number22: (010)
Philip Lombard ([personal profile] number22) wrote2016-05-06 02:51 pm
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(backdated - may)

Philip doesn't notice them at first, the marks on his skin, and it's only when he climbs out of the shower and catches sight of something red on his back that he wipes the steam clear from the bathroom mirror and looks over his shoulder to read the worlds etched into his back with what looks like a thin bladed knife.

Very much like the one he used in Africa.

I murdered 21 men.

The words look like fresh wounds, but they don't cause any pain and they don't seem to be bleeding, so Philip dries off and gets dressed. He doesn't know what to make of the words -- they're the truth, he did murder twenty-one men in Africa all those years ago -- but he also knows enough to understand he isn't getting rid of them any time soon. If they truly have been carved into his back, they're going to scar, which is something he's come to understand he could have surgically removed in Darrow, but that involves revealing this secret to someone else. They don't feel as if they've been carved, though, his back doesn't hurt at all and that makes him think this is something else.

Something he clearly doesn't understand.

It takes him less than a block to realize something else is wrong. He had been intending on picking up some groceries and returning home to deal with this situation, but at the end of the block he pauses when the nearby whispering gets to be too much. He turns to glance over his shoulder at the women staring at him, but catches his reflection in a store window. It's not a perfect reflection, but it's enough for him to see the words burned into the back of his jacket.

I murdered 21 men.

"Christ," he mutters under his breath, wondering if all his clothes are like this. He turns back in the direction of his apartment, not bothering to take off his jacket as he does. Chances are his shirt is the same and then what? He can't strip down further, not with the marks on his back, so instead he just hurries home, not watching where he's going and bumping hard against none other than his favourite Agent Reid.

Of all the people in this goddamn city to see this, Reid is the very last Philip wants.
youfeelluckypunk: (bruh wut u sayin)

[personal profile] youfeelluckypunk 2016-06-20 09:03 am (UTC)(link)
Reid merely shrugs a shoulder at first, taking another sip of his coffee. It's a funny things that Lombard would posit, that Reid would overestimate his own importance, because that's not generally his style. It's not that he considers himself unimportant, merely that for the most part, he's... less important.

To his father, to his teammates, to his mom, Reid has always taken a backseat to something else. In truth, whatever his father had deemed more appealing than being with his own family doesn't matter much to Reid. The rest, he can understand perfectly. His teammates, with their personal lives to attend to, hadn't owed him much of anything. That they'd been kind to him, treated him like the little brother (even though there'd been times he hadn't appreciated that), is more than he could have anticipated after being bullied through his years at school for so long.

As for his mother, the stability of her mental health had been much higher a priority, Reid had made sure of that, and there's no resentment there. If anything, there's guilt that he hadn't done more, that he hadn't worked harder to become the one who could treat her, and Reid knows he sets the bar too high for himself far too often. So no, he wouldn't say he overestimates his importance. The only person he knows with certainty he matters to most is Luke, and it doesn't hurt him to think he doesn't come first to other people. Certainly, nobody else comes first to him other than his boyfriend.

"If you ever do find a reason to get tangled up in something like that, be sure to let me know," Reid answers, a wry smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. "As for my boyfriend, he may not like that I came in here knowing what you've done, but he'll respect my decision to do it. Like you said, hurting me doesn't benefit you in any way, I knew you'd be smarter than to try anything." In fact, Reid will tell Luke about this, though he can already picture the look on his boyfriend's face when he does. As if Luke doesn't have a long enough list of reasons to dislike Lombard, this won't do anything to sway his opinion, not that Reid wants to do that.

He might leave out the part about what Lombard had said about the drugs making Reid good in bed. Lombard would have more than just his head to worry about then.
youfeelluckypunk: (Default)

[personal profile] youfeelluckypunk 2016-06-22 08:16 am (UTC)(link)
"Maybe you will. We'll see."

They both know the truth, they don't need to say anything more and besides, Lombard wouldn't voluntarily incriminate himself. The only reason he'd said anything at all about those twenty-one men is because it's written on his back, no escaping it, but Reid understands, too, that Lombard had identified his leverage. Making life difficult for a recovering drug addict wouldn't necessarily be a problem, especially not for as masterful a manipulator as Lombard.

Maybe he wouldn't do anything overt but even casual jabs at the wrong time in front of the wrong people can be hurtful, and Reid knows himself. He knows he has the potential to overreact when he's overly frustrated, he'd done just that after Luke had told him about the words on his own back. While he has every right to be upset by what's happened, as does everyone else in this city, including Lombard, he'd felt a little like he might tip over a very precarious edge. It's not that he would've gone to seek out narcotics, he wouldn't have simply fallen off the wagon; but without Luke there to calm him, Reid does worry he might still be dwelling on how painful it is to have to carry the reminder with him.

It doesn't help that sometimes, when the exceptionally irrational thoughts step in, he fears he might be a step closer to following in his mom's footsteps. He can at least be grateful that nothing about her had been written on his back.

"I should probably get back," he says, finishing off his coffee. "Luke will be wondering where I am, I should've been back with the groceries by now. I can clean this up then be on my way."