cumulative | marina [pcs]

[hewwo. mathis is just vibing in the church this morning, hanging out. he hasn't left yet after sleeping here, which he... has in fact been doing already. don't @ him lucas did this to the virches.

so here he is, curled up on a pew with his knees pulled up to his chest, sitting in silence.]

[ lucas rly said GO TO CHURCH...

well the silence will indeed be interrupted by the door opening and marina just peering inside before making her way in. wherever she'd slept last night, well. it wasn't here, but this place sure feels like it resonates with her, and she maybe finds that just a little ironic. but in any case, seeing the familiar head of hair, even curled up, she walks over, her heels clicking gently on the floor. ]

Mathis? [ her voice is steady, quiet. ] Hey. I was wondering if you'd be in here...

Y-yes... we were already staying here, so...

[you know. it's convenient! easy enough to just stay here and chill, especially while he's struggling to hide the words on him.

it's not going great when they don't hold still, is the thing, but boy he's trying.]

Kind of lucky then, no need to move much.

[ it is very convenient. her hair is completely down today, and it certainly is an attempt to hide the edges of some inky words, even as they crawl over her fingers from time to time like a terrible little marquee. ]

... Already having a rough morning too, huh? With this weird stuff on our skin...?

I... I think that must be what they meant by... the magic here.

[thanks he hates it!!]

Yeah it's... it's really not ideal.

[ she won't purposefully try and read it, but she does try and look him over a little at least. ]

... Figured I'd distract myself a bit. I got a book from one of the masked folk from yesterday. You wanna join me?

O-oh, you... did...? I was talking to one of them about stories...

[three way handshake let's start a BOOK CLUB except he doesn't know what a book club is

when she looks him over, she'll catch his tattoo shifting a bit. it reads 'camille'.]

Seems like they don't mind getting us things if we need them, so... maybe we can slowly build up a collection between the both of us, hm?

[ ah. and there it is. on her own arm, a morphing, twisting series of words that ooze quietly as her fingertips move. coward and traitor interchanging themselves. ]

We'll weather this...

I-I wish we could at least... cover them...

[he shakes his head, trying to move his hand to cover where his own tattoo has moved to. come on!!! let him hide things!]

Yeah, not my ideal way of getting to know people right out the gate. Bit like being dunked headfirst into cold water.

... I won't bring it up if you don't want. But I also don't mind hearing you out.

I'm not very used to... getting to know people, already...

[TRULY being thrown in the fucking deep end here.]

Um, but i-it's... complicated.

Then it must be a lot - all of us here clamoring.

[ she just kind of laces her inked up fingers together. ]

I think... a lot of these are complicated. Not like we don't have the time, though.

It is. I usually... stayed inside...

[so this is SO MUCH. god.]

A-and this is so... hard to avoid.

[at some point mathis returns to the church, where he is just... sitting on a pew, knees tucked up to his chest, arms folded around them. he's quiet.]

[ she's already in here lighting some candles in full and will just have a quiet seat beside him because that was a fucking awful one, my baby boy. ]

Hey there... not doing too hot, huh?

...I'll... be all right.

[this isn't the first time he's been on a murder case but it IS new that it was all like this.]

Still, you got a bit close there for a moment...

You did well. Just sorry it seemed to explode all at once...

It was a little stressful...

[SO MUCH OCCURRED.]

If you downplay a man's boots turning into metal snakes before our very eyes, I will give you the most ridiculous up-do while you're asleep tonight, Mathis...

Yeah, they've made a real spectacle of it all.

[ a beat... she thinks about this and just. takes a very big breath, letting it out slowly as she gazes at one of the windows of the church. these things on their skin aren't easy to talk about, but she thinks about it, and she decides maybe... maybe it's worth it. ]

I'll tell you a story. My father. He was a big name priest back in Prehevil... performed all kinds of old rituals and rites to try and earn favor with the old gods.

[ she slowly rubs at her knuckles. ]

It's tradition, for a dark priest's first born son to take on his mantle, and all of those rites and rituals, hoping for gods steeped in pain to gaze upon them. [ a pause ] ... But my mother wasn't into that kind of thing. Don't know why my father married her - maybe just to secure an heir.

[ the words elongate, shift, twist, still the same just bigger, worse, up her arms like fetid roots. ]

She gave birth to a son, and she lied to my father. Said that she had born him a daughter instead. And she raised me just like that. He's called me a traitor and a coward for abandoning "his ways", but... I'd rather see death than become some bug-eating misanthrope that'd sell my own flesh and blood to hell for just a sliver of power.

I- I didn't mean to-! I just meant...

[he hesitates, eyes downcast when he speaks again.]

...I don't think that he... was trying to harm anyone, when that happened. He could have, if he tried.

Th-that's....

[he's horrified as he listens to that story, to the way she describes the things her father wanted her to take on; it's enough to make someone queasy, thinking about it. what could be important enough, to go so far? what would make a person desire power so badly-?]

I think... it's very brave of you, to know that you weren't willing to do those things a-and... refuse what he wanted.

[that's the opposite of cowardice. he's wrong.

another bit of that is curious to him, though, and he can't help but ask-]

U-um, if I may ask... is it strange for you, to have been raised as... something else? F-forgive me if this is too personal, but I had never heard of...

You may. [ a little smile flickers over her mouth as she shakes her head a bit. she doesn't seem to mind. ] I wanna get to know you... so I think it's only fair I share the complicated and uncomfortable times.

[ to show safety. lacing her fingers together, she looks towards them and smiles a bit, self-satisfied. fuck you, old man. ]

My mother raised me as a daughter from birth - and as I grew up, I felt like it was right, even if I was perhaps... different from my peers. Maybe I was simply born under the right soul to do just that.

So no, it was never strange for me...

Oh...

[he listens quietly, curious. it would have been unpleasant to be raised a way she didn't actually feel was right, but if she felt like it was, then-- that's what's important, isn't it? mathis might not necessarily understand, but she sounds satisfied.]

Th-then I'm... glad it didn't feel as if you were living as someone you weren't.

[ a small nod, and a very gentle shoulder nudge. ]

I... don't regret it. Not one bit. I think living with the decisions made for you can be difficult, but ultimately... you should live your own life. Best you can.

Easy, easy... it's okay.

[ just a joke, she promises. ]

... I don't think he wanted to. But I think it'd be the same for a lot of us had we been in his shoes... I'm just sorry it put you in a kind of scary place like that.

[ welcome to hell we are getting shadowgrabbed and yeeted into the memory-share space. a scene in the dark of a restaurant basement unfolds. ]

[ it's a great day to be miserable. she's going to come find him after everything awful has happened. the vibes tonight are going to remain rank, but she'll do her best to see to him and anisphia. ]

... Mathis.

[ a soft call, wherever he happens to be as she approaches, so she doesn't startle him. ]

Marina...

[he's in the church, settled on one of the pews; more himself now, it seems, subdued.]

[ the church is way too empty now, she hates it. ]

Everything really just happened at once...

[ sits down beside him on one of the pews. ]

Would you want to talk? Or just sit here?

Um, we can talk, if you'd like... I- I don't know if I'll be very good company, though. I'm sorry.

Good thing I'm not looking for good company in times like these, just yours, however that is.

So no apologies... I just wanna be here.

[ it's very quiet okay, how did we just shrink in half overnight. ]

marina [pcs]

w0, monday

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W2 MONDAY

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