Anise was actually sleeping well for once. When morning came, she was curled up on her side, her arms tightly hugging her pillow in the same way they would usually hold Tokunaga
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Aw, man. Really? Really? That just wasn't being fair. They hadn't even gotten to see if the place had paint or not. That was just disappointing. He'd need to plead with the nurses a bit more. Maybe if he tried some sort of pouting face
( ... )
Carter woke up lying on his stomach with bandages wrapped around his shoulder. Nuts, they'd gone all the way up there and all he'd done was nearly get eaten by bats. Maybe there really wasn't anything useful at the bottom of the mine and he'd wasted an entire night and a lot of blood
( ... )
The room wasn't exactly the most quiet, though the conversations of others were generally being kept in more hushed tones. The acoustics made it so that Carter's mumbled prayers didn't go unnoticed by the troll, though he couldn't pick out all the individual words. It didn't sound like any prayer to his own deities, though, and he scooted just a little closer along the pew in an effort yo make the words out better.
That this might be considered eavesdropping and would probably be frowned upon didn't cross his mind. He rarely saw anyone praying anymore. The other trolls certainly didn't do it, as far as he was aware. What sort of religion did humans have?
He hardly realized he'd gotten within touching distance of the man until he was already there, and even then he didn't seem to be worried about the close proximity. Curiosity was getting the best of him.
By now Carter was reaching the end of a long list of people that God should probably watch out for. He included Claire, because he liked Claire, even if she could probably take care of herself almost as well as God could. Oh, and any members of his family who might still be alive, and take care of all the ones who were in heaven too. Amen.
It wasn't until Carter finished his improvised prayer that he opened his eyes and noticed there was another young man who was practically breathing down his neck. He looked up, hands still pressed together. "Oh, I didn't see you there. I was just busy praying. I know it's not really a church but it's a chapel and that nearly counts." He looked down at his knees, then up again at the tousle-haired man. "Do you need me to say anything?" Just while he was down here and in the neighborhood.
Oh, was he done? Gamzee blinked as the man's attention was turned back to him, but smiled a little rather than looked embarrassed. "Nah, motherfucker. I was just all wonderin' who you were up and prayin' to. I don't know anything about human religion."
If he knew his language might be offend anyone in the church, it sure didn't look like it. The Mirthful Messiahs, after all, weren't about to get onto someone for their inability to hold their tongue. You had to do whatever your heart up and told you to, even if that included cussing in the middle of a place of worship.
Carter wasn't sure if you should be cursing in a church, even a ridiculously secular one, but when the young man revealed his inhumanity all transgressions were forgiven because omg aliens. Carter smiled back and set his hands on his knees.
"I'm praying to God. There's a couple different human religions, but I'm a Christian and that means I believe in God and Jesus. So I'm praying for...for everyone to be all right." He held back how much of the prayer had been for inner strength and wisdom, because it felt a little awkward to be admitting things he'd asked for when even he wasn't sure what he really needed. Of course God would be, because God knew everything and was far smarter than Carter.
"That's all motherfuckin' considerate of you, bro. Prayin' for others like that." Gamzee thumps a fist against his chest with a slight grin. "You've all got your heart up in the right motherfuckin' places, not that any motherfucker can tell someone else where their heart should be."
He reaches into the pew in front of him where he's just noticed a book. It's a really thick book, and heavier than he'd expected. The pages are thin as though to fit more in a smaller book. Did this have anything to do with the human religions? It's flopped open in his lap soon enough, but he's still interested in talking to the older human. "So these God and Jesus motherfuckers. Do they up and answer your prayers and shit often? Like have you all been seein' them do their miracles?"
He wasn't going to judge if he hadn't. His own religion was mostly based on faith anyway.
Carter hoped 'motherfucker' meant something different for this alien. The casual way he said the word seemed to indicate he didn't mean anything bad by it, so to him it was probably some sort of religious term. The compliment made him beam, though, and he got back up off his knees to sit beside the alien.
"I dunno if I've seen any miracles in person." Carter scratched his chin, trying to remember. He'd seen spectacular things but they'd been done by humans hands, or technology or his own personal explosive concoctions. There weren't any memorable moments where something happened with only divine intervention to blame. "Most of what Jesus did happened when he was alive. He turned water into wine and healing the sick and big stuff like that,and a whole lot of people saw him come back from the dead, but that was ages ago."
Given that trolls didn't have true parents, in the usual meaning of the word, perhaps 'motherfucker' didn't have the same connotations. In fact, it was hard to say where Gamzee had learned the word from the start, unless it was meant in relation to the Mothergrub. The troll himself probably didn't even remember where he'd heard it first.
Carter's relating of what Jesus had done had his full attention, in any case. "Whoa, so like... This ain't a fairytale, right? Motherfuckers actually saw this shit happen? Because those are some sweet miracles right there." He didn't even know what wine was, but being able to change water into anything else was a miracle on it's own. Even if it was just adding a flavoring for juice.
"No, it's all written down in the Bible." Carter looked around at the pews but found no available bibles. This secular chapel business was really frustrating. It made sense to have somewhere where Japanese people could pray too, to whatever Japanese people prayed to, but you could at least put in some bibles.
He half-turned and pulled one knee up on the pew, getting into a good story-telling position. "He got crucified and then three days later the disciples came to visit his grave and the big rock in front of it was moved. They thought his body got stolen, but then they saw him walking around alive again with the holes in his wrists and that's how they knew he was really the Son of God." At least, that was about how he remembered it. He hadn't paid that much attention in Sunday school, preferring atheistic matters like firestarting and comic books. "I think the wine thing happened at a wedding party, when they ran out of the good wine and Jesus made more."
The book in Gamzee's lap ended up being full of lines and weird symbols he wasn't familiar with. Some sort of weird human language, perhaps? There were words underneath, but he didn't know if they were the translation or not. This was the sort of thing Sollux should be looking at. He closed it again and set it aside. Talking about this Jesus person was much more interesting
( ... )
"Well, yeah. He died for our sins, you know," Carter pointed out. Nobody else had, so you basically had to pray to him even if there weren't any miracles.
Carter wondered how aliens dealt with that kind of thing. Did Jesus die for aliens as well, or just humans? Would that mean there were alien Messiahs so everyone could have multicolored blood shed for their various alien sins. Did everyone go to the same heaven or were there separate heavens for every planetful of beings? It would be nice if the secular church had at least one priest he could ask for advice.
He'd never been much for theology, but he could trust that all the proper and good people would go to heaven. It wouldn't be right if they didn't and you had to believe God was right about everything. That was what the Bible said.
"For your sins?" What did that even mean? It sounded like such a deep thing to say. Did he mean the man had died because of things everyone else had done? And if that was the case... why? Did it suddenly make everything better? "I don't all think I get it, bro."
Gamzee wasn't fond of things that couldn't just be answered with 'miracles, that's what'. Maybe this could be and he just wasn't think about it correctly. What he'd done in the end was miraculous, so how it happened or why wasn't so much of a big deal, right? Yeah, that kinda made sense. Man, humans were just so interesting and capable of doing wicked crazy things. Maybe he could do something like that now that he was human too.
Carter fumbled with that idea. Nobody had bothered to outright explain it to him since he was a little boy, since it had been something that was so self-evident. He'd never really thought about the connotations, since he was a Christian and everyone he knew was a Christian, so there was nothing to worry about.
"Well, a sin's a bad thing you do, like lying or stealing," he said, looking thoughtful as he tried to pull back memories of sermons he'd napped through. "Everybody sins and that means we're not good enough to get into heaven. When Jesus died he took everybody's sins on him, even though he'd never had any sins himself since he was the son of God. So now if you pray to Jesus you can go to heaven because he made that big sacrifice for everyone. I don't know how it works for aliens...do you have anything like that?"
i'm so sorry for how late this is. ;;mirthfulnessJune 27 2011, 07:12:24 UTC
"Whoa." If it was put that way, Gamzee didn't know of any trolls without sins either. You had to be so nice to get into heaven that people couldn't do it on their own? That was rather harsh. "So did no motherfuckers all get to go to Heaven or whatever before he came along?" Wait, why was he even asking? Miracles should be left at that.
"I don't know about anyone dyin' for sins or nothin', but the Mirthful Messiahs are all supposed to bring around the Dark Carnival and shit. Not everyone up and prays to what I do, though." Which was a real shame, since he'd like to have his friends along for the ride when that inevitably happened.
Re: i'm so sorry for how late this is. ;;stlg13bomberJune 27 2011, 18:26:24 UTC
Carter vaguely remembered something about Jesus going to hell and bringing all the good souls back before he went up to heaven, but the preacher had never gone into that very deeply. Most sermons focused on Jesus here and now, or what he'd done while he was still alive or right after he died.
Carter leaned in, elbow on his knee. "I've never heard of that. I'm from a while back, so I'm new to alien kind of things. What's the Dark Carnival?" Carnivals were fun but dark things were generally evil...unless you lived on a dark planet, then the darkness would be a good thing.
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That this might be considered eavesdropping and would probably be frowned upon didn't cross his mind. He rarely saw anyone praying anymore. The other trolls certainly didn't do it, as far as he was aware. What sort of religion did humans have?
He hardly realized he'd gotten within touching distance of the man until he was already there, and even then he didn't seem to be worried about the close proximity. Curiosity was getting the best of him.
Reply
It wasn't until Carter finished his improvised prayer that he opened his eyes and noticed there was another young man who was practically breathing down his neck. He looked up, hands still pressed together. "Oh, I didn't see you there. I was just busy praying. I know it's not really a church but it's a chapel and that nearly counts." He looked down at his knees, then up again at the tousle-haired man. "Do you need me to say anything?" Just while he was down here and in the neighborhood.
Reply
If he knew his language might be offend anyone in the church, it sure didn't look like it. The Mirthful Messiahs, after all, weren't about to get onto someone for their inability to hold their tongue. You had to do whatever your heart up and told you to, even if that included cussing in the middle of a place of worship.
Reply
"I'm praying to God. There's a couple different human religions, but I'm a Christian and that means I believe in God and Jesus. So I'm praying for...for everyone to be all right." He held back how much of the prayer had been for inner strength and wisdom, because it felt a little awkward to be admitting things he'd asked for when even he wasn't sure what he really needed. Of course God would be, because God knew everything and was far smarter than Carter.
Not that that was a high bar.
Reply
He reaches into the pew in front of him where he's just noticed a book. It's a really thick book, and heavier than he'd expected. The pages are thin as though to fit more in a smaller book. Did this have anything to do with the human religions? It's flopped open in his lap soon enough, but he's still interested in talking to the older human. "So these God and Jesus motherfuckers. Do they up and answer your prayers and shit often? Like have you all been seein' them do their miracles?"
He wasn't going to judge if he hadn't. His own religion was mostly based on faith anyway.
Reply
"I dunno if I've seen any miracles in person." Carter scratched his chin, trying to remember. He'd seen spectacular things but they'd been done by humans hands, or technology or his own personal explosive concoctions. There weren't any memorable moments where something happened with only divine intervention to blame. "Most of what Jesus did happened when he was alive. He turned water into wine and healing the sick and big stuff like that,and a whole lot of people saw him come back from the dead, but that was ages ago."
Reply
Carter's relating of what Jesus had done had his full attention, in any case. "Whoa, so like... This ain't a fairytale, right? Motherfuckers actually saw this shit happen? Because those are some sweet miracles right there." He didn't even know what wine was, but being able to change water into anything else was a miracle on it's own. Even if it was just adding a flavoring for juice.
Reply
He half-turned and pulled one knee up on the pew, getting into a good story-telling position. "He got crucified and then three days later the disciples came to visit his grave and the big rock in front of it was moved. They thought his body got stolen, but then they saw him walking around alive again with the holes in his wrists and that's how they knew he was really the Son of God." At least, that was about how he remembered it. He hadn't paid that much attention in Sunday school, preferring atheistic matters like firestarting and comic books. "I think the wine thing happened at a wedding party, when they ran out of the good wine and Jesus made more."
Reply
Reply
Carter wondered how aliens dealt with that kind of thing. Did Jesus die for aliens as well, or just humans? Would that mean there were alien Messiahs so everyone could have multicolored blood shed for their various alien sins. Did everyone go to the same heaven or were there separate heavens for every planetful of beings? It would be nice if the secular church had at least one priest he could ask for advice.
He'd never been much for theology, but he could trust that all the proper and good people would go to heaven. It wouldn't be right if they didn't and you had to believe God was right about everything. That was what the Bible said.
Reply
Gamzee wasn't fond of things that couldn't just be answered with 'miracles, that's what'. Maybe this could be and he just wasn't think about it correctly. What he'd done in the end was miraculous, so how it happened or why wasn't so much of a big deal, right? Yeah, that kinda made sense. Man, humans were just so interesting and capable of doing wicked crazy things. Maybe he could do something like that now that he was human too.
Reply
"Well, a sin's a bad thing you do, like lying or stealing," he said, looking thoughtful as he tried to pull back memories of sermons he'd napped through. "Everybody sins and that means we're not good enough to get into heaven. When Jesus died he took everybody's sins on him, even though he'd never had any sins himself since he was the son of God. So now if you pray to Jesus you can go to heaven because he made that big sacrifice for everyone. I don't know how it works for aliens...do you have anything like that?"
Reply
"I don't know about anyone dyin' for sins or nothin', but the Mirthful Messiahs are all supposed to bring around the Dark Carnival and shit. Not everyone up and prays to what I do, though." Which was a real shame, since he'd like to have his friends along for the ride when that inevitably happened.
Reply
Carter leaned in, elbow on his knee. "I've never heard of that. I'm from a while back, so I'm new to alien kind of things. What's the Dark Carnival?" Carnivals were fun but dark things were generally evil...unless you lived on a dark planet, then the darkness would be a good thing.
Reply
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