agarthalives

[agarthalives]

Sincere & Severin // Coffee Break

Sometimes Sincere would stop at the vegan grocery in the city. It was close to city center and the area was bustling, which meant most of his jobs were easy to complete and he was harder to find. He wasn’t a vegan, not that it mattered considering he didn’t need to eat to survive, but he liked the smell of the expensive coffee they served in the small café on the top level. He was mulling it over, the big decision hovering over his head about one of his most recent jobs, and he found sitting in crowded places and imagining throwing someone over the railing of the staircase helped settle the urge to vomit. 

He never considered himself a killer, but someone who killed. To him a distinct difference existed in the minute details of it, in that he rarely took joy in his murdering, nor did he feel regret, but did it because those were the requirements of his current existence. But it seemed lately the the thought of killing someone simply because he could had brought him peace in power, the only control he seemed to be able to grasp, it almost steadied him. At times, it sickened him, but he had nearly perfected the art of detachment. 

Sometimes he wondered if the person he was before everything changed would be capable of such things he’s guilty of, if the Sincere that he knew when he was a child could reach with the same hands he’s wrapped around necks. It occurs to him, only after the nostalgia, that they are one and the same. But a body is just a body in the end, isn’t it? It is the mind that rattles, that commands. Lost in his own thoughts, staring out into the passing bodies, he’d almost faded fully into the mindlessness he craved. Unfortunately, things always seemed too good to be true before his least favorite person came trying to kill him. 

[agarthalives]

cityofargatha​:

angel & maybe // worst encounter

Hermie must’ve paid the gas bill. The shop severely dropped in temperature in a way Angel hadn’t felt before. It’s the perfect weather for a nap, and if it weren’t for the steady trickle of customers, he would’ve settled in a chair, put his feet up, and open a magazine to let it spread over his eyes in a sleeping mask. But the customers kept comin’ and Hermie had this place bugged — he’d flip if he rolled back the footage and saw Angel taking a cat nap when he could’ve been bringing in the cha-ching.

As Angel passed the customer their change, he said, “Hope your moms’s doin’ well. Tell her I miss her.” The customer, Patrick, might’ve overshared, but Angel didn’t mind soaking up the gossip. He’s wired like that. Besides, he likes learning about people, since nobody seemed to trust much of anybody these days. Once Patrick mumbled a thank you (he’s quiet like that) and started to leave, Angel watched him go, but he nearly jumped out of his clothes when he heard a voice. 

His arms are flailing. His legs do a little kick. And he’s pivoting, holding up his arms in a defensive karate stance. Angel’s a dancer, not a fighter, but that brief stint in karate might come in handy right now. “Whoa, whoa,” Angel said. “Don’t sneak up on nobody like that.” A laugh slips out of his lips, jittery and nervous, as he wills his heart rate to slow. He wags a finger. “Didn’t your mama ever tell you to mind your own pocketbook?” Wait a second. “How’d you…look, it’d be great if you, like, stayed on the other side of the counter. And if you jumped back over. Right now.”

Maybe’s slightly startled when Angel jumps, but seeing the position he’s fallen seamlessly into only causes them to giggle, a pale hand covering their mouth. Eyes squinting cheekily, fondly, “Are you trying to be scary? You don’t look very scary.” They speak plainly, not sure if they were supposed to feel threatened or afraid by Angel’s defensiveness, not sure if they could feel those things. At the mention of their mother, Maybe’s face softens and wanders, eyes meeting the ground slowly heavy with rumination, brows knit so tightly they almost blend into each other. “I’m not sure.” they say softly before they look back up at him, eyes big and dark like the obsidian glisten of their hair. “I didn’t steal anything, though, I promise.” 

“Okay.” they didn’t fight, not having a particular preference and honestly wanting to see their way around the store. Vanishing and reappearing on the other side of the counter, from before him to behind him in a single blink, they spoke the second they landed, “Better?” their smile was sweet, and they lifted their hand to give him a thumbs up for approval. “Do you live here?” they looked around, squinting at the Utz chip options on the shelves. 

[agarthalives]

angel & maybe // worst encounter

They had been watching the stranger for a few minutes as he rung up a customer, peering over his shoulder so that he might feel the soft tickle of cold air around his neck. Playing with their fingers, enamored by the way the customers came in and out of the store and gave him money, Maybe had little understanding of how they’d gotten there. They were, after all, just the beginnings of the chaos that would erupt under Pandora’s actions. 

Waiting for the customer to leave first before finally speaking to Angel, Maybe got close and looked over Angel’s shoulder. “Does all that money mean you’re rich or something?” they asked, voice loud despite being so close to him, but it didn’t matter considering only Angel could hear them. A random guest would have been normal and less surprising had Maybe not been standing behind the counter with him with no plausible way of getting there without him having noticed. They stood light, weightless in their ghost-like form, but only a few fades below opaque so that they looked just shy of human, close but not quite, a hair out of place. 

[agarthalives]

Barbie Ferreira photographed by Elisabet Davids for Ravelin (2016)