#sariel is probably... 13? in this excerpt?

[magdaclaire]

despite the fact that he is named after an angel, and despite the fact that his father writes stories that are based off of christianity (or judaism, or islam, something with a menagerie of angels that he couldn’t get past reading the first sex scene of; it seems even he has his limits), sariel has most recently compared himself and the elder lot of his siblings to greek mythos. there’s just something more... romantic about it, though that would be the wrong word, and he’s sure sedakiel would know the correct one. what a way with words their littlest brother has. if he can only find his voice to use them. 

most young boys probably see themselves in heroes. sariel, diving into mythology books headfirst when the silence is too loud to cast itself out, sees himself in the forgotten. 

michael is atlas, and so he carries a staggering burden on his shoulders that others may or may not see. sariel sees it in glances, sees the nights that michael spends tucking the smaller ones into bed and his older brother’s shaking hands, sees the way that he is desperate for something, but no matter how long he sits by his brother’s side, no matter how long he attempts to bogart michael’s attention, wait out his impertinent silence, michael never shares the weight. though it would surely be a relief, he keeps it to himself. he and michael still hold hands when the other children don’t require more of michael’s attention. it’s rare these days. 

raziel is prometheus, a name literally meaning forethought; raz is the only person one in the family who has had a mind for a career path their entire life through. he hates it when sariel calls him raz, though he tolerates it when daniel does it. he and raziel spit insults back and forth even when sariel does not mean to let them forth, vitriolic and sharp, and he knows when he has hit a soft spot in raziel’s armor. he knows because that is when daniel comes between them, says something so terribly daniel of him, and all is forgiven, simply because daniel said the very last word. this is true of most any form of teasing. none is granted except the exalted word of the forgiven brother, the angel, their beloved, their dear, their daniel. 

daniel is epimetheus, hindsight, the afterthinker, their gentleheart, their fool. as awful as it has always been, sariel has always loved him for how easy he was to move to tears. he’s never had to wonder if daniel cared. he remembers when he and michael were moved to a separate nursery when he was six and daniel was five, the way that daniel clung to his fingers and his big eyes welled up with tears, and as much sariel was upset by the sight, he was a little glad of it. his little brother’s chubby fingers grabbing onto his, sticky, begging him to stay, daniel always wants to stay in the past. he wants safety and sariel in the same room like unsettled bedfellows, and no one knows how to tell him how quickly that age is coming to an end. 

and sariel. sariel is menotius. doomed might. menotius comes from “menos” meaning might or power, and “oitos,” meaning doom, pain. he thinks a lot about that - pain, that is. to have a name derived directly from it. moon of god, light of god, that’s what sariel means, but what does it mean? how can he be a light (and of what god?) when he’s so dark inside? so empty? menotius was killed by zeus with lightning during the war of the titans, sent to tartarus, forgotten. even his rule is a supposition, an assumption based off of his name, rather than any sort of recorded knowledge: titan of violent anger and rash action. sariel isn’t an idiot. he knows that finding himself in the titan says more about him than it does about the story. 

doesn’t mean he’s going to stop seeing the resemblance.