(no subject)

[theartofmadness]

Passengers: Jason & Bucky; Lucifer; Grace + maybe more later.
Location: here and there
Date: March 10.
Summary: Bird arrives, does warden tour.
Warnings: Panic attack, alcoholism, talk about death, will add as things come up



starters in comments!

Comments

[dealwiththe]

“I was on Earth because I felt like it. Back then I did most things because I felt like it,” he says, tracing a finger absently around the rim of his coffee cup.

“Anyway, Dad recently retired. My brother took over the Big Job, and we are, actually, making some changes. Which is why I’m helping those stuck in Hell get out. You send yourselves there, and you have to get yourselves out.”

[theartofmadness]

Well, that's fair. Jason's lips push out in an expression that said just the same thought. He can get behind doing what you want. Hearing that God retired though made him laugh a bit--eyes peering into his almost-finished coffee. You send yourselves there.

"Do we," he ruminates a moment, "y'know the preacher at one of the soup kitchens would say shit like that. He'd say, 'God only helps those who want to help themselves' and 'God only gives people the burdens they can carry." He looked up, jaw tense. Fingers curling around the cup. "What gets people into this Hell of yours?"

[dealwiththe]

"God is usually pretty hands-off, in general," Lucifer says. "It'd muck with free will if He interfered directly too much." After all, if people don't have the option of doing evil things, that's not free will, is it? "What gets people into Hell is guilt, of course. You decide if you're guilty enough to go to Hell, and if you are, your eternal torment is an endless loop of whatever that guilt is."

[theartofmadness]

Wait, what. His brows ebb in noticeably troubled by this and completely derailed from his original frustrations to a new batch of them. It almost rocks his body when he thinks about what to say.

"So you're telling me that in your world if someone does some bad shit, but doesn't have any real remorse, guilt, any of that shit--they just... walk into those gates after death?" That can't be right, there's NO WAY that's right.

[dealwiththe]

“You’d be surprised how many humans who claim to have no remorse, actually do,” Lucifer says with equanimity. “Generally speaking, you know when you’ve done something worthy of eternal damnation, deep down inside.”

[theartofmadness]

He takes a moment. A long moment. A deep breath. Words calm, cold. If not a shake in his hands. Jason finished his coffee before speaking, with a much different cadence than he had before: "You haven't met half of Gotham. There are people out there who are incapable of feeling anything. I died because of one of them, and a lot of people I know have too."

His heart was racing, but... he gets up as calmly as possible and makes one last comment before turning to leave. "I'm glad our worlds aren't the same."

[dealwiththe]

“They sound pretty similar to me,” Lucifer says easily. The kid can leave if he wants - he makes no move to stop him. But he’s got one final point to make, regardless of whether it’s listened to or not. “People knowingly do bad things to other people. Feeling guilty about it or not, doesn’t stop them.”