I Am Noman

[plaguedrat]

He's always preferred to own his books, but his refusal to seek out work and forge any real ties to the city have forced him to budget, to compromise. It's what takes him to the public library today. Signing up for a library card is different, he tries to convince himself. It's not as if it requires money, nor does he have to maintain it. It's different.

It's netted him a thick stack of books that he's negotiating into a bag while he sits on the steps. The acetate-bound copy of The Odyssey rests on his knees, the one he plans to read first.

Perhaps he's like Odysseus, trapped for years on an island and prolonging his foolish journey.

Comments

[silenttrainbaby]

Grey does; he doesn't think to deny it. But his eyes follow the touch and he cocks his head in question.

[plaguedrat]

"Old scar," Rat says, putting his hand down too quickly.

[silenttrainbaby]

Come on, Rat. Grey shared with you and it's only fair. He touches, lightly, where Rat touched.

[plaguedrat]

Rat frowns, not as comfortable in being so forthcoming, but Grey is right.

"I was shot, the first time, when I was twelve. A boy named Shion took it out and stitched me up." He pulls aside the collar of his shirt to expose the damaged flesh.

[silenttrainbaby]

Without thinking anything of it, Grey touches the scar. It wasn't unlike what would happen on the train. Shion. His brows knit in question. Did Rat love Shion?

[plaguedrat]

He doesn't so much flinch as shudder. Grey's movement had been swift and smooth, touching a spot that's vulnerable in many ways.

As for the question of love...Rat looks down at his own hands. Yes. Yes he had.

[silenttrainbaby]

Grey points to a word on his arm again. Die.

Is Shion dead?

[plaguedrat]

That answer is also complicated. "Sort of. This...god brought him back to life."

[silenttrainbaby]

What? Gods, after all, aren't real.

[plaguedrat]

Maybe not in Grey's world. In Rat's at least one of them had been real. She hda also been furious and vengeful.

"Some people called her Elyurias."

[silenttrainbaby]

So, Shion is alive? And is he here? Grey points to the world Where on his arm.

His stomach feels strange.

[plaguedrat]

"Far away." Beyond the veil of this city. Another reason he can't stay here.

[silenttrainbaby]

Oh.

Grey nods, pulling back his hand to pet the cat. The set of Rat's jaw speaks volumes.

[plaguedrat]

"I wasn't right for him anyway." It's painfully sincere, something he believes wholly no matter what they'd felt.

[silenttrainbaby]

Since when does that matter? Feelings are feelings. Why, though, does Rat think so? Grey points to the word on his arm.

[plaguedrat]

"He was innocent." And Rat had pushed him and pushed him until Shion broke, shot a man in the head.

"I'm not."

[silenttrainbaby]

Innocence can't be sustained, though. Even Grey knows that. He shrugs a shoulder, leaning down to put his nose in the fur of the cat's head.

[plaguedrat]

Likely not, but the way that he pushed Shion...

...He doesn't like thinking n that topic. "Maybe we should name your cyclops Polyphemus."

[silenttrainbaby]

That's a very elaborate name for the cat. And it isn't as if Grey will call him that. He shrugs. Why not?

[plaguedrat]

"Polyphemus," Rat says, dangerously close to crooning. "Cyclops. Son of Poseidon, the Earth-Shaker."

[silenttrainbaby]

His chin resting on the cat's head, Grey nearly smiles again. The cat - Polyphemus - looks up at Rat ... and yawns.

[plaguedrat]

"Polyphemu, whose roar was mighty and fearsome, who enslaved humans with his furry touch and rumbling purr," Rat continues on, melodramatic.

[silenttrainbaby]

The cat's purr grows louder, Grey's smile wider. It feels strange on his face.

[plaguedrat]

"One-eyed fighter, chaser of mice..." Rat pulls out one of his boot laces and dangles it in front of Polyphemus.

[silenttrainbaby]

Suddenly alert, the cat wriggles from his sling to bat a front paw at the dangling, elusive thing.

Grey expels a breath that could possibly sound like a laugh.