Doug glanced down as a woman bounced off him, his foot shifting back to catch his balance, an apology already halfway through leaving his mouth.

"'Pologies, ma'am." He said, realizing he knew the person he had run into a moment later.

He blinked at his impromptu theology professor as she cheerfully greeted him, before a smile tugged at his lips and he mirrored her, spreading his arms wide.

"Ms. Cait! " He said as he threw his arm around her in a hug as well, swaying side to side playfully for a few seconds before they both let go. "How long's it been?!"

Very long, if memory didn't fail him. The old adage of absence making the heart grow fonder must have been true, because he felt re-energized just seeing the woman's smile.

"Haha, noticed it, huh? Yup, 2 inches up and still growing! Growth spurt hit me 'round New year! 'Bout time, eh? Was startin' to worry my genes had tapped out. Turns out I'm just a really late bloomer!"

Her other question, innocent and polite as it was, was a bit of a problem; Doug firmly believed honesty was the best policy. But there were no honest answers that wouldn't worry her.

"I've been hangin' in there!" He said while stepping back, managing a convincing smile as he linked his fingers behind his head.

His hands were much better now than they had been a few days before, but the scarring in them would stick for a while- best to avoid drawing attention to them.

"Not a whole lotta use for us soldiers, what with the war being over n'all, so upper brass got us all runnin' about doin' odd missions on the double, 'stead."

It wasn't quite a lie if he just omitted a few things, right? She really didn't need to hear about the Desert Raid, or about his (minor) involvement with the recently burnt down Church.

"How 'bout'cha? What'cha been up to in these past months? Really sorry I haven't even sent ya a text- I really need to be better 'bout that."

---

TAG: cait alfric

Doug nodded, smiling tentatively. She was much too kind to a thoughtless kid like him; he appreciated it.

Hearing speak of her studies, the youth smiled, looking a bit excited. Somehow, he felt as if Cait would be one of the few people who would care if he said it.

"Oh? What'cha studying?" He said, before scratching at his nose. "I somehow got into a program meself! Got a recommendation."

It had come with along with a free promotion, new duties and a lot of homework. He hadn't been entirely certain it was worth it until his most recent check had arrived.

Unfortunately, nice topics couldn't last. His smile wavered, shrugging weakly at her.

"Nah. Just... friend o' mine got caught up in some nasty business recently." He said, turning his gaze up, his lip curling. "Church just like this one blew up right on'er. Far as anyone can tell anyway."

chryssa glasgow had called it an act of god, and an act of war when interviewed by the press.

Doug wasn't entirely sure, but given everything that was going on in Hoenn, it wouldn't have surprised him if she was right.

One of those many gods had reeled in its ugly head just to mug Zac, after all. They seemed like a petty bunch.

His fear that it might someone out to get them, or her, however was what most often made the ultra ball in his pocket feel like it was burning a hole in his pants.

"I dunno, I saw this place and just ended up comin' in." He said, before laughing weakly. "I ain't even n'Arceus faithful, whatever they call 'emselves. Barely believe in anythin' as is and all the recent stuff ain't helpin' any."

He fell silent after a moment, lips setting on a fine line before he sighed, and forced a grin for Cait.

"Hey Ms. Cait. How's 'bout 'nother lesson, eh? Know a lot 'bout 'God' and his lot?" Arceus was The Capital G God for many, even those who didn't really believe.

---

TAG: cait alfric

"Huh." Said Doug, blinking at her, before mirroring her not-quite-smirk, his own clearly clueless. He spoke, dialing up the smoothness of his voice. "What a coincidence."

"I'm also studying a quote unquote science." He said, winking playfully. "Military Science ain't quite what I had in mind growin' up, but I ain't payin' a dime for it so I should just be glad, huh?"

Taking a place at the pews besides her, the youth's turned his eyes to the stained glass at her coaxing.

His brows furrowed as Cait took him through what he tentatively thought of as 'chapter 1', what little he had learned immediately finding issue with the supposed interpretation.

"Wait... Isn't somethin' missin' 'here?" He asked, tilting his noggin' before scratching at it bemusedly. "Wasn't there a reject son?"

Giratina still weighed heavily in Doug's thoughts, it having apparently orchestrated the thievery of Zac Ramsay's piece of the plate. If Stormy Silph was right anyway.

---

TAG: cait alfric

Doug leaned back against the pews at Cait's words, slowly processing them.

"Oh." He said.

Shit.

"Um. Ah. Uuuh." He began to utter, not quite certain of how or even if he should let the lady know that, as far as he could tell, that guy was probably free to do as it pleased right about now.

He brought his hands together, pressing them to his lip as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs, his chin atop his extended thumbs.

Should he tell her? It didn't seem right to involve an innocent lady like Ms. Cait in all this... She could get hurt, or worse!

But she seemed to know more about this than everyone at the Church that night. At the very least, she certainly had more to say on the matter than even Katherine Fairburne had.

"Um. Ms. Cait. You know about, um, avatars, and stuff. Right?" He said, managing to put the words together as he rubbed his palms, nibbling along his lips nervously, brows furrowing as he tried to compose the proper sentence as he went along. "Ermh. Suppose, hypothetically, that Giratina had one. An avatar, I mean."

"Would that be... strictly speaking, bad?"

---

TAG: cait alfric

Doug pursed his lips against his palms, suckling in a sharp breath as Cait's word hung in the air.

They sounded a bit... severe? More so than the youth would have ever expected from the kind lady, at least. But then, he didn't really know Cait, did he?

He was so taken by her kind and familiar disposition that it almost felt like she had known him his entire life, but he barely knew anything about her.

Maybe it was the words 'this is Arceus' Will' that made him reconsider saying anything.

"Nah, I haven't." He hadn't. Zac Ramsay might have, though. Katherine and Stormy definitely had. "I just learned 'bout the reject very recently. Right before the whole Church blowing up thin' happened, actually. Guess I'm just lookin' for something or someone to blame it on."

Half truths were easy to make for the youth.

---

TAG: cait alfric

"I... Beg yer pardon?" Doug said at the woman's words, dragging both bandaged hands in front of his face, breathing deeply.

He didn't know what to believe half the time.

The pokemon the people called gods undeniably existed, and undeniably wielded incredibly, fantastic power. They could choose their own little toy soldiers in the forms of avatars or whatever to do their bidding, or something.

So maybe they were gods, maybe they weren't! He didn't care!

But this? This was something he just outright refused.

His heel tapped the floor rapidly, teeth gnashing behind his lips.

"Ms. Cait. I don't care about the building. Don't care 'bout this Aqua thing," He said, squeezing his bandaged palms together. "Don't care 'bout avatars, don't care about what gods want-"

"I don't care!"

His burned palms didn't usually hurt at just a touch- but given the way his nails were biting into his skin...

"But the girl that was almost crushed and burned to death by that church? Who had her neck broken by the bloody explosion? She, I care about. A lot." He said, bloody splotches of red slowly spreading over his bandages. "And if they would kill 'er just to get some bloody attention-!"

He was going to break a pew up their ass-!

The youth breathed in deeply, as deep as his chest would allow, before slumping back against the pew like a cut off puppet, huffing breathlessly while glaring half-lidded at the stained glass.

Silence followed his outburst, his glare only very slowly weakening until it was little more than an apathetic look, a low, self-contemptuous sigh leaving his lips.

"Sorry... Sorry." He said, reaching up to place his hands over his face. "Mah... My temper's been runnin on a short fuse for a while now."

There was no point in getting angry over this. Chances were the gods had nothing to do with this.

They never did anything. That, he had learned for a fact in the past three years.

The most likely culprit was one of the several plate holders.

But then, that would still make it God's fault in a way, wouldn't it?

"Please... continue."

---

TAG: cait alfric