& 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 !

...               in a den of rabbits and wolves, there was only ever enough room for teeth. to bite. to tear. to eat. to feel. to worship. he had always been led to believe that he was the son of a god ──────     at least, in virtue. they were the chosen ones, nourishing the sun to stave off the black days. everyone in the commune believed in their purpose ... the power of human blood and its necessity as sustenance for the sun. and so, violence had always been part of his nature : an entire life reared to be a master of blood and blade. to be the one to provide offerings to the sun, with all the blood spilled and every heart carved out. most people would probably at a loss if they found out that one of their parent was a god, but it only made the most sense to him. not just by virtue or belief, but he was huitzilopochtli's child through and through. but it didn't have to be all teeth here. or at least that seemed to be what the mentors were going for. and without the strict routines he was accustomed to, he would need to find new things to fill the time. and he could start with making bonds ──────     a smirk curling one side of his mouth upwards, sheathing his rapiers in one fluid motion. and he looked at the offered hand with a slight tilt of his head, then gazing back up to the priest's eyes, as if considering something. ❝ pleasure is a thing easily shared, father ... ❞ rafe stepped closer, grasping pilar's hand firmly with such a warm grip, lingering just a moment too long. his dark eyes flickered with something playful, a glint of mischief mixed with calculated intent. ❝ and i find it more enjoyable when savored slowly ... ❞ he lowered his hand back to his side, but decided to take another step forward to make up for the lost contact. ❝ i've met a man like you before. tlamatini, we called him. he served the gods, and i served him, too. ❞ he said, curiosity evident in how his gaze lingered on the older man. everyone here lived different lives and rafe couldn't help but wonder how a demigod came to serve another god from a different pantheon. ❝ is it true about what they say ? the catholics being repressed ? ❞

if  he  was  as  pure  as  someone  in  his  profession  normally  was,  this  interaction  would  be  enough  to  make  him  sweat.  again,  he  was  modern,  so  he  stood  his  ground.  ❝  i'm  glad  you  played  your  part  then.  i  had  a  server  as  well,  but  he  went  down  a  dangerous  slope.  christ's  body  was  no  longer  the  one  he  craved  to  worship.  service  became  obsession.  ❞  he  moved  his  right  hand  up  again,  back  of  his  fingers  brushing  against  rafael's  arm.  ❝  that  might  be  true  for  others,  but  i  embraced  my  sins  instead  of  running  from  them.  temptation  was  never  something  i  shied  away  from.  it's  a  natural  part  of  life.  the  body  needs  certain  releases  to  survive  and  those  are  always  better  with  company.  ❞ 

Fleabag 2.06 | The Exorcist 2.10 "Unworthy"

...               it  wasn't  at  all  difficult  to  think  that  he  had  been  born  into  this  role. butcher. killer. blood-spiller. after all, it was all he had ever known. and some might argue that he might have been different if circumstances were different ──────     if he wasn't born into a strict intentional community where blood was shed to demonstrate their reverence, but then rafe didn't think he would be himself at all. he didn't know anything else like a precise cut to the neck and seeing blood pouring out that allowed him to tap into something so ... primal. something so undeniable. and although the rapiers in his hands were nothing like his favorite butcher's knife, rafe had always been a quick learner. and training for combat wasn't the all different from butchering animals ... or the methodical ritual of sacrifices. hack. slash. puncture. he danced between the training dummies, each strike deliberate and precise. the rapiers whistled through the air, stabbing the necks of the dummies with accuracy. and with unsettling speed, he twisted the blades, severing heads cleanly from their bodies. one by one, the heads thudded to the floor, decapitated dummies left standing there as rafe smiled at himself. ❝ sorry about the mess ... ❞ he said politely, seeing that someone had been watching him all this time. and quite ironic how someone so dangerous didn't not look threatening at all ──────     such a prepossessing smile on his lips as he approached the other. he rarely ever met people outside of his community. but rather than being intimidated, he allowed it to be a source of excitement. rafe believed that they were all here for a reason : to be their divine parent's blades. and there was nothing like a common cause to bring people together. ❝ i'm rafe. well, rafael ... but friends call me rafe. ❞

a  small  smile  pressed  against  his  lips  as  introductions  were  starting.  again,  this  wasn't  much  different  from  his  previous  world.  preaching  about  a  deity,  shaking  hands  while  introducing  himself,  performing  miracles.  it  was  like  his  whole  world  was  building  up  to  this  moment.  ❝  nice  to  meet  you  then,  rafe.  i'm  father  pilar,  but  around  these  parts  i  guess  you  can  just  call  me  pilar.  the  pleasure  is  all  mine.  ❞  he  stuck  out  his  hand  in  case  the  other  wanted  to  shake  it.  although  he  wouldn't  be  offended  if  he  didn't. 

               𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, being somewhere the reminded him of home. he was like that whenever he was at the beach. it reminded him of the beaches of cuba. he felt comfortable whenever he spent his days there. he laughed when the other spoke. " yes, exactly. " he said. " that's probably why we all end up coming back alive, we work together in quests. " riah studied the man's fast for a second. the priest seemed rather kind, but he wondered how it all must have felt for him. " how are you holding up? "

                      holding  onto  a  semblance  of  normalcy  was  expected.  even  though  pilar  wasn't  going  to  host  a  catholic  mass  ever  again,  there  were  things  he  could  do  around  the  island.  cleanse  the  temples  for  one.  it  eased  the  tension  that  was  starting  to  build  in  his  shoulders.  “  and  look  at  the  outcome.  not  only  did  we  obtain  the  artifact,  but  we  gained  a  new  ally.  ”  that  to  him  was  invaluable,  which  was  why  he  was  smiling  so  much.  “  as  good  as  i  can  be.  i  don't  think  anything  harsh  has  happened  to  me  yet,  so  i'm  just  taking  every  day  for  what  it  is.  how  are  you  feeling,  riah?  ”

               𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 on zachariah's face when he he saw the other. after grabbing some of the stuff that was dropped, he stood up and handed him the incense. " it looks like this is where you probably might be more comfortable? " he teased. " yea, i'm glad i got to help out. those vines were scary. if it wasn't for amant freeing me, we would have been at a loss. " and he was glad that the painting was the reason they were freed and it killed the evil king.

                      a  priest  walks  into  a  temple…  the  joke  almost  wrote  itself  honestly.  after  all  of  the  components  were  back,  he  closed  the  chamber  up  again  and  then  set  it  off  to  the  side.  “  it's  one  of  the  places  that  reminds  me  of  my  church  and  home  the  most,  so  yes.  ”  this  camp  was  filled  with  insightful  people  it  seemed.  “  i  guess  it's  true  when  they  say  that  teamwork  makes  the  dream  work,  huh?  ”  there  was  probably  going  to  be  a  lot  of  that  here.  having  to  work  together.

"i'm  elias.  i  don't  think  we've  met....?"  no,  he  knew.  elias  remembered  handsome  guys  in  his  vicinity.  it  was  crazy  to  him  that  ..there  were  more  of  them  out  there  so  that  there  was  this  constant  trickle  of  halfgods  coming  into  camp.  well,  some  returned.  some  had  been  there  before  him.  but  it  was  all  the  same.  there  were  so  many  of  them.  "so  uh,  i  gotta  ask.  is  this  some  mental  fortitude  kind  of  training  with  the  blindfold  or  are  you  just  bored  and  the  maze  is  too  easy?"  for  which  he  wouldn't  judge  him.  well,  either  explanation  was  valid.  elias  was  just  curious,  really.

“  we  haven't  met  formally,  so  rest  assured  that  you  didn't  forget  me  or  anything.  ”  now  a  flirty  smile  was  taking  over  his  lips.  “  a  pleasure  to  meet  you,  elias,  i'm  pilar.  ”  he  still  hadn't  made  all  of  his  rounds.  if  the  mentors  were  to  believe  that  he  was  going  to  get  to  know  all  of  them  and  his  fellow  half  gods  that  were  taking  part  in  the  war  his  first  week  there  they  were  crazy.  although  he  was  there  for  more  than  a  week  now.  “  i'm  trying  to  make  sure  my  other  senses  are  also  heightened.  smell  and  hearing.  i  also  placed  a  magical  mirror  at  the  end  that  i'm  trying  to  sense  with  my  arcane  knowledge,  hoping  it's  enough  to  pull  me  forward.  ”  all  the  tests.

despite how it was exactly what he was doing, there was a part of sam that almost wanted to say no. but that might just be muscle memory. or maybe, even his brain was still in shock that he was actually here. he wouldn't be caught dead near a church just a month ago, and now here he was ────── in a temple filled with the statues of gods, desperately trying to make sense of everything. so he just smiled as a response to the question, reluctant to admit it to himself. " i think i'd do pretty well in a zombie apocalypse, actually, " sam chuckled with a gleam of amusement in his eyes, pretending to throw a few playful punches into the air. " give them the one-two combo and they'll be begging for the afterlife again. " but he dropped his hands mid-punch this time, stepping closer as he sized the other man up. he wouldn't exactly call himself a vibes connoisseur, but there was something about the demigod that simply felt reverent. it reminded him of the old tall trees in the forest ; unyielding, carrying this calm, grounded energy. " something about you ... " sam grinned, with a touch more sincerity this time. he paused for a few moments, trying to find the right words. " i don't know if it's weird to say, but the way you carry yourself ... this whole cleansing thing ... the calm and centered demeanor. all very priestly. i bet you're great at bringing people peace when they need it. that's your vibe. " sam laughed to himself, shaking his head, shoulders rising in a slight shrug. " i know, i know, it's probably weird. but hey, i mean it as a compliment. i'm into it. "

great,  someone  that  was  insightful.  pilar  didn't  mind  sam  reading  him.  at  least  the  words  that  he  chose  were  all  good.  he  could  also  confidently  say  that  the  man  was  a  good  judge  of  character.  “  what  if  i  were  to  tell  you  that  you  were  spot  on?  ”  brows  rise  together  in  unison  as  he  looks  over  at  him.  such  a  young  man  and  yet  already  wise  beyond  his  years.  that  could  bite  him  in  the  ass  or  be  the  biggest  blessing  ever.  “  i  was  a  priest  back  in  mexico.  worked  a  lot  with  the  dead  too  when  it  came  to  anointing  the  sick.  ”  only  one  of  the  sacraments  he  performed.  mass,  funerals,  marriages,  he  had  a  hand  to  play  in  all  of  those  as  well.  “  so  don't  worry,  it's  not  weird.  thank  you  for  seeing  me  i  guess.  ”  beyond  the  name  and  being  a  half  god.  samuel  saw  the  real  him.

❝  not  at  all:  I've  come  across  some  very  strong  odors  due  to  research:  this  one  was  rather  pleasant  …  reverent,   to  say  the  least.  ❞  which  was  probably  pilar's  intent,  now  that  sabri  thought  about  it.  as  the  priest  explains  his  heritage,  there  is  a  bit  of  irony  in  a  man  of  the  cloth  being  the  son  of  a  highly  revered  fertility  goddess,  though  only  in  profession,  as  their  brown  eyes  look  a  bit  more  …  pilar  is  very  beautiful  to  say  the  least.  like  the  kind  of  beauty  you  feel  guilt  for  gazing  on  because  of  their  ties  to  holiness.  ❝  I  understand:  our  godly  parents  hold  a  barrage  of  titles  and  honorifics  to  their  names.  there  is  still  much  I  learn  about  my  father  everyday.  ❞  and  more  they  would  continue  to  learn.  when  proposed  with  the  offer  to  join  pilar  back  down,  sabri  looks  to  the  temple:  there's  nothing  there  for  them  in  this  dusk  of  night,  and  what  drew  them  was  now  found.  ❝  I'd  like  that.  do  you  take  a  lot  of  leisurely  walks  yourself,  father  ?  sorry,  pilar.  ❞  it  was  a  hard  habit  to  break,  using  proper  titles. 

“  good  to  know  that  it's  one  of  the  more  pleasant  ones  then.  although  now  i  am  a  little  curious.  how  powerful  are  those  negative  odors  you've  encountered?  ”  if  certain  scents  were  strong  enough  to  cleanse  areas,  he  was  sure  that  some  could  deter  foes.  perhaps  they  could  cover  themselves  in  something  that  sabri  could  make  and  in  turn,  be  less  appealing  to  be  the  target  in  a  battle.  maybe  pilar  was  going  to  have  to  look  around  the  shops  to  see  if  something  like  this  already  existed.  “  separating  fact  from  fiction  also  seems  like  something  that  we're  going  to  be  occupied  with.  the  mortals  have  plenty  of  stories  about  our  parents.  this  island,  the  library,  have  all  of  the  correct  ones  though.  ”  he  started  to  walk  down  the  path  that  was  already  laid  out  for  them.  finding  solace  in  the  fact  that  he  didn't  have  to  focus  on  anything  else  aside  from  sabri.  “  if  father  is  what  comes  naturally,  don't  fight  it.  i  do  though.  it  helps  me  clear  my  head  and  gives  me  guidance.  how  about  you?  ” 

SENSE8 1.09 | Death Doesn't Let You Say Goodbye

               𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐡 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 to his father's statue. after being given the new ability to heal, he wanted to offer his thanks, and leave some honey and flowers to him. he was in the middle of a small prayer when he heard the loud noise from the other side. he chuckled, giving his final thank you to his father before stepping up and looking over the other man. " you're okay, " riah responded before getting down to help pick up some of the content he dropped. " they're probably thankful someone is here cleansing the place. "

                      clearly  the  group  can't  trust  him  with  stealth.  father  prospero  naturally  called  attention  to  himself.  there  wasn't  really  anything  that  he  could  do  about  that  fact.  at  least  it  seemed  like  zachariah  was  already  done  with  his  prayer.  that  was  a  relief.  “  you'd  think  i  know  better  not  to  disrupt  in  a  place  of  worship.  ”  being  a  priest  and  all.  he  thanked  the  younger  man  for  helping  him  clean  up  and  then  straightened  himself  up  again.  “  much  like  we  were  thankful  when  you  found  that  painting  of  king  grim.  we  all  have  our  part  to  play.  ” 

he had never been the most religious or spiritual person, but sam found it quite easy to be lost in thoughts once he knelt before the statue of his father. maybe being the child of god never really sank in until now, suddenly feeling such a deep desire to prove himself to a deity who neither asked for his reverence or attention. iroko might be his father but he never acted as such, and the only proof of his presence were the blessings sam inherited in his veins. yet, sam still felt this yearning ────── a desperation to be seen and heard. he muttered a prayer under his breath, but he before he could finish — a clang ! " you probably didn't mean to, but you certainly know how, " sam responded in mild jest, languidly standing up and stretching his muscles. he didn't know how long he'd been there, but he could certainly feel the need to move around in his bones. " should i be worried ? if you're here to cleanse, then you must have felt some bad juju. don't really want to get infected with all that. "

“  my  apologies  again.  i  promise  to  be  more  quiet  next  time  you  are  …  praying?  ”  pilar  figured  it  was  safe  to  assume.  after  all,  even  an  angry  conversation  with  a  parent  would  be  considered  praying  now.  he  finished  picking  up  the  contents  and  then  shook  his  head.  “  believe  it  or  not,  even  good  energy  needs  to  be  cleansed.  you  wouldn't  want  your  question  to  your  deity  interrupted  by  someone  else  asking  for  their  lost  loved.  then  this  place  would  be  filled  with  zombies.  ” 

that  at  least  gave  him  the  confirmation  that  the  man  was  not  an  ocean  or  water  half  god.  good  to  know.  “don't  worry,  i  may  not  look  it,  but  i  enjoy  my  fair  time  in  the  water  now  and  then.”  he  just  didn't  do  it  with  company  normally.  seeing  a  priest  nearly  naked  and  wet  was  often  frowned  upon  in  his  hometown.  “i  don't  believe  we  have.”  he  found  a  comfortable  spot  in  the  cove  and  then  stayed  there,  floating  while  looking  at  his  new  friend.  “it's  nice  to  meet  you,  armando  de  leon,  my  name  is  fath  -”  he  needed  to  stop  that.  “sorry,  habit.  i'm  pilar  prospero.”