#never written srv and never written rubens

[becauseplot]

Hi!! Inktordem!! Totally didn’t forget!! I’m only a few minutes late!! Have a quick and dirty character study!!

Spoilers for the finale of OPC!

DAY 4 — RELÍQUIAS

Getting Kian and the Relics secured in the São Paulo base was priority, of course. Construction of the new safe room was projected to take three days. Arthur has been in and out during that time, splitting his hours between resting at home, coordinating people at the base as they arrived from Italy, checking in with his friends, and handling his part of the funeral arrangements.

He hasn’t seen his guitar case since he handed it over at the airport. It arrived before him, traveling separately due to its contents. His sniper went to weapons storage, where Ivete eventually cleaned and repaired it. Meanwhile, until the construction is completed, the safe behind Veríssimo’s desk is where they’re currently holding the Magistrate’s mask and Joui’s sword.

He’s…doing okay, all things considered. Plenty of things to do, plenty of people to see, and damn, plenty of hours to sleep. He’s fairly certain Mr. Veríssimo has been giving him less tasks than he usually does, but Arthur knows he, personally, needs the break, and he knows Mr. Veríssimo needs the work. Arthur spends time with Ivete and the others, chatting frequently and playing silly games of pool and reminding himself that it’s not all lost, and that the love is still there. The empty spaces in his life. The ache of phantom limbs. The people who were just here, ripped away. He tries not to let it choke him. When it’s only him at night, swathed in the silence, a bloodied, serene smile in his mind…he doesn’t always manage it.

~*~

Getting Kian and the Relics secured in the São Paulo base was priority, of course. Construction of the new safe room was projected to take three days. Veríssimo has been in the base since before construction started—the one to call in the contractor they usually trust to handle these sorts of projects. He’s been coordinating with Letícia to make sure everyone who needs a flight to Brazil gets one, coordinating with Arthur to make sure people are guided by someone when they come in, and getting his…personal affairs in order.

Aside from when he initially received it, Veríssimo has opened Arthur’s guitar case only once since it arrived. Rubens came by about a day after Veríssimo returned to Brazil and asked where the Relics ended up. Well, Relic. To assuage his concern, Veríssimo took out the guitar case and unzipped it for him, showing the Relic of Energy safely stored inside. All Rubens asked was if it would get a proper safe like Kian. When Veríssimo told him that construction was already underway, Rubens nodded, and with sparse words, left.

Veríssimo put the Relic of Energy away with a gentleness reserved only for the damned. It has been sitting, and continues to sit, in the safe behind his desk, nestled beside Arnaldo’s Grimoire and Veríssimo’s old shotgun. He swears he can feel him sometimes, hovering at his shoulder or slouched over the back of his chair as he works. Veríssimo is already well acquainted with such ghosts, though. No Relic could ever hope to mimic such a feeling. Veríssimo continues, just as he always has. There are funeral arrangements to be made.

~*~

Getting Kian and the Relics secured in the São Paulo base was priority, of course. Construction of the new safe room was projected to take three days. Rubens hasn’t spent very much time in the base at all. He came by when he initially arrived, just to see if he was needed, but when Arthur told him to go home and rest, he did. Well, he went to visit Johnny, which is just as good.

He came by a second time, after visiting Johnny, to see what was being done with the Host. Mr. Veríssimo showed him that it was being stored in the safe behind his desk until construction of the new safes was completed. A couple more days, Mr. Veríssimo said. Until then, it would be under his watch. Rubens was still doubtful, but he could feel the heat coming off it from where he stood, the way the air crackled around it, and he decided it was time to leave.

The only other time he came to base during those three days was when the team started texting about a game of pool in the Whattsap group and Balu began to demand a rematch from him. Other than that, he has been visiting Johnny, and sleeping, and visiting Johnny, and texting, and keeping his mind away from the phantom pressure around his neck and the just-barely-there hum of electricity in his sternum. Some mornings he wakes up and the roof of his mouth still tastes like blood.

~*~

They wait for Rubens to arrive before opening the guitar case. Arthur is the one to do it, the metal zippers warm to the touch. He steps aside to allow Mr. Veríssimo to lift Joui’s sword out while Rubens spins the dials on the safe. A deep thunk, and the door swings open: a long, shallow locker, with a pair of pegs at the top.

Arthur watches Joui’s sword go in, hung gently. He exchanges a look with Rubens, who has his hand on the door and seems to be waiting for something.

But there’s nothing to wait for, is there. It’s done. Arthur nods, Mr. Veríssimo steps back, and Rubens shuts the safe.