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[evocation]

@kyna.medina | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[evocation]

Did I? Don't you get wine?

[withmeinparadise]

Not enough.

[evocation]

You guys have those fucking wild exorcisms, too.

[withmeinparadise]

Father Duffy never did any of those. Thought he was going to pop a blood vessel the time I drank all the Communion wine, though.

[evocation]

Did it make you holier?

[withmeinparadise]

Not according to Sister Catherine.

[evocation]

[She laughs, rolling her eyes.]

Were you ever, like, one of those altar boys?

[withmeinparadise]

Funny thing--you screw up enough times, they stop putting your name in the rotation.

[evocation]

Wow, what a tragedy. I feel so sorry for you.

[withmeinparadise]

Eh, I got kicked out a couple years later. Happy ending.

[ You know, as long as you assume that a fifteen-year-old without anywhere to go is a happy ending. It's fine, it's a good story. ]

[evocation]

Yeah? So where'd you go?

[withmeinparadise]

Eh, here and there.

[evocation]

Wow, a man of mystery.

[That is totally a call out of the way he keeps dodging her questions, even though she says it lightly.]

[withmeinparadise]

Maybe so.

[ But she's smiling right now, and hearing yeah, and then I was on my own and it was getting cold out, because I lied to Father Duffy about knowing people who'd let me stay with them is gonna change that. Sure, he made friends quick--what was the alternative?--but he remembers that wave of concern coming from her. Warm and kind and not something she needs to feel about things that happened decades ago.

So instead, a little playfully-- ]

Why d'you wanna know? I'm that interesting, huh?

[evocation]

Nope.

[She says it cheerfully, even as she bumps her knee against his.]

Okay, tell me how you started doing the whole Indiana Jones thing.

[withmeinparadise]

[ He bumps hers back, satisfied with that answer. Sam Drake, Boring Man, doesn't have to answer questions he doesn't want to. ]

The usual way. You start out stealing little stuff, start to think bigger.

[evocation]

So the artifacts were just... you know, a progression? Or are you actually into history?

[withmeinparadise]

Little'a column A, little'a column B. [ Something around the crows' feet of his eyes softens, an instinctive sort of facial expression he has no idea he's making. ] Used to get history lectures for bedtime stories, y'know--you wanna know about pirates, I can probably tell you more'n just about anyone else alive. But after a while, you wanna make some money, you gotta start stealing something worth more than a pack of gum.

[evocation]

Right.

[Rafe had mentioned pirates, too, but she knows better than to bring him up now.]

So tell me about pirates.

[withmeinparadise]

Just fulla questions today, huh.

[ He doesn't, strictly, sound like he minds. ]

Whaddaya wanna know?

[evocation]

I don't know anything about pirates. Tell me your favorite story.

[withmeinparadise]

Can't. [ All cheer. ] Dunno how it ends yet.

[evocation]

Oh my God.

[She says it overdramatically, finally pulling away completely to flop back on the arm of the couch with a theatrical sigh.]

Are you saying you're your own favorite pirate?

[withmeinparadise]

God, no. We were chasing down what happened to him when I got here.

[ He gives a laugh that sounds like it should come with a puff of cigarette smoke. ]

I come pretty close, though.

[evocation]

[She gives his leg a little kick.]

So tell me.