fandomhigh | Supernatural Studies, Wednesday, Period 1

"Welcome back," Jack said, clearly more relaxed now that he was on his second week on the job. He deistributed a stack of handouts as the students took their seats. "For our first class, I thought we'd talk about the first supernatural creature many children who grow up in Western cultures on Earth hear about -- angels. In several religions, angels are seen as benevolent creatures who carry out the will of God on Earth. Traditionally they act as messengers, guides and protectors to humanity."

He moved over to bring up a PowerPoint slide. "The modern image of an angel is something like this," he said, bringing up a slide of an extremly cute being in a white robe with wings and a harp. "But that wasn't what the first people to believe in them saw at all. Descriptions of angels in ancient spiritual texts include seraphim, who were on fire and had six wings. Traditional depictions were more like this."

He regarded the image for a moment."It's said they glow so brightly humans cannot look on them. Satan, the lord of Hell, is described as a fallen angel. Another named angel, Samael, brings death; Michael performs acts of justice and power. in the original stories, they are not meant to be especially nice." That point, he thought, deserved some emphasis. "But in addition to seeing angels as warriors for God, early on people began to believe in 'guardian angels.' This is the concept that an angel watches over each of us at each minute. Some early religious leaders believed this, some did not, and it ended up firm in the popular imagination. Even now, people who are not terribly religious may refer to their 'guardian angel' when they feel spared in some way. Other people may say we're all angels for each other -- that sometimes God moves a human to do something angelic."

Jack wasn't sure he believed any of that, but he would admit it was a nice idea.

"That brings us to our discussion," he said. "What do you think about the concept of heavenly beings who intervene in human lives? Is it something you feel you've seen, or a fairy tale we tell children?" He was prepared to intervene if the discussion got too heated, but asking the question seemed safe enough. "Also, the office seems to think I have a second TA. Charley Brewster, come see me after class."

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She didn't remember seeing him in class the week before; how odd. She would have remembered his hair. And yet, here he was.

"I have heard stories of him," she said. "Some say he is Cain, banished from the Earth. Or another sinner, sent away for his crimes. But it hardly seems punishment. Except I imagine it would be quite lonely, being the Moon."

Lonely being the Moon. Jack looked almost wistful at that, and shook his head a little.

"Everyone knows the moon," he said, softly. "There are songs about it, stories and dances in its honor. He brings in the tides and keeps it from getting too dark to see at night. People believe in the moon."

Try being Jack Frost, sometime.

"Of course they believe in the moon," Lucrezia replied, unsure of what Jack meant. "Everyone can see it. Faith isn't believing in those things one can see. That's what Our Savior was telling Thomas: blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe. One doesn't need faith to believe in the Moon."

Jack listened to what she had to say, hanging on to that quote from the bible for a moment, trying to place why it seemed so familiar, like something he'd heard in another life.

He couldn't, and that frustrated him a little, but he let it go.

"I guess they don't," he allowed, after a moment. "But just imagine how lonely it would be if nobody believed in you. That sort of loneliness... that's something that the moon is never going to have to know."

"I would prefer at times to be a bit less ... known," Lucrezia admitted. "Half of Europe knows stories of my deeds, and very few of those are true. I should imagine very few of the songs about the moon are true, either. So would you rather be lonely, or known for being something that you are not?"

She imagined the moon could still be lonely, despite all of the songs it heard.

"Me, personally...?" Jack shrugged his shoulders. "It's not so simple as that, for me. Either I'm lonely, or people believe in what I am."

He offered her a smile that was very nearly self-depreciating. Very nearly sad, almost.

"I think I'd take being misrepresented to loneliness, though. There's always some measure of truth in a story, it seems."

"Is there?" Lucrezia sounded amused by that, and one eyebrow was raised mockingly. "And what of stories fueled by envy? I could tell you quite shocking stories told of me, and to say that they must be partly true because my enemies delight in speaking them is certainly news to me."

"Maybe it's not a truth about you," Jack countered. "Maybe the truth in their lies is something that reflects back on the people telling them. Ugly people say the ugliest things about others, right?"

At least, that's what he'd seen, over the centuries. It all kind of blurred together, one person and then another, people after people that he'd never really been able to know.

"And maybe the stories people tell each other about the moon are the same," she said, lifting her shoulders. "Reflections of themselves, pushed back out at the moon as it watches over us. I would imagine it would still be quite lonely, being that image that all such things are projected upon. There's not much difference, between being unknown and only being a reflection."

Edited 2013-01-17 02:39 (UTC)

"But are you only a reflection? I imagine for all of the stories and lies, there has to be someone out there who knows you for who you really are. You and the Moon."

But not so much Jack, until about a week and a half ago.

Supernatural Studies, Wednesday, Period 1

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