All Roads/MeaningofLondon

ST: If you have no objections you'll be beginning a lesson with Diana concerning your legacy.

It's taking place in her oneiros, which is something that's entirely new in your studies with her.

Dakkareth: (no objections. After that experience with the Weaver it would be something Isis would be working on. Since she can't well directly investigate someone who she believes can become aware of magical attention directed towards it.)

ST: "Isis?" An astral journey takes a toll on even experienced travellers, and for you it is no different as you have been left to traverse Diana's soulscape all but alone, save for the unthinking memories of your mentor's dreams. Your wanderings, aided and guided through your innate ability of interpretation, finally end however as your cross the threshold from twisted, rain-slick streets and into the sudden, familiar warmth of Diana's apartment. "You found me." Your mentor lounges in a chair opposite, across the room, with a small grin. She is dressed as you have always come to expect her - smart and functional. "Come sit here." She points to the sofa nearby. "We've got a lot to talk about."

Dakkareth: Dressed in the old-fashioned black clothes Isis seems to favor in her astral self-image Isis takes a moment to look around to idly catalogue differences to the actual, physical apartment, then sits down at Diana's prompting.

"None of you could pretend to be the psyche for long," she says with a small smile.

"Some of you were trying to distract me, right?"

She is of course referring to the various dream actors taking Diana's face in different realms.

ST: Diana's grin turns soft, and she smiles. "Just a small test, to warm you up."

Dakkareth: Isis nods, privately wondering whether it would be possible to create actual guardians in her own Oneiros. Ever since the incident with the splinter she has become a little paranoid with regard to her mental security.

Perhaps if ... but Diana said there was something to talk about. Isis' gaze sharpens on the here and now again.

ST: "Have you been doing your oblations?" She begins. A small, but important question.

Dakkareth: "Yes," Isis confirms. "A pattern has yet to emerge, but intervals are not long."

ST: (Have you told Diana about the weaver and such, by the by?)

Dakkareth: "I'm liking the more intuitive puzzles better than the analytical ones, but I'm not excluding those."

(mmh, good question. I figure she would at some point have asked about possible ways to become aware of magical inquiries not directly targeted, possibly via Fate)

(Diana would probably have picked up on the question being not so much hypothetical and if she inquired Isis would have told her)

ST: "I see." She nods, and her expression falls slightly as she pauses for a moment.

"Where is meaning found, Isis?"

Dakkareth: Isis' sits still and unseeing for a moment, thinking. "Meaning is found only where it is sought," she then says slowly, continuing to play with the thought. "That's both obvious and perhaps not, I'm not sure."

After another moment's thought she tilts her head slightly. "Or I could be overthinking it. I should study more cosmology, with regard to the Supernal Realms."

ST: "No, that is good. I was being purposefully vague." She nods. "Perhaps more clearly, meaning is found inside ourselves. Interpretation and perspective filter the truth of what we see, and what we recieve is meaning - the relation and weight of that truth as compared to others."

"Some truths come to us relatively unchanged as we take them in, others are twisted by our lack of objectivity. You and I are gifted, we can see the truth without having to read it through such clouded glass. Most of the time."

At that point she purses her lips, in thought.

Dakkareth: "Every mage is, in a way, to some extent," Isis points out. "That is the nature of gnostic experience."

ST: Diana is quiet for a moment at that, before finally continuing. "Yes and no."

"I do not expect you to take my word for it, this is something I hope you will discover for yourself, but truth is an immensely scarce commodity."

"Awakening is but one step."

With that she stands, and walks over to doors to the balcony. "Let me show you something."

Dakkareth: "A first and sometimes only glimpse, according to some," Isis says, a hint of a question in her tone, before rising to follow Diana.

ST: "Everything speaks, and we can hear it." She states, a tenant of your legacy stated extremely simply. "What you see here today I must ask you to keep to yourself. Its existence is by no means a secret - anyone who can hear may discover it - but it is knowledge that must not yet leave our fold."

Cold wind cuts into the apartment as she opens the door, and buffets both of you when she ushers you outside.

Dakkareth: "I will." Isis' expression is serious.

ST: A dizzying distance below you and all around, for Diana's apartment block seems to be an immense tower in her soul, stretches an ocean of concrete and brick.

Dakkareth: Her hair, a bright contrast to her black clothes, flies behind her as she steps outside.

ST: Streets and towers and shops and a winding, snaking river make a cityscape so vast and intricate it's almost unthinkable.

People mill down there in pulses and throngs, the sounds rising up a chaotic cacophony.

"Do you know what this is?"

Dakkareth: Isis steps up to the railing and takes in all she can, watching, listening, letting the scene impress itself on her.

(trying the 1st attainment to divine meaning from patterns)

ST: (The only meaning you can derive from the scene with your ability is that this is London. Aside from that, it is utterly inscrutible. It's a riddle of a scope you've never seen, a labyrinth of a thousand, thousand forking paths.)

Dakkareth: A minute passes as Isis watches. "No," she says finally.

ST: "What do you see?"

Dakkareth: "I see a city, a representation perhaps fractal in nature of London except for this tower." She tilts her head slightly, curious. "What do you see?" What is seen may depend on the observer in a place like this, after all.

ST: She does not respond immediately. "Broaden your perspective, Isis. Take your time and look again. There is meaning, and you can see it, you just do not realise it."

Dakkareth: Isis is silent for a long time, looking out over the city below. Resisting the cold becomes an effort in the end and she shakes her head. "I see but do not understand, do not know. I can make suppositions of course, but that's not the point, is it?"

"Will you give further guidance, or is this something I must learn to understand on my own?"

ST: "This is my project." She speaks, not taking her eyes off the scene below. "This is the meaning of London."

"And," Finally she sighs a little, then steps back. "All I can see is exactly what you do."

"I've spent years gathering every fragment, and the same trying to decipher it all as a whole. I've tried to document the stories and the relations of each grain of truth, but all I can determine is a spaghetti mess - dead ends and self-contradicting facts."

Dakkareth: Awe is briefly reflected in Isis' expression as she takes in the magnitude of the idea.

ST: "No city in the world is like this. No place." She watches your face, "A project like this, it should occurs in stages. It is added to and elaborated upon in a framework as more is discovered, yet.. London is undecipherable."

Dakkareth: Isis looks pensive. "Undecipherable ... do you think inherently, by you, or by merely human minds in general?"

ST: "Objectively." She seems certain. "Perhaps there is a pattern I do not understand, but that is precisely the point I want to make to you."

"The truth of London is in cipher. The city has been engineered to defy determination."

Dakkareth: "Intentionally made so? And other cities aren't?"

ST: "I have never encountered this before, and no literature has documented it. I base my work from a similar project in Boston, where these methods are being used successfully."

Dakkareth: "Do you think there is an architect that made it so? A supernal law or principle? Or is it an emergent property?"

"'Intentionally engineered' implies the first, of course ..."

ST: "I do not know. I believe it is intentional; the self-defeating, contradictory nature of the truths I try to elaborate seem to suggest an intelligent design. I couldn't imagine such circumstances coming about naturally."

"I can only speculate, though. It is something I'm still investigating."

"But, this is not your concern for now. This is all to illustrate a point."

"The world is lie upon lie, mystery and riddle stacked endlessly. It is not only the nature of the world to hide from our understanding, but you must realise how we are manipulated on every level by subterfuges greater than you can realise."

"Lies committed by those who live in a lie, adding layers and knots to the puzzle. It is the nature of the world, and as Sphinxes we are committed to the impossible task of deciphering it all."

"Do you understand?"

Dakkareth: "I think I do. I hadn't considered it on such a scale of breadth and depth before."

ST: "It is a perspective you must know if you are to be successful. Solid ground is virtually non-existant; everything you presume to be true may be false. Always, always bear that in mind. Review what you know constantly, and do your utmost to avoid assumptions."

"I'm sorry." She finally pauses, her tone actually softening somewhat for the first time in a while. "I don't want to overwhelm you, Isis, but after all you have been through I feel as though you need to protect yourself."

Dakkareth: Isis gives a small smile. "Opening your eyes in the morning may sting but if you don't then you'll never see."

ST: "Everyone lies, Isis." Even in light of your smile her own expression is saddened. "Magic makes it easier. All-encompassing."

Dakkareth: Her smile fades and she nods. "Not so hard to grasp, difficult to hold on to, and sometimes painful when you fail to."

"I will have to consider that for some time, I think."

ST: "I think it's time we woke up." Glancing once more to the 'city' below she lets her frown fade away, "I'm starving. How about we go get something to eat? Take our mind off all this nonsense."

Dakkareth: Isis inclines her head to indicate her following her mentor's lead. "Subconscious processing you mean, surely," she objects playfully with a grin, "if I am to 'always bear in mind'?"

ST: "You learn fast." She grins. "Come on. It's cold here."