I'm not giving up on this faith; you aren't giving up on me

[hegantha]

Characters: Amberley and YOU
Setting: Floor 13
Format: Action
Summary: More coping with the recent event. Amberley's turned to prayer to solve her problems.
Warnings: Amberley's fairly volatile, and she's armed. She might be a holy woman, but she doesn't think much of shooting someone in a church.

Also, the typical warnings for aliens and magic users times 10. There's a serious possibility of death for these particular characters in this particular post, so honestly, if you want to tag in and you don't want your character to die, please let me know.

[ After the event, Amberley won't be found in her room, in the cafeteria, library, or any of her other usual floors. No, for a good while, she'll only be found in the Church located on floor thirteen. She's in the back row, sitting in the far left corner. From far away it will only look like she's reflecting on everything that's happened, but close up, you'll be able to tell that she's praying. Her lips barely move, as she's whispers to herself, her hands patiently folded in her lap.

Honestly, she doesn't look as distraught as some of the other victims of droning. Her hair is in place, and she's wearing a white long dress. The only noticeable change is that she's currently armed. For those of you have met her, she may have lied to you about knowing how to fire a weapon to begin with, so seeing her with one that's clearly her own will be alarming. For those of you who share the same world as her, you'll be wondering why, as an Inquisitor, she's displaying a symbol of her status openly.

But Amberley is beyond caring. In her mind, no one deserves to suffer like this. Even heretics were better of dead without the suffering involved. It's insulting and still disgusts her that she was made to commit heresy. She won't feel comfortable in her own body for a long time and she might never be redeemed in her own eyes or in the Emperor's, but the worst part of it was how fragile and helpless she was made to feel. It's not a feeling that sits well with her. She's used to being in a position of power. Not only that, but the fact that Loken was the one to kill her instead of Ciaphas Cain...

... It's all left her feeling a bit unhinged. ]

Comments

*tempts fate*

[midnightblackandgold]

[Marisa had never been to this floor before, so the woman in the back row would find the blonde walking down the center aisle with her broom over her shoulder, looking around with a kind of awe. She knew what this place was, knew that the faith followed here was detrimental to vampires, but the scope of it was so much... grander than that of the Hakurei Shrine.

...not that it wasn't hard to outdo that shrine.

There was a slight jingling sound from the chain of the silver cross hanging from the end of her broom when the witch came to a stop. She tilted her head back to look up at the ceiling.]

Woah...

SIN'S TAGGING AMBERLEY!

[hegantha]

[ While Amberley would prefer to be alone, she knows that the church should be open to anyone. And since she's obviously not here to pray, she'll strike up a conversation, even if it'll probably end in asking the blonde to leave.

Luckily, the witches in Amberley's world don't fly on brooms, so there's no hints there. She assumes that the girl's probably a sympathiser like everyone else here. ]

It is amazing. Though I'm not familiar with the iconography, it's clear that someone spent a lot of precious time building this place.

shush

[midnightblackandgold]

[Marisa glanced over, pushing the brim of her hat up a bit to get a look at the woman, and nodded.]

It's a Christian cathedral. I've read about them before, ze. The, ugh, cross [points to closest one] is a symbol of the religion's faith. Like... represents burdens carried to be forgiven upon death or something.

[She shrugged] Didn't reach much about the actual dogma of the faith itself. Was more interested in its uses against vampires.

i'm sorry I'm just so happy

[hegantha]

[ That catches her attention, for all of the wrong reasons. ]

You're saying that you're interested in Eldar Warpcrafts?

[ Yeah, she has no idea what a vampire is. ]

don't make me untag you

[midnightblackandgold]

Uh... [She stares with utter confusion on her face.] I have no idea what you're talking about, ze.

is that a thing that people can do

[hegantha]

Needless to say, I have no idea what your vampires are like.

I can make it happen

[midnightblackandgold]

Huh. I thought vampires were pretty universal.

Anyways, they're basically a kind of youkai or lesser demon that sustains itself on human blood, are nocturnal, damaged by sunlight and various other things, high in magical strength and physical abilities, and they have a hell of an ego, ze.

[greyerrant]

"Ah yes." He booms. "The Cruxian Cathedral."

He crosses to Amberly, looking as companionable as an Astartes can, well, without smiling, anyway. He's got his normal flat expression, making his stony face as unyielding and stern as always.

"Good to see you as yourself again."

[hegantha]

"And a good day to you, Astarate."

Amberley's flirty, cheery disposition is gone, replaced by a somber one. Though she is glad to speak to Loken after the events that took place. She has a lot to talk to him about.

"Would you join me for awhile?"

[greyerrant]

"Of course." He drops to one knee beside her, so that conversation is a bit more easy. He's found that conversing with normal sized humans goes best if he's closer to eye level, the better to read their microexpressions and to take the edge off the posthuman terror that he sometimes engenders in them.

[hegantha]

Amberley chews off some of the skin on her lower lip before continuing. He may not know her, and her defenses may be strong, but he's seen a lot of traumatized soldiers in his life and Amberley is one of them right now.

"... I wanted to thank you for doing what the Commissar couldn't do."

[greyerrant]

"It was only duty. And not the first of that kind I'd been forced to perform."

He shrugs his shoulders, dismissing it.

"From what I understand it was due to the powers of the damnable administrators anyway, so I will not hold your actions against you."

[hegantha]

She gives a slight, bitter looking smile.

"Don't take it so lightly. I was aware of every action I was committing, though I was unable to control my body. You put me out of my misery, if only for a day. I owe you for that."

[hideandhero]

[This isn't awkward or anything, not at all.

That is to say, he wasn't looking for Amberley. He just happened to check out where she was going and waited for a while. Why the wait? So it didn't look like he was keeping an eye on her at all.

There was a somewhat subtle play in this if one looked deep enough into the meaning.

But surely enough, he walked into the Cathedral and pretended to act surprised.]

Ah....didn't expect to see you here.

[hegantha]

[ Amberley holds up her bolt pistol, aiming it towards Ciaphas. ]

Commissar Cain, you have ten minutes to explain to me why you hesitated to kill a heretic. Otherwise, you will be executed on the grounds of being a sympathiser.

[ Yeah, she's pretty mad. ]

[hideandhero]

Funny story, that.

[Ten minutes. That was a longer time than he was given to do anything else. But it also means he needs to put his pokerface through a bigger workout than ever before.]

You didn't say anything. That's the short story.

[hegantha]

I couldn't talk! If I would have, I would have told you to shoot me in the fraking face!

[ He has to have a better excuse than that. Almost anything would be better than that. ]

What does talking have to do with that, anyway? You've killed plenty of heretics without having a conversation with them.

[hideandhero]

Listen for a second.

First off, it's not my place to question the Inquisition. That's another Inquisitor's job, I'm sure. We've all heard those jolly stories about rogue Inquisitors and such but where the frak do you draw the boundary? Hell if I know. If you attacked me or could have said anything, my mind would have been made up. For all I know, you were testing out some kind of xeno technology.

Secondly, how the frak am I supposed to shoot you.

[hegantha]

[ That's enough for her to lower her weapon, but it's not going back in it's makeshift holster. Not yet. ]

What do you mean how are you supposed to shoot me? You aim and pull the trigger.

[ Amberley would never hesitate to shoot Cain if it really came down to it. Now she's worried about his ability to separate work from love. ]

[chainsawn]

[ The sound of soft footsteps echoes across the walls of the church. Soft enough to belong to someone rather small, and it is Urotsuki who slowly enters the floor, looking around like she always does when she's exploring. She didn't have much trouble with the latest happenings here, either way, so she seems just normal and blank..

.. although she then spots Amberley sitting there and she stands still, the footsteps noticably stopping. ]

[hegantha]

[ At least something's the same as always. Amberley waves the girl over, though her usual enthusiasm is gone. ]

Hi, Urotsuki.

[chainsawn]

Hi.

[ After the greeting she walks a little closer to the woman, although she still keeps some distance. Probably since she was in the middle of exploring, so she didn't expect to see her here. ]

.. Is something wrong? Are you praying..?

[hegantha]

I am praying. Or I was, anyway.

[ She looks down at that. Amberley can't feel secure in confiding in someone so young. Being vague would be enough, hopefully. ]

I'm praying for forgiveness, and so that a path can be shown to me. I'm not quite sure where to go from here.

[chainsawn]

.. Oh. [ Apparently the explanation is good enough, since she nods a little as if she gets it. She probably doesn't, or only gets it in her own way, but still.. she moves to sit in the pew too, right next to Amberley. ]

Do you think it'll be a path out of the tower?

[ .. see, nope, she took it too literally. ]

[hegantha]

[ Amberley can't help but giggle slightly at Urotsuki's innocence. She really is one of the few people in the Tower that she genuinely likes. ]

That'd be nice. If I find a path like that, I'll bring you with.