Welcome to Gaia! :: [PRP] Reintroduction - Sean & Iris

He half-reached out, as though unsure of whether he was allowed to touch her hand. Seeing her eyes, familiar yet unfamiliar, start to get watery like that made him deeply nervous. She must have received her stone after he had his, but her god had taken so much more of her away than Gelezis had done in a greater length of time. How much longer would she really still be Iris?

"You're not totally gone yet, though," he half-asked, half-told her. Sean dearly wished he had gotten the chance to see her more, too, before Gelezis poisoned him. "We still have some time, no?" Calico had told him so long ago that he should spend what time he had connecting with his loved ones. And maybe he had not known Iris much at all, but if they were in this together, then he saw no reason why he could not be there for her as well.

"I'm glad Sh'khin let you come to me," Sean went on. He highly doubted Gelezis would have allowed him the same freedom. "D- do you know if you have much time?" He smiled weakly. "Want to go out to a bar again or something? We probably both need it."

Immortal? Gelezis had tried to kill him, or it had sure seemed that way for a while. But he was fairly sure that the god was not willing to let the body die, at least, in spite of the fact that he apparently despised Sean himself. The antiquary had to admit that he was not entirely sure if he actually was immortal now, though, or if Gelezis was still restricted to more traditional means of self preservation.

A thought crossed Sean's mind then - if his body died now and Gelezis was not able to stop it, then the god would have no choice but to find a new host. However a stupid little rock was going to do that on its own. Maybe whatever divine Plague Iris now carried could be another way out for him. True death, at least, instead of eternal oblivion. And it was a way to get back at Gelezis.

Stepping forward, closer to her, Sean held his arms out to embrace her.

"His name is Gelezis, god of magnetism. He speaks to me, but he's frankly kind of a jackass. He holds no love for me, and I hold none for him." Sean smiled weakly. "Hold me, just for a moment, Iris. Then we can get drinks."

Sean held her for a moment then let her go, though he still tried to keep hold of her hand. Studying the obvious and jarring changes her face had undergone already, he wondered if they might have ended up going out or something if circumstances had been different. She was pretty, even now, with marks and sores on her face.

While getting laid tonight, possibly for the last time, would have been great in Sean's mind, he was also not totally sure Iris would want that, or even be able to. His cheeks reddened a little as he wondered just how much she had changed physically with the god taking over her body, and went on to ponder how he might change. The voice that had addressed him before letting Iris talk to him had sounded more masculine - would Iris turn completely into a man?

At least Gelezis was definitely male.

Glancing away, Sean squirmed a little, then asked her, "Same bar as last time? Just for old time's sake?" The whole host-for-a-god thing just complicated everything, and it was definitely about time he just tried to pretend to be normal again, if even for one evening.

"Yeah, I've been... otherwise occupied," he told her, sighing. He had only seen her once before her morph. Much as Sean did not like thinking about the circumstances under which he had first really met Gelezis, he felt he at least owed Iris an explanation as to where he had gone for so long.

"I spent a while in the hospital," he told her, then added after a moment, "Not because I was trying to be like you in that respect, but because Gelezis tried to kill me. He kind of kept me in a coma there for a while." Sean sighed, crossing his arms. "That was how he decided to introduce himself."

Reluctantly, the antiquary forced himself to meet Iris's bloodshot gaze again. "So that's why I haven't been around for you."

Then he shook his head a little and picked up his chair. "Let me just throw this inside and lock up, and then we can get some drinks and forget all about everything for a while."

Sean felt his cheeks grow a little hot at her words, dismal but endearing, and smiled as he reluctantly released her hand for the moment. He folded up his chair, shoved the front door open, and stepped inside; a moment later, the young man could be seen through the front shop window, propping the folded chair against the wall.

With renewed energy, he jogged back out through the doorway and shut the door, locking it before stuffing his keys in his pocket.

"Ready when you are," he said, offering her his hand again while brushed the fingers of his other hand through his hair once. Enough drinks in him, and he could pretend like all of this rebirth stuff was just a dream and just spend some quality time with Iris. Tomorrow, he could worry about everything else.

Sean could feel his head starting to swim just a little, like he might already be starting to develop a low fever. He half-feared what Gelezis might do to him if the god decided to consider this contact to be putting his body at too much of a risk. But for now, he tried to ignore the possibility of more iron poisoning as much as possible. The physical surroundings were enough of a dark cloud to hang over what little relationship he might be able to have with Iris.

"I've been having fewer and fewer customers recently," he told her after a few moments, to break the silence as they walked. "Things break sometimes, too, in the earthquakes, but I guess at least I have Gelezis to make sure everything gets cleaned up right away."

As they reached the bar, the antiquary stepped a little ahead of Iris, still holding her hand as he glanced around. The place was still standing, but looking inside now, that seemed a miracle. The window glass that had been painted with window chalked adverts of happy hour was broken and scattered on the floor like jagged puzzle pieces. The neon signs that had hung just inside were still dangling there, mostly intact but not illuminated.

"Looks like this place got hit pretty hard," Sean murmured, sounding like he had half-expected it, but was nonetheless disappointed.

The young man's brow furrowed a little, and he brushed his free hand back through his hair in a nervous gesture. "More like he takes over my hands and feet and cleans, usually. Tells me he can't stand the mess I leave behind." Sean sighed. "I really didn't think I was all that bad, but Gelezis said he 'can't stand the squalor'."

As Iris released his hand, he glanced down at his palm where Gelezis' stone rested, hidden by his glove. The leather had started to wear in the middle, where the stone bulged from the contours of his hand. There was no hole yet, but it looked like there might be one in the next few weeks. The glove had been kind of old to begin with, after all.

"I guess you'll get to see him if he stops his resting. He holds control over me as much as he can, recently, but he says he doesn't have the energy to hold onto me all day every day. So I still have stretches to myself. For a while, he said it amused him to watch me interact, but it seems like the novelty has worn off for him." Forcing a small smile, he glanced up at Iris. "So I guess we can just put that meeting off for as long as I can."

He then decided to drop it in favor of turning his attention to the selection of bottles. Putting a hand to his chin as he made a show of mock-pondering his options, Sean smiled a little and let out a little, "Hmmm...." Then he pointed past her to a square-ish bottle of vodka that was still unbroken, though the dust of destruction had settled on top of it. "How about that one? Any whole glasses left, or do we have to drink out of the bottle?"