On The Train

The view from the train was amazing. Mars had never been to the west coast before, so all of the scenery from this side of the country was very new to him. He took picture after picture, hoping to capture everything as he saw it. He sighed heavily as he took a break from photographing and he glanced around the train.

A certain man caught his attention. Something about the way his face was shaped, or his hair or any number of things stood out to him. He stared at him before he realized and quickly averted his eyes. He fiddled with his camera. He had to get a picture of him. There was just something about him he wanted to capture.

He waited until he thought nobody would notice before he took a few pictures. This wasn't unusual for him; people interested him as a photographer. But even so, he had nowhere to escape to in a train if the man noticed.

It was only a few minutes before the man nonchalantly sat down in the seat next to him. "You get my good side?" he teased, smiling. "What's your name, kid?"

He wore a plain plaid button-down shirt and his honey-colored hair was messily slicked back. He extended his hand to shake; there was a tattoo on his exposed forearm, writings in a foreign language.

Mars jumped as he had been far too distracted with once again taking pictures of the scenery. He smiled sheepishly as he shook the man's hand. "S..sorry, I was hoping you wouldn't notice. I'm Mars. You?"

"Priestly," he responded, chuckling goodnaturedly. "It's fine, really--though you might want to ask people's permission, in the future. I came over here because I was curious, though." He leaned back in the seat, getting settled. "Why me? Am I an interesting subject?"

"Ah, about that..." Mars felt his face burn with embarrassment. "Sort of. It's hard to explain, and it's kind of...embarrassing. I really should have asked though. I'm sorry." He glanced out the window at all of the scenery he was missing. Well, he supposed it couldn't be helped.

"Embarrassing? Come on, just tell me, I won't judge--I've probably heard way stranger. I travel a lot." He stretched his arms. "Been travelling most of my life--from Wales originally, if you can believe it. Shook the accent years ago." While it wasn't thick, he certainly hadn't.

"Well, it's kind of hard to explain, like I said, but mostly it's...something about your hair, or your eyes maybe," he looked away when he realized he was staring again. "There's something interesting about you, what can I say?"

Mars leaned back in his seat. "Shook the accent, huh?" he chuckled. "Well, people tell me I still have an accent. I'm from Ohio, myself."

He nodded. "I've been there, before--still have friends, I think. Nice place, the air there is clean. Can't say that for the whole U.S." He laughed. "I love it here, though--my favorite country.

"I really haven't been outside of the US," he admitted. "No reason to, actually. The person I'm looking for is in the US, so I haven't had a chance to leave. Not yet, anyway."

"You're looking for someone?" he asked, raising his brow. "What're they like? He doesn't look like me, does he?"

Mars rose an eyebrow as he attempted to slick back his messy hair.

"No, not at all," he replied honestly.

"Is it a she?" he asked, grinning. "You on some kind of love mission, kid?"

"If only," he groaned loudly. "That would make my life a thousand times easier."

He shrugged and looked out the window. "Nope, this...is sort of personal."

"Ah, I see," he said, nodding. "Like a soul-searching trip, or something? Been on plenty of those myself. Less nowadays, though, since I found myself--I'm a priest now. So I guess you could say I found God, too."

"Oh, you're a priest?" he asked, feeling even more embarrassed. "I'm really sorry, I didn't know! Should I call you Father?"

He laughed loudly, shaking his head and patting Mars on the shoulder. "No, don't be silly--just Priestly is good enough! I've been Priestly to everyone for a long time--'Father' feels unnatural. Besides, how could you know? I'm not wearing the big silly robes, or a shirt that says "priest," am I?"

"Well, no, but...I mean, I'm a Catholic so I feel weird not calling you 'Father'," he admitted. "But, if that's what you want, it's not really a big deal, I guess."

He toyed with his camera as he glanced around the train. "So, what are you going to California for?"

"I guess you could say I'm looking for someone too," he said vaguely. "That, and I needed a change of scenery--it was getting old, where I was. I'm a drifter, I don't like to be in the same place for too long."

"It's...not really safe for me to stay in one place a long time," he replied with a heavy sigh. "I'm looking for someone, but other people are always looking for me. I'm involved in some, uh...you know what? Never mind," he laughed nervously, looking out the window.

He grinned.

"Seen my share of that too--when I was about your age, from the looks of you. I understand the feeling. Tell you what, kid--you need a travelling partner?"

"Me?" he asked in surprise. "But...I mean it when I said that dangerous people are looking for me, you know. It's really not safe, Fa-I mean, Priestly."

"Oh, I don't doubt it. I've been hunted by very, very dangerous people before myself. That's why I think you could use a little help."

"You? Buy you're a priest!" he exclaimed in surprise. "What could you have possibly done to get hunted down?"

He beamed at him, innocently batting his lashes. His eyes were hazel.

"I wasn't always a priest, kid. I was quite the troublemaker as a child, and it followed me for some time."

"...oh," he paused, then sighed heavily, burying his hands in his messy blond hair. "I wonder if that's going to happen to me...?" he groaned. "Well...if you really want to travel together we can. I don't really have any problems with it."