Dialogue The Shoreline ~ (Volks Lucas, F-17) [mild m/m]

preceded by Sands, part two

This is story #23 in the Back Garden series. Start reading from the beginning?




Jin: ...I really don't know what to say.
Siris: (silence)




Jin: I mean, I don't feel like an 'old soul' or whatever you call it. Most days I can barely get myself out of bed on time. You'd think I'd have figured that out in five thousand years.




Siris: Iollas knew nothing of his lives beyond the temple. If Imhotep's memories lay hidden within him, he never found them.




Jin: I have seen so much shit today that I never thought was possible.
Siris: (knotting hair around his fingers)
Jin: It's all– it's a lot to process. I'm just a dime-a-dozen shitkicker from Tokyo. Before I met you, the most exciting thing in my life was busking for the tourists 'round Yoyogi Park. Stuff like this – dreams, reading minds, reincarnation shit – it just doesn't happen to me.




Siris: It is your choice whether to believe me or not. I can offer you no more proof beyond what you have already seen, except my word that it is true.
Jin: (half-laugh) The fact you're lucid enough to tell me all this is proof as far as I'm concerned.




Jin: Alright, so suppose for one insane second everything you've told me is true: I'm a stubborn-ass soul, time-slipping my way 'round the karmic wheel 'til whatever Buddha's decided I need to do is done. What does that make you then? Some kind of shinigami?
Siris: 'Shinigami'? I don't...
Jin: Like a death god, or a reaper? You know, ferrying souls around to wherever they're supposed to go.




Siris: I am no god and I have never seen one of your shinigami. But perhaps we serve a similar purpose.




Jin: Sounds pretty lonely when you think about it, hanging out with the dead all day. No wonder you wanted to forget.




Siris: (murmured to his hands) All night. I only guide souls by night.




Jin: ...and by day?
Siris: The days are mine to do with as I choose. They always have been.




Jin: (hesitantly reaches out)

 

Jin: Would I be right then, in thinking all these months you've chosen to stay with us? (deep breaths) With me?




Siris: (curls his hand around Jin's)




Siris: You would.




Jin: (reaches up) You're absolutely sure?
Siris: I have known you in over a dozen lifetimes, Jin. And I have loved you through every single one.




Siris: (whispered) I am sure.







Continued in The Ground Beneath