they'd escape this , somehow . sheol found cracks in every threat to their livelihood to slip through , but ... marsia similarly found every weakness to exploit . their father was already dead , which knocked the wind out of their sails and it wasn't hard to twist that knife , all she had to do was remind sheol that she killed him . though it never stopped at that , she'd grip their throat , drag them closer , hiss that they'd tear his name down further into hell —- reveal his bastard child was not motherless because of an unfortunate death during childbirth but a torrid affair with a whore he didn't even know the name of . already , family pride , at this point , was all that sheol had ; suggesting the man who reared them lied to them was absurd , but the threat to their father's already shaky public image would take them out at the knees while their throat was already hoarse from shouting defenses .
kenji reminded them often , tacking on , 'mom just wanted me to give you that refresher , y'know , in case ...' they would bend to it , do what they had to , put their head down —- the same ethic they approached their studies and research to , a dutiful drone for the hive's queen bee . they followed him wordlessly whenever he showed up outside of their apartment or just outside of the path they took home from the university they had just spent sixteen of their waking hours at , aware that they had no choice but to . which is why they were there , in a booth , boxed in by two imposing figures , one of which they knew the name of , bound to by blood , and the other they didn't care to learn anything about , bound to by threat , not even made by him . this was the first time they met him and eyes didn't even glance towards him , set instead unfocused elsewhere as they had slid into their spot and listened as absentmindedly as they could .
'did you get that ?' was asked with enough force that sheol had to blink and look towards their brother . a short hum was given as a response , vague enough to suggest they didn't care , loud enough to answer that they did , in fact , get it . they had to be perched somewhere , a weapon they were too good at handling for their own comfort , concealed , at the ready , until a signal was given , just in case things went awry . they might need to squeeze the trigger until life is taken or they might just sit there for a while without moving . sheol hated it . they hated this more than anything , having to develop stomach that wasn't squeamish mostly meant dissociating . but they've developed more of a bite than they were exhibiting before due to constantly feeling like they were cornered , eyes on their back at all times , kenji playing babysitter most of the time .
man next to them was finally acknowledged , elbow nudging sheol harsher than anticipated which resulted in unfocused eyes narrowing towards kenji before his chin gestured towards tony . his name was given , a pause where sheol figured that they were supposed to fill silence with their own , but instead they remained quiet . a sigh from their brother before he says over their head , 'sheol . this is sheol ,' their lips tightened into a line before they spared a quick glance towards him , curt nod given . another person sheol wanted no involvement with , but now was ultimately working with ... for ? sheol didn't know . they didn't care , aware enough that they , ultimately , worked for nobody but their mother in these circumstances . sheol asked flatly , arms crossed over their chest , " anything else i , i , i need to be a —- a —- aware of ? " / @scrrface , pre - planned thread !











