Informal visit (For Metody)

[evillurks]

The Shadow is hard at work coordinating things from the Rettigue apartment, today. The break from hunting out Khan's activities in his alternate's world is merely an opportunity to chase criminals in his own. Unavailable to gather forces for multiple raids and without the time to head up those operations himself, he's stuck compiling information and passing it to legal authorities through very careful channels. It's a lot of paperwork, and very tedious, but it gives him a physical rest he needs from his other activities.

When Metody arrives, he's in the most worn spot in the whole place; the center of the black plush sofa, bent over the coffee table. He regards his visitor over the rims of his reading glasses. "You've looked better. Coffee or tea?" The paperwork is shuffled neatly into a folder, out of sight.

The apartment is spacious and spartan, with sleek dark furniture. There's a grouping of the sofa and a few black armchairs around a black metal coffee table, all arranged on a vast Oriental rug. A bookshelf built into the wall opposite the sofa holds a television set that is archaic by Metody's standards, fewer books than one might expect, a sleek stereo system, and in spots of honour a card bearing Chinese calligraphy by Myra and the wrappings and knife Metody sent for Christmas. A floor to ceiling window dominates another wall, but the drapes are only open a crack. Apart from the kitchen doorway and a hall, there's little else to be seen in this room. It has quite a bit of open, empty space and the feel of somewhere that is only sporadically lived in.

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[evillurks.livejournal.com]

That gaze always makes him slightly uncomfortable, but Metody has already seen whatever secrets his bones might hold. He is too schooled in concealing his emotions to betray any sense of unease.

The Shadow gives a mild shrug. "You're preaching to the choir. I've seen more things than most, even before I ever found the Nexus."

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

"It's just...odd to think of places where something's power depends on belief. Though our gods fluctuate according to worship, so I suppose that is similar."

He turns that gaze onto the walls, as if he could look through them. In a limited way, he can.

"And odd to think of a world with no gods. Or no gods like we have at home. In Paris, I can pray forever and nothing answers."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow turns his mug slowly in both hands, thoughtful. Through the walls Metody may detect other residents, moving about their daily private lives in the assumption that their neighbour is a retired investment banker.

"I don't know about that... we may have gods. The people I learned from later in life had faith in a wide pantheon. It would be hard to dispute it with them, their belief was so strong. It's very different from what I was raised with..." He hesitates there. "I try to worry about the basics of this life, what I'm doing here and now. I focus on my work. If there's an afterlife, I'll worry about it when I get there."

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

"Maybe they are different gods than what I'm used to. You guys don't seem to have little local gods, not like we have at home."

He tilts his head, listening thoughtfully. "My particular religion is overwhelmingly concerned with what we do in this world, not the next. There's one branch of thought that says there is none, and it's only what we do in this world that matters. I tend to stay within that one, really." He grimaces a bit, turning his mug around and around. "My kind - we don't really get an afterlife, anyway."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"Not in modern America, but in other countries there are, still." Although it's been a long time since he's been back there, The Shadow is aware that in parts of Asia the old traditions of local gods of places, and hearth and home, persists.

"Your kind..." It's a quiet echo, rather than a question. It has taken him some time to see Metody as something other than human, but it also makes little difference to him. "I'd say that what we do in this world matters, either way, so you might as well focus on that." The Shadow is fairly certain that he believes in an afterlife, but he's not certain which kind. Certainly there are moments he suspects if there is a hell, he's destined for it, regardless of the grander intentions of his work. There is a great deal of blood on his hands, and he cannot honestly bring himself to feel regret for it.

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

"That's comforting to hear. I know the Greeks had something like what we have. Or some of the Greek-like people did."

He spreads his hands a little, just barely managing to not slop the coffee out of his mug in the sheepish gesture. "My kind. No soul, no afterlife. So - like you, I focus mostly on this world. Or these worlds."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"That's a little before my time." He nods, but allows himself a thin smile.

"Careful." The apartment has hardwood flooring, but the chairs where they sit are arranged on a huge oriental rug, and chances are it's quite authentic. "I don't usually think much of the soul, but I find it hard to think of you as not having one."

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

Metody looks briefly apologetic, putting a hand over the mouth of the mug as if the coffee might leap out all on its own. "Bit before mine, too."

"It...a soul is a funny thing. For us, it's a kind of - oh, a kind of holy tally. Or scales. Scales might be a little more accurate. All the weight of sin presses it down, all the loft of virtuous deeds lift it up, and depending on the weight of things at the end, you either sink to hell or rise to heaven. So, in an unphysical way, it is like a physical thing. Like being born without legs, or eyes. You can adapt and learn a different way of walking. Or seeing."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

With the spill averted, The Shadow's expression remains thoughtful, and his face hovers low over his coffee mug. "That sounds like an oversimplification. Even after seeing the Nexus, meeting other interpretations of these things, other gods, you have complete faith that what you've been taught in your own world about that is true?" There is no judgment, merely curiosity from a man who half converted to other beliefs when he was around Metody's age.

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

"In regards to the mechanics of the soul and sin, it is an exceedingly simple religion. We don't have eternal damnation or any kind of redemption. It gets trickier when you start involving the actual gods, though. But - " he frowns at the coffee and the mug.

" - we live really close to our gods. Really close. The main one I worship, Indian Summer, she walks along the great forests, and we can track where she moves. It's important to know, because if a person looks on her and her retinue, you don't ever come back. But if religious doubt paralyzes you, and the signs that answer prayers aren't enough, you can go see."

"And - I did."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

Oversimplification tends to leave the Old Tiger feeling dissatisfied, but for the moment he'll accept the explanation.

"It's hard to imagine that kind of... proof. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with it. I take it that fact that you're still here speaking to me is indicative that you were an exception to that rule..." The entire conversation makes him uneasy, and his words seem to come with slow care.

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

He spreads his hands a little, gentle this time so that the coffee doesn't tilt out of the mug. "Proof that the gods I doubted did exist, and proof that I wasn't human. She only takes humans. There's old stories about dogs and horses coming home from the hunt, all the saddles empty..." He smiles a little. "Souled things, dancing after her, lonely and far from home, and joyous in their god. It was impossible and beautiful."

His face lights up, impish again. " - and it answered the question that had always bothered me: if every person who ever saw her was taken, then how did anyone know what she looked like? I guess I wasn't the first like me to spy on her."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"I suppose it's a good thing our world isn't like that. At your age, I would have been just as inclined to go see for myself. I'm fairly well convinced of my own humanity though, and all the drawbacks that come with it." He settles back and gives a wheezing sigh, forcing his posture into something more relaxed.

"None of this has any bearing on your work for me."

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

"We lose a fair number of young people to it, yes."

He laughs.

"No, I suppose not. You were asking if my mind has cleared. It has. It helps to talk to someone, I think. Rituals and wards and physical labor are all very good, but they're kind of rote, too."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow was once very much the sort of reckless young man people expected to go early in some spectacular fashion. In a sense, he did, when he killed off his identity.

"The break is... a welcome one." He's tired, and under more strain than he likes to admit. Having Metody here is taking away precious time from pressing work, but he had also reached a point of desperately needing to shift his mind temporarily to something unrelated. This meeting over coffee is as much for his own sake as for his pseudo-agent's. "Your reports have been useful, even if the recent ones worried me."

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

He studies The for a moment, thoughtful. Possibly, Metody is the only person to ever seriously think about taking the man on a field trip. It must be terribly stifling to never leave the world you're trying to save.

"I'm very sorry about that - but it was hard to tell what was a problem in myself, and what was an actual weird manifestation of the Nexus. Sometimes it can be very strange. And sometimes," he admits, "I doubt the things I sense. So - I put it all in."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow visits several worlds outside the Nexus, but all are parallels of his own, and he's working hard to save each and every one of them. A state of exhaustion is inevitable.

"Hm. I suppose I'd rather have it all than have anything left out by accident. I'll understand if it's a few days more before you're feeling yourself, though." The vast amount of interrupted paperwork is a subtle indication that he still lacks the free time to check up on the Nexus in person.

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

He nods, smiling faintly.

"I will try to have something for you tomorrow, if only a little - but I will be careful and not overtax myself. I promise."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

It would certainly be hypocritical of The Shadow to criticize Metody for overwork. "That should be fine, Khan's been laying low, so I've had time to make a visit or two to the Nexus."

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

He brightens a little. "Oh, has he? Does that mean you're pushing him back?"

Possibly, Metody's views of criminal masterminds are a bit oversimplified.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow gives a humourless grunt. "It means he's plotting something that's likely to blow up in our faces if we can't unearth it or confront him in time."

His own view is a far more experienced one, unfortunately.

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

"...oh. If there's any way I can help..."

He fidgets with his mug, suddenly feeling uncertain. It still seemed like such a strange thing to offer.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"It's not in my world. I'm not at liberty to bring in outside help. But thank you for the offer." He sips his coffee, distant and thoughtful.

[metody-green.livejournal.com]

He nods a little bit, looking down at the mug again. He was getting awful familiar with it.

"Do you like hunting? Or fishing?"

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow does not intentionally drive a spike into the conversation, but he has little skill in the art of keeping it alive.

One eyebrow rises. "I've been hunting, but no, not really." After a moment he seems to realize he has just put a blunt end to whatever line of questioning Metody has in mind. "I... like flying."