nexus_sages | In which Winter has a thematically appropriate query

Not all Nexus days can be sunshine and beautiful frost patterns. Days like this are a grim, sombre grey. The mist is so thin in places that all it does is make the distance fade away sooner than normal, but it does apply a more reserved filter on a place often filled with joyous shenanigans. No, this is unmistakeably a day which makes the multiverse feel close, secretive.

It's in this clandestine scenery that Reynard strolls about. Far from hopping or skating through the landscape, he strolls about the place, setting ice on the path and covering it with a dusting of snow. In the residential and commercial districts, he's sent ice along as many pipes as he could find. As he goes he rumbles a low slow tune. Some might recognise the sea shanty when he reaches the familiar 'Ho... Ho... and up she rises...'. He's not a bad singer, all things considered.

He looks up from his work and fixes his eyes on the nearest stranger, singing fading into a deep hum and then silence before he speaks. "What is the coldest thing you've ever done? The most cold hearted act you've ever brought yourself to commit. Go ahead. I'm not one to judge."

Just as the quiet settles back into place, he pipes up again. "Actually, you can tell me the literal coldest thing you've ever done too, if you'd prefer. I can't resist a good ice story."

((Reynard is still handing out Winter Curses & Blessings and causing trouble if you would like to avail of any. Other than that: Caution to those who talk to spirits, they are proud and fickle people.))

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"The gods of the sun always acted like burning balls of gas before they acted like gods of music or justice, according to what I was told."

"Older tales suggest that the gods have not always held quite the forms which they do now, but I confess I have not yet made a thorough study of the subject. I welcome your insights."

"Maybe I'm a bad person to ask. My understanding of the gods is... limited. They do their thing, I do mine. Then their followers cause trouble and I have to deal with it sometimes."

"I will concede, that is as fair a perspective of the gods as may be hoped for. May I ask from where you draw inspiration in your life, and comfort?"

The thoughts that spring to mind make him smile, but then another crosses his mind and he frowns questioningly. "Are you a priest?"

"Not as such, no," he admits, "but I have felt the godly call to service, in other ways."

"Not in ways that involve lecturing others, I hope."

"Ha!" The slight raspiness of his voice turns that bark of laughter into something like a cough. "I should hope not, myself. No. A petulant godling sought to punish the Nine by slaughtering their faithful. I was eventually found worthy to stand against him."

"That is much more pleasant for everyone else than you standing on a box telling them they're going to hell."

The white-scaled brow furrows under the hood. "That does not sound like the work of a priest," he muses aloud.

He gets a laugh. "It's exactly the work of a priest. Sometimes they keep it to pedestals these days, but... not always."

He tsks quietly. "One gathers more friends with a merry hearth than a pogrom-pyre."

"Friendship isn't what religion is used for." He shakes his head and chuckles before explaining, "It's used for control."

Edited 2016-01-16 14:16 (UTC)

"I am sorry that you have found it so," the lizard offers. "I would say, perhaps, that religion may be misused for control, but that path is not the correct one."

"It may not be its original purpose, but it is what it is used for now. I expect the old gods spit on the people below for it. But things may remain different with you, and your world, if divine beings have such a presence in life as you say."

"That is most unfortunate to hear, and your world has my sympathy. I gather faith, or at least religion, is not one of your interests for this reason?"

"I've never had much time for gods and churches. I place my faith in what I know. In the Seasons, in Nature."

"Then Kynareth would like you well, I think, were her eye to fall upon you."

He thinks about that for half a second before shrugging and grinning. "Well most ladies do."

Congratulations, Reynard, you've made the bookish lizard chuckle.

"You laugh because you know it is true," he states boldly, but the air with which he says it is an entirely cheeky one.

"I do not claim to know the mind of any woman, nor to speak for her," he replies, still chuckling. "I have slain death-kings and petty godlings, but that is a bridge too far."

Be fair, Shade-Seeker, you've killed exactly one of each of those.

"I might not know the mind of women, but I know what they think of me." Yes, he will be preening now. "And what of you? Do you have a woman to keep you in line?"

He can preen, Shade-Seeker won't comment. "I do not. Nor the prospect of one, at present. When the world is not ending, perhaps I shall see."

"When the world is not ending, it may be over. Best you keep an eye out while you can."

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