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With the scene set to pretty fully incriminate the Proud Boys in knifing each other, beating each other up, and trying to kill each other with a pistol, Aaron and Ziv head across the street from which vantage point, Aaron wills the pistol to fire its shot. BANG! He feels bad about the screams of pedestrians nearby, but. Well. Necessary, all things considered.
"They'll live. That should get the police on the way, and an ambulance headed out to them. Let's clear out before they arrive." Aaron has his undershirt balled up under his dress shirt, staunching up the blood from his stab wound. An arm is slipped around Ziv's shoulders, and Aaron starts walking again. No Lyft for them. Just going to have to make it up to Market street on their own power.
"Wait," Ziv offers, because -- even as a fog settles over their brain and doubt creeps in at the corners, there are some things that are Prime Directives for the Spring. "Wait." They pull him back toward the alley, if only for a moment. Long enough for their fingers to pull together strands of dream and memory, spinning them into a literal ointment. (Really, that's exactly what the description of the contract says.) Their hand slides under his dress shirt, slipping over the wound -- warmth flows from that point out to Aaron's fingers and toes, healing stab wounds and bruises alike. They push up to their toes within the curve of his arm, kiss him briefly.
"Okay. Now let's go." They lean into the Obrimos, and reach their hand up to take hold of the one at their shoulder, knitting their fingers in tightly with his.
"An attempted hit by the Proud Boys, that's new. I don't know if I should be flattered or scared. What I do know is that we're not going back to my place for anything but my theophoric works and my dog. I'm going to need to lie low for a bit in case this wasn't just a random thing. Can you call Rieko? She needs to know what happened. Don't say anything over the phone, though. Just... tell her to meet us somewhere. She can get you somewhere safe, I'm sure." Aaron's hand is still wet with blood, so he winds up hiding it in his pocket for the walk. The healing helps with the pain and even with the brief bit of blood loss. It doesn't help with the telltale signs of violence, though.
Their fingers squeeze into his for a moment, hanging on for an anchor point as though there's no webbing between them, and then they pull their hand back, and stare at it for a moment. "Hmm?" A long pause, and then Ziv murmurs, "Oh. Yes." Their words sort of drift in, like seaweed being carried across their field of vision by a slow current. "We should get Chewie." Wherever they walk, it's where Aaron is directing them, because all of their thought processes are going toward digging in their backpack for their phone and then dialing it. "Where?" they ask him, unlocking their phone and scrolling to Cowboy in their contacts.
"There's a Doubletree near the Kimmel Center. I'll get a room there. It's not unusual. I'll buy tickets to whatever's playing there tonight. We'll need to run up a tab at a bar nearby sufficient to make the hotel a forethought of conscience. You know?" Once they reach Market, the subway takes them east to the station for the south bound leg on Broad. And from there it's a short walk to his place again.
He pauses to hose off the blood quick, changes his clothes, grabs a duffel bag, and begins emptying two particular shelves of his. Leave it to a Jew in the line of fire of white supremacy to have all of his writings with the name of God on them sorted out from everything else. Along with the embroidery pieces, anything at all whose destruction would be a sacrilege. He swings it up to his shoulder, gets Chewie in his doggie carrier, and is prepped to be off again in short order. His bloody clothes are put into a paper bag and carried along with the rest of the stuff. Eventually he'll set them alight with Forces and toss them into a relatively empty dumpster. Which is a shame. Cos that was a nice shirt.
"Yes." And that's all that Ziv says for a little bit as they pause, gnawing on their lower lip; it may be shock that has them staring at their phone for a handful of seconds before pressing the Cowboy entry in the phone. Their side of the conversation goes like this:
"Hey. I'm with Aaron. We got attacked. We're -- okay." There's distance in their voice, which may be shock, or distraction. "Can you come meet us?"
"Proud Boys. We were walking after Torah Queerys. I -- we're on Market, I think? Come meet us at ... " and then there's a pause, in which there is no other speech. Ziv is just concentrating. "The Doubletree near the Kimmel Center. We're going to go get Aaron's sacred items, and his dog."
A pause. "I... clean clothes that fit, yes. I'll steal some of Aaron's for going there. No one's physically hurt anymore. It's me." And that last question? "I don't -- know." They don't know if they need their Touchstone?
"It's not a thing, it's ... it's my faith." Beat. "We have to go get Aaron's dog first." They said that.
"I don't know," answers Ziv. "I don't know, Cowboy. If you think of something, bring it. I'll text you with the room number."
"Be safe, Cowboy."
They wash off any blood in the kitchen sink while Aaron showers -- they have some on their hands from punching that last fuckface, after all. Stealing a t-shirt and sweatpants from Aaron, they get dressed again and their rainbow tank top and shorts get torched, too. That's a shame, that tank top was one of their favorite gay things.
Aaron is still dealing with catastrophe response. There's a plan for when stuff like this happens, and he's following it. Possibly, he's even rehearsed it. Unfortunately, he's so preoccupied with getting things to safety, and so in the zone in that way, he's just maneuvering Ziv along as though they are going through the same sort of intensity of purpose that he is.
Probably, Aaron is in a little bit of shock. This is the first time he's performed violence on another human being intentionally and with purpose and forethought. Yes, it was tempered. Yes, it was necessary. But it still happened. And that's a lot to process. So. He'll notice Ziv is off soon, surely.
Once they're outside again, they head north on the subway once again, up to the Kimmel Center. They have to backtrack south a few blocks from city hall, but that's no big deal. And once they're inside, a room is rented. Aaron hands Ziv a key card and says, "Can you take Chewie and the books up? Please, if you could, put them back on a shelf. I'll run over to grab tickets at the Kimmel Center and meet you up in the room."
It's not like Ziv notices Aaron not noticing. They're both just kind of dealing with what happened, in a very 'one foot in front of the other' kind of way. "There's blood on my sneakers," Ziv answers Aaron, rather out of nowhere, frowning at their ratty faux-Chucks as though the shoes had caused offense.
"I have to text Cowboy the room number." They repeat that as though that's been playing on a loop inside their head for the whole trip. Don't forget that you have to text Rieko the room number. She has their Google Maps tag, after all, but that doesn't tell her which room. Digging their phone out, they take the key card from Aaron with the other hand and send Rieko the room number. Once their phone is back in their pocket, dragging down the side of the oversized sweatpants they're wearing in a very comical way. "Okay. Now I can take Chewie and the books up."
Thankfully they are still very strong so that's no problem at all. Which would be weird, if they weren't completely out of their body right now, watching themself like they're a movie going on.
Rieko's been in plenty of fights. Rieko is no stranger to violent bigots. Rieko is also... very worried about Ziv. Like a sudden summer storm, the Oni manages to make it in and out of the Hollow in under a few minutes -- it's not like Ziv has much in the way of personal belongings anyway -- carrying a her go-bag (stuffed with a change of Ziv's clothes) slung over one shoulder, and that terrifyingly beautiful odachi strapped to her back by way of repurposed leather acoustic guitar strap.
She makes good time on her way to the hotel, watching Ziv's google maps pin move as a benchmark for when she ought to meet them, and arrives shortly after the pair. Just in time to receive that text message. Sure, it might be weird for a barefooted, hot-headed woman to show up in the lobby of your hotel wearing cuttoff overalls, a cowboy hat, and carrying a fucking sword on her back, but. Technically none of those things are illegal.
Besides, who's going to ask someone carrying a sword to not carry that sword?(edited)
Philadelphia PD. They'll just fucking shoot you and file the paperwork.
So be careful with that.
Aaron returns in short order, since it's literally basically outside of the hotel. And in the event they want to see a performance tonight, well. He has the tickets now. He returns to the hotel and walks right past Rieko with a giant rainbow kippah on, because he's still all up in his own shit and headed for the elevator.
Rieko may note that there can't really be that many stacked bear Jews with rainbow Yarmulkes at this particular hotel. In precisely the way he didn't clock sword wielding giant cowboy lady. Cos shock, see.
They can certainly try! As several fascists have learned... Fae Cunning's a bitch.
"Heyheyhey," Rieko pads up to Aaron - making sure to announce her presence, and approach from an angle where he can at least see her in peripheral. Y'know, because obvious reasons. In lieu of being able to pierce her mask, Aaron sees a Japanese woman in her mid-to-late-twenties. She's wearing her raven-dark hair drawn up into a ponytail - currently dangling from underneath the brim of her battered, hole-filled hat - and resting a hand at her hip.
"I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess that you're probably Aaron." Her hand (wow look at those ridiculous gel caps!) moves to his shoulder briefly, and then a handshake is offered. She's wearing a smile - though the corners of her eyes are tinged with worry.
"Eko. Wish I was meeting you under better circumstances."(edited)
Aaron does startle when approached, and the tensing of his body implies he's not above laying her out if he decided he need to. When it all finally registers who it is and why she's accosting him, though, the tension slowly begins to ease. Normally he's better at these social pleasantries, and the fact that he's sucking at it at the moment has him more frustrated than the circumstances themselves. "Yeah," he finally settles with before accepting the offered hand and shaking it. "I'm Aaron. Come on up. We'll talk in the room." He summons the elevator with a poke and steps into the bay when the door slides open, holding the door with his hand until Rieko is inside.
The elevator is playing ABBA. It's Waterloo. Because that's what they all needed right now. Aaron is oddly taciturn on the ride up. No pleasant chit chat. Just stoic silence, eyes forward. And once they're on their floor and at their room, Aaron raps gently before announcing, "It's us. We're coming in." He slides the key card and pulls the door open. He does hold it for Eko, though.
Sometimes what a person needs is to just pleasantly disconnect from reality for a little while and stare off at the wall. That's very normal and what everyone does, right? The fact that this is not all that indistinguishable from normal human trauma responses is perhaps not all that surprising, as if this is in fact by deliberate game design -- but here we are. Ziv sits on the edge of the bed, looking off at nothing with their phone in their hand. They at least had the presence of mind to let Chewie out of his carrier, and the pup sits at their feet, benebone between his little feet, chewing on it.
When the door opens, it takes them several seconds to direct their attention to the door, and their blink is slow, as if everything's happening underwater. (Ironically, that would probably be more normal to Ziv.) Rieko never sees Ziv's irises appear when they vaguely smile. "Hey, Cowboy." They chew their lower lip. "I'm not hurt," they repeat. "You got -- tickets okay, Aaron?"
"We'll talk in the room," she agrees. She might be carrying a big-ass sword on her back, but Rieko does understand the need for subtlety. At least sometimes. She doesn't balk at the Abba playing in the elevator - nor at Aaron holding the door to the room open for her - and when she steps inside, she quickly dumps her bag and slides into place beside the Siren on the edge of the bed. She drapes an arm around their shoulders for a moment -- pulling them against her side in a little half-hug -- before leaning down to offer her hand for Chewie to sniff.
"You weren't hurt either, were you Aaron?" Y'know, because sure. Ziv is a healer, but -- especially after not seeing their irises -- Rieko's pretty sure they're a bit scrambled right now. "I have a first aid kit in my bag. Just in case..."(edited)
"Yeah, they got me pretty good, actually. But I got better. Ziv took care of it before we beat it." Aaron indicated his left side, under his arm. "Slipped a knife under my guard when they were all piling in. I tried to disarm the guy with the knife, but I missed the roundhouse kick. The one with the gun I was able to disable before he could fire and dropped him pretty quick." Aaron steps away from the door, watching Ziv and Rieko the way a guy new to poly watches his partner and their metamour. Right after a life or death fight is probably not the time to be assessing how you feel in the presence of a matamour, either. But that's clearly what's happening.
"I asked Ziv to hide, but they insisted on fighting with me. I tried to keep them safe." Aaron says this to Rieko specifically, as though it's important. "We tried to lose them. Down an alley. I figured if they passed us by we could keep on with our night, but they followed us down. They were coming for me specifically. Ziv should be safe if they get away from me tonight. If you two need to go, it's okay."
Rieko pulls Ziv into her side, and they lean into her, letting out a long, slow breath. "Wasn't going to hide from them. I had a way out, if it got bad. I don't have to -- be -- for a little bit. I can get away. I can always get away." That's the most that Ziv has said at one time since the fight ended, and they just kind of... lean... against Rieko for the moment. This is possibly not the ideal time for these assessments, no, but here is where we are.
"No. Not leaving you alone. Especially not if -- it's cover. That we went to a show, and. We can stay." They lean their head on her shoulder, but look down at their hands. Their phone gets set down on the nightstand. Right. They don't need that any more right now.
"I've had that particular conversation with them more than once," A lazy grin spreads across her features as she looks back up at Aaron. She gives Chewie a little scritch behind the ears, and then kisses Ziv on the cheek -- whispering something in their ear -- before standing up. "We live dangerous lives for... way more than one reason," she notes, reaching for his hand (if he'll allow her to take it) and leading him over to the bed to sit beside Ziv. 'Cause Rieko is a class act, goddamnit. "I'm not going to hold you accountable for that, and I'm definitely not going to hold you accountable for the actions of the stupid fuckin' Proud Boys."
There's a brief rumble of thunder in the distance when she enunciates the last few words of that sentance, but her anger melts into a huge sigh, and then she tugs her hidden bowie knife from a pocket in the back interior of her overalls. The sheath is clipped to her belt -- so she can properly take up a lazy cowboy stance -- and offers Aaron a soft smile. "Thank you for being there when I wasn't."
Then she's on the move again, fetching her duffel from where it was discarded, and producing a change of clothes for Ziv, a pair of water bottles -- one of each is passed to Aaron and Ziv -- and a new set of shoes that don't have blood stains on their soles. For later. 'Cause a Summer is well aware of all the places you might end up wearing someone else's blood.(edited)
Aaron does not repeat the fact that they were coming for him so it was really Ziv that was their on his behalf, he just sort of watches Rieko and thinks it real hard while staring at her a little funny. He doesn't fight having his hand taken or oppose being brought over to the bed, and looks genuinely grateful when Rieko makes that effort. It's sort of like he remembers himself, because he slides his own arm around Ziv's shoulders and offers them a one armed hug of his own.
"I should tune in to the police scanners and news feeds and see what they have to say about what just happened." Which he does not do by turning on a radio or the television, he just sort of looks off to the side and begins looking as though he's just smelled gas. Concurrent with this look away, Ziv will fear that rush of power in their limbs simply disappear. Happy noodle arms! Perhaps tellingly, little Chewie begins to yip-growl in his best 'I do not like this' fashion. Cos the whining in Aaron's ears is annoying.
They just... kinda sit there, pleasantly disconnected from all their feelings, which are troublesome and really, who wants to feel those feelings? Not Sirens, apparently, contrary to all prior statements! The Darkling just kind of sits there, looking off into the near distance. When Rieko starts to get up, they start briefly, as if shocked, but calm when she whispers into their ear. A little nod. Their hands lift for a moment, as if stirring at a current only they can feel, and then drop to their lap again. Aaron's presence gets a nearly-identical response to Rieko sitting down on the bed: they lean in against him, drop their head on his shoulder.
The disappearance of the strength comes with a little sigh -- but it's no different from any other way that their body just seems to be disconnected from their brain. Of course they feel weak and weird right now. "Chewie... " Ziv says absently, "... don't cry, Chewie. C'mere." Their fingers wiggle a little toward him, as the other hand lands on Aaron's knee and stays there.
Having laid out Ziv's change of clothes at the head of the bed, the bag is zipped closed and shuffled out of the way before Rieko helps Chewie up into Ziv's lap. She slides into place on Ziv's opposite side, protectively wrapping her arm around their middle -- since Aaron's gone high, she'll go low -- and then presses a little kiss to the Siren's shoulder before resting her forehead against the same spot. Y'know. In such a way that her horns -- which Aaron can't see -- aren't in danger of knocking anything, or being accidentally knocked.
"Ziv said you were packing some sacred items at your apartment, right? Did y'all drive - would you like me to go unload the car so they're not sitting out in the swamp weather?" There's a beat, and she looks around the Siren's shoulder to make eye contact with Aaron. "I grabbed everything Ziv asked for, but do you need anything?" A beat. "How can I help?" Rieko might not be great at knowing what to do, but goddamnit she'll approach helping with all the enthusiasm of a big dog.(edited)
Oh no. There are two big dogs in the room and they both want to help.
"I figured this would happen sooner or later, so I had all the texts and art and such with the name of God on them set on their own shelves. So I could bug out faster. I left my go bag at my apartment, now that I think of it. I didn't grab a change of clothes or a toiletries bag or anything. But I've got money, so I can take care of that if I need to tomorrow. I don't want anyone going back to my apartment or it'll look suspicious right now." Aaron keeps himself tuned in to the frequencies for a short while longer before stopping the effect, much to his doggie's relief.
"The Proud Boys are claiming they were jumped. They've not mentioned my name, and they've not mentioned any description that's anything like us. They may try to spin this for sympathy, which is a thing I hadn't considered them doing. Of course, they also didn't mention finding a knife or a gun, either, I don't believe. I wonder if I radio over the location of the pistol and the knife, if I could get them to run the prints. When they get the Proud Boys prints for elimination, they'll ... see through the lies." Aaron glances aside at Ziv and Rieko both, clearly wondering if they agree with this play. He's clearly not trusting his own judgment just this second.
They look over at the clothes -- Rieko thoughtfully grabbed one of Ziv's favorite shirts, with a mermaid on the front and the text 'Creature of the Night and Sea' surrounding it -- but they don't move. Moving means you have a body, and Ziv would like to not have a body right now. Wouldn't it be nice to be water again? It would be nice if you could be water, or maybe a mermaid. Was Ziv water or was Ziv a mermaid? These are all important questions which one may distantly ponder while staring into the near distance.
"Mmm." That's all the usually-loquacious Siren says for a minute. "We're safe here," they offer with regard to the matter of clothing and things. "Things are just things." The sort of thing that you say when you live out of a bag for years and years. They are surrounded by big dogs, and they're as content as they can be when they're all muddy-brained and disconnected. Arms around them, head leaned on their head, their head on Aaron's shoulder. "I don't know anything about police," they admit quietly. "I avoid them. Sometimes I'm darkness, and the police can't have that. Or light. I can be light, too." That doesn't help, Ziv.
There's a derisive snort at the mention of the Proud Boys' antics, but Rieko has no real response to Aaron's plan. All empty up there! Probably because her player ran this particular one-shot, and doesn't feel comfortable intervening on the course of action. Y'know, so she can be free to run more plot later. "You can save your money, Aaron. I'll go back for your things later tonight - nobody'll see me unless I want them to, and anybody who fucks with me will be kindly reminded why they shouldn't fuck with a well-armed samurai."
... because being ambushed is a thing that happens to other people. People who don't run Vigilance of Ares.
She fixes Ziv with another look, concern tugging powerfully at the corners of the smile she's been trying to keep up since setting foot in the lobby. Y'know. For her partner and new metamour that just got ambushed by violent bigots. "Sea Sparkle, would you want help getting changed?" There's a beat, and she quirks an eyebrow at the rabbi. "... did Ziv have their bag with them?"(edited)
"I don't remember," Aaron admits with a small shake of the head, "I'm sorry. After the gun--" Aaron takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, rubbing his palm down his trouser legs slowly to regather his nerves. "I'm used to ending violence before it starts. Not ending it with more violence. This is the first time I've done anything like this." Aaron doesn't explain the specifics of it all, just making it clear there's a reason for his lack of clarity about events.
That realization sort of sits on him for a while, and then he just sort of stands up all at once, makes a b-line for the bathroom, and winds up hugging the toilet that becomes his new best friend in the world for a short while while the toilet confirms whether or not his last meal was indeed kosher. The noises involved are unpleasant.
"Oh no."
That's what happens when Ziv sees Aaron run away and hears him vomiting violently. The Siren says the words 'oh no' just like they're in that little cartoon with the blobby pink people. 'Oh no'. So distant from the words. So distant from everything. But there is motive in them still -- despite the dissocation -- and so they repeat: "Oh no," so softly, and then get up to their feet. They're not unsteady, really, just sort of apart from all of their motions. "I can change -- in a minute -- but I have to -- " They pad from bed to bathroom in their still-bloody sneakers.
"Sweetheart?" They stop in the doorway of the bathroom, one hand raised and held in front of them, fingers slightly splayed. "May I touch you? May I help you?"
Unless Ziv is dead, they will respond to someone in distress above all else.
Rieko is mid-way through reaching around Ziv to Aaron's shoulder when he bolts towards the bathroom. There's a pained look in her eyes as the connection is made, and she quickly rescues Chewie from potentially being dumped off Ziv's lap when they go after him.
Rieko takes a few steps after them - still holding Chewie - but Ziv's bag catches her eye in one of the chairs over by the window. She lets Chewie jump down from her arms, and she pads over. The bag is unzipped and briefly poked through before it's slung over her shoulder, and then she joins Ziv in the doorway to the bathroom - resting a hand on their hip. Just. Still... trying to smile even though everything is clearly awful, 'cause what else does she do? Call a Spring???(edited)
Aaron doesn't have a great deal of shame about emptying his guts into a hotel toilet. He played football in school. (That was a joke.) But also, he's sort of just generally okay with his body being his body right now. He's flicking gobbets of vomit from his mouth into the toilet with a finger so his tongue doesn't have to taste it as much. Then he slumps back away from the toilet onto the floor and puts his back to the wall. Which is nice because the wall is cool. So that's good. "Yeah... I'm okay, Ziv. You can touch me-- dang it. I need to tell Lux. But I can't-- oh, right. I can text with my brain." He takes in a breath, regrets that decision immediately, and pulls down a towel to begin spitting into it. Ugh. "I'm going to be okay... It's just. Settling in. What I did. That's all. I'm sorry."
Rather calmly, distantly -- Ziv is not making eye contact with anyone right now -- but very self-assuredly, they softly cross the scrubbed-clean tile of the hotel floor and crouch next to him. They crouch next to him, and carefully cradle his head in both of their hands. "I understand," they answer him. "I understand. I was not going to hide. But it was a lot."
Aaron's peripheral Mage sight goes off at the same time that Rieko sees their glass-bottle webbed hands take on a soft glow, surrounding first their hands and then the Obrimos. Their Mantle swells, that water-on-water-on-water scent filling the bathroom as little water lilies pop up around them, blooming on Aaron's shoulders, in his short hair. One right behind his ear: it looks a little silly and quite fetching all at the same time. It's a pity he can't see it. "Why are you sorry?"
Rieko hovers awkwardly in the door -- still holding Ziv's bag -- even after she's let go of them. She closes her eyes and breathes in the wonderful petrichor scent of her partner's mantle. Which. Might be weird considering Aaron can't smell it, but I imagine a lot of this is weird for someone who can't see through the mask.
She returns to the bed, fetching one of the water bottles she'd passed out previously and then setting it on the floor at Aaron's feet when she returns -- so he can rehydrate and wash out his mouth -- and then she takes up a seat beside Ziv.
Apparently, it's floor time for everyone. Just little a collapsing into a pile as a treat.
Aaron does feel immediately better in the wake of that contract. It's a day and night difference, really. Gone is the shock and the emotional distance. It sort of snaps him back into himself. His usual self, that is. He blinks a few times and rubs at his face with his hands, blinking first to Ziv whose proximity is immediate. He just carefully takes one of their hands and presses a very careful series of kiss between each of their fingers on that hand. "I'm okay, Ziv. I'm better. Thank you. That... helped." He sends Rieko the most profoundly grateful look when she hands him the water bottle. He cracks it open, takes in a swig, swishes it around, and then leans over to spit towards the shower basin before toweling off his mouth and chin again. He lets out a sour breath to calm his nerves and slumps a little lower against the wall. "I'm sorry for my reaction to chatting with your girlfriend for the first time involving me hurling my kugel into the john. It's not you, Eko. I promise." He flops a hand her way to squeeze whatever appropriate bit of her person he can manage.
They stay crouched next to Aaron, looking sort of past his ear and nodding vaguely. A smile slides across their face briefly, which comes with a splash of white light in their mien, and then fades away. "Good," Ziv agrees, resting their forearms on their knees. He takes their hand and kisses where he knows the webbing is, even though he can't see it, and that brings that smile back, along with either a blush or a scribbly wash of rose-colored neon, depending on what one sees. "I told you," Ziv reaffirms, "I am here to help settle other people's brains. I deal with people who are struggling all the time. I am used to this."
Joyeux, heal thyself.
Their hand comes to rest on his shoulder, and they lean over to kiss his cheek before sitting down on the bathroom floor, because that's what everyone is doing now. "Rieko is like if a golden retriever was a cowboy samurai. She is good."(edited)
"I know it's not, don't worry." There's an odd little pang of sympathy and recognition before she manages to renew her lazy grin - and the places her hand atop Aaron's when he reaches forward to squeeze her knee. "Honestly, I was expecting there to be blood and screaming." She says this as if it's a joke, but she's quite bad at hiding the fact that some small part of her actually expected this to be worse. That fact might say more than a few things about her.
... but then she notices their blood-stained shoes, and leans forward to start untying them - assuming they allow her to. "Golden retrievers might be a little better than I am, but I do try." For once, Aaron can see something that Ziv cannot, and Rieko's face flushes at the compliment. She pauses to place another soft kiss on the Siren's shoulder.
"Say, Aaron? When you're feeling up to it, can I ask you for a favor?"(edited)
"Please ask me the favor now so I can feel less useless," Aaron says sincerely, "and less like I'm a shlub on a bathroom floor that puked into a toilet with two people in a hotel room without the aid of either liquor or cocaine?" He offers a strained sort of self-deprecating laugh at that and takes another swig of the water, swishing it again and spitting it out as before. More daubing of the towel. "I let Lux know what happened so they won't be worried if something hits the news about it all. I told them everyone is okay. I'm pretty sure."
Usually Ziv asks questions like that and doesn't need to be told 'hey this is what I told my other partner.' Usually, Ziv is good like that. Right now they're sitting on the floor watching Rieko untie their shoelaces like those feet belong to someone else. (That is not a tail, and I have a tail. I had a tail. Shouldn't I have a tail? Feet are wrong. Perhaps this is a cruel dream and I am still There.) They turn their head toward Aaron, vaguely smiling. "I am glad that they know you are okay. I would worry, also. You can text message with your brain?" As if that just now rolled into their brain like the tide running late.
A small smile aside to Rieko. "You are better than golden retrievers." A pause. "You both are, actually. How did this happen?" 'This' is not explained.
"Someone murdered my brother over $40 and a Sony Discman and I got really Jewish about it," Aaron says with the sort of dispassionate wry humor that proves that statement true.
"I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels useless. This is very much Ziv's usual gig, not mine, so I'm more than a little bit outside my element." There's a soft little laugh from Rieko that momentarily puts an end to all the worried staring she's been doing. She shakes her head, finishing up taking off Ziv's shoes and tucking them away in the corner. Let's just... get that blood out of the sight for a bit.
Rieko smirks at Aaron's comment, but declines to answer How This Happened for the moment in favor of unslinging Ziv's bag from her shoulder, and placing a hand on the Siren's not-tail leg.
"Ziv told me a little about what you are, so I assume they've explained a little bit about us. We Lost tend to have a somewhat precarious grip on reality," she unzips the bag to produce Ziv's beautiful Tanakh, and the silver necklace they usually wear. "I know that faith is an anchor to reality for Ziv, but I... don't know enough about y'all's religion to help. Here. Uhh. Right now."
She's trying very, very hard not to call Ziv out by name her with her Manipulation 1. It isn't working, but at least Aaron can see where she's leading the conversation. "Could you maybe... help me learn. So I can help. If it's ever a thing?" Wink wink. Nudge nudge.(edited)
"We should pray HaGomel, but we don't have a Minyan," Aaron observes quietly when Rieko mentions Ziv's faith and it being their link to reality. "We could make the blessing for a miracle, I suppose, Ziv. We just survived bandits. That's minhag, baby." Aaron tilts his head aside to peer over at Ziv, trying to see if any of this is getting through to them or not. "Or we could say Shehechiyanu to commemorate my meeting Rieko. We could do both, even. If you wanted." Aaron picked up on the wink wink nudge nudge portion and is addressing that first before trying to explain any of what he's talking about in a manner Rieko can understand. Aaron reaches out a hand and pats Ziv's knee gently. "Will you pray with me, Ziv?"
"We don't," Ziv agrees about the minyan, because what they know is real is the framework on which they have hung their understanding of reality. Six hundred and thirteen rules and a million minhagim to discuss and question and push on but, in the end, rely upon. The bones on which their body rests. They sit still and sort of let it all flow past them, because of course they are fine right now. Of course they are. This is all very normal. But when Rieko holds out the Tanakh and the necklace, they blink at both once, twice. Both webbed hands reach first for the necklace; they took it off and set it aside for the fight, and they pick it back up now, carefully locking the clasp behind their neck. For a second -- just a second -- Rieko sees those twinned hollow moons, the brilliant white irises that only appear when Ziv makes eye contact.
They disappear a split second later, but there they were. "Thank you, Cowboy." One webbed hand closes around their much-written-in Tanakh, and they pull it into their lap. Their lower lip is pulled into their mouth, and they offer a small glance to Aaron -- the briefest of eye contact there, too -- when he addresses them by endearment, and by name. "Yes. Thank you. We should."
"Do you want your, uhh." Rieko pauses as she realizes she doesn't quite have the vocabulary she needs - pulling out their knit genderfluid flag kippah... and then their notes from the Torah Queerys. "This?" Beat. "Or these?"
If she was out of her element before, she is very out of her element, now. Aaron might not know much about Changeling things, but through this particular twist of Story Magic, he's actually one of the people best suited to help Ziv in this moment. Rieko flashes a grin when she sees Ziv's pupils for the first time since arriving - and her upbeat expression doesn't look forced for the first time in probably an hour.
Though, when the time comes, she's paying attention to Aaron again.
Aaron's already got his Kippah sorted. But he does reach for the kippah for Ziv and help get it situated on their head. And once he realizes another blessing they can say, he also pushes up from the ground and wobbles his way out of the bathroom to go to the bag of his sacred stuff, going fishing for his tallis bags. Not that they can go into the bathroom. "Ziv? Can you come out here and sit on the bed? We can drape our tallitot before we pray. You, too, Rieko." Aaron pulls both out of their bags and lays them in his lap for the time being until he can pass it over to Ziv and start things properly.
"My that," they offer to Rieko with a nod, and start to reach for it themself, but Aaron takes it, for which he gets another sip of eye contact and a small smile. They're sort of here right now, one foot in Elsewhere, and another here. They take the clips from Rieko, secure their kippah so it doesn't fall off. They're called, and carefully rise to their feet, hugging their Tanakh to their chest, and then bend down to kiss Rieko on the forehead. "Thank you, Cowboy." The tiniest little bits of eye contact before they drift away again.
Barefoot, they pap pap pap out into the main room and sit down on the bed, as instructed. "Yes, a good idea," they answer, tipping their head up to look up from their seat at Aaron. Their tallit bag is taken from Aaron, the Tanakh set down on the nightstand by their phone. "Thank you, Sweetheart."
"No problem, Darlin'," Rieko follows Ziv out into the main room, her hand resting comfortably on the hilt of her knife, and the Siren's bag slung over one shoulder. It's delicately dropped off beside her own go-bag, and then she sidles up behind the pair - not entirely sure what she's supposed to be doing here.
"Bar'chi nafshi et Adonai, Adonai Elohai, gadalta m’od, hod v’hadar lavashta. Oteh or kasalmah, noteh shamayim kay’riah. Ameyn."
With that recitation, he lifts the prayer shawl off his lap, extends it out at his arms' length, then drapes it over his head, pausing to kiss the corners for a moment before dipping his head and commencing to slowly rock forward and back, praying the following as he goes settles the tallis into place.
"Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hitateif batzitzit. Ameyn."
Then again, for the miracle of surviving the bandits that were the Proud Boys.
"She'assa li nes b'makom hazeh. Ameyn."
Then again for the occasion of meeting Rieko.
"Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, shehecheyanu, v'kiy'manu, v'higiyanu laz'man hazeh. Ameyn."
And each ends with a quiet Ameyn to denote he has heard Ziv echo the same. Prayer upon acknowledgement four times over. And when the prayers have come to an end, he glances aside at Ziv, then over to poor Rieko who is decidedly not receiving a religious education at the moment. At least not until Ziv's fully back in their right mind, in any case. He does flash her a quick smile, attempting reassurance. Soon. I promise.
It's a little like watching someone come up from underwater -- like watching a diver who's been down very, very deep rising slowly enough not to get the bends. A neat little unzip of the bag, and they slowly unfold their tallit -- a lovely blue-and-white one with silver embroidery around the atarah, the crown, the collar around the neck.
As soon as they start in the process of putting on the tallit, flickers from underneath the water, lights in the center of their chest, along their limbs, like distant stars faintly reflected. For Aaron this is all metaphor, but for Rieko, really, actually visible. The lights in their glass-bottle body shimmer silver-to-gold in the center of their forehead, at their throat, in their heart, the centers of their palms, their belly, glimmering through their shirt. The lights are dimmed somewhat by the shawl draped over them after they kiss its corners.
Somewhat.
Because as they follow Aaron through the prayers, the lights in the water get brighter and more gold, as though the lights in the water are not from above, are not the lights of The City, but the lights of Ziv themself. Not reflected, refracted, not coming from some distant Queen but the inherent light of the Nymph themself.
For Rieko, by the end of it, they are -- however briefly -- alight, all gold and silver light within glass. You couldn't see by them in a dark room -- the light does not cast -- but for a moment, for her, at least, it is real.
For Aaron, it is still like watching a swimmer surface. The uncertain pace of the first prayer becomes by slow degrees the steady and contented recitation of Shehechyanu, crossing borders on a journey back to themself. Slow, meditative rocking, wrapped in the tallit, a contented smile spreading across their face and settled there by the last
"Ameyn."
And then their hand stretches out, palm up. Eyes open slowly. Aaron's peripheral Mage sight goes off, but nothing happens, and their hand drops to their lap.
A small breath in, a thin shudder. Ziv's head dips forward a little. "I am sorry." After all, they know -- now -- what happened.
The light fades, becomes scribbly and distant in the dark water, as they look at their hands, but then at Aaron and Rieko, in turn.
Rieko is more than happy to sit back and wait for Aaron to finish. After all, this is literally the favor she asked of him. The Oni climbs onto the top of the dresser, sitting patiently as she waits for the prayers to be finished - hand leaving the hilt of her blade so she can lean back onto her palms. When Ziv begins to glow? She beams, and -- though their back is likely turned -- her glittering irises absorb the gorgeous light show, reflecting it back at the Siren as she watches with rapt attention.
So distracted is Rieko, she doesn't even really tear her attention away when the prayers have ended - and she misses their apology entirely. Not that she'd have done anything other than reassure them that they have nothing to apologize for anyway - and even though their light isn't reflecting off of her irises anymore, she's still utterly fucking starstruck.(edited)
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