"Hey, Lois. Meet Cass." - Said Lucas as they both entered the Angel Café, Lois taking on an anime appearance as Cass entered.
Lois, oddly, didn't skip a beat at becoming animated.
"Hello, dear. Lucas told me about you. It's nice to meet you in person. What will you be having?"
Lucas and Cass looked at the menu, until someone entered the café. It was a dark-skinned angel. He looked Indian, and his accent matched his looks.
"Huh...? Where am I?"
Lucas smiled, already used to dealing with these people by now. "Relax. You're among friends. I'm Lucas, this is Lois and this is Cassandra. This is a sort of space you can enter from holy places or otherwise 'good' places. It's called the Angel Café. You can go back home just by crossing a door and wishing to be there. Or you can even go somewhere else. By your looks, I assume you were at a mandir?"
He nodded. "I am Sridar Janaki. Pleased to meet you. Why are you animated?"
Cass spoke up. "That would be me. I have this aura thing. It's mostly harmless and wears off when you leave my vicinity. I'm American, she's Brazilian." - She smiled - "Call me Cass."
Lucas piped in, deciding she might as well help acclimate the guy. "So. How are things in India?"
"A bit hectic. I am a pujari, or a priest at a mandir, as Lucas said. Some people took the forms of gods with the sun. I actually have to... help them."
Cass nodded. "I actually know a student that became a hindu goddess of sorts..."
Lucas smiled. "Cool!"
Cass sighed. "Less than you think. Nadine is a baptist. And a... fairly serious one. She is devastated about being something that... Well... Goes against her faith."
Sridar nodded. "I have dealt with some people of other religions who became gods or similar. Tell her I would be glad to try and help her cope with it. Find some common ground between our faiths. I will not try to convert her or anything, but I could try and help."
Lois smiled. "Good. So tell her to come here and go to where Sridar is. Sridar, can you give me your address?"
Sridar nodded and gave it. He went back to his temple as Lucas and Cass sat on a table. Lucas was quite pensive.
"Penny for your thoughts." - Said Cass.
Lucas blushed. "Sorry. I was just thinking. Gods walking on Earth, huh?"
Cass nodded. "Yeah. You want to find one to worship?" - She smirked, only half-jokingly.
Lucas nodded. "Actually... I'd not mind it at all... I want to cross these boundaries, Cass. I'd like to walk among gods and among people, equally. And to have gods walk among people, too. I always felt that the gods of major religions watch us from too far up above. I mean, as per their beliefs. So far away from us. But now that actual gods walk among us... This could be... Interesting, at least... Think... Think Small Gods, from Terry Pratchett. To find gods that know what it is to be small..."
"So long as you don't treat them like that fundie woman treated you, Lucas. They are 'gods', in a sense, likely more so than you are an angel, but they are under no obligation to be your personal savior." - Cass said.
Lucas nodded. "Well, yeah. But still. It might be an interesting... social research, so to speak. I'd not get offended if someone asked me if I am an actual angel, just if someone asked me to heal the lame. And the Angel Cafe is actually quite good for this end. Plus we can ask Sridar himself. Maybe there are gods of other religions?" - Lucas smiled - "Ancient Greek or... Even... Literature..." - Lucas blushed crimson at the thought, and it showed clearly in her animated form.
"Fantasy or RPG gods." - Cass finished the thought - "Okay, tell you what. We'll do some research on that, because I myself am rather interested. But if you fall for a goddess, I'm either using the mallet on you a few hundred times, or you're inviting me for a threesome." - She smirked. - "I'll see if I can switch to a genre that would be conductive to us finding a deity..."
Lucas smiled. "Deal."
