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 Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 8:37 pm
Zekiel by now considered himself to know Tacrith quite well, at least in terms of character. After their first encounter, he’d had more further occasions to meet with him than he could count, from Tacrith’s trips to the Sanctum for Ottolo’s sake and the numerous sessions that had gone on there, to Zekiel’s periodic visits of his own for varied reasons. Though the boy couldn’t have been much older than himself, he took his work seriously and from what Zekiel could tell, did it well, so Ze never hesitated in referring patients that way.
But he had never spoken of a brother. Or family. Or anything directly personal and private for that matter, so this particular type of visitation was not something he could have anticipated—nor did he guess it was likely Tacrith anticipated it.
But perhaps there was pleasant excitement to be had in surprises?
After arriving with Finn at the medical facility Tacrith practiced at, Zekiel was recognized immediately. He did, however, take time to specifically mention to the ‘messenger’ that he brought news and a visitor of a personal and unique sort that Tacrith may wish to set aside time for. He had visited often enough it seemed relevant to alert him to the fact that this was at least a different sort than previously.
From there, all that could be hoped for was the best.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 11:13 am
Finn tugged at the edges of his coat, bringing them as close to his torso as possible. A garment that had hung so regally around the shoulders of a Yaeli acolyte now slumped around those of a scarred thief. The bottom edge, which had tapped the backs of Zekiel's knees now hung nearly to Finn's feet, and was beginning to stain, despite how little it had actually been worn.
His rune hung heavy around his neck, alight with a faint glow that tapped into Finn's natural magic. It leaked out in waves, making him more of a beacon to those who practiced the mystical arts than any sort of sign ever could.
If this was a trap he wanted to be ready, and the minimal spells that Finn could recall were being dredged up the back of his mind to the forefront. The chances of his brother being alive, well, and so close at hand were just too far fetched not to be suspicious.
But Finn's emaciated form kept moving, his bare feet freezing against the pavement as he walked behind Zekiel. He didn't know what to make of the medical facility, beyond the strange looks it's workers gave him. When the first edged toward him as if he were a patient, being brought in by the benevolent priest, he hissed and stepped closer to Zekiel.
The coat covered some of his scars, but not all, nor did it hide his visible ribs and gaunt cheeks. If he stayed here long they would try to trap him; either to experiment on, or to 'help' until they realized he had no money to give them, at which point they would throw him out again.
"He better be here," Finn groused, "or I'll take your boots as well."
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Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 10:25 pm
As he tidied up his office room, Tacrith couldn't help feeling confused and curious. Zekiel had brought a visitor? Something personal that might be important? Zekiel did have a way of speaking in riddles, but even this was a bit much. What could possibly be of a personal matter to him?
After a moment, he realized he was organizing things that he had already straightened. He was wasting time... Lingering would do nothing to ease the anxiety sitting in his chest! Cane in hand, he debating on calling Zekiel and the guest back, or simply heading up front to deal with what was probably a misunderstanding. What more could it be?
If for nothing more than to walk off the nervous energy building, he headed up to the front. From his angle, he saw Zekiel with a crouched form hidden next to the priest. Was the hidden earthling anything more than a skeleton?! "Zekiel, it's quite chilled out to not have a coat on," he scolded, tapping the floor with his cane for emphasis. Over time, his scolding of Zekiel had gotten a little softer, and he wore a hint of his big brother smile as he spoke. It was a small change, but, for him, it was progress. "What bring you by today?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 8:22 pm
Zekiel blinked, glancing down to Finn at the commentary. “Do you want my boots?” he asked.
With the coat at least, despite being vastly oversized by comparison, it could still be draped over the boy’s more gaunt figure and serve the same basic purpose: to shield him from the elements and provide some warmth. With shoes, it wasn’t entirely different, but the ill-suited size difference might have at least looked more silly, with his companion’s thin legs fitted into tall boots meant to fit the shins, not encircle them like loose tubes.
But that didn’t particularly concern Zekiel. If Finn wanted them, he saw no reason not to pass them along. So, just as Tacrith approached, Zekiel was stooping to kneel at his company’s side and begin removal of his boots. At Tacrith’s words, however, he glanced up—and beamed.
“It is chill!” he agreed. “But my friend was colder than I, I think. This is Finnufarinel,” he said. “He has a brother by your name who has passed to the gods, but he was very excited to meet with you just the same, so I have brought him here.” His fingers, still paused at his boot lace, did not move as a thought occurred to him. “Do you have shoes which might fit me? I am to give him mine, but I think the earth and stones of the city will become very familiar with my feet on my return to the Sanctum if I do not replace them before then.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 9:02 pm
"What? No, I didn't mean- Stop that-" Finn hissed. What was he doing?! Was he trying to draw more attention to them then he already had? He reached reached over to grasp the larger man's bicep in an attempt to yank him back up when the arrival of another caused him to retract his hands and tuck them close to his side.
Finn stood to his full height - which...was not nearly as tall as it should be, even for a short lad of his age - and looked the new comer head on. It wasn't as if he needed to introduce himself; Zekiel had seen to that, and as he had nothing else to add the boy chose to step around the cleric to get a better look, putting himself on display as well. The movement caused the edges of the coat to open around his scarred frame, slipping down one bare shoulder enough to expose it.
He craned one brow, and his hardened face really looked at the man- boy- with the cane. Three crystals above the brow, same as his, and his looks resembled their fathers....but it was the pendant, the rune, hanging around his neck that clenched it for Finn. "...why aren't you dead?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 10:08 pm
Tac sighed and shook his head. Well, the other boy did seem to be in need of a coat. Ze was far too giving. For one moment, he was nodding idly, initially observing the emaciated stranger to see what kind of help was needed. Then... his mind turned into a loop of the name spoken. Finnufarinel.. Finnufarinel.. Finn..
He could only gawk at first. Finn. He could see it... or did he only want to see it? The similarities, familiarity... His eyes slid down to the other's pendant, and his hand rose to grip his own. Ze was forgotten thoroughly. Mouth opening and closing a couple times, he struggled to get his voice working. "Finn?" Alive... His hand reached out hesitantly before returning to his chest, somehow feeling that if he touched the figure of his brother, the younger man would be an intangible hallucination. He needed to say something. Do something!
"You... should come... to my office," he murmured thickly, turning away to head for the privacy of his office room. The shock was making his head spin!
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Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2017 12:35 pm
Zekiel blinked again, pausing at Finn’s insistence and — because it had seemed desired — standing instead of removing his boots after all. Nothing which transpired after that clarified any of his building confusions. Did Finn want this man dead like his brother? Was he simply surprised he was alive, despite the fact that Zekiel had assured him he was likely still to be?
Tacrith also seemed confused, but not perhaps in the way Ze was, and all confusion aside they did at least seem to want relations with each other. Of some sort.
Ze, not wanting to interfere with that, opted to leave his own questions out of it for the moment. But, since there seemed to be other levels of confusion abounding and because Tacrith’s voice had gone worryingly quiet, as though it was all he could do to remain upright, let alone speak in full sentences, Zekiel took steps closer to him, encouraging Finn to follow with a gesture and notch of his head.
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 7:11 pm
On instinct Finn took a half step away from the other's, from 'Tac's', out stretched hand before he retracted it. The lad's mind was a whirlwind of emotion and not all were trusting.
It was only when Tacrith turned his back on Finn that he was able to think. For a moment all that existed was the rushing of blood in his ears, and the overwhelming need for answers. Finn was shaking; though whether it was from the rush or the cold seeping in through his exposed skin, he didn't know. He wanted to lash out; to both scream and latch onto this man in the hope that he was indeed, without a doubt, his brother. However, there were too many unanswered questions, too little information...
...and Finn had grown much too wary.
He looked over his shoulder, almost as if he expected them to be followed, before moving after the older men. Had Zekiel not been encouraging him to follow along Finn may have demanded information right there in the open, less intimate space. It was easier to make an escape there, and being in a small room with a man who could be his brother, who was likely to be, who most definitely was...
...seemed terrifying.
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 8:32 pm
The hallway to his office seemed to stretch out in front of him. Was the walk always so long?
Tac entered the room and leaned against the desk; leg feeling as though he had walked to the sanctum! It took him a long moment, but he turned to sit against the desk instead and look at his brother. Finn was alive, and standing right there. The little boy he remembered was clearly gone. Now, Finn was a scarred, malnourished skeleton of a man. What had his brother gone through?
He glanced over at Ze for just a moment, and let out a slow breath. "Finn..." Tears filled his eyes, and he squeezed them shut. A moment later, they were open again. Before all the things he wanted to ask, there was one thing he had to say... "I'm sorry I couldn't find you."
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2017 9:42 pm
Needless to say, Zekiel had not been sure what he was getting into beforehand. After being reassured that Finn was, in fact, following him and Tacrith, he trailed the physician into his private office and had been expecting—well, something else.
Evidently, given the confusion of their initial meeting, there was something there between them of course, and Zekiel had a number of internal questions. But he knew enough to understand that now was not the time for him to talk. These two men had much to say or learn about each other, and it seemed most appropriate for him to hold himself back, listen, watch, and give them that space to do so.
Tacrith’s reaction upon having the private space to the three of them, however, was entirely unanticipated. Was he…crying? There was an instant where confusion flicked much more clearly across Ze’s face, a pinch of a puzzled frown crossing his brow, because he didn’t want Tacrith distressed, and his first instinct — which he only barely quashed — was to step forward and inquire or console. At I'm sorry I couldn't find you… though, something shifted in his headspace. A metaphorical turning cog cued in that the situation was not what he had taken it for.
His gaze darted from Tacrith, to Finn, back to Tacrith, to Finn again and—oh. He blinked.
Oh.
In a split second, the instant it dawned on him, he beamed. “You’re brothers! Oh, that’s wondrous!”
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2017 5:28 pm
Finn didn't like being in that room. It was closed off, and it made him fidgety. His bare, calloused toes gripped at the flooring as his eyes darted around; not so blatantly that it could be noticed by all, but if someone were watching enough they could see the little ticking tremors that ran through the boy.
And then his 'brother' was crying...? Finn narrowed his gaze, watching, waiting for someone to pull the rug out from under him again and tell him this wasn't happening, but oh no, it was happening. He just...couldn't figure out if this was a good thing or not.
Surely he should be happier that his brother was alive? A little more joyous? Instead, Finn's skeletal hands turned into fists at his sides and his jaw tightened. He was about to say something when Ze did instead. The man was just so...so happy that it stunned Finn for a moment, but not for long.
"That's what I told you from the start!" He snapped at Zekiel, unable to keep it all in any longer. Then the teenager turned his attention to Tac, frustration at...at everything flustering his skin. "Not that you'd know what being a brother means. You're sorry? Did you even look?!"
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2017 6:23 pm
Tac actually jumped a little with surprise at Ze's excited outburst. He'd almost forgotten the man was still there! ..Why did Ze seem to be the only one happy right now?
Finn's accusing words helped Tac to stand a little bit straighter with irritation. He couldn't face this so damned emotionally. He was no good with those! "What do you take me for? I couldn't find you means I tried to look." His words fell flat in his own ears though. Despite his irritation, he couldn't be fired up enough to climb fully out of the shock he was still in. He felt like he was neck-deep in mud. There were so many questions to ask... but now didn't seem like the best time.
"You're really alive," he murmured, shaking his head in an unsuccessful attempt to clear it.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2017 8:33 pm
Zekiel blinked, taken aback by Finn’s outburst in his direction, confused not so much by the volume but because…
“It was not what you said,” he said, shaking his head. “You told me that you had a brother but that he was dead and that he was also named Tacrith…”
Of course, now, seeing them together and fitting all of the pieces into one, it was clear that his new friend had simply been mistaken about a number of things: his brother wasn’t dead, Tacrith wasn’t dead, and all in all, this seemed like wonderful news. He wasn’t quite sure why Finn was cross about it, but perhaps he was misreading the situation and this was simply how the smaller man expressed excitement. Regardless, it seemed as though once everyone settled into the news, it would be a time of great happiness. Zekiel skipped to that part because it was the part he liked best and the room didn’t seem to need anyone else distressed about such good circumstances.
“The gods separated you,” he said, “and if they intended you be apart then no amount of searching then would bring you to each other—you didn’t find him, either, and that time is behind you. But they have lead you together now, and you are both alive, and Tacrith is a good man…I would be honored if they had made him my brother. I think it a great blessing that you have the good fortune of each other.”
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Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 7:17 pm
While his brother attempted a calmer, cooler approach Finn's emotions were on the rise. "You ran away! If you had just come back you would have found me and I-" He clenched his teeth and seethed in the growing anger that threatened to burn out his insides. The air around Finn had grown warm as little embers of flame licked at his knuckles, oblivious to their creator.
"The gods?" Finn snorted and gave into a breathless, sardonic chuckle. "The gods aren't real. If they were, why would there be monsters on our island? And what kind of gods would purposefully separate a family? Even if they did exist they've abandoned us and you should get used to it."
When he looked at Zek little embers were sparking and popping off his exposed shoulder, dancing along the edges of his coat.
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Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 8:23 pm
Tac gripped the edge of his desk. If anything, Ze's encouraging voice grated his nerves like nails running along stones. "Ze, be quiet about your gods!" he snapped, the flicker of guilt hidden by the growing flame.
He shook his head roughly while he attempted to pull his mental feet from the mud. He managed to level his voice out, skin prickling as he brought back memories he'd long been smothering. "Finn, we were riding a frightened limbara. Control was minimal. That thing wasn't going to stop with that monster behind us. If you want to throw senseless blame around, you're the one who let go and fell off." His brow twitched when he saw the flames sparking off his brother. So Finn had magic as well... "Now, if you won't calm down, we'll go outside before you set yourself and this facility on fire and hurt everyone in it."
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