We will never leave our lives.

[hostage]

Who: Jesse and Mary
When: 7 pm on Saturday, March 10
Where: Mary's apartment
Summary: Jesse admires some interior decorating.
Warnings: MILFs MILFs MILFs


[It's already past sirens, so Jesse's practically been bouncing off the walls just waiting for time to pass. He actually gets down to the second floor ten minutes early, then spends a little while pacing back and forth before finally knocking at Mary's door.]

Comments

[hostage]

How?

[momchester]

I, ah...

[Hesitation. She doesn't know Jesse well enough to really care about his opinion, but he's sweet, and she's still sensitive enough about this to hate the thought that he'd think less of her. But... she's trying to get out of the whole lying habit.]

I made a deal with a demon.

[hostage]

[He looks away for a second. He isn't judging her. It just isn't something he ever considered possible. Like the kind of stuff wacko preachers talk about on TV. So, to make sure he heard right:]

You made a deal... with a demon? Like, the devil?

[momchester]

No- not. It wasn't the devil- you know, Satan. The devil's actually here, in Siren's Port. He's a fallen angel.

[Hi enjoy that bomb she just dropped nbd.]

But apparently the one I made my deal with was the king of Hell at the time. So in a way... I guess he was the devil.

[hostage]

[Now he's really starting to wonder if he survived Mexico, if this isn't just some really weird afterlife.]

The devil's here? And you made a deal with like... like his sidekick?

[momchester]

Yes and no. I guess Lucifer was... trapped. Locked away somewhere, where even the demons couldn't get him, so I don't know if Azazel was his sidekick, but he was the ruler of Hell.

[It's still too big for her. Every time she thinks about it, she feels like shrieking and running away. The king of hell?]

[hostage]

[It isn't fully sinking in. Maybe it won't ever. It was the same with with Death.

He gives a slight shake of his head.]

...Why'd you do it?

[momchester]

He... killed someone I loved, then gave me the chance to bring him back.

Actually it was three people, but I could only get one.

[hostage]

[He won't ask who it was. He's already asking too much, isn't he?]

It's a good thing, right? 'cause you did it to save somebody.

[momchester]

I should have known better, though.

[She sips at her soda uncomfortably, then gives up and goes for the bottle of wine on the coffee table.]

[hostage]

[He watches her go for the wine, then drops his gaze to his own soda.]

We, uh... We don't have to talk about it. You know, if it's...

[momchester]

I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. [Shaking her head.] Calling it a "downer" doesn't really cover it.

At least you learned something important about this place, though.

[Satan! Fun.]

[hostage]

Nah, it's okay. I mean, long as you're okay. I mean... I think it's good, talking stuff out like this.

And yeah, I'm learning.

[momchester]

[That... that honestly surprises her. No one from her world talks about jack shit. Through the surprise, though, she manages a small smile and a nod.]

Sorry to blow your mind about the devil thing... you would've found out eventually.

[hostage]

Probably won't be the craziest thing I'll find out about this place, either.

[momchester]

Yeah, not at all. You haven't heard of the Jesus lion, have you?

[Yeah, she still remembers that one. From her first week here.]

[hostage]

Jesus lion?

[momchester]

Yeah. Jesus lion. [Laughing at that because come on, how can you not?] Apparently there's this lion who's somehow Jesus in his world, or Jesus who just... takes the form of a lion. It might be completely fake, but I remember two people from my world talking about it months and months ago.

[hostage]

Yo, for real? I mean, I guess it could happen... Jesus lion, and the devil, and unicorns, and superheroes. Why not?

[momchester]

Exactly. [She sits up a little, laughing. More relaxed. Christ, it's so nice to sit down and talk about something stupid and not have to engage too many brain cells.] It's this big soup of everything you could imagine and have never heard of.

It does a little to balance out the rest of the city.

[hostage]

Yeah. Though I don't think this place is half as bad as everybody says when you get here.

[momchester]

Well... for some people, that's true. [Lip bite.] Some people find a way to be happy and make a life here.

[She isn't one of them, not yet. Not for lack of trying.]

A lot of how you live depends on luck, and that's what scares people. Whether your best friend or roommate disappears tomorrow- you can't control that. If your girlfriend or brother vanishes, they might come back three days later- from years in the future, where they're angry at you for something you haven't done yet.

But then again... there are a lot of incredibly unique chances here. Chances you might never get anywhere else, or ever again. I actually know my sons. [...] One of them was older than me, but... still.

[Weird life, man.]

[hostage]

Yeah... That's a little messed up, but it's more good than bad, right? Better than not getting a chance.

[momchester]

[She turns away a little so she's sitting and looking straight out, one elbow leaning on her knee. It's new- refreshing, really, to hear this kind of sincere optimism from a new arrival. Wasn't it just yesterday that she felt like that?]

Yeah, that's true. The Port has a way of being what you make it.

[More or less a story she tells herself.]

[hostage]

But that ain't just here, right? That's life. It's whatever you make it.