UNDER EDITING (previously kiss with a fist), when ronny became thoth's avatar, she hadn't expected to spend her days stopping khonshu and his nefarious deeds. but that is exactly what she did and the age-old rivalry between the gods is what led her...
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━━ CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE / mogart's
After they sorted out the earpieces, Ronny fell silent again as the boat continued to move across the lake. Her back almost entirely turned away from Layla and Marc as she closed her eyes, resting her head against the edge of the boat. She was exhausted still and felt herself drifting between sleep and consciousness. Her chest rose and fell steadily, almost perfectly still.
Marc looked over at Ronny and Layla was watching him carefully. The group on the other side of the boat were dancing and Marc briefly looked over at them before he turned to look at Layla. She tilted her head.
"Why are you working with her?" Layla asked. Her tone was calm, not accusatory, just curious. Marc seemed taken aback by the question and he gave a half-shrug. Layla waited and watched as Marc looked at Ronny again. The look in his eyes was one she was familiar with but he used to look at her that way.
"I don't know," was his simple response. Layla rolled her eyes, glancing at the group across the boat before she looked right back at Marc. He had a look on his face that Layla couldn't quite read now that he had turned to look back at Layla.
"Do you trust her?" Layla asked as she rested her hands against her knees, fiddling with her fingers as she looked up.
"Yeah." Marc nodded firmly as he leant back. Ronny was somewhere between sleep and consciousness still, only acutely aware of the conversation but not processing enough of it to care what was being said. Layla assumed that she wasn't listening or had fallen asleep to some extent.
"Good," Layla said, nodding her head. She was silent for a few minutes and then added, "You need someone who you can talk to." Marc was once again taken aback by her words but he did his best to disguise it as he adjusted in his seat.
"Steven likes her," He deflected. It was an obvious deflection.
"You could have told me about it, you know?" Layla said. Marc looked away, something akin to regret briefly passed over his features before he just shrugged and leant back again as she spoke, "What it's been like for you. About Steven," Layla elaborated briefly.
"For what it's worth, I had it under control until recently," Marc responded, keeping his voice even but he looked vulnerable. Like he was admitting something he shouldn't. Layla didn't know what to say, "I didn't intend for her to know either." He tried to return to a neutral facial expression but the more he tried, the harder it seemed to be.
"Why?" Layla asked, a frown on her face. Marc shrugged, looking away. He looked so completely vulnerable, "We could have handled it together." Maybe some part of Layla wanted to get back with Marc, wanted to be with him again but the bigger part of her knew that it would never work. But she still had regrets, things she wished they had both done differently before she signed those papers. Things could have been different.
"That's not really what I do, is it?" Marc said before he rubbed his face with his hands. He took a deep breath before he let his hands drop to his knees again, "Never really been able to just talk about anything."
