Re: "Hello! Do you have a minute to talk about ...?" ((Open to everyone))

[Church ~ Protective Flame]

……….•<@>• •<@>• Group Three •<@>• •<@>•

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……….•<@>• Tilly •<@>•

Tilly just stood there.  She couldn’t seem to find her words.  She wanted to speak, say anything, but she was gobsmacked.  Never in a million years could she have imagined that she would be standing before the very Goddess that she prayed to.  And, what was stranger than that, the Goddess was holding a sword against her.  Why was she holding a sword against her?

……….•<@>• Dimitrius •<@>•

Dimitrius shook his head and rolled his eyes at the nun.  ”Sister, while she does appear to be threatening us with her sword, I seriously doubt that she is here to feed upon us.”  He was about done with this nun.  Something extremely difficult to fathom from someone so peaceful and calm.  His zen was quickly beginning to crack.

[Venis Jordianthan]

{Group Three}

Venis sighed.  The throng of beings gathered around them were merely curious.  But, the nun behind her was emanating waves of hate that were threatening to gag the Goddess where she stood.  And, as if the nun’s strong emotions weren’t bad enough, the big furry guy was starting to loose his cool as well.  

She shook her head with a slow blink.  Had this nun seriously called for her in a panic simply to see if it could be done?  She reached up to sheath her sword.  ”Ok, everyone, go about your business.  There’s nothing to see here.”  She wanted the crowd to disburse.  And a few started to.  

She looked at the furry guy and his companion.  ”You two just wait right here, I want to talk to you.”  Then she turned to face the nun.  The sword and sheath on her back started to shimmer away in a rain of golden sparkles of light.  “Now.  As for you, young lady.  Number one, you need to calm down.  You are letting off so much hate.  I pity any other empaths around who are having to suffer your vile nastiness.”  She absentmindedly placed her hand over her stomach.

More of the crowd was starting to walk away.  So, she addressed the nun.  ”Honesty, you should be ashamed of yourself.  Number one, I only come when it sounds like an emergency.  And you sounded like you were in danger or distress, so I came.  And I don’t run around feeding from everyone.  What a preposterous notion.  And I most certainly do not feed off of those who call upon me to protect them. She took a deep breath.  She needed to calm down herself.  

She saw that the nun was ready to find her way out of there.  She reached into her pocket and pulled out some coins.  Five or six coins of gold and platinum.  She placed them in the basket the nun was carrying.  ”Here, there’s a woman at the end of this lane who makes a prickly pear jam, I’m told it’s amazing.  You should get some for the children at the orphanage.  Or just put it in the collection plate, I don’t really care how you put it to good use.  But keep this in mind as you go.  The God that you worship would be very disappointed in you if he were here.  In fact, I’m willing to bet that as he watches over you right now, he’s already disappointed.  Count your blessings that I don’t march right into your church and tell the Mother Superior how you seem to ‘love thy neighbor’.  But I figure you’ll have enough judgment when you pass on and find yourself at the pearly gates trying to explain to Saint Peter how you hated strangers so strongly today.  God bless and I pray that you find peace.”

She turned back to face the pair of strangers that had just suffered the inexplicable hate from the nun.  ”Ok, tell me what you two did to cause such hatred from a nun.”  Her stomach was still twisting into knots, but she needed to finish with the business at hand before she could be on her way.

[Church ~ Protective Flame]

……….•<@>• •<@>• Group Three •<@>• •<@>•

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……….•<@>• Tilly •<@>•

With the crowd slowly thinning out, and the nun spoken to and seemingly ready to leave them, Tilly was able to speak … Finally.  ”I’m so sorry Goddess.  We were simply on our way to pass out pamphlets to potential parishioners.  We wish to expand your flock.”  She smiled.  She was sure that the Goddess would be pleased with their recruitment of more followers to worship her.

……….•<@>• Dimitrius •<@>•

Dimitrius suspected that the Goddess wasn’t as pleased as Tilly thought she would be.  ”Forgive us Goddess.  Our church numbers are down and we need more beings giving to the collection plate in order to keep our doors open.  The nun bumped into Tilly here, and she bent down to help us collect the spilled pamphlets, but when she saw that we attended your church, she went crazy.”  He tugged at the fur on the back of his head.  A nervous gesture.

[Church ~ Protective Flame]

……….•<@>• •<@>• Group Five •<@>• •<@>•

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……….•<@>• Jalie •<@>•

Jalie felt relieved when she didn’t shed a tear as she spoke of her past.  She listened to the exchange between Archer and Mahaskah.  Then there was a question directed to her.  She tilted her head for a moment, then answered.  ”Well, yes.  I do believe that I have become her in a way.  Quite an observation.  I’d not given that any thought before.”  She twitched her eyebrows up for a blink.  The connection had never come together in her mind before.

……….•<@>• Mahaskah •<@>•

Jalie looked over at Mahaskah and he caught the look.  Obviously the young lady wasn’t confident in her ability to answer the question.  Apparently Father Christoph knew what he was doing when he paired them together.  He barely moved other than to inhale so he had air with which to speak.  ”Our religion could be considered quite similar to American Christianity, circa the twentieth and twenty-first century on Earth.  We are encouraged to be kind to others, love they neighbor and such.  We are taught that it is a sin to kill indiscriminately, which seems rather oxymoronic given the deity that we worship.  There are other things that are considered to be sins, thievery, coveting thy neighbor’s wife or goods.”  

He paused for a moment.  He was trying to remember something, but it only took the period of a human breath for it to come to him.  ”But, there are some of what Christianity called their Ten Commandments that we are not taught to adhere to.   Only one God, serve only him, keep holy the sabbath, things like that.  We do have days of worship, Sunday’s and Wednesday’s, but there is always someone at the churches and beings are welcome to come and worship any day.  We are also taught that there is a heaven and a hell, but not threatened with hell over every little thing.  For example, some from that period of Christianity would tell my companion here that her taste in music and her attire would send her to hell.  Our church believes that what determines your soul’s eternal resting place is your actions and the type of being that you are deep down.”  Perhaps that answered Archer’s question adequately.

[Church ~ Protective Flame]

……….•<@>• •<@>• Group One •<@>• •<@>•

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……….•<@>•  Kristin •<@>•

After a brief period of rest, Kristin was ready to start moving again.  But, she had to take care of something first.  She had a human brain, but her digestive tract was still mostly equine.  So, while her brain was able to send the message to hold it and not just go anywhere as she walked along, she still had to answer the signal when it reached her brain.  ”Bernie, I’ll be back in a moment and then we can get going.”  She swallowed the water that she had left and put the empty bottle into her bag and got up.  She headed into the woods where they wouldn’t be walking.

……….•<@>• Bernie •<@>•

Bernie looked up from where he was lounging comfortably.  ”Sounds like a plan.  I’ll wait for you right here.”  He re-closed his eyes and continued to drink the water that she had given him.  When he finished his water he got up and dusted himself off.  He waited for Kristin to come back so that they could leave.  They still had a little bit of travel before they reached their designated area.

[Archer Caughey]

(( For group five. ))

Archer gave Jaylie a bit of a grin. “Aye, well, observation and drawing connections are my stock and trade.” He was a quick study, too, though like any scientist he wasn’t the sort to spout observations unless they had a satisfactory amount of evidence behind them. For that reason, there were some things he’d observed during this visit that he was keeping to himself. By and large, he didn’t meddle in another person’s business unless he was asked. “And putting time into serving the greater good, that’s something that means a lot to me.” That’s how he figured she saw this door to door service, as a way to help others.

After Mahaskah’s explanation, there was a distinctly focused look in Archer’s eyes, framed by a furrowed brow. If one listened hard enough, they might hear the many gears of the genius’ mind turning. His silence was his way of curbing his impulse to analyze and query; those near and dear to him had told him many a time that his tendency to approach everything with a rigorous scientific method was exhausting, so these days he literally didn’t move his lips until he could turn down the intensity of his investigative impulse.

“Is your faith one of the offshoots of Christianity, or are the connections a happenstance result of the universality of those truths?” He was surprised to hear how much a Rhy’din faith had in common with a modern-day incarnation of an Earthen religion. “Or the blending of Earthen missionaries with your native belief systems?” That was something he knew happened often, the melding of a religion brought to a land by foreigners with the indigenous belief systems. “Or the instruction of the goddess you worship to look to the Christian faith for the foundation of your worship?”

It was the belief in heaven and hell that was surprising him. He managed to keep himself from asking more questions, but internally he was off on a mental odyssey: the direct and indirect involvement of the deities in the faith structures that worshiped them. A topic he knew something about from a few different angles, angles that he was purposefully leaving unspoken. He was going to stick to being a scientist today.

[Telguest]

{ group three }

Susan stood still and listened, her hands gripping tightly on the baskets handle.  At the sound of coins dropping in there her eyes widened.  If the goddess thought Susan was angry before now it kicked up to another level of appalled. She wouldn’t act.  She schooled herself well enough to stand there, feeling her blood boil on the inside, and wait.

Being reprimanded didn’t bother her - it wasn’t anything new. Besides, she didn’t care much for what the goddess said. She hadn’t hurt those two people or even threaten to hurt them - unlike the other female who had tried to hit her. All Susan had done was talk.  

When the goddess was done Susan took a few steps to get away from that group and then she turned her basket upside down causing the coins (they were the only thing in it so far) to drop out on the ground. Let the passerby pick it up if they want.

“The church will have nothing to do with your money or your kind,” Susan spoke in a low tone but it was cold.  “After what happened to the church, after what happened to my friend? There is no refuge for you or your kind there.”

Susan paused and looked at the two who had the pamphlets. “But there is help there for those who are lost.”

She didn’t want to hear any more. Susan straightened her habit and headed into the crowd.

[Church ~ Protective Flame]

……….•<@>• •<@>• Group Five •<@>• •<@>•

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……….•<@>• Jalie •<@>•

Jalie had a genuine smile for Archer.  It was good to hear that he seemed to hold to the same values as the members of the church.  Even if he never attended their church, she wouldn’t worry for his soul.  He seemed like a very good person.  There were far too many bad people in the world.  But she and Mahaskah seemed to have found a couple of the good ones.  Refreshing.  And he would be right about how she saw this door to door business.  She did see it as a way to help others because she had been helped and wanted to pay it forward.  She just hoped that she didn’t run into a little ten-year-old girl who was all but homeless.  That would hit too close to home.

……….•<@>• Mahaskah •<@>•

Archer’s moment of silence had Mahaskah figuratively sweating.  He had thought to himself that having this conversation with a genius was a bad idea when they saw the sign earlier.  Something told him that he was about to be proven correct in his presumption.  It made him glad to have not vocalized his concerns.  

He listened without interrupting.  He wanted to be sure that the genius could finish his thoughts and he could process the whole thought before responding.  He took that moment to process those thoughts now.  Once he had his answer, he spoke.  ”I would not refer to is as an offshoot of Christianity.  I believe the happenstance to be the better explanation.  I do not know enough of the native beliefs of the people of Rhy’Din to speak to the blending of the religions.  I do know that the Goddess was once a Christian.  So, it is quite possible that she has given direction toward that faith as the backbone of the religion we practice today.  Perhaps not as directly as sitting the pastors and priests down and giving them instructions.  But, I’m sure that someone, at some point, made the suggestion that it work that way.”  His composure nearly cracked.  But he managed to hold on.

[Venis Jordianthan]

{Group Three}

Venis’ brows drew together in a look of confusion.  What was this nun spouting off about now?  She hadn’t done anything to the church, or her friend.  Well, not knowing who her friend was, there was no guarantee on the friend part.  But, that she knew of, she had never done anything to the nun’s friend.  So, the comments made no sense to her.

Dumping the coins on the ground was the ultimate insult, but Venis was going to just let it slide.  Plus, the coins were collected by the crowd before they all even finished bouncing.  And she was willing to ignore the comments and worry over them later, until she made her last quip.  ”Somehow I doubt that your behavior today has endeared anyone to your church.  But, I’ll be sure to tell them not all nuns are as judgmental and rude as you.”  She shook her head and turned to speak to the two flamers.

Before she had a chance to speak there was a tug at her t-shirt.  She looked down to see a little girl, maybe four years old, holding a platinum coin up to her.  Her features softened into a very pleasant smile.  She tugged the legs of her jeans up and knelt down before the cute little blond haired, blue eyed, girl.  ”I think that, since you braved the mass of people fighting to get the coins, you should keep that coin.”  She winked at the young lady and smiled.

The girls mom put her hand on the girls shoulder.  The little girl smiled at Venis and it made her eyes twinkle.  ”Really?  Wow!  Thanks lady.”  She looked up at her mom.  ”Can I mom?”  The mom nodded and then looked at Venis.  She mouthed the words ‘Thank you’.  Venis just nodded and touched the girls cheek.  But the girl wasn’t quite done with her.  ”Can you show me where to get the jam?”  She held her arms up like she was waiting to be picked up.

Venis chuckled and picked the girl up as she stood.  She held the girl up in the air, over her head, so she could see over the crowd.  ”Do you see the tent, way down there at the end, with the green walls and the pink roof?  That’s the lady’s tent.  It’s like that so that it looks like a moon cactus.”  She looked up and the girl was looking.  As soon as she spotted it she nodded.  So Venis set her down to lead her mom to the jam.

Then she turned her attention back to the flamers.  ”Alright, you two, I want to know what is going on around here.”  She placed her hand on her hip and leaned her weight to one side.  A human gesture that she hadn’t used in decades.  She was that frustrated with the situation.  She brought her free hand across her stomach to hold onto her own arm.  This was her way of holding her stomach without making it obvious.  The nun was still around somewhere, and still fuming mad, plus there were others around with strong emotions, good and bad.  And then there were the two in front of her.

[Church ~ Protective Flame]

……….•<@>• •<@>• Group Three •<@>• •<@>•

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……….•<@>• Tilly •<@>•

Tilly beamed with pride as she pulled one of the pamphlets from her purse and offered it to her Goddess.  Her nerves were still on edge, but she was also excited.  How often did one get the chance to meet the being that they worshipped without having to die to do it?  ”Look.  We found a way to get word of your greatness out to more people.  This way, there will be more people to worship you and give you gifts.  Isn’t it wonderful?”  There was so much hope and joy in her tone.  She truly believed that this would make Venis happy.

……….•<@>• Dimitrius •<@>•

Dimitrius was still gently tugging on the fur on the back of his head with the had that wasn’t still holding Tilly in place.  He didn’t think that this was going to go as well as Tilly thought. ”I’m sorry Goddess.  Our church attendance numbers are way down.  Not just our location, but many of the locations.  With a lack of beings attending, there’s a lack of funds in the collection plate.  This equates to a lack of funds to pay the bills with.  I’m sure you can understand that.  We meant no offence to anyone.  Not even the nun.”  He drew his top lip in and pressed it between his teeth.  How much trouble were they in?

[Venis Jordianthan]

{Group Three}

Venis removed her arm from across her stomach to take the offered pamphlet.  She brought her other hand from her hip to pen the pamphlet and read it as she listened to the woman rattle on.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and held it for a moment.  She let it out slowly as she opened her eyes.  She re-folded the pamphlet and handed it back to the woman.

She looked over at the orange and yellow guy.  She didn’t want to address the bubbly little woman before her because she might lose her temper if she did.  And this was not the fault of the two before her.  One hand went back across her stomach, the other pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to gather her thoughts.  After a moment she spoke in a calm, soft, voice.  ”I’m going to let the two of you go to continue this venture.  But I want to make this perfectly clear.  Do not get forceful.  You mind your manors and if someone tells you to go away, you go away.  Understood?  Do not try to force your beliefs on anyone.  I mean that.  And be careful, try to avoid getting yourselves hurt.  I don’t want to have to come rescue you from someone trying to kill you.”  

She waited for them to agree to the rules she had just gave them.  ”Alright, you may go.”  She waved them off and then waited a moment.  She wasn’t sure of what her next move would be.  She just knew that she needed to get this dealt with sooner rather than later.  Walking home sounded like a good way to take time to figure this mess out.  So, that was what she did, she started walking.

[Church ~ Protective Flame]

……….•<@>• •<@>• Group Three •<@>• •<@>•

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……….•<@>• Tilly •<@>•

Tilly took the pamphlet back with a smile.  But, her smile faltered when she saw how irritated the Goddess looked.  In fact, she even frowned.  She waited to speak because she didn’t want to be rude to Dimitrius, but he just seemed to frustrate the Goddess even more.  Once again, Tilly was at a loss for words.

……….•<@>• Dimitrius •<@>•

Dimitrius listened as they were being instructed on how to behave.  He was honestly quite surprised that she was letting them go, especially since she hadn’t told them to stop handing out the pamphlets.  Once she reached the end of her instructions, he and Tilly spoke in unison. ”Yes ma’am.”  She dismissed them and Dimitrius picked Tilly up to carry her the rest of the way through the Marketplace.  He didn’t want any more run-in’s or for her to have another panic attack.  They headed to the residential area that they had been headed to originally.

[Archer Caughey]

She got a smile in return. It was built into Archer’s being to put people at ease, especially in moments when they weren’t feeling easy. Like now, his aura at minimum exuded a laid-back, inviting vibe. It was palpable for folks who were attuned to that sort of thing; currently, it was a clear contrast to the eager, alert energy of his foxen apprentice who was still watching their exchange.

Archer’s gaze shifted to Mahaskah, giving the man the floor without interruption. He figured it was the least he could do, when that’s why the pair of them had knocked on his door in the first place. During the man’s words, Archer’s brow lifted, but he waited until the end to remark. “You’re not native? How’d you find your way to worshiping a native goddess, then?” Nosey, sure. Scientists had to be.

Yet he steered away from nosing deeper into the origins of their religion and its similarity to Christianity. He knew faith was a sensitive subject for a lot of folks, and he while his rigorous questioning sometimes offended people, that was never his intention. He gave the man a nod, nodded at the both of them in silence, as he mulled over the best way to put what he was about to say.

“I’m glad you both have a place to settle your spirit.” He reached up to scratch the back of his neck, a gesture he often made in lieu of pacing. “I’ve got to be honest, though, my spirit’s spoken for, has been for a long time.” Longer than he cared to say. Which is why he shot a chiding look at the teenager who was doing a bad job of holding in his snickers – even Lumie’s tails were twitching with their own form of laughter. “Why don’t you go mix a second batch of the compound before we lose the rest of the day?”

“What? No!” Lumie huffed, flicking his tails with righteous indignation. “I was the one who answered the door.” The teenager felt that had to count for something.

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