ataraxion | [ 6 ] [ video ] less derring-do than quiet care

[ The really interesting thing about this video broadcast is the fact that it's not actually coming from inside the Tranquility. Hotspur's in the pilot seat of the first shuttle - the one he affectionately named Faith all those months ago back when they all first arrived. His face is lit by the soft glow of the avionic displays in front of him and he sits back from the controls, slack-handed and staring with thick pre-occupation out of the shuttle windows instead.

His comms device - propped up on the co-pilots seat beside him - offers a profile view of Hotspur's features... and beyond him, a bit of the outer hull of the Tranquility suspended against the backdrop of deep space.

Red-eyed, ashen-faced... Hotspur's clearly hasn't been sleeping very well. Being the robust, brick-outhouse sort of fellow that isn't prone to negativity it usually takes a hell of a lot to make him feel less than 100% of his usual awesomeness but here we are. His expression is pained and with one hand he absently fidgets with the loose-hanging metal dogtags that fall around his neck. He doesn't speak up immediately but when he does it's a distant murmur. ]

...Full of them. Even the bad ones.

[ It's an off-hand comment more to himself than the video feed running live beside him. But then, as if only just remembering that it was recording, he seems to pull himself together and turn his head to address the comms device directly. ]

Look, I know not everyone out here's got much time for talk about the Gods and religion and all that but for those folk that do...

[ He pauses and exhales a brief sigh; this little crisis of faith is turning out to be pretty damn painful and he briefly struggles to hunt down the right words to express what he wants to ask. ]

Well. I'm kind of strugglin' to see how this whole... adventure fits in with whatever it is the Gods have got in store for me. For us all. I mean, it's not that I don't have faith that They know what's best, I... I just --

[ He pauses again and his gaze travels wildly around the cockpit until it fixates on the massive hull of the Tranquility beyond the shuttle's screen. ]

I'm not really sure if demons and possessions and all that is just a really really effective test of faith or that maybe we're all just a little bit too far away for the Gods to help us.

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[ Hotspur is silent in response but his expression speaks volume: equal parts awe and incredulity, with the slightest tinge of confusion. The idea that one could walk and talk with gods had been completely alien to him until Thor and Loki had been brought to the Tranquility - but what Jaye was talking about was way beyond just that. Personal links, friendships even. ]

What's he like?

[ He's taking it much better than she had, when Coyote had told her who she was. She'd never believed in gods, not really, but she does now. Now she can't imagine not believing in them again. ]

Surprisingly chill, for a trickster. We travel a lot and he's... well he's kind of a hippe, really, all natural medicines and herbs and "Jaye, relax and get along with people, people are great!". [ Snort. ] You don't want to piss him off, though. That's when the teeth come out.

[ Despite his worries Hotspur finds himself smiling broadly at her description of Coyote; sure, he'd expect the Gods to have a little more regal grandeur to them but there's something oddly comfortable to the way that Jaye speaks so lucidly about them. ]

That's... that's pretty amazing. I've never heard anything like it. [ A pause. ] How many other Gods have you met?

Most people haven't, where I'm from. They try and blend in, even though being known is what keeps them alive. They've ended up relying on books, stories, movies, and worship -- and not many people worship the oldest ones.

[ She doesn't know why he's telling him all of this, other than that maybe his faith, now wavering, is keeping a god of his own alive. Maybe she just misses talking to someone who knows, who believes. ]

It's hard to say. In person, not many -- some of the other tricksters, mostly. A lot let their minders talk to other minders. But we all have each other's numbers, so there's a lot of texting.

[ Even though this is all so bizarre and new to Hotspur, he can't help but think it makes certain amount of sense. It fits in so neatly with his own people's beliefs that they had carried the spirits of the Old Gods of Earth with them through the Exodus - that they had travelled hand-in-hand through the stars and never lost their way - and he find so easy to believe mainly because he wants it to all be true. ]

So what does a minder do, then? Are you priests?

Not exactly. We can teach others about them, if we choose, but we're more... personal assistants. Some of the gods pose as businessmen and then that's pretty literal. Coyote, though, he picks people who will fight for him.

[ And she's proud to have been chosen, to have been recognized as a fighter. Proud to have fought for him, happy to lay down her life for him, and she nearly did just a few short months ago. ]

We deal directly with the gods, instead of the people who might follow them.

The universe is a pretty remarkable place, all told, but I've never heard anything like it in my life. [ His tone is marvelling; there isn't even the slightest trace of doubt in Hotspur's words to be found. He lifts his chin and directs a small, confident smile at the video feed. ] I reckon I'm pretty honoured to meet you then, miss--?

[ Hotspur trails off in to an expectant pause, eyebrows upraised queryingly. ]

I hadn't heard anything like it either, until he found me. [ She knows it's hard to believe, and yet he's believing. There's a slight smile back, if only because he believes, because sometimes Jaye feels as fueled by belief as Coyote actually is. ]

Jaye.

[ 6 ] [ video ] less derring-do than quiet care

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