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[padrenoctem]

Are you sure that is wise?

Comments

[abyssum_invocat]

Never. Only fools are sure about some things.

[padrenoctem]

I am thinking that you are not one to believe in blind faith, no?

[abyssum_invocat]

You're not wrong in thinking that. I don't like allegiances that are expected to be unquestioning.

Too much of that already.

[padrenoctem]

That is wise. [ Punctuated with a point of a gloved finger. They fold soon after. ] What can I be doing for you tonight, then?

[abyssum_invocat]

Mostly, I came for the quiet. It's hard to find places that are at all calm in the city.

[padrenoctem]

[ A nod ] Very well. You are welcome here.

[abyssum_invocat]

[ Sinthia huffs out a little laugh at that, but nods. ] Since you've been so kind, I should extend you the same courtesy, shouldn't I?

[padrenoctem]

Were you thinking I would not? [ Well, a dead pope-like figure in black garb does tend to immediately send alarm bells off in most people. Usually they think he's a demon, or some kind of fallen malicious spirit.

At any rate, his jawline cracks an unnatural smile. ] And how were you thinking you would do that?

[abyssum_invocat]

I was thinking that most people are of the opinion that church buildings are not open to the public in the late evening. [ The robes, yes, are odd, but Sinthia herself is in all unrelieved black and so it doesn't necessarily bother her to see anyone else in it. ]

When you tell me what if anything you need, I'll start thinking about it. Bricks without clay and all that.

[padrenoctem]

A church's doors should never be closed, but. [ He'll not get too bitter about it ]

That is very kind of you.

[abyssum_invocat]

I haven't been in a church in a very long time.

I try not to be an ass when it's uncalled for.

[padrenoctem]

Are you faithful?

[abyssum_invocat]

To many ideas, yes; some of them are even positive.

[padrenoctem]

[ A small laugh. Oddly, doesn't seem to come from him as much as everywhere around him. ]

I am hoping you would be faithful to something, but here you are in a Church.

[abyssum_invocat]

The church has plenty of faith. It just happens to be mostly in the willingness of people to give money to whatever lets them believe that death is not the end of all things.

[padrenoctem]

Mm, yes. These are difficult conversations.

[abyssum_invocat]

I'd like to think dying is final, and that notion makes life more...engaging. For lack of a better word.

[padrenoctem]

I would be thinking that the possible outcome of your afterlife might encourage you to make more of your life. It is.. hm, unfortunate, how uneducated people are on the afterlife.

[abyssum_invocat]

Oh? And do you educate people?

[out_of_my_control]

[eyebrow rises]

Is anything?

[padrenoctem]

[ he laughs] No one wants to know what I know. People are wanting hope, not truth.

[padrenoctem]

I am thinking there is a difference between uneducated and consciously foolish, no?

[out_of_my_control]

And it is not belief that determines the outcome of a life?

[padrenoctem]

[ a short laugh ]

Certainly you must know that belief has little to do with anything.

[out_of_my_control]

[lips curve, a smile lurking but not yet arrived]

Little except the destination.

[padrenoctem]

That is being more a matter of obedience. If we are speaking about the judeo-christian pathos.

[out_of_my_control]

Recycling and reincarnation has a certain logic.
Traveling with a group in the bardo, a resonance.
Becoming part of the universe, appealing...

[abyssum_invocat]

I do. I like to know.

[padrenoctem]

Is this a reflection on your duties or for yourself?

[padrenoctem]

[ then he will sit ]

Then I will tell you what you want to know.

[out_of_my_control]

[solemn features made way for the smile and a laugh]

A comment on where belief can take an individual.

[padrenoctem]

But if you choose to believe these things, one of these things, you must truly believe it.

Thoughts that occupy your mind often?

[out_of_my_control]

[If.]

Many thoughts occur to me while delivering the souls to their destinations.

[abyssum_invocat]

Does which faith you have matter, or just that you have it? I presume it matters to someone. Or something.

[padrenoctem]

And now here you are. Let us get to the point then, hm? How may I be of service to you.

[padrenoctem]

It is mattering to you, yes. But you must wholly believe it, and in many cases you must be brought into your faith not only with belief but through ceremony.

It is being something of a contract for the soul.

[out_of_my_control]

[is here for the same reason she goes anywhere, her services are needed]

[A soul, grey and murky, trembles, caught on the curve of the hand scythe hanging at her hip. A soul which is retrieved, cradled and caressed in pale fingers, then held out.]

A delivery for you.

[padrenoctem]

[ It seems his dwelling is slowly working. The dead had only begun to come to his realm. He reaches out to collect them. ]

Ah, peace now my friend.

[out_of_my_control]

[gentle the transference regardless of destination]
[pauses, considering]
[has not been here before and, unlike the other reapers, her curiosity is a spark in the gray soul]

May I observe?

[padrenoctem]

[ a place deeply set in fog. So deep that it might seem as if there was nothing but endless roads of fog. Although there was the steeple of a church somewhere in the distance. Never seemed to matter which way you turned. You could get to the church if you needed to. The closer you came to it the more you would see that this world was just a shadow of the real one.

And speaking of shadows, that was what the soul would become. ]

Of course.

[out_of_my_control]

Thank you.

[Silent steps, leather creaks, an advisory of where she is. The reaper's outward appearance is a facade the gray soul cloaks itself in. Green eyes, the only color beyond the monochrome black, grey and whites, take in what she is allowed to see.]

sorry about the misfire

[abyssum_invocat]

And if I do not believe the soul can be bartered for?

no problem

[padrenoctem]

Bartered? The afterlife is not a bartering system. It is just a destination. Unless you are speaking about deals of the soul?

[abyssum_invocat]

I was speaking of the dealing, yes.

[padrenoctem]

[ he gave a nod, and brought the soul to where an alter aught to be. Ancient symbols, those found in the keys and some even older laid etched into the ground instead. They burned when the soul entered the circle. The ritual was accompanied by crude latin, the latin actually spoken once upon a time.

There didn't seem to be any pain, but what was odd perhaps was that the soul seemed to split in two. One a shadowy chaotic figure, the other a more solid outline of a person. Calm, and much like Noctem capable of thought and speech.

Ah, yes he knows this soul now. He recognizes it. Now it makes sense.]

What happens when someone knows heaven and hell but does not believe in either side of the argument? Hopefully, they come here.

[padrenoctem]

If you believe in the powers that you are bartering with, than the barring will happen. If you do not [ a small laugh ] Well, I am thinking they would not waste their time to even consider you if you are not believing in them.

Have you encountered a regret in the bartering of your soul?

[out_of_my_control]

The third side of a two sided coin.

[Yes, she and Cato, the gatekeeper of Purgatory are well acquainted. The well balanced soul first thought, at the end of the world, at the end of the universe, once her purpose was no longer necessary, that she would be sent to Purgatory, waiting for her soul to finally tip one way or the other. More choices, more beliefs and endings discovered, these days she does not know what she would like.]

[Believed that Death would become bored (eventually) after everything ended. Perhaps he would gather the pieces and reset the clock, watching to see if anything new happened. Rebirth.]

[abyssum_invocat]

I have encountered the regret that comes from believing for a very long time that I didn't have one.