[P] Take in the Extent of My Sin

[Only]

  

“ polarized, divisive drowning in strife ”

Suddenly a memory of meeting Florentine when she was a kid predawns any other thought(s) that come up when the girl starts her way up to the discovered encampment.  Shit, shit, shit, Only kicks a horse skull back as hard as he can and it scuttles loudly (not his intention) into a pile of what looks to be fur and fabric scraps.  One quick glance behind him tells him all he needs to see, the skull is obscured enough, but the rest of the stuff...

Apolonia has already spied most of it in her approach.  What has he got to say for himself?  The man tosses the blonde locks out of his face and steps out further to see what he is up against.  Not much.  A pipsqueak with a weapon, everyone seems to be packing heat these days.  Only feels the desert wind sing through the blade on his head as if its sharp edge cuts the very molecules that weave air together, apart.

"It does, doesn't it." Also not a question.  He feigns concern, nods with interest as he glances back at the piles himself.  Overall he seems confident, calm, collected despite all the screws rattling around between his ears.  Stephen is back there, searching for something to hold onto so he can crawl his way out.   He doesn't give her time to carry on herself, he muscles his way through her brilliant observation.  "I am actually curious to know who has been living here too." 

Not a complete lie. 

"I was searching the things, I thought I might know who it belonged to -- I've seen some of this before, not here, but in Tinea of all places."   The feathers in his hair also came from Tinea and matched the skull, the strange horned mask, the furs, the beads, the bones...

The teeth tangled in his hair rustle like rattlesnakes underneath a bed of flaxen hair, only to reveal themselves with one gusty breeze that whips through unexpectedly.  They are long, old, but fresh.

Feathers scatter then eddy about in the wind caught up in the shelter, they scurry up, over, then out, catching around the pair's feet before being taken by the sighing valley-ways.  Only watches them go until he cannot see them anymore.  It only takes seconds before his golden green eyes focus on the young girl again.  Clarity finds him.  He changes his motives on the dime, he has to.  It is survival.


"You around here often?  I take it you haven't seen the one who might live here?"   He tries to walk her observation right out of the canyon.  Walk it into the sun where it should burn and bubble and turn into ash.  He would rather she think someone else entirely lives here.  It is not hard for him to pretend that he did not just wake up in the belly of the shallow cave. 


"Given the recent developments, I'm sure whoever is hiding here might want to keep it a secret.  Why don't you go -- better yet, why don't we go."  At once Only is moving past her, eyes hopeful as they look far ahead of him.  "Come on, I don't know if I even want to meet the man who lives here."  He calls back, the irony of his words eat him alive from the inside out. 

O N L Y
technically I still exist, but not in my mind

 

@Apolonia    Liar liar pants on fire