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When Scott lands on the little altar right next to the cliff, he lets out a drawn-out whistle, low and impressed. “Would you look at that, the forge is starting to look great!”
When Abolish looks up and over at him, he raises an eyebrow. “Good evening to you too, Scott,” he says flatly, using his forearm to wipe the sweat off his brow. “Nice of you to show up.”
“Now now, we both know you don’t need me for this part,” Scott replies with a smile, stepping down the stairs that lead him to where Abolish straightens himself. Building—or attempting to build—a house is one thing, a forge is another. “Or want, really, I’m not an architect.”
For a moment, Abolish’s yellow eyes look like they’re contemplating him again, and then he sighs, gaze flicking down at the fire pit of sorts he’s been working on. “Yeah, you know what, you’re so right, you’d have just made it take twice as long.”
“Hey! —I mean, it’s true, but rude!” Scott complains half-heartedly.
Abolish quirks a smile. “It’s rude to tell the truth now?”
He gasps dramatically, hand to his chest and all, then blows out a quick breath, watching with a grin as the wind messes Abolish’s hair up. The dry look he gets is definitely worth it. “I’ll let you know that I’m quite good with my hands, actually.”
“Sure, but not like this, right?” he questions with only a hint of annoyance, brushing brown curls out of his face.
Scott winks. “Exactly, you get it!”
There’s another sigh and Abolish turns away slightly, then leans down to pick up a brick. “Alright then. So now what, did you get bored of the others so you’ve decided to bother me instead?”
Okay, so that’s actually rude. He rolls his eyes, not that Abolish is looking at him.
“If I didn’t want to be bored, I wouldn’t have come here,” he snipes back, a bit more ice in his voice than he’d have wanted. Abolish doesn’t even react to it, focus fully on building that godsforsaken hearth. Fine, whatever, he can play nice too. Scott inhales slowly through his nose and relaxes his shoulders, bringing a smile back to his lips. “I was actually having a rather lovely conversation with Nikos and Nobody, but I thought I’d come over here to help you instead!”
And it definitely had nothing to do with Pearl’s darkness creeping in without warning and setting him on edge.
Abolish snorts. “You decided to help me work on the forge instead of staring at Nikos?”
“Oh please, I can do plenty of other things besides ogling at men.”
“Rightttt,” he says dubiously. “And the real reason?”
Scott crosses his arms, pouting slightly. It’s not exactly a secret or anything, but it would be much more convenient if Abolish wasn’t so observant. “...Pearl might have shown up.” And he didn’t want to try to sleep after that.
With clear disapproval, Abolish shakes his head. “You really shouldn’t have made her dislike you.”
Scott groans. “She wants to kill us all, I wasn’t trying to!”
“But you still did.” Abolish shrugs. Wow. “It’s not like you have to make her like you, all you gotta do is keep her focus on someone else.”
“What, like how you’ve been doing it?” He keeps his voice light, almost curious, but he feels more skeptical than anything. “Just stay on—” Scott waves a hand through the air, “—neutral terms with everyone?”
Abolish places another brick down, his attention still on his masonry instead of on Scott, where it should be. “Yeah, sure, I won’t tell you what to do, obviously, but it works for me.”
It won’t work for Scott. “Not exactly a great way to make friends though, is it?”
“Yeah, well, I'm not here to make friends, so that’s fine by me.”
Scott pinches his eyebrows together. “Uh huh, right, then how are you ever going to find out who you can trust?”
Abolish finally looks at him, almost amused. “You can’t trust anyone here, Scott, people want that wish, they want to live, and only one of us can survive. You know this.”
Huh.
Isn’t that just interesting.
Seemingly, Abolish doesn’t want to fight, and for the moment, Abolish is willing to ally himself with Scott and a few others, but there’s nothing entertaining about keeping people at arm’s length. That would just bore the gods, so Scott finds it hard to believe there’s not more to it.
“That doesn’t mean you can’t make friends,” he says quietly. People come and go all the time, Scott doesn’t really see the issue here.
Abolish sighs again. “Alright, sure, if that’s what you want, go right ahead, I won’t be the one to stop you,” he says dismissively. “You can do it your way, I can do it mine.”
Can he be any more condescending?
Scott presses the pads of his fingers firmly together, keeping his mouth shut as annoyance constricts in his chest. When he doesn’t reply, Abolish refocuses on the hearth, building it up brick by brick as Scott silently watches.
It’s obvious that Abolish doesn’t take him seriously, not really, and normally Scott wouldn’t care that much, but he needs Abolish to see value in this allyship. He’ll need to play a different role, then, someone else, not just the teasing, carefree actor, no, Abolish needs to see the chosen of Aeolus.
He lets the wind carry him forward with a burst of speed, faster than Abolish can think to react, and with the powerful gust, the burning candles all extinguish. It covers them in shadow, the stars the only source of light, and Scott watches as Abolish goes completely motionless below his touch, his warm hand still holding onto the brick Scott has now also wrapped his fingers around.
“I’m not stupid, Abolish,” Scott says quietly, holding firm. “Trust the wrong person and it will get you killed, I know that.” He glances up through his eyelashes to find Abolish already watching him, gaze inscrutable, the yellow of his eyes illuminated in the dark of the night. “But you don’t have to trust someone to get stabbed when you least expect it.”
As a famous actor, Scott was loved by many—by most, really—and hated or envied for it by just as many in turn. Abolish is an entertainer just like him, if there’s anything he understands about their profession, it should be that.
Abolish’s eyes trail over his face, like he’s searching for something. Scott can’t quite figure out what kind of puzzle he’s trying to solve, but the attention is enough. After a few moments, Abolish finally nods. “I mean, you’re not wrong, a stranger can stab you in the back just as well as someone you know.”
“Exactly! Glad we can agree on that,” Scott replies, putting on a soft, teasing smile. He allows the tension to drain out of him, swapping one mask for another. “Besides, if you’re concerned, the only sword I’ve ever wielded was a prop.”
A smile curls on Abolish’s mouth, sharp and amused, and he finally lets go of the brick. “Oh don’t worry, Scott, I’m not concerned. I’m not concerned at all.”