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 Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2022 10:53 am
“I’ll come back as soon as I can,” he promised. Sessrumnir couldn’t help but think that it was rather endearing that Alastor seemed to be missing him already. Well, he didn’t want him to have to miss him, but he supposed it was okay because he already missed him, too.
“Just take care of yourself. No repressing your emotions though,” Sessrumnir said with a semi-teasing frown as he lifted his hand to where he would have the necklace if he was powered down. “I can tell when you do that, too,” he warned, but it was lighthearted.
“I know you’ll look after him but,” he paused as he glanced over to Chad. He hesitated, as if changing his mind about what he was going to say in mixed company. “Help yourself to whatever you need. This place knows you, so I know it’ll be fine. I’m going to need Princess though. I don’t know what to expect when I get back to Earth.”
Especially if the Negaverse was involved.
“All done, Soleiyu?” he asked, although he was interested to see what communication device he was able to cobble together with what he had available.
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:04 am
A smile tugged at Alastor’s lips when Sessrumnir said he could tell when he was holding his emotions back, and there was something earnestly amused and endeared by it. He nodded, to make sure Michael knew he was taking it to heart even while giving Soleiyu his chance to answer and explain everything.
“Yes, yes, I’m done,” Soleiyu grumbled, and it was clear he wasn’t happy with this. “It’ll get the job done so you don’t have to power up. I’d have offered to stick around and just make sure you could do whatever you needed, power up and down as much as you might have liked at your place, but I’ve got a lot on my plate these days so I can’t guarantee I can be at any one place for long. You’ll be able to send messages, but I won’t know the extent of the delay until we’re back on Earth. It’s instantaneous now, but they’re right next to each other. If I had more time and more supplies I’d be able to build something with a stronger connection, but. The storms out here might not improve anything I could build, anyway. Just be careful with them,” he said, and handed one to Sessrumnir and one to Alastor.
“There’s no talk to text features, and I didn’t have the tools to give it a backlight. It’s touch screen, but the screen’s small. You might need to poke the keys with a stylus or something if your fingers are too big. They only connect with each other, and there’s a time stamp so you can see when it was sent and when it was received, but new messages are still going to take a little time to connect. It should bing when you get a new message, but I’m worried about the moisture in this area. Keep yours safe, Devyn, don’t take it near the water.”
Alastor nodded; that was easy enough. Frustrating to be on a delay, but he had gotten spoiled. It was better than nothing.
“It won’t send pictures, it won’t connect to the internet–it’s only function is to let you two communicate. The battery should last about two weeks, and by then I should have developed something to get them to charge. I hope you won’t need it for that long, though. Do you have any questions?”
Alastor shook his head; it was straight forward enough.
“All right. I’m going to collect the rest of my things from by the pool and get everything taken care of. I’ll be back in a minute. If you have questions about any of it, Michael, you let me know. I’ll be able to go over it in more detail with you when we get back.”
He wasn’t rushing, but he was going a little faster. The dampness of the springs was starting to soak into his fur, and he was pretty sure he could feel the static of the planet clinging to him, too. His ear twitched as he gathered up his tail and exited the office, keen to do one last sweep to make sure he had everything he needed–and that Devyn and Chad did, too.
It was a welcome moment alone with Michael, but Devyn realized very quickly that despite the fact that he’d been hoping for it, he suddenly didn’t have anything articulated.
So, he said the first thing he could think of.
“I have a music box in my room. It’s on the desk. I’ve been tinkering with it for a while. It’s an old one, it’s important to me. I can’t quite get it to work anymore. If you can’t sleep, maybe you can take a peek at it for me. It’s a stubborn thing, everything should work. But it does this to me, it likes to give me a hard time. It might like you better, though. It’s a pretty lullaby. If you can convince it to work, maybe it can keep you company when I can’t.”
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:11 am
Sessrumnir scrunched up his nose a little when they were told the device would make noise, but he supposed that was something he would just have to live with. He wanted to be able to answer any messages from Alastor as quickly as he could.
“This is more than we could have asked for, Soleiyu. Thank you,” he said as he watched Soleiyu make his way out of the office and back to the pools, before turning to face Alastor once more.
“Do you think he’d make it be able to vibrate instead if I asked?” he hummed and smiled to show he was joking, but the tension around his eyes probably made it obvious to Alastor that he really wasn’t.
He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to make sure that Chad and Devyn would be okay, but he knew it would be safer for Chad there. And he knew that he needed to go back to make sure everything was in place for alibis and stories and let the Reids know somehow that Chad was okay. And to let Jeremy know of the danger he was facing, working so closely with someone associated with the Negaverse.
The offer to let him take a look at the music box Devyn had been working on came as a bit of a surprise. Not because he didn’t think Devyn was capable of sharing things like that, but because Michael knew how important it probably was to him. Anything from Alastor, and from Sessrumnir as well, had some incredible importance in a life that Michael would only know through stories and maybe some memories. He didn’t expect to be let into Devyn’s life as much as he already had been, but he was grateful to get to know him.
“I’ll do that, thank you, Dev,” he said.
And then stepped forward so he could wrap his arms around him in a tight hug.
“I’ll come back as soon as I can,” he promised again. “Take care of Chad. And yourself. I’ll do the same.”
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:21 am
Alastor could tell it was more than just a joke when he mentioned the device making any noise, and he gave him something of a knowing smile when he said it.
He hadn’t been expecting the hug but he returned it immediately. Michael fit well in his arms, but this wasn’t new to him. His mind immediately went to Percy’s hugs, and while Michael’s were distinctly different there was still something familiar about them.
He could have melted into it if he’d given himself the chance. Maybe it was the warmth of the springs, or the stress of today, or the fact that he was very tired–or maybe it was just that Michael was comfortable and that this felt nice in a way he didn’t think he could articulate.
Devyn never remembered how much he missed hugs until he was in the middle of one.
He held Sessrumnir with the same tightness he was given and he didn’t seem like he was in any rush to let go.
“We’ll be fine here. We’ll be taken care of, there’s nothing here that can hurt us. If something feels off, I’ll let you know right away. But ask Soleiyu about tweaking that thing so it buzzes instead,” he insisted. “He doesn’t seem to mind. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable getting a message from me. I’d rather know you weren’t getting stressed out before you even got to read them.”
And he’d hate to have any reason not to message him.
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2022 12:15 pm
“I’ll be okay, but I’ll ask him if he can make it a little quieter,” he promised. He knew they would only be away for maybe a week or so, but there were a lot of things for Michael to worry about.
Would they have enough to eat? Would they be warm enough? What if something went wrong and Devyn wasn’t able to use his phone to get back to Earth? What if something happened to Chad and he needed a hospital? What was going to happen when he got back and people would be looking for Chad?
Sessrumnir didn’t want to let go. He was comfortable. He could feel the warmth from Alastor and the smoothness of his clothes and--
He just remembered that he hadn’t had a chance to look him over yet, and reluctantly pulled back so he could hold Alastor’s shoulders and look him over.
“This suits you, I think. The other outfits were fine, but you look even better like this. I’m proud of you. I knew you could get your power back faster than anyone else I know.”
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2022 12:23 pm
Alastor didn’t want to let Sessrumnir draw back, even if it was just to get a good look at his outfit. He hadn’t had the chance to look it over either, but he was confident that it couldn’t have changed that much since the last time he wore it.
“You did? It feels like it took me forever.”
But then, he’d been trying for a very long time. Before he met Michael.
Who, he was pretty sure had kickstarted this whole process. He’d thanked him before. He’d thank him again. Not now, when they had so little time before he had to leave. But later, when it was just them. When he wasn’t rushed or hurried to say everything on his mind.
“I can see you worrying, you know. We’ll be fine,” he promised again, and gave his arm a little squeeze. “If there’s a leak, I’ll patch it. We’ve got plenty of food, you’ve patched him up. He’s still breathing, he’s not bleeding anymore. I survived for a while on my own, I can take care of a kid for a few days. He’s not even the youngest I’ve had to look after. There’s plenty of lights, there’s enough to keep us busy. I’ll watch out for moths, maybe find some plants to water, dust a bit. I’ll send you updates.”
He couldn’t help but smile, maybe to reassure Michael. Maybe because he couldn’t help himself around him.
“Thank you, though. For everything. I’m rather fond of this look, myself. Rather fond of the power, too. Maybe now I can actually get something done.”
Of course he was proud of it, he couldn’t help it. He wasn’t going to let shame or disappointment cling to him; he’d been alone for so long and he’d survived. He’d done good enough. Percy would have told him that, so he wasn’t allowed to talk himself into anything else. Percy would have been proud of him for lasting as long as he had, for trying so hard, for so long.
And now, things were looking up. Well–sort of. There were still unexpected hiccups. But he wasn’t going to say that having the opportunity to help someone was bad.
Even if it separated him from Michael for a week, it wasn’t the end of the world. They’d adjust, they’d adapt. In the grand scheme of things, it was a short matter of time, and it was for a good cause. Chad needed help. He’d get it.
He’d heal, and they’d all be better off for it.
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Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2022 12:30 pm
“Well, I wasn’t worried about a leak until now,” Sessrumnir sighed dramatically, so Alastor probably knew he was just giving him a hard time. Alastor had claimed that he could see him worry before, so Sessrumnir just smiled, because of course he was going to worry. He couldn’t help it! Devyn was important to him, and Chad was important, especially since he was important to Elliot.
“Don’t work too hard,” Michael said, and maybe he was stalling. Maybe he was doing more than just brushing Devyn’s hair from his face when he lifted his hand to rest a palm against Devyn’s cheek.
At least until he could feel his heart pulsing rapidly in his chest. He pulled his hand back then, and took a step back to give Devyn more space.
“I’ll see you soon,” he promised once more for good luck, and turned so he could find Soleiyu to head back to Earth.
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