Jude's Tale comes close to a conclusion. May the creator have mercy on the readers souls.
So, if the Duchess weighs the same as a duck...
Monty Python jokes aside, I liked several of the ideas presented here. First, there's Jude's attitude toward his own fate. Admittedly, since he died while committing a sin (attempted murder and whatnot) he's going to Hell, but there's also the fact that he seems to think himself beyond forgiveness and thus actively refuses it when Kizzy offers. One example of someone kind of like that from the Bible is Judas Iscariot, and as it happens, "Jude" is a variant of "Judas." The name is generally used to refer to the other Judas (yes, there's more than one), but I can't help but wonder if that was intentional
Thank you for continuing to review this story! As ever, I really appreciate the review.
I figured that there’s been a few decades of people dying and then thinking they’re the first to quote some film at an angel and some of the angels have long since stopped finding it funny. The tall angel (who for the sake of naming in my head I’ve been thinking as Temira) is especially sick of it.
I just had the idea of him being called Jude before anything else. Later as I did the first scrap I figured Jude’s parents named him after Jude the Apostle, who had centuries of less educated folk mixing him up with the less popular Judas and so less veneration than others got. That it also echoes Judas Iscariot was absolutely intentional, though not really because of his incredible sense of guilt – I kinda feel bad for Judas because he basically did what he needed to anyway, if he hadn’t someone else would have had to, probably. I bet if he’d gone and found ‘im afterwards and said sorry, Jesus woulda been “It’s cool, bro.” Only, you know, in Aramaic or something.
Kizzy offered him the chance at redemption working as an Earthbound soul (“Kate, please stop using the ghost to chill vodka.”) but he thinks he can do more in Hell, after Kizzy gave him an idea for redemption. Probably doesn’t hurt that she has confirmed he has a degree of protection due to the Duchess’ promise, being at least so far as lesser demons go. On the other hand, if a certain fallen Seraph has a look in his mind and takes offence…
So this is what Sarsa was talking about when she mentioned untold agonies. That was for a flame, sure, but same idea.
Jude’s just thinking it is a reflection of Paradise because he saw a big lake in both places. He didn’t see enough of Paradise to really know, although the definitely oddly coincidental dialogue probably doesn’t help his perception!
If Dante could write people into Hell for shit he didn’t like… Also, yeah, Sarsa established that kind of thing is serious business in this universe so some of these damned souls could literally be people who Sarsa is upset with and sent down, but before Kizzy is on to her. Heh. Unintentional interstory continuity!
I think yeah, you’re probably right. It’s almost a theme I’ve been trying for at all along – Shannon seeking redemption through working with Kizzy, and in the Fall of Chastia story Luzurial actively hopes that even Lucifer might be redeemed, and even T-Dog does something decent at the end of his life, but it’s also in there when I was talking about how sucicides might go to Hell in the setting though many are undeserving of it but believing they should. Then they don’t necessarily have to stay for long. I wonder if it was Chastia’s way of treating the suicidal souls in her care that kept so many unwilling to reincarnate and take another life. Another reason Lucifer put up with her doing things her way, I suspect. Jude absolutely thinks he deserves Hell too, though. Kizzy’s forward-thinking enough to have kept the scar as much for his benefit as for what he sees as her reminder. She’s not going to forget really!
Oh, yeah, despite all that? Eparlegna’s pretty much beyond redemption. You’d have to hollow him out and make him someone else to even get close.
I love these suggestions of other stories going on in this universe.
As soon as Shannon left with Kizzy, the Duchess set a plan in motion to further hurt her by killing her friends. Things… things went poorly for the attackers because Kate and Lupa were really up for a fight, they’ve had some training with Kizzy, and also Shannon had a few tricks and traps about the place – her knack for that kind of thing was first shown with the jewelry she created in the Slumber Party story, but also got a look-in with her understanding of Astrid’s spell in Fucking Halloween Party and her working out how to get Lupa into the warded house in You! She’s not just a pretty face and insatiable libidio!
Might have to tell that story some day…
“Oh for fuck’s sake, is it the fucking mormons this time?”
“Bunch of ghouls. So almost. Oooh, I ate that one! And that one and… hey, it’s like leftovers that come to you!”
awkward... Also, there's something kind of funny about asking a demon on a picnic. That made me smile.
Looking forward to the next chapter!
He took Jan out for a proper dinner, all the Duchess gets is a picnic. I guess you don’t carry so much money when dead.
Well… I hope it isn’t a disappointment. The last chapter. I don’t know that this one worked as well as I wanted, ah well.
Thank you again!