Post by Cassius on Jan 14, 2017 14:42:37 GMT
CASSIUS REED: “Forgive me father, for I have sinned…”
The room is dark, small, and cramped. The smell… he never thought fear had a smell… but this was it. Not raw terror… no. He remembered that, from back in Mexico. Now that has a definite scent; urine, mixed with stale sweat and a healthy dose of regret. No… this was different. This was… almost palpable. It permeated every surface of the small wooden booth; he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was… guilt, perhaps? Years and years of collective guilt, and shame… fear of the unknown. Of something else.
?: “Bullshit.”
He’s snapped right out of his reverie, looking to the slatted window almost with a hint of disbelief. Before he can respond, there’s an angry slam of a door from outside the booth, followed by the door beside him getting wrenched open. He’s no choice but to blink as the light from the outside world assaults his eyes. There, standing silhouetted in the door frame by a stained glass window behind him, like some angry angel of vengeance, stands a man. A very tall, muscular man. Dark, chocolate skin. Neat, trimmed goatee. Black shirt. White collar.
?: “What the fuck are you doing here wasting my time, Cassius?”
He smirks, he can’t help it. It doesn’t help the situation, as the tall man reaches in, grabbing Cassius Reed by his collar, and hauling him up almost effortlessly, and dragging him from the confessional booth and into the body of the church, before tossing him onto one of the pews. He lands hard, his right elbow clipping the edge of the wood, causing him to wince instantly, grabbing it with his left hand. He looks up, still managing a small laugh through the pain.
CASSIUS REED: “Damn, Lucius. I though men of God were meant to be all loving and shit. Welcoming with open arms into the house of God and all that jazz.”
Looking down on him, Lucius Reed breathes heavily. Looking up and down the church, he is nods affirmatively when he sees it’s empty.
LUCIUS REED: “Stay there. You move a muscle, your ass’ll be feeling the wrath of God, I swear.”
Cassius squirms a little, adjusting the way he’s lying on the hard wooden pew as Julius heads to the front of the church, bringing a heavy wooden bar down to lock the doors. Looking back over his shoulder, he shouts to Cassius.
LUCIUS REED: “I thought I told you I never wanted to see your ass again? I thought I’d told all of you to keep me, and what I do, out of your collective shit?”
Cassius’ head pokes up over the backrest of the pew, like a gopher popping out of it’s hole. His face is awash with fake shock.
CASSIUS REED: “Do you pray to the Holy Father with that mouth? DAMN SON.”
Lucius starts heading back to Cassius, undoing his shirt cuffs as he walks, before slowly, and deliberately, rolling up each sleeve.
LUCIUS REED: “Are you here to test me, Cassius? Has He sent you to try me? Or are you just here to get your ass kicked?”
CASSIUS REED: “Woah woah woah, nigga! Put the guns down. I’m here… because I need your help.”
A raised eyebrow, a moment of silence… and then what feels like a decade of laughter.
LUCIUS REED: “Nigga did you pick up another concussion? Get your clown ass out of here.”
Shaking his head, Lucius starts rolling his sleeves back down, heading up towards the altar. Cassius sits up, sharp, still favouring his elbow.
CASSIUS REED: “Lucius! I’m serious. I need your help.”
Lucius stops sharp, slowly turning round to face his cousin. The anger on his face is apparent, instantly, causing Cassius to sit back in the seat.
LUCIUS REED: “Help. You want my help? Any of you want my help? After what you ALL put me through. Boy you’ve got some nerve…”
CASSIUS REED: “FORGIVENESS! Hah! You gotta forgive me, right? That’s what the big guy says, yeah? You gotta help me! It’s your job!”
Lucius looks uncertain.
CASSIUS REED: “We’re family.”
Lucius’ fist clenches, for just a moment, before he sighs.
LUCIUS REED: “Fine, Cassius. What do you want? As it’s apparent your unwelcome ass ain’t leaving the house of God until you made your point, what is it? What the hell brought you to Santa Fe? What in His name was so important that you would violate the ONLY thing I asked of you all when I came here?”
Cassius smiles, that broad, self assured grin he’s almost become famous for.
CASSIUS REED: “Because I’m going to fight the Devil, and I need your help to do it.”
The camera fades up in a church, classically styled. The pews are empty, but throughout the room candles are lit, even as sunlight filters in through the stained glass windows. As the camera slowly pans, scanning the environment, it eventually comes to rest on a man, stood at the altar, as if ready to conduct sermon. As the camera zooms in, we can see he’s wearing priest’s robes, with a purple sash hanging about his neck, and draped down from his shoulders. The ever present cocky smile is there, dialled up to full. Cassius Reed steps forward, into the pulpit, and spreads his arms wide.
CASSIUS REED: “Welcome, welcome, brothers and sisters. Today, Cassius gonna be takin’ a leaf from his brother Aries, and read to you from the Book of Reed. For you see, my brothers and sisters… the Devil walks among us!”
He pauses a moment, before filling in the gasp from his non-existent audience himself.
CASSIUS REED: “That right, the Devil himself walks, eats, and wrestles amongst us like a mortal man. FOR IS IT NOT SAID that he can take many forms, some pleasin’ to us…”
The camera snaps to one at the side of the pulpit, which Cassius turns his head to and addresses, quietly.
CASSIUS REED: “Though if he can be so pleasin’ why the funk he gotta look like a old white dude, that’s what Cassius want to know…”
Cassius looks back to the front, and so the camera angle changes once more. The camera has gotten a lot closer now, and Cassius addresses it directly.
CASSIUS REED: “This Devil stalks these lands today, proudly, and the people let him! They allow him into their arenas, into their homes through the conduit of television, and they do cheer him! They applaud his actions, the destruction that he causes, like the suckas they are. Cassius is talkin’, of course, about Andreas Lasiewicz!”
He lifts up his phone, and presses the touch screen, causing it to make booing and hissing noises. He taps the screen again and it suddenly cuts off, mid-sound.
CASSIUS REED: “Now Cassius knows other suckas gonna tell you otherwise, but it’s true! We all know it, in the business. That man is the Devil. But none of you fear! Because Cassius sees him for what he truly is. Cassius has taken steps to prepare! He has been practicing his grappling, ready to take on the Devil in this bout of protracted cuddling, and Cassius didn’t need no old priest or no young priest, funk no!”
He scrolls one his phone, taps again, the phone playing out an enthusiastic, if not slightly robotic, “TESTIFY!”
CASSIUS REED: “Like the Devil you all know, he is not only known for his multitude of faces. There are also the names of the Devil… AND THEY ARE MANY!”
He starts listing on his fingers as he goes on.
CASSIUS REED: “The Gambit… like he some sucka from the X-Men. The Polish Spirit… may as well call him Big Daddy Vodka, am I right? The Silver Eagle… back to the superhero vibe there. AND THEN OF COURSE THERE’S THE MAMMAJAMMIN’ MORNING STAR! THAT IS LITERALLY ONE OF THE NAMES OF THE DEVIL CASSIUS AIN’T EVEN MAKIN’ UP SHIT NOW.”
[i[He stops for a moment, breathing deep to compose himself, before continuing.
CASSIUS REED: “But it’s OK, people. Coz Cassius gone and earned himself some names of his own.”
Like before, he proceeds to count on his fingers, this time on the other hand, as he lists them.
CASSIUS REED: “Some call Cassius the Snake Eater, coz he beat that mammajammin’ Snake God Toshikazu, and gobbled him right up.
Some call Cassius the Master Of Puppets, coz he pulled the strings of that freaky doll assassin man Ravenous, and made him dance to Cassius’ tune.
Some call Cassius the Shadow Man, coz he snuck around the Priestess of the Loa Mistress Vivi like he weren’t even there, and cut his own deal.
Some call Cassius the Space Cowboy, yeah. Some call him the gangster of love.”
He turns to the side camera, holding up both sets of fingers as the shot shifts.
CASSIUS REED: “See? 5 to 4. Cassius already winnin’.”
Both he and the camera return to how they were before.
CASSIUS REED: “CASSIUS BEAT A GOD, DAMMIT. HE AIN’T SCARED OF NO DEVIL.”
Even as he shouts it, it’s obvious he’s not too sure on the statement, but carries on regardless, glossing over his uncertainty.
CASSIUS REED: “Cassius knows what you all wonderin’. Did Cassius finally find God? Bitch please, Cassius’ dad and uncles named after the Gospels. He was raised in the South, ain’t no way no how that God ever been far from his mind. The Devil came to Georgia alright, but took one look at the Reeds and got the funk out of there. No... Cassius ain’t found God…”
A crack of the neck, as he brings himself upright. His smile brightens up, the reassured cocky grin painting itself on his face once more as he spreads his arms wide.
CASSIUS REED: “But all you other suckas may have just got lucky, because in this fight against the Devil? God finally found Cassius Reed.”
Back up to full confidence, Cassius almost dances to an imperceptible tune in the pulpit.
CASSIUS REED: “For is it not written, in the Book of Reed, that “So it is written, so it shall pass, that Cassius Reed’s gonna kick some ass!”?”
Cassius shivers. He looks to the side camera as the focus point shifts again.
CASSIUS REED: “Cassius channeled his inner Nick Kelly there. Made him feel a little dirty.”
Back to the normal shot.
CASSIUS REED: “You see, Cassius don’t care that Andreas a…”
Cassius pulls an index card up from the lectern on the pulpit. His eyes bulge as he reads the information. As he speaks again, there’s a slight crack in his voice.
CASSIUS REED: “... a 13 time World champion… That can’t be right… THIRTEEN? THE DEVIL’S NUMBER! Ahem… Cassius means… he don’t care that he been wrestlin’ since… well since the Garden of funkin’ Eden it seems like… SEE PEOPLE. THIS WHY WE CALL THIS SUCKA THE DEVIL. THIS AIN’T HUMAN. HE AIN’T HUMAN… HE...”
Cassius breathes deep, closing his eyes, and composes himself once more. When they snap back open, there’s a different look in them. The same intensity… but different.
CASSIUS REED: “Cassius knows… you know? Cassius knows this is possibly the biggest fight he’ll get in this tournament. If he wants that crown, if he wants his sweet, sweet ass to kiss that throne, he’s got to get through the Morning Star. Cassius knows this gunna be the toughest fight of his career… yet. But that’s the big word. Yet. Cassius got many golden years ahead in his career, whilst Andreas is enjoyin’ the twilight of his. Cassius ain’t here to dwell on the fact he has to fight Andreas, one on one. Yeah, he’s achieved big things, but so has Cassius. Cassius won the Passion of the Juniors Cup. Cassius is a two time champion already. He knows there’s gonna be a funk load more of those in his future. But this match ain’t about no titles. This match ain’t even about the Iron King, not really. That’s more a bonus than the prize. You see… if… no. When. When Cassius beats Andreas… he gets somethin’ better than any belt, than any trophy. Cassius gets to be the Reed who beat Andreas Lasiewicz. The man who slayed the Devil. Maybe that’ll make him worthy of that name Melody gave him; maybe he can finally be Saint Cassius…”
He pauses a moment, the serious look hanging on his face a few seconds, before being replaced one more by the trademark grin.
CASSIUS REED: “So ends the sermon, my children, but before Cassius goes, he asks you to join him in a small prayer, once more from the Book of Reed.”
Cassius looks skywards, bringing his hands together in the classic prayer stance.
CASSIUS REED: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, for this ass kicking Cassius is about to deliver to Andreas Lasiewicz, may we all be truly thankful…”
His head snaps down, looking intensely into the camera a few second, before that smile breaks through once more.
CASSIUS REED: “You’re Welcome.”
Cassius stands by the door of the church, standing awkwardly whilst Lucius effortlessly removes the heavy bar from the church’s door. He looks about the church, giving it a final sweep.
CASSIUS REED: “Nice place you got here.”
This garners a grunt from the elder Reed, as he stows the bar in the corner.
LUCIUS REED: “It’s quiet… mostly.”
Another awkward shuffle from Cassius.
CASSIUS REED: “Darius… Darius says hi, by the way. He’s the one who told me where to find you. I spent some time with him and Aries this week, you know… getting ready, working on my grappling skills.”
LUCIUS REED: “Darius…”
CASSIUS REED: “He’s doing well...”
Lucius just nods at this, before opening the door.
CASSIUS REED: “Lucius… I just want to say thank you. They’re two words we don’t say enough in this family. You might think I’m crazy… but what you’ve given me will help. Honestly.”
Lucius just shakes his head, gesturing for Cassius to leave. As his younger cousin does, stepping into the New Mexico, Lucius puts a hand on his shoulder, stopping him in place.
LUCIUS REED: “Cassius… I have a favor to ask. Well, a request, really, more than a favor.”
CASSIUS REED: “Sure… sure, what you need? Donation to the roof fund? Help with the canned food drive? Anything.”
Lucius smiles, warmly.
LUCIUS REED: “Never come back.”
Lucius slams the door in Cassius’ face, the impact of the heavy wood echoing down the street. Cassius looks on at the door a moment, before his head dips, his hands find their way into his pockets, he turns… and leaves.
The room is dark, small, and cramped. The smell… he never thought fear had a smell… but this was it. Not raw terror… no. He remembered that, from back in Mexico. Now that has a definite scent; urine, mixed with stale sweat and a healthy dose of regret. No… this was different. This was… almost palpable. It permeated every surface of the small wooden booth; he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was… guilt, perhaps? Years and years of collective guilt, and shame… fear of the unknown. Of something else.
?: “Bullshit.”He’s snapped right out of his reverie, looking to the slatted window almost with a hint of disbelief. Before he can respond, there’s an angry slam of a door from outside the booth, followed by the door beside him getting wrenched open. He’s no choice but to blink as the light from the outside world assaults his eyes. There, standing silhouetted in the door frame by a stained glass window behind him, like some angry angel of vengeance, stands a man. A very tall, muscular man. Dark, chocolate skin. Neat, trimmed goatee. Black shirt. White collar.
?: “What the fuck are you doing here wasting my time, Cassius?”He smirks, he can’t help it. It doesn’t help the situation, as the tall man reaches in, grabbing Cassius Reed by his collar, and hauling him up almost effortlessly, and dragging him from the confessional booth and into the body of the church, before tossing him onto one of the pews. He lands hard, his right elbow clipping the edge of the wood, causing him to wince instantly, grabbing it with his left hand. He looks up, still managing a small laugh through the pain.
CASSIUS REED: “Damn, Lucius. I though men of God were meant to be all loving and shit. Welcoming with open arms into the house of God and all that jazz.”
Looking down on him, Lucius Reed breathes heavily. Looking up and down the church, he is nods affirmatively when he sees it’s empty.
LUCIUS REED: “Stay there. You move a muscle, your ass’ll be feeling the wrath of God, I swear.”
Cassius squirms a little, adjusting the way he’s lying on the hard wooden pew as Julius heads to the front of the church, bringing a heavy wooden bar down to lock the doors. Looking back over his shoulder, he shouts to Cassius.
LUCIUS REED: “I thought I told you I never wanted to see your ass again? I thought I’d told all of you to keep me, and what I do, out of your collective shit?”
Cassius’ head pokes up over the backrest of the pew, like a gopher popping out of it’s hole. His face is awash with fake shock.
CASSIUS REED: “Do you pray to the Holy Father with that mouth? DAMN SON.”
Lucius starts heading back to Cassius, undoing his shirt cuffs as he walks, before slowly, and deliberately, rolling up each sleeve.
LUCIUS REED: “Are you here to test me, Cassius? Has He sent you to try me? Or are you just here to get your ass kicked?”
CASSIUS REED: “Woah woah woah, nigga! Put the guns down. I’m here… because I need your help.”
A raised eyebrow, a moment of silence… and then what feels like a decade of laughter.
LUCIUS REED: “Nigga did you pick up another concussion? Get your clown ass out of here.”
Shaking his head, Lucius starts rolling his sleeves back down, heading up towards the altar. Cassius sits up, sharp, still favouring his elbow.
CASSIUS REED: “Lucius! I’m serious. I need your help.”
Lucius stops sharp, slowly turning round to face his cousin. The anger on his face is apparent, instantly, causing Cassius to sit back in the seat.
LUCIUS REED: “Help. You want my help? Any of you want my help? After what you ALL put me through. Boy you’ve got some nerve…”
CASSIUS REED: “FORGIVENESS! Hah! You gotta forgive me, right? That’s what the big guy says, yeah? You gotta help me! It’s your job!”
Lucius looks uncertain.
CASSIUS REED: “We’re family.”
Lucius’ fist clenches, for just a moment, before he sighs.
LUCIUS REED: “Fine, Cassius. What do you want? As it’s apparent your unwelcome ass ain’t leaving the house of God until you made your point, what is it? What the hell brought you to Santa Fe? What in His name was so important that you would violate the ONLY thing I asked of you all when I came here?”
Cassius smiles, that broad, self assured grin he’s almost become famous for.
CASSIUS REED: “Because I’m going to fight the Devil, and I need your help to do it.”
-----
The camera fades up in a church, classically styled. The pews are empty, but throughout the room candles are lit, even as sunlight filters in through the stained glass windows. As the camera slowly pans, scanning the environment, it eventually comes to rest on a man, stood at the altar, as if ready to conduct sermon. As the camera zooms in, we can see he’s wearing priest’s robes, with a purple sash hanging about his neck, and draped down from his shoulders. The ever present cocky smile is there, dialled up to full. Cassius Reed steps forward, into the pulpit, and spreads his arms wide.
CASSIUS REED: “Welcome, welcome, brothers and sisters. Today, Cassius gonna be takin’ a leaf from his brother Aries, and read to you from the Book of Reed. For you see, my brothers and sisters… the Devil walks among us!”
He pauses a moment, before filling in the gasp from his non-existent audience himself.
CASSIUS REED: “That right, the Devil himself walks, eats, and wrestles amongst us like a mortal man. FOR IS IT NOT SAID that he can take many forms, some pleasin’ to us…”
The camera snaps to one at the side of the pulpit, which Cassius turns his head to and addresses, quietly.
CASSIUS REED: “Though if he can be so pleasin’ why the funk he gotta look like a old white dude, that’s what Cassius want to know…”
Cassius looks back to the front, and so the camera angle changes once more. The camera has gotten a lot closer now, and Cassius addresses it directly.
CASSIUS REED: “This Devil stalks these lands today, proudly, and the people let him! They allow him into their arenas, into their homes through the conduit of television, and they do cheer him! They applaud his actions, the destruction that he causes, like the suckas they are. Cassius is talkin’, of course, about Andreas Lasiewicz!”
He lifts up his phone, and presses the touch screen, causing it to make booing and hissing noises. He taps the screen again and it suddenly cuts off, mid-sound.
CASSIUS REED: “Now Cassius knows other suckas gonna tell you otherwise, but it’s true! We all know it, in the business. That man is the Devil. But none of you fear! Because Cassius sees him for what he truly is. Cassius has taken steps to prepare! He has been practicing his grappling, ready to take on the Devil in this bout of protracted cuddling, and Cassius didn’t need no old priest or no young priest, funk no!”
He scrolls one his phone, taps again, the phone playing out an enthusiastic, if not slightly robotic, “TESTIFY!”
CASSIUS REED: “Like the Devil you all know, he is not only known for his multitude of faces. There are also the names of the Devil… AND THEY ARE MANY!”
He starts listing on his fingers as he goes on.
CASSIUS REED: “The Gambit… like he some sucka from the X-Men. The Polish Spirit… may as well call him Big Daddy Vodka, am I right? The Silver Eagle… back to the superhero vibe there. AND THEN OF COURSE THERE’S THE MAMMAJAMMIN’ MORNING STAR! THAT IS LITERALLY ONE OF THE NAMES OF THE DEVIL CASSIUS AIN’T EVEN MAKIN’ UP SHIT NOW.”
[i[He stops for a moment, breathing deep to compose himself, before continuing.
CASSIUS REED: “But it’s OK, people. Coz Cassius gone and earned himself some names of his own.”
Like before, he proceeds to count on his fingers, this time on the other hand, as he lists them.
CASSIUS REED: “Some call Cassius the Snake Eater, coz he beat that mammajammin’ Snake God Toshikazu, and gobbled him right up.
Some call Cassius the Master Of Puppets, coz he pulled the strings of that freaky doll assassin man Ravenous, and made him dance to Cassius’ tune.
Some call Cassius the Shadow Man, coz he snuck around the Priestess of the Loa Mistress Vivi like he weren’t even there, and cut his own deal.
Some call Cassius the Space Cowboy, yeah. Some call him the gangster of love.”
He turns to the side camera, holding up both sets of fingers as the shot shifts.
CASSIUS REED: “See? 5 to 4. Cassius already winnin’.”
Both he and the camera return to how they were before.
CASSIUS REED: “CASSIUS BEAT A GOD, DAMMIT. HE AIN’T SCARED OF NO DEVIL.”
Even as he shouts it, it’s obvious he’s not too sure on the statement, but carries on regardless, glossing over his uncertainty.
CASSIUS REED: “Cassius knows what you all wonderin’. Did Cassius finally find God? Bitch please, Cassius’ dad and uncles named after the Gospels. He was raised in the South, ain’t no way no how that God ever been far from his mind. The Devil came to Georgia alright, but took one look at the Reeds and got the funk out of there. No... Cassius ain’t found God…”
A crack of the neck, as he brings himself upright. His smile brightens up, the reassured cocky grin painting itself on his face once more as he spreads his arms wide.
CASSIUS REED: “But all you other suckas may have just got lucky, because in this fight against the Devil? God finally found Cassius Reed.”
Back up to full confidence, Cassius almost dances to an imperceptible tune in the pulpit.
CASSIUS REED: “For is it not written, in the Book of Reed, that “So it is written, so it shall pass, that Cassius Reed’s gonna kick some ass!”?”
Cassius shivers. He looks to the side camera as the focus point shifts again.
CASSIUS REED: “Cassius channeled his inner Nick Kelly there. Made him feel a little dirty.”
Back to the normal shot.
CASSIUS REED: “You see, Cassius don’t care that Andreas a…”
Cassius pulls an index card up from the lectern on the pulpit. His eyes bulge as he reads the information. As he speaks again, there’s a slight crack in his voice.
CASSIUS REED: “... a 13 time World champion… That can’t be right… THIRTEEN? THE DEVIL’S NUMBER! Ahem… Cassius means… he don’t care that he been wrestlin’ since… well since the Garden of funkin’ Eden it seems like… SEE PEOPLE. THIS WHY WE CALL THIS SUCKA THE DEVIL. THIS AIN’T HUMAN. HE AIN’T HUMAN… HE...”
Cassius breathes deep, closing his eyes, and composes himself once more. When they snap back open, there’s a different look in them. The same intensity… but different.
CASSIUS REED: “Cassius knows… you know? Cassius knows this is possibly the biggest fight he’ll get in this tournament. If he wants that crown, if he wants his sweet, sweet ass to kiss that throne, he’s got to get through the Morning Star. Cassius knows this gunna be the toughest fight of his career… yet. But that’s the big word. Yet. Cassius got many golden years ahead in his career, whilst Andreas is enjoyin’ the twilight of his. Cassius ain’t here to dwell on the fact he has to fight Andreas, one on one. Yeah, he’s achieved big things, but so has Cassius. Cassius won the Passion of the Juniors Cup. Cassius is a two time champion already. He knows there’s gonna be a funk load more of those in his future. But this match ain’t about no titles. This match ain’t even about the Iron King, not really. That’s more a bonus than the prize. You see… if… no. When. When Cassius beats Andreas… he gets somethin’ better than any belt, than any trophy. Cassius gets to be the Reed who beat Andreas Lasiewicz. The man who slayed the Devil. Maybe that’ll make him worthy of that name Melody gave him; maybe he can finally be Saint Cassius…”
He pauses a moment, the serious look hanging on his face a few seconds, before being replaced one more by the trademark grin.
CASSIUS REED: “So ends the sermon, my children, but before Cassius goes, he asks you to join him in a small prayer, once more from the Book of Reed.”
Cassius looks skywards, bringing his hands together in the classic prayer stance.
CASSIUS REED: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, for this ass kicking Cassius is about to deliver to Andreas Lasiewicz, may we all be truly thankful…”
His head snaps down, looking intensely into the camera a few second, before that smile breaks through once more.
CASSIUS REED: “You’re Welcome.”
-----
Cassius stands by the door of the church, standing awkwardly whilst Lucius effortlessly removes the heavy bar from the church’s door. He looks about the church, giving it a final sweep.
CASSIUS REED: “Nice place you got here.”
This garners a grunt from the elder Reed, as he stows the bar in the corner.
LUCIUS REED: “It’s quiet… mostly.”
Another awkward shuffle from Cassius.
CASSIUS REED: “Darius… Darius says hi, by the way. He’s the one who told me where to find you. I spent some time with him and Aries this week, you know… getting ready, working on my grappling skills.”
LUCIUS REED: “Darius…”
CASSIUS REED: “He’s doing well...”
Lucius just nods at this, before opening the door.
CASSIUS REED: “Lucius… I just want to say thank you. They’re two words we don’t say enough in this family. You might think I’m crazy… but what you’ve given me will help. Honestly.”
Lucius just shakes his head, gesturing for Cassius to leave. As his younger cousin does, stepping into the New Mexico, Lucius puts a hand on his shoulder, stopping him in place.
LUCIUS REED: “Cassius… I have a favor to ask. Well, a request, really, more than a favor.”
CASSIUS REED: “Sure… sure, what you need? Donation to the roof fund? Help with the canned food drive? Anything.”
Lucius smiles, warmly.
LUCIUS REED: “Never come back.”
Lucius slams the door in Cassius’ face, the impact of the heavy wood echoing down the street. Cassius looks on at the door a moment, before his head dips, his hands find their way into his pockets, he turns… and leaves.