Are you a eunuch?
Who: Alex & Marcus Where: the bathing spring, then camp When: Day 30, early morning What: snark and philosophical debate about purgatory, free will and the Loch Ness monster
As was his normal routine, Alex was one of the first ones up in the camp. He awoke after Kenneth, but well before the majority. His entire body hurt from helping try to chop down trees the day before, but he would have more of the same today and for the next several days. He would have to get used to it. Creeping quietly to the spring he shed his clothes to bathe even though he knew it wouldn't much matter since he was only going to get hot and sweaty again today. It didn't matter, the cool water felt good. He enjoyed taking this time for himself, to pray, to reflect and thing, he needed it to recharge his batteries. Closing his eyes, he sort of floated for a few minutes, his mind clear.
Marcus's internal clock was tuned to the prison's schedule. Not that it mattered entirely too much given he didn't always sleep so well and being in a completely foreign land didn't help that fact. He was up quite early that morning and it felt good to open his eyes to see sky rather than cement.
While it was true the people here had found food to sustain them, it was going to take awhile to get used to the taste it left in his mouth. One of the people had been kind enough to point out a plant that was minty and he headed quickly down to the spring with one of the herbs so he could brush his teeth. It was impossible not to be in a good mood right now given his previous circumstances, but he toned it down for fear that someone would be suspicious over his bright outlook on being trapped in some alternate reality. When he arrived at the spring he realized he wasn't the first there.
Everyone pretty much knew by now that if Alex was at the spring to politely announce themselves and let him gather his things to leave. He never bathed with others there and was always uncomfortable when others appeared, but when he opened his eyes and saw someone else there he realized it must be the new guy since he hadn't. Alex had seen him the night before around the campfire, but after such a long day and his conversations with Angelica and Jasper, all Alex had wanted was to withdraw from the group for his evening prayers and then retreat to his small lean-to to sleep so they hadn't been introduced. Standing in the water so he was covered to mid chest, Alex debated what to do or say, then settled on, "Excuse me?"
Maybe it was the byproduct of years of medical school, doctoring, and then showering with a fair majority of his cellblock that caused Marcus to hardly blink at sharing bathroom-type facilities. "You're not in my way," he said plainly and obliviously as he knelt down to wet the little plant like he would a real toothbrush. Sticking it in his mouth, he started to brush and gnaw at the thing. It wasn't the best, but it felt kind of good.
Alex pursed his lips, unamused. This guy might not be bothered by his presence, but he was only half of the people here. "Yes, however, I prefer to bathe alone," he said, voice even and not harsh. "You're new and didn't know," he forgave this guy since he obviously couldn't have known, but now that he knew, hopefully he would go away at least long enough for Alex to get out of the water and dress. Once he did that, this guy could have the entire spring to whatever he wanted.
Marcus raised an eyebrow at that. Bathe alone. One 'bathroom', twenty some odd people. "Seems a bit prima donna of you, given the situation." He was nothing if not practical and efficient. He had little patience for complications like privacy when it made no sense to him to need privacy. He finished with the plant and put it away as he stood up. Offering a shrug, he turned to step aside, offering Alex what he'd requested. He wouldn't argue about it, certainly.
With a sigh, Alex realized that whether it was intentional or not, this was not going to be easy. "Turn around please," he requested, voice tighter now. His clothes weren't far and instead of taking a couple minutes to try to air dry he would simply skin into them wet. So be it. "I'm a priest," he explained as he emerged from the water and pulled his clothes on. "And I try to time my ablutions at times when others are less likely to be." Who was this man to judge? He had only been here a day!
Marcus offered a placid smile. A priest. He'd known enough of those in his time. "Being a priest doesn't absolve you from being a prima donna, but you're right. Doesn't look like a lot of people waiting in line this early in the morning." Granted he had been and with new people coming in, who was this priest to need privacy so much. "It's nothing I haven't seen before though." He gestured to his own body and the fact that he was, indeed, male. "Unless you're in a eunuch order or priests? Then I'm not sure I've ever seen that..." He seemed like he was joking, but there was no humor to his voice.
Once he was fully clothed, Alex turned around to face this new guy, he was grating on Alex's nerves which was impressive. Very few people managed that especially this quickly, "It's not a question of whether you have seen another man without clothes before or not. It has to do with how comfortable I might be in showing myself to others. I do my best to accommodate the group and in turn, I ask that they respect my beliefs," which had never been a problem before. He ignored the question about being a eunuch, it was not an appropriate question to ask and the best thing to do with a question like that is to conveniently fail to hear it. "Why don't we try this again? I'm Father Alex Callahan from Boston," he offered his hand.
He didn't like the implication that their meeting had been such an initial failure that it had to be attempted again. For a man of God, this guy seemed pretty tightly wound. Then again, religion always seemed to have silly issues about modesty and the human form. Taking Alex's hand in a firm handshake, he figured it would be the best idea to keep his negative thoughts to himself. "I'm Marcus." Considerably less information than he was given in return. "Safe to say you do this every morning?"
Alex returned the grip and shook his head, "I prefer evenings actually, after everyone else has finished, but I was too tired last night. We're trying to chop some trees down so we can begin making some more permanent shelters," he suspected he would be too tired in the evenings for the entire time it took to get some trees down. Of course, that might just be the easy part, they still had to level them and build the buildings. He had noticed the lack of information and while that his prerogative, that didn't stop Alex from asked, "Where're you from then, Marcus?"
"Seattle," he said easily. The best way to lie was to salt it with truth. He'd lived in Seattle for a long time, most of his life. "You're chopping trees? If you need an extra pair of hands, I could help." Marcus was obviously physically fit, power in his limbs. "I mostly just helped clean up the foodstuffs yesterday, but I wouldn't mind doing some heavier work today." It was clear that Marcus was eager to make himself useful.
"Absolutely," Alex agreed, another set of hands and more than that, muscles, would be appreciated and useful. "It's slow going at best, but we're making some headway. With your help it can go that much faster," there weren't that many of them working on it to be honest, just the biggest guys who weren't injured or otherwise engaged in other activities that were just as important as this one, "There's also a rudimentary tannery where we're attempting to turn the skins of what we kill into leather. Don't know if you met him, but Bazzer runs it. Alright guy, but you can usually smell him and the tannery long before you see it," it was just out of smelling range of the fire.
Marcus couldn't even imagine what a tannery smelled like and he wasn't sure he was keen on finding out. "Well, I'll be happy to help." Not only did it give him something to do today, it moved the conversation away from introductions. "I haven't met anyone who was out working yesterday."
"Ah, yeah," Alex nodded, picking some of that minty tasting plant for himself, "Well, we leave early and come back late. Not to mention tired. But if you want to come, it's a good idea to head back for breakfast so we can go," breakfast was usually not much, but he was used to not eating until after morning mass, so he was still fine.
Marcus made a gesture with his hands, offering to let Alex lead the way back to camp. He'd splashed his face with water and brushed his teeth, that was as good as it would get this morning. He didn't seem to mind walking about in his underwear--they were mostly like shorts anyway. Better than the jumpsuit he'd buried. "So, a priest--how's this for God's plan? What's your take on why we're here?"
Ahh, the million dollar question. "You'd have to be more specific, I think," he finally answered, "Do I think we're on another planet and aliens exist? Do I think God created this planet as he did Earth? Convergent evolution or some such? Free will or destiny...you left your question rather open," he laughed, these were all things that he had thought about during his time here and more. He'd even discussed a few of them with some people, though not too many. "I don't know entirely."
"I asked why are we here, not where are we," he corrected. "I don't think it really matters where we are so much as why." The word 'punishment' sprung to his mind, but that would have been if he believed in god. "And I didn't ask if you knew--I asked your take." He followed Alex back to camp and smelled the food cooking by that time. "If it's convergent evolution, I'd like to know what Adam and Eve number two did so wrong as to make this wasteland with no civilization to speak of."
"Fair enough then," he paused gathering his thoughts and munching on the mint as they walked, "Why are we on this planet specifically? No idea. Haven't even come up with a working hypothesis yet. Because God wants us to be, I suppose...I don't have any information to prove that or otherwise. Some say that the animals that were made before man on Earth were Gods practice before he made humans in His image. Perhaps this planet was practice as well. Some also say that God abandoned Earth and that is why it is rife with problems. Maybe he wanted to start anew here and is bringing over good people," Alex shrugged, "It is not my place to assume God's intentions."
Unable to prevent the smirk from flickering over his face at the mention of 'good people' Marcus lowered his head to rub his hand over his short hair. It hid his face well enough. "I like the idea that this was a practice planet. Then again, that kind of throws a kink in the perfect god thing." After a moment of thought, Marcus frowned and his tone got even more serious (if that was possible since he always sounded so serious). "What about purgatory? Not so great, not so bad, just sort of stuck in limbo."
"I acknowledge that this is possible...but I think it's unlikely. Purgatory isn't limbo, it's not even a physical place, it's the state of those who die and are assured of their eternal salvation, but who still have need of purification to enter into heaven. It's never been Catholic doctrine that limbo is a physical place like heaven or hell, just a popular belief begun in Dante's Inferno. For that matter, purgatory in general is a Catholic belief as opposed to Protestant. I can't think of any Protestant sect that believes in purgatory," he replied, inadvertently slipping into more of a lecture mode, "This is why Catholics believe it is so important to pray for the dead, so that they may enter into heaven quickly."
Yes, but even if protestants didn't believe in purgatory it doesn't mean they wouldn't end up there if it existed. And if it's a process, who's to say how that process would carry out--maybe this is it. Maybe this is how it's experienced by the soul." Marcus smirked, not believing in any of this. He was leaning toward some sort of hallucination because it fit in with his scientific background. Still, he didn't mind talking about other options. And he was kind of amused by how Alex was falling into Sunday School stuff. "I just want to know what the people back home are thinking, if we're even really gone from where we were."
"Maybe," he agreed, "But I think it's unlikely given that purgatory isn't a physical place and this is definitely a physical place. I don't feel very dead either," he paused thinking about home and all that he was missing. His family was probably distraught, "I wish I knew that too. Remember that movie from the 80's? The Last Starfighter? They left an alien...thing, in the kid's bed when he went to outer space so people wouldn't think he was missing. I keep thinking something slimy and disgusting is somehow taking my place like that...but I like to think people would notice if it were. Anyone missing you then, do you think? Family?"
Shaking his head at that last question, Marcus offered a bit of a shrug. "My parents and I haven't talked in awhile and I'm not married. Some friends are probably wondering where the hell I am though." Friends was a very loose term, but he figured it was a term that fit better into the fake life he was making for himself here. "Have you ever been dead before?" He asked with a smirk and then shook his head. "Sorry, I just think your logic is inherently flawed by this thing called faith. Each to his own, right?" He believed in that cliche very much, but that didn't mean he wouldn't ask questions.
"Logic and faith aren't separate entities that cannot coexist," Alex intoned in his best Vulcan voice, "Some of the most brilliant scientists ever to live were and are also very religious, but faith does mean taking some things without tangible proof. It's no different than believing in the moon landing or the Loch Ness monster. We KNOW the truth of those things, but the proof is scanty at best. And a lack of proof does not make something false," otherwise, people would not believe in the Loch Ness monster after all. "I know some things to be truth without hard, solid proof. That's faith."
"Believing in the Loch Ness monster is not scientific on any level. At all." He said flatly, thinking that was profoundly ridiculous. The moon landing, Alex may have had a point. But he knew he would get nowhere arguing with the man, so he waved off the conversation. "Which direction is this lumber and what is it that we're going to do with it? Build, I assume, but what?"
"It's on the other side of the lake," he began, indicating a direction as they arrived back in the camp, "We have a canoe and some carts we've been using to get across each day. Or you can swim. Whatever you want to do. As for building," he gestured to the lack of permanent structures now, "We're going to building...anything. Housing. Something that offers more protection than what we have now."
"Swim," Marcus frowned. "Yeah, I think I'll be taking the boat if there's enough room." He couldn't imagine swimming across the lake and then working on chopping trees. Then again, he was certain that within a couple weeks he'd be able to do it. He was fit now, but he expected to by olympian in a little while.
Getting some food, he started to eat it and he wasn't shy about the fact that he was hungry. He supposed he had an advantage in getting used to this food. The food at the prison wasn't exactly five star. "All right, sounds like something I can do. Which I knew more about lumberjacking and building, but I guess I'll learn as I go."
"Aren't the strongest swimmer?" Alex asked, his voice mild and uncriticizing or judgmental, it was something good to know in case he fell in or something. The water was mostly placid, but it was deep in the center and could still be dangerous. Alex followed Marcus to get food for himself too, pausing when he sat down with it to pray and cross himself. "Adnan knows the most about what we're doing and we follow his guidance. It's going pretty well and an extra set of muscles won't go unappreciated."
"I swim fine. I just don't think working wet will be the most pleasant of experiences." But he was glad to hear his help would be appreciated. Marcus was not the sort to sit around and do nothing. He logged the name 'Adnan' away in his mind and nodded, finally digging into his food.