Jesse Custer | Preacher (cantfindgod) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2019-04-28 06:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !complete, !log, !match-up, ~2019 april, ~50 points, ~~jesse custer (cantfindgod), ~~liu ying (demon_princess) |
Who: Liu Ying and Jesse Custer
What: Match-Up
Where: The park
When: Sunday, April 28.
Warnings: Low.
Status: Complete | Match-up
Jesse had a few hours to spare that particular afternoon, so he had headed to the park. He didn’t have Aiden with him that afternoon, so it was just him. As much as he loved his son, it was nice to be able to spend some time on his own. Even the most devoted of parents needed some alone time, right?
Or, at least, some adult time.
He was wandering throughout the park, engrossed in his own thoughts, when he very nearly ran into a young woman. At least, someone who appeared to be a young woman. One could never tell in Madison Valley. Someone could look young and actually be hundreds of years old.
Or even thousands.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, as he managed to avoid the near collision.
***
Fortunately, Liu Ying was alert enough that the collision - although near - was easily avoided. In this strange and new world where metal beasts roamed the streets and “cool” was considered good, she had been required to be on her guard at all times.
The man who had nearly run into her did seem to have enough self-awareness and humility to know to apologize - unlike some others she had met here. She returned his apology with a nod of acceptance.
“This gentleman appears to be deep in thought,” she said. Whatever magic had brought her here had also allowed her to speak the language of the natives - in words if not in intent. “This matter that has you so engrossed, can it be helped?”
***
He offered the woman a small smile at her words. “I was just feeling a bit guilty at leaving my son so I could get some time alone,” he said after a moment. “Or, at least, some time away from a small child.” He didn’t necessarily want to be alone, but he did need some time away from Aiden now and then.
“I don’t know if it can really be helped, it just had be not paying attention to my surroundings.” He likely would always feel guilty for taking some time for himself. He rarely did so, except when he spent time with Ariadne. Usually Aiden was at his side all the time.
He just needed some time for himself was all.
***
This world was indeed strange. Liu Ying did not understand why someone would feel guilty over leaving a child. When she had only been five thousand years old, she had explored all of the Demon Realm on her own, with not even a bodyguard.
“He must be very small, if you do not believe he can take care of himself,” she noted. There was still so much to understand here.
***
Jesse nodded at the woman’s words, “He is very young. He isn’t even a year old yet.” So no, Aiden could not take care of himself yet. He couldn’t even walk yet. So Jesse was just a little concerned about not being with him. Even if he did trust the people who he let care for his son. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have left Aiden in their care.
“Are you new here?” he asked. “I haven’t seen you around before.” Which wasn’t too terribly unusual. It wasn’t like Jesse knew everyone in town. He likely didn’t even know half of the people in town. “I am Jesse Custer,” he offered.
***
A year! That was barely out of the womb! Liu Ying understood now, this man’s reticence. “His mother must be taking good care of him,” she assured the man. She could not imagine any woman not caring for her child. Unless, of course, the mother had passed, as Liu Ying’s had.
“I have recently arrived,” she said to answer his question. She saluted him in the way she had seen others in this town had: by extending her hand. “I am Liu Ying.”
***
“His mother was sent home shortly after his birth,” he told the woman. “So it has been just me taking care of him for the past few months. I have a few people who are willing to watch him for me if I need them to, people I trust entirely.” Which was good, because he wouldn’t leave Aiden with just anyone. “I just… needed some time to myself. I feel bad about it, though.”
He knew he likely shouldn’t feel bad about leaving Aiden in the care of another from time to time, but sometimes he felt as though he was abandoning him when he did so.
He offered her a small smile, and shook her hand, “It is a pleasure, Liu Ying.” He’d had a feeling she’d recently arrived. She just had this… aura about her.
***
Liu Ying certainly stood out as someone who was not local. Even though she was putting in her best effort to do as she had seen others do here, she still held herself too straight; she still looked upon even the most normal things with bright-eyed curiosity; she still looked too much like a demon princess. Her mindset, too, was different. Why this man felt so much guilt over leaving his child, she did not understand.
“You are his father,” she said with great practicality. “You cannot be with him all the time. How else would you be able to provide for him, now that his mother has gone?”
***
He nodded at the woman’s words, “Yes, I know. I cannot possibly be with him all the time. I just feel bad because he doesn’t know his mother. I don’t want him to not know his father as well.” It made sense to Jesse, at least. But Liu Ying made a valid point. He couldn’t be with Aiden all day, every day.
He then offered her a small smile, “I’m sorry, I did not mean to lay my worries out onto you.” That had truly not been his intention that afternoon.
***
Liu Ying shook her head. “No, I am happy to speak of such things.” She gave him a sunny smile. “This topic, it is a welcome change from what I often get from strangers.”
Her brow furrowed. “Men here speak so freely of having intimate relations. I often receive invitations from complete strangers. Are women so free with their favours?”
***
He considered Liu Ying’s question for a moment. “Some are, yes. It just depends on the woman, really.” He was quiet for a moment, considering. “Women in this world, in this year… they do not feel they need to be in a relationship to have intimate relations with someone. As do men. It all depends on the person, really.”
Jesse wasn’t exactly sure he was answering her question properly. “Personally, I do not tend to be intimate with someone I barely know. It has happened once or twice, yes, but I prefer to know the person before being intimate with them.” He hadn’t known Ariadne well when he first started sleeping with her. But there was always the exception to the rule, right?
“But no, not all women are so free with their favors,” he answered. “But I suppose there are enough out there that men are not discouraged when it comes to propositioning a woman.”
***
For Liu Ying, who had yet to be intimate with anyone in her short 25,000 years, this was incomprehensible. Even with Mu Ci, the man she had loved so much, they had not proceeded so far. To do so before marriage was unthinkable.
“It is a strange world and a strange time,” she said thoughtfully. “I am a fish that cannot find water.”
***
Jesse understood that some people didn’t have intimate relations with people before marriage. He had not been one of those people, though. But he did understand that people were from different times and places, and that was perfectly alright. He didn’t believe anyone should do anything they did not wish to do.
“It is very strange here, yes. Even for me, though I come from a similar place as this one.” He came from a small town as well, only in Texas instead of Indiana. But small towns were all similar in most aspects. “If you need anything at all, I would gladly assist you. I am usually found at the church in town, I am the preacher there.”
***
Thanks to the magic that translated words of the natives into her own language, Liu Ying understood most of the words here. But “church” and “preacher” had no equivalent in her language, and she frowned, confused. “What is preacher?”
***
“A preacher…” he trailed off for a moment, trying to figure out how best to describe what it was. “A preacher is basically a minister.” But she probably didn’t know what a minister was, either. “We -- preachers -- we bring the word of God to the people. We’re religious people.” Jesse might not be the best preacher in the world, but at least he believed. “You do not have such things where you’re from?”
***
The answer was clear on Liu Ying’s face. She took a few minutes to process the words, trying to find the equivalent for those words in her own society.
Finally, she said, “I do not know who is God. Is he like a king or general?” That would be the only sort of people whose words carried enough weight to be important to the common folk.
***
“God is… He’s what some people would call the creator of Earth. The creator of the universe. Everything you see in front of you, every person you see… it’s all part of God’s plan. Part of the creation.” Whether or not people believed that or not was not up to Jesse. He was there to preach the word of God, yes, but he couldn’t be held accountable if people did not believe.
He knew there was a time he did not believe as well.
“It all depends on if you believe or not.”
***
Liu Ying shook her head. “In my world, immortals are born of stardust. There is no one creator. What a great responsibility, to have to make everything yourself.”
She understood now, this man’s role. He was like a fortune teller, who tried to decipher the will of the gods. Or the one god, in this instance.
“How do you know if you are correct?”
***
“There’s a book. The Bible. It helps people decipher the word of God. It is considered to be the word of God, actually. By Christians, anway.” He wasn’t completely sure he should go into detail about the fact that there were other religions than Christianity.
He nodded at Liu Ying’s words, “It was a great responsibility. But I think God did a decent enough job.” Until God went missing, that was.
“You come from a world where religion does not exist?”
***
“Mortals will always attempt to interpret the wills of the gods and immortals,” Liu Ying said philosophically. “They war over who is right. I find most of the time, no one truly understands. But my knowledge of the mortal realm is limited. Perhaps there are fortune tellers - preachers - who better understand the way the world works.”
She clasped her hands behind her back. “In my world, there is no one immortal responsible for everything. The Night Immortal places the stars and moon in the sky every night. The God of War devises strategies. The Demon Realm keeps the worst monsters contained so they cannot hurt anyone. The Flower Realm creates the fruits and flowers we enjoy.” She gestured to the flowers in bloom. “We all share in the operation of the world. We are the ones the mortals pray to.”
***
Jesse hadn’t heard of a world like hers before. But that wasn’t too terribly surprising, there were different worlds represented in Madison Valley. Some were vastly different than the one he was from. Some were similar. It all depended, really.
“Which realm are you from, then?” he asked, curious. As he hadn’t heard of such a world like hers, he wasn’t completely sure which realm she was from.
“It sounds all very interesting, really.”
***
“The Demon Realm,” Liu Ying replied. She looked at him closely for his reaction. She had learned that some people here reacted badly when she told them so. Especially those who were already firm in their beliefs. “I am their princess.”
She definitely did not look like the princess of the local stories, however. She held herself more with the bearing of a military general, with the sharp gaze and alertness to match.
***
“You are a demon?” he asked, arching an eyebrow. “Not only a demon, but a demon princess?” This would have affected him a bit differently had he not had Genesis. After Genesis, he found that he could be accepting of things that he had not been as accepting of previously.
Then, after a moment, “Are you familiar with something called Genesis? It is the offspring of an angel and a demon. It allows me to command other people to do things, and they must obey.” Though he had to put his mind to it to use it. It wasn’t that every time he told someone to do something they had to obey. He had to use Genesis.
***
This word “angel”, she had heard before. There had been a man - an angel - who spoke of being from the Sky Realm. But this Genesis...she had not. It was not odd to her, however. If a dragon and a fish could have a child, why not an angel and a demon?
And their offspring would have powers, of course. It was just that she had never heard of them sharing that power with mortals. “How did you come by Genesis? May I be introduced?”
***
“Genesis doesn’t really… make appearances,” he said after a moment. He wasn’t really certain how to introduce Genesis to Liu Ying, except give a demonstration as to how the powers of Genesis affected him. “Do you have a soul?” he asked. “I can demonstrate how Genesis works, but it only works if the person I am using it on has a soul.”
He felt it was a valid question. He wasn’t completely certain if demons had souls, so he felt it was only right to ask. Because Genesis wouldn’t work on her if she didn’t have a soul.
“It… sort of attached itself to me,” he told her. “Genesis had tried to attach to other people, but they all died. Apparently they weren’t strong enough for it or something.”
***
Liu Ying could easily believe that. “The power of an immortal is not easily harnessed,” she agreed. “It is remarkable you are able to sustain it.”
Now that she looked at him more carefully, she could see the aura of power behind him. Hidden under his mortal coil, but it was there. “I am not sure if I have a soul,” she said. “Perhaps you can try.”
***
He considered the options for a moment. He could try to use Genesis on Liu Ying. If it worked, it worked. No harm done, right? So he decided to go for it. She was not sure if she had a soul, and if she did not, it wouldn’t hurt her. So after a moment, he spoke. “Turn. In a circle.” As he spoke, his voice took on a deep, resonating quality. His eyes glowed a somewhat unnatural color. Well, unnatural for his usual brown colored eyes.
If it worked, she would have no option but to do as he said. And after? She would have regained all control of herself. If it didn’t? Then nothing would happen.
***
Liu Ying felt it: that tug within her, that spark of desire that made her wish to turn around. It was not the body binding magic of Yan You, but it was strong, nonetheless. She could resist it, but not without some effort. She could only imagine the effect it would have on a mortal.
She turned around, just to relieve the urge, and found she was back to herself after that. “To have such power must be quite a temptation to use it,” she remarked.
***
He nodded at her words, “There is a strong temptation to use it. I have misused it before, when I first realized that it was there. But now? Now I’m able to control myself better with it.” He had sent a man to Hell because of Genesis. But now he was able to control it better. And he was grateful for that.
“Sometimes it’s difficult not to use Genesis, but… I understand that it might come back to bite me, or something, if I use it too much here,” He didn’t really want his ability to get out too much. He didn’t want people wondering if they were doing things around him of their own free will.
***
“There are many here with their own powers,” Liu Ying agreed. “It would not be wise to anger them.”
There were, after all, other ways to convince people to comply with one’s wishes. Unfortunately, most of it seemed to involve money. Liu Ying knew of the concept, but she was still not used to using it herself. It was fortunate she was able to generate what she needed on her own.
“Mr. Jesse Custer,” she said, “ I am curious. Do you have a profession?”
***
“Being a preacher is my profession,” he told her. “It’s what I do to make money. People come to the church, I work for the church.” It wasn’t a profession like others may have, but it was a profession nonetheless. He enjoyed his job, though he was considering taking up a second job to add to his income.
“What about you?” he asked. “What are you doing with your time in Madison Valley?” He knew she was relatively new here, so she may not have gotten a job yet. But there was the chance that she had.
He was curious what a demon princess would do with her time.
***
“I am exploring,” Liu Ying replied. She looked around the area, smiling slightly as she looked upon the blossoming flowers. “There is much in the mortal world I have only heard of but never experienced. These flowers, for example. The Flower Tribe do not visit our Demon Realm often, so we rarely see such beauty. Yet it is everywhere here.”
***
“Exploring seems like a very good thing to do,” he said with a smile. “That is what I did when I first arrived here. There is a lot to take in here. It is somewhat similar to my home, but there is a lot that is different here as well.” He was from a small town in Texas, and it seemed that a lot of small towns were similar.
“If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to ask me. I am more than willing to help out when I can.”
***
“I will, thank you.” This time she saluted him in her own custom: one hand wrapped around the other fist. “It was good to meet you, Mr. Jesse Custer.”
***