Entry #A-4: "Ante" [February 21, Text]

[dead_black_eyes]

Though the police and the Blood Keys obviously represent a threat to many numbered individuals, I have a question about organized religion, and what pulses might mean when framed within certain philosophical contexts.

No matter how natural it might feel, if there really is another being nudging its way into an existing consciousness, changing a person's aptitudes, physical attributes and even their personality... there have to be at least a few churches that would consider that demonic possession, right?

Has anyone tried to reconcile what's happening with influential religious practices, and do we have any resources for assisting anyone who might wind up the subject of an attempted exorcism? Those still happen today, they can be extremely dangerous, and I'm concerned about the possibility of frightened numbered people seeking out such assistance, or being subjected to it by their families and communities. Thinking you're crazy is one thing, but sincerely believing that the devil is wielding you as an instrument is another entirely. Probably not something that the FAQ page can successfully assuage, for the most tenaciously convinced.

Comments

[Text]

[scramasax]

[Pause on his end.]

I am sure I won't start eating people. I am not sure how long I will stay "alive," however.

[The sureness on the first count isn't due to any evidence rather than being rather secure in the fact that otherwise would make absolutely no sense - that and him having locked the thought in by addressing questions on it several times, at this point.]

[Text]

[dead_black_eyes]

It's a valid concern.

You might actually be immortal, though. Isn't that also true?

[Text]

[scramasax]

[He can't pretend it isn't, with the circumstances they're in being wildcard after wildcard, he supposes, but he'd much rather put it out of his mind.]

I suppose that it may be...

[Text]

[dead_black_eyes]

You don't seem comforted by the possibility. Who doesn't want to live forever?

[Text]

[scramasax]

It is only a possibility. I won't know until more time passes.

[The answer to that could easily be longer - he'll skirt the possibility of bungling any overthought, long as he can, particularly with the way this discourse's gone so far.]

[Text]

[dead_black_eyes]

Was this what it was like when your other was in service to Charlemagne, or do you think that your degeneration is due to the fact that you're so incredibly old?

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[scramasax]

He was like this while he served Charlemagne. [While he cannot get a good read on exactly how long the periods overlapped.] It was caused by a spell in a scroll which he was delivering.

[Text]

[dead_black_eyes]

That's some really bad luck.

If a scroll could cause that, it's not ridiculous to think that a scroll could reverse it, though.