fifth prayer

[prayed]

Characters: Kyoko Sakura and you.
Setting: Cathedral -> Restaurant -> Library
Format: Starting in prose, but I'll match!
Summary: Kyoko has been in the tower for 10 years now! Or at least, she thinks she has been. Despite still looking like a fourteen-year-old girl, she's actually matured quite a bit over the years.
Warnings: None.


Floor Thirteen
Kyoko could be found knelt at one of the center pews. It was one of those rare occasions where she wouldn't be found eating something. It was one of those rare occasions where her hair was worn down. The ribbon that might usually have held it in place, as well as a religious icon, were held between her clasped hands, giving the image of being deeply in prayer. The mumbling is nostalgic, although it feels incomplete without the sermon and hymns that might have accompanied it under more favorable circumstances. This wasn't her father's church, but she had taken to coming here all the same. It was the closest she could come to feeling as though she was back home and to God in Heaven, watching over them all.

It was certainly Him who had given her another chance at life, even if it was in a place such as this, riddled with torture, death and disappearances, but also filled with friendships could not have been fostered anywhere else. Friends that had been lost to her back home; and of course, the opportunity to follow the path of repentance and redemption that she had brushed off for so long.

Interrupt her?

Floor Twenty-One
The restaurant wasn't a place Kyoko visited often. The temptation of good food would often outweigh the risk of loosing an eyeball, a lung or a limb (even if such a thing could be recovered through the use of magic,) especially now that the monotony had grown so great. Besides, what was life without a few risks? Fortunately, payment this time around had been fairly easy (or rather, by a stroke of luck, something she was already in possession of--she'd taken to the idea of collecting unusual things in the tower and popping open prize pods on the rare occasion that they showed themselves.)

She could be seen walking towards the staircase with a small plate in her hand, spearing a piece of chocolate cheesecake and taking bites of it.

Floor Three
Reading wasn't a hobby that Kyoko had seen herself getting into, not outside of the occasional manga, but her time in the tower had managed to soften her up the idea. She still wasn't what one would call an avid reader, but occasionally something would manage to catch her eye. At that moment "something" happened to be closer to her teenage self's preferences: some sort of fluffy shoujo manga. The kind where love and courage would prevail in the end, justice would be served and the day would be saved.

So she stood there, not yet bothering to leave the aisle, leaned back against the bookcase, flipping through the pages. Kyoko appeared to be surprisingly pleased with her find. There was a stick of banana pocky clenched between her teeth. The manga itself was pretty good. Better than she expected, even.

Comments

[warriorscribe]

"It's a strange floor." Enoch raised his head, opening his eyes. "It has an air of austerity... Is that why you chose it to pray?"

Naturally, a modern cathedral meant little to Enoch. But not knowing what it was for didn't mean he couldn't feel the air it had.

[prayed]

"Yeah. It sorta reminds me of my old man's church, y'know."

/problems with not knowing what he learned last conversation <_<

[warriorscribe]

It was a good thing the translation system was kind to him, "church" aliased right to what he would recognize as "temple".

"Ah, you...come from a family of priests?"

[prayed]

"Yeah. My father was a priest. He was gonna save the world, y'know." She chuckled lightly. Kyoko spoke of her father affectionately, even now, it was impossible not to. Even though things had ended on such a sour note, she could never bring herself resent him. Not when it was her own selfishness had to led to her entire family's death. "Well, I guess that'd be a little much for one person, but you know...if he'd have stuck around, I bet he would've changed a whole bunch of people's lives."

[warriorscribe]

"Me too." Enoch smiled and looked up at the ceiling. "To teach, to lead, to preserve...that is a priest's duty. It sounds as if that much hasn't changed over the years."

[prayed]

"Pretty sure it's one of the few things that's stayed the same." She laughed a bit. "The only problem is that it doesn't seem like there's anyone left who's willing to lend them an ear."

[warriorscribe]

"Priests in my experience only sometimes address the populace. We were preservers of the word and the law, and we were teachers, and provided guidance for when it was needed..."

Enoch looked up at the pulpit. It was a stage, and the seating meant for a crowd.

"Is this what temples will become?"

[prayed]

Kyoko nodded once.

"Yeah. Or well, something like this anyway. The decor in this one's a little different from what I'm used to, but I guess that's just 'cause this is a totally different world than any of ours."

[warriorscribe]

"What caused this shift?"

It was beautiful in a strange way, but...also a little frightening.

[prayed]

Kyoko considered that for a moment.

"I can't say I know for sure, but....you know, my old man used to have a saying. 'A new creed is necessary to save a new generation.' That's why he went so far as to teach things weren't in the doctrine." She leaned back on the pew. "...I'm guessing it was something like that. Even religion has gotta be able to recreate it's image as the world moves forward. If it doesn't, it'll be left behind and forgotten."

[warriorscribe]

Enoch nodded along with her words. "Your father was wise. Yes...we were meant to grow, to evolve. To make Earth the home we need, and learn how we should best live with it."

[prayed]

"He never said anything was wrong. If anyone had been willing to bend an ear, even if it was just for five minutes, they would have seen that everything he had to say was moral, but the things he said were different. None if twas wrong, they were just things that people didn't want to hear." She clenched her fists. She had idolized her father and the subject of him had grown to be something of a touchy subject, and yet...she had believed in his words so strongly that she had chosen to become a magical girl for him--for everyone. "Because of that, no one would even spare him five minutes. They treated him like a con artist."

[warriorscribe]

"Change is...difficult. Perhaps because of its very importance." Enoch leaned back against the pew. "But...that no one would spare their time to even hear him..."

[prayed]

"I couldn't comprehend it. It was frustrating, but most people find it easier to try and hammer down the stake that sticks out. They'd rather stick their fingers in their ears than admit that they need to change even just a little bit."

[warriorscribe]

"There will always be stubborn people. Those who need to see for themselves proof they need to change. But to think there were so many...

I'm sorry for the hardship your father had to endure."