[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

[hikariartangel]

Krad did not trouble himself with much that didn't involve him or something he cared about in the first place. The art spirit was a very reclusive person. However, even he, at times, had curiosity beyond his own little world.

This time, it was in front of the Church that it happened. He had been about to go into the once holy building when he saw a figure with a familiar face. "Warden?" Krad said, just loud enough for the man to hear. His own voice was calm and a bit indifferent, but one did not see the Warden often.

One might even say it involved everyone in the compound when he showed up, even Krad himself.

[payitgladly]

Preston gazed up solemnly at the edifice before him. It was obvious the solemnity had nothing to do with the nature of the building itself. Religion meant nothing to him. Instead, he viewed it as an interesting bit of architecture, and he was trying to place it in his limited knowledge of pre-Librian history. He heard the familiar name called out and turned around slowly.

The Cleric gazed at the spirit with a stoic look. His eyes examined the other man with an intensity though, one brought about from his career as an officer of the peace. His head ducked down a moment as he addressed the spirit. "I am not he."

[hikariartangel]

Krad raised an eyebrow, looking at him curiously. "You are an alternate of the Warden then?" He asked, looking Preston up and down slowly. "You are wearing black. It is said he usually wears white."

[payitgladly]

Preston paused. The only time he wore white was in his formal attire. And he had to admit, the suit the Warden had worn most certainly looked an an awful lot alike to his formal uniform. But as far as he knew he was in no way related to the Warden. And frankly, he would like to keep it that way.

"No, I am not. My name is John Preston. I am a Grammaton Cleric, First Class, of the Tetragrammaton in Libria. Our similar appearance is nothing more than a fluke as far as I can tell."

[hikariartangel]

"We do not know the Warden's real name. The similar personality and appearance might imply you two are alternates. The same person at heart, but going through different lives to end up as...yourselves." Krad said. The man was clearly confused at what he meant. "You are a Cleric? Of what God?"

[payitgladly]

Preston wanted to say "but he has no name" but didn't think the information was privileged to just anyone. The person who had told him this, that the Warden's name was simply a slew of serial numbers, had gone through great efforts to make certain that only he saw what was written within that comment. He closed his mouth and left the matter alone. He would not betray that trust; a trust given to him by a stranger, no less.

"Not a god," he said instead. "I am Cleric of the Tetragrammaton Council. It is our government, not a religion."

[hikariartangel]

Krad paused at that. "Not uncommon. It lacks taste for being so straightforward though." He commented. "So do you speak for the government instead of God?"

[payitgladly]

"In a manner of speaking," he replied, ignoring the insult. "Grammaton Clerics are specialized individuals that uphold the law in any manner that is required. Most notably, we undergo rigorous training from a very young age in the martial arts form of Gun Kata, as well as many of us are natural intuits who are encouraged to strengthen such abilities."

[hikariartangel]

"Gun Kata? I'm not aware of such a style." Krad commented. "What is a intuit and why exactly are you all trained so young? Times are dangerous in your world?" It was curious, his world. It's rare he heard humans so straight forward for power structures like that.

[payitgladly]

"Gun Kata was made by and specifically for Clerical use. We are the only ones taught it. It combines basic martial arts forms with the use of guns. It's... more complicated than that, but that's all I can say on the matter." He paused briefly before answering the rest of Krad's questions. "The word intuit derives from 'intuition.' It simply means we are capable of knowing what another being is thinking before they do. While times are not necessarily dangerous," he says while glancing down, "Clerics are important to our society and provide a certain set of skills that are needed to continue our existence as a race."

If he had had more to say, it was unknown. He stopped there and did not continue. He gaze remained fixed on the ground for some time before slowly returning to Krad.

[hikariartangel]

"Ah, so it's like certain monks and other religions with warriors. Very interesting." Krad commented. So it seemed these Clerics are decided if they are gifted? He wonder how good this gift was. "Continue your existence as a race?"

[payitgladly]

"I suppose you could make that association," Preston replied with what might or might not have been skepticism. "After the third World War it was decided we could not undergo a fourth and hope to survive it as a species. To eradicate war, we eradicated all emotion. Those that do not follow the law are sense-offenders. Clerics are the answer to these crimes."

[hikariartangel]

Krad looked almost confused at that. "Humans...who do not feel emotions?" He said. "That does not seem possible. Even the most stoic of humans express emotions to some degree."

[payitgladly]

Preston almost breathed a sigh of "relief" if ever he felt inclined call it an emotional reaction to Krad's verbal one. He blinked once instead. It was, however, nice of him to be able to note that this person had actually hit on something no one else did: there were still emotions there. They were practically unnoticeable though.

Preston nodded once. "We take a drug called Prozium that inhibits the full force of emotions. The extreme highs and lows are eradicated. Anything else is... more instinctual than emotional."

[hikariartangel]

"Instinctual? Then how do humans survive with only instincts?" Krad asked.

[payitgladly]

"Easy: instincts only lead in the direction of the desire to survive." He said about as callously as if he were talking about a piece of dead meat. He blinked once and then continued. "We still have are intelligence and reasoning capabilities, obviously, so it is not as bad as it might sound to someone outside the society."