Episode #6 of The Rogue Dialogues: Inner Healing for Leadership

Continued from Seer, Wisdom

[Warning: contains explicit language]

A big black man in the prime of life enters the stage.
Bulging muscles peer out from under the rags he wears.
He is carrying a wooden cross.
He is royally pissed.

Carnus: Ares? Ares? Where are you, you whore-begotten motherfucker?

Ares: Rogue, is this the new you? Wait, wait, don’t tell me: let me guess. Carnus, right? In the flesh, as they say.

C. Don’t you dare try to sweet-talk your way out of this, you sick bastard. Do you have any idea of the hell I had to go through to get to you?

A. Of course I do. I’m the one who put you through it!

C. Fuck!

A. Oh, I like this one.

C. Uh-uh-uh. Don’t you go playing the sweet old uncle with me, pussy-face. I know exactly what sort of sick, twisted blackheart you are.

A. I have never pretended to be anything else.

C. Yeah, right. Maybe not to us mortals. But how d’you think ol’ Zeus will feel when he finds you sold out your own mother-fucking sister!

Whatever reaction Carnus was expecting, this wasn’t it. Violent rage or blustery denial he could deal with. Not… compassion?

A. I… I am so sorry, Carnus. I thought you knew.

C. Knew what? Of course I know it was you. YOU were the one who fed your sister Thena that deadly poison.

A. [shrugging] That part is common knowledge. But since it seems to be causing you such grief, I may as well tell you the secret: it was her plan all along.

C. What? You cunt-faced son of a shitpile, she would never…

Carnus halts in mid-tirade, a look of shock on his face.

A. Never… what? Sacrifice herself for the greater good? Never weave a subtle plan over the millennia to defeat humanity’s greatest foe? Never allow her beloved brother to brand himself as an easily-deluded villain? I thought you knew her better than that.

“Never… what? Sacrifice herself for the greater good? Never weave a subtle plan over the millennia to defeat humanity’s greatest foe?”

Ares, God of War

Ares walks up until he stares Carnus directly in the face.

A. Ah, I see you do.

Carnus folds into a crouch, his brow furrowed in thought.

C. She… but that means… why would…

A. What I can’t understand is why she didn’t tell you, to keep you from running off half-cocked like that.

C. Um… well, actually: she did.

A. What?

C. Hey, man, give me a break. You know how she is. I thought it was a metaphor or something. I never thought it would go down… like it did.

Ares walks over and lays a hand on his shoulder.

A. I am sorry, my friend. Your lives are so brief and chaotic, it is no wonder you struggle to make sense of the simplest things. Never mind a plot designed to trick even the gods themselves.

“Your lives are so brief and chaotic, it is no wonder you struggle to make sense of the simplest things. Never mind a plot designed to trick even the gods themselves.”

Ares, God of War

C. I just… I mean… was there really no other way?

A. You are asking me that? While carrying the symbol of the Nazarene?

C. Yeah, yeah, I know. Truth is, I’ve been toting this damn thing around for so long I’ve shit forgotten what the fuck it is used for.

A. And… now that you remember?

C. Well, hell. Nothing to do but go back down there and let them finish what they started.

“Nothing to do but go back down there and let them finish what they started.”

Carnus

He holds up his hand. Ares grasps it, and pulls him to his feet. They lock eyes again.

C. We cool, man?

A. Yes. Yes, I think we are.

Ares steps back, salutes with a mailed fist to his chest, and bows.

Cronus, surprised, does the same — as best he can while balancing a cross on his back.

C. If you see my sister before I do, please give her my regards.

Ares nods. Carnus hefts the cross and trudges offstage. Ares watches him go.

A. [to himself] I very much fear — you will see her before I do…

Concluded in Diarogue Finale 7/7: Wisdom, Rogue