Traveling through casual space past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns

[baedalites.livejournal.com]

Who: Brendig, priest of the Twelve Point Divinity, and YOU.

What: Just an afternoon at the Mog Hill Divinity Temple

Where: Twelve Point Divinity Temple, near Votarysgate.

When: Newdi Monday. If anyone wants to come along later, just put the date in the comment subject.

Notes: There's an OOC post for all your discussion needs.

From the outside, the Mog Hill Temple is a unprepossessing building with a plain wood door and walls clean of graffiti or signs. Upon entering the building, there is a wide, airy hallway with a lone, elderly man sitting in front of a shoerack and a collection of pillows. A sign reminds visitors to ensure their shoes are clean or to leave them behind and that cushions can be borrowed so worshippers can sit in comfort in front of their alcove of choice.

The centre of the building itself is a rectangular room made of unpainted sandstone ringed by twelve, equal sized recesses in the walls, each one containing a symbol of a different god: a collection of parrot feathers in a handthrown clay vase, a mirror, a black stone bowl with a collection of badger's teeth, a decorated katara resting on a patch of lion's skin, a golden ram's horn wrapped in pale blue silk, an almost organic looking metalwork tree, an empty alcove, a dish of candy, an unusually large dragonfly wing suspended in midair, a blue glass bottle filled with some sort of liquid, a banana leaf bowl of rice, and an obsidian knife. On the floor in front of each recess, there is a collection of offerings: incense, votives, and various other items as preferred by that specific deity.

Comments

[gotbottle]

Rachel looks up at him, smiling. "No, not at all. I just got here. It's nice to meet you in person."

She'd spied the dog as they'd approached, and her attention goes to Velcro now. She's heard you never bother an assistance dog while they're working, so she doesn't try to pet him, instead only greeting him. "Hello. You're a very handsome guy, what's your name?"

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"Shake." Velcro wuffs and sits, offering a paw. While he is working, Sebastian doesn't mind going through the usual new person pleasantries. "And his name is Velcro. He sticks like. I hope he doesn't bother you?"

As they enter the temple, Sebastian leaves his shoes and a couple of coins with the guardian.

[gotbottle]

Rachel crouches, and affords this handshake all the gravity and respect she would any other. "It's nice to meet you, Velcro," she says. "And he doesn't bother me," she adds as she straightens up. "I love dogs and I don't have allergies or anything."

She follows Sebastian inside. Noting what he does with his shoes and the coins, she does the same, wanting to make sure she affords the temple and the gods honored here the proper respect.

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"He's well-behaved and won't jump or anything like that," he says with real affection towards the dog. Privately, Sebastian is pleased that Velcro is allowed into the temple; he's always been a bit put off by places of worship that deny entrance to animals.

"I suppose this is as good a place as any to ask what faiths on your world are like."

[gotbottle]

"Oh, even better." Not that she'd mind if the dog misbehaved; a dog is a dog, Rachel's not going to be put out.

She pauses a moment, gathering her thoughts. "I'm from Earth. 2007. There's so many different religions. But the major ones, many of them are, like, monotheistic with reasonably similar basic moral codes. And there are others, in different parts of the world, that are less concerned with worship of a god and more concerned with recognizing the interconnectedness of existence and finding enlightenment through daily practices. But they all have their rituals, their places of worship or reflection. And you?"

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"The same world, but a few years earlier." Or, to be more precise, the same sort of world. "And that's a far better description of how religion works than I could've come up with."

"I was raised nominally Anglican," he says without overly emphasizing the past-tense, but the fact remains that he's no longer Christian.

[gotbottle]

"Really? Thank you."

She nods, and offers, "I was raised in a devout Irish Catholic family. But I drifted, I guess, as an adult." Drifted, not abandoned or gave up on. There's part of her that still believes--or maybe, that still wants to believe. But not as deeply or as without question as the rest of her family.