[ OPEN ] churchgoers are like coals in a fire.

[passio]

WHO: dextera + anyone!
WHERE: the church.
WHEN: throughout august, provided the event doesn’t drastically ruin everything.
WHAT: dextera offers some spiritual guidance, now that he’s god and all.
WARNINGS: definitely talk of religion, possibly discussion of death!

[ after the quests—the single quest, as it is this month—goes up, a simple message can be found on the forum from the hex code belonging to dextera. ]

The town is changing. People are disappearing. It feels like the world is ending. If anyone feels lost, or afraid, or has something they want to talk about, I’ll be in the church. This is my responsibility, so please don’t worry about my judgment.

If it helps, you can consider this a fulfillment of the quest. I want to help.

[ and true to his word, dextera can be found in the church, variously praying, or studying, or merely watching the walls as if he’s waiting for something, rather than someone. still, no matter who comes in, and as long as dextera is present—he does have to return to tend to his chickens in his empty, empty home—he will greet anyone with the kind of gentle smile that belongs to a god, or a mother, or the combination of both that inhabits him. ]

( feel free to respond to this as if it were really on the network, or if you want to jump right into a log for prayer/discussion/confessional/religious debate, GO RIGHT AHEAD. )

Comments

[superioritis]

[ although berkut has no intention of talking about his feelings, he finds his curiosity piqued by the post. still, he doesn't go to the church right away. it's only when he passes it on his way elsewhere that he deigns to stand in the doorway, watching.

there is perhaps one god who would wear a smile like that, and it's not his. mother? that doesn't even cross his mind. ]

I thought that color belonged to you. Do you fancy yourself the patron god of this town now?

[passio]

[ it’s nice to be recognized by his color by someone like berkut, but maybe it also isn’t especially strange.

for all the ominous rituals of the church, dextera’s eyes are soft when he answers. ]

I’m not a god here.

[ not any more than they all are, having contributed to both creation and destruction in this place. it’s different when he thinks about it like that. ]

I just thought… I could help people, the way they’ve helped me.

[superioritis]

[ he scowls. the nature of this town goes against everything he believes in. leaning on each other for strength instead of relying on their own—is there anything more humiliating and misinformed than this? ]

Hmph. I suppose you would know all about the world's end.

[passio]

[ that is a low blow, but dextera takes it in stride because he must. jeanne, for their first meeting in the month prior, gave him some guidance on not dwelling. he can make amends without wallowing in his own regrets, vast as they are and surely should be. his smile falls, but he just turns to look at the stained glass.

he’s been here many times before, learning to pray for this very reason. ]

I would. I do. I might not have done it, if I had known these people first.

[superioritis]

[ berkut has no love for churches. it isn't that he has anything against them, but rather the people associated with them. there are plenty of pious folk who've done nothing wrong, yet there are more who corrupt the teachings for their self-interest. those few have ruined the sanctity of religion for him.

no, these halls have nothing to offer him. so he doesn't step inside, and he's quiet for a moment before he says neutrally: ]

You really are pitiful.

[passio]

I am. But it’s true anyway. I destroyed the world because I was lonely, so if I hadn’t been…

[ dextera pauses here, and shakes his head. ]

The world would have ended anyway. My sin was taking away the choice for others to keep living in it. [ the apocalypse had been creeping in since even before dextera was born, and he was groomed to try to stop it. perhaps it was the only retaliation that made sense.

he looks to berkut. ] Do you want to come in? It’s hot.

[superioritis]

[ it is hot. rigel's climate is much colder than this. berkut found himself sweltering in the last couple days; today, however, has been tolerable. ]

The Empire may have been founded by a god, but I am hardly what you would call a pious person.

[ and dextera, at times, can be highly off-putting. right now is one of those times that berkut finds him most reproachful. ]

[pyrafect]

Dextera...?

[ She's here not because of the offer of help he has asked others over the network, but because... Mythra had been a total ass to him, and she's here to apologize. She does that a lot, it seems. Apologizing for Mythra, as if it is hers to give.

Her eyes sweep over the restored pews and dias of the church, finally resting upon the young man. She smiles sweetly at him, beginning to walk down the aisle. She's had quite a few memories here, both good and bad, and it seems that there is nothing more she can do to help right the wrongs she has done, save for apologizing. Over and over again. ] You seem... different.

[passio]

Maybe I am.

[ is there really any ‘maybe’ about it, though? he is different, and he gets more different from the person he used to be with every passing day. in some ways, this is good. in most. yet he still feels as if he has a long way to go. ]

I hope that’s okay.

[pyrafect]

Oh, no, no... It's perfectly fine. [ He seems happier is what she wants to say, but she supposes anyone might be, now that the flower enchantments are gone.

Speaking of. ]

After reading your post on the forum, I have come here to... ah, ....apologize. [ And that apology comes out slow not because it is difficult to say, but because of the circumstances that necessitate it.

Her gaze falls from her, and her fingers twine with each other. ] For... our-- Mythra's... behavior, how she treated you, when the flowers enchanted everyone.

[ Binding and gagging him were definitely not provoked because of the flowers. That was all her doing. ]

[passio]

Oh, um…

[ dextera’s peaceful expression falters, since he’s embarrassed to have it brought up again. he doesn’t think she was at all out of line with the whole ordeal, but maybe it’s hard to reflect on for reasons he doesn’t understand.

slowly, he shakes his head. ]

You… she was right to do all that. I can’t control myself when I get that way.

[ a pause. ]

Lusty.

[pyrafect]

[ A flush creeps to her cheeks, but her eyes remain sorrowful. Pyra brings a hand up to her chest, her gaze still lowered. ]

It... was the flowers, wasn't it? And we are... Mythra is-- more brusque. We could have been more gentle with you.

[ But with that apology out of the way, she looks at him, stepping forward. Now her look is worried. ] You're not... hurt, are you?

[passio]

[ the flowers brought it out of him, but the sad reality is that he’s this person when he’s left completely unchecked. he would rather not correct her, though, for his own sake. ]

I’m not. I promise. I’m used to much rougher treatment than that.

#ffff99

[troubadamsel]

[oh... this raises... a question or two.]

What do you mean, your responsibility?

[passio]

I am someone important in my own world.

It’s hard to explain.

[troubadamsel]

I can imagine! But what we are in our home world should have no influence on how this world works.

[passio]

No more influence than just us being here, I think.

Still, because I’m here, I have to do the things that only I can do.

[troubadamsel]

I understand now, I think. What is it that you can do now that you couldn't before?

[passio]

I’ve changed a lot since I arrived here. Have you ever been home, and come back? It’s so strange.

action~

[theshowsover]

[He and Dextera haven't had the best of all interactions the last few months, but Akira decides to stop by the church anyway. He's not particularly religious (seeing gods and monsters as just part of the mental landscape of the world can do that), but churches hold a bit of nostalgia for him anyway. It was a church where he would meet Hifumi to play Shoji, pray to confessional to learn remember forgotten skills, and where he once posed for Yusuke as art inspiration.

Now, he looks around the church curiously, hands in his pockets.]

You're really taking your role seriously.

[It's not meant to be rude.]

[passio]

[ dextera doesn’t blame akira for any of it, since they technically made up, and it was something that dextera has begged from him anyway. nonetheless, the cruelest of akira’s words, that his mistakes made him a perfect fit for guren, occasionally rattle around in his head.

he turns to akira. ]

It’s the only thing I can do.

[ akira doesn’t seem like the praying type, even so. ]

[theshowsover]

At this point, maybe...

[He hadn't been happy with Guren either, at the time. He let his thoughts get away with him. But he's dating a murderer... what right does he really have to judge?]

It feels like an end is coming. [He touches one of the pews idly, taps it with his fingers in a soft rhythm.] It felt like this in my world too, before I came here.

[passio]

Lonely?

[ dextera remembers a truth about his world. the apocalypse had started long before dextera was even born. the only thing he did was hasten it—but it’s too late to explain to that extent now. he should just listen to others, instead. ]

[theshowsover]

...Yeah.

[That's a good way to put it. He nods.]

Lonely and... still. Like nothing is moving forward anymore. Like nothing will ever change.

[Which is more than a little frustrating, when you've been working so hard to change everything.]

[passio]

…

[ dextera lowers his eyes. ]

That’s what it was like, after… [ the apocalypse, of course. but perhaps it hasn’t happened yet, in akira’s world. dextera wonders how many times it can be brought about across the universes.

he frowns. ]

But your world is still okay, isn’t it?