{"id":104,"date":"2008-06-08T17:28:29","date_gmt":"2008-06-08T17:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/?p=104"},"modified":"2008-06-08T17:28:29","modified_gmt":"2008-06-08T17:28:29","slug":"in-the-hands-of-others-5-of-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/?p=104","title":{"rendered":"In the Hands of Others (5 of 20)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fay grabbed Ariadne\u2019s hair down to the floor and yelled, \u2018We are Cloth! Belief is rock!<\/em> Truth-\u2019<\/p>\n

And all was still.<\/p>\n

The tugging on Ariadne\u2019s roots relaxed, but too scared to look up, Ariadne continued to cower.<\/p>\n

Fay knelt down to Ariadne and smiled. \u2018Sorry, love. Old habits… they die very, very hard. I just can\u2019t afford to lose you and this… it\u2019s the only way I know how to teach someone to stay alive. Our training… you\u2019d be sick if I told you.\u2019<\/p>\n

Ariadne shuddered and cried, unsure whether her so-called friend was about to lose it again. Fay crept around behind her and sat down with her legs encircling Ariadne, as if she were a child.<\/p>\n

Fay said, \u2018I don\u2019t know what it is to be, real, y\u2019know, a person. I never knew, right from the beginning. And after all this, can I be? Let\u2019s be honest about this. Do I want<\/em> to be?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Why… why not?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Look, you don\u2019t know. Better you don\u2019t, really. You can still have children. You have a beautiful little boy, Ariadne. I did see. But I see different to you. What I am trained to see is vulnerability; I got the instinct to meddle, damage, interfere. The Cloth knew that, it\u2019s what they seek out. Rule breakers. It\u2019s better to stay dead, really, to not feel and be okay with the whole expendable thing. When you start feeling, that\u2019s when you go bad, and the fruit rots on the inside, but the skin still looks shiny and tasty…\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Okay.\u2019 Ariadne was still shaking. She didn\u2019t understand anything Fay was saying but wasn\u2019t about to prod Fay back into another burst of insane rage.<\/p>\n

\u2018Clothmen are golems fashioned from the darkest of hearts. Most have forgotten their designated purpose, but a few of the Saints still hope to trigger something wondrous. And they have, they have, Ariadne, but it will probably unmake us all. There is a book yet to be written, our final religious work. One of its lines will be: Know that we are terminal.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n

Fay slid a hand up Ariadne\u2019s torso, and it came to rest on Ariadne\u2019s left breast.<\/p>\n

\u2018See, girl,\u2019 Fay said. \u2018I really am trying to re-learn. What… does this<\/em>\u2019 – the pressure from Fay\u2019s hand on Ariadne\u2019s breast increased slightly – \u2018mean?\u2019<\/p>\n

Ariadne broke out of Fay\u2019s grasp and moved around to face her, hunched over, tired. Fay was bemused at Ariadne’s reaction. Ariadne noticed something new: Fay was utterly exhausted with heavy bags dragging beneath the eyes.<\/p>\n

Ariadne spoke seriously. \u2018Fay, what is it you want from us?\u2019<\/p>\n

Fay smiled to herself and started looking all over the ceiling, as if following some imaginary fly on its trajectory. \u2018I need you to repay me, girl.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fay grabbed Ariadne\u2019s hair down to the floor and yelled, \u2018We are Cloth! Belief is rock! Truth-\u2019 And all was still. The tugging on Ariadne\u2019s roots relaxed, but too scared to look up, Ariadne continued to cower. Fay knelt down to Ariadne and smiled. \u2018Sorry, love. Old habits… they die very, very hard. I just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}