001. out there in the sun | beneath the sky // open post

[clayce]

Take a prompt, take some time, drop in whenever you like.

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[clayce]

You're welcome. You can come to me anytime.

[He's visible for a reason. Most people just tend to forget that this dragon's very friendly.]

[larue]

[ His interactions with Aidan Clayce have been few, if brief and at a distance, but what he's seen of the man has earned nothing but admiration and respect.

Josh looks at the beer and then at the rings, thinking quietly: I'll buy you another before he takes one of the cans between his hands. ]

May I drink with you, sir? I... don't really have to be anywhere right now. And I figure, [ he shrugs ] we've never had a chance to speak before. Not like this, anyway.

[clayce]

Of course. It's nice to have some company right now... I'm usually on my own whenever I drop in here.

[And his bottle is pouring itself into his glass, which he lifts in Josh's direction afterward.]

Cheers.

[larue]

Cheers, sir. [ He tips his beer in answer and leans back into his seat. ]

How have you been, sir? [ The last time he'd seen Aidan was that brief moment at Quiapo Station when the Dragon had removed the black strip designed to cause maximum damage to property, people and stability in a country deemed the safest place in the world for the supernatural community. ]

[clayce]

Well enough, all things considered. I should be asking you that, though.

[Said with a lifted eyebrow. He was the Voidseeker for a reason: Crazy, Dark, Terrible and Emotional were things that he was used to dealing with, especially now that he is capable of staring them in the face.]

[larue]

[ Josh nods at that and takes a sip of his beer. ] I'm good.

[ A small smile as he recalls the last couple of weeks. ] Been thinking a lot. About my future. And other things.

[ Funny how the past and the present were kind of meeting midway. He'd been thinking a lot more about his boys, about San Diego and the other people he'd left there. He had Cindy and his dad back now, sure, but there was also that open possibility of getting his mom back.

He lets out a soft breath, drinks again. ]

Tell me about Operation Nyx, sir? [ Earnest and curious. You only get so much from the records. ]

[clayce]

[Studying Josh's expression carefully at that, but doing nothing but nod in quiet understanding. No need to press further. It seemed as though the boy needed a little more time.]

Well, what do you want to know? There might be a lot to say, or a whole lot of nothing, depending on what you are interested in.

[larue]

[ He thinks on that. On his initiation, and lighting that candle for Solomon Burke of TFV. ]

What was it like? Getting nearly all the conspiracies in the world to actually pitch in for something like that?

[clayce]

Honestly? Amazing.

[The smile on his face can say as much, even as it's tempered with sadness.]

It was the last time that each and every single one of us truly got along on an organizational level.

[larue]

[ Quietly lighting up a cigarette and pondering on that. ]

I guess it takes something like the potential end of the world for people to shape up. [ And then, softly: ] The memorial was beautiful, sir. But also incredibly sad and humbling.

All those lives.

[ Thinking now, about those firdt three years in Vancouver and occasionally wandering past a newscast about the trouble in Africa and Russia. He hadn't liked what he'd seen, but it wasn't personal back then. Living in the US had been tough and the fear towards and for supernaturals was palpable, but it wasn't... a war.

Now, everything hits too close. ]

[clayce]

We tried to make it reflect our own sense of loss. I suppose it worked.

[It's... a difficult thing to talk about, even for a man like Aidan. He has seen many things, done many things, but deaths are deaths.]

[larue]

[ A small smile, as he looks over.

He hesitates a little, before he goes: ] Rethe was the one who spoke to me, sir.

[ Looking back at his beer. ] I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised but, [ a soft laugh. ] It was nice.

[clayce]

[There's a small smile at that, before he's returning to his drink.]

We hope, of course, that we will never have to have a battle like that again, or like any of the operations we did during the Darkest Vigil.

[larue]

[ Nodding quietly. ]

I hope so, too. [ He does, however, remember the look that had crossed Riley Falner's features the day he and the rest of his blademates had finally figured out their name. ]

[clayce]

[And at that point, Aidan's phone goes off. The Voidseeker sends Josh an apologetic look before checking to see who was contacting him. He was Liandrin's second even with Riley back in the picture: he was always on call --

-- and then his features were easing the moment he saw the name on his screen.]

Rethe.

[Saying that by way of explanation, as he texts back.]

[larue]

[ He can't help the smile that just lights up his face. Befriending Rethe was easy, even if the closer they got, the more he seened hesitant to approach ( "bother" was an unspoken word ) -- at least, that's how it looked from Josh's vantage point. ]

I should drop by Haven more often. [ He's looking down at his beer again, the smile on his lips stay. ] He's pretty great, Father Aidan.

[ There's an unspoken you both are, in that. He hadn't realized how much he'd needed a talk like this, post-Initiation. ]

[clayce]

He is quite talented, although it's a bit of a shame that he has difficulty believing that for himself.

[Internal sigh at that one. Outside, though, he's only looking a little rueful as he's pocketing his phone.]

[larue]

[ That makes him fall quiet.

He's noticed it, too. It's kind of sad. ]

[clayce]

I take it that you have seen that in action for yourself.

[Rethe does talk about Joshua a lot, which only led Aidan to one conclusion: the two of them were 'friends'? Or getting there. Rethe did not really do friends outside of the Malice Kings.]

[larue]

[ There's a lengthy pause before he just... nods, the faintest twitch from his left brow as silent kind of yeah.

He's fiddling with his beer can at this point, before softly, he asks: ]

Has he always been like that?

[clayce]

Yes. Riley, Hikaru and Jessie have taken to calling it the 'angelic condition'.

[Shaking his head, looking rueful.]

I suppose there's no better way of putting it. The heavenly host were built to serve, to watch, to tend to things from a distance, to worship from a distance. None of them really have a concept of self or self-worth.

[larue]

[ Taking all of that in... and then: ]

But... how long has Rethe been with the Malice Kings, sir?

[clayce]

Nearly 300 years now, since he joined us in the 1800s.

[Sending you a Look that seems to say yes, this is a problem.]

[larue]

[ Fifty years after being a part of the Heavenly Host for... God knows how long -- he could have excused that.

Three hundred years?

This is a Look right back that agrees even as it goes W-why...?

Yes, Josh kind of resembles a fish at this point. ]

[clayce]

[Now he looks a little... well. Apologetic.]

I know that I am, at least, partially at fault for this. I kept him at a distance for a long time, and since I was his Source, I suppose he defaulted to how he was when he was still one of Yahweh's: silent, obedient, and ignorant on purpose of his own needs.