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[holyposition]

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t.laughlin

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[kobes]

[There's a pause, a beat where Koby doesn't respond, because to say too much would unfold how Hawk's words -- thoughtless, he's sure, he's sure he hadn't meant them the same way, but they'd hit every weak point Koby has -- have lingered. How much it still hurts.]

I wish he'd done that. I think
Quentin saw me and just stepped in. It was very dashing, but I didn't want to cause problems for you.

[holyposition]

You're not the one starting fights, it wouldn't be you causing problems.

I'm sorry, still. Did he look good doing it, at least? I kind of liked having hawk fighting for me, when it wasn't you guys.

[kobes]

Still, I reacted badly. I wasn't as composed as I'd like to have been.

It was nice. I'm not used to people sticking their necks out for me, especially not in public, so it sort of took me off guard.
But I always think he looks nice.

[holyposition]

I don't think any of us are.

He really does. Put a kiss right in his beard for me.

[kobes]

I will, but you're welcome to come give him one yourself, you know. I think he'd appreciate it. He's put up with a lot from me this month.

la dee da timelines schmimelines

[holyposition]

Actually, I need to come over for a few days.

we on werewolf time

[kobes]

What? Why? What happened? I've been visiting Louis, did something happen?

[holyposition]

Embry's back. It turned into a fight.

I'm glad that he's not dead, obviously.

It's just complicated. I need to clear my head.

[kobes]

Oh, Tim. I'm so sorry.

Yeah, you can come here. Of course you can. Luffy and the crew are in and out of the other room, but Quentin's side is usually just me and him.

[holyposition]

That's a lot of people.

Did you leave your own room behind already?

[kobes]

Safety in numbers. Or something.

After the first deaths, yeah. Which feels like years ago, now. Would you rather stay there?

[holyposition]

[ The more people, the more likely one is a wolf. It's not over until the house says it's over. ]

Not alone. But not with people in and out all the time.

It's fine, I'm not gonna ask you to move. There's other people I can stay with.

[kobes]

We should be done soon. We have to be.

I don't want you to be alone either, Tim. I really don't mind staying with you in my room for a little.

[holyposition]

I have to go right now.

It's okay. Aemond has a spare room, I can go there.

[kobes]

[The loooooongest pause.]

Aemond.
Okay.

[holyposition]

It's not like that.

But just say it. I know he's...a handful.

[kobes]

Well, I know THAT. He's not exactly your type.

Yes. Several handfuls. Armed and dangerous handfuls.

[holyposition]

He won't hurt me. We're sworn brothers, somehow.

[kobes]

[]

Can I come see you?

[holyposition]

I’m in the chapel. But I don’t know how holy it can still be.

[kobes]

As holy as anywhere else, I guess?

I'll be there in ten.

[holyposition]

That's not comforting.

ok

[ He'll be counting prayers on a rosary in the front pew for the foreseeable future, more stressed now than on the morning after his near-murder. ]

[kobes]

[It takes Koby a little while, the perpetual migraine grown into something else, something like a throbbing, aching weight in his temples, his chest, everywhere he's used to feeling the easy, effortless flow of magic. Like it's blocked, like he's being walled off from it.

He ignores it, lets his feet fall noisily enough on the chapel floor to announce his presence. Hands in his pockets, he looks up at the window, the cross, the altar for a long, long moment.]

...you're right. It feels different now.

[holyposition]

[ The footsteps behind him make his entire body tense as he whips around, his hands gripping the beads in his hand like he'll need them to defend himself, until he spots Koby. Just Koby. It's fine, if it's Koby.

Tim sniffles and wipes the tears from his eyes and cheeks with his sleeve, uselessly. He's not hiding it. He'll never be able to hide anything ever again, he thinks, all his limited capacity for underhandedness blown on this game and Hawk's secrets. ]

I would ask Father Keane if it's still sacrilege to burn it down if I build a new one, but. [ He's gone. Killed in this room. How sick is it, that he's grateful not to have scrubbed his blood out of the floorboards like he did Embry's? ] Maybe it doesn't matter. I don't think He's listening here.

[kobes]

[Koby pauses a moment, holds up his hands, like -- what, like Tim is some sort of easily-spooked forest creature? Maybe. Maybe. He looks awful; exhausted and shivery and red-eyed from weeks and weeks of crying. Not in the chapel yet, though -- maybe that'll make a good change of pace?

But then Tim sniffles, and Koby's chest aches, thinking of him in the hallway, asking to stay the first time, thinking of the weeks that had followed, when the hardest thing facing them was sorting out how to exist here, how to love someone without constantly stumbling over and over it. That's still an issue, but it's so muddied now, so many secrets, so many deaths, so much pain. Koby almost wishes for the nights with a bottle of wine and Tim ranting about Hawk's ineffability, his exasperating qualities, met with flat recountings of the more absurd things the Straw Hats had gotten up to in the village.

And now: this. Here. The chapel, clean and scrubbed, but still tainted. Koby sits on the pew, folds his hands in his lap, bitten-down nails and ragged cuticles.]

I think it sounds nice. Cleansing by fire. Like lockdown again. [Koby glances over, scoots a little closer to Tim, not too close just -- in case. Just.] You could make something your own, not the Balfours. Not this house's.