interfaith dinner mingle!!

[stefanged]

Who: Interfaith Center regulars & the not-so-regulars (party crashers are welcome too!!)
Broadcast: Nope
Action: Interfaith Center on the Iskaulit
When: Forward-dated to November 4th

[The Interfaith Center sounds far more bustling and busy than usual - and anyone peering inside would quickly figure out that a communal dinner is underway! Take off your shoes and walk in: the lounge has extra tablecloths on the floor as well as buffet tables with non-alcoholic beverages and all sorts of food, including Jordanian cuisine (or the outer space equivalent of Jordanian food).

The board games are out of their hiding nooks; the furniture's arranged for the maximum seating possible; and even the teddy bears donated by Kitty & Winn are out for cuddling, should anyone want them.

The kitchen's bustling with helpers - Stefan's running around at vamp-speed to make sure everything's a) done on time and b) cooked to perfection - but he sure wouldn't mind an extra hand. And if you're still not up for some food? Well, the prayer rooms are open as usual. There's always a quiet moment to be found, even if the laughter's louder and the scent of freshly-baked mansaf's wafting through the long corridors.

Anyone and everyone who's ever been inside the Interfaith Center has been invited (via text message - and Stefan even used the fancy emoji). If you're not particularly faithful or devout? Well, drop by anyways. There's more than enough food to spare.]

Comments

[wolfehawke]

It's not that He wants us gone. It's that He doesn't care.

[He's heartened that she doesn't judge him, and it encourages him to try and sort this out. With Anders, he's always felt that he needed to tread carefully lest he insult his partner with his own lack of faith and questioning beliefs. Leliana though, she all but seems to welcome the discussion. Not that Anders wouldn't, he just doesn't like that hopeless look that crosses Anders' face when he can't make Wolfe understand why he still prays.]

Ambivalence is worse than anything else He could have done.

[He'd almost rather be despised than ignored. Almost. Adalwolfe craves positive attention too much for that to be entirely true, but even if someone hates you, they still spare you a thought now and again. It's attention. It's acknowledgement of your existence. It's something.]

It's not that I don't believe the Maker exists, I just don't believe in the Maker. I wish I did, then maybe there would be some peace in that, but I just don't see believing in someone who doesn't believe in me.

[nugqueen]

For what it's worth, I do know the Chantry has done horrible things in the name of the Maker. Look at the Circle of Magi or the Elves and that's proof enough. It's enough to make anyone not want to believe when so many horrible things happen all around us in His name.

[She thinks on her words carefully, not sure what else she can do to really help him through whatever internal struggles with Faith he might have.]

There doesn't need to be Faith entirely in the Maker. He made us independent for that reason. I have many days where I wish I didn't ask myself the whys and the hows, but my faith has never wavered. I can't say the same for everyone else. Least of all you, who has lost so much in your life.

[wolfehawke]

[He presses his mouth into a line at her sympathy, not in rejection of it but because he doesn't know how to take that. When his father died, he'd had to step in with all the logistics as head of household. When Bethany fell he had to keep everyone moving. Even when his mother was killed most everyone tip-toed around him. They made things easier by dealing with the things he should have been doing but other than Anders there weren't words exchanged, there wasn't overt sympathy, and by the time he left the estate again there were Qunari to deal with and they had to keep moving on. To have his history of loss so openly sympathized with is not something he expected.]

So I'm not the only one?

[It's all he can manage, having no earthly idea how to address the rest. To thank her for understanding, or to dismiss her citing his loss as hardly having anything to do with his non-relationship with the Maker. He doesn't know what of that is correct, in any case.]

[nugqueen]

And you'd certainly not be the last.

[She won't give her own sob story, but truly finding the Maker had been the best thing for her in the end. It was either that or let Marjolaine continue to hunt her and to keep punishing herself for her sins. Justinia had saved her from that fate. If she could do that for someone else in some small way, it was more than enough.]

You don't have to believe in the Maker to adapt his teachings to your life. Nor do you have to take the Chantry's teachings as gospel. Some of it is heavily steeped in prejudice, such as the removal of the Canticle of Shartan, and the isolation from other races being allowed into priesthood.

[wolfehawke]

If it's the same to you, I think I'm alright without now that there's even the option. It's... still nice to know that I'm not some raving heretic, though.

[Somehow, hearing it from Leliana is far more comforting than just knowing that his father had shared similar views. Anders and Bethany before him, with their ability to believe even though by all accounts everything is against them always made Adalwolfe feel he was somehow wrong for believing what he did. Now he knows it's not necessarily wrong, just understandable, considering.]

Yeah the Chantry itself has messed up in that way. Really if it was all distilled down to 'stop making arses of yourselves and help each other' it'd be better.