towerofanimus | subject line here

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Characters: Judas and open
Setting: room 1-10, cafeteria, cathedral, floor 63, floor 12
Format: Starting action but I can match
Summary: Usual newbie stuff

Room 1-10

[After reading the letters set by his bed in confusion, Judas sits up to look around the room. It looks like the other beds are occupied, and the trunk at the foot of his bed is clearly meant for him. He opens it, rifling through to find wine, bread and a familiar suit and set of robes. Definitely a good idea to change. It's hot, his robes would be lighter, although they might be a bit conspicuous in public, and he doesn't want to draw attention. In the end the heat wins out and he changes quickly to leave the room. But first, he has to check if he knows these other people, if anyone from his world was saved. Of course, that means standing over the other beds to scrutinise those sleeping in them.]

Cafeteria

[He knows he should eat the oatmeal, before he forgets, but he really doesn't feel like it. So with a book from the library in front of him, he pokes at the mess in the bowl. Wasting it would be wrong, but if he's not hungry, forcing himself to eat it is also a waste. Maybe he should just give it to someone else?]

Cathedral

[After hearing the faint mumbling of some sort of mass while passing by earlier, Judas returns to the cathedral floor, this time with wine and bread. He saw no one and nothing there, so at the least he could go to listen, and hold his own private communion. He kneels at the altar and bows his head in prayer. For the safety of the world he's left.]

Floor Sixty-Three

[Fishing is a thing Judas likes and would be glad to do. Suddenly falling into a vast expanse of water with fish he doesn't even recognise and is very worried may eat him is not. He struggles against the tide, but his waterlogged robes pull him down, and all he can do is call for help, though he's not so sure anyone will hear him, or care.]

Floor Twelve

[Judas stops dead when he reaches this floor. He wants to believe what seems to be happening all around him is a camera trick, or an animation, maybe something from a movie. But as he watches, it keeps happening, with clearly different worlds each time. If it's a trick, it's terribly elaborate, and as the truth begins to dawn on him, all he can do is weep. Not only the demise of his own world, but so many more. All those people, all their efforts, destroyed in an instant, is too much for him to bear. Especially in knowing somehow he was saved.]

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"Aah, that's even earlier than me-"

Wait, wait, sixth from Adam? So early he can count from the start?

"You mean to say you're the seventh generation of man?"

Even earlier, so he was from a similar time!

Enoch smiles a bit wider at that revelation. It's good to not feel so alone in terms of time, sometimes. "I am."

And he offers his hand, not quite a modern handshake, but that ancient precursor that stemmed from "I'm willing to occupy my sword hand to show I mean no harm". The palm is tilted slightly up, in Enoch's case.

"Enoch, son of Jared."

"--Saint Enoch The Patriarch?"

After being forgiven and spending time in Heaven, Judas had met quite a few saints, but Saint Enoch wasn't one of them. For a moment worry spreads across his face, but just as quickly, it's replaced with relief. So holy beings can be brought to the tower, there's a chance those he knows could be safe.

He takes Enoch's wrist, genuinely smiling for the first time in a while, even while he gives his name.

"Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. Have you seen anyone else here?"

'Anyone else' meaning saints and the like, not realising Enoch could very well be from a different version of things.

There are a couple of words in that description Enoch hadn't quite expected to hear for some reason or another, even if both of them made sense once the surprise wore off - and once it had, he grasps Judas's wrist in return and gives it a light squeeze.

"I've never been called that before, but it's good to meet you, Judas."

He thinks that "anyone else" must mean people like them. People from the past, where a greeting like this is normal. "The only others here I think you might know of from our times are the Archangels Lucifel and Raphael."

"Oh- have you not become a saint yet? I'm sorry for spoiling it...!"

He looks quite distressed for that, and even more so when he thinks about angels being around. He's glad they're safe, really, but...

"A-ah, Raphael and...wait, Lucifel?! But...how is it Lucifer and Judas are saved, while others..."

He's about to say he shouldn't worry, his thoughts are actually more along the lines of angel so far and that's...considerably more.

But then he says something rather puzzling. Something with implications he feels he doesn't want to explore.

"What do you mean...?"

"Even if this place is dangerous and terrible, there's at least some hope for survival and escape, while those left behind have none!"

He doesn't realise that question probably includes 'why shouldn't those two be saved', it should really speak for itself!

"There's hope for the worlds to be restored, at least..."

He might have thought he was simply being humble; there was nothing wrong with that. And he might have been confused, perhaps even offended, at the implication that his dearest friend didn't deserve rescue. Except he'd already encountered the idea of him falling, complete with that minor name difference. It doesn't mean he doesn't think he's worthy of being rescued.

But either way, it means he understood the connection Judas made, at least a little.

"Why would you compare yourself to him, and why should neither of you be saved?"

For a moment he's confused by the question - shouldn't anyone know?

"Ah, that's right, you wouldn't know if you haven't reached sainthood..."

And at the prospect of explaining, he hangs his head.

"My sin is the only one that could compare to the sin of Lucifer, he even calls me his favourite."

There's a subtle tightening of Enoch's posture, not at the mention of sin, but at the phrase "sin of Lucifer". He may know other versions of the most important person in the worlds to him will betray God and fall, but...he can't help it. He can't help the pain and unease, however faint or not, and it shows a little less subtly in a light strain in his tone.

"Sin makes no one unworthy."

"My sin does. As a man who serves God, you must understand, a direct affront to Him is far beyond any regular sin."

Judas sighs, averting his eyes and poking at his oatmeal.

"You can ask anyone, my name is synonymous with treachery. People call others Judas if they feel they've been betrayed... I was condemned to Hell for it, Lucifer should know."

"What did you-" he stops short. It doesn't matter yet, there's something more important he must say.

"Never mind what it is you did. I'll say it again: sin makes no one unworthy. I wouldn't leave you or Lucifer to die if you were in danger, sin or not."

"And if you could only save one of us or someone who hasn't done anything worthy of Hell? It wouldn't make sense to leave an innocent person in favour of a sinner."

"Hell... That's a word for The Darkness in other worlds, isn't it?" He lets out a pensive sigh. "You see, Judas, in my world no one is worthy of The Darkness but the demons that dwell there to begin with. There is a place for sinners affiliated with Heaven if my - very faulty - memory serves, but Heaven wouldn't let their enemy simply take a man's soul - it robs him of any chance to atone."

He doesn't address the scenario proposed. He doesn't know what he would do if he could only save one of two people. If there was nothing that could sway him - and this sin he kept going on about wasn't something that would - what would he do? He doesn't like the idea of leaving someone to die at all, much less at random.

"Your world has yet to see men like me, then, just as you haven't yet found sainthood..."

He doesn't really think anyone else is worthy of Hell or any sort of damnation, he's really only referring to himself, despite how it might sound. To his mind the only true sinners are himself and Lucifer...and even then, himself more so.

The initial answer, the first word, is immediate, a visceral response to the idea that his world's God would become so petty as to deny a human the chance to live another life and try again, as to simply give away souls to their enemy, to willingly subject someone to the horrors of vileness for all eternity, or to become absorbed by a demon.

"No."

His expression and voice soften again as he continues.

"My world," his voice cracks, "is not yours. What I was trying to tell you is that 'worthy of Hell' is impossible, to me, and to those of my world. No one is not worth giving another chance to. Mistakes and sins, those come with free will. If you are expecting anger or hatred for a sin, even one that was a direct affront to God, you won't see it from me."

Edited 2013-07-21 08:33 (UTC)

"I don't think that's right. Even I was granted forgiveness, but that's just taking it too far."

Why must all these Heavenly beings be so forgiving? He just wants to be told how awful he is...

"It's not, if God saw fit to forgive you, even in a world where He would go so far as to give power to His enemy. And in any case..."

He gives Judas a sad smile across the table. The self-flagellation is far too severe.

"...you can't make me feel something I don't just by saying I should. How can I be outraged at someone God Himself has already forgiven?"

"Well, I don't know if God has, that's something else entirely..."

Maybe he can hold out hope that it was purely Jesus's decision?

"If He hadn't, or if His anger was absolute, would He have allowed it?"

He just smiles. He's sure he can keep Judas from turning this one on himself.

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