video;

[strangelic]

Um... I'm Castiel. Some of you know me, obviously. I sometimes show myself at the clinic--I'm a healer. Well. [ He looks down into his lap. ] I try to be. The ailment that so badly hit us last month was beyond my ability to remedy, and for that I am deeply sorry.

However if there is anything, any scrape, any...broken leg, or incurable sickness... I should be able to resolve it. Should be. Given the state of my powers here, it does seem to be a game of chance. But I have healed far worse in the past. It's better, surely, to let me try than to live with pain and scarring when I might help with both.

But that isn't what I was here to say, not really. I wanted to... I want to...

I haven't been very clear, and I feel that it's important, given the way things were, and the way things will likely be again. I hear you, all of you, when you turn to prayer. It's impossible to avoid, and while I understand that it is private... I just wanted to apologize, either way.


[ ooc: Castiel doesn't hear all character's prayers since you can opt out of that on his permissions post, however! It's a fun way to make new CR with him if you're interested; just drop him a prayer in his IC inbox! ]

Comments

[hotspurred]

[Henry scoffs at that latter remark.]

I would hardly call the power to heal useless.

[He would call the abillity to hear prayers invasive, but not useless either.

There is a short pause -- a hesitation -- before Henry quietly asks:]

...Are we far from God's reach?

[strangelic]

I suppose. If God's reach is only considered in His direct influence.

[ He lowered his eyes, quietly. ]

I think that God is in all of you. With all of you. I know it's not the answer that you're looking for.

[hotspurred]

'Tis... something.

[Henry doesn't know what he seeks in truth. Reassurance, perhaps. Just some mention of God supported by belief. Answers to the existential questions Hadriel arises.]

Whence I came, faith was at the heart of daily life. Here it is almost absent.

[strangelic]

And yet feeling breathes life into the gods that reside here. There is no need for faith when you see its effect--when you feel it, pressed under the thumb of their next scheme.

Faith is for things that you cannot touch, that you have not seen.

[hotspurred]

You would call our captors divine? Imply that faith is without value because we are trapped and subjected to their influence?

[While taken aback, his disdain is still evident.]

Why bother to give apology for hearing our prayers at all?

[strangelic]

No. No I would call them exactly the opposite. The fact that they call themselves gods means nothing. They're monsters, creatures, just like everything else. Yes, with a power to manipulate us for their own gain, but that is the nature of a parasite, not a deity.

[ He narrows his eyes minutely. ]

I've come to respect the privacy of the other people here. It's less...it's less invasive when you can hear the prayers of billions. I feel like I know everyone here too well; more than they would prefer.