xp_logs | Kitty and Haroun talk religion

One for the wayback machine, cause I'm a doofus. Backdated to December 16th

Shruging her shoulders back, Kitty reached out and knocked on the door to Haroun's office. "Sir, can I talk to you?" she called out.

Haroun had been expecting this visit. "Come in, Kitty," he said pleasantly, rising from his chair to walk around and greet her properly. "I can guess why you're here. Please, sit down. Can I get you something to drink?" he said. "All I have right now is water, unfortunately."

"No, I'm ok," Kitty said, coming inside. "Thank you, though." She sat on the offered chair and tried not to look upset - she wasn't... Well, ok, she was, but not in any really definable way. "I guess you know why I came by."

Haroun took his own chair and nodded. "I can guess. My poor attempt at humor got you all riled up. Understandable. How much do you know about me and where I came from?" he asked her curiously.

"Riled up..." Kitty considered. "I guess..." She shruged - didn't really seem like the right word to her, but it would do. "I know you come from the middle east, sir, but not much more than that."

"Ah. Well, that's a good start at least. I was asked to leave Morocco for excessive, let's just call it for pissing off the wrong people. Most of whom were most charitably described as howling desert fanatics. Wahabbis, Shi'ites, that sort of thing. The people who give Islam a bad name. I was fighting to save our people, in all honesty. Mutants, Miss Pryde. Saved them from the stake, from being abandoned out in the wastes to die, from taking their own life."

Kitty nodded - as much as she or Paige might feel their powers were gifts from God others saw them as a curse, and fanatics had always been quick to find 'signs' that someone has been marked as evil and deserving of death. But she didn't say anything, cause even when you disagreed most emphatically with that sort of person, there were still some things you just did not joke about.

"I do my best to keep these people off-balance. Hence my joke to Shan on the journals. I wasn't trying to take potshots at your faith - I would actually like to learn more about it from you, if you don't mind," he said calmly. "I was going to bundle a copy of the Protocols with a copy of the Satanic Verses, which I already own. Maybe throw in a Satanic Bible or something like that. Ship it to some of my more obnoxious enemies back home. Make their poor little heads explode," he said with a grin.

"Yes, I saw your reply," Kitty said. "It just... I wasn't expecting jokes about something like that. It's... definitely not the sort of thing you joke about in my family, and I guess, what with the season and all, it caught me off guard." She shook her head lightly. "I'd be more than happy to teach you about Judaism, especially if you'd be willing to teach me about Islam."

"I can do that, and gladly," he said with a wide smile. "My joke was probably in fairly poor taste, and for _that_ I will reading apologize. I am sorry," he said honestly. "Our two people, our two faiths, were once much closer than they are now. I suspect that we're more alike than different that way. I've got a spare copy of the Koran - here, take it. Read it - it's a translation," he said, fishing in his desk and pulling out his English version to hand to Kitty.

"Accepted," Kitty said, smiling slightly and taking the book. "And here I thought that translations were unholy, or at least inaccurate. It's just as well, though, since I don't really have time to add Arabic to my schedule. I can offer you the same - a translation of the Torah, that is. Well, it's out of the Professor's library, but it's a good translation. As for our faiths being close... well, of course. We come from the same father, in the beginning."

"They are, but I'm not a stickler for formality. I'd rather promote understanding - I'm not trying to get you to forsake the Star for the Crescent Moon, I'm just trying to help you understand us," he said with a smile. "The way I see it, there's been a breach in the family. Your side has gone one way, my side has gone another. There has been much blood spilled on both sides over the issue, and it's _needless_. This is my small way of helping to heal the divide."

"I think that makes sense - I've always tried to learn as much as I can, to the eternal bemusment of my rabbi, I think. But there's no way to really understand why people do things without, well... talking to them and trying to understand."

"Hey, if you're curious and you have something to cover your head with, maybe we could go to mosque sometime. I have to admit, I've always wondered what goes on in synogogue," he said with a friendly laugh. He then looked at Kitty speculatively. "You hungry? It's almost lunchtime."

"I'd like that," Kitty said. "I have a couple of scarves that might work, yeah. And I'd be glad to take you to temple if you want to go. We even provide yarmulkes for the curious." She grinned. "Yeah, I could probably use some food."

"Then let's go get something to eat," he said with a grin, standing up to open the door. "After you?" he asked her.

"Sounds good," Kitty said, and smiled.