Arsenio Zabat walked down his living room, and once again his gaze fell on the cardboard boxes that were stacked in the now oddly bare space. He knew by hear by now what was inside each. He had left nothing out. He could hardly believe he would be leaving his flat for a long time. Who knew? He might never come back. His fingers ran along the rough cardboard of one the boxes, filled with mementoes of his youth and childhood. Other things he could not pack and carry with him.
The door creaked behind him. He thought it must be the wind, blowing the door opened, but he remembered that was impossible, for he had closed the window.
“Where are you going?” a voice inquired.
Arsenios turned around slowly, his hand still on the top of the box. On the doorway stood a tall, white-clad man, his arms folded across his chest. Arsenions took a deep breath and forced a smile.
“Moving out.” He said at last, as if staging the obvious. “You’re not coming, Rowland, are you?”
“No, Arsenios, I’m not.” Rowland answered, his voice cold and harsh. Arsenios stepped back, now regretting the offer he had made.
“What do you think?” Rowland went on. “You think I’d want to, after…”
Arsenios waved a hand weakly, shrugging. “I thought you might at least consider it. It makes sense to.”
“After you…betrayed my trust?” Arsenios replied, a little melodramatically. He was close to Arsenios, a little too close for comfort actually, yet Arsenions didn’t step back.
“I am sorry.” He heard himself say.
“You said you’d never work for them.” Rowland answered coldly, ignoring him. Tension hung between them. For Rowland, Arsenios was a naïve, optimistic fool, for Arsenios, Rowland was a cynical, angry fatalist. It was always like this, when the Others were implied.
“The first step is to obtain their trust, Rowland.”
“And you know how that will end. They’ll treat us like rubbish, show no respect.” Rowland had approached even more and placed his hand on Arsenios’ shoulder. He didn’t attempt to ward it off, but neither did he acknowledge it.
“And to think we could be invincible, together.”
Arsenios hunched his shoulders and sighed. His eyes bore into Rowland’s black ones. “I’m sorry”, he repeated, in a hollow tone.
They remained in awkward silence for a few moments. “Very well, then.” Rowland said at last. Arsenios was surprised by how easily he had given in, it hadn’t been like this before. But perhaps Rowland had expected it. He presently made a small nod, and proceeded to walk away. At one point he paused, and turned back to look at Arsenios. Arsenios gazed back, as if to underline the wordless ultimatum. Then Rowland resumed walking and closed the door behind him.
As you can see, I watered down the confrontation between the two because it's not really my thing. I'm not sure if it remains comprehensible.
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