Joshua Burnside
"Wherever I go, these troubles never cease. One of these days, I'm gonna find my peace." |
That his life has a fair measure more hassles than a normal person's, mostly. Joshua's gone through life best he can- he had high grades in school on tests, but rarely turned in homework and had a lot of absences. Once he got through that, he came to own a small apartment, where he now works loading and unloading cargo at the docks of a local port. It's worked well for him- he's stronger than he looks, and took the job to begin with because it affored him a way to both make money and keep his body fit in a world where demons and beasts will intrude upon him at any moment. Of course, sometimes Joshua has a moment of peace, wherein he enjoys video games, reading, recreational martial arts, freelance writing, and cooking- they just sometimes take a backseat to the occasional succubus sneaking into his window at night and trying to steal his soul, kitsune of some random number of tails wanting to test their new magic on him, at least one minotauress ending up at his apartment because she got lost on the way to the bar again, sentient nanomachine clouds wanting to hang out and play video games with him, or snarky djinnis trying to screw with him for kicks. And why must he deal with it all? Joshua really doesn't have a choice! It's shaped his life, whether he wants it to or not. Joshua's wanted a normal life since he was a young boy, where his parents told him he was having nightmares, and that the monster under his bed doesn't exist. But humans adapt; That's their greatest strength. And Joshua has certainly adapted, and tries to live a normal life despite his circumstances. A great many years of his youth, he even went by an alias, based on the unique color of his eyes. But in recent days, he decided to eschew it and leave it behind, taking up his real name once again- only once he felt confident in himself, to a point where he no longer feared the night. Just because he lives in the metaphorical dark, he doesn't need to be part of it! In fact, in a certain respect, by coming to understand his position, he can come to embrace it as well. After all, he is a Messenger. Really, there's not a lot to get out of it, save seeing the hidden truths of the world, things the common person are told only exist in fairy tales and superstitions- at only the scant price of constant interruptions to his normal life, normal job, and normal dreams. It does have a few perks, but not what he'd expect- The lifestyle has certainly kept him fit as a fiddle, and he's no stranger when danger's about; for being a human he's above average in every quality, due to his life being in peril at least once a month. It also makes writing fantasy and fiction a lot easier when he has such a massive well of mythology to draw from. Writing what you know is easiest, and he knows things other people would never expect to be true. He never asked for it, sure, and all those crazy things have become mundane to him by now, but it's good to realize that other people would kill for such a position! It's a long, hard road, but he's come to understand that even among heaven, hell, myth, and magic, he's become a much stronger contender than any extrahumans or higher beings expected from a human. Not much more, mind, but for someone who just wanted a normal life, he's gone to extraordinary length to obtain it. Kind of shakes up what "normal" means, huh? |
 |