三 [Visual] Hallowed is the path...

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

The visual comes on, sent to as many people as possible, and Inara's looking a bit...different-ey. Her hair is swept up into a refined, almost regal style and her expression is far harder than usual. Something in her eyes suggests that she is both very focused and very displeased about something, but when she speaks it's with a smile.

A not at all reassuring smile that seems like a thin veneer over superior disdain.

"I am not familiar with my surroundings. I can only assume that I have been captured by the enemies of the true path of Origin. This will prove to have been a mistake." She ponders her tablet for a while, tilting her head with detached curiosity.

"In the meantime, I sense many new souls in this place, unfamiliar ones. I would like to extend the opportunity to them to come to the power and the glory of Origin. The power and the greatness of the Ori cannot be denied, and those who accept the one truth of Origin into their lives and their hearts will be richly rewarded with that truth. Blessed are those who walk in unison, and hallowed are the Ori. Those who follow the path of righteousness shall be raised up high..."

Her expression hardens further, her lip curling briefly. "And those who reject the path to enlightenment must be destroyed."

[OOC: Glitch start! For the next two weeks Inara has been possessed by Adria from Stargate SG-1, a half-human, half-godlike-creature imbued with phenomenally powerful psychic powers like telekinesis, mind reading, mind control, summoning fire and magical healing. And she has an agenda. Also, she's Vala's daughter! More details here, and I hope this'll be a lot of fun. Questions, plans, anything, don't hesitate to ask! :D ]

Comments

[Visual]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

Have a Cassie, who's not exactly into religion.

"You can fuckin' try. But I'm awful hard to destroy."

[Visual]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

Resistance. How amusing.

"I am imbued with all the power of the Ori, and I assure you that I am also..."

Her fingers trail up to her throat where a pendant or a necklace might normally be, and finding nothing there is very brief alarm in her eyes, quickly covered.

"...very difficult to destroy," she says haughtily, and then attempts another very thin smile.

"It doesn't have to come to conflict, though. If you simply accept the truth and the light of Origin and become a part of my great army, you will be spared and set on the path to enlightenment."

[visual]

[valaunbound]

Vala can't do much more than stare at the screen infront of her for a good few moments, an ever increasing sense of dread mounting as she listens to Adria spouting her Ori nonsense and accompanying death threats.

But it's Adria, her daughter, her own flesh and blood, and she looks very much alive.

"... Adria?" She almost wants the answer to be 'no', or to wake up and realise this is all just a bad dream.

[visual]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

The voice draws Adria's focus, and catching sight of the screen for just a moment she's a lost and confused girl who's genuinely glad to see her mother.

"Mother!" She says with a smile, but it fades quickly.

"I thought that I sensed you...Why am I here? Did you and your friends do this?" She can't keep her hand from returning to the place where a piece of the Holy City of Celestis should be resting in her conspicuously missing pendant.

[Voice]

[stealth-shot.livejournal.com]

[guess who is not only very confused, but very stunned]

Inara? What's gotten into you?

[Voice]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

Despite the fact that she's clearly in Inara's shuttle from what can be seen of her surroundings, is wearing one of Inara's dresses, and if one were to look up Inara Serra's location on the tablets it would point to the spot where she's standing, she looks perplexed by this.

"I am the Orici and the leader of the Ori, my name is Adria."

[voice]

[needtoruleit.livejournal.com]

[You've poked his interest.]

... Power? What kind of power?

[voice]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

Now that's more like what she wants to hear. Her smile widens, becoming downright pleasant and reassuring.

"By following the path of Origin, one is working on the path towards enlightenment. Untold knowledge and untold power can be had..."

She holds out her hands, fire-like energy swirling above each one, and considers Billy's transmitted image thoughtfully. "What is your name?"

[visual]

[beholdthedrums.livejournal.com]

Now wasn't that interesting? The Master grins, a hand pressed to his chin, barely containing his excitement. There could be much benefit underlying this situation... "You get use to this place, miss. It could be true that you've been kidnapped; I don't believe anyone has quite figured out how Taxon works." He sure as hell hadn't. "But if you need showing around, by all means I offer my service."

Ori, Origin, path of righteousness - it all sounded like a load of crap. But the result of rejecting it sounded quite pleasant. Such an easy way to cut down the city's population, if he simply balances himself between the sides.

He straightens and folds his hands behind his back. "Tell me about the Ori, why don't you?" he requests calmly, and the interest in his voice is no lie. "About the path to enlightenment."

[visual]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

"The Ori are the destined rulers of all worlds, all galaxies, and the creators of all life in the universe..." she says with a light frown. How can he not know this? But he is friendly and isn't immediately trying to overthrow her, and she would never turn down the opportunity to win over a new convert to Origin.

"As beings we ascended long, long ago, and have sought to bring the secrets of that power and knowledge to the devoted and the faithful. The followers of the Path of Origin are richly rewarded." Yes, it seems just about every other word out of her mouth is destined to be about the glory and the power of her religion.

"Taxon, is that the name of this place?" She asks, glancing around the interior of the shuttle that she's currently in, elaborately decorated to look more like a bedroom than a shuttlecraft.

[visual]

[skyfrome.livejournal.com]

Well, that's different. 'Severely taken aback' would be a very mild way of describing Mal's reaction to Adria's announcement. In actual fact he's staring at the tablet with an expression of complete stupefaction.

"Inara, sweetheart, what in the gorram hell is this exceptional load of fèihuà* you're spoutin'?"

A pause, before he adds. "...and what did you do with your hair?"

*nonsense

[visual]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

Adria looks at the tablet's display with an utter lack of recognition...and an utter lack of reaction to being called sweetheart which would definitely not have passed by Inara's attention without comment.

"All of you keep using that name, and I'm unsure why that is," she says, bordering on being uncomfortable with the fact. She's not much used to situations that she doesn't understand. It takes her a few moments to work out what the man is saying in some sort of heavy accent and foreign language, and then she puts a hand to her hair with an openly puzzled expression.

"It was in disarray. Like this it isn't in my way."

[visual]

[glowingseer.livejournal.com]

"Just when I thought this place is devoid of weird," she says, arching a brow in the process.

"So, what's the catch, lady? We get to walk with the awesome Origin, in turn you get our souls?"

[visual]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

"Souls? Your soul is your own affair. Origin requires only devotion, faith and dedication. The Ori need nothing from you, all we want is to share the knowledge and the power that we have with people," she says with a gesture and a smile.

[aesthetic_mojo]

Charlotte remembered the way Vala was when she changed, although she'd had other things to deal with at the time. She also knew how devastating the change could be to those nearby. She watched the display for a while, her frown deepening. She wasn't over fond of people she liked being changed and she also hated the idea of religion being used like a baseball bat.

"Well, at least you aren't subtle about it. Join up or die? Lovely." She exhaled slowly. "Don't guess you know where Inara got to."

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

Her temper is starting to show through the thin veneer of civility that she's putting on for the tablet camera. "I do not know who this 'Inara' person is, nor do I care. And I take no joy in routing the nonbelievers, but it must be done to create a more perfect world and free people from the powers that be that would hold them in their current unevolved state of ignorance and powerlessness."

[voice]

[biverbam.livejournal.com]

[This call is coming from somewhere inside the house spaceship. Not Inara's shuttle, but from inside a nook somewhere nearby, close enough that Adira can probably hear the echo.]

Not her... Full of someone else's pebbles.

[Long pause.]

Give her back.

[voice]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

[She looks around with mild alarm, fiery power lighting up in her eyes]

Give who back? Who's there?

[voice]

[dexmcduff.livejournal.com]

[Oh GOD, Dexter thinks. Only not. The irony. It's just like those door-to-door people only admittedly way hotter and with creepy eyes.]

You don't actually mean destroyed do you... just one of those potential 'train at the end of the light at the end of the tunnel when you die' things?

[Video]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

She tosses her head a little. "What happens to the unbelievers after they are destroyed does not concern the Ori. Simply that they are destroyed, so that they will not stir rebellion and dissent against the one true path."

[voice]

[xthchance.livejournal.com]

[Daniel allllmost switches the thing to visual, but decides against it last second. So have a none-too-pleased archaeologist voice aimed that way...]

Adria.

[Video]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

She doesn't have a face to go with the voice, but she knows the voice all the same. She draws herself up, her eyes narrowed, with a slow grin.

"Daniel," she says, her voice pleasant on the surface but sharply edged with a lot of other emotions at once. "It has been far too long. I do believe that mother is trying to hide you from me...isn't that amusing?"

[visual]

[notcursed.livejournal.com]

Probably unfortunately for Toby, he's never had too much respect for religious dogmatists. Combine that with a hero complex...

"Yeah? Destroyed with what?"

[visual]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

"By the overwhelming might of the Ori, of course," she says, her eyes lighting up with fiery power. "Either on an individual basis or, in some cases, entire worlds. Those who reject the path to enlightenment must be destroyed."

[visual]

[seven-of-9.livejournal.com]

"What kind of power?" Annika innocently asks, the bridge of the Enterprise in the background, "will it bring my parents here?"

[visual]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

The little girl's voice gives her pause, where more or less nothing else has. She has never been around children, even for the day or so that she was one, even if she probably has more in common with Annika than anyone else here.

"Once I escape this place I can likely locate and bring your parents here," she says hesitantly, unsure why she'd want to do anything to help the undergrown human who cannot join the armies of the Ori anyway. But...in her own head her voice and desires are a lot more like Annika's than she'd like to admit.

[who-never-would.livejournal.com]

"Enemies of the true path of what?" questions the Doctor, leaning against the console in his ship, looking down at his tablet, "And honestly, you were here before... or at least someone who looked just like you. ... She wasn't nearly as interesting." The Doctor pokes at his tablet, setting it to the holo setting so that Adria can see little bits and pieces of the TARDIS as he speaks.

It's a pretty glorious looking ship by most standards, half-organic, half machine, coral-like beams extending from the ship's supposed ceiling down into the floor. This peculiar, dark-suited man is leaning up against what appears to be the control console, fidgeting occasionally with buttons, a knob or lever here and there.

"Oh, I'm really actually quite curious, by the way, but ah, tell me about the Ori? Because, really, if it's blessings and stuff with walking with them, that sounds really like quite the experience."

The Doctor pauses, listening, and when Adria comes to that bit about enlightenment and not following it, and promising destruction, he's quite displeased. That shows on his face as well, thinly veiled irritation behind dark, cold eyes. Even though he's still smiling, there's an old anger rising in him.

"And right, about that destruction thing. See, I'm the Doctor, and this happens to be, well, a bit of my turf, so if you're going to lark about destroying people, or whatever, how's we have a nice cup of tea and a chat about that?"

He cants his head to the side, and takes a deep breath. Something in the back of his head tells him poking this snake with a stick could prove to be a bad idea. He does it anyway, "I mean, if you really can. That's a pretty flimsy human body you're inhabiting at the moment. Girl who it actually belongs to is just a girl, far as I can tell."

[ooc: Doctor is telepathic and pretty damn old. Feel free to poke with that and read his mind if you like, information about him is on wiki and information specific to him is in his background in his posts under the Taxon app post. :3]

[hearts-of-gold.livejournal.com]

"The path of Origin. The path to knowledge, power and ascenscion. The path to Truth," she responds in a tone that somehow managed to suggest the capital-t in Truth. Watching the visual, her attention is caught by the high technology. This is a more appropriate vessel for her glorious conversion of whatever corner of the galaxy this is compared to the dingy ship she started in, surely.

"The Ori are the originators of all life in the universe. Unlike some other higher, ascended beings, however, we don't pretend to be deities to the uneducated masses. All we do is offer them a way to follow the same Path that we have, knowledge in return for devotion. In our benevolence, we want to share what we have discovered with the rest of the people instead of holding that information aside for only ourselves, selfishly. Those who follow the Path will celebrate with the Ori in the higher planes," she says with a smile that was probably supposed to be benevolent, but there's just a touch too much haughtiness in it for it to really come across that way.

As what he says starts to come across as more of a threat, however, her eyes gradually narrow. "No matter whose body I'm supposedly using, something I still have as of yet to be convinced of, I have the power to defend myself. Are you an Ancient?" If she had to she would take the information from his mind, but that would require more of an up-close and in person sort of approach.