Fountain of Acheron - part 7 (vessel!bernard - smut version)
The scene I meant to write (before Tim took over my brain for 2.3k) was the scene where Bernard finds out he's the sacrifice. ......And I didn't have anything else until I started writing and now IT CONNECTS (and the scene where Bernard finds out is a footnote. but that's okay. This is better.)
[CW: Snakes, ritual sex, ritual torture, branding, sex toys, explicit sexual content, manipulation, isolation, Timeline what timeline I refuse to solidify a timeline]
They don't tell Bernard he's the sacrifice right away. Looking back, Bernard can see it, can see how he was treated differently. But in the moment, Bernard couldn't see it. Too caught up in the excitement of being a Maenard. Of being one of the special inner circle. Of being part of something in a way that finally felt permanent. And the fact that he was chosen for that, didn't accidentally end up there but was deliberately chosen- it was seductive and sweet and satisfied something deep inside him that craved a home. But looking back? It's obvious no one was trying to connect with him for real. Obvious that he was treated differently.
It was in the way he wasn't invited out for coffee except to discuss prep for future scenes. In the way Bernard was never fucked or fucked up without D's statue in the same room. The real statue. In the way Bernard's scenes always had at least one senior Maenard in them, directing things. And how, no matter what role Bernard began with, he'd end up out of his mind in pain and pleasure by the end. It was the intentionality to his scenes. And the cost (time, effort, money) that went into them now.
Bernard thought this was normal. He thought that of course the Maenards would bring in some exotic, poisonous snakes for a scene. A scene where Bernard was tied to a sybian and branded with a million tiny scales as he came and came and came again. Until his body was coming dry and Bernard was screaming every time they ramped up the vibrations. All the while his nose was filled with the smell of burning flesh and his side was on fire. And when he thought they were done, the brand was complete and gorgeous and Bernard couldn't come again, he couldn't. Then they brought out the snakes. The venom made his muscles lock up and set his nerves on fire. Then they turned the sybian back on.
He thought all the initiates were treated to rituals like this. Small "r" rituals. Ones that don't even deserve talking about. Unlike the big "R" rituals. Those ones were saved for the non-initiate Maenards. Those were the ones with pomp and circumstance, where the entire inner circle gathered and lit candles and dressed in togas and laurel leaves and cloaks. Those were the ones where one of the Maenards was strung up and tortured and fucked as they all bore witness and chanted in ancient greek - words they always seemed to know after the first time through by the leader of that Ritual. Where they all jerked off as they watched but didn't come until the end - all over the sacrifice. Ones where D's statue seemed to move and dance to the screams.
Rituals that seemed to be as pointless as any in the garden.
Bernard figured out later that they really, really weren't pointless.
But a key fact was that all those sacrifices survived. One or two had a limp or a not entirely healed injury. (In fact, all of them had unhealed damage, damage that was chronic and more than they'd bargained for. But worth it for the result.) But they all survived. None of the rituals (big or little R) ever killed a true believer. No one from the inner circle (the true inner circle - those that believed enough) ever died in worship (or so Bernard was told).
Which meant that after .....some period of time. Definitely longer than a month but I'm not sure exactly how long. Maybe Bernard doesn't know either. After seeing at least three big Rituals and the freezer ritual and the snake ritual and maybe several other small rituals. (One of which definitely involved Bernard serving drinks at an upscale gala with a vibrating plug in his ass lubed up with ginger lube and meeting his highschool best friend who abandoned him and had gone on to grow up into a fucking gorgeous guy who finally seemed interested in Bernard.) After all that, when one of the people who'd been sacrificed in a Ritual (a girl who now had migraines and bloody noses regularly despite never having a hint headache ever before in her life) - when she asked Bernard if he wanted to be the sacrifice in the next big Ritual...
Bernard felt special. He was wanted here! Of all the recent initiates, he was the one tapped to do this! Of course he said yes. And they told him they'd tell him everything he needed to know so of course he didn't try to look up the Ritual. (not until Tim made an offhand comment while they held hands in a movie theatre and watched the latest disney film. Something about gods always taking their due or something about Dionysus actually being way more bloodthirsty than that or something about the main character in the movie being really naive because he trusted some people not to sacrifice him.) Bernard didn't want to be naive so he looked it up.
And realized he was probably going to die.
And after crying into his Prof's shoulder after class one day (a class he was only not failing because the prof was fudging his marks) - he was softly convinced that going through this Ritual, giving up his body to their god, was the most important thing anyone in the cult could do. That Prof was jealous that he couldn't do it. That all the other former initiates were too.
