was used again. Or she might have been hurt and hid behind her old self so that she wouldn't let off some emotion that might undermine her position of authority? Choosing either of those was like playing a lottery, you never know if you've won unless you get every single number right and at the moment, Darien just couldn't be bothered with games. So he just let her do her thing for the time being, even though there was a strange, mostly mental, stabbing pain that Darien did recognized but decided to ignore as well. At the point of being called amateur so openly that even the most eloquent bully would be ashamed, Darien just shrugged his shoulders in the manner of 'whatever, it's not like I really care about what you say' and leaned back. Out of the two of them, Rowena was the one who had better chances in solving this scribble. He had no idea how long it would take, but truth be told, he was thinking, maybe, a day.
When Rowena was wrestling with the riddle for second day, Darien was starting to wonder if it was really within her power to break the code and deliver a solution. Considering that she was starting to behave strangely, or different from how he knew her, there were moments when he nearly said something even against Rowena's wish, since Darien didn't take orders from vampires. Yet every time, he kept silent. It seemed as if Rowena was in absolutely different universe where his existence had no place and maybe it would be better to leave it that way as that situation actually allowed him to work on his own project. The first time he got a chance to imperceptibly walk off while Rowena was muttering something under her breath, he found his own secluded spot in the car. It was night so he would definitely not fry in there and the darkened windows would prevent anyone from looking in. He wasn't sure whether it would prevent Rowena too, but then he was sure that he would hear her joyful shouts if she broke the code which would be a signal for him to stop his own doings.
Looking down at the papyrus again, Darien's own skills of ancient Egyptian began to work. Good thing was that as it turned out this wasn't a riddle but a single page with inscription that the Hekan only had to translate. In a way, you could call translation a riddle solving as well, since there was no punctuation in the text nor any visible spaces that would separate the words. Pretty much similar to their map but not as complicated. It was even easier for Darien as he had the two words inscribed in red for some reason. Starting of there would make a lot of sense. Unlike Rowena, however, Darien couldn't go for hours and hours without a brake. He was still just a human with certain limits and as he was reaching his limit, he couldn't focus on the text any more. Nothing in it made sense. Leaning back in his seat he closed hisfor eyes for a while just to give them some rest. The night has advanced and the moon was now nearing the horizon, but there were still a few hours left before the sun would take reign over the sky. Lamp...Karnak... That's all he could translate. Those where the only words in red that made sense but at the same time their disjointness was confusing. Just what on earth is this paper trying to tell me? The lamp part was truly baffling. As for Karnak there was only one thing that he could think of and that was the Karnak temple dedicated to Amun-Ra, and that was when some of the puzzle pieces clicked together. His mantra 'He, the sun god, created for them magic as a weapon, to fend off the blows of the happenings.' was from a book he read during his training, it was in the passage about Amun-Ra. Sitting up straight his heart was beating fast. There was something in the temple. Something that he had to find, but how? Rowena mustn't know so he would somehow have to get them to go to Karnak temple, if it was still standing that is considering that vampires were culture bullies, neglecting any temple that wasn't devoted to Sekhmet. The only part left to figure out now was tha lamp. What about a bloody lamp?
However, that small victory was enough for him for the time being. Now he knew where to go even though he had no idea what the rest of the papyrus said, he had a direction to follow at least. He would definitely attempt to translate the inscription later on to find out how the one word that made no sense fall into the bigger picture, but he had a good feeling about the whole thing. Cheerful in heart, but cold on the outside, this was still a secret and Rowena was not to find out about it. Therefore, as he returned back to their small camp, he looked as if nothing special has happened, even though there was a swing in his step, not that Rowena would notice since she was still in the trans-like state. With a sigh, realizing that their mutual mission was still stuck at the same point, Darien sat down again and watched Rowena doing her thing which, truth be told, was sometimes more entertaining than watching the grass grow. But even at the end of that night, no solution surfaced and Rowena was still maniacally muttering, scribbling and singing which was something unheard off to Darien.
It must have taken couple more sleeps before Rowena finally broke the code. Darien was just staring into nowhere at that point so when his vampire companion exclaimed suddenly, Darien sat upright, wary, ready to strike, but as it turned out, it was just Rowena finally making some progress. It took another two hours before Rowena victoriously shoved in his face how indispensable she was, and how he, in her perfect universe, should bow to her magnificence. Shame for her perfection was so hard to reach and maintain. Listening to her explanation, Darien moulded over the solution. It was for him to figure out the rest and it didn't take him as long as Rowena to partially make sense out of the translation. "Well, what it basically says then is that we need to go to the Great Sphinx of Giza at noon. As for the Apep part..." Leaning backwards to rest his back against the wall, his expression became distant as he searched his memory for any reference and cross-reference to any part of the last bit of the riddle. He repeated the phrase over and over again taking certain keywords out to run through his mental bank of knowledge. Apep was a snake, he thought to himself, tapping his index finger against his chin. There was a light frown on his forehead. Snake, snake, snake...could it be the execration ritual? Blood and sacrifice? It didn't make sense. Something told Darien, though, that the answer wouldn't be that simple considering how hard it was for Rowena to just break the code, he should expect at least another catch before he would reach the correct answer. Shifting his eyes from the non-existent point somewhere in front of him, he looked at Rowena. The same frown marking his face only this time deepening. There was no anger in his expression, just deep concentration. He seemed to be looking at Rowena but at the same time not seeing her at all. Apep, the snake, going around the globe... It was the idea of a snake twisting itself around the Earth that hit Darien with another answer. Clearly it was something he didn't expect and it projected on his face with a highly raised eyebrow and a surprised 'uh' escaping his lips as well. "So...you have two options to choose from for the last part of the riddle. It is either asking of a sacrifice or it is referring to the snake shaped bracelet that we got. Anyway, that's all I can bring into this discussion." He said and shrugged his shoulders, waiting for Rowena to voice her opinion.
When Rowena was wrestling with the riddle for second day, Darien was starting to wonder if it was really within her power to break the code and deliver a solution. Considering that she was starting to behave strangely, or different from how he knew her, there were moments when he nearly said something even against Rowena's wish, since Darien didn't take orders from vampires. Yet every time, he kept silent. It seemed as if Rowena was in absolutely different universe where his existence had no place and maybe it would be better to leave it that way as that situation actually allowed him to work on his own project. The first time he got a chance to imperceptibly walk off while Rowena was muttering something under her breath, he found his own secluded spot in the car. It was night so he would definitely not fry in there and the darkened windows would prevent anyone from looking in. He wasn't sure whether it would prevent Rowena too, but then he was sure that he would hear her joyful shouts if she broke the code which would be a signal for him to stop his own doings.
Looking down at the papyrus again, Darien's own skills of ancient Egyptian began to work. Good thing was that as it turned out this wasn't a riddle but a single page with inscription that the Hekan only had to translate. In a way, you could call translation a riddle solving as well, since there was no punctuation in the text nor any visible spaces that would separate the words. Pretty much similar to their map but not as complicated. It was even easier for Darien as he had the two words inscribed in red for some reason. Starting of there would make a lot of sense. Unlike Rowena, however, Darien couldn't go for hours and hours without a brake. He was still just a human with certain limits and as he was reaching his limit, he couldn't focus on the text any more. Nothing in it made sense. Leaning back in his seat he closed hisfor eyes for a while just to give them some rest. The night has advanced and the moon was now nearing the horizon, but there were still a few hours left before the sun would take reign over the sky. Lamp...Karnak... That's all he could translate. Those where the only words in red that made sense but at the same time their disjointness was confusing. Just what on earth is this paper trying to tell me? The lamp part was truly baffling. As for Karnak there was only one thing that he could think of and that was the Karnak temple dedicated to Amun-Ra, and that was when some of the puzzle pieces clicked together. His mantra 'He, the sun god, created for them magic as a weapon, to fend off the blows of the happenings.' was from a book he read during his training, it was in the passage about Amun-Ra. Sitting up straight his heart was beating fast. There was something in the temple. Something that he had to find, but how? Rowena mustn't know so he would somehow have to get them to go to Karnak temple, if it was still standing that is considering that vampires were culture bullies, neglecting any temple that wasn't devoted to Sekhmet. The only part left to figure out now was tha lamp. What about a bloody lamp?
However, that small victory was enough for him for the time being. Now he knew where to go even though he had no idea what the rest of the papyrus said, he had a direction to follow at least. He would definitely attempt to translate the inscription later on to find out how the one word that made no sense fall into the bigger picture, but he had a good feeling about the whole thing. Cheerful in heart, but cold on the outside, this was still a secret and Rowena was not to find out about it. Therefore, as he returned back to their small camp, he looked as if nothing special has happened, even though there was a swing in his step, not that Rowena would notice since she was still in the trans-like state. With a sigh, realizing that their mutual mission was still stuck at the same point, Darien sat down again and watched Rowena doing her thing which, truth be told, was sometimes more entertaining than watching the grass grow. But even at the end of that night, no solution surfaced and Rowena was still maniacally muttering, scribbling and singing which was something unheard off to Darien.
It must have taken couple more sleeps before Rowena finally broke the code. Darien was just staring into nowhere at that point so when his vampire companion exclaimed suddenly, Darien sat upright, wary, ready to strike, but as it turned out, it was just Rowena finally making some progress. It took another two hours before Rowena victoriously shoved in his face how indispensable she was, and how he, in her perfect universe, should bow to her magnificence. Shame for her perfection was so hard to reach and maintain. Listening to her explanation, Darien moulded over the solution. It was for him to figure out the rest and it didn't take him as long as Rowena to partially make sense out of the translation. "Well, what it basically says then is that we need to go to the Great Sphinx of Giza at noon. As for the Apep part..." Leaning backwards to rest his back against the wall, his expression became distant as he searched his memory for any reference and cross-reference to any part of the last bit of the riddle. He repeated the phrase over and over again taking certain keywords out to run through his mental bank of knowledge. Apep was a snake, he thought to himself, tapping his index finger against his chin. There was a light frown on his forehead. Snake, snake, snake...could it be the execration ritual? Blood and sacrifice? It didn't make sense. Something told Darien, though, that the answer wouldn't be that simple considering how hard it was for Rowena to just break the code, he should expect at least another catch before he would reach the correct answer. Shifting his eyes from the non-existent point somewhere in front of him, he looked at Rowena. The same frown marking his face only this time deepening. There was no anger in his expression, just deep concentration. He seemed to be looking at Rowena but at the same time not seeing her at all. Apep, the snake, going around the globe... It was the idea of a snake twisting itself around the Earth that hit Darien with another answer. Clearly it was something he didn't expect and it projected on his face with a highly raised eyebrow and a surprised 'uh' escaping his lips as well. "So...you have two options to choose from for the last part of the riddle. It is either asking of a sacrifice or it is referring to the snake shaped bracelet that we got. Anyway, that's all I can bring into this discussion." He said and shrugged his shoulders, waiting for Rowena to voice her opinion.
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