[ Naturally, Tezcatlipoca is fully aware that this is a big gesture of trust. He’s even a little touched, in his way, though it’s still far off from the human feeling of it. This feels natural, after all. Inevitable, in a way, because even without his prescience to know the accuracy of his hunch, it still feels like fate. There’s no hesitation as he reaches out to take the device from Silco, and he scoots over on the narrow, ratty couch to allow him to sit. ]
Damn right. I’d bet that I have the steadiest hands of any god, actually. Gotta, when you’ve got a rep for taking peoples’ hearts while they’re still beating, right?
[ He snickers as he looks it over with the last part of his cigarette dangling from his lips as he talks. He seems interested in it, but he also doesn’t ask about whatever he’s curious about there. ]
Ha, could you have guessed when you got your grudge with Quetzalcoatl, it’d lead to this?
[ He looks Silco’s way with a little bit of a toothy grin, but not so wide that he’d lose his cig. It’s clear that he’ll finish it up before starting, but it won’t take long. ]
I’m gonna guess that people you let do this is a pretty short list. Like, including me, I’m thinkin’… Three? Total?
cw: eye stuff lmfao that's gonna be this whole thread along with injections
No, I don't think I could have guessed it. [ A beat. ] To be fair, I didn't know you existed when I started to hate her. Once I knew you, though... mm. I don't think I'd thought of it, because I hadn't needed it before.
[ Being a shard-bearer had been odd. Even moreso when he'd become a vampire. His body had been so static. His eye hadn't degenerated without shimmer. He hadn't needed to do more than occasionally press his fingers to his eye, and let the reduced dose flood through him. He didn't know how much it helped, how useful it was. He'd done it out of habit, microdosing shimmer from his fingers like he had.
Instinctively, he rubs his fingers together, considering.
His single good eye narrows at Tezca. There's a twitch to his lips, a tightness in his jaw. Considering. ]
That sounds about right, including you and your very steady hands.
Well, I won’t bore ya with talk of fate and shit like that when it comes to yours truly. I’ll at least shorten it to say that this feels fitting, at least to me. In the grand scheme of things, your dislike of Quetzalcoatl might have been exactly what brought me to you.
[ He finishes off the last bit of the cigarette with a luxuriant drag, then plucks it away to stub it off into a makeshift ashtray. There are a few others already there, and since they all seem to be the same brand, well. That’s a conclusion for Silco to draw, should he even notice. Tezcatlipoca certainly doesn’t draw any attention to it, since now that he’s done, he truly beckons Silco closer to tell him to sit. ]
But don’t give me that look. I’m only pointing it out ‘cuz I know how you are. I appreciate what you’re giving me, my acolyte.
[ Using his “title” is half-teasing, but it’s a bit of rudeness that paradoxically would calm Silco, he bets. Saying something as straightforward as “thank you for trusting me” isn’t exactly either of their style. ]
You got any other parts of the routine I should do?
Hah, well. [ A twitch of his lips. ] Maybe you were always going to find someone who hated your sibling as much as you did, hm? Good thing I picked her out as particularly offensive, then.
[ "Particularly offensive". Silco, you sold your soul to kill her, bud.
He nods, though, a little look at him up and down. Maybe it was an extension of trust. Silco wasn't going to admit it, but Tezcatlipoca was... important. Yes, as a god, but he knew more about Silco than most, in any world. He knew about his daughter before she arrived, and he knew that the god would at least... well. If Jinx needed him for something, he would probably provide.
At least with his usual flair.
Silco leans back in the couch. He shakes his head. ]
You put it over my eye, and pull the trigger. [ he taps the scarred skin under the eye. ] Unless you want to tell me about your day and dally a bit, that's all there is to it.
[ With that little detail about the routine, there's a flicker of a knowing smile, but it goes without comment. He correctly guesses just where that comes from, and that does make this an even more meaningful extension of trust, he thinks. One that, naturally, he understands should go without comment. ]
Well, could tell you about my day, but it's boring. All the fun stuff happens at night when I work, yeah?
[ He chuckles as he nods to Silco, then moves on the couch like this is indeed routine. To make sure it's all aligned properly, he shifts to a kneeling straddle over Silco's hips. Maybe it's intentionally provocative, or maybe gods are just like this. Who can say, really. ]
And besides. [ He puts a hand on the side of Silco's face that's steadying, paradoxically firm and gentle all at once. ] Been thinking about our missing goddess anyways, so. Since you've got a talent for befriending 'em, figure you don't want to hear about all that.
Hm. Your stories would be almost as exciting, but alas. They happen afterward.
[ It's a little idle banter, and easy. Silco at his least acerbic, which is probably as good as he can get on the friendliness scale, but here he is, leaning back, letting Tezca —
Do that.
It almost reminds him of Set. Set would have done that too, practically did sometimes, the way he wound around Silco like he did. After their journey in the sand, finding his temple, he finds himself thinking of Set more these days. Of their last conversations, of the secrets he was trying to hide. ]
Oh yes, our newest dweller in manholes.
[ He says, with a twist of his lips. Silco had been, particularly cruel about Ereshkigal's missing status. As always. ] Don't tell me you're worried?
[ He doesn't move, though. It's always harder until it's over. The anticipation of the pierce. ]
[ Not even a complaint about the proximity, huh? Truly, he’s learning the most in this little exchange about how much Silco has come to trust him. It’s pleasing in a very simple way, honestly. He waits as Silco stills, but Tezcatlipoca does laugh at the biting comment at the question. ]
Wouldn’t say worried, exactly. She’s a big girl, she can handle herself. But concerned? Sure.
[ But he also doesn’t make Silco wait. Tezcatlipoca may be whimsical, but he’s practical where it matters. His grip on Silco’s face tightens simultaneously to the lowering and firing of the little gun, and thankfully, his aim is true here. This probably doesn’t count as a gun where his bad luck would apply, but Silco probably wouldn’t consider that until after…
It’s all as quick and precise as how Tezcatlipoca would remove a still-beating heart, so once it’s injected, he also pulls away with a satisfied little smile. He continues the conversation without any more pause than that. ]
Missed the manhole bit, though. What’s that about?
Though his answer is delayed. The injector does its foul work, and pierces the layer of his eye, Silco struggles, he practically jerks upright, his hands tense and relax, tense and relax. Tezca will get the very distinct impression that it hurts a great deal. His eye waters, drips down, the color of his pupil changes temporarily, that violet-shimmer color for only a moment, before it fades to his usual hue, that violet pit.
He pulls a kerchief out once the pain subsided, and he starts to pad it up. He's breathing hard, a soft 'hah' as he did so, before he turned to look at Tezca with a soft half laugh.
As if nothing had happened, right? ]
I told someone that if it was so easy to take her out, I should have just pushed her into an open manhole.
[ Tezcatlipoca watches the process with interest, naturally. He stays close to Silco as he just watches the pain and the change with intense curiosity that probably feels a bit like a predator watching weak prey… But it’s gone as soon as it appears. It’s an oddity and nothing more, since it’s not like he’s going to criticize Silco about this one. ]
Ha. You and goddesses, man.
[ Tezcatlipoca gives Silco a pat on the shoulder as he moves back again to flop back on the couch next to him. He holds the gun out for Silco to take back, casual as can be. ]
What, would you get jealous if I said she was my buddy now?
[ With the way he says it, it sounds like it’s a rhetorical, joking question more than it's serious, but. It’s Tezcatlipoca. Who actually knows… ]
[ It's always a... vulnerable affair. Letting someone see him apply his medications, or even dispense it. Despite the fact that it's necessary — the thing that keeps his eye functional — it isn't a pleasant treatment, by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, it's more harrowing to see it in person. It's one thing to know someone is injecting medications into his eye.
It's another thing to see it happen. It's not something he's allowed many other people to see. Jinx was it, really, and Tezcatlipoca was now in a Very exclusive club.
He pulled out a kerchief to start padding at the edges of his eye. ]
I would question your taste in buddies, certainly. [ So, yes. ]
I'm not your keeper, am I? I understand that gods can be friends and rivals all in one.
[ …Honestly, he’s a little surprised that Silco does, in fact, get it. He at least doesn’t let it show, though it’s not because he’s concerned about offending him. It’s a private moment where Tezcatlipoca is pleased on a much simpler level. ]
Exactly. You get it.
[ He says it like it’s obvious, as if he had no doubt about Silco at all. Now that administering the medication is done, he leans forward to tap another cigarette out of the case and he gives Silco a look to ask if he wants one. He knows he prefers cigars, but still. He’s offering. ]
After all, nothing that happens here changes what we’ll be up to back home. Once this tour of duty is done, it really is about time I head back to Daybit. We’ve got a fuckin’ world to destroy.
[ He says it warmly, like he’s talking about a party that he’s looking forward to. Regardless of whether Silco takes an offered cigarette or not, he’ll light his and lean back again. Naturally, if Silco does, he’ll light his too. ]
[ It's that he's been paying attention. Watching. Or maybe it's because there's less stress than there was in Kenos, Silco feels less...doggedly like he has to protect and sequester away what few allies he has. He doesn't fear that Tezcatlipoca will defect to the other side, because there is no other side. There's nowhere for him to go to betray him.
He thinks. What could there be? ]
Your Priest? [ He asked, taking the cigarette from him, and he even let him light it. ]
I wonder if we will. Return.
Do you think we'll be shuffled across to yet another place, after this?
I'm tired of it.
[ He says with smoke wafting out of his mouth. He wants to go home too. He knows something will happen.
If he knows, can he anticipate it? Change it? Does he care? ]
One and the same. Wish you could meet him, since it’d be funny as hell. I don’t think either of ya would know what to make of the other.
[ Tezcatlipoca chuckles warmly as he leans back once both of their cigarettes are lit. He really would like to see it, but he can guess that it wouldn’t take too long before they decided that they didn’t like each other. Their core view of the world was just too different, even if it led them to similar conclusions of destruction.
Any further consideration fades away as Silco also turns pensive, and Tezcatlipoca watches him as he speaks. He knows what awaits Silco, after all. He’d experienced it through Jinx’s eyes. But he has no intention of sharing it. For one, he’d made a promise, and two? What good would that even do for Silco? He’s not the kind of guy that would live it up because he knows his end is on the horizon. ]
You and me both. Not for the same reasons, ‘course. All of this is a little more like a vacation for yours truly, but. Made a promise to Daybit that I’ve still gotta deliver on. Got things I want to see to their conclusion.
[ …Izcalli, mostly. It’s the cruelest curiosity he has, and he knows it. He takes a drag of the cigarette, then puffs out smoke that’s darker than it should be as he infuses just a little magic into it. It’s still mostly tobacco, but the undercurrent is copal. ]
Figure you do too. Otherwise, I’d scoop you up with some divine power and let you come party with me. You’d probably hate it, since it ain’t big on creature comforts, but you’d get one hell of a show. [ He laughs ] Plus, your kid would be pissed at me. She loves you. It's cute. Can't get in between that, now can I?
Hm, I suppose at least it has been relatively enjoyable of a vacation, hm?
[ He asks. He doesn't mean it. Kenos had been harrowing. Terrible. In retrospect, Silco hadn't realized... Well. he was a man used to undue levels of stress. He was so used to it, and yet... He cannot lie that kenos had left him feeling... even worse. He hadn't known how bad it was until he was out from under Zenith, how insane it had made him. How the prospect of losing Jinx, how terrible it all had been... How isolated...
Silco was not a man meant to be palatable, but even so.
There is a weight off of his shoulders these days. Is it Jinx? Is it the knowledge that she is okay?
He knows he's going to die. How else would he be gone? ]
I don't think it will need to be you who does so. [ Not enough to know the whole picture. ] Someone will, regardless.
Ah, well. I suppose you'll see me after we leave sooner rather than later.
[ …Huh. Had they talked, he wonders? But he doesn’t ask, since he’ll stick to his word regardless. Besides— ]
Well, yeah, kinda figured. Honestly, you definitely have some good luck overall, because you really have got the “live fast, die young” mindset, but look at you. [ He gives him a pat on the shoulder with a laugh ] Making it to however old you are.
[ Another pat, and he pulls the cigarette away from his lips as he relaxes and looks up at the ceiling. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Damn right. I’d bet that I have the steadiest hands of any god, actually. Gotta, when you’ve got a rep for taking peoples’ hearts while they’re still beating, right?
[ He snickers as he looks it over with the last part of his cigarette dangling from his lips as he talks. He seems interested in it, but he also doesn’t ask about whatever he’s curious about there. ]
Ha, could you have guessed when you got your grudge with Quetzalcoatl, it’d lead to this?
[ He looks Silco’s way with a little bit of a toothy grin, but not so wide that he’d lose his cig. It’s clear that he’ll finish it up before starting, but it won’t take long. ]
I’m gonna guess that people you let do this is a pretty short list. Like, including me, I’m thinkin’… Three? Total?
cw: eye stuff lmfao that's gonna be this whole thread along with injections
[ Being a shard-bearer had been odd. Even moreso when he'd become a vampire. His body had been so static. His eye hadn't degenerated without shimmer. He hadn't needed to do more than occasionally press his fingers to his eye, and let the reduced dose flood through him. He didn't know how much it helped, how useful it was. He'd done it out of habit, microdosing shimmer from his fingers like he had.
Instinctively, he rubs his fingers together, considering.
His single good eye narrows at Tezca. There's a twitch to his lips, a tightness in his jaw. Considering. ]
That sounds about right, including you and your very steady hands.
cw: christy and jill threading
[ He finishes off the last bit of the cigarette with a luxuriant drag, then plucks it away to stub it off into a makeshift ashtray. There are a few others already there, and since they all seem to be the same brand, well. That’s a conclusion for Silco to draw, should he even notice. Tezcatlipoca certainly doesn’t draw any attention to it, since now that he’s done, he truly beckons Silco closer to tell him to sit. ]
But don’t give me that look. I’m only pointing it out ‘cuz I know how you are. I appreciate what you’re giving me, my acolyte.
[ Using his “title” is half-teasing, but it’s a bit of rudeness that paradoxically would calm Silco, he bets. Saying something as straightforward as “thank you for trusting me” isn’t exactly either of their style. ]
You got any other parts of the routine I should do?
cw: yeah... that.... always
[ "Particularly offensive". Silco, you sold your soul to kill her, bud.
He nods, though, a little look at him up and down. Maybe it was an extension of trust. Silco wasn't going to admit it, but Tezcatlipoca was... important. Yes, as a god, but he knew more about Silco than most, in any world. He knew about his daughter before she arrived, and he knew that the god would at least... well. If Jinx needed him for something, he would probably provide.
At least with his usual flair.
Silco leans back in the couch. He shakes his head. ]
You put it over my eye, and pull the trigger. [ he taps the scarred skin under the eye. ] Unless you want to tell me about your day and dally a bit, that's all there is to it.
[ Jinx always had, but... it was Jinx. ]
no subject
Well, could tell you about my day, but it's boring. All the fun stuff happens at night when I work, yeah?
[ He chuckles as he nods to Silco, then moves on the couch like this is indeed routine. To make sure it's all aligned properly, he shifts to a kneeling straddle over Silco's hips. Maybe it's intentionally provocative, or maybe gods are just like this. Who can say, really. ]
And besides. [ He puts a hand on the side of Silco's face that's steadying, paradoxically firm and gentle all at once. ] Been thinking about our missing goddess anyways, so. Since you've got a talent for befriending 'em, figure you don't want to hear about all that.
no subject
[ It's a little idle banter, and easy. Silco at his least acerbic, which is probably as good as he can get on the friendliness scale, but here he is, leaning back, letting Tezca —
Do that.
It almost reminds him of Set. Set would have done that too, practically did sometimes, the way he wound around Silco like he did. After their journey in the sand, finding his temple, he finds himself thinking of Set more these days. Of their last conversations, of the secrets he was trying to hide. ]
Oh yes, our newest dweller in manholes.
[ He says, with a twist of his lips. Silco had been, particularly cruel about Ereshkigal's missing status. As always. ] Don't tell me you're worried?
[ He doesn't move, though. It's always harder until it's over. The anticipation of the pierce. ]
no subject
Wouldn’t say worried, exactly. She’s a big girl, she can handle herself. But concerned? Sure.
[ But he also doesn’t make Silco wait. Tezcatlipoca may be whimsical, but he’s practical where it matters. His grip on Silco’s face tightens simultaneously to the lowering and firing of the little gun, and thankfully, his aim is true here. This probably doesn’t count as a gun where his bad luck would apply, but Silco probably wouldn’t consider that until after…
It’s all as quick and precise as how Tezcatlipoca would remove a still-beating heart, so once it’s injected, he also pulls away with a satisfied little smile. He continues the conversation without any more pause than that. ]
Missed the manhole bit, though. What’s that about?
no subject
Though his answer is delayed. The injector does its foul work, and pierces the layer of his eye, Silco struggles, he practically jerks upright, his hands tense and relax, tense and relax. Tezca will get the very distinct impression that it hurts a great deal. His eye waters, drips down, the color of his pupil changes temporarily, that violet-shimmer color for only a moment, before it fades to his usual hue, that violet pit.
He pulls a kerchief out once the pain subsided, and he starts to pad it up. He's breathing hard, a soft 'hah' as he did so, before he turned to look at Tezca with a soft half laugh.
As if nothing had happened, right? ]
I told someone that if it was so easy to take her out, I should have just pushed her into an open manhole.
[ Because.
It's silco. ]
no subject
Ha. You and goddesses, man.
[ Tezcatlipoca gives Silco a pat on the shoulder as he moves back again to flop back on the couch next to him. He holds the gun out for Silco to take back, casual as can be. ]
What, would you get jealous if I said she was my buddy now?
[ With the way he says it, it sounds like it’s a rhetorical, joking question more than it's serious, but. It’s Tezcatlipoca. Who actually knows… ]
no subject
It's another thing to see it happen. It's not something he's allowed many other people to see. Jinx was it, really, and Tezcatlipoca was now in a Very exclusive club.
He pulled out a kerchief to start padding at the edges of his eye. ]
I would question your taste in buddies, certainly. [ So, yes. ]
I'm not your keeper, am I? I understand that gods can be friends and rivals all in one.
[ He's learning! ]
no subject
Exactly. You get it.
[ He says it like it’s obvious, as if he had no doubt about Silco at all. Now that administering the medication is done, he leans forward to tap another cigarette out of the case and he gives Silco a look to ask if he wants one. He knows he prefers cigars, but still. He’s offering. ]
After all, nothing that happens here changes what we’ll be up to back home. Once this tour of duty is done, it really is about time I head back to Daybit. We’ve got a fuckin’ world to destroy.
[ He says it warmly, like he’s talking about a party that he’s looking forward to. Regardless of whether Silco takes an offered cigarette or not, he’ll light his and lean back again. Naturally, if Silco does, he’ll light his too. ]
no subject
He thinks. What could there be? ]
Your Priest? [ He asked, taking the cigarette from him, and he even let him light it. ]
I wonder if we will. Return.
Do you think we'll be shuffled across to yet another place, after this?
I'm tired of it.
[ He says with smoke wafting out of his mouth. He wants to go home too. He knows something will happen.
If he knows, can he anticipate it? Change it? Does he care? ]
no subject
[ Tezcatlipoca chuckles warmly as he leans back once both of their cigarettes are lit. He really would like to see it, but he can guess that it wouldn’t take too long before they decided that they didn’t like each other. Their core view of the world was just too different, even if it led them to similar conclusions of destruction.
Any further consideration fades away as Silco also turns pensive, and Tezcatlipoca watches him as he speaks. He knows what awaits Silco, after all. He’d experienced it through Jinx’s eyes. But he has no intention of sharing it. For one, he’d made a promise, and two? What good would that even do for Silco? He’s not the kind of guy that would live it up because he knows his end is on the horizon. ]
You and me both. Not for the same reasons, ‘course. All of this is a little more like a vacation for yours truly, but. Made a promise to Daybit that I’ve still gotta deliver on. Got things I want to see to their conclusion.
[ …Izcalli, mostly. It’s the cruelest curiosity he has, and he knows it. He takes a drag of the cigarette, then puffs out smoke that’s darker than it should be as he infuses just a little magic into it. It’s still mostly tobacco, but the undercurrent is copal. ]
Figure you do too. Otherwise, I’d scoop you up with some divine power and let you come party with me. You’d probably hate it, since it ain’t big on creature comforts, but you’d get one hell of a show. [ He laughs ] Plus, your kid would be pissed at me. She loves you. It's cute. Can't get in between that, now can I?
no subject
[ He asks. He doesn't mean it. Kenos had been harrowing. Terrible. In retrospect, Silco hadn't realized... Well. he was a man used to undue levels of stress. He was so used to it, and yet... He cannot lie that kenos had left him feeling... even worse. He hadn't known how bad it was until he was out from under Zenith, how insane it had made him. How the prospect of losing Jinx, how terrible it all had been... How isolated...
Silco was not a man meant to be palatable, but even so.
There is a weight off of his shoulders these days. Is it Jinx? Is it the knowledge that she is okay?
He knows he's going to die. How else would he be gone? ]
I don't think it will need to be you who does so. [ Not enough to know the whole picture. ] Someone will, regardless.
Ah, well. I suppose you'll see me after we leave sooner rather than later.
no subject
Well, yeah, kinda figured. Honestly, you definitely have some good luck overall, because you really have got the “live fast, die young” mindset, but look at you. [ He gives him a pat on the shoulder with a laugh ] Making it to however old you are.
[ Another pat, and he pulls the cigarette away from his lips as he relaxes and looks up at the ceiling. ]
You think you’re ready for it?