Father Arion led the next morning's service. Tisiphone sat herself in one of the pews, wafting her nose but feeling like she could actually breathe today. Whether that was a good or bad thing was fully up for debate, however. She listened half-heartedly to the untruths that her friend spouted out, eyes catching Pastor Tyche and Mother Rani sat side by side toward the left side of the closest pews to the platform. They were, quite result in Tisiphone's opinion, whispering to one another.
The slight tinge to her nose dragged her away, but it was gone before she could pinpoint it, and she became tempted to screech incoherently in response if not for the fact that Father Arion would be upset with her if she interrupted his oh so important morning chanting.
Tisiphone rested her chin on the ball of her hand, rocking her head back and forth in boredom after that. She scanned the crowds, but for all her years of hunting she had no idea who she was after this time. No one had been driven mad by her presence yet- but she wasn't in the wrong place. The town lead to city lead to here- every time she started trying to look elsewhere. It all circled around and around, and it was forcing her up the wall.
It was like their god (may she resurrect soon) was pulling her leg this time.
Or whomever she was here to find was just incredibly, inconceivably lucky.
"You look tired," said Plutus. He was at her side, lazily relaxing back on the wood and pillow of the pews, his legs up on the backs of the pew in front, between two of the other devotee's who didn't appear to notice.
He continued before she could answer, talking so loud she was shocked no one even looked in their direction, "Taking longer than it usually does, ah? Never thought you'd be one to dawdle."
Tisiphone scoffed, but muttered, because she had more respect then Plutus apparently, "It's just not sticking. I'll find the smell eventually."
"You did find something else though, didn't you? What was it- that thing made of bone runes that you ran into down there?"
"Don't say it so loud!" Tisiphone whisper-yelled, with much the same vigor as someone may yell at a dog for barking at the postman.
"No one can hear me," he responded casually, rolling a dandelion between his fingers, watching as the yellow of the petals wilted just that slightest bit more in the movement. Tisiphone frowned, and looked down at her hands, twisting her wrist joint of her left in her right as she thought.
"Why are you here? Payment isn't due yet, I haven't finished the job."
Plutus let out a resounding, hearty laugh that made Tisiphone's head ache. She clicked her fingers in her ear to make sure he hadn't concurrently burst her eardrums.
"Ah, Tis, get your shit together girl! I'm only here making sure you're, ya know, alive after such inactivity. You never were one for religion- much less this one," He said. His eyes followed hers, and he poked her side in such a way that she couldn't decide if it had actually touched her or not, "Do you really want to ROT here? To drench the moss with the marrow of your bones, to smell that smell forever?"
"What?" Tisiphone turned to him, only to find the pew empty. She looked around, but all she saw was the choir, the residents, the priests, the dotted skeletons sat beside family members. No Plutus, and no questions.
Instead, Tisiphone realised that the sermon was over, and people were beginning to stand to go back to their daily lives. A shaky breath left her lips before she could stop it. It felt like there was a weight pressing behind her eyes.
She could feel herself being watched, yet only had the time to react once the hand rested on her shoulder.
It was a cold hand- like no blood really flowed into it at all.
Pastor Tyche gave her the kind of smile that made her feel physically repulsed, and she turned to them in such a way that their hand had to drop off her and fall back to their side. Mother Rani stood beside the pastor. Her robes were as immaculate as ever, and her eye as dull as Tisiphone ever saw it. She would hardly think the woman even blinked if not for the fact she was watching her do it, and watching it make no effect on her eye at all. Mother Rani turned to Pastor Tyche with the scowl Tisiphone could only read as 'why is this girl existing around me'. It was the same look her school teachers used to get.
Pastor Tyche decided to talk first, still grinning pleasantly like the things they were saying didn't sound impeccably condescending, "Well good morning, Ms. Erin. Did you sleep well? You seemed to be quite distracted during this morning's speeches."
Tisiphone furrowed her brow a little. Clearly, she thought, she hadn't slept a wink; she was well aware she looked like death at best right about now.
"Simply had a bout of insomnia, Pastor. Good morning to you too, and to you, Mother Rani."
Tisiphone kept her voice low, under the energetic hum of people lining up for breakfast in the kitchens and mess hall beside the prayer room. Mother Rani sneered, the side of her lips curling in and up with flourish only accomplished by years of being a pretentious prick to everyone not her elder. So everyone, because Tisiphone was sure this woman was much older then the fifty that Father Arion had said she was.
"Herbal teas will knock you right out," the woman mouthed, before adding onto the end just to be a dick, "Or perhaps a brick is more fitting for someone of your stature. I highly doubt you drink tea."
Oh. How on the nose, Mother Rani. Tisiphone didn't exactly have a response to that, and instead just looked at Pastor Tyche and their annoyingly stupid smile. They had little to no true reaction to the elder's words, however they did raise their hand in slight consolidation.
"Oh Mother Rani, no need to be so rude to our guest. Erin, I'm sure you understand and are not offended," they said, like a bitch.
No, Tisiphone did not understand. As a matter of fact she was incredibly insulted by the idea of being hit over the head with a brick, because a brick had no intention of doing anything but being heavy and inconvenient, and the person hitting her clearly wasn't creative enough to at least find something more interesting.
But regardless, the look on Pastor Tyche's face and the swollen rolling of her gut made her think twice about retorting in any such a way that may or may not get her thrown back into those disintegrating catacomb tunnels under the cathedral, and she bit her tongue almost hard enough to bleed when she nodded. Pastor Tyche returned it, alongside a grunting noise between a hacking cough and the wheeze of air leaving a corpse spewed from the elder woman's lips.
Mother Rani stepped away with finality, clearly only having been there to either establish dominance or show Pastor Tyche that Tisiphone wasn't worth their time.Her robes flowed behind her like some kind of calling mist, and Pastor tyche spoke with glee.
"I'm aware she isn't your fan, Erin, But I do hope that one day you'll see things from her level."
Weird choice of words, Tisiphone thought, instead of them saying 'from her perspective'.
She didn't want to be at Mother Rani's level, that seemed like it would require her to be pretentious and heavily religious. Which sounded like hell, if Tisiphone was being honest with herself.
"Right," she said, because being a bitch in the middle of the cathedral pews wasn't on her daily plans today, "Have a lovely day, Pastor Tyche. I'm going to go and get some breakfast."
Stuffing her face felt like a better plan than yelling at them. Plus, she was hungry, and her head was pounding with dehydration, and she needed to find where PLutus had gotten in then subsequently fucked off to.
The Sunrise had completed throughout the morning routines that day, and some cold had sunk into the air and soil as winter approached. Robes were becoming a thicker mix of cotton and wool, replaced in her wardrobe as she slept, hopefully by skeletons without a conscience.
The mess hall was full by the time she reached it, and Alcmene and Father Arion were sitting in the corner with a small pile of toast. Tisiphone walked over, attempting to look more put-together than she felt.
"Good morning, Father. Morning, Alcmene, are you alright today?" she asked.
Alcmene spoke with a mouthful of toast so it all came out as a disjointed gargle. Father Arion filled in while handing over a piece of cold toast to Tisiphone as she sat down, "She said she's fine. Managed to sleep last night, to my knowledge. Good morning as well, Erin. I pray you're well rested. Feeling better today?"
"Much, thanks."
Eating the cold toast wasn't exactly making her day better, but it was good to get some food in. If only for how long the pause in speaking was until Father Arion decided to say-
"We have the local Brothel visiting today. I think that you'll like them, very kind ladies."
"I'm sorry you said 'Brothel'?!" Tisiphone coughed around the crumbs in her mouth, wiping her chin with the back of her hand.
_____________
A Brothel. He'd been telling the truth.
The women were all as graceful as could be, and Tisiphone felt, rather weirdly, like they were some of the most gorgeous people she'd met in her life.
She'd been the one to open the doors and welcome them in, and was thus bombarded with hugs and 'good morning' kisses and gleeful hugs from each of them. She was still reeling from the high of being called 'pretty' by one in passing. They all lined themselves at the confessional, some splitting off to chat with commune members, and one who went to grab herself a few cakes from the mess hall and was nibbling away at them while intently staring at Tisiphone.
Tisiphone gave an awkward wave. The worker waved back with a shy grin.
Huh.
After a short while of aimlessly watching the newcomers, the worker approached and sat in the seat beside Tisiphone. The woman had wide, bright eyes the colour of the winter skies, and hair the colour of a fowl. It fell in adorable ringlets over her shoulders, and her smile made Tisiphone's mind buffer for a moment.
"Uhm, hi," the woman said, "You look familiar. Have we met?"
Tisiphone wished. This woman was divinity incarnate- if they had met, she'd surely remember. She'd cherish the memory for decades, honestly.
"No, I don't believe we have," she managed to squeeze out her lungs.
"Then let's change that!" the woman announced, "I'm Meraki, and you?"
"Meraki," Tisiphone repeated to herself. She nodded, and held her hand out to shake Meraki's firmly.
"T- ah, I'm Erin. Nice to meet you."
"Erin," Meraki repeated too, and kept her hand lingering a little too long for it not to turn Tisiphone to mush there and then.
They spoke for a while. Or well, Meraki spoke. Tisiphone stared in awe of her voice and stature and looks and personality, and wondered what the prices of the brothel were, or if she was to specify which of the girls she ended up seeing. She probably shouldn't say that out loud in a church hall though.
The worker spoke of the paintings she'd made, and how she'd once had a client spend their entire session talking about a book they were writing, and how another client had sang her songs he'd written just for her, and how Tisiphone reminded her of a woman she'd seen in her dreams before. (Tisiphone was unsure if she was being truthful, flirting, or doing both.)
Tisiphone chortled a little, leaning on her forearms on her knees with what she could only hope to God wasn't a look of a lovelorn teenager on her face, "Sang? The whole time? Was it any good?"
"Fuck no, he was so off pitch I almost cried-" Meraki snorted like a piglet between laughs, and her cheeks were so rosy alongside it that Tisiphone's heart skipped a few beats, "It was sweet he'd written them for me, but i think he was under the assumption that because he was there alot that I liked him."
"Did you?" Tisiphone heaved through her laughter.
Meraki held her hand to her chest as if she was offended, giggling uncontrollably, "God, no, no. I have my heart set on someone unreal. Literally."
Tisiphone deflated just the tiniest bit. But she kept her smile, and nodded, leaning back against the pews and letting her head loll back to stare at the painted tiles of the ceiling above.
"I get it. Glad I've never had a guy act like that with me, heh," before she added, "Unreal?"
"Mn." Meraki didn't clarify further.
Father Arion stepped over, and as Tisiphone turned to him, she caught sight of Alcmene being doted upon by Meraki's coworkers with sweets and cuddles. He had a wide grin, giving Meraki a welcome hug.
"Mera, it's lovely to see you again, dear. I see you've met our newest member, Erin," he said.
Meraki returned the hug, squeezing tight before she sat back beside Tisiphone, ever so slightly closer than she had been before, and nodded with that dazzlingly beautiful smile.
"I have. She's very propitious," she responded airily. Honestly at this rate, Tisiphone might actually become religious, because there was no way a woman so perfect existed and was deliberately getting closer to her.
Maybe she was thinking too hard about this.
Father Arion did drag away from the feeling somewhat, which helped even out Tisiphone's heart rate for the time being. He informed her, along with Meraki chiming in occasionally, that the brothel took the last Sunday of every month as a closing day and came to relieve stress with free food, community and to be somewhere with their friend's that they weren't judged for their profession.