With a Soft Heart and an Iron Fist

@christidselloutthenantion

He peered over the rim of his glass at the man Annas had so skillfully recruited, the ember illuminating the turning of the tide. It was a gift, his presence here. The one that, more than any other sucker in the crowds, had the best chance of incriminating that conman to the stroke of the letter of the law. What was it that kids said these days? Had the receipts?

Anyway, his knowledge was everything they needed but to let him know that would be nothing short of foolish. Especially when the muddy, nicotine-stained punk was going to charge in here like he owned the place, making excuses in the tone of demands. No, of course you don’t let the pawn know how much power they hold. Can’t have them taking check into their own hands, after all.

It was a hell of a war they were fighting, honestly. A country that had gone from fighting occupiers and oppression to fighting its own children. His kid, anyone’s…it wasn’t something to be proud of. But he wasn’t really fighting them, he had to remind himself. He was fighting the man who had weaponized them. The man intent on destroying the culture he claimed to epitomize. The man who had whipped his people into a nationalistic frenzy, deluded that they could bring Rome down with Molotov cocktails and viral videos.

Forget his story, forget his whingeing; Iscariot was the key.

It’s a reference to a middle eastern folk tale; The Scorpion and The Frog. The Scorpion wants to cross the river, but of course it can’t swim so it asks the Frog if the Frog will carry it on its back. The Frog of course is skeptical and asks the Scorpion “How do I know you won’t sting me?” “Trust me,” says the Scorpion, “I wouldn’t do that, I would drown.” So the Frog agrees and with the Scorpion on its back, it begins to cross the river. About halfway across, the Scorpion stings the Frog. “Why would you do that?” asks the Frog, “Now we both will sink.” The Scorpion simply replies, “It is my nature.”

I played with this dynamic a lot in the beginning because on paper, the Annaphas relationship looks pretty bad. Caiaphas, who is in this more supreme position of power is having a sexual and romantic relationship with Annas who is clearly his subordinate. And at least in the main verse, Caiaphas is the one who instigated it in the first place by making a move on him. He’s acting in this sort of predatory/ “scorpion” role. Annas is vulnerable in terms of his employment being dependent on Caiaphas’ approval, him being physically smaller and kind of having the ‘cuter’ more boyish thing going on whereas Caiaphas is kind of big and intimidating and leering and has that floor-shaking bass going on. Caiaphas initially thinks of himself as being the Scorpion, victimizing Annas as the Frog because he ‘can’t resist’, though this immediately causes him intense guilt.

But it turns out Annas actually really wanted the two of them to become a thing, at least sexually, and furthermore he’s pretty good at using Caiaphas’ desire and feelings for him to manipulate the situation in his favor. Mostly through sex, but additionally, as Caiaphas’ trusted second-in-command(despite his storied reputation for ruthlessness), he also holds a good deal of sway over Caiaphas’ political decisions. Furthermore, though Caiaphas has the ability to damage Annas’ employment options if Annas were to resist his advances or if their relationship were to go south, Annas has too the ability to claim Caiaphas harassed him and out him as queer as well as smearing his reputation and his moral standing as a man of God, which would of course be career suicide for Caiaphas. In fact, Annas seems perhaps to be occupying the Scorpion role, begging “trust me” while positioning his stinger within stabbing distance of your back.

That first story in the main verse is supposed to force you to ask who’s manipulating who, who’s really the Scorpion and who’s the Frog and by the end, Caiaphas isn’t totally sure but he’s willing to grapple with the situation as it is because it does require both of them to cooperate or else they’ll both sink, as the fable portends. Whether or not it’s in Annas’ nature to betray him is for time to tell, since Caiaphas’ own nature is such that he feels compelled to invest in the relationship personally and emotionally(he’s lonely, he’s overwhelmed, and he and Annas have already established a rapport that he thinks of as a close friendship so to engage in an actual relationship, if only just a sexual one, doesn’t seem unreasonable. In fact, it seems like a good fit).

So, either a long, aristocratic, smug-faced kitty…

Or a cuddly cloud mouse? Maybe on the inside.