l i v i n g with the d e v i l

She noticed that even behind that smile, it was hard for a guy like Darc. But she kept a totally positive image for him. He can do it, he’ll ask for help if we he wants. She mirrored his smile before stepping inside the counter. “One Arya O’Brien Cappuccino specialty, coming right up!” She laughed before preparing the drink. 

He could she that he wasn’t convinced but he didn’t want to worry about her anymore, and somewhere in the back of his mind a voice was laughing at him. Grinning back at her as she moved behind the counter, he pulled up a stool as he watched her get to work with a smile. “How is work here going for you?” he asked with a small smile, putting his own problems aside for the time being.

“Huh. Welp, you gotta keep your mind off those duties once in a while” She nodded, pushing the door open and walking out the hospital building. It wouldn’t take long for the two to arrive in Arya’s working place. This is also the reason why she’s always around in the hospital to meet up with Darcourt. “If I was in your shoes, i’d still live a normal life. Like I do right now! I’m an unstable lone wolf who still manages a positive life” she perked a smile, gazing at him. 

“I try but it’s pretty hard to do when there’s a voice in your head constantly reminding you about it,” he laughed nervously, taking a deep breath of the fresh air as they stepped out. From the hospital to the coffee shop there wasn’t much of a distance that they had to cover before they got there, smiling at her optimism. “I am trying, I promise. Its just hard to get used to it, its a lot of pressure.”

Wondering the streets purposely after the curfew Matteo finally felt some what normal. He had cohered to the time restraint at first but shortly felt almost claustrophobic stuck in his apartment; walking out in the open in the dark felt like a fresh breath of air. Walking around the corner he found was surprised to see someone else out and about, luckily not a cop. “What are you doing out here?”

It was definitely past curfew and although it was . “I work at the hospital, remember? I get a free pass and isn’t there supposed to be a curfew and aren’t you not meant to be out?” Darcourt said with a frown, gesturing to his key card. “Seriously? What are you doing out here?”

“Must be a lot of work you’re settling. You even have medical duties!” She lets out a sigh, running a hand through her hair. “B-but you’re not the only priest here, right? I mean there’s a lot of them around you, it’s not like you’re the only one handling those rituals alone”

“I am the only priest in Salem, each community only has one priest and I’m the one for the Salem Hoodou,” he said with a small shrug. Ever since he’d become priest he slowly was starting to accept that this was his life now. “And I don’t handle them alone, I just lead them and taking a controlling role when things get too far out of hand.”

“It sounds like he’s using you as his slave then. Is that it? What’s your major role or uhh. . what do you usually do as a Hoodou priest?” She tilted her head but she still hopes it doesn’t bother him about her asking too much information. At least she knows something and she’d still be willing to help out even if it’s a life or death thing.

“Not really, I can do whatever I want like normal it’s just when it comes to Hoodou things I’m his mouthpiece, if he has something to say I say it. It just happens that he likes to talk a lot,” Darcourt said with a wince, laughing by the end as he ignored what felt like Papa Legba glaring at him. “I lead certain rituals make sure everything is going just the way he wants it too. So I guess it’s more like having your boss in your head, all the time.”

It’s the first time Arya felt present-minded in this situation. She never tries nor even tries to LISTEN to anything that others are saying despite the hesitant uncertainty that’s ringing in her ears. If you’re lucky enough, Arya would do a lot for a significant one. Especially that she’s already trying to calculate through the complicated (at least not mathematical) problem. “Well what are the things that you AT LEAST tried with that. . Papa Legba? Is that it?” She turned, facing Darcourt again with a steady, eager-to-know look. 

“I forget that you don’t know anything, sorry This information is usually passed on generation to generation,” he said with a soft smile, “I’ll try to simply it.” Trying to explain this without sounding crazy after all the Hoodou was just hard to explain, it was something that people made assumptions about what it is that they were. “Papa Legba is sort of a deity, like a spirit type figure who we channel whenever we practice. And every community has a leader who is the queen or king and then there’s a priest who Papa Legba picks and uses as a host to make sure the community isn’t crossing him. I’m the Hoodou priest of Salem.”

It felt like a pile of documents organized on a table. Even though Arya went through those “documents”, apparently she didn’t understand much of what the Hoodou priest is saying. She felt bad and stupid of even trying to understand him. She hates not knowing much of stuff, especially when it comes to this kind. “I can’t say to fight back because it sounds more of breaking something between your position as a Hoodou. How about make things clear with the voices, then?” 

It was complicated, he appreciated that she was trying to understand what he was saying and in truth it was a topic that no one knew much about. The general rules were don’t cross him, never promise a deal you cannot go through and his judgement is final. “I can’t fight it, even if I wanted to Arya, it doesn’t work that way for me,” he explained with a small shrug, “It only stops when Papa Legba has had enough and there’s only so much that he actually pays attention when it comes to what I want.”

  Thinking of those voices he mentioned, she can only connect it to how temptations speak into her ears whenever she gets a meltdown. Those sick, monstrous voices that wanted to take over upright Arya. She gives up easily when she tries to control them and instead let the voices control her. It’ll pass yet it’ll change a lot around her perspective. What does she fear exactly? People thinking she’s a killing machine or going crazy and waking up naively? “Everything is complicated and disturbing” she said, shifting her eyes through the hall of busy doctors and nurses. “But have you tried at least communicating with the voices?” She asked, raising an eyebrow at him

It was hard to explain to someone who didn’t belong to the Hoodou what it was like, the voices weren’t internal doubts or anything of the sort. It was almost quite literally having to share your mental space with another beings. The amount of times he’d gone to work his shift with only four hours of sleep because Papa Legba decided to impart a ominous and cryptic piece of information at three in the morning was starting to get on his collective nerves. “Oh believe me, Arya, the voices like to talk a lot. The problem isn’t communication in my case, it’s getting them to give me a moment’s peace of mind or getting them to be clear about what they want.”