[PRP] Rolling Stones (Rodney + Melvin)

[Toshihiko Two]

Things had been a little...tense, recently, around the apartment. Rodney was normally a quiet tenant. He and Melvin worked out together sometimes in the mornings, and as thanks for the room he'd also been laboring for sometime over a headstone, using his time off to sculpt the tiny details. These were mostly done with lasers now, via a stencil and a sandblaster. He was not sure if the island actually had a sandblaster, much less a laser. He had chopped the letters into place instead. All that needed was a pencil, a chisel, and a mallet (which he kept). He worked in his corner, with a tarp under him to collect dust and bits of stone.

He had worked on other pieces too, and recently he had talked to Mikael about some collaborations, out of which they'd produced a few small castles.

It was morning when Rodney approached Melvin. He usually asked about heading to the gym, but today he had a few other things to go over. And besides business, there was the ever-looming spectre of Lawrence's recent changes.

"Melvin?" Rodney asked gently. "It's finished. If you wanted to see."

MoonKitsune

 

[MoonKitsune]

Melvin and Rodney had a rather tolerant, easy relationship. Being a third tenant to their apartment, Melvin tried to not make him feel alienated and comfortable, and Rodney was respectful and clean. He also was great at sculpting, and between the both of them, Melvin was sure to provide tarps and anything else needed to keep their apartment as clean as possible. It was rather relaxing just seeing him sitting there so focused whilst Melvin worked at his desk carving stones. While Melvin did it to keep in practice with his division and as a bit of income, Rodney was dedicated to a art.

While he still wasn't crazy over vegan food, though he did try a few things Jan and Lawr had made in the past (Not that either of them made him eat anything he didn't want to), it was nice to have someone to go to the gym with. Overall, he was a good roommate.

He did feel bad from time to time for him, dealing with such a chaotic environment, and he had to wonder if he knew half of what was going on recently. Sometimes he worried for Rodney.

That morning, Melvin decided he wasn't much into having a big breakfast and just had some coffee and toast and had finished with dishes put away when Rodney came over. It had been a while since he made the request, but to hear it made him a bit anxious.

"Ok." He said, following to his work area, having not let himself look at the headstone out of some unexplained fear. Like seeing it too soon might damage him somehow.  

[Toshihiko Two]

Rodney crouched, undoing the blanket with careful hands.

Her name was there, of course, and along the bottom a beautiful garden. Vegetables, fruits, flowers. A stag stood in the middle, and a delicate greenhouse was in the distance.

Byrr's name was also inscribed, and on the opposite side of the stone, a jackalope was twisted artfully around the handle of an axe. The intricate details were handled with care.

There weren't any angels, miraculously.

"If there's anything you would like added, I don't mind."  

[MoonKitsune]

He knelt down before the tombstone, reaching out to softly touch the small details. Rodney was a perfect choice to entrust with the task, and each small turn of a vine in the garden, a small bud, to the gleam in the deer's eyes were done with attention and care.

"It's great, Rodney. I - I have to think a moment about what to say." As a final message to her or to the world that would pass by who never had the chance to meet her.

Seeing the stone before him with her name had a finality to everything and he felt his stomach tighten at seeing it here now, finished. It stood as a period to Rin's Life and his time with her. Now that he knew she was never around after she passed, the expanse of time without her was greater.

"I..its been over a year." He managed, already feeling that warning heat in his eyes.  

[Toshihiko Two]

Rodney felt himself getting a little warm too, just from Melvin's reaction, and caught his breath just trying not to embarrass himself.

"That's alright. You can take your time."

He had never met Rin, but he knew Melvin had loved her very much. Melvin had always been very dedicated, and not at all self-serving. He knew, too, that Lawrence had used that dedication to take advantage of Melvin. That Melvin had not invited Rodney here (even though he'd been nothing but nice since Rodney had started sleeping on the couch), and this, at least, was something he could do.
 

[MoonKitsune]

"I thought at seeing it, I'd just decide which thing I'd want to say. Feels strange, leaving a message for everyone to see. Who you write it for. Yourself? Others. Or just her." Rin never had a chance to say what she wanted, though who would really have time to consider last words on their tombstone. Most hunters knew they weren't living too old age and the rest didn't want to think about death. Tombstones were almost strange considering most didn't even have that. Rin just deserved better than that to be a nameless, unrecognized hunter. He often felt she worried about being ignored or forgotten, and he didn't even want her to feel that in death.

"Always in Bloom. If you...could just write that." He said, looking away from the carvings up at Rodney. A tear was already moving down one cheek.  

[Toshihiko Two]

"For her," Rodney answered softly. He had left a portion smooth, and it would be easy enough to chop the words into place.

"It's a beautiful message. I'd be happy to put it in," Rodney said, and fished a plastic packet of kleenex from his pocket, taking one discreetly for himself, and entrusting the rest to Melvin. He wished he could have met Rin. One day, maybe. He'd known a Rin...whose apron was often crusted in gore and whose face sported an unbalanced smile. He looked at the deer again, posed peacefully in the garden. Memory was...a strange thing.

"I can finish today."

Rodney folded his hand behind his back, still holding the kleenex. His voice was slightly wobbly, but he got his voice under control.

"Um. ...There were a few things I wanted to ask you about."  

[MoonKitsune]

He looked at the offered Kleenex and was surprised as he wiped a cheek. "Sorry." He mumbled as he took the Kleenex and wiped under his glasses. "Thought at this point with everything - guess not. Thanks." It still felt like he just lost her at times but seeing the tombstone, it felt like he could move again and give her the respected she deserved a year ago.

Rising up, he finished wiping his eyes and smiled. "I'll set arrangements to get it placed what was it you wanted to talk about?"

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"Oh, well," Rodney started softly, bending to put place the sheet back over the stone. "Mikael and I thought we might start selling some carvings. I know you do a bit too. I wondered if you'd like to put anything up?"

He clarified, tucking his hair behind his ear nervously, "You'd keep what you made, I won't...take a percentage, or anything. It's just something small. We don't have any galleries I know, so...it would just be a table in the cafeteria. But...everyone has to start somewhere, right?"

He took a breath.

"...And also, I know we didn't really get to talk about what happened in the jungle. And that your relationship has been under some strain, recently. I thought you might...have questions. If it would help."  

[MoonKitsune]

"Well, if you don't mind. My runic carving is more like glorified batteries than actual art. It might be a bit out of place on your table." He had a bag of stones he still needed to carve and usually found himself with an abundance of stones.

The last part had him pausing, clearly confused. "I'm sorry. I... Don't know what I would ask. Aren't you the one who should have questions for me as to what is happening in this freak show you are living with?"

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"You'd be doing us a favor, they'd be a great draw to the table."

Rodney seemed also confused, "Sh-should I be?" but clarified, "Ah, well. I...talked to America. And Lawrence. So...I know- most of it. I thought. I mean, I just meant, that I know he's been different lately, so I don't know how much he discussed..." Rodney rubbed his arm, "about wanting to change."  

[MoonKitsune]

Talking about Lawr's coming out as an a*****e sobered up Melvin quickly and he crossed his arms slowly. "Okay. I spoke with Lawrence when he was in the Infirmary. He told me everything. He lied about being Jan. Made everything up. Used me since our first meeting for sex and money with the excuse he somehow was going to fix me." He summed it up with a great deal of restraint.

Moving, he flopped down into one of the carved chairs he had commissions from Harrison. A gift that no longer suited the so-called perfect god.

"I talked to America and Chantelle shortly after that. To get information. To sort things out. I don't know what Lawr even shares with you. I really don't know what your relationship is with him. I didn't want to say anything beforehand because I didn't want to sour your relationship with him with hard fact, but I also don't want him lying to you too. I mean - he kinda needs all the friends and help he can get, but he is also a very dangerous person due to his lack of understanding."

He stared back up at Rodney. "But if you have any more intel, I am trying to figuring him out."

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"We're friends," Rodney said softly. "He...is a very...capable person." A fighter, an actor, a composer, an epicurean, a doctor. He was talented with disguise, and multi-lingual. His tastes were sophisticated. He was religiously educated.

"And he's done...terrible things." In spite of his many gifts, Lawrence didn't see, feel, or understand the world the same way. He had lied, stolen, cheated, tortured, manipulated, abused, and murdered.

But Paul had been a murderer. The man at Jesus's side on the cross had been a thief. The woman at the well had been an adulterer. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

"He wants to change. Be...healthier. And happier. So, he's trying. I feel like...being honest with you was important. Especially since you've...been very kind. What...what he did to you, it's....it's...you didn't deserve it." He took a shaky breath. "You've been...nothing but kind... You put others before yourself. You...care about and defend your friends. I'm...I'm glad to have met you."  

[MoonKitsune]

"...And Lawrence used that to make me think Rin was still around and pulled me in to use me." He added. "You can be up front with this. We seem to both know what's going on here."

He looked at Rodney with a sharper gaze. "But how long did you know Lawrence was doing this to me?"

 

[Toshihiko Two]

"Since the desert mission," Rodney said. "But...I thought if I told you, and Lawrence said it wasn't true, you'd believe him instead. I told Lawrence...I thought it had to come from him."