[ There were more downsides to living this far out from the central part of Stygia than there were upsides. Today, the biggest downside was making itself known: creepy creatures, knocking at the door, or in this case, prowling around it. A gargoyle circles the outside of the chapel, pausing every now and then to shove at the doors and snarling at them when it can't push them open. It's already broken a few windows trying to get in but found them all far too narrow to fit, so the doors would have to be it. ]
J-just go away already! [ A panicked voice from within shouted out after the latest attempt to bully its way through the large, rounded front doors. ] I. I would taste terrible! I'm scrawny! No meat at all!
[ And that would be the scene Zagreus would come across while wandering through, some poor soul stuck in an old building, humble in design but clearly not a regular home of any sort. ]
[Is what Zag says behind the Gargoyle, almost drowned out by the snarling the bat-like beast is doing. It warbles something curiously, possibly wondering how it didn't hear him arrive.
It turns around, anyway. Ah, well, gargoyles are very patient predators, or so he had heard. To circle around prey stuck in a trap is one thing. To have a delightfully difficult spoil is another. It snaps its teeth at Zagreus, wings stretching and coiling, and Zag can't help remember the one single skinned wing of a very good friend of his.
He spits a bloom onto the ground after clearing his throat. He shouts out what he hopes Bruno will hear.] In there! I assume you have something that is very loud inside? Start making noise!
If anything, Zagreus is a quick student, and he's walked through Tartarus enough time to know how to work with the sound of things slamming and crumbling and falling. He picks up his tin shield, steps forward by holding it by the brim, and slams it against a stone column nearby.
[The shield rings like a gong, and his throat clenches fast when he remembers the toll of a bell seeped in green. Yet, the gargoyle staggers, makes almost to cover its ears, and hisses at the noise and Zagreus himself.
He does it again, and it recoils away from the church.] Back! Bad gargoyle, bad!
[ Noise? Starting making noise? Bruno doesn't answer Zagreus after he yells that to him from outside and it may even seem like the church has gone silent, the person inside perhaps doing nothing at all, but that'll be proven untrue a moment later. It took him that time to scramble away from the door and up into the balcony where the church's pipe organ resides.
It's hideously out of tune and most of the keys are missing but if it's noise Zagreus wants, it can certainly still do that! And it will, too, because Bruno will be smashing random keys as soon as he throws the wooden covers back from them.
A cacophony of cringe-worthy not-so-musical notes comes booming out of the chapel, startling the gargoyle something fierce at how sudden it is. ]
[Wow, he had expected whoever was inside the building to hit pots and pans and throw porcelain at the walls, but this is even better, startling even Zagreus. Through the loud discord that echoes through the walls and out the windows and his own insistent banging, the gargoyle hisses, screeches, trying to reach a talon towards him but then deciding against it and covering its face with a pained expression. It ends up giving up on such rowdy prey.]
We're clearly not the best appetizers. [He still winces at the sound. Obviously, his own voice is drowned by… whatever sound that was. Zagreus does a little dash and goes through the entrance. A neat party trick, anyway.
He looks around, searching for the person he just helped, and waves widely with his hands to try and see if Bruno notices him and realizes it's safe now.]
[ That awful banging on the pipe organ goes on a moment longer before Bruno notices someone else down in the chapel, waving his arms around to get his attention. That's when he'll stop and leave the wreck of a keyboard behind to creep up to the balcony banister instead. He peeks over it, still sort of hiding as he has no idea who Zagreus happens to be.
Well, aside from the guy who just helped him out, soooo he probably isn't out to also hurt him, right? ]
[Well, he supposes that it's only natural for this person to feel skittish. They've almost become a gargoyle snack, after all. Zagreus sets down the shield against a pew, now bearing a plethora of dents and nicks from all the banging.
Looking up, he does look genuinely concerned. He's only seen the gargoyle outside; maybe this person was attacked inside or ran for shelter in this... well, odd building. He never saw a building structure with this shape anywhere.
Not that he knows much of the outside world, anyway.] Are you alright? That thing didn't get you, did it?
Me? Oh, I'm, uh, yeah? I'm good, I'm just a little... rattled. It didn't catch me, though. I. I got in here before it did.
[ He slowly, ever so slowly, stops lurking behind the banister and stands up to get a better look at Zagreus and, in turn, gives Zagreus a better look at him. Just some little, nervous-looking fellow, all-in-all. ]
[It's fine, it's just a random tin one; he'll get another later.]
Oh, good! Glad to hear it. [Zagreus perks up, glad that this nervous-looking person is actually safe. He does, however, frown after a beat, but more curious than serious.] If I may ask, what was it that you used to make all that racket? I've never heard anything like it.
Oh, no, no, I was... I was just hitting keys at random.
[ Bruno can definitely not play this thing, no siree, but he will gesture towards the rope ladder leading up to the balcony. The stairs up have long since fallen apart, so he's had to improvise on how to get up and down. ]
Much obliged! [While Zagreus could dash, make his feet flare further and charring the floor he'd burst from, blinking out and into Bruno's sight again on the balcony, he instead does the polite thing and climbs at the ladder.
There's a slight titter to it. He's never tried this! It almost reminds him of himself as a child trying to climb onto his Father's beard.
… Although that didn't really happen. It's just wishful thinking.
Once he climbs up, Zag looks around.] I hope I'm not intruding so much. This is just very new to me… [He waves a hand around, to signify, well, everything.
Stepping close to the organ, he looks up to where the pipes end.] This is made of steel…? Why is it here?
You'd be shocked how many people intrude here so no, it's fine. I've gotten used to it. [ Bruno has had more random visitors than anticipated all the way out here but! ] Uh, not to... to sound ungrateful for the save or anything, just, y'know.
[ People. He stands aside and lets Zagreus pass to take a gander at the pipe organ in question. The rest of the balcony appears to be where Bruno's made his home for the time being, with supplies stacked up in one corner and piles of blankets and a threadbare pillow in the other. For the most part, it's lit up by candles, seeing how Stygia's electricity certainly doesn't reach out this far.
The pipe organ — what's left of it — sits center, set back against the chapel wall. Bruno cranes his head up to look at the pipes and can only shrug. ]
Maybe? I'm not exactly an expert on metal or these things or anything but I do know why it's here. This used to be a church. Lots of church music uses these.
That doesn't mean I should, though. [Zag does blink at Bruno with some surprise. Just because someone has decided to do so doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. He returns his attention to the organ for a second, somewhat taken by the whole size of the thing, and it suddenly makes sense about the racket it made.]
'Church'. [Parroting isn't the most clever-sounding thing to do, but it feels foreign on his tongue. He looks around, over the balcony, to where some of the pews are scattered and flipped.
His red and green eyes land on the other end of the building though.] So, this is like a temple? That's an altar, right?
[ A weird word to use for the place but not one that's unknown to Bruno. His gaze wanders away from the pipe organ to the rest of the chapel laid out below the balcony. ]
Um, yeah, kind of? I mean, I look at this and think church. I don't know who originally built it. They may have called it something else but with the altar, I guess it must've been religious one way or another, right?
[He's curious. What is the wooden seating for? Was that a basin carved by the entrance, or a place to place embers to warm up incense? Would there be offerings to the gods revered here?
Even in Hades, the customs had lingered. Despite how flimsy they were in their effectiveness. They rarely called upon those who ruled over the Shades in the underworld, and the connection to the Olympians was far more tenuous. But still, Shades gathered together in small bunches, with the remnants of candles and small altars, offerings that are worth more in intention than value.]
It's my first time I see a place like this. Are you religious?
Me? [ Bruno sounds surprised by the question but he should have expected that at some point, considering he's living in a chapel for now, no matter how abandoned or ruined it was. ] Nnnot really, I guess? I mean, now that I'm dead and trapped in Purgatory, I kind of think I should have been... more so... but, y'know.
[ He doesn't know if he knows. Does anyone know? Who even knows but he offers a kind of vague, half-hearted shrug to go with that. His attention drifts back from the rest of the chapel to Zagreus himself. ]
Things happen. It'ssss, um... [ Oh geez, his gaze slowly drops, drops, drops all the way to this guy's feet. Wait a second. ] Er, I'm sorry, are your feet on fire?
Ah, I don't mean it like that. [A slight frown graces his features as he thinks of things. A 'purgatory' was something that felt odd to compare this place to; according to what little he knew, it seemed temporary, that there would be a final destination to them all. And granted, Zagreus had heard the buzzing about ascending and the like, but it felt…
… odd. Nothing like that happened in Hades except the judgment of Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus. But they were efficient and fast.] Piety has nothing to do about where you end up, to my knowledge.
Oh, uh … [He grimaces at Bruno there.] Don't try to put them out, please; I promise they're fine. I was born with them like this.
[ Don't put them out, he says. He was born with them like that! Bruno stares a moment longer. ]
W-well, as long as they don't, y'know, burn the place down?
[ Please don't, the balcony is definitely made of wood and all of his stuff is up here. He will, however, definitely not try to put them out and finally drags his attention back up and away from Zagreus' burning hot feet. ]
And I dunno. Maybe not piety but being a good person or living a good life? Only I'm not actually sure what I did wrong. Lots of things, probably... [ He simply has no luck, or so he'll say, regardless of the evidence for or against the thought. ] I would've thought God a little more forgiving of mistakes, though? Or maybe not. I don't really know.
[ That's right, just God. Not the gods or any specifically named one, just some lone god who happens to go by God. ]
[Zagreus smiles, relieved.] Ah, no, they won't do that. Don't worry. I will not destroy your shelter here. I promise.
[Thank you, Jonas, for teaching Zagreus a bit about your god, and he wonders if this God that Bruno refers to is the same.
Then again, people from certain areas were devout to a specific god, and not the whole pantheon, so Zag doesn't really feel that offended or flabbergasted at the mention of a single deity.
Instead, he asks.] Do you believe everyone here did something wrong in life, then?
[ Zagreus would have been right on the money with guessing Jonas' god was the same one as Bruno's, even if the denominations were different, and that's a whole other conversation that Bruno just wouldn't feel qualified for.
But! It doesn't come up.
Admittedly, what is asked isn't going to prompt any sort of happy conversation, either, but Bruno shrugs in response. ]
I mean, yes? They must have, even if it's just something... little, I guess. Like, some people here, I definitely can't imagine doing anything really terrible, which makes it unfair, but... I don't know how else to explain it.
Then why should this place be purgatory in the first place?
[Heretic. The voices in his mind, particularly a booming tenor that tends to rebound off marble walls across the entirety of a House with capital H, berate him for the mere idea that he's casting. A seed of doubt, of sorts, from the son of Harvest.] I know that we've been told this, but—
[A pause.] Do you think people here want to be redeemed?
[ He waves Zagreus towards one of the haphazardly repaired chairs he has up here on the balcony and sinks down into another one himself, taking a seat. ]
Y'know, I'm only good at looking into the future, not the now and here or. Or the past, so, I can't say I know for sure. I know I'd like to be redeemed and go on to heaven but this place is so much like a real place, where you can just have a new life, somehow, so maybe a lot of them will just stick around.
[He thanks him as he sits across him. Listening to Bruno being so flabbergasted by everything, he doesn't really blame him. It's not the first time he's seen a Shade being so uncertain about everything, even their own death.
He smiles, though, nodding.] Underworlds tend to be like that. There's a reason it's called an Afterlife.
Sure, but I was sort of hoping for it to be easier, not... harder.
[ He has to find somewhere safer to live, he has to work or find a job, he still has to eat and drink and... everything! Plus there are monsters and shadows and, and, and! The list could go on. He won't bother Zagreus with it. ]
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for Zagreus
J-just go away already! [ A panicked voice from within shouted out after the latest attempt to bully its way through the large, rounded front doors. ] I. I would taste terrible! I'm scrawny! No meat at all!
[ And that would be the scene Zagreus would come across while wandering through, some poor soul stuck in an old building, humble in design but clearly not a regular home of any sort. ]
no subject
[Is what Zag says behind the Gargoyle, almost drowned out by the snarling the bat-like beast is doing. It warbles something curiously, possibly wondering how it didn't hear him arrive.
It turns around, anyway. Ah, well, gargoyles are very patient predators, or so he had heard. To circle around prey stuck in a trap is one thing. To have a delightfully difficult spoil is another. It snaps its teeth at Zagreus, wings stretching and coiling, and Zag can't help remember the one single skinned wing of a very good friend of his.
He spits a bloom onto the ground after clearing his throat. He shouts out what he hopes Bruno will hear.] In there! I assume you have something that is very loud inside? Start making noise!
If anything, Zagreus is a quick student, and he's walked through Tartarus enough time to know how to work with the sound of things slamming and crumbling and falling. He picks up his tin shield, steps forward by holding it by the brim, and slams it against a stone column nearby.
[The shield rings like a gong, and his throat clenches fast when he remembers the toll of a bell seeped in green. Yet, the gargoyle staggers, makes almost to cover its ears, and hisses at the noise and Zagreus himself.
He does it again, and it recoils away from the church.] Back! Bad gargoyle, bad!
no subject
It's hideously out of tune and most of the keys are missing but if it's noise Zagreus wants, it can certainly still do that! And it will, too, because Bruno will be smashing random keys as soon as he throws the wooden covers back from them.
A cacophony of cringe-worthy not-so-musical notes comes booming out of the chapel, startling the gargoyle something fierce at how sudden it is. ]
no subject
We're clearly not the best appetizers. [He still winces at the sound. Obviously, his own voice is drowned by… whatever sound that was. Zagreus does a little dash and goes through the entrance. A neat party trick, anyway.
He looks around, searching for the person he just helped, and waves widely with his hands to try and see if Bruno notices him and realizes it's safe now.]
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Well, aside from the guy who just helped him out, soooo he probably isn't out to also hurt him, right? ]
H-hello?
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Looking up, he does look genuinely concerned. He's only seen the gargoyle outside; maybe this person was attacked inside or ran for shelter in this... well, odd building. He never saw a building structure with this shape anywhere.
Not that he knows much of the outside world, anyway.] Are you alright? That thing didn't get you, did it?
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Me? Oh, I'm, uh, yeah? I'm good, I'm just a little... rattled. It didn't catch me, though. I. I got in here before it did.
[ He slowly, ever so slowly, stops lurking behind the banister and stands up to get a better look at Zagreus and, in turn, gives Zagreus a better look at him. Just some little, nervous-looking fellow, all-in-all. ]
no subject
Oh, good! Glad to hear it. [Zagreus perks up, glad that this nervous-looking person is actually safe. He does, however, frown after a beat, but more curious than serious.] If I may ask, what was it that you used to make all that racket? I've never heard anything like it.
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[ Bruno turns to glance back at the pipe organ in question in all its terrible and barely held-together glory. ]
That's just up here. It's like a piano? Just bigger? And louder, I guess, although this one doesn't have much music left in it, I think.
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Would you mind if I took a look at it? It's okay if not. Do you know how to play?
[He's just so curious about everything, sorry Bruno.]
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[ Bruno can definitely not play this thing, no siree, but he will gesture towards the rope ladder leading up to the balcony. The stairs up have long since fallen apart, so he's had to improvise on how to get up and down. ]
But sure, come on up and take a look.
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There's a slight titter to it. He's never tried this! It almost reminds him of himself as a child trying to climb onto his Father's beard.
… Although that didn't really happen. It's just wishful thinking.
Once he climbs up, Zag looks around.] I hope I'm not intruding so much. This is just very new to me… [He waves a hand around, to signify, well, everything.
Stepping close to the organ, he looks up to where the pipes end.] This is made of steel…? Why is it here?
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[ People. He stands aside and lets Zagreus pass to take a gander at the pipe organ in question. The rest of the balcony appears to be where Bruno's made his home for the time being, with supplies stacked up in one corner and piles of blankets and a threadbare pillow in the other. For the most part, it's lit up by candles, seeing how Stygia's electricity certainly doesn't reach out this far.
The pipe organ — what's left of it — sits center, set back against the chapel wall. Bruno cranes his head up to look at the pipes and can only shrug. ]
Maybe? I'm not exactly an expert on metal or these things or anything but I do know why it's here. This used to be a church. Lots of church music uses these.
no subject
'Church'. [Parroting isn't the most clever-sounding thing to do, but it feels foreign on his tongue. He looks around, over the balcony, to where some of the pews are scattered and flipped.
His red and green eyes land on the other end of the building though.] So, this is like a temple? That's an altar, right?
no subject
[ A weird word to use for the place but not one that's unknown to Bruno. His gaze wanders away from the pipe organ to the rest of the chapel laid out below the balcony. ]
Um, yeah, kind of? I mean, I look at this and think church. I don't know who originally built it. They may have called it something else but with the altar, I guess it must've been religious one way or another, right?
no subject
[He's curious. What is the wooden seating for? Was that a basin carved by the entrance, or a place to place embers to warm up incense? Would there be offerings to the gods revered here?
Even in Hades, the customs had lingered. Despite how flimsy they were in their effectiveness. They rarely called upon those who ruled over the Shades in the underworld, and the connection to the Olympians was far more tenuous. But still, Shades gathered together in small bunches, with the remnants of candles and small altars, offerings that are worth more in intention than value.]
It's my first time I see a place like this. Are you religious?
no subject
[ He doesn't know if he knows. Does anyone know? Who even knows but he offers a kind of vague, half-hearted shrug to go with that. His attention drifts back from the rest of the chapel to Zagreus himself. ]
Things happen. It'ssss, um... [ Oh geez, his gaze slowly drops, drops, drops all the way to this guy's feet. Wait a second. ] Er, I'm sorry, are your feet on fire?
no subject
… odd. Nothing like that happened in Hades except the judgment of Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus. But they were efficient and fast.] Piety has nothing to do about where you end up, to my knowledge.
Oh, uh … [He grimaces at Bruno there.] Don't try to put them out, please; I promise they're fine. I was born with them like this.
no subject
W-well, as long as they don't, y'know, burn the place down?
[ Please don't, the balcony is definitely made of wood and all of his stuff is up here. He will, however, definitely not try to put them out and finally drags his attention back up and away from Zagreus' burning hot feet. ]
And I dunno. Maybe not piety but being a good person or living a good life? Only I'm not actually sure what I did wrong. Lots of things, probably... [ He simply has no luck, or so he'll say, regardless of the evidence for or against the thought. ] I would've thought God a little more forgiving of mistakes, though? Or maybe not. I don't really know.
[ That's right, just God. Not the gods or any specifically named one, just some lone god who happens to go by God. ]
no subject
[Thank you, Jonas, for teaching Zagreus a bit about your god, and he wonders if this God that Bruno refers to is the same.
Then again, people from certain areas were devout to a specific god, and not the whole pantheon, so Zag doesn't really feel that offended or flabbergasted at the mention of a single deity.
Instead, he asks.] Do you believe everyone here did something wrong in life, then?
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But! It doesn't come up.
Admittedly, what is asked isn't going to prompt any sort of happy conversation, either, but Bruno shrugs in response. ]
I mean, yes? They must have, even if it's just something... little, I guess. Like, some people here, I definitely can't imagine doing anything really terrible, which makes it unfair, but... I don't know how else to explain it.
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[Heretic. The voices in his mind, particularly a booming tenor that tends to rebound off marble walls across the entirety of a House with capital H, berate him for the mere idea that he's casting. A seed of doubt, of sorts, from the son of Harvest.] I know that we've been told this, but—
[A pause.] Do you think people here want to be redeemed?
no subject
[ He waves Zagreus towards one of the haphazardly repaired chairs he has up here on the balcony and sinks down into another one himself, taking a seat. ]
Y'know, I'm only good at looking into the future, not the now and here or. Or the past, so, I can't say I know for sure. I know I'd like to be redeemed and go on to heaven but this place is so much like a real place, where you can just have a new life, somehow, so maybe a lot of them will just stick around.
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He smiles, though, nodding.] Underworlds tend to be like that. There's a reason it's called an Afterlife.
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[ He has to find somewhere safer to live, he has to work or find a job, he still has to eat and drink and... everything! Plus there are monsters and shadows and, and, and! The list could go on. He won't bother Zagreus with it. ]