sanctus_dei | 43rd Resurrection

[It's this simple, Mayfield: Theo Crawford comes home to find a black and white cat asleep on his bed. This is not his cat. It does not belong to anyone in town. But he recognizes it immediately.]

Aristophanes?!

[The cat rouses, seemingly happy to see the familiar face, and walks over to Theo demanding attention. Any members of the household or visitors who investigated the exclamation will find Theo staring dumbfounded at large tuxedo cat.]

--

[He hasn't forgotten the girl who murdered him during Mayfield's last event, either. Revenge will come, but Theo has learned some patience since he's come to live here. Every day in Mayfield was the same. He was irked about be snuck up on, but felt better when he found out the prizes for the battle royale were pretty lame. His paranoia will be in overdrive, though. Anyone out today who is within a block or two of Theo, and can sense magic, will be able to detect strong protective spells radiating from him.

He's sitting on a park bench, reading a spell book while making notes in another. One of his crows sits on his shoulder, gently chattering at its master. The other is teasing the tomcat, squawking and dancing around it, but the cat doesn't really seem to care.]

Deimos, would you leave him alone already? If he claws you, don't come crying to me.

[The cat looks at Theo, who returns a flat look.] That's not an invitation, so don't get any ideas.

[Approach?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You mean you still haven't made any friends here? Have you really just been sitting locked up in your library drinking wine and smoking cigarettes since I moved out? I mean, just because Mayfield's a terrible place doesn't mean we can't all try to make the best of it. Sometimes I think you like being angry all the time.

[He sorta has! He just wouldn't call them "friends".]

Oh yeah, it's a lot of fun. Tell me, how am I supposed to make the "best" out of a place like this? What did you do last week? Did you spend it dead, like me?

Actually, I spent it watching TV.

Consider yourself lucky.

I can't believe this town sometimes. You'd think everyone would know not to fall for stupid stuff like that by now.

You shouldn't. People are stupid and gullible. And there's always new people who don't know the difference between what's real and what isn't.

...So is that what made you do it, back before you came here? You convinced yourself it would be a good idea, or that it would get you what you wanted?

[She had to bring it up eventually.]

[The change of subject throws him off.]

What does that-- That is different! The circumstances were--

How is it different? You don't get to talk about how people are stupid and gullible here unless you have a better reason for doing the same thing back home.

I didn't think I was getting-- [Something out of it like those here did. But that wasn't true, was it? Kay was right.]

Fuck, fine, then I take it back. Would that make you happy?

It's not about making me happy, Theo. It was never about that. But don't you think it'd be a lot easier if you could just admit you're sorry to yourself and start, y'know... trying to be a better person than that? I mean, you learned a lesson, right? You pretty much learned the hardest lesson there is. But now you're in Mayfield. And it's not perfect, but at least you're not dead, right? A lot of people don't get a second chance like that, you know?

[If only forgiving himself for that would help clear up his plethora of other problems.]

I can't do that.

I don't understand. Why?

How can I deserve a second chance after something like that!?

Even the justice system isn't just about punishing people, y'know. It's about rehabilitating them. If everything works right, people feel bad for what they did and try to start living better lives. I'm not saying you shouldn't feel guilty about it - I mean, I think it'd be a lot worse if you didn't - but maybe you could stop assuming everyone's out to get you from day one all the time?

Mayfield may be a prison, but it is not the criminal justice system. And don't think for a second I trust most of the people in this town. Very few of them have given me reason to. Christ. You know last week, I was out practicing a spell and some asshole just shot and killed me, cuz he didn't like what he saw? To hell with this town.

But not everyone is like that! You can't just decide everybody's a jerk just because of something a few people decide to do!

[It's hard to keep coming up with excuses, you know.]

I don't even know what I'm supposed to say or do with the people here anyway! I have little in common with people anyway. And I'm sure I'm no use to them.

Conversations aren't as hard as you think they are. I mean, we're having one right now and you're not even thinking about it! And you don't need to be useful for people to want to be your friend. That doesn't matter at all.