TEXT - un; apparition (CW: cuts used as part of a lyric)

[unphase]

So, I'm curious. I'm from the 31st century, so I feel like I'm missing out on a lot of music.

What are some good songs and bands?

I love Cuts You Up by Peter Murphy and Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division personally, but I'm willing to listen to just about anything.

Except for music for the Terran father god. Yuck.

Thanks! ❤

Comments

[fogsong]

In high school, we were taught about the witch trials and it all started because a group of girls went to the woods and partied. They might've danced naked around a fire or something silly like that but the rumors spread that they were practicing curses and convening with the devil. It turned into this huge mess and people got tried and killed for things they didn't do.

Religions like that... They still get people killed where I'm from.

Is that why they were hush-hush where you're from? Because people didn't like it?

[unphase]

Oh. Oh, no. That's horrible. I've known that Terrans tend to be reactionary, but not to *that* degree.

I guess it's a lot different from us. We've been a matriarchy ever since women learned how to phase. In theory, my great however many grandmother was the first. But when we could phase, men couldn't harm us. No matter what they tried. So we took power and never gave it back.

Not exactly. Gods and Goddesses are usually left unworshipped. In the Legion, there had been only two of us with active faith. Gim was Jewish and I follow the Mistress.

[fogsong]

Good on your ancestors.

What is it that makes you have faith in the Mistress? [ As a child of The Order, Alessa had grown up with a certain amount of faith in the Goddess but that all fell apart as the abuse grew worse. Sharon can't bring herself to have any kind of belief system like that now. ]

(CW: discussion of religious faith and afterlife)

[unphase]

Well, they tried? Even though some things need to be updated, but my great-great grandmother doesn't seem interested.

It's not a habit, not really. But I've made my offerings (flowers! flowers and greenery, we're not like the Terrans with their burnt offerings) and it seemed to work out in the end. That, and I'd like to think that there's something good waiting for us when we die. [even though her most fervent prayers and abundant offerings don't seem to have healed her son, to her despair]

[fogsong]

Do you guys have some version of Heaven, too? Like that place where everyone good goes when they die, to live out some eternity in peace and happiness?

The Order thought that when their God returned, she would cleanse the Earth and bring about Paradise for her true believers. That she would save them from their suffering. Never mind that I would have to suffer for that to happen.

[unphase]

Yes, the Mistress's Eternal Garden. Supposedly, it's always springtime there and the air is perfumed with flowers. Little birds dart to and fro because cats are sacred to the Mistress. Cats can phase, too, so there are a lot of cats in the Garden. So cats chase the birds, but never catch them since no one needs to eat there. I'd imagine that's frustrating for the cats.

No true god or goddess would demand suffering. At least not one who supposedly had humanity's best interests in mind. [looking directly at the Terran father god. and the Order's supposed goddess as well] If someone tried to make you suffer, I'd stop them.

[fogsong]

That actually sounds nice. But those poor cats. I always heard that never being able to catch their prey can cause them problems but... if it's like a Heaven, maybe it won't bother them at all.

Every religion I know of sees suffering as something sacred or deserved. I don't understand it. I don't want to. [ Oh, but that statement Tinya makes. Sharon feels a twinge of sadness in her chest. ] If any of them ever came here, I wouldn't want you to get involved. They like to hurt the people I care about as if the more I suffer, physically and emotionally, the stronger the god will be when it's... born.

[unphase]

I imagine it would be. And I'd hope since it's a Heaven, the cats wouldn't need to catch and eat prey. Maybe there would be lakes of gravy flavor cat food? I know that Bgztlians are to have a banquet. It only makes sense that the cats are provided for, too?

It's peculiar that most religions think along those lines, about suffering being both sacred and deserved. And then whenever one questions why, it's always because it's god's will. As if that makes things any better. [she'd do it. she doesn't have her birthright, but she can imagine that fire and ice and definitely lightning could do some damage?] The last thing I'd want was for you to suffer.

[fogsong]

I'd hope so. If not, it wouldn't be much of a heaven for them.

That's why I don't do religions. It's why I don't really trust any of the Pthumerians. They seem big on suffering and I don't give a fuck what reasonings they have. [ Not even the supposedly 'kind' ones. It all just triggers something in her. ] Don't worry, as long as The Order never shows up, I don't think we need to worry about that. I mean, aside from the general suffering this place likes to toss at us.

[unphase]

Then every heaven should be a kitty heaven.

[it takes her a moment to take all of that in] If any of them show up? I'd fight to defend you. I mean it. I'm not human, so there's a decent chance they wouldn't know what to do with me. Anything to keep you safe. Or ready for a counter-attack.

[fogsong]

They'd want to burn you, Tinya. If they showed up, I'd rather they never learn of you or anyone else here I care about. They'd find a way to use you against me, just like they did with my dad, and I'd give them what they want to protect you.

And that would spell disaster for more than just Trench.

[unphase]

So you'd have to fight on your own? No matter what it was that you had to fight against?

[fogsong]

Only against the Order and I've fought all of them on my own before. For years.

[unphase]

I don't...want to invite trouble. But if they show up here? You can count on me for backup. No matter what.

[fogsong]

Thank you, Tinya. Really. I'll try to remember that if they ever show up here. But I've got my fingers crossed that they never do.

[unphase]

So do I.