anyone would choose to live… tiki thought but did not utter. he mulled over the words for longer, but could not understand it. tiki didn’t have an abstract mind, he thought of almost anything in a simple way–he did the same with elliot’s statement.
how does one choosing to live… give them the power of telekinesis?
tiki didn’t give elliot a reacton to that statement because he couldn’t understand it. he would’ve questioned it if weren’t for the follow-up. now–he offered a reaction. his jaw dropped, his eyes widened & his head rose. his brows cocked up in disbelief.
❝ are you telling me that… a demon gave you these powers? ❞ he asked slowly–his fingers snuck into his mouth to be softly bitten, over & over–as a way to tame his anxiety.
———THERE SEEMED TO BE A REACTION IN PLACE FOR THIS SORT OF THING. from pulse to bone, the body managed to give away much of the estate it held within. he saw fear. moreover, he saw disbelief.
❝ yes, though the details remain somewhat unclear as to how. ❞ the more he explored the uncanny and strange, the more it confused him. supernatural things were not meant to be understood.
careful in his next approach, the man rubbed his palms momentarily. it was not a kindness that brought him to empathize with the other, but rather a selfishness within. give and take, that was what this was. he wanted more, and the transaction had been made.
❝ hear me when i say i try not to bring my beliefs into matters of… lifestyle. ❞
tiki was used to this. the men at the laboratory had raised him to be docile, obedient. although he had since escaped from the lab, he still possessed those attributes, even when conversating with a near-perfect stranger such as elliot.
❝ blessed told me that… the young people are infected by sin, ❞ he spoke of her as if the other would know who the nun was. ❝ that the younger people are giving up on religion & faith… she told me it’s a serious issue… and… ❞ just like that, his rambling of faith came to an end. not because he reconsidered his words. they simply ended with no explanation. this was a common flaw of tiki, his brain often stops thinking, only to restart shortly after.
his fingers tapped against the surface of the table, endeavoring to remember what elliot said. ❝ you… weren’t? ❞ he marveled. tiki was the opposite, and he assumed that his powers cannot be replicated… if elliot’s were an didn’t come from another source. ❝ i’ve had them for… as long as i can remember, ❞ he mentioned.
the fingers begin to tap faster, more nervously at the given question. tiki had been witness to monsters, beasts, unspeakable creatures. but none of them has ever scared him–but demons. the thought of demons terrified him.
❝ Yes. ❞
———THERE WAS NO WORD HE COULD UTTER THAT WOULD NOT TEAR OPEN SOMETHING RAW. some time ago, he’d considered atheism. it was a darker time, when the idea of god managed only to feel laughable in the face of what he endured. such as time was past him, and he’d soon rekindled his complicated relationship with religion in general.
still, he wanted nothing more than to separate his choices from his religion. there was nothing corrupt or unholy about the jewish faith, not in the same way he was. to make this distinct connection to the demonic, he chose religion as the bridge between them. nothing more, nothing less.
❝ i was given a choice a very long time ago, and i chose to live. ❞ running a finger under the mouth of his glove, the man waited to check tiki’s reaction before continuing forward.
❝ a demon did that, and more, if you’ll believe it. ❞
tiki didn’t pay much attention to the house, he never observed details too well. but the very back of his brain told him that it was better than the current denizen he’s living at… illicitly. but he wasn’t focused on living matters, he was more fascinated with the glass of water. he took the glass into his large hands with reluctance. did he hate water? no. but it was all he drank at the laboratory. once he was liberated, he discovered soda and grew a preference for the beverage.
nonetheless, he still took the glass’ rim to his rosy lips and sipped on it. ❝ thank you, ❞ was said after pulling the glass away from his mouth. the laboratory taught him many things, such as being polite and always thankful for any good deed. ❝ delighted to… make your acquaintance, elliot… elliot, ❞ he repeated the name. he found the name to be pleasant on the tongue. ❝ that’s a… beautiful name,
❞ he added.
not many people asked him about his religion, he assumed that nobody cared about the subject anymore. but tiki didn’t mind being asked, he wasn’t ashamed of it. to begin his answer, he revealed a cross necklace that hid under his shirt. ❝ oh yeah, i think… i’m a christian. i love god and jesus and mary and joseph… and the whole lot. i go to church… every sunday… when i remember. ❞
———A SMILE GRACED HIS FACE AT THE COMPLIMENT. he wasn’t used to the sort of politeness that came in situations like this. too many questions, too much confusion ; when it came to conversations like these, many young people were quick to display their emotions in a negative space. tiki felt almost… reticent.
❝ i used to be a bit more religious myself, but i still practice to a degree. ❞ he wondered if the young man had ever met anyone who wasn’t christian. a town like this did not offer much in the way of selection, yet that wasn’t exactly something he considered heinous for the size of the place. usually, he would have liked to separate religion from the matter, but it was hard to know what the kid would believe.
❝ i ask, because i was not born with my abilities. ❞ from what he could tell, this wasn’t nearly as arcane of a union as elliot’s own situation. there needed to be a bridge he could work with, and religion seemed to be just that.
his oculars danced in his sockets, observing everything but the other’s hues. eventually, they landed, finding an offering hand outstretched to him. when his eyes are directed down, it placed emphasis on how heavy his eyelids are. FOLLOWING STRANGERS IS DANGEROUS, but tiki never listened to his conscience.
he wasn’t a man of many words, he nodded his consent instead.
where were they? tiki is nescient of that detail. he was never an observant man, and because of how he was raised, he never asks questions. the only thing he knew was that they’re somewhere more private, where no one can condemn them for WHAT THEY ARE.
❝ i’m… tiki, i was… born with… this. ❞
———IT WAS A PLACE THAT ELLIOT HAD CALLED HOME LIKE ALL OTHERS ; a faceless, nameless room at a dingy bed and breakfast. to say he had much of a home would be like saying a migratory bird had one nest. he offered the young man a glass of water and some packaged snacks he’d bought for the road. the man had come only to travel, to see, and he’d done it in the way a hitchhiker had some semblance of an idea where to go.
❝ tiki… my name is elliot. ❞ the name chosen, not given, but certainly a name. he picked through a bag of trail mix, noting that the absence of pain beneath his nail. there was much to talk about.
❝ are you religious, tiki? i suppose we could start there, if you’d like. ❞
at the supposed compliment, tiki gave a hint of a smile. having been starved of any type of flattery, he appreciates all of it, no matter how small it may be. he the laughed dismissively, setting the kit on a table without moving one muscle.
❝ thanks, but… i can’t be any more incredible than you… or am i mistaken?
❞
———LINGERING EYES HAD WITNESSED HIS CARELESS UPHEAVAL. so small, the injury, he hadn’t even thought it could become such a pivotal device. he considered then what a tiny display of power could do in the presence of another. his only saving grace seemed to be the other’s otherness. he offered his hand to the stranger.
❝ i can do a bit more than pull a splinter with my mind. could we talk in private? ❞
scaring the other was never tiki’s intentions, or he assumed that the other was scared. he caught the falling kit right before it collided with the ground. but not with his hands, he caught it with his MIND. then the kit flew to him, it almost appeared sentient. Now the small container rests in his hands.
❝ … it’s okay.
❞
———IT’S A SIGHT HE NEVER DREAMED HE’D SEE FROM THIS POINT OF VIEW. weightless, the tin box floated just shy of the ground, lifting up towards the young man. he’d used just a bit of power to dislodge the splinter, enough for his friend here to notice, it seemed. his test passed, yet he was still reeling from the sheer coincidence of it all.
SCENES LIKE THESE usually cause eyes to cower, but not tiki’s. his brown hues were fixated to fingers working tweezers. he rarely blinked, and his face remained unmoving until the small procedure was finished.
❝ you’re welcome… but it the… metal things didn’t seem very helpful,
❞ he sighed,
❝ they never… are.
❞
———IT WAS A STRANGE STATEMENT OF WHICH HE COULD NOT IGNORE. eyes lingering on the bent end of the tweezers, he shifted his gaze back to the young man he’d borrowed them from. had he seen him just then? approaching with an arm outstretched, rusted kit in hand, elliot subtly loosened his grip and allowed it to fall from his grasp.
———TWO BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER. below the nail bed, where the skin was quite tender, a thin splinter remained embedded in flesh. he bit his lip, trying to dislodge the wooden bit with a tweezers, but to no avail. he checked once to ensure that no one was looking, thumb hovering just over the area as the man concentrated. the end slowly wiggled out from its place, untouched, as if magnetized by the other hand.
parker's blogs 