[Game 18] Endgame

[arsgoetia]

It's early morning by the time they tidy up the house and fix the windows—leaving it as neat as they'd entered it, Tristan promises—and head out. Tristan seems to be itching to just get away from the place, though they can't return to the church, and it's now New Year's Day—so they head back across the border to the house in New York. Even Sariel comes along—albeit reluctantly—at Tristan's suggestion.

"To my understanding," Tristan says, "the kid's with Sera right now, which I'm cool with. I was a bit rough on him, so he might be sleeping it off for another little while—and like you all said, he might be a bit freaked out to see a dozen people staring at him. So let's leave him there for now. I can send you all home." He pauses.

"But if you want to come back soon . . . I can bring you back. No agenda necessary. If you don't want to come—well, let me know, and I'll try not to bring you."

Comments

[psychopompous]

Monster angel??

[liarliarliar]

Well it had lots of wings and eyes. That's what noncute angels look like, right? With a big sword of unhappiness.

[psychopompous]

That is . . . not terribly specific, no.

[looks thoughtful, though]

[liarliarliar]

I just know I didn't like it.

[...grabbing the monocle back to look through it again, not expecting anything this time since Sariel got nothing]

[psychopompous]

Well, that's important to know. But . . . unusual.

[where are you looking?]

[liarliarliar]

[first just right in front of him at the street

But if that yields nothing he's going to look at Sariel]

Why unusual? I don't like fighting no matter who it is.

[psychopompous]

I'm just trying to decipher it.

[the world around shimmers lightly, like it's overlaid with a haze of faint blue light]

[Sariel—glows, overlaid with several different impressions. massive wings; a hooded figure; coils spinning around a vibrant core that shifts and twists into different shapes]

[liarliarliar]

[it takes him a few moments of staring at Sariel to decide how he feels about what he sees but eventually...]

You're pretty. I'm jealous.

[psychopompous]

[FFFFFFFFFFLUFFS UP]

What?!

[liarliarliar]

You're shining. When I look through this you're all kinds of things.

How fancy! How fancy!

[psychopompous]

Oh—ah. I see . . .

[seems a bit flustered]

[liarliarliar]

I wish I glowed like that.

There's something dark in me, right?

[psychopompous]

I'm not a seer.

Obviously the one that sees everything sees something good in you.

[liarliarliar]

...

[shut up //////]

You mean you don't see stuff like that all the time? No special angel vision or some nonsense?

[psychopompous]

[smirks]

I can sense life, of course. Ah, you're red.

[liarliarliar]

[moves his hand across his face like he's erasing a chalk board and 'wipes' away the redness cuz his power is dumb]

Am not.

[psychopompous]

. . . now you're just secretly red and embarrassed about it.

[liarliarliar]

You saw nothing.

[psychopompous]

[. . . looks down, closing his eyes and exhaling]

. . .

I wonder . . . who I think asked me to look after you. Madison, or Gabriel.

[liarliarliar]

Don't you think they both would have their reasons to ask?

I don't really....

I'll never be able to understand what Madison and Gabriel are going through existing like they do. Where one ends and the other begins. If it feels crowded and suffocating or if it's like fighting sleep afraid you'll never wake up...

But whatever it is and whoever told you. You're looking after me all the same. And maybe they're both happy with that.

[psychopompous]

[. . . shivers a little, looking down at his hands]

It's—I don't know why it frightens him so. It's—is it not just his calling? I don't understand. Those, like Raphael and his host, that choose to remain so separate. I am just Sariel. Hassan is also Sariel. We were chosen this way and have work to do.

[liarliarliar]

No one likes to feel like they're losing themself.

And Madison probably already felt a little lost and swallowed up by things by being a seer. I'm not surprised he's stubbornly clinging onto the identity he has when it feels like he already had a lot taken from him.

[psychopompous]

It's not losing yourself, it's becoming one with something greater.

[liarliarliar]

What if you don't want to be great?

What if you want to be normal? Go to school and come home to parents and play on your phone when you're not suppose to?

And everything is so complicated for you guys. Wars and frightening situations all the time.

And changing is scary. I don't want Madison to change. Does becoming one or whatever mean he'll feel differently about.... Things?

[psychopompous]

We . . . have to make sacrifices for what is best. What is right.