©table code and image to jacoby; 2021 words
Of course it took him a bit to get the door opened. The box practically filled up his arms. But he ended up managing no thanks to his brother. But oh well, it wasn’t like Cotl could see through the door and know that Marik had his hands full. Still it would have been a nice gesture if his brother had thought to get up and get the door. But then again the only thing that Marik was bringing back for certain were blankets. So honestly this case could be argued either way. Marik wasn’t fussed one way or another. He had managed to get in anyways, with or without help it didn’t matter.
He laughed as Cotl spoke about him being religious. “Well it turned out that I have been religious all along. I will have to show you my bibles.” He hadn’t planned on showing off his bibles at first. He really didn’t think they were something that Cotl would want to see. Not with what was depicted and described inside one of them. The other he hadn’t glanced at yet. He was sure it would be the same though. Or at least the content be near about the same. He wasn’t exactly certain. But he wanted Cotl to be a happy guy too so why not share the happy guy’s bible with him? Of course he didn’t expect his brother to go and convert after this. After all Marik didn’t realize he was being religious until he had found the bibles. And now that he had the bibles he had to work his way through them. He had to be faithful and practice each and every thing in them. He no longer had his own special set of ticks. He had religion. A religion that he ended up having to be faithful to. It just took him until now to find out the name of it. It took him stopping the burning of books and flipping through one to realize that he had a religion all along. He was actually well practiced in it too. And if he was back home in Germany then he would be well on his way to holy fulfillment. He would have been working his way through each and every ritual. But that was hard for him to do where he was at now. He just didn’t have the friends to complete the ceremonies with. Not to mention that the timing was entirely off. War was ruining everything for him. Especially since the war had nothing to do with him. He had just came in upon it. And yet he was made to suffer. Without any friends to help ease the pain. It really wasn’t very fun at all. At least not for Marik. Though Cotl might just be enjoying himself. War was more of Cotl’s thing than it was Marik’s. Marik would just prefer to make love not war. Though his loving always left battle scars. Still, he probably wouldn’t be allowed to get away with that. Would be nice though. He’d be doing what he enjoyed and helping out the clan at the same time. Ah, if only.
He had no idea that his brother tried to impress him. It wasn’t really needed though. Marik already looked up to his older brother. After all his brother was allowed to be himself around their parents while Marik had to hide what he was. To him it seemed as if it didn’t truly bother Cotl to be out casted. Oh sure, Cotl might hate the isolation and all but still he didn’t think his brother missed their parents or their sisters in the slightest. Marik wasn’t allowed to say outright that he didn’t really want anything to do with the rest of his family for turning their backs on his brother when he needed them. No, he had to live up to being the good son. The perfect son. It was a burden but he didn’t know how to tell their parents no like Cotl did. That alone earned the slightly older hybrid admiration in the younger boy’s eyes. Cotl didn’t have to be perfect. Marik had always been the one to accept him just as he was. He didn’t mind Cotl’s flaws at all. Except maybe when they were turned against him. He didn’t like having his brother upset at him or hitting him or any of that. But still he couldn’t prevent the fights that they had. Some of them were about really strange things. But they always managed to work through them and got along grandly again afterwards. That was the one thing that Marik really liked. They could fight but still remain the best of friends. Could still get along really well. They would fight but Cotl would never kick him out or send him away. Even though Marik was the one usually starting the fights. He didn’t understand why himself. It was just like all of a sudden something would snap inside of himself and he would start picking a fight with Cotl. He didn’t really want to but he couldn’t control the sudden change in mood that had it happening. If Marik acted up like he did around Cotl around their parents then certainly he would have been sent away as well. But Cotl never did that. Maybe his brother realized that he couldn’t help the sudden fluctuations in mood. Maybe Cotl realized that Marik didn’t really want to fight in the first place but just couldn’t control the emotions or the barrage of words as much as Cotl couldn’t control his own. After all there wasn’t anything in his normal personality that said he liked to fight usually. It shouldn’t since he wasn’t really hyped up for this war or anything. It wasn’t like he’d do much good in a fight with as small as he was. Not that his lack of height had ever really bothered him before, and it still didn’t now, but it put him at a disadvantage in this aspect.
“You remember what I want, right? I think that just simple black lines will do. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. The symbol should speak well enough for itself.” At least that is what he was assuming. He didn’t think that it had to be anything outlandishly fancy. The symbol was what was really important to him. The meaning of it. Not any fancy decorations that Cotl could come up with to make it stand out more than it already would. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his brother’s judgment. It was just that he was only after something simple. Something that wouldn’t take much time at all. After all his brother seemed occupied with other things currently. There was the book and the drawing. So yes, it seemed that his brother already had other things on his mind. This had him considering to just get something simple. Something that would be done quickly. Then Cotl could get back to whatever it was that he was working on. Whatever it was that he had been concentrating on before Marik had gotten in. The drawing seemed to be quite an important something. It was the making or breaking factor of if the female was going to it or not. It was turning out quite nicely so he didn’t see why it wouldn’t be wanted. Not unless it was her first one and just how large it was would turn out to be a factor. That would be the only thing that he could see going wrong. “I could talk to her if you want. See if I can talk her into it.” After all Marik was pretty much a walking testament of just what Cotl was capable of.
He smiled when Cotl seemed to like the blankets well enough. “Well next time you can come with me and we can look for better ones together.” It would be a brotherly bonding trip. And maybe they could find even more neat things. But then again Marik was likely to find about everything to be interesting. He was just the sort to want to know everything about everything. So all things would be interesting because they all would provide some bit of knowledge he wouldn’t otherwise know about. But that was just him. Part of what made him who he was. But really, would he be had any other way? He certainly didn’t think so. At least he couldn’t imagine being any other way. He enjoyed himself just the way that he was. It made him, dare it be said, loveable.
“Food?” It didn’t look like food to him. “Doesn’t look it.” Gnawing on the container didn’t sound very appealing at all. He’d rather go out and catch something live instead. It sounded much more appealing than what it was that Cotl was holding up. He didn’t think that he would be eating any ramen anytime soon. His brother could eat it if he wanted to but Marik wasn’t about to partake of it. “Cassius? Do you want to ask him or should I find him and ask him?” He didn’t know if it would be better for Cotl to ask or for him to. After all he could explain just where he had found them. But then again Cotl already seemed to know the guy so maybe the familiarity would be better. It wasn’t like he knew how the guy was likely to act around new people. Some just weren’t as friendly and open. It really was a hard fact that had to be faced. So yes, whichever way that Cotl thought it would be better would be what he would end up going with. He was just a newcomer and his brother was more experienced with dealing with the coyotes in this area anyways.
His mind drifting back to his earlier thought the younger hybrid reached beside him to pick up one of the books that he had tucked there. The Gay Man’s Kama Sutra. “I don’t think you will like my religion much.” He spoke the words as he placed the book on the bed between them and opened it. “It tells you how to be happy in the religion.” At least that was what he had gotten from the title. The pictures inside certainly depicted something different than the other book had. The page he had opened to showed two men together. Marik’s brow knitted in slight confusion. He flipped a few more pages but it just continued to show two guys together. Seemingly without provocation he started laughing and grinned up at Cotl. “I guess you can only be happy being with another guy. So I really don’t think you will be practicing the religion.” How was he to know that there was another definition to the word gay?
He quickly closed up the book and tucked it away again. He placed both of the books and the knives back into the storage box with a tail and settled it onto the floor next to the bed. “So do the tattoo now?” He questioned as he laid down in the space that he had made. He tilted his head back so that it wouldn’t get in the way. So what if he was in something of a hurry to go ahead and get the work done? It had been before Cotl had left Germany the last time that he had gotten something done. Before Cotl had left for Canada. So he had been without his brother’s decorations for awhile. And he would guess that others had been receiving them in his place. “We should find more metal and you can do more of that as well. It has been a long time since you have worked on me. So what do you think? One right where my tail starts?” Of course he could suggest other places, like at his hips, but he doubted his brother would want to get that close. But still the mental image of forcing his brother to have his face down there had him grinning.