Fourth Floor Common Room | Afternoon | Sunday | March 6

[tripledmyself]

Between serving his detention yesterday and ending up at some career fair, Nathan thought he could count this weekend as academically productive. And, as the law said (there had to be a law about it somewhere), if you were productive one day, the next was meant to be fucking lazier than usual

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[child_of_rer]

Sov had wandered up one floor in search of company, and stopped in front of the TV. "What's this?" They asked.

[tripledmyself]

"It's the telly, mate," Nathan said. It was probably unclear whether he thought he was being helpful or sarcastic there. Hey, maybe Sov was from a fucking awful place where telly didn't exist.

[child_of_rer]

"I know that!" Sov said, not quite indignant, but almost. They might be from a place without TV, but they were learning. "What's this program?"

[tripledmyself]

"Oh! Sorry, man," he said though he didn't sound that sorry. "It's some religious show, mate. This bloke's preaching about the benefits of asking forgiveness for all your sins. Basically, he's taking all the fucking fun out of living."

[child_of_rer]

Sov slumped down on the couch. "Forgiveness is boring?"

[tripledmyself]

"This bloke's brand of forgiveness is," Nathan said, shrugging a shoulder. "You hate fun or something? If you do, this guy might be speaking your language but I've already fucked myself over for the kingdom of Heaven. I'm just gonna keep walking down my path of fire."

[child_of_rer]

"Some kind of religion, then?" Sov said. "Hating fun sounds like a stupid thing to do. What's this Kingdom of Heaven supposed to be like?"

[tripledmyself]

"Never heard of the Kingdom of Heaven?" Nathan guessed, raising an eyebrow. "You're not like, in a cult or something, are you? You don't worship a snake or a badger or something freaky like that, yeah?"

Nathan was totally supportive and open minded about alternative religions but some of them were just fucking weird. The things people worshiped as the ultimate deity were weird.

[child_of_rer]

"A cult? My family has been Handdara for ages, but we don't worship anything." They thought for a moment. "Why would you worship a badger?"

[tripledmyself]

"Handdara?" Nathan repeated, barely managing to get the pronunciation right. "Is that in Wales or something? I didn't know they worshiped badgers in Wales. The mind boggles, mate! And here I thought Ireland was a little of kilter."

Nathan knew that Sov hadn't actually said anything like that but he had a talent for twisting up words and making himself appear funny.

[child_of_rer]

"The Handdara is... " Sov began, knowing well enough that it was pointless to try and explain. "...like avoiding a question." Which wasn't true, but it was less false than other things. "I don't know where Wales is. Or Ireland."

If Nathan was trying to be funny Sov wasn't sure how to react.

[tripledmyself]

"It's in the United Kingdom, mate," Nathan explained, waving his hand in some direction that maybe Ireland was in. "No relation to the Kingdom of Heaven. Heaven's supposed to be this epically awesome place that all the good people go when they die. It's like a fucking utopia. Paradise. But, if you're not good, you go to Hell which is some fiery wasteland."

[child_of_rer]

"And the fiery wasteland is more fun?"

Sov thought they had got the hang of Nathan's sense of humour now.

[tripledmyself]

"Well, maybe not but it's a lot more fun getting there than actually being there but I don't even know if I believe in that shit anyway," Nathan said, shrugging. "Religion's a lot of big words and shit but no actual proof. And worshiping one singular person? Fucking pass, man. I'll worship what I want."

[child_of_rer]

"I guess the Handdara Indwellers would say something about there not being proof is a good thing because they're trying to avoid it," Sov replied. "So what do you worship?"

[tripledmyself]

"Depends on the day," he said breezily. "Booze, boobs, smokes, chicken nuggets, I've worshiped all of those at one point or another but I am a fickle man with fickle beliefs and I'm not really made for one religion."

Plus, he was pretty sure going near a church would cause him to get hit by lightning.