InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Glaring is a powerful skill"

Shiloh (ex_auguries536) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2009-12-10 22:47:00

Entry tags:

willful child

Who: Aaron and Shiloh and a box of lucky charms
What: ~~The birds and the bees~~ A roller coaster
Where: The kitchen and the main building hall
When: Before this, which might not happen
Warnings: ~~Anatomy?~~ Sexual discussion, prophesies and bad reactions from the empathic clairvoyant

Shiloh hadn't precisely been eavesdropping on Aaron the night before, but he'd heard enough to know there was a girl and breakfast food involved.

He didn't quite understand everything about his brother yet. He was spending most of his time worried about this building and whether it was a good choice for Aaron. He'd been aware of all the things his mother had said about Aaron when they were growing up, but he hadn't believed them. He knew all about the Devil and demons and how they infested the world and affected man, but he'd also held his baby brother in his arms, and he knew Aaron wasn't what his mother said he was.

But, Shiloh was learning, Aaron was special. That's how Shiloh looked at it - not as a problem, or a thing to be fixed or feared. It was just Aaron. And it was Shiloh's job to make sure that nothing got in the way of Aaron being happy, despite his extraordinary ability.

And the building worried him. Not just because of the murder they'd witnessed or the man in Shiloh's bedroom, but because this place was strange in a way Shiloh didn't know in his bones. Shiloh knew where Satan lived - he walked that territory every day, and he was comfortable in it, knew how to navigate. This place was not like that, but neither was it the promised land.

He hadn't gone to work the evening before, because he hadn't found a way to deal with the effect of his job on Aaron, but that couldn't continue. He would have to find a solution for that also. But the immediate concern was Aaron and breakfast.

He walked out into the living room, clad conservatively in a white ribbed Henley and a pair of very loose, khaki overalls, and he stopped in the center of the living. "Aaron, we need to talk," he said, noticing his brother over the cereal immediately.

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backoff
2009-12-11 06:41 am UTC (link)

The frozen immobility snapped. Aaron lunged forward and caught Shiloh by the wrist in a grip that hurt. His tear-stained expression slackened a little as he took in the blank confusion, the worry, the love, the odd cold calm that made up Shiloh from the inside. It was all unquestionably, unmistakeably, there. He took in a hard shaking breath at the end of a sob, and let him go, his expression now as confused as Shiloh's.

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ex_auguries536
2009-12-11 06:47 am UTC (link)

Shiloh didn't pull away from the painful grip. He didn't even try. He was used to not shying away from things that hurt, and he had no intention of ever shying away from Aaron.

When Aaron let go, he reached out a hand. He very much wanted to pull Aaron to him - his fingers itched with it - but he didn't want to make whatever was happening right now worse. "Your father?" he asked calmly, as if the question didn't terrify him to ask, not touching.

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	backoff 2009-12-11 06:48 am UTC (link)
	"You died," Aaron insisted, in a voice that sounded now lost, uncertain. "A minute ago--you did. You just stopped, and nothing was there anymore. You died." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_auguries536 2009-12-11 06:51 am UTC (link)
	"I'm here now, and I'm fine. No matter what happened a minute ago. I think I blacked out, Aaron. I don't remember you moving from the door." Calm words, and he meant them. He didn't believe he'd died, but what mattered is that Aaron thought that he had. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	backoff 2009-12-11 06:54 am UTC (link)
	Fiercely. "You died. I know what it feels like when somebody dies and you... you..." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_auguries536 2009-12-11 06:57 am UTC (link)
	"I'm right here, Aaron," Shiloh said calmly, and he risked a hand on Aaron's shoulder, hand warm. "I'm right here." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	backoff 2009-12-11 07:01 am UTC (link)
	Shiloh's strange, inhuman calm wrapped in those odd, occasional Aaron-centered waves was absolutely unmistakable. Aaron gulped. The fear began to ebb, though he still stared at Shiloh as if he might drop at any moment. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_auguries536 2009-12-11 07:04 am UTC (link)
	Shiloh nodded toward the apartment again. "Go on. I won't go back in," he promised again, and he squeezed Aaron's shoulder one more time. "I'm fine, and nothing is going to happen to me," he assured. "Go on." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	backoff 2009-12-11 07:06 am UTC (link)
	"No," a little more controlled this time. "No. Are you--are you sick, or something? It was a seizure?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_auguries536 2009-12-11 07:10 am UTC (link)
	"I'm not sick. I haven't been to a doctor a day in my life, and I've never needed one," Shiloh assured, again with that endless calm. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll go see someone." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	backoff 2009-12-11 07:32 am UTC (link)
	"I think you're sick," he replied, unmistakeably anxious, shifting from foot to foot, working off the adrenaline. "It was a seizure. You went blank. You stopped--everything. Nothing. Just blank." He blinked, realizing. "Only you talked." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_auguries536 2009-12-11 07:34 am UTC (link)
	"I talked?" he asked, disbelief unmistakable. People didn't talk and not remember talking, did they? He went for the reassuring angle. "If I talked, then I'm sure it was nothing serious. But I'll go see a doctor, and he'll tell me I'm fine." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	backoff 2009-12-11 07:36 am UTC (link)
	Aaron shook his head. "No, you talked. Like a bible verse or something. You said something about me." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_auguries536 2009-12-11 07:42 am UTC (link)
	Shiloh wasn't surprised that he said something Biblical - the Bible and stolen church books had been the entirety of his education, after all - but saying something about Aaron? "Do you remember what it was?" he asked, pushing down any concern he felt at the revelation. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	$Aaron Jacobson {willful child}: :\$ backoff 2009-12-11 07:48 am UTC (link)
	"Unless you actually meant the brother of Moses," Aaron said, babbling now. "Or there's another Aaron around." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_auguries536 2009-12-11 07:55 am UTC (link)
	"I said it like that?" Shiloh asked, because he knew the Bible, yes, but not enough to remember obscure family relations of important characters. He nodded toward the apartment again, obviously more hopeful this time. He didn't like having Aaron out here so long, possibly exposed to anyone who walked by. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	$Aaron Jacobson {willful child}: :\$ backoff 2009-12-11 07:57 am UTC (link)
	He went, this time, obviously not quite able to focus on more than one thing at a time. "Yeah. And other stuff, I can't remember." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_auguries536
2009-12-11 08:00 am UTC (link)

Shiloh did his best to shove down any surprise or concern he felt at that confession, and he got to the door first, and he opened it quickly, ducking inside and holding it open for Aaron. He was visibly tense as he waited, afraid Aaron would run if he became spooked again.

He wanted to ask if Aaron had been the one to find Man dead, but he didn't know how to, not without Aaron reacting badly. He wondered if Mother knew. He needed to send her money this week; maybe he could force her onto the phone at the Western Union. He decided, right then, to try it.

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	backoff 2009-12-11 08:05 am UTC (link)
	Aaron went in, barely aware of any body language he never really had to take notice of, backpack still in hand. It didn't look as if he was paying much attention to his surroundings. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_auguries536 2009-12-11 08:08 am UTC (link)
	"What are you thinking, Aaron?" Shiloh asked, closing the door, tension flowing from his body and mind as soon as the lock clicked. It was a direct question, but Shiloh liked directness. People weren't easy to read; he preferred blunt, spoken truth. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	backoff 2009-12-11 08:24 am UTC (link)
	Aaron looked back over his shoulder. He could have said what he was thinking, but he didn't want to. Instead he said, "...You're going to be okay, right?" It was such a pathetic question, and he realized it as soon as he said it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_auguries536 2009-12-11 08:27 am UTC (link)
	Shiloh nodded. He didn't think it was pathetic at all. If he thought something had happened to Aaron, he would be much less composed than Aaron was. He decided the admission would help. "If I thought something had happened to you, I'd be a wreck," he said, and the pride he had in how Aaron handled difficult things rang in his voice like a bell. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	$Aaron Jacobson {willful child}: :\$ backoff 2009-12-11 08:41 am UTC (link)
	Aaron stared at him for a long time. "How come?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_auguries536 2009-12-11 08:44 am UTC (link)
	Shiloh leaned against the kitchen counter, but he didn't respond. He wasn't going to lie, and he didn't have any knowledge of what Man had told Aaron about his antecedents. The last thing Shiloh wanted to do was burden Aaron with the truths about Mother. Not today, not ever. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

backoff
2009-12-11 08:53 am UTC (link)

"Hey." Something made Aaron brave, and the aggression he drew from the deep well that was sunk deep inside him somewhere. He followed Shiloh to the counter, pushed his cloth-clad shoulder, light, but it made him feel better. "Hey. You just--you just stopped working for a minute. Like that, like anything, all at once. Like... like dad." He swallowed. "Tell me how come you're so worried all the time."

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ex_auguries536, 2009-12-11 08:59 am UTC

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backoff, 2009-12-12 01:49 am UTC

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ex_auguries536, 2009-12-12 02:03 am UTC

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backoff, 2009-12-12 02:05 am UTC

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ex_auguries536, 2009-12-12 02:08 am UTC

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