Out of the Bone Orchard

[ultima_mortis]

Who: Death and Everyone Else
Broadcast: Of course!
Action: SS Caprine
When: Today

Action – SS Caprine (Bridge)

He is the first to arrive and the last to leave. Of all the temporary things in life, he is the one that lives the longest, so to speak; longer than plants, people, and the stars themselves. Death is a force of pure energy that is needed wherever there is life, no matter how small. Naturally, he feels quite out of sorts on a spaceship. This is not his beautiful manor nor is it his beautiful planet. Nay, the SS Caprine is the very opposite of one.

It’s the starts that bother him most, really. They’re not at all familiar from anything he’s seen in the past, nor do they look like anything he had seen coming up on the horizon. For a being that’s used to knowing precisely who, what, and where he is, it’s awful. So much vastness in the universe and now he’s lost in the thick of it.

So he sighs. The sound is like dried leaves scattering through a graveyard, the final breath of a whole world, the very essence of finality in the softest tones. The pudding in his hand is pushed around with the spoon.

I DO HOPE SHE WILL FORGIVE ME…

Broadcast

There’s a sudden burst of noise as the feed partially turns on. Still quite dark, but the deep tombstone voice is distinct as it mutters away.

OH! I THINK IT TURNED ON. ODD. SHOULDN’T I BE ABLE TO-

And the broadcast is completed at last, with deep dark pits marked by two bright blue pinpricks of light look into the camera. The pits are a part of a skeleton’s face, permanent grimace and all. Death makes a thoughtful noise.

SO IF THIS ONE TURNS THE VIDEO ON, IF I PRESS IT AGAIN-

Darkness once more, but now the reaper may yet speak with confidence! He turns the feed right back on and nods.

YES, I THINK I HAVE IT NOW. IT LETS YOU TRANSMIT BOTH IMAGE AND SOUND. HOW INTERESTING. THE WIZARDS WOULD HAVE QUITE THE TIME TRYING TO PIECE TOGETHER HOW THIS DEVICE FUNCTIONS. AND IF THIS WORKS THE WAY IT APPEARS TO, I WOULD LIKE TO SAY HELLO AND MAKE AN INQUIRY OF ANYONE WHO CAN SEE THIS. WHERE EXACTLY AM I, AND IF POSSIBLE, WHEN AM I?

Comments

Video

[onlyanapple]

[Death is everywhere- where mortal things exist, so, too does Death. This is something everyone knows. But he doesn't normally show up, and Crowley hasn't seen him here before. Not so blatantly, anyway.]

...Azrael?

[Should he be worried? He feels he should be worried. And why is he talking about wizards? ]

Um. You're in the Drift Fleet. Hi. You're not here to...collect anyone, are you?

Video

[ultima_mortis]

YOU KNOW OF AZREAL?

[A kind of shock works it's way into his voice. What a strange man to know that name.]

I AM THE DEATH OF DISCWORLD. AZREAL IS MY BOSS, OF SORTS, AND APPARENTLY SOMEONE YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH. HOW DID THIS COME TO BE?

Video

[onlyanapple]

[Not Azreal, then. How...very weird. Crowley's not sure the best way to deal with this at all.]

The...Discworld. [He's heard about that place before, here and in Paradisa. ]

Uh. I'm not from there. I'm from- well, I live on Earth, currently, and the Death I know is called Azreal. Angel of Death, and all that. He looks and sounds pretty much exactly like you.

Video

[ultima_mortis]

I AM AN EXTENSION OF HIS WILL, AS IT WERE. HE IS THE DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE. I AM A DEATH OF A SINGLE PLANET.

WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU, THEN? YOU DON'T LOOK MUCH LIKE A WIZARD, SO THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP WOULD BE A KIND OF MONK OR ENTITY.

Video

[onlyanapple]

Huh. How about that. I suppose that makes sense. I mean, he's been around for as long as there has been....well, anything. I guess he'd just put other people to his work on other worlds.

[He'd just assumed Azreal was EVERYWHERE. Though in this case, it kind of still counts as that. Death is weird. So weird. ]

A demon. Fallen angel, to be exact. So definitely not a monk.

video;;

[postocular]

[ The burst of noise definitely turns his attention to his communicator and there are regrets as he turns it on to watch. Yikes that is definitely a skeleton... He's a little creeped out, but honestly? It's better than corpses with rotted flesh, even if it is very concerning either way. They are all stuck together, though, so Carl bites the bullet and turns his own feed on to respond.

Oh god here goes nothing. ]

..Hi. The entire Fleet can see you- or at least hear you. You're in a place called Drift Fleet, which is nowhere near where you're from.

video;;

[ultima_mortis]

[Death is used to being considered creepy. It comes with the territory and lack of flesh. More importantly, he can't help notice the injury.]

THANK YOU, YOUNG MAN. I'VE ARRIVED VERY RECENTLY, SO THINGS ARE A BIT...DISORIENTING. THIS EXPERIENCE I A FIRST FOR ME IN QUITE A FEW WAYS. THIS THING- [He gestures to first side of his head.] SAYS I AM TO BE A COOK.

video;;

[postocular]

Yeah, sure.

It'll get better after a little while. It took me a few weeks to really get used to it. Everyone has a job, but I don't know that there's a pattern to it. I wouldn't mess with it, though.

video;;

[ultima_mortis]

IS THAT SO? A SORT OF COMMUNITY WITH ASSIGNED ROLES. [He nods.] I SUPPOSE IT ISN'T MUCH DIFFERENT FROM HOW I'VE HAD TO DO THINGS IN THE PAST.

PERHAPS IF I CAN ACQUIRE SOME KIND OF STAR CHART, I CAN GET A BETTER IDEA OF JUST HOW FAR I AM FROM HOME.

action!

[straightouttacarbonite]

[ By now he's kind of, sort of, starting to get the hang of this, and he's bright enough to put two and two together when he hears that same trill of musical tones as when he showed up. Han isn't exactly eager to play welcome wagon, but he's good at commiserating and... Well, look. He's been a spacer most of his life, but that doesn't mean he doesn't get bored on long-haul sublight flights. It just means he knows how to deal with being bored.

Part of which is taking advantage of distractions. ]

Welcome to your home away from wherever,

[ he says mildly, coming in and... okay, stopping short, just a little. ]

action!

[ultima_mortis]

[Death turns slowly, his robe sweeping the floor as he does so.]

OH! HELLO THERE. I'VE GATHERED THAT THIS THING IS A KIND OF SHIP, BUT IT'S VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE KIND I'M USED TO. ARE THEY STILL REFERRED TO AS WOMEN HERE?

[straightouttacarbonite]

[ Fundamentally, Han is a skeptic. He's pragmatic. His strong point is definitely, definitely not believing in things.

Which means that half of him registers this as a large, robe-clad skeleton with glowing eyes. But that makes no sense-- so, the rest of him,reasons, this must be some sort of being that kind of looks like a skeleton, which really isn't all that impossible to buy. The galaxy takes all kinds and now they're in a whole other one. ]

...As women?

[ultima_mortis]

[Take your time, Han Solo, he'll be here a while yet. Death is still pushing around his portion of the pudding.]

SHIPS AT HOME TEND TO BE CALLED "SHE" BY THOSE WHO RIDE THEM ACROSS THE OCEANS. I WONDERED IF SUCH A CUSTOM EXTENDED TO THIS KIND OF SHIP, SINCE IT NAVIGATES THROUGH STARS RATHER THAN A BODY OF WATER.

[poisontippedcure]

[Is that...a skeleton? A talking skeleton? Sure, Rose has fought skeletons before, but they've never been self-aware.]

[Of course, what else should she expect.]

We can all see you. You're in space. As for when, I don't know, and I'm not sure there's anyone here who could tell you.

[ultima_mortis]

[Those ears! He can't help how his attention focuses on them.]

SO I HAVE BEEN INFORMED. I MIGHT HAVE A GO AT EXPLORING THIS SHIP LATER ON.

[Cause space is weird when you've been living on a planet for millennia.]

[poisontippedcure]

[No touching the ears]

Good luck with that. These ships tend to be rather small.

[ultima_mortis]

[He won't. They're just so distracting.]

ARE THEY? I SHOULD GET TO KNOW THIS ONE ANYWAY SINCE IT SEEMS TO BE MY NEW DOMICILE.

Broadcast

[pork_bowl]

Yuri doesn't know what to make of this but... a new person is a new person. Why was he... well he wasn't shouting but there was just a power to his voice and it grabbed the attention like none other. He watches for a while, still uncertain what to say to this newcomer. He looked like a skeleton... okay he was a skeleton. Uuuuuuh.

"Hello...? This is the fleet. We're all here together. It's a... strange place. But we're all a team here, everybody is really nice. Uhm, what ship are you on? If you're new to communicators I can offer some pointers."

Broadcast

[ultima_mortis]

The very echo of a tombstone, as some have described. Death is a unique individual in a number of ways. He nods his skull to Yuri.

THE CAPRINE. I DARESAY, THIS COMMUNICATION DEVICE ISN'T TOO DIFFICULT TO FIGURE OUT. THERE'S JUST SO MANY BUTTONS, I WASN'T SURE WHAT TO PRESS AT FIRST.

Broadcast

[pork_bowl]

How can a tombstone echo and how can he be so sure that's what he is hearing? But he IS sure.... but HOW?

"Well, you got it figured out so far. I can walk you through the rest if you like. Uh... are there things like this where you come from?"

Broadcast

[ultima_mortis]

Atroma shenanigans and a bit of Discworld magic. You can hardly get a finer combination.

ONLY WITH WIZARDS AND PARTICULARLY GIFTED SCHOLARS, AND THEY USUALLY INVOLVE A LARGE GLASS BALL THAN...WHATEVER THIS IS.

Broadcast

[starless_sky]

Noct has no idea what he's looking at until-- ok. Oh he gets the full picture now. The skeleton was... odd. But not scary to him. That's been his family symbol for so long. But normally they don't talk or... have glowing eye sockets. He just stared for a while as he laid on his bed. He idly pet Umbra while he watched the footage.

"Do I... know you? You... seem familiar. This is driftfleet. Your guess is as good as mine as to when and where we are."

Broadcast

[ultima_mortis]

Death sits back a bit at the comment of familiarity. The young man has an air about him, the kind of mark that lingers with a family for generations without end. His hand comes up to touch his jaw. This man sees him.

I...DO BELIEVE YOU ARE CORRECT ABOUT THE FAMILIARITY. PERHAPS NOT MY KIND SPECIFICALLY, BUT ONE WHO DEALS VERY CLOSELY WITH MY LINE OF WORK. WHAT ENTITY OF DEATH ASSOCIATES WITH YOUR FAMILY?

[starless_sky]

Yes, he does see him. It's as obvious as a walking skeleton isn't it? Or is he special somehow? Does he see something others don't? That wouldn't be a first...

"Ah... how did you...?" he clears his throat softly. "Where are you? What ship are you on?" he kind of wants to see him in person but he isn't sure he should. He might get more than he bargained for here.

"The goddess of death, Etro, she's the patron goddess of my family. Do you know her?" he isn't sure if he is asking 'have you heard of her' or 'do you know her personally' but he might be asking both.

[ultima_mortis]

It's a concerning revelation. He's wondering about the surprised looks and trepidation that others seemed to have talked to him with at first. Is the glamour from his world not effective here?

IT IS NOT DIFFICULT TO TELL. I HAVE SEEN THE RISE AND FALL OF MANY GODS WHO WERE RELATED TO MY LINE OF WORK. KNOWING WHO THEY ARE HELPS ME WHEN SOME SOULS GET LOST.

He shakes his head slowly at the question.

HER NAME IS NOT SPOKEN ON MY WORLD. IF I MAY ASK, HOW DOES A FAMILY WIND UP WITH A GODDESS OF HER KIND AS THEIR PATRON? YOU DO NOT LOOK LIKE ANY PRIEST I'VE MET BEFORE.