antonymph

oscar, a modest priest among many in new york, having grown up among the downtrodden, always tries, in his personable, meek manner, to make the world a slightly better place than how he came into it, all the while battling the weight of his own sins, and his less-than-stellar coping mechanisms for them. but it will be okay, everything will work out: for the Lord is with him, and He has a special and unique plan for the life of each and every one of His children, so reads the beloved Word. so oscar maintains aiding the meek, while emulating the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. another mainstay promise for oscar.

but, after half an average lifetime, it’s not enough. it will never be enough. when oscar rescues one wayward soul from a pit, five more fall down it, each one nastier, more sinfully entrenched than the last. after all, it’s impossible to save one from falling while you yourself are, also.

maybe it’s not worth trying anymore—no, he mustn’t think such things. every Child has a plan laid out for them. his soul will become enlightened in due time—he will be assured, one day, that he is doing everything right according to the plan He has in mind for him.

but “one day” still has yet to come. the priest is slowly, surely, deniably losing hope. losing faith.

then uh somehow bing bada boom Oscar opens the morning John Gazette and gets John’d and suddenly all of God’s Creation goes Black in his eyes and there’s an Otherworldly voice in this priest’s jaded, gin-soaked head.

got it? ok time for the Special Features, aka some Vignettes of the AU:

oscar is too eager to believe this is 100% confirmation from the Lord that he is on the right track in life. that is until he realizes the voice is often less than friendly and doesn’t really seem to know what oscar’s talking about when he mentions God or Jesus or a “divine plan”. read the mysterious book that started this whole mess for possible answers? no––that is of the occult, which a pious man of God would not dare consult. after much persistence from the new voice, however––fine, he will at least keep it on his person, covertly, for the time being.

ok, oscar says: if this is not the Holy Spirit assuring me of my way, then this must be a Test. like that of Job—no, more like Jesus’ 40 days’ temptation in the desert. yes, this is it. oscar must simply ignore any ill-informed “advice” from the voice in his head, and surely he will emerge a stronger, more faithful son of God at the end of this. whenever "this" comes.

during Particular moments of stress for oscar and the voice (he simply can’t call it that anymore. how about...Adam, after the first man? for possibly being the first of…whatever it is. because it swears it’s not Satan or a demon or even an angel because it apparently has no idea what those are. it could be lying, but who's to say? not our priest.), oscar recites Bible passages, mostly from memory. adam favors stories about helping others, because why would one insignificant worm waste time in its short, precious life on an unending number of other, lower worms whose own bad choices got them to where they are? there must be an answer Somewhere in that old book oscar is obsesssed with that explains this madness. madness, undoubtedly...but why do these stories, and assisting oscar in his altruistic vantures, sometimes make adam's incorporeal chest feel...warm?

so, oscar rationalizes: adam is not an angel, or a demon, or Satan, or certainly not the Holy Spirit incarnate… but he has still been Chosen to carry the burden of "Adam" nonetheless. and if he Has been Specially Chosen for a Greater Purpose then…no harm is allowed to come to him until he fulfills it, right? and he will be informed, enlightened, with absolute certainty when that happens, like many Chosen Persons are in the Bible, right? so if he announces during one of his sermons that he has been Chosen, and that no harm will come to him by the grace and will of the Lord, then he will display nothing short of a Miracle by attempting to injure himself—a cleaver to the left elbow should be sufficient—and coming out unscathed. Adam dourly pleads oscar’s insanity as the disciple swings the blade down—and suddenly loses feeling of his right arm, the blade stopping short of his flesh. the blade drops as Someone experiences using a hand for the first time. how unexpected. if oscar continues to try to pull stunts like this, he might cease to have control over his body at all...

take this screenshot straight from the archives (but replace 'john' with adam):

at some point amidst the martyr complex and spreading the Word to the destitute, oscar tracks down the priest who abused his childhood best friend, alexander. because It Was Always Going To Happen. Or, well, he successfully interrogates (with no small help from adam) one of the other priests that raised him, who tells him that Father McKenna left new york some time ago to retire in massachusetts, in a city called Arkham, but that he has not heard word from him in some time so he’s unsure if McKenna is even still alive. no matter, oscar will investigate all the same. …ok, maybe with some help from two P.I.s he encounters in a certain quaint bar when he and adam arrive there. like it was meant to be... yes, this Must be assurance, a sign, that he is on the right path. doing the right thing. helping to save others that McKenna might be harming to this day. yes. nothing more.

instead of arthur/john both meeting det. noel: oscar/adam both fully meet the investigators—"really, oscar, just ‘arthur’ is fine"—in due time. mainly once adam feels fairly confident that these legit investigators aren't going to have oscar arrested and abandon them for wasting their time on a lunatic. adam Needs a Normal, Non-delusional-Zealot Interaction or else he’s going to crash out any day now. perhaps the lester-yang duo is Unsettled at their new revelation of the existence of ineffable, possibly dangerous entities like adam. or...maybe some strange disappearances have been happening in and around arkham for a little while now––around the time oscar opened that mysterious tome and got Adam'd, actually––and maybe the two parties' goals align more than either one expected...