#marin.

[justfilms]

#859 Dead Sushi - Noboru Iguchi 2013

[axgustvs-blog]

i’m not here for you. augustus & charlie & marin.

summary: augustus puts on an act. marin puts out a fire. charlie puts things away.

AUGUSTUS

As promised, Augustus had forgiven Marin by their next meeting. In fact, he was proud to point out, he hadn't even mentioned letter through implication. The two of them sat together, casual despite the subject of their conversation, which Augustus was only half paying attention to, anyway. Ethae was crowded as usual. Augustus was staring aimlessly into the crowd, coffee forgotten, as Marin explained to him one more time the importance of merfolk and fairy relations. It was too noisy in here, he decided, and that was why he couldn't focus. "Sorry to cut you off, Marin, but can we move to the quieter part of this establishment? I'm sure we're capable of using our inside voices."

MARIN

Amid the crowded tables and long lines toward the front of the café, it was all too easy to blend in with the other patrons. It was one of the few times where Marin was comfortable discussing certain topics out in the open, so long as he had someone trustworthy to speak with. He was pleased that Augustus had so readily forgiven him for the letter incident, though he hoped it’d stay that way so long as Charlie didn’t make yet another stink. And from what he’d seen and heard so far? It was only a matter of time before shit hit the fan yet again.

Raising a brow at Augustus’s request, Marin had half a mind to stay put. But given it really was starting to get chaotic on this end of Ethae, he was inclined to agree. “Fine,” he sighed, already picking up his tea and the tiny flask of vodka he’d managed to smuggle in with him. “But once the line dies down, you owe me a croissant.”

AUGUSTUS

"Fine," Augustus replied, echoing Marin's exasperation. But he was smiling, just a little, happy to have gotten what he wanted. He picked up the coffee, drained it, and then moved around the tables and into the library. Not two steps inside, he saw Charlie, placing books on the nearby shelf. He stopped in his tracks, frowning. "Oh," he said aloud. It was too late to breeze past and act as though he hadn't seen the man, so Augustus crossed his arms and looked Charlie up and down. "You work here?"

CHARLIE

Charlie was not thinking about Augustus. He was not thinking about letters, not the fact that his most recent visit to Arabella had provided some interesting information. He was thinking, instead, about shelving books. He was so not thinking about Augustus that when he appears, he had to do a double take. He sighed. "I told you I was a librarian. Where else would I work? The zoo?"

MARIN

As if the universe was trying to deliver the biggest ‘fuck you’ imaginable, Marin was greeted by the sight of a certain thorn in his side. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he worked somewhere Marin actually had to behave himself. “I think you’d be right at home picking up animal shit,” he quietly remarked, unable to keep a frown from spreading across his face. “Anyway, if you’ll excuse us, we have some very important things to discuss.” Marin motioned toward an empty table, waiting for Augustus to make the first move.

CHARLIE

Charlie blinked at the insult. He vaguely recognized the man’s face, and then, after a few moments it came to him: “Aaron?” He asked, sounding unsure.

AUGUSTUS

Augustus remembered, a moment after asking, that Charlie had told him he worked at a library. He rolled his eyes, about to retort, when Marin beat him to it. He turned to his friend with a surprised expression. "Marin," he scolded. Charlie spoke again, and Augustus almost laughed, but just cleared his throat to cover it. "Ah, no, this is—" He realized what this introduction would mean, that it might make Charlie angry all over again, and sighed. "This is Marin."

CHARLIE

Charlie paled. His indignation flew out the window as the pieces fell into place. He vaguely remembered seeing the two of them together at the West Hollow Beach reopening, but it was a fleeting memory. Of course, the person who he poured his heart and soul to was the same man who wrote him that cruel letter. Of course, they were friends. His heart sank at every idea that came into mind, every picture of the two of them together laughing over the contents of Charlie’s inner thoughts. “This is Marin?” He repeated, trying to regain composure. “Fantastic. Charming, even. I can’t imagine what sort of devious plot you two are planning, but I would like it if, for once, you kept my name out of it. Past is past, isn’t it, Augustus?” He challenged.

MARIN

Marin resisted the urge to roll his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek to keep his composure. It wouldn’t do him any good to make a scene, but there was always room for a quip or two. “In his defense,” he said, “Augustus had nothing to do with the letter. You seem so worked up about the fact he might be involved, but I thought it was obvious that it was all me. I even signed it with my name — in squid ink, which shows just how much dedication I put into it.”

AUGUSTUS

This whole run-in was quickly turning from inconvenient to annoying. Charlie was throwing all this anger at him and, sure, he was still pissed about this prank, but it felt larger than that. He wanted to shake the younger vampire and shout what now, what now? Could they not go a single week without fighting? And he knew there was something he'd done that would make Charlie angry, but there was no way he could know about that. So, he was clueless. And getting pissed. "Marin, shut up," he snapped, finally tearing his gaze away from Charlie. "Shut up about this stupid fucking letter. I told you there was no point in explaining yourself to someone like him." He then turned to Charlie. "Don't get yourself all worked up, you're not important enough to dedicate an entire afternoon discussing. I wouldn't have let us meet here if I'd known you'd be here finding some reason to be mad at me." He pinched the bridge of his nose and turned away, starting to fume.

CHARLIE

He rolled his eyes at Marin, but he knew his face was slowly but surely turning a bright red. His pride was on the line, or rather, his pride had been shot several times over. He wanted nothing more to do with Augustus, but it seemed as if Augustus was intent on having everything to do with him, while claiming in the next breath that he wanted nothing. It was all a very exhausting experience, all this guess work. “Oh, I believe you. It’s nice to know you have nothing better to do,” he said simply. “I’ll very much be keeping that in mind.”

Charlie flinched visibly at Augustus’s words. He had every right to be angry, but he just felt sad. Given every recent revelation he’d had — namely with Roman — all of this mess between them was amounting to one very depressed Charlie. He wanted nothing more than to walk over and shake Augustus, ask him several times over just what he was trying to prove, among other things. He sighed, turned to the books he was shelving and muttered, “Alright.” But then, beaten and downtrodden, he turned to get one last, albeit dejected, word in. “I’m not stupid, Augustus. Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

MARIN

“Right,” Marin quipped, looking like he was ready to rip Charlie’s head right off his scrawny little neck. “Because someone who spends their days filing books for a living has room to talk about a letter that took me five minutes to write.” If he couldn’t snap at Augustus for snapping at him, then Charlie would make for a fine punching bag. “But go off, I guess.”

Setting his sights back on the table, Marin placed a hand over Augustus’s elbow, trying to nudge him in the general direction. “Whatever you’re accusing him of, he didn’t do. I’m starting to think you just want an excuse to pitch a fit until someone brings you a bottle of milk or finally changes your soiled diaper.”

AUGUSTUS

He narrowed his eyes at Charlie, who now looked decidedly miserable instead of angry. But his own anger had already started swelling. Augustus yanked his elbow out of Marin’s hold and took a step closer to Charlie. “Find out about what? What in your laundry list of grievances is the problem today?”

CHARLIE

Where with Augustus there was misery, with Marin there was a prideful anger. His chest swelled with anger at this effective stranger who apparently had a huge problem with him. While he knew the right thing to do was to say nothing, to offer silence and return to nurse what wounds had suddenly been reopened, Charlie could not resist. “We clearly have different definitions of how to best spend our time, Aaron,” he huffed.

Then, turning to Augustus and ignoring the painful ache of his heart, he sighed. “Call any retirement homes lately? I find it incredibly interesting how you want nothing to do with me yet you spend your spare time digging into my life. Did you think it wouldn’t get back to me?”

AUGUSTUS

He should have known that this would have happened. Augustus tightened his jaw and straightened up his stance. Now that he knew what, exactly, Charlie was upset about, and he thought it was actually quite reasonable, he switched out of his anger. Instead, he stepped into his self-righteous defensiveness. “Oh, spare me, Charlie. It’s practically my job to know what’s happening in this town. And since you never actually explained to me why you moved back to this town despite wanting nothing to do with me, I was curious.” He glanced back at Marin. “Unfortunately, he’s rightfully accused me, for once. But, actually it’s a good thing I did go digging. What you’re doing is incredibly stupid and dangerous, Charlie. If you’re going to risk everyone because of your pathetic nostalgia, at least have the decency of informing us.”

MARIN

“Aaron? Who the hell is Aaron?” Marin genuinely looked confused, but quickly decided it wasn’t worth his time. The more pressing issue was the fact that Augustus was, in fact, doing some digginng of his own. Marin would have to deal with that piece of information at a later time and a different place. For now, he needed to cut the conversation and refrain from making a bigger scene than he wanted.

“Can we just have some tea in peace?” Marin sighed, one hand on his hip while the other clutched his drink. “I swear, every time the two of you cross paths in public, you wind up making asses of yourselves. Augustus, let’s go.” Again, he motioned toward the table. “Leave the sad little man baby alone.”

CHARLIE

Choosing to focus instead on Augustus’s words, Charlie found he didn’t appreciate the man’s defensiveness. “Oh, yes, educate me on keeping things a secret. The woman knew full well and good the happenings of West Hollow before I even arrived. She contacted me. Apparently it was an easy task, not that you’d care to know,” he dug. He refused to be lectured by Augustus again, especially when he was the one in the wrong.

Then, wheeling on Marin, he forgoed biting the insides of his cheeks to control his anger. “As for you, I’d appreciate it if you kept yourself out of my business. My mistake for involving you in the first place, I’ve clearly never been a good judge of character.”

AUGUSTUS

"Go sit down if you're so sick of this, Marin." Augustus said, barely glancing over his shoulder as he continued to glare at Charlie. His words made no sense, but they felt pointed once again. The needled at him with that accusatory tone he'd grown so used to. "Not that I'd care to— What is that supposed to mean?" he asked, raising his voice to speak over Charlie's continued insults to the merfolk behind him. "You're bragging about being easily found? The fact that she could contact you is not good, Charlie. That's actually, pretty fucking embarrassing, considering you've been roaming around, trying to be elusive and unnoticed all these years."

MARIN

“Hey, hey, hey. Indoor voices,” Marin quickly hissed, nudging Augustus as if that would get him to listen. “We’re in public, you two. Or have you forgotten that you—“ He pointed to Charlie with a scowl. “—are on the clock? And that you—“ Now he was pointing at Augustus. “—are supposed to be cutting the leech out of your life? Shut up, sit down, and let him self-destruct on his own. How hard is that?”

CHARLIE

Marin was all but out of the picture, cut in Charlie’s tunnel vision. He felt his cheeks go hot with anger, likely tinged with some embarrassment, too. “It was easy for people who knew me. Which her family had, for decades. I went back there, Augustus. I kept going back there, half for reasons you’d know and half because —,” but halfway through he changed direction, deciding he didn’t deserve to know that information. That actually, if he knew anything at all, it wouldn’t need saying. 

 “You are such a stupid, stupid man. And you’re absolutely horrible at lying, it’s embarrassing. You think I can’t see through this and figure out what it’s about? Even your friend can tell, though why he’s in denial about it is beneath me.”

AUGUSTUS

That word— leech— made a small, hidden part of Augustus explode. Heat rose to his face, his back went rigid, and his expression morphed into something just shy of murderous. He listened to Charlie without comment, his anger nearly tangible, radiating off of him, distorting the edges of his vision. "Marin," he started, tearing his eyes briefly away from Charlie long enough to stare daggers at his friend. "Fuck you. Charlie." He turned back to the vampire, looking seconds from tossing him across the room. His hands were balled into fists at his side. "Before I send you across this library. What's this about? I'd like to know, since I'm so stupid, since you seem to know every possible thing about me. What is this all about? Speak plainly to me, for once in your sorry life, how you really fucking feel."

CHARLIE

Charlie rolled his eyes. “Of course you’re back to throwing me across the room. You have two moves, and they’re both very, very uninteresting,” he took a step forward, feeling either brazen or insane. Then again, he had next to nothing to lose anymore. He’d lost his pride, he’d lost his cool, what was really the harm in risking being thrown across the room?

“You’re upset because I’m not here for you. You’re upset that after all this time I’ve left you behind like I did all those years ago, you’re upset I left you. And you can do whatever you like to me, say whatever you like, but it won’t change that fact, and for whatever godforsaken reason...whatever sick and cruel joke the universe is playing on me, somehow I’m the one left with...with,” he was steaming, his own hands balled into fists so tightly his knuckles where whitening.

Then, he laughed—a cold, harsh and mirthless laughter—before shaking his head. “I should tell you? Why don’t you tell me, Augustus? Why don’t you, for once, tell me? I could be dying in front of you and you still wouldn’t admit it. It’s fucking sad, really, really, really sad. And I mean that. You’ll be alone forever, and you’ll only have yourself to blame.”

AUGUSTUS

He hated Charlie in that moment, because he'd somehow taken the upper hand from him, all those weeks ago, and no matter what he tried to do Augustus couldn't get it back. He hated Charlie, because he was frustrated, and had so many retorts and comebacks and arguments that they all went senseless in his mouth and he was left standing there silent. He hated Charlie because he was fucking right, and he hated that, too. That Charlie was here, not for him and still here. That somehow this promise of loneliness hurt, coming from his mouth.

Augustus really did nearly shove him. And, he looked like he was on the verge of tears. But he could feel eyes on them, now, so he kept himself composed. "I hate you," he said, simply. "You want me to tell you? I can't stand the sight of you. Every time I see you I'm reminded of a time I never want to think of ever again." As he continued to speak, his voice got steadily louder, his composure grew thinner. "You seem so fucking certain that you know me, but every time you fling these insults in my face it's like you're waiting for me to confirm. So fine, fine! You're wrong. I was trying to find out when you were leaving. I was trying to get a guess on when you'd be out of my life. And I was hoping that maybe, this time, when you were gone you'd be gone for good. So I could finally, finally put you resolutely in my past instead of being followed around by some stupid wounded puppy. Is that what you want to hear?"

MARIN

Normally one to bask in attention, the odd looks and puzzled expressions of those around them didn’t sit well with Marin. He still had a reputation to uphold, one that would be on the rocks with the local fairy population if he let these two continue hashing it out. And as much as he disliked getting emotionally worked up, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of remorse for Augustus.

“I think that’s enough,” he firmly stated, putting an arm in front of Augustus to keep him at bay. “You’re making a scene, and not the good kind.” Stern gaze turning to Charlie, he added, “You’ve done more than enough damage. If I were you, I’d take my break before this gets any worse — and shut the fuck up instead of escalating the situation.”

CHARLIE

Charlie’s eyes weren’t on Augustus, they were on the clock behind him. While some part of him figured he was lying, knew he was lying, his words still cut deep. They pierced through his skin and embedded themselves in his heart. But instead of focusing on how much it hurt to hear, he focused on how much time was up before his shift was over. When the clock struck, after some silence on Charlie’s part, his eyes gazed back to Augustus, and they were cold. Emotionless.

He decided to take Marin’s advice—again, he supposed—and he put the books he had been shelving down, wiped his hands on his shirt and walked past Augustus without another word.

AUGUSTUS

Augustus didn’t care about making a scene, or about Marin’s stern look and attempt at holding him back. He cared that Charlie wasn’t saying anything— wasn’t even looking at him. And when the man walked away, it took all of Augustus’s self-control to not grab him and demand a response. With enormous effort, he stood still, let Charlie leave with the unspoken final word. Scorned by the silence, he started shaking.

“Fuck him,” he muttered under his breath. The grand confession had done nothing for him; in fact he felt even worse than before. Dredging all that up had stirred too many emotions, and now he was here, again, too angry and hurt to function. Trying not to rage-cry in public. “Fuck him, fuck him. Fuck his stupid holier-than-thou attitude and fuck— fuck!”

He took a few steps aside, trying to give himself some space and calm himself down. But he was too far gone, too overcome to quiet it all down. In a rush of anger, he picked up one of the discarded books and threw it to the floor. It felt pointless and pathetic, but he had nothing else to take this out on. So he grabbed another and sent it across the room.

MARIN

It was obvious that Charlie had gotten directly under Augustus’s skin, but Marin was still shocked to witness the vampire having a full-blown meltdown in public. In an instant, Marin had grabbed hold of Augustus’s wrists and roughy yanked both arms down to his friend’s side. “What the hell are you thinking!” He hissed, trying to quell his own embarrassment and humiliation. “Get a grip on yourself, Augustus!” He tried to keep his own voice down, but still made sure it was firm enough to get his scolding across.

Leaving Augustus for just a moment, Marin picked up both books and did his best to brush off any damage, figuring he’d need to talk to someone else in the café to pay for the now fragile books that’d faced the wrath of Augustus.

“We’re leaving,” he sternly remarked, setting the books on a random shelf. He took hold of Augustus’s arm and quickly began dragging him to the nearest back exit, looking utterly mortified. “I have a reputation to uphold, Augustus, and so do you.” He’d never seen his friend so furious in public, and Marin couldn’t help but think that if Charlie was out of the picture, he’d get the old Augustus back. “I swear, I can never take you anywhere these days.”

AUGUSTUS

Marin quickly yanked him back from the edge. Augustus stopped abruptly, and managed to pull himself together just enough to not cause any more damage. Somewhere among all this rage he remembered that this behavior looked very, very bad for him. Still, he couldn't do anything more reputation-saving than stand there and seethe until he was guided out of the library altogether. Then, he sat on the curb, head in his hand, swaying back and forth between sharp sadness and the burn of embarrassment. "I think you're right, Marin," he mumbled, eventually, sounding almost defeated. "I can't be around him. At all. Fuck."

[justfilms]

Dead Sushi - Noboru Iguchi 2013

[justfilms]

Dead Sushi - Noboru Iguchi 2013

[bree-n-d]

CHARACTER AESTHETIC    /    Marin. 

[bree-n-d]

CHARACTER EDIT    /    Marin.

[bree-n-d]

CHARACTER MOODBOARD    /    Marin.