Will you or won't you

[attheclocktower]

Characters: Anybody and everybody
Setting: Floor 1, before noon
Summary: Riki's offered a way to help keep the Tower powered a little longer. Obviously this is going to cause a lot of discussion and debate so let's CONSOLIDATE
Warnings: Nothing as of yet. Possibly eventually, so keep an eye on subject lines and I 'll try to change to reflect any developments

[No doubt Riki's announcement would be polarizing, but the instructions themselves were clear: Floor 1 at noon if you want to help out. And if you want to meet people, try to talk them in or out of it? Or hell, maybe even just talk about the revelation on who is behind those explosions? Well, this is as good a place as any for that too.

Just remember to be careful near the staircase]

Comments

[thirtybits]

[He shifts a little awkwardly. How should he feel about their different sects? Rather, he doesn't care, but how much offence would this woman take to who he is? He's not really sure. Being without two thousand years of worldly knowledge is a lot of trouble.]

I confess I don't really know much at all about your system. I'm sorry. However, I'm sure his teachings were great...

[glassceiling]

They were. All Prophets give the words of God (Glorified and Exalted be He) to humans. My faith is most complete version of God's word, though there are others who would believe in other Scriptures.

[thirtybits]

Mm, of course. There was a lit of that in my time, especially. It was all a little much, really.

[glassceiling]

Really? Then...how did the people realize which Scripture was the true faith?

[thirtybits]

Aren't they all derived from the same point? It was just slight variations...so I don't think it really matters that much. It's just that people made a big deal about it...

[glassceiling]

The truth of God's (Glorified and Exalted be He) words are very particular. What He allows and what He denies to us, the way we pray to him. All these must follow His will.

Is it not that way in the Holy Land?

[thirtybits]

Well, yes, it is. What I mean is more that...there were ideas, like baptism, cropping up, and that caused a lot of controversy, and set believers against eachother, but we were all Jews and held the same values, so I don't see how it really made such a difference which side you were for... It just ended up getting people killed. But then I suppose the alternative was to allow the blatant disrespect to continue, and maybe that sort of controversy was needed to remind people, no matter what side they took on it...

I don't know maybe that's vague or convoluted or something. But that sort of thing was a lot of trouble and I found it was impossible to win.

[glassceiling]

[She nods, looking sympathetic.]

That does sound very complex. And...I suppose it was sad to see your friends and neighbors all caught in the conflict.

But...baptism is a Christian rite, is it not? One that the Prophet of the Christians, Isa (Peace be Upon Him) promoted.

[thirtybits]

Well it became one, yes. Christianity hadn't really...fully happened by that time? Jesus was just up and coming, and he never called his teachings a new religion, so...

[glassceiling]

[Assassin's eyes go wide as she hears him talk of Jesus.]

You knew the Prophet Isa (Peace be Upon Him)?

[thirtybits]

O-oh... [Is that how it sounded? Crap.] Yes...I...

[He fidgets. Crap.]

I'm ah...I'm the one who...

The traitor.

[glassceiling]

...The traitor? What do you mean by that?

[thirtybits]

I'm not sure what name you would know me by. It's Judah in Hebrew. Judas by the common Christian usage. I was a disciple. The treasurer. I sold him to the priests.

[glassceiling]

...You are Judas Iscariot?

[She quickly shakes her head.]

You look too gentle to be him.

[thirtybits]

[He nods.] I am. Was I supposed to be violent...?

[glassceiling]

I expected someone...wilder. More prideful. More malicious, I suppose.

[thirtybits]

...I don't see why that would be the expectation...

[He's never really thought of exactly what perception people have of him. Other than what he considers to be true, which is mostly just 'a bad person'.]

[glassceiling]

From everything I have heard, Judas was a sort of monster. Like...like Jason, perhaps.

[thirtybits]

...You mean a demon? Haha...well, they did call me that, I guess I can't blame them. But uh...metaphorically is the intention, I think.

[glassceiling]

[She nods and takes a step away from him. Now that he has been outed as Judas Iscariot, she finds herself becoming wary of him.]

So...would you call yourself a monster and a traitor? Even metaphorically?

[thirtybits]

...Of course. Is that not what I am, beyond any doubt?

[He shrinks into himself. It was nice to meet someone from around his time, but...]

Someone who could betray a prophet and a friend thus can't be anything less than a monster.

[glassceiling]

Then...do you feel any guilt? Or have you tried to repent?

[She had expected a cocky confession, but he looks...sorrowful? Or is it sad?]

[thirtybits]

O-of course! I-- why else would I have hung myself? Regardless of who he is on a religious level, I murdered a man who was my friend, who I loved above others...! Even a monster would have to feel guilt over that.

[glassceiling]

...No. A monster is something that would never feel guilt. So long as you can feel guilt, and you can do things to make up for your faults, then you aren't a monster.

[Though his suicide was a waste. No one should ever take their own life.]

[thirtybits]

[He shakes his head.] Guilt doesn't change anything. It can't begin to make up for it.