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The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Alg didn't say it aloud, not wanting to make Zac think he didn't believe him, but the young man's vehement defense rung a bit like Alg had hit the nail on the head. He and Jeremiah had talked about it too, Jeremiah knew how Algie felt, and at no point had he said he was uncomfortable with the other. Perhaps though, whatever Jeremiah did say to Zac, that the young man translated it wrong in his mind.

"I think you're reading into things a bit too much." Alg gave him a small smile, "Nothing's weird. Jeremiah is still your father. And our relationship and how it happened had nothing to do with you being around- or not being around."

Alg sighed, especially at him calling emotions stupid, "Emotions aren't stupid, we just sometimes have to parse them for our own biases and find the logic in a situation." He leaned back in his chair, "And the logical approach, instead of assuming and feeling bad for no reason, is just to come and talk to me if you have a problem."

"I will tell you, so long as you promise to come to me-" Instead of letting some misconception or assumption of Alg's mood and views keep him away, "-with the same."

Talk of the book, the interview, was an easy change. He leaned back, "I don't think any of us are special. I think we're victims of circumstance. Whether it be being in the wrong place at the wrong time-" Alg shrugged, "Or fate. Either way I don't think it's us so much as this place."

Ashdown.

"Otherwise why would the magic fade when we left?"

Algie found himself in a very peculiar position. A position where he didn't quite want to share his full opinion, but at the same time in some bits of this, had essentially prevented himself from pursuing.

"I was warned that I shouldn't pursue the artist. Me personally," Alg's face was a bit hard at the thought, for many reasons, besides that he was already fairly positive that he knew who it was even if it wasn't confirmed. He only knew one artist who hated him. The worst part was that if he was correct in his assumption, than he had no desire to pursue it either, "The artist will never be receptive of me. And never was... in any," his hand flipped, "version."

He adjusted his glasses a bit and rubbed his head, "Why are we trying to fill the roles that have been laid down before if they always fail?" Learning from mistakes was one thing, but perhaps in their knowledge of things they were over complicating the truth? Sunny had said something similar to him, the more they knew, the more they inadvertently fell into the same patterns.

"What's your ultimate goal Zac? Is this some other plan of yours to intervene on your father's deal? Michael's dead. He's not coming back. The deal has been broken- though I suppose he has come back-" In a very grim sense.

"Sunny told me. She showed me some things as well," His frown was set, "And Heliodora and those kids knew exactly what they were in for- what's coming. Much more than you or I do. They've lived it many, many times." Heliodora would die. He'd seen it. She would be the last.

Alg shook his head, "To ask someone else to sit and wait to die is a cruel fate. Someone less prepared, less adept. Even if they stay and keep the enemy caged- it's all a ticking clock. They are now a target. How would replacing them change the cycle? To swap them means it's not the individual at all- you or I or them being anchor points- and it's the role. Filling it, of course, plays back into the preset cycle."

Algie's brows lifted, "Did you ever think Sunny in particular wanted them to come home for her own reasons? And we all have just been playing into it because she was the only one who'll tell us anything? Playing against out human instinct to value life? Because we-" Alg sighed, "We want to save everyone. And we've already proven that we can't."

"And I don't trust that Sunny isn't something in a nice looking package, with a couple dire pleas and some tears, genuine or not, that simply wants the enemy free." Alg flipped a hand.

He didn't know.

"What leads do you hope the painter gives you?" Alg was curious, getting away from Sunny, "Suppose they are just like us?" Clueless.

Alg nodded, "A sound plan I'd say. Good luck. I hope you find what you're looking for."

He idly turned his ring with a thumb, thinking a moment before continuing, "I think I've moved away from looking into the past. We can't change it and- too much is going on around us now. Too much we aren't prepared for. So I've been more pursuing that.. and preparing myself."

It didn't sound too far off from what Jeremiah was doing, learning magic and practicing. "My magic seems to increase but not in a predictable useful way so I've been more proactive about it."

Alg sighed, "I'm not as quick as your father is with it. You've gone to practice with him he said. How did it go?"

Alg laughed a bit, "Did you 'Lumos'?" He rubbed his face and hid a smile behind his hand, "Because I did too."

Yes they were all nerds.

"I think I could do without fur. Never been much for the appeal of being an animal. But maybe we need some suits of armor in the shop-" Alg glanced around, amused, "Bring them to life to defend the place on the other side.." His brows lifted a bit. It was a joke but the idea sounded pretty bad a**.