I Pray I'm Not Awake

'Oh no." Frey replied with a dry laugh. "Even by the time they are at this stage they are still quite complex." Waving a hand through the air, for a moment it warbled with colour. Though there was no easy way to demonstrate the molecular soup that they were breathing in, colouring the clusters of particles was at least a gesture in that direction. "The fundamental building blocks are much, much tinier. If you imagine the smallest thing you can, and then the largest thing you can, still the scale is probably off." All this Frey said with a touch of pride in their voice. At the mention of crystal and sound, the deity merely shrugged. It was an imperfect analogy and they'd not agree to it fully, but at least Phoebe was on the right track. "Your capacity for deduction and higher thinking." Frey said. "As well as your capacity to lie and hate."  Uniqueness was not always positive, after all. "Complexity is what humanity does best. Complex emotions, complex rules, complex morality. You take what you see and you give it meaning. You complicate the world and then blame everyone but yourselves for the web you've tangled yourselves in." Frey yawned. "But this is what drives you all to be creative and innovative. It drives you to war and to grand gestures. It is your best and worst attribute." Languidly Frey shrugged. "Silly? No. I understand how your minds work. It's cute, really, watching you all putter along." Why would Mort do that? Turning towards Phoebe but continuing to play with her hair, Frey licked their lips. "I know your love affair has been brief, but haven't you enjoyed it? You see others in love. Most agree it is a nice thing. just because you aren't capable of the full deal while you're alive doesn't mean that a taste isn't worth it. " "Yes. It is unattainable but...well. You aren't capable of knowing that until you die and experience it for yourself. You think you're capable of love, of all of it, and while you're alive that's good enough. And then you die and realize how much more there was, and that's good too." All this Frey said in a completely casual tone, as if they were merely discussing the weather and not the lofty metaphysics of creation. Stroking her cheek again with their thumb, the deity smiled gently. "Like I said, it is your best and worst quality that you are even asking this." Frey said with a bit of a sigh. "The purpose is the harmony. That the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. " As Phoebe leaned forward rather than finding her forehead against Frey's, instead she would find herself wrapped up in their arms, her head pressed against their chest. "Proud? Me? How boring. I will be proud of you even in your darkest days, because no matter how you try, you will always be precisely how you have been made. Make yourself proud. That is a far more important goal. Who am I but a god? You are the one who has to live with yourself, to wake up in the morning and account for what you have done, to walk in your skin and bones." Frey cradled Phoebe closer, humming a low note deep in their chest. Frey

Table image by Beth Myer!