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 Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 7:26 pm
How? How could he explain it without feeling like he was laying undue hope on nothing more than a feeling? "I think- I know we were close. She and I. Another... time." His hand waved idly around them. Another cycle, another reality, maybe another time. What all this was wasn't quite clear but he knew it had happened. "She knew me, she told me.." Alg stood up, motioned for a pause, left the room, and came back a moment later with a medium sized book. It was his grimoire, something that only Jeremiah had seen, but he had learned was useless to anyone but him. "She gave me this. Which I- some version of me- gave her to hold." When opened it was a book in Alg's handwriting, not that Thorne would know it, and anothers that (what he believed and confirmed) was Noeh's. He wouldn't call her Mina, not to anyone but her or Jeremiah, not when she presented herself otherwise. Inside the front cover was written in that same hand - In hope that we will meet again. "It's spells, for me..." His head tilted, "And by me. To do magic on the other side. They don't work for anyone else." Around what must have been spells were playfully discussed and dueled conversations on magic in both handwritings. But again Thorne's assessment rang in some dark part of him. He still didn't understand most of the book. A large portion of it was blank, presumably because he wasn't ready for it, but it only showed how little he knew and how little he was capable of. Thorne's blunt judgement hit home, but instead of debating or looking shocked, Alg's head hung and nodded, "And you're probably right.. "
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Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 8:28 pm
Thorne waited as Alg retrieved the book, knowing that he was being given something secret. Something treasured. He looked at it with some sort of wonder, a curiosity that was edged in loss.
"I see," he said, softly, "Was she - someone you loved, do you think?" He shook his head. "I don't mean to say romantically. I mean..." He gestured, helpless. A sibling, a daughter, a mother or someone simply not related at all but through a dangerous bond. "There must have been something there, for her to have given you this."
He paused. He added, "It's a puzzle piece. Just like everything in this world." He looked up at Alg. "I hope you find an answer for what she was to you. What she might still be."
He looked down at the book like it was a treasure. Alg's treasure. Sacred and coveted. He was thankful that he had been shown, and when he looked at the other, the demure respect was there. The veiled surprise at having been trusted with this.
He made a soft, sweet sound like a lullaby tune in the hollow of his throat and looked up at Alg.
"Yes," he said, evenly, "So what do you plan to do now? Where do you go from here?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 9:31 pm
"I think she must be," To have access to his personal magical tome of course but it was something, whether imagined or not, he was sure he felt. A connection there. The book was closed, slid back in front of him, and Alg spread his broad hand over the cover as if he were sensing it's heartbeat. It was more than just a book to him. "I don't know," The older man stared down at it, then back up at Thorne. "Keep trying to help her. Trying to find her again. Take any opportunity if I'm smart enough to recognize one." He shrugged. "Perhaps start with finding Melany. On this side." His brows furrowed, his shoulders stiffened, and there was something solid and intimidating suddenly in the bulk of the other man. A steel again presenting itself somewhere inside the older man, something he kept hidden and reigned for only certain purposes, "Do something about her."
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 12:21 am
Thorne nodded and mulled the concept over in his head. It was a strange one, another string in a web they didn't understand. He folded his hand in, folded it out. Looked up at Alg. A question lingered in his throat, but he wasn't quite sure what it was.
He continued to regard the book, the house, the peace and the world beyond. He looked at Alg and tilted his head, a smile gentle against his lips.
"I'll do the same," Thorne admitted. "I have to believe that everything Melany put me through was more than just mindless. And that whoever I am now - I can help to protect those people that are important to me."
Thorne watched Alg shift, watched that steel grow inside of him. So there was more to professor than books and cats and peace. So there was something there with bite.
His eyes were unknowable, sharp and hungry, an abyss, for the span of a moment.
And then he blinked and returned.
"Watch out for that one," Thorne said softly, but the tremor in the edge of his hands gave him away, "She has a particularly subtle bite."
He glanced at Alg, jaw working, heart in atrophy.
"One day," he said, "I'll be having a long talk with her too."
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 12:42 pm
The house, the cats, the tea and the quiet were all a comfort zone for Algernon as much as they were a fortress. This place was save haven, he and Jeremiah like kings in a castle, where everything outside could be pushed away and contemplated in their own time. But fortresses could fall and leave their kings vulnerable.. "I don't doubt it," Alg frowned and straightened. He took his teacup to find it was empty and instead of pouring another cup he set it down. "I just wish idiots hadn't interfered." Yes, he said idiots. He didn't even know all of them but in his mind they were foolish, impulsive, and more meddling in things they didn't understand than was necessary. The older man watched Thorne's face, his bearing, and then nodded affirmatively, "And if we hear anything," Jeremiah was more likely than him, "you'll be the first to know." Because had every right, more right, than most.
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 4:28 pm
Thorne tilted his had and nodded, sighing softly. He looked at Alg and Jeremiah's castle. He hoped it would still stand when the world was done with them. He wanted to come back to this. Wanted to protect it. The people here mattered, and he wanted them safe.
But it wasn't his. And before he could protect it, the people who had built it had to try.
"As do I," Thorne retorted, wryly, "it was an error of people who haven't learned much about the concept of Other Ashdown and its own rules."
His voice was ash and ember, burning with something cruel and cold. "I hope they remember what that guilt feels like in the end."
His eyes flared to Alg.
"Thank you," he said. "I..."
He didn't know what he would do. Something. Something. He didn't know what.
"I hope you find the strength to save her, save him," Thorne said. "If there's anything I can do to help, I will."
iloveyouDIE i think we can wrap this up soon if you want? O vO <3
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 7:56 pm
"Here's hoping for both of us," Alg smiled pleasantly, as if the tension and steel in him a moment before was just an illusion, that the way he felt tired and helpless had simply disappeared. But it wasn't so, just that his armor was back as soon as he trusted Thorne and found them to be on common ground. The tea was gone and Alg again was aware of it. He pushed up from the table and the spell seemed to be broken, the soft conspiring, the creeping shadows in their words, all melted back to the bright homey kitchen. The sound of Violetta from the floor, yawning with a loud sound as she crept back towards the sunny spot, further shattered the solemnity of things. "Shall I make more tea?" Or did Thorne have things to do? He wasn't sure how long the visit was meant to last but he felt like he and the young man had bonded in some way and they were closer for it.
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:31 pm
Thorne bowed his head and allowed the moment to escape from them. It skittered back into the shadows, and for a moment it felt like coming up for air. It felt like losing a mask, like breathing again.
He slipped back into the easy sway of Alg's voice and the peaceful facade of the house. He watched Violetta on the ground, the plants outside. His eyes flicked to Alg with warmth.
"Only if you have the time to indulge me a little more," Thorne responded, soft and gentle.
And he let time slide away.
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