Where Angels Dare to Trod

[unfallen]

Islington is walking along the ship.  It is a steady pace.  But slow.  If people didn't know better, It would like like It was floating or gliding.  If you run, It will walk.  If you stop, It will continue Its pace.  Never changing, never pausing.  As if by walking, it can change something about this place.

It's garments seem to be made of light itself.  As It goes along, It is humming an ancient tune: The Lyke Wake Dirge (As sung by Benedict Cumberbatch)

And that's the interesting thing about this particular Angel: It seeks neither to offer help nor the counsel of others. It is simply walking.  Perhaps It is measuring the ship, perhaps It is weighing the integrity of the people gathered.  Whatever the reason, It continues on Its journey.  Simply walking....

Comments

[unfallen]

It smiles kindly. Ah someone It can take under Its wing - literally. Excellent.

"I apologise. I would be happy to help you learn. It is... one of my gifts."

And something It knows well. It has had a lot of time to think over the past thirty or so thousand years.

[impossibilities]

Grainne gave him a wary look, but she saw no reason to refuse the offer. It may prove interesting, or at the very least enlightening into a different way of thinking.

"Even though I am... ... what's the word they use? A pagan?" Grainne lifted her eyebrows in query.

[unfallen]

"What difference does religion make? In the end, they all describe the same reality."

Besides, there's plenty of time for conversion.

"Every religion under the sun started out as pagan."

Because, really there was no other reality to be experienced.

[impossibilities]

"I suppose. From different viewpoints, anyway." She didn't seem as convinced of that as she should. "So who were the others in your God's pantheon? I've never heard nor seen of any others, save possibly a mother-figure. Were the angels once considered gods?" She's taking that 'starting out as pagan' part literally.

[unfallen]

It chuckles softly.

"Ah, you've misunderstood me. There is only one God. However humans in their inability to comprehend such things made angels and natural events into gods in their minds."

She should take it literally, since that is how It meant it.

[impossibilities]

She just raised her eyebrow. "I am not sure about that. I would not classify Aengus Og as neither angel," definitely not an angel, as nice as he could be, "or natural event, or Manannan mac Lir for that matter. And they were very much real."

[unfallen]

"I have never heard of these names. Perhaps if you provided more details?"

Because well, maybe God was pulling off a creation on the side It doesn't know about.

[impossibilities]

"Aengus is the god of youth, love and poetry in Ireland. Manannan mac Lir is the son of Lir, the god of the ocean. He watches over wisdom and tests people for worthiness, and also of Ireland. I knew them both personally." She said that a bit warily, tilting her head to the side. Wouldn't an angel know of the other divinities in the world?

[unfallen]

It offers a non-committal shrug. "Different universes, different names. Sometimes we have different names in different theologies. The names you are using are Irish, but not their Old Irish names: Oíngus and Manandán respectively. We tend to be given names by humans. But that doesn't mean it is our true name. Our true names would be unpronounceable by you."

It offers a small smile. "That said, I am certain I know both of them. All of the Angels know each other. But I wouldn't know them as you do."

[impossibilities]

For the first time in the conversation, Grainne gave him a pert look, standing her ground so to speak. "I speak by nature what they call Proto-Celtic in the modern era, their names have changed very little as far as I have heard. And it is strange but Aengus never called himself an angel or spoke of anyone over him save Danu herself. He was my father in law, you see."

Oh. She stopped there, realizing she had let her pride let slip one of the more connected pieces of information to her true identity.

[unfallen]

Ohhhh how delightful. The relative of a demi-god... It could do such things. Such things! But It doesn't let on that she slipped. It will just continue as if she hadn't said anything useful at all.

"Well, when we are among mortals we don't always flaunt our nature. I did when I was at Atlantis. But when I was in London Below, I kept it quiet for a long time."

[impossibilities]

It was very good Grainne couldn't read his thoughts, else she might have squeaked and ran.

"Ah..." She still wasn't convinced, as she knew that things could be very different universe to universe, but still... she had nothing she could use otherwise to argue. "It is strange though, do not all gods have red eyes?"

I apologise for strange delays, something borked between Dreamwidth and AOL :(

[unfallen]

It chuckles softly at her comment about eye colour.

"Humans are created in the image and likeness of God. Our eye colours are as vast as yours."

[impossibilities]

Something did not set right with her at that. "Truly? All the gods and their close kin I have ever met had red eyes. Though, Gilgamesh has an ego befitting of one as well. Mayhap it is just that I have never met anyone with different eyes, but it's the kind of thing that you notice over time."

She hadn't bothered asking Cu Chulainn or Gilgamesh on their ancestry, but then those weren't the happiest of conversations to begin with, either. Missed opportunities.

[unfallen]

Oh she is revealing too much about herself. And the Angel is enjoying it immensely.

"I cannot explain your experiences. I can only tell you that I have direct knowledge of such things."

[impossibilities]

Grainne didn't care about that part as much as it happened after she started traveling the multiverse. That was more difficult to pin down.

"Are you sure that it is the same in all universes, then?"

[unfallen]

"I know the creator of all universes."

How Its knowledge is interpreted by others is a completely different matter.

[impossibilities]

Something seemed very off. Grainne stared at him blankly for a moment or two, before asking in a hollow voice, "Then why did this creator, create the Tower of Animus?"

[unfallen]

"Describe this Tower to me. Because, as you have pointed out, I am not from your universe and it's possible that it means something different to you than it does to me."

It is currently thinking she might mean the Tower of Babel, but without more information, It cannot say for sure.

[impossibilities]

Taking a deep breath in, Grainne steeled herself to talk about it. This angel was a perfect stranger, and there was no reason she should trust him- it. Yet... if it could provide answers, she would take the risk.

"It is a... a universe, where they created a giant Tower that experimented with the... the aspects of humans. Psionic energy, the mysteries of the mind, and even souls. That's how they destroyed their own universe. Not just their own, they created a mad... god that destroyed many universes, including mine. Why would this creator allow something like that to happen?"

[unfallen]

"I see. You had initially said that the Creator created that place. It did not. That place was created by creation. But to answer your question: we do not intervene when a leopard kills a gazelle. Why would we do such just because the creature is deemed to be 'more sentient' than an animal?"

From their perspective, it is really the same thing.

[impossibilities]

"You are implying that a creator would not intervene when its creations discovered the means necessary to both destroy and create new universes. I thought 'God' was a jealous god." She replied evenly. "You're also implying that the implantation of an entire universe worth of souls into one being alone is equivalent to the natural order."

[unfallen]

"I am simply stating that Creation is allowed to be Creation. Jealous? In some respects, I suppose that is true. But just because creatures want to be like God, doesn't mean they are. And they reap what they sow eventually. Like Lucifer."

It's not bothered by her pushing It. It's used to such things happening.

"It may be the 'natural order' for those creatures to have done that. Who are you to decide otherwise?"

[impossibilities]

"And who are you to decide that in the first place? We all have free will, do we not? When a soul is yanked unwillingly out of their state of existence and forced to carry the souls of its own universe around, they have a right to object. It was not some accident of nature. It was one person's choice inflicted on countless beings. Punishments beyond human comprehension perpetuated on entire universes of victims. Minds and bodies broken over and over like a child's plaything. If 'God' is supposed to be merciful, then he had his back turned to that place and all its lifeless worlds."

Grainne did not comment on Lucifer, but something in the back of her head brought to mind Naoya and the state of his world. His inner sadness. What she remembered of it had been horrible, terrible things happening even before Ruana had set her sights on his universe. What did he say? Some cult had been trying to do something and punish everyone? The details were lost in the months after that place, when she tried to suppress everything about the ordeal. She wondered how Naoya was doing now.

Then she wondered why she had thought of him in a conversation with the angel.

[unfallen]

"You are correct. You have free will. However it doesn't mean choosing to do whatever you want. It only means that you can act within your own agency. And that is why we do not interfere. You call it turning our backs. But it is not. Those creatures captured you. That was their free will. How you reacted to being captured is your free will."

It really is that simple. Too bad most humans don't understand how free will actually works.