Post by frostypriestess on Jun 21, 2009 4:16:09 GMT -5
There was little in the world that could compare to the amazement she felt each and every time she walked through the doors to the chapel. As with many others who visited the Vatican, most times that she passed through those doors, the space was crowded with tour guides and tourists, staring in awe at the bright colors of paintings, some pausing and actually appearing to think deeply about what was being portrayed. Most would automatically lift their heads to gape up at the famed ceiling fresco painted by Michelangelo. At times like that, passing through the doors each time was the same experience again and again, despite the fact that one could spend hours contemplating a single detail of the paintings.
But to be able to enter the Sistine Chapel as she was now... Alone. To hear her footsteps echoing against the walls, the sound lost against the high ceiling. She had to close her eyes a moment, and take a deep breath. To have such an honor as to be permitted to enter some of the Vatican's best guarded buildings was perhaps good enough reason in itself to have joined the Iscariot... Iscariot, the Pope's invisible hand against the forces that threaten even the best of people. People who had no idea what was going on right underneath their noses.
All the same, she continued to walk, the clipped sound of her shoes hitting the floor marking her progress. Until she came upon the fresco that she always sought out, and knelt before it to pray, closing her eyes and bowing her head. It was the Temptation of Christ, depicting the three times the Devil himself, disguised as a hermit, tried to tempt Christ. She had always been fascinated by the painting as a child, the few times that she had been able to see it. But as she grew, and learned more and more about the dark and sinister side of the world, of the creatures that she had once called 'friend' and had become demons, her enemy, it had come to mean so much more. It was to this painting that her thoughts would turn to each time that she began to doubt her mission.
And even now, after finally becoming a full member of Iscariot, she doubted herself more than ever. As she had proved her worth before her superiors' eyes, again and again making herself worthy of their trust as she took her nightly excursion to rid the world of vampires, she had learned more and more of the world she had entered into. About the methods used even by the most pious seeming of men and women in the organization to obtain their goal. Now more than ever, she needed the resolve that this painting gave her. To tell herself despite what may go on around her, being in Iscariot provided her with information beyond compare, the resources to further her own goals. The Vatican Library in and of itself contained information of which she had only dreamed, and then yet to work alongside those who fought with the same passion as she, some who had been fighting for many more years.
No, she didn't much care for their ways and methods, especially when it came to the practices of capturing vampires and 'persuading' them to give up information about the whereabouts of other vampires. It was a practice she would have no part of, and would rely only on her own ability to track them down. She was often scoffed at and told she was being naive, but it was a matter she would not yield in. But she could not see that she would ever find herself able to walk away from the resources at her hands within the Iscariot. So she would pray for the resolve to stay amongst this organization, to remain strong in her fight, and not be tempted by their ways.
But to be able to enter the Sistine Chapel as she was now... Alone. To hear her footsteps echoing against the walls, the sound lost against the high ceiling. She had to close her eyes a moment, and take a deep breath. To have such an honor as to be permitted to enter some of the Vatican's best guarded buildings was perhaps good enough reason in itself to have joined the Iscariot... Iscariot, the Pope's invisible hand against the forces that threaten even the best of people. People who had no idea what was going on right underneath their noses.
All the same, she continued to walk, the clipped sound of her shoes hitting the floor marking her progress. Until she came upon the fresco that she always sought out, and knelt before it to pray, closing her eyes and bowing her head. It was the Temptation of Christ, depicting the three times the Devil himself, disguised as a hermit, tried to tempt Christ. She had always been fascinated by the painting as a child, the few times that she had been able to see it. But as she grew, and learned more and more about the dark and sinister side of the world, of the creatures that she had once called 'friend' and had become demons, her enemy, it had come to mean so much more. It was to this painting that her thoughts would turn to each time that she began to doubt her mission.
And even now, after finally becoming a full member of Iscariot, she doubted herself more than ever. As she had proved her worth before her superiors' eyes, again and again making herself worthy of their trust as she took her nightly excursion to rid the world of vampires, she had learned more and more of the world she had entered into. About the methods used even by the most pious seeming of men and women in the organization to obtain their goal. Now more than ever, she needed the resolve that this painting gave her. To tell herself despite what may go on around her, being in Iscariot provided her with information beyond compare, the resources to further her own goals. The Vatican Library in and of itself contained information of which she had only dreamed, and then yet to work alongside those who fought with the same passion as she, some who had been fighting for many more years.
No, she didn't much care for their ways and methods, especially when it came to the practices of capturing vampires and 'persuading' them to give up information about the whereabouts of other vampires. It was a practice she would have no part of, and would rely only on her own ability to track them down. She was often scoffed at and told she was being naive, but it was a matter she would not yield in. But she could not see that she would ever find herself able to walk away from the resources at her hands within the Iscariot. So she would pray for the resolve to stay amongst this organization, to remain strong in her fight, and not be tempted by their ways.