[Sodium_noir] Gods of Fire, Saints of Ireland

[Jennie Teakle]

Tom Kaurismaki, Christine, Father Bellamy
Dreamspeaker Mage, Orphan Mage, Celestial Chorus Mage
At St. Bridgett's, after 1 a.m.


> [Tom]
> Tom wasn't used to relaxing around people; in his lifetim, he'd  
> only really met three other mages, and he'd only really KNOWN one  
> of them.  So, to him at least, what he did was a big deal- still  
> cradling his ferret in one arm, he took his other hand and slid his  
> glasses up so they were resting on top of his head, revealing his  
> eyes, which were bright enough to give his face a bit of a reddish  
> cast.


[Christine]
Christine looks at Tom's eyes curiously but makes no further comment.  
His glowing red gaze is weird but in some strange way, looks totally  
right on him. It's a paradox she is familiar with, she realises. It's  
very similar to the way she got used to Mara's fangs, on the  
occasions when they were on display.


> [Tom]
>  "Devoirs.  It's, like, what you owe.  Like... someone taught  
> everyone, at some point.  Well, almost everyone.  So it's kinda  
> like a favour you've gotta repay."



[Christine]
Christine thinks about this briefly. "Well . . . Panic, I guess. He's  
the guy the Father is talking about across the square. Peter, the  
owner of the Chaste Dragon. The one who gave me the gloves. He tried  
to help earlier, explain things to me. He's . . . well," Christine  
smiles suddenly, realising that she was about to add to Panic's  
legend, throw in her own 2 cents and that's pretty funny,  
considering. "You should maybe meet him," says Christine evenly, "and  
decide for yourself what you think."



> [Tom]
> Tom's mind shifted, as it tended to, to topics of much more  
> interest to him.
>
> "Think of it like the rings of a tree, Christine.  We're on the  
> center ring... maybe... but there's are all the other ones.  And  
> like, as with two wheels of different sizes, the bigger the ring  
> the longer it takes for a whole turn to go by, that's how we ended  
> up with all those cautionary tales about faeries.  I think the  
> faerie thing might just be a metaphor, because I've never seen one  
> of THOSE.  But who knows, right?"



[Christine]
"I think I understand the rings and tree thing," replies Christine  
thoughtfully. "But you lost me with the fairies. All the same, after  
3 days in this spooky city and given all the strange shit I've seen  
here already, I can pretty much believe in *anything* turning up here  
in Gotham -  up to and including the Loch Ness Monster."



> [Father B]
> "The Lord works in his own way my friend, and to me that is what a  
> coincidence truly is. His will in action." his gaze returns to Tom  
> and Christine. "But Gotham is indeed .. freaky. And we do have a  
> number of Mages now, returning to a dead place to fill a void.  
> However I wouldn't say we were brimming just yet, your arrival here  
> together must just be one of those coincidences. Predictable enough  
> for Peter to have seen it, but that may not be anything  
> supernatural. He has a gift for understanding what people need and  
> I expect he saw that Christine would seek out sanctuary here sooner  
> or later."



[Christine]
Christine is silent, buries herself in her drink for a moment. Yes,  
Peter does see a lot further in than she is comfortable with on such  
short acquaintance. But he isn't nearly so easy to understand as  
Christine is, apparently.  Nor as predictable. But  . . . Bellamy  
speaks of him often, with a kind of rueful affection and with deep  
respect. Christine wonders about this. It says a great deal about the  
priest as a person that he can hold a young man - so laughably far  
from any virtuous Christian ideal -  in such high regard and  
friendship.  And at the same time, maybe Bellamy's confidence says  
something about 'Peter'. That, despite appearances emphatically to  
the contrary, he *can* be trusted?

Maybe, thinks Christine. Then again, maybe not. Christine decides she  
is too tired to work that one out. But there is definitely something  
caring, paternal even, in Bellamy's voice when he talks about Panic.  
A history there. One that goes beyond 'unlikely colleagues thrown  
together who have learned to tolerate each other'.



> [Father B]
> "As for the nature of the Nodes, that is something Peter and I have  
> discussed late in to the night on many occasions. two nexus points  
> in such close proximity is unusual from what I gather, and these  
> two are so very different. There exists a certain balance between  
> the pair, they are opposites in every way. I expect peter would wax  
> lyrical about that, he is the one to whom such things are so  
> fascinating but all I know is that the Node here is a beacon in the  
> night, a welcoming light. In the simplest form, the Church and the  
> Dragon are both locations of pure energy, places were the energies  
> of the One are focused and can be tapped by those with the right  
> abilities. But those energies are so very different in practice  
> than they are in Theory. I find it quite comforting to simply  
> meditate on the Node here, to open myself to its light. Perhaps  
> doing the same might answer some of your Questions as well."
>



> [Tom]
> Tom shakes his head for a moment, scritching his sleeping ferret's  
> neck.  He then thinks about what Father Bellamy has just said; "You  
> might be right, Father.  I've never tried feeling out a... node...  
> before.  This is the first time I've been at one.  Wa... uh, my  
> friend told me some things about them, though."



[Christine]
"How would you . . . I mean, you said meditate?" Christine looks at  
Laufeyjarson and at Bellamy.  "Right. Good." Christine runs a hand  
through her tousled red hair and rolls her eyes, fatigue and scotch  
catching up with her ability to dissimulate. Never that good. The  
hell with it.  "I'm sorry - I'm really very ignorant and it's just  
not funny. Meditate would be keeping still and quiet and trying not  
to think heavy thoughts And I can do that anywhere in the church?  
Anywhere I can feel the presence of St Bridget's Node? And, while  
we're on the subject of forgiving my ignorance," Christine directs  
her stare to Tom, here, "is Laufeyjarson ever shortened to anything?  
Like Laufey? And where does it come from? It's a very unusual name."



Tag Laufyjarson & Bellamy :-D
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