[text]

[othersdie]

What do you believe happens to the dead once they leave the City?

I won't contest religious beliefs.


[Flagged to Dean // Open to Police Force Members and Affiliates]
I'd like to request a few days off, assuming no one else gets murdered. Please.


[ooc: Euphie left, she and Justin had a weird thing going on that was rather emotional, and Justin's dealing the only way he knows how that doesn't involve self-destructive habits he has outgrown, which is... thinking. (For those keeping score, he was already upset about Mara and the police force's lack of fixing things.)]

Comments

[othersdie]

I did. I died at home, entered the City dead, left, and came back. Some people return.

They all probably have superpowers, too.

[doeswhathewants]

Did you come here directly after dying? Or do you remember an afterlife first?

Only the ones we hear about. Perhaps an average person has died and returned only it never makes the news because that would be boring.

[othersdie]

Directly after. I've had two interludes where I wasn't in the City since, however.

Being average must be unfortunate in your world.

[doeswhathewants]

What happened in those two minutes?

Wouldn't know. I'm extraordinary.

[othersdie]

Nothing. Absolutely nothing, but I was conscious.

I would have guessed so. What's your name?

[doeswhathewants]

No life flashing before your eyes? Ever think this might be purgatory? I've not died, so I wouldn't think so, but one never knows.

Serrure. And you are?

[othersdie]

No, just my thoughts.

I suppose it could be. There's nothing to rule that possibility out.

Justin. It's good to meet you, Serrure.

[doeswhathewants]

You as well, Justin.

This would be a terrible purgatory, I think. Did someone you know leave here? A dead someone?

[othersdie]

I can't imagine a purgatory with a carousel.

Yes--two people have. For those of us who don't come back to life... [Awkward gesturing while failing to come up with the right words goes here.] ...It's important, death. To think about. Not necessarily for ourselves, but for others who die--permanently--before we do.

[doeswhathewants]

Some people are afraid of them. As some are afraid of clowns.

But, if you think abou it, all of our lives are precarious. Any of us might die today or tomorrow, it would be the same as you leaving here and death awaiting, yes? To think constantly of our own mortality would drive us mad, I should think.

[othersdie]

A fear of clowns seems reasonable enough to me.

That's true, yes. Maybe that's why people are usually reluctant to discuss it.

[doeswhathewants]

Are you afraid of clowns?

Which is silly if you think about it. Mostly adults who do it, anyway.

[othersdie]

No, but I can understand why they might be unnerving.

I don't think that the inevitability of death makes it any less worth thinking about.

[doeswhathewants]

Because you cannot see their true face? Most people wear masks.

I agree. Though not with that cautious sort of paranoia that most people live their lives in.

[othersdie]

Masks are fine. It might be the wigs or the disproportionately large feet.

Do you prefer a different kind of paranoia?

[doeswhathewants]

You're putting me on.

[Because really? The large feet?]

I prefer not being paranoid at all. Better that you know everyone is out to get you.

[othersdie]

A little.

That kind of paranoia sounds stressful.

[doeswhathewants]

It's a lifestyle.

So what do you do here in this place?

[othersdie]

As an occupation? For fun?

[doeswhathewants]

For fun, of course. Who would want to work in a place that kidnapped them, pfft.

[othersdie]

People who like to stay busy. People who want to be able to afford decent housing.

[doeswhathewants]

There are other ways to stay busy and afford decent housing. It is not as though laws actually work here. [Not that he would abide by them if there were.]

[othersdie]

The police force tries to maintain some kind of order, even without formal laws in place.

[doeswhathewants]

Oh do they? They suck at it. If others do not follow the rules, I see no need to, myself.

[othersdie]

They do what they can.

Just don't kill people.

[Guess who's a member of the police force and has to file paperwork when people die. Yeah.]