This Used To Be About Dungeons полностью

“Sex,” said Verity. “But I think that’s probably more than enough speculation about them.”

Hannah shrugged.

“Is that a matter of doctrine?” asked Verity. “Thinking that people should be similar?”

“The church is wide,” said Hannah, obviously quoting something. “But it is a part of how the Church of Garos approaches things. Now a cleric of Bixzotl, she might say that it’s best for two people to be copies of each other, liking all the same things, being the same in every way, but… well, that’s not quite the same as symmetry, ay? People call them the twin gods sometimes, Garos and Bixzotl, but… ah, I’m goin’ on, sorry.”

“I don’t mind,” said Isra.

Verity didn’t particularly mind either, and it was definitely preferable to talking about a potential romance between Alfric and Mizuki.

“Well,” said Hannah. “It’s true that there’s usually some symmetry in a copy, especially a copy of somethin’ that’s had the imperfections—the asymmetries—removed from it. But symmetry isn’t just about repetition, it’s about patterns, the ways that you get that little moment of ‘ah ha’ when you see that this one thing, if twisted and lined up just so, maps onto the other thing. It’s very different, actually. There’s no appreciation of opposites from Bixzotl.”

“Mmm,” said Isra. “There is a beauty in the negation of a thing.” This also seemed like a quote.

“From the Keserbin,” said Hannah with a nod. “Exactly. And what I was sayin’ before was that if you come across your negation, or your partial negation, you have to be careful, because you might be natural enemies, but if you’re natural friends, then there are things that you’ll need to navigate, surely, and for that you need wisdom and maturity, and—”

“What are we talking about?” asked Mizuki as she came back down.

“Theology,” said Hannah. “Negation as a mode of symmetry, opposites and such.” It was a decent cover, and Verity hoped that Mizuki hadn’t heard too much since the conclusion, which Verity happened to agree with, was that perhaps the pair of Mizuki and Alfric might be lacking in wisdom and maturity. If that were true, the lack of wisdom and maturity seemed like it mostly came from one side of that pairing.

“Oh,” said Mizuki. “Not really my thing.” She flopped back down on the couch, spreading herself out. She had her eyes closed and seemed like she was ready for sleep.

“It’s temple day tomorrow, are you going?” asked Verity. “I think I will. I usually do. It’s an Oeyr sermon.”

“I hope it’s not plates again,” said Hannah with a deep sigh.

“Plates?” asked Isra.

“Do you ever do temple day?” asked Verity.

“No,” said Isra. “But I have read the books.” She seemed slightly defensive.

“There’s a sermon that clerics of Oeyr like to give,” said Hannah. “I’ve heard it probably five times now. It’s the parable of the broken plate.” She sighed. “I remember sittin’ through it at eleven, thinkin’ to myself, ‘Oh, so that’s Emergence’, and every time after that I wanted to just go to sleep.”

“Every clerical order has their stock sermons,” said Verity. “I think they’re necessary.”

“True,” said Hannah. “Because there’ll always be someone who hasn’t heard it or who needs a reminder. I s’pose I shouldn’t mind it as much as I do. For Garos, it’s usually the sermons on sexuality, which need to happen but probably get old. Even I think they get old, and they were a help to me, growin’ up.”

“Me too,” said Verity. “But I don’t find them old. They’re… affirming.”

“Well, I’m going, if everyone else is,” said Mizuki. “Though I have trouble paying attention. Last time we had the plate sermon, he didn’t actually break a plate, which I thought was a shame.”

“I don’t understand half of what you’re saying,” said Isra. “I don’t think I can blame it on the wine.”

“Plates,” said Mizuki. “You break a plate, it breaks into pieces, and they look random, but the sermon is about how it’s not because there are underlying rules to, um, stress propagation and, um, other things. There are rules, and those rules are mostly invisible to us until push comes to shove. Nothing is really random, the lines of fracture are all, um, deterministic, just hidden until the shattering comes.”

“Does Lin use those words?” asked Hannah. “Seems a bit much for a sermon to lay people.”

“Lin gets carried away,” said Mizuki. “I’m surprised you haven’t noticed.”

“I’ll listen closely,” said Hannah. “But I think it’s time for me to get to bed if I’m to be ready for that in the morning, and if I want us to have some freshly baked bread when we get back.”

“Me too,” Verity said, sighing. She put a hand down on Isra’s thigh to push herself up, but found herself letting her hand rest there for a moment, just a bit too long to be strictly the touch of a friend. Then she did get up, because there was no signal back, and if Isra wasn’t interested, she didn’t want to make things awkward, not when they shared the same room.