[OPEN]

[temptationaccomplished]

Who: Aziraphale and [OPEN]
Where: Wandering, specifically checking out the temples
When: ~August 5th, and the days following
What: The Angel is new on campus and he's got to get the lay of the land, what the gods are, where you can feed ducks, check out the library...and most importantly: find out where the food is.
Warnings: I will avoid giving Good Omens spoilers. Feel free to tell me Y/N on spoilers on the intro post, but by default, if you notice him dancing away from a certain topic despite being pressed about it? It's probably delving into spoiler territory.



Campus

Aziraphale had been wandering around the campus and city for the better part of...well, he lost track of time. And that wasn't the only thing he had lost. He himself was incredibly lost. On top of that, he had absolutely not been able to locate his new residence "Living Quarters Suite 404," despite his best efforts and a few well-meaning inquiries. (They LAUGHED at him! Sadly, he was not aware of the joke! How rude!) All he had established was that it was not in the House Towers.

His House, according to his acceptance memo, indicated he belonged to a group called Ka, which resulted in his assigned clothing looking like something that could have come from Crowley's closet. (Ka even sounded snake-ish, a la Rudyard Kipling. He supposed it could have been worse.) Black and red and not a lick of tartan. THAT would not do. Miracles might not work here, but he was sure a little needle and thread could be made to save him from this if he didn't learn the appropriate magic before then. For now, however, he was content to wear his usual light colored coat and bow-tie; there was no sense to change clothing immediately on arrival. The weather was certainly amenable; when he had left it had been late summer as well. But his arms were getting a bit tired of carrying his new supplies, including the odd sword hilt he had been (oh, dear) assigned.

Temples

Wandering eventually lead him, no surprise, to the temples. The Temple of Raida drew him in first, because it was grandiose and yet had an air of benevolence. Inside, it reminded him of cathedrals and mosques and temples he had visited over the millennia. Beautiful. Imposing.

He expected his feet to burn. Perhaps expected a good smiting. Instead, he took a seat on one of the pews without interference and wondered if this new place was too far from his God that she might not even see him anymore.

Gloves At The Table

Peeking into the restaurant, he determined it seemed to be a teppanyaki-style preparation. How quaint! How he would pay for it, Aziraphale had no idea, but it looked enchanting enough, and he was feeling a bit peckish.

Comments

[bearshermark]

"I can understand that."

Though he knew he needed to, a large part of him didn't want to return, so it suited him well enough to let destiny take its time in doing so.

"There are researchers you can talk to that are looking into how it is we arrived here and how we might be returned," he offered. "They don't appear to have made a lot of progress, but they're working on it, at least. It's rooted in Sundering magic, so it might also help to take that branch of magic to understand it a little more."

[temptationaccomplished]

"From what I understand, my House is focused on Sunderlings, so I am hoping there might be some information to be found there. And I'm no foreigner to ...the occult," there was a bit of distaste in using that word, as he was ethereal thank you very much, but he was, still, no stranger to the occult, or occult beings, or transportation between planes of existence. If he had a purpose here, perhaps it was to do something like THAT. "So perhaps it won't be too impossible to pick up quickly."

[bearshermark]

Eleven's eyes flicked up as though weighing the man before him. He wondered what his experience with the occult entailed, while also desiring to know as little about it as possible.

"It sounds like you have a good place to start, then," he said, hands clasping in front of him with a slight incline of his head. "I hope your studies go well for you, and may the forces of benevolence watch over you."

[temptationaccomplished]

If pressed, Aziraphale would undoubtedly tell all about his experiences (plural) with 'the occult,' but aside from the last decade, the stories would likely be not nearly as interesting as Eleven probably assumed them to be. Even so, he was not naive to the assumptions one might make about such associations.

Eleven seemed to be a dutiful holy student. He could not fault the boy that.

"I do hope so. Thank you. Yes, thank you, I shouldn't keep you from your duties any longer. However," he added before Eleven could leave, reaching absently for his sleeve to stop him, "if you have a moment, maybe you could tell me more about Her--Them--your god. If I'm going to sit as I am in their home, I think it only fair I should know something about the host."

[bearshermark]

Eleven turned, eyes finding the fingers pinching the end of his sleeve, then fell back the step he'd taken.

"Of course," he said, choosing to take a seat as well. His eyes strayed to Raida's great statue.

"Raida is an goddess of great benevolence. Indiscriminate in Her blessings, She offers solace and sanctuary to all those who come seeking it- even those without faith or those bound to other deities. I'm grateful for that every day."

[temptationaccomplished]

Aziraphale looked skyward--ceiling-ward--as if to an unseen God before following Eleven's gaze to the statue. As long as they were actually forces of benevolence, having someone looking over his shoulder wouldn't be too bad, he supposed--though he'd much rather an ally down here with him.

"And your Yggdrasil? Are They so open and accepting?"

[bearshermark]

Eleven glanced down at his lap, fingers idly twining into themselves.

"Yggdrasil is also a goddess of benevolence. She is the source of all life and light in Erdrea. I grew up praying to the Spirit of the Land that watches over my home village. I don't think something like that has ever been a concern of Hers."

[temptationaccomplished]

Kindness doesn't exclude the presence of other faults, a nagging voice that was not his own argued. Was the Flood benevolent punishment? Or Sodom and Gomorrah?

"Ah, never? I see. It's just that...well, in MY world, most religions' gods prefer some sort of exclusivity with their followers."

[bearshermark]

Eleven hummed a curious note. "It seems odd, to me. Gods have greater concerns than that. Shouldn't it be in more important that your actions are in keeping with the god you represent?"

He tipped his head. "I guess there could be conflict if there were opposing wills.."

[temptationaccomplished]

"There's that, too. You mean your god didn't have an opposition? Ours, mine, had a, uh, adversary, one of Her followers who staged a rebellion and Fell from Her Grace near the time of the world's Creation. So, there is a great deal of emphasis on which side of that dichotomy one ends up part of. Good and Evil, and all that."

[bearshermark]

Eleven nearly laughed, but reigned the impulse in to a smile- one that swiftly faded as he spoke.

"Well I'm not about to swear my life to the Dark One. Anyway, Erdwin defeated him long ago. The Lord of Shadows is.. is not yet a God- though I'm sure he thinks himself such."

[temptationaccomplished]

"Yes, they... do seem to do that," he admitted. Creating an AntiChrist--an antithesis to the son of God--was certainly a great deal of hubris on the part of Lucifer. "But goodness, no, I wasn't suggesting That. I can't see why anyone would swear their life to a Dark One, but certainly some are tempted, accidentally or intentionally, or he wouldn't exist and pose such a threat."

[bearshermark]

He hadn't really thought of it that way- that darkness might exist because of human contribution. The people of Cobblestone had always been kind- were still kind -and the King had been poisoned. But what of Jasper, then? It was a subject that he had yet to be able to broach with Hendrik.

Eleven shivered, hands turning over in his lap.

"It's hard to think about," he admitted. "I know monsters exist because of darkness and that Mordegon was the source of it, but I don't know where it was that he..."

His eyes narrowed, caught on a memory. "...Gained such power. But he's not a god, anymore than I am."

[temptationaccomplished]

Aziraphale watched, unsure what kind of revelation the young man might have had, but sure it was a rather unpleasant if enlightening one. He should probably offer something uplifting to counteract it, since the part of this conversation has been mostly his own fault to begin with.

"Humanity does plenty of evils on their own, without Divine or Hellish intervention, let me assure you. But they are also capable of much good, so I wouldn't worry too much about Mordegon. It tends to balance out in the end and good largely tends to prevail."

[bearshermark]

Eleven winced, fingers curling in his lap.

"I hope that's true." He blew out a careful breath, then shook his head and turned his eyes to the man beside him.

"What of your Gods?"

[temptationaccomplished]

What of God indeed. He wasn't sure how quite to answer that or what topics to discuss. She was the Creator of Heaven and Earth, of man and Angel and had created the Fallen, too, once upon a time. Before they Fell. She had brought forth miracles and plagues. She had given her son in sacrifice.

Earth had many religions, a variety of gods, but Aziraphale knew firsthand that there was really only one God and Her story was one Aziraphale had told and heard told many times.

"Well," he wiggled in his seat, smiling a small smile of a child called on in class who knew the lesson by rote, "in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. She created light and darkness to make day and night, separated the seas and sky and ground, and produced vegetation. And then She turned to the heavens and gave us the sun and the moon and the stars. She manifested fish in the sea and birds in the sky and encouraged them to abundance, and did the same for the land. And at last She created mankind in Her own image, to rule over all the other creatures She had brought forth unto Her world, and She gave to them a garden of fruit-bearing plants and seeds so that they may find food."

And on the Seventh Day, She rested.

[bearshermark]

Eleven listened intently, having found an interest in other world's gods and creation since discovering that most other worlds didn't seem to have a World Tree.

"'Created mankind in Her own image..'" he repeated, intrigued. "And She created even darkness? I wonder why."

[temptationaccomplished]

"Generally I find the best explanation to why She does anything is that it is ineffable. But, in this case, She created literal darkness, as in the darkness that exists in the absence of light, not the metaphorical kind," he said, then amended, "Though She created that as well, I suppose. Lucifer had been an angel--that's what we call the divine beings She made to help Her--before his Fall. He and some of his followers didn't like that the humans had been given dominion over Earth, or they questioned Her Plan too much, so they rebelled and were cast out."

[bearshermark]

He tried to picture it- beings created by the Goddess to assist only to betray Her.

"How arrogant," he muttered, shaking his head. "Surely they should have understood that She had a larger plan. It was their own failing to question Her, unable to have faith in the very power that created them."

The strength of his voice faded then, quieting to rueful silence. "..But I guess I'm guilty of that, too. Questioning Yggdrasil's plan for me, unsure if I could fulfill it." He smiled to himself. "Surely She knew something I don't."

[temptationaccomplished]

"It is human to question," he admitted sagely, voice quiet and attempting to be reassuring. "Humans were given the ability to understand Good and Evil and to make a choice. They have Free Will," which posed an interesting question regarding Her Plan and humans' position in it. If people were capable of mistakes and decisions of their own, was everything meant or did everything just naturally hit an equilibrium that was in line with Her Plan. And THAT was a line of questioning that Aziraphale should not want to ponder. "They are a curious lot with the imperative to ask why. It is how they learn about their world.

"In any case," and he shouldn't be saying this, either, but here he was tempting fate, "sometimes it is necessary to question orders, rather than accept them blindly."

[bearshermark]

Eleven nodded. Hendrik should have questioned Carnelian months before. Loyal to a fault, Jade had said. And now that loyalty belonged to him.

He breathed.

"Still, to question a Goddess that created you to the point of rebellion seems at the least unwise."

[temptationaccomplished]

"Teenagers do it all the time to their parents," he observed as if it were the simplest thing to say, as if it wasn't possibly damning him.

[bearshermark]

Eleven laughed.

"Yes," he grinned. "Though they aren't divine beings."

[temptationaccomplished]

"And how does that make it different?"

If he was looking uncomfortable, its because he was, in part because he was used to being on Eleven's side of the debate.

[bearshermark]

Eleven blinked surprise, then turned his eyes back to Raida's statue.

"..Well, humans have a more limited view of things," he said after a moment. "Worried about what they can and can't do- when and how they'll die."

He shifted, frowning. "The Gods must have a much wider view of their domain, and make decisions on a higher level we would have a difficult time comprehending. I can only imagine that Yggdrasil concerns Herself with the encroaching darkness in the world- of maintaining Light and Life in Erdrea."

Eleven slumped a bit in his seat. "..And a thousand other things that I'm sure I don't know anything about."