more than meets the eye // sal

[Python]

t a e l .

"you're a spoiled brat
oh yes, it's true
you're stuck on self
nobody matters but you"

Today, everyone had congregated early in anticipation of a special event. The church's usual service would be followed by a performance from the younger members. As a choir member, Tael was used to standing on the wooden stage with critical eyes trained on him. He had the voice of an angel, the mind of a sinner, but the older folks didn't know about that second part. Tael would always perform his duties to please his family, and tonight was no exception.

He sat idly in the pews, awaiting instruction. The church leaders were presenting their formation onstage - who would stand next to who, who would sing when. Not everybody in the younger group could sing, but Tael didn't care about them. His voice was the only one that mattered. If he sounded lovely, there was nothing to worry about.

"Janice, you'll stand next to Soren..."

He was bored. It didn't matter where he stood, as long as he -

"And Tael, you'll be next to Salvador. Any questions?"

His jaw dropped, expression offended. Fortunately, the leaders didn't seem to notice, and allowed them to disperse and practice their lines. Tael's eyes darted to the target of his distaste. Sal was known as the bastard of the church, but that had nothing to do with why Tael disliked him. It was his filth. He had no idea what that boy did to get himself so dirty, but evidently he had no shame in skipping basic human hygiene. Tael could count every dirt stain on his clothes, every smudge on his skin. He could only imagine the smell.

This was unacceptable.

He stood up and glided to Sal with his nose in the air. "This ain't gonna work. I'm not standin' next to you when you're lookin like this." He gestured to the boy's raggedy clothes as if it were obvious. Tael was shameless in his opinions; nobody dared challenge him because his father was a rich businessman, and very capable of cutting off supplies to other families. If their sons and daughters knew what was good for them, they wouldn't say a damn thing about Tael.

"You're comin' with me. You need a shower," he demanded, grabbing one of the few areas of Sal's shirt that wasn't coated in dirt. They had two hours, which was was plenty of time to make even a hopeless animal like Sal look decent. As he tugged on Sal's shirt, he expected him to follow immediately without resistance. He was used to getting exactly what he wanted, so why would today be any different?

[gamemaker kelsier]

s a l v a d o r e .

"Doors creaking loud,
swinging wide open
And you found yourself, man,
and that's something."

Stupid, goddamn ugly little butt lickin' shits.

Sal sat at the back of the church, seething with anger with his fingers pressing hard into his crossed arms. As was customary, he was there as a captive, not by choice. It was hard to resist when three grown men were so intent on having him in church, certain that they could save him from the sins of his mother.

But Sal disagreed, which was part of the regular Sunday routine and it had ended in a fistfight. He was sporting a split lip for his efforts and bruised knuckles but the pastor had a black eye so he still saw it as winning. The idiot would have to give his sermon with an ice pack on his face all as he pointed at Sal and told the church group to forgive him and yadda yadda yadda.

He didn't rightly know why they insisted on including him, he'd made it so clear that he was much happier left alone but ever since he'd been small, they'd made it their mission to make him into a little gentleman.

Sal made it really hard, he was always getting into fights and spent most of his time out in the fields, working on the irrigation system and getting himself dirty as hell in the process. The last thing he cared about was the stupid church and all their angel and demon talk.

They'd called his mother a whore and she'd died without a service. He didn't believe in their stupid man in the sky and never would.

They were sorting something out at the front of the pews and Sal narrowed his eyes at the Pastor and shoved a finger up his nose. He rooted around, very obviously, very much working his ass off to get the pastor to fuck up via the tactic of distraction.

But also he was picking his nose.

Once they finished talking, Sal figured he could take a nap until service started. They wouldn't just let him escape like last time, he'd done a good job of wiggling out through a bathroom window but since then, they'd put a lock on it. And it'd be kind of nice to know why they were so goddamn obsessed with saving his soul but he never cared enough to listen.

Then the annoying short one with the high-pitched voice approached him.

"Reckon I dunno what yer' gettin' at, I'm finer thanna frog hair split four ways," he grumbled at the accusation, "Ain' gonna stand 'side you, anyhow, fuck all tha', I ain' singin' no stupid church songs, yeah?"

And he goes on to talk about how Sal is disgusting and dirty, whatever, all stuff he's heard before but today he's just not interested on hearing more about it. "Fine words comin' from a kid who looks like he coul' be eatin' them lil' corns through a picket fence," he shot at him.

Maybe he raised his voice a little bit because suddenly everyone else is just silent and staring at the two of them, not that Salvadore cares. But the kid's tugging on him, insistent on taking him home for a shower and he feels the sweat on his back and the dusty feeling of dirt on his arms. Whatever though, Sal would wash in the river later like always, he didn't need some fancy goddamned shower anyway. The kid's insisting on taking him home though, insisting on-

Oh.

"Yer righ', I do be comin' though," he said with a grin and he slung his arm over the shorter kid's shoulder. They wouldn't stop him leaving if it was with the choir angel.

[Python]

t a e l .

"you're a spoiled brat
oh yes, it's true
you're stuck on self
nobody matters but you"

Tael did not speak 'buffoon', so he could not translate whatever rubbish Sal was spouting from his mouth. The impression was evident enough; Sal thought he was pretty as a peach, but in reality he was as rotted as an aged apple. Most of the church despised him for a number of reasons - something about his mother being a whore and Sal himself being a devil child. Tael didn't care about that. If they knew all of Tael's secrets, they would call him a devil child as well.

Sal claimed he would not be singing tonight, we'll see about that. The church had its ways of making kids comply. Manipulation tactics, mostly. Tael played along so he could lurk around unnoticed. Nobody ever suspected the well-behaved religious boy.

"I don' care if ya sing or not, I refuse to stand next to a walkin' trash can," he snapped. He felt the eyes of the church members following them as they marched through the front doors, but he didn't care. He knew they would understand the crisis he was in. Sal needed to look presentable. Who would disagree?

He tensed up the moment Sal slung a beefy arm over his shoulder. "Ay! Hands off!" In one dramatic movement, he attempted to shrug it off of him. "You're gonna ruin my vest!" He uttered a loud 'ugh' and turned a sharp left to head for his home. At least if Sal ruined his outfit with grime and sweat stains, he could change into something cleaner at home.

"What's wrong with ya, anyway? You ever heard of a bath?"