Incarnations of Immortality(OPEN Please check OOC thread for needs)

[AntonioG]

Mark had just about had enough of his life. His fiancee ended a two year engagement, he had no job and no prospects of getting one. He walked down the street not being able to afford a car, let alone a magic carpet. As he neared his apartment in the slums of the city he pulled out a cell phone and called a friend of his.

"Hey Jack, it's me Mark. Yeah, look, I want to get my hands on a handgun, but don't want to wait the seven days required by law, know what I mean? You have one available? Great, how much? Okay, I'll be at your place in ten minutes. Okay thanks."

He continued on past his apartment and came to a warehouse at the docks, he pressed the button on the intercom and stated his name and business. A man in khaki pants, and a t-shirt opened the door.

"I have the money, three hundred like we discussed." Mark said.

Okay, Mark, here it is, a Taurus Nine Millimeter, and a full clip of ammunition as a bonus for you.

"Thanks, man. Hey I'll see you around."

With that Mark put the gun inside his jacket pocket, turned around and walked back to his apartment, fingering the cold steel of the weapon the entire way. He entered the building and walked into his living room, locking the door, he sat down at his desk and composed a note. Pulling the gun out of his pocket, he placed it against his temple.

As he prepared to squeeze the trigger he saw a man out of the corner of his eye, wearing a long black cloak, he had bony hands, but his face was flesh. What the hell is this, it's to early for Halloween, and he could've sworn he locked the door, he could only assume it was a burglar. He turned the gun on the man, and pulled the trigger, shattering the man's face. Blood pooled on the floor of his apartment. "What the fuck do I do now?" He asked the air around him.

 

[caela]

Gaia

Helen sighed softly and looked around her. She was Gaia, Mother Earth, Nature. Whichever title you called her by it was she who moved the winds, brought the rain, built large fluffy clouds on a perfect summer's day.

And she wasn't happy.

Instead of the forests and meadows...heck even the deserts...that she loved so dearly the world was slowly turning into a large concrete jungle. It seemed she couldn't travel anywhere these days and within a days walk of her favorite mountain pools she would enter suburbia, another day and she was in the heart of one metropolis or another. She could remember when she would visit her quiet places and to find the nearest city would be over a weeks walk.

She missed her animals as well. So many had been driven into preserves that it made her weep. But for all that they seemed intent on ruining the world that nourished them she didn't bear humans any ill will. They didn't really know better after all. Most of them ran around...

Her thoughts stopped as she felt a shifting from Limbo. With the exception of God and the Devil all the Incarnations called Limbo home though it was a realm so vast that one could wander aimlessly and never come across the home of the various Incarnations living there. Still something was wrong. Something had seemed to...lurch.

Grumbling softly at having her thoughts interupted in such a manner she deftly twined her sleek black hair into a thick braid and softly chanted the spell that would return her home. She had felt the pull from Limbo before, one of the other Incarnations had...well died...for lack of a better term. She wanted to see who the kid on the block was and which job he was taking over. She wouldn't mind a new Mars, the current one was a bit of a sourpuss. That was probably just the rigors of the job though.

 

[AntonioG]

Like a voice on the wind someone or something told him to put on this man's clothes, and he did. A black cloak with a hood, long black bone like gloves, black pants and a scythe, and also a watch with three dials and big red button on the side. A light beeped on the watch with an arrow directing him toward the outside. With a final look at his.... the man's face had changed and become his own, what kind of wizardry is this, Mark thought to himself.

He went outside and saw a car with the license plate Mortis, he got in assuming it was his. "Okay, I have a car, a nifty black outfit a watch and scythe, what am I Death?" At that the car kind of made an affirmative response, that shook Mark to his core.

"How can this be? Is there anyone out there who isn't crazy that can explain this to me?" He shouted, "What the Hell's going on here?"

 

[caela]

Reaching her own home in Limbo Helen paused as she felt an odd sense of urgency running through her. Slipping inside she automatically slipped to her viewing room. This room like all of the rooms in her home was decorated in simplicity and seemed to have an almost zen like quality. Along one wall ran a small brook that chattered happily over the stones at it's bottom and that was fed by a spring. The spring also fed a large stone basin and it was here that Helen could view anyplace, or anyone, on Earth.

Finding another Incarnation was easy unless they were blocking her. It seemed the new Incarnation was Death - too bad really, she'd rather liked the old Thanatos - and he seemed incredibly confused and uncertain. Mortis was a clever car and would take care of him if he'd let it but he seemed to be doubting his own sanity so she felt it best to intervene slightly.

"How can this be? Is there anyone out there who isn't crazy that can explain this to me?" He shouted, "What the Hell's going on here?"

Murmuring a soft incantation a shade of Helen appeared in the passenger seat beside the new Death. She deliberatly made herself look every inch the ideal of Mother Nature. Gossamer robes the color of spring leaves covered her body and a wreath of autumn leaves adorned her hair. The scent of fresh cut flowers and the harvest clung around her body.

"Do stop yelling please. You'll upset Mortis and he can have a mind of his own when he's upset. As to what the hell is going on that is simple, you've killed Death and thus you've assumed his office. You have all the tools of the position needed in Thanatos robes and Mortis can help you figure them out. Finish up tonights work and Mortis will take you to your home in Limbo. We all reside there and if you need to contact one of us simply reach to us. I'm Gaia, the others are Mars, Fate, Chronos, Satan and God."

Smiling softly she patted the cars dash like it was an old friend before fading out and leaving him to get on with his work.

 

[AntonioG]

"Do stop yelling please. You'll upset Mortis and he can have a mind of his own when he's upset. As to what the hell is going on that is simple, you've killed Death and thus you've assumed his office. You have all the tools of the position needed in Thanatos robes and Mortis can help you figure them out. Finish up tonights work and Mortis will take you to your home in Limbo. We all reside there and if you need to contact one of us simply reach to us. I'm Gaia, the others are Mars, Fate, Chronos, Satan and God."

By the time he turned to look at this voice the body was gone. Finish tonights work? Okay. "Mortis, take me to finish tonights work, where do I go?"

With that the car took off and seemd to fly through other vehicles, and buildings even, they finally ended up in a completely different city, probably even another state. His watch began glowing as he got out of the car, an arrow leading him to a major traffic accident, he pulled the hood over his face as not to be recognized, and came upon his first client, if you will. Without really knowing why, he crooked a finger inside the man's chest and his fingers found a filmy substance, he pulled it out slowly at first, and the man began writhing. He took it out the rest of the way and placed it inside a fold of his robes, and walked back to his car.

"Okay, Mortis, I'm assuming you can hear me, what do I do with this stuff?" When he asked this question the glove compartment opened and a stone appeared, he took the stone and casually waved it over the filmy substance, it shone white in spots and black in others, but it seemed to mostly glow white, he folded it up and attached it to a parachute of sorts, and let it go out of the window and it instantly began an upwards ascent.

"That wasn't too bad, I guess. Are there others for now?" No response from the car. "Then take me home."

After a brief trip they appeared in Limbo before a large mansion that looked rather like a mortuary. "I suppose that is appropriate," he said.

 

[caela]

Helen watched as the new Thanatos went to the accident and sent the soul he'd taken up toward heaven. She thought he'd settle into the job nicely once he was accustomed to it. She wondered if he'd redecorate the House. Much as she'd liked the old Thanatos he'd gotten a little morbid the last few years and the current incarnation of his house reflected that. He'd figure out his job and his abilities and he'd figure them out swiftly, of that she had no doubt. The old Death wouldn't have chosen a slow learner to succeed him.

Humming softly to herself she wiped the images from the basin and tossed herself into the grass that carpeted the floor. The ceiling she had charmed to look like the sky over her favorite lake and she smiled to see it was sunny and warm with a few fluffy clouds to daydream on floating through the sky.

Closing her eyes gently she went about her own work. She could feel the Earth as if it was a part of her very being. She felt the wars that shook the surface and sighed softly, she really should talk to Mars about some of those weapons. Dreadful things. Focusing her attention she sent soothing rains out over parched crops and gentle breezes to murmur through the forests. She knew destruction was a part of life as well and where it was in season monsoons flooded the land and hurricanes swept across the oceans. That wasn't her favorite part of her job however the violent aspects of nature helped hold everything in balance and she couldn't ignore them or they would fester and grow out of her control.

 

[AntonioG]

"Okay, so I go in there, and what live? What do you do?" He asked the car. As if in response the car morphed itself into a Pale Horse, and began leisurely grazing at the... was that grass he saw, how bizarre.

Mark walked into the Death House, and was greeted by a butler that reminded him all too much of Lurch from the Adams Family. "May I take your accoutrements, sir?"

"Uh, sure. So what do I do to relax around here?"

"Well, you can watch the televsion, it is always tuned into the Purgatory News Network, you can see about the goings on in the netherworld if you will. I can also prepare food for you, however, as long as you are in Purgatory you've no need of sustenance, but you will be famished if you return to earth on an empty stomach, and if you're going to earth, there usually isn't time to stop somewhere."

Mark walked toward what could only be considered the living room and flipped on the Television and sure as shit, it tuned into PNN.

"Good Evening, this is Jim Palmer with breaking news from Purgatory. We have a new resident in Purgatory this evening. His name is Mark Lehrer, and he has taken the Office of Death. On his first foray into sorting of souls, Thanatos let the poor human suffer, and pulled the soul away from the body slowly before sending it to heaven on it's way."

He just sat there, staring slack-jawed at the television screen. "How in the hell could it possibly know, what I did back on earth. I didn't try to prolong the man's misery."

His butler just shook his head.

"How come you didn't go to either Heaven or Hell?"

"All the staff of purgatory is made up of mortals whose souls were in perfect balance, and couldn't find their way to Heaven or Hell. Once our balance is shifted one way or the other, we go where we are supposed to."

"Okay, well if you don't mind I think I'd like some spaghetti." He asked the butler who promptly turned and entered the kitchen to prepare his meal. Mark quietly resumed watching the PNN, this Jim Palmer guy was getting on his nerves.

 

[Calyxxx]

Excitement! Finally! What more could anyone ask for? Finally there was a chance to get the edge. Thoughts and ideas swam through Daeva's head as she paced the floor. Actually, Daeva no longer went by the name Daeva, although it would still have suited her. For the last 50 years she had been known as Satan. She laughed deliciously every time she thought about how she out witted the last owner of the title. A little seduction goes a long way.

Today, however, Satan was happy for another reason. As of late, she had been on the losing side of a battle she waged with God. Whether God admitted to participating in the challenge or not, they were in competition to see who could aquire the most souls. A turn of tables may just be coming her way, however.

"A new Death has been appointed. If only he can be swayed, a little manipulation, and I could be swimming in a sea of new souls!" Her cold blue eyes flashed and she turned on her heels, sheet of black silky hair flowing behind her, and resumed her seat. Throne to be more exact, Satan had had the chair carved for her when she had first assumed her office. Made of human bone and ebony wood, red velvet and brass, the chair was a monstrosity, and Satan loved it.

"A little welcome party! That would be the setting!" She smiled and snapped her long, red polished fingers, a minion appearing at her side. "Deliver this invitation to the new Death. I will have him over for dinner tomorrow night to discuss....options." As she spoke, a small flame burst into existance over her upturned palm, a white envelope appearing in the center. The red seal on the back held an elaborate "S" and she handed it to her minion before watching him scurry away.

 

[AntonioG]

As Mark reclined on his sofa and watched the PNN updates, an incessant beeping began going off somewhere near him, unsure as to what it was, he just let it go. For five minutes it continued beeping.

"This is Jim Palmer and we have breaking news out of Purgatory today. The deathwatch has been notifying it's new owner of an appointment now for five minutes, but Thanatos has simply been ignoring it. Again he is letting souls suffer due to his lack of experience, how did this guy ever get the job of Death."

"Wha..., oh so that's what that noise is, it's the watch. Well I'll be a monkey's uncle." Mark looked down at his watch and saw it flashing 5:00 remaining. So apparently he has five minutes until the next appointment. He strode toward the door and donned his black cloak and gloves again, drawing the hood over his head. When he stepped outside Mortis was nowhere to be seen. "Mortis!"

Suddenly just over a rise that he hadn't noticed before Mortis came galloping toward the Deathhouse. "Okay, friend we have a job to do and only five minutes to get there. Can you do it?"

Mortis neighed affirmatively and morphed back into his car form, the door swung open and Mark got in, and they took off like lightning for the appointment. They got there with thirty seconds to spare, of course it seemed to be in the middle of a forest. Which made Thanatos think of the old joke, "If a bear shi...," just then a man came crashing through the trees being followed by a bear, it swiped at him and obviously broke the man's neck. Mark stepped out of the car and walked toward the man, he reached into his chest and pulled out his soul, as he was about to fold it up, it dissovled into a pile of ashes. "Why would this happen?" he asked himself. I'll have to ask one of the other incarnations maybe, or perhaps Mortis would know.

When he got in the car he asked if he knew why a soul would just dissolve like that. And an answer was sent almost telepathically to him. "The person was probably an agnostic, thus didn't believe in an afterlife. That happened a few times to the previous officeholder."

"This truly is a bizarre existence."

 

[Natasha_bernier]

"Accept it." the two simple words came out of nowhere, seemingly. At first, Mark, or rather Thanatos, thought they had just been figments of his imagination. Then, he felt... something riding alongside his car. He couldn't tell if it was a gift, an advantage of his new office, or just goold old human instinct, but he could feel a presence near him. Something that hadn't been there before.

Thanatos turned around and sighed in surprise when his eyes fell upon her, jerking back in his seat.

Just what I need Ruby told herself. Give Death a heart-attack and be stuck running two offices. She tried not to smile at that thought. She wanted to give Mark the fright he deserved, and smiling would ruin her placid, white-out, ominous figure.

She floated besides Mortis for a few seconds, in perfect relative position, and with a movement of her hand, everything stopped. No really, everything. The clouds, the building, the people and animals, everything had stopped moving. Even Mortis seemed frozen in time.

"Accept it." she said again in that perfectly placid voice of hers, a bit louder this time. With a mere thought, she made her cloak almost complete mist, so that it would confound with the neighboring clouds and give her an even more menacing presence. His eyes gre wider but he didn't say anything.

She was enjoying herself waaay too much. She'd been waiting for Mark's first day for years. Well, thirty-seven exactly. Thirty-seven years since she'd taken office, and he'd put on his little "I am the grim reaper, fear me" act to scare the bejebus out of her. This was payback.

Of course, from his point of view, he'd be terrorising her in thirty-seven years, back when she would be a complete newb, and he would be the almighty Thanatos, teaching her the power of the Hourglass... among other things. That was the problem with being the Incarnation of Time; time flowed opposite the normal world. Which kinda sucks when you try to have a social life.

"Accept what?" he said. "Who are you?" His knuckles were still white, but he was slowly regaining his composure... not to mention his colors.

She tilted her head slowly and took her time to answer. After all, her Hourglass had frozen time, sot they had all the time in the world to talk. "I AM CHRONOS, MISTRESS OF TIME AND HOLDER OF THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK." she bellowed, exaggeratedly articulating each word. Dark clouds formed up above, and lightning struck behind her, giving her an even more formidable air. She had a powerful urge to smile again. She'd owe a favor to Gaeia for the light-show, but it was well worth it.

"When you get home, there'll be an invitation waiting. From Satan, Father of Lies." Mark frowned, apparently concerned. "Your first reflex will be to refuse, but you need to accept it."

He continued to stare at her, pensive, before working up the strength to ask a queston: "If you're Time, don't you already know what my answer will be before I make it?"

The weather slowly returned to normal, before freezing again. "Of course." the girl said, almost presumptuously. "That doesn't make my presence here any less important."

Now that the mist had cleared, the woman didn't seem that impressive anymore. In fact, quite the contrary. She definitely stood inches shorter than Thanatos, and now that he could see her eyes underneith the cloak, she actually seemed pretty friendly. He opened his mouth to say something, but she spoke first.

"Take care, Grim Reaper." she said and then winked at him, smiling, before disappearing into thin air. Moments after, time regained its momentum, and he was back on his way, more confused than before.

 

[AntonioG]

"Wha...? Okay, she's gone. Mortis, what is it about you, that draws these people to you?"

"They are the other incarnations, that was Chronos, the one before was Gaeia, there is also Mars, Fate, Satan, and God, there is one other one, but she's a weird character, Nox."

"Okay, my valiant steed, let's go home." And before too long there stood the Mortuary. "I need a new decorator, I think."

Mark walked into the Death House and hung his cloak and gloves and other stuff up, and entered the dining room. A steaming plate of spaghetti was there waiting for him, with an envelope that was sealed in wax, with an elaborate S design.

He sat at the table and began twirling spaghetti onto a fork, with one hand and opened the envelope with the other. It was in fact a dinner invitation from Satan, the Father of Lies, he believed Chronos called him. He set the envelope down and sat back in his chair thinking for a minute.

"When you get home, there'll be an invitation waiting. From Satan, Father of Lies. Your first reflex will be to refuse, but you need to accept it."

"Okay, so now I have some wacko with an hourglass telling me I need to accept a dinner invitation from the Devil. How do I summon these other Incarnations, they can apparently find me at will." That's when he noticed again the red button on his watch, it was marked with an hourglass... "Mmmm... I wonder."

He pushed the button and time stopped, he waited patiently then suddenly the woman Chronos was there.

"Yes, Thanatos, what can I do for you?"

"You can start by telling me, why I should accept a dinner Invitation from Satan, that seems contrary to just about everything I've ever learned about Satan."

 

[Natasha_bernier]

Chronos could feel the tug of time knawing at her from a distance. Usually, this meant that Thanatos required the passage of time to halt for a few instants, a privilege usually reserved for the office of Chronos. It was an accepted concensus between the two offices; as far as Ruby knew, the office Thanatos had always enjoyed the privilege. It was just one of those timeless cooperations that had existence before her time, and that would continue to exist long after she would start her tenure at the office.

Today, however, was a special day, she knew, as Mark couldn't be more than a few hours into his office. Which reminded her that she'd have to drop by and give him the scare he sorely deserved in a few hours, before he was settled in. She remember very vividly, even thirty-seven years after, how much he had scared the living snot out of her. She had promised herself she would one day take her revenge on him, and that time had come at last. She smiled broadly at the thought, and made a mental note of it. Maybe I should arrange a little lightshow wit Ge... she thought to herself, giggling.

In the meantime, she chose to answer her old friend's call. Shifting the sands in her hourglass to a pale green, she aligned herself with the rest of the universe and focused on Thanatos' location, appearing before him.

"Yes, Thanatos, what can I do for you?"

"You can start by telling me, why I should accept a dinner Invitation from Satan, that seems contrary to just about everything I've ever learned about Satan."

She looked at him for a moment, pensive. "The bitch doesn't lose any time, does she?" she mumbled under her breathe.

"You mean you didn't know?" Mark said, confused. "But you were the one who told me, just a few moments ago..."

She smiled, a deeply sincere smile. "That, my friend, is that nature of my office. You see, Chronos must live backwards, or at least in the opposite direction to the rest of the world. What you perceive as the future is actually my past. Just as my future is your past."

He smiled in understanding. Thanatos had always seemed to understand her solitude better than the rest of the Incarnations. She guessed that's why they had always been such good friends.

"So that's how I would know about that oddly-shaped little birthmark on your left thigh." He blushed. "But I guess my future self will be too busy putting on a lightshow for you to tell you that in the first place." she winked at him, and the corners of his mouth formed into a smile. Ruby guessed that she had just sown her own little piece of mischief; by pulling her little awe-inspiring prank on him, she would probably initiate the idea in his head to get his revenge on her when the time came, in Thanatos' future. How she loved those little paradoxes she shared with the other Incarnations.

"So you don't know why Satan has invited me to his lair then?"

"Of course I do." she said, in that oddball presumptuous way of hers. "I just didn't realize it happened this soon."

"So I gather you can't tell me about it, even if you do know."

"Nope." she said, picking a fruit from the basket on the table and rubbing it against her breasts. Of course, the gesture was pointless, since all food in Purgatory was very much clean, but she could never lose those old time habits... "Why do you ask?"

Mark thought for a moment. "I was under the impression that we were... or will become friends." he corrected himself, still a bit taken aback by the revelation that the somewhat unimpressive girl before him knew things he himself didn't even know yet. "That's all."

She smiled cunningly. "Don't mistake our friendship..." she put a deliberate accent on the word, implying it might have been something else "...for professional proficiencies. By telling you anything about the meeting, I'd risk changing the course of time itself. Not to mention the whole 'free will' thing; I have no intention on impeding on God's territory again..." she trailed off. The way she said it, Mark guessed there must have been a point in time when a conflict would arise between the two entities. He had trouble conceiving the ramifications of two such powerful beings at odds with each other...

"But you told me... will tell me..." he corrected himself again "...about it in the car. Didn't that change the course of things?"

"Yes and no." Ruby started, taking a bite out of the juicy fruit. "The nature of my work, of my very existence, demands that Chronos intervenes in time." she continued, chewing with her mouth open, tiny chunks of apple escaping her ruby lips. It was odd to see that beings as powerful as Incarnations still had to deal with such minute issues as bad table mannors. "For example, if I hadn't told you about it in your past, then you wouldn't have summoned me here now. Then, I wouldn't get to show you what I will in a moment."

His brows furled, obviously confused. Did she actually know what was going to happen in her own future, in this state of being, or was it just the way she had phrased it. Incarnations, he was beginning to learn, didn't always make themselves crystal clear...

"The Deathwatch..." she pointed. "This buttons more precisely." she indicated the one he had used before. "One of my successors will endow it with the power to stop time. It's just one of those services we Incarnations exchange. It will affect anyone around. Well, except me anyways." she said matter-of-factly. And with that, she threw her half-eaten apple into the air, and time stopped. "Comes in handy." she joked.

Mark looked at the apple, hovering in the air, and then at his watch. The hands on it had, indeed stopped moving.

"Remember that you're one of us now. Nobody can harm you directly, not unless you allow it. That includes Satan." she said, very deliberately.

 

[AntonioG]

Mark listened and replied as the situation warranted, he was still a little bit confused, but hey, he'd only had this post for a matter of hours, and it was pretty cool that he had a minor ability to stop time as needed.

"Okay, I generally understand what's going on I should think. You live in reverse from the rest of the world, so I'm guessing you don't remember the little light show you put on for me a few minutes ago."

Ruby smiled and nodded. "That would certainly be true, I hope it was at least entertaining."

"Oh, I had a great time with it, I thought I was gonna dirty my drawers, and I bet "Lurch" wouldn't have been at all pleased with that. Now, I'm guessing this watch is fairly important, it beeps when I have an appointment and it has a limited ability to freeze time. I'm assuming that is for extreme cases when I have like an overwhelming case load or something."

Chronos was being very patient with him, and Mark truly appreciated that, he only hoped the others were as pleasant, well he didn't expect Satan to be too pleasant, that reminded him. "Earlier, you said, and I quote, 'The bitch doesn't lose any time, does she?' Are you implying that Satan is actually a woman? What is God a dog?"

 

[Natasha_bernier]

She had spoken out of place, she now realized. Even after all these years, it seemed, she was still a bit of a loose tongue. It had gotten her in trouble before; she needed to be careful, lest she be taken advantage of again...

"Mmmh, thinking back, I don't know if you were supposed to know about it in advance..." she added, apparently pensive. A part of her worried that it might lead to certain complications. But then again, she *was* Time... "Let's just say we have a... history. It's complicated."

"Like so many other things." Mark said sardonically, and a bit overwhelmed.

"And, as for God... well, it's also complicated... I'll let you make up your own mind." she winked at him again and turned to leave.

 

[AntonioG]

"Well, have a good afternoon and feel free to stop by anytime. I look forward to being good friends with you." Mark walked her to the door, he had quite a bit to think about. A dinner with Satan tomorrow, and his job as Death. And that self-important blowhard Jim Palmer on PNN who is just frozen in time. "I bet I'm gonna get blasted for that one."

"What one?" Chronos asked....

Thanatos just pointed at the TV, "That obnoxious loudmouth who has been blasting me all damn day, doesn't he haver anything better to do?" he asked rhetorically.

Mark hadn't meant to say that out loud, but there you have it. He shut the door and turned back to his spaghetti, pressing the button on his watch in order to restart time, he heard the TV say. "Well I never, this just in Thanatos has had a meeting with Chronos and thought it would be appealing to stop time all over purgatory, i...."

Mark reached for the remote and turned the TV off. "I've had quite enough of that clown today." He finished his spaghetti, seeing that he didn't have any appointments yet, he decided to tour this masoleum he lived in, "I do need a new decorator, something a bit more lively, I think."

 

[AntonioG]

Mark sat down at a table and composed a short note to Satan, herself.

"I thank you for your invitation of dinner. I suggest perhaps that it be on neutral ground, as I have no interest in being trapped in the confines of Hell. But I do graciously accept your invitation, and await your word on a place for this meet.

Thanatos"

Okay with that out of the way, he sent it by the incredibly efficient Purgatory Post Service. Now I wonder if Gaeia can give me some advice on how best to approach this meet with the Mother of Lies.

"Gaeia, if you can hear me, would you be so kind as to pay me a little visit, I have something I wish to discuss with you. Thank you."

He looked down at the Deathwatch, still no appointments, that's odd. "I guess the world is incredibly healthy right now." Mark smiled at himself, he obviously still didn't know the exact nature of his job, maybe if Gaeia visits he can ask her about that too.

 

[Calyxxx]

Sitting in the same chair she had when she sent the invitation, Satan recieved Death's reply. A wicked grin crossed her ruby painted lips as she read it, clockwork in her brain ticking furiously.

"Perfect!" She spoke aloud and called again for her most loyal minion.

"Take this note to our new Thanatos." A similar note to the first appeared in a puff of smoke and she handed it to her minion.




Dearest Thanatos,

I completely agree with you! Who would enjoy a dinner in Hell? I propose a neutral ground; Earth. We will dine in style at The Red Room in New York City. I have arranged reservations for two for 7 pm tomorrow night.

Love,

Satan

 

[caela]

"Gaeia, if you can hear me, would you be so kind as to pay me a little visit, I have something I wish to discuss with you. Thank you."

It was the sound of her name that drew her from her joining with the Earth and it's weather patterns. It took her a moment however to catch the whole message as coming back into an awareness of her body instead of the Earth was quite the transition. The best she'd ever been able to explain it was to compare it to waking from a deep dream that simply refuses to let go as you come up through the layers of conciousness.

So Thanatos wanted to see her? Well she could manage that. The Deathhouse wasn't very far. Actually in Purgatory space was relative. If she wanted the Deathhouse to be right next door it would be unless Thanatos wished it otherwise.

Chuckling to herself she glanced down at the jeans and white t-shirt that were her trademark. Despite the more nymph like appearance she'd shown him earlier this much more casual attire was her trademark. Being Mother Nature took a lot of work, she might as well be comfortable doing it.

Leaving her meditation chamber she ran into her own butler and smiled warmly to him. He was a new addition to the household as the old butler had finally shifted the balance of his soul enough to go to Heaven.

"Alex, hello there. Would you be so kind as to bring my car around please. Thanatos has requested a meeting."

Alex blinked, his voice was startled as he asked, "H-how did you know that? It's only just been reported on the PNN, I was coming to tell you."

Gaeia laughed softly and offered the young man a gentle smile, "Alex, Thanatos is an Incarnation, of course I heard him calling me before the PNN. Wouldn't be much good at my job if I needed the PNN for that now would I?"

The butler blushed slightly and turned to go get the car. It seemed she made him flustered and she had to admit it was a little fun to watch him blush. Poor boy. While he was getting the car she slid into her bedchamber and sat down at her vanity. It wasn't a piece of furniture she used often but it afforded her a large mirror which she used so that she could see what she was doing as she pulled her raven mane into a sleek french braid.

Content with her appearance she left the vanity behind and left the house to slide into her own car. Unlike Morits this car wasn't alive or magic, it was just a car. She steered her way to the Deathhouse on pure instinct wondering what the new Thanatos would want and what he'd be like. He was handsome enough but then again the old Thanatos had been handsome...hadn't stopped him from being a bit of a stick-in-the-mud at times.

Reaching her destination had interupted her musing and she slid gracefully from her car to knock on the door of the Deathhouse. The new Thanatos really needed to redecorate.

 

[AntonioG]

"Lurch" answered the door. "Ah it is the Green Mother, a pleasure, as always. to see you. I guess you heard Thanatos' calling, to be honest, I think they heard it on earth. He's a bit loud that one."

Gaiea could only smile and nod, after all she had asked him earlier to quit shouting.

"You look different from this afternoon, not so nymph-like, I guess would be the correct phrase. I appreciate your visit, it seems I have a dinner meeting with Satan tomorrow, at the Red Room in New York City, on Earth. I wasn't too keen on the idea of a dinner in Hell. Which brings me to my first question. I'm not sure how to go about this meeting of ours, and I'm not at all sure what to expect from Her. He showed her the first invitation and the second correspondence regarding the place. I was wondering if you had any advice on what to expect from the Mother of Lies? Where are my manners, would you like a seat?"

As they sat down on a big plush couch Mark prepared to ask his second question. "Also I know that I am the Officeholder of Death, and that by looking at my watch I can tell if I have an appointment or not. But I seem to not have any appointments, and I know someone somewhere has to be dying, am I not responsible for collecting those souls as well, I don't need anymore flaming news reports about how I'm letting people suffer. I really don't like that Jim Palmer guy on PNN."

Thanatos knew that was quite a lot to lay on one person at one time, so he patiently waited while Gaeia phrased her response, getting a drink from "Lurch" for himself and offering one to Mother Nature. How weird this day has been, he's plucked souls from bodies, talked with TIME, and MOTHER NATURE, and been asked out to dinner by SATAN. He wasn't entirely sure he'd get use to this.

 

[astralkiss]

Kaelyn Montgomery stared at the other woman in the caged-off area, beads of sweat pouring down her delicately boned face, her pretty features twisted in a grimace of anger. The other woman, about six feet tall and tan, charged at Kaelyn with a last-ditch howl, being covered in blood where Kaelyn had chopped or punched her.

Kaelyn had an anger-management problem. She couldn't manage it at all. Having martial arts training from the age of three, a third-degree black belt in karate, a brown in Tae Kwon Do, and a green in Wu Shu didn't help her rage. In fact, it made her far more deadly than her 5"6", athletic figure made her appear. She was extremely attractive, with waist-length shimmering fire-red hair and blazing emerald-green eyes, skin pale and untouched by the sun, but any man that hit on her, eventually met her fist.

Kaelyn took out the other woman easily, grappling her as she charged and flipping her over, the tall woman's back hitting the ground with a loud thump as Kaelyn leaned over the woman and dealt her a punch to her already bloodied nose. Trying to stand, the tall woman did and after a minute, was put down for good by Kaelyn, unconscious with blood streaming from her nose, her cut lip and her arms and legs bruised. The tall woman got off easy, Kaelyn thought, wiping her nose with her gauze wrapped hand, the blood collecting on the gauze.

Looking out at the crowd as she thought about the day before, the rage poured back into her. Body clad solely in a tight fitting tank top and capri work out pants, she managed a grimace at the crowd, looking for her next contender. She spit on the floor, which emitted a groan from the few women here, the spit mixing with blood and other substances on the concrete floor of the warehouse where she fought. Kaelyn was a member of a fight club that met on the outskirts of San Diego, where she went to law school.

The fight club was where she went to fight anyone, man or woman, that challenged her. She was undefeated as of yet, and everyone at the club feared her. The only people to challenge her were out of towners, and even then, they did with trepidation after hearing the stories. Stories about a fairly slender unearthly gorgeous girl who beat everyone's ass. For some men it seemed too good to be true, and they came to watch her. Too bad if they looked too close, it was a roundhouse to the head.

Looking down, she saw her only weakness, a pair of C-cup breasts that were frequently targeted when she fought men, if only for them to cop a feel before they were beaten. Flat stomach leading into lean muscular legs, she was truly the epitome of athletic, graceful beauty. If someone saw her, they would think tennis player or ballerina, not kickboxer or wrestler.

But things are not always as they seem. Spitting once more, Kaelyn bellowed "Any of you motherfuckers gonna take me on now?" she growled. Such style of speech was the common jargon around here, every sentence peppered with a "fuck".

A stranger emerged from the shadows. Tall, around 6'1", with a shock of red hair equally as red as Kaelyn's own, with piercing blue eyes, and a dark tan, he stared at this anomaly, this strange combination of bewitching beauty and feminity combined with such rage. A smile played on his lips, one familiar to Kaelyn. The smile of challenge.

She stared back, her eyes narrowing. This would be a good last fight for the night. She had already fought six people. She would take him on anyday.

"I'll take the bitch on," he said. A few gasps were elicited from the crowd. Although she trash-talked, noone had dared call her that. A fire lit in her eyes as the door to the freshly-wiped up "cage" opened. The man looked her in the eyes as she stood there, his unblemished skin taunting her to place purple bruises on it, his nose begging to be bloodied.

The bell dinged, and the man charged at Kaelyn. The fight was on.

Surprisingly it lasted a long time. The man charged at her, and she growled, countering with a roundhouse to his head, which landed him on the floor. He sprang back up, punching her in the face, and she heard her nose pop for the second time that night, a new well of blood springing up. She growled, sweeped under him and landed him on his back on the ground.

The fight continued this way for about the other 20 mintues of the fight, it eventually ending when the red haired man tapped out. She smiled at him, as if to say "Don't fuck with me," and sighed happily, another undefeated night.

The man nodded at her, and disappeared into the crowd. She retreated to the side bar, ordering a martini, drowning herself in it, and then went out to her car. Almost out the door, the man put a beefy hand on her petite shoulder. "Meet me outside" he growled.

She chuckled and nodded, not unused to shit like this happening after a good fight. Nodding and chuckling, she followed his beefy body out to the alley. He continued to go down what seemed to be too many alleyways, but she wasn't afraid. She never was afraid.

"Look, you ass, where the fuck are you going?" she said, tsking at him as he turned the final corner. When he turned around, she stopped tsking.

His eyes had turned a blazing blue and his hair appeared to be on fire. Instead of the tank top and jeans he had had on in the club, he was wearing a loincloth of leather that was emblazoned with golden designs that twisted every second forming something new. In his hand was a flaming sword.

For awhile, she wondered if someone had slipped something in her drink. She was too shocked to scream. Kaelyn thought she had died.

"I am the Sword of War, seeking out the next incarnation of the God of Rage, and War and Anger. A fire burns inside you, Kaelyn Montgomery, and you are the source of the most rage on this planet at this very moment. Therefore, you are the new Goddess of War, Anger and Rage, the new incarnation until there is true peace again. War and turmoil have broken out on Earth. Fate has dealt you this, thus you become Mars!" he said to her and then thrust the flaming sword through her breast into her heart.

She screamed the loudest she had ever in her life, and when she came back down, the man was gone. Lying in front of her was the flaming sword. "Omigod, what the hell just happened?" she thought, not knowing what was going on, a burning rage subsiding in her a bit. And she felt for the first time in her mortal life the emotion of fear.

"Mars? What am I going to do?" she asked, hoping someone or something would hear, the fiery supernatural wound burning in her breast, the sword in her childlike hands.

 

[caela]

"Also I know that I am the Officeholder of Death, and that by looking at my watch I can tell if I have an appointment or not. But I seem to not have any appointments, and I know someone somewhere has to be dying, am I not responsible for collecting those souls as well, I don't need anymore flaming news reports about how I'm letting people suffer. I really don't like that Jim Palmer guy on PNN."

Helen laughed softly as she settled onto the soft couch on the opposite end from the new Thanatos. My, my but the poor boy was already in it up to his eyeballs! Looking him over her quietly she was hard pressed not to laugh again but she didn't think doing so would be much of a confidence booster for him so she kept her mirth in check though it sparkled brightly from shining grey eyes.

"Slow down please and let's try to remember a few basic manners. You can call me Gaeia if you like but it's really just a title much like, Mother Nature or Green Mother are titles. My name's Helen and it's a pleasure to actually meet you."

That said she held out her hand and couldn't help but laugh once more at the startled expression on Thanatos face. He did finally take her hand and introduced himself as Mark before she continued.

"I think the most important question of the two asked is the one about the DeathWatch. I asked your predecessor about it once and if I understood him properly it only goes off when a dying soul is close to being in balance. Most souls are either so light or so heavy that they need no help going to either Heaven or Hell, they simply move there on their own. Some however are perfectly balanced or nearly so and that is where you come in.

Those in perfect balance come here to Purgatory until their balance shifts one way or another. For instance I just had to hire a new butler for my staff because my old one finally tipped the balance of his soul and is now sitting happily on a cloud in Heaven.

The rest you help along to go where they belong. If I remember Charles - the old Thanatos - grumblings correctly you'll also come across souls that simply crumble into ash or simply disappear when you remove them from their bodies. They always annoyed him because he couldn't understand why he had to bother with them if they were just gong to evaporate on him."

As she finished speaking the butler returned bringing her a tall glass of iced tea with a lemon wedge in the bottom. The man gave her a warm smile as she thanked him and the smile totally changed his appearance from rather grim and serious to kind and very nearly handsome. It seemed to surprise Mark which made her chuckle once more.

"I used to be a regular guest here when Charles was in office, your butler knows what I like to drink when I come calling.

Now then, as for the question fo Satan...hmmmmmm it's intersting but I don't really know what to tell you about her. Her job is the Incarnation of Evil of course but that doesn't necessarily mean she herself is entirely Evil, just as God isn't entirely good. My advice would be to be wary and listen to your instincts. No doubt she'll want to feel you out as you are new to the job and might be seeking to see if you can't tip the balance of souls that head to Hell instead of Heaven more in her favor."

She was about to say more but a far away look filled her gaze and once more she felt that same trembling lurch of reality shifting as she had earlier in the day and muttered softly, "Fuck! Two in one day, damnit! Mars you selfish sonofabitch couldn't you have waited until Death was trained!"

Actually the reasonable side of her brain told her, she shouldn't just assume Mars was the Incarnation that had changed though she was the only other she was aware of looking for a replacement.

"Have you looked around the Deathhouse yet Mark? Charles never told me if he had a viewing chamber in this place and we need to see who else just hired in."

 

[poohlive]

It had been a long shift. Hours had stretched on like vacant soulless roads, clambering against each other to reach an endless inifinite. Gary wiped the sweat from his brow, the dark blue uniform already amess with stains, didn't seem to mind much.

He stood on the side of the garbage truck as it lumbered through town. Picking up people's trash, that was a laugh. Gary couldn't help but smile at times, which never stood right with his fellow co-workers. Who could honestly be happy with picking up trash? Gary was, though, and it showed.

They stopped, late at night, to grab a few cans, when Gary felt the sharp pain, intake of something powerful. He winced, looking down the darkened alleys.

"You all right?"

Gary nodded, his eyes keen on the shadows that played over the buildings, little houses to hold the devil's playground.

"You guys go on without me."

Normally, a man leaving mid-shift was unheard of, even in the garbage truck, but when Gary said it, for a moment, his two co-workers had a funny smile go over their faces. They nodded, agreed, and moved on.

By the time the truck had moved to the next block, they had forgotten all about him. Which was probably for the best.

Gary walked through one of the shadows, going passed buildings, cities. He emerged in a similiar back alley through a similiar shadow, watching the poor woman on the ground.

She knew nothing of what was to come.

Still in his Garbage man's uniform, he knelt down, taking off his worker's gloves. Despite what he wore, he had no bad smell about him, rather a splash of undefined fragrances that brought back happier memories of childhood.

"You all right?" He asked, putting a hand on her back, helping her, steadying her.

"It's all right. It's a big heavy sword, but not too hard to weild. Rather, just takes some getting used to.

"My name's Gary," He showed her his hand, so she could shake it, "A pleasure to meet you."

 

[astralkiss]

Kaelyn stared at the sword. It glared with an unearthly light, blinding her green eyes, reflecting off of them and making her eyes appear in the dark like a traffic light.

"Damn, that hurt," she said, grasping her chest, anger rising in her. At least the choice of incarnations was appropriate, she thought wryly. But what do I knwo of war? Anger, I know. Rage, I know. But war?

She sighed, looking at her small hands, then the sword.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a garbageman approached her out of the shadows.
"You all right?" he asked, putting a hand on her back, helping her up and steadying her.

"It's all right. It's a big heavy sword, but not too hard to weild. Rather, just takes some getting used to.

"My name's Gary," he showed her his hand, so she could shake it, "A pleasure to meet you."

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded, thinking it was some pervy weirdo, withdrawing her hand and settling back into a defensive posture, getting a generally good vibe off of him, but still a bit freaked out by the grinning garbageman in the back alley at 3 am in the morning.

 

[Natasha_bernier]

Today is going to be a busy day Ruby thought to herself as she glided through time, the sand in her Hourglass turned baby blue. And she wasn't referring to the responsabilities of her office. She had learned long ago to handle those in a timely fashion, guided by the lovely hands of Fate, in any of her aspects.

No, today was a special day. Such a day didn't happen often, but then again, she had known it was coming for some time. Today, not one but two offices would change hands; Thanatos and War, to be more exact. From her unique perspective, she'd be going from two novices, since they'd be nearing the start of their reign, to two new experts at the job, who would then regress in their experience until they themselves would hand the office on to someone else.

She was sad to see Mark and yes, even Kaelyn step down. They had, after all, been excellent at their jobs, even if, through her eyes, they had degenerated in knowledge and experience. Not only that, but for better or for worse, they had become her friends. Just another kink when you live backwards she thought with a smile. She was not too far away from retirement herself, but thankfully Fate hadn't been so careless as to leave three spots wide-open at once. She knew from experience that Satan would take advantage of the confusion brought on by Mars and Death being new to the game to make mischief. She had been ready for it. She hoped the others would be too!

Reaching her intended destination, Chronos turned the Hourglass sand gradually grey, until it turned the color of ash. The world stopped moving around her, and when she landed, she was home.

The Los Angeles slums. There was something about those alleys that illicited a strange kind of nostalgia within her womb. This had been, after all, where she had lived, worked, laughed, screamed, and stood, waiting, for a great portion of her life. The corner of Jackson and MacKenzie. Same as it had always been, same as it would be yesterday, and so on until she would take the office.

She willed the sand in the Hourglass to turn green, and suddenly she was in-sync with the "normal world" again. She had purposely landed in an isolated alley; her white misty cloak hardly reflected the clothes of a street worker...

She got rid of the cloak, donned the more appropriately trashy attire she had packed inside a white duffel bag and, hands on each end the Great Hourglass that followed her around, compacted it to a more reasonable size. She checked her pre-applied makeup for smears on a loose shard of glass and exited the alley.

It was a hot day. The black skin-tight leotard and red leather over-jacket she was wearing didn't help either. It felt good to be back in heels... after wearing them for so long, in her "past life", it was like putting on a comfortable pair of slippers at the end of a long day.

"Hey Chrissy." she yelled to a similarly-dressed woman on the opposite corner of the street, smiling.

"Ruby!" she excalimed, flailing her arms around expressively. "Where've you been baby girl, we haven't seen you forever!"

Really? That was interesting... This meant that in Chronos' near future, the rest of the universe's past, she'd be occupied to some task that would require a lot of her time and attention. She worked the streets pretty often, even with a hectic a schedule as Chronos', so it had to be something major... After all, she *was* time. If there was something she was good at, it was making good use of it.

 

[poohlive]

"Whoah... hey," Gary held up his hands, laughing a little, not at her, but the situation. Not every day someone with a flaming sword freaks out at you. Passing the torch of hatred and pain was hard to bear.

"Just a friend, I thought you might need some help, questions answered, maybe even guidance until you figure out the ropes of what's going on, that's all. Please, don't be offended, I just want to help."

Gary cocked his head to one side, taking her in. She was breathtaking, if not that, the fire in her eyes seemed to distinctly add to her beauty. She was a definite improvement on the last model.

"If you don't want me to, just say so. I'll understand, and be on my way. I have a few other things to do tonight myself."