L and N walk through the snow.
The city streets are dead. Greenland has civilians, but strict laws and human trafficking keep them indoors.
Mr. N feels more than the cold. The island feels alien, soaked in evil and sacrifice, inhumane. Memories that aren't his whisper through him, souls of the dead, innocents murdered, sold, violated. He feels it all.
Uncomfortable, Mr. N side-eyes Liam hard enough that Liam feels it crawl up his spine. He wonders how Liam isn't frozen without a coat.
Liam: 7 foot, muscular, walks shirtless through the snow. Annoyed, he says, "Now what? They'll hunt us down any minute now. Any big ideas?"
Mr. N smiles. "You underestimate my intelligence."
"Underestimate?" Liam scoffs, sipping his drink. To underestimate, I'd have to value it first. Hmph, silly goose.
"My base of operations," Mr. N continues. "You'll be safe there."
Liam shakes his cup. "This is pretty good," he mutters, then looks at N. "You already convinced me. Drop the act."
Mr. N's dyed hair waves in the wind. "It's not an act. My army is full of men like you, men with nowhere else to go."
"You speak with confidence," Liam says. "I'm jealous. I couldn't do that."
"A man with your physique, jealous of words?" N scoffs. "Your body makes you a weapon. I learned speech as a politician... It's nothing special."
Liam goes quiet. He steadies himself.
He can only whisper.
"Everyone has different problems, N," he says calmly. "And mine is that I can't raise my voice..."
Liam looked into the eyes of Mr. N. "But you already know that, are you playing games to bait a reaction out of me?"
Liam whispered quickly.
"Should I be disappointed?"
"Or are you playing games?"
A chill ran down Mr. N's spine.
"If you are playing games with my psyche, Mr. N, I can reduce you to a smudge in the snow." Liam's eyes started to dilate.
Mr. N agrees, whispering, "I do apologize for my willful ignorance."
....
They climbed into the helicopter. The blades had barely begun to spin when Mr. N leaned close.
"What is the most common form of worship, Liam?" Mr. N looked him in his eyes.
"You want my opinion," Liam murmured, "Or the objective answer?"
Liam scratched his arm, uneasy. "It is a hard topic. I'd rather not."
Liam broke eye contact. "I-I have seen a lot, I was trafficked to this Island when I was 3 years old."
He continued, "Power, popularity, the soul, breaking the mind. It's all linked."
"Mind-breaking rituals, that make you question your sanity and who you are. Open up doors for... the unusual."
Mr. N narrowed it down for him, "So what's your answer?"
Liam closed his eyes. "Sexuality? Not inherent. Not the natural kind. But the ones that make you see the world for what it really is."
"Like Orgies." Liam took in a deep breath, his voice shaking and trembling.
Mr. N's expression tightened, something between agreement and disagreement. 'He's half right, metaphorically speaking. If he continued, he'd be right. But I don't think he's in the mental space to, so I'll stop pushing him here and take over. Before I potentially push too hard and get hurt.'
Mr. N spoke. "I don't believe humans created Orgies. I think all *** like "beings" introduced that layer of evil to us. And it had a butterfly effect, creating something far worse for our society. It gave us a natural curiosity, passed down through the genetic tree."
N thought to himself, holding his tongue, It's why I believe striking down the children isn't that bad of an idea."
To cull the herd of evil.
To gather the sheep.
'Of white sin.'
But until I have the power to fix this society. I will do my best to manipulate it.