Happiest Time of the Year?

[misplacedxsheath]

Who: Margulis, OPEN
What: The suffering of a fire user in winter.
When: Varies by prompt
Where: Mostly indoors, except for once...
Warnings: Nothing expected unless people poke at backstory. Mmmmmaybe violence in the form of sparring?

[Cabin Fever] (1/9-1/19)

[Going into the mountain was, honestly, a poor life choice on Margulis' part. The cold had worn on him, and left him sore and scarce for days as he recovered. Even now, the harsh weather makes it painful to go out and forcibly limits his training to the gym.

For someone like Margulis, this is a problem. As the weather grows colder, he gets more impatient. He can't use fire indoors, so his practice in the gym is swordplay and martial arts only...and increasingly frequent, to the point where people might wonder how he isn't wearing himself out. The library, usually when he's at his calmest, sees him tense and restless, tapping the fingertips of his clawed gloves against the table or shifting in place. A couple times, he even ends up taking over one of the kitchens to make curry so spicy it might make people's eyes water just from smelling it.

Winter is really not his favorite time of year.]

[Bah Humbug] (1/20)

[While most people are celebrating the holidays, Margulis...is not. He spends the day of the party in the library, sitting with an even larger pile of books than usual. For once, his usually difficult to read expression is visibly sour, practically glaring at what he's reading. Something, it seems, doesn't sit well with him...]

[One Man Snowplow] (1/31)

[After how bad just the cold was, you'd think Margulis wouldn't even be going to the annex while it's snowing, right? Well, you'd be wrong. With the snow piling up, he's out in a heavy coat and a scarf, creating a path between the station and surrounding buildings. Though, the fact that he's using controlled fire to do so might be helping him tolerate the cold a bit...except when the wind is blowing from the opposite direction.]

Comments

[misplacedxsheath]

[He takes it with a nod of thanks, chewing thoughtfully on it for a moment before he answers.]

I've given you hints at the severity of the mistakes I've made...they weren't because I was a heartless man back then, but rather because I was blinded by both pride and faith. I followed an Abrahamic religion then, one supposedly striving for a return to the holy land that was humanity's birthplace.

For that end, and the good I thought it would do for the galaxy to be reminded of mankind's humble origins and the innovation that had brought us so far, I gave my all. It was a lesson in caution of who and what to trust...even ideals thousands of years old can be rooted and mired in deception, with none able to see the truth until it's too late.

[hairpincurves]

[She stays quiet as she listens, frowning in thought. Mistakes he'd made because of pride and faith, huh... It almost sounds like...]

Ah. So one of the holidays being celebrated being based in that religion... It's kind of poking at an old wound, huh?

[... This just makes her own dislike of Christmas seem even pettier. Whoops.]

[misplacedxsheath]

I've recovered significantly since then, but Christian holidays remain an uncomfortable topic...as much as I hope he doesn't have counterparts in other worlds weaving similar lies into an ostensibly benevolent faith.

[hairpincurves]

... That immortal being you mentioned in the subfissure.

[misplacedxsheath]

Wilhelm, Heinlein...and probably numerous other names throughout the ages. The way he spoke, I've no doubt he was involved in the earliest development of Christian faith, possibly even its predecessors.

[hairpincurves]

It'd make sense, if he'd been around that long.

[She grimaces, but her expression softens a bit as she finds herself lost in thought.]

[misplacedxsheath]

Seeing incarnations of that same religion in other worlds leaves me to wonder...whether there was similar influence, and what might have become of it were it to evolve naturally.

[hairpincurves]

I'm definitely not a good point of reference for that. Christianity's always kind of baffled me, honestly? And it's not a big thing for a lot of people back home--or, at least, specifically in Japan as far as I've seen. I only know what little I do because of Personas I've had...

[misplacedxsheath]

Assuming the larger strokes of history match between our worlds, I'd assume you would be most familiar with Shinto and Buddhist traditions. Uzuki studied the former more closely than I, my own areas of personal interest are in the faiths common in Indian culture. As well, of course, as Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism.

[hairpincurves]

That's correct, yeah. [...] What's Zoroastrianism? I've heard the name, but I've never actually heard about it.

[misplacedxsheath]

One of the oldest known human religions, and the furthest precursor to the monotheistic faiths you're likely to know about. In fact, it's entirely likely it was the first religion to espouse the idea of a singular creator, rather than a pantheon of deities responsible for different aspects of the world. All that is good was claimed to originate from the one God, referred to as Ahura Mazda, and all evil was the corrupting influence of Angra Mainyu.

Despite that, however, the concept of free will was central to Zoroastrian scripture. Ahura Mazda was not portrayed as an omnipotent being, but rather a creator and embodiment of the concepts of truth and justice. Likewise, Angra Mainyu represented deception and the chaos that invites destruction. The scriptures said that humanity was an active part in that conflict, with those who live virtuously waiting in paradise for the final judgment and the wicked descending to Hell to be punished for their crimes until they understand the weight of their misdeeds and repent.

[hairpincurves]

[She listens closely, leaning forward with obvious interest.]

That's fascinating... What would happen for the final judgment?

[misplacedxsheath]

[That's...maybe a faint upward tick of his mouth at her clear interest.]

The dead would be raised from both Heaven and Hell to be tried once more. Those who remained wicked would be returned to Hell until they were purged of sin, while the men and women worthy of Heaven were to wade through a river of molten metal. The truly righteous would be unaffected by the heat, allowing those who were genuinely good of heart to pass into an eternal paradise where the Earth and Heaven met.

The final judgment would also defeat Angra Mainyu and its influence once and for all, leaving the ensuing world free of evil influence.

[hairpincurves]

Huh... that's pretty cool.

[Now she kind of wishes she'd done more research back home... Oh, well, there'd definitely be time for that then.]

[misplacedxsheath]

Heh, you'll find a number of ancient religions aren't nearly so dry as you might have been led to believe.

[It's possible he doesn't just study them because of his prior faith...]

[hairpincurves]

[She hums thoughtfully, then chuckles.]

I really should do some more looking into that sort of thing when I get home...

[misplacedxsheath]

My focus might be on specific ones, but I do know quite a bit. Study of ancient culture was something of a hobby of mine.

[hairpincurves]

I've always been kind of fascinated by mythology but I never really got super into it until I became a Persona-user...

[misplacedxsheath]

I've studied it since even before I was your age. My master encouraged cultural studies alongside physical training.

[hairpincurves]

[She nods.]

That's pretty cool... kind of wish that sort of encouragement was more common...

[misplacedxsheath]

It's distressingly rare in my own time period, as well. History is falling by the wayside, leaving what were once the cautions of our ancestors as mere idle entertainments for the wealthy or eccentric. People are more likely to recognize the names of mythological beings from the Gnosis that resemble them than they are from ancient stories.

[hairpincurves]

[She makes a face.]

Somehow, I get the sense it's way worse in yours than it is in mine...

[Which gives her a bad feeling... those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, etc.]

[misplacedxsheath]

Historically, time either worsens problems or resolves them. Very rarely do things remain stagnant for extended periods, for good or for ill.

[hairpincurves]

[That just sounds like it keeps getting worse...]

Mm, that's true enough...

[... And she falls quiet as she finds herself lost in thought again...]

[misplacedxsheath]

However...that's what makes it so important for those of us who still care about our roots to preserve that knowledge as best we can, and to inspire others to do the same. So long as even a handful still carry the lessons of our forebears in mind, they can be resurrected and reintroduced to the world once the consequences of allowing them to be forgotten have become evident to the masses.