Breaking the Surface

[Lennox Shipman]

The shower water was beginning to run cold, but the thought of leaving it was still inconceivable. Nox's hands were pressed flat against the wall above the temperature dial, which was turned almost as far into the red zone as could be, as he gazed blankly down at the rivulets running the length of his body and into the drain below. He had watched as the scalding water ran black, soil and sediment gathering in the little streams that encompassed his skin, until all of them ran clear, and his skin changed from gray to a flushed pink. He felt each muscle in his back and legs soften in the heat, then relish the shock of cold by contrast. It was as if he was feeling every part of his body turn human again, one piece at a time.

When he finally did wrench himself out of the shower, it was only because the empty churning of his stomach was no longer bearable. After checking in to the hotel yesterday evening, he had intended to clean up and find something to eat before going to bed. Upon entering his room, he had undressed, sat down on the bed to test its firmness, and opened his eyes to a piercing ray of dawn streaming in through the window. Looking at the bed now, Nox pitied the house keeper who would have to clean the sheets that had received his unwashed and travel-worn body last night. Speaking of unwashed, this brought Nox to the dilemma of his clothes. Until he could find a place to obtain some more wardrobe options, the filthy garments on the floor were all he had. The idea of putting them back on after his shower was repulsive to him at this point; it seemed like crawling back into a shed skin. Since he couldn't very well go outside without them, there seemed only one option.

Tucking the white-- but much too small, in his opinion --bathroom towel around his waist, Nox peered through the peep hole of his door into the hallway, then carefully poked out his head. There didn't seem to be anyone around, and no sounds of movement came to him. He quickly tiptoed around the corner, making a beeline for the archway labeled "LAUNDRY" that he had spotted the night before. To his relief, this room was also mercifully empty. He would have been much more comfortable had there been a close-able door to the small, open room, but this would have to do. He quickly fished his few belongings out of the pockets of his grungy jeans and placed them on a nearby shelf. There was an industrial sink on the wall. Nox concluded that he didn't have time to wait for a full wash-cycle, and so dumped his clothes into the large, plastic basin. Using the hot water, an unlabeled blue liquid soap, and something that at least looked like the washboards he had seen in movies, the young man took to scrubbing and squeezing. His movements felt foolish enough to have him convinced that he didn't have the slightest idea what he was doing, which was highly believable, considering he had never done anything resembling laundry in his entire life. Eventually, though, the water from the clothes ran clear when he wrung them out, just as it had in the shower, and they smelled clean enough. That would have to do, for now.

The controls on the dryers seemed much less intimidating than the ones on the washers. He inserted a couple of bills in one of the smaller machines and placed his damp garments in the drum. A couple of dials and buttons later, Nox pressed "START" and hoped for the best. The roar of the dryer as it engaged made him cast a nervous look to the doorway and clutch at his towel. So far, he was still in luck. He hadn't seen a soul all morning. He had no idea how long his things would take to dry, but he was hopeful that it couldn't be more than fifteen minutes or so. He thought it best to keep busy while he waited, to calm his nerves. He turned his attention to the sink, where he did not feel he had put in much soap, but was still left with mounds of foam even now that the water had drained. Nox grabbed hold of the nozzle and set to work.

[Minh Aitken]

There was something keenly wrong about Hazleton, Oregon. Minh felt it the moment he stepped onto the desecrated soil. Something evil definitely dwelled here and although it wasn't his job to dispel evil on his own--he was not a well trained exorcist, although he knew the basics--he had to do something. The problem was, he didn't know exactly what that thing was. So he found a hotel in order to stay and perhaps find out more.

The hotel wasn't the best one he'd ever stayed at during his worldly travels but he had to admit that it also wasn't the worst. There were times in which Minh had to lie beneath the stars with his pack tucked under his head as a makeshift pillow. At least this hotel had pillows.

Minh had been awake for some time, poring over his copy of the Holy Bible in the hopes that he could find answers. Surely, God would show him the answers. Surely, God would open the book to the passage that would point him in the right direction. Nothing rang true to him during this reading, though. Was... was some evil entity hiding God's voice from him? Was it the evil of Hazleton? The unnamed evil that he needed to track down...?

Minh ruffled his hair and slid his hand up over the crown of his head as he lowered his gaze to the desk he sat at. How long did he sit there? Far too long, really. Letting out a long sigh, Minh gently closed his bible and tucked it into a pocket in his pack. As he did so, he remembered that he had to get his clothes down to the laundry. When he came in last night, it was late. Minh pulled out the clothing from his pack and held it under his arm, marching out of the room and heading toward the archway that handily told him where the LAUNDRY was located.

What was all that noise though? Minh could hear it down the hall. Slowly, he approached, then peeked around the corner and looked one way and then the next. Laundry room. Looked pretty standard, if cheap. He stepped fully into the room, then saw where the loud noise was coming from. And also...

"Oh!" Minh's eyes widened and he actually loosened his grip on his clothing, some of it falling over onto the floor in his surprise. "I didn't..." He didn't know what he was going to say as his brain short-circuited. He didn't expect somebody to be inside? With all the noise, that was unlikely. He just... didn't expect the lone occupant to be... well. So... unclothed.

[Lennox Shipman]

Watching the suds diminish and drain was strangely satisfying. Even after all the bubbles were gone, the soothing sound of the water lulled Nox into an unfocused trance. He didn't know how many minutes he had lost while standing there before a human sound jarred him back to earth, the nozzle dropping from his hand to clack and thud in the basin below. He whirled to face the archway, hands flying to secure his towel. When his eyes confirmed that he did, in fact, have company, his first instinct was to duck away somewhere for additional cover. Finding nothing suitable at first glance, Nox settled for obscuring himself as much as possible behind the edge of the sink.

"Uhh.... no, you didn't.." He stammered awkwardly, picking up on the other man's abandoned sentence, but having no lucid way to complete it himself. The stranger was about his age, but Nox's exposed, unadorned skin contrasted greatly with the many decorations and designs that covered what could be seen of the other. In the moment, there seemed no easy words that could quickly sum up the explanation for his state of undress. What eventually tumbled from his mouth was: "I was out of clothes. I'm washing them."

[Cain Plunkett]

"So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body..."

Cain closed the small study bible in his lap and breathed out slowly, letting the passage sink in fully as the old, rickety bus trundled slowly towards its destination. He glanced up through the grimy window, then down at the slip of paper wedged between the pages of the bible. Giving a start, he yanked on the stop cord and eased into the aisle, and finally hopped briskly off the bus after it came to a full stop.

He let out another breath, but this time a nervous and shaky one. The address was right; this was the place. It was one of two hotels in town, the other being the Moonlight Inn which was now closed. Cain ventured forward a step, then backwards one, then forward. He worried his lower lip as he slid into the brightly lit lobby and... then he realized that he had no plans extending beyond this point. Would he sit in the lobby and wait? Or wander around until he somehow bumped into the person he was looking for?

Cain gripped his bible tightly between both hands. God would lead him. Yes. He placed himself in the hands of God and... sooner or later he would find him! He set off down an arbitrary hallway, sneakily bypassing a locked door because someone was exiting from the other side. Cain was smiled at benignly by a woman; he ducked his head shyly and avoided her gaze. Wandering around and around, eventually he came upon a new corridor and—gasp! A glimpse of a familiar figure!

"Minh!" Cain hurried down the hall and just as he turned into a room marked laundry, he skidded to a halt. "Oh!" The bible flew up like a physical shield and Cain hid his eyes behind it as his face flamed red. Who—who did laundry naked?!

[Lennox Shipman]

Nox had quickly gone from picturing a gritty, survivalist, self-reinvention story to an absurd teen comedy. He half-expected the busload of school children from the local orphanage to burst in next. Why was right now the perfect time for a meeting of the Linens for Christ club? Why were these hotel towels so damned small?

Shrinking even further into the nook by the sink, Nox attempted a casual, endearingly sheepish laugh. His splotchy flush and the crack in his voice betrayed him.
"Ha ha, sorry... yeah... I'm... my clothes." He patted the rattling dryer beside him. Like it was a car for sale. Like an idiot. "They're all I've got. I'm almost.... sorry. I mean, I am sorry. I'm almost done. But sorry."

[Cain Plunkett]

There was a saying that God was always watching but... Cain hoped that He wasn't watching right now. With his eyes obscured by the holy bible, Cain was spared another glimpse of the other man's indignity. His nervous babbling, however, only made the situation worse somehow. Cain was by no means an innocent child but he didn't see other men naked all the time, either. Not in this day and age, anyway, not unless one purposely sought them out (which Cain emphatically did not).

"It's okay..." He shifted slightly closer to Minh, and then ducked behind him to use him as cover. The bible went down as Cain effectively hid behind him, tentatively reaching out to latch onto his wrist for safety This was probably not going to make Isaiah--his brother--happy. All those warnings about sinful folks out here and the inherent danger of these strange townspeople had fallen largely onto deaf ears but Cain was starting to regret coming out here alone.

"Um. Do you want me to get you a-a bigger towel?" The hotel management had to have larger towels that could wrap around a person better. Cain didn't know any place that only gave out hand towels to their guests.

[Minh Aitken]

"Right," Minh said, with a gentle cough into his fist as he turned his head away and tried not to look at the naked parts of the man that he could see. Thankfully, his most private body parts were covered but that didn't mean his chest and shoulders weren't something of a distraction, especially to a man that had been practicing celibacy for so long that it sometimes messed with his head. And perhaps his hormones, even if he was no longer a teenager.

Minh was about to edge his way back out, fully intending on apologizing and leaving the other man to his devices--he could come back and do his laundry later--when he heard his name spoken in a familiar voice. Blinking, Minh slowly turned to see young Cain Plunkett wheeling around the corner, only to come skidding to a halt. It wasn't much of a shock to see one so young turning bright red and hiding his gaze from the nearly unclothed man before them. (Well, he was unclothed--just a tiny towel covered his lower body.)

"No need to apologize," Minh said, with more confidence in his tone than his drumming heart would have revealed. He was doing his best to keep his gaze on the man's face and nowhere else. "These are actually all I have, too," he confessed, tilting his chin down toward the clothes he had gathered up to wash. He could feel Cain hiding behind him and grasping onto him like he thought the poor man was going to assault him. Minh didn't think so; if he happened to be a pervert, he certainly wasn't acting like one. He seemed as embarrassed as the rest of them.

"...do you want to borrow my jacket?" he asked. It wasn't much but it would cover... some things.

[Lennox Shipman]

"Uhm... that's ok..." Nox answered the Bible Boy. In truth, he would be somewhat willing to sell his soul for a larger towel right now, but the reflex to politely decline assistance from others had been rather aggressively ground into the fiber of his being, and the response sprang forth before he could even consider repressing it.

Nox tried to keep his focus on the older of the two in the doorway, now. Both seemed shaken by the situation, but the elder didn't seem to be quite so vehemently clutching his pearls. When the jacket was offered, he felt the same compulsion to turn it down as he had with the towel. However, a few facts about the situation came immediately to mind. Firstly, the fact that it would be at least another five minutes before his clothes were reasonably dry enough to retrieve. Secondly, if the newcomers were going to immediately leave, the moment for it seemed to have already passed. And third, if they were going to stick around, Piercings seemed like he could cope with eye contact, but Nox wasn't sure how much longer the little one would last before fainting.

"Ah... yeah, sure, until my stuff is done, sure." He reached out to receive the jacket, extending his arm to keep his body as far from them as possible while doing so. His gaze fell on the basket Piercings had indicated as containing his only clothes. There was certainly a larger collection in there than his own at present, but the small pile was still indicative of some outside circumstances for it.

"So... where are you guys from?" Nox asked, attempting to slip on the Shipman Socialite demeanor at the same time as the jacket. He was quietly thankful that he had just showered so thoroughly.

[Cain Plunkett]

Whew! Now that the man was covered up some, Cain felt it safe to emerge. Slightly. He still held on to Minh's wrist and he still stayed behind him, but Cain peeked out and offered up a slow-forming, gentle smile. God didn't direct him to do anything--the voice inside was quiet--so Cain knew that this wasn't one of those lost lambs that needed his help.

But Minh...

After their last encounter, Cain received a Message. That was why he was here--he had a reason for coming.

However, Cain didn't immediately respond to the man's question. He wasn't comfortable around strangers, though Minh was a stranger, but... but not really a stranger. It was complicated! If Isaiah were here, Cain would have spoken through him. Since Isaiah was nowhere around, he tugged on Minh and said, in a voice barely loud enough to hear, "Tell him I'm from England, please."

[Minh Aitken]

Shrugging out of his leather jacket, Minh handed it over to the poor unfortunate soul that was stuck with a cheap hotel towel and nothing else. It really was such a shame, although it was... interesting. Minh wasn't so guided by repressed hormonal responses that he couldn't be a decent human being, though. Often he thought this was where he differed from some of the scoundrels he met during his travels.

Once the jacket had been handed over, Minh looked down at the clothes he'd brought. There was no point in leaving now, despite his earlier misgivings. He might as well do what he came here to do. He was about to move towards one of the machines to start his own load of laundry when Cain tugged on him and whispered so lowly that Minh had to physically bend toward him to even hear what he was saying.

"Ah."

Odd that Cain couldn't say it himself but Minh smiled and said, "This one's from England." He shifted the basket against his hip. "And I'm from Scotland. Whereabouts are you from?"

[Lennox Shipman]

Nox's eyebrows rose. "Not nearly as far as either of you." He had noticed their accents, but neither of them had said enough for Nox to have guessed their countries of origin. "I'm from here-- Oregon. It's just Hazleton itself I'm new to." He noticed Piercings beginning to prepare his things for the wash. This seemed a good moment to break his own gaze to try to distill the intensity of the atmosphere in the room.

His eyes fell to the sleeves on his newly covered arms. He toyed gently with the soft leather that encircled his wrist, stroking it with his thumb and forefinger.
"This is a beautiful jacket," He admired. He looked up suddenly. "Thank you, by the way. I... don't think I've had a chance to say so yet. I'm N... ah, Avery." When it came to such an important lie, Nox figured it was probably best to be consistent.

[Cain Plunkett]

Cain moved as one with Minh to the nearest washing machine, like his miniature shadow. He was good at that—blending in, becoming background furniture. But he helped! He handed Minh a sock that had fallen out of the hamper and fed him articles of clothing to be put into the large metal contraption. Cain knew what it was but he had never used one before. Back home, it was washing boards, tin tubs and lines strung up between tree branches. Cain's job was to take in the washing and fold it and put it all away—useful skills in the back woods, but not so much here in a world of machinery and technology.

As introductions were handed out, he kept silent. Cain's name held a particular brand of taboo with those of faith; the story attached to it wasn't a pretty one and sometimes he felt self-conscious about it. If only he had been named Peter or Paul... His mother used to say, in that cold and detached tone of hers, that he would one day live up to his name.

The devil was inside of him, she said, and that was why she gave him his name.

"I'm Cain." He directed that to the ground, in his barely-there whisper. Then, as a nearby machine shuddered violently into its spin cycle, he started and scooted closer to Minh, eyes wide as he stared at the contraption. That thing was possessed! Cain's free hand went to his worn messenger bag and he pulled out a small string of beads, at the end of which was a wooden cross.

Just... just in case the devil was in that thing.

[Minh Aitken]

"Heh... yes, we've come a far way from home, haven't we?"

He realized a moment later that it sounded as if he and Cain knew one another previously but really, they were barely strangers to one another. Minh only just met the boy a short time ago. They certainly didn't travel to Oregon together, either. With his clothing carefully dumped into the machine, Minh paid for some detergent and popped a few quarters in to start the wash.

At the man's compliment towards his jacket, Minh looked over and he smiled.

"It's probably my favorite one," he admitted, although he wasn't supposed to favor earthly things. Sometimes, Minh didn't think his faith was as strong as it should have been, especially after seeing what kinds of things laid dormant within their world. And this town. Hazleton was such a dark place. There was always something repressive in the air and Minh felt inexplicably watched--all the time. Maybe... maybe it was just little Cain, though. One could only hope that was all it was.

"It looks good on you," Minh said without an ounce of facetiousness. There was nothing wrong with complimenting another man. "And I'm Minh. Nice to meet you, Avery."

As he always did when meeting a new person, he moved away from the machine as it began its cycle and he put out a hand for Avery to shake. "And this is..."

He didn't have to say it for him this time. Cain introduced himself... to the ground, rather than to Avery himself. Minh took a seat at one of the benches near Avery.

"So what brings you here?"

[Cain Plunkett]

Wary of the machine and its rumbling and shaking, Cain was all too glad to move away from it—but only after Minh began to move away from it too. He clutched his rosary close and sank down onto the bench with his head lowered to study the tips of his dirty runners. There was a funny little hole on the side of it; when he wiggled his foot, he could see a socked toe peeking out.

He did keep an ear open to what they said, though. Slowly, he lowered the rosary and studied it. It was new, shiny and pretty—one of the things he bought at the arts fair not long ago. "...for you..." Then he laid it gently across Minh's leg—the one closest to him—and went back to looking at the hole in his shoe. Minh wasn't asking him what he was doing here, but that was why he came.

God told him...

God said to him in a dream.

Minh needed that cross more than he did. Temptation was everywhere. Sin was everywhere—even in this room. The town was steeped in darkness and Cain knew it better than anyone; he sensed it with the gift that God had given him. He was here, today, for a reason and he couldn't leave until he had carried out His word and His will. It just had to be so and Cain was a faithful messenger, a loyal follower. When he saw a light that shone its way through the darkness, no matter how dulled and how tired and weary that light was, he had to save it.

[Lennox Shipman]

The warmth of another man's hand in his for a predictable, perfunctory shake was possibly the greatest comfort Nox had found in days. He latched onto the familiarity with a mental vice grip. He would take whatever security he could find, at the moment. It was probably for the best, in that case, that it had been Piercings-- Minh --Nox met first. Cain, though seemingly harmless, did not exactly ooze "security."

"I'm actually not sure what brought me here," Said Nox, enjoying the faint hiss of the leather against itself on his shoulders when he shrugged, "I was... on spontaneous hiking trip when I got lost." The dryer gave a particularly loud rumble-- especially for containing so few items --and his attention was poignantly drawn to his meager belongings. "...Um, very spontaneous. Anyway, I was actually in pretty rough shape when a couple of folks from around here found me by that big lake a ways out of town. Lucky break for me. "

He was about the volley the question back at the two of them when the glint of something in Minh's lap caught his eye. For a split second, he had the impression that Cain had placed his hand on Minh's knee. There were a couple of things about that scenario that gave Nox pause, but as it turned out, he didn't need to examine the idea further. It looked like Cain had just passed the other something-- a necklace, maybe? His curiosity was not enough to override his sense of propriety, however-- what little he retained at this point. He dutifully pretended not to notice and returned to the artful small talk.

"I'm guessing the two of you didn't hike from your hometowns."