001. video

[servator]

[ If you’ve never seen someone who’s very close to death, you have now. The image broadcast is of a wearied-looking soldier who is fairly torn up, sporting dozens of gashes to the face and badly-cracked military-grade armor. The woman in question looks tired, yes, but there’s something almost relieved about her expression, about the way she sighs long and deep before speaking, taking her time in sending out a message. ]

Never thought being dead would look and feel just like living. [ Does that sound too unamused? Ah, well. She pauses, considers what to say; it’s difficult when you’ve recently been more or less dissolved into atoms and then woke up in a gooey pod. Among... other things. ]

This is Command-- [ The woman cuts off, brows knit as she reconsiders. ] ... This is Shepard, formerly Commander of the SSV Normandy, Alliance Navy. I don’t know where this is, exactly, but I think I know what it’s supposed to be.

[ Do the specifics of the afterlife matter so much once you're dead, though? Shepard smiles distantly, voice surprisingly easy despite all the unknown factors. ]

I need to find the bar. Promised someone I’d be there.

Comments

People who are not Death: Bill Adama

[acapriciousthing]

All of them.

And you're right. If I were going to lie I'd say something a bit more mundane.

no problemo

[servator]

That's a pretty bold claim. Mind telling me who you are?

[acapriciousthing]

I'm Death. Some people prefer to call me Didi.

[She says it rather casually.]

[servator]

Death? [ Well, she'd be more skeptical, but she recently met an AI that was the "famous" Catalyst, so this isn't... a big stretch. ] As in, death Death?

[acapriciousthing]

The one that divides life from all that comes before and all that comes after, yes.

[Seriously is there some other death she needs to know about?]

[servator]

Didn't think Death was sentient, but I'm getting all kinds of surprises today.

[acapriciousthing]

Most people don't really know about it. The term is anthropomorphic personification.

[servator]

And does that happen... often? Or at all, besides you?

[acapriciousthing]

I have six siblings. And there's a few other universes it seems to be common in. My husband is the Death of the Discworld.

[servator]

If you and your husband are both Death, then are your siblings all Death, too?

[acapriciousthing]

No, my siblings are responsible for other fundamental forces of the universe. Destiny, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium.

[Yes they all start with D. It's a funny thing.]

[servator]

First I'm hearing about these "fundamental forces." Are you from this universe?

[acapriciousthing]

No, I'm as subject to the multiversal shenanigans here as everyone else.

[Frightening thought isn't it?]

[servator]

Even though you're Death? Must be something pretty powerful at work here, then.

[acapriciousthing]

It's rather disturbing.

[servator]

That's a word for it.

[acapriciousthing]

If it helps, I'm pretty sure this isn't all of me.

[servator]

"Isn't all of me?"

[acapriciousthing]

I have to be so many places at once, on the job. Usually every aspect is in communication with all the others. But this one seems to be cut off.