“Wasn’t this cunt on the teli?” Those were the first words of the first meeting of this group I participated in. Dave was a typical British ‘brexit geezer’ with his dad-bod, round face, mostly well shaven face, and baldness. His wife, Eva, was his opposite. Well groomed, orderly, and very much looking her age.
“He was, Davey. He’s clearly Mariel.” She practically spit out my name. “He was the one that melted away Brexit.” Were conservatives still angry about me just doing my job? It wasn’t not my fault they failed to stop fighting each other so long that the opposition managed to build back up everything they rotted away. I mean, their opposition also fucked up so bad the leader they kicked out for a technocrat ended up beating them in the end, so yea, Britain couldn’t produce good politicians for the life of it.
“That’s good to know.” Samoylo finally opened a big book and put his glasses on, only to take them off and rub them for a good ten seconds before putting them back on and clearing his throat. “Let’s see. Anything anyone wants to report before we get to what Liz is going to make us do this time?” Crickets. “Well, since nobody mentioned it, I guess I’ll have to address the elephant in the room. I’d like to give a very warm welcome to our newest member, Mariel.” I didn’t get any good looks from them, but I didn’t blame them. I wouldn’t look well at me either if I woke myself up.
“I vote to kick him out.” Alex was very quick with his suggestion.
“Alright smart guy, how’re you gonna do that? We both know you can’t convince Elizabetha to do anything.” Dave finally stopped frowning and laughed a little as I said that. Alex on the other hand…
“Listen here you little shit! Just let me look at the mark and I’ll tell her exactly why you’re utterly useless to her!” Was getting right into my face really necessary? Especially since he was yelling.
“Yea, Mariel. Go on, show him your mark.” Liz smiled as she told me that, and Samoylo looked like he choked on something. I looked at her, and her smile kept growing even as me and Samoylo tried convincing her through the vibe of the room that showing Alex the sign was a bad idea. Yet, it didn’t work, and I let my shirt collar fall. There it was, clear as day, the rose mark. Alex recoiled back into his chair, and stayed silent.
“What does that mark mean?” Dave said.
“Well, it’s a mark of arranged marriage.” Thanks for making Alex even more depressed, old man.
“So the Indian thing?” The old man nodded, confirming that both Dave and the old man were probably somewhat racist, and everyone moved on to the next topic.
“Now that you’re all introduced to my dear Mariel, let’s get to why I had him wake all of you up. It’s clear that we aren’t a very stable group, and that’s for a good reason. Only the desperate or truth seekers would seek out this group in its current form, as anyone else would despise the true goddess.” She talked like a pastor. It fit her clothes I guess, but this was already putting me to sleep. “Yet, we do need the masses and the mentally stable on our side if we are to succeed, and as such, we need to pivot, to trick them. You seven are special for your early entry, and will know the truth behind our new messaging. We will steal the iconography of one of the many wrong religions of this world, and change the messaging of it just enough to adhere to the doctrine of the Revifier.” Samoylo wrote something in that big book of his and turned to the group once he was done.
“Alright, I’ll manage it unless–” Eva slammed her hand on the table to silence Samoylo. “Nevermind, go ahead.”
“I am clearly the only one here who knows anything about christianity. Nearly all of you were godless heathens or corruptors of my former dear faith. I will manage it, since none of you have the conviction I do.” How can she call herself a christian when she’s an ENGLISH PROTESTANT. They’re ALMOST as bad as American protestants, but worse than that, their existence created the American protestants that might as well be schizophrenics.
“And how exactly are you gonna appeal to orthodox Christians?” I said just before Samoylo replied. “They’re actually right y’know? People are too stupid to interpret the bible for themselves, and you don’t do that anyway. You just follow some power hungry pastor’s interpretation of the holy book.” I could hear Liz chuckling, almost as if commanding me to keep going, but I stopped, as to not be vindictive. “Look, I’m not trying to be an asshole, but that’s what their reaction to your words will be.”
“Are you religious?” Eva said.
“I was. Not anymore. This god isn’t worth worshipping.” That stopped Liz’s chuckling. Good. “Anyway, I’ll handle it. I have to be around,” I pointed at Liz. “her anyway, so I’ll be able to ask questions about the Revifier. I’ll give it to you once I’m done, alright Eva?” I knew Eva wouldn’t warm up to me no matter what words I used to butter up my request, but as long as it made it easier for her to swallow the pill that she’s not the one for this task, it was worth it.
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“Fine.” I could hear her teeth grinding on each other before, while, and after she said that. It should’ve shocked me that she didn’t cough from all the tooth dust in her throat, but the plaque on them probably stopped that from happening.
“Well, since that’s settled, I guess we have to buy some property. This place is not suitable for that many people.” Samoylo was right. It was not suitable for that many people because Liz would hate to see them enjoy some artificially good weather. There was more than enough room outside, but I bet Samoylo already knew that the real problem here was Liz. “For that, we have a few options. We can steal a building and pray the Governor is corrupt enough to let us go. We can start adventuring for a few months to get enough money to buy a property. Or… yea, that’s the only two real options.” And there was only one real option for the impatient Liz.
“I guess we shall vote on it.” Huh? Wha– Oh, it’s a power play. Liz is voting for the first option, Alex just did what she wanted him to do, Eva joined a religious group made by Liz, so it’s safe to assume she’ll follow Liz, and with either my forced vote, or the peer pressured vote from Dave, Liz would get what she wants. Samoylo and the old man would vote no, of course, but their vote combined with mine would mean nothing. “Raise your hand if you agree with the first approach.” No, I had to do something. Five words would be all I needed. “You have ten seconds to decide.” Liz raised her hand, then Alex a second later, then Eva two seconds after that. Dave was looking around. There was only so much our looks of pressure could do to influence him, so after another two seconds, I had to use the only tool I knew how to properly use.
“Be your own man, Dave.” FUCK! HOLY SHIT MY MARK BURNED! THE FLAMES OF HELL WERE NOTHING IN COMPARISON TO THIS PAIN! The air in my lungs disappeared again, but I only had to last a couple seconds. By the feeling of the pain escalating even more, my words worked. It should’ve been only a couple seconds, so then why did it feel so damn long?!
“With a vote of three yeses and four nos, the second outcome was–” My pain was gone, but the heat just shifted itself to another location. I pulled my face back up from the table only to look behind and see Liz with a ball of flame in her hand. “Nevermind then. Good work on resisting her though.” Liz’s gaze shifted entirely to Samoylo, but he stared at her right back with an equal amount of determination.
“Meeting dismissed.” Liz grabbed me before storming back to her own office. She slammed me against the wall and pinned me down to it with one of her arms. She gave me some forward leg room, presumably so I could move my face forward when arguing with her to emphasise my point. I would not give her the satisfaction of me doing that. She, in response, closed in and used her other arm to pin me to the wall too. “Who told you that you could resist me?”
“My conscience. You wouldn’t know since you don’t have one.” The mark burned again, my whole body burned actually. My blood might as well have been molten lava and my nerves felt like towels being strung for every last drop of water. “S-S-So y-yo-u do-on-n’t a-ac–”
“SHUT UP! You’ve talked enough, now’s the time you let ME talk. You’ve been bad, very bad, but I’ll fix you. I won’t fail again.” For fucks sake, was she being like this because of an ex or two? Actual child– FUCK! HOW DOES IT BURN MORE?!??!?! “I don’t like those sorts of thoughts about me.” ME NEITHER BITCH BUT DO I BURN YOU ON A CROSS FOR IT?! The fire stopped after a good… I don’t even know how long.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“Not if you talk like that.” And then it came back. This cycle repeated over and over again. I would say the same thing when it was over, she would tell me the same thing when I finished talking, and then it was back to this. The only thing that would stop this was either her tiredness, or the right words.
“Alright! I’m sorry for resisting you. I just did it to spite you anyway.” That got a smile from her. It took four cycles for me to say that. I didn’t have unlimited willpower. Torture gets us all to say the right things to the right people.
“Good boy.” Again, I’m just short, what’s with the infantilization? It’s not like she’s that much taller! She’s probably just shy of 185 centimetres. She released me, and I walked over to the desk. It was time to get started with my work. “So, what do you want to know, Mariel?”
“Any creation myth?”
“No.”
“Alright, we’ll just say she did it the same way Yahweh did. Any commandments or rules you gotta follow?”
“Well, not rules, but guidelines. There’s only one. Everything must change. Change is inevitable, unstoppable, and even if it wasn’t, you wouldn’t want to not change anyway. Stability is a myth.” …This was gonna be hard.