Logs:Just Two

Just Two
Dramatis Personae DJ, Lily
In Absentia Polaris	2022-04-04 Project as ambitious as this, I think I'm going to need all the help I can get.
Location <PRV> Lily's Housesit - Astoria
This two bedroom apartment is at the top of a recently renovated building, with an abundance of natural light streaming through the many east windows. The combined living room and kitchen space is cool in white and chrome finishing, with soft grey couches and chairs arranged on a Persian-style rug. A white coffee table sits between the couch and wall mounted television. The television has turned itself off by now, it’s remote abandoned somewhere in the mess of snack bowls, beer cans, and wine bottles strewn over the coffee table. In front of the glass doors (that are unlocked but not currently open to the Victorian-style balcony), a hairless cat basks in the morning sunlight, looking serene and almost statuesque in his repose. Lily, by contrast, is bedraggled in an oversized University of Utah tee shirt already stained with spilled coffee and tiny athletic shorts, hair tied messily into a bun on the top of her head. She sure does not seem dressed for company, or anything more than going back to bed — yet here she is, blearily tending to a pan full of eggs, wincing at each loud hiss of the coffee machine. DJ, on the other hand, looks exactly as presentable as he always does. Jeans, a grey checked flannel, work boots. He's just turned up at the actual front door of the apartment, taking off his brown chore jacket and folding it neat to drape it over his mechanical arm before he knocks three times, firmly. The door opens after a few moments, Lily’s arms crossed self consciously over her chest (and the coffee stain). “Hey. Welcome back.” It’s about all the attention she can spare before she returns to the pan, taking it off the heat. “Water? Juice? Have you eaten yet?” Her voice is hoarse with sleep still. “Or are you sustained by righteous rage at Oaks still?” "I uh -- yeah. I had breakfast at Hive's but juice would be great." DJ closes the door behind himself and follows Lily into the kitchen. He drops his jacket across the back of a chair, washing up against the counter and propping himself there with one hand braced on its surface. "Last night I was full of rage. It's quieted down today to kind of an irritation. How much did you watch?" Eggs get scraped into one of two waiting bowls, orange juice is poured into a glass and set beside DJ's braced hand. "All of Sunday, live. Watched most of Saturday's recordings after I heard about the Heavenly Mother garbage. One of my little sisters is really upset about that." Her eyes dart to the mess on the coffee table. "And there was a drinking game. Sorry. About the drunk texts." "Was it Maddie, she seems like --" DJ cuts himself off, frowning down at his hand. "... do you have. I don't even know in this world if Maddie's..." This trails off into a hard swallow. He picks up the juice, downs a large gulp. He offers Lily a quick smile when he sets the glass back down. "Oh, I'm really used to GenConf ranting. It wasn't quite this bad at home, though. I mean -- still -- bad. But here they seem to have forgotten about pressing forward with love for God and all His children." “Jessie —“ Lily corrects, “but Maddie would have been my guess too, if she hadn’t gotten really into neo-Hellenism last summer.” Lily’s smile after that is fond, a little distant. “She snapchats me her altar sometimes. Lot of Athena and Artemis going on there. Did your Maddie—“ and now it’s her turn to cut herself off, masking it by shoving a forkful of egg into her mouth. “What was baseline bad for your GenConfs? Love for the right children has been a recurring theme here for a while.” "She -- worships Artemis?" DJ takes another swallow of juice, quick. His eyes fix down on the counter, plastic fingers scraping lightly against it. "Oh, I mean. The Church still definitely wanted our parents to kick us to the curb but the Quorum didn't get up on the podium in front of the entire world and preach about how we didn't belong there. Was definitely a lot of leaning into what everyone's right and proper roles in a family was, though. Women obeying their husbands, that kind of thing. This --" He shakes his head jerkily. "It's like your whole world is charging headlong into fascism and they're eager to join. And I say that coming from a place that was rounding us all up into camps." “And Athena. Apparently, they are both much more responsive than Heavenly Mother is.” Lily’s tone is amused, light and warm with affection. The smile fades as DJ goes on. “That’s — huh. Would have thought that —“ Lily bites at her lip, cradling the bowl of eggs for a moment. “I think I expected your Church to be more different than this one. Not just quieter. Your old Church not — the new one you seem to be making here. Is that what’s happening?” "There's so much about our worlds that's pretty much the same, just at slightly different angles. I don't know why the Church would be an exception. Why did you think..." DJ bites down at his lip, too. His thumb traces through the condensation gathering on the outside of his glass. "I'm not -- trying to make a new Church. I just want this one to actually abide by our values. They've gone so far astray." His shoulder hitches up. "I guess mine had, too, but it was quieter. Made it easier to overlook." Lily snorts immediately, cheeks going pink a moment later. "Sorry. Just. That sounds -- ambitious." She sets her bowl down and leans back against the counter, arms crossed loosely over her chest again. "I would be -- interested, maybe -- in a church that abides by your values. For what that's worth." Her gaze drops to the floor. "And, you didn't finish asking the question, but -- I figured any organized religion that went hand in hand with, leading a resistance, had to have something the Church here doesn't. Which is ridiculous, now I say it out loud." "Here and at home the Church calls us to defend the oppressed. It's our duty to spread love in the face of hatred -- and," DJ continues with a faint frown, "to take up arms if all else fails. I think a lot of people have just got very twisted around about what exactly we should be defending. Protecting their closed-minded views instead of protecting people." He looks over to Lily, thoughtful. "You would? I don't -- think you're the only one, there are a lot of people in the Church eager for it to live into the Gospel." He sucks his cheek inward, chewing slowly at its inside. "I'm just hoping it's enough people to make a real difference." Lily’s face is doing something, as DJ talks, something complicated that bounces between distaste and awe and back before settling into mirroring DJ’s frown. “Been twisted up for a long time, I think,” she adds, almost under her breath. “That’s not a promise,” Lily warns, “that I’m going to quit being an apostate. Just — if there was somewhere, where the actions actually matched the holy words — I would consider it again. Maybe.” The cat, done lounging in his sunbeam, stretches before coming up to curl against DJ’s leg. “You’re the expert, how many Mormons does it take to lead a revolution?” "Well -- yeah. It's -- not anyone's job to fix the Church, but it is harder when all the people who see the issues leave the bigots to run the show." Quiet and pensive, this doesn't actually sound like a criticism. DJ sips at his juice, and a small -- cautious smile slips across his face at Lily's question. "In my experience? Just two." "Just two?" Lily slides over to her forgotten coffee, sips at it thoughtfully. "Well. You got options around here, Polaris has the fire for it, but --" her returning smile is slow and tentative, and a touch sad, " -- if you ever want a cynical apostate's take on restoring the Restored Church. Or maybe a little help taking it on. I'm around. Twins are supposed to be an automatic set of two." DJ's eyes lower back to the counter, a faraway expression on his face. "Supposed to be," he agrees softly. His plastic fingers click against the glass of juice; he pushes it idly back and forth between one hand and the other. His next smile is a little easier. "Project as ambitious as this, I think I'm going to need all the help I can get."