You Wither, You Blister, I Watch You Burn and Peel

[lugh-thecelt.livejournal.com]

Silk Road
Late Afternoon, Wednesday 14 October

He left today.

Eris has spent all day in the courtyard. I tried talking to her. I tried moving her. Nothing works. I can't imagine the pain she's in. Can't imagine how personally she takes his leaving, even when she shouldn't. I know she feels like we always leave her.

Ares may have. I will not.

Left the ranch earlier this afternoon. Needed to vent my own anger, my own pain. Ares shouldn't have left her. Left us.

I know where he is. Shadow has seen him.

Hera better not have lied to me...

So, here I am. Alone. On Silk Road. The rage boils barely under my surface. I snarl at some kids and they rush off to the other side of the street. An old woman shakes her head at me disapprovingly. I make her think I look like a wolfman.

I hate this fucking town.

[OPEN]

[CLOSED]

Comments

[brotherlaurence.livejournal.com]

My heart drops down into my stomach, maybe even to my feet, and I stare at him. For some reason, it didn't occur to me that he'd want to include them. I should have known.

"Cain, kind of." I shake my head. "I don't really know how that would work. And," I hesitate, but finally say, "Kate O'Hara."

Don't ask me to bring her into this, Lúgh.

[lugh-thecelt.livejournal.com]

The Sinner. He not just believes, he knows. Sort of perfect, I think. "And Kate O'Hara." Laurence says her name hesitantly. There's so much reluctance to bring her up.

"You and Kate. You're not together anymore, right?"

But you wish you were. I can tell from your expression, Father, that you wish you were.

[brotherlaurence.livejournal.com]

"No," I say with an inward flinch. I hope it doesn't show. No, we're not together any more. Please don't ask me to bring her into this or I may try to kill you and that just means I'll die here instead of doing something for Him and I don't think I would care one whit. "We're not."

[lugh-thecelt.livejournal.com]

He's unhappy about it. Just like I thought. I've been in his position too recently. How amusing is that? A god and a servant of a higher god, conversing of a conspiracy and understanding one another's pain. I wonder if he would understand the pain I feel right now...

I smile at him. It's not a happy smile, but not an "I'm going to kill you now" smile, either. It's my responsibility to gather what we need for this, whether that is materials or people. Were they still together, I would default to him to ask her or not. They are not, though, which means the decision should be hers and I should be the one to ask. Likewise with the Sinner.

"I'm sorry you aren't, Laurence. You seemed well-suited to each other. I'm not much judge of relationships, though," I add with a shrug.

[brotherlaurence.livejournal.com]

I give him a short nod, keeping all the emotion in that I can.

"Thank you." Then my lips quirk and I say, "But if I may say so, you and your wife seem to be very well suited." Both slightly insane and both very attractive. Not to mention the way I have seen them with each other. It's almost shameless, but also something I envy in a way. "I'll see if there's a way around the witnesses, if I can." I am not hopeful. "It is just to be you and I and the doctor, correct?"

[lugh-thecelt.livejournal.com]

"Thank you. But if I may say so, you and your wife seem to be very well suited." I smile at that.

"We are." There's no one, no worshiper, no other god, I have ever met that matched me anywhere near as well as she. "I'm a lucky one."

"I'll see if there's a way around the witnesses, if I can. It is just to be you and I and the doctor, correct?"

"Yes," I lie. He won't find a way without witnesses. Religion and faith, as strong as it may be individually, requires numbers in order to thrive. And it must thrive in the face of a Hellion bastard like Marbas.

It's what this town lacks.

It's why I hate this town.

[brotherlaurence.livejournal.com]

"OK," I say and offer him a handshake. "It sounds silly to say to a god, but if you need anything, I'm usually here." He could kill me for that, too. Then I nod at the far room where I've been sleeping and studying. "I'll go back to studying, then." With a smile, I leave him. He won't steal anything and he'll shut the door. There's nothing I have that he could possibly want.

[lugh-thecelt.livejournal.com]

"Thank you, Father." I watch him walk away, leaving me here, unattended, in his Church. The wood at the sill has been replaced. The work that's been done in here is good. Masterful, even. My eyes go up to the Cross and I study it. Whoever crafted it-- I suspect it was Laurence-- took their time with it, grooving it perfectly. There is no space between the crossing plank and the rising plank. Flawless.

I blink a few times, unsure of why I stare at it like I do. Something about it... I step in closer, stopping right in front of the pulpit.

And I kneel with both knees on the floor.

In a voice so quiet I'm not even sure I speak aloud, I say,

"Help me."