melodiesoflife | Event || Terra Incognita

Entry tags:

Event || Terra Incognita

Characters: Anyone who signed up for the trip!
Where: The Enterprise / Mysidia.
When: Starting from the 18th of November.
Summary: The first trip to the Continent of Ruins is finally happening! The Heroes of Light, the Enterprise Crew, Cid and O'aka are all onboard for the trip. What will the Heroes of Light find there? Will they come back alive? Feel free to start your own top-comment thread about your character exploring Mysida and its surroundings! For details regarding Mysidia, please click here.
Warning: Nothing (yes, they'll come back alive).

Open Mingle || The Enterprise
Event || Welcoming Committee

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The ex-priest shook his head. "No, nothing important. I was just..." praying to nonexistent gods "trying to learn about the culture here. You can understand a lot about people by looking at what they worship."

He had no evidence that the Eidolons could hear him any more than the Etone's false god could, but looking at it that way, it seemed a little less like a complete waste of time.

"...This is true," she conceded. But it sure looked as if his task was important enough that he would pour so much concentration and effort into it.

Hitching up the fabric of her hakama, Rukia knelt beside him on the floor, hands crossed on her lap. "Would you mind if I joined you, then?" Praying in a temple full of people made it difficult to concentrate, as there were too many foreign factors at work that could easily distract her and make her nervous. What was more, the sage had given them a great deal of information that she was still chewing on. The movement of the calamity... That did not sit well with her at all. As a soldier of the Esdham military, she wondered if her loyalty would be questioned were she to push for a treaty or peace agreement of some sort in favor of an evacuation. She knew little of diplomacy and politics, so she wasn't sure how to proceed.

But being next to a friend, she thought, might help to calm her thoughts enough to focus on one particular task, one she might not have another chance to take given how much she tended to heap onto her plate.

Billy scooted over, making room for Rukia more symbolically than in reality, since they had a whole wide temple in which to kneel. It was not his place to bar someone from worship, and Rukia was better company than most.

"There's different statues, but otherwise, it's not too much different from home," he remarked before he resumed his attitude of prayer. Maybe now that he wasn't directing it toward anything in particular, it was more quiet meditation. There had not been much time or space for that since he'd arrived. It was sort of comforting to return to the tranquility of holy ground.

Rukia smiled, nodding her thanks, before settling her hands on her lap. She wasn't really accustomed to doing any praying, herself. That was something only the living did; what god did she have to direct her pleas?

She looked at Billy again. She really didn't want to interrupt, but his devout nature drew her curiosity. "Do others in your world adopt the same traditions as you, or were you drawn to your religion under different circumstances?"

If he looked annoyed, she would drop it and let him resume his contemplations.

Billy looked up from his prayer stance. Where to even begin?

"There are two major churches on my world. The 'Ethos' Church, which I joined as a young boy, and the Church of Nisan. The Ethos gained popularity by excavating and using lost technology to bolster their power. The priests of the Church, the Etones, are trained to kill those who are mutated into monsters by their sins. At least, that's what we were told. It's...a lie." That was putting the corruption of the Ethos mildly, but there was no need to dredge up the details.

"The Nisan Orthodoxy is the other religion, founded on the teachings of the Holy Mother, Sophia. She taught people to look within themselves to find strength, and her acolytes spread peace and help the fortunate." The followers of Nisan he'd met were all kindly. He'd found no reason to doubt their sincerity.

He shrugged. "Everyone chooses one, or neither, on their own, for all sorts of different reasons."

Rukia nodded sagely about the Ethos church. Exorcising a mutated soul? That was the sort of thing a shinigami was tasked to do. Before she could comment on having this trait in common with one another, he revealed that it was a lie.

She opened her mouth. Then she wisely shut her mouth.

So he was suffering a crisis of faith? And yet, he still prayed, and he still believed in angels as well. "Then where do you stand now?" she asked, completely puzzled. Had he joined this other religion, or renounced them both to follow his own beliefs?

Billy shrugged. "I'm still trying to work that out. The Nisan Orthodoxy doesn't seem wrong... but I got tricked by the Ethos, so I don't want to rush into anything new."

He touched the handle of his gun. "Until I get it figured out, I just have to decide for myself who I'm supposed to heal and who I'm supposed to shoot." Which was common sense, but sometimes it was harder than it sounded. It was easy to miss having a rule book to guide everything he did.

Rukia inclined her head. "Understandable. I'm impressed by your dedication and faith, to be perfectly honest." Most people would have fallen apart, questioning the basis of their beliefs or even the core of their identities if the religion they'd upheld all of their lives turned out to be not only false, but wicked as well. But Billy remained dedicated to helping those who needed his strength and his abilities. She was quite proud of him, and it showed in the warmth of her smile.

She settled her hands comfortably in her lap. "That's a wise approach. I do not think you shall falter."

Billy snorted. The angel, commending him for his broken shards of faith. It was surreal...but comforting all the same. He looked down at his folded hands while he got his expression schooled into neutrality where a smile threatened to break through.

"What do you believe in?" he asked Rukia.

"Religiously?" she blinked, surprised at the question. Well, she'd have to be a fool not to believe in the afterlife. She also knew there was a supreme lord, and possibly a creator. He existed, she knew that much, and she knew that the way to his domain was sealed. Beyond that, she'd never cared enough to ask questions.

"Hmmmm... My friends, I suppose," she answered with a small smile. "In the places where I fall short, they help me up, and push me forward. They believed in me. It's only right I do the same for them."

Her gaze shifted back to Billy. "I'm not sure if that's the answer you're looking for, but if faith is believing and trusting in something that can't be proven, then that is my faith."

Billy lips quirked into a not-quite smile again. "You'd like the Nisan Cathedral. Their statues of angels each have only one wing. That way, they each have to work together and rely on one another in order to fly."

Maybe the Nisan Orthodoxy was the way he would go. Even if not, the lesson was still valid. Believing in your friends was never wrong.

~~Except when your friends were unreliable sorts who shot each others' ships out of the sky and sometimes manifested alteregos that went on murder sprees.~~

"I'm glad you have reliable friends to depend on."

~~Sephiroth would like that Cathedral too.~~

"Truly?" Rukia blinked. She considered the symbolism, then smiled, and nodded in approval. "Yes... I quite like that." If she really were an angel, then that would be the most fitting type. All of who she was wouldn't have been possible without the others who had touched her life and raised her up.

"You have those friends too, of course," she pointed out, her head tilted as she smiled.

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Event || Terra Incognita

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