towerofanimus | What's the point of praying [Open]

Characters: Romeo and Open
Setting: Cathedral
Format: Starting in prose but feel free to switch
Summary: Romeo wakes up to a tower that is very different than the one he went to sleep in.
Warnings: Small child having a very grown up crisis. Mentions of Dax's death, plot reveals, etc. Quite a lot of religion/questioning religion/heaven and hell and souls and good and evil stuff.

The cathedral was quiet, but not empty. At the front of the pews there was a small barefoot boy kneeling, head bowed. He wasn't praying though... he was just thinking.

Everyone seemed different today, the adults had that pale, something really bad has happened look about them. Romeo hadn't found any of those he really trusted to ask what had happened, but he had walked past a terminal and it had came on, for the first time in a while. So he had looked at the network...

And learned everything. Seen Zo being attacked... Seen Dax... He was dead. Dead for real... and seen Feferi's post, she was so upset and what she had said...

He knew what souls were, and he guessed that he had sort of known that they could take your soul out of your body. Because that's how he must have been swapped with mister Itachi, and how he had been a rocking horse. Still Romeo, even though he had been made out of wood and all he could do was rock...

But souls were meant to go to heaven. They belonged to God right? If you died your soul went to heaven if you were good. So the bad people were stealing their souls, and making them come here instead. And it wasn't really saving them at all...

The bad people. Romeo couldn't get what he had seen out of his head. He squeezed his eyes tight shut but tears came anyways. He had thought all this time that mister Dax was a bad person, that he was working for Ruana and even though he was nice to them he was still bad because he let bad things happen and didn't try and stop it.

But he had, he had been trying to help them all along, trying to stop mister Jason, that he was trying to stop the monsters, that he was trying to save them from miss Ruana...

And he had died for them. Because he argued with Ruana. That made him a hero. But could a bad person be a hero? And if he was was he a bad person at all? Or a good person who had been doing bad things because it meant he could help them more?

Romeo felt really bad for being so mad at him. For being angry all this time at someone who had actually not been bad at all. And it made him even more worried for Zo... He was just little and Romeo had never believed that he was really bad. The bad people were just his bosses so he had to do what they said. He didn't try and stop his tears, he couldn't work out how to keep his spirits up.

He really hoped that Zo would be alright... He brought his hands up to clasp together in prayer before dropping them again. He hadn't really believed God could hear him for a long time and he guessed he knew why now. The priest in his village had always said that his soul belonged to God even before he died, and God would look after him and when he died as long as he was good he could go and live with God and all his friends who had died. But if the bad people had stolen his soul than it didn't belong to God any more, it belonged to the bad people.

And Romeo really didn't know what to think about that...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Gamzee was as okay as he always was, really. Even Romeo seemed worse off than him at this point - it was clear the kid had been crying earlier by the strain in his voice. Gamzee wondered what the hell it would be like, to cry. Just sit and cry.]

[Well, if it were a good coping mechanism for him, he was pretty sure it would have happened already. No use in forcing something like that. He'd leave it to Romeo, who was probably fucking normal and didn't even have to think about shit like how he was supposed to react in a certain situation.]

As fuckin' okay as okay can motherfuckin' get up at all being, bro.

[Since Romeo wasn't hesitant to share his company, Gamzee looked up, now.]

You know how it all fucking is.

[Romeo nodded sagely, it was a really bad day for spirits, no ones spirits were up at all and Romeo was at a loss to know how to help anyone.]

I do. Today is a day where everyone is sad, but hopefully tomorrow will be happier. Because not all the days can be sad.

[Gamzee chuckled darkly, dragging the tips of his claws against the hard ground of the cathedral. A nasty noise emitted from them, and if this floor wasn't so deafening, it would have echoed around the building.]

Don't it ever get fuckin' boring, bein' so motherfucking optimistic?

[Romeo seemed to think about this for a while, and then shook his head] Not really... I don't like being sad all the time, and when I'm sad and angry I'm just really really tired and so keeping my spirits up means that I can still do things and help people. It's hard sometimes but I don't think it's boring...

[Sorry, but he's scoffing at that.]

Shouldn't be a giddy little shit just all 'cause you think it'll fucking make other peeps feel motherfuckin' better 'bout their own crap.

It's important.

No it ain't.

[Gamzee curled his lip in irritation.]

You gotta do shit for your fuckin' own. Spendin' all a motherfucker's damn time jonesin' for makin' them other chumps get their smile on ain't worth it.

[Wow. Someone was bitter today.]

Yes it is. Doing stuff just for yourself is selfish, you got to make sure your friends are okay!

What all be the fucking point in motherfuckin' that self-righteous noise, dog!?

[He let out a growl, throwing his hands in front of him and shaking his head.]

If they motherfucking stupid enough to get their shit all fuckin' wrecked, all they gon' be is another fucking weight on you.

Romeo's eyes narrowed angrily, "That's what friends are for Gamzee, to help each other!"

Ain't much help when they all fuckin' around and slowin' a motherfucker down.

Well that doesn't make you a very good friend! You're supposed to helping your friends even if they do be slower than you! Not get mad at them!

Never fucking said I all motherfuckin' was a good fuckin' friend! The fuck you gonna do about it!? Preach some more!?

[There was a certain unsatisfying result about yelling on this floor. It felt good in his lungs, but he couldn't hear the volume of his voice.]

Yes you are! [He's shouting too] You are a good friend! Stop saying you aren't!

The fuck do you know, motherfucker!? YOU DON'T EVEN FUCKIN' KNOW ME!

[Astonishingly, Gamzee was able to differentiate the source of his anger. He made no move to harm Romeo, because he knew it wasn't worth the effort - and because he knew this kid wasn't even remotely close to being the reason he was so pissed off.]

I know you enough! I lived with you for ages and ages!

[He pulled a face]

Then you be fuckin' all wearing at some tyrian-flavored gander panes, motherfucker.

[He cut it off there, dropping his forehead to the ground - a stance that looked appropriate enough for the setting.]

...Why you think everyone all fuckin' up and gets to poof from our room 'cept us?

Because the bad people send them away, or lose their souls. It's not 'cause of you Gamzee. [He rests his elbow on the floor and his chin in his hands looking intently at the troll.]

I know it ain't.

[He didn't care if the people left because of him. In fact, that would be something he'd expect. What bothered him mainly was the criteria for leaving. What makes it time for someone to go? Is it all random? It couldn't be, if they had been here so long without leave.]

Why they get to leave, though? Why all do fuckin' some of them bitches ain't up and come the fuck back with no rememberies of nothing?

[Pretty much everyone he'd known when he'd first arrived had vanished, except for Romeo. The kid must know something about it. ...Right?]

The bad people say that we are all from different worlds, so they are different world people and the ones we know are on their worlds that are dead.

That don't tell me why they get sent the fuck back.

[He paused, letting out a breath.]

Not that I give two motherfuckin' shits all on that noise. Rather be here anyway.

I don't know why. [Romeo nodded with a sigh] Here's really bad but I don't like the dead world, it's really lonely.

[Gamzee threaded his fingers through his bangs, digging the tips of his claws into his scalp in irritation.]

Ain't nothin' what's a good motherfuckin' option to no one.

[Ugh, being here had made him so frustrated and irritable and fed-up!]

I don't wanna be here, I don't wanna be home, I don't motherfuckin' wanna be nowhere! Why the fuck can't us bitches just fuckin' die and stay dead!?

Because the bad people got our souls. They stole them so they can't go to heaven.

What's the point of praying [Open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject