[Thread] But there's no need for turning back...

[phd_query]

Who?: Tenth Doctor, OPEN
Where?: Around the compound.
When?: Roughly "now." New character, new thread, please.
Summary?: Ten's out for a walk, being listless.
Warnings?: None.

Comments

[jesusstick]

The church had not been harmed in the invasion; in Mr. Eko's mind, that was all that mattered. The building was as old and run down looking as it had been before, but that was a welcome alternative to the vision of destruction. The priest was currently working to fix it up, having spent most of the day climbing around on the roof to repair a few holes. Now he was back down on earth, sweeping out the interior and just generally making himself busy. He always needed something to do with himself, to keep his mind off other things.

The sound of footsteps drew his attention away from his work and he nodded a greeting to the other man. "Hello."

[phd_query]

Strange that the Doctor hadn't noticed the man in the church. He did live there, after all, up in the balcony, by himself, sleeping on two pews and using cinder blocks and planks for bookshelves. He'd even had a rug made from torn up rags and shirts. The church hadn't been harmed, and in fact, there'd been a few holes in the roof that had been neatly fixed up - not all of them, and they really weren't a noticable improvement.

"'Allo," replied the Doctor, canting his head to the side. "Sorry to trouble you, but what are you doing?" He leaned up against the inside door that lead from the narthex. Tucking his hands into the pockets of his coat, the Doctor ambled from the doorway towards the man. "Don't bother sweeping, the entire place just fills up with leaves again from the cemetery. There's a young girl that lives in rectory - that's Helena Campbell. I live in the balcony. Oh, I'm the Doctor, by the way, who're you?"

[jesusstick]

Eko gave the man one of the looks he was so good at; the calm, slightly amused one that seemed to say he had a giant plan that no one else really needed to know about or mess with. Clearly the news that people were living in the church did not affect him a bit. He was new here after all, and could easily have asked about the living spaces he had come across in his cleaning, but had not.

"I am cleaning the church." He replied with a small smile, looking faintly amused, nothing more. "It is a church first, after all. Perhaps with a priest here people will use it for things besides a home." No, he wasn't kicking anyone out or bashing in heads with his stick just yet. If they wanted to stay in a house of God who was he to argue? "I am Mr. Eko. I did not move the things in your balcony, although I did sweep." Yes another smile, this one clearly more joking, or as close to that as he got.

[phd_query]

"Well, I can see that, yes," the Doctor quirked an eyebrow, gesturing to the swept floor. "And probably not. You'd be surprised at how many people run into the waiting arms of atheism. Not so sure there's a god myself, but there was a physical embodiment for the Devil, and after all, for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction, so really, who has a clue at all? I've just always found religion to be sort of mask to pull over one's eyes when everything goes pear-shaped."

Talkative, this one. The Doctor perched on the back of a pew, gangly legs stretched out in front of him.

"Ah, could have used some dusting too, up there, I usually take care of that, but with circumstances as they are, been collecting a bit of dust myself these days. Seems like all I ever do is prattle off into a communicator."

[jesusstick]

"Without faith, belief would be a shallow thing." Eko observed. He had seen no one in the church to worship in his time here, after all. Perhaps this Doctor spoke the truth; no one here wanted to believe. Luckily that was a subject he was all too familiar with. He wondered what Yemi would have thought of it all. "And without that faith, there is not much hope in life."

He chuckled softly at the dusting comment. "I am afraid I did not get that far. I too have been busy."

[phd_query]

"And without science, there'd be nothing to even consider believing in at all, really." To the Doctor's knowledge, there'd been one wedding and a few random people popping in and out of the church to explore. Econtra didn't seem to so much have a religion as they did a deep and abiding belief in themselves. This place, like any other Earth, followed the typical human behaviors of self-centered narcissism and self-absorption.

"Don't worry about it," the Doctor grinned half-heartedly.

[jesusstick]

'Perhaps." Was all Eko said, the tone in his voice suggesting her was a little skeptical about that statement but too polite to argue with it. In his mind there was God and nothing else now. "When I was a priest in Australia, a girl drowned. Science clearly said she was dead, and yet on the autopsy table she woke up, alive and well. Which, then, should I believe? Science, which was wrong, or God who produced a miracle?"

[phd_query]

"Mmmm, well - there's all kinds of things science can't explain simply because humans don't have the technology or the words for it yet. Little girl may have stopped breathing for a time, but the human body has a remarkable capability to survive... all depends though, what time did you get taken from?"

The Doctor wandered towards the priest, picking up another broom and beginning to sweep up the leaves on the floor.

"Y'know, they add sort of a nice atmosphere... the leaves, I mean."

[jesusstick]

"Stopped breathing for 3 days?" Mr. Eko asked with only mild skepticism. "I do not think so." He had to pause to think about the date, adding up the days they had been on the island to see if they had reached the new year yet. As far as he could tell, they had not. "It is 2004. I do not know the month or the day it was when I left. Perhaps November."

He watched the dry leaves thoughtfully as they were swept out, then nodded. "Yes, they do."