[Sodium_noir] Hell is Other People

[Liz Oleksyn]

Sinclair Party
Jack & Christine
Currently away with the booze fairies

> Christine takes a cigarette, lights it unsteadily,
> cupping Jack's wavering hand. She smokes in silence.
It doesn't help with the nausea but it does help her
nerve and give her space to think in. Thinking  
> about Jack, his past as Akril Khan's slave, a spirit
> bound into stolen flesh, origins of both unknown.
Unpleasantly sobering. She stares out at the night
gardens, brilliantly lit statues and whatnots  
> draw the eye, but beyond the artificial glow, the
> garden lies in shadow, hard to tell what's really
there. The artful use of floodlights make it easy to
forget that the shadows far outnumber the things she
can see clearly.
> 
> She sighs, blowing out a stream of smoke, then
> flicks the cigarette end into the gardens, it's
glowing red tip marking its arc before it disappears
into the shadows.
> 
> "You really don't want to know?" she asks. "I wish .
> . . " she smiles twistedly, "I wish I could see your
future. Or your past. But I can't. Already tried." She
pauses, considering this irony. She has been
unwillingly assaulted with pasts and futures,
> mostly of random strangers in the last few days but
when she really wants to know, no visions come. 
"Maybe if you change your mind, sometime, I could try 

> again . . . ?"

Jack sighs heavily. His thirst is gone (for the
moment) as is his desire to move from the bench his
butt is currently planted on. The cigarette dangles
from between his lips, the trail of smoke emanating
from it shimmies in an erratic pattern as he speaks.

"I don't want to see my future, darling, so don't feel
compelled to tell me a thing about it. And you can't
see my past. It's not there.  Not supposed to be
there. If a thing is ignorant of what it is - what
it's capable of - then it's easier to control, you
savvy? That's why the Khan made sure I had no memory
of whatever level of hell he plucked me from."

Jack smirks. "I'd like to believe he was scared of
what I am. Not fucking likely, but a nice dream
anyway."

He scratched absentmindedly at the back of his hand.
"No offense. Not doubting your abilities. It's just
that..."  Jack slouches down a bit further and closes
his eyes. "There's nothing to see. Or maybe it's
something you shouldn't see. What's that quote about
not looking into the abyss in case the abyss stares
back at you? I forget..."

(tags!)


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
We won't tell. Get more on shows you hate to love 
(and love to hate): Yahoo! TV's Guilty Pleasures list.
http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/265