179th page

[curseshit]

Drag the grooms out of their hiding places and get partying! Everyone is at the inn already!

BACHELOR PARTY!!!

[ mission: midnight drinking post. oh and the curse... ]

Comments

[recurred]

[stops herself to sass an eyebrow at him]

Pop the collar off, father, you're not required to listen to me and my weirdness.

[sawedoff]

What kinda weirdness?

[that's an automatic response. doesn't even have to think about it before he's pulling his hands free, eyebrows pulling tight. laser zoom on weird. which... is kind of weird itself because everyone here is kinda kooky and he's never given it a second thought before. he told himself he'd drop it but the sergei episode still has him kind of on edge]

[recurred]

[considers shaking it off, but she's run into two people today that have had the same issue, and she really does trust him, weirdly. weirdly considering she avoided that confession box as if it'd eat her alive. or so she'd thought.]

[rubs at the back of her neck as she looks away. it feels wrong questioning the town, the duke and all. they have a nice set up, but it's just...off]

Like... none of this is right. Something is missing, but you can't quite place it. You know like losing a word on the tip of your tongue.

[sawedoff]

You been hittin the hooch, sister?

[you're talkin like you fell down and hit your head. regards her like he's concerned more than he can relate, because yeah the whole deja vu thing was unsettling but not shake the ground under his feet world wrecking]

[recurred]

[now shes slightly offended, but its not like she can explain it better]

No. I'm perfectly sober, thanks. But maybe I am just....losing it. [we just dont know. scratches at her eyebrow and gives a slight wave of her hand]

I don't even know why I'm here. You should know this isn't my forte and you're just a scandal tank waiting to bust.

[sawedoff]

Well I have a long life of excommunication ahead of me if I ever do decide to, uh, bust. So don't count on it.

[not that he hasn't considered it with some of the shit people come to him with but, oath and all that. shrugs like what can you do and lays a hand on her shoulder to steer her away from the hustle and bustle of the noisy inn]

Sorry. Try me again. What's goin on?

[recurred]

[looks at his hand before resorting to walking away with him]

I don't. I don't know. It's like suddenly I'm missing another place, other people. And the more I think about it, the less about this place makes sense. I don't remember auditing the Joys or spending one night with Ernest. Becoming sheriff. Growing up here.

[stops once they're a little bit more ways away and looks up at him]

Do you? Remember coming here or growing up here. Marrying Aaron. Like you know you did, but can you actually recall the memory?

⇒dat makes 2

[sawedoff]

What? Yeah, of course.

[looks at her like she's the most bizarre? it's knee-jerk to say, because she's questioning basically his entire existence here. but he humors her, stops to think about a specific example so that he can say "see?" and they can laugh and she'll realize she just hasn't slept enough. but when he tries, it's like she said. you can remember the word you want, what it means, maybe even the first letter, but god help you you can't remember the actual word]

[drops hand away and slows to a stop, looking down with serious thinky faceing]

No I really don't.

[recurred]

[there we go. sorry for crushing your little happy gay priest bubble. watches him process, slightly concerned herself that she might come up empty with him. shakes head a little.]

So, I'm not crazy here, aren't I?

[sawedoff]

Not unless I'm a whackjob too.

[which. might be the case. because everything seems 10x more suspicious now. since when is he such a paranoid bastard? watches an apple tree that they stopped next to and kind of tilts his head, narrows eyes. for a second he could have sworn it wasn't an apple tree. and the house behind it was different, more familiar. like it was before the fire]

[what fire. jesus christ.]

--I don't think I'm even religious.

[welp. or gay. or a dad? has he ever even talked to his daughter before yesterday. HIS WORLD]

[recurred]

[follows his gaze up then to him wondering what he sees. reaches over and plucks an apple off the tree and weighs it in her hand.]

That's not surprising anyone. [sry not sry]

[briefly remembers standing in an orchard with the duke, mossy boots, an orchard with a golden apple and his pissy face]

[sawedoff]

[excuse you. he was a good priest. :(]

Have you talked to anyone else about this?

[making the same pissy face at apple. it's reflexive. get that shit away from me.]

[recurred]

Ernest and John Smith.

[ looks back up at the tree. the leaves. remembering a leaf in a book somewhere, the book she saw in the joy's pawn shop]

Something is really wrong, but I think I know where to start now.

[sawedoff]

[nods like the formulation of a plan for something they have no idea is a good idea. like this shit is run of the mill.]

Hey.

[reaches out to touch her arm, which would be normal for a priest trying to comfort someone but he's neither and it feels like he's done it before. natural.]

Just be careful, okay?

[two crazies running around town kicking shit up. who knows what's going on anymore. watch yoself.]

[recurred]

[looks at his hand then to him and smiles a little. this is familiar too, a nice familiar.]

Roger that. [that feels like the right thing to say, even if really it doesn't make any sense between them at the moment.]

[she stops to place a hand over his and give it a squeeze before departing.]

I'll come find you. [for what? tinhatting party. who knows lets just roll with it.]

[sawedoff]

[digs an eyebrow in, confused, but it gets a smile despite himself. it's kind of like it was with sergei, like they've had this conversation before or he remembers bits and pieces, but it doesn't fit with anything he remembers here and it's wigging him out]

Right. Yeah. Don't leave me hangin.