[Thread] It was like looking into a mirror.

[payitgladly]

Characters: OU John Preston, OPEN
Where: anywhere (make it clear one way or another, please)
When: sometime in the afternoon
Summary: Preston arrives and immediately starts to explore the compound.
Warnings: Possible violence? If anyone wants to try and beat up on the Warden look-alike, be my guest. He can more than defend himself.

Comments

[payitgladly]

He didn't frown at the friendly chiding, but it practically hung in the air anyway. He was definitely not one used to being teased on any sort of basis.

"No," he said and then paused briefly before continuing with an explanation. "Clerics were just the easiest, most logical step in our new society. We speak directly to the Tetragrammaton Council and then inform those beneath us to their will. The police do not have direct contact with the Council. Although Clerics are harder to produce, we are easier to maintain as a growing force. We are skilled enough to defend and/or go on the offensive as an individual against several opponents at once. We make better detectives. We can find sense-offenders more easily."

At this he paused. It was the first time since arriving here that he had mentioned the term "sense-offender" out loud, to anyone other than himself. To continue, would it be vital that he explain the entirity of his society? His lips twitched once at the corner. He blinked slowly. And then continued.

"We have a unique fighting technique that allows us to fight against such odds in a near effortless fashion. We are also mostly, usually, intuits by nature. This is what makes finding offenders so easy for us."

Currently, his intuit abilities were telling him he was about to receive a whole other slew of questions directed at his career and government.

[payitgladly]

"That's one way to look at it," he said with a short nod. It was possibly the reason why Clerics were named such a thing, it was also possible it just came about because of the nature in which they studied, or because they became an almost supernatural fable to the common people due to their particular skills. Maybe it was some combination of all three reasons. Who and why Clerics were named what they were wasn't entirely a big concern of John Preston. He just was.

"An intuit is a person with intuition skills, yes," he answered more slowly. He was delaying the next bit of conversation. Just because he knew that the term "sense-offender" would be questioned didn't mean he was ready to answer the question just yet. How was he to explain to a large group of people that the way they lived--that feeling in any sort of the expression--was an illegal act where he came from? He didn't exactly think they would be pleased, and it was hard to know how one emotional person would react to the next, even if he was an intuit. "A bit of both," he said, still referring to the intuit abilities. It was never to be explained to others so his answer would always remain vague. "We just know what others are thinking before they do."

He paused fully here before moving on, his eyes flicking away briefly before returning to attention. "A sense-offender is someone who breaks the law by feeling illegal emotions."

And that was that. Short, sweet, and simple. His mouth clamped shut there as he awaited her rebuttal, as he knew there would be one in some form or fashion.

[payitgladly]

There was a moment of utter silence as Preston stared straight into Urd. When he spoke it was formal, terse, and to the point. It was also dead serious. "All of them."

[payitgladly]

Preston's natural reaction was immediate and absolute. Before Urd had even finished her first exclamation he was in movement. His arms flicked down by his sides and not half a second later the both of them were pointed menacingly at the goddess, a pair of black pistols held in each. His face was stoic, glaring almost.

She didn't move on him, however, and he remained solidly in place as he took her emotional outburst in stride. He didn't blink. And oddly enough he listened to every word she spoke.

The guns remained steady even as he replied. "Father and the Tetragrammaton were thinking that our existence was worth more than anything else in the world. Without emotions we could survive, thrive even. With them--we merely would have destroyed ourselves with petty war and useless murder. We're alive and prospering now. None of the lows of emotion rule what we do. None of their consequences harm us."

[payitgladly]

Preston did not visually react to Urd's stances. He did blink once and his brow furrowed after a long moment had passed and his brain had time to process the image before him. A slight frown formed on his lips as he stared stonily at her. His expression was neither icy nor worried, neither angry nor frightened. He simply was. It was like staring at a blank slate. There was an intensity, but nothing else that gave any indication that he felt a thing at her sudden odd appearance.

The guns went nowhere. "Your emotional state indicates otherwise." A pause. "Your intensity set off an automatic defensive response. I am a Cleric. Defense measures mean offensive actions. Sense-offenders are shot on sight when they seem to pose any sort of threat." His voice showed no change either. Nothing to indicate a difference in his state of mind from the moment before all the threatening took off.

[payitgladly]

"You're right," he said calmly after another long pause. He was naturally curious about the sight before him. Though he may not have been afraid of the lightning, as even his base instincts screamed at him to be, he was still capable of desiring new knowledge, and was naturally curious in most things. Still, his first concern was simple diffusion of the situation. He knew he shouldn't be starting a fight here. It wasn't his place, even if it was his job back home. This was not home.

If anything, Cleric Preston was logical.

"This isn't my home. And I have not had a problem with all the emotional nonsense of this place yet, though it bothers me to see so much of it running rampant. You have been the first to express yourself in such an intense manner. This is the first time I have drawn these weapons." There was something to his voice. Not quite annoyance... but there wasn't another way to put it. Perhaps: hardness--reluctance.

There was a pause here and then the arms were lowered. He outstretched one of the weapons towards Urd. "If I had had any intent to harm surely the cuff would have done something about it," he reminded her. His thumb pointed to the switch lying on the side of the gun. "The safety's still on."

[payitgladly]

Preston's right hand slipped inside the black coat pocket and hesitated a moment before bringing out a small vial of yellow colored liquid. The gun did not show even as a bulge within the pocket where he left it. The other gun was also slipped into the opposite pocket (for now) as he held out the vial for the goddess to see. "Prozium. We inject it into our system periodically each day. It's an emotion-inhibitor. There are no ill effects."

After a moment he closed his palm and tucked the hand back into his pocket. He stared at Urd contemplatively. "May I ask you a question?"

[payitgladly]

Both of his hands sat idly in his pockets now, perhaps a sign of boredom or perhaps a hypocritical sense of comfort provided by keeping his hands close to his weapons. Either way he still managed to look more or less completely harmless. He inclined his head once briefly in a sign of appreciation.

"What are you?" A pause that probably lasted longer than it should have. "What were those--wings? And what was that other being?"

His first guess was holograms. Holograms were something realistic in his own world. But they hadn't quite seemed that way on closer reflection...

((lol. Excuses, excuses! Excuses aren't allowed around here!))