Picking plants and picking dreams

[Vixen]

Zipporah wasn't happy with anyone, least of all with Isaac.

Of course, as she wasn't happy, Zipporah also wasn't stupid (although she did enjoy the imitate a demure airhead). She couldn't very easily lash out at the preacher boy and expect to see the sunrise the next morning.

So instead, she lashed against the crops. Not the holy crops, for the same reason as she couldn't lash against Isaac. Corn was holy, the unnecessary desecration could result in her cashing a check she couldn't afford. And when it bounced, she would roll straight into hell.

Esau had sinned. Esau had spoken against the Lord, and he still lived. He still breathed and smiled and spoke blasphemy. Isaac, the Giver of the Word of He Who Walks Behind the Rows, ignored the word.

She tore a tomato from a vine, and tossed it onto the ground, smashing it beneath her boot.

She imagined it was Esau's head.

Or Isaac's.

Whichever was less sinful.

[Malachai09gal<3]

Malachai was walking through the field searching for outlanders, he gripped onto his hunting knife, with a sour look upon his face he continued to strut through, thinking; he began to grow tired, however he did not want to disappoint Isaac or He Who Walks Behind The Rows, so he continued to fulfill Isaac's wishes, and carry out his duties.

OOC just a side note, though Malachai is mean and doesnt care, he has feelings for a girl named Lucrisha (which I made up) but he hides them very well

[Vixen]

ooc: that is fine and i understand. i dont think zipporah will care one way or another.

ic -

Zipporah heard footsteps -- and she recognized them. For three years the steps had carried a warning for any coming interlopers that death was near, that the hand of the Lord was upon them.

She was not surprised when she raised her gaze and noticed Malachai. The ginger personified strength. He carried it with him, and it fell into his every step, his every movement. His servitude to the Lord was such that any self-respecting girl would have aimed for him as a husband. With him, of course, came power. Isaac was replaceable; the Lord could always choose another seer.

Malachai, Malachai was essential. Without him, chaos would befall Gatlin, and sin would reign again.

Zipporah called for him. Already, her irritation with Isaac had nearly taken control of her, but not so much that she could not control her tongue. Though, for Malachai's sake, she batted her green eyes as though she had been surprised, and burst as though she hadn't planned it: "Did you hear of the heretic Isaac has forgiven? Did you hear of the mercy he has extended to an unbeliever, hear of the insult he made unto the Lord?"

[Malachai09gal<3]

Malachai stopped as he heard Zipporah's voice call to him, he nodded as she'd spoken; "Amos sent me the news, it was foolish of Isaac, it is not in his will to forgive an interloper, for Isaac has broken the law, and those that have broke laws..." he had the tip of his knife to his own throat; "they must be punished" he looked at her more, then turned away

[Vixen]

Zipporah was not allowing him to escape. She called after him, "Then why has he not been punished? You speak the truth," she added, preparing to follow the red head if he escaped. "Those who insult and deride He Who Walks Behind the Rows must be punished. Then why has Isaac not been punished?"

He Who Walks Behind the Rows was one of the few things Zipporah bothered to honor. He was holy, and had chosen her as one of his chosen children, so he must have been full of great wisdom. If he grew angry with them, however, she knew he would take away his blessings.

However, at the same time, she knew speaking against Isaac could in of itself be considered a heresy. She rushed to amend it. "Esau still lives, as well. He uses the same excuse of Sarah and Job: that he was not in the corn the day the Lord made himself known to us. But is has been three years!" she cried. "Surely they could all have accepted the truth of the Lord by now. Why has his blood not been used to strengthen the corn?"

[Malachai09gal<3]

"Sarah had the gift of sight, which bought outlanders to us, she saw them coming, the man and the woman who merely escaped; Esau may have a gift, He Who Walks Behind The Rows may have seen this"
He had his back to her, not wanting her to ask of anything else, he continued to move on

[Vixen]

Zipporah, inwardly, stewed in a rage. The laws of He Who Walks Behind the Rows had been broken, and Isaac had failed to take vengeance in His name. And Malachai, usually one of so much bloodlust and warfare, was hardly giving the crime more than a cursory glance.

"But -- " she began, though held her tongue when she saw Malachai's unmasked irritation. Irritating the boy may prove fatal, she reasoned. But in the end, her pride won out. No boy ignored her.

"But..." she repeated, her voice dripping with helplessness, though she was careful to leave a trace of the sensual vixen she knew she could be, "but I fear tha Esau doesn't have a gift. I fear the Lord will grow angry. "

That wasn't entirely a lie. Zipporah was concerned that He Who Walks Behind the Rows would unleash his wrath upon his children for sparing Esau. But, more importantly, she wanted Isaac gone. Malachai was frightening, but he at least displayed some more normal teenage boy characteristics. She could control teenage boys.

Malachai was proving to be a little more than she bargained for, however.

"If he doesn't...and Isaac spared him without reason..." She raised her emerald gaze and poured emotion into it, hoping Malachai would feel it piercing into his back and turn to drink from them, "would you have to usurp him?"

That was all she deigned to say. Her words, she trusted, would strike their target as though aimed like a skillful archer. And when it came to wordplay, that was exactly what she was. The seed planted in Malachai's mind, Zipporah pretended to clumsily excuse herself as though she were embarrassed and regretful for saying such a thing, lifted the hem of her dress, and fled the gardens.