RS020



Dal turns away from Qebrus, still clutching the gold idol her chest as her other hand is tangled in her hair.


Qebrus


So... you understand.


Dal


NO I don't understand! Of course I don't understand!


Your religion is barely a religion, Qeb!


It's just a stupid game of 'whoever dies with the most glass wins!'


The two of them are facing away from each other, unwilling to budge.


Qebrus


It is... more than that.


Dal


WHATEVER!


I just don't see why you can't do it here!


We've been together for five years!


It's not fair!


I thought we were a team! I thought...


Her eyes fill with tears and her lip quivers.


Dal


I thought we were... family...

Resolved, Qebrus closes his eyes. Upon opening them again he's surprised to find Dal gone, the gold idol abandoned on the floor.


Qebrus


Dal.


I think it is time that we--


Dried bedding falls from a hole in ceiling in the wake of Dal's exit. The ladder to her room stands empty.

RS020

RS020

It is a common erjan misconception that all Decadents are necessarily eidolan, and understandably so—the physical rigours endured by acolytes of the Luminous Body are extreme, to say the least, and non-eidolan Decadents often don’t last long. When injured, a typical Decadent practice is to suture the wound with molten gold; this is believed to harden the body against further attack, while increasing the material worth—the Isness—of the individual. This is of course a painful process, and if a Decadent does not possess immense physical constitution, a potentially fatal one.