I'm not a liar.

[buenpastor]

[ it's sudden, or at least that's what it feels like; in chicago one moment and back in his flat in eudio the next.

it's disorienting, but not disorienting enough to give him pause. he needs to find marcus first and foremost. everything else can come after. he's out of the door and heading upstairs in a matter of minutes, he's not quite running but there's a part of him that thinks he should be. ]

Comments

[missio]

[ for marcus it feels less sudden, a lurch of pieces into place.

he's in his apartment, hunched over the kitchen sink and using a dishrag to dab at the blood freshly caked on his arms. you'd think a place that could move you in space and time would do you one last favor and clean you up, but he supposes you can't have everything. ]

[buenpastor]

[ tomas doesn't bother knocking, he doesn't have to, marcus gave him a key.

he does call out, though. ]

Marcus!

[missio]

Tomas--?

[ he steps away from the sink and heads to the door, pulling it open. there's a second where he just looks blankly at him, trying to meld the image he had of tomas in chicago with the last time marcus saw him in the doorway. ]

[buenpastor]

[ a shaky sigh escapes him the moment he sees marcus, and he reaches for him, automatically. ]

You're bleeding?

[ tomas' face is bruised, same as the last time marcus saw him in chicago. they were just together. ]

[missio]

I was just rewrapping this.

[ “this” is pretty deep, though he doesn’t seem particularly bothered by it, exactly. mostly he’s still just grimy, in a way that his long sleeves earlier didn’t cover up. ]

You’re not looking so good yourself, are you? Next to Bennett you looked downright glamorous.

[buenpastor]

You should get stitches... or a doctor.

[ not that he expects marcus to listen, so instead he steps in and looks for the bandages. ]

I was looking the best out of the three of us.

[missio]

[ yeah he’s got a first aid kit open on the counter and seems to have mostly been handling it competently. he shuts the door behind them both.

he might be in a good mood. possibly the best he’s had since they got here. ]

Well, we weren’t exactly setting a high bar. Come on, you should be icing that too.

[buenpastor]

No way, it makes me look rugged.

[ plus, he's sore all over, his face barely hurts in comparison to his back, so really there's no point in worrying about a black eye.

he grabs the roll of bandages and motions marcus over. ]

Let me finish that for you.

[missio]

One successful throw-down and you’re John Wayne, is that it?

[ but he’s circling around to lean against the counter by tomas, compliant. ]

[buenpastor]

I think he's a little overrated, actually.

[ marcus should really go to the clinic, maybe he can talk him into it since he's cooperating and everything.

he wraps it up neatly, he's pretty decent at first-aid, especially when it's not on himself. ]

The clinic's just a few blocks down. You should get at least a round of antibiotics... and a tetanus shot if you haven't had one recently.

[missio]

Here I was hoping I could sleep it off.

[ he tests the flexibility of the bandage. it’s not half-bad. he spares a brief moment to recall having done this for tomas’ hand too, at a time that feels like ages ago now. ]

[buenpastor]

I can walk you.

[ tomas remembers it too, it hasn't been that long. a few days, technically. a few weeks counting the city.

he can feel the beginning of a headache in the back of his skull. ]

[missio]

I don’t need you to walk me. But you should probably get checked out as well.

[ he lifts a hand, ghosting the flat of his thumb over the dark mark on tomas’ brow bone. ]

What’s the damage, exactly?

[buenpastor]

[ this clinic plan is suddenly much less appealing. he rubs the back of his neck and shrugs. ]

This and maybe a couple of bruised ribs? I haven't checked.

[missio]

Tossed you around a bit, did it.

[ not she, no reference to angela. marcus is always exacting in his language, always seems to know where to point blame. ]

[buenpastor]

I'm lucky I'm not concussed.

[ there's something he wants to ask about and maybe he can bring it up while not going to the clinic. ]

Can all demons be in more than one place at once? Or— I don't understand exactly what it was doing... can they split?

[missio]

[ he rests his hands on the counter behind him. ]

Generally once they decide they’d like to play parasite, they’re sort of forcibly localized. They can’t be in two places, exactly, but people in the vicinity can perceive them differently. Like a Rubin vase.

[buenpastor]

Yeah, I saw that when we first started. But this was different, it knocked me out and it stayed with me, but it was also outside with the Rances.

[missio]

And it was dealing with Angela fighting from within as well, I presume?

[ for all tomas’ hard work, for the rance’s conviction, angela had to have been in there somewhere too. ]

[buenpastor]

Mmh, she was still in there. I think it was Casey who reached her.

[ tomas has doubts now about integration being permanent at all, but he's not sure that's a rabbit's hole he wants to jump into yet. ]

[missio]

The demon wasn’t really with you when it was with you. It can put you in … a kind of thrall. Specific to you alone. But not every aspect of it is intentional or controlled.

[ his fingers drum on the countertop. it’s become obvious in their lessons that marcus isn’t often in the habit of explaining himself, never mind his craft. ]

It was with Angela. It was hurting the Rance family. But it left you in the hands of the darker angels of your own nature.

[buenpastor]

... I'm more creative than I thought.

[ it's an uncomfortable thought, but it makes sense, all of it. and he doesn't particularly want to think back on it and re-live it. ]

[missio]

[ he reaches back for the kit to close it back up. ]

It showed you something?

[buenpastor]

[ he's never wanted to talk about something LESS in his entire life ]

It... I've made mistakes, it made me face them, admit to them. [ he walks over to the living room and sits down. ] It tried to get me to kill myself.

[ he doesn't sound terribly upset by that. telling marcus it was wearing his face would be harder. ]

[missio]

It wasn’t trying to get you to admit to them, it was trying to get you to drown in them.

[ he flips the switch on the stove to heat the kettle up. ]

Most people would have.