Open | Some used your name for glory

[kadia]

WHO: Colin, Kadi, and you.
WHAT: Catch-all/open
WHEN: July and August
WHERE: Various places in Northcliff Pass
NOTES: Starters inside. cw: mentions of a cult and the abuses of it.

Comments

[stableman]

It's a good question.

"I do want this. I want us to be able to use the Vice to help. I'm just... scared, sometimes. I'm sorry." He needs to find his confidence again, the confidence that has had him making animals well for years here, on his own. Detlef takes a breath. "It's good. I'm good. Don't mind me."

He's started something. Now he has to hope it's the right sort of something.

[keenly]

Colin didn't shake off the religious upbringing overnight. It took years for him to question it, to stop hating himself, to realize that even people who claim to be divine are willing to lie. Slowly, he leans in to give Detlef a hug. He speaks into his ear, as softly as possible.

"You're afraid it could be a slippery slope. That we'll become something other than what we are."

[stableman]

He leans into a hug and swallows hard before nodding.

"I don't know at what step we cross the line and become what everyone fears. I don't think I will... but doesn't everyone think that? Most people certainly don't set out to do the wrong thing." Detlef desperately wants to be a good person.

[keenly]

A gentle nod.

"We'll make an oath. If one of us goes too far, the other one stops him. All right?"

[stableman]

Detlef holds out a hand.

"Agreed. We keep sight of what we're doing this for, and what's right and good." He has a stopgap now, if he goes wrong. But that doesn't mean Colin needs to be the only person Detlef speaks with. He should see what Lance thinks, too. He's old enough to know some stuff.

[keenly]

Colin shakes the offered hand. He doesn't believe in the gods, but he believes in a great many other things he knows nothing about, and even he can't rule out the gods' existence. His disbelief comes from disillusionment and bitterness more than logic. Maybe he has it all wrong. That's why this alliance is important.

"So...where do we meet?"

[stableman]

It's a good question. He looks past Colin for a few oments as he thinks about it, before focusing back on the guy.

"The breadshop? After hours. You teach me a little bit about baking at the same time and we have a legitimate reason to be spending time alone together that won't rouse suspicion."

[keenly]

Colin almost argues that he's not going to train a competitor until he remembers, first, they're not actually going to be baking, and second, he can always say he's training Detlef for the inevitable days when he is sick and can't bake. He nods.

"Bakery, tonight. I'll try to think how to set things up."

[stableman]

He nods in return, a little nervous but feeling at least slightly better about this. Detlef heads out, and several hours later he's knocking on the bakery door, dressed in loose clothing as if that would somehow help. It certainly won't hide his identity, but it's the best idea he'd had.

[keenly]

Colin opens the door and ushers him in. A fire is going in the hearth. A basin of water is on the floor before it, as well as a potted plant and an unpolished stone. The windows are tightly shut.

He looks at Detlef, growing somewhat nervous himself when he senses it in the other man. “We don’t have to do this,” he says quietly.

[stableman]

It's nice to have an out, but he gives the other man a shake of his head and a half-smile.

"Have to? No. We don't. But I think we've both chosen to at this point, because it might be nice to know what all we can do. Even though I've no idea how to really measure that." He plops down on the ground next to the basin of water, looking at it with some curiosity before it hits him why that's probably there. All right. Moving on.

"What's the stone for?"