??? Explora Session 3: 9AM PST/11AM CST/Noon EST Start

[idolpro]

[ You go, onward and upward.



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THE GATES | THE COURTYARD | THE FOUNTAINS | THE GARDENS

Comments

Re: THE FOUNTAINS

[idolpro]

[ The water is hot. it feels absolutely searingly hot. like, this is just downright unpleasantly hot. think-twice-and-then-a-third-time-before-you-jump-in kind of hot. But it doesn't seem to harm you, at least—it's just unpleasant.

At least, if you have any burns from touching holy stuff, your skin will heal . . . It hurts, though . . . ]

Re: THE FOUNTAINS

[irregular]

[No pain no gain, right?

[It seems to be helping his scalded palms, though, so he grits his teeth and bears it until the marks on his hands have faded away. What were they saying: you shall be clean from your uncleanness? K is Catholic enough to know where that might be going.

[He removes his hands, he sits back and gazes into the pool.

[It's going to hurt: of course it is. But maybe he should risk it anyway.]

Re: THE FOUNTAINS

[idolpro]

[ Of course it is.

But even if it hurts, so does too the true exercise of faith, does it not? What does faith matter, if not backed by action? ]

Re: THE FOUNTAINS

[irregular]

[It's a good point.

[The counterpoint: C, stark-bollock-naked, cannonballing into one of the other fountains and spraying what K is now absolutely convinced is holy water absolutely everywhere.

[Does he really want to Be More C.]

Re: THE FOUNTAINS

[idolpro]

[ I mean.

He does seem to get results. ]

Re: THE FOUNTAINS

[irregular]

[True.

[He dips a hand back in the water and why is it always burns? Lifts it, watches the water plashing back into the pool. It would be almost pretty, if it wasn't so goddamn painful--

Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but...

[And that's about the point that K thinks, fuck it. He was baptized once, right? And he's still here. Might as well make sure it sticks...

[Except there are girls here, and he doesn't quite have C's confidence in his own nudey majesty.

[So, fuck it, he just goes in as he is.]

Re: THE FOUNTAINS

[idolpro]

[ It's surprisingly deep.

It's also painful. It feels like it's burning everything away—the corruptions, certainly; the blood in your veins, maybe?

It feels as though all of you could burn away. Your identity, your existence, your self—if you don't hold fast to that. Just who are "you", anyway? ]

Re: THE FOUNTAINS

[irregular]

[What indeed.

[K closes his eyes, the water washing over him. Maybe that's what he needs: that burning, that purging flame. It hurts, but it feels right. There's even something pure about it...

[But he knows, he remembers who he is. There's a part of him that's always known, even when he woke up for the first time with nothing to hold onto but an unfamiliar ceiling and a door he couldn't open. I'm me, he thinks, and somehow it's all he needs. He's never known his name, who his parents are, where he was born: it doesn't matter what this burns from him, because he knows who he is all the same. He's stubborn like that, and always has been.

[And he surfaces, his clothes dragging at his limbs.

[Praise the Lord, or something. Still K.]

Re: THE FOUNTAINS

[idolpro]

[ And it all burns, truly—it sears through your veins and flesh and even seems to leech into your bone marrow, rushing through and leaving behind warmth.

Underwater, every sound is muted, leaving only you with the steady thudding of your heart. Your stubborn heart, your independent soul—the soul that still cannot be entirely taken over by the forces of Hell.

When you next resurface, you feel more whole—and at the same time, as though you've lost something.

You find yourself without your abilities, but also without your corruptions. ]