By the church, Sunday morning

[witchfinder_general]

 The church is finished now, and in Father Harman's keeping.

For that, he's going to hold a special dedication service, never mind who comes and who doesn't. The church is finished, can now properly be dedicated to St. Melchior as intended, and that needs ceremony. If necessary, that can be between Harman and God.

At the moment, he's outside the church, preparing flowers in vases to carry inside. He will be glad for any help, but can do this by himself without any trouble, either.



[[OOC: Some people needed / wanted to meet Father Harman: this is your chance!]]

Comments

[7twistedwishes]

She accepts it; her hand is warm and soft, and a pleasure to hold, as long as one wishes to. "You may call me Eshara, just to not mix me with the others? A very kind princeling decided I should have a name, since all the others are titles, and lets be honest..." she lowered her voice to a conspirator's whisper, leaning closer "...not-even-thinly-disguised insults made up by silly men who never studied history."

And she was not trying to flash cleavage, that was just a bonus.

[witchfinder_general]

He lets go of her hand after a perfectly polite interval of holding it.

"Eshara," he says. "I am Father Pearse Harman. SJ."

[7twistedwishes]

"A pleasure to meet you, Father" she gave a bright smile, turning gracefully on her heels to look around the church again. "As Isaid before, a lovely place... I missed the recently-dedicated scent, it's something so rare nowadays."

The Devil completed the turn, facing the man again. "I think you are the very first priest of the Big Guy to arrive here... while there are so many versions of, well, me, around."

"I'd say it reveals a lot about the nature of Milliways, hm?" a brow rose, while she stood with a hand on her hip.

[witchfinder_general]

"No, our faith isn't exactly growing in the late 20th and early 21st century," Harman says. "I am glad you like it."

Pause.

"And I'm not the first -- there was a Father Mulcahy, at the very least."

[7twistedwishes]

"I must have missed him... but then again, I am a busy Devil, and can only indulge myself once in a while" no, no innuendo there, but the father did seem a though nut to crack, so...

Teasing was indulging too.

[witchfinder_general]

"What is duty and what is indulgence for you?" Harman asks.

[7twistedwishes]

"Oh, duty, is tempting and testing humans, and dragging them to hell when they fail" she mused a bit. "You know, considering how much, far and wide, I'm known as a liar and a deceiver, it's impressive so many souls still fall into my clutches."

"And indulging... well, its more than anything about being sinful for fun, not because I have a damned-soul-quote to meet."

[witchfinder_general]

"What is sin for you?" Harman asks.

[7twistedwishes]

"Nothing, Father" Lucifer grinned. "To me, nothing is, and the whole idea of 'sin', that an act can, without regard to circumstances, damn you to hell, taint you... is ridiculous."

"But I do have a handy list of violations to check against human behavior, some more interesting, some less so."

[witchfinder_general]

"Who gave you that list, and why?"

[7twistedwishes]

"God did, father. Same day, so long ago, that he cast me down and bound me into the Ninth Pit, and gave me the job of tempting humanity to their doom" the smile remained the same, just her eyes changed, filling with ominous not-light. "You know, in between chaining me to a rock and taking most of my Fire light up the big Lake where the unfaithful are destroyed."

"It was such a lovely day."

[witchfinder_general]

"I do envy the denizens of worlds where faith is so tangible and literal," Harman says, "while we must stumble about in the dark, doing what we believe is right. But as for your world, you were given a thankless job in it, I can see that. I hope you don't have to work in Milliways, no more than Death does?"

[7twistedwishes]

"Oh, there is nothing tangible or literal for humanity back home, Father... I am real" she struck a little pose, smiling "but humans for the largest part do not believe I exist."

"And really, thankless? You have no idea" she paced around him, running a fingertip across the priest's shoulders. "But I am not here to talk theology or discuss if my chains are tight enough or if the ice is cold enough. I heard of a church, I saw a church, and wanted to know what kind of man tends to it."

[witchfinder_general]

"A random Jesuit," Father Harman says, smiling at her, "who at home leads a team of vampire hunters. Tending to a church at the end of the world is a great way of relaxing."

[7twistedwishes]

"Oh, that explains a lot... here, I met a few vampires who seemed very eager to try my blood" The Devil stood before the priest again, one hand on waist. "Some day I might even let one try, just to watch their faces melt."

[witchfinder_general]

"Perhaps not here," Father Harman says, mildly.

[7twistedwishes]

"Here, in your church, or here, in Milliways? I can just give some form of warning beforehand, about my blood being too strong for them" she grinned, leaning closer. "I did not lose all my fire..."

[witchfinder_general]

"Fire, literally?" Harman says, intrigued despite himself. "That should put paid to them."

[7twistedwishes]

"Fire, yes" she raised a hand, palm up, a torch-like flame dancing there. "I just tend to keep it... subdued, most of the time. I might be the Devil, but sincerely, sometimes I do not want to corrupt and destroy."

"Hard to convince someone to be close if I start burning people to ash."

[witchfinder_general]

"Have you tried it on a vampire yet?" Harman asks.

If it comes to neutralising vampires, all other scruples or allegiances are off.

[7twistedwishes]

"I think the question you want to ask, is how how hot can you make it" Lucifer grinned. "And the answer is, hot enough to melt rocks into lava."

"I did not use it on vampires... mostly for lack of a specific reason, but, you know... ashes... ashes..."

[witchfinder_general]

"Our vampires burn differently" Harman says. "They explode, and crumble into a brown powdery substance from which they can regenerate if given a drop of vampiric blood."

[7twistedwishes]

"...gather the dust, mix it with concrete, make yourself a slab of undead?" she is amused at the idea, of course. "Then break down the slab, crush that to powder, mix in more concrete, pour into molds to make angel statues and crosses, send them as donations to cemeteries all over the country? Let's see a vampire regenerate from that..."

[witchfinder_general]

"I like your thinking," Harman says. "We have been sending up canisters of vampire dust with a spy satellite, to forever float in the unfiltered sunlight above the atmosphere, but this should be much less expensive, and involve much fewer hush-hush government agencies."

[7twistedwishes]

"Oh, dear... I am nothing if not efficient, I have to temp and lead astray billions of people with very limited resources, after all" Lucifer winked. "And I am so far not even charging you a consulting fee."