Dogma, Seven Sins, Bartleby/Loki
title: Psalm 35 (Verse 2 - "Stand Up For Mine Help")
author: windsor blue
theme: seven sins (envy)
rating: NC-17 for language
warnings: heresy, potentially offensive to those with Christian beliefs
fandom: Dogma
pairing: Bartleby/Loki
word count: 633
When Loki sat down again, he had both a fresh pack of gum and a half-wilted daisy. He lifted his hand and waved - smirked - at a monk in an orange robe, who was tossing his fistful of flowers onto the floor and gleefully stomping them to bits.
"Again with the clergy..." Bartleby muttered.
"Hey, I was perfectly happy to stay home and watch Robotech reruns."
"Although I must give credit where credit is due - I think this is the first time I've seen you turn a Krishna around in less than an hour."
Loki grinned - stopped smacking his gum just long enough to. "Yeah, he wasn't too deep in the faith department." His grin faded and he twirled the daisy around between his thumb and forefinger, lazy little spins. "Y'know, I envy them that."
Bartleby sat up a bit, adjusted his sprawl. "What - being of little faith?"
"No, of having faith at all."
Bartleby stared at Loki - one human heartbeat, two, three - and said, "You're shitting me, right? I mean, you are shitting me, right?"
"No," Loki half-shrugged. "I'm not shitting you."
"You have to be shitting me - you have stood before God yourself! You know He exists - there isn't a doubt in your mind about that, and you envy a human for having faith? You don't even need faith!"
"Yeah, that's the point!" Loki began picking the petals off the daisy - one by one, petal after petal - flicking them to the floor when he was done. "For you and me, the existence of God is an inarguable truth. We know He exists just like we know that Lucifer exists, or each other exists, or even fuckin' Wisconsin exists. We've seen it - seen Him - with our own eyes, heard His voice being spoken, and there's no unlearning it. There's no doubt, there's no questioning, there's no leap - of faith - that has to be made."
"Right! So what the hell is your point?"
"My point is..." Loki pulled the last petal off the daisy and gave Bartleby a quick grin. "Hey, look at that - He loves me. Anyway, my point is that faith - faith like that; faith that will make you spend your whole life in the service of a being that, as far as you know, may not even exist - that's a powerful, powerful thing, my friend. I mean, none of those guys has the definite, tangible knowledge about God that we have, and yet they're willing to devote their entire existence - their whole time on Earth - to Him. That's a depth of emotion that you and I not only don't need, but can't have. We're not capable of it. We don't know what it is to feel that level of faith, even though we lived in the service of God, because we didn't need it. We had God right in front of us, telling us what to do all the fucking time, right? What need had we of faith when the Divine Truth was hanging right over our heads?" He tossed the spent stem at the nearest trash can. It bounced off the edge and onto the floor. "Faith is a lot stronger than truth. By taking away our ability to have faith, He weakened us. He made them stronger than we are."
Bartleby was quiet for a long time before finally asking, "Well if you feel that way about it, why do you do that?" He gestured towards the monk - ex-monk - who was now being arrested by airport security. "Why do you make the believers into non-believers?"
Loki eyed the monk and Bartleby in turn. "Well, if I can't have it, I don't want them to have it either.
author: windsor blue
theme: seven sins (envy)
rating: NC-17 for language
warnings: heresy, potentially offensive to those with Christian beliefs
fandom: Dogma
pairing: Bartleby/Loki
word count: 633
When Loki sat down again, he had both a fresh pack of gum and a half-wilted daisy. He lifted his hand and waved - smirked - at a monk in an orange robe, who was tossing his fistful of flowers onto the floor and gleefully stomping them to bits.
"Again with the clergy..." Bartleby muttered.
"Hey, I was perfectly happy to stay home and watch Robotech reruns."
"Although I must give credit where credit is due - I think this is the first time I've seen you turn a Krishna around in less than an hour."
Loki grinned - stopped smacking his gum just long enough to. "Yeah, he wasn't too deep in the faith department." His grin faded and he twirled the daisy around between his thumb and forefinger, lazy little spins. "Y'know, I envy them that."
Bartleby sat up a bit, adjusted his sprawl. "What - being of little faith?"
"No, of having faith at all."
Bartleby stared at Loki - one human heartbeat, two, three - and said, "You're shitting me, right? I mean, you are shitting me, right?"
"No," Loki half-shrugged. "I'm not shitting you."
"You have to be shitting me - you have stood before God yourself! You know He exists - there isn't a doubt in your mind about that, and you envy a human for having faith? You don't even need faith!"
"Yeah, that's the point!" Loki began picking the petals off the daisy - one by one, petal after petal - flicking them to the floor when he was done. "For you and me, the existence of God is an inarguable truth. We know He exists just like we know that Lucifer exists, or each other exists, or even fuckin' Wisconsin exists. We've seen it - seen Him - with our own eyes, heard His voice being spoken, and there's no unlearning it. There's no doubt, there's no questioning, there's no leap - of faith - that has to be made."
"Right! So what the hell is your point?"
"My point is..." Loki pulled the last petal off the daisy and gave Bartleby a quick grin. "Hey, look at that - He loves me. Anyway, my point is that faith - faith like that; faith that will make you spend your whole life in the service of a being that, as far as you know, may not even exist - that's a powerful, powerful thing, my friend. I mean, none of those guys has the definite, tangible knowledge about God that we have, and yet they're willing to devote their entire existence - their whole time on Earth - to Him. That's a depth of emotion that you and I not only don't need, but can't have. We're not capable of it. We don't know what it is to feel that level of faith, even though we lived in the service of God, because we didn't need it. We had God right in front of us, telling us what to do all the fucking time, right? What need had we of faith when the Divine Truth was hanging right over our heads?" He tossed the spent stem at the nearest trash can. It bounced off the edge and onto the floor. "Faith is a lot stronger than truth. By taking away our ability to have faith, He weakened us. He made them stronger than we are."
Bartleby was quiet for a long time before finally asking, "Well if you feel that way about it, why do you do that?" He gestured towards the monk - ex-monk - who was now being arrested by airport security. "Why do you make the believers into non-believers?"
Loki eyed the monk and Bartleby in turn. "Well, if I can't have it, I don't want them to have it either.