Recitative 001 // Video

[unapostled]

[You might recognize the stiff boy in a priest's uniform--or, you might not. He was only around briefly before. Anyway, he doesn't recognize any of you, thanks to the strange properties from the Barge, so you're going to get his awkward, stilted introduction...again. Wherever he's sitting, he's near a window--you can see space slowly sailing behind him in the background.]

Hi. Um, my name is Brother Joshua Christopher, and I'm a new Warden here on the Barge. It's nice to meet you all. Back home I work for an organization called the Magdalen Order which is where the uniform comes from. You can call me Brother Joshua, or just Joshua. Whatever you prefer.

I'm--well, we don't exactly have technology like this where I'm from, so, uh, if I'm a little clumsy with it at first I apologize.

[He pauses, drumming his fingers against his seat.]

Uh. I guess that's it? [He frowns.] Actually, I'm curious, what are your worlds like? Do you have stuff like this device or...well...[he gestures behind him to the window] this boat there? [He rubs his shoulder, staring out at space.] Back home, this sort of thing would only be in a book or a film or something.

Comments

[maced_eggs]

Mason. Name's Mason.

So what are you, Josh? Priest?

[unapostled]

Something like that. I don't work at a church or anything...the organization I work for has a few different focuses. The main one it's known for is exorcism--fighting supernatural threats, that is. Undead and the like.

I'm part of what's called the "recovery" team. Usually our job is to help victims and aid in clean up after a threat has been dealt with, but...there was a pretty large-scale disaster in the city I'm based in a couple of years ago. So right now what we're doing is helping rebuilding efforts, and aiding the refugees.

I guess a simple way to put it is I work in a glorified soup kitchen.

[maced_eggs]

Well, that works out for me, Josh. I'll tell you why. I'm not religious, but I like soup, an' I happen to be undead.

Unless all you do is kill the undead, in which case I am 100% human an' have never hurt a soul in my life.

[unapostled]

You, really? [He raises an eyebrow.] Well, unless you're attacking people or something, no, I wouldn't kill you. Most of the ones the militia fights are more...you know. Brainless and bloodthirsty.

[maced_eggs]

Ohh. You mean zombies.

S'comforting. I don't like going around snacking on other people's brains.

Though I will warn you, there's a fuckin' asshole that bit me last week, undead too. You believe that? Undead attacking undead? And there's me, trying to help his sorry arse off the floor.

[unapostled]

Biting--you mean like Nosferatu?

[maced_eggs]

No, I mean like a fuckin' vampire!

[Mason isn't exactly the sharpest tack]

I mean, I'm a reaper. I take souls. He takes lives. Bloody difference, isn't there?

[unapostled]

[If he wasn't so concerned with reassuring Mason, he'd probably explode in delight in the knowledge that both vampires and reapers exist. He's reining it in, but he's still smiling a bit too much considering the subject matter.]

Absolutely, huge difference. We'd fight a vampire but definitely not a reaper. One's a predator, the other's doing their job, right?

[maced_eggs]

Right. Right, exactly. An' I don't know much about vampires because fuck no were they a part of my world. I mean, I'd know, wouldn't I? People dying of vampire attacks.

So you just be on the look-out. I don't want him biting anyone else.

[unapostled]

Okay. I'll be careful. Thanks for warning me.

[pause] So...you...take souls? Have you ever heard of anything called the astral line?

[maced_eggs]

My pleasure, Josh.

That's right. An' no. Whassat?

[unapostled]

A river of souls in the sky. They go there when someone dies, and when a new life is born the astral forms a new soul to enter their body. ...Or so they say.

[maced_eggs]

Is that right? I only handle the back end of it. I don't get to see the after part of it, or how new souls get put in.

That's beautiful. Reincarnation, right?

[unapostled]

I guess so, something like that. But I don't know if it's just one soul that enters a new body, or bits and pieces of different souls.

[maced_eggs]

Where I'm from, the soul tends to look exactly like the body.

Only, y'know. Ghost-like.

[unapostled]

Yeah? Sometimes they look like that where I'm from, too, but they can look pretty indistinct, too. I'm not really sure why sometimes they look like a ghost and other times it's just...a river.

[He pauses, mumbling to himself.] Maybe I should ask Father Remington about it some time...

[maced_eggs]

Priest can't help you here, lad. You're a long way from home.

[unapostled]

Heh, I know. I was thinking about when I get back, after my job's done.

[maced_eggs]

You expecting this to be a long weekend sort of deal?

[unapostled]

Well, no. Maybe a few months?

[maced_eggs]

Mate, it took me a few months to even get paired.