App: TLV (v2.0)

[everlastingcovenant]

User Name/Nick: Karin
User DW: finalprogramme
E-mail/Plurk/Discord/PM to a character journal/alternate method of contact: finalprogramme
Other Characters Currently In-Game: None

Character Name: Father Paul Hill (né Monsignor John Pruitt)
Series: Midnight Mass (TV 2021)
Age: 80, but appears to be about half that or younger.
From When?: In episode 6, he's shot in the head, and though that doesn't perma-kill him in the context of the show, it killed him enough to send him to the Barge. He showed up here late last year long enough to make a giant ass of himself, and then blipped out during the Flotilla event. He's back. Sorry.

Inmate Justification: He has made some really, really misguided decisions, and in so doing has brought down death and destruction on his tiny island town, in the form of a supernatural monster from without and an all too human monster from within.

Arrival: John is an involuntary arrival. Originally he appeared on the floor of the chapel with blood all over his fancy white-and-gold chasuble. This time, he'll appear in the chapel again, but as he did in Flotilla; as far as he's concerned, he fell into the sea there and now he's back, with no awareness of how much time has passed.

Abilities/Powers: Vampiric regeneration, ability to turn people, enhanced senses, probably healing blood as well. He can sense certain physical events within his vampire cohort (i.e. people who share his blood and the blood of the vampire that turned him) on a semi-subconscious level—he is aware when the blood has healed one character's paralysis, and he feels it when another character dies. Midnight Mass vampires don't seem to be super powerful, so he can't fly, transform himself, etc., and while his physical strength appears to be a bit above normal, it's not spectacular.

Inmate Information: In many ways John is, to all appearances, a model priest. He is a kind, gentle man with genuine love in his heart for his community and strong Catholic faith. He's worked tirelessly all his life to provide spiritual guidance to his congregation, even as the community on Crockett Island slowly decays as the fishing industry collapses. He's beloved by his parishioners for reasons beyond longevity, and when he's pretending to be Paul, you can see the energy and force of personality that must have made an enormous impression on the islanders when he originally arrived and cemented his standing in a way that lasted even into the next generations. He is charming and charismatic, and his occasional stutter and verbal hesitancy belie his conviction and steadiness. He is compassionate, firm, intelligent, and perceptive.

But he is also convinced of his own rectitude, and too ready to ascribe divine purpose and not necessarily in the healthiest or most correct way. He will assume good intent when it suits him to do so and turn a blind eye to people's faults if they are loyal to him, which enables people like Bev Keane to influence him and gain authority in the community. And he is also willing to lie and deceive to enact what he's decided is God's will, and even to inflict pain and death in the name of what he has decided is salvation.

His lies sometimes seem trivial, even charming—for example, pretending to a child that an injured mouse was healed through divine intervention (when in fact he put the mouse out of its misery and presented a lookalike to the child). But it is nevertheless deceit and ultimately does no one any favors. And then on theother end of the scale, he feeds vampire blood to his congregation without their knowledge or consent, a decision that destroys the entire community. And in the canon moment from which he's just been pulled, he's gone full Jim Jones and *encouraged his congregation to drink poison* to complete their transformation into vampires (which he sees as a resurrection). He claims he feels no guilt, and that God has absolved him of guilt. He has *fucked right up*.

He also broke his vow of celibacy when he when he fell in love and had an affair with Mildred Gunning, which resulted in the birth of her child, Sarah, whom he never publicly acknowledged (though he did love her as much as he could and was always invested in her life and future), and whose paternity was assumed to be Millie's husband George. One character mentions rumours that John was less than celibate, but nothing ever seems to have been openly discussed or known. Now, on one hand, you can argue that he and Millie were consenting adults when they had their affair and you can argue against priestly celibacy ... but on the other, you can also argue that his position as a priest and figure of authority automatically throws consent into question, and that he took the vows when he took holy orders and whether you agree with it or not, he still broke faith.

In any case, he always loved Millie—to the extent that one of the factors underpinning his decision to return to Crockett was essentially to grant her everlasting (vampiric) life and youth. In fact, one may reasonably wonder about the extent to which all his talk about the end of days and the new covenant is him trying to convince himself of a larger meaning and purpose beyond simply the frankly selfish desire to bring Millie back from old age. The affair with Millie, aside from all the questions stated previously, also left him vulnerable to bad decisions that he hasn't really admitted to yet. He's lying to his community and to himself, not to mention letting himself be swayed by Bev, on whom he'd gotten into a habit of relying on his increasing infirmity—and he still does, even though he has his faculties back.

It's also worth noting that for a parish as tiny as St. Patrick's, he is able to outfit himself in some truly glorious chasubles, and the chalice, paten, etc. are all very nice. There is a streak of earthly vanity in John that he is unwilling to admit as well.

His previous experience on the Barge has taught him that vampires are a thing that exist and that they are not exactly welcomed with open arms everywhere—but he is still quietly convinced that vampiric immortality is a divine gift, at least in his world if nowhere else, and maybe elsewhere and they just don't see it. He attempted to start his own semi-Catholic cult on Flotilla and almost succeeded, but that got busted and then he vanished, so that was a flop. He still doesn't fully comprehend his own screw-ups, and while he will frequently tell people what he thinks they want to hear about it, he hasn't really improved much at all.

His memories of his previous tenure will be a bit fuzzy, as well. Certain key relationships will be remembered, but not all events. In any case, once he realizes what's happened, he will put on a big show of humility—instead of grandly saying Mass every Sunday and all, he will simply act as a low-key chaplain, pretending to have learned some kind of lesson when in fact he really has not.

Path to Redemption: John's graduation requirements, in approximate order from least to most difficult, are: acknowledgement that the "angel", while far from being divine, is in fact a dangerous monster; recognition that he's done his community an enormous disservice by not only bringing the "angel" and without their consent turning them with its blood, but also by enabling Bev, who while only a metaphorical bloodsucker, is wildly dangerous in her own way; admitting that he's been profoundly lying to himself about his core motivation of saving Millie; understanding that this motivation was fundamentally selfish and that she was right—the natural order of things is for them to fade away, not cling unnaturally to a life that is, really, no life at all; and finally, acknowledgement of the many, many layers of deceit—self- and otherwise—that have underpinned his entire life and led to his downfall and the destruction of his community.

(His graduation will send him back to the moment he revives from the gunshot wound, and ... everything that happens in the last episode. No one ever said the poor bastard was going to be guaranteed a happy ending.)

History: Midnight Mass episode summaries.

Additional background: John Pruitt was born in 1940, and seems to have come to Crockett Island sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s. (There's a newspaper clipping visible at one point that mentions a date of Sunday, April 27, a date which occurred in 1969 and 1975. For various other reasons of timing, 1975 makes the most sense, which places his arrival on Crockett in 1967.)

Sample Network Entry:
[Video. John is wearing a plain black clerical shirt with the collar, and has a sheepish, chastened look on his face.]

Ah—well. This is—this is awkward. I—hm, where to begin. Well—to those of you who don't me, hello—I'm Father John Pruitt, and I'm—I'm an inmate. I was here ... before, some months before, actually, and I gather a lot has changed in the interim, so I'm going to be, um, catching up. And, uh, those of you who knew me before, hello again. I—I know I didn't really leave on what we'd call the best of terms, back in that, that Flotilla place. I know I made some bad mistakes then, and I'm—I want to fix that. I ... I have no plans to start saying Mass again. I'm happy to—to administer sacraments to anyone who's comfortable with it, but I understand if you're not. [ Big sigh. ] So, that's ... that's all for now, really. Um. Thank you.

Sample RP:
After John makes his network post, he sits for a while in his room, trying to gather up the wherewithal to present himself to the rest of the Barge in person. It's going to be awkward. Kirei and Trevor are probably lining up outside to kick his ass, and he kind of doesn't blame them.

So, what to do. Keep a low profile, he decides. Humility—that's the key, isn't it? Genuine expressions of humility. And he has been ... humiliated. Made a fool of himself in Flotilla, trying to start his own Church, trying to channel the teachings of the Lord into that place—that was a mistake. And he is genuinely sorry for it.

Nevertheless—his previous mistakes notwithstanding, his previous conversations with the other vampires of the Barge notwithstanding—he still believes he is blessed, he is chosen—and he must get back to Crockett. His work is unfinished, the resurrection must be fulfilled. The angel needs him—his flock needs him. So he'll do whatever he must here to make that happen.

He kneels on the floor, folds his hands in prayer. "Heavenly Father, grant me the strength to not squander this second opportunity that You have granted me, to spread Your grace and truth and light here and in my home. Guide my words and my hands such that I may transcend this place and return to the people of Crockett, so that I may guide them in Your holy mission on earth, to spread the great gifts of resurrection to all who are called to it. Amen."

He crosses himself, rises to his feet, and opens the door. Here goes nothing.