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 Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 3:35 pm
Being interrogated was not how Valeriu had planned to spend the day. He struggled to rise, breath coming in short, haggard bursts - but his frown didn't stray.
"I don't know," he exhaled, leaning back against the tree for support. It was a painful reminder of exactly how close Tepin had squirmed to his heart - that his usually steadfast stance on winning was compromised by the thought of having to take her out.
"I v'ould not be able to," he ground his fingertips into the bark behind him, "I cannot hurt her, just as I cannot hurt Sydni." He'd thought about this before, though he tried not to: all the ways he could avoid having it come to that. Some way to get her out of the Game without having to kill or hurt her. But no matter how long he'd hung around Persy's shop, the goddess had never returned to answer his questions.
But there had to be some way.
"I v'on't give up. I v'ill v'in." His stubbornness prevailed. "And she and Sydni v'ill be safe," he insisted. "I v'ill find a v'ay."
Above all, Tepin and Sydni had to live. If...if worst came to worst, and they were the last two left -- he knew Tepin would help make his desired world a reality.
Whether he was there or not.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 10:43 pm
Find a way, huh? This boy had guts, thinking that he could stand up to the order set by the Gods. As if some mere mortal could change the way that things had been done since the dawn of time. It was arrogant, it was cocky, and it was insane.
And Mixcoatl approved.
“What happens after you win-- when you‘ve made your utopia?” This was a question Mixcoatl was particularly interested in; and he knew Tepin would also love to hear the answer. If Valeriu was really so worried about being dangerous, what were his plans once the game was over, and he was no different from everyone else?
Would he take her then? Or would nothing change for his child?
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 10:58 pm
This was turning into some bizarre version of good cop, bad cop.
Only it was more like insane, crazy cop. Valeriu was still bleeding, and probably would not be standing if not for the solid tree propping him up.
God, he hated head wounds. They never clotted fast enough. Even the tiniest scratch seemed to bleed for days on end. Damn it all.
"V'hen I v'in?" The question was a strange one. He'd contemplated what life would be like in his new world; the things his people would need, how to provide them and sustain them with all the knowledge and care this world hadn't had when it began. To carefully plan, to use resources wisely, to protect and nurture and live alongside nature.
And life - culture? He wanted it to flourish, like never before.
But he knew, in his new world - he didn't really have his own place. He wouldn't belong there, alongside his creations.
"I v'ill stay, to care for Sydni and Tepin. And then, v'hen they are old enough, they v'ill go and start their own families, and I v'ill return to the jungle," he explained, and his eyes dropped unwillingly to the shadowy claw that had taken over his arm. Even now the shadows still writhed, inching towards his shoulder as if they wanted to cover his entire body.
"I know I am a monster," he added, and to his credit his voice stayed steady. "And that I v'ill not belong v'ith mankind in my new v'orld. They do not need a murderer in their midst. But I v'ill stay until my girls do not need me anymore."
He frowned.
Of course, the potential husbands would be interrogated quite thoroughly. He wasn't about to hand them off just yet.
Maybe when they were thirty. That was a good time to start dating.
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:26 pm
The child was more self-sacrificing than Mizcoatl had originally thought, however, he also seemed a bit too self-righteous. It was just barely irritating; did this boy fancy himself as some kind of martyr for his world?
Pathetic.
“Do you think they will just let you leave?” If he knew anything about his Godling, he knew that the perfect would could not be possible for Tepin without Valeriu by her side. How the boy could think anything else when the girl was so open with her feelings… he had to be just a blatant idiot.
Still, Mixcoatl had to admit that the fight had damaged him more than he expected; he began to walk, his eyes still constantly plastered on the boy, before he too leaned against a tree. His arms remained crossed inconspicuously on his chest, and under his mask held a grim expression.
Even spelling it out, this boy was unable to understand the extent of her feelings. The feelings of remorse and rejection, and everything in between. It wasn‘t that he didn‘t notice-- she had made it all to clear that she loved him. Honestly, he must genuinely not have loved in her the same way, else all this nonsense would have ended sooner.
“She‘s suffering.” He informed him quite bluntly, “Even with you by her side. Because her feelings aren‘t reaching you.”
“How do you think she would feel if you abandoned in the world you created? To constantly see your work, to be reminded of you, and yet be unable to see you.”
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:45 pm
He grit his teeth. This was delving into things he'd rather have left unsaid.
Valeriu now knew it would've been smarter to faint from the blood loss. He'd seen - he really would have had to be blind, deaf, and dumb to realize what all of Tepin's little jabs and retorts meant. And it made sense, now, why she was so unhappy during the trip.
He should've just said he was gay.
"I know," he was hurting her, "I know that I have been unfair to her. I am selfish." This was beyond bizarre. Her god, confronting him over something like this. Like an angry parent.
"She can't be happy v'ith me," he admitted, and those were words he didn't want to hear himself say. "I have killed people. I v'ill continue to do so, to sustain myself." Another harsh truth. "Better for her to be rejected now, than to be in love v'ith a monster. She can find a good man, and have a healthy relationship."
Anything involved with him wasn't healthy, he knew. Maybe at one point, but after Quinn left - all she'd be getting was half a man. Some broken shards of a mirror. A toy soldier whose only hold left on life was to make a world for the people he cared about.
"She deserves better," he decided. "A man who knows exactly v'hat his feelings are for her. A man who isn't broken, or a killer, or as selfish as I am."
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Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:58 pm
“If you let her go--” Mixcoatl wondered how much effect his statement would have, “She will go to another player.”
It was true. Tepin‘s heart had already become fond of another boy, though it paled in comparison to her feelings for Valeriu. With time and the proper pushes, she could very well fall for him. While Mixcoatl didn‘t mind her falling in love with someone tamer than Valeriu… It was far better to have his child with someone whose God he could trust.
The idea of Tepin and Izzy as a couple made him honestly uneasy. At least he could trust Tezcatlipoca as far as he could throw him. And with muscles like Mixcoatl‘s, that was pretty far.
“Rather than pushing her to someone who could very well kill her… “ He stopped-- No. He was not going to make decisions, or tell them what they should do. He had vowed to stay silent, in the background, and not influence things. For Tepin‘s sake, so that she could follow her own path in life, he would remain a neutral influence.
So that she could be her own person.
“She understands more than you think.”
She wasn‘t a fragile porcelain doll. She could handle the truth. It was only with this boy, her feelings for this boy, that caused her to have a heart of glass.
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:16 am
Damn this man. He managed to bring up everything Valeriu didn't want to think about, every doubt he had--
The thought of his stray being put in so much danger for the sake of companionship was terrifying. He could easily imagine spending his days and nights, constantly watching, constantly ready for some sign that the Player would betray her. Hoping he'd be able to save her in time.
And he didn't know. He never knew his own feelings in this particular arena. With Quinn, realization had come too late - would it be the same here? He knew he was hurt, knew it wasn't fair to depend on her so much. He didn't want her to be his - his rebound, or something. Not when he didn't know what to think about her now; she was his little princess mere weeks ago. Had been a child, just like he had. Had been like another little sister.
He loved her. But he didn't know if he could fall in love with her. Didn't know if he could be what she wanted, if he could ever reciprocate what she was demanding of him. He didn't think he could ever again.
But she'd been there. For him. He groaned, something between frustration and headache and sheer physical pain, and finally sank to the ground when his legs would hold him up no longer.
He didn't want her to be in love with him. He wanted her to see him as an older brother, so he could see her as a younger sister, and happily watch her meet a good man and live a happy, normal life. So much for that.
"You Aztecs," he finally said, frowning at the man accusingly. "Are all the same." All two that he had met, at least. "You all mess v'ith minds. Mine in particular. You give me a headache," he declared from his spot on the ground. "And you never take 'I don't know' for an answer."
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:24 am
A smile crept on the man‘s lips, and he was almost tempted to shed his mask in order to show this boy what pleasure he took in the frustration that he caused him.
“I normally stay out of things--” He elaborated, still somewhat proud at his win, “But that girl…”
Drove him nuts with worry.
Mixcoatl released a sigh, red eyes turning towards the sun in thought.
“There‘s really nothing more that I can do.” He had probably already overstepped his boundaries in being neutral, but the flood of negative emotions from that girl… There was no way that he could stand there and do nothing for her. “Ultimately, its up to her.”
His gaze turned back down, cold and disapproving, “And up to you.”
Even if the boy had proved his worth as a protector and a guardian-- even if he had made it clear that he would never harm Tepin-- even if he would sooner die than hurt her…
Mixcoatl could never fully approve of this boy, not when his child was suffering as badly as she was.
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 12:37 am
Valeriu didn't believe the god for an instant. It hadn't been up to them the moment Mixcoatl had appeared to kick his a**.
But...
"I understand," he acknowledged, and finally let go of the shadows on his arm. He understood, a bit - knew, perhaps, where the god was coming from. For once.
It was strange to realize that.
"I v'ill do my best."
It was an ambiguous promise: he'd do his best to avoid hurting her, to weigh her future happiness carefully, to decide as quickly and as firmly as possible what he thought about the matter. Valeriu was a man slow to change - and he didn't want to draw this out while Tepin was hurting. But he couldn't make a move until he knew, for sure.
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 1:14 am
That was all that Mixcoatl could demand from him. Even if he had broken his oath of neutrality (Which, for lack of better terms, was mostly to test this boy), he had not directly given orders. To the best of his abilities, he had only done his best to try to make the boy see things from a different perspective.
But more than anything else, it had given Mixcoatl a proper meeting with the boy, and had allowed him to draw his own conclusions, rather than those tainted by the thoughts of his Godling.
Speaking of-- Mixcoatl froze in his spot as an arrow wizzed behind his head. He had been too preoccupied by Valeriu‘s actions, that the feelings that usually nagged at the end of his unconsciousness didn’t seem to register. In fact, had he been any God other than the hunt and battle, he might not have picked up on her in time to dodge. Thank god that his girl had not yet learned the stealth that he could accomplish-- else he might have been hit.
He cast a final stern look to the boy, before darting across the river wordlessly. He would not be caught. Not by her. Quickly the flora of the forest engulfed him, and as quickly as he had come, the God disappeared into the dark.
Her instincts had clearly been right. The moment that she had noticed the smell of food burning, she knew.
And that sent her into a mess of nerves. There was no way that Valeriu Jaklovszky would intentionally allow food to burn. That meant that something was amiss.
And in a place as dangerous as this, there were hundreds of things that could be amiss.
Now, she found herself in front of Valeriu, bow in her limp arm, as she panted for breath. She had run all the way to where she found them, and as quickly as she could, she shot. There hadn’t been time to try to aim properly, or to get in the correct stance-- there was only time to act. And while she had missed… At least whoever it was had left. She had protected Valeriu, at the very least.
Valeriu.
He was bleeding. It didn’t take a trained nose to smell it, and there was blood all over the place. However much was his, she couldn’t tell… But--
He was there, and he was clearly hurt.
Chocking on the words she couldn’t say, she burst into a sprint, dropping to her knees the moment she got close.
What was she supposed to do? Her terrified eyes darted up to him, looking for some kind of reassurance. She didn’t know-- she -- What could she do? How was she supposed to fix this!?
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Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 1:23 am
Yeah. You run, crazy man, he thought with a vengeance, watching the man disappear as quickly as he had come into the depths of the forest. Not even a leaf fluttered in his wake.
And in his place, there was Tepin. Looking terrified out of her wits. He couldn't blame her - he probably looked like hell.
He felt like it. He knew he'd better start fixing himself up; Tezcatlipoca would be no help, as these wounds were not inflicted by the god or his creations. Only then was healing fair game.
Carefully, he wiped one of his bloody hands against his jeans, attempted to clean most of it. His ribs protested, his lungs protested, his shoulder and face and chest and all the rest of his bruised body protested. Quite loudly.
It didn't stop him from reaching a hand up to ruffle her hair as soothingly as he could.
"Tepin," he began, eyes full of regret and sincerity. "I am sorry." As sorry and apologetic as a huddled kitten could look.
"I couldn't find any roots."
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