The Holy and the Heretic. [Invite Only]

WEEK 4, TUESDAY.
He was late.

Lilliana, was waiting patiently outside the cathedral her family called home after the sermon ended. Looking around for him again, she would look up at the clock again, 'Aoife must hate his time keeping, only if he IS a minute late.' Turning back and looking over the building for the thousandth time.
While it would be new in age, it would look like it was there at the first building of Vale. With three towers shooting upwards as if trying to reach to the skies, the glass would be stained and representing the tales of Saints and an abundance of Religious Events.  Outside the main entrance where Lilliana would be is a large statue of a man wearing glasses and a short boxed beard, wearing robed clothing with a large butterfly on it. A sign by it would say, 'Vale Cathedral of the Space Butterfly.'

"So... This is a cathedral?" Aphelion asked himself as he looked up at the towers. Equinox neighed as if he was trying to answer the question?

"This is pretty damn large. Must hold a lot of trainees at a time." he remarked.

Why would she tell me to come here though... She better not try to convert me.

Having taken the long way around the cathedral, he would arrive at the front a good few minutes later.

Waving to him when she spots him, Lilliana would have made certain any signs of her being a priestess was gone and her plain tunic was spotless, "Hey there! Sorry about the other two not being here, they are too busy doing their hunting thing so all that is left is me, I didn't impose myself right? Just figured if the possibility of us being in laws, we may as well be on good terms."

Spotting her, Aphelion would redirect Equinox to approach her, "Eh, I have nothing to do anyway. Might as well do some stuff with you, Hearts & Stripes." he said with a grin, "Now then, anything in particular you thought of doing? I have no idea what we could do to be honest." he added, pushing the box of 'Twister' deeper into the saddlebags.

"Hearts and stripes..? Wha? Whatever, I just figured we should talk or something, didn't plan anything really." Still looking at him weirdly at the name, she would shrug rather passively, walking up to his horse, she would extend her hand towards it, letting it sniff and get her scent, "Nice horse by the way, is it a boy or a girl?"

"It's a stallion. You don't have to be an expert to figure that out, just look between his hinds." he said completely seriously, "And you should be ashamed that I know what panties you were wearing better than you." he added, "Now, unless you want to talk here, hop on at the back, or tell me where we go."

Raising her brow, it would take her a few seconds to realise what he is saying before folding her arms, saying somewhat coldly, "You realise it is a transgression to look upon a Priestess' undergarments without their permission?" Despite that, she would climb on the back of the horse, frowning at him.

"I assume that not covering them up is permission enough." he said with a laugh before tapping Equinox on the head, "Would you rather I ride fast or slow? Up to you, I'd rather you didn't fall off and I'd tell you to hold on to me if you weren't a holy lady... and Connla's girl."

"You had just cut my clothes to shreds, how COULD I cover them? As for riding, we may as well go fast. I am not exactly part of the Lost Sacrament, won't kill you for giving somewhat good advice." Following her own words, she would place her arms around him to hold on, her legs moving into Equinox to fully secure her, "Now I am ready to go. Suggest we don't linger like this, or you will have to meet them."

"Yeah, yeah, Pervelion strikes again. Well, if you want to talk, start a conversation. I'm not the best with suitable topics." he said, blushing very softly while whistling to Equinox. Understanding him perfectly, the horse almost instantly went into a gallop as the trio rode away from the cathedral.

"A fairly secluded jungle tribe. Decent while away from civilisation. Wootini. I didn't find a whole lot of information on it outside of the tribe but it sounds like some books mention us." he said with a slight frown at having to talk about his tribe, but did his best not to show it in his tone.

"I see. Would probably explain why you don't use a weapon. What was it like there, I mean I already know you have your own religion." Voice still friendly, she would watch the sides go past in an apathetic manner, smiling at the people being little more than a blur.

"I use shuko. They fit the hand-to-hand combat style well, and they're good against blades too. he said eagerly, although he slowed down when he spoke about the tribe, "The tribe was very strict. From 3 years of age you had to start giving to the tribe - learn to fight or to hunt. Of course, my overachieving parents wanted me to do both, but I love animals too much to kill them for food." he said, leaning in to hug Equinox, pulling Lilliana with him if she was still holding on, "So... Fighters had to choose a God to train under at the age of 7 but we were given a dojo to train in beforehand."

Being moved as well, a brief flash of red goes over her cheeks before fading as quickly, coughing slightly, she rights herself "A god? So you have more than one? What were they? I mean, we are told to tolerate other religions as long as they are not an enemy of our faith so I really should know at least a little about it."

"We have six Gods. Their names are far beyond human comprehension so we refer to them by what they reveal themselves to be - the Tiger, the Panda, the Snake, the Mantis, the Crane and the Monkey. We believe they guard the circle of life of the jungle, which we are a part of." he said, Equinox moving to the left to make a very wide turn to the right, "We are forced to choose a God to follow and train under their blessing. It's pretty stupid. Why only revere one part of a whole, I don't understand."

"I see, does seem rather lacking if you only choose one out of six. Plus they don't seem all that strong if it is only the jungles they domain. What about the rest of the world?" Somewhat intrigued by his religion, she would evidently be trying not to insult anything about it, accidental or otherwise. Still holding onto him, it would be weaker than when he first started, starting to get used to riding the horse.

"The jungle was our world and accordingly we expected it all to be ruled by our Gods. We had little interaction with outsiders and as such we cared little for what happened beyond the tribe." he answered, muttering to himself, "And leaving was probably the best decision of my life."

Wanting to quickly change the topic, he asked "Are you okay? I hope you're not gonna be unwell like ki- Aoife and I can slow down if you want."

"No I will be fine. I have rode Macha for long enough to handle riding animals and riding a horse is much easier than an Ursa."  Feeling his need for a different conversation, she changes the topic once more, "So where we heading to? Assuming you chose a place."

"...I thought you just wanted to ride around. I assumed we're not really going anywhere... And I don't know this town as well as I should." he said, bringing Equinox to a hasty halt and grabbing Lilliana's wrist in case she was going to fall off, "The only places I know would be the club, the pub and the cinema." he added.

"Oh, well I am not one to go to many places, and the other places I am afraid you can't join me to go to. Could just find a park and sit I suppo-." Stopping suddenly at the stop and having her wrist grabbed made her flinch slightly, though she wouldn't fall off, the quick squeezing of her knees into Equinox's sides solving the problem, "I-I'm okay."

"A park eh? I sort of know the location of a playground, I guess it will have to do." Aphelion said, letting go of her wrist and turning Equinox around, starting up with full sprint again, "I guess all the other places aren't fond of a crazy pervert... or maybe it's my religion?" he said, turning it into more of a question.

"A bit of both. The other place has trained killers and the third place we could of possibly gone is called a leisure centre. And no offence, but I would prefer not to swim with you alone." Smiling at him, she would have no hint of hostility, though her androgynous voice would still make it sound like she had an ulterior motive to not swim with him.

"Aww, body shy? Don't worry, I've seen enough nude girls to get used to that and not show hints of any kinds of thoughts." he grinned, noticing a low wall, "Shortcut." he said, turning Equinox at it and pulling up to make the horse jump over it.