the history of magic meme

[1castle4houses]

welcome to AU hell

RULES;

1. tag in
2. tag around!
3. mix and match - pick a setting from the first column and an AU from the second column (or use RNG if you like to live on edge -- there's 10 prompts per column)
4. have fun

HINTS;

We welcome and encourage all OCs. Add a little blurb about your character so other players have an idea what to play with, and feel free to add your preferences and permissions.
Ship, don't ship; make out, don't make out - all is fair game.

PROMPTS;

Setting	AU
1. Ancient	a. Soldiers on the same side
2. Middle Ages	b. Arranged marriage
3. 1600s	c. Great new discovery
4. 1700s	d. Childhood friends
5. 1800s	e. Met on the road
6. 1900s	f. Rags and riches
7. Roaring 20s	g. Members of two feuding houses
8. 1940s	h. It's all about the art
9. 1970s	i. Co-conspirators
10. WILDCARD	j. WILDCARD

Comments

YES temple virgins

[flannelwitch]

It's not that life in the temple is bad, strictly speaking. It's not. The older priestesses are mostly kind, there is heaps of food, and roaring fires keep Marlene warm at night. If you do something stupid, you're more likely to get a lecture than a beating, so definitely not bad. It's just that... Well. It's rather boring.

Apparently this is normal, at least according to some of her teachers. Young girls often find the long rituals and ceremonies rather tedious, which apparently passes with age - same as feeling very confused by some of the problems that people come to the temple with. But there are good parts, too - like going to the harbor with Lily.

The day is bright and exciting, with street vendors tempting from every direction with sweets and snacks, farmers rushing animals to stalls, and sellers shouting out about their wares. It's almost easy to miss that massive ship Lily is pointing out, except whatever has Lily's attention immediately has Marlene's as well. It's been like that ever since they were little: Lily pointing to things, and Marlene immediately finding them fascinating, as if Lily had some kind of a magical skill of making the world more colorful. Everything she found exciting was automatically worth Marlene's time.

"Further east than Arabia?" she repeats, pensive. There's an idea for you, especially for a girl who's never been further out than Ostia. "You think we'll go, one day? When our service is over?"

They'll be thirty five by the time the temple releases them, which seems like a lifetime away, but... it will happen one day. Most of the priestesses don't accept the release, and stay on until they go gray and feeble, but some go away. Not many. But some.

[lancifolium]

"Would you like to?" The thought that Marlene might made Lily's face light up in a smile as she looked away from the ship and towards her companion once more. It felt like an eternity until their service would come to an end, and Lily tried not to dwell on it - of all the places a woman her age could have ended up, the temple was fairly luxurious and she had no right to long for something beyond it. Not to mention that sort of thinking was frowned upon. They were meant to be present while serving their goddess, and most became so enamored with a life of devotion that they stayed on until the end of their days to continue. Lily was happy to be where she was, Marlene's company made it difficult not to be.

"You don't think you'll want to stay? You know you're one of the best diviners in the temple, even the elders say so." Lily looked at Marlene for a moment, admiring the way the sunlight caught her friend's hair. "You could end up as the head priestess if given enough time. Though I would, if you wanted. I think anywhere would be better if I got to see it with you and talk to you about it."

A call was heard off the coast, and the clang of a large bell followed it, forcing Lily's attention back to the shore where the imposing line of a great ship had broken the line of the horizon and began to approach. "Look at the size of it, it must be massive up close," Lily's hand settled on the crook of Marlene's arm as she watched the vessel's slow approach, taking a step closer to her friend in excitement.

[flannelwitch]

But Marlene's attention is far from the ship. Lily is much more interesting. Funny, how Lily is always much more interesting.

"Don't be mean. You know I'm too mouthy to ever be high priestess." Which is not remotely the point, and sounds like a fight, and nothing like what Marlene wants. "And... I don't know. Don't you ever think about it? All we ever see is that one temple, that one small world. Of course I want to see what's outside. But... The world is different, if you're out there wearing plain clothes and trying to make your way. There is men in the world. Things. I don't know what scares me more. To stay or to go."